Valeria Campbell
Detention, one of the most useless things invented by humans.
By keeping kids for extra hours after school, they think they're making them pay for what they did, so they wouldn't do it again.
P.S: They still do it.
Yet here we were sitting in a classroom with a teacher who would rather be anywhere but here scrolling through his phone and not paying attention to the ten students sitting in that classroom.
I was sitting at the end of the class, in the second row, Ivan was in front of me, while Roger was sleeping in the last seat, on the row that was next to the wall so that he could lay his back on it. He was awake for a few minutes but since the teacher didn't even glance at us, he thought it was useless to not rest.
Tanner was unfortunately with us in class but he was sitting across the room, head on his desk, asleep as well, so he can't bug us.
I was sitting there calmly doing my homework when suddenly Ivan gave me a small note.
'I want to get out of here
I smile then rip a piece of paper from my notebook then start writing.
'Me too, I'm bored'
I tap his shoulder and he turns back to me. I give him the note and I saw a small smirk curve upon his lips.
He reads it, then hands me another one.
'How about a bit of adventure? '
I write back. 'I would love nothing more
'Wait for a few minutes and do the same thing like me'
'Deal'
"Sir, I have to use the bathroom." He says to the teacher.
"Yeah, ok." He answers him not bringing his eyes up from his phone.
Ivan takes his bag and hides it on the side where the teacher can't see, and walks towards the door, opening it and heading out of the room.
I wait for five minutes then ask "I have to use the bathroom." I murmur feeling a bit scared.
"You can't." He answers sternly.
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
"Well I'm on my period, it's an emergency." I lie pulling the period card on a male teacher to make him uncomfortable. I could feel the rest of the students glancing at me, but I don't care.
"Fine, go."
I get up and take my bag discretely, then get out of the classroom and see Ivan sitting on the floor a few meters away from the classroom.
"What are you planning to do?" I whisper loud enough for him to hear as I walk towards him.
"Runaway." He gets up and stands tall in front of me.
"Won't they notice us gone?"
"That teacher forgets his wife's name, we're good and everyone else in class doesn't give a fuck about the others, they're all asleep.
"What about the principal?"
"He has a date, he has one every Monday after school, so he's not here. He's just a hopeless romantic."
"Ok then, let's go."
Ivan puts our hands together and we start running in the hallway leading to the front door.
We get out of school and rush towards his car. He walks me to the passenger side, opening the door for me, inviting me to get in. I do so, and he shuts the door behind me. He then gets to the driver's seat, opening his bag to pull out his keys, and starts the car.
"Seat belt." He says as he puts his as well.
"Where are we going?" I asked still a bit confused.
Thankfully, his car was parked outside the school, not in its parking lot.
"You'll see." He adds looking at the road as he had begun to drive.
"Well, can I have a hint?"
"It's somewhere nice."
"No way, are you serious? I didn't see that coming." I say sarcastically.
"What can I say, I'm a person full of surprises." He tells me raising his eyebrows. "You can't talk on the way to that place."
"Why?" I furrow my brows at his statement.
"Because."
"O-okay I guess."
I don't open my mouth for ten minutes, only looking at the road ahead of us trying to find out where he's taking me. That was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. I like to talk, always have.
"Can we at least listen to some music?" I debate whether to ask or not, but silence is killing me.
He turns the radio on and the first song that started playing was 'Can't help falling in love by Elvis Presley.
"Oh my god, I love this song," I say with excitement but he still had no facial expression.
I turn my body slightly, opening my window and resting my head there.
I start humming the song lyrics to myself looking at the view. I want this song to be played at my funeral.
/////
Ivan has been driving for about forty minutes not saying one word. He parks the car on the side of the road.
"Close your eyes." He demands.
"Why?"
"Stop asking questions, just close your eyes."
"Okay."
I do as he says and closes them. I hear the click of his seat belt, and the car door opening and closing shortly after.
He then opens my door and I feel him remove my seat belt. He takes my hand and helps me get out of the car shutting the door as well.
He starts guiding me somewhere, but all I can see is black. After a minute of walking, he stops.
"Open your eyes." I hear him saying.
I do so and my eyes meet with "The beach?" I do love the beach yet I was a bit confused.
"This is a spot my mom showed me. She and dad used to come here all the time when they were dating because they were the only people there." He explains. "You're the first person I ever brought here." He says as a shy smile forms on his lips, tilting his head down slightly.
"It's beautiful." I look at him as I say so, putting my hands on his cheeks to bring his face back up again.
This place was amazing, there were no sounds, no people around. Just us. And there was no sand, it was a pebble beach, so our feet won't be dirty.
He stands next to me, puts his hand on my lower back and we begin to walk ahead.
We arrive at the shore and sit down. There was an uncomfortable silence for a few moments, both of us not knowing what to talk about.
"My mom died five years ago." He suddenly says out of nowhere, his statement catching me off guard. "She got into a car accident when she was bringing me home, back from a friend's birthday on a Friday. We were both in the car, yet I survived but she didn't. There was some oil on the road and the car was out of control, she ordered me to go to the back seat, and I did. But when she crashed, the glass was shattered all over her, not on me. She saved my life, and this place makes me feel like I'm here with her. She brought me here every Friday after school and we'd have a small picnic, dad would join too if he wasn't busy. This is why this place is so special to me because it reminds me of her." He continues looking at the water in front of us.
"And you feel guilty because you should've been here on that Friday, not at that birthday party." My words catch him off guard as he looks at me for a second then turns back.
"I sometimes feel like I should've died too, it wasn't fair."
"Hey, don't tell yourself that. Everything happens for a reason, and there's a reason you're still alive. Your mom loved you so much she prioritized your life over hers. She didn't want you to die, and you hope you to will bring her nothing but sadness." I hold his hand and he looks at me. His eyes were sparkling as he looked into mine.
He looks breathtaking as the wind blew in his long curly hair.
Suddenly, I felt his lips crash into mine. This kiss was different from the ones we've had before. It was relief from the overload of emotions he's felt. After about 20 seconds, he pulls away from the kiss "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For being you, angel."
I uncontrollably smile at his statement feeling my cheeks turn red.
He then moves his eyes from my direction and bringing them ahead and I do the same.
I get up, I don't know why I'm doing this, but I don't want to think about it because it will ruin it all.
I start to take my shoes and socks off, then my jacket.
He looks at me confused " What are you doing?"
"Do you want to play mermaids?" I tell him with a huge grin on my face.
"You want to get in the water?" He asks for clarification.
"I mean we're at the beach, what else would we do," I state the obvious. I give him my hand to hold so that he gets up.
He doesn't answer my question, he just takes his shoes off.
I hold his hand and start running towards the water.
Soon enough we were chest level into the water. He then pulls me into a hug lifting me and giving me a small kiss.
He then turns us both and crashes us beneath so that we were both fully wet.
We were laughing like children, having water fights, swimming, jumping on each other when one tries to run away. And casually giving each other small kisses feeling the salty taste from each other's mouths.
I wish this moment could last forever.
We do the same thing for about twenty minutes, he then holds my waist and pulls me closer to him, both of us breathing heavily, he presses our foreheads together grinning like a Cheshire cat "We should probably go home."
"We probably should."