Detention in our school was completely different from how movies and books portrayed it to be.

In Maverick high, we couldn't use our phones, we couldn't do our homework, we couldn't interact with the other students and the accurate time spent outside when detention had already started was going to be given back to you as extra time.

I hadn't been to detention before, and from the looks on both Emery and Caelum's faces, it was their first time too. But, how did I know the rules of detention even if I hadn't been here before? The gossip in the hallways every morning remained the number one source of information.

On reaching the detention room, I muttered a quick prayer and sent a quick text to mum before turning to look at Caelum and Emery. Caelum disregarded my presence by entering into the room and making himself known, while Emery gave me a small nod, to which I curtly mirrored before walking into the room.

All eyes on me.

Literally.

I skimmed through the classroom with my eyes, realizing that more than half of the students were seniors. Ignoring the stares, I wiped my sweaty palm on my skirt and flew to the empty seat at the corner of the room. Emery was the last student to walk into the classroom and I was tempted to laugh at the expression on her face when she went to sit in the middle of the room.

"First things first," Mr. Smith, our Geography teacher started, moving away from his desk. "There will be no form of speaking, laughing, whispering, humming, or talking. If I hear any sound, I won't hesitate to detain all of you for another—"

"Mr. Smith?" a dark-haired girl called from the back.

"Yes?"

"Can I please go to the bathroom?" she asked politely.

"No," he said. He turned away from the girl. "You will not make any form of sound, and this is a proper punish—"

"Mr. Smith?" the girl called again and I hid the grin threatening to appear on my face. Mr. Smith hated it when people interrupted him. "May I please go to the bathroom?"

"No, Maya." He let out an exasperated sigh. "And if you 'oh so want to go to the bathroom,' however long you take in that bathroom, you will have to stay after detention and make that time up. Alone."

Maya slumped back in her seat with a huff.

Mr. Smith didn't care, though. He kept on ranting on and on about the rules of detention. I looked around the room once again and spotted an extremely bored looking Caelum glaring at the clock on the wall.

I still wanted to know the reason why he was going to start a fight with Cole, and why Emery was crying in the bathroom.

"Ms. McCready!" Mr. Smith yelled from where he stood.

I lifted my head to look at him. "Yes sir?"

"Tap your fingers on that desk one more time and I won't hesitate to keep you for an extra hour." He glared at me. I honestly didn't know I was tapping my fingers on the table but I nodded, regardless.

Mr. Smith went back to sit and my train of thoughts continued.

How many flying Pigs could fill this detention room?

Why did Elephants have big butts? And if they sat on a human, how much time did that person have left?

If Gigi never met Zayn, would I ever have a chance with him?

How much progress had I made with Caelum ever since I made the vow to find out whatever he was hiding?

It was already the first week in December and all I knew about him were the facts he wanted me to know. I pulled my hair tie off my head and let my hair fall on my shoulders as the main question filled my mind.

What the hell made Caelum Jensen the way he was?

Groaning silently, I turned to look at Emery and made some form of signal to get her to look at me. When she finally did, I mouthed a "we need to talk after detention."

She nodded, giving me a half-smile in return to which I curtly mirrored, before averting my gaze back to the clock to painfully count down the thirty-five minutes we had left in detention.

I was never coming back to detention.

Ever.

When I placed my head on my desk and had fallen asleep, Mr. Smith threatened to give me another detention if I did it again. When I had dozed off staring at the clock, he yelled and threatened to give me another detention. I was pretty much the only one he kept yelling at, but at least, he didn't give me another detention.

Standing outside the detention room, I held my jacket closer to my body as I waited for Emery. This year, we only got a few drizzles in October, but the rain had fallen a little towards the end of November. It was nowhere close to the amount of rainfall we'd experienced in the previous years, but a little rain was better than none.

"Hey Daesyn," a voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I lifted my eyes from my feet and my eyes widened involuntarily when I saw who it was.

Lisa Gretchen.

I did see her in the detention room but I chose not to acknowledge her. It seemed I didn't have a choice, after all.

"Hey," I greeted her with a small nod, eyeing her suspiciously.

"I saw you in detention today," she said. "How's it going?"

