I pushed past Claire Standish at the front doors of Shermer High School and made my way around the school towards the library. I heard her scoff at me in the background and could almost feel her glare at the back of my head as I walked in front of her. A giddy feeling crept up on me and a smile made its way on to my face, as it always did when I pissed off someone who was considered 'important'. It was almost like I was injected with a shot of adrenaline because I knew that I was the reason that she was angry. Of course I only liked pissing her off because she was Claire: Princess of Shermer High, and that in itself was enough reason for someone like me to hate her guts.

Her prissy attitude, the way she carries herself and the way she always fucking has everything anyone could want, are only three of the long list of reasons as to why I can't stand her. These aren't sour grapes, but the fact that she and her stupid clique do absolutely nothing and get whatever the fuck they want, while everyone else is barely getting by, makes me want to punch her in the face so she can go home crying to Daddy.

I walked into the library and made my way to where I'd sat the two only other times I'd had detention. Both those times had been this year, making this my third one, which wasn't actually that bad. Then again, all three had been given by the principal, Richard 'Dick' Vernon, during the only three times I'd interacted with him.

Who the fuck even came up with the idea of having a detention on a Saturday? And for nine fucking hours? It's like mental torture for kids. Or you know, young adults, whatever.

I walked past the first table and slipped in between the second and third tables on the left. I pulled out the chair on the far left at the third table, which was facing the back of the library, and placed it sideways, giving me a clear view of all the other tables as I sat down. I had to turn my head far to the right to see the library double doors and I couldn't make out Vernon's office, but I preferred to watch the goofs in detention over that prick.

The Princess walked into the library as I dropped my bag on the floor and hung my coat on the back of my chair. When she saw me, she scowled at me like I was the dirt on her perfect, designer boots and I gave her a hard stare. She looked a little put off before she rolled her eyes and sat down at the first table. I smiled slightly in satisfaction before getting myself comfortable on the chair. I twisted it slightly so it was facing the back more and put my feet on the back table, my black combat boots banging on the wood. I heaved a slight sigh, bored already, and then noticed someone was in front of me. It was the really smart kid from my math class, Brian-something, and he was making himself comfy on the chair furthest from me on the table to my right. Honestly, I thought he'd be too scared of the opposite sex to consider sitting only a few feet away from me. Although he did seem to be off in his own world and probably didn't notice.

As I thought that, Andrew Clark walked in looking all high and mighty in his stereotypical jock clothes. He looked around the library, looking a little surprised at Brian being there, also making me think about what the nerd could have done to get in here. Then he looked at me and his face turned a little apprehensive before he sneered at me and sat two seats down from the Princess, while she gave him a slight smile.

I didn't understand the look he gave me, seeing as I couldn't recall doing anything to spite him, but didn't question it further as I slid down a little in my chair, feeling my black shirt, that was a little too small for me, slide up my back a little under my purple zip-up hoodie.

There was some noise near the doors of the library and I twisted round to see John Bender, touching all the little things at the front desk and walking like he didn't have a care. I sat up the tiniest bit straighter as he walked past the front table the Populars were sat at and into a line of vision that didn't require me to twist my neck painfully. Because as much as I didn't want to admit it, I had a small crush on this guy and my heart was suddenly beating a little faster at the thought of spending nine hours with him in a vacancy. I watched him as he lifted his sunglasses and walked slowly through the aisle, checking out the two preps with something close to disdain, before landing his eyes on Brian and motioning for him to sit at the other set of tables. He quickly got up with his stuff and moved to the other table, while I still watched John.

His eyes finally landed on me and my stomach did not give a little flip when he did so. He stood there for a moment, probably wondering whether or not he wanted to move me to a new seat, not that I would anyway, before he set up two chairs and sat in one and put his feet on the other. His back was now facing me a couple of feet away and while I was a little offended, I was more relieved to not have to worry about my wandering eyes. Even as I thought this, I couldn't help but look slightly to my right where he was seated and stare at his oh-so-perfect dark brown hair. Damn, it looked so soft. My hands suddenly itched to touch it, run my fingers through it, play with it, anything, so I crossed my arms and focused on the girl that was power-walking through the library instead.

