Marianne stiffened, heart clenching in a nauseating mixture of fear and anger. "If I may, sir," she said quickly, feeling all eyes in the room turn to her. "Mare wasn't doing anything, it was me who distracted her by making a joke, this is my fault." The lie came easily, even as her hands gripped the sides of her chair tighter. She couldn't help shooting a hard glare at Paul, but only for a fraction of a second.
Mare's eyes widened as she looked over at Marianne, subtly shaking her head.
A wicked grin spread across the teacher's face. "Wonderful, Miss Rembrant. That'll make 7 hours of detention each. Come by my office after class to pick up your tickets."
Mare took her head in her hands and lay her head on the table. What had Marianne done?
Marianne almost protested, there was no reason for the teacher to give Mare detention as well, but she held her tongue, knowing that she would only worsen the situation more than she already had. Seven hours…. Mare doesn't deserve that… I'm so stupid…
The lesson wore on and on, but when the bell finally rang to signal the end of the period, Marianne finally found a moment in the commotion to turn to her friend. "Sorry… I was trying to make things better, I just made them worse– sorry."
Mare shrugged, rubbing her forehead to smooth out her frown. "Used to it. I'm not as popular as you, so."
She gave Marianne a small smile.
Marianne did her best to smile back through the crushing guilt. "I'm not popular, though. People like you." She caught the teacher giving them a harsh look. "We'd better go get our tickets…"
"People like me? In the space of an hour and a half I've been insulted 4 times. Not sure I'd call that like?"
She kept her head down as she walked to the desk. Another girl pushed past her to get out of the class and Mare snickered. "Make that 5."
(wait weren't they supposed to pick their tickets up after class?)
(fudge I am such a moron)
(it's no problem, don't worry)
Marianne was about to respond when she realized that they had arrived at the teacher's desk. Her head flew up, palms beginning to sweat. "You asked to see us, sir?"
He nodded deeply.
"Indeed." He reached into his drawer to pull out the detention tickets. "May I ask what distracted you two girls so much during my lesson?"
"I made a joke," Marianne said quickly, before Mare could intervene. "I apologize for my misbehaviour." Her one hand began rubbing at the wrist of the other with it's knuckles, causing faint red blotches to surface.
Mare nodded along. "I apologise for being rude, sir."
The teacher, Mr. Barrow, put up a hand to silence them. "I've reconsidered. I will lessen your detention to 3 hours."
Mare looked over at Marianne, eyes wide.
Oh thank god. “Thank you— thank you, Mr. Barrows.” Marianne managed, barely resisting a glance at Mare. “Will we be serving before or after school? Or at lunch?”
Mare held her breath. She couldn't come after school.
"Before."
She exhaled loudly. He shot her a glance but said nothing. "Next Monday to Wednesday, an hour a day."
Mare kept silent but nodded her understanding. "Dismissed," he said finally.
Mare pulled Marianne out of the class and leaned against the wall.
"That's done," she sighed, relieved.
Marianne let out a sigh of her own. "I thought he might murder us," she murmured jokingly, checking the time. "I'm about as relieved as you are right now, but we'll get more detention if we're not on time to our next classes. See you at lunch?" Their next two classes weren't with each other, unfortunately, but there would be plenty of time to meet up at lunch and in the afternoon.
Mare nodded, smiled, then turned to leave. She ran to her English class, arriving just as the class walked into the room.
She took her seat in the front row and took out her copy of Macbeth, eager to start and lose herself in Shakespeare's writing.
"Alright, let's get to it," Mr. Brown clapped his hands together.
(Skip to lunch?)
(perfect)
(Kk)
Marianne pocketed a small wallet, shutting her locker and scanning the hall for Mare, hoping to intercept her before she could get to the cafeteria. She spotted her a few classes down, and wove through the crowd to get to her. "Mare!"
Mare turned toward Marianne when she heard her name called. A shy smile appeared on her face.
"Hey. How was Maths?"
Marianne's heart rate accelerated at the sight of that smile, but she was careful not to let it show. "Good, how was [insert Mare's class]?" She slipped her hands into the front pockets of her jeans. "Also, I have some money saved up, I was wondering if you'd like to go out for lunch today?" As a friend. Definitely as nothing more than a friend.
Mare knotted her hands together behind her back.
"I'd feel bad," she shook her head. "I don't have anything on me today."
She bit her lip, debating whether or not to say the next part of her sentence. Unless I buy tomorrow. Easy. Spit it out. She pursed her lips and stayed silent.
Marianne waved it away. "That's why I'm paying." She gave her friend a playful puppy-dog look. "Please?" Pleasepleaseplease.
"Then I'm buying tomorrow," Mare blurted out. She immediately looked down, turning red. Merde, t'es vraiment conne. Depuis quand tu dis des chose comme ca?
(Shit, you're dumb. Since when do you say things like that?)
(If me blurting out French sentences gets annoying just tell me I'll stop)
(no it's great, dw! adds character~)
Marianne's smile only grew, cheeks flushing slightly. She pulled her hair over one shoulder, just to have something to do with her hands. "Alright, it's a deal."