Chapter One
Walking into the library, I brushed right passed Vernon, not sparing anyone a glance as I made my way to the far back table behind John Bender, who practically lived in detention. I could feel the others watching me as I plopped down in my seat, dropping my book-bag down by my feet. Looking up, I gave them all a fierce look, which got them to turn around. Except Bender. "You're late, Weathers."
I rolled my eyes at Vernon's attempt at intimitation. "Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Dick. I'll let you know when I start caring, okay?" I noticed Bender still looking back at me, a smirk on his face as he eyed my clothes - a grey crop top with a pair of high-waist, stonewashshorts. Not very suitable for the weather, I know, but I was going through hot flashes for some reason. I clenched my fists, shooting him a death-glare, but all he did was continue to smirk as he looked away from me. I hated the school dress code and the prissy way some of the girls dressed, but that's not why I was in detention. Not even close.
"That's two more detentions - one for your tardiness, and one for your sass." I sucked my teeth, looking away. Marcus wasn't gonna like hearing that.
At that moment, the prissy-looking redhead girl up front raised her hand and said in an 'I'm so innocent and sweet' tone, "Excuse me, sir? I think there's been a mistake." I couldn't help but scoff, and Bender, who heard me, glanced at me from the corner of his eye, but I ignored him. "I mean, I know it's detention, but, um...I don't think I belong here."
Vernon ignored her, glancing down at his watch. "It is now 7:06. You have exactly eight hours and fifty-four minutes to think about why you're here. To ponder the error of your ways..."
At that moment, Bender let out a hacking sound and leaned back in his chair, spitting up into the air before catching it back in his mouth. Red, who had seen the act, gasped with a nauseated look and quickly whipped around while I stared at him with a grimace. "That...is disgusting." He looked back at me an winked, causing me to roll my eyes at him.
"...and you may not talk," Vernon continued, ignoring Bender's actions. "You will not move from these seats. And you..." he approached Bender and yanked the chair out from under his feet, "...will not sleep."
"Will we be getting our one phone call?" I asked sarcastically before I could even think, and I smirked when Vernon gave me a sharp glare.
"That's another detention, Weathers. Keep it up, you'll be stuck in that seat for the next month." I huffed a bit and slouched in my seat, knowing I was going to be in so much trouble when I got home. Vernon began passing out papers and pencils. "Alright people, today we're going to be doing something a little different today. We are going to be writing an essay of no less than a thousand words describing to me who you think you are."
"Is this a test?" Bender asked him, putting his feet on his desk, but Vernon paid him no mind.
"And when I say essay, I mean essay. I do not mean a single word repeated a thousand times. Is that clear, Mr. Bender?"
"Crystal," the boy replied, absentmindedly. He wasn't even looking at Vernon as he addressed him.
"Good. Maybe you'll learn a little about yourself. Maybe you'll even...decide whether or not you care to return."
The scrawny blonde boy sitting opposite Bender raised his hand and stood. "I can answer that right now sir. That'd be 'No', no for me, 'cause..."
Vernon snapped at him, "Sit down, Johnson," and he quickly did, mumbling a "Thank you, sir," as he did so. "My office," he pointed across the hall as he said this, "is right across the hall. And monkey business is ill-advised." His eyes flickered between myself and Bender as he said this, and I just held myself back from giving him the One-Finger Salute. "Any questions?"
No one said anything, and he prepared to leave, stopping short when Bender opened his mouth. "Yeah, I got a question." Vernon eyed him suspiciously, and I couldn't help but be curious of what he was going to say, no doubt something smart. "Does Barry Manilow know you raid his wardrobe?" Though so.
"I'll give you the answer to that question, Mr. Bender, next Saturday. Don't mess with the bull, young man, you'll get the horns," he replied, pointing at Bender with his index and pinky, like the Devil Horns sign. With that, vernon turned on his heel and left us alone.
"What the hell does that even mean?" I whispered to myself about Vernon's analogy, if you could call it that.
"That man," Bender began, talking to no one in particular, "...is a brownie hound."
