Chapter 19 Detention
NANCY’S POV
I wasn’t the only one stunned; Diana was too.
“Dad, you can’t be serious,” she gasped.
“I’m as serious as I can be.” Mr. Landon responded without hesitation, keeping his gaze on me.
“Dad…”
“Nancy isn’t the only one forbidden, you are too.” His gaze snapped to her, and the rest of the words Diana had to say died down in her throat.
She found her voice again about a minute later. “Dad, you can’t just…”
“Diana.” Mr. Landon’s call was firm.
“This discussion is over.”
Diana looked like she still had more to say, but his look deterred her from speaking. She exhaled sharply through her nose, then muttered under her breath, “This is ridiculous.”
The flicker of Mr. Landon’s eyes showed that he’d heard her, but he didn’t respond or react to her words. Instead, he turned to face me again.
“To my knowledge, you both have an early lecture tomorrow morning. There are better things you can do with your time than attending late-night gatherings.”
“I suggest you rest instead.”
That for sure didn't sound like a suggestion. It came across as more of a command.
“It’s not even late…”
Mr. Landon turned his head slowly, cutting Mason off. “Mr. Kravitz…”
Mason glanced at him, straightening his posture.
“You have said enough.”
Mr. Landon’s words fell between us. I blinked while Mason scoffed under his breath. For the briefest second, it looked as though he would argue again, but eventually he didn’t.
“Fine.” He spat out instead with a shrug.
Diana, on the other hand, had a look of displeasure rooted deeply on her face. She glared at her Dad for a couple of minutes, then grabbed my wrist.
“Come on, Nancy, we should go.”
I didn’t move fast enough for her, and she tightened her hold on my wrist, pulling me along with her.
She didn’t even give me a chance to say anything, and I didn’t even get a look back at anyone before I found myself in the hallway.
When she finally stopped, I breathed in deeply, trying to catch my breath, when Mason appeared next to me.
While I was still trying to regulate my breathing, Diana exploded suddenly.
“What the fuck was that?”
I blinked rapidly, surprised at her sudden outburst. “I…I don’t know.”
Mason ran a hand through his hair, then pressed his lips together before saying, “I think I know.”
I glanced at him, curious.
Diana did too.
“Your Dad hates me,” he announced.
Diana and I turned to face each other, the same expression etched into our brows.
“What do you mean? He doesn’t hate you,” Diana rebutted with a frown.
“He does hate me, and even if he doesn’t, he definitely doesn’t like me,” Mason answered.
Diana pondered his words for a minute, then sighed. “Actually, he doesn’t like anyone.”
“That’s not even comforting.” I chuckled, but my laughter waned soon enough because of the tightness that still lingered in my chest.
The way Mr. Landon had reacted back there felt kind of personal.
The next day, I walked into class with Diana, trying to push what happened yesterday out of my mind. Dinner with Mr. Landon had been really awkward.
No one said a word to each other. I thought Diana would at least speak to him, but she didn’t, so we ate dinner in silence.
Until now, she still hadn’t said a word to him, and that made me feel really awkward, because it felt like I had come between their father-daughter relationship.
I didn’t want to be the one to make that ship sink, and I hated that they were behaving differently because of me.
“Just ignore him,” Diana whispered when she saw me staring at Mr. Landon, who stood at the front of the class as usual.
I didn’t want to, but I also wasn’t sure what to say to him, so I sighed and followed after her as we found our seats.
“Why are you still staring? I told you to ignore him.” She chided when she caught me stealing a glance at him.
“Easy for you to say,” I murmured.
She rolled her eyes at me. “He’s my dad.”
“Exactly.”
The fact that he was her Father made it even easier for her, but not for me. I kept wondering what he was thinking and how he felt about her ignoring him.
I even wondered if he blamed me.
Diana rolled her eyes again, then knocked her fist once on her desk to recall my attention, “You’re overthinking it.”
I stopped looking at Mr. Landon and began to gather my books from my bag with another sigh.
Maybe she was right.
Maybe yesterday had just been a weird moment.
Mr. Landon finally walked up to the book stand and cleared his throat.
His gaze swept across the room briefly, and when it reached me, it paused briefly before he looked away.
For the first twenty minutes, everything was normal. While I was engrossed in what he was saying, a folded piece of paper slid onto my desk.
It came from behind me, and I blinked in surprise at first, then whipped my head around to see who it was.
Mason.
Of course, it was him.
He sat behind me, looking completely innocent. I hadn’t even known he was there and would have remained oblivious, possibly till the end of the lecture.
“What are you doing?” I whispered, cautiously looking over my shoulder.
“Relax,” he whispered back.
“We’re in class.” I hissed under my breath.
“Shh.”
“Just read it later.”
My stomach twisted, and I glanced at the paper, then quickly slipped it under my notebook.
Unfortunately, Mr. Landon already noticed.
“Nancy.”
My head snapped up.
“Yes, sir?”
His gray eyes were fixed directly on me.
“Would you care to explain what was just passed across your desk?”
Every student in the room turned to look at us.
My face heated up immediately. “Um…It was nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Yes.”
His gaze shifted slowly from me to Mason.
“Mr. Kravitz.”
Mason leaned back slightly, looking completely unbothered that he had been caught in the act.
“Yes, sir?”
“Did you pass Nancy a note during my lecture?”
Silence stretched for a moment, then Mason said casually, “Yes.”
A ripple of whispers moved through the class.
Mr. Landon’s expression didn’t shift or change. He asked calmly, “Why did you do that?”
Mason gave a light shrug, “I forgot to tell her something.”
Mr. Landon’s brows raised. “And it couldn’t wait until after class?”
“No.”
I shot Mason a glance, trying to hint to him that he should just keep mute. He met my eyes then looked away.
Mr. Landon stared deeply at him, and silence stretched longer until it became uncomfortable. Then, he said something that surprised everyone.
“Mr. Kravitz, remain after class.”
Mason nodded once, still unfazed.
“Sure.”
Mr. Landon’s gaze alternated back to me. “Nancy?”
“Yes?” For some reason, my stomach dropped.
“You will report to detention after your final lecture today.”
The room went completely silent.
“What?” I blurted out in shock.