After School Detention...Boring...(Landon, Open)

[Landon Whittemore]

Landon wasn’t exactly good and being on time. She tended to get caught up in all sorts of things…distracted almost all the time, she hardly noticed that she was late most of the time. But for some reason people tended not to mind. People that knew her knew that she was much too spacey to get anything done in a timely manner. However, her teachers were much less forgiving than her friends were. So unforgiving in fact, that she’d received a detention for her tardiness.

Landon didn’t get the point of detention. What did staying after school really accomplish? It wasn’t as if it was suddenly going to change her perspective on things. She’d still go about doing her own thing, detention or no detention. In fact, after her last period, which was Geometry…sooo boring, she’d gotten caught up in talking to her brother, who tended to wait outside her last period class. It was his way of keeping tabs on her, she was pretty sure, only Landon didn’t really mind, because she adored Kye. Her brother was probably her favorite person in the world because he was the only person who really cared about her, or at least that’s how it worked according to Landon.

She’d been about to leave with him and head home or maybe to the mall or something, when she remembered the detention. She shrugged sheepishly and Kye shook his head at her, giving her a slight push as she ran down the hall, already late. She was dressed in a knit Missoni dress with ripped fishnets and flat black boots. Her long brown hair was down and whipped behind her like a flag as she hurried down the hall, stopping at the classroom where detention was being held. She stopped in the doorway, slightly out of breath, smiling at the teacher in charge. “Sorry….I forgot,” she said, still grinning.

The teacher just shook her head, “Somehow I’m not surprised,” she said. Landon’s reputation preceded her. “Take a seat.”

Landon walked toward the middle of the room, sitting down next to another student. The desk in front of her was empty and she rested her feet on it, stretching her legs out. “So, what you in for?” she asked them, being her normal friendly self.

[Diego Gutierrez]

The room was nearly empty as Diego hobbled into the room, an obvious hitch in his gait. Two stoners sat in the back, knit stocking caps pulled low over their eyes. Their attempts to hide a nap did not go unnoticed by the dinosaur standing in the front of the room, however. Her eyes were small and beady, and they moved quickly from the pair of slackers to the new entrant. “Mr. Gutierrez,” the crone crooned, a wicked smile growing on her lips. “How nice of you to join us.”

Was Mrs. Henderson goading him? Diego did his best to ignore the mean old lady, but he couldn't keep his jaw from clenching just a little. The bitter old lady never seemed to like any of the jocks in the school, and she was always quick to respond anytime some loser kid cried for help. No doubt she relished seeing the faded glory of Diego Gutierrez sitting in her detention hall. But rather than play into her game, the jock walked slowly into the room, taking a seat in the middle, but near the wall. Close to the exit, since he needed to leave early. It was the one good thing about his rehab, it got him out of anything, even trouble.

Minutes later, a young girl flounced into sight, slightly breathless. Diego recognized her, but couldn't recall a name. She was a year younger than him, he knew that, but he rarely ever saw her around. She obviously wasn't in the same circles he used to be in, but seeing as how he wasn't really in those circles it didn't really matter anymore. She was cute, though, nice legs. Diego couldn't help but give them a cursory look, but quickly turned his head when the girl started towards him. He silently cursed himself, as the last thing he wanted was any attention right now. His knee brace was off, but he knew everyone still recognized the fact that he was broken.

His fears were confirmed as the girl plopped down into a desk next to him, and his eyes were once again drawn to her legs as they stretched out in front of her. They soon pulled away as her voice shook his attention from the fishnet garbed lengths. Diego forced a smile, recalling the incident that led him to detention. “Slapped a dude in the face. Ass hat deserved it. What about you?”

[Landon Whittemore]

"Oh no...I don't really know if anyone deserves to be slapped in the face," Landon responded to the boy although then she thought about it for a second and thought about her mother's boyfriend who certainly deserved to be slapped in the face among other things. "Okay, maybe some people do deserve to be slapped," she reasoned. "But if they did deserve it, it sucks that you still got detention for it," she said.

She pushed her long brown hair behind her shoulders when he asked what she did. "Oh I was just late...again...I tend to be late a lot...too much...every day," she said. "I guess it gets annoying after awhile and you end up with detention if you're consistently late." She shrugged. It wasn't as if she meant to get late. She just got distracted really easily...too easily. Even on the rare occasions when she was on time, something usually came up. It was just the way it was.

They got shushed by the teacher and Landon giggled a little as she glanced over at Diego, her current partner in crime. Landon didn't deliberately break the rules...well at least not usually...she just tended to just forget rather quickly. "I'm Landon by the way," she whispered to him, reaching out to shake his hand. "You're that...football guy or whatever, right?" she asked. Landon tended to be oblivious to a lot of things but even she had heard the whole Diego story, well at least bits and pieces of it. Football player...got hurt or something... Landon wasn't really an athlete and she'd never payed too much attention to sports anyway.

