Monday, 3:45 p.m. — Detention Room 14B
The air smelled of old registers and disinfectant. Kia slumped into the last row, her arms crossed like she was shielding herself from the whole school system.
"Great. Another glorious day of academic persecution," she muttered, plopping her bag down dramatically.
The door creaked.
Enter: Ashwin Rao, with that same perfectly careless smirk and a band-aid on his cheek. Probably from some football stunt.
Kia arched an eyebrow. "Wow. They finally caught the golden boy?"
He grinned, dropping into the seat beside her. "Turns out smashing a Bunsen burner does count as a crime."
"You threw it across the room."
"Tomato-tomahto."
Silence. Long enough to hear the ticking wall clock and Kia's racing thoughts.
Ashwin leaned over, not close enough to break boundaries — but just enough to mess with her brain.
"So… what exactly got you in here, Kia West?"
She hesitated. Should she tell him she had snapped at Ms. Ghosh after another unfair note check?
"Bad attitude," she finally replied.
He chuckled. "Yeah, I could see that. You walk around like you're starring in your own enemies-to-lovers arc."
Kia blinked. "Excuse me?!"
"Don't worry," he smirked. "You're only halfway marked."
Her cheeks flushed before she could stop it.
Before she could fire back, Mr. Sharma — the school's most indifferent teacher — barked from the desk, "Phones away. Eyes on your notebooks."
They opened their books.
For the next fifteen minutes, there was only the sound of scratching pens… until Ashwin slipped her a folded paper from under his notebook.
Kia hesitated… and unfolded it.
"Want to know a secret about me?"
Below it, a checkbox:
☐ Yes
☐ No
She stared. Then carefully ticked 'Yes'.
He watched her, smiled just slightly, and wrote something else. Then passed the paper back.
She unfolded it again.
"I hate how much I think about you after school. Especially when you roll your eyes."
Her brain short-circuited.
Kia blinked up at him — and he looked completely calm. Maybe even smug. She didn't know whether to slap him, laugh, or melt.
She turned to her notebook and wrote, just below his line:
"I hate how you say that like you're not incredibly annoying."
But she added a small smiley face beside it.
Their eyes met. Something charged passed between them — electric, awkward, and real.
The bell rang.
"Detention over," Sharma sir mumbled, not even glancing up.
As Kia packed her bag, Ashwin stood and leaned down close to her ear.
"You're not that scary, West. Just… confusing."
Then he was gone.
Kia sat frozen, heart beating way too fast. For the first time, she didn't mind detention.
Not. At. All.