Bayley left a rush of light wind behind him as he left Ms. Monte's office. He was obviously trying to get out of there as soon as possible. But why?

I entered the office after the wind had settled down, and she had come to the door to guide me to the designated chair. She paced around the room for a few minutes, grabbing files and folders and papers and probably a pen. She eventually sat down in her spinning chair, turning it to face where I was seated.

"So how has your day been going today?" she started, clicking her pen into action.

"Good... I guess." I replied, trying to sound indifferent, which I really was.

"Well, that's great. But can we change the subject just for a moment?" I nodded my head, and she continued. "Do you have any classes or lunch or anything with Bay Wicker?"

Ugh. Not him again.

"Do you mean Bayley?"

"Yes, same person, but no. He hates the name Bayley. Call him Bay." she pressed. I let out a sigh of exasperration.

"Okay, but yeah. I have science and lunch with him. Why?" I questioned. How and why was this stuck up kid becoming the center of my school life. I didn't even know him, but yet everyone expected me to.

"Wonderful!" She clapped her hands together in one quick, single motion. "I hate to force things on my pupils, but would you mind trying to talk to him a little more? Maybe sit with him at lunch?"

"Uh... I guess I can... try..." I said reluctantly. I listened as she scribbled a few things down onto her notebook, hopefully having nothing to do with me, but that was sort of inevitable.

...

I arrived back in the science classroom after the last bell of the day had rang, slowly using the signs on the walls as a guide to find the room. I carried my bag on my back, and I accidently knocked over a few people with it as I was carelessly rambled through the overpopulated halls. I finally landed in the right class, being welcomed in by Mrs. Bradock.

"Good afternoon, Miller. How are you?" she said, hovering around the room to put away tools from the last period of the day.

"I'm... good." I replied. I felt around for a chair and found one to slowly sit back into.

"That's good. Now, if you don't mind could you pull out your phone? I thought that maybe you could tape the notes instead of having to write them. You know, like you could listen to them to study." she suggested. I did as I was told, removing my phone from my back pocket and turning it on to the tape recorder. Suddenly, the door swung open. Footsteps entered the room, stopping at the desk next to mine and pulling out a chair.

"Bayley, you're even late to detention. I would say that would be another detention, but that would beat the purpose." she sighed. "Whatever, just sit down. I assume you know what to do in detention by now."

He didn't reply, just obeyed by sitting down in the chair. Mrs. Bradock came to the front of the classroom and starting scratching the chalk against the blackboard.

"Okay, Miller, now if you would like to start..." I didn't listen to a single thing as she rambled on and on and on about something called a thylakoid membrane, and a weird grana thingy that sat in the stroma.

Meanwhile, my mind started wandering off like it often did when boring conversations took place. I started to stress over how I was going to try and talk to Bayl- I mean Bay. What was his problem anyway? He had four other brothers that seemed pretty decent, except for the fact that they didn't treat him that great. And besides the fact that his house smelled like a soured locker room, nothing was really that bad in his life. Except for his lack of a mother...

"Okay, I think both of you can be done for today." I looked up to see the that thirty seven minutes had passed. Wow, I was daydreaming for more than half an hour? "And Bayley," Mrs. Bradock continued, "If this keeps happening, you're going to lose credits. You won't be able to graduate if you lose more than five credits."

I listened as he gathered his things and left the classroom. I followed him out, placing my backpack over one shoulder and eventually making it out the front entrance of the school. I found an empty bench, a perfect place to wait for my mom to come and pick me up. Slow, achingly heavy footsteps approached, and the owner of those footsteps landed on the bench, approximately six inches away from where I was uncomfortably seated.

"Er... hey." I recongized the deep voice as belonging to Bay, making me more and less anxious at the same time.

"Hey..." I stuttered. An awkward silence pressed at the chilly September air, and I didn't know what to do other than to keep my mouth shut.

After a long pause, he abruptly broke the silence. "Um... do you... do you know what I look like?"

"Yeah... I guess so. But I don't really know that well. Why?"

"Good." he said abruptly. "I mean... sure... I don't even know what I'm talking about." he laughed. For a moment it didn't even feel like I was with the same pessimistic guy. He had a great laugh, quiet but still genuine and awkward. But I brushed my mind off of that fake topic, coming back down to the real world where I sat on this real bench with this real awful boy. But was he really that awful though?

"So, are you waiting for a ride?" I started.

"Yeah... remember how I told you about my brother Benjamin?" I nodded my head. "Well, he's supposed to pick me up, but he works for another half hour, so I don't really know what I'm going to do at this point."

"Oh, that stinks." And everything went downhill from there as the inner Ms. Monte took over my brain. "Hey, if you want, I can offer you a ride home. I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind." I stupidly offered.

"Um... I guess. Thanks."

What did I get myself into?