Maybe Brainiac's Aren't All That Bad – Chapter Three
A few minutes after Vernon had left Erin apologized to Brian for getting him another Saturday detention. He mumbled, "It's okay..." and only looked down at his paper. Erin sighed and tucked her arm under her head trying to think of what to write for her essay but, in actuality, she was slowly falling asleep...
"Wake up!" Erin flinched and slowly woke up. "Who has to go to the lavatory?" Immediately Erin raised her hand.
About 15 minutes later everyone was back in the Library. Erin was once again trying to work on her essay over the loud rips coming from John's destruction of a book. Her hand held her head up as she wrote.
"That's real intelligent." Andrew told him. Erin glanced up and saw that he was using the railing as a bar to stretch on. She caught John's eye and looked away quickly.
"You're right," John said as he tore more pages out. "It's wrong to destroy literature..." He tore more pages out. "It's such fun to read... and... Mo-lay really pumps my nads."
Erin realized who he meant and without looking up she corrected him. "Mol-yare."
John looked up at Erin and studied her with a flirtatious smirk. Sadly for Erin she didn't get to see. Claire on the other hand was giving her a dirty look for stealing what she was going to say. Erin didn't notice.
"I love his work." Brian said to fill the silence. John ripped a handful of pages out and whipped them at the Brain.
John picked up the card catalog and started rearranging things. "Big deal. Nothing to do when you're locked in a vacancy."
"Speak for yourself." Andrew mumbled.
John looked up. "Do you think I'd speak for you? I don't even know you're language."
Andrew gave John a look and turned to Claire. "Hey, you grounded tonight?" he asked her.
"I don't know, my mom said I was but my dad told me to just blow her off."
"Big party at Stubbies, parents are in Europe. Should be pretty wild."
"Yeah?" Claire asked.
"Yeah, can you go?"
"I doubt it."
"How come?"
"Well, cause if I do what my mother tells me to do it's because my father 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 – divorce."
"Who do you like better?" John suddenly asked. Erin glanced up and then back down, not wanting to get into a discussion about parents.
"What?" Claire asked.
"You like your old man better than your mom?"
"They're both screwed."
"No, I mean, if you had to choose between them."
"I don't know, I'd probably go live with my brother. I mean, I don't think either one of them gives a shit about me. It's like they use me just to get back at each other."
"HA!"
Everyone whipped around to see Allison blowing her hair out of her face.
"Shut up!" Claire shouted at her.
"You're just feeling sorry for yourself." Andrew mumbled as Erin turned back to her essay.
"Yeah, well if I didn't nobody else would."
"Aw, you're breaking my heart." Andrew said sarcastically.
"Sporto." John said.
"What?"
Bender got down from the Librarian's desk. "You get along with your parents?"
"Well, if I say yes, I'm an idiot, right?"
John jumped over the railing and stood in front of the jock. "You're an idiot, anyway. But if you say you get along with your parents, well, then you're a liar, too." Bender turned and walked away but Andrew pushed him.
"You know something, man... If we weren't in school right now, I'd waste you."
Bender pointed his middle finger at the ground. "Can you hear this?" He turned his hand up. "Want me to turn it up?"
Brian walked up to the two and put his hands on their shoulders. "Hey, fellas, I mean, I don't like my parents either I don't..." Andrew pushed past him. "I don't get along with them. Their idea of parental compassion is just, you know, wacko!"
Bender turned to Brian. "Dork,"
"Yeah?" Brian answered.
"You are a parents wet dream, okay?" He walked back over to Andrew to continue their earlier discussion.
"Well, that's the problem!" Brian said.
"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?" Andrew asked him.
"I'm being honest, asshole. I would expect you to know the difference."
"Yeah, well, he's gotta name."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. What's your name?" Andrew asked Brian.
"Brian."
"See?" Andrew asked John.
"My condolences..." John said to Brian and walked away.
"What's your name?" Claire asked John.
"You didn't hear Brainie earlier?" John pointed his thumb out at Erin and she blushed. "What's yours?"
