The Undeserved Detention

I was in the fifth grade, I had finally settled down at Forest Oak Elementary School.  I had only arrived there a year earlier.  I was interested in playing an instrument because you were allowed to in fifth grade.  My mom took me to the music store to pick out an instrument.  At the time I had the motto ‘the bigger the better.’  I picked out the biggest instrument my mom would allow me to.  I picked out the bells, part of the percussion set.  They were about 20-30 pounds, heavy for a fifth grader.  I joined band at my school and began to play the bells.  I learned how to read and play music.

I had to walk upstairs with my bells and outside twice a week.  I didn’t enjoy carrying the bells at all.  I played the Harry Potter theme as a solo during one of the concerts.  I enjoyed playing the bells.  I enjoyed the sound that vibrated off the keys, the light hearted notes always made me happy.  Since the bells were heavy I would occasionally use the elevator in the school.  One day a girl from my class came up to me.  Her name was Katie.  If I ever had a true bully, it was her.  On the first day of school she turned to me and told me, “We can either do this the easy way or the hard way.”  She made my life hard sometimes, like the story I am telling you now.

Katie and her friend approached me one day after I came off the elevator.  She had told me that I wasn’t allowed to ride the elevator anymore.  She said that if I did she was going to tell a teacher and that I would be put in detention.  I said I wouldn’t, and I didn’t.  I walked up the stairs the next time I had band practice.  As I was leaving the stairwell Katie and her friend approached me.  She said that she saw me using the elevator today and that she was going to tell the teacher.  I tried to tell her that I used the stairs and that she saw me leave them but she wouldn’t have it.  She just wanted me to get in trouble for whatever reason.

I ended up getting detention that day.  I sat in a classroom during recess.  I had my arms folded on the desk and my head laid between them.  I cried silently trying to figure out why I was in detention.  I didn’t do anything wrong!  I listened and followed directions.  I didn’t use the elevator when I was told not to and I still got in trouble.  To make matters worse the next day announcements came on and said that students (unless disabled) are not allowed to use the elevator unless given permission.  This is a day I will never forget, the day I got detention that I never deserved.