𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐘 || ᶜᵒᵐᵐᵉᶰᶜᵉ ᵒᵖᵉʳᵃᵗᶤᵒᶰ ᵈᵒᶰ'ᵗ ᵈᶤᵉ

𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆 ~ 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒚

19th of January 1987, Monday

Dear diary,

today's the day I wished I would have never seen but yet here we are. I'm writing this now even though it's the only afternoon but I already know I won't have the time nor the mood to write in the evening. It is my first detention ever. In my whole life. I will spend there 4 hours of my precious life, just to sit there and watch the unbelievably bored teacher and the broken clock on the opposite wall. And to it all, I still don't feel like I even deserve it. At the end of the day, I really didn't do anything. But to be at least a bit positive, I will have SO much time to think. I don't really have that since the time Richard left for college. So much noise and mess at home. It might sound ridiculous, but fairly, I can't really take a proper time to think in peace. However, I am honestly rather scared. Not of the detention itself, but scared of the people. They all must be really weird, aggressive, tending to be violent, and not exactly smart. That's why I decided to bring pepper spray along so if anything, I'll be prepared. I am a strong and incompetent woman, I can do that.

Love, Heather Drew ♡

---

There was a single person sitting in the vast room with all that bookshelves and small aisles with tables where could person peacefully fall asleep during studying. It was way more quiet than usual and that was because of the incoming detention.

Mr. Debenham, the man who was sitting by the teacher's table in the library, already sent all the sleepy students home. Needless to say, they were very upset and even annoyed because of detention on Monday afternoon? What kind of crappy excuse is that, Mr. Debenham?

However, Mr. Debenham wasn't kidding, even though they might have not believed anyway. It really was what it was. Detention on Monday afternoon. Capital punishment.

A tall figure in a dark green high school jacket entered the library and almost froze on the spot as he realized nobody was there and he was the very first student to show up. An immediate wave of anxiety and insurance flooded his mind so he stepped a bit back. Almost like a reflex. But with this, Mr. Debenham looked up at the guy in the door frame and nodded towards a desk prepared in front of the teacher's table in a gesture to make him walk in.

"Come in, Mr. Tharon," Mr. Debenham said in his cold, usual voice.

"Right, sir," Iké Tharon nodded his head and almost immediately after the professor's words head right to the desk as if he had no doubts three seconds ago.

Iké sat at the first one of the eight tables prepared for the detention. He always sat in the front and today's even though a bit different situation wasn't a difference. He leaned back into his chair and just fixed his sights on a half-broken clock on the opposite wall of the library. He sighed and just at that moment, another figure stepped into the room.

It was another boy. Tall, well-built, with the same jacket as Iké. He walked in at an almost frightening pace. His footsteps loud and clumsy, but fast as he approached the third desk in front. This was Quentin Samuels. The captain of the Irvington High School football team. Some of you may describe him as the typical jock. Blonde mullet, blue eyes, muscular frame. That was him.

"Hello, Mr. Samuels," Mr. Debenham looked up at him, but immediately looked back at the tests he was marking.

"Good afternoon, sir," Quentin uttered with odd monotone boredom in his voice and sat down on his chair.

Mr. Debenham, still looking at the tests, reached hand towards Quentin and gestured him to sit down. "Please, have a seat."

Iké looked at Mr. Debenham for a fraction of a second and then he aimed his sights on Quentin.

Quentin, already sitting, remained silent for a small period of time, trying to figure out whether it was a joke or not, and then he inhaled as if saying something but was cut off by another person coming into the room.

This time, it was a girl. She stood in the door frame, with a pink notebook in her hands and a pink leather satchel over her shoulder. Heather Drew was wearing a light pink sweater with a pastel blue shirt underneath and dark blue jeans, that day. Pink really was her color.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Debenham," she almost triumphally declared as she went over to the other first table at the front.

"Good afternoon, Miss Drew, please have a seat," Mr. Debenham gestured towards the chair by her just as he did a few moments ago with Quentin.

Heather Drew nodded and sat down. "Thank you."

And another person walked in. This time silently, with light slow steps. Another girl. Zdeňka Alice Ledecká. 'The weirdo'.

With no other words, she headed right to the fourth table from the front, ergo, the last in the row.

"Hello, Miss Ledecka," Mr. Debenham looked up from the table once more.

"Hello," she said and sat down on her chair. He pronounced her name incorrectly again.

Mr. Debenham looked over to the 'broken' clock behind him and suddenly got up. He walked from behind his table, carefully penetrating every kid sitting in the library with his sights. Iké was certainly feeling a bit uneasy about that and his first reflex was to look away from him. Mr. Debenham leaned against the edge of the teacher's desk and sighed. "So, we all know why did we gather here, don't we? Does anybody need a special reminder?"

The kids were silent. Although, Heather Drew was hesitating. She inhaled, but then immediately decided not to speak up.

Mr. Debenham nodded. "Very well. I am glad. Every time, I have here some dunces who don't understand why are they even here. Nevertheless, today's a bit uncommon. As you all probably realized and noticed, it's Monday. Not Friday, or at least Saturday."

"And this is because I had no time on Friday or Saturday and I couldn't hold your detention a week longer, thus I decided to get it over with today." Mr. Debenham bitterly smiled at the kids.

Quentin yawned a bit. He covered his mouth with his hand but made a sound and that caught Debenham's eye.

But Debenham continued: "Ah, thank you for reminding, Samuels. I would have had almost forgotten. No, we didn't come here to sleep or relax. This is detention and 'having detention' means being 'punished for something that I did I shouldn't have done'. And how do you punish people for something they shouldn't have done and prevent them from doing it again? Make them endure something they don't like. Something unpleasant. We see that daily, right? Somebody does something bad and immediately goes to prison. In the best case. So I brought you paper and pens. I don't want you to draw or something, but I want you to write an essay. Essay about you, yourselves. The theme is called 'Who Are You?'."

Quentin and Heather almost synchronously frowned and Zdeňka only rolled her eyes. Iké remained without reaction.

Mr. Debenham inhaled once more. "I want you to write about how you see yourselves and where do you see yourselves in a couple of years. And I also want you to be completely honest. You don't have to dissemble even on paper-"

"Close your eyes and I'll kiss you,
tomorrooow I'll miss you;" A male voice was echoing in the hallway. Mr. Debenham was cut off as the tune of Beatles reached his ears.