Day Three

"Well, well, well. Look who decided to show up late again." Mr. Nipps's cold stare greeted Zak and I the second we opened the door to the English classroom.

"Mr. Nipps I am so s-"

"Stupid."

My eyes locked onto Damon, whose lips were curled into a sinister scowl.

The teacher's attention immediately left Zak and I and focused toward the freakishly giant teenager in the back row.

"You want an extra eight hours here on Saturday? I didn't think so." Nipps barked.

"As for you, Ms. Scott, I'm not sure how to punish you.  I gave you detention for your tardiness, and here you are showing up to your punishment for the same reason." Nipps paced a few slow steps toward Zak and I, who had no choice but to stand awkwardly in the doorway as the teacher sauntered across the classroom in our direction. He adjusted the rectangular glasses perched just below the bridge of his nose and eyed the two of us with a strong sense of cynicism and anger.

"This is your cue to leave." I whispered over my shoulder to Zak.

"It's my fault you're here." His breath was hot as it slid against my ear and down my neck.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Nipps licked his front teeth.

"It wasn't her fault."

I flinched at Zak's response.  In my peripheral, Mark crossed his arms over his chest and drank in the scene, eyes unwavering from Zak.

"Zoe was only late cause a' me. She gave me a ride t'school this morning and she was with me after school, too. If anything, I should be the one getting detention."

"Is that so?" He looked between us. I gulped the lump in my throat and managed to nod. With a roll of the eyes, Mr. Nipps sighed, "Very well. Hand over your cellular devices and sit."

Zak and I gave him our phones after exchanging a glance and examined the rows of seats. I made my way over to my usual seat in English on Mark's right. Sliding into the desk, I looked over my shoulder to wave Zak toward the empty seat next to me. He gave me a brief nod before approaching us and sitting down on my right.

The classroom filled with a heavy, thick silence that soon turned tense and awkward.  On my left sat Mark, who was in the midst of scribbling something quietly on his notebook. On my right sat Zak, whose jaw remained clenched and eyes locked on his desk, and then there I was in the middle, an anchovy shoved in the middle of a sticky, greasy cheeseburger.

The motion of Mark passing a note across my desk caught my eye.  I glanced from the note up to Nipps, who had become transfixed on the novel in his hands, and back again to the small piece of paper. Discreetly dragging it off the corner of my desk, I fiddled and fussed to unfold the paper. Finally, I exposed the writing to read: you're giving him rides to school now?  p.s. im gonna sucker punch damon

I looked up at Mark in exasperation and grabbed the pen off of his desk. I wrote: I'll tell you about it later. And don't sucker punch Damon.

As soon as I finished writing, Mark snatched the note and pen from me. He scribbled and slipped it over: why not

I turned both of my palms upward and looked at him like: Why do you think?

He widened his eyes: I want to strangle him!

I sighed, glancing over at Zak.

"I didn't mean to get you into this."  I hissed.

He shrugged, eyes sparkling bright as usual as they met mine. "I owed you one." 

4:00 p.m. (20 minutes into detention)

"Ey, Mr. Nipps?" Mark groggily called to the teacher.

"Mm?" The teacher's eyes remained spellbound on his novel.

"Bathroom?" He pointed his thumb toward the back door.

Mr. Nipps glanced menacingly up at Mark from the rectangular black frames of his glasses and murmured, "What about it, Mr. Galassi?"

Mark's eyelid close halfway out of exasperation. I fought back a snicker as Mark replied, "Can I go?"

Staring intently at Mark, the teacher remarked, "I don't know. Can you?"

A guttural rumble erupted from Mark's throat. I cupped my hand to my mouth to mask my amusement.

"What do you want from me?" He snarled.

"May I go to the bathroom would be an appropriate phrasing of the question, Mr. Galassi."

"Ugh, fine." Mark rolled his dark eyes and spat through gritted teeth, "May-I-go-to-the-bathroom?" With a satirical smirk he added, "Pretty, pretty please? With a cherry on top?"

