Chapter One
Getting into to school on a Saturday at 7:22am was Aideen Campbell. Aideen is your average sixteen-year-old, living with her foster family in Shermer, Illinois, attending Shermer High School. She has deep red hair and taupe-coloured eyes, with a porcelain complexion, freckles dusted across her cheeks and nose, and she stands at 5'3". Aideen is a quiet girl, and average in her studies, but is also a bit of an adrenaline junkie and frequently jumps in the car with her two older brothers – and her younger brother, occasionally – when they plan on driving over the speed limit, especially with the roof down on those rare sunny days they had so she could soak up the sun.
Having moved from her home in Ireland two years previously, Aideen had been somewhat of a novelty amongst her classmates, due to her accent. As with all others, Aideen found herself a part of a clique – though, unlike most, her clique did not truly exist. Aideen was a Loner; someone who could be a part of a clique, if she so wanted, but instead chooses to be by herself. She spends lunch alone, does not talk in class, and goes right home after school. Though this was not entirely by choice, as Aideen was too shy to go out of her way to befriend anyone, and often standoffish when addressed directly; she was, however, rather glad she didn't join a clique after seeing how such boundaries boxed people in.
Aideen was wearing a power-blue, strapless, crinkle-layered dress with a bubble-skirt that cut off a few centimetres off her knee. Over it was a cropped, acid-washed denim jacket, with the sleeves folded up to her elbows and the collar turned up. On her legs she wore over-the-knee white stockings and, over these, a pair of long black boots that laced with blue laces and reached her knees. She had black gloves on her hands and her hair was tied up in a high, curly ponytail with a white ribbon, her fringe falling over her forehead and almost into her eyes. Her ears were pierced with dangling silver lightning bolts and the only makeup she wore was bright red lipstick.
"I have such a deep admiration for guys that roll around on the floor with other guys," was what she heard as she approached the library. Slowing her pace, Aideen raised an eyebrow and turned, fully prepared to hightail it and leave the freaks in that room to their own problems.
"Glad you could make it, Miss Campbell," Principal Richard Vernon sneered as he slid out of his office, straightening his pale suit as he stood tall behind her. All noise from the library ceased for a moment and he coughed. "I suppose you have a good excuse for being," he paused to look at his watch, "twenty four minutes late."
"Actually," Aideen began, her Irish accent getting the whispers from the library to fire up as well as a scuffling of feet as someone ran to a chair, "I was only twenty two minutes late, but between your chattering and the off-putting conversation coming from the library, I guess the extra two minutes just tagged themselves on, sir," she smiled.
"An extra Saturday followed them, Campbell," Richard scowled. "Now get inside and find a desk," he ordered, marching behind her as the redhead slowly ambled through the open door. Aideen glanced up and took in the sight of the five other people in the room.
There were two sitting in the front row, closest to the door, that she recognised by their faces immediately. The Princess and the Athlete – popular kids that she didn't wish to spend her time around, detention or not. In the row behind them sat a Criminal that looked like he'd much rather be sitting on the streets outside his house, setting ants on fire with a magnifying glass. The other set of desks found a weedy Nerd who looked eager to impress, sitting straight and respectfully, as well as a Basket-Case girl in the back with a large coat, sat facing away from everybody else.
"Great," muttered Aideen under her breath as she swung her bag off of her shoulder and slumped down in the front row, in the seat furthest from the door, all the while plastering Principal Vernon with a glare.
"You will remain here," he lectured her, "lest a more fitting punishment for you be carried out."
"Why don't you just do it, then?" she frowned, leaning back and putting her feet up on the desk, her boots hitting the wooden surface hard and leaving dirt on the once clean area. "Go on, Richie, be a man for once."
"Don't test me, young lady," he warned, pointing a finger at her as he tapped her boots. Pulling them lazily off the desk, Aideen swept her arm over the wood to clear it of the dirt and rested her chin on her folded arms in front of her. "You will sit still, in silence, and write an essay about who you think you are; is that clear?"
"No," she said, shaking her head. The Principal sighed and crossed his arms, pinching his nose.
"What don't you understand?" he asked her.
"What do I write on?" asked Aideen, sitting up and gesturing to her empty table with a genuine annoyance. A snort of laughter was heard from one of the five people behind her – Aideen suspected the Criminal – as Principal Vernon grumbled and went to his office to fetch a piece of paper and a pen.
"One thousand words," he told her, slamming the writing tool down on the desk, soon followed by a piece of lined paper. "No talking, no getting up, and no funny business. Do you get it now?"
"Yes, sir," she replied meekly, pushing the equipment to the side and resting her head on her arms, which were again folded in front of her.
