"Your cell phone is ringing, Ms. Caine," Mrs. Dorothea says disapprovingly.

I quickly search my cell phone in my bag, and sure enough, there's a blinking envelope at the screen, signaling there's a new message. I slap myself mentally for forgetting to put it on silent mode.

"You know the consequence of that," she continues, narrowing her eyes.

"Consequence?" I repeat. I'm glad my voice isn't shaky.

"Detention," Alex mutters.

Shoot!

I'll have a detention? I can't believe it!

"You have a choice," Mrs. Dorothea says, putting her hands on her hips. "You can skip detention, but you have to read the message out loud in class."

It happened before. When the phone of my classmate rang, she chose to read the message in class. It was awkward because Ma'am was the one who read it. My classmate's boyfriend was the one who sent her a message. The message was about love.

I know no one will text me about love but sometimes the odds are not in my favor. Probably it's Margarett or, I don't know. Maybe it's just a wrong number. No one, I think, besides Margarett and Kamille knows my number. Auntie's at work and Kamille's my classma—

"What's your choice?" Mrs. Dorothea asks, snapping me out of my reverie.

I'd rather have detention than humiliate myself. If I know the person who sent me the message, I'll strangle him.

"Detention," I answer carefully.

"See me later after your last class," Mrs. Dorothea says, "you know where the detention room is."

My classmates are disappointed with my choice. They'd rather know what the message is all about because they like drama, so that they can annoy me the whole day about it.

"What happened?" Alex asks, leaning towards me.

"Nothing."

"You were daydreaming," he observes, tilting his head to the side.

What's the point in lying? But it's hard to admit it to him, considering we're not close. What about Caleb? I'm not sure, but I feel comfortable telling him. Besides, he caught me a lot of times already.

"I was just thinking," I say. It's half true and half lie because I was thinking while daydreaming.

"If you were just thinking," he states, "why did you have a faraway look?"

Why doesn't he want to drop the topic? It's so like Caleb! "I have a faraway look when I'm thinking," I say evasively.

"Looked so deep," he says thoughtfully, "what were you thinking?"

I take a deep breath before I can say: It's none of your business. Thankfully, I'm saved by the bell. Its loud ringing breaks our connection. I know I want to know more about him, if he's the Alex I know, but I'm not in the mood to question him now. I just found out that I have to stay for an hour after school for detention. Anyway, I have a year to find out. Maybe if they'll like it here, I'll have two years.

"I have to go to my next class," I say, standing up from my chair.

"Okay," he replies, getting up as well, "see you later."

Making my way towards the door is harder than I thought especially when there are people getting in the way looking down and smirking at you. I just ignore them. Who they think they are to think poor of me? I don't care about them. Think whatever they want, I'm not going to change who I am.

"Annalise," Kamille calls behind me.

"I'm okay," I say quickly, "I need to go."

While walking to my History room, I try to dodge the students walking in and out of class. The hallway feels narrow when bodies are pressing together just to get out of the way.

I might walk in to the wrong hallway and be late. My detention will just be worse. Do I regret imagining Daniel a while ago? Of course not. I love thinking about him. And then I remember the reason of my detention.

Opening the message I received it says:

Hi Annalise. This is Caleb.

Caleb? Caleb Vandom?!

How did he get my number? Why did he text me? My feet walk quickly to my room. Before I know it, I'm sitting on my chair in History class, waiting for him to show up. I don't even think of strangling him, now that I know it's him.

"I'm so sorry," he says again and again and again when he takes the seat beside me. "I didn't mean to cause you any trouble."

So he knows already. News, I mean gossip, travels fast. "That's okay," I mutter.

"Maybe I can talk to Mrs. Dorothea and tell her that it's my fault."

"No," I say, with a shake of my head. They'll listen, but the decision is final and firm. No one can save me from detention.

"I'm really really really sorry," he says, looking miserable.

"Caleb, really," I say, starting to get annoyed, "it's just an hour. I can survive."

That stops him, but then he says sorry again. I'm surprised Mr. Tyree is not paying attention to us. The only thing we do in History is him, (Caleb); saying sorry a lot of times, and me; repeating okay every time. We're like a corrupt tape, repeating everything we say, back and forth.

-----

There's a sign on the door. Printed in big bold letters are the words: Detention Room.

Who would have thought this day would come? I never imagined sitting on a chair for an hour without doing anything. Time is precious! I'd rather read a book and—

Wait! Why am I so pessimistic? In that one hour, I can imagine Daniel again. Isn't that nice? It's kind of ironic, considering it's the reason why I'll be in that room.

