Punishment [Open]

Destin gave Alex a slightly sad look and moved away from him. Making sure the Principle wasn't looking he stretched his arms out and gave Alex a hug, he was being quiet after all, he couldn't get told off for that. Drooping his arms he also gave Sephy a hug before he shrunk his arms down again. He wasn't sure why he had hugged her, he had just done it. Looking to Alex he rolled his eyes as he pulled out a pen. 'Great,' he thought, 'detention is so dull.'

Sephy smiled at the two boys in her own secret way, attempting to hide her blush at Destin's hug behind her hair, then returned to the desk she'd been sitting at before and waited patiently and attentively for the principal to hand out paper. Even though she was quiet, no one could say that she wasn't a good student; she just wasn't as naturally talented as some of the others. She reached down into her bag which was underneath the table and pulled out her fountain pen, plus her own lined paper, and began to write out:

I must not lose fights.

in her perfectly formed, precise handwriting. She half considered writing Destin a note and handing it to him while Mr Durance wasn't looking, but she had never been very good at those sorts of things and in any case, she wouldn't know what to write. Instead she just got on with her lines, having completed ten already.

Destin smiled as paper was thrust in front of him.

I must not insult other students and then hit them when they insult me back.

Destin almost chuckled out loud to himself. He looked over to Sephy who seemed to be whizzing through her lines. Biting his lip and making sure the Principle wasn't looking he quickly wrote her a message:

This is soooo dull,
wat r u ritin?
my lines r so long.

D x



Satisfied he folded it neatly and stretched his arm and let it drop on her desk. Returning to his work quickly so he wasn't noticed.

Hiding the paper behind a sheet of black hair, she opened the note with a smile on her face, and quickly scribbled,

I must not lose fights. Seeing as that's what I mustn't do.

I hate detention, but you get used to it after a while.

*hugs* S x

Strangely, she felt more confident writing it on paper than saying it out loud. She coughed quietly and pushed the note right to the edge of her desk, so Destin could grab it when Mr Durance next turned around, then she went back to quickly dashing off a few more lines.

Josh looked up. "If Detention is so dull the in future, Mr. Thomas, don't get sent here. You'd do well to just behave in future... You can stretch any other part of your body, try stretching your behavior for once - to the point of good behavior, of course," he said and started writing again. He looked at his watch and sighed, "I dislike detention too because it wastes my time on certain pupils that seem to have a certain disregard for the rules that are in-place for the well-being and security of a good education for other pupils."

He looked up to see Destin grab a note off of Sephy's desk, he saw Sephy look at him and he ignored it. "If you get twenty-five lines completed you can talk, but I want 50 lines at least completed entirely," he smiled to himself.

That was cool, he thought to himself.

Sitting behind the other two Alex finished scribbling down hi sline and sat back to relax. Leaning against the back of the chair he smiled and laid down his pen. He had been in detetntion so often that he had perfected the art of writing lines quickly. But her wouldn't leave without Destin. He noticed, then, the note hanging off the side of his table. Was it for him? Or had he given it to...her? He scowled at the smile on her face. For her. He crossed his arms over his chest, so she was going to steal Destin from him was she? That's not how it worked. Destin was his, always was always will be. He frowned as Mr Durance gave Destin a lecture. That wasn't fair. It was Alex's fault he was in there. "Sir, I'm done," he said raising to his feet and handing the Principle the sheet of paper with 50 lines of I must not get involved in other peoples arguments and stepped back to his desk, picked up his bag and left. If Destin wanted that girl he shouldn't get in the way...no matter how much it hurt to watch.

After finishing his 15th line Destin watched Alex slip past and out. Why wasn't he waiting? He looked at the note beside him, had he seen? Destin sighed...what had he done? So what if he had gained Sephy - he had lost Alex. He frowned at the principle's comments, but didn't say anything in return. He shook his head and began to finish his lines. The note to Sephy lay forgotten on the edge of his table.

