The next day at break Garfield trudged to the detention hall with his pink slip in hand. He stopped in front of the door and his stomach dropped; the small window at the top of the door had a set of metal bars installed in it. It reminded him of a jail cell. He took a deep breath, and finally entered the room.
To Garfield's surprise, the teacher currently in charge was Madame Aberdene. He exhaled and quickly occupied the desk closest to the door.
"Welcome to detention, Mr. Logan," Madame Aberdene greeted stiffly. She certainly seemed to lose her normally kind nature when it came to dealing with detention students. "This is your first time?"
Garfield nodded.
"Then I advise that you make yourself comfortable, because you're going to be sitting in that chair for the next twenty-five minutes. No talking, no reading, no drawing, nothing. I will be sitting here, correcting these French assignments…" She turned to her desk and sighed despairingly; the aforementioned assignments weren't there. The French room was quite a distance from detention hall… "I trust that you will behave while I get the paperwork, Mr. Logan?"
Garfield nodded rapidly.
"And I don't want any trouble from you either, Jennifer."
Garfield looked around behind him; sitting in the far corner in the back of the room as a female figure that he had missed upon his arrival. She was clad in a black corset dress, fishnet tights, and a black hooded jacket with the zipper open. She had pulled the hood over her eyes, and on her feet was a pair of leather combat boots. Garfield heard the door click, announcing Madame Aberdene's exit. The corners of the girl's mouth flicked upward into a devilish smirk.
"Mr. Logan, is it? Welcome to my second home."
Garfield nearly jumped when he was addressed. "Uh…thanks. And, for the record, my friends call me Gar."
"All a pleasure, Gar. The name's technically Jennifer Diablo…but, to my friends, I'm called Jinx."
XXXXX"Sigh!" Richard said dramatically. He, Raven, and Kori sat under a large shady tree in one of the outdoor hallways. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm starting to miss Gar now that I'm suddenly the only male in this outfit. Not that there's anything wrong with that," he added quickly.
"It's only for one break," Raven muttered. She held her notebook and pencil in hand, puzzling over a stanza in her poem. "He'll be back by next period, just like the rest, and chances are he won't learn his lesson."
"You were the one who suggested that he complain in the first place," Richard retaliated. "And aren't you supposed to be tutoring that Conte kid?"
"I never said that it was a bad thing. And no, the tutoring crap starts on Monday." Raven stared at her paper for a few seconds…before finally dotting an "i". "Kori, you're kind of quiet today. Are you feeling all right?"
Her red-haired companion sighed. "Yes…I am all right…" But she wasn't necessarily telling the truth.
XXXXX"So, what did you do to get here?"
Garfield had moved to the desk in front of Jinx and sat backwards on the chair so that he could face her. The two were just beginning to get acquainted.
"I flipped off Miss Edwards," Jinx answered proudly. Garfield felt a little bit nervous; he knew that Miss Edwards was a junior grade teacher, and that he was now chatting up an older girl. "That got me this entire week for doing my time. An ideal way to kick off the new school year, if I do say so myself." She suddenly pulled her hood off her head. Garfield found himself face-to-face with a pale and pretty girl with long, pink bangs and braids. "What did you do?"
Garfield blinked. I've gotta make this good… "I totally and completely defied my teacher," he said quickly. "Didn't do anything he told me to do."
"Ahhh." This seemed to satisfy her. "It feels good, doesn't it? I've disobeyed many superiors in my time. So, how big is this offense? How long are you in for?"
"Uh…just this break."
"Heh. You'll get the hang of it." Jinx leaned back in her chair. "You know what…" She picked up her book bag, withdrew a piece of paper and pencil, and scrawled something down before handing the paper to Garfield. "…Here's my email. I kind of like you. We should keep in touch."
Garfield's eyes widened in amazement as he accepted the precious scrap of paper. "…Thanks…hey, maybe I should give you mine…"
"Uh, I think you should go sit down now," Jinx interrupted. "Seriously. Aberdene should be here any minute now."
Garfield nodded and reluctantly returned to his seat. Indeed, just as he sat down the door swung open and in walked Madame Aberdene with an armful of papers. He turned around to get one last look at Jennifer "Jinx" Diablo; and though she had pulled her hood back over her head he could see her wink at him from under its hem.
XXXXXA/N: I know that I've been updating a lot lately. It's because I'm trying to do as much as I can before school actually starts…which is probably why I should work a bit more on TOA… Sorry this is a bit short, anyway. I wrote it on the kitchen table on top of a Dog Fancy magazine while eating Pocky. Heehee.