As the bell signaled the end of the day, the students hurriedly ushered their way towards the exit. 
 
"Come on I don't want to be here any longer then I have to." Ren said as she packed up.
 
Miya nodded in agreement and threw her bag over her shoulder. They made their way from the second floor to the cafeteria, with Shinya slowly following.
 
They met the others waiting for them at the benches near the front door. 
 
“See you guys tomorrow!" Boa waved cheerfully as she dragged Zelo behind her.
 
“See ya." Ren said giving them a small wave. 
 
Once Shinya had finally made their way to where her friends had been sitting, she sat down on the bench and crumpled her head down tiredly into her lap.
 
"Aw baby what’s wrong?" Daehyun asked pulling his girlfriend in his arms and giving her a big hug.
 
“Ah have detenshun. “ She mumbled into his shoulder.
 
"What?" Daehyun leaned closer to hear her better.
 
“I have detention." Shinya sulked as she pulled away from Daehyun and slumped her shoulders. 
 
“Well at least now you'll learn to actually listen to me and not run in the halls" Miya said tiredly from her spot on the bench.
 
Shinya rebuttal by smacking Miya's leg.
 
"Ow!"
 
“I thought you were going come watch me practice today after school." Daehyun pouted, turning Shinya's attention back to him.
 
“I was! But apparently the world has it against me today." Shinya grumbled. 
 
“It’s okay I still love you." Daehyun kissed her head affectionately.
 
Kai, who was waiting patiently, sighed and grabbed Daehyun by the arm.
 
“Come on lover boy, we have to get to baseball practice. I can't be late one more time or coach will beat me with my own glove."  
 
"Hey Kai wait!" 
 
A girl suddenly ran up to the group.
 
“Hey Kai do you have the homework for History class? I had a doctor’s appointment during third period today.  ”She said breathlessly. 
 
Kai laughed. "You think I really pay that much attention in class? That's cute." 
 
Daehyun smacked the back of Kai's head affectionately and turn toward the girl.
 
“We didn't have any homework today. Mr. Wu was out so we just did some worksheets, well some of us did at least."  He said emphasizing the words some, looking through his bag for his book.
 
“Hey I had a very productive class today! And besides it's not like Mr. Wu is going to care anyway, he hardly checks homework anymore."
Kai responded with a shrug, as Daehyun gave the girl his work and sending her off with a wave and a smile.
 
“We must be off! I’ll call you after practice." Daehyun said to Shinya as he zipped up his bag and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. 
 
“See you later! “She replied as the two boys hurried off out the door.
 
“And on that note I'm going to be off too. You guys know my mom; she's a pretty face, but keep her waiting and she'll turn ugly!" Ren said standing up and heading towards the exit.
 
“See you tomorrow!” Miya yelled. She turned towards her cousin who had went back into a crumpled up position.
 
Shinya looked and narrowed her eyes at Miya. 
 
"Before you even start, I don't need any more lectures from you today.” she grumbled sourly in self-pity. 
 
"I'm wasn't planning on it!"
 
"Then why are you still here? You have detention too?"
 
"No! I have to wait for my ride, you know that."
 
"Oh yeah. Sorry. I'm just a bit sensitive today."
 
"Oh really?  Haven't noticed that at all..." 
 
“ugh I hate your sarcasm! Oh! I'm late! I gotta go face my painful reality."   Shinya sighed, standing up, collecting her stuff, and running towards the stairs.
 

Miya looked around, checked her watch, and frowned.

“Now where is that fool? I would rather not wait around all day."  Miya thought aloud as she sat on the bench, alone.
 
Or so she thought.
 
----------------------------------------------
 
"You're late." Mr. Huang said as Shinya rushed into the detention room, not even bothering to look up from his laptop.
 
"I'm sorry sir I was downstairs and didn't see what time it was and..."
 
“Please take a seat instead of standing in the doorway." Mr. Huang said sweeping his hand to gesture towards the empty classroom.
 
* I'm the only one with detention? Great this is going to be an awkward hour* she thought as she plopped into a seat in the first row.  
 
