Mrs. Hall walked fairly quickly through the halls towards the library. Michael slowed down to walk beside me; he even took my hand.
"So," he said softly, so Mrs. Hall wouldn't hear him. "How do you feel about me?"
He gripped my hand tighter and I blushed uncontrollably. "About the same way that you feel about me." Times a hundred.
"Reeeeeeeally? How interesting." He smiled and quickly kissed me before Mrs. Hall turned around again.
"Come on, quickly now. Who knows where they could be…"
She stopped talking because of a loud noise coming from the girls' locker rooms. It wasn't a noise any of the boys who'd skipped off during mine and Lana's fight could have made. It was a girl squealing. And not in a bad way.
Mrs. Hall didn't take a second to consider what she could be walking into, she simply threw open the door and subjected us all to a sight that may have scarred me for life.
But thankfully, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Lana and Josh were in the middle of a tickling contest, lying on the floor and Lana's shirt was half off.
"God, what is going on around here?" Mrs. Hall asked to herself. "It's like you've all taken extra hormone tablets this morning. Get off her, Ritcher. And both of you, come with me."
As Lana and Josh got dressed and presentable (Lana's lip had stopped bleeding. No doubt Josh's lips adding pressure had something to do with that), Mrs. Hall, Michael and I waited outside.
"Well, Michael, now that we've found your missing detainees, maybe you can all get back to a quite detention."
I opened my mouth to say that Josh and Lana weren't the ones we'd been looking for, but Michael poked me in the ribs and spoke himself. "Sure. We can do that."
She nodded and then turned on her heel and left. As soon as she'd gotten to the end of the corridor and turned the corner, I said to Michael, "Why didn't you tell her about everyone else?"
He shrugged. "I don't particularly want her following us around. I thought we could find them ourselves. And if they've left the campus, it's no big deal. We'll find other ways to amuse ourselves."
You know, Michael's intelligence never ceases to amaze me. Lilly's bothers me, but Michael is smart in a different way. He cares about the important things.
"You guys go back to the library," Michael told them Lana and Josh when they walked meekly out of the locker room. "And stay there. I don't care if you talk or eat your lunch, or whatever, just don't make a mess, don't be too loud, and don't leave."
Josh scowled, then took a pouting Lana by the hand and led her into the library across the hall.
"Wow, you've changed your tone a lot," I told him. "You were running detention like a boot camp this morning."
"Yeah, well that was mostly to stop Lilly from coming up and talking to me. Usually I don't care about a little chatter. So long as it doesn't stop me from searching the school files. Now come on, we have some detainees to find!"
He grabbed my hand and led me back down the hall towards the gym.
-
The gym isn't that far away, but when you stop every few steps to kiss or whisper sweet nothings in each others ears, it takes a lot longer than it usually would to reach it. And when we did reach it, I was wishing it were further away. Like in Mexico.
We stared at the closed door. Sounds of basketballs flying across the room could be heard quite easily, but neither of us rushed to open the door. Michael squeezed my hand a little tighter. "These guys," he said, "they won't come away very easily. And they won't be polite about it either. Do you want to go back to the library?"
"No," I said, trying to sound confident. I'm not so sure it came off as well as I would've liked. "I'll come."
He swung the door open and let it bash against the wall behind it. Some entrance.
It sure got everyone's attention though; the guys stopped in their tracks. A few uncontrolled balls kept bouncing, the thump thump thumping was the only sound in the otherwise silent gym.
Michael dropped my hand like a hot potato. "All right guys, you've had your fun. Time to get back to detention."
"What if we don't want to go?" one of them asked. I don't know his name, but I've seen him around. I think he's a junior. He doesn't seem the least afraid of Michael though.
"Too bad, Tommy," Michael said, his voice cracking only slightly. "So put the balls away and follow me."
"What's she doing here?" The guy's friend asked, pointing to me. "You need backup to get us all back do you? So why'd you pick her?" He started laughing uncontrollably and I could feel my face heating up.
"She's not here for backup, you dolt. Now come on."
"So what is she here for then, Moscovitz? Is she your little girlfirend? A little young, don't you think?"
Oh my God, can we just get out of here, already? My face is so red I think it's going to explode any minute now. And why isn't Michael saying anything to defend me? Maybe I am too young, and he knows it.
Michael stuttered to respond, "Come on guys."
"No! We don't want to go back!"
Uh oh, we may have a revolution on our hands. It's too bad I'm too upset by the comments these guys have made to give a damn. I knew I was too young for someone like Michael, and not good enough or whatever, I just figured he didn't know it! Denial can be a happy place, you know.
Michael's starting to sweat. He also knows he's fighting a losing battle.
Suddenly I felt someone's presence next to me. I looked up to see Lars standing there.
"I think Michael has asked you all enough times," he said, holding his jacket tight against his chest so his glock was clearly visible. "Don't make me have to ask you myself."
I felt a rush of pride and gratitude for Lars. He always knows just what to do. He never invades my space unless it's clear I need him, like now. I smiled up at him, but he was too busy glaring at the guys to notice.
Then, like little puppies, they put their basketballs away and walked out of the gym, with their tails between their legs.
"Thanks, Lars," I said, once they were all through the door and we were following behind.
"Yeah, thanks. I don't know how I would have managed to get them out otherwise," Michael said.
I didn't look at him. It's pretty clear he's not going to want anything to do with me now that my youngness and unsuitability has been brought to his attention or whatever.
At least I'll always have the memory of those blissful few minutes where Michael actually believed he liked me.
