Be My Addiction

7 • Detention

Eugene

I should have expected to get detention when I started bickering with Ethan. The guy needed to learn to relax. I was trying to loosen him up a little and get him to have a good time.

Clearly I had failed, seeing as I was now walking back into the Biology classroom for detention. My phone was already buzzing from my teammates asking where I was.
Mr. Grenell smiled at me "glad of you to join us." 

Us being me, Ethan and the teacher, himself. 

I gave a small nod, not really in the mood to pretend I wasn't there because of something I did.

Ethan seemed to be in the same boat, though I'm pretty sure he always had that expression. The guy was sitting in the back, glaring out the window. 

Yep. He probably always looked like that. 

Although, after reminding myself what he had been through, I could understand why he always looked so upset or down. 

Mr. Grenell pulled me out of my thoughts by clapping his hands like he had done in class. He was grinning "now.. because you two were distracted during class, I'm letting you use this time to work more on the project."

I could practically feel the dread radiating off of Ethan. It would have been funny if my mind wasn't still on the reminder that he had lost his brother a few months ago. 

Now I felt a bit guilty for causing him more problems.

Begrudgingly, we sat down beside each other and got to work with finding actual research for the project. We could work on the physical aspect of the project later. Ethan pulled out his laptop, as did I. Surprisingly, the two of us managed to get along for the rest of the time; making a PowerPoint for presenting our subject. 

“Should we give out prizes to anyone who manages to pop a balloon?” I shot the question to Ethan without taking my eyes off the screen. Out of my peripheral vision, I could see him shrug. I grunted in response.

After a moment, he turned to face me “candy”. That was all he said. 

“What?” Glancing his way, Ethan shrugged again.

“The prize could be candy. A lot of people like candy, not to mention with the motivation, more people might be interested in our project would give us ‘not boring’ points or something.” Ethan looked my way to gauge my thoughts on the prize idea.
 
“‘Not boring points?” I snorted, earning a scowl from the angsty teen. “Ok, ok. Calm down” I rolled my eyes but soon nodded “Candy works. It’s a lot cheaper than other items too.”

Ethan nodded slightly before glancing at the time, seeming to be lost in thought. Being semi-decent, I waited for a moment for him to gather his thoughts. He took a deep breath, apparently preparing himself. For what? I don’t know. “We only have a few minutes left before we can leave but we need to meet up out of class to figure out the balloon game and test it out.” he sighed “I have to work tomorrow but we can meet up after if you want.”

Not having anything planned for tomorrow, I nodded “works for me. I'll give you my number so you can just text me the address” I didn’t give him a chance to object as I scribbled down the number and handed it to him.

The boy huffed and pouted, which was kind of… cute. Nope. I did not just think that. Guys aren’t cute. 

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I began to pack up. Ethan seemed oblivious to my odd behavior and packed up as well.

Mr. Grenell walked back into the classroom from the meeting he had during the middle of detention. The guy apparently trusted two teenage boys alone in a science room. Sounds like risky behavior but what should I know? Either way, he seemed pleased to know we had worked the entire time. Or maybe he was glad to see the science room still intact.

Maybe both.

The teacher smiled, “You two are free to go. Good job on working while I was gone.” The man probably used some go-guardian app on his laptop. Those apps let teachers monitor their students’ school chrome books to see what they were doing. That was kind of creepy but I knew it was probably for the best. Who knew what kids would be looking up without those restrictions?

The two of us exchanged quick parting words before we headed our separate ways. I headed to the student parking lot to get my car and I assumed Ethan was walking. I would offer him a ride but the guy would probably feel awkward sitting in a tight space with me. Antisocial was an understatement for that guy.