Chapter 7

" . . . and anyway, you know that we are sharing a secret, but he doesn't know, so I think you should have kept your mouth shut. Ella? Are you even listening?" What Rachel didn't know was, no, Ella was not listening, but instead tapping her foot to the rhythm of "Crush" on her iPod. "I can't believe you. You go on and talk about anything as much as you want, but when someone else tries to make a point, you sit there and listen to David Archuleta!"

"Hey, there is nothing wrong with David Archuleta!" Ella yelled back.

"Yes, there is. He has a deformed mokey-rat-type face and his voice sounds like forks being shredded," Diane mumbled, but Rachel didn't hear her.

"Oh, so now you hear me!" she said.

"RACHEL. Give it up, would you?" Diane said. "Please. Look, he didn't find anything out, so will you please calm down?"

Rachel pouted. "No." Both of her best friends sighed.

"Well, if you still don't want him to find out, keep your voice down," Ella warned. Sure enough, Cedric sat in his usual chair, the second to last one in the last row, surrounded by all of his idiot friends. Rachel sat in the opposite corner of the room. She turned towards him once, then looked back at the front of the class. So far, the group was the only one there. They were all very early. The class was empty and quiet, except for the quiet murmurings of the nine students there: Rachel, Ella, Diane, Cedric, Harold, Geoff, Eli, Jared, and Neil.

Suddenly, the guys started having a paper ball fight. Paper flew in every direction. The boys started falling off their desks and several paper balls flew over to where the three girls sat. One hit Ella in the head.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. "What the hell?"

Racehl laughed. "Ella, it's a paper ball, not a rock that almost killed you back in, what, fourth grade?"

Ella scowled. "Third grade."

Diane picked the paper ball up off the ball and threw it back with extreme precision. It hit Cedric right in the back of the head.

"Nice shot," Rachel giggled. Cedric, smiling, turned around to find the culprit and Diane pointed at Rachel innocently.

"Hey, I didn't throw that! I have horrible aim," Rachel defended.

"Nice excuse," Cedric said. Smirking, he crumpled up another peice of paper and tossing it straight at Rachel. She didn't have much of an arm, that was true, but she was a master at dodging. She ducked her head right on time and the ball flew right past her head and into Diane's face.

"Ha! That's what you get for lying, Di," Ella laughed. Diane picked up the paper and flung it at Ella. Ella glared and stuck her tongue out.

So, by now, everyone was involved in the paper ball fight, but now there were paper airplanes, too, and no one was sitting anymore. Everyone had a folder as a sheild and were all standing up, the boys on their side of the room, the girls on theirs. Each tore paper out of their notebooks and flung them across the room.

"Hey, wait," Eli suddenly spoke, stopping the paper-flinging for a moment. "There's six guys and three girls. That's unfair."

"So?" Neil spoke. "Let's get rid of Cedric to their side, he's useless." Everyone laughed.

"Hey, I hit Diane right in the face," he said.

"Yeah, when I wasn't looking. Let's not forget that Rachel dodged that throw perfectly," Diane defended.

"True," Cedric agreed. "But I' not fighting along-side you three," he said.

"Why not?" Ella asked. "Afraid your own boys will take you down?"

"You know what? Move over," he said, coming over to the girl's fort. They resumed their paper-ball bombing.

"Hey, you're not that bad," Rachel noted to Cedric.

"Thanks. You're pretty good at the dodging thing yourself," he replied as he got hit with another ball, right in the head

"Nice," Rachel laughed.

"Hey, wait, it's still uneven. Four-to-five," Diane stated.

"Let's make it even, then," a new, deeper voice sounded. "I'm here, now we have an even ten."

"Oh, crap," Rachel whispered. There he was, Mr. Browne.

"Detention, all of you, today after school. Now, have this mess cleaned up before my good students arrive?"

"Yes, sir," some of the kids mumbled.

Cedric looked at Rachel and smiled. "Sorry about that. Didn't know he was gonna come so soon."

"Hey, it's no problem," Rachel smiled back. "It's not all your fault." Cedric laughed, and then so did Rachel.

"Let's get this cleaned up," he said.

"Hey, he took the blame for it. That was sweet," Ella was saying as the last bell of the day rang. They were on their way to detention with Mr. Browne.

