"This is so stupid," Veronica complained as she ate her lunch that was slopped onto her paper tray.

"I can't believe you got one too." Veronica humored, looking toward her upset friend Cadence.

"I don't know how they found out it was me. You didn't tell anyone, right?" Cadence doubted.

Veronica couldn't think of anyone as cautious as Cadence. He was the person who doubted everything. Even with the most trivial things, he would always add a question to it like it had a bigger meaning to it. If you mix that kind of caution with a crazy smart person, that's Cadence. The glasses and done-up black hair only made him geekier. At least that's what she had thought of him.

"Of course not." Veronica vowed.

Cadence looked away and shook his head, looking at his lunch, uninterested. "I still can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that they caught me after almost three weeks." Cadence pondered, fixing his glasses and continuing to look at his detention slip he had received in his first hour AP Physics class.

"Don't stress about it Caden, it's just a detention. At least it wasn't anything worse." She calmed.

"I have never gotten a detention before though. My parents are going to kill me." He complained.

"If you get in too much trouble, just have them talk to me." She offered, taking a bite of her bland turkey sandwich.

Veronica and Cadence go way back. Veronica can still remember watching him when his parents were both working. With the two being only three years apart in age and grade, the two had grown close, almost like family. Even know Veronica was more on the popular side, she always managed to still befriend Cadence. She would always get teased for hanging out with a Sophomore, being that it was frowned upon for an upperclassman to be friends with a lower classman. But she didn't care. No one was going to change it unless she allowed it.

"With all due respect, I don't think my parents will relieve me after hacking into the school's grade book to change you and Colleens grades." He contemplated.

Veronica then remembered the reason why she had gotten a detention. She had to admit, passing a class with a teacher she hated was not easy. So, having a friend who was extremely familiar with technology made her problem a lot simpler.

"Shit. I probably wouldn't be much help then," Veronica sighed, giving off a laugh. "Sorry." She shrugged.

"It's fine. I guess I just have to deal with it," Cadence joined in with a weak laugh.

"It's just fishy I guess." He finished, shaking his head a little.

"Mrs. Feral must have finally realized that you changed them." She guessed, taking one last bite of her sandwich before pushing the tray away from her.

Cadence looked at her and deepened his furrowed eyebrows, confused.

"That reminds me. Did Colleen get a detention too?" Cadence asked.

"I don't know. She's been sick for the last few days, so even if she got one. She wouldn't serve it till next week. She most likely did though. If you and I got one, then she would've gotten one too," She explained sitting back in her chair, almost backing into someone behind her from the small space between tables.

"It's a whatever I guess." Veronica put her arms behind her head and relaxed her head on them.

When the conversation ended, she started to talk with a few other friends next to her, pushing the detention matter away. Cadence though sat alone, mindlessly staring at the table thinking, blocking out all the muffled words and shouts in the lunch hall.

When lunch had ended, the two got up from their spots and looked at each other once more.

"Meet me at my locker after school." Veronica said, pushing in her chair.

Cadence nodded steadily and looked at her once more before backing away from her.

After their last goodbyes, the two headed in different directions to their classes, blending into the large crowd of students who crammed themselves into the small two-door exits.

As classes dragged on, the two were weary of the day and awaited the end of school, like a bull ready to be released from its cage.

When school was released, Cadence, like he was supposed to, headed to Veronica's locker.

When he had made it, he noticed Veronica on her phone, where she casually scrolled through her social media.

"You ready for this?" Veronica called, still looking at her phone.

"Not really." Cadence hesitated, adjusting his bookbag straps and glasses.

Veronica let out a small laugh before putting her phone in her pocket.

"Well, it's two-fifty. We still got a while before we go." She optimized.

"What are you guys doing? A drug deal?" A voice exclaimed.

Veronica and Cadence both looked over to see Anthony walk over to them calmly.

"I mean if you get me some. I won't snitch anyone out." He put his hands to his shoulders like he was stopped by the police.

"Oh ha. That's hilarious." Veronica muttered, rolling her eyes playfully.

Anthony then walked up to Veronica and wrapped his broad arms around her. "Good luck with your," He trailed off, thinking for a second. "Geesh, how many detentions have you gotten?" He questioned, sounding generally curious.

"Enough." Veronica blustered, sounding sarcastic.

"Well after you're done, you should come over and help me study for exams." Anthony shot his eyebrows up for a second.

Cadence, who was listening, cringed, knowing that something else was going to happen other than studying.

