"I swear that new girl is gonna drive me nuts!" John exclaimed as he fell onto Allison s bed that night, a bag of ice on his bruised face.

"Ah, just coz you fancy her, Bender!"

"I do not. She's too much like Claire."

"She's nothing like Claire. You should see this." Allison pulled out the drawing Rose had done earlier that day.

"That s good, Al." John said, after a cursory glance.

"Rose drew it." She grinned as John took a longer look at it. Noting the detail, the faint cuts on the drawn girl s wrists, and the haunted look in the one eye visible. "Kinda cool, huh?"

"Yeah. Al?"

"What?"

"Let's get trashed tonight."

The Mall. Late Saturday morning. Claire, Rose and several of Claire s friends sat in the Starbucks, discussing life, shoes, and most importantly, men.

"So, what's with Bender staring at you, like every time he sees you?"

"He doesn't. Does he?" Rose dipped her head and blushed a little.

"Uh... yeah! Like at Lunch yesterday!" The girls burst into giggles. John had been walking by the table Rose was sat at. He had looked at her (in contempt, according to him) as she'd looked at him from under her eyelashes. John had tripped over his own feet, and stumbled to sit with Allison as quickly as possible. Rose laughed with them.

"He's... different. From the guys in England I mean."

"Hmm, English guys!" One of Claire s friends, Ellie swooned. Rose giggled and pulled out a wallet from her bag.

"Take a look at mine!" Ellie flicked open the wallet. It was full of pictures of good looking guys.

"Are you dating all these guys?"

"Well, I was. Before I came here."

"Wow, you and Bender sure have that in common at least!"

"He seems kinda cool. Unlike those guys."

"What was wrong with them? He," Stacey pointed "is particularly gorgeous."

"Oh they re all gorgeous. But, they're all so nice. None of them would you know, take me to bed. And even the ones that would were all so nice. Gentle, loving. Nice. Had it up to here with nice."

"Well, honey," Claire smiled at her, "If you don t want nice, then John Bender is your man!"

Allison dumped her bag next to John in the library. Detention. Again. Though, yet again, she didn t really need to be here. She was here to keep John company. He'd vandalised a table, and someone had nearly lost a finger in his locker trap system.

"So, you gonna ask her out for a drink or what?" John remained stubbornly silent. "It's just, I've heard that the new quarterback has taken quite an interest in her."

"He's welcome to her." John rubbed the fading bruise on his cheek.

"You honestly want her to date the quarterback?"

John whispered something.

"What?"

"I said NO!" John suddenly yelled. Allison looked at him, hurt. Then she got up and walked away, out of the library. John sat for a while, stewing in his own anger. Then he knocked over three tables, tore up three times as many books and yelled a lot. It didn t make him feel any better.

Four thirty finally arrived, and John shoved his way out of the school. Quite how he managed to shove in an empty school is not yet known, and yet, he did. There, waiting in front of the school doors, leaning on a brand new Audi, smirking, clad in a black micro mini dress and shades, was Rose.

"Need a ride, Bender?"