"Three hours." This was on the minds of every student in class 1-F as they stared at the warm interior of the school, they were slowly getting covered in snow from head to toe. The thin fabric of the P.E. uniform certainly wouldn't help them in their goal of staying warm and would rather become their downfall throughout the three excruciatingly cold and painful hours.
The view of the courtyard became fuzzy, and no one could see beyond thirty feet in any direction because of the fog that was brought by the raging blizzard. It was certainly cold, and only those who are crazy would try this for fun, but for class 1-F, this was their punishment, and this was the only way that they could become students in their school once more.
Some have thought that they could simply report Mr. Fatmouth to the authorities or to their parents, but that would only come back to bite them, as even the entire neighborhood knows about the notoriety of class 1-F, and telling their parents that they got punished because of their extreme behavior would only lead to them being chewed out or, in worst case scenarios, disowned. With three hours to survive, it's time for class 1-F's punishment.
"So what are we gonna do now?" asked Caden.
"WE are not going to do anything, our gang will survive on our own." said the leader of the delinquent girls.
"I don't think that's a good idea." said Josh. His face was full of bandages, bleeding at some points, and some of his exposed parts were covered with bruises, while Matt's was the same.
"Pfff, says the guy who started this mess, if it weren't for you, we would have been sleeping in the warmth of our classroom, but now we're stuck here in this dump!" said the female delinquent in a mocking tone.
"Sleeping in class is a bad idea too." muttered Josef.
"Like you're one to talk." said Caden as he chuckled a bit, poking fun at Josef's behavior.
"Anyways, me and the girls will be staying at the far left side of the courtyard, if any of you come near, I'll personally beat you up myself! You wouldn't want to join Zach in the clinic, would you?" exclaimed the leader.
Josef liked the sound of the idea since the clinic was warm, but getting beat up in the process made the proposition a tad unappealing. The female delinquent turned around and started to walk towards the far left side of the school, followed by most of the girls, while the rest of the class was left behind, staring at their backs as they vanished in the raging blizzard.
"So... what now?" asked Caden.
"Do you know any way to stay warm?" Josef answered with a question.
The two of them started to think but were quickly interrupted when the cold wind of the blizzard started to get to them. A surge of wind hit their backs and a cold shiver wend down their spine.
"What if we just talk? That could warm us up." proposed Caden as he crossed his arms, hiding them from the cold.
"I don't think I could talk for three hours, I'm not quite as talkative, unlike you." Josef chuckled a bit, he was also cold but he tried not to show it.
Josh and Matt walked closer to Josef and Caden.
"Hey, what are you guys talking about?" asked Josh.
"Nothing much man, just trying to stay warm, obviously" said Caden, he was a bit nervous about the two. They haven't interacted much with each other and were worried that they just wanted to start some trouble.
"Can we.. join you guys? I don't think the others are enjoying our company. If it's alright with you both, then.. let's work together." said Matt.
"Yeah, that sounds nice." said Josef, Caden nods in agreement. They thought It was best if they got along with people, especially with the strong.
"Great! let's sit down and chat." said Josh.
"I don't think sitting in this snow is a great idea, especially with our bare legs exposed." answered Josef.
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"Let's just stand then." proposed Caden.
The class was now divided into three groups, the delinquent girls group was on the far left side of the school, Josef's group was only a few meters from the center of the courtyard, which was indicated by a stone fountain, but unfortunately, the flowing water had frozen, while the rest of the class was a few meters away from Josef's group.
"If you don't mind me asking, what happened between you two?" asked Caden as he gazed at the two's beat-up faces. He was a bit cautious with the questions as he feared that the two would once again rough it out with each other.
There was a brief silence in the group, Josh glanced at Matt and sighed.
"Yeah it was a bit dumb, but we're already passed that." said Josh.
"It was my fault, this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't accidentally punched you, Josh." said Matt.
"It did hurt a bit, but let's not forget that Zach was the one who started this mess by throwing the first punch, he's also the reason why you accidentally punched me." said Josh.
