𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐘 || ᶜᵒᵐᵐᵉᶰᶜᵉ ᵒᵖᵉʳᵃᵗᶤᵒᶰ ᵈᵒᶰ'ᵗ ᵈᶤᵉ

𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒘𝒐 ~ 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈

Mr. Debenham sighed.

"Oh my goodness," Zdeňka silently mumbled and facepalmed.

Iké only looked to the direction the voice was coming from.

"Remeeember I'll always be trueeee," the voice continued echoing through the hallway, gradually approaching.

Mr. Debenham walked over to the door and peeked into the hallway.

Heather leaned to the desk behind her and to Quentin sitting at it. She whispered to him. "Who is that?"

"Probably Hairspray." Quentin quickly answered back.

Heather widened her eyes a bit as she was surprised by this statement. "He's in here with us too?"

Quentin shrugged. "Apparently."

"And then while I'm awaaay,
I'll write home every daaay."

"Mr. Robbinson, would you please be so kind to come here and sit down at your desk?" Mr. Debenham called at 'Hairspray'.

"Oh! Hola! Darling, you have to let me know, should I stay or should I-"

"Mr. Robbinson!"

"-Go!"

"I am not joking." There was a significant amount of annoyance and even anger within Mr. Debenham's voice as he coldly declared these words, meanwhile, the steps of so-called Hairspray were approaching closer and closer.

"Oh, hello Mr. Debenham, didn't see you there," Hairspray finally approached Mr. Debenham and just walked past him into the library. "Today's a beautiful day, isn't it?"

"Ah, yes, very beautiful," sarcastically admitted Mr. Debenham.

"Hello there," Hairspray smiled at the kids sitting at their tables.

Heather was the only one to smile back at him.

Hairspray walked over to one of the desks and threw his stuff including big sports bag on it.

"Mr. Robbinson, please, sit down," Mr. Debenham insisted.

Hairspray kept standing. "You can call me, Josh, it's fine."

"Mr. Robbinson please, for sake of everyone in this room-"

"Just call me Josh and I'll sit down."

Mr. Debenham sighed upon this situation and put his hands on his hips. "Alright, Josh, please, sit down."

"Yes, sir," Joshua 'Hairspray' Robbinson, the king of Irvington High School, sat down at his desk.

"Thank you," Mr. Debenham very sarcastically interjected, as he walked back to his desk and took a pile of paper with 6 pens. He slowly started to walk through the library, among the aisles between the student's desks. He carefully placed a paper with a pen in front of each and every kid with oddly precise measurements.

He put a paper with a pencil in front of Josh and Josh as the first instinct grabbed the pen in his hand. However, Mr. Debenham gripped the pen back, snatched it out of Josh's hand, and placed it back on the table as precisely as it was before.

When he finally handed around the papers, he stood before his desk, facing the children with an absolutely indifferent, expressionless look on his face. "Very well. Now, get to work. I'll be just behind the door, so I will hear everything. Don't worry about that."

Joshua Robbinson raised a hand and without waiting to be called on by Mr. Debenham, he spoke: "Uh, excuse me, sir, but what am I supposed to do?"

Mr. Debenham paused for a while. "Ask your friends."

Joshua started to look around the room. Almost desperately. "Where? I don't see any."

Heather silently snickered and Zdeňka, noticing her, shook her head, internally laughing at her stupidity and naivety.

"Can I go home then?" Josh suddenly asked.

"Of course not." Mr. Debenham answered.

"But you said ask your friends! My friends are at home-"

Quentin turned at Joshua and snapped at him. "Dude just shut the fuck up."

Mr. Debenham looked at Quentin but then he fixed his eyes at Joshua, ignoring the swearword Quentin actually used. "Mr. Robbinson, this is detention, not some kind of shambles. Ask others, they will tell you what to do." And with these words, Mr. Debenham left the room.

After the moment Mr. Debenham closed the door to the library, and the smallest hints of echo of the door finally dissipated, the whole vast room went absolutely silent for a couple of minutes. Iké started to write about himself and Zdeňka as well. Quentin and Heather were still thinking about how to start the whole essay and Joshua was just sitting there, staring at the wall.

Out of blue, Quentin dropped by mistake his pen on the floor and quickly picked it up.

"Hey, guys, what are we supposed to write about?" Josh asked once again.

But no answer followed on. There was only silence.

"Guys, come on. Just tell me. You know you'll have trouble too if you don't tell me," Josh continued.

"What difference will it make if we tell you?" Quentin snapped at him. "Will you shut up--?"

"The theme of the essay is 'Who Are You?'." Heather eventually answered Josh's question and interrupted Quentin's voicing.

"Thank you," Josh smiled at Heather, completely ignoring Quentin's statement. "So that means like I should write about 'who I am', am I right?" He asked again, looking at Heather with still some hints of a smile.

"Precisely," she confirmed.

"Huh," Josh nodded and smiled at Heather once again. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," she smiled back.

Meanwhile, Zdeňka was internally throwing up over this scene. Is this some kind of dating circle?

Iké went completely into his mind palace and just wrote and wrote, whilst Quentin still couldn't think of any good way how to start his essay.