Chapter Five - A Bonding Exercise

I noticed Rebecca's piqued curiosity when Matt's name was called over the intercom, then her smile when Rebekah was announced, then her frown when she realized it was me, not her. I had no idea a person was capable of so many expressions in a span of three seconds.

"I repeat. Matthew Williams and Rebekah Andrews, please report to the principal's office immediately."

I groaned, already dreading it. "No!"

Rebecca's face fell. She had been expecting them to say Morgan the second time.

"Her?" she snapped at June like it was her fault, then fixed me with a pissed stare. "What did you do? Why are they calling you with—oh...never mind! It must've been a mistake. They obviously meant me."

She'd totally convinced herself. All her anger vanished as she swung her backpack to her front and fished out a compact mirror. She flipped it open, took a quick look, stretched her lips back creepily to check her teeth and then shoved it back inside her backpack.

"Kill me now," I said under my breath, exchanging a look with Meera who was still busy throwing daggers at Rebecca.

"See you in class," I said to her, spun around and started marching towards the principal's office.

Right outside the office, there was a little space where the assistant Miss Grace had her desk and computer and she was always typing something on it. If anyone wanted to see the principal, they had to go through her. When I walked up to her, she looked up and lifted her glasses which were resting on the bridge of her nose. "Rebekah Andrews?"

"That's me."

She pointed her thumb towards the door behind her but her brows pulled together at something behind me. I heard footsteps approaching.

"Yes?" she asked in a much politer tone than the former assistant used. She'd just rudely demand 'what now, kid?'

"Hi! This must have been a mistake. I'm Rebecca Morgan. I'm the one you want with Matt, trust me."

I almost rolled my eyes to the back of my head. "Oh yes. Please let her go instead of me."

Miss Grace looked between us for a moment, pursing her lips. "Sorry, girls. The call's for Rebekah Andrews. Miss Morgan, please get back to class."

"Come on," she huffed away, complaining, "how's that possible? You're just gonna end up calling me instead."

With a deep sigh, I pushed open the door and to my utmost annoyance, Matt had beat me there as he was settled in one of the two chairs, his back to me. He didn't even look up when I entered.

Principal Miller, who was in her mid-50s and usually a sweet lady, offered me a curt smile and pointed to the chair next to Matt. "Please sit down."

Right before I could pull the chair, Matt placed his foot on the wheels beneath it and haled it at least two feet away from his, all the while keeping his eyes fixed ahead.

Okay, Becks. Calm down. Punching him in front of the principal could get you expelled.

The principal lowered her glasses to the tip of her nose to eye us both. I finally sat down and once I did, I got a good look at Matt's face and a satisfied smile reached my lips. I wasn't the only one walking around the school looking like a Smurf. My enemy couldn't get away from the blue ink either.

"Nice makeover," I commented.

He snapped his eyes to me and that was my cue to focus on the principal. I caught her little amusement right before she cleared her throat and demanded our attention.

"I've been hearing about this incident outside the boys' changing room from this morning. Is there anything you both wanna say about that?"

"It's his fault," I said quickly.

"She's lying. She started it."

"I did not. I only splashed water at you. You know, a transparent, at room temperature no-harm-done liquid? You did this." I grabbed a handful of my hair to make my point.

I could tell how pissed he was by the mere sound of my voice as he clenched his jaw the moment I started talking. He wasn't even looking at me. He didn't need to though. He knew exactly what had happened. It was his fault.

"Miss Andrews," the principal interrupted my glare on him. "Can I ask what you were doing in the boys' changing room?"

"Uh..." I bit down on my lip.

"She was asking me out," my enemy cut in.

"I was not," I snapped. "...asking him out. I thought he was someone else."

"Uh huh." Principal Miller nodded slightly, trying to make sense of the situation. "Go on."

"We've never got along," I continued. "When I realized it was him, we got into a verbal argument. He said some things, riled me up and I splashed water at his face. I take responsibility for that. But he just went ahead and spilled a bottle of ink on me, can you believe it?"

"I take responsibility for that," he said to the principal. "And I'm not even sorry. She deserved it."

"Excuse me?" I snapped. "What do you mean—"

"Okay okay!" She quickly cut in, holdings up her palms. "Let's not fight here. What happened after that? I've heard from students that you pushed each other out of the changing room and got into another fight right on the floor."

