The next morning, when Vlad was making breakfast for the guests and Maija, who woke up early and with lots of energy, were sitting at the kitchen, she said carefully:
"Papa, you"re very strange. Yesterday at dinner, you hardly talked to Mr. Costello, it seemed as if you had something against him. Then, you asked him to stay with us for the night. And now, you seem to want to throw him out of your house as soon as possible - you"re making breakfast for him and Rita, as if they have to leave immediately."
"What a strange thought, dear," - Vlad said. His voice sounded quite normal, but Maija noticed that his cheeks were burning. - "You are just making speculations. Erik is a good, old friend of mine. And if we didn"t talk much yesterday, it was only because we were both tired."
At this point, Erik and Rita came downstairs. Vlad and Erik greeted each other coolly - Rita and Maija were much friendlier with each other. Erik insisted that they had a train to catch in half an hour, and that they can"t stay for breakfast. They went out of the door.
"You don"t have to tell me everything, papa," - said Maija when they left, - "but I can see that something strange is going on here."
Vlad didn"t say anything but offering her some omelette. After breakfast, they went out of the door as quickly as their guests, in order to get to school on time. And then - a horrible moment - Tommy, smiling and cheerful like always, greeting her with an enlightened face and a little timbre of excitement in his voice. Maija couldn"t force herself look into his eyes - and she couldn"t help but smile either. All the way to school, she looked outside the car"s window and didn’t say a word.
She didn"t study much that day. She and Sandra exchanged excited whispers about the events of yesterday.
"Wow," - Sandra said, - "I had a great time at the movies with Will, but it wasn"t half as exciting as that family dinner. What a family indeed! And your dad - I think you"re right, Mai, the way you describe it, it looks like something fishy is going on."
The teacher hissed, looking at them through thick spectacles. The whole class stared at them, and Helena giggled, quietly but in a rather nasty way.
Maija sighed. Sandra continued in a low whisper:
"And did you already think about what you are going to say to Tommy?"
"But it"s not like I did something wrong, right?" - said Maija thoughtfully. - "I never promised him anything, and he never even asked me anything straight -"
"Oh come on," - Sandra said, - "it was so obvious, everyone noticed it, you can"t be that blind. The only thing you can do is talk to Tommy and try to come out of it somehow without getting into too much trouble."
"It was all because Papa encouraged him," - said Maija angrily, not noticing that her voice has risen a bit. - "Papa got me into trouble. I mean, Tommy is a very good friend and everything, but I never thought he would really treat me like that."
"I got some benefit of it, though," - Sandra giggled, - "if Tommy hadn"t invited us to his party, Will would never ask me out."
"That"s about enough, young ladies!" - they heard an angry voice above their heads. They looked up and saw the furious face of the teacher. The whole class was staring at them with an immense interest.
"How many times do I have to warn you?" - she continued, as the smell of trouble was spreading in the air. - "Detentions, both of you!"
"Detention?" - squeaked Sandra. - "But - we"re so sorry, really - it won"t happen again - are you sure we can"t settle this somehow, or - or maybe we can do our detentions some other day? Please, let us do this, tomorrow I"ll gladly stay even four hours instead of two."
Despite the unpleasant situation, Maija couldn"t help but sneering. She should have guessed that today Sandra had probably set another date with Will.
"Unfortunately," - said the teacher with an icy voice, - "detentions are not something you do if and when it"s convenient for you. It"s a school - not a hotel, a restaurant or a summer camp. Do you think I have four hours to watch over you? So, young ladies, I expect you at the detention room fifteen minutes after the class is over."
"Old witch!" - hissed Sandra, as the bell rang and everyone packed their bags hastily. - "She"s just envious at everyone who has a happier life than she has - and well, that"s not too difficult. Let"s go to the hall for a moment, I need to tell Will that I have detention today."
They went out, and ran right into Will who was already waiting for Sandra outside the classroom. To Maija"s happiness, Martin seemed to be heading in the same direction, and she started walking towards him.
"Hi," - both of them said with a smile and a whisper. Martin looked around and took her hand into his without anyone noticing.
"Guess what," - Maija told him, - "both me and Sandra got a detention."
"Really?" - he laughed. - "What did you do? Threw chalks at the teacher?"
"Please, wait for my dad and explain everything to him, will you?" - Maija asked. He nodded.
"You"ll see, we"ll drag you out of here sooner than you think." - he winked. - "see you soon."
It was time to go to the detention room. Neither Maija nor Sandra knew where it was, but Will, who bravely decided to stay for a detention with Sandra, showed them the way.
The room was downstairs - quite large, cold, damp and gloomy. There wasn"t enough light to read or write, so they couldn"t even occupy themselves with doing their homework. The same teacher who gave them their detentions, was walking back and forth the classroom. It was almost empty - except for the leader of the Rippers, who was sitting gloomily at the last desk.
"Oh no," - Maija whispered to Sandra. - "I should have guessed when I heard that sound of broken glass this morning."
