WWW: Worst Detention Ever

[Event !]

Never get on Josie's bad side, because she will make you shovel snow if she can't make you garden. And she might not let you wear your winter coat.

[Deleted]

"It's cold," Gene stated bluntly. Despite having gloves and several other layers of winter wear, the cold air still bit straight through his clothing down to his skin. If the boy had even a smidgen of blubber on his bones, then maybe he wouldn't be suffering so much being outside in knee-deep snow. Though if it wasn't the cold, then certainly the exertion would do him in, as Gene had the stamina of a 90 year old man. “And I’m tired,” he followed up with, letting the snow shovel sink into the snow. Gene rested against it, dropping his head in his exhaustion.

Gene was no stranger to detention, of course. He was a generally unpleasant person and it didn’t matter to him if you were one of his peers or one of his teacher. The offense for today’s session was a direct result of him being caught doodling in class…and then mouthing off to the teacher when told to pay attention. Something along the lines of “if anything you said was actually interesting, then maybe I would pay attention to it.” Obviously, this was not taken well, and Gene was immediately sentenced to a session of detention with the school custodian. Gene made no effort to hide his distaste for the punishment either. Which only escalated his sentence. And now he was expected to shovel snow after the first snowstorm of the season. He’d only barely begun the task when he announced his exhaustion.

“I hate this, I wanna go home.” Gene was also not shy about how he felt about the situation either.

[Josie Raines]

If Josie had to rank her detention brats in a list of shittiest to least shitty, probably this one wouldn't make top five. She'd been supervising detention for more than a year and a half now, which meant a lot of dragging obnoxious teenagers with chips on their shoulders around the grounds to perform physical labor. But right now it felt like today would sit comfortably at the top of the list, because it was fucking freezing outside and every time Eugene whined, Josie had to debate whether it was worth pulling her scarf away from her mouth to yell at him.

It made for much more effective self control, Josie noted with bemusement. Go figure.

"Yeah, well, I wanna go home too," she finally snapped, one gloved hand yanking her scarf down. It was still hot from her breath, but now only her chin was protected while the cold spilled into her mouth. "But I'm stuck here with you, so how about you pick up the pace or we can do this again next week, huh?" This was Vermont, after all. There would always be more snow.

[Deleted]

Gene rolled his eyes. What sense did that make? If they both didn’t want to be there, then what was the point of both of them staying? For her, he supposed, it was her job, but for him…he was just a student(and an ornery one at that). Still…if she went home, then Gene could go home, and then they could both be just a little bit happier. Only a little bit, because Gene assumed that this woman was a generally unhappy person, what with being a janitor and all. That was probably why she was such a bitch too.

“Were you this unpleasant before or after you became a janitor?” he asked with a disgusted sneer. He dreaded the thought of having to spend even a second longer with this ugly woman. Gene grabbed the shovel and tried again. “Didn’t America do away with child labor ages ago too?” Couldn’t this be considered child abuse? Maybe he should make a call to CPS. He hefted another pile of snow and put it into another pile. Then dropped to his bum. “This is too hard,” he griped. “I’m not doing it anymore.” Gene crossed his arms in his defiance. He didn’t care that his bum was getting wet and cold from sitting in the snow, he had no intention of moving anymore.

[Josie Raines]

It was karma, that's what it was. Okay, yeah, some of the kids put in her charge took to the work like she eventually had when she was a student - the usual inescapable grousing, but with a job well done and a hint of pride in it at the end of the day. But those kids were easily outnumbered by the brats like this one, and every time Josie was stuck with one she couldn't help thinking that it was god or the universe or whatever pointing and laughing, "See? This is what you were like, don't you remember?"

Josie was much more unpleasant then than before she became a janitor, she'd like to think, but she didn't feel the need to tell him that. Belied, of course, by her thought to respond to his protests with the stereotype of overachieving Asian children, but that was the kind of thing that gets schools sued and janitors fired so she bit it back.

When Eugene plopped his ass in the snow like a toddler, though, Josie knew she had no choice but to do something about it. Her own shoveling paused as she scowled at him; her mouth opened, ready to harangue him to next Tuesday, but then she had a better idea. With forced nonchalance, Josie's scowl vanished and she shrugged. She turned back to the path she was clearing, loaded up a nice big mass of snow on her shovel, braced, and tossed hit over her shoulder... where it spattered mostly across Eugene's chest and lap, but with a healthy sprinkling on his face as well. If he wanted to sit, she didn't have to make it comfortable.

