The clock read 7:55, Rebecca takes out a Tootsie Roll candy bar out of her pocket; opens it and eats it; Kit was playing with her overalls; Molly was cleaning her glasses; Samantha was daydreaming; Felicity found a string on her gown and starts wrapping it around one of her fingers, watching it turn purple.
As more time passed, Rebecca puts the candy bar wrapper in her shirt then plays air guitar; Samantha continued daydreaming and Felicity was drawing a picture of Jiggy Nye's horse named Penny. She shook her hair violently as dandruff fell onto the picture, making it look like snow.
A few minutes later, the five fell asleep.
Mrs. Ziminsky walked in and found the five girls sleeping with their heads on the tables.
"Wake up!" Mrs. Ziminsky barked.
The girls slowly raised their heads up slightly. "Who wants to get a drink of water?" Mrs. Ziminsky asked.
They all raised their hands.
At 10:12, Rebecca began tearing pages out of a library book and started throwing the pages around.
"That's really intelligent, you know," Molly remarked as she began stretching her legs on a nearby pole.
"You're right," Rebecca said as she continued to rip pages out of the book. "It's wrong to destroy literature." She took a quick glance at the author's name on the cover.
"And Mall-yay is such fun to read!" she replied, mispronouncing the name of the Muggle Frenchman's name.
"Mol-yare," Samantha corrected her, pronouncing his name correctly. She smiled at her.
"I love his work," Kit added. Rebecca tossed the remnants of the book at her and got up from her seat.
"Big deal," Rebecca replied, groaning. "Nothing to do when you're in a locked vacancy."
"Speak for yourself," Molly replied.
"Do you think I'd speak for you? I don't even know your language," Rebecca sneered.
Molly ignored her and turned to Samantha. "Hey, you're grounded tonight?" she asked her.
"I don't know. Aunt Grandmary said I was, but Uncle Gard just said to blow her off," Samantha replied.
"Addy is throwing a big party at her house. Her parents are from Philadelphia. Should be pretty wild."
"Yeah?" Samantha asked with interest.
"Yeah. Are you going?" Molly asked her.
"I doubt it," Samantha said.
"How come?" Molly wanted to know.
"Well, because if I do what my aunt tells me not to do, it's because my uncle says it's okay. There's like this whole big monster deal. It's endless and it's a total drag. It's like any minute, they'll get a divorce," Samantha explained to Molly.
"Who do you like better?" Rebecca asked, barging in.
Samantha looked up. "What?" she asked.
"You like your uncle better than your aunt?" Rebecca said.
"They're both strict," Samantha answered.
"No, I mean if you had to choose between them, I mean," Rebecca continued.
Samantha shrugged. "I don't know. I'd probably go live with my older sister. I mean, I don't think either one gives a shit about me. It's like they use me to get back at each other."
"HAW!" A voice exclaimed from the back of the room.
Everyone turned around to see where the voice had come from. The voice belonged to Felicity, who just sat in her seat, blowing some of her hair out of her eyes and grinning.
"Shut up!" Samantha snapped at her.
"You're just feeling sorry for yourself," Molly said.
"Yeah, well if I didn't, nobody else would," Samantha said.
"Aw, you're breaking my heart," Molly said mockingly.
"Honeybunch?" Rebecca asked Molly.
"What?" Molly asked irritably.
"You get along with your parents?" Rebecca asked.
"Well, if I say yes, I'm an idiot, right?" Molly told her.
Rebecca hopped off the desk and stood in front of Molly. "Well, you're an idiot anyway, but if you say you get along with your family, you're a liar, too."
Rebecca walked away from Molly. Molly glared at her. She followed her and gave her a light shove.
"You know something? If Mrs. Ziminsky wasn't here, I'd waste you," Molly told her.
Rebecca smirked. "Oh, really? Do you really think I'm afraid of you?"
Kit stepped in between the two girls. "Girls, come on," she said, trying to split them apart. Molly jerked away from Kit.
