It All Started in Detention

Chapter One

"Boys!" Jack peaked his head out of his bedroom at the sound of his mother's voice, watching as his little brother already make his way to the stairs. "Breakfast!"

Jack rushed out of his bedroom just as his brother, Crutchie, made his way down the stairs. He pushed the younger boy back and nearly fell down, ignoring the laughs of him, who was already halfway down. "I'm gonna beat you!"

"You're the one with the crutch!" Jack slid down the stair rail, passing Crutchie as he ran and laughed.

"That's why it'll be sad when I beat you, you ableist fuck!" The boys shoved each other as Medda, their foster mother, gasped in surprise at what had came out of her youngest son's mouth.

"Crutchie", she scolded, and Jack held in his laughter at the almost terrified and very awkward look in the blonde's face. "You know we don't speak to each other that way. I need you to apologize."

"Sorry, Medda", he mumbled, glaring at the older of the two troublemakers. That seemed to be a reoccurring theme the boys had for as long as they'd known them, with Jack getting Crutchie to join him in trouble, and Crutchie having to apologize for it.

It was how they got along. They figured if they got all of the jokes out of the way, and had a fairly playful relationship with one another, there was no room for hate. Medda even encouraged it as long as it never went too far, which it never did. It was how they loved each other.

They were the only ones allowed to make fun of each other, and if anyone else did, there would be hell to pay.

Jack cleared his throat as he opened the cabinet, grabbing three plates for his family and himself. The smell of breakfast seemed to make him move faster as he passed out the plates, feeling surprisingly energetic. "Those pancakes?"

"Yep", Medda answered, placing two onto her sons' plates. "There's a new bottle of syrup in the cabinet, too. It's behind the salt."

Jack walked over to the cabinet just as Crutchie groaned, pouting. "What's wrong with you?"

"I keep getting these damn pornbots following me", he murmured, furiously typing on his phone. "They're so annoying. And worst of all, they aren't even real!"

"Ah, I always knew The Crutch had bitches", Jack congratulated, clearing his throat when Medda raised a brow at him. "Sorry. But just ask the app to take them away."

"It's Tumblr, Jack. If I asked the app to take them away, that'd be admitting to weakness."

Both Jack and Medda weren't quite sure what he was talking about anymore, but they wanted to seem supportive. So while Medda sent him a smile, Jack just nodded in false understanding. "No entiendo, but I like it."

"Wait, what does that mean?" Jack turned back to the cabinet, barely hearing Crutchie's crutch tap against the floor as he walked over to him. "What are you saying?"

"I was just saying that I like it", Jack shrugged, handing his brother the bottle of syrup. Crutchie obviously didn't believe him, and he could see that he was bothered by the rather ominous answer.

"But you said 'but'!" Jack snorted at the word, grabbing the powdered sugar. "That means something else."

"I was just saying 'but' so you could feel like you have one." Jack grinned when Medda snickered softly, watching Crutchie's expression turn from worried to annoyed.

"Yeah, well, girls seem to like my flat ass more than yours", he mentioned, and Jack's smile fell off of his face as Medda burst into laughter. "And I don't even like girls like that."

Jack stood in shock as Crutchie walked over to their dining room table. It kind of hurt because of how true it was—Crutchie wasn't attracted to anyone yet had everyone wrapped around his finger—but he couldn't let his brother know that. He'd keep that joke up for weeks, getting half of the school in on it. "Whatever, punk."

"Jerk."

"Teeter totter."

"Single asshole."

"Sounds like you two are having a great morning", Medda interrupted, her familiar and grand smile on her face. Both boys couldn't help but to grin too, sitting in their respective seats. "But I'd rather you eat your food than insult each other because I haven't restocked on snacks in the theater room yet. So, eat."

Both boys dived in immediately, making their mama proud.

——————

Davey walked the halls quickly and confidently, eyes glued to his phone. He had too much to do this morning.

It was only seven-thirty in the morning and Davey had gotten up at five to polish a few parts of the cheer routine, and walked into the showers at six so he didn't smell of sweat and the track field. At seven, he'd met up with Denton to discuss a few student council and tutoring sessions, and by seven-thirty, he was on his way to see Katherine Pulitzer.

It was hard to do much at a school so early in the morning, when barely anyone was there. The building was mostly filled with teachers' kids and a few freshmen and sophomores without cars. Davey was the only senior that volunteered to be at school so early.

Not that he wanted to. "Shit, I forgot about the lunch meeting."

He stopped in the middle of the hallway, writing down someway he can fit into his schedule of when to get food for the writing club and school newspaper before lunch began. He had to get his timing right or else the food would be cold, or not ready in time. Unfortunately, he didn't have a car.

Like most people fallen upon teenage hood, he wanted one, but his parents decided for their kids to share one like it was a cell phone rather than a transportation device. Sarah, his sister, was technically the claimed owner of it until she bought her own, which Davey didn't see as fair. But she was the oldest, and he'd just have to live with it.

He looked up from his writing to find his sister exactly where he expected her to be: sitting on the floor in front of the lockers. "Sarah!"

She looked up at him with tired eyes, sighing with unimportance. "What?"

"I need to borrow the car", Davey stated, crouching down in front of his sister. "I have a lunch meeting today that I totally forgot about, so I have to go home during my free period to get the money from Mama then get food on the way back."

"Okay", she mumbled, handing him the keys without much care. Davey smiled at her even as she wasn't paying attention, trying to finish her math homework. "Hey, are you taking calculus?"

"Nope, I took it last year." Davey stood up quickly without time to waste. "Question: is Kath in the newsroom?"

"How should I know?"

"Well, I figured you stalked her since she's your girlfriend."

Davey winced as he felt Sarah kick his shin, groaning down his pain as to not show his twin sister the weakness she could hold against him for the rest of their natural lives. "You're so single, David."

"I don't have time for a boyfriend", Davey reminded, looking back at his planner. He chuckled at it, finding it funny that "It's not on the schedule."

Sarah rolled her eyes characteristically—Davey swore that she faced the threat of them getting stuck mid-roll—and stared at her younger brother with annoyance. He always said the same thing, no matter how much Sarah knew it was bullshit. Davey wanted someone to love much like anyone did, but he never acted on it. She happened to know that plenty of people would open the gates for the Davey Jacobs just for a simple 'hello', but Davey was so focused on school that he never had time to greet them. He never had time for fun.

And Sarah Jacobs, how wonderful she thinks she is, just couldn't let that happen. "You need a life."

"I could say the same thing about you", Davey retorted, smirking at his sister's dramatic gasp. "I have to go. But I'll see you in third."

"See you in third", she mumbled, focusing back on her homework as Davey walked away toward the newsroom, taking the long way in hopes of passing time.

Maybe Sarah was right—he did need a life. A life less scheduled and clean, one that was unpredictable in every way but enjoyable nonetheless. He needed a little crazy in his life, like winning $100,000 out of nowhere or punching someone in the face from pure instinct.

He needed a little less control, and he had to admit, he was praying for it to happen. Soon.