"Shit," I hissed as I knocked PVA glue across the table.

"Evalyn..." Mr Baynes warned.

"Sorry sir, it was an accident." I was talking about the swearing, but the glue was also accidental. I mopped it up with the spare tissue paper and threw the soggy mess into the bin at the front of the room.

"Nice shot," Gerard and Mr Baynes said simultaneously.

"Thanks."

Gerard and I were putting the finishing touches to our team-building collage. Just a few more bits of sky and ground to fill in and then it would be complete.

"It's a shame you two don't get along," Mr Baynes pondered, "you work so well together."

"Well, I don't know about him," I jerked my thumb towards Gerard, "but I don't want another detention, so I have no choice but to cooperate." Gerard nodded in agreement as Mr Baynes sighed.

"It's hard watching high school kids," he said, still with that deep-in-thought look on his face, "popularity, reputation, appearance, they're so important in school. Seriously, when you have a mortgage, a wife, a kid and a dog to support, you won't give a damn what your friends think of the people you talk to."

"You have a dog, sir?" I asked, completely ignoring the point of his statement, "I had a dog back in England but we couldn't bring her with us. My mum won't let us get another one," I pouted childishly.

"Why don't you just take Ebony home?" Gerard asked innocently.

"Hey!" I said, trying not to laugh, "that was mean! Witty, but mean."

It felt strange to be conversing civilly with Gerard. Well, as civil as we could be; he was still taking digs at my friends. But at the same time, I felt a sense of accomplishment - I'd given up on Gerard months ago when he wouldn't come anywhere near me, but now we were happily chatting away whilst we worked over a collage of superheroes and Britain. I felt proud to show Gerard that I wasn't at all like he expected me to be. Maybe we did have a future as two completely opposite friends. It didn't matter that I was sitting in my blue and gold cheerleading uniform whilst he was dressed head to toe in black; I enjoyed his company, and that was all that mattered, right?

"See you tomorrow," he said as we left the school building after an hour of listening to Mr Baynes talking about his life. He gave me a smile and turned to leave for his car. I nodded, walking in the opposite direction towards the school gate. A little way down the road, a horn sounded and a black, beat up car flashed past me. I laughed and waved before the car disappeared around a corner.

"I can't believe you're missing tonight's practice, Evie!" Charlotte whined at lunch.

"Hey," I said after swallowing a mouthful of lettuce, "if I don't want another detention, I have no choice!"

"Are you enjoying detention with that freak, Evie?" Ebony asked, tearing her eyes away from her gory pink and sparkly phone.

"As much as anyone can enjoy detention..." I shrugged.

"But does he like, talk to you?" Taylor asked, her eyes wide with the horror of Gerard Way trying to talk to someone like Evalyn McCullagh.

"Taylor, it's detention," I stated, "when have you ever been allowed to talk in detention?"

"So you just sit in silence for an hour?" Ebony asked, frowning.

"That's what detention's all about, right?"

"I'm going to miss you tonight," Taylor pouted.

"Just remember: you'll be having more fun than I am," I smiled and everyone laughed at my misfortune. Sitting in 'silence' with Gerard Way for an hour when I could have having a ball at cheer practice. I knew what I'd rather be doing...

"Hey Eve," Gerard greeted me outside the detention room. I scowled at him. "What?"

"I hate that name, it makes me sound old."

"Oh, I know that," he smiled evilly. I gave him a questioning look. "You know Eve Felton?" I shook my head. "Little Chinese girl from French?" I shook my head again. Gerard sighed and muttered something about me being in the 'elite bubble'. "Basically, you told some people you hated being called Eve because you thought it was old, then everyone started teasing Eve until she broke down in tears and missed school for a week."

"What? People actually did that?" I asked, shocked and a little guilty.

Gerard nodded and I made a mental note to be nicer to her when I was next in French. I shouldn't be feeling guilty, I wasn't the one bullying her. But it stemmed from something I'd said. I hated the power I had over people sometimes.

"Cheer up, it wasn't your fault," Gerard consoled. I nodded miserably. "So, anyway, I was wondering if you needed a ride home tonight."

I looked up suddenly. Gerard Way was offering me a lift home?!

"No need to look so cagey, I was just asking because it's pouring down and I noticed you always walk."

A quick glance out of one of the windows further down the corridor told me that, sure enough, it was raining torrentially outside.

"I...uh...if you don't mind," I said finally, feeling unnecessarily awkward.

"Sure I don't," he smiled kindly, showing his small, perfectly white teeth, "where do you live?"

"Forest Street."

Before Gerard could reply, the door to the detention room opened and Mrs Ellerby stepped out. She was the usual overlooker of the detentionees and she was fierce. She had cold, pale grey eyes that looked like the colour was fading right out of them and her face was wizened and cruel looking. She reminded me of a female Mr Filch, minus the incredibly human-like cat.