[Deleted]

This work was too hard. Why would they make students do this?? it was slave labor, for sure! And considering Gene didn’t have a healthy bone in his body, it was especially hard on him. His muscles already were starting to wane. He was breathing hard. His arms hurt from the lifting and his legs hurt from the standing, and he was just cold all around and wanted to go home.

Gene wondered if he could get this woman fired so nobody would have to be subjected to her tyranny ever again. His grandmother could probably write the school a check to make up for the loss. If he could convince her to donate to the school regularly, then Gene would have no problem getting the As needed to get into a good college! Yes, that was a good idea! Gene would make that phone call as soon as he got home, pending he wasn’t distracted by anything else before then(like video games or a new comic book or something).

Gene was plotting this out, the nail of his thumb between his teeth, when he found himself suddenly covered in snow. Gene sat up and blinked several times in confusion. Did she just—? “Are you stupid?” he growled at the janitor bitch. “Or just twelve? How’d you manage to even get your job with that attitude of yours?” If her goal was to get him up off the snow, then she was successful. Gene pushed himself up on his skinny legs and dusted himself of the snow. “You’re not gonna get away with that! I hope you have a good lawyer! I’m gonna get hypothermia because of you, and then you’ll be sorry!” This rant was, of course, not made without childish finger pointing and shaking.

[Josie Raines]

Stupid? Pfah! He didn't know the half of it. If Josie were even a hair better at making decisions she wouldn't have agreed to supervising detentions in the first place. Hell, if she were willing to debase herself in front of the kids, that might even make a decent scare tactic. Do your homework and get to class on time, or one day you'll be ass deep in freezing snow while tantrum-throwing children threaten to sue you for all the money you don't even have!

Not today, though. What shreds of pride she still had, Josie wanted to keep in tact. At least until the steam started pouring out of her ears.

"Not my fault you didn't dress for the weather," Josie sniffed imperiously. If you were prepared for a full Vermont blizzard, what was a little snow dump gonna do? "You need to call your lawyer to come and dress you too?"

[Deleted]

If Gene didn’t have the home(and financial) support that he did, it was very likely that he was staring at what could’ve been a probable future for him. Gene wasn’t the brightest person, despite being a snarky brat. He was pretty poor at decision making as well, often opting for the route that seemed easiest rather than exercising a sliver of foresight.

His verbal attack on the custodian was a perfect example of that lack of foresight. After all, how could he have known that she was stupid enough to assault a student with a shovel of snow!?

“I was planning on going home, who needs a damn parka for only ten minutes of walking?” Gene did, apparently, because he probably would’ve given up after two minutes and called Aggie to come cart him home while he hid out in the warm coffee shop. But instead, he was out here with a twat of the lowest rung of society, practically being assaulted! Gene growled again and crossed his arms imperiously. “Of course not, I can dress myself just fine. But if I wanted him to, he damn well better if he knows what’s good for him.” Hmph!

[Josie Raines]

Ten minutes of walking? Had this kid never shoveled a driveway before? Even as she thought it, Josie knew what a ridiculous question that was. Of course not; if she yanked off his gloves she'd probably find palms as soft as a baby's butt. Which would explain why he whined like one. All the finger-wagging and ranting about his lawyer-servant was probably supposed to be intimidating, but instead it made Josie bark out a laugh. 

Having the rich kids in detention - and Hammel did give the rich kids detention sometimes, Josie had to give credit where it was due - was always a trip. At least when it was the kids who'd let their parents' money go to their heads, which was maybe four out of five if she was feeling generous. Maybe Silver Spoon here would demand that his lawyer serve detention for him next week... how a shitty a lawyer do you have to be to be at some spoiled kid's beck and call, even a rich one?

"Bad news, kiddo, I'm not your lawyer an' I don't work for you," she reminded him, no small amount of smugness in her voice, "an' in fact I'm in charge right now so pick up that shovel. I wanna salt the sidewalks before it gets dark."

[Deleted]

Gene couldn’t stand this willful, lower-class skank! Didn’t she know who she was talking to? Even if she didn’t, how dare she treat any student as depravedly as she was treating him right now! “Make me!” he snapped, regressing to the status of 2-year-old while baring his (perfect) teeth like a snarling puppy.

