Classic High-School Tropes

Xander

Oporto after school?

Vicky

YES

Glo

WE MUST

Teneil

totally!

KB

I’m there

Audrey

Does 6 work?

Glo

Look up Vick

Vicky frowned from her phone, and looked around the classroom.

Mr Jenson was towering over her, hands on his hips.

She gulped.

“Vicky,” he sighed. “Why are you on your phone during class?”

“I, uh, was Googling something. Y’know, for school.”

Mr Jenson looked unconvinced. “May I have your phone, please?”

Vicky grumbled and handed him her phone.

“Thank you. You can pick it up from me after detention.”

“What!”

“You give me no choice, Vicky. I allow phones in the classroom if you don’t let them distract you, otherwise I must confiscate them.

He glanced at the phone briefly and sighed again.

“Xander, Glo, Teneil, KB and Audrey… you were all texting too?”

No one said a word.

“I’m sorry. Detention.”

“Really?” Xander frowned.

“Oh come on,” Glo whined, her hands dropping on her desk with a double thud. “Not fair.”

“Sorry, Glo, but this is what happens,” Mr Jenson shrugged as he collected the five’s phones. “Go see Mrs Wilhem after school today. Behave and you’ll only be there for an hour.”

“Yeah, like that’ll happen,” she grumbled, slouching in her chair.

KB heard her remark and had to stifle his laugh.

“Mr Jenson hasn’t given detention since… ever!” Audrey frowned.

“Seniors say that the last person to get detention from him ended up in jail,” Vicky whispered.

“How long ago was that?” Xander tilted his head.

“I think five years.”

“You’re telling me that we are the first people to get detention from Mr Jenson in five years?!” Glo gasped.

“So much for theatre rehearsals today,” Teneil sighed.

“Are you worried your dad will make you do chores because you got more detention?” KB asked Glo.

“Nah,” she gave a sly grin. “He said if I get detention for physical fights. I got detention for texting in class. Loopholes, KB, loopholes.”

“I can hear the judge laughing now,” Xander rolled his eyes.

She elbowed him between the ribs.

“Ow.”

Glo bounced the handball on the floor.

It ricocheted off the wall and back into her hand.

She did it again.

And again.

And again, over and over and over.

She was sitting in a desk near the back of the detention room.

KB was sitting on her left, Teneil on the right side of the room, Bicky by the window, Xander behind her and Audrey in the front row.

They were the only students in the array of sixteen desks.

Mrs Wilhem sat before them, reading a book.

Glo continued to bounce that ball, off the floor, onto the wall and back to her hand, over and over. Her bored expression did not wane.

The racket of the handball was increasing in volume and slowly began to irritate Mrs Wilhem. Suddenly, the pounding drone made her snap.

The stocky lady stood up from her desk, slamming the book on the table.

Glo looked at her but did not stop bouncing the ball.

“Stop that incessant noise!” Mrs Wilhem shrieked. “Detention is supposed to be quiet!”

”And yet, she’s shouting,” Vicky murmured.

With a blank face, Glo stopped bouncing the handball, listening to the angry woman yell on.

“Gloria Mack, you are an irritating pest! Too long have I had to put up with your insolence! I will not tolerate it no longer, now give me that damn ball!”

Still emotionless, Glo threw the ball halfheartedly at her.

It hit Mrs Wilhem square on the forehead, leaving a purple bump on her red face.

Xander snickered.

KB bit his lip.

Audrey and Teneil’s eyes widened.

Vicky braced herself for what was to come next.

A long, dog-like growl slinked through the teacher’s clenched jaw.

“Detention is over,” she snarled slowly. “You may all leave.”

They all got up as quickly as they could, scurrying out of the classroom.

“Gloria Mack.”

Just as Glo was about to make her way out the door, she froze at the sound of her full name.

“Give this to your father,”Mrs Wilhem gave her a document.

”A reprehension form?” She groaned.

”Indeed. Have him sign it and return it to me or the school office on Monday.”

”Fine,” she rolled her eyes, leaving the room.

“Home!” Glo yelled as she came through her front door. She tossed her bag on the kitchen counter with a sigh before heading into the lounge room.

Her two older brothers, Matthew and Apollo, were at the dining room behind the couch. Matthew was on his phone and Apollo was typing on his laptop.

“Hey, sis,” Matthew muttered without looking up. “How was school?”

”Crappy,” she scoffed. “Another reprehension form.”

”That’s nice.”

”You got another form?” Apollo looked up in disbelief.

She handed him the paper.

“Tension detention this month. Congrats. What did you do this time?”

”All I did was text during stupid class so I threw a stupid ball at Mrs Wilhem’s stupid forehead.”

”Dad’s not gonna be happy,” Apollo sang. “This is the third one of these.”

”Third one of what?” Matthew finally snapped back to reality.

“Glo’s third reprehension form this year.”

“Again, Glo?” Matthew sighed. “You gotta stop punching people.”

”I didn’t punch her! I threw a handball at her face.”

”Gee, why would she get mad at that!”

”Whatever. Where’s Dad?”

”Garage, like always.”

Glo left the living room, going through the kitchen and into the garage.

The family had a dark grey four-wheel-drive that they used to drive everywhere. It had just been cleaned yesterday but Glo wasn’t surprised to already see mud splattered on the doors.

The hood was lifted and Glo’s dad Jonathan Mack was leaning into it, half his body enveloped.