"Uh...where's Mr Baynes?" I asked carefully.

She turned those piercing bulging orbs in my direction and smiled, showing her false teeth. "I'm taking your detention today," she said, her voice quivering with something that sounded a little like excitement. She looked as though she was going to throw her head back in a cackle at any moment. I gave Gerard a quick glance and saw that his face reflected the fear I could feel in the bottom of my chest. The little colour he had in his skin had drained and his eyes were perfectly spherical.

We reluctantly followed her into the classroom and sat down at the nearest table to the door - the door that seemed a very, very long way away. Mrs Ellerby, yes, MRS Ellerby - who the hell would want to marry her?! - walked towards us. Every syllable of the click clack her kitten heels made on the linoleum floor made both Gerard and myself cringe further down into our seats. When she reached us we were but a few inches from the floor.

"Don't slouch," she snapped, tapping a wooden ruler of the edge of our desk. We sat up instantly. "I want zero talking," she continued, handing us two huge piles of paper, "these are the files for every single detention - yes, you two will be added to the pile shortly - and I want you to sort them into alphabetical order of surname. You girl," she pointed at my nose with the ruler in her hand; I straightened my back and looked attentive, "you will be sorting the letters A to L and you," she moved to stand in front of Gerard, "N to Z. Understood?" We both nodded frantically until she turned to sit at her desk.

And the hour of forced wakefulness commenced.

Each second seemed to take an age to pass. The clock on the wall at the front of the square room seemed to be amplifying the sound of it's second hand. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Gerard was flagging too. His long black bangs had drooped in front of his face and his nose was pointed downwards. Had he gone to sleep? If he had, that was a very effective way to use his hair. Maybe I could try...

"Stop fiddling with your hair, girl!" A harsh voice snapped from the front of the room. This also took Gerard by surprise, who bolted upright with a snort. I tried to suppress a laugh by pressing the sleeve of my woollen cardigan into my lips. "I said zero talking!"

Eventually we were permitted to leave the dark, dingy classroom of Mrs Ellerby, the detention master. As soon as the door clicked behind us, I let out a long, loud sigh. Gerard mimicked my actions, just with more flamboyance.

"I thought I was going to grow old and die in there," he said once he'd finished stretching his shoulders.

"I know how you feel," I added, "and my fingers are now more paper cut than skin."

We both laughed, relieved that our week of detention was over. I couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen now. Would we revert back to our old ways or would we stay the way we were, happy and civil? I knew I wanted to stay like this. I liked to think that maybe one day Gerard and I would be friends, however dysfunctional our relationship would be.

My happy bubble was burst all too soon by the screech from the end of the corridor.

"There she is! Evieeeeeee!" I turned and saw Taylor running full speed towards me. I steadied my footing in preparation for the blow. Sure enough, Taylor threw herself onto me and wrapped her arms around my neck. She may have been small, but she sure was powerful.

"Hey Taylor," I choked, unwrapping her arms from my throat.

"I'm so glad we caught you, I was worried you'd have to walk home on your own in this," she pointed towards the window, where I saw the rain from earlier was now even worse, coming down in sheets rather than droplets.

"I would have been fine, you shouldn't have worried -"

The rest of the group had caught up now, and Ebony announced herself in the best way she knew how - targeting the inferior.

"Are you waiting for something?" I turned away from Taylor to see Ebony squaring up to Gerard, who was shaking his head silently. "Leave then."

Ebony was just as small as Taylor and her head barely reached the middle of Gerard's chest, but he was still cowering in her presence. A reaction that still amazes me - Gerard Way, cocky bastard number one, cowering to a tiny girl.

"Don't tell me what to do," Gerard said pathetically.

Charlotte joined Ebony at her side whilst Taylor and I watched. I was experiencing déjà vu, and yet again I was doing nothing to stop these girls while they bullied someone who was probably ten times the person they were.

"You heard her, leave," Charlotte growled, giving Gerard a shove towards the door. Gerard cast a dark glance at me before leaving.

"He is such a freak," Louise sighed, "I mean, why can't he just like, die?" Megan laughed loudly. I was aware that Gerard had not yet left the corridor.

"That's a bit harsh," I commented, more forcefully than I intended. Megan and Louise were the two girls in the group I didn't get on with. I guessed, since they followed Ebony wherever she went, that she'd said something about me to them as they always seemed to hold me in contempt.

"Nah Evie, it's what he wants," Charlotte shrugged as the group started moving. I tilted my head. "Apparently his brother walked in on him trying to hang himself or something. That kid is messed up; he shouldn't even be allowed near people."

I stared ahead at the door Gerard had just left through. Had he really tried to kill himself? He had every reason to, I thought, people haven't really made his life easy.

Notes

I use far too much speech in my stories...
Oh well.
Did Santa bring everything you asked for? :)