Chapter 14: Distant Joe
846 Words
"So, what did you want to talk about? Joe?" I asked Alicia as we took our books out of our lockers.
She set down her bag and turned to me.
"Well, it's just that- he's not very social anymore." She said. "At least, not with me."
"Hmm... he hasn't texted us in a while though," I told her, picking up my notebook as the bell rung. "Maybe he's been busy."
It's been over a week and I noticed along with Alicia that Joe hasn't reached out to us lately. We thought that he was busy but it wouldn't be over the whole weekend. Would it?
"I was wondering, Max. Can you talk to him? I just want to know what's up." Alicia said.
I scratched my head.
"Uh, yeah. Sure, I guess."
"Okay, thanks." She smiled. "Oh, by the way. How's your nose?"
The pain from my nose was still throbbing a bit but it was getting numb.
"Meh. It'll be fine. Besides, it's not like I'd get punched anytime again." I said.
We both stopped upstairs in the detention room.
"Well, this is it. My first day of detention." I told myself as Alicia stood beside me.
"Don't worry. The teacher who runs that class is a brute, but all you have to do is keep your phone off and don't talk the entire time." She told me.
"Ugh. Four hours of sitting and doing nothing? Sounds better than actually going to class."
Alicia chuckled.
"I'll see you at lunch when you're out, alright?"
"Alright," I said. We hugged and she departed.
I gripped the silver door handle and slowly opened the wooden door, stepping in the room in a careful manner. The door hinge squeaked loudly, which caused many of the students in there to turn their heads to me. Most of them looked like thugs. Well, all of them were boys and none of them looked nice.
"What's your name?" The detention teacher asked me with a stern tone. His gray eyes matched his silver hair that was slicked back and napes over his ears. His head was rectangular shaped with strong features of his jawline visible, decorated with a five o'clock shadow.
"Max," I said in a low voice.
"Max?…" He said as if expecting me to finish the sentence.
"Max Powell," I told him.
"Well, Max Powell. This is detention. Now take your seat." He gestured with his pencil to the back of the classroom.
I began walking gradually down the row between the desks of boys that eyed me as I went to the back. There were balled up papers and broken pencils around on the floor. The floor as well was covered with pencil shavings and marks from dirty shoes.
Spotting an empty chair and desk at the back wall, I set down my drawing notebook and sat down. I took my pencil out and began to let my hand innovate on the paper. My phone was in my pocket and it was off. I bet Alicia would text me the moment I'd get out of detention.
The time went by unhurriedly as I just spent the first two hours hunched over, drawing pages and pages of characters. As I was getting out another sheet of paper, I overheard two boys across from me whispering with each other. They leaned back and forth towards each other quickly, as to not let the teacher see that they were talking to each other.
I'm not a snitch in this scenario, but I just had to hear whatever they were talking about.
"Yo, did you see what Joe said about that little pink who got in that fight last week?" The first guy said.
"Yeah, bruh. Little weirdo couldn't even throw a fist. What a bitch."
They were talking about me. I then realized that they were also conversing about the incident last week.
Then the door hinge squeaked, remotely indicating me that someone else was coming in. My eyes stayed on the paper, but I still ran in my mind about what the two guys had just said.
"Look, here he is now!"
I tilted my head up slightly and became deeply staggered when Joe appeared in the doorway. He was holding his backpack and his head was down as he looked at the teacher.
Then he started to come down the row that I sat in. In the back. He sat a couple of seats away from in front of me and gave one of the boys a hand slap. They began to converse quickly as he greeted them in a friendly way.
"So, how'd that fight go last week. Did you really beat that fag?"
"Damn right I did, bruh," Joe replied, speaking with a smug tone. His head then turned to me and his face became unevenly dismayed by my sight. I made eye contact and one of the other boys looked at me and simpered at me.
I didn't expect this to happen. I put my head back down and went back to drawing nonchalantly.
- Writer