"I would love to." Veronica smiled, giving Anthony a kiss on the lips.

The two then began to make out like the main actors do in any romance movie. Cadence flared his eyes annoyingly and turned around patiently as they finished their kissing and smooching.

Once they had finished, they let go of each other wistfully.

"Text me when you get out." Anthony told, giving one last kiss on Veronica's cheeks.

"I will. Love you." Veronica gave a bright smile.

"Love you too," Anthony ended, beginning to walk away from her. "Have a good one Caden!" He added, his voice echoing through the halls like a bright ballad.

"You too," Cadence waved weakly, giving him a friendly glance.

Cadence finally turned around and made his way toward Veronica, not realizing that he was slowly walking away from her.

"Now we wait." Cadence affirmed, standing next to Veronica.

"We do indeed." Veronica responded, heading in the opposite direction of Anthony.

The two ended up staying in the library, doing random things from chess games and making fun of book covers on the shelves. The two waited for the time to strike five, and when it did. They were antsy from the wait.

By the time the two had made it to the room, it was only a few minutes till five.

When they entered the room, they were greeted with neat rows of seats that stood in a dull and boring room. No posters or decorations were on the wall, and the titanium white paint was only brightened by two large windows that exposed the forming gloomy sky, no lights lit up the room. A perfect mood for such a boring occasion.

Veronica looked around to see the usual few trouble makers in the room, but what caught Veronica's eye was the other people who occupied the room.

Veronica, who is good with keeping names, noticed Lincoln and Zachary in the corner of the room conversing silently and being the curious person she is. She neared them, wanting to know why such smart kids were in the detention room. Cadence looked around the room once more before following behind her like a lost puppy dog.

"So, you guys are here too." Veronica blurted, stopping in front of the two juniors.

"We are indeed." Lincoln confirmed, looking up to Veronica who was just a few inches taller than him.

"Not the most likely people I would see though. What did you exactly do to get a detention?" She asked, rather interested.

"We cheated on an econ test, from like, two weeks ago." He gave off a chuckle.

"Was it that really hard Unit test?" She went on.

"It was." Lincoln nodded slowly.

Veronica laughed a little and looked around the room naturally. "Where the hell are the rest of the people who cheated? I mean, shit, when I was a Junior I cheated on those tests." She asked, looking back at Lincoln confused.

"We don't know. I guess they never got one, meaning that someone must have snitched us out. We originally thought that my step sister snitched us out, but low and behold, she's here too." He gave a small, unnoticeable gesture toward the other side of the room.

Veronica and Cadence looked over to the other side of the room to see Scarlet, and a few of her friends converse.

"So, she didn't snitch you two out then." She confirmed, looking back at the two.

"Unless she snitched herself out too. No." Lincoln stated.

"Then who snitched you out then?" Veronica questioned.

Lincoln shrugged and made a doubtful face. "We don't know." Lincoln responded.

Before the two could speak again. A man walked into the room.

"Take a seat." He demanded.

Everyone took a seat and waited for the man to say something else.

The man was Mr. Woodman, the detention coordinator.

Mr. Woodman was as half-hearted as most of the staff in the school. His lanky but built frame gave off an uneasy chill to most of the students in the room. His white dress shirt seemed to almost blend into the white wall, making the black silk tie easy to see, and his dark dress pants fit nicely around his lean legs. With only a few strides, Mr. Woodman put down an open folder and looked down, exposing his shiny, bald head.

"When you I say your name, please say 'here'" He muttered, saying it as if he has said it a thousand times.

"Black." He called.

Veronica raised her hand. "Here." She put her hand down.

Mr. Woodman, who was still looking down, marked her name on the paper and looked down a little, reading the next name. Mr. Woodman then mumbled something and continued.

Cadence and Veronica had both thought it was Colleen, being her name starts with an 'F'. They both look at each other for a quick second exchanging thoughts.

"Hartman." Mr. Woodman continued.

Cadence raised his hand. "Here." He put his hand back down.

Mr. Woodman continued to go through the names on the list, and in time, everybody was called. After roll call was taken, everyone stayed quiet as they watched Mr. Woodman collapsed his folder and look up to the students.

"Please walk up and put your phones in the drawer in a line." Mr. Woodman ordered.

Everyone lazily got up and walked to the front of the room where they put their phone in a small metal drawer below the large wooden desk. Once everyone had put their phones in place, they walked back to their seat and Mr. Woodman counted the variety of phones to make sure it matched the number of students in the class. He counted seven, the correct amount. Mr. Woodman then closed the drawer with a swift push, locking the drawer in place.

