Page 14

Then, out of the blue, the door swung open and the Eclipse Pack strode in. “Hey, you made it on time! Maybe we should have a party?” Mr Brooks gave a little tease, looking up from the book he was reading.
Kieran came in last and said, “Don’t forget the booze.” A couple of people in the class burst out laughing.
“Speaking of the devil,” I muttered and groaned, ignoring Beck and Brielle’s bickering again. Mr Brooks quickly put an end to it by telling them they’d have detention if they didn’t pipe down.
“I heard that,” Kieran said, sitting down. He glared at the board, muttering something incoherently.
“Okay, class. We’ll start on page 196 of your textbook – ” I felt something hit the side of my head and land on my desk. My nostrils flared as I took the crumpled piece of paper and opened it up.
I soon worked out that the handwriting was Kieran’s. ‘I like what you did with your hair today. Was it the washing machine? Maybe you should start a trend,” it said.
I knew I looked terrible. I wasn’t too worried about how I looked at the moment. But he didn’t need to remind me.
I could have lost it and banged my head on my desk. I grabbed my pen a bit more tightly and scribbled something sarcastic on the note. I wrote, ‘How did you know I used the washing machine? I know you’re creepy and all, but you don’t have to stalk me.’
I crumpled it back up and threw the wad of paper away. I’m not the best at aiming, though. So instead of hitting Kieran in the head like I planned, I hit Cruz instead. He looked up from his book, looking a bit annoyed. I gave him an apologetic smile as he threw the paper at Kieran.
Then, before I knew it, the paper hit me in the head again. I banged my hand on the desk, grabbed the paper and read it. ‘Did your grandma dress you today?’
I shot him a look and said, “Did your dog dress you today?” as I threw the paper at him again. I was so excited when it hit his nose. Great work! Right in the face!
‘That doesn’t even make sense,’ he replied.
‘I know you’re smart, but I wouldn’t expect you to figure that out. You’re really stupid, you know.’
I’m stupid for you, babe; You do realise you called me a genius and stupid, right?”
“I know I’m not stupid. The genius part was me being sarcastic.’
My eye was twitching when the paper hit me on the head again. I shot a look at Kieran and hoped that they were shooting daggers. He gave me a smug smile, clearly amused by how irritated I was. “Redford, can you stop bothering me, please?” I shouted at him from the other side of the room.
“Stop pretending you don’t like it,” he smirked, crossing his arms.
“I’m not a fan, genius! Gosh, you’re as stupid as a tomato!” I threw my hands up to show how annoyed I was. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and laughed at us.
“Is stupider even a word? And a tomato? Seriously?” He sniggered.
“Oh, you little snot –”
“Mr. Redford, Ms. Ainsley, keep it down or I’ll give you both detention,” Mr. Brooks warned.
“But she started it.” Kieran looked at our teacher in disbelief, pouting his bottom lip and pointing a finger at me as if he were a little child.
“No way! I didn’t start this! You were the one who threw me this stupid paper in the first place!”
“Oh, be quiet, you sound like a child.”
“Calm down, Mr Brooks,” he tried to say.
“I sound like a child? Redford, you should buy a mirror!”
Kieran laughed. “You’re more stupid than me. I mean, why buy a mirror if you’re suggesting I listen to myself?”
You’re just afraid to buy a mirror because you’ll see a monster on the other side, aren’t you?
“Kids, if you don’t –”
“The only monster I would see is you!” Kieran shot back.
“That’s enough!” Mr. Brooks boomed. His voice shook the tables and the laughter died down. At that moment, he didn’t sound like he was in his mid-twenties. Kieran and I just sat there, fuming and glaring at each other. “You’re both being detained after school! Since you both seem to find note passing hilarious in my class, why don’t you share it with the rest of us?”
Mr. Brooks grabbed the paper from my desk before I could get it. He opened up the paper and I turned beet red when he started reading it. I was so embarrassed that I hid my face behind my hands. Kieran wrote something, and I didn’t read it before getting annoyed and snapping at him. It made me feel like an angry teenage girl.