My jaw dropped at her question, we hadn't talked in so long and she suddenly wanted to know what was going on with me after seeing me in detention?

"Why do you care?" I asked her curiously, but mentally smacked myself when I saw the look on her face. "I didn't mean it in a bad way—"

"I understand," she nodded, playing with her fingers. "I'm sorry."

"What?" I pursed my lips, scrunching my eyebrows in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

She smiled. "Let's not make this conversation weirder than it is, Daesyn. I think you know what I'm talking about.

I frowned.

"I'm sorry," she said just as Emery came to stand beside me. "Papa tried his best but he didn't have any evidence, and I should've stayed when you needed me the most. I'm really sorry."

I blinked repeatedly, forcefully swallowing the lump in my throat as I tried to force the tears in. I hadn't relieved this memory in so long until Melanie talked about Lisa, and now Lisa came to talk to me after so many years.

Why was this happening?

"Why did you take this long?" I asked her, folding my lips in my mouth. "Why did you take so long to reach out to me?"

"I felt guilty," she said, her eyes turning glassy. "I didn't know what to do, and I felt distancing myself away from you was the best option."

"It's fine." I nodded when my voice returned. I forgave her years ago when I concluded that Father wasn't coming back. "Life's too short to hold grudges, yeah?"

"Yeah, Uncle Dale said that a lot," she said before glancing between Emery and me. "We should catch up soon. See you around?"

It honestly felt like a huge weight was removed from my body. Maybe this was the closure we both needed. "See you around Isa."

Emery dragged me away from the door side when Lisa walked away and I was tempted to call her out on her dragging and pulling lately. "You were friends with her?"

"Yes Em, back in elementary school or middle school," I said. "What happened?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked.

"What?" I furrowed my brows. "The conversation never came up, and I didn't think it was important to tell you about her."

"But still," she muttered, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Woah, Woah, Woah," I said. "What does my friendship with Lisa have to do with anything?"

"Don't you get it?" she yelled. "Lisa was your first best friend and you both had these really cute nicknames for yourselves. And from the looks of it, your parents knew her and vice versa."

"I'm confused," I said. "Can you just go straight to the point?"

"Yes, I will!" She nodded, placing her hands back into her hoodie pocket. "What if you abandon me for her? What if you become friends again? What happens to me then?"

My jaw scraped the ground at Emery's words.

"That won't happen," I assured her. "You are my best friend."

"Doesn't matter," she countered. "Lisa can waltz back into your life as your best friend."

"Emery, even if our friendship started weirdly," I said. "You are my best friend and nothing's going to change that. If you think I'll be replacing you anytime soon, then you should know it's not happening. Why would you even think like that?"

She placed a hand on her forehead, glancing at me through her lashes. "After everything with Cole, I just feel I'm never going to be good enough."

"Firstly, I hate that you think you're never going to be good enough," I said, resting my weight on the wall. "You are Emery freaking Jensen and you are good enough. Nobody cares about what fucking Cole thinks."

She opened her mouth to speak but I cut her off with a raise of my finger. "Don't think I have forgotten about you and Cole," I said. "So, speak."

She faked a cough but when she saw the look on my face, she put her hands back into her hoodie pocket. "So, after dinner at the stupid restaurant," she started. "We went back to his car and we were talking and he asked me if I liked him."

I nodded. "If you don't feel comfortable talking about it, you don't have to tell me."

"No, you deserve to know." She shook her head, taking deep breaths before continuing. "And I said I liked him, which is...was the truth. He nodded before grinning like the idiot he is and leaned in for a kiss. We were kissing and I was so caught up in the moment..."

"What did he do, Em?" I pressed.

"Uh," she muttered, covering her face with her palms. "I didn't know when or how things escalated, but before I knew it, he already took a photo of us—of me."

"What?" My eyes widened. "He took a photo of you when... un-fucking-believable."

After clearing her throat, she removed her hands from her face and continued. "So, I told him to delete the photo and he said to chill out because he just wanted to be reminded of that moment. And I kept begging him not to do anything with it but he only smirked in return. He drove me back home and I saw your missed call when I went in, but I couldn't bring myself to call you back because you told me not to go out with him and instead of listening to you, I was joking with Alexa."