"Everyone will remain in this room for the next seventy minutes. Please remain quiet, if not, your time will be reset. Do you understand?" He placed.

Everyone nodded, understanding what his rules were.

Mr. Woodman then hastily smiled and pushed off his desk. "Your time starts now." He said, looking at the clock above the door.

The time read 5:03.

All the people in the room relaxed a bit as they were going to have to sit there and do nothing for a whole hour and ten minutes.

As time began to pass, some put their head down and tried to sleep, but Mr. Woodman stopped their sleeping, scolding at them. With everyone's head forced to be up, most looked through the windows at the clouds that quickly grew dense. A strong wind blew through, rattling the leaves and branches on autumn trees. With the window closed, they only heard the hiss of the wind attack the window.

With time seeming to drag slower than pond water, the students were surprised to see Mr. Woodman get up from his seat in a slow manner.

"I'm going to the bathroom. Remain quiet, or the time will reset." He threatened.

No one responded, and only a few nodded their heads.

Mr. Woodman gave them one last look before heading out of the door. The students watched the wooden door shut behind Mr. Woodman.

Like Mr. Woodman had advised, most everyone in the room didn't talk, already being in the flow of silence. Only the whispers of a few people sounded. As time went by, the people in the back became progressively louder as time went by. Most everyone was annoyed by it and wanted it to stop. Zachary, who was fessed up with it, looked behind himself to the group of Seniors.

"Emerald, Dennis, can you guys stop talking please?" Zachary asked politely.

Emerald, who was talking in mid-sentence, looked at him and scoffed. "And what makes me think I'm going to listen to a Junior." She snickered, staring at him with her dark blue eyes.

Emerald was a rather tempered girl, with the black leather jacket, ripped skinny jeans, dyed jet black hair, and nose piercings. It only complimented her sassy and hot-headed personality, putting her down as one of the 'badasses' of the school.

Sitting next to her was her boyfriend, Dennis. They both held hands, their hands reaching across the side of the desk like a rope bridge across two vast valleys. Dennis's large and strong build made him look larger than the normal teenager. His scruffy beard and messy hair only made him look like he didn't belong in high school. He, just like Emerald, shared close to the same tough attire. The two made a tough couple. That's at least that's what they said.

Scarlet sat next to the couple and doing her own thing, not interested in their conversation.

After Emerald made her statement, Veronica, who was annoyed with her ignorance, looked behind herself.

"He's not the only one who finds it annoying Emerald." Veronica asserted.

Veronica and Emerald never had good chemistry ever since high school started. They used to be friends back in middle school, but times changed. Maturity was one issue that kept them apart, this following with other minor things that all added up. They now just avoided each other, but the two make snaps at each other once in a while.

Emerald, who was growing irritated, stared at Zachary with a dirty look. She then directed her head back to Veronica.

She scoffed and remained quiet.

With everyone now quiet, everyone blanked out, waiting for the time to run out. Some have even managed to fall asleep. They just hoped they wouldn't get caught by Mr. Woodman when he came back.

Everyone was so unfocused, they didn't even realize that the hour and ten minutes was up. Lincoln was the first one to notice.

He looked up at the clock in the wall that read 6:14.

Lincoln leaned over to Zachary and woke him up. Zachary was startled when he woke up, he quickly looked around to notice that he was in the same place he had fallen asleep.

"What's up?" Zachary groggily said.

"Times up." Lincoln stated quietly.

By the time he had said that, everyone heard the break in silence and looked at the clock to notice that the time was up.

But what surprised them was the vacant seat in the front of the room.

Mr. Woodman never came back yet.

"Why isn't fuck face back yet?" Emerald muttered, getting out of her desk.

"He's probably still on his coffee break." Dennis peeped, adding a light chuckle.

"Well, I'm not waiting for his damn coffee break." Emerald ignored his humor and impatiently walked to the front of the room.

Everyone watched as Emerald made her way to the door, snapping her gum that she has been chewing on for the last hour.

When she reached the door, she involuntarily shoved her body into the door as she turned the knob, but instead of meeting the hallway, she met the door. Being pushed back from the door, she began to turn the knob and push on it with urgency.

"What the hell," She complained. "He locked the damn door?" She urged.

"He probably didn't want us to leave the room." Scarlet stated.

Lincoln, who was the most intrigued looked to Scarlet. "Don't those doors only lock from the outside?" Lincoln asked.

"Yeah, why-." She trailed off.

