The rest of the day passed by in a blur with the only thing on my mind was the decision I had to make. The bell rang exactly 3 times, signaling the end of the school day, unable to shake me to responsiveness. I sat in my class and looked up at the clock as the other kids rushed past me. The sound of each tick seemed to get louder and louder with every minute that passed. I sat there, my bag in my hand and my mind begging me to leave but I sat still, just watching the time go by. Ten minutes passed and my body still seemed frozen. My head was busy trying to calm me down with words of encouragement but kept getting shut down by the words of my insecurities. The clock got to 4:13 and that's when I abruptly stood up. I had 2 minutes to get to detention. Although my mind told me to run the other way, my body kept walking straight as I tugged on my backpack strings. My heart was beating so fast that I could hear it pulsating in my ears.

I open the door expecting kids to be throwing stuff as the teacher yells at them to be quiet but am surprised to find silence, the only loud noise was from the teacher's snoring. The room seemed practically empty but I noticed that the attending list is long. My face scrunches up in confusion but deciding not to think too much about it, I quickly hurry over to the corner desk in the front row and pull out my book. From a distance, the forms of the football players can be made out running as they practice drills. I lower my gaze down to my book and scan through it. Just because I was in detention, it didn't mean I could slack off on my work. I get through five pages before I'm interrupted.

"Amelia-" the voice says. I look up in a panic, wondering who I knew that would be in detention, and am surprised at the grinning face of Link who waves enthusiastically at me. Besides him, sitting at the desk is a beautiful girl with caramelized skin tone with bright pink hair that matched the pink crop top underneath the leather jacket she wore and that complemented the black tight jeans. She folds her legs to reveal equally as pink high heels, her eyes darting around the room as she pops her gum loudly. It was hard not admiring how beautiful she looked, only making me feel more self-conscious as I tried to hide behind my book but her eyes darted to me quicker than I could look away. Her eyes examine me for a second before she turns her attention to something else, making me feel as if I was unworthy of her attention. I watch as she takes out a marker and hands it over to Link who quickly scribbles his name down. She takes out a couple of more and hands them to him as she slides onto the desk, facing the teacher who is still soundly asleep. They uncap the pens and as Link draws a mustache, the girl starts with two circles. I looked away in horror, having an idea of what she was drawing but didn't want to confirm it.

Was I an accomplice now? I shake the thought from my head. No. I was just sitting down, reading a book, and didn't know what was happening. Well, that wouldn't work. I had to stop this.

"What are you guys doing?" I hiss at them, trying to perceive a level of authority in my voice.

The girl turns her attention to me and stalks my way. "You're new here," she states, "so I'd just keep my mouth shut," before rolling her eyes and walking away from me without another word. I stand up and walk towards them as they continue drawing on his face.

Link looks at me and extends a marker, "want to join?"

"No thank you," I say in seriousness before continuing, "as a concerned student and future valedictorian of this school, I am obligated to inform him who did that to his face when he wakes up." The girl stops drawing making me instantly regret my words for she walks towards me with threatening intent, causing fear to rise and goosebumps to appear all over me. I gulp as she steps closer, making me back away but pinning me against the desk.

She gives me a devilish smile as she speaks, "So you're the future valedictorian?" I nodded my head slowly as I examined her reaction. "Nice to meet you, I'm Gina." She backs away from me and turns to Link, who is looking intently at us. "Grab her," she commands and grabs one of my arms as Link does as he's told and holds my other.

"Wha-" before I can say another word they drag me outside the door with bored students looking at us and turning their heads at the unfolding events. "This is kidnapping," I tell them as we pass the school doors and into the school field.

"Relax. We're not kidnapping you," Link assures me to which I respond with a roll of my eyes.

"Besides, who would ever want to kidnap you," Gina says with a scoff as she releases my arm.

Link mulls over his words before he speaks with a shrug, "you're just going to hang out with us."

"Against my will," I point out. "Besides, I don't want to get into more trouble."

"Oh, will you shut up," Ginna yells at me, "you're not getting into more trouble." At this point, Link has decided to let go of my arm as well and now we walk along each other as I intently argue with Gina, trying to get my point across.

