The Dark of the Night More Inviting Than the Sunlight

Dawn's Point of View

Once my father was out of town again it felt like I could breathe for the first time in weeks. I even surprised myself by how easily I could burst into a fit of laughter over nothing and how happy I got from just having my friends around. It was such a relief but scary at the same time, it was like I pushed myself into being happy while I had the chance without stopping a second to think.

"Damn, you hit me in the eye Dawn!" Dan cried right after I'd thrown a wet ball of toilet paper on him.

"Oh, come on! You started it!" I said sticking my tongue out at him before tossing another ball of wet paper at him, this time hitting his forehead.

"You're so dead!" Dan shouted after me as I ran off through the school corridor. Quinn, Sky and Bert had gone to buy some soda and candy, so it was only me and Dan spending some quality time together. The whole thing began when he was just drinking some water and then decided to squirt some of it on me. I went to the closest bathroom and started attacking him with wet paper.

"No Dan... No. Please, no!" I shrieked as he had me pinned down on the floor and was about to empty his water bottle over my head. "At least not the clothes!" He grinned evilly at me as he decided to pour it all over my shirt. "Dan, I fucking hate you!" I spat at him as he slipped on the wet floor. I smirked as I tackled him into a lying position on the floor, he was on his back and I had him pinned down. I bit my tongue to gather some saliva and his eyes grew wide in horror.

"Oh no, Dawn! You're seriously not going to do that! You're a girl, girls don't spit, bad girl, bad girl!" he objected as he tried to get out of my grip.

"Revenge!" I smirked and let the spit fall down on his face.

"Dawn Jones! What do you think you're doing?" I could hear my history teacher's angry voice call as he approached. Oh crap.

"But Dan poured water over me first, Mr. Warlov!" I objected as I got up on my feet.

"It's doesn't matter, what you did is still improper and unacceptable!" Mr. Warlov scolded. "Detention after school young lady."

"But it wasn't her fault," Dan started to object but his voice toned out as the teacher turned to look at him. "Do you wish to join Ms. Jones in detention Mr. Whitesides?" Dan shook his head quickly. "Then be quiet."

"Do you mean that he's not going to get a detention for pouring water over my shirt?" I yelled angrily. "It's just because I'm a girl! Any boy would get away with it, but when a girl does something like that it's the end of the world!"

"I didn't see Whitesides spill the water over you, but I did see you spit him in the face. It's not because you're a girl," Mr. Warlov explained smugly making me grow even angrier.

"We're living in the 21st century you fucking jerk! Have you ever heard of the word equality?" I shouted in his face.

He smirked at me as he said in a low voice "You can add one extra hour to your detention this afternoon, Ms. Jones."

"Fuck you!" I growled and kicked furiously at the rubbish bin that was pinned to the wall. I kicked it repeatedly in anger until I felt a pair of strong arms grab me.

"Dawn, calm down," the soothing voice of my English teacher said. I stopped struggling and with a sigh wiped away the few irritating tears that had managed to escape my tear ducts. "Now take a deep breathe," he said softly and I obeyed. "Come with me," he said and took my hand. I smiled apologetic at Dan who patted my shoulder gently, smiling back at me before I followed Mr. Howard to his classroom.

"Are you alright?" was the first thing he asked, looking down at me with concern hidden beneath his dark brown eyes.

"I'm fine," I muttered looking down at my purple Converse with black shoe laces and scribbling all over.

"What happened?" he asked interested leaning back against the teacher's desk.

"Well, me and Dan were just joking around, throwing water at each other, then Mr. Warlov came and decided to only give me a detention just because I'm a girl. He provoked me, it sounds so stupid in words, but he really made me so angry in his condescending way of being..." I tried to explain, still avoiding looking at him. He used his fingers to lift up my chin gently so I was looking him in the eyes.

"It's okay, Dawn. You lost your self-control, that happens sometimes. Don't let a thing like this ruin your day," he said one of his hands brushing against my arm slightly.

"Thanks, but I just got two hours of detention today after school, I can't see anything good in that..." I said silently as I brushed the bangs out of my face.