The room was quiet for a moment, until there was a loud snapping sound. I turned my head to the left, looking at the dark-clad girl sitting at the desk across from me. Her back was facing me, so I couldn't really tell waht she was doing, but from the sound of it, I had a pretty good idea of what it was she was doing; I used to have the same habit. I just looked back forward, noticing that everyone else was staring at her too. She stopped suddenly, noticing everyone's gaze, and looked back as if asking "What the hell are you looking at?", before continuing to bite her nails.
"You keep eating your hand and you're not gonna be hungry for lunch," Bender remarked, sarcastically, and the girl spit her nail at him. It didn't get far,but I had to give her props for that. "I've seen you before you know," he informed, before turning in his seat and looking at me, "...but I don't think I've seen you before. And trust me, Sweetness, I'd remember seeing you around." I made no move to awknowledge his statement, instead focusing on the sparkling diamond ring on my right ring finger, memories flowing through my mind. Bender stared at me for a beat before turning back around, probably to find something else to satisfy his need for attention. Thank God...
It got quiet again, everyone pretty much just sitting in there seats, staring inot space, when I heard the scrawny boy mumbling to himself and looked over at him. "Who am I? Who am I?" He was playing with his pen, sticking the cap to his bottem lip while the top was stuck under his top lip. "I am a walrus..."
The fuck..? I stared at him wierdly, Bender doing the same, before I turned away, shaking my head. White people, man, honestly. I grabbed my pencil and started doodling on my paper rather than doing the essay. I mean, why would I? I know who I am, I wasn't about to explain who I was to a dick like Vernon. Knowing him, he won't even read these dam things.
My attention was severed from my drawing of a heart with wings as Bender, being obnoxious as ever, began 'singing' loudly, pretending to play the gutiar as he did. "Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah...nah, nah, nah..."
Up front, I herd Red mutter to herself, "I can't believe this is happening to me..."
"Deal with it, princess; just because your daddy owns half the city doesn't excuse you from punishment," I called out to her, and she turned around to give me a dirty look.
"Why don't you just shut up!? She exclaimed, her face beginning to match her hair.
Not liking her tone, I narrowed my eyes at her, leaning forward in my chair. "Why don't you come up here and make me, RED?" I challenged, the last part of my sentence said mockingly. I wasn't afraid to get into a fight i detention, especially with someone like her. I dragged bitches like she across the floor on a regular basis.
Before she could say anything else, our 'conversation' was interrupted by Bender, who had been humming his song the whole time, abruptly stopped. "Oh, shit!" I stared at him wide-eyed, actually thinking there was something wrong. He looked at all of us, meeting my eyes last, and smirked as he asked, "What are we s'posed to do do if we hafta take a piss?"
"Please..." the princess muttered as she turned back in her seat, her and the boy beside her - who I noticed was wearing a letterman's jacket, a jock apparently - having turned to look at Bender when he shouted.
"Really?" I sneered, disgusted by the question, and rolled my eyes at his stupidity. God, boys were clueless! Like Vernon would risk us peeing in his 'precious' library. Although, in Bender's case...
The boy shrugged nonchalantly and reached for his zipper. "If you gotta go..." I heard his zipper go down , and my eyes widened, "You gotta go!"
Oh, hell no...!
Everyone turned to look at him as he bent over his desk, a look on concentration on his face.
"Oh my God!" Red shouted, and I caught the look of horror on her face before she quickly turned back around. Probably never seen a guy's dick before.
The jock took a glance under the desk, checking if Bender was really doing it. "Hey, yer not unrinating in here, man!"
"Don't talk! Don't talk!" Bender demaned hastily, adding, "It makes it crawl back up!"
"You whip it out, you're dead before the first drop hits the floor!" The jock threatened.
"Seriously, that's fuckin' disgusting!" I agreed, and Bender straightned up, zipping his fly before spinning around in his chair to face my furious gaze, crossing his arms on the back of his chair.
