The shutters in the detention room of Crystal Prep Academy were always half-closed, creating a rather gloomy atmosphere. At the desk at the front the teacher was sitting, dressed like most teachers at the school in a simple blazer and skirt. A pair of small rectangular glasses was sitting on her pointy nose, which were mostly cast on a book lying in front of her on the desk. Every once in a while though she lifted her glance to look at the five girls sitting in the front row of the room, the only students currently inside.
Her head resting on her fist Sour Sweet stared out of the window. Despite the low shutters she could still see the courtyard in front of the school. With a slightly bitter look in her eyes she watched the students leave the building and head for the busses. They were mostly by themselves, only a handful of small groups walking around, even less who looked like they were talking with each other. Sour grunted, before slowly turning her gaze to the other side. Next to her Indigo Zap was sitting, followed by Lemon Zest, Sugarcoat and Sunny Flare. Indigo had crossed her arms on the table and put her head on top, staring in boredom at the chalkboard. Lemon seemed very uncomfortable without her headphones – occasionally she tried to tap a beat with her hands or feet, but immediately froze whenever the teacher glared at her. Sugarcoat was looking just as disinterested in everything as usual with her arms crossed in front of her chest, while Sunny leaned her arms against her table and let out a sigh from time to time. After observing them for a moment Sour took a look up at the clock hanging above the door.
Their detention had lasted two minutes.
Sour dropped her head onto the table, moaning so loud the teacher gave her a cold glance. A bit embarrassed she looked away, back to girls sitting next to her. “Well, doesn’t it feel nice to do a good deed?” she asked with a quiet, very sweet voice, before angrily furrowing her brows. “And now we have the whole afternoon to relish in the feeling.”
Without raising her head Indigo sharply glared at her. “And who do we have to thank for that?” she asked cynically, keeping her voice low. “Why did you try to help that brat? You know she is a total backstabber and grump!”
“That’s right!” Sunny whispered from across the seats, leaning a little forward. “And she is several classes below us - it’s not like she could do something for you in return.”
“It was actually very stupid to stay there in the first place” Sugarcoat remarked. “A teacher was bound to come by eventually, and you didn’t have a plan what to do with all the foam in the lab anyway. You should have left before anyone came by instead of staying and trying to convince the teachers you only wanted to help a younger student.”
Sour put on a big smile. “I’m so sorry I didn’t see the dean and principal coming from around the corner with the eyes on the back of my head” she replied, then frowned. “I don’t remember any of you saw them coming, too.”
“Will you shut it?” Lemon suddenly said, barely able to keep her voice down. “I’m trying to remember the melody to one of my favorite songs! Gosh, I really wish I had my headphones…”
Raising her head from her book the teacher glanced at the girls. They nervously smiled at her, until she cast her eyes back on her book.
“This is all Sour’s fault” Sugarcoat whispered, earning an approving nod from Sunny, Lemon and Indigo. “If she didn’t try to help that little brat we wouldn’t be here.”
“Hey, don’t blame me!” Sour hissed at them, cautious not to speak too loud. “It’s not like I asked you to help me!”
“Well, I hope you’re happy” Indigo murmured, her head still on her arms. “Now we're gonna waste our last free afternoon sitting around. I’ll miss my training because of this! Which means the rest of the team will slack off without me motivating them!”
“You mean without you yelling at them to train harder” Sunny mumbled, slumping in her chair. “But I can kind of relate - I’m gonna miss my piano lesson.”
Lemon rolled her eyes. “And here goes Miss Fancy again...”
The look Sunny threw at Lemon looked like she wanted to bore a hole into her with her eyes. “I should have let the teacher take away your headphones” she growled. “Maybe you would finally stop running through school like you’re deaf then.”
“But then I wouldn’t “oooowe youuuu oooone”, right?” Lemon Zest mocked her. “This is all that matters to you, right? You act like you are sooo generous, but then you make everyone pay you back double and triple!”
“Well, this is how it works darling” Sunny replied, putting up her nose. “You do something nice to someone, and they’ll repay you one day.”
