Chapter 28
"All right, I know that none of us really wants to be here, but let's just make the best of the time that we've got." Mr. Donavon said dryly, taking a newspaper from his briefcase, leaning back in his chair and putting his feet up on the desk.
Raven and Chelsea looked at one another and then around the room. Nobody else was here but the two girls, but Mr. Donavon talked as if he were speaking to a full classroom. "Wow…packed today." Raven whispered and Chelsea giggled.
"No talking." The man behind the newspaper said and Raven frowned. Looking at her watch, she silently groaned as she realized that only two minutes had passed. Taking a piece of paper from her notebook, Raven wrote something and then handed it to Chelsea.
Bored!
Chelsea rolled her eyes and wrote back.
Duh. What did you think, detention was gonna be a big party?
I didn't think we'd be the only ones here. Nobody else gets detention any more?
I don't know. What do you wanna do?
Raven looked at the note and then at the gigantic newspaper with legs and then looked at Chelsea, smiling.
Kiss me.
Raven smiled again as Chelsea's eyes grew wide.
What about the teacher?
Raven rolled her eyes.
He won't see. He's being eaten by his newspaper.
What if someone walks by?
What are they gonna do? Give us detention?
Ha ha.
Fine, you don't have to kiss me…chicken.
Raven suppressed a laugh as Chelsea frowned at her and scribbled a response.
Am not.
Are too. Scaredy Cat
Am not!
Prove it.
Chelsea looked at the door and then at Mr. Donavon, twisting her face in hesitation. Raven batted her eyelids, resting her head on her chin. Chelsea exhaled loudly and semi-stood up from her chair, stretching out her entire body as far as she could. The chair teetered on two legs as she inched closer to Raven. Raven moved in closer too. As the girls were about to kiss, the doorknob turned and the door opened.
Chelsea snapped her head toward the door, and the chair lost its balance, sending the poor girl to the floor.
"Oh!" Raven called out as the chair clattered on the linoleum. Mr. Donavon threw his paper down and stood up quickly. Raven looked from the floor to the front of the room quickly, seeing a confused Principal Lawler and an irritated Mr. Donavon staring at her.
Raven grabbed Chelsea's arm, helping the girl up and then picking the chair up.
"S-sorry!" Chelsea stammered. "I dropped my pen!"
"Miss Daniels, Miss Baxter, may I ask why you both are in detention?" Lawler asked, more surprised than angry.
"Well, I forgot my gym clothes at home…again, so I got detention."
"And I was late for class."
"Ah, the policy." Lawler nodded. Lawler then started to talk to Donavon and gave Raven the opportunity to talk to Chelsea.
"Are you all right?" She whispered as Chelsea sat back down.
"Peachy, thanks." Chelsea snapped back.
"I'm sorry. I didn't think Lawler was gonna come in right then."
Chelsea inhaled and exhaled loudly, crossing her arms and turning her head away from Raven.
"Chels--" Raven began, but Lawler spoke up, cutting them off.
"Well, carry on. I just came by to see if everything was going well. With the exception of Miss Daniels' mishap…everything seems fine."
"Completely under control sir." Mr. Donavon stated, sitting back down.
Principal Lawler looked at the newspapers and then back at Donavon. "Yes, I can see that. Good day ladies."
"Bye Principal Lawler." Raven said as sweetly as she could. Chelsea didn't say anything.
Ben checked his watch for the fourth time, sighing deeply. Eddie flipped through his Physics textbook a few times before shutting it and pushing it away from himself.
It had been twenty minutes and Ben's student hadn't shown up yet. "I don't think she's coming man." Eddie stated, leaning back in his chair.
"Yeah well, then it's not my problem." Ben turned to Eddie. "Do you still want help?"
Eddie shook his head. "No. I just used that excuse to stay after school."
"Why?"
"I wanted to wait for Rae and Chels."
"Oh. Because of Rocky and whatever?"
Eddie nodded.
"Yeah, I was kind of happy that I was here too." Ben said, stacking his books on his desk.
There were a few moments of silence before Eddie leaned forward. "So, Ben, what's going on with you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Any new lady friends, if you get my meaning?"
Ben looked at Eddie strangely before simply saying, "No."
"No new girls or no you don't get me?"
"No new girls. Why?"
"No reason. It's just, you broke up with Chelsea months ago and you haven't been with any other girls. And you keep hanging around Chelsea."
"So?"
"So what's up man? You still got feelings for her?"
Ben rubbed his forehead as he thought about the question. "I guess I do. But she's with Raven."
"You don't have any ideas about getting her back, right?"
"What? No! Why are you asking me?"
Ben's reaction was so intense that it stunned Eddie for a minute, and it drained him of all confidence. "W-well, it's just…I saw the way you were looking at Chelsea at lunch. I-I-I thought you wanted to get back with her."
"No." Ben shook his head and then groaned a little. "It's…I really shouldn't be telling you this."
"What?"
Ben looked around, as if to see if anyone was there to listen to what he had to say. He leaned in closer to Eddie and whispered. "You gotta promise that you won't tell Chelsea I told you. And you can't tell Raven."
"What man?" Eddie whispered back, panic beginning to rise inside of him.
"I had a vision. A bad one."
Eddie exhaled, looking up at the ceiling. Shaking his head, he said, "Man, you are not gonna believe this."
"What?"
"Rae had a bad vision too. And she made me promise not to tell Chelsea."
"Chelsea made me promise not to tell Raven."
Eddie looked around, making sure that Ben's student hadn't shown up. No one was there. "So, what was your vision about?"
Lawler jogged down the school steps and into the semi-empty parking lot, checking his watch. He had a meeting down at the Board of Education in forty minutes and had just enough time to get there. After searching the hallways for stragglers and, since learning that Raven and Chelsea were still in school, for Rocky and his gang, Lawler concluded that everything was all right.