"She pushed me," he corrected.

I scoffed. "Come on. Look at him. He plays football. Do you really think I can tackle him to the floor unless he lets me?"

"Are you saying I wanted you on top of me, smearing ink on me like some kind of freak?" he snapped, finally looking at me.

"I don't know. Maybe." I shrugged. "Maybe you wanted to get me in trouble."

"If I wanted to get you in trouble, I'd tip the school you were doing drugs because that is the only logical explanation for what you did." He turned to the principal. "Quick suggestion, you should check her."

"Hold up, students. We are not talking about dr—"

My mouth opened slightly. "And what about what you did? What kind of sane person spills ink on somebody like that for no reason?"

"No reason? Don't act like you're all—"

"Okay! Stop it!" Principal Miller used her authoritative tone. Her face turned red with anger as she pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear in annoyance. We both fell silent, but still simmering with fury as we cut murderous glances at each other.

"I thought we could solve it with words and end it with an apology but I don't see that happening." She eyed us hopefully and we realized it was more of a question.

"Nope," we both said together, to my annoyance. He'd get an apology out of me when hell froze over.

"Fine." She sighed. "You're both in 30 minutes detention after school today."

My jaw dropped. Detention? Me? I'd never been in detention.

"What?" Matt was the first to speak. "I can't do detention. You know about the music assembly next week. I'm the lead singer..." I rolled my eyes. Show off. "There's barely four days left."

"Then you better hope you don't have to be in detention tomorrow as well because that depends on how you two get along with each other today. I'll get the feedback from the assigned teacher, I assure you."

"No. You're not listening to me. We're yet to rehearse our final—"

"I heard you good, Mr. Williams." She smiled.

"Principal Miller," I started. "I don't even get why I am being punished when I didn't do—"

"You're both dismissed."

I sighed.

*****

"So, you found his voice sexy?" Meera reminded me as I shoved my books in my locker after school. I cringed at my own thoughts from earlier. Back when I thought I was talking to Sean.

I only grunted something incoherent in response but she wasn't listening.

"And you thought his arms were packed and sexy. You also said his voice was soothing. Aw, Becks. You're one step closer to admitting Cheryl and I were right."

I snapped my locker shut and glared at her. "Read the room, Meera."

"We're in a hallway." She grinned.

"Can you not remind me of those things right before I'm about to have to see him for 30 minutes straight?"

"Try not to kill each other." She chuckled. "Want me to wait for you?"

"Of course not. Go home and study for that history test tomorrow."

"I can study in the library."

"I'll manage, really."

"Okay then. See you tomorrow."

"Bye."

When I made it to the classroom, Matt was already there, sitting on the first bench, scrolling on his phone. We were the only ones in detention and that annoyed me even more. He'd made me stoop down to his level.

I looked at our assigned teacher. It was Mr. Jensen. He was my math teacher in the ninth grade. I gave him a little smile as a greeting and he nodded before going back to reading his book.

When I turned to the benches, Matt looked up at the same time. Our eyes met, he rolled his and went back to his phone.

I smiled sarcastically even though he wasn't looking anymore and walked past his bench, almost taking the second one but deciding I needed a little more space between us, I settled in the third bench.

I pulled my history textbook out of my backpack and flipped through its pages lazily. Why did I have to study history when I wasn't even interested in it and was hella sure I wanted no career out of it?

I was busy cursing out the people who caused so many events in the past when I felt somebody walk up to me. Just as I looked up, that somebody took a seat next to me, making me scoot over—no, he practically pushed me to the other end to make space for himself.

"What the hell?" I snapped at my enemy. "What do you want?"

He humourlessly motioned his chin towards the teacher and I noticed Mr. Jensen had kept his book aside and was writing something down. When he looked up briefly, I realized he was making notes on us for Principal Miller.

"She really meant it." I blinked, then scowled at Matt. "But she never said we have to sit next to each other."

"If it gets me out of tomorrow's detention, so be it."

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes. "Just don't talk to me."

"Wow." He scoffed to himself. "You're not very bright, are you? How exactly do you think this works?"

I raised a brow.

"What difference will sitting together make if we just sit quietly and stare at the walls? Use your brain, Andrews. They want bonding."

I scrunched my nose at the mere thought. Bonding, me and Matt in the same thought. Gross. "I knew that."