She pulled out her math homework and tried to focus on finishing it. The silence in the room made it hard for her though. Instead of work, all that she produced were very poor hearts and goofy doodles. Suddenly a laugh cut through the silence in the room. Shinya couldn’t help but looked up to see what her teacher was doing. 
 
Mr. Huang was intently focused, and thoroughly amused, on what he was doing on his laptop. Shinya had never seen him smile so much. 
 
He must have felt her stare because he glanced up towards her. His cheerful expression instantly changed into his usual solemn expression.
 
“Don’t you have homework to do? This is detention not a place to be lazy. ” Mr.Huang stated bluntly, standing up and walking towards her desk.

Before he reached her though a knock on the door stopped him.

“Come in.” He said as he fluidly turned around and closed his laptop.

“What are you still doing here Tao? Don’t you have to go help supervise baseball practice?”  The male voice sounded as the door opened.

Shinya recognized the voice before she saw him. * And Tao? Is that what’s Mr.Huang first name is?* She thought as she tried to look busy, despite her oblivious curiosity with the two teachers conversation.

“Mr. Wu, I would appreciate it if you would not address me so casually.” Mr.Huang said as he his guest sauntered lazily into the room.

Mr. Wu ran his hand through his blonde hair and laughed.

“Oh I’m sorry, Mr. Huaaang.” He said in mischievous manner, walking towards the desk and leaning on it.

Shinya blinked in surprise. Usually her History teacher had a very respectful and had a neutral attitude at school. He never acted inappropriate towards another teacher, well to her knowledge at least.

Tao just rolled his eyes.  “And to answer your question, yes I would have been at practice, but today I had an unexpected change of plans…” Tao said indicating with his head towards Shinya.

 Mr. Wu looked towards Shinya, and judging by the look on his face he just realized him and Tao weren’t alone. He looked at her, confused before turning back to Mr.Huang.   

“Oh I see.” He said pushing himself off the desk and walking towards Shinya.

When he reached her, he crossed his arms and glanced down at her skeptically. 

“What did you do to get detention?” He asked Shinya.

Shinya kept her gaze on her paper, not uttering a word or response.

Mr. Wu sighed and turned to Tao who was now beside him.

“ What did she do to get detention?”  He asked Tao after a moment of silence.

“Well…she ran into me this morning before classes.” He stated bluntly.

Mr. Wu nodded his head, processing the information, before chuckling.

“Tao really? You have nothing better to do then punish a student for something as mediocre as bumping into you?” Mr. Wu went to pick up his computer bag he left near the door.

“Mediocre? Kris, she was running in the halls and caused me to drop my papers!”  Tao growled, momentary forgetting his demand in ‘formal’ exchange, and followed him.

Kris, other the hand, only laughed and walked over to the teacher’s desk to pick up Tao’s laptop.

Tao stared at him, wide eyed, as Kris then walked over and offered him his laptop.

 “Tao learn to lighten up! Keep this up and you’re on bound to being single forever!”  Kris said with a casual smile.

Tao scowled and yanked his laptop harshly from Kris’s arms.

Kris frowned at the action, and his expression turning serious as he began using his firm teaching voice.

“I will excuse Ms. Li from detention on the means of stupidity and a complete abuse of authority.”  He turned towards Shinya. “Ms. Li. You may go.”

Shinya who was wide eyed and watching the scene before her nodded and packed up quickly. She made sure she was as far as she could from the teachers as she walked out of the classroom. As soon as she closed the door she bolted down the stairs quickly, but cautiously, just in case somebody was watching her.

When she was freely out of the school and it was out of her sight, Shinya slowed her pace and began walking towards home.

The sun was beginning to turn a dark orange and blue, painting the sky in vibrant colors as it began to set.

“Aish! I’m never going to get home!” She complained as her feet slowly dragging along the sidewalk. She puffed out her cheeks in frustration and slowly blew the air out, looking up and down the usually busy street, which was now almost completely deserted.

*Dad is going to kill me for being late!* Shinya thought miserably, arriving at the bus station and sitting on the empty bench. She pulled out her phone and checked for messages. She was both relieved and disappointed at the news. On one hand her dad wasn’t worried about her not being home yet, but at the same time, Daehyun hadn’t called which he had said he would.

