Vonaias Aleanvalsa

Detention Chapter

Andrew was fashionably late to his first detention, which did not make the librarian very happy. Logan was already there, looking bored. He was putting books back on the shelves in alphabetical order. There was a pile of books as tall as himself on the ground next to him, waiting to be organized.  

Andrew dropped his bag on the floor so it leaned next to a chair, dreading the evening to come. 

"Finally, you are late!" spoke the librarian briskly. "You will be in charge of dusting. I want clean, well-organized shelves by nine o'clock, understand?" She did not wait for Andrew or Logan to say anything, and left the library in a stiff and brusque way. 

Logan didn't turn back to speak or acknowledge Andrew, but Andrew didn't feel like being ignored. He took the duster and came to a shelf opposite Logan. 

"At least dusting is less stupid than revising the ABC's," said Andrew with a hint of acid.

Logan huffed, but did not reply. He kept his eyes to the books he was organizing, and once he finished, he went back to the pile to collect more books. 

It was incredibly irritating to watch the wizard-turned-schoolboy doing as he was told and not replying to Andrew's insults. So, he tried again. "That's why I've always thought that wizards are the lamest class. All they do is play around with books, but one little cut by a dagger has them bleeding out and calling for help. So, so pathetic."

Logan's shoulders heaved as he took deep breaths, apparently trying not to throw a book at Andrew and get into more detention. He took a few seconds, and then he was calm, completely ignoring Andrew again. 

"What is the matter with you?" asked Andrew, coming over and dusting Logan's back as if he were a particularly dusty book. "Why aren't you talking to me? You don't seem to ever shut up, and look at you now, all quiet!" 

Logan raised his arms to keep the duster from attacking him further, and then, to Andrew's surprise, he began to cough. It was a nasty cough, and Logan kept reaching for his chest as if it hurt. He caught the sound of Logan's squeaky nose, which meant it was completely stuffed. 

Andrew took a closer look at Logan. There was a green tinge to his skin, his chest was heaving, eyebrows together, cheeks blown up as if he was about to throw up. Andrew blinked slowly, trying to make sense of what he saw. 

"Are you dying?" Andrew asked sounding almost uninterested. 

In response, Logan swayed slightly, his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he toppled over the pile of books by his side. He hit the floor slowly, thanks to the books, but he did not get up again. Andrew stood there for a moment,  then he nudged him with his foot to check that he wasn't dead. No response. Andrew then leaned closer and poked him in the face. There was no response either, but he noticed that he was breathing, which was good enough for him. 

"Does this mean if I take you to the nurse, I can skip detention?" Andrew asked out loud, but mostly to himself, and a wicked smile appeared on his face. 

If Andrew had been Vonaias at the moment, he would have easily tossed Logan over his shoulder and carried him without a care all the way to the nurse's office. Alas, Andrew was not Vonaias at the moment, so he grabbed Logan's feet instead and dragged him halfway across the library. 

He was ridiculously heavy, and Andrew knew he was not going to manage dragging him all the way. Doing so would have been much harder than simply dusting the bookshelves. So, he went and got the library cart instead. Rolling Logan onto the bottom tray of the cart was quite hard, but very rewarding, because Andrew got to bump Logan's head with the legs a couple of times. By the time he was done and the cart was able to move, half of Logan's body was spilling out either side of the cart, but at least Andrew could push him now. 

At this hour at night, the corridors were well-illuminated, but only a few people walked here and there. Most of the students and teachers were in study hall. Andrew did not run into anyone as he pushed Logan along to the nurse's office until he met his teacher, Ms Hyland. 

"What are you doing?" she snapped, her eyes on the unconscious boy. 

Andrew knew he had one option: to pretend to be a scared boy who doesn't know what to do and hopefully avoid any kind of trouble and extra detention. He did NOT need extra detention. 

"Ms Hyland, help! Logan's just passed out during our library detention. I didn't know what to do! I was so scawed, waaa," he wailed, trying not to overdo it. 

Ms Hyland looked suddenly concerned. Her eyes went from Logan to Andrew, and her eyebrows raised. "Oh, you poor boy!" she said. "You're so brave trying to bring your friend all the way to the nurse's office on your own!"

Andrew thought to himself: He's not my friend. But he didn't say anything, because Ms Hyland looked upset and that's what he wanted. 

"So scawy," Andrew repeated, a little dryly this time. 

"Don't worry Andrew, I'll take over from here. Why don't you go back to your dorm? I can't imagine you're in any state to go back to detention after what you've been through." 

Andrew sniffled sadly, sighed and let his shoulders drop an inch. "So scawy," he repeated, and Ms Hyland gave him a look of complete compassion. 

"Go now, dear boy," she said sweetly, and Andrew ran like he had a dragon on his toes before anybody could change their minds. He made it to his bedroom at record speed, then spent the rest of the evening playing games.