Chapter 8

Detention

During Band, Aria re-played last period's events over and over in her head, trying to make sense of it. She could not come up with a possible reason for her detention, or even Derek's for that matter. Why did Ms. Malone decide to dislike her?

"Aria," Mr. Spooner looked down at her from the podium. "Your solo?"

"Oh, right. Sorry." Aria began to play.

Last week, during after school practice, the flutes were tested to see who could best play the solo and Aria was chosen. She desperately did not want to let Mr. Spooner down. Aria could not bare to disappoint yet another teacher.

After Band let out Walter looked at Aria concerned. "Is something wrong, Aria? You seem a bit out of it."

"It's just, well," Aria figured she may as well tell him. "I got detention today in English."

"Detention, you? That's got to be a first. Why did you get detention?"

"That's just it. I have no idea. All I did was answer a question. Did she have a discussion with your class?"

"No. All she did with us was read out loud, Hansel and Gretel, and told us to write a summary about it. I must say, she's a pretty strange character. She seemed side more with the witch than Hansel and Gretel."

"I wish I was in your class." Aria was pretty sure that it was Derek's commentary that put Ms. Malone in a fowl mood in the first place.

Aria was unsure of how long detentions lasted, but she planned on meeting up with Vanessa after her volleyball practice. When she arrived back at the classroom, she found the door closed and Derek sitting out in the hallway.

When Derek saw Aria approaching, he said, "Ms. Malone wants us to wait here and she will talk to us separately."

"Um, okay." Aria sat down next to Derek and waited.

Aria couldn't help but ask, "Do you know why we got detention?"

"Easy," Derek replied. "She's insane."

"Shhh! She's in the classroom. You don't want her to hear you."

"She can't hear us out hear."

Aria recalled, "She did hear what Kendal said in the back of the room, remember?"

Derek still did not seemed concerned. "Yeah, well, we're already in trouble."

"Well, I'd like to get back on her good side if possible."

"Why do you care so much? It's not going to matter what teacher's think of you once high school is over."

"Why do you care so much about being popular?" Aria shot back. "That won't matter either once we're out of high school."

"I don't care, really."

"Yeah right."

Derek looked at her. "Its the truth. If I cared more, don't you think I would be dating a cheerleader? I'm just all about living life the way I want to."

Aria did not bother to respond. She couldn't tell whether or not Derek was being sincere. Surely he must at least somewhat care about popularity.

After a few moments of silence Derek asked, "Hey, do you remember that English assignment Mrs. Norbert gave us? The one about whether we would die for someone we love?"

"Sure. Why?"

"What did you put?"

"I said no because I value my own life," Aria admitted. "Those were actually Walter's words but it is how I feel. What did you say?"

"I said no, too."

"Why?"

"Because after seeing how Ian is with Kendal, I promised myself I would never get that wrapped up over a woman."

"Nice," Aria commented. "Though I do see your point."

Ian may think that he is in an actual relationship with Kendal, but to the outside world, it just appeared to be mistress and servant boy. Aria could not understand why Ian continued to date her and apparently, Derek agreed with her.

Another thought came to Aria. She was actually having a real conversation with Derek James. No teasing or mocking. Just talking. Could this day get anymore backwards?

The door opened and out came Ms. Malone. "Mr. James, I will speak with you first. Ms. Rosenberg, please wait out here."

Aria could not help but feel anxious. Ms. Malone wanted to talk to them alone? How much trouble could she be in? Also, even though Aria never had detention before, she was sure this is not how it normally works. She sat nervously and waited, her palms beginning to sweat.

After a few minutes, Derek came back out.

"What did you talk about?" Aria demanded nervously.

"She basically just said I was being a hypocrite for defending you and that I should stick to my original beliefs. Oh, and I shouldn't get so wrapped up over girls at my age."

"I guess you won't have a problem with that."

Derek grinned and then said, "Well, good luck. See you later."

"Ms. Rosenberg. I'm waiting."

Aria breathed slowly as she entered the classroom prepared to apologize. To her surprise, Ms. Malone smiled at her and said, "Please have a seat, Aria."