I recognized her as Allison Reynolds from my Psychology class – she didn't talk or participate in class but always got one of the highest grades on exams or assignments. She also seemed really weird, which is exactly why I liked her, not that she knew; weird is fun.

She went to the far corner at the back on the other set of tables and sat sideways so all we could see was her back. I didn't understand why, seeing as we couldn't see much of her face anyway because of her hair.

However, whenever she did move her hair slightly and I could see most of her face, I always thought that she looked really pretty, with her pale white skin and black lined eyes.

Mr. Vernon walked in looking like he owned the place... which, okay, he sorta did, but still. He smirked at us all slightly and said "Well, well, here we are. I wanna congratulate you for being on time." I looked away, back to facing the back right corner of the library, and rolled my eyes.

Then I heard the Princess say "Excuse me, sir? I think there's been a mistake. I know it's detention, but um... I don't think I belong in here," her voice changing slightly towards the end as if she was talking to a child, which made me laugh a little quietly. Not only because of the way she said it, but also because of the fact that she made the library sound like it was something she wouldn't be caught dead in. Bender's head twitched slightly, hearing me making noise behind him, which was when I realized that I was looking at the back of his head again.

I quickly looked away and heard Vernon say "It is now… seven-oh-six." At this, Brian immediately checked his watch and I laughed again when I realized that Vernon had completely ignored the Princess. "You have exactly eight hours and fifty-four minutes to think about why you're here. To ponder the error of your ways." At some point during Vernon's lecture, there was some sort of hacking noise to my right. Bender then leaned his head back over his chair, spit in the air and then caught it again in his mouth, making me raise my eyebrows in a shocked, slightly disgusted, but very impressed manner. I grinned slightly and mumbled "That's attractive," when he had gone back to sitting upright. I also heard the Prom Queen gasp in the background, probably wondering how anyone could do something so vile… posh bitch.

"You may not talk," I didn't know who Vernon was directing that to, but I had half a mind to believe that it was me, since I was the only who had talked, "you will not move from these seats." At this, Brian froze halfway to sitting in a chair further down at his table and gradually sat back in his original chair, looking terrified. "You," he said, looking and pointing at Bender, having walked around the tables towards us, "will not sleep." He then took the chair Bender was resting his feet on out from underneath them and tucked it in at another table. Lastly, he pointed at me and said "And you will sit properly," looking pointedly at my feet, still resting on the table. I looked at him blankly for a second before grudgingly moving my feet back to the floor, the combats hitting it hard. He was still looking at me with raised, unimpressed eyebrows, and then I realized that everyone else was watching me, too, except for Allison. I sighed slightly and sat up from my slumped position in my chair and folded my hands in my lap like a proper lady, before giving a fake, sweet smile to the old jerk.

Everyone turned back around and Vernon looked at the others before telling us that we were trying something 'different' today: writing an essay of at least 1000 words on who we thought we were. What the fuck kind of assignment was this? Who really knew who they were, especially at our age?

Bender quickly said "Is this a test?" which Vernon promptly ignored, so in retaliation, Bender propped his feet up on the table to my right, allowing everyone to see the bandana wrapped around his right boot. I had slumped back down in my seat when Vernon stopped looking at me and was sitting with my legs stretched out and crossed in front of me. I could now see some of Bender's face as he had turned slightly in his chair so he could put his feet up, but I tried to ignore it and leaned my head back over my chair.

Vernon said something about not repeating one word a thousand times and then asked Bender if that was clear, making me laugh again quietly at the fact that he had actually done that before.

He carried on mumbling his silly lecture and I heard Brian's voice in the background but I had stopped listening to the conversation and was simply staring at the ceiling, although I did catch Vernon telling 'Johnson' to sit down. Well, I knew Brian's last name now.