"Silence, no moving, no funny stuff," he said slowly and angrily.
"Got it," the redhead replied, burying her face in her arms. As soon as the Principal was gone, she took the cap off the pen and starred down at her piece of paper, an idea forming in her mind. "I am," she said aloud as she wrote down her words. Five pairs of eyes on her back prompted her to pause, "being stared at," the girl continued, capping the pen and twisting in her seat. "Can I help you? Umm, any of you?" the girl frowned.
"Why're you so late?" the Princess asked her, a thoughtful wrinkle between her brows as she considered this newcomer to the group in Saturday detention.
"My business is my business," she told her stiffly, turning back in her seat to face the front of the room. Pushing the paper and pen away from her, Aideen decided to not try and write anything else.
"I've decided something!" announced the Criminal, jumping out of his seat and walking quickly to the railing beside the desk of the Jock and the Princess. "You have inspired me here today, Sporto; so much so that I wanna be just – like – you," he smirked mockingly. "I figure all I need's a lobotomy and some tights!"
"You wear tights?" asked the Nerd, stifling a laugh as his image of the 'Cool Jock' dropped a few pegs. Aideen rolled her eyes upwards and stifled her laughter.
"No I don't wear tights," denied the Jock, glaring angrily between the Criminal and the Nerd, "I wear the required uniform."
"Tights," the Nerd decided lightly.
"Shut up!" Jock-boy yelled defensively. The Basket-Case in the back smirked at his weak retort and continued scribbling away on her piece of paper.
Suddenly, Aideen heard Principal Vernon moving around out in the hall. Judging by how quickly the Criminal leapt into the empty seat between the Jock and the Princess, he heard him too. He folded his hands on the table, attempting to appear like an image of innocence. Aideen's eyes narrowed a little as she looked out of the doors, watching as their Principal left his office, wiping his hands down his suit, and walked down the hallway. As soon as his footsteps faded away, the Criminal sniffed loudly in the back of his throat.
"Whoop," he cheered loudly, and mockingly, as he left his seat and walked briskly towards the double doors that separated the library from the hallway.
"You know there's not s'posed to be any, ahh, monkey business," the Nerd spoke up nervously. Aideen turned and gave him a curious look – wondering if he actually cared – as the Criminal twisted on one foot and pointed at the weedier boy as he walked backwards.
"Young man," he said in a sarcastically stern voice, "have you finished your paper?" he continued as he turned back away and went to the doors. After looking down the hallway cautiously, he stood on his toes and reached up, removing a screw from the door.
"C'mon, Bender, don't screw around," warned the Jock. Aideen looked between him and the Criminal, mentally filing away the name 'Bender' – she knew it was likely a surname, rather than his given name, but it was still something to call him other than 'Criminal'. All Aideen hoped was that it wasn't some sort of insulting nickname.
"What are you gonna do?" yelped the Princess, her hands on the desk as she leant forwards to see what he was doing.
"Drop dead, I hope," cut in the Jock needlessly. Aideen tilted her head forwards and watched Bender tinker with the door, only looking away to observe the Nerd as he spoke.
"Bender, that's – that's school property there," said the Nerd, "you know, it doesn't belong to us. It's something not to be toyed with."
"Look at him," Aideen sighed as she gestured to the Criminal. "Messing with school property is probably what got him in 'ere in the firs' place."
"I'll try not to take offence to that, Angel Face," Bender smirked. Her face turning a little pink, Aideen moved her eyes back to her desk as the teenage boy pulled away from the door. It slammed shut and he quickly ran back to his seat, trying to act natural.
"That's very funny," said the Jock sarcastically. "Come on, fix it!" he ordered.
"You should really fix that," noted the Nerd, not ordering him but trying, in a nervous, frightened way, to pressure the Criminal into doing as he was told.
"Am I a genius?" asked Bender, giving his fellow detention-mates a sardonic, half-smile.
"No, you're an asshole!" corrected the Jock.
"What a funny guy!" he mocked, putting on a voice to further the insult.
"Fix the door, Bender!" yelled the Athlete.
"Everyone, just shhh!" commanded Bender, moving his hands down to further his point as he looked around them all.
"What was the point in that, exactly?" sneered the Princess. Aideen, twisting yet again in her seat and wondering why she chose to sit in the front, turned to see the Criminal's reaction to the question posed by the 'Queen Bee' of the school.
"I've been here before; I know what I'm doing!" assured Bender. He grinned, winking at Aideen as she gulped and faced the front of the room again, this time determined not to turn around.
"No!" yelled the Jock, "Fix the door; get up there and fix it!"
"Shut up!" screamed the Criminal, angry that the Jock was going to ruin his plan.
