CHAPTER 2:

"That man is a brownie hound," Bender said, nudging his head in the direction Mr. Vernon had disappeared in.

I just ignored him and set to work, shoving my hair behind my head so it wouldn't cover what I was doing.

Beside me, Brian was repeatedly putting his pen into his mouth, making the top enter his nose.

"Who do I think I am? Who are you? Who am I?" he muttered, still trying to shoot the pen into one of his nostrils. "I am a walrus."

I stopped working and turned to him with an amused look on my face. "Please elaborate why you are a walrus," I said, starting to laugh a little. He blushed and held the pen in front of me. "Well, this represents the tusk that hangs from a walrus' nose. So, yeah. I'm a walrus," he explained not-so-clearly.

I just nodded and turned my attention back to my own paper. Brian was still trying to convince himself that he was a walrus. It was starting to get annoying, since I couldn't come up with anything what with the ruckus he was making.

"Will you shut up?" I said as nicely as I could without making it obvious that I was starting to get pissed. Unfortunately, I said it a little too loudly. Claire's head whipped around, casting me a seething glare. "Do you mind?" she asked in an annoyed tone. I just shrugged and started to brainstorm for ideas.

Bender, on the other hand, seemed to have set his heart on pissing off just about every living being in the room. He crumpled up his paper, poised to aim, and threw it in the direction of Claire's and Andy's table. When he missed, he shrugged and started to play on his air guitar. Real loudly.

"I can't believe this is happening to me," Claire said, tapping her pencil on the paper.
"Uggh! Give it a rest, will you?" Andy said, brow furrowed and face set in a determined expression.

Just then, Bender groaned dramatically and everybody's head whipped around to look at him.

"Oh, shit! What're we going to do if we have to take a piss?" he said a little too innocently for my taste. I could see everybody's eyes widen in horror, making Bender smirk. He unzipped his pants and leaned forward so we couldn't have a decent view of his 'friend'. Not that I wanted to see it anyway.

"If you gotta go, you gotta go," he said while shrugging. Claire turned around in disgust, her delicate features scrunching up in disgust. "Oh my god," she muttered under her breath. Andy, on the other hand, was taking things a little too seriously. "Hey! You're not urinating in here, man," he hissed, eyes blazing and face set in an annoyed mask.

Bender shook his head and stage-whispered back, "Don't talk. Don't talk. It makes it crawl back up." Andy clenched his fist. "You whip it out and you're dead before the first drop hits the damned floor," he said again.

John zipped his pants up and gasped mockingly.

"Hey, homeboy," he said to Brian who had been watching the little scene unfold in shocked silence, "Why don't you close that door? We'll get the prom queen and the music freak impregnated."

"Hey!" Andy shouted. "Hey!"

Bender raised his eyebrows at him. "What?" he asked, slightly annoyed.
"If I lose my temper, you're totaled, man," Andy threatened. His fist was shaking a little.
"Totally?" Bender asked in mock surprise.
"Totally!" Andy agreed.

I sighed and stepped in, not wanting a fist fight to ensue.

"Both of you, shut the hell up! Nobody here's interested!" I snapped, glaring at the both of them.
"Asshole," Andy muttered, turning back to the front.
"Well, hey, 'Sporto'. What did you do to get in here? Forgot to wash your jack?" Bender teased further. It was clear that the dude was an asshole. He just didn't know when to shut up. I nudged Brian in the ribs. Thankfully, he understood. "Hey, fellas. I think we should just write our papers," Brian intervened, raising his hands as if communicating in a foreign language that needed hand gestures. "Look, just because you live in here doesn't mean you have the right to be a pain in the ass. So, knock it off!" Andy snapped at Brian, glaring at Bender at the same time.

Claire whispered something in Andy's ear, probably to calm him down, but he didn't listen.

Bender, who'd started to lose interest in Andy the minute he snapped at Brian, turned to me.

"What about you?" he asked with a nod in my direction.
"What did you do?" I asked testily, starting to get annoyed with the bickering.
"That's none of your business," he said, his lips pursed.
"Well, same goes to you," I said, turning around again to write something down.

Apparently, Bender wasn't finished. He was just getting started.

"It's a free country," Bender countered. Then, he cleared his throat. "So, uh, are the four of you, like, boyfriends and girlfriends?"

Me, Andy, Brian, and Claire looked at him.

Allison, on the other hand, was still lost in her own little world.

"Steady dates?" Bender continued. "Lo-vers?"

Andy's hand was curled into a fist again. And so was mine. I was starting to get pissed and I wanted nothing more but to pound this asshole. "Just forget it," Brian whispered under his breath, taking my hand and uncurling the fingers gently. He held my hand for a minute longer than was necessary and let go, blushing furiously. I smiled and nodded. "Yeah. We should just write our papers." He bobbed his head to show his assent and started to scribble furiously. Lucky him. He already had something formulated. I, on the other hand, was still looking down a blank paper.

Claire and Andy had calmed down, by then. They turned back to the front, bent their heads down, and started to scribble.

"C'mon, Sporto," Bender begged in a baby-ish tone. "Level with me. Do you slip her the hot beef injection?"

Simultaneously, Claire's and Andy's heads whipped around in Bender's direction. Shouts of "Enough!" and "Go to hell!" filled the empty library, making the sound bounce around a little louder than necessary.

"Hey!" Mr. Vernon shouted from his office. "What's going on in there?"

Everybody ignored him. Me and Brian heard him mutter "Smug little pricks" distinctly. I looked at Brian for assurance. "Yeah, I heard too," he said, still scribbling away. "Scumbag," Andy muttered. "I agree," I said out loud, making him look back at me and smile shyly. A squeaky sound came out of my mouth and I felt a blush spread from my neck to my cheeks. I was weird that way.

"Oh, so you like him, eh?" Bender said, pointing from me to Andy.

I shook my head furiously.

"Leave her alone, man," Andy mumbled, making me blush a little harder. Andy Clark was standing up for me? That was a first. Maybe this detention was a good thing, after all. "Then, why are you blushing?" Bender asked again, a cheeky grin forming on his face. "It's hot. I have really low tolerance when it comes to lack of coolness," I said lamely.

Low tolerance when it comes to lack of coolness?

Only a nerd like me would come up with a thing like that.