"Yeah, I guess," Rachel replied.

"Why are you so quiet today?" Diane asked.

"I dunno," admitted Rachel.

"I do. It's 'cause she's too busy thinking about her little deformed seal," Diane said.

"Hey, guys!" they heard from behind them.

"Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear," Diane whispered. Sure enough, as they turned around, they saw Cedric jogging to catch up with them.

"Hey. I thought, since we're all going to detention, we might as well go together, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, right," Rachel said.

"Ugh, it feels like the day is starting over. Back to Mr. Browne again. I need Starbucks," Diane sighed.

"Are you, like, addicted to caffiene?" Ella questioned.

"She might just be," Rachel said.

"Do you have a problem with Starbucks?" Diane asked the two.

"Not at all, but we have a problem with your agitation when you don't get your daily caffiene," Ella said.

"Yeah, Di, give up the coffee. No wonder you're so short," Rachel agreed.

"You're one to talk," Diane countered.

"Hey, we're the same height," Rachel contradicted.

"She's right, you're the same height," Ella said.

"You're shorter than both of us," Diane said.

"I'm taller than both of you, what are you talking about?"

"She just hasn't had her coffee, she's seeing things."

"I can see that you're getting annoying."

"Ha ha, are you three always like this?" Cedric finally spoke.

Rachel had almost forgotten he was there. Almost. "Well, Cedric, if you were listening, no. We're not always like this, only when Diane hasn't had her sugar."

"Caffiene," Ella corrected.

"Wow, life must be a lot less boring with you around," Cedric noted.

"Do you mean me, Rachel, or Diane?" Ella asked.

"I don't know, all of you, I guess. Everyone's special, right?"

"And by 'special,' do you mean everyone has there own special qualities, or 'special' as in . . . well, very different?" Rachel asked.

Cedric laughed. "Well, here we are," he said, as the four arrived at Mr. Browne's classroom.

"Where are the rest of the idiot guys?" Rachel asked.

"Hey, that's not very nice. Besides, only I'm allowed to call them that," said Cedric.

"But you don't deny it, do you?" Rachel questioned.

"Nope," Cedric laughed. "They're not gonna show up. They have better things to do."

"So do we, but we're not skipping," Diane answered.

"Well, if it isn't my amateur army pilots," Mr. Browne said as they opened the door to the classroom. "Sit down, no talking." Rachel, unsure if she should sit down in her usual seat at the far left of the class, sat in the middle of the second row, setting her backpack on the floor next to her and her books on her desk. Diane took a seat behind Rachel and Ella to her right. Cedric sat, much to Rachel's delight, to her left.

Mr. Browne ruffled through papers on his desk, looking annoyed, then sighed. He spoke like they were regular delinquents in detention: "I will be right back. Stay here, be quiet. Do not make trouble, or you will be in more trouble. Understand?" Without waiting for a response, he trudged his large body out.

"No, I don't understand. I'm a complete moron," Ella said as soon as Mr. Browne was out of earshot. Rachel laughed.

"Oh, come on. What can we do? I'm not good with silence," she said. She looked at Cedric for a reply.

"Well, don't look at me. I don't know," he said, shrugging.

"Well, you're a fun person, just sitting there, all discouraged and stuff. It must be awesome to be your buddy," Ella stated sarcastically.

"Well, you're not exactly the life of the party at the moment," he countered.

"Yeah, Ella, be your crazy self," Rachel said.

"I can't be crazy, I just am. But not at the moment. My craziness just happens," she replied.

Rachel sighed. "Well, can we at least play, like, hangman or something? I have paper. Who goes first?"

"Rachel, no one agreed to play," Ella stated.

"I don't care! It's only been, what, 25 seconds? I already can't stand it."

"Fine, okay."

"Yay! Who goes first?"

"I'll go," Ella offered. Rachel handed her the pen and a peice of paper. Ella made a bunch of lines and a hook. "Okay, guess letters."

"E," Rachel said.

"Two 'e's," Ella said, filling in two of the blanks.

"Uh . . . 'i'?" Cedric suggested.

"One 'i,'" Ella confirmed. "Your turn, Diane."

"A," she said. "It's the most common-est letter."