"Well, leaving detention without permission constitutes more severe punishment."

She rolls her eyes and keeps walking as I stop in my tracks, realizing no one was forcing me to walk anymore. Link holds back and looks at me. "Mr. Lambert has a newborn," he explains to me as if this would clue me into something I clearly missed. He sighs, "Long nights and no sleep makes him very tired." It takes me a second before I fully grasp what he was telling me and I nod as the light bulb in my head goes off. He looks at me expectantly, "so do you want to come with?"

I hesitate for a bit before deciding against my better judgment and nodding. "I won't get in trouble right?"

Link laughs, "you think this is our first time doing this? It was harder sneaking away from him before the kid. If you ask me, that kid is a blessing."

I can't help but laugh as we walk and reach Gina who is already in a seat in the stadium as she peers over the football players.

Gina looks over at us and continues her search. "I see you manage to convince her to come along."

"I just explained to her that she wouldn't get in trouble," Link tells her matter of factly.

Gina shrugs, "sure- take the fun out of it."

"Who are you looking for?" I interject, ignoring her comment.

"She's looking for Sienna and the cheerleaders," Link tells me. "Gina is part of the squad and well she wanted to make sure they aren't at practice."

"And there not, so I'm good," Gina says as she leans back on the stands, seeming more at ease.

"Where is Grayson anyway."

"Sucking face down there," she points across the other stand at the bottom with a disgusted face. She looks over at me and grabs my hand, "let's go say hi, huh?"

"Huh?" I breathe as I follow her down the stairs, looking carefully at the ground to not fall. I feel her stop and knowing I was safe, I look up and find Grayson in his football uniform making out with Sienna LaRoy, who sat comfortably on his lap with her cheerleading uniform on. It wasn't shocking to see them together, they seemed to compliment one another perfectly.

I could never help but ogle at Sienna LaRoy, she was someone who emanated power. She was one of the most popular girls in Silver River; it might be because of how strongly beautiful she was with her caramel skin and black wavy hair that reached her mid-back, her piercing brown eyes that showed her confidence, or the fact that she was one of the nicest persons you could meet. Her family was the 2nd richest in the town, but she never flaunted her wealth but helped with the money if she could. She was captain of the cheerleading squad and the main charity coordinator. She seemed to live a dream you never wanted to wake up from.

"Ahem-" Gina cleared her throat with crossed arms, clearly wanting them to pay attention to her. Grayson opens his eyes and raises an eyebrow as he detaches himself from Sienna who ignores us and keeps kissing up his neck and neck, finding that more interesting. I watch as Grayson's eyes land on me with surprise and instantly wrap my arms around myself, trying to conceal as much of me as I could from his questioning gaze. He watched intently as if I would reveal something he knew that I did not.

As if failing at his attempt, he finally nods at me in acknowledgment and speaks one word, "Strawberry."

I can feel my cheeks redden a bit as the words catch Sienna's attention and she finally looks around at us with curiosity and irritation mixed together. "That's not my name," I tell him stately, "It's-"

"Amelia," Sienna cuts me off by finishing my sentence with a beaming smile. "I'm surprised to see you here. Did you come from studying?"

Gina stifles a laugh while Grayson looks once more at me with great curiosity. I didn't feel the need to lie about where I was so shaking my head I responded, "from detention actually."

I could see Grayson shoot me a glare before rolling his eyes and looking away at the people practicing.

Sienna on the other hand looks at me with raised eyebrows but a wide smile, "Well that does happen- even to the best of us," she tells me warmly.

"Sienna, I think it's time for you to go," Grayson mutters without so much as a glance her way.

Sienna gives us a forced smile before nodding and speaking, "yes. I have cheer practice to go to. Bye, everyone." I can see a small tear from her eyes but she hastily wipes it away and runs down the field, disappearing from view.

I can't help but feel anger at the sight and turn to Grayson who seems to be looking everywhere else. "Well that was rude-" I reproach, "why did you tell her to leave like that?"

Grayson scoffs at me, "not that it's any of your business- but it was time for her to leave. Didn't you hear- she has cheer practice."

