Chapter 33: Chapter 33

The class gasped.

Mr. Holden slapped his hand on the table. “That was too far, Bianca Davis!”

“Excuse me?” I sputtered outraged at his reaction. “He started it first!”

“His was a harmless joke, Davis, and refrain from raising your voice at me, please. I’ve known you to be a better student than this, that’s why you’re Head girl.”

My frustration mounted because Mr. Holden was right, I never got into trouble, now Andre’s smugness was getting on my nerves so bad I wanted to punch it right off his face. “Mr. Holden you know that I have never been in trouble before. I’ve always been a good student…”

“Until you bantered words with Andre in my class.”

“That is the point! He is the problem! He should be the one punished not me.”

Mr. Holden pinched the bright of his nose and for a moment the class waited with bated breath for his verdict. “Fine. Andre does have some fault in this. Will you come up here Andre and introduce yourself?”

He looked shocked at the request but Mr. Holden wasn’t playing games so he had no choice but to rise and come stand with me in front of the class. He glanced at me in passing. Does Andre Rios look nervous or are my eyes playing tricks on me?

“Uh…My name is Andre Rios?”

“Is that a question or a statement?”

The class giggled. “A statement sir.”

“Good what else should we know about you Andre Rios?”

“I uh… I don’t know.”

I couldn’t resist. “He doesn’t know what else to say because his personality starts and ends with his name. Now if you had let me finish you would have known what else to say because here in the Science club we mean business, we don’t just say our names and smile and wink our way out of everything, we don’t make crude jokes.” At this point students were staring curiously, some probably wondering why Mr. Holden wasn’t stopping me when it was clear that I lost my shit. And whose fault is it?! I went on regardless, stabbing my index finger in his direction as I spoke, because seeing the smug smile fade from Andre’s face was satisfactory even though I did feel that twinge of guilt somewhere.

“We talk about our ambitions, how we want to change the world, what inspired us into joining the Science club now if you have no ambitions you might as well start a Loser’s club where you stand in front of a mirror and practice your smirks and grins while you talk about how you love to fix the straps on girls’ bikinis!”

The silence in the lab was loud. I suddenly realized I had been going on and on about him and everyone had shocked looks on their faces. Yup, a small section of the school has just witnessed me down-talking the hot new heartthrob. Even Adeline’s jaw was slack.

I suddenly wanted to die, or disappear, or maybe burying myself in the ground would work. Even Andre for the first time didn’t have any comebacks.

Mr. Holden finally cleared his throat. I drew in a breath and waited for his verdict.

“That was unexpected drama for the Science club.”

That got a few giggles until he turned stern eyes to Andre and me.

“That was unlike you Davis. Clearly, you and Rios have some unresolved issues going on here. Why don’t you wait after the class is over to clean the lab while you both think of your actions? It’s either that or detention and I am not asking.”

Better to clean the lab than spend an hour or 2 in detention.

My hot cheeks finally began to cool. “I’m sorry, Mr. Holden.”

“I apologize, sir,” Andre said.

“You can both apologize by spending the rest of your break here until these slabs are whiter than your teeth and the test tubes are crystal clear. Go back to your seats.”

We both did the walk of shame back to our seats. I cringed at myself and some of the things I said so much that I couldn’t even concentrate. But I did notice that Andre pulled his chair away from Adeline’s and spent the rest of the class with his head sandwiched between his hands.

“That’s enough introduction for today's class. Why don’t we have a test to take the tension of that little drama off.”

Regardless of the groans from everyone we took out our pens and tore out spare pages of our notebooks for the test.

The class ran through the next hour. Soon the bell rang and while everyone was hurrying for the door to their next class Andre and I stayed behind. The only person remaining in the class besides both of us and Mr. Holden was Adeline. She went to Andre and whispered something into his ears to which he responded with a smile. When he looked up at her I recognized that look in her eyes; they will probably hook up later in the abandoned chemistry lab or something. My eyes were rolling upward before I could stop them.

As soon as she was done, Adeline sashayed out of the lab with an “I win smile” in my direction.

This time I rolled my eyes even further back in my head.

“Now that you both are alone,” Mr. Holden said walking towards his office adjoined with the lab. He searched for something in his drawer and when he came back he was holding plastic handcuffs. “You will be wearing these.”

I choked on my laughter. “What?! Mr. Holden, we can’t possibly wear that! We are not into kinks and I will not be tied up with All-up-in-my-ass over here!”

“Precisely why you both will be wearing these. You don’t have a problem with that do you, Andre?”

The fool had the audacity to grin. “I would have preferred a less acidic partner but Bianca will have to work, sir.”

“Boy am I dying to be tied up to you, Andre Rios.”

Mr. Holden shook his head in dismay. He released a heavy sigh. “I hope this works. Come here both of you,” he ordered like we were kids. Reluctantly I joined rose from my seat and followed Andre to the front of the lab but made sure to keep a safe distance between us. “Hold out your hands.” We obeyed and he clasped one of the cuffs around my wrist and did the same to Andre. He took a step back looking proud of his work. “Now you both are joined by the wrists.”

“Mr. Holden does Principal Jorge know you keep cuffs in your drawer? He would love to know what you get up to in your office.”

He laughed. “Threatening me isn't going to get you anywhere. Besides, now I have a very good use for these cuffs and one of them is joining you both by the wrists until you learn to get along. Now,” he reached for dusters. “While you both are joined you can start by cleaning the lab together. You can go to your classes after that.”

“Without the cuffs right?”

“No. You wear them together until tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow!” I shrieked.

“Yes, Bianca Davis, it’s either that or you lose 40 marks in your biology results and spend 5 hours every day in detention until your graduation. That should teach you to mind your words in my class next. I don't care how frustrated you are, self controls everything! You know that Bianca Davis. The same goes for you, Andre.”

He pushed away from the slab and walked away before I could process the other option against being tied to Andre.

As he opened his office door I called out. “But that’s not fair!”

“All is fair in love and war,” he replied and shut the door with a loud bang.