Choosing to ignore the sass, Nipps grumbled, "Go. If I catch you smoking-"

"Yeah, yeah, you'll give me detention again." Mark stormed out of the classroom.

I was the only one who found it amusing.

5:57 p.m.

"Zoe..."

"Zoe, wake up!"

"Hm? Where am I?" Looking around frantically, I came face to face with Zak and Mark, who were both leaning over my desk.

"Finally." Mark declared, standing up straight as he ran his fingers through his hair. "C'mon. Nipps is letting us out a few minutes early."

I fluttered my eyelashes to help be rid of the grogginess. I looked over to Zak, who gave me an impish smile.

"Let's go." He tilted his head toward the door before bending over and slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

"Yeah, okay." I yawned, grabbing my things. "Are we still on for rehearsal?" I looked up at Zak.

He shrugged. "It's up to you."

I sensed another pair of eyes lock onto the back of my head. I turned around to find Mark squinting at us.

"Rehearsal, huh? Is that what you're calling it?"

Zak raised a dark eyebrow at Mark. "What are ya saying, man?"

As if he could sense a fight coming on, Damon rushed over to us and started filming.

"You tell me." Mark scoffed, crossing one black high top over the other. The tension hung in the air, heavy as an ocean as Mark and Zak locked eyes.

"Look, man, I don't want any trouble. Alright?" Zak started to turn toward the door.

"You're such a fucking coward, Riley." Mark raised his voice. "Running away from conflict.  Glad to know you haven't changed one bit, buddy."

Zak's Adam's Apple rose and fell and he made slow, measured steps toward Mark until they came face-to-face. In a low, deep tone, Zak whispered, "There's shit between us, man. I got dirt on you. So I suggest ya drop this."

"If you dare-"

"I won't." Zak clenched his jaw, taking a step backward. He glanced at me briefly before looking back at Mark. "But know your limits, and don't push them.  I'm no coward."  With that, Zak turned around once more and headed for the door. Grabbing the handle, he shot me a look over his shoulder. "You comin'?"

I inhaled a sharp breath, becoming self-aware before I gave him a soft nod.

Without hesitation, Zak left the classroom, leaving just Mark, Damon, and I. I met Mark's eyes which were squinted in hatred. I reached for his forearm, but he flinched away as if my touch was burning oil.

"Three days into this and you're already his puppet."  Mark scoffed, shaking his head.  "You, of all people."

"What?" I spat, anger bubbling in my stomach.  "What's the matter with you today? You know that I'm on your side."

"You guys have fun at rehearsal." He held air quotes on the last word. 

"It's not like that-"

"Whatever, Zoe."  He grabbed his stuff and huffed out of the classroom.

And then, there were two.

"That was spicy."  Damon flashed a sarcastic smile my way, his black eyes swirling with humor.  "Got it on film, too."

"Good for you, Damon."  I muttered, heaving a sigh.

"They're right, you know." 

I frowned up at him as he fiddled with the camera, the red recording light disappearing.  "What do you mean?" 

"About each other.  Except they're both cowards, but that one's obvious."

"You know what happened between them."  I concluded, narrowing my eyes at the giant.  He gave me a close-lipped knowing smile.

"I also know that Zak could ruin Mark, how he ruins everyone, and how he'll ruin you."  His lips curled into an even wider smirk. I hesitated before replying, his words needles against my skin.

"You're just trying to scare me."

"Or warn you."  He pursed his lips.  "Or both."  He smirked.

"Thanks,"  I forced a smile his way, treading into the doorway, "But no thanks."  I slammed the door behind me on the way out.  As my footsteps became quicker and quicker toward my car, I couldn't help replay my interactions with Damon, his cryptic warnings and creepy grins. 

What was there to possibly warn me about?  It was just a school assignment.

Down deep, I knew it was more.

Zakary Riley will make two weeks seem like an eternity in hell, he'd said. 

If that wasn't a warning, I didn't know what was.