She could hear him using a wrench.

“Dad,” she said.

“Hey, Glo, you’re back from school!” He said, still headfirst in the car.

“Yep.”

”How was your day?”

”Uhh…”

”Could you pass me that flathead?”

She took the screwdriver out of his open toolbox and handed it to him.

“So, Dad, I need you to just sign a thing for school real quick, it’ll only take a second.”

’What is it?” He came out from under the hood, standing up tall. There was a smudge of oil on his beck.

“A, uh… a reprehension form.”

”A reprehension form! Again, Glo?” He groaned, taking the paper and reading it. “Ten detentions this month… I told you, if you got detention for fighting again, you’ have to do the boys’ chores.”

”Actually, you said if I got detention for fighting. This was texting in class.”

”Who were you texting?”

”Well, it was—“

”Was it a boy?”

”No, it was—“

”It better not’ve been a boy.”

”Dad, it was the gang. The only boys are Xander and KB.”

”Yes, Xander. Awesome kid, I like him.”

Glo gave him a quizzical look. “And KB? Y’know, the one I’ve been besties with since kindie?”

”I didn’t feel the need to address him. Everyone loves that guy, especially your mum.”

”So will you sign the form?”

”Fine.” He took a pen from his toolbox and signed the paper, leaning against the windshield of the truck.

“There you go, freshly inked. Now unless you wanna help your dad fix the air-con belts—“

”No thanks, Dad. See ya.”

”Love you, Glo.”

Glo left the garage, folding the form.

She went into her bedroom and tossed the paper on her desk before sitting on her bed with a sigh.

Her eyes grazed over the various music posters on her walls, as well as some of Vicky’s artworks and framed photos of friends and family.

Every day, Glo would pick up her bass guitar and just play freestyle, anything that sounded good and resonated with how she felt at that moment. No matter how quickly or expertly she crafted her pieces, she could never play them again.

Glo didn’t ‘do’ emotions, but found the easiest way to express herself—and to understand others’ expressing themselves—was through music.

She took out her phone and opened Spotify, playing her daily mix as she put her earbuds into her ears.

One of her favourite songs began playing: Will of the People by Muse. She leaned back on her bed and closed her eyes as she listened.

Let’s push the emperors into the ocean…

Don’t need a gun to flirt with devotion…

With ever hour, our number increases…

We’ll smash your institutions to pieces…

We need a transformation, one we all can see…

We need a revolution, so long as we stay free…

Welcome to the desecration, baby, we built you right up and we’ll tear you down…

Welcome to the celebration, baby, the chances are turning, the future is ours…

Glo, despite the rock song blasting in her ears, drifted off to sleep as the ripe afternoon sun stretched over her resting face from the window.

As soon as KB shut the front door of his house, his litter sister rushed up to him in a flurry of loud talking, wrapping her arms around his waist.

“KB! You won’t believe what happened!” She was saying. “I lost a tooth! See?”

She smiled wide to reveal the gap in her teeth.

“Wow! Nice going, Amika,” KB smiled, walking past to put his bag on the couch.

“It was super wobbly and then Mum gave me an apple to bite and it came out! It didn’t even hurt!”

”Look at you go.”

”And when I came to school today all my friends and my teachers sang me happy birthday and gave me lots of lollies!”

”Why? It’s not your birthday.”

”That’s what I told them! And then they said that I said that it was my birthday, so I couldn’t argue with that.”

”But now you won’t get anything on your actual birthday, Am.”

”Oh, yeah…”

KB rolled his eyes with a knowing smile before heading into the kitchen, getting a drink out of the fridge.

His mother Claire Sheppards was sitting at the dining room table on her laptop.

“Hey, mate,” she said. “How was school?”

”Good.”

”How’s everyone?”

”Good.”

”Xander?”

”Jokey as ever.”

”Vicky?”

”Scheming.”

”Glo? How’s Glo?”

He hesitated before closing the fridge. “…fine.”

”Where are you guys at now?” Claire got up and joined him in the kitchen. “You two are so confusing.”

”What do you mean?”

”Don’t know. I’ve always admired you two. Different poles yet you’re so close. I always wished I’d had a friend like that growing up.”

”It baffles me sometimes too. We’re nothing alike… maybe except for sports.”

”You know what they say: opposites attract.”

KB swivelled around. “What?”

”That’s what I said, opposites attract.”

”You meant as friends, right?”

”Of course,” Claire frowned slightly. “Why would I mean otherwise—“ She stopped.

KB went out of the kitchen and back into the living room with his mother behind him.

“Wait, do you like Glo?” Claire remarked. “Like, as in a crush?”

”No!” He frowned, sitting on the couch. “Why would I like Glo? You just said, we’re complete opposites.”

“So! That doesn’t mean anything! You know, my best friend in middle school was a guy called Oliver. We went to a school dance once as friends but that made us realised we like each other. We were a couple for the rest of high school.”

”What happened?”

”We graduated and he was moving away for college. We thought a long-distance relationship wouldn’t be worth it, so… we said our goodbyes.”

KB said nothing.

“Look, what I’m trying to say is that opposites don’t mean anything. So you’re different! Who cares?”

”You don’t get it, I don’t have a crush on Glo.”

”Are you sure?” Claire narrowed her eyes.

He nodded.

”Alright then,” she shrugged, getting up and going back into the kitchen. “But just remember: feelings can change like a flick of a switch.”

KB rolled his eyes.