"Claire..."
"Ka-Laire?"
"Claire. It's a family name."
"No... it's a fat girls name."
"Hey, John. Maybe you shouldn't-" Claire shot Erin a look and Erin snapped her mouth shut. John looked at Claire with distaste and Claire looked back up at him.
"Thank you, but I'm not fat."
"Well, not at present but I could see you really pushing maximum density. 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..." he mimed getting fat and made noises in his throat.
Claire gave him a disgusted look and the finger.
"Oh... obscene finger gestures from such a pristine girl."
"I'm not that pristine..."
John gave her a look that said even she shouldn't believe that and waltzed over to Erin's table. Erin was so focused on her paper she didn't even see him walk over. Everyone watched as he stood over her and waited for her to realize he was there. After a minute he reached down and lifted her chin up so she was looking at him.
"What's your name?"
Erin blushed harshly at the contact and the look in John's eyes. "E-Erin."
"Erin." John repeated.
"W-Well..." John dropped his hand from Erin's chin. "My full name is Erinite. I was named after a-a jewel..."
John smiled at the girl staring up at him. "Dollface," He called her and leaned down to her on his palms. "Can I ask you a question?"
Erin nodded, figuring he was going to ask an academic question.
"Are you a virgin?"
Erin's face immediately grew rosy and her eyes widened. She looked down at the desk quickly. "I-I don't- I don't-"
John reached his hand out and lifted her head up with his finger again. "I'll bet you a million dollars that you are...!" He lured cheerily with a winning grin.
Erin maneuvered her head out of his grip and looked away. "I don't..."
John moved so he was in her line of vision. "Have you ever even kissed a boy before? On the mouth?" At this point Erin felt a strength in her rise up and she stared at John dead center in his eyes. "Have you ever been felt up... Over the bra... under the blouse... shoes off. Hoping to God your parents don't walk in?" Erin flinched and blinked quickly but kept her stare holding. John paused but kept going. "Over the panties, no bra, blouse unbuttoned, Calvin's in a ball on the front seat past eleven on a school night?"
"Leave her alone." Andrew said.
Erin didn't dare break her stare until Bender straightened up and stepped over the tables to get to Andrew.
"You gonna make me?" Bender asked.
"Yeah."
"You and how many of your friends?"
"Just me. Just you and me. Two hits. Me hitting you, you hitting the floor. Anytime you're ready, pal."
Erin quickly stood and ran up to the two boys. "Hey, I'm fine, okay?" She asked Andrew. Andrew glanced at her and then back up at John. "I'm fine, really." She insisted to John.
"I don't wanna get into this with you man..." John warned Andrew.
"Why not?" Andrew asked.
"Cause I'd kill you." John answered simply with a shrug. He turned and walked down the aisle and continued, "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."
Andrew scoffed and turned away. "Chicken shit..."
Erin's eyes widened at the switchblade John opened. He leaned over and stabbed it into the table Allison sat at.
"Let's end this right now. You don't talk to her, you don't look at her, you don't even think about her! You understand me?"
John looked up at the ceiling and tiredly answered, "I'm trying to help her."
"Maybe she doesn't need your help." Claire suggested. "None of us do."
Erin looked at John one last time and sat down at her desk. Unfortunately, he sat down right next to her. As time dragged on the room became quieter allowing Erin to think but not so much as she was able to write her essay.
A door opened upstairs and the janitor walked in. Erin quickly covered her head with her arms so she wouldn't be seen.
"Brian, how you doing?" She heard Carl ask. Erin grimaced at what the repercussions of that would be.
"Your dad work here?" She heard Bender ask. "Uh, Carl?"
"What?"
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"How does one become a janitor?"
"You wanna be a janitor?"
"No, I just wanna know how one becomes a janitor because Andrew here, is very interested in pursuing a career in the custodial arts."
