It All Started in Detention

Chapter Fifteen

At seven in the morning, and not one minute after, Davey was walking the halls of his high school. His pace was faster than an angry bull's, and he was walking on caffeine and spite alone. To put it simply, Davey is exhausted.

He didn't mean to stay up all night researching methods to calm himself down when he felt his anxiety worsening, which led to learning different studying methods for college, which led to college surfing. He didn't find sleep until three hours ago, but he can't say he regretted it. He would just have to take a nap during his free period. "JoJo!"

JoJo De la Guerra turned around at the sound of his name, offering Davey a sweet smile. "Morning. What's up?"

The taller of the two slowed his pace and grinned as best he could so early in the morning. "I- I was wondering if the cheer team and the recycling committee could team up for a time on", Davey quickly opened his planner, searching for a free day of the month, "Saturday? A lot of the people on the team are missing some service hours, and I wanted to help them make it up."

He was sure there was a slot open that day, having had the committee sponsor, Mr. Jenkins, breakdown the amount of park cleanups he'd planned for this month. "That'd be amazing! We're extremely short staffed so we could use you."

Davey knew that. Mr. Jenkins was very clear about that. "You're okay with this? Because I wouldn't want to-"

"No, no, it's great", JoJo assured, nodding excitedly. Davey can't say he's ever seen someone get excited over picking up garbage. "We start at nine. I'll see you Saturday?"

"Absolutely." Davey was quick to leave when JoJo walked away. There was no point for him to stand in the hallway with a planner placed firmly by his side like a secretary on a trial basis. He had places to be.

His first stop would be the theater classroom.

——————

Jack was looking for his rock. "Mama, I swear I put it here-"

"Jack, I didn't move it", Medda sighed, looking in her desk drawers and cabinets. "It must still be in the room."

Today was the worst day to lose this rock. He'd spent all weekend—barely two hours—on painting this rock as a gift, and he had to give it to him today. He still wasn't very keen on finding out if Sarah's threat really was true. "Where else could it be?"

He's really glad he also made and laminated a few bookmarks. "Ms. Larkin?"

The both of them turned to find Davey walking into the classroom timidly, like he was afraid to be intruding on something personal. "Um, we needed to talk about the spring musical ticket sales?"

The musical was just as important as the football games at their school. Jack always looked forward to them, knowing he'd get to hang out with his friends more and paint backgrounds like no ones ever seen before. It was his favorite time of the year, and it showed on his report card. Jack chuckled to himself.

"Right", Medda remembered, grabbing a small notebook from her desk. "We needed at least two hundred tickets sold, right?"

"Two-fifty", Davey corrected scaredly, sighing at both Jack and Medda's shocked expressions. "I know, but...The theater department is running really high on budget, sure, but this production...It costs a lot. We have to make it up."

Jack liked how he said "we" when Davey would never step on the stage past graduation. "Is there anything we can do? Ain't no one gonna see a show about two high school murderers to reach numbers like that."

"There's always creating outside funds", Davey sighed, scratching his brow. "But that's tedious, and it takes a while. Sometimes, it takes time we don't have."