[Diego Gutierrez]

The girl's reply was not what Diego was expecting. There were tons of reasons to slap a dude! “Nah, you slap a dude and he don't forget it. Shit's humilating.” He thought of the dude in question, the receiver of the slap, someone Diego once thought was his friend. Whether good or bad, he was now finding out who his real friends were, and it wasn't very pleasant. “Yeah, detention sucks, but I kinda expected it. Those rent-a-cops are all over now.”

Diego wasn't sure if he understood the girl at first. Late? That's all? He wondered how often a person had to be late to start getting detentions. The girl did seem a little spacey, but it seemed wrong to fault someone for that. “That sucks. Teachers,” Diego glanced at the overbearing matron at the head of the class, “can be a pain in the ass, you know? They always act like their class is the only thing we do at this school.” Diego couldn't count how many times a teacher had given him piles and piles of homework on game night, and though he always tried to do his best there were simply times where he couldn't finish the work and it had to be turned in incomplete or late.

The shush was only more indication to Diego that Mrs. Henderson was especially giving him the eye tonight. He wasn't even sure what he had done to deserve her ire, but he was sure it was unfounded. The girl's giggle drew his attention back, though he was quickly relieved to see that her mirth was not directed at him. “Landon? That doesn't seem like a girl's name.” She at least knew somewhat of who he was, but how much of the story did she know? “Yeah, Diego. Nice to meet you for real. I know I seen you around.”

[Landon Whittemore]

Landon didn't realize that she was the way she was. She in fact surprised a lot of people because she was sort of in her own world most of the time and not really embarrassed about that. She didn't try to be normal and she didn't try to fit it. She just was who she was and as far as she knew people excepted that. If not, she was probably too oblivious to notice anyway. As for hitting someone, it wasn't something that she normally thought people should stoop too, but once again, thinking of her mother's current boyfriend, she couldn't help but think that it would be good to him him... Although Kye had tried and had just gotten beaten up for it. There really was not stopping the guy, she thought darkly.

She considered the fact that getting slapped in the face was humiliating. Perhaps it was, but then again Landon didn't embarrass easily and no one really hit girls so it wasn't exactly something she could relate to either. But she nodded, "I suppose so, that's how most boys work I guess," she smirked, not really judging, mostly just stating what she thought to be the truth. She nodded about the rent-a-cops as he called them. She wondered how long they'd be around for or if they were helping at all. She supposed if they could prevent another shooting that she'd rather them be there than not.

Landon didn't realize that most people didn't get detention for simply being late, and she was a special case. In fact, this wasn't the first time it had happened. But being as consistently late as she was, it did happen from time to time. It wasn't really her fault. Landon just got distracted recently. She'd never been diagnosed but she probably had ADD because so many things were always happening and Landon always moved from one to the next, forgetting what she was supposed to be doing in the first place. That's part of the reason she loved art as much as she did. It was the one thing she could concentrate on, fully concentrate on. It didn't matter if she was painting, making jewelry or clothes, or even taking pictures or listening to music. When Landon was doing something artistic she was in it...completely in it.

"Yes, they can," Landon agreed with a nod. She didn't mind school so much, but she liked it more for the social aspect than for the classes. Luckily Landon was smart. She didn't make the best grades, usually a mixture of B's and C's with the occasional A, usually in an art related class, but she also didn't study one bit and forgot her homework more than half the time. If she actually applied herself she probably could have gotten straight A's but she wasn't so good at concentrating on classes such as math, which were just boring in her opinion.

"No, it's not a girl's name," she said. "I guess the doctors messed up that sonogram thingy and they thought I was gonna be a boy, by the time I came out and they realized I wasn't a boy my mom just kept the name she picked out," she said with a shrug. Landon liked her name though, it was unique to her because she was the only girl that had it. Plus, it often surprised people and Landon liked the element of surprise. It made things more exciting. As for him, Landon only kind of knew who he was football wise because she'd heard other people talking. Landon wasn't really interested in sports and had never even been to a football game or watched one on TV. She didn't know any of the rules or really any of the players or why people liked to worship them for that matter. "Yeah, me too," she smiled, "nice to officially meet you too, Diego," she said. "Perhaps I'll see you in detention again sometime...if she doesn't kill us first," she giggled, nodding at the teacher in the front who was once again shushing them. No matter, Landon had no intention to stop talking, unless he wanted to of course, but she hoped not because detention was always more fun when you had someone to talk to.