Hi guys. ^_^ Thanks for the responses. Hope you guys like this chapter.
Chapter 3: Mistake Number One: Bryan BanningThe silence was deafening. Her ears were ringing so loudly that her headache was increasing steadily. The pink slip in her hand was damp from nervous sweat. The door to the detention room creaked, breaking the silence at last. All eyes lifted to Victoria for a few seconds before turning away, back to previous business. The eyes that stayed on her made Victoria even more nervous.
Slowly, she stepped into the room, looking around. Everyone was sitting mostly quietly at their desk, respectively. A few people were talking quietly; snoring against their desks; or they were hiding some device that played music, earphones stuck in their ears. All in all, it was a pretty silent room. Victoria was...shocked. All of her preconceived notions of detention being chaotic and wild were immediately shot down.
Each step she took across the room was like thunder crashing down. Victoria winced as she approached the desk. The detention monitor looked up at her from a book. Stormy gray/green eyes gazed over silver rimmed glasses. The man's gaze wasn't intense enough to make her nervous; it was just a little uncomfortable since Victoria knew these were were not eyes she wanted to see that often.
Victoria wiped one hand on her skirt and handed the pink slip to the detention monitor. "I came from, ah, Mrs.--"
"The English class, third floor. I know," the monitor interrupted. "Mrs. Radisson called me already; told me to expect a nervous girl. You fit her profile," he paused, looking down at the paper, "Miss Addams. Take a seat in the back, next to Mr. Banning."
With a small nod, Victoria turned around and quickly scanned the room for Mr....Banning. Just who was Mr. Banning, anyway? If he was a regular, Victoria wasn't too sure she wanted to sit beside him. But she'd been told where to sit, and she wasn't going to argue. So she walked slowly towards the back of the room, trying to decide who was who and where she was supposed to sit. She didn't pay attention to a lot of people unless they directly concerned her. She was usually too focused on her school or a medical research book to notice anyone else. But Victoria suddenly had a pretty good idea who Mr. Banning was when she saw a guy flick his head back briefly at her. It was the same guy from lunch that had complimented her skirt.
"Yo, Addams," he said to her for the second time that day. Bryan wore a small smirk on his face.
Victoria smiled hesitantly at him and sat down in the desk beside his. "Hi," she murmured.
He leaned closer to her. "Wanted to see me again, didn't you?" he asked, his voice sly sounding.
"Mr. Banning," the detention monitor said sharply before Victoria could reply. "Please refrain from speaking."
Bryan winked at her and sat back in his seat.
Victoria blushed despite herself and started to put her head down on her desk. She heard the sound of paper being pulled from a ntoebook, but paid it no mind. She just didn't want to be there, in the detention room, sitting beside Bryan Banning.
From the corner of her eye, Victoria looked up and saw Bryan writing on a sheet of paper quickly. Victoria knew she had seen him before that day, and seeing him writing made her remember where exactly. He was in her Advanced Biology class, which was her last class. Ironically, it was next, once she was released from detention. Bryan sat in the front of the room and wore glasses because, she'd heard him say, he couldn't see the board from the back. His desk was one to the side and in front of Victoria's. She had seen his assignment and quiz papers with red marks all over them. Occasionally, she would see the words, "What happened?" on the top right corner, often compared to his tests. Victoria had never seen his tests; she figured he usually hid them before anyone else saw them.
Were his test grades really that bad? Victoria shrugged inwardly and rested her head in the crook of her elbow.
A moment later, she felt something poking her. Victoria looked up and saw Bryan leaning back in his seat again. The paper wasn't on his desk anymore. When she pulled away from her desk more, she saw the paper and a pen on her desk, surprisingly neat handwriting on the top line. The girl looked up at Bryan again. His eyes weren't on her, but she saw him nod at her.
'What did you do to make it to Langerton's detention?' Bryan had written.
'You don't seem like the sort of girl to be here.'
Victoria sighed and gave him a long-suffering look. Bryan was looking away now, completely. Victoria hadn't planned to even be in the room that day, due to all of the horrible things she'd imagined it to be earlier. But, she figured, she may as well try to make the best of her misfortune. Where would the harm be in replying to him, and being friendly? After all, he
had complimented her earlier in the lunchroom. She could return the favor and be nice.
So Victoria took up the pen and began to write slowly. When she finished, her reply neatly, in feminine penmanship, read,
'I was accused of cheating on an English test, but I really wasn't cheating. We won't get in trouble for passing notes, will we?' The last thing she wanted at this moment, she thought, was more trouble. Carefully, Victoria handed the paper back to Bryan.
He chuckled a little when he saw the writing. Mischievous green eyes looked up at Victoria. Bryan shook his head at her before he went on to replying to her.
Assuming that the shake of his head meant that they wouldn't get into more trouble, Victoria let some of her worries start to go away. Detention wasn't really that bad. She was still alive, and no one had attacked her yet. No one was swinging around from the ceiling like rabid monkeys. In fact, it seemed rather docile in comparison to what she'd pictured. The other occupants of the room were too busy in their own worlds to probably really notice they were in detention. Victoria didn't know why they were in the room, nor did she really care. It was there business. She just knew that this trip to detention would only be a one-time occurrance in life.