I heard Vernon ask if anyone had any questions and there was a pause before Bender spoke up, making me look away from the ceiling and to his face, which I could still only barely see.

"Yeah. I got a question. Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?"

This caused me to outright laugh and I heard the others sniggering at the remark. I looked over at Vernon and saw him glare at me before he gave Bender a detention for next Saturday. Vernon was easily riled up like that and gave out detentions for any sort of remark that made him look bad, including the one that I'd made to him to get this detention.

"Don't mess with the bull, young man, you'll get the horns." I snorted at that because, seriously? What kind of garbage was this shit-bag spewing? He didn't seem to have heard me because he walked out of the library and into his office, which was opposite the library doors.

Bender made a comment about Vernon being a brownie hound, to which no one replied, but probably agreed whole-heartedly with.

It was silent for a moment before we heard a popping noise coming from the back right corner of the library. I looked up, as everyone turned around, and saw Allison biting her nails. The fact that she was being so loud caused a slight smile to come to my lips. She finally noticed everyone staring at her, paused slightly, and then carried on biting. Bender made a remark about her eating her hand and not being hungry for lunch, to which she spat her bitten off nail at him. It disappointingly didn't go very far and Bender didn't even flinch and told her he'd seen her before. Ally stared at him for a little bit as I tried to ignore the slight twinge of jealousy at the fact that he had openly talked to her, while his back was still facing me. She turned back around and Bender slid down slightly in his seat.

I looked past Bender and saw Brian at his table, playing with his pen in his mouth and mumbling something to himself – the only bit I caught was "I am a walrus," so I stared at him like he was crazy. Bender was also staring at him and finally Brian seemed to notice. Bender removed his scarf, never taking his eyes off Brian, who sheepishly took out the clip of the pen from his bottom lip.

They then proceeded to both start taking off their jackets and paused, just looking at each other. I sniggered slightly as they did that, but then rolled my eyes when Bender carried on taking his jacket off, revealing a jean jacket underneath, while Brian was 'suddenly' feeling very cold and put his jacket back on. The guy needed to grow some backbone, for sure.

Bender leaned forward and just stared at Brian, who now looked really uncomfortable. I rolled my eyes at Bender being a dick to the poor guy and put my feet back on the table to my left. Bender finished his staring contest and turned around to face the front, while his head turned towards me. I met his stare and held it until his mouth twitched slightly in amusement and he ripped off a piece of the paper Vernon had given each of us. He turned to the front and threw the balled up paper towards the preps, making it fly over the Prom Queen's head. Then he dropped his head and put his hands down before starting to sing the riff from the song 'Sunshine of Your Love' by 'Cream' and did the air guitar. My nails unconsciously started tapping against the side of the wooden chair in time with him and the familiar tune, and he turned to look at me in surprise, but carried on singing.

I heard Princess mumble something to Mr. Perfect, but then suddenly Bender stopped singing and gave out an exclamation of "Oh shit." My fingers stopped tapping and I looked at him in confusion as he looked around at the others and said "What are we supposed to do if we have to take a piss?" I smiled slightly at that, but then became confused again. This certainly wasn't the first time Bender had been given a detention, everyone knew that, so he obviously had to know what happened if anyone wanted a piss. When he started unzipping his pants and said "If you gotta go, you gotta go," I realized he was just messing and laughed. I heard the Princess say "Oh, please" in the background, meaning his plan was working.

He leaned his chest against the table as the others turned around to look at him and Princess said "Oh my God," before turning back around in her seat. Honestly, how can someone be so prissy?

"Hey, you're not urinating in here man," Andrew commented, still looking at Bender.

Bender quickly replied with "Don't talk, don't talk, it makes it crawl back up."

I laughed loudly and moved my chair around so that I straddled it and rested my forearms on the back of it. It was admittedly facing John. I mean, Bender. Fuck.