Speaking of depravity….

*beep beep jingle jingle dong!*

Gene scowled at the sound of his text chime going off and warily slipped his phone from his pocket to view the message a certain other stray dog had just sent him. (Yes, he gave that depraved being his own text tone, so sue him!) Gene sneered in utter disgust at the obscene picture that he was sent….and with all his might (which wasn’t much) threw the phone into the pile of snow that Ms. Janitor Bitch was dumping in. “Goddamn that mangy mutt!!” he growled in disdain.

[Josie Raines]

"Make me!" Ah, the magic words.

Then came the phone chime, followed by the disbelief at this kid's ballsiness. Pulling out a cell phone at detention? Oh don't even tell me he's texting or some bullshit instead of working... Josie was half a second from yelling when Eugene pitched his phone straight into the snow. While he muttered to himself, she strode to the snowdrift and snatched up his phone with the vindictive hope that he didn't have a waterproof case.

"This is mine now," Josie told him matter-of-factly. She wagged the phone at him for good measure as she said it, but it wasn't until she went to pocket it that she got a better look at the screen.

These fucking kids are gonna give me a stroke, was her first thought; this was the last thing she needed to see - was it even legal for her to see it? But then her lips curled into a nasty grin, and she lifted her gaze back to Eugene.

"Oh dear," Josie said dramatically, not bothering to hide the smile that didn't match her words. "How embarrassing... You know I have to tell the doc about this, right? What a shame...."

[Deleted]

OF COURSE Kodi would send him a picture of that while Gene was in the middle of detention. He clearly had no sense of what was appropriate to send to somebody else’s phone, nor timing, nor anything else that he couldn’t think of at this moment because he was just so exasperated by the dentokinetic’s obscene insolence!

He was so upset that he forgot to argue with the ugly janitor harpy and actually picked up his shovel to angrily slice through the snow. Grumble grumble….

“Whatever,” he grouched, the space between his eyebrows furrowed deeper than the grand canyon. “Keep it! I’ll buy a new one.” He’ll change his phone number too, he didn’t want a phone full of indecent shit like that.

Gene stopped working and stared at the lady like she was crazy, wondering if the dramatics was supposed to be serious or a bad joke. “…should I care? It isn’t mine.” Like she needed to know that. But now Gene was curious. “What are talking about anyway? Is there something wrong with it?” Something that someone should be embarrassed over? Gene wanted to know. For reasons.

[Josie Raines]

In truth, Josie had no idea if the photo could be leveraged against him. If he'd asked her to cite the rule he was apparently breaking, she'd have to make up some bullshit that sounded convincing. But he'd stopped whining for now, and that was enough to spur her onward.

"They're really crackin' down on this stuff, y'know," she went on. "Just the other day I saw these kids on the news, this girl reported a guy for spreading her pics and they both ended up in juvie just for having 'em."

What news channel was this? Law and Order, obviously.

[Deleted]

Gene raised an eyebrow, only mildly interested. Damn, he was hoping she was talking about the picture itself. Then he would’ve circled that thing which was ‘wrong’ and ‘embarrassing’, made a little footnote on the picture, then sent it back to the fiendish mutt who sent it to him. Would’ve served him right.

This, though….well, he supposed that it was something to be concerned about. Maybe. But the both of them were over the age of consent and sharing only between the both of their phones, so that should negate it as a problem. Shouldn’t it? That was Gene’s reasoning at least. “So, what? You’re threatening me with juvie now?” he asked, a little dumbfounded. “You must really have a terrible superiority complex to have to go that far just to get a kid to shovel a snowed-in walkway. I bet it makes you feel good to have that kind of power, when you’re normally no more important than the scum on my shoe.”

[Josie Raines]

Josie's grin soured immediately into a scowl. That was far from the reaction she'd been hoping for. Not only had he seen right though her bullshit, he'd hit the nail on the head. The only way her plot could have backfired harder was if Eugene had thrown down his shovel again and stomped off to the headmistress to report her. Josie felt like spitting fire; if only she could. Maybe then she could fry Eugene to a crisp and melt away all this powdery white garbage at the same time.

"What would you even be doing if you didn't have to be here?" Josie snapped, fuming. "Lookin' at wrinkly shrimp dicks and complaining that your air's the wrong flavor? You're like thirteen, you're not so fuckin' important."