“Then it was rather stupid to help us close the door by that logic” Sugarcoat told her. “Because if you think about it the benefits you could gain from this didn’t really add up to the risk of getting caught and-“
She was cut off, but surprisingly not by Sunny. “Can’t you just keep quiet for five minutes without shoving everybody’s mistakes into their faces?” Indigo asked, gritting her teeth in annoyance.
Sugarcoat adjusted her glasses. “I could, if other people would actually make no mistakes for five consecutive minutes” the girl with the triple pigtail replied. “And I’m actually doing all of you a favor. By pointing out your flaws you can work on correcting them so- ”
“Blablablabla!” Lemon Zest now mocked Sugarcoat, moaning out loud. “Jeez, usually only hot air and cheesy pep speeches come out of Indigo’s mouth, but she’s so right about ya!”
Indigo raised her head. “Hey what’s supposed to mean?” she asked, turning her anger towards the green-haired girl. “Am I a dork just because I show some school spirit?”
“Well duuuh!” Lemon replied. “You go around through school, shouting “Crystal Prep this” and “Shadowbolts that”, “we are so awesome”, “No one can beat us” – and all of that just so people join your sports teams and you can hang another trophy over your bedroom! It’s almost more worse than our little Miss Fancy and Sugarbabe here combined!”
Placing her elbows on the table Sour folded her hands, putting her chin on her fingers. “Oh wow Lemon, you must have super good ears♥” Sour complimented her with a lovely look in her eyes. “How else would you hear Indigo’s pep babble, Sugarcoat’s smart-aleck rants and Sunny’s snobbish gibberish over the noise of your earphones all the time?”
All eyes turned towards Sour. “Shut it, two-face” they said in unison, evilly glaring at her. Sour returned their stares, about to snap something back. A sudden crash almost made the girls jump up from their chairs. Startled they all stared at the front where the teacher had slammed her book against the desk, obviously seething with anger.
She seemed like she was about to scold the girls, when the door to the room opened. The girls were blinded slightly as the light from the hallway streamed into the dim room. Shielding her eyes Sour then recognized the silhouette standing in the door, holding a clipboard under her arm.
“Dean Cadence!” the teacher said in surprise, pushing up her glasses slightly. “W-what brings you here?”
The dean smiled, looking first at the teacher and then at the students as she spoke: “I have talked with Principal Cinch about what happened earlier. We came to an understanding that the sentence was a little too harsh on the students, considering nothing harmful leaked out of the chemistry lab. Also, we acknowledge they wanted to improve on their chemistry skills outside of class, even if it was without permission. So, we decided to cancel the detention, and leave it with a formal warning. You girls are free to go.”
Sour immediately sat up, her face brightening. Indigo also straightened herself, clenching her fist in joy, while Sunny let out a sigh of relief and Lemon looked like she was about to shout in cheer – even Sugarcoat, while not as enthusiastic as the rest seemed happy she didn't have to sit the whole afternoon in that room.
The teacher incredulously looked at the dean. “That is rather strange” she remarked. “It is uncommon for Principal Cinch to show so much consideration.”
Dean Cadence looked a little like she was trying not to smile even wider. “Well, maybe it did help I mentioned it wouldn’t benefit the school’s reputation if five of our top students and athletes spent their time in detention instead of learning for school.” She pulled out a sheet of paper from the clipboard. “Here is the official order of the principal, if you want to check it for yourself.”
The teacher stood up, walking over to the dean. Taking the paper from her hand she gave it a thorough inspection. Nervously the students watched her. Sour grabbed the edge of her table, tightly clinging her fingers around it. Indigo was leaning over hers, while Lemon tapped with her fingers on the bottom of her chair. Sunny bit her lip in anticipation, and Sugarcoat grabbed the fabric of her sleeve a little tighter.
Eventually the teacher put the document down, looking at the five students. “You’re free to go” she told them, walking back to her desk to grab her things. In unison the tense students relaxed. Big smiles formed on their faces. "WOOHOO!!" Lemon screamed, nearly tossing her chair over as she leapt into the air.