Detention with Mr. Sullivan

After a long night of studying, more like cramming, I was sitting in my pre-calculus class trying not to fall asleep. My teacher, Mr. Sullivan, was a tall and attractive man. Between his dark, curly hair and serious eyes he could make even the most unintelligent girls in his class try their best to pay attention and make good grades in order to impress him. However, my teacher’s looks were no match for the mind-numbing discussion on derivatives and I found myself nodding off.
A deep and harsh voice yelling “Aubrey!” swiftly woke me from my stupor. “Aubrey, you know my rules about sleeping in class. You’re staying after school for detention.”
“I can’t stay after school, I have to work!”
“You should have thought about that before you slept in my class. It’s either detention after school or go to the principal and face possible suspension.”
The possibility of suspension was more than enough to keep me quiet. I was devastated. Never in my four years of high school have I ever had detention. I was a good kid and made good grades. Why was Mr. Sullivan being so hard on me? One thing was for certain, I was not looking forward to staying after school with him.

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After the last bell rang for the school day, I took my time walking from my locker to Mr. Sullivan’s classroom. My stomach was in knots and I was kind of shaky as I turned the doorknob and entered the room. Mr. Sullivan was sitting at his desk. I was hoping that another student would have gotten detention that day too, but I’m not that lucky.
He looked up at me from his desk. “Ms. Aubrey. Take a seat. I’ll be with you in a moment.” I tried to sneak my way to the one of the desks in the back row.
“Front and center.” He said without even looking back up.
I sighed and sat down in my designated seat. I pulled out my textbooks to start doing homework assignments, but I was so nervous I couldn’t focus. Finally, Mr. Sullivan got up from his desk and walked over to me.
“You do know why I sent you to detention today, right?”
“Because I fell asleep.”
“Right. But I’ve also been hoping to get you alone for one on one time.” Mr. Sullivan grabbed a chair and pulled it up to my desk. “Aubrey, you are one of my best students. The last thing I want to do is get you into trouble.” He put his hand on top of mine and my heart fluttered. “Just try to get a little more sleep…at home.”
“Yes, sir.” I said timidly, feeling a little more relaxed. “Does this mean I can go home?”
Mr. Sullivan laughed. “Unfortunately, you did fall asleep in my class. I can’t give you any special treatment.” He stood up and grabbed a bottle of Windex and paper towels and put them on my desk. “You can start detention by cleaning the white board.” I looked up at his board that was more of a darkish grey color rather than white.