"Common-est?" Rachel asked.

"Yes, common-est."

"No 'a,' guys," Ella announced. "And 'e' is the most 'common-est' letter, by the way."

"Thanks, Diane," Rachel said. "How about . . . 'r?'"

"Yep," said Ella. She filled in the first blank. So far, it said,"R _ _ e _ + _ _ _ i e _. "

"'Rachel and . . .," Cedric tried guessing, but it didn't work. "Is there a . . . 't?'"

"Yes, there is," Ella said, filling in another blank.

"And . . . a 'd?'" Diane asked.

"Nope," Ella denied. "That's two."

"Diane!" Rachel chided. "Okay, how about 'o?'"

"Mm-hmm." Now, the paper said,"R o _ e o + _ _ _ i e t. "

"'L?'" Cedric asked knowingly.

"I think you got it," Ella confessed.

"Ella!" Rachel yelled. "'Romeo and Juliet?' Seriously?"

Ella grinned. "Yep. Diane loses. She got no letters right." Diane pouted.

Rachel looked over at Cedric. "Cedric," she said, "you're blushing."

His cheeks turned ever redder. "What? No, I'm not."

"Yeah, you are," Rachel said, giggling. "Why?"

"I dunno, it's hot," he said.

"Really, now? You're wearing a t-shirt in an air-conditioned room in the middle of January! How is anyone in this room supposed to be hot?" Rachel questioned. Ella gave her "the look," and Rachel looked back at her with a looked that said,"Oh, that's not what I meant, and you know it."

"Where is this interrogation going?" he asked back.

"It's going somewhere. Are you hiding something?"

"You don't need to know that."

"I'm just asking, you don't have to answer."

"Well, good, 'cause I don't want to."

"But I asked have to answer now."

"You said I didn't have to answer!"

"I was just being nice."

"What kind of sense does that make?"

"It makes sense to me."

"You're insane! A rat running down a dark alley looking for some cheese would make sense to you!"

" . . . That does make sense, Cedric!"

"Whatever!"

"You still didn't answer my question."

"I have a right to my privacy."

"No, you don't."

"Since when?"

"Since now!"

"How is that reasonable?"

"It reasonable to me."

"Like I said, you are insane."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"How? You're such a know-it-all, I bet whatever I say you'd already know!"

"Try me." By now, Rachel and Cedric were standing face-to-face, about two inches away from each other. Both were hot and angry.

"Fine! I . . .," Cedric started, then mumbled something and backed down.

"You . . . what?"

"Nothing," he muttered, blushing and avoiding Rachel's eyes. She sat down on his desk.

"Well, at least tell me now. You have to. Stuff like that prevents me from sleeping. If you don't tell me, it'll kill me. And you don't want me to die, do you?" At that, Cedric looked up, with eyes widened, and he smiled, remembering a conversation he had with "Juliet." "'Cause they'll hold it against you," Rachel continued, pointing at Diane and Ella, who were just standing there watching the whole scene unfold before them.

"It's nothing," Cedric said. "It's stupid."

"Oh, please? Come on! I won't laugh."

"I know you won't laugh. 'Cause you're not gonna find out. I'm not giving in that easily."

Rachel sighed. "I had to give it a shot, didn't I?" she said, not thinking straight. Cedric looked up at her and grinned, and Rachel smiled back, but then she stopped smiling, rememebering her secret identity was supposed to stay secret. Cedric's smile turned to utter confusion. "Uh . . . " Rachel said intelligently. The two stared at each other for a long, uneasy silence.

"Awkward," Ella said in a sing-song voice, putting one of her over hands over the other and rotating her thumbs.

"Are we, like, missing something here?" Diane asked.

"Um . . . I dunno," Rachel said.

"Yeah, uh . . .," Cedric confirmed, no less confused.

"What are you doing? You should be sitting down in your desks! Silent and unbothersome," Mr. Browne suddenly interupting them and startling them all. Rachel got off of Cedric's desk and sat in her seat, and Diane and Ella got back in theirs. Mr. Browne trudged himself over to his desk. "Now," he continued,"I expect you to stay silent for the rest of the time you are to stay here." And so they did, they all sat in the awkward silence while their fat teacher grunted constantly about something on his desk.