It was an early Saturday morning that found John Bender walking through the halls of Shermer High School, Shermer, Illinois. His footsteps echoed through the halls, ringing of the steel lockers.
Some of the students had pinned up pictures of pop stars and actors, their over made up, over edited glossy faces stared him down, challenging him to rip them down, tear them apart. Once upon a time, he might have, just to watch the cheerleaders and the teenie boppers give a hate – filled glare in his direction. Once upon a time, he reveled in pissing off those kinds of people.
Now was different, though. Very different.
He approached the closed double doors of the library and shook his head. Time seemed to rush him forward, but some things never changed. The same doors stood before him, still the same ghastly wood veneer.
The school as a whole had changed little over the past thirty odd years. The index cards in the library had been updated, of course. Shiny Mac PC's now filled the upstairs. Twenty – Four to a room, if he recalled correctly.
That monstrosity of a statue still held pride of place in the center of the library. He had filed several petitions already to have that thing removed, to no avail.
Finally taking a deep breath, he stepped into the library. At a table each sat 5 of the most different people he had ever seen in the one room together. No, that wasn't strictly true. He recalled a time long ago when five equally different people had sat in those same spots.
"Alright, let's not waste each other's time. You know why you are here; I know why you are here. I want each of you to write a thousand-word essay on how you have learned from what it is you have done." It was really the best he could think of on the spot. And at the end of the day, it had been what had helped him become the person he was today. John Bender circa 1985 would have hated the man he had become, that was certain.
"Ah, Sir, what if we are illiterate?" The boy sitting in the back corner of the seating area asked, a smug grin on his face.
Bender shook his head. The boy was dressed in torn jeans, an oversized tee shirt, and had enough metal in his face to give any security team an aneurysm. Regardless of his outward appearance, he was a smart kid, though. He had seen the boys school reports and hated how much of his younger self he saw in the kid. What was his name again? Adam? Andrew? Adrian! That was the one.
"That's fine, Adrian. Head up onto the computer lab and dictate it to the machine then. And for the record, I've disconnected the internet, so the porn sites are off limits."
"Sir, I believe there may have been a mistake somewhere." Another of the student body spoke up. She bore a striking resemblance to the woman he now called his wife that this girl could almost be his daughter. "Mrs. McKay may think it was me she caught smoking the joint, but really it was my friend. I am sure you understand why it is I can't be here."
"Megan, if I believed that for one moment, then you would not be sitting here. However, it would not be the first time you have been caught smoking pot in the girl's bathroom, and I am sure given your attitude it won't be the last." Were he and his era really this obstinate?
He took a proper look at the rest of the student body. Other than Adrian and Megan, he noticed the football captain sitting back in his chair, a cool look of utter arrogance on his tanned face. Michael was his name, and if his memory served him correctly he was responsible for organizing the gang beating of the new student at the school. While he was buck naked and just fresh from the shower. Hazing, he had called it. A long held and proud tradition when he was in middle school.
At the table next to Michael was Linda. She was a quiet but studious girl. Normally had her head in a book more often than causing trouble. However, she had been caught with a pack of razor blades in her school bag at the security entrance and had, in turn, received detention for it. Why she had them on her was anyone's guess, she refused to speak about it. So on top of the detention, she was having school enforced counseling sessions once a week.
Lastly, there was Cole. Again a quiet and studious boy, he had few friends and was often bullied. He could normally be found at lunch by himself on his phone looking up World of Warcraft strategy, or sorting through his Magic, The Gathering cards. Bender didn't even know why Cole was here. Must have been a last minute detention or something.
With a final glance around the room, he addressed the five students. "Don't forget, we have camera's right through this room. Any idiocy, and I am sure Mr. Johnson will come find me and let me know straight away."
He swept out of the library and leaned against the far wall. How had things come to this? When he had left school, he had promised himself he was studying education so he could be that cool teacher. That one that was nothing like Richard "Dick" Vernon, yet here he was, thirty years later, almost giving the same speech to kids not too different to how he used to be.
He swept into his office across the hall. What he really wanted was a cold beer and a cigarette. But he had quit the fags twenty-five years ago at the behest of Claire. She had been pregnant and hadn't wanted their child growing up around all those harmful chemicals.
The beer was another story. Technically there wasn't anything stopping him from going down to the staff room and grabbing a nice cold can of Bud, except for the fact he knew one would lead to five and he just knew that those five would double by the end of the day. It was much better to just wait until this blasted tradition of Saturday detentions was over and done with.
It wasn't five minutes later that Brian Johnson swept into his office and collapsed into the chair across from his desk. Again, Saturday tradition.
"You realize none of those kids are writing out that essay you set for them," He said with a smile. He crossed his ankles and plonked them onto the top of the chipped wood John Bender called a desk.
