Chapter 12
“Detention for the both of you.”
The teacher handed both girls a red slip of paper with the word ‘DETENTION’ in big bold letters written across it. Marya stared blankly at the paper in her hands.
“Excuse me sir, but why do we have detention?”
Helene inquired, despite having a strong suspicion as to why the teacher wrote them up for detention.
Marya’s hand began to shake as she read the words over again. Students like her aren’t supposed to be in a place where delinquent students go. And surely, she was no delinquent.
Helene noticed the small panic Marya was having and lightly held her hand. Marya glanced at the girl and clasped her hand, bringing her outside of her head.
“Ms. Kuragina, I know cheating when I see it. You’ve only attended this school for less than a week, yet you're already pulling acts such as these.”
Behind the tall man, Helene could see two packets of paper, each marked with an F on them. Presumably, her and Marya’s test from last week.
The man turned his attention to the redhead next to Helene.
“And Ms. Dmitryevna…”
Marya gazed at the teacher with an apologetic look on her face. She knew what she did was wrong, and she knew this would tarnish her perfect record. And even with Helene holding her hand, consoling her, she could not stop the increasing anxiety. Her eyes began to well up with tears.
“I am disappointed to say the least. Though you are not one of my top students, I know you are better than this. In the future, I advise you not to let new friends use you like how Ms. Kuragina did.”
Helene scoffed softly, which the math teacher did not appreciate.
He reached behind himself and grabbed the two papers on his desk. He handed Helene her test, and Marya hers.
“I will contact both of your parents later on today to inform them that you’ll be staying after school today…. Don’t be late.”
And with that, the bell rang, signalling it was time for the next class. Helene and Marya walked out of the classroom and into the busy hallway.
“Don’t stress alright?”
Helene squeezed Marya’s hand even tighter.
Marya nodded back at her, wiping her small tears away.
“I’ll see you at 3:00!”
Helene let go of Marya’s hand and walked away, turning the corner to go to her next class. Marya stood in the hallway trying to compose herself when suddenly a voice began to speak from behind her.
“Oooo is that a detention slip? Marya in detention? Well that’s something I’d never thought I’d see.”
Fedya came up behind Marya, spooking her a bit, causing her to slightly jolt back.
“Hello Fedya.”
Marya grimaced.
“Shouldn’t you be getting to class?”
“I could say the same for you Marya. Oh, and by the way, the hand holding was cute but next time you should actually tell her how you feel.”
He chuckled slightly seeing Marya’s face go pink.
“It’s rude to watch people, Fedya. Especially when the watching is unwarranted.”
Marya walked off to chemistry class, leaving Dolokhov in the hallway by himself.
“Oh just like when you watched Helene through the window the other day?”
“Shut up.”
====
The two girls walked into the small, cold classroom. Somehow the ventilation in the school seemed to not reach this particular classroom. No wonder why they made it the detention room. A few other students were there, whom Marya had never seen before. They stared at her while she was taking her seat, which made Marya feel a little uncomfortable.
“How's it going new girl? Already in detention huh? And you brought a friend!”
One of the boys said from behind her.
It was at this moment she realized that they weren’t staring at her, but in fact they were staring at Helene.
Helene ignored the boy and took her seat next to Marya.
Just then, the door burst open and a scruffy man came trotting in. He wore a tattered and shabby green jacket with an unclean striped shirt underneath. As soon as he walked in, the room filled with the pungent smell of coffee grounds and garbage. Helene turned her nose up in disgust, while Marya brought a hand to her face, covering her nose.
The group of students groaned in agony.
Helene turned to Marya.
“Ugh, who is this guy?”
She whispered, not wanting the teacher to hear.
“That’s Mr. Balaga. The school's old kook. He’s crazy, but he’s chill.”
“Oh… isn't he the drama teacher?”
Helene answered back to her.
“Yes I am the drama teacher!”
Balaga spun around to face Helene and stuck out a hand.
“Mr. Balaga. I suppose you are Ms. Kuragina?”
He asked with an inquisitive tone.
“Er - Yes.”
She hesitantly shook his hand.
“Welcome! I’m sure you’ll find drama class very entertaining with me as your teacher.”
He smiled, and grabbed a piece of chalk from the old chalkboard.
Helene wiped her hand on the edge of the desk.
“Now students! If you know me, you know that I have three policies when it comes to the classroom.”
He drew a big number one on the chalkboard.
“ONE”
“Have fun!”
A big grin spread across his face which left Marya, Helene, and some other students confused.
“You kids go through enough shit already with boring lectures and stern teachers… I try to make detention as fun as possible. Which leads me to my next policy.”
“TWO”
He walked over to the door and jerked the handle so that the door swung open.
“No closed doors! You can walk around the school, go to the cafeteria. Do whatever you want. There’s nobody here to catch you but me, so might as well let you roam free. Just don’t do anything stupid.”
A few excited gasps escaped from the mouths of the students, including Helene, who was already bouncing to leave the classroom.
“AND THIRD!”
“Don’t tell anyone about me letting you guys do this. I don’t like snitches.”
He leaned back on the chalkboard, getting chalk dust all over his back.
The room was silent for a few moments before Mr. Balaga rose back up and said
“Well… what’re you waiting for?! Go! Get out! Leave ya rascals.”
At that time, all other students besides Marya jumped up with their bags slung over their shoulders, practically leaping out of the room.
Marya watched confusedly as the other students excitedly left the room.
“Hey, aren’t you coming?”
Helene looked back at Marya who was still sitting at her desk.
“Uh, yeah… I just…”
Marya gathered her bag and stood up.
“What is it, Masha?”
Helene walked towards the girl, with a worried expression.
Seeing the look on Helene’s face, Marya thought it was best to not dwell on what could've been and instead decided to make the most of the time they’re spending now.
