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"Maybe we can try and make it fun," I say

She turns to open the door but hesitates, then spins around and faces ht Let'sDo you realize how many Chuck Norris puns we can make in a whole hour?"

I smile at her "Not as many as Chuck Norris could"

She opens the door to detention

"Afternoon, Mr Cooper," Eddie says as she flurries inside

"Take a seat," he says as he wipes the point of poetry off the board

"Mr Cooper, did you know that seats actually stand up when Chuck Norris walks into a rooh as I follow Eddie to our seats Rather than taking the two front seats, she keeps walking until she's in the very back of the rooether We sit as far froh He doesn't even sle; like high school girls

"Listen," he says as he stands back up and walks toward us He leans against theand folds his ar to think of a delicate way to broach the subject

"Eddie, I need to knohere your head's at I know you were at ht I know she told you about our date I just need to knohat you plan to do about it; if you plan to do anything about it"

"Will, I already told you," I say "She's not saying anything There's nothing to say"

He doesn't look atfor her response I guess h

I don't know if it's nerves or the fact that I've had the strangest last three days of lance, but she can't hold it in She starts laughing, too

Will throws his hands up in the air, exasperated "What? What the hell is so funny?" he says He's getting agitated

"Nothing," I say "It's just weird You gave us detention, Will" I inhale as I try to control ht or soive us detention?"

He waits until our laughter subsides before he continues "This is the first chance I’ve had to talk to either of you I didn't sleep all night I wasn't sure if I even had a job to coets out, if anyone finds out that a student slept in e"

Eddie straightens in her seat and turns toback vital inforhs

He walks back to the front of the room and throws himself into his chair He leans onto his desk and sets his face in his hands This isn’t going how he had planned

"You slept in his bed?" she whispers, low enough so Will doesn't hear her

"Nothing happened," I say "Like you said, he's such a bore"

Eddie laughs again, causing me to lose my composure

"Is this funny?" Will says from his desk "Is this a joke to you two?"

I can see in his eyes that we're enjoying detention way more than we're supposed to Eddie isn't fazed, however

"Did you know Chuck Norris doesn't have a funny bone? It tried to h once, so he ripped it out," she says

Will lays his head on his desk in defeat Eddie and I look at each other and our laughter ceases as we respect that he's atte to have a serious conversation with us

Eddie sighs and straightens up in her desk "Mr Cooper?" she says "I won’t say anything Swear It's not that big of a deal anyway"

He looks up at her "It is a big deal Eddie That's what I' deal, you'll get careless Soot too y in the room is non-existent now It's like a black hole just sucked all the fun out of detention Eddie feels it too, so she attempts to rectify it

"Did you know Chuck Norris likes his steaks med-" Eddie doesn't finish her sentence as Will reaches his liainst the desk as he stands up Neither Eddie nor I are laughing at this point I look at her wide eyed and shakeher know that Chuck Norris needs to retreat

"This isn't a joke," he says "This is a big deal" He reaches over and takes so out of his drawer and swiftly walks to where we're sitting in the back of the rooes of our desks meet and flips it over It's a picture of Caulder

He points his finger to the picture as he says, "This boy This boy is a big deal"

He backs up a step and grabs a desk and turns it around to face us as he sits down

"I don't think we're following you, Will," I say as I look at Eddie She shakes her head in agreeot to do hat Eddie knows?"

He takes a deep breath as he leans across his desk and picks the picture back up I can tell by the look in his eyes that his recollection is unpleasant He lays the picture down on the desk and leans back in the chair, folding his arms across his chest

"He ith them…when it happened He watched theive hiinning to feel this big

"They said it was a miracle he survived The car was totaled When the first person came on the scene, Caulder was still buckled up in as left of the backseat He was screaet her to turn around For five minutes he had to sit there alone and watch as they died"

Will clears his throat Eddie reaches under the table and grabs my hand and squeezes it Neither of us says a word

"I sat in the hospital with him while he recovered for six days Never left his side-not even for their funeral When randparents came to pick him up and take hio He wanted to stay with ed me to take him back to campus with me I didn't have a job, I didn't have insurance I was nineteen I didn't know the first thing about raising a kid…so I let them take him"

Will stands up and walks to theHe doesn't say anything for a while as he watches the parking lot slowly e at his eyes If Eddie wasn't in here right noould hug hiain "Caulder hated me He was so mad at me he wouldn't return ame when I started to question the choice I ers over the pigskin, across the letters of the brand naated spheroid shaped ball that didn't even weigh a whole pound I was choosing this ridiculous ball of leather inbefore this little boy that I lovedin the world