"Well, you're going to have detention with me then," he said thoughtfully. "Allman and Stevens will be there too, so at least you won't be alone... and McCracken if he decide to turn up..." I smiled at this, how ironic that three of my best friends happens to have a two-hour long detention at the same time as me. "You're smiling, that's the spirit!"

"Sky stop passing notes to Dawn, you know I can see you," Mr. Howard said for what must have been the seventh time in the last ten minutes.

"Come on, chill Jeph! It's not like we're writing anything about you here anyway. If you would have let us sit next to each other in the first place we wouldn't have to pass notes." Sky objected with a yawn as she lazily threw a ball of tossed paper that landed on the teacher's desk.

"Did you just call me by my Christian name?" he asked looking up from his paper work.

"I guess," Sky shrugged. "Something the matter?"

"I guess not," he smiled at her. "But please don't do that in front of the other teachers and students, it feels like I have to work twice as hard as them to win some respect in this place because of my age."

"How old are you?" Sky was quick to ask curiously.

"None of your business," Howard smirked as he tossed the paper ball into the bin. "Now get back to work, and no more passing notes from your side." I looked over at Quinn who was still asleep a couple of desks away from me. I leered at Howard before I threw my pencil in Quinn's direction.

"Whoops, dropped my pen," I said as the teacher looked up at me questioningly.

"Yeah right..." Howard said shaking his head at me before he went back to his paperwork. I got down on my knees and crept over to Quinn's desk where I tied his shoe laces together before I poked his ribs to wake him up from his slumber. He yelped and almost fell out of the chair as he startled.

"Dawn, what are you doing?" Howard asked looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

"I was just getting my pen sir," I smiled holding up my pen for him to see.

"Well, would you get back to your desk? This is detention, not a playhouse," he said with a twinkle in his eye. I went back to my seat and sighed deeply looking down at the history assignment before me. Shortly after that the door swung open and a boy with shoulder length black hair and bright blue eyes entered the room with the widest grin plastered upon his face.

"McCracken's in the house!" Quinn exclaimed causing Sky to look up and smile at the sight of her boyfriend.

"So you decided to turn up, huh?" Howard said crossing his arms above his chest.

"Yeah, don't want to get in trouble for not being here," Bert snickered as he walked over to where Sky sat.

"Oh, I see so Mr. Mellow finally found you," teach said understanding. Wait, who's Mr. Mellow, none of the teachers are called that.

"Who's Mr. Mellow?" I asked, teach, I think I'm going to start calling him that, just ignored me and Bert shrugged his shoulders as he sat down next to Sky.

"You can't sit there," teach said to change the subject.

"Come on, I'm just going to help her out in maths that's all," Bert said. "I promise, you can move me if we don't." Mr. Howard looked at them for couple of seconds before he finally nodded.

"Okay, but be quiet I really need to get some paperwork done here," he muttered.

"Can I sit next to Quinn? He need some help with an English assignment," I tried.

"No Dawn, I can help him with that, you need to finish your essay for history class anyway," he said causing me to sigh deeply and rest my head against the desk. "Oh come on, you can do this. Do you need any help?" he asked me, now standing in front of my desk. I looked up slowly and for some reason I was blushing bright pink.

"I can't really concentrate, you know I'm still angry from before and feel like ripping the whole stupid history book apart," I whispered back, making sure that none of my friends would hear.

"I see, try not to do that though, you'd have to pay for it. Do you want to get out and scream as loud as you can for a couple of minutes, then come back and try again?" he kept his voice low and finished with a charming smile.

"I like that idea," I smiled back, got out of my seat and out through the classroom door to walk out of the school building and scream my heart out in frustration. When I finally came back to the classroom Howard smiled widely at me, I blushed and walked over to my desk. Maybe he wasn't that bad after all, it seems like he's starting loosen up a little and be more like himself rather than putting on the strict teacher face. I smirked to myself as I wrote down the first sentence of my history essay.

I swear that I heard somewhere that the best way to succeed as a teacher is to start out strict and then slowly loosen up. I'm pretty sure Mr. Howard heard that too.