I gave her the I-didn't-want-to-say-I-told-you-so-but-I-told-you-so look before urging her to continue.

She returned her attention to her shoes. "I didn't tell Caelum anything either because I knew he was going to get mad. But when we came to school this morning, some of Cole's friends were winking at me and calling me names, so Caelum forced the story out of me and he got really mad when I told him what happened. Then, he wanted to fight with Cole and I couldn't let that happen because I didn't want Caelum to get into trouble, but I feel cheap." Her voice cracked just as she finished and all I wanted to do at that point was sock Cole in the face.

"It's official," I said. "I hate Cole Adler."

"I hate him too," she muttered.

"Do you want to report him to the school authorities?" I asked, cringing at how I sounded like Mr. Bob.

She waved her hands frantically. "No, no. I am not doing that!"

"Why? I could report him for you anonymously."

"You don't understand," she replied, running a hand through her hair.

"Make me understand, Em."

"Mother will find out," she said. "Believe me, you don't want to know what will happen when she finds out."

"So, Cole's going to go scot-free?"

She shrugged. "Just forget about it, Caelum will do something about Cole. I'm really tired."

I nodded in understanding. "I do want Cole to pay for that stupid stunt he pulled," I said. "But I'm just as clueless on what to do. You have to call or text me when you get home, though. As much as it pains me to say this, I miss seeing your weird texting slangs."

Her eyes lit up. "I knew you were eventually going to say that."

I smiled, lifting my body off of the white walls. Emery and I walked towards the large door of the school building before she suddenly stopped and turned to me. "Do you still like Caelum?"

My lips involuntarily turned up to form a smile and I nodded in response. "You know I do, Em."

She nodded. "Are you falling for him already?"

I nodded. "I am," I said. "And it sucks because he keeps sending mixed signals. I'm pretty sure he doesn't like me that way, so it's fine."

"How do you know he doesn't like you back?" she asked.

I peeked at her through my lashes. "We only became friends a few weeks ago and he probably sees me as his annoying sister's best friend who forced her way into his life."

She muttered something under her breath before grinning. "He really doesn't see you that way," she said. "He just finds it hard to express his feelings."

"Yes Em." I clapped mockingly. "Keep on giving me false hopes and I won't be able to get over him."

"Me?"

I turned around to see Caelum and my heart dropped. I thought of denying my feelings for him, but Emery was still going to tell him if I didn't. So, I sighed. "Yes, you."

I held my breath in the silence that followed, waiting to get any sign to show he reciprocated my feelings. I didn't see anything. His face gave away nothing.

My embarrassment led to annoyance and before I knew it, I snapped. "What did you think would happen?" I asked. "That we could spend every day together, hugging, holding hands, arguing, doing whatever it is I do, and you saying whatever it is you say, and I wouldn't feel anything?" It took everything in me to stop myself from throwing the kiss in his face because that was pretty much what messed my head more. But if I talked about that kiss, things were going to go from bad to worse. "Maybe you don't care and all, but I cannot not care about somebody I spend more than seventy percent of my living moments with. Maybe there's something wrong with me, I don't know."

I didn't even realize when Emery left, but it was probably a good thing. Caelum's eyes burned through mine, dark and intense. But I didn't relent. When he finally spoke, his voice was just a notch above a whisper. "There's nothing wrong with you, Daesyn," he said. "It's me."

Those words cut the little string of hope I was holding onto. We hadn't even talked about getting into a relationship, and he already used the break-up line. It's not you, it's me.

"Awesome," I said, turning around. "See you when I see you."

And then when I was almost out of the door, he said, "I'm sorry." That was pretty much my breaking point because I barely got a wink of sleep that night.

-

Author's note:

I'm the bad guy, duh :(

I have lost every form of inspiration for this book, and bruh, is this writer's block?

But, I still promise to publish a new chapter every week :)

My brother is getting yelled at by my dad rn, and I am extremely happy hehehe

Oh, and that gif up there, I just had to lmao. Please leave your votes and comments if you enjoyed reading the chapter. Ly <3