T.B.F.V.

CHAPTER ONE

“Again?” sighed Mrs. Stevens.

Chip stood before her desk, smirking. She was a frail old woman, with graying red hair and sagging skin. Without saying a word, he stomped over to a desk in the back of the room and he sat down. He stared at Mrs. Stevens, as if challenging her. She held the stare, before looking down at the piece of paper he had given her. It read “Chip Collins is to stay in suspension until four o’clock for damaging school property.” She rolled her eyes as she pushed her chair to a filing cabinet and pulled out his file. It was by far the largest file she’d ever seen. She added this piece of paper on top of one that read “Chip Collins is to report to in school suspension every day for a week for setting fire to the library.”

Chip dropped his gaze to the desk. It was covered in carvings of all of his favorite bands. He rubbed his hands through his short, spiky hair, and briefly shut his grey eyes. He opened them and scowled at the desk as he reached into his school bag. He pulled out a piece of paper and a marker. He began to draw a scene of him taking over the school, anarchy signs everywhere. Just as he began to finish the shapes of fire, another boy entered the room. The boy was hunched over and he walked heavily. His brown hair was nicely combed back and he kept his brown eyes to the floor. He handed Mrs. Stevens a paper that said “Roald Craigson is to stay in suspension until three o’clock for disrespecting staff.” Roald stomped his way over to a seat in the back, one on the opposite site of the room from Chip. Roald immediately took out a notebook and began to scribble something.

Both of these boys were familiar with the in school suspension room. They knew it’s musty smell and the yellow light that came in through a dirty window. Chip was here for most of the week. Today he did what he always did; he slept or stared at anyone who entered. It was a little slow at the moment and all he had to look at was Roald. The two boys had never met, although they’d had classes together. Chip began to draw fire and lightning bolts up and down his arm. Roald finished a poem and he began to work on a story that he’d been working on for months. He was looking to change the world with what he could say.

At noon someone finally entered. It was a boy who had long, messy, brown hair. He was wearing a tight maroon shirt that showed that, although he was extremely slender, he did have a good amount of muscle that usually went unnoticed. He walked to the front desk proudly and removed two paper sacks from his military green messenger bag.

“Good morning Mrs. Stevens,” he smiled

“Good morning Danny!” she smiled back.

“How are you today?”

“Good, good. Things are slow today, but life is good. How are you?”

“That’s good, I’m good as well. I’m just here to deliver lunches.”

“Well you go on ahead.”

Danny walked over to Roald first. He placed a sack on his desk and smiled at him. Roald didn’t even look up. Then he walked over to Chip who smirked at him. Danny handed him a sack, and he snatched it up quickly. Danny just smiled and wished him a good day. Then he returned to the front.

“Mrs. Stevens?” he asked shyly.

“Yes?” she gave him a questioning look.

“Well, my homeroom had cinnamon rolls this morning and I thought you might like one.”

“You didn’t have to do that Danny.”

“Oh I wanted to. Here.” He dug around in his bag until he produced a cinnamon roll wrapped in plastic wrap. He placed it on her desk.

“Well, thank you! You know, if I ever had a son I wish that he’d turn out just like you.”

“Aw, that’s sweet Mrs. Stevens. Well, I’ve got to go get my own lunch. I’ll be delivering lunches again tomorrow. Have a good day!”

“You too Danny! And tell your mom I said hi!”

“Okay! See you tomorrow!”

“Bye!”

“Bye.”

Then Danny strode out into the hallway. He walked towards the lunchroom, but was stopped by a girl with shiny blonde hair.

“Hi Danny,” she said shyly.

“Hello Cynthia. How are you?”

“Good,” she replied in a childlike singsong voice.

“Well that’s good.”

“How are you?”

“Good!”

“Well, that’s good.” She smiled. Then he smiled. She wondered; how could one person be so wonderful?

Back in the suspension room Chip was smirking. How could that boy be such a suck up? Did he really have no life so that he had to go about hitting on some old woman? He opened the sack he’d been given and took out a ham sandwich. He took a large bite and chewed loudly with his mouth open. Roald stopped writing and opened his sack to reveal a sandwich. It had no meat, just vegetables. Roald did not like eating meat; it was filled with disease. One day Danny had noticed Roald picking the meat out of his sandwich, and every day after that Roald got a meat free sandwich. It was nice. He chewed quietly, staring at the clock. The seconds slowly ticked away and he just watched them without caring what time it was. He was at a good spot in his writing, and didn’t want to leave this room until every drop of his creativity tap was on paper.

At three o’clock the normal school bell rang. Roald put his things away and stood up. He’d gotten another chapter done. It was perfected with its scribbles and arrows. Roald stomped out into the hallway where kids were rushing to get outside. He viewed himself as a fish joining a quick moving stream. He imaged himself jumping into the water, when in reality he just slipped in with the crowd. He stared down at the ground as he let the crowd take him to the outdoors. When the light got brighter he turned his head forward. He squinted as he continued to stomp forward. He stomped into the grass and to the bike rack. He undid the lock on his hunter green bike and he mounted it. Then he rode away.

At four o’clock Chip gathered his things and dashed out of the room. He rushed outside and was greeted by a small breeze. He went down a flight of stone steps and walked over to a small, pale boy who was sitting at the bottom.

“Time to go nerd,” he growled as he slapped the boy on the back of the head.

“Can’t you be nice to me?” the boy whined.

“Why would I do that? You don’t deserve it.”

The small, pale boy sighed and stood up. He dusted himself off with his small, almost skeletal hands and then followed Chip up the street.

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The next day was Friday. Mrs. Stevens sat alone in the suspension room humming to herself, until the pale and unusually thin boy came in. He handed her a paper and took a desk towards the front, but far away from Mrs. Stevens. His paper read “Levi Collins is to stay in suspension until two o’clock for hacking into the school’s computer system.” Mrs. Stevens filed it, while he took out a laptop computer.

“Put that away young man, and I do not want to see it again,” she scolded him.

He growled as he put the computer back into his bag. He looked up at the clock, which read “8:44”. He sighed as he dug around in his bag for some homework. He couldn’t just sleep the entire time. He spent the next three hours with equations and facts running around his head. Promptly at noon Danny entered.

“Hello!” he smiled at Mrs. Stevens.

“Oh, hello Danny! Lunches?”

“Yup.”

“Well, you go right on ahead.”

Danny walked over to Levi’s desk and handed him a lunch. Levi stared at him and he just smiled in return. Danny wished him a good day and Levi grunted in response. Danny said goodbye to Mrs. Stevens and he left the room. Levi just stared at the sack, wondering if it was contaminated with a perfect smile and infectious personality.