My feet are rigid as I close the distance to the door. Opening it, I try to calm my nerves. It's just an hour. It'll be over before I know it.

"Ms. Caine," Mr. Patterson says as soon as I enter the room, "it's good to have you here."

I shut my mouth before I say something I'll regret later. I thought Mrs. Dorothea will be the one who'll watch us.

I want to go home now. Looking around the room for the first time since I come in, I notice that there are just few students—

"Annalise!"

A gasp escapes from my lips when I see Caleb waving his hand at me.

"What are you—"

"Silence please," Mr. Patterson grunts, cutting me off, "this is the detention room." He looks at Caleb and puts his forefinger on his lips, signaling him to keep quiet. "And you, Ms. Caine," he continues, "please sign this, and take your seat."

After signing my name on the detention sheet, I take the chair beside Caleb.

"Hello," he says, smiling slowly.

"What are you doing here?" I whisper.

The other students are making their homework for tomorrow, others are reading, and some are looking around the room, bored. I don't bother to think what they did to be here.

I just realize now that I'm the only girl inside this room, and Caleb's the only one I know.

"I'm sorry," he says suddenly.

"For what?"

"For being here," he murmurs, "you're here because of me."

"Don't worry," I say. It's already done. There's nothing we can do about it. "Besides, it can be worse," I continue, imagining horrible scenarios in my head.

"You're here," he says sadly, "stuck for an hour so I decided to join you."

"You didn't have to do that," I mumble.

Thankfully, Mr. Patterson is so engross in the book he's reading, he's not here anymore.

"But I'd like to," he says stubbornly.

"How will you go home then?"

He shrugs, not caring. "I'll walk with you. Alex is probably home by now, explaining to mom why I'm still here."

So, he has a mom. Of course. Everyone has a mother. It's just, my mom left me in the orphanage. That's why I'm not with her.

"By the way," he continues, "you should meet my mom. I'm sure she'd love to see you. I already told her about you."

"You told her about me?" I repeat. "Why?"

"Because you're my first friend here," he says obviously. "And I can't believe you haven't seen her yet. We're neighbors."

"I don't know," I say uncomfortably.

"Why?" he asks incredulously.

Heads turn to our direction. Caleb's voice startles them. I'm glad Mr. Patterson is still not paying attention. We'll get in trouble when he sees us talking to each other.

"Your mom will think I'm the reason you're here in the detention room," I whisper.

"I'm the reason you're here," he says, rolling his eyes.

"I'll think about it," I murmur.

"Please?" he pleads.

I shake my head.

"Please, Annalise?" He's cute when he gives me a puppy look, a little bit sad, with a frowning expression.

"Okay," I say with a sigh, giving in to what he wants.

"Thank you," he says, his eyes glittering in delight. "I'll buy you an ice cream later."

"That's okay," I say, waving it off, "You don't have to do that."

"But I want to," he says, smiling, "and who doesn't like ice cream?"

Being in the detention room is so much easier than I thought. Caleb and I converse silently, to not attract unnecessary attention. We laugh quietly at shared jokes, amusing ourselves until it's time to get home.

Selfish as it may sound, I'm glad he decided to join me. If not for him, I think the one hour will feel like eternity. But with him, it feels like minutes.

As soon as the bell rings, we grab our bags and walk out of the door. Mr. Patterson is still busy reading. He doesn't even notice the ringing of the bell.

The ice cream parlor is on the street beside the school. There are just a few people inside; enjoying the silence they don't usually get when there are a lot of students chatting loudly. We sit on a booth near the front door.

"What flavor do you want?" Caleb asks, looking at the menu he's holding in front of me.

"I'll have strawberry ice cream," I answer.

"Okay." He stands up and goes to the counter to buy our ice creams. He comes back a few minutes later, carrying two cones on his hands; a vanilla ice cream for him, and a strawberry one for me.

"Thank you," I say, when he gives it to me.

"You're welcome," he replies.

A moan of delight comes out of my lips when I taste my ice cream. It's so delicious, cold, and creamy.

Caleb is right; everybody likes ice cream.

The walk home is very different than before because now I have a companion. Somehow, I don't feel alone. I think I'll never be.

*****

Banner by EXTREMEmusiclover

The song is Uptown Girl by Billy Joel.

Thank you so much for reading my story! *.*