Before Scarlet could think about what Lincoln was going to say, he spoke.

"If those doors only lock in the hall, then she should be able to get out from the inside." He explained.

Lincoln could only think of the times when his class had a lockdown drill. How everyone rushed to the non-windowed side of the room and sit down. He also remembered his teacher closing the door shut and warning everyone not to open it. He could think of so many situations of these doors being able to open from the inside no matter if they were locked, but he used them so much, he never remembered how they worked.

Scarlet looked at the door once again, but then looked back, slouching back into her seat.

"Ok, even if that was true. Do you really think Mr. Woodman is that desperate to physically put something in the door?" Scarlet objected.

No one responded. Everyone had mixed thoughts about it, even Scarlet doubted her words.

Emerald, who has been fighting with the door for the last few seconds, gave up and walked away from it angrily.

"Just be patient, he'll be back soon." Veronica said, relaxing in her seat.

"It's stupid how we have to wait for him to come back." She threw herself back into her seat and crossed her arms.

No one spoke for the next few minutes as the room calmed back down. The time seemed to tick slowly once again. Yet, they all were urgent and impatient, like waiting for a doctor's appointment that's been due for almost an hour. Cadence and Lincoln began to grow a little skeptical for the absence of Mr. Woodman. They watched tediously at the door waiting for something to happen. Others stared out of the windows to see the sky growing darker and darker. The room grew to an ill darkness, and the sound of rain tapped on the window like a dog walking on wood flooring.

After a dreadful forty-five minutes passed, Emerald's patience got to the best of her. She shot up from her seat and stomped to the vacant front desk.

"I am sick and tired of having to wait here, it's been forty-five fucking minutes," She complained, reaching down into the drawer to retrieve her phone.

With her efforts, she tried to open the compartment, but it remained closed like it was before.

"This fucking ridiculous." He hissed at the drawer, pushing off the drawer and standing up from her crouched position.

"Emerald, you're making this a bigger deal then it is." Zachary suggested, regretting his comment almost immediately.

Emerald looked to Zachary and started walking aggressively to him. "I've had enough with you." She raged. Emerald has reached her last straw. She has had enough people tell her what to do.

With a swift hand, Emerald grabbed at Zachary's shirt and yanked him out of the seat.

Shocked, Zachary almost lost balance but stayed up as he was thrown into the smooth white brick wall.

"Emerald, calm down!" Scarlet got up from her seat and rushed to her. Veronica did the same without saying a word.

When Zachary was thrusted to the wall, he didn't say a word. He only breathed heavily, inhaling and exhaling calmly from his nose, startled from Emeralds actions.

"You say one more word to me. I swear I will beat your ass." Emerald threatened. Zachary stood against the wall in pain as his chest was being crushed by Emerald's fist that was grabbing his shirt.

Zachary wanted to do something, but being the peaceful person he was, he did nothing.

Before Veronica and Scarlet made it to Emerald, they heard the door open. Everyone turned their heads to the door and remained still. With the lights off, the adjusted their eyes to the bright lights in the hallway. They froze, as they expected Mr. Woodman to come in, but instead, an object of some sort is thrown in. Everyone watches the object as it hits the ground with a ting. The focused their eyes to see a canister of some sort. Suddenly, it spewed a dark smoke from the can. Everyone stared cluelessly at the smoke.

"What the hell?" Veronica stammered as she stepped away slowly from the canister.

Zachary, who was still against the wall, pushed Emerald away from him. Emerald, who was distracted by the smoke, lost her balance and fell to the ground. She watched as the smoke collided with her body.

Zachary quickly moved away from the smoke and backed into the corner of the room where everyone else moved.

Dennis was hesitant to help Emerald get out of the smoke, but his fear got to him. He didn't know what that smoke could do to him. They didn't know whether the smoke was deadly or just smoke. Either way, they found this situation rather dire and uncanny. They couldn't explain why Mr. Woodman was gone and why he never came back. Now they are introduced with a mysterious smoke that lurks closer to the group of scared high-schoolers.

Everyone watched as Emerald tried making her way to them. She got up slowly and started to make her way to the corner, but fell to the ground, making a muffled thud. They watched as Emerald didn't move, but instead lightly twitch like something was shocking her. Her fingers moved with quick starts then fell slowly. Then she laid still, she didn't move again.

"What is going on?!" Scarlet yelled in shock as she watched her friend get covered in a mysterious sheet of smoke.

Smoke started to come closer to them and they looked around desperate for a way to get out.