"God damn it!" cursed Principal Vernon as he opened the door and stormed in the room. All eyes fell on him as Bender folding his hands in front of him – the picture of innocence. "Why is that door closed?" he demanded. For a few seconds, no one said anything, and they just stared at Principal Vernon. "Why is that door closed?" he tried again, his eyes on Bender as he pointed to the now-closed-again door.
"How're we s'posed to know?" asked Bender, shrugging inoffensively, "We're not s'posed to move, right?" he smirked and the Principal turned to the Princess, who looked stunned.
"Why?" he said curtly. For a moment, the Princess looked as though she would rat Bender out, but she then composed herself.
"We were just sitting here," she assured him, "like we were supposed to." Not finding the answer he was hoping for, Principal Vernon scans the room and his eyes fell on Aideen.
"You know who did it," he accused, "and I know you do. You will tell me; now!"
"Tell you what?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You know what," the Principal yelled, causing the girl to jump a little in her seat.
"Aww, leave the poor kid alone," Bender cut in.
"Shut up," snapped Principal Vernon. "Miss Campbell, you will tell me who closed that door," he demanded, "Now!" he shouted, once again causing her to jump a little.
"I don't – I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "Maybe it's an old door and something just came loose?" the girl suggested. Still not getting answers, and knowing she would give him none, Principal Vernon paced away from her and turned to Bender, who was grinning easily now that he knew he wasn't being ratted out.
"Who closed that door?" he demanded hotly.
"I think a screw fell out of it," suggested Bender 'helpfully'.
"It just closed, sir," the Jock assured him in a defeated tone. Getting nothing out of those who were looking at him, Principal Vernon looked towards the Basket-Case in the back.
"Who?" insisted Richard; his voice was firm and angry. Not speaking, the Basket-Case let out a squeak as she slammed her face onto the table, hiding in her jacket hood.
"She doesn't talk, sir," recovered Bender, being the first to snap out of his freaked-out stare in return to her noise.
"Give me that screw," demanded Principal Vernon, glaring at Bender.
"I don't have it," he lied, shaking his head with a shrug.
"You want me to yank you outta that seat and shake it out of you?" threatened the Headmaster.
"I don't have it," insisted Bender more firmly, but still with the light tone of innocence. Aideen stifled a laugh as he continued, "screws fall out all the time; the world's an imperfect place..."
"Give it to me, Bender," demanded the Principal, his tone stating that he would take no more.
"Excuse me, sir," cut in the Princess, "why would anybody want to steal a screw?"
"Watch it, young lady," the Principal warned, turning to her and pointing his finger at her. After believing her to be suitably cautioned, Principal Vernon went over to the door and tried to keep it open by putting a folding chair in front of it; peeking out from under her hood, the Basket-Case watched the show.
"The door's way too heavy, sir," stated Bender, a smirk hidden under his tone; Aideen turned to look at him, but she quickly looked away when he met her glance. She gave her third frightened jump of the day when, despite the chair, the door slammed loudly shut, closing the chair and Principal Vernon in the hallway.
"God damn it!" cursed their Principal again. They all stifled laughter as he opened the door again and came back inside, trying and failing to look composed as he pointed at the Jock, "Andrew Clark, get up here," he ordered, snapping his fingers. "Come on, front and centre, let's go." Jumping up from his seat, the newly dubbed 'Andrew' rolled his eyes and walked over to Vernon.
"Hey," complained Bender as Principal Vernon and Andrew began attempting to move the steel magazine rack in front of the door, "how come Andrew gets to get up? If he gets up, we'll all get up; it'll be anarchy!" he preached, waving his arms to further express his point.
"Okay, now, watch the magazines," cautioned Principal Vernon as Andrew moved to get back into the room, having been trapped outside by the newly placed rack.
"It is outta my hands, I'm afraid, Angel Face," he said to Aideen. The girl turned upon recognising her nickname, hearing him talking as though she had asked him to stop them.
"Huh?" she muttered in confusion. No one helped out the poor, confused girl as Bender continued.
"That's very clever, sir," he said slowly as if he were speaking to a child, "but what if there's a fire?" he asked, seeing a look of realisation cross the Principal's face. Aideen looked between the two, now sat sideways in her seat, "I think violating fire codes and endangering the lives of children," he said, looking between the Basket-Case, the Nerd, and Aideen, "would be unwise this juncture in your career, sir."
Cogs turned in Principal Vernon's head as he considered Bender's words, finally realising that he was right. Clenching his jaw, he turned to Andrew, frowning as he raised his head and accused the Jock of moving the rack. Smothering her laughter in her gloves, Aideen's eyes twinkled as she watched the Principal make Andrew move the rack back to where it was in the first place. Bender leaned back in his chair, seemingly satisfied until the Nerd spoke up again.