"Right. Totally."

"Shut up." I sighed, placing my pencil in my textbook as a bookmark before closing it. "So, what do we do?"

"Just pretend to talk to me."

"We're already talking."

"With a smile."

I gave him a sarcastic smile.

His lips twisted into a grimace. "Never mind. Just lay it off."

That only made me widen my smile. "I don't see your smile."

"I'm trying, believe me. It's not easy for everyone to smile in the face of their problems."

I hit the off on my smile almost immediately, then realized I was better off not letting my enemy influencing my actions, so I smiled even wider. "You could learn it from me."

"Oh, you think you're doing such a great job? I bet he's seconds away from calling 911 and telling them a student is having a stroke."

"Shut up. If you don't wanna do this, fine. I'm not the one dying to get out of detention."

With that, I opened my textbook and only realized I had been way too loud when I looked up at the teacher and found him frowning at us, then jotting something down again. Oh no!

I opened my mouth to defend myself but something cut me off.

I heard a chuckle beside me. Did that come out of my enemy? Has he finally lost it? I thought. For the next thing he did, it took everything within me to not let my reflexes take over and punch him.

To my utmost, shocking surprise, Matt draped an arm across my shoulder and patted like we were buddies as he chuckled. "We get along. Totally."

Mr. Jensen narrowed his eyes but for once, I decided to play along with my enemy and added in quickly, "oh yeah we're good. You know, in fact, this detention isn't actually a punishment for us. We rarely get time to hang out because of school, his football, music..."

"Shut it," Matt whispered with another fake chuckle towards the teacher.

"...and stuff," I finished, scratching my forehead.

"I see. Then you wouldn't mind doing this for two more days?" Mr. Jensen asked nonchalantly while writing down on the damn paper again with a little smile.

"No!" We both shouted at the same time.

"I mean," I continued. "It's not a problem but I can't. I don't have a ride home. My parents are working, I can't drive and I hitch a ride with my friends every day. I don't even know how I'm getting home today."

"I see." He cut us a glance and finally put the pen down before picking up his book.

Whew!

Feeling the revulsion of a certain arm around me and making sure we didn't have Mr. Jensen's attention anymore, I elbowed Matt in the ribs, making him hiss out in surprise.

"You ever put your hands on me again, I will kill you."

At first, he was annoyed but then, a hint of amusement coloured his features. "Aren't you a few sizes too small to be giving someone like me a threat like that?"

My inner self gasped. How dare he?

"Who do you think you are? The Great Khali?"

"In front of you, yes."

"I'm 5'4." I deadpanned. And I can fight.

"Oh?" He tilted his head as if it were an interesting fact and I just wanted to punch that face. "Isn't that adorable?"

My eyes narrowed. "Careful, Williams. Or I'd think you were calling me cute."

"I mean, you could practically fit into a fruit basket. If I could somehow find it within myself to overlook that," he said with distaste, pointing a finger across my face. "I'd say it was quite adorable."

Before I could slap his finger away, he pulled it out of my reach, showing off his quick reflexes.

"Wow! How original. Here's to you quoting every single misogynist on the internet. You're so cool. But I never expected any better from you."

"Then why are you still talking to me?"

"Why are you even sitting next to me?"

"Because I have to." He shrugged.

"And I have to talk to you for the pretense, remember? It was your idea. Do you actually have a memory problem?"

His eyes flicked across my face for a moment, then he sighed. "You know what? I tried. But I'm done now and I want you out of my face. Just move to another bench."

"Excuse me? I was here first. You came to me. You move."

Somebody cleared their throat, which was followed by, "you guys are loud. You know that, right?"

Our heads snapped up in surprise as the teacher watched us. We didn't realize when we went from aggressive whispering to mad shouting like we were in a debate.

"Can you at least pretend to try here?" Mr. Jensen raised a brow.

"This banter," I started this time with a nervous chuckle, pointing between us. "...is totally harmless. We get along usually—"

"Save it." He shook his head. "I guess we'll be seeing each other for the next two days."

"Come on!" Matt groaned under his breath, then glared at me. I decided to fight him later on this. I had to try damage control first.

"What? No wait!" I pleaded to the teacher. "I'm sorry. Let's start over please."