The paper poked her elbow as Bryan passed it back quickly. Then he turned away to his backpack, pulling out another notebook. Victoria looked away from him as he started to leaf through the pages. Still in his neat handwriting, which she hadn't expected from someone like him, was a reply.
'Mrs. Radisson is an old bat who wouldn't know the truth if it bit her in the butt.' Victoria laughed, but quickly quieted herself for fear of Mr. Langerton fussing at her. She shook her head a little and took up the pen to reply.
After a few moments, she passed the paper back to Bryan carefully. He was reading in his notebook, which was rather dog-eared. Thin, expensive looking glasses were set on his nose as he scanned his page. When he looked up at Victoria, he still wore a face of intense concentration. It made her almost regret her asking why he was in detention. Maybe he hadn't been paying attention or something? What was his class right after lunch? Since Victoria had never really spoken to people outside of her small circle of friends, she had no clue of other people's habits.
She watched Bryan as he replied. The focused look disappeared into a cocky smirk. He chuckled and replied. When he passed the paper back, his handwriting was not as neat as before, but it was still impressive for Victoria. She almost choked at his response.
'The P.E. teacher thought I was harassing my ex-girlfriend. I was just playing around, though.'
When Victoria looked up at him, he winked at her. She didn't quite know what to think. Luckily, she didn't have time to respond before a sharp voice cut the silence like a knife.
"Mr. Banning, Miss Addams; if the two of you had been taking notes in class instead of passing them, you wouldn't be here," Mr. Langerton said abruptly.
Victoria was nearly startled out of her skin. When she looked over at Bryan, he seemed unaffected. A hot blush touched the young girl's face as she went to bury her head in her arms. So much for getting out of trouble.
* * *
The bell rang out shrilly, signaling the end of school for the day. Victoria groaned quietly, wishing that she wouldn't have to go home. She was sure the school had already called her house. Her father was home before her, usually. The times she had actually made it home before him were few and far between, so she didn't even try to put her hopes up about that possibility. She just hoped that he would listen to her. She hadn't done anything wrong. She hadn't made the decision to do anything right, either. The worst thing she had done that day was talk to Bryan Banning. But what was wrong with that?
Victoria shrugged to herself as she gathered her books in her arms. When she turned into the walkway between desks, she nearly plowed into a tall figure. Hands shot out to catch her or anything else that tried to fall, but everything stayed up. Still, she felt a firm grasp on her left arm. Slowly, she turned her gaze up to see none other than Bryan Banning. What was with him today? Was she forever fated to see him now?
"You all right?" he asked her.
With a nod, Victoria held her books tighter against her chest. She didn't know if she should talk to him or walk away. He had never spoken to her before, and the first time he'd said two words to her had been a compliment, other than the casual speaking in their Advanced Biology class. He seemed like the only person that could rival her in a debate about some subjects, when those debates came up. But still, she wasn't sure if there was some plan to embarrass her, set up by some sadistic upper classmen or if he just wanted to talk to her. But why?
"Any plans this weekend?" Bryan asked, catching her completely off-guard.
It took her a moment to recover. "N-no, not really. My dad and I usually go out to see a movie, if there's anything interesting playing. Or, if mom is home, we try to have dinner together, but it usually doesn't work." Victoria stopped herself, then took a deep breath. "Why?"
Bryan chuckled a little, stepping aside to let her through the desks. "Just wondering. There's a party this weekend, one of my friends is holding it. He asked me to invite some people," he explained.
From the word "party," Victoria had paled. A party. She had never been to one before, birthday parties aside. But this was one party she wasn't quite sure she would want to attend. She had just met Bryan, and from the looks of him, he looked like one of those stoner/goths who hissed at the sun and listened to screaming metal music. Victoria didn't quite know what to expect.
So she put up a thoughtful front as she walked through the classroom to the hallway. Her locker wasn't that far from her last class, so she only had a small cover before Bryan started talking again.
"You're probably thinking I'm some crazy guy or something." Victoria nodded to herself as she opened her locker. "The party won't be too bad. Maybe a little drinking, but my friend isn't into drugs, so there shouldn't be any." Bryan paused and she felt his eyes on the back of her head. She sighed and he continued. "I don't know what type of music you listen to, but the DJ will have plenty of stuff." Why was he still talking to her?
Victoria zipped up her bag and stood. Slowly, she turned around. "I don't know. I don't know
you, either. Not to sound rude...Bryan, but why are you talking to me?" she asked, shouldering her backpack.
He seemed a little taken aback by her question, but recovered quicker than she had earlier. "You seem pretty cool, for some bio-nut." He winked at her again. "So what do you say about the party? Someone you know might be there."
Deciding to refrain from correcting him that she didn't
know anybody, Victoria started to walk down the hall. "I'll think about it," she said over her shoulder, quickly retreating.
That...had been strange.