"You whip it out and you're dead before the first drop hits the floor," Andy commented, making me smile slightly.

Bender made a small noise in the back of his throat and said "You're pretty sexy when you get angry," before giving out a sort of growl. My slight smile had now turned into a full out grin. He sat up and released a breath as Andy turned around to face the front again. I saw him look at the Princess before turning to Brian and saying "Hey, homeboy. Why don't you go close that door; we'll get the Prom Queen impregnated." He had turned around to look at the Princess again, obviously expecting a reaction from her, which he got in the form of a glare.

"Aw, you don't wanna get me impregnated?" The words were out before I even knew I'd opened my mouth. Everyone turned to look at me in surprise, but I just smirked, laughing internally. They probably thought I was some sort of slut now, oops.

Bender was the first to recover to his natural, cocky self and replied with "Well, if you're offering…" to which the Queen Bee scoffed and I grinned.

"Hey." Andy said, looking at Bender, who wasn't paying attention to him and was still staring at me as I stared right back into his dark eyes. "Hey!" he said louder, finally breaking our gaze and making Bender let out a frustrated "What?"

"If I lose my temper, you're totalled man."

Bender suddenly gained a surfer dude accent and mockingly said "Totally?"

Andy still looked completely serious and repeated "Totally." I was pretty sure he was only saying this for the Princess, seeing as they were from the same clique and his sneer at me from before meant he wasn't exactly a fan of mine.

Queen Bee probably wanted some attention and broke up the guys' stare by saying "Why don't you just shut up? Nobody here's interested." She said this while giving John a disdainful look. Shit, I mean Bender… who now had a mock hurt look on his face, before it went back to normal and Andy said "Really. Butt face."

"Butt face?" I whispered to myself, disappointed in the very childish insult.

Bender looked at me from the corner of his eye with a twitch of his lip before he went back to staring at the Queen. Then he turned to terrorize 'Sporto' and asked him what he did to get in here.

"Forget to wash your jock?"

Brian said something about finishing our papers like the nerd he was, but I was more interested in the guys' conversation. Well, I was always interested in whatever Bender did, really, mainly due to the fact that he had an awesome sense of humor and loved pissing people off, which was hilarious to watch.

"Look, just because you live in here, doesn't give you the right to be a pain in the ass, so knock it off," said Andy, raising his voice slightly at the end, obviously already feeling the frustration that comes whenever talking to John Bender.

"It's a free country," Bender said pretty quietly and nodded at Andy like he was a child.

The Princess was looking at Andy and said "He's just doing it to get a rise out of you. Just ignore him." She was absolutely right, but she said it with her uptight attitude and in a 'know-it-all' voice, as if she was actually smart.

However, I was suddenly distracted when John flicked his hair out of his face and called out a "Sweets" to the bitch, bringing me a flash of jealousy with the term of endearment, even though I knew it was just to piss her off.

Then he smirked, and fuck me if that wasn't sexy, and said "You couldn't ignore me if you tried," like he was sure of himself and I was pretty sure of that statement as well. I didn't see Queenie's reaction because I was too busy staring at Bender and imagining doing all sorts of things to him. Damn, my hormones were acting up already? I guess Bender can just get that reaction from people, no matter the time of day. Or maybe I just really needed to get laid. I was still a virgin, but I was seventeen and had always had a pretty high libido and creative imagination. I was seriously considering not even getting a boyfriend and just doing it with some hottie who wouldn't acknowledge my presence the next day, to get out my frustrations: both sexual and personal. But then on other days I would realize that that's a stupid idea and I should wait until I fall in love with someone. Today was obviously not one of those days. In fact, if anything, it was one where my sexual desires were exceptionally high… meaning I'd be flirting a little bit, which I usually wasn't into.

"You're staring, sweetheart."

