- Insert your favourite song here :)
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Back to Lydia's P.O.V
Quietly, I observe my surroundings.
Mr. Jacob Turnings sits on his black leather rotating chair, playing with a pen in his hand all the while flicking his eyes to me and then towards the guy who I punched in the face whose name I've gathered is Conan Jones. Since I know I'm here for a while I decide to look around. Conan and I sit on brown leather chairs. The walls are painted a dark grey, almost black. On the black table in front of us is a transparent globe, and on the left of the table is a table lamp. Behind Mr. Turnings chair is a ceiling high cabinet filled with antiques and photo frames. On each side of the cabinet are black and white paintings. Overall the office looks aesthetic. It looks like he's a big fan of the colour black. We'll get along well.
"So, will the two of you tell me about the scene that you both created in the hallways?" Our dear Principal breaks the silence.
From my side, Conan groans, pressing the ice pack to his nose. He glares at me and I smile sweetly at him.
"Ms. Herrington, it's your first day and you are already here, in my office. Why don't you tell us what happened?" He puts his pen down, leaning back in his chair in a comfortable position. He motions with his hands for me to answer. "A little faster Ms. Herrington, I have other businesses to take care of."
Sighing, I begin, "I was just minding my business, putting things in my locker when this asshole - sorry - idiot decided to flirt with me and force me to accompany him to the Janitor's room. He wasn't taking no for an answer so I punched him. Simple." I shrug.
Mr. Turnings nods his head. He then focuses his attention on Conan.
"Is this true, Mr. Jones?" he questions. "Or do you wish to add something? Make sure you are telling the truth. The school has working CCTV cameras."
"Yes sir, she's telling the truth. I'm sorry for my behaviour," he grits out, giving me a deadly dare. In return, I roll my eyes at him.
What a pussy!
"How many more complaints are we going to get about you before you finally realize that you need to change your behaviour, Mr. Jones? You've already had your share of warnings. But this time, you crossed the line. You are suspended for 2 weeks and you shall stay away from Ms. Herrington from now on," he finishes in an authoritative voice, eyes fixated on him. "Do I make myself clear?"
When Conan doesn't reply, he asks again, "Do I make myself clear Mr. Jones?"
"Yes sir."
Satisfied with Conan's answer, Mr. Turnings turns to me. "Ms. Herrington, even though what you did counts as self defence, the Academy has certain rules - one of them being non-violence. So, since you broke one of our rules, you'll serve detention for the next 3 days."
What the actual fuck is this?
"I expect a civil behaviour from the both of you, starting today. I'll be observing you guys. I'm sure you'll abide by the rules from now on." With that being said, we are dismissed.
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After I'm done with all of my classes for the day, I decide to give my dad a call, informing him about my detention. I know that i do not deserve the detention at all, but still I hope he won't get mad.
I hope he's in a good mood.
He picks up on the second ring, "Hey honey. Is everything alright?"
"Everything's fine dad. I just wanted to tell you that I have detention today," I tell him in a timid voice.
"Seriously Lydia? First day and you already have detention?" He chuckles on the other side. Okay. This wasn't how I thought it would go. "What did you do this time?"
"I punched a guy in the face."
"Why?"
"Because the guy was kinda forcing himself on me. So I broke his nose," I reply, waiting for his reaction on the newly fed information.
"What?" I slightly flinch at his loud tone. My dad never yells. This means he's really really angry now. "Who the hell was that? Did you hit him hard? Did he try anything else on you? Are you hurt? You want me to come get you? Are you ---"
"Dad, calm down. I'm fine. He didn't do anything. You don't have to worry about me. I'm the strongest, remember?"
He chuckles lowly, exhaling loudly and I know he has calmed down, the anger gone for now. "Yeah, I know. After all you're my daughter."
"But seriously, you want me to beat the guy up? I'm a lawyer, I can easily win a case even if I kill him. No one has to know. You just have to say it once."
I snort. "No killing dad. It's not good for mental health. Besides, I did a number on his nose. I can handle myself very well."
"Yeah, I know." In the background, I hear someone calling for my dad. "Listen honey, I gotta go. It's an emergency. But I'll talk to you later. Be safe. Bye. I love you."
"Bye dad. I love you too." And then, I hang up.
Smiling to myself, I walk towards the Detention Room, which is on the end of the hallway. Taking a deep breath, I open the door.
As soon as I enter the rooms I see a teacher propped up against the teacher's table, giving out some kind of a paper, which to me looks like a quiz or something. Great.
"Lydia." Someone exclaims. My eyes wander around the room to see Bruce sitting on a chair at the back of the classroom. Along with him is Erica and a bunch of other people I don't know. Yet. They all are sitting in a circle, completely ignoring the teacher. I guess these are the friends Erica was talking about.
"Come here, meet my friends," Erica calls our for me.
I shrug and make my way towards them, and give them a smile. "Hey guys, I'm Lydia.
I let my eyes take in all the faces before I come across another familiar face. "Eric, hey."