“It's nothing, Helene.”
Marya waved off her sadness, forcing a smile to come onto her face. She walked out of the room, and walked to nowhere in particular. She’d never seen the school hallways so empty, where would she even go?
“It isn’t nothing Marya… Are you upset because we’re missing our date?”
Helene held onto Marya’s free hand.
“I was looking forward to it! I bought snacks, blankets… I was even planning to order some food from that Russian food market down the street for you. I just wanted everything to be perfect and now it's all ruined.”
She slumped down on the floor in front of the lockers.
“Oh Marya…”
Helene sat down next to her, folding her legs to sit cross legged. She embraced Marya in a big hug, with her head resting on her shoulder.
“It’s already perfect.”
She gazed into Marya’s teary eyes.
“But what about the movie? And the - “
Marya rattled on. Her mouth moved faster than her mind.
“It’s okay….Look.”
She used her finger to tilt Marya’s head, making her look at her.
“I’m here. You’re here. We can just have our date here instead. No need to worry.”
Marya sniffed, while looking into Helene’s eyes. The shimmer of beauty that bounced off her irises - how it enchanted her. Though her eyesight was blurry, everything about this moment was crystal clear to Marya. She wanted to kiss Helene, and she knew Helene felt the same. She let her heart indulge in itself, and move closer towards the girl. Slowly, she inched to her face and slowly, Helene took her hand and inched it to the back of Marya’s head.
Suddenly, Marya’s lips found Helene’s. They fit together like puzzle pieces, and Marya liked how that made her feel. She liked the feeling of Helene’s hand against the back of her neck, and the electricity in the air around her. She could hear Helene’s slow and steady breaths, humming in the back of her mind like background noise. Her eyes began to close.
She couldn’t tell how long they stayed like this, but it felt like an eternity. Everything happened so slowly but it was all worthwhile. In reality, the kiss only lasted six or seven seconds.
Helene breathed one last breath before slightly pulling away and opening her eyes. She rested her forehead on Marya’s.
“Woah…”
Marya breathed out, her eyes fluttering open.
“Yeah…”
Helene grinned at the star struck girl. Still reeling from the taste on her lips.
“That was… “
Marya paused for a moment to gather her thoughts.
“Amazing.”
Helene finished her sentence for her, but Marya gazed into her eyes one last time and said,
“Magical.”
Helene’s cheeks began to blush scarlet and consequently, Marya began to blush as well.
“So I, uh… I found out something about my mom yesterday… I don’t know what it all means just yet, but with everything that's happened, it could be something huge.”
Helene pulled out the photo from her bag and showed it to Marya.
“Remember when I showed you this?”
Helene asked Marya, who just nodded in response.
“See how there’s an arm around my mom? Well, me and Anatole did some sleuthing and figured out it’s Nikolai Bolkonsky, Andrey’s dad.”
Marya turned to Helene with wide eyes.
“Does this have something to do with him kidnapping Natasha?”
“I don’t know, but it could… I feel like there’s something bigger going on that we just don’t know yet.”
She scanned the photo for any further evidence. Maybe something could have changed within the last 24 hours she looked at the photo.
“I did some research regarding your father and that tech company- Anastasia Tech - last night…”
Marya began.
“It shut down back in 2016, Helene. That charity no longer exists…”
Marya handed her back the photo.
Helene stared back at the photo.
She was sick of the lies and the secrets. For once, Helene just wanted to know what the hell was going on. Nothing about these occurrences were making sense. The only thing that seemed to make any logical sense was that something shady was going on behind the scenes with her father, her late mother, Bolkonsky, and even Andrey. There were just so many questions that had yet to be answered.
Why did Andrey kidnap Natasha?
How does Bolkonsky fit into all of this?
Why is the picture burned?
Who has the other half?
What is her father hiding?
Just then, Marya’s cell phone began to buzz. Marya scrambled in her bag to find it. Once she got a hold of it, she answered the call.
“Sonya? What’s up?”
…
“Yeah, I’m at school, stuck in detention which is actually kinda nice.”
She glanced at Helene.
…
“Woah, slow down Sonya… Yes Helene is with me. What’s wrong?”
She put the girl on speaker mode.
“Helene? This is Sonya. I have new information about the photo. Yes, that's Bolkonsky’s arm in the photo, but he also has the other half. Mary found it last night.”
“I should've known Bolkonsky had it.”
Helene scoffed.
“Thanks Sonya. You’ve been a real help in all of this.”
“That’s not all… There’s some sort of code on the back of the photo.”
“A code?”
A confused expression came about Helene and Marya’s face.
“Yes. 2-0-8-1-1-2-9-1”
Sonya paused between every number to read them aloud.
Helene turned to Marya to see her scribbling the numbers on her hand.
“We need to get everyone on deck about this. Marya, can you call Fedya and tell him to come by my house tonight?”
Helene asked the girl beside her.
“On it.”
“Mary and I will be there too. I’ll bring Natasha as well.”
Sonya said through the phone.
“I’ll call Pierre. Tell everyone to be at my house by 7:00. There’s some shady stuff going on, and we need everyone’s help.”
“Right. We’ll see you then.”
Sonya hung up the phone and Marya slid the device back into her bag.
====
For the rest of the detention, Helene and Marya ended up laying against each other, watching various shows on Netflix, watching youtube videos and sometimes even taking small naps in between.
It was undeniable and indisputable how much they enjoyed each other's company. Their hands intertwined with one another’s and they laughed hours on end. And even with this huge mystery looming over Helene’s mind, she found that with Marya she could forget her worries and focus on her instead. She liked having a person she could trust, and someone she knew who would go great distances for her.
And that kiss…
Like Marya said, it was magical. Helene knew for sure, that Marya was the one for her.