"Oh, really? You guys think I'm some untouchable peasant, serf? Peon?" Erin rolled her eyes. Carl could get so dramatic. "Huh? Maybe so, but following a broom around after shitheads like you for the past eight 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." Erin glanced up, thinking Carl was gone but quickly looked down again when she saw he wasn't. "Don't think I didn't see you Erin." The girl groaned and sat up with her head still down, hiding her red face. "By the way, that clocks twenty minutes fast."
John chuckled lightly and rubbed Erin's back in comfort. She twitched in surprise but soon leaned into his touch and whimpered lightly when he stopped. After awhile Erin finally abandoned her essay, realizing she wouldn't be able to get anything done since John's touch on her back sent her mind completely out of control.
John shuffled around and Erin glanced over at him. She giggled when she saw he was tying his scarf around his head. He gave her a smirk and a wink that only made her smile wider in response.
After awhile John stood making Erin look up at him. "Where are you going?" She asked.
John smiled. "Are you gonna miss me?" he asked. Erin huffed and looked away. John chuckled and moved over to her so he could make her look at him. "Vernon's gonna come in here any minute and, 'There's no moving from these seats.'" He quoted Vernon in his voice and smirked. "I'll be right over there, don't worry."
Erin scoffed and looked away again and John went to his seat.
After a few more minutes of silence Bender started to whistle a marching song. Soon everyone joined in. Once Vernon entered everyone stopped and John started whistling Beethoven's 5th.
"Alright, girls. That's thirty minutes for lunch."
"Here?" Andrew asked.
"Here." Vernon confirmed.
"Well, I think the cafeteria would be a more suitable place for us to eat lunch in, sir."
"Uh, Dick?" Bender asked and then corrected himself. "Excuse me, Rich... will milk be made available to us?"
"We're extremely thirsty, sir." Andrew told him.
"I have a very low tolerance for dehydration." Erin said.
"I've seen her dehydrate, sir. It's pretty gross." John said.
Erin cast a confused glance at John. He had never seen her dehydrate. She would never have let that happen.
John stood up. "Relax, I'll get it."
"Ah, ah, ah. Grab some wood there, bub!"
John sat down with a smirk.
"What do you think, I was born yesterday? You think I'm gonna have you roaming these halls?" Vernon pointed at Andrew. "You..." He glanced around and then pointed at Allison. "And you! Hey! What's her name? Wake her up! Wake her up! Come on, on your feet Missy! Let's go! This is no rest home!"
Allison stood up and followed Andrew out to the hallway. Vernon followed after them. "There's a soft drink machine in the teacher's lounge. Let's go!"
Once Vernon left the library Erin turned to John. "You've never seen me get dehydrated before."
"You weren't lying about that?" John asked with his eyebrows raised. "Looks like I saved your ass then, huh?"
"Yeah... thanks." Erin told him with a small smile.
"Could you be any more obvious?" Claire asked.
Erin looked up but John didn't take his eyes off of Erin.
"What do you mean?" Erin asked.
"You know exactly what I mean." Claire said and stood up. She began walking over to John and Erin's table. "Don't think I haven't seen those looks on your face."
Erin quickly became nervous. Claire knew that she liked John.
As before Erin felt a strength rise up in her and she stood up. "I could say the same about you. Don't be fooled by these glasses, I can still see what's right in front of me."
Claire shook her head slowly and sat back down at her table. Erin watched her and then sat down herself, not looking at John.
John glanced between the two girls and then scooted close to Erin and whispered over her shoulder, "What was that about?"
"What do you think?" She hissed, not even affected by how close John was.
"I... have no idea." John admitted.
Erin turned around and looked at John in surprise. At least she was better at hiding her feelings from him than from everybody else.
"Well..." Erin slyly said. "I'm certainly not going to tell you."
Bender smirked and stood up from his seat. He walked over to where Brian was standing and looking at a book. Erin watched as John snatched a chair from a table and took the book from Brian's hand. John set the chair down and plopped into the seat. Brian sighed and jumped up on a shelf next to John to read the book over his shoulder.
Erin glanced over at Claire who was also watching John. Claire turned her head and gave Erin a sneer. Erin rolled her eyes and stood up to go look at the books and wait for Andrew and Allison to return.