"Mai!" - Tommy exclaimed happily. - "What a surprise - why are you here?"
"Quiet!" - said the teacher. - "If you think you came here to have some idle chit-chat with your friends, you"re very wrong. For the next two hours, you will sit in complete silence. You won"t get up, move, turn around or occupy yourself with anything else but thinking about how you should behave in order not to get any more detentions. So take your seats, ladies. Young man, what brings you here?" - she eyed Will with suspicion.
"I - I came to school late - for the third time this week." - said Will, looking very much like Adrian at that moment.
"It"s Monday, may I remind you." - the woman looked at him through thick spectacles, and her gaze was sharp as a drill. - "So what do you mean, that you"ve been late to the first ring of the bell three times on the same day?"
"No, of course I don"t mean that." - Will said hastily. - "I didn"t mean to say this week - I meant the previous week and today - yes, that"s it - last Thursday, Friday and today too."
"What do alarm clocks exist for?" - sighed the teacher. - "sit down, and I hope I won"t see you here again, William."
Sandra and Will sat on nearby tables on one side of the class, and Maija sat at the front right corner, which was the coldest and the dampest, but also the furthest from Tommy. But her attempts were pointless - the teacher looked at Tommy and said:
"You better sit more to the front, young man. Do you think you can entertain yourself there at the back of the class, without me noticing anything? You"re very wrong if you think so! Sit here, behind the young lady."
To her surprise, Tommy didn"t object - he grabbed his bag and sat at the table behind Maija. The teacher, content, sat at a chair facing them, and opened a thick black book, which looked like a class diary. She started scribbling something with a pencil, looking at them warningly from time to time. Sandra and Will were talking in sign language under the table. Maija felt Tommy touching her shoulder carefully.
"Don"t turn around, Mai, she"ll notice," - he whispered. - "I"m glad you"re here - see, I wanted to remind you about my concert."
"Right," - she said quietly and nodded, but felt her heart sinking.
"It"s this week, Friday night - you"ll come, won"t you? You promised, remember?"
Maija would have dearly loved to say that she forgot and already made plans for Friday night, that she has another family dinner with her father, but -
"Yes I remember," - said Maija hopelessly. - "I"ll come."
"Great!" - said Tommy happily, and a bit louder than he should have.
"How many times do I have to tell you?" - the teacher hit the desk with her diary and was now looking at them furiously. - "You didn"t come here to talk! If you think that a detention is the worst that can happen to you, you"re very wrong - be sure that I"ll call your parents today, and they will have to come to school!"
"With great pleasure!" - they heard heavy steps and a powerful, low voice roared at the doorway. - "I"m already here, and I"m ready to hear some explanations."
Vlad was there, and he didn"t look as if that was one of his best days. Martin stood next to him, the corners of his eyes smiling. Maija noticed that her father was as nervous as he was in the morning.
"Vlad, at your service," - he said to the teacher, who didn"t reach his shoulder"s height. - "I"m the father of this girl sitting here. Could you explain to me what this is supposed to mean?"
"Of course I can!" - snapped the teacher, looking like a miniature bulldog. - "More than that, I think you should hear about this - apparently, your daughter and that young man, - whom I, unfortunately, know just too well - don"t understand that this is a detention, not a tea-party!"
Maija heard Sandra muttering under her nose: "Don"t talk - don"t move - try your best not to breathe!" and tried to look as serious as she could.
"That"s not exactly what I want to know." - said Vlad. - "I can understand what this boy is doing here," - he petted Tommy"s shoulder affectionately. - "but could you explain to me why a girl, who has barely recovered from her illness, is sitting in a cold, damp room? And could you explain to me how she is supposed to come back home when it"s dark and a storm can begin any moment?"
"But mister," - the teacher said, slightly discouraged. - "detentions are part of our school"s policy - and nobody has made me aware of your daughter"s health problems."
"Nobody made you aware?" - Vlad said sarcastically. - "Well, nobody made me aware of the fact that my daughter will be put in danger by the school administration. If there is a misunderstanding, it"s not hard to reach me, as you can see - I take my daughter home from school every day. And if making my daughter risk getting an angina or something worse is a part of the school"s policy, I"m afraid that my policy goes straight against it. Do you think there aren"t any more schools where my daughter could go?"
The teacher was left standing with her mouth half open.
"Now I"m going to take my daughter home," - said Vlad, - "come on, Mai, let"s go. Is there anything more you would like to say to me?"
The teacher finally managed to close her mouth and stepped aside. Maija, following her father, went outside the classroom, waving to Sandra cheerfully.
It was very cold outside. It really looked as if it could begin snowing any minute.
"That old dusty bat," - Martin choked with laughter. - "I bet nobody ever talked to her like that - it was quite amusing."
"That school requires some serious changes," - Vlad said thoughtfully. - "come on, Mart, get into the car - I"ll give you a lift home."