Jesse's POV

After the day ended, it was time for Lukas and I to go to detention. See, we hadn't been going to this school through the entire year, so we were just winging it. We had never gotten detention before, and we were absolutely clueless as to where it was.

"Um, excuse me?" I asked as I a tapped someone who was a lot taller than me. He turned around.

"Yeah?"

"Do you, by any chance, uh, know where detention is?"

"I dunno. Ask Magnus," he said as he sauntered away out the doors.

That was pretty much the response we got from everyone we asked. I was starting to get flustered because detention would be starting soon and I had no idea where Magnus was.

"Heya, chumps!" someone exclaimed as they swung their arms around Lukas and my necks.

"Gah!" we yelped.

"Chill, it's just me," Magnus said, "You lookin' for detention?"

"Yeah, everyone says you know where it is," Lukas said.

"Heheh, yep! I'm kind of the, uh, 'bad boy' around here. Get in detention a lot, ya know?"

Lukas and I looked at each other and shrugged.

"Still kind of hard to believe you and Ellegaard are-" Lukas began

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Well believe it, tiny, 'cause it's a thing. Come on, this way!"

Detention was held in one of the classrooms. The moderator was Mr. Tharp, and it was safe to say that he was the apathetic teacher. He just doesn't seem to care too much, as far as I know anyway. He's always telling us not to get hurt- not because he cares, but so he doesn't have to fill out an incident report. He mostly grades our homework on completion, rather than if we did it right or not. He always has a cup of coffee in his hand and he says in his monotone voice, "You'll understand why I need this when you're my age. Or when you have your midlife crisis. Because it will happen, you know."

"Okay, sit down, detention is about to begin," he said without looking up from the paper he was reading. There were some other kids sitting there, and one blonde haired boy I recognized to be Emery.

"Get out your homework or something to do while you're here," he said as he took a sip from his cup. I took a seat in the back row. Magnus sat next to me.

"So, short stuff," he said softly to me as I started pulling out my binder, "What's your deal?"

"My deal?" I asked, "What do you mean?"

"Eh, I don't know, just, tell me about yourself. Where'd ya come from?"

"Oh..." I began, "Well..."

"Hey. No talking in detention," said Mr. Tharp, briefly glancing up and then returning to his reading.

"We actually came to this world through a portal! Me, Lukas, Petra, Maya and Aiden!" I whispered. Hey, I know it sounded crazy, I just wanted to see if he'd believe me.

"Ah, so you're from another world!" Magnus said, "Like Canada?"

"Uh... no."

"Hmm... I don't know two of those people you mentioned, but I know Maya. She's friends with Cherry, right?"

"Yeah. I met her at Brian's party last night!"

"Ugh, so you have met her. The queen of the queen bees. Not the best person to be friends with."

"What? What do you mean? She was totally nice... she thought my name was Tessie... but she gave me a hug!"

"Yeah... but... but..."

"Name me one time she wasn't nice."

Magnus stopped and thought for a moment.

"Uh, well, I can't think of anything specific but, I'm telling you! She's evil! End of discussion!" He leaned back into his seat.

"Magnus!" I whispered, "I think you're jealous!" I smirked.

"What! No!" he whispered turning back to me, "Why in heck would I be jealous?!"

"Well, she's nice, she's pretty, she can make friends with practically everyone, she-"

"What? I'm jealous of 'Little Miss Perfect?' Ha, I've got flaws, baby. I'm living it up in the real world! I ain't jealous of nobody!"

"Okay, okay. Just wondering," I said as I turned back to my seat.

"But if you want my advice. Stay away from Cherry," he added.

I was about to say, "Why, because I might get cooties?" but decided not to.

The rest of detention seemed to go by slowly. After getting my homework done, I just had to sit there. Doing nothing. It felt like a million years.

Eventually the bell rang, signaling the end of detention.

"Well, that was fast," Lukas said to me as we walked out the door together. He was carrying a brown journal in his hands.

"Maybe to you," I said, "Come on, let's go get Petra and the others."

As we walked down the main hallway, I noticed Petra, Maya, and Aiden around Brian, who was unloading things from his locker.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"You know my party last night?" Brian asked.

"Oh yeah," said Lukas, crossing his arms.

"The teachers found out about it. And not just about how a lot of the students here were drinking underage, but also... what The Phantom did."

"Oh. Oh," I said, "What happened?"

"She... expelled me."

"We were just here to help him with his stuff," Petra said.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry. But... the football team and..." Lukas began.

"I'll be fine. I'll visit you guys. And maybe I'll be able to join another football team," he said good-naturedly. I couldn't help but notice Maya looking a little antsy.

"I'm... I'm gonna miss you," she said.

Tell her! Tell her! I thought as I looked at Brian. He shot me a nervous glance, then turned back to Maya.

"You too. Well, I think that's everything. Thanks for the help."

"We'll walk you out," Petra said.

"Thanks."

He, Petra, Aiden, and Lukas all started for the door. Before I could follow, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned and saw Maya.