"So, you remember me, huh?" He smiles at me, his dimples showing.
"Obviously. Those dimples are kinda hard to forget." I'm not flirting. This is just the way I am.
"Hey, I'm Kiara Dustin. Eric's girlfriend." The girl sitting on Eric's side introduces herself. What a way to introduce yourself. Maybe she's jealous.
"Hey. You have such a cute name." Her features ease up at that. Thank god. I don't want any jealous girlfriend on my back all the time.
"Hi, I'm Trisha Powers," says the blonde sitting on my right.
"I like your hair." I give her a warm smile. I've always liked blonde hair, I don't know why. Maybe because my mom was blonde before she dyed her hair brown.
That cracks her up. "Everyone says the same thing to me when they meet me for the first time. It's like, I have many other things other than my hair that are worth looking at." The last bit is a whisper, but everyone hears it clearly.
"As if you let them see anything else," Bruce mutters under his breath.
"Fuck you, Bruce Cooper." Trisha shows him the finger.
I chuckle. Seems like there's some sexual tension.
Next the guy sitting beside Erica, who has his arm wrapped around her introduces himself. "Hi, I'm Ashton Cahill. But everyone calls me Ash."
"Excuse me, but who gives you attention here?" Bruce butts in.
"Shut the fuck up butthole, no one's talking to you," Ashton, or should I say Ash remarks, looking at Bruce while he just winks at him.
"Stop fighting, he's Bruce. We don't take him seriously," Erica whispers in Ash's ears but we all all hear it anyway. Maybe she did that on purpose. Then I see a smirk playing on her lips. Yeah, she did. Little Bitch.
Bruce grumbles. "I hate you all. Except for Lydia. She's my one true friend."
I roll my eyes at him. Dumbass.
"Of course you do." Snorts the guys sitting next to Bruce. From what I have noticed, he's the quite one. He then turns to me and says, "Hey, I'm Neil Rogers."
"So Lydia, what brings you here, in the detention room?" Erica raises an eyebrow at me. "I mean, it's your first day and you're already in trouble."
"I punched a guy," I shrug in nonchalance. Then, I wait for their reaction.
Everyone bursts out laughing. The collective sounds get so loud that the teacher has to shout at us. "Silence. Everyone do your own work."
We all ignore her and focus on the current topic.
"So, who's the unlucky guy?" Trisha asks me.
"His name's Conan. Conan Jones." I tell them before continuing, "He was flirting with me and kept asking me to join him in the Janitor's room for quickie even after I said no. So, I broke his nose."
"Wow. Serves him right," Erica says in an angry tone. "I fucking hate that bastard." The way Erica talks about him makes me feel that there's some bad blood between her and Conan.
Ash focuses his attention on her, whispering something to her to make her mood better. I guess it works because the next thing we know is that Erica is giggling, and Ash is smiling at her. Cute, but a little cringy.
"So, did he get suspended? Because he is not in detention?" Eric questions.
"Yeah. For 2 weeks. And I have detention for 3 days because I broke the "non-violence' policy." I mutter, using air quotes when I say non-violence. Like, self defence doesn't matter - fucking school rules and regulations do.
"But wait, what did you guys do to get detention?" I raise raise curious eye brow at them.
Kiara answers, "Well, Bruce here, decided to glue Mrs. Benedict to her chair using super glue. She found out somehow, so she gave him detention for a week but this idiot decided to tell her the we all planned this together. So we all have detention for a week now."
"What the fuck. That's insane. I wish I could've seen that," I exclaim, truly sad for missing something this great and fun.
"Wait till you see what else I'm capable of. I can rock your world," Bruce smirks, winking at me suggestively. His eyes twinkle, making me miss a certain someone, but I push that thought to the back of my mind.
Now is not the time to drown in old memories. It's the time to make new ones.
"Keep dreaming, big boy, Lydia is never gonna go for you. She has high standards, right sis?" Trisha retorts, her eyes looking at me expectantly.
"Yeah, she's right. Also, Bruce is yours Trish, I ain't gonna steal him. I'm not a bitch," I reassure her, earning laughs from everyone.
"No, no, no, no, there's nothing like that," Trish says frantically, hands throwing in all directions.
"You say it like it's a disease to like me," Bruce mutters, offended. A frown dons his face.
"It is." And this is how a small conversation blows up into an argument about Bruce.
I decide the soon-to-be-lovebirds alone and turn my attention towards the mature people of the group. "Did I do something wrong or this is the usual?"
Erica chuckles, waving it off with an eye roll. "Oh, you don't know half of it. These two are always fighting. They can go on forever."
"So, is this all or is there someone else I need to be worried about?" I ask, a voice in the back of my mind telling me that something is yet to come. Something different.
Eric is the one to answer as he bends forward, resting his chin on his folded hands. "There's only one person left. And let me warn you, he is crazy."
"I can handle a little crazy." I shrug my shoulders, intrigued by his words. "What's his name?"
"His name is Ridge. Ridge Meanders."
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Most memorable school memory?