His voice made me snap out of my day dreaming and I realized that Bender was facing me and I had been staring for who knows how long. I flushed a little, not only because I'd been caught, but because the term 'sweetheart' was one of my favorites and he had used it on me. I leaned back slightly, my hands coming to rest in the space between my black-skinny-jean-clad thighs as I continued to stare at him. We did that a lot now.

"So." He said, before turning away to look at the Populars and saying more brightly "So! Are you guys like boyfriend, girlfriend?" to which he got no response. "Steady dates?" Again. "Lovers?" I snapped out of my daze and smiled at that one, realizing that he was once again trying to piss the preps off.

His voice took on an almost childish tone that disappeared at the end of his remark "Come on, Sporto, level with me. Do you slip her the hot, beef in-jec-tion?"

I sniggered as the preps both turned around, shouting, causing Bender to give out an adorable short laugh and Vernon to call out about what was going on. I could see Allison smiling as well, although more discreetly than I was, before Andy turned to face the front, muttering "Scumbag" under his breath. Well, it was better than butt face.

Bender stood up and walked past me, the chain on his trousers jangling, pointed at the door and said "What do you say we close that door? We can't have any kind of party with Vernon checking us out every few seconds," and jumped up on the wooden railing behind me, in line with the table that Princess and Mr. Perfect were sitting at. I turned my chair slightly so I could follow what he was doing and see the preps' reactions.

Brian pointed out that it had to stay open and I rolled my eyes as Bender said "So what?"

Andy spoke up, "So why don't you just shut up? There's five other people in here you know."

"God, you can count. See, I knew you had to be smart to be a… a wrestler."

I raised my eyebrows a little at this, wondering how I didn't know that Andrew Clark was on the wrestling team. Although I guess I stopped gossiping about a year ago when I lost my so-called friends to the popular crowd.

Then I realized the irony in calling him 'Mr. Perfect', that being the name of a wrestler from the WWF (World Wrestling Federation) – I was sort of into it because of my older brother, but only because they did cool moves and didn't actually fight. I wasn't such a huge fan of real wrestling or boxing.

I was brought back by Clark's retort, "Who the hell are you to judge anybody anyway?" He was obviously stinging a little in embarrassment from Bender's comment and was trying to stay indifferent. Princess then had to butt in with a "Really," agreeing with Clark.

"You know Bender, you don't even count." I sat up a little straighter in my chair at this remark, feeling a deep stirring in my chest and slowly dragged my eyes to Clark. "You know if you disappeared forever, it wouldn't make any difference." John looked up, away from Clark's stare, while I openly glared at the jerk. "You may as well not even exist at this school." He said it so casually in his stupid, jock voice that I stood up and un-straddled the chair, outraged, seeing John's genuine hurt look.

"You fucking asshole! You shut your mouth before I make you," I said threateningly, placing my hands on the desk in front of me and leaning forward, glaring at him menacingly. I didn't think about the fact that he was wrestler and could easily fuck me up if he wanted to, but I was pretty strong for a girl and wouldn't mind landing a few punches on him. Not that I regularly had fights or anything; in fact, I'd never punched anyone in the face before. Well, at least I could give him a dead arm.

It was eerily silent as everyone stared at me in shock and I'd realized what I'd done. I had never really defended anyone like that before because there was never an opportunity that presented itself so clearly like this one did. Maybe my small crush on him was actually not as small as I thought and I had just been in denial. Because if I couldn't bear to see John being hurt then what did that say?

I also realized it was partly defending myself. As of last year, I had hardly any social life and had quickly, very quickly, dropped down near the bottom of the social ladder. So if Clark was saying this stuff to Bender, then he was practically saying it to me and I didn't quite like the truth in his cruel words.

Bender cleared his throat slightly, making me drag my eyes away from the Asshole and towards him. He quickly recovered from the shock and mockingly said to Asshole "Well, I'll just run right out and join the wrestling team. Maybe the prep club, too. Student council." During his suggestions, the two dicks laughed as if it was some silly joke, so I sat back down and continued glaring at the pricks.