"I'm sorry for punching you back, when I got hit, my vision became blurry and I could only think about fighting back, I was so angry back then that I thought that violence was the only way to solve things, but now look at what its gotten us to." Josh added.
"I'm sorry as well. This could have ended well if I just stopped fighting back, I'm really sorry dude, hope the punch won't leave a mark in your face." said Matt.
"Oh it definitely will." exclaimed Josh as he smiled, almost forming a chuckle.
Josef and Caden could only smile at the beautiful sight of two beat up boys reconciling, they were brothers in arms, beat up from head to toe, red and black marks on their faces and let's not forget the monstrous punch of Mr. Fatmouth that they both endured.
Two hours and thirty minutes remain. Josef's group was happily chatting about random things in order to stay warm, they stood close together to share each other's body heat.
"Alright be honest with me boys, bone in or boneless chicken?" asked Caden.
"Boneless!" everyone said in unison.
"Oh, guess Gerald was the only weird one after all." said Caden. "I wonder what he's doing right now."
"Probably doing good student stuff." answered Josef.
"Who's Gerald?" asked Josh.
"Just our friend from class 1-A." said Caden.
"The other classes are lucky that they don't have to deal with punishments unlike us, must be nice." said Josh.
The four boys continued to peacefully chat in the middle of the raging blizzard, their heads were covered in snow, but they continued to share in their laughter, and at some point they had even forgotten that they were in this punishment because they were simply enjoying each other's company.
Two hours and fifteen minutes left.
"Hey, why don't we guys exercise?" asked Caden.
"Oh! that could be good." answer Josh.
"Yeah lets do it, it'll keep us warm." replied Matt.
Josef, on the other hand, had some doubts about the proposition, there was something bothering him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it, so he simply nodded and the group started to exercise.
Josh was doing pushups in the snow, his hands were cold, but he could definitely feel that he was getting warmer. Matt was doing burpees, gasping for breath as he got more and more tired. Josef was doing squats because he didn't want to do any activity that required him to touch the cold ground. He was still pondering about his doubts, and he was getting closer to remembering what it was. Caden, on the other hand, was running and dancing around the group like a monkey. They must have looked like idiots to the other groups, especially Caden.
This continued on for ten minutes until Josef finally remembered something. He stopped doing squats and shouted something.
"Guys, stop!"
"What is it?" said Caden as he stopped running.
Josh and Matt stopped whatever they were doing as well and looked at Josef in confusion.
"We'll die if we continue, sweating in this weather can increase the risk of hypothermia." stated Josef.
"Oh shit!" the three boys said in unison. They all checked their backs for sweat and luckily they weren't sweating that much, but there certainly was a bit of sweat.
The four of them went back to simply chatting, they were a bit tired and certainly did felt cooler as their moist backs started to cool, but they were lucky that Josef stopped them just in time before they were all covered in sweat.
Two hours remain. As the sun started to decline, it started to become even colder than before. Josef's group could feel the cold getting to them, and simply chatting wasn't enough for them to stay warm, but they couldn't think of anything else that could warm them up without the risk of hypothermia. The boys turned their backs and leaned on each other in order to warm their bodies using each other's body heat, it was a bit awkward, but it worked a bit, but because of the thin and exposed P.E. uniform that they were wearing, they were slowly succumbing to the cold.
The blizzard grew wilder and seemed to become enraged as the winds became fiercer, slapping the boys with a gust of cold wind that made them shiver. The punishment was only a third of the way done, but they already felt like giving up.
Just then a loud, piercing scream was heard in the distance, Josef's group took action immediately and started to run towards the direction it came from, it was the scream of a woman, and Josh recognized it as the voice of one of the female delinquents.
Josef's group rushed to the far left side of the school, braving the blizzard with only the sound of a female screaming "HELP!" to guide them through the fog. They finally saw people on the other side, and as they got closer, they were mortified to see the leader of the female delinquents collapsed on the ground and not moving.