"I've finished too, sir," Sephy whispered, afraid to break the silence. There was clearly something wrong between Alex and Destin - she could sense discomfort and misunderstandings very, very soon. Alex had gone, he wasn't waiting outside the door, and she didn't need any kind of vision to know that Destin wasn't going to reply to her note. She rose from her chair delicately and quietly, and handed her paper in to Mr Durance, then left as quickly as she could, avoiding eye contact with anyone and blinking hard. Once outside, she let out a sigh an leaned against the wall opposite the door, feeling as though she was going to burst into tears even though there was no reason for it.

Josh took Alex's note and nodded, "Thank you," and he watched Alex leave. After Alex had left he watched as Sephy and Destin both gave mutual looks of disappointment although not directly to each other. He continued reading. As Sephy called that she had finished he took her piece of paper with the lines on it and nodded, smiling at the irony of it. He heard Sephy bang against the other side of the wall only to just continue reading. He waited for quite a while, Destin was a relatively slow writer. "Mr. Thomas, you may go. I have work to attend to and sitting in here isn't going to get me anywhere... just... behave in future, Destin. You're a very ... flexible ... pupil and, eh, you can do so much with yourself, even as a sidekick," he said, with the use of his forename being quite prominent as generally speaking Josh didn't refer to students as such.

Destin rolled his eyes at his principle, "Maybe you haven't checked your inbox in a few months....sir. But I've been promoted to a hero." And with that he was out of the room. Turning the corner he almost ran into Sephy. "Oh, sorry I didn't see y-...are you okay?" he asked worriedly, she looked close to tears. "I'm sorry I didn't reply...I just...and Alex...well, I just wanted to get out of there quickly...You know. Sorry."

Josh sighed, he was still coming to grips with his new job. "Honestly! The cheek," he spat to himself as he reached outside. He continued reading his papers and heard Destin's voice outside of the classroom, he was never one to be nosey but all the same he listened.

"I know, I know, it's fine," she said quickly, looking upwards. She stood in silence for a moment, breathing deeply and avoiding looking at Destin, then said, very, very quietly, "You two... You're not just friends, are you? No matter how much you try and convince yourselves that's true, you're more than that with each other." Her power had kicked into overdrive - she could see them kissing, and more, around school, at home, everywhere. They were saying, 'I love you.'

Destin frowned, "What do you mean? We'll always be just friends. Alex is too much of a wh*re for anything more." He slipped an arm around Sephy and hugged her, "I don't think I'd get a change with him anyway, I'm not hot enough," he said with a smile. Lifting up Sephy's chin to face him he grinned, "Why do you care anyway?" he asked biting his lip cheekily.

"I don't care," she said in a voice that clearly meant she did. What had made her think she could do this when she'd known from the start that she'd be competing against Alex? No one could beat him, especially not a quiet little girl like her. She flinched as Destin hugged her, half expecting him to tickle her or something stupid like that. "I don't care, but you obviously like him and he likes you, I can see that. It doesn't make sense the way it is."

Destin chuckled lightly and shook his head, "Me and Alex aren't ever going to be more than friends. Honestly. I don't think I could date him anyway. I just get sick on him sleeping around so much, you know? It annoys me. But I won't change him. Besides, I prefer girls," he said winking at Sephy. She was very pretty, he thought, as he removed his arms from her gently. She had a nice personality aswell. He would have to talk to Alex about it sometime.

She, shy and embarrassed as she was, blushed when he winked at her, and shrank away when she noticed him looking at her slightly differently. He was so different to everyone else she knew. Her parents were quite strict with her and expected more of her than she could provide, her other family were just as quiet and reclusive as she was, and Alex was... Well, Alex was Alex. And Destin was nothing like that. In fact, she even thought he was the cuter of the two. Sure, Alex was good looking, everyone knew that, but there was something else that she liked better about Destin, though she couldn't think what.

"What's up with you?" he joked, "No need to blush." Destin stood back and smiled at Sephy's reaction. "Well, I need to get to class," he said, his voice relvealing his slight upset, "I'll see you around, Okay?" he asked taking her hand and placing a quick kiss on it, always the gentleman.

[No way! You're alive! ]

"See you around," she repeated, wishing he didn't have to go. She had a free period, and so had just under an hour to kill before her next lesson, and didn't think she could manage just being alone with her paranoid, insecure thoughts. She took her hand away from his very slowly, and held it to her chest, feeling her own heartbeat, which was a little faster than normal.