"Nah. They wouldn't take you." Asshole said, and Bender responded with a fake "I'm hurt."

Queen Bee suddenly butted in again, probably feeling ignored and said "You know why guys like you knock everything?"

Bender turned to me and smirked slightly as I looked away from Asshole, and he said "Oh, this should be stunning," before turning back to the Princess.

"It's 'cause you're afraid."

I snorted at that. John Bender, afraid of joining a club? Like he'd even want to with all the assholes running around in them. He turned towards me again, obviously paying me more attention now that I'd openly defended him.

"Oh God, you Richies are so smart; that's exactly why I'm not heavy in activities," the sarcasm clear in his voice.

Princess carried on, however, in her 'know-it-all' voice. She had a look on her face as if she had him figured out completely. "You're a big coward." I crossed my legs Indian style on the chair, my 5'3" frame making it allowable, although my ass did hang a little off the edge of the seat. I rested my forearms on the back of the chair again and put my chin on top of them.

"See, you're afraid that they won't take you; you don't belong so you just have to dump all over it."

I wasn't buying it and by the look on John's face, neither was he. "Well… it wouldn't have anything to do with you activities people being assholes, now would it?" I raised my arm slightly as if to say 'thank you!', glad that he agreed with my inner thoughts, and he simply stared at me again.

"Well, you wouldn't know. You don't even know any of us." Her voice went a little higher when she said that and I stared at her distastefully before muttering out a quiet "Who's fault's that?"

"Well, I don't know any lepers either, but I'm not gonna run out and join one of their fucking clubs." Bender shot back as if talking to a child and the remark made me grin because he had a pretty valid point and it was funny.

"Hey, let's watch the mouth, huh?"

I scowled and said "Shut up," to Clark, looking at him like he was stupid, and he turned slightly to glare at me. I merely rolled my eyes.

Brian suddenly jumped in and told us that he was in the Physics club… okay.

Bender excused himself from his oh-so-important conversation and looked to Brian with a condescending look, asking him what he was babbling about, so Brian stated the three clubs that he took part in. Bender bent down slightly and looked at the Princess again, saying "Hey. Cherry." I sniggered because it was so obvious that she was indeed a full blown cherry. With her prissy attitude and her holier-than-thou nature, I would be surprised if she'd ever even allowed a guy to touch her on the waist. Though I imagine it wouldn't be from lack of trying from the guys. I mean she was the Princess of the school; everyone wanted to tap that.

"Do you belong to the Physics club?" He asked after glancing at me again, the condescending look he'd given Brian turning towards Cherry. That was my new favorite nickname for her, for sure.

"That's an academic club," Cherry responded with a voice that made it seem like it should be obvious that she wouldn't associate herself with one of those. I made a face at her. Even though she couldn't see it.

"So?"

Cherry paused for a moment and rolled her eyes like it was obvious, "So academic clubs aren't the same as other kinds of clubs," her voice taking on a higher pitch again.

"Ahh, but to dorks like him, they are." Hmm, true. "What do you guys do in your club?" John asked Brian, obviously trying to get the point through to Cherry.

"In Physics, well, we, uh, we talk about Physics, uh, properties of Physics," Brian responded.

"So it's sorta social. Demented and sad, but social. Right?" John said, his last word being directed to Cherry. She didn't respond and just turned to face the front again. I didn't relinquish my stare, however, and I'm guessing he noticed because he turned to look at me. We were staring at each other again, while Brian mumbled something about his club in the background.

Something Brian had said caught his attention and he broke the gaze, saying "Ya load up. Ya party," to him, as if they would actually do that in Physics club, I thought with a smirk.

Brian then clarified that they got dressed up, but never got high, and Cherry popped in with a "Only burners like you get high," to Bender. This comment didn't relate to me, seeing as I didn't do drugs or smoke weed, but I still glared at her for insulting John. However, I felt a little better as I saw him stare at her intensely and she looked away, seeming intimidated. Huh. Intimidated by a burner, hey?