"I don't like my uncle, either," Kit said. "I don't get along with him because his idea of parental compassion is just, you know, wacko."
Rebecca looked at Kit. "Dork," she said. "You are a parent's wet dream, okay?"
"Well, that's the problem," Kit replied as Rebecca walked away from her.
Rebecca turned back around. "Look, I can see you getting all bunged up for them making you wear these kinda clothes. But face it, you're a Neo-Maxi-Zoom-Dweebie! What would you be doing if you weren't out making yourself a better citizen?"
"Why do you have to insult everybody?" Molly asked.
Rebecca groaned. "I'm being honest, honeybunch! I'd expect you to know the difference!"
"Yeah, well, she's got a name."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," Molly said. She turned to Kit. "What's your name?" she asked Kit.
"Margaret, my friends call me 'Kit'," she answered.
"See?" Molly said to Rebecca.
"My condolences," Rebecca said as she walked away.
"What's your name?" Samantha asked.
"What's yours?" Rebecca snapped.
"Samantha," Samantha answered.
"Sa-man-tha?" Rebecca explained.
"Samantha. It's a family name," Samantha explained.
"No," Rebecca disagreed. "Samantha's a fat girl's name."
"Thank you, but I'm not fat!" Samantha replied. And she wasn't, Samantha was very petite.
"Well not at present but I could see you really pushing maximum density!" Rebecca replied. You see, I'm not sure if you know this...but there are two kinds of fat people. There's fat people that were born to be fat, and then there's fat people that were once thin but they became fat...so when you look at them you can sorta see that thin person inside! You see, you're gonna get married, you're gonna squeeze out a few puppies and then, uh... " Rebecca began to mimic loud noises. Samantha gives her the fist.
"Oh, obscene gesture from such a pristine girl," Rebecca taunted.
"I'm not that pristine," Samantha scoffed, scowling at Rebecca.
Rebecca leaned closer to Samantha and gazed at her intently, face to face.
"Are you a virgin?" she asked. "I'll bet a million dollars that you are! Let's end the suspense. Is it going to be a white wedding?"
"Why don't you just shut up?" Samantha asked.
"Have you ever kissed a boy on the mouth? Have you ever been felt up? Over the bra, under the blouse, shoes off...hoping to God your grandparents don't walk in?" Rebecca continued.
Samantha stared at Rebecca, very upset. "You want me to puke?"
Rebecca continued her assault, "Over the panties, no bra, blouse unbuttoned, Annabelle's in the christmas ball past eleven on a school night?" Rebecca continued, undressing Samantha with her eyes.
Molly couldn't stand the embarrassment Rebecca was giving to Samantha anymore. Samantha looked ready to cry.
Molly stood up. "Leave her alone," she said.
Rebecca looked at Molly; Samantha as well.
"I said, leave her alone," Molly repeated as she walked towards Rebecca. She stopped by Kit.
"You gonna make me?" Rebecca asked, challenging Molly.
"Yeah," Molly said. Rebecca suddenly walked towards Molly and stood in front of her.
"You and how many of your friends?" Rebecca asked her.
"Just me, just you and me. Two hits," Molly confirmed. "Me hitting you, you hitting the floor. Anytime you're ready."
Rebecca goes to hit her but Molly dodges and wrestles Rebecca down on the floor.
"I don't wanna get into this with you, girl," Rebecca said.
"How come?" Molly asked, releasing her hold on Rebecca.
Rebecca starts to get up. "Because I'd kill you. It's real simple I'd kill you and your fucking parents would sue me and it would be a big mess and I don't care enough about you to bother."
"Chicken shit," Molly muttered as walked away and returned to her seat next to Samantha.
Rebecca pulled out an X-Acto Gripster knife, revealing its sharp blade. She sticks it into a chair. As she did, Felicity reached out and grabbed the blade when Rebecca or anyone had been looking.
"Let's end this right now. You don't talk to her, you don't look at her and you don't even think about her! You understand me?" Molly commanded.
"I'm trying to help her," Rebecca simply answered.
