One-Shot Pile

"We have no classes together but we always see each other in detention and the entire time we pass notes to each other. How does a cute person like you end up in detention?" Rhink AU – Rhett's POV (slightly different)

**

First grade. Ms. Locklear's class. Detention. Did I regret it? Absolutely not at all. I stared at my desk, where the faint remnants of the word "hell" were still prominent on the dark wood. I chuckled to myself. That had been so cool.

I glanced over to the desk next to me, where another boy was sitting in his desk, also being held in from recess for writing a swear word on his desk. He had dark, charcoal hair that was sitting in a clean, un-styled mop on his head. His face was soft and round, very feminine. Maybe that would change when we finally hit puberty.

He turned to face me, his blue eyes bearing into mine. I tossed him a smile, which he returned with a knowing one.

"Alright, boys." Ms. Locklear's voice broke our staring contest, and we both turned our attention to her. "I have to run to the office for a moment. You better both be here by the time I get back." She gave us a stern look before walking out the door.

I waited for the door to shut and latch closed before I turned my attention to the other boy, who was already looking back at me. "What word did you write on your desk?" I asked eagerly, bringing my feet up so I could sit on them.

He grinned. "Damn." He responded, pointing to the word on the corner of his desk, where it stood out just as faintly as mine did. "What about you?"

"Hell." I responded. "My name is Rhett."

"Link Neal." He stuck his hand out for me to shake. I took it and gave it a very sloppy handshake.

At that moment, Ms. Locklear walked back into the classroom. We broke away immediately and went back to our own worlds, acting as if we didn't even know each other.

*

Fourth grade. Detention. For putting frogs in a girl's lunchbox. I snickered at the memory. Watching Mindy open her light blue bag at lunch, expecting to find her usual ham and cheese sandwich, but instead screaming in terror as a slimy, grotesque leopard frog hopped out and onto her shoulder. It had been hilarious. The only reason I had gotten caught was because another anonymous classmate had seen me do it.

I glanced across the room to where Link sat, staring out the window with his chin cupped in his hand. It was a strange coincidence that we were both back here in recess detention a few years later. The only difference was that I had no idea why he was here this time.

The teacher was nodding off at his desk. He was an older man. He had his feet propped up on the desk and a book splayed open on his chest. As quietly as I could, I slipped out of my desk and made my way over to Link.

"Psst!" I cried, gathering his attention. He turned to me, his eyes full of confusion for a moment, before he recognized me. "Link, what are you in for?"

He laughed at that, to which I had to quickly cover his mouth with my hand to avoid him waking the teacher up. "That makes it sound like we're in prison." He noted, which caused me to crack a grin. "I got caught skipping math." He answered.

My eyes widened and a goofy grin found its way onto my face. "No way! Why'd you do that?"

He shrugged, his eyes lingering on mine. "Because I felt like it. What did you do?"