"No, she just made up an excuse since you clearly just didn't want her here anymore. Gina is a cheerleader too and she confirmed there was no practice."

"Why don't you just mind your own business, Strawberry." I shoot Grayson a glare as I pull my arm away from Link who keeps looking me over. "What are you doing, Link?"

"I'm trying to figure out why he calls you Strawberry. You don't look like a strawberry to me. No freckles, no red hair, -nor is she red." Link stops, looking stumped, and finally declares, "I give up."

I look over at him, anger still inside me, "I'll tell you why he calls me that because he's an asshole who can't seem to learn a person's name or treat them with respect." I glare at him as he gives me a blank face, "I'm out of here," I tell them and start walking back.

I manage to walk halfway before a voice calls after me, "Miss Valedictorian- wait up." She pulls my arm and causes me to abruptly stop as I glare at her. She raises her hands up in defense and gives me a grin, "if it's okay that I call you that."

I stare at Gina for a few seconds before shrugging, my anger wasn't towards her, "it's fine. Kind of a cute nickname anyway." I start walking again, but slower this time as Gina walks beside me.

"Well 'Strawberries' is cute too," she points out.

I give this a thought, "yea- but I'm not sure it's said with the best intentions."

She shrugs, "I wouldn't know what to tell you."

"Why did you follow me?" I ask her earnestly.

"Well- I thought it was pretty respectable what you did back there, even defending Sienna. You got guts."

"Yea-" I put my hands in my skirt pockets as I reproached, "Why didn't you defend her?"

She gives me another smile and pops her gum as if deciding whether my question was worth an answer. She sighs and gives me one, "it's complicated. They've known each other for a while, and besides, Sienna isn't necessarily one of my favorite people."

"Why's that?"

She looks at me and says, "She's too perfect and I don't honestly believe people are that perfect."

It's my time to shrug, "I think she's nice."

"Very nice," Gina agrees, "how do you know her? I didn't know you guys ran in the same circle."

"I've volunteered for some of her charities. Looks good on a college application and I can help give back to the world. Which is why I can say she's a good person, she doesn't need help getting into college so just does it to be nice."

"Yup- she's a people person alright and a business one at that." I look over at her with curiosity.

"What does that mean?" I wait for an answer that never comes. The question seems to bring us to the end of our conversation as we continue to walk silently. I hear the popping of the gum once more and can't help but ask, "why are you chewing gum?" It was a dumb question but a valid one.

"You sure are full of questions huh. Well- I'm not allowed to smoke on school property, so I try to substitute it my own way," she says and pops her gum again.

"I didn't peg you for a smoker."

"You also didn't peg me for a cheerleader," she says and bumps my shoulder with hers with a smile.

I was about to interject but realized she was right. "No, I didn't. I'm sorry."

She shrugs, "no reason to be sorry, but now that we're on that subject. I'm sorry I 'kidnapped you."

"So you admit it was kidnapping," I tell her in an aha tone with a small laugh.

"So how did you end up in detention?" she questions me.

I look at her with raised eyebrows, "you don't know?"
"Oh- I know. I just want to hear you say it. Word gets out when you-"

"Cuss in front of a teacher?" I finished. "What about you?"

"Oh- I didn't get detention. I was just there to orchestrate the breakout."

"Really?"

She laughs, "no. I got caught smoking."

"I thought that's why you chewed gum, to keep you from smoking."

"I said I tried, sometimes it doesn't work." She starts pulling out a packet of nicotine-flavored gum, as we near the door, "you want one?"

"No thank you," I declined.

She smiles and puts them away after adding another new piece to her collection. "You know what kiddo," she wraps an arm around my shoulder, "I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

I'm at a loss of words; never had I pictured becoming friends with a girl like Gina but now that I had met her and talked to her, it didn't seem that unlikely. I also never pictured it being this easy to become friends with someone. So without giving it another moment of thought, allowing myself to form this weirdly new and exciting friendship, I put my arm around her shoulder and say, "you know kiddo, I do too."  

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Haven't posted in a while because haven't really had a chance but I'm eager to keep working on the story if my imagination allows me to. 

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