Whistling, Lawler walked to his car, popped the trunk, and threw his briefcase in. Walking over to his door, he suddenly stopped his tune when the sound of scraped gravel echoed through the lot off to his right. He turned, scanning the lot, but nobody was there but him.
There were still a few cars in the lot beside his own; the janitor's, the security guards', and one or two teachers, so it wouldn't have been hard to spot another person. But the lot was empty.
An uneasy feeling settled in Lawler's stomach, and he thought of checking the school once again, but then he would be late for the meeting. It was an important meeting that he couldn't miss. Despite what his gut was telling him, Lawler just assumed that he was hearing things and got into his car.
Starting it up, backing out of the spot and driving slowly out of the lot, Lawler checked his rearview to see if anyone was there. The lot was empty. Breathing deeply, Lawler drove on to the meeting.
Tyrone poked his head out from behind the bumper of the car he was crouched behind. That was way too close, but he didn't get caught. Smiling, he stood up and made his way to Rocky to give him the good news.
Michael inhaled the last of his cigarette before dropping the butt on the ground and running his boot over it. Rubbing his face with a hand shook his head as he watched Rocky pace back and forth.
They had been waiting in the kiddy playground two blocks from school for twenty minutes and Tyrone hadn't come back yet.
"Where is he? He shoulda been back by now!" Rocky cracked, flicking his cigarette and immediately going into his pocket for another.
"Maybe he got caught." Michael offered, hoping it was true.
"Naw. Ty neva gets caught. 'ell be here Rock. Jus wait."
"Yeah, but what if he is? Then what?" Michael shouted. "This whole thing is a bad idea Rocky."
"What?" Rocky asked, stopping his frantic pace and looking at Michael.
"I got a bad feeling. Something's gonna go real wrong."
"Oh, wha are ya, psychic or sumting?" Deckland cackled from behind Michael.
Rocky rushed over to Michael, his anxiety and irritation getting the best of him. "Hey, what did you promise you weren't gonna do any more? Huh?" Rocky shouted, pushing Michael a little.
Michael stumbled back, avoiding eye contact with his leader. Tightening his jaw, he muttered, "That I wouldn't go against you."
"What? I didn't hear you."
"That…that I wouldn't go against you." Michael said a little louder.
"That's right…now will you do me a favor and shut the fuck up?"
Michael rubbed the back of his head and hesitantly nodded, still avoiding eye contact. He walked away from Rocky toward the jungle gym. Deckland moved forward, pointing down the block. "There 'e is Rock."
Rocky squinted, exhaling in relief. "Finally." Tyrone reached them in seconds and didn't even have a chance to catch his breath before Rocky asked, "Is everything cool?"
Tyrone nodded, smiling and rubbing his hands together. Almost immediately, Rocky's disposition changed from anxiety to joy. "That's what I like to hear my man!" Rocky exclaimed, wrapping his arm around Tyrone's neck and putting him in a loose headlock.
Looking at his watch, Deckland said, "It's almost time Rocky. You wanna go?"
Rocky nodded. "You got the camera?"
"Right 'ere." Deckland said, pulling a disposable camera from his pockets and wiggling it a little between his thumb and forefinger.
"All right," Rocky rasped, letting go of Tyrone and rubbing his hands together in anticipation. "It's show time." Then, he turned around. "Hey Mike, move your ass!"
Michael rolled his eyes and scratched the back of his head. The other three started off ahead of him. 'Now's your chance, while they're not looking. Run, find a phone, call someone.' His mind begged him, but Michael didn't listen. If he did do that, it would be his ass. And Rocky would never be his friend again.
As much as he hated it, he stayed with his gang.
The newspaper had folded over his chest and Mr. Donavon's soft snoring echoed throughout the classroom, but it was overshadowed by the deafening silent treatment that Raven was getting. Chelsea had put her head down on the desk and hadn't looked up since.
"Come on Chels, I said I was sorry." Raven whispered, but Chelsea didn't answer. "How much longer are you going to be mad at me?"
This time Chelsea did respond. She turned to Raven and smiled a little, indicating that she had forgiven Raven a while ago. "I think five more minutes should do it."
Raven smacked Chelsea on the arm. "I thought you were really mad at me!"
"Nah…well I was for a few minutes, but then I got over it. Then, I fell asleep for a while--" Chelsea stopped when Raven smacked her on the arm again. "What? I was bored!"
Raven shook her head. "Forgive me?"
"Please, how could I say no?"
Raven shrugged.
Before they could say anything else, Mr. Donavon's cell phone went off. He jumped up, nearly falling over. Fumbling a little, he finally grabbed his phone and answered it. "Hello? What? O-okay! I'm coming!" Crazily gathering all of his things and tossing it haphazardly into his briefcase, Mr. Donavon jumped up and down, laughing.
"Mr. Donavon, what's going on?" Raven asked, frightened by his sudden outburst.
"My wife's having a baby! I gotta go!" He shouted happily, running for the door. Chelsea and Raven didn't even get a chance to say anything before Mr. Donavon was gone.
They sat there in shock for a few moments before Chelsea said, "Can we leave?"
Raven shrugged. "I guess."
Getting up and looking outside, Raven saw him. Deckland, looking through the window directly at her, was smiling. His crooked yellow teeth gleamed in the sunlight. She gasped in surprise, nearly jumping.
Chelsea, who was getting her book bag from under her desk snapped up. "What?" She followed Raven's gaze to the window, but there was nothing there. "Rae," She began, getting up and putting a hand on her shaking girlfriend's shoulder. "What is it?"
Raven slowly turned her gaze to Chelsea. "We're in trouble."