Brian had changed dramatically over the years. Where once he would have taken home the title of King Dweebus, now stood a 6'1" tank. After school, Brian had gone on to join the United States Marine Corps. Of course, the whole gang had laughed themselves stupid. He had come back after basic training four months later a virtual tank of muscle. He had retired from the Marine's ten years later with honors. He took a job with a security firm and never looked back. When John had been offered the spot of principle he had immediately offered his friend a position on the school's security team. Now the man headed the twelve security staff.
"Of course, they aren't. Let me guess, on their phones?"
Brian laughed. "What else? Oh and I think Adrian is shooting spitballs at that weird kid. Hard to tell on the grainy shit the school board insists is the latest in CCTV equipment."
"I think I might let them keep at it for a while, let them think they have gotten away with it." John leaned back in his chair and swung his own feet up onto the desk. He still couldn't believe where his life had taken him. All because of a chance encounter with the five best people he had ever met.
Brian just shrugged his shoulders. He was still a man of few words. However, it was no longer due to being shy, he just didn't speak unless it was needed.
After several minutes of silence, John stood up. "Well, I suppose I should go make an attempt of scaring those kids shitless a get them on to the essay I set them."
Brian laughed. "You know what, Bender? Adrian reminds me an awful lot about you when you were his age. Maybe make an attempt to go easy on the kid."
"Go easy on him?" He snorted. "If I go easy on him, he will remain a delinquent for the rest of his life."
"Do you really believe that? Do you think you would have remained a delinquent if Dick hadn't put us all into detention that day?" Brian quirked one of his eyebrows as he asked the question.
Bender shrugged. "Probably. Had nothing to do with Dick that I got my shit together. That was you guys who helped me."
Brian gave him a look that was more grimace than a smile. "Whatever you think is best, Boss Man." He tipped an invisible hat in his general direction.
John went out and stood in the hall, memories from thirty – five years ago filtering through his mind.
He knew Adrian came from a troubled home. Several meetings with HHS representatives confirmed that. The fact that he signed his own detention slips also attested to that fact. At least, the boy took responsibility for his actions, unlike himself at that age.
Originally intending on going into the library to confiscate the kids phones and set them back on task, he turned on his heel and stalked to the security office. Screens upon screens filled the room and in all their grainy black and white glory he could sit and monitor every single thing in the school.
He looked up to the monitor showing the five students in the library. It looked like Adrian was doing everything in his power to annoy Megan, and she was it seemed to do quite well in rebuffing him. He had another flashback to how he had treated Claire during their detention and smirked. This was going to be a detention these kids would never forget. He knew it.
He left the library and headed to the staff room. "Fuck it," He muttered as he grabbed a beer. He would sit here and get drunk until it was time for the kids to leave then he was going to go home to his wife, give her a toe curling kiss and let her know just how much he loved her.
The hours passed by and at some point, Brian had joined him in the room. They said nothing as the clock ticked by the hours. At one point they heard movement in the hallways. Brian went to stand and intervene, but John waved him back into his seat.
It didn't seem to take long until four, and John Bender was well and truly drunk. He didn't mind, though, it was a nice buzz and he had spent most of the time thinking.
He got up and swayed a little before steadying himself. "Suppose I better go dismiss the brats."
Brian just grunted as he took another mouthful from his beer.
John Bender walked through the halls of Shermer High School, Shermer, Illinois, and felt the weight of the world lift from his shoulders. He hoped that the kids still in the library had the same experience he did on a Saturday Detention thirty – five years ago. He hoped they learned the same lessons he did. He hoped they made lifelong friends in that room with that horrible statue.
He stood outside the wood veneered library door and sighed. The place would probably be trashed when he got in there, and he could already smell the pot coming from under the door.
He pushed open the door. The five of them were sitting there, in their original seats, a smug look of satisfaction clearly written on their faces.
"Alright, you're dismissed. I don't want to see any of you here on a Saturday again, am I understood?"
None of them spoke as they trailed through the door past him. However, he noticed the sly looks Adrian was giving Megan, and he noticed Michael was holding hands with Linda.
He walked over to Linda's table and picked up the note that had been left.
Dear Mr. Bender;
We know what you got up to when you were at school here as a student, it went down in legend. Did you not think it was bound to happen that the five of us, so different, yet so the same, could become what you did?
Do you want to know what we learned from what we had done? The same thing you did.
No matter what happens, while we are young, people will always see us as:
…A Brain…
…An Athlete…
…And a Basket Case…
… A princess…
… And a Criminal…
We know things will change when we grow older, but we will embrace the titles you have bestowed upon us.
Sincerely;
The New Breakfast Club