"So," Bender began, looking around at all four of them. "SO. The gangs all here."
"What are you doing?" Claire hissed, mortified.
"Sporto, you got my glasses?" he asked, as if Claire hadn't even spoken.
"Oh, uh, yeah," Andy fished in the pocket of his letter jacket, producing Bender's sunglasses.
Mrs Collins cleared her throat.
"Uh, guys? I think we should just get on with the class," Brian muttered. "Y'know? This is... this is real important, and it's pretty... pretty uh... y'know, complicated stuff..."
Bender leant across, giving him a big, hearty slap on the back."Don't get your knickers in a twist Big Bry."
Recovering from the impact, Brian turned to the late arrival, bewildered. "What are you doing here?"
"Quite," Mrs Collins said, appearing in front of Bender's desk. "What are you doing here, Mr Bender?"
"Furthering my education," he replied, sitting up straight and picking up Claire's book (upside down).
She turned it the right way up for him, and Andy snorted.
"Is that so hard to believe, Sporto?" Bender asked with mock distress, turning to the back row again. "You two boyfriend-girlfriend now?"
"Mr Bender," the teacher pressed, less than amused.
"Do you mind? Andrew and Allison here need some relationship guidance from yours truly," he told her.
"Do you even belong in this class?" she demanded.
"Do you?"
"Answer the question, Mr Bender," she warned.
Folding his hands, Bender looked at her again, feigning shame. "No, Mrs Collins. Unfortunately I do not."
"Then why are you here?"
Bender shrugged. "Wanted a chat with my friends here."
The whole class was talking in hushed whispers now, all starting to fully notice the unlikely group at the back of the room.
"Hi," Bender said in his cheesiest voice, waving at them all as if he were some sort of politician, before turning back to Andy.
"Okay, out," Mrs Collins ordered, before he could engage in any further conversation with the jock.
"Do you mind? I've got the conch," he told her, gesturing to the Lord of the Flies book on the table in front of him.
"Very funny. Get out of my classroom immediately Mr Bender, unless you want to sit in it all day Saturday," she warned.
Smirking, Bender stood up, straightening his coat.
"Fine, fine. Don't have a coronary. Teachers," he sighed, dramatically. "You don't show up to school, they have your ass. You show up, and they refuse you an education. Very disappointing, I must say."
"Good bye Mr Bender."
Bender hopped over the desk and made his way back over to the door, before turning to look at the frustrated teacher again.
"About Saturday? You might wanna take that up with Vernon. You and he can fight over me. See you dorks later," he gave the four remaining members of his new-found gang a casual wave, disappearing back onto the corridor.
"Back to your books," Mrs Collins barked, clearly humiliated.
No body argued, and the class fell silent again.
Silent, except for the sound of Bender's voice echoing in the school corridors, belting out a rendition of Blondie's 'The Tide is High.'
Andy was laughing as quietly as he could, and even Brian looked like he was having a hard time containing it.
Claire bit back a smile, burying her head in the book. And Allison tore out another page of hers, folding it up and ramming it under the table leg to stop it from wobbling.