AUTHORS NOTE: SO, HERE IS CHAPTER FIVE. HOPEFULLY THERE IS A LITTLE BIT OF SATISFACTORY ACTION FOR YA'LL.

SKIPPER GOT ABOUT 3 WEEKS WORTH OF DETENTION, BY THE WAY, FOR THE LITTLE STUNT HE PULLED (WELL...TECHNICALLY HE WAS FORCED, BUT WHATEVER)

THANKS FOR ALL REVIWS I GOT! I REALLY APPRECIATE THE FEEDBACK, AND TRY TO RESPOND TO EVERYONE

CHAPTER FIVE

Day eight of detention was nearly unbearable. Skipper may have made a break through with Jameth, but he was far from redeemed in the man's eyes.

Skipper had spent the first hour furiously writing "I will not sing songs my voice is not fir for" over and over again. Now, nearly driven mad by the boy he was sharing detention with, he threw his quill across the room and covered his ears with his hands.

He did not want to be cruel, for the boy was younger than him, but after, having to endure nearly an hour of listening to the boys nasal breathing it was either go mad or slightly embarrass a peer. Skipper decided that he was far too young to go mad, hence his outburst and need to cover his ears.

Jameth took this in without batting an eyelash (he had returned to the same composed and controlled man all Hall dwellers were used to, much to the disappointment of his students). "May I ask what the problem is, Apprentice Skipper?"

Skipper was now rocking back and forth, hands still over his ears. He knew he was being perhaps a bit too dramatic, but, come on, he had endured without complaint for an hour. The now halfmad boy glanced over at his fellow detentionie before answering. "Do you think I could talk to you about it in your office, sir?", he asked, throwing another pointed glance at the other boy.

The Mastersinger complied, albeit grudgingly. He walked to the back of the room and opened the door to his office, Skipper in tow. Jameth leaned against the back of his desk, crossing his arms, his eyes demanding an explanation from his young pupil.

Skipper took a deep breath before giving the reason for his outburst. For some reason he didn't think the Mastersinger would find it acceptable. "Well, you see, sir, I've got a bit of a problem with Michael-is that his name?-out there." Skipper shifted his feet nervously before continuing. "Ah, he's breathing loud. It's driving me mad." He looked at his teacher defiantly. It was annoying, and he was not going to put up with another minute of it!

Jameth's mouth twitched ever so slightly as he loooked at Skipper. Otherwise he remained as cool as granite. "Let me get this straight," he said calmly, "you threw a quill across the room, disturbed your classmate, and pulled me away from grading my papers because the boy next to you was breathing too loud?" Arms still crossed, he regarded the young man in front of him with a raised eyebrow.

"You don't understand," Skipper pleaded, "it's a nasal wheezing! He's practically snoring while he's wide awake!"

Jameth passed a hand over his face in exasperation, or was it to his a smile? "This is absolutely ridiculous and a total waste of my time," Jameth growled. "You may sit in the back of the room, but I expect a hundred more lines by the end of your detention."

Skipper sighed in relief and nodded, exiting the room ahead of Jameth and started on the prescribed punishment.

When Skipper left Jameth's classroom a little after Michael (due to the fact that his one hundred lines weren't completed at the end of detention and he was forced to finish them) he ran, literally, into a rather tall, scruffy looking boy. "Watch where you're going!" he growled, shoving Skipper off of him and into a wall.

"Ex-cuse me," Skipper said indignantly, "it was an accident."

"You think you can just do whatever you please, and everyone has to just take it. Well you can forget about that," the boy said in disgust.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Skipper said, feeling rather offended by this strangers accusation.

"Oh, of course not, and I'm just supposed to take your word for it, eh? I don't think so," he snorted and pushed Skipper roughly out of his way as he moved on down the hall

He didn't get very far, though, because Skipper yanked him back by the collar of his shirt. "Hey, I don't know what your problem is," he said, with another shove "but I didn't do nothin', and I'm not gonna let you push me around," he concluded, with another shove for emphasis.

"Who do you think you are?!" the other boy exclaimed in outrage.

"Obviously, you already know that, considering you seem to have me all figured out," Skipper gritted out through clenched teeth.

"You're right, I do know," the older boy started in a singsong voice, "you're everyone's favorite Apprentice. The handsome Skipper, everyone's new best friend, and..." he was silenced by Skipper's fist connecting with his face. He retaliated quicker than Skipper assumed he would, the result being that Skipper couldn't block when a fist came flying at his own face. It collided painfully in the region of his eye, and for a moment he was left dizzy and half blind. Skipper could hear the other boy panting though, and in a mad rush tackled him to the ground.

They rolled around on the ground, neither gaining the advantage, though Skipper caught a few elbows to the ribs, and knew that his own connected satisfactorily with the other boys gut, when a very familiar voice demanded that they break apart.

The two boys got clumsily to their feet, Skipper holding the side of his face, where a black eye was beginning to emerge, and the other Apprentice gingerly fingering his busted lip. They glowered sullenly at Mastersinger Jameth, knowing that they were in for it but neither willing to condemn themselves.

"Do you realize what fools you are making of yourself?" he demanded in that all-too-familiar icy drawl.

Skipper answered hastily, hoping to stem his teachers wrath. "Sir, I was minding my own business when..."

The other Apprentice decided to save his own hide at the same time. "Mastersinger, I was simply walking down the hall when..."

Their words became indecipherable when they began attempting to speak over the other. It quickly escalated into each boy throwing insults at the other, and Jameth losing his patience. "Enough!" he spat out in disgust. "You're display was disgraceful to the Hall. What if we had had visitors?" he demanded. Neither boy answered. They knew they weren't supposed to. "I don't want to hear any of your excuses," he said. "Your behavior was unacceptable. You have a weeks worth of detention with me starting tomorrow."

"But sir," Skipper attempted feebly, "I've already got detention with you for the next week."

The Mastersinger looked at him unsympathetically. "Well, then, I guess we'll have to tack another week onto the end of it, won't we?" He didn't wait for his student's answer, going instead back to his classroom and closing the door firmly behind him.

The other boy didn't wait for a chance to get yelled at again. He stalked back down the hall, with nothing but a smirk at Skipper's misfortune.

Skipper grumbled before heading down the hall in the opposite direction to meet up with the rest of the 'gang'. When he caught up to them, he was met with exclamations of surprise, and Tally's groan of "You idiot! What did you do now?"

"It wasn't my fault!" he said, scandalized. He then recounted the most recent unfortunate event, expecting sympathy and understanding.

"Tally's right. You are an idiot. Why would you let him get to you like that?" Rosa said, rolling her eyes.

"What?! He was mocking me!"

"Sounded to me like he was only jealous." Looey said.

"Jealous? Of what!? What've I got to be jealous of?"

"Your voice. Duh." Ellie said with a laugh.

"My voice isn't that good! That's become pretty obvious since I arrived here."

"Yes, but everyone knows it will be, after hearing you sing that morning." Looey observed.

"So? Who is this guy anyway?"

"How are we supposed to know? Could've been anyone. This is a Hall for musicians." Tally stated, sarcastically.

Skipper glared at him before deciding to describe the other boy. "Well, he was rather tall, with light brown hair, I guess, and he looked like he hadn't shaved in awhile," Skipper shrugged, there wasn't much more to tell.

"Oh, that's Daryn," Rosa said, as though that explained everything. She rolled her eyes before continuing. "He is one of the best voices in the Hall. He pretty much hated you since he heard you singing that one morning."

"But why?" Skipper asked in agitation, "my voice isn't that good!"

"Yes, but anyone who heard it knows it could be." Tally repeated with patience. "I guess he feels threatened?" Tally said absently.

"Well, whatever the reason," Looey said with all the authority of the nobly born, "he's bad news and you should just stay away from him."

"He's not all that bad," Rosa said defensively, "he just worked really hard to get where he is, and doesn't want it to be snatched away by some rookie. No offense, Skip."

"Yes, and suddenly Rosa is an empath," Looey drawled.

"No!" Rosa said in annoyance, "I just don't think it's that hard to see why he's acting like he is."

"Yes, Rosa, we understand. You see what we don't. We're honored to be graced by your insight into the minds of men," Ellie said in a singsong voice, causing Rosa to throw her hands in the air and begin walking on down the corridor.

"We've already had one fight," she called over her shoulder, "no need to go picking another one!" The girls drifted after her, each with a grin on their face.

Once the girls were safely out of the way each of the boys took it in turn to congratulate Skipper. "Did you get any good hits in?" Koby demanded.

"That first punch I hit him in the jaw. Busted his lip right open." Skipper said, feeling quite proud of himself. There were appreciative exclamations from the other boys.

Grant patted him on the back, a huge grin on his face. "Not even here a month, and already our little Skipper is picking fights." Everyone laughed at this. "I see that he got you pretty good, too," Grant continued, looking at Skipper's eye. "You didn't take that from him, did you?"

"Nah," Skipper said, waving his hand as if his aching face was no big deal, "I tackled him right into the ground. Got him some good hits in the gut." The other boys all applauded him, pleased with their friends fighting abilities. They drifted down the hall after that, deciding it would be best to turn in for the night.