CHAPTER 4 (DETENTION BUDDY)

I was yawning a bit as I propped my hand under my chin, a drowsy look on my face.

Gosh I hate Mondays. I really do. It's the day of the week when my brain ceases to function and everything else around me doesn't seem to disconcert me even one bit.

I simply don't care on Mondays.

"Miss Reed, I know you have high scores in Math but you should pay close attention and I prefer that you be more active," Miss Subner, our Math teacher, said as she passed by me, an eyebrow raised.

I only straightened my back a few millimetres (that's already an improvement) and tried to look like I was interested, which was a miraculous feat. "I'm sorry. Right Miss."

She didn't look impressed and continued discussing the problem on the board. Jeez. If I keep this up, she'll degrade me from an A to a B.

Scary.

But why oh why did they have to make Math the first subject on a Monday? Oh the joy. What better way to kill the brain than start Math on a Monday.

I seriously do not get our schedule. Maybe I could file a report on this.

Suddenly, a paper ball hit the back of my head.

"Ow…" I groaned and looked behind. I scowled.

Great. Tommy again.

He's always been quite a bother to me. I don't know why he's been bothering me a lot these days. Maybe he's got no one else to bother.

I tried to ignore him, like I always do. It wouldn't do me any good to fight with him.

I focused my attention on the board, lest Miss Subner reprimands me again.

Another paper ball hit the back of my head.

Ignore him Norah… Just ignore him…

Another paper ball…

I could nearly snap my pencil in two now…

Another paper ball… That one actually hurt.

THAT'S IT!!!!

"Will you quit it Tommy?!?" I yelled, throwing him an enraged look.

Suddenly, I realized what I did and clapped my hands to my mouth.

Cripes. I've done it again. Why didn't I control my temper??

Miss Subner crossed her arms, looking evidently displeased. "Norah. Detention later at the Music Room. You know you're not supposed to disrupt any of my class discussions. You'll be cleaning all those trophies one by one."

I paled. Trophies in the Music Room? There's like about hundreds of those!!

"B-But… But…" I tried to make a comeback but I couldn't think up of anything smart.

She shook her head, her decision was final. "Music Room. Four o' clock. You had better be there or I'll have you cleaning those trophies every week. Understood?"

I didn't answer. I was thinking of ways on how I'd murder Tommy.

Should I push him off a cliff? Should I throw him into a tank of vicious piranhas?

Oooh. Just wait 'till I get him…

"Miss Norah, understood?" she repeated once more, her tone deadly.

"Of course…" I said glumly and slumped into my seat.

She turned her back and continued writing on the board. I could only write down and control my temper. I swear I will stab Tommy.

Great. Detention right after I get healed of my injury. Simply great. Oh joy.

I opened the door to the music room, it creaked loudly. Jeez this room had the creepiest door ever. Like a horror movie, and I'm just waiting for Dracula to pounce from somewhere.

The room was painted peach with instruments piled in one side, some were in glass cases. There was a long mirror in the middle, clearly about decades old now. It was obvious from its intricate designs. I walked to the shelves, where my work lay.

I could only gape at the figures. I have to clean all of these??

Inside a huge, long shelf were countless trophies, I felt dizzy just by looking at them. And even dizzier with the fact that I'm going to clean all of this.

I sighed. But I have to get this done, or I'll have to suffer deafness soon.

I began opening the case and took out one trophy. I was already provided with a rag to clean all of these. I even got two. I began polishing the statue. Better get used to this.

I had been cleaning statues now for about thirty minutes, and I've only covered about one-fourth of the whole set. I felt tired already, but I knew that I couldn't stop. This had been my routine for the past half hour, and I was getting sick of it.

All of a sudden, something broke my routine as the door creaked open.

I saw who entered the place and gasped.

"Hey… You again," I smiled as I realized that it was Nate who entered the door.

He smiled and he was holding a guitar in his hands. "Hi. I came to return this. You in detention?"

I shrugged. "Yup. I'll deal with it."

"Oh cool. Wait a sec."

He went to one empty casket and placed the guitar there. He approached me and as soon as he saw the rag, he picked it up and began taking one trophy from the shelf. He began polishing it carefully. I only stared at him.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

He chuckled. "I'm offended. I'm helping you out of course."

"Oh. You okay with it? We've got a lot of work to do."

He nodded. "I'm fine. I think you really need the help."

I smiled. "Thanks Nate. That's really nice of you."

He nodded. "Sure."

"So, we're schoolmates?"

"I'm fifteen."

"Cool. Same as me. Nice to see you here. Really. What class?"

"Section A. You?"

"B."

"Cool."

We were silent for a while and we continued polishing the statues. I was pretty grateful that he was here though. At least that made me less nervous. Being alone in this place was a terrifying situation to be in.

"I really appreciate you being here you know. Why are you so nice anyway?" I asked him as I placed a polished statue on the table, where all the rest of the clean statues were.

He was silent for a while. Sometimes Nate can be odd.

"I dunno. You need help didn't you? It would pretty much be a jerk of me if I left you here," he replied, but I noticed that he seemed a bit weak. What's wrong with him? He looks pale too and he was covered in cold sweat.

"Aw… Thanks Nate," I replied.

We continued our work for a while. Nick grew paler as we continued. I kept on asking him if he was okay but he said that he was fine.

Finally, we were done and we began placing the trophies inside the shelf. I wiped the sweat from my brow. Whew. I never thought we'd get done.

"Thanks Nate," I grinned as we put the last statue inside the shelf.

Suddenly, he began to sway. I was surprised.

What was happening?

"Nate?" I asked him as I tapped his shoulder.

All of a sudden, he swayed forward and I nearly fell to the floor as his body collapsed on me. I held him and gasped. I felt his neck, he was clammy. He was breathing heavily, irregularly I was panicking inside. His eyes were closed as his head was on my shoulder.

Oh my gosh.

HE FREAKIN' FAINTED!!!!!