Sighing she decided to distract herself with a game on her phone while she waited for the next bus.

…

Time soon got the better of her. Shinya looked up from her phone and glanced around. * Where is everyone?!* There was an odd car passing by but overall there was no one around. The sun was now almost completely gone, leaving Shinya in the near dark as the streetlights didn’t seem to be giving off much light.

Standing up she realized how cold it was out. Shinya snuggled deeper into her jacket, but that didn’t stop her from freezing. *Am I supposed to walk home like this?! Where is the damn bus?! * She shoved her hands into her coat pockets and began walking, figuring it was better than just standing there.  As she was walking a set of lights shone behind her.

Shinya realized it was a car, but what worried her was that the car was going unbelievably slow. She quickened her pace to get away from it, as her brain automatically assuming she was going to get kidnapped by a complete stranger. As she walked along her nervousness, and curiosity, got the better of her and she glanced back at the car slowly trailing behind her.

She squinted in the darkness to see who it was but all she could see was a bright light coming from the mysterious car. She turned right back around continued walking, her pace hastily picking up.

Just then the car lurched forward, and stopped just a couple feet ahead of Shinya by the curb.

Shinya stopped and stared at the car, her eyes wide in fear.

The car let out a couple short beeps.

“Hey Ms. Li!  Come over here please! ” A familiar voice called from the car.

Shinya slowly made her way over to the car, her fear slowly dissipating with each step.

As she approached the car, the passenger window rolled down and a face smiled up at her.

“I’ll give you a lift home." Kris said reaching over to the passenger side door and pushing it open.
 
Shinya glanced at the door hesitantly, but as she began to feel the cold chill of night drift in she chose to accept his offer. 
 
As she got in and they pulled away from the curb, the car was filled with an awkward silence. 
 
Kris tapped lightly on the steering wheel while Shinya twirled the straps of her backpack, occasionally looking up to see where they were.
 
Kris bluntly cleared his throat, causing Shinya to glance over at him.
 
“So how was your school day?" he asked casually. 
 
"I had a fantastic day!” she replied sarcastically. “How was yours?"
 
"I had meetings all day. Quite boring actually. I would have preferred to be in the classroom with my students."  Kris smiled over towards her.
 
"I see."  Was all the response he received.  The car became silent once again. 
 
“Did you enjoy the worksheet I assigned?" he asked.
 
“Oh yes! A crossword filled with historic facts is exactly what I wanted to do!" Shinya gushed with fake enthusiasm. 
 
“Well what did you want to do?" 
 
"I don't know! At least something productive if I had to be in class!"
 
“Well I’ll be sure to add extra notes next class to make up for my absence!"
 
“That’s not what I meant, I don’t want more work!" Shinya sighed loudly in frustration, and glanced sourly out the window.
 
Kris made the final turn towards Shinya's house.
 
Kris chuckled as he stopped the car in front of Shinya's house.
 
“Why are you in such a mood today?" he asked grinning, putting the car into park.
 
“I’m not in a mood!” Shinya angrily replied, leaning her head forward and rubbing her temples.

 Kris raised his eyebrows and stared at her.  He then pointed towards the mark on her face, his grin widening.
 

“Fine! I had a bad day alright! Don’t go making it worse!” Shinya grumbled quickly putting her head in her hands and rubbing her face violently

 
“Don’t flail around so much or you'll muss up that pretty hair or yours." he said unlocking the doors and turning the car off.
 
Shinya glared slowly upwards but her light smirk forming on her face gave away that she wasn't mad anymore.
 
"Oops too late it seems"
 
Kris reached over and smoothed the side of her head with his hand. Shinya tensed at the action but didn’t move away from his touch.
 
"There back to normal!" 
 
Shinya lightly slapped his hand away and opened the door. As she got out Kris, glanced down at his now beeping phone.

Shinya turned around and leaned down to look into the open window.
 
“Well? Are you coming in or what?"  She asked gesturing with her thumb towards the house.
 
Kris nodded, but turned his car back on. “Yeah I’ll be in soon! Dad ordered take out and he's making me go pick it up! "
 
"Well then see you soon!" Shinya said, waving goodbye to her brother and heading inside.