A/N: Thanks for reading. Enjoy!

Chapter 10: Explanations

Bender spent fourth period playing with matches and chain smoking under the bleachers. He didn't want to go to class, but he had to admit that anything would be better than sitting outside alone. So, about ten minutes before the bell rang signaling the end of fourth period, Bender snuck back into the building, keeping an eye out for teachers demanding to see his hall pass. He made his way down the hall to his locker, where he kept extra packs of cigarettes. Since all of his dope was gone, the cigarettes were the only things in his locker of any value, unless you counted the textbooks, which he didn't.

It was a good thing that his stash had been depleted, however, since the lock on his locker door was missing. Bender cursed when he saw this and opened the door to see what had been stolen. Nothing, it seemed. At least his other security features were functioning properly.

"Damn it." Bender kicked the locker closed with his foot and stood staring at the orange paint and the black letters scrawled across the door. Who would steal fuckin' lock, then not take anything else? The answer came so swiftly that he had to laugh. Of course. He started off down the hall to get his lock back.

Carl, the janitor, was emptying a giant trash barrel just outside of the cafeteria. A sack of potato chips fell over, spilling onto the linoleum, and Carl bent over to pick them up, cursing. Bender grinned at the sight and couldn't resist a light jab. "Tired of sweepin' up after us shitheads yet?"

Carl turned around and grinned. "No, John, just you."

"Oh, I'm hurt."

Carl laughed and leaned against the broom he was holding. "What do you want?"

"I…" Bender leaned forward ominously. "…want my lock back."

"What the hell are you talkin' about?"

"You know what I'm talkin' about, Carl."

"Enlighten me."

"'I look through your letters, I look through your lockers…'" Bender smiled. "Sound familiar?"

"Yes, it does. Now can I get back to work?"

Bender frowned. "No! I want my lock back!"

"Look, kid, is this some kind of game or something'? Cause I ain't no mind reader."

Bender sighed. "Someone stole my lock. I thought it was you."

"What would I want with your lock?"

"I don't know. Why would you want to look in our lockers?"

Carl glared at him. "Touché. I still don't have it." He turned back to the mess on the floor and started sweeping the chips into a pile.

"Well, what the fuck am I supposed to do then?"

"What am I, God? Go ask Vernon. I'm sure he'd love to help you keep your drugs safe."

Bender's eyes widened. "Who said I keep drugs in there?"

"Well, I know you ain't worried about no textbooks."

"Touché to you, too, then."

Carl looked up from the mess on the floor and sighed. "Fine. Let's go." He brushed past Bender and started off down the hall.

"Where are you going?"

Carl didn't say anything, but kept walking. Bender glanced uncertainly at the broom and the overflowing trash can, then ran to catch up. Carl stopped when he reached the janitor's closet, then yanked open the door and disappeared inside. Bender peered around the edge of the doorframe to get a glimpse of the room. It was small, but functional, and filled with cleaning solutions, extra brooms and mops, a few chairs stacked in the corner and old wooden shelves lines with boxes. Carl pulled one of the smallest boxes down and presented Bender with its contents. "Blue or pink?"

Bender pulled out a combination lock with a blue dial. "I don't think pink's really my color."

"Suit yourself." Carl replaced the box and yanked a cord hanging from the ceiling, turning the light off. He locked the door behind him, giving Bender a knowing look as he finished. "To protect my stuff from shitheads like you."

Bender grinned as Carl started back towards the cafeteria. "Thanks, Carl."

Carl didn't say anything, only flipped him the bird over his shoulder. Bender laughed and walked back to his locker to replace the missing lock.

Andy looked up and down the hall uncertainly, praying for a miracle. Finding one person in a school filled with hundreds was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Or, in this case, a nerd in a haystack. Or something.

Andy craned his neck over the crowd, cursing his lack of height. After a few minutes of searching, he saw Brian at his locker putting books away. Andy strode purposely towards him, ignoring the voice in his head that told him not to bother.

"Hey, man."

Brian jumped slightly, turning to face him. He didn't even try to hide his surprise. "Oh, hey." Andy noted that Brian didn't seem as angry as he had the day before.

"Um…well, I just came to talk with you…you know, about yesterday." Andy pushed his hands nervously into the pockets of his jeans. Brian didn't say anything, so he continued. "Like I said, I'm really sorry about what those guys did and what I did…or didn't do, I guess. I still want us to be friends, you know?"

Brian nodded. "Yeah." They stood there for a moment, watching the crowd thin out as students grabbed books and papers and people before escaping into the real world.

"It's so different from Saturday, you know?" Andy asked, leaning against the row of lockers. "Being here with all these other people."

"I know. It's like we were in a vacuum or something."

"Like a vacuum cleaner?"

"No, like in physics." Andy appeared confused, so Brian went on. "A vacuum is essentially space without matter in it. The air around us is filled with chemicals and elements like Nitrogen, Oxygen, water vapor, carbon dioxide, etc. In a vacuum, there aren't any of these things, creating a perfect environment. Things that couldn't exist anywhere else can thrive in a vacuum. No hydrocarbon contamination, the gas density is stable-"

"Brian!" Brian blinked, but stopped talking. Andy sighed. "Care to run that by me again, this time in English?"

"Oh, yeah, sure. It's like…it's like detention was this perfect environment without anything in there to screw it all up. We wouldn't have talked or become friends here." He nