It was a cold stormy winters night, and the air had a certain chill to it…
Okay, that’s a load of shit. It was a boiling hot summers day, and there was not the slightest bit of wind. All of the smart people in the world had retreated into the air-conditioning, watching reruns of friends on their television set. 

But not the unfortunate children who were forced to go to school that day. Most thought of it as a prison. Me, Jasey Ryans, thought that it was like a containment camp. I expected gasing any day now.

The day was a fairly good one. Double Drama in the morning, with the most horrendously happy teacher I had ever seen. But at least I got the enjoyment of annoying the crap out of her.

Then the wonderful English. Ahh, I can actually tolerate English most of the time. Then I had Music, my beloved music. SOSE, which I sometimes found annoying but luckily I was in an Air-conditioned computer room. 

Then the final double. Two more classes and I would be free, free to relax in my pool, watch some TV, go on the computer, all in the comfort of my Air-Conditioned home.

But unfortunately for me, the time until this wonderful freedom was to be spent in the most awful punishment this containment facility could dish out.

Double Maths.

I ached as I walked towards the maths classroom, struggling to keep my calculator from falling from my hands and getting even more broken then it was already.

I walked into the classroom slowly, to see the looks of pain on the faces of my fellow students. The teacher was not here yet, so I let out a sigh of relief. Maybe we had a relief?

I sat next to my friends, Anna, Bree and Mike. Mike and Bree had looks of pain on their faces, so I gave them a sympathetic smile. Anna however, was asleep on her desk. I poked her and she bounced up suddenly. “Is the teacher here yet?” She asked, yawning. I shook my head.

Suddenly a shadow appeared at the door, a dark figure that loomed above. A silence spread around the room, the only noise the hasty shuffling to get their books ready. I didn’t bother, I was to exhausted and hot to care about getting into trouble. Mr Bohemian entered the room. He took one glance around the classroom,and everyone froze. 

“Quiet. I will not enter a noisy classroom, and teach noisy children!” He said under his breath, but the whole class caught every word.

“Today we  will be continuing work on Expanding. Everyone open your text books to page 152 and begin to work through questions 1 to 11. If they are not done by the end of the class, you will get a detention. Am I clear?”

“Yes” the class chorused, immediately getting to work. Mr Bohemian began pacing the classroom, checking everyones work to see if they were getting them right or not.

“No Elizabeth,that is completely wrong. Erase it all and start again!” He exclaimed quietly. Elizabeth, a very timid and emotional girl, immediately burst into tears.

No, actually, I’m exaggerating a little there. But she looked pretty upset.

I was sitting at the back of the classroom, trying to understand the endless amount of numbers thrown at me. I couldn’t understand a single problem on my book…it was like a foreign language to me!

I instead began scribbling love hearts and stars on the margin of my book. Suddenly a familiar odour caught my attention, and I looked up fearfully. Mr Bohemian was standing above me, glaring down.

“What have we here? Drawing in class….In your book as well….What reason do you have for this Miss Ryans?”

I sat there, my mouth open, unable to think of what to say. Suddenly inspiration hit me.

“Well sir, your classes are so boring, I couldn’t help but be distracted by drawing mindless scribbles in my margins.”

The whole class turned around, gasping. Beside me Anna hadn’t moved from her slumber, but Bree and Mike were trying desperately to hide their grins. Mr Bohemian stood above me, rage emanating from him.

“MISS RYANS! HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME IN SUCH A RUDE WAY!”

“How dare you speak to me in such a rude way sir?” I replied, beginning to feel a little arrogant.
Mr Bohemian’s small eyes nearly popped out of his head. “YOU WILL BE RECEIVING A DETENTION FOR THIS MISS RYANS!”
“So will you sir, considering you have to give up your lunch break to supervise me in detention…”


At this point Mr Bohemian couldn’t take it any more. He stormed out of the classroom with rage, slamming the door behind him. The whole class sat in silence for a moment, before beginning to clap. Soont he whole class was clapping, and they lifted me up onto their shoulders, cheering…

Oh dear. There I go exaggerating again.

The whole class instead stared at me, dumbstruck. The boys at my front began to laugh. “You are in so much trouble Jacinda!” One of them exclaimed. I nodded weakly, unable to believe what I had just done.

We spent the rest of the lesson with a  relief teacher, as Mr Bohemian had become to mad to come back. Actually, he never returned to our school. For that I was actually respected somewhat by the students. Somewhat.

When the bell rang at the end of that class, I practically ran out the door towards my locker, then to my bus. I realised that I would be in huge trouble on Monday, but I didn’t care.

Well, I did a little….but only a little.

I did actually get suspended for that, and my parents were furious….but I survived the Maths Lesson, and made it to Air-Conditioning.

That was all that really mattered.