TROUBLEMAKER, carl gallagher

04 | snickers

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SILVIA WAS pretty sure she got most of her sleep while sitting in detention. She dozed off in the hard chair more times than she could ever count. The rest of her peers read a book or snuck texting on a cell phone, but Silvia? She would never pass up the opportunity to take a nap.

Or at least, that was typically what she did. Usually, her and Carl didn't share a detention room. The principal was too smart to put them together, but he must've forgotten this time.

School was always so draining. Carl had too much energy the second the bell rang, even if it meant he was going into detention.

She tried to ignore him—she really did. But he was just so freaking annoying and persistent that she just couldn't anymore.

Slowly, she lifted her head and turned around as he continuously tapped on her shoulder. "What?"

"Give me a pen."

"Seriously?" She demanded, annoyed. He'd interrupted her nap for a pen? "You don't have one?"

"No," he shrugged. "But I know you do. You have like a million. Any one but the sparkly pen."

She rolled her eyes and quickly grabbed one out of her bag, hoping that he'd leave her alone afterward. Carl took the item with his usual mischievous eye glint, and Silvia faced forward again, slumping back in her chair.

She'd nearly fallen asleep again until Carl started scribbling aggressively on the desk behind her. She whirled on him. "Can you shut up?"

Carl blinked. "I wasn't talking."

Her face was stoic as she stared at him, but the detention teacher from the front yelled that the time was up, and she turned around to collect her things.

"Wanna stop by seven eleven and steal a slushie?"

With her bag slung around her shoulder, Silvia nodded. "No cherry this time though, right?"

Carl sighed. "Yeah, fine."

She grinned. "Race ya there."

Her lungs burned as her shoes smacked against the pavement—Carl won by a landslide, but that didn't stop Silvia from teasing him that he'd cheated, and it led to the two of them shoving and pushing at each other as they entered the store.

It was nearly nightfall since the sun set so early, and Silvia stuffed her hands in her pockets as Carl filled the cup from the machine, his cheeks flushed from the cold outside as well.

"Why don't we steal something warm?" Silvia offered, trying not to shiver.

Carl faced her with the full slushie cup. "If you don't want it, I'll keep the whole thing."

Silvia frowned, and lunged for the drink. Carl let her take it with a grin. "I didn't say that."

"Don't get a brain freeze," Carl warned as he followed her out the store. The clerk was writing something on a notebook, oblivious to them, and Silvia shot him a look.

"Shut up."

Carl took the slushie back from her as an answer.

The walk back home wasn't long—from down the road, Silvia could see that her sister had a candle going in the window, but the rest of the house other than her bedroom was dark. Carl took his final sip of the drink before he gave her the remaining. Silvia waved him goodbye as he moved toward his front door, and she continued down the side walk.

The door to Silvia's house opened before she even got to her front steps. She wasn't exactly surprised to see Lip leaving, but she stopped regardless, especially at the sight of his bruising eye.