Brian carried on rambling in the background; the kid obviously didn't know when to stop, and I looked to my left and saw Allison pointing a finger gun at him, with her pen in her mouth. She pressed her thumb down and I heard her pen click as she bit down on it, as if pulling the trigger. I sniggered slightly, because it was horrible, but explained my feelings for him right now perfectly. I didn't hear what Brian had said but I heard Cherry say "Sounds like you," with a little 'I'm better than you' smile, so it couldn't have been good.

"Look, you guys keep up your talking and Vernon's gonna come right in here. I got a meet this Saturday and I'm not gonna miss it on account of you boneheads," Clark said.

"Oh, and wouldn't that be a bite, huh?" Bender was shaking a little and made a noise as if he was in pain, saying "Missing a whole wrestling meet," obviously mocking him again, while Cherry glared his way.

And of course Asshole got offended again and said "Well you wouldn't know anything about it, faggot. You never competed in your whole life."

Bender was smiling a little, proud that he'd pissed Clark off again and carried on his mocking by saying "Oh, I know, I feel all empty inside because of it." He sounded like he'd been crying and it would have actually been believable if not for the smile that was still on his face. "I have such a deep admiration for guys who roll around on the floor with other guys," his tone back to normal.

"Ah, you'd never miss it," Clark said dismissively, "you don't have any goals."

"Oh, but I do," Bender said, getting a quick "Yeah?" in reply.

"I wanna be just like you," he said, pointing his finger at him in a patronizing way; then he looked away and said "I figure all I need's… a lobotomy and some tights."

I laughed a little and got off my chair, making my way towards the back table and sitting in the middle chair there. I couldn't keep still in the same place for too long around here, it got boring really quickly, even if the conversation was keeping me entertained.

Brian suddenly jumped out with a disbelieving "You wear tights?" to Clark, gaining a snigger from me.

He turned to him and said "No, I don't wear tights. I wear the required uniform."

"Tights," Brian and I said at the same time, receiving a glare and a "Shut up" from Asshole and a smirk from John and Allison.

There were sounds coming from the other side of the library doors and John snapped his head to look, before quickly jumping in the seat between Cherry and Asshole. He folded his hands on the table and sat straight, looking completely innocent. Except, it was John Bender, so if he was acting perfectly innocent, then he was guilty.

We watched Vernon leave his office and walk off somewhere as John made a long snorting noise and then a weird 'Woo' as he pushed his chair back. He marched towards the door and said "Young man, have you finished your paper?" in a strict tone after Brian had said that there wasn't supposed to be any monkey business. I smiled slightly and watched curiously to see what he was doing at the door. He checked the hallway before fiddling with the top of the door. What the hell was he doing? Breaking it? The door swung shut and I saw him place a screw in his pocket. I grinned suddenly; the guy was a professional trouble-maker. He quickly went back to his seat but I held my hand out before he could sit down, even though I knew he was itching to. He stared at my hand, confused, so I pointedly looked at his pocket. Vernon would know for sure that it was Bender who'd messed with the door and it'd just be easier if he didn't get caught out. He grinned suddenly and reached in his pocket, placing the screw in my hand, while everyone was shouting at him about what he had done and looking at the door, confused.

I took the screws, unsure of where to put them exactly because I didn't have any pockets in my jeans and I didn't fancy getting it lost in my boot, so I reached into my shirt and placed it in my bra. I hated putting things there, but it was small so it would be fine. I suddenly felt a soft pressure on my cheek and realized that John Bender had just kissed me on the cheek before quickly sitting down in his seat in front of me. I stared at the back of his head for a moment as he told everyone to shut up and that he knew what he was doing, before my blush hit me. John had just kissed me on the cheek. I felt a little giddy and tried to calm my heart and my blush when I heard Vernon yell out in the hallway.