15 minutes later, as everyone had finally been seated, Charlotte walked in. Rebecca watched her.
"Kit, how you doing?" she said.
"Your mom works here?" Rebecca said to Kit then is embarrassed.
"Charlotte?" Rebecca asked. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure," Charlotte asked.
"How does one become a janitor?" Rebecca said.
"You want to be a janitor?" Charlotte said.
"No. I just want to know how one becomes a janitor because Molly here is very interested in pursuing a career in the custodial arts," Rebecca said.
Charlotte looked at Rebecca in disbelief. "Oh, really? You girls think I'm just some untouchable peasant? Peon? Huh? Maybe so, but following a broom around after jugheads like you for the past two years I've learned a couple of things. I look through your letters, I look through your lockers, I listen to your conversations, you don't know that but I do. I am the eyes and ears of this institution my friends."
She shook her head as she looked at her watch. "Oh, and by the way, that clock is twenty minutes fast."
As everyone else groaned, Rebecca smiled.
"Shit," Molly said.
At 11:30, Mrs. Ziminsky leaves her office. While she was gone, Rebecca began whistling a marching tune, which everyone else joined into as well. When Mrs. Ziminsky entered the room, Rebecca began whistling the tune of Beethoven's Fifth.
"All right, girls," Mrs. Ziminsky announced. "That's 30 minutes for lunch."
"Here?" Molly asked.
"Here," Mrs. Ziminsky confirmed.
"Well, I think the Cafeteria would be a more suitable place for us to eat lunch in, ma'am," Molly said.
"Well, I don't care what you think, Molly," Mrs. Ziminsky snapped.
"Um, miss? Excuse me, Mrs. Ziminsky, will milk be made available to us?" Rebecca asked.
"We're extremely thirsty, ma'am," Molly added.
"I have a very low tolerance for dehydration," Samantha said.
"I've seen her dehydrate, ma'am," Molly lied. "It's pretty gross."
Rebecca got up off her chair. "Calm down. I'll go get it," she said.
"Ah, ah, ah! Stop right there, Rubin!" Mrs. Ziminsky demanded.
Rebecca sat back down.
"You think I was born yesterday? Am I going to allow you roaming these halls?" she continued.
Mrs. Ziminsky looked around the room for a perfect candidate to fetch the drinks.
"You," she said, pointing to Molly.
Molly pointed to Samantha, wanting her to come with her. Samantha straightened her shoulders.
"And you," Mrs. Ziminsky finished, pointing to Felicity. Felicity wouldn't move, sitting in her same position towards the side.
"Hey! What's her name? Wake her. Wake her up. Come on, come on! On your feet, missy! Let's go! This isn't a rest home."
Felicity got up from her seat and picked up her picnic basket. She followed Molly.
"There's a soft drink machine in the teacher's lounge. Let's go!" Mrs. Ziminsky informed them as they left.
As the two of them walked down the hall, Molly began talking to her. Felicity hadn't said a word all day and she wanted to get something out of her.
"So, what's your poison?" she asked her idly.
Felicity didn't answer.
"What do you drink?" Molly asked again.
Felicity still didn't answer, Molly gave up. "Okay. Forget I asked," she said.
"Lemonade," Felicity answered.
"Lemonade? When do you drink lemonade?" Molly asked.
Felicity walked ahead of Molly. "Whenever," she said, shrugging.
"A lot?" Molly asked.
Felicity smiled. "Tons," she answered.
"Is that why you're today? Why are you here?" Molly asked.
"Why are you here?" Felicity snapped.
Molly leaned against the wall and looked at Felicity. "Well, I'm here because Miss LaVonda and my father doesn't me to blow my ride. Dad thinks I'm a winner. So is my mom. I'm not a winner because I wanna be one, I'm a winner because I got strength and speed. Kinda like a race horse. That's about how involved I am in what's happening to me," she answered.
"Yeah?" Felicity asked, not convinced. "That's really interesting. Now why don't you tell me why you're really in here?"
Molly shook her head. "Forget it!" she snapped.