"Jesse? I need to talk to you," she said.

"Sure, what's wrong?" I asked. She paused and looked around.

"Go on..." I urged.

"Okay, I like Brian!" she said quickly.

"You do?" I asked, "Like, like-like?"

"No, Jesse. I just wanted to talk in private about how close friends we are. Of course I like him!"

I was about to tell her that Brian liked her back, but she continued,

"I think I've had feelings for him for a while, actually. I've sort of been ignoring them because, well, I thought I liked someone else. But, ha, that was kind of stupid anyway. This is legit, though. I really like him. I love him. Blargh, it's stupid."

"No, it's not stupid. I see that you really like him!" I said. I thought about telling her about how he likes her back, but I thought she might like to find that out herself, "And I say you tell him."

"What?!" she exclaimed, "Tell him?! Are you nuts?"

"He's leaving soon. Now is your last chance. And I mean, come on, what have you got to lose?"

"Okay," she said reluctantly, "But, can I do it in private? Like, could you get everyone away from us maybe?"

"Sure!" I said.

"You're the best, Jesse!" Maya said as she reached in and gave me a bear hug.

Brian's POV

"Thanks again you guys for helping me unpack," I said.

"Hey, it's no big deal. We're happy to help," Aiden said.

Tonight I'm going to tell her. Tonight I thought. I was incredibly nervous, but determined to tell Maya that I liked her. It was about time I make a move.

I sat on the stone steps at the front of the school and out my box down to check to make sure I had gotten everything. The late afternoon sun was beginning to set, casting an orange light across the courtyard of the school.

"You need anything?" Petra asked as she sat next to me.

"No, just double checking that I got all my stuff," I said. She shrugged and looked off into the distance. My mind was elsewhere as shifted through my books and papers. I couldn't stop thinking about Maya. She gave me a sense of excitement and nervousness. I really liked her and would be excited to see her, but I was nervous as heck about telling her I liked her.

"I'm sorry that you got expelled," Petra said.

"Huh? What? Oh, yeah, thanks," I said. She looked at me sympathetically.

"You sure there's nothing on your mind?"

"Well, there kind of is, but it's sort of a... private matter. Just kind of nervous about something," I said.

Soon later, Jesse and Maya came out from the front doors.

"Hey, what was up?" Petra asked.

"Yeah, you were in there for a while," Lukas added.

"I just forgot something," Jesse said. She nudged Maya a little.

"Maya!" I forced the word out. It always works when you have something to ask. Just force their name out, then you have to tell them.

"Yeah?" she said. My palms became sweaty.

"I need to, uh, talk to you. Inside."

She suddenly looked really nervous and said, "Okay."

We walked in together and stood in the hallway.

"There's... something I've been meaning to tell you," I said as I scratched the back of my neck.

"Uh, there's something I wanna tell you too, but you can go first," she replied.

"Look, we've been friends for a while," I began trying to sound as confident as possible, "and I was thinking..." I couldn't find the right words to use. She looked up at me with ambition in her eyes. I finally sighed and said, "Okay, no beating around the bush. I like you, Maya."

I couldn't tell if she was horrified or exited until she said, "I like you too."

"Wait, y-you do?" I stuttered.

"It's... what I wanted to tell you in here!"

I laughed, "Well, I guess that's settled then!"

She laughed with me.

"So now what?" she asked.

"I'll tell you what," said someone further down the hallway. I gasped and looked. Principal Dumfarht was standing there in her doorway watching us. Yeah, it took us all some time to get desensitized to that last name and not crack up every time we heard it.

"Mrs. Dumfarht, I-I-" I started. I saw Maya crack a grin.

"I thought I told you that you were expelled," she said coming over to us.

"Yes ma'am, you did. I was just... I just had to grab one last thing."

"And I see you had a little fun while you were at it. And would you wipe that smirk off your face?" she said. It was just then that I realized I had been smiling that whole time. I guess love does things to you.

"Now, Brian," she began, "I'm going to have you leave the building at this instant, and stay out. Do not even come an inch onto this property."

Oh, she had no idea what she had just done.

I quickly jolted forward and swiftly walked out the door. Maya followed behind.

"Sorry, ma'am!" she exclaimed as she followed me.

I came out of the doors and ran down the steps.

"Brian! Wait up!" Maya said as she raced after me.

Have I mentioned that the obedience curse only works when someone not affected by it gives an order to someone who is affected?

"What's wrong?" asked Lukas.

"She told me to never come onto the property again," I explained, "and to stay outside. So now, I'm stuck out here!"

"That can't be good."

"You know what?" Jesse said as she stepped fourth, "We'll stay out here with you. So you don't get lonely!"

"Yeah, I'm in," Petra said.

"Thanks, but you shouldn't have to sleep outside by the school because of me," I said.

"We don't have to sleep out here," Maya said, "We want to!"

"And besides," Lukas added, "what if, you know, anyone decides to... show up."

I knew who he was talking about. Pickaxe.

"Yeah, I see what you mean. Alright, you guys can stay! We've got a long night ahead of us."

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