It All Started in Detention

Chapter Seven

Davey glanced at the teacher as he pulled his hood over his head, hoping the wires from his earbuds weren't too obvious. He didn't need to get told off by Mr. Wiesel again, and telling from the way he looked at the kid that just walked in, he wasn't in the best mood.

Not to say Davey was in the best mood either. It took a lot of explaining to his mother on how he got detention, and she didn't exactly say the nicest things in Polish—his father was much better, and he might've congratulated him. It's not like he wasn't as disappointed in himself as they were, but he wasn't looking forward to an hour long lecture.

Davey sighed and slowly bit his nails, his mind far within the clouds and his eyes staring at the wall. It didn't register to him when the chair beside himself scraped the against the floor, and he only started listening when his desk partner cleared his throat. "What do you want?"

"Gee, ain't you kind?" Jack rolled his eyes and pulled himself closer to the desk, a playful smile on his face. "I'm Jack Kelly."

Davey knew that, everyone knew Jack Kelly. They'd have to be insane not to—for their own safety, of course. "Davey Jacobs."

"Yeah, I know that", Jack chuckled, keeping his voice quiet. Davey glanced at him, needing to spit out a bit of his nail, but it would be rude to do it in front of someone.

"You almost got expelled in tenth grade."

Jack laughed uncomfortably as he pushed his hair back, biting his lip as the memory of sophomore year passed through him. He did almost get kicked out of school for pulling a prank on Principal Pulitzer, one he didn't find funny. With a few legal issues on assault and a call to the school board from Medda, Jack was back to school by the next semester. "Yeah, Old Man Mr. P didn't like that one too much, did he?"

"No one did." Jack raised a brow at the rather controversial opinion. "It was stupid. Funny, sure, but you really should've been smarter about it."

"Yeah, like you were smart about punching Mason Rivers." Jack rolled his eyes as Davey's eyes widened, and he felt his mouth go dry. "And how would you go about pranking the principal, huh?"

"Wait, shut up for a sec", Davey interrupted, and he ignored Jack's very obvious pout. His heart was beating out of his chest and his palms were sweating. Who told? "You know?"

"Yeah, I know", Jack admitted, and Davey looked away out of intimidation, feeling his hands shake against the desk. This shouldn't have happened.

No one was supposed to know except him and the cheerleaders. Of course, he told his sister, and she probably told Katherine—looking back, telling her was a mistake—but they wouldn't tell anyone else. At least, he hoped so.

Davey grabbed Jack's wrist and sent a glare to him, the other feeling a shiver run down his spine. "Who the fuck told you?"

Jack wouldn't say he was afraid of Davey Jacobs—it's Davey Jacobs, he harmless—but he looking pretty serious right now, and Jack knew that same look from his mom. "No- no one. I was there. At your practice."

That didn't seem to calm his down. "Oh, so you're spying on the cheer team to fill some sort of perverted fantasy?! Dude, that's sick-"

"What?! No!" Jack glanced at Weasel's desk, finding the man had left the room. However, almost everyone else was staring at them, and he saw what the situation looked like. "Will you let go of my arm? If it's something your into, that's fine, but we ain't exactly in the right room for that."

"Would you-" Davey huffed out a breath, quickly letting Jack's wrist free. "You're a terrible conversationalist."

"Well, I made it this long talking to you, so I'd say I'm doing pretty well", Jack grinned smugly, and Davey rolled his eyes. He wasn't feeling as nervous anymore, and it seemed that Jack was working toward that somehow. Even though it was working, the feeling of nervousness was only being replaced by annoyance. "So, Mr. Class President-"

"Don't call me that", Davey demanded, and Jack put his hands up in surrender. "It's demeaning."

"Okay. So, Mr. Class President", Davey groaned, making Jack laugh, "nice right hook you got there. Seems like you've done it before. Any experience in...physical altercations?"

Davey sighed, shaking his head. Katherine. "Do you have any experience in detention?"

"Davey, babe", Jack started, and he smirked as he watched blush fall onto Davey's face, "it's practically a second home. Me and Weasel go way back—elementary school days. I'm his favorite student."

Davey could hear his voice dripping with charismatic sarcasm, and he almost laughed. But to give Jack Kelly the satisfaction of attention is to inflate his ego. "You're no one's favorite student."

"Ooh, ouch." It did kind of hurt. "Davey, I didn't know you were so mean."

The class president sighed, placing his head in his hands. He felt his head spinning with worry, and he felt so helpless. Even Jack frowned in consolation for him.

"I'm sorry", he mumbled, scrunching his hair in his hands. "I'm just stressed. I shouldn't have said that to you."

"Eh, I've heard worse", Jack shrugged it off, the same smile on his face. Davey's attitude wasn't exactly uncalled for, and Jack's sure it was a stressful situation—not that he could truly relate—so he wasn't going to take it to heart. Plus, living with Crutchie for as long as he had, he learned a thing or two about not taking things too personally. "Are you okay?"

Davey shrugged, finding the question helped put things into perspective. He was acting a bit irrational about this; it was only one detention. But he felt so guilty about everything, and he should. No one can just punch and tell without a consequence, self-inflicted or not.

"I am", Davey took a deep breath, hoping to calm himself down, "getting through it. My parents are going to kill me, though."

"So? They'll get over it." Jack knew that too well from experience. Medda even stopped asking what his detentions were for, just giving him a look and asking for a conversation later. "What's so scary?"

"You've clearly never been cussed out in Polish", Davey chuckled and Jack blinked.

"I mean, of course I have", Jack admitted, and he licked his lips. "My friend, Elmer, they cussed me out because I accidentally ripped a shirt they let me borrow."

"How do you rip a shirt?"

"I climb roofs in my spare time, Jacobs; anyway", Jack continued, and Davey decided to ignore it. "They tore me a new one. I mean, I had no idea they knew so many of those words! It was terrifying, like seeing my friend Race sleeping."

"That's...That's a good thing."

"Yeah, but Race doesn't sleep", Jack informed in a reminding time, as if Davey knew these people. "Except in the summer. He, like, hibernates, or something."

Davey nodded, gasping quietly at the sound of the classrooms door opening, and watching as Mr. Wiesel walked back in. He cleared his throat and looked around awkwardly, leaving the conversation rather abruptly. "We should stop talking now. The teacher's back."

Jack wanted to talk more—he admittedly liked the sound of his own voice—but Davey had had a rough day. He wasn't exactly all too experienced in the sympathy department, nor did he care too much about how his actions could affect people, but he figured Davey needed to think in silence. So he only smiled, and nodded.

Davey appreciated that, and he felt like she was seeing a different Jack Kelly than the one he'd known from rumors and newspapers. Of course, he wasn't completely off the hook, and it was still very clear that Jack was a bit arrogant, and didn't care about much, but he was sweet—he was the only one that asked about how Davey was feeling.

So, he could take that and live with it, and maybe see his first detention as a bit less boring.