"Mr. Cameron, take a seat. You'll be joining Saturday detention today and for the next two weeks. Would you like to explain to me what you are doing here?" Mr. Raditch asked.
"Well, sir. You know how much I love detention. I thought I would stop by and you know, join the party." Sean looked at Emma who gave him a small smile.
"Okay, here is paper for all of you." Raditch passed out paper and pens to every student, "When I come back in an hour I hope to see that all of you have written something associated to what you have done." And with that he left the room.
Sean was took a seat next to Manny, "Care to explain what's going on back there?" He nodded towards Emma and Jay.
"Well, first they kissed, then Jay confessed to liking Emma, and then he told her that he was a virgin." Manny said, like it was no big deal.
"Wait, wait. What?" Sean asked, obviously surprised.
"He confessed he's a virgin."
"That is quite a surprise. But rewind." Sean said, his voice high-pitched with shock.
"He confessed to liking Emma?" Manny asked, wondering what was confusing him so much.
"No, no. The first one." Sean said.
"Oh…they kissed." Manny shrugged.
"What?" Sean shrieked in a manly way.
"Yeah, we were playing truth or dare. Jay was dared to kiss Emma. No biggie." Manny said nonchalantly.
"Huge biggie!" Sean exclaimed. "He likes her, that means he enjoyed the kiss."
"What's so bad about that? She's single so it's no big deal. Unless…" Manny drifted off.
"Unless what?"
"Unless you still like her." Manny looked at him.
"What? No. No way. We're just friends." Sean said, shaking it off.
Manny coughed, "Liar."
"Hmm." Sean sighed, "You caught me. You figured out my secret."
"Are you being sarcastic?" Manny asked.
"Um…half and half." Sean stated.
"So you do still like her?" Manny said, knowingly.
Sean nodded.
Jay was sneaking looks at Emma as she wrote her essay.
"I can't believe you're not writing." Emma said after a few minutes.
"What's the point? It's not like we get extra credit." Jay scoffed.
"Actually, yeah we do."
"Oh." Jay said, sounding defeated, "So what are you in here for anyway?"
"Just stuff." Emma said, still writing.
"What kinda stuff?" Jay asked, prying into her business.
"None of your business kinda stuff." Emma said, finally looking at him, "What are you in here for?"
"I'm always in here. It's my second home. Raditch puts me in detention if I glance in the wrong direction. He thinks I'm always doing something wrong." Jay leaned back in his chair.
"So that's why you're in here this Saturday? For looking in the wrong direction?" Emma asked in disbelief.
"No. Not this Saturday." Jay said, looking at her, "I'm here cause I wanna be."
"Why would you wanna be in detention?" Emma asked, now even more confused.
"One special person." Jay said, smiling at her and then looking back at his desk.
"Ah." Emma looked back at her paper, "How did you know I was gonna be here?"
"I saw you commit your crime."
"So why'd you ask me what I was doing here? If you already knew."
"Because, Greenpeace, there's two parts to committing a crime. One, actually doing the dirty deed. Two, admitting to it. You had guts to trash the teachers' lounge but you don't have it all if you can't admit to it." Jay sighed.
"Why do you think I did it?" Emma asked, turning all the way around to look at him.
"Because you got a less than perfect grade for the first time in your entire life." Jay said, half mimicking, half insulting.
"No, actually. And now I'm about to admit something to you that I won't even admit to myself."
This caught Jay's attention, "What?"
"My step-dad died. That's why I trashed the teachers' lounge." Emma said, looking back at her desk.
Jay moved to the desk next to her and put his hand on her back, "Wow. I'm sorry. But can I ask you one question?"
She nodded.
"What does the teachers' lounge have to do with your step-dad?"
"Mr. Simpson was my step-dad." Emma said, letting a tear fall down her face.
Ellie was writing her essay. Since she wasn't actually there for being in trouble, she just wrote a story. All she had was the first paragraph. It said:
The dark room grew darker as the girl's eyes flooded with tears and her mascara ran in rivers down her cheeks. Her head was on her pillow and she looked up at the ceiling, wishing that days events away. When she closed her eyes she fell into a deep sleep and dreamed of having her best friend back. His name was Nathaniel and he ditched her for the 'popular crowd'. She hated the 'popular crowd'.
Ellie sighed and put down her pen. She snuck a glance at Marco, who in turn was writing his own essay.
"Hey Marco?" Ellie said. He looked up, with clouds of hope flooding through his eyes.
"Yeah?" The hope seeped into his voice.
"Can I borrow your pen? Mine is outta ink." Ellie asked, putting out her hand.
Marco nodded and handed her the pen. He knew her too well, though. He knew that wasn't what she wanted to say.
A few moments after Sean admitted to Manny that he still liked Emma he stole a glance towards the back of the room, where he saw Jay sitting next to her, with his hand on her back.
"Hey, dude!" Sean yelled, moving through desks to get to them. Jay and Emma both looked up, Emma's eyes brimmed with tears, "What's wrong with you?"
"Huh?" Jay asked, standing up.
Now Marco, Ellie, and Manny were walking towards them, watching the scene unravel.
"I said, 'What's wrong with you?' She obviously doesn't wanna talk to you and yet you're still over here, trying to seduce her! Look, she's even crying."
"Hey, Sean! Cool it. She has a name. It's Emma. Try using it." Emma said, walking towards him, touching is arm, "And he's not trying to seduce me. And I'm not crying because of him. I'm crying because…" She stopped and looked at Jay, who nodded, "I'm crying because my step-dad died." And then the sobs started and she sat down, burying her face in her arms. Arms and hands were on her back, patting her head, anything to try and comfort her. The only one who wasn't trying was Manny, who stood away, just watching her ex-best friend cry. She didn't know what to do.
"It's okay, Emma." Sean said in a soothing voice and then he turned to Jay, "And I'm sorry, man. I guess I was just jealous." He shrugged.
"Jealous of…?" Jay asked. And then he understood: Sean still liked Emma. He nodded knowingly.
"Wait, wait." Ellie said, "So Jay and Sean like Emma?"
They nodded and Emma looked up at them.
"This will be one hectic detention." Marco said.
"Okay guys. I think I probably need some space." Emma wiped her eyes, "And some time to think." She looked at Sean and then Jay. Everyone understood and cleared away. After a minute Emma spoke up again, "Okay. This is boring. Who wants to go walk around the school?"
"Now that's what I like to hear." Jay got up and walked towards the door, Emma and the rest following him.