He remained silent for a moment, just staring with this unrecognizable look in his eyes, before saying, "You're pretty sexy when you get angry...grrr!" He playfull growled and me, and my glare darked, along with something else. "Oh look, you can blush! Very interesting."
"Shut up, you dick! Why don't you bother someone else?" I hid my embarassment behind my anger, refusing to awknowledge the burning in my face. I can't believe I was actually blushing! Because of John Bender?! No way!
Bender pouted mockingly, resting his head on his arms and looking up at me through his bangs. "But it's so much fun to see you blush, Sweetness." Scoffing, I rolled my eyes and turned my head away from him, trying in vain to ignore his stare. "Hey, homeboy..." I heard him say to someone, but his eyes were still on me, "...why don't you go close that door. We'll get the prom queen and Sweetness here impregnated!"
My head whipped around so fast I was sure I gave my self whiplash, I glared at the boy's smirking face. I clenched my teeth behind my lips, my glare so harsh it was a miricle Bender wasn't a pile of ash tight now. I could see Red glaring at Bender's back, obviously just as pissed by his words. Leaning forward on my desk, I hissed at him "In your dreams, you perv! You couldn't even handle me if you tried."
Bender's smirk widened and he leaned forward as well. "You never know, babe - you offering or what?" His eyes drifted downwards, and I suddenly remembered what I had on. By leaning forward, the neck of my shirt lowered, giving Bender - and anyone else who was looking - a nice view of my C-cups breasts.
Sitting up quickly, I crossed my arms over my chest protectively and spat, "Got to Hell!"
"Hey!" The jock shouted, trying to get Bender's attention off of me as I tried hard to regain my composure under his unsettling stare. "Hey!"
"What?" Bender snapped with irritation, turning back around to face him, and I mentally sighed in relief.
"If I lose my temper, you're totalled, man!"
I couldn't see Bender's face, but I could tell he probably wasn't taking the jock's threat seriously. "Totally?" He mocked to jock.
The other boy leaned forward, staring Bender down and confirmed, "Totally."
Red, probably upset because no one was paying attention to her, jumped in. "Why don't you just shut up! Nobody here is interested!" she snapped at Bender, condescendingly.
Bender leaned back in his chair in a relaxed pose as he spoke to them, "I wouldn't say that. Me and Sweetness up there," his head jerked up in my direction, and Red, Jock-boy, and Scrawny looked at me, while Quiet Girl just peeked over, "...seem to really be hitting it off, wouldn't you say, babe?" The last part was directed towards me, and I growled in my throat.
"I'll say it again, Bender," I snarled, "Go. To. Hell!"
"And I'll be seeing you there!" I growled louder, causing him to smirk. "Keep doing that, babe; it really turns me on."
"You're sick," I spat at him.
"Really," Jock-boy agreed as he and Red turned back in their seats, "Buttface."
Bender addressed the jock, obviously trying to rile him up again. "Well, hey, Sporto! What's you do to get in here?" He was ignored, so he tried again. "Forgot to wash your jock?"
Just then, the scrawny blonde boy broke into the one-sided conversation. "Uh, excuse me, fellas? I think we should just write our papers..." he said, nervously. Poor boy, probably doesn't have a single bad bone in his body. Made me wonder how he got in detention...
However, he was ignored by the two other boys. "Look, just because you live in here doesn't give you the right to be a pain in the ass," Jock-boy bellowed at Bender, "...so knock it off."
Bender seemed to hesitate for a moment before bobbing his head and replying, "It's a free country."
Jock-boy quicly turned himself back around, and I could see his fists clenching on the table. I guess he was the type of person who tried his hardest to keep his temper in check. Maybe I should take lesson from him sometime.
"He's just trying to get a rise out of you," Red said to Jock-boy. "Just ignore him."
Bender flipped his hair back. "Red," she instantly looked over her shoulder at him, and he told her, "You couldn't ignore me if you tired." She simply rolled her eyes and turned back around, and Bender tipped his head back to look at me, that damned smirk on his face again. "And neither can you."
I just stared at him in reply, my mouth opening to utter but two words:
"Watch me."