Mr. Jensen narrowed his eyes. "You know something? Detention is the best part of my day sometimes. Everybody is so silent, just minding their own business but you two? God! You can't stop bickering for one minute and I think I have my review for the principal ready."

"Mr. Jensen, I'm really sorry," I muttered.

He shook his head slightly, clearly disappointed but accepted it anyway, then turned his head to Matt expectantly. When he remained quiet, Mr. Jensen raised a brow.

"Sorry," he said with a sigh, not even meaning it.

I only realized I was glaring at him when he turned his head to me and one of his eyebrows shot up. "Problem?"

"Yes! You! You are—"

"Okay, guys!" Mr. Jensen interrupted. "I'm giving you one last chance to save yourselves from more detention."

"Oh?" Matt straightened up, crossing his arms over his chest.

This was a surprise. I hadn't expected Mr. Jensen to be so patient and forgiving but I was really grateful. I smiled at him with hope.

"Say one good thing about each other and we'll call it a day."

We both scoffed at the same time.

"Come on. Think about it. There has to be something. You can be candid with me. I'm more like your friend than a teacher." He offered us a friendly smile.

Mr. Jensen had no idea what he'd just asked of us, did he? There was no way either of us could say, or even think about one good thing—

"Her smile."

I turned my head to Matt so quickly, I almost gave myself a whiplash. What did he just say?

He wasn't looking at me. His eyes were fixed straight ahead at the teacher.

"That's great," Mr. Jensen nodded enthusiastically like he'd achieved something. "See? We can do that."

"I mean, when she's smiling..." Matt continued and for some deranged reason, I felt my cheeks heating up. "...it's the only time when she doesn't look like a complete psychotic bitch on a mission to end me. So yeah, it's her smile."

Mr. Jensen's smile vanished while I, on the other hand, finally snapped out of my shock and as unexpected as it was, a chuckle escaped my mouth.

I should've been pissed and I was. Don't get me wrong. I wanted to kick him for what he said but it was kind of relieving that he wasn't actually appreciating something about me. I wouldn't know how to handle it.

Also, because it would mean that I'd have to be a little nice to him in return. And he didn't deserve that from me. But it wasn't necessary now. Things were back to normal.

With another chuckle, I turned to Mr. Jensen and playfully slapped Matt's shoulder hard. "For me, I'd say it's his sense of humour. The twisted, wretched and disgusting ways in which his mind works, that's my favourite thing about him."

The poor teacher only shook his head, his victory long gone as he had defeat written all over his face.

"Thanks for allowing me to be candid. I really had to get it off my chest." Looking down at his watch, Matt got up and started to walk out. "So? Will we be seeing each other for the next two days?"

Mr. Jensen numbly tore the paper he'd been writing on for the past half an hour into pieces and discarded them in the trash. "God, no!"

"Awesome." Matt smirked. "See you around, Mr. Jensen."

"Hope not," he muttered after him as he walked out.

With a smile, I collected my things and waved the poor teacher goodbye on my way out.

Finally! Freedom! I sighed in relief the moment I stepped out of the building but instantly realized I was going to have to walk home now and my shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Whatever!" I snapped at no one in particular and started walking but my pace slowed because of the low rumbling of an engine behind me.

I turned in alarm and saw a matte black car pulling up to me. The same matte black car that I saw almost every day right across the street. It was Matt's.

Oh! Did I mention that we lived right across from each other? I probably did not. It wasn't important enough to mention. It had nothing to do with Sean.

Oh God! Why is he pulling up to me? He better not offer me a ride.

The car stopped in front of me and the window rolled down.

"What?" I raised a brow, preparing to turn his kind offer down without an insult. It was the least I could do.

"I forgot something in the classroom," he said.

"So? Are you expecting me to run and get it for you?" I scoffed. The things he thinks he can make me do just because he's about to offer me a ride. Which I'm about to turn down.

"No. I went back for it and found this." He threw something at me and I caught it just in time before it could fall to the ground. My earphone case.

"I was about to throw it in the trash but you're lucky I was feeling generous today. Especially since you're going to need that while walking yourself home."

With that, he rolled the window up and drove off.

My jaw dropped.

He didn't even offer me a ride? What an asshole! It wasn't like I was going to accept it but what kind of person just leaves someone—

Right. The immoral ones. I reminded myself and started on my walk to home with a scoff.