Lunch Rush
“Get up!” Alvin snapped.
At this point, all nine detentionees had laid their heads down on their desks; seemingly asleep, halfway there, bored out of their skulls, or all of the above.
“Who has to use the restroom?”
Almost immediately, every single hand shot up in response.
Alvin didn’t even bother responding to that.
=/=
<Lithium by Nirvana begins to play in the background>
By the time everyone got back the clock struck 11: 55.
Lunch.
One hour’s reprieve from the mind-boggling boredom of Saturday Detention.
Momo, Luna and Yuffie chatted quietly as they traded and ate various bits and bobs from their bento boxes, Gary was scribbling and erasing things down on his paper as he slurped from his juice box, Jack was sketching the outline of a design for a science project he had yet to complete as he chewed on his half-eaten bean burrito, and Aria quietly combed through her salad as Flash chewed on his meatball sub across from her.
Alice slumped into her seat as she picked at her half-eaten peanut butter and banana sandwich when Mercury slid next to her, brown paper lunch bag placed across from her.
“You mind?” He asked her.
“No.”
Rummaging through his bag he pulled out a Granny Smith apple and took a bite.
Alice honestly didn’t know what to make of Mercury, and vice versa.
Mercury Black was, by far, the most obnoxious individual Alice had ever had the displeasure of coming across. He was rude, crass, sarcastic, and a well-known troublemaker who ended up in detention almost every other week over one reason or another. But on the other hand, the guy was surprisingly empathetic. He would split his lunches with Alice if she had forgotten, helped Yuffie and some of the underclassmen with their algebra homework when prompted, and he was surprisingly tolerable when he wanted to be.
Even after everything about his truly vile home life went out in the open, he continued to surprise Alice.
To Mercury, Alice Liddell was an enigma. The emo British exchange student had arrived in time with the Santa Ana winds three years back, long dyed black hair covering a tired, sickly pale face that seemed far older than her then sixteen years. Alice was quiet, hardly ever participated in any extracurricular activity outside of the student council and tech support for the drama club, and had the highest grades in the senior class. He had heard rumors of years of a forced institutionalization when her parents and her older sister Lizzie (American McGee’s Alice) died in a house fire when she was a child, but Mercury didn’t bother verifying or confirming them, because a) it wasn’t his place to ask, and b) it seemed rude considering their vague mutual acquaintance.
“So,” He begins, mouth full. “what’d you get in for?”
“Detention?” She clarifies.
“Mm-hm.” He nodded with a swallow.
“What did you do?”
“Aside from the food fight, I skipped one too many classes.” He replied nonchalantly. “Principal Goodwitch got mad and gave me detention for the rest of the month.”
“Why do you skip so much?” Alice asks, feeling genuinely confused. “I’ve seen your grades, you’re a very bright student.”
“And what of it?” He scoffed. “You think any decent college worth their salt would want somebody like me tarnishing their ivy-covered halls and mingling with the other blue-bloods? If anything, you’d be the one they’d want. Yeah, most of the time you look kinda tired and out of it, but you?” He said, pointing at her. “You have the grades and the brains to go to any college you want. You have the drive and the potential to do anything you set your mind to academically.”
Alice bit her lip as she mulled over his words.
“I’m… I’m not, going to college.” She admitted. “After graduation, I’m going to travel around with my roommate. I…” She bit her lip. “I don’t, I don’t want to be stuck in one place. It’s part of the reason why I applied as a foreign exchange student.”
“What was the other reason?” Mercury asked off-handedly.
Alice pursed her lips together and finished the remnants of her sandwich.
=/=
Lunch went by without incident, which honestly worried Alvin.
With the amalgamation of unruly students he had been forced to watch over for the day, Alvin had expected at least one fistfight to break out (he knew damn well that Oz was laughing at him from his cushy office, and now he knew to never draw straws with Glynda ever again). But, aside from that seemingly one-off incident that morning involving Montgomery and Oak, and the screaming match regarding Aria’s devotion to Ezra bloody Fitz (may that perverted arse rot) nothing had come of it.
But, he knew his luck would run out and he’d have to watch over bedlam.
Well, hopefully things didn’t turn out like last Saturday.
Glynda really needed a raise.