"You know," he began, "the school comes equipped with fire exits at either end of the library," the boy reminded them as he pointed at said exits while Bender said straight and glared at him.
"Show Dick some respect!" he said as though he were shocked, though really he was just being a smart-aleck. Andrew and Principal Vernon came back into the main section of the library, the latter acting as though he were punishing the Jock.
"Let's go," he muttered, pushing Andrew forwards. "Go; get back into your seat," he grumbled as Andrew sat down as he was told. "I expected a little more from a varsity letterman!" he continued, still content with blaming the entire incident on Andrew. He turned to Bender and continued, "You're not fooling anybody, Bender! The next screw that falls out is gonna be you!" he warned before he turned to leave.
"Eat my shorts..." whispered Bender under his voice, but Principal Vernon heard him. He spun in his tracks and faced Bender again.
"What was that?" he growled lowly, still keeping his composure as the 'adult' despite his rising anger.
"Eat – my – shorts!" repeated Bender loudly. He and Principal Vernon then carried out a rather comical situation of the Principal assigning Bender another Saturday detention for everything he said that contained even an ounce of attitude. Aideen watched as Bender's face morphed from sarcastic to angry, and then finally a little lost – it were as though all he knew how to do was get himself into even more trouble.
"You through?" asked the Principal.
"How many is that?" questioned Bender, the lost expression disappearing and instead being replaced with a look of conceitedness that made it impossible for Aideen to feel sorry for his lost weekends.
"That's seven," the Nerd cut in, trying to be helpful, "including the one when we first came in and you asked Mr. Vernon here whether Barry Manilow knew that he raided his closet." Hearing this, Aideen took one look at the Principal and snorted with laughter, causing him to whip around to her.
"Now it's eight," he said to her, causing a look of shock to come across her face as he turned to the Nerd. "You stay out of it," he warned.
"Excuse me, sir, it's seven," corrected the Nerd, holding up seven fingers as he did so, "It's just that she's got one now, well two after the one you gave her when she came in late, but he's still only got s...seven."
"Shut up, Peewee!" yelled the Principal before turning to Bender and walking back around to the front of the room, "You're mine Bender; for two months I gotcha," he said, holding up his hand with his index and little fingers extended and he twisted it so that the back of his hand faced Bender, "I gotcha!"
"What can I say?" the Criminal sneered, "I'm thrilled!"
"Oh, I'm sure that's exactly what you want these people to believe," he began in a less-than-impressed tone, "You know something, Bender? You ought to spend a little more time trying to do something with yourself and a little less time trying to impress. You might be better off," he suggested.
"Yeah, right," scoffed Bender under his breath, and this time the Principal ignored him in favour of addressing the entire gathering.
"All right, that's it! I'm going to right outside those doors. The next time I hafta come in here," he warned as Bender mouthed his next words, attitude oozing from him, "I'm cracking skulls." Everything seemed to move in slow-motion as Principal Vernon turned and went to the door. He opened the door, giving the teenagers one last look before he left, the door closing behind him.
"Fuck you!" screamed Bender as the door slammed shut, half of the sound of his roar being muffled by the wood meeting the frame. He frowned and repeated those words, quieter, and Aideen turned back to look at the clock. It read 7:45, causing Aideen to sigh and shake her head; if that was only fifteen minutes, she didn't want to think how long it would feel to get to 4:00pm.
Aideen shrugged off her denim jacket, folding it over the chair behind her. As she did so, she looked at the others to see what they were doing. Bender had lit his shoes on fire and was now in the process of using said flame to light his cigarette. The Princess was sat with her head leaning on her hand, a dream-stolen look on her face as she starred at nothing. The Nerd had pulled his hat onto his lap and was focusing a little too much attention on his desk. The Jock was playing with the drawstrings on his sweatshirt. The Basket-Case was wrapping a piece of thread around her finger, making it turn purple. Turning her eyes back to Bender as he used his gloved palm to bat out the flames on his foot, she caught his stare and turned around sharply.
"Keep turning and your neck'll start to ache, Sweetheart," she heard him call to her and she bit her lip, tilting her head and looking at the wooden desk in front of her. A paper football hit the floor ahead of her desk and Aideen heard the Jock cheering quietly, under his breath, and her eyelids started to droop.
"Wake up!" someone yelled and Aideen's eyelids fluttered. Her forehead was on the cool wood of the desk and she felt groggy as she opened her eyes. "Who has to go to the lavatory?" the same voice asked and she, along with everyone else, raised her hand.