Aria sat down at the middle desk of the front row. She briefly wondered why Ms. Malone decided to start calling her by her first name.

"I just want to start by saying I'm sorry about the misunderstanding. I didn't mean to actually give you detention. You see, I'm not from around here so I'm not exactly sure what the customs are. I simply just wanted to talk with you, Aria. Nothing more."

Aria sighed, relieved. "That's okay. What did you want to talk about?"

"Today's lesson. Fairy Tales are just fascinating, don't you think? There's just so much you can learn from them."

Aria nodded. Again, Ms. Malone reminded her of Ms. Fleming. Aria recalled Ms. Fleming passionately reading her fairy tales to her as a little girl.

Ms. Malone continued. "One thing you must understand, Aria, is that there are two sides to every story. Even what appears to be evil in the version you read has their own side of the story. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

Ms. Malone smiled. "Tell me, Aria, why do you believe the evil fairy placed a curse on the princess in Sleeping Beauty?"

"Well, I guess she was upset that she wasn't invited to the celebration," Aria responded beginning to understand what Ms. Malone was saying.

"And do you know, what this supposedly evil fairy might have felt?"

Aria spoke more confidently, "Left out…rejected."

"Well, it appears you do understand," Ms. Malone smiled.

"Yes! I have never been invited to a single party thrown by my classmates and that is exactly how I feel. And you know what? The girl who has most of these parties use to be one of my best friends and now she just either torments me or completely ignores me. It feels horrible."

"Yes, I understand as well, dear. You see, many years ago there was this grand celebration and all my sisters were invited, except me."

Aria's jaw dropped at this. "That's terrible! Did they tell you why you couldn't come."

"They said there were simply not enough chairs."

Aria rolled her eyes. "Last month, Ian did invite me to one of the parties and then Kendal comes up to me and says I can't come because there were not enough food and drinks. Can you believe that!"

Ms. Malone smiled understanding and commented, "People can be quite unbelievable sometimes. Well, Aria. I have somewhere I need to be now. I must say, this was quite a good talk. I look forward to seeing you again in the future."

Aria smiled back. "Yeah, this was great! I've never talked this way with a teacher before. Well, I'll see you tomorrow."

Aria could not believe how well that went. Never in her life, had she had a teacher that actually seemed to understand her. She wondered what Ms. Malone was like in high school. Maybe, she too, felt like an outsider to her peers, though it seems like she gets left out of even family events. Poor Ms. Malone.

"Hey, Aria!"

Well, that was good timing. It appears Vanessa just finished up with volleyball practice.

"Hi, Vanessa!" Aria replied cheerfully.

"You're awfully perky for someone who just had their first detention. Walter told me. How was it?"

"It actually wasn't detention, you see, Ms. Malone just wanted to talk."

"Oh, okay. About what?"

"How there are two sides to every story. Like in Sleeping Beauty, the evil fairy was just upset that she got left out of the celebration. We should know what that feels like, right?"

Vanessa frowned, "Yeah, but we don't curse Kendal with death when she doesn't invite us."

"Well, I suppose the fairy did over-react a bit, but its just a story. It you look at it differently, it could be a lesson on what happens when you leave people out."

"Over-reacted? She cursed an innocent baby to die. I'd say that more than just a simple over-reaction. I'm pretty sure that is not the point of the story. Ms. Malone seems to have a pretty twisted view on life."

"She just understands what rejection feels like. Besides, they're fairy tales. They are not meant to be taken literally."

After that, the girls silently agreed to disagree as they walked back home. For once in her life, Aria was actually looking forward to the next day in school.

xXx

Much to Aria's dismay, Ms. Malone was not there the next day or any day after that. Aria wondered what happened to her. Why would she just come for one day, bond with a student, and then leave for good? Aria desperately wanted to see her again, but had to idea how to go about doing that.

She looked around at her classmates. No one else seemed to notice or care that Ms. Malone was gone. It almost seemed as if she had never been there at all.