“At least I know that you’re definitely not being sarcastic when you mutter about how sexy I am in your sleep, babe,” Mr Brooks read what Kieran had written. The whole class burst into laughter. Mr. Brooks tried to keep a straight face, but he couldn’t help laughing along with the rest of the group. He cleared his throat and looked at the paper, amused.
I looked back at Kieran to see if he was embarrassed too, but he just casually leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. He looked at me with a smirk. He wasn’t embarrassed, obviously. He won this one. He always seemed to have the last word, whether we were bickering in class or arguing over notes.
I was sure steam was coming out of my ears as Kieran pointed a finger at me and threw up one finger, then pointed to himself and threw up two fingers. That was the only thing it could mean. Kieran got 2 points, and Tali got 1.
Oh, it’s all kicking off in Redford.
Just to let you know, I’ve reviewed the figures, and they’re in the black.
“So, let me get this straight. You got detention with Kieran?” Lila’s eyes were a bit bulging with shock. “Do I even want to know?”
I groaned and rubbed my face, feeling irritated. “He’s just an idiot, that’s all.”
“And because he’s a bit of an idiot, you bailed on shopping with me?” Lila stomped her foot and whined. Her black hair bounced as she did. “Why can’t my brother just share you for once?”
“It’s not like that. Look, I’ve got to go or I’ll be getting another detention,” I sighed and gave her a quick hug. “We’ll go shopping another time, I promise.”
I finally made it to Mr Brooks’ room after a bit of a wander down the school’s empty hallways. I looked a bit unimpressed when I saw Kieran. It seems like we were the only ones who got detention today. How lucky am I? And I’m sure you’ll note the sarcasm. I made sure to sit as far away from him as possible and read the carved words of other students on the wooden desk, trying not to look at Kieran.
“OK then,” Mr Brooks clapped his hands once. He stood up from his desk, stretched, and straightened out his light blue button-up shirt. “I’ve got to go do some business in the office. You two know the basics. No eating, no skipping, no messing around and, most importantly, for both of your sakes, no talking.”
Kieran scoffed. I looked back at him, trying to say something, but he waved me off. “Mr Brooks, you know that isn’t possible.”
“Yeah, well, I tried,” our teacher replied, sounding a bit fed up.
“Sir, please don’t leave me with that thing,” I pointed at Kieran in disgust. I tried my puppy dog look, which consisted of widening my green eyes a bit, pouting my lower lip and scrunching up my eyebrows. Mr. Brooks just raised one eyebrow and looked at me like I was crazy. His face said it all: ‘Seriously? Not going to work.’
Kieran tried to keep a straight face, but he couldn’t and ended up in a fit of laughter. He finally calmed down and pointed a finger at me. “Phew, what sort of face was that? You looked like a constipated cow.”
“How can you tell what a cow that’s constipated looks like, then?” I gave him a hard time, using a nagging voice.
“Well, obviously, just look at you.”
I gasped. “I’m not a cow, am I?”
I heard a door slam and saw that Mr Brooks had escaped from us. I thought, well, this guy’s smart, but I’m stuck with stupid… again! I groaned for the thousandth time today. “Look at Mr. Brooks! He’s in such a tough spot.”
“You just like him because, like every girl around here, you think he’s beautiful!” Kieran shot me a dirty look and crossed his arms, giving me one of his smirks. To be honest, he looked pretty smug. Well, he looked good in it. He wasn’t as hot as a Greek god or any god for that matter, because he was so much hotter. His strong, angular jaw clenched when he was angry or focused. His blue eyes shone out of his perfectly tan skin and black hair that was whipped into a messy style. I couldn’t help but notice his sculpted chest and broad shoulders, which were only covered by a thin layer of grey cloth. Oh, and his lips. His lips were nice, even when they spoke the meanest things or curved into a cocky smirk.