Detention (ASOUE)

Chapter Thirteen

"Er... Isadora? What're you doing?" Lily had interrupted her speech about vampires (who would've guessed?) to question me with a concerned look.

I ignored her and continued to get up. If I paused now I was scared I would back out altogether. I was going to question Klaus as soon as I stepped into the cafeteria and saw him sat at his usual table, a few seats down from Quigley. But, as soon as I saw Lily, I chickened out and sat down with her. I wasn't sure if she had noticed my erratic behaviour, but either way she hadn't mentioned it and had instead just acted normal. But there was no way I could pay attention with everything on my mind. So I had waited and waited until our lunch break was almost finished, constantly hyping myself up and then freaking out, before I got up and finally did what I had to do.

The short walk across the room was daunting. Of course, it was normal for someone to be walking, but to me it felt like every pair of eyes was on me. Obviously, they weren't. I just had to convince myself of that. 

As I approached, Quigley had noticed me coming over and looked up, as if waiting for me to get there and say whatever it was that I had to say to him. His face was a picture when I walked straight past him and stopped in front of Klaus.

He was reading, but a short cough from me made him look up. As soon as he realised it was me, a confused frown spread across his face like a rash. 

"Can I help you?" he snapped. 

His sharpness made me falter. I hadn't expected him to react like that. Nevertheless, I had come this far. I couldn't give up now. "Tell me what I have to do," I said, "to make it up to you."

Klaus seemed to frown even more. "What?"

"What do I have-" I started to repeat before he cut me off.

"Are you stupid? That was a joke."

I blinked. Then it hit me how quiet the room was and I glanced to my side to see that a couple of people were looking and whispering, including both of my brothers and Carmelita. Maybe I had been too loud. 

I couldn't stop the redness that came to my cheeks as I said, "Oh."

"Do you have anything else to say?" Klaus huffed, "You're causing a scene."

Completely humiliated, I glared him down and stormed back to my seat, trying to ignore Carmelita's iconic cackle ringing out across the room.

"What the hell was that?" Lily hissed.

"It doesn't matter," I muttered, grabbing my bag and storming out. There was no point in waiting, surrounded by people that had seen that embarrassing interaction. I headed to my next class, since the bell would be going in a few minutes anyway, and buried my face in a book. 

I couldn't believe I had been stupid enough to think that maybe Klaus was different, maybe he was nice, maybe he wasn't as bad as I initially thought. But that interaction had changed everything and now he was back to being an arsehole, in my eyes. A heartless arsehole. I supposed maybe I should've seen it was a joke, but even then, there was no reason for him to be so cold. It was like he was a completely different person today compared to yesterday's detention and sunday's brunch. 

The day went quickly and I eventually explained everything to Lily when I next got a chance to. She had laughed, telling me I was too gullible, but she had also assured me that no one would remember the incident within a day; that it wasn't nearly interesting enough to make schoolwide news. That was a bit of reassurance, at least.

By the time I was back in the empty detention classroom again, I had decided that I would ignore Klaus, if he even tried to talk to me in the first place. I wasn't sure if he had some sort of mood swing issue but that didn't fly with me. He couldn't be normal with me in here and then rude out in the open. 

When he came in, he had lost the frown, although he didn't look like he was in the mood to talk. To be fair, he never looked like he was in the mood to talk, so I supposed that factor was irrelevant. However, I never found out if he would've tried to make small talk because as soon as he sat down, the door swung open again and in walked Mr Olaf and another student. The new addition to the detention club was nobody I recognised, but it didn't matter. He sat at the back and did whatever, and I did homework to pass the time. Then, when the hour was up, I was the first to leave.

Back at home, I successfully avoided my brothers for all of five minutes. No sooner than I had shut my bedroom door, they burst through it, both of them making themselves at home.

"You guys need to start knocking!" I shouted. "Jesus, what would you do if I was getting dressed?"

"Nothing," said Quigley, "This isn't Alabama."

"Isadora, can you help me with maths again?" Duncan pleaded, giving me the puppy dog eyes.

I sighed. "Why did you wait for me to get home? Why couldn't you have asked Dad?"

"He can't know I'm failing."

"Fine."

"Yes! Thanks!" At that, Duncan ran out to get his homework before sprinting back in at full speed. All at once, he tripped and let out an "agh!" before flopping on the ground.

"What's wrong with you?" Quigley asked.

"Isadora, tidy your damn room! Why's this pen on the floor, and why's it so goddamn painful?"

Duncan sat up, holding the culprit of his fall in his hands. A moment of silence (a rarity when it came to my brothers) passed before he whispered: "What the hell?"

"What now?" I said, not realising what he was holding.

"Why do you have Klaus' pen?"

I frowned slightly. How did he know that Klaus gave it to me when he couldn't find the right owner? That wasn't information I had shared with my brothers, mostly because I was trying to extinguish their idea that Klaus and I had something going on, not fuel the fire. But here he was, with that information anyway.

"What are you on about?" I said.

"Oh my god Isadora, has he been in here? Are you sneaking him in? Tut tut," Quigley teased.

"Don't be stupid! That's not even his."

Duncan let out a single laugh. "Then explain this?"

I squinted at what he was pointing out before I snatched the pen from his grasp and gave it a closer look. And as much as I wanted to dismiss it and put it down to my eyes deceiving me, I couldn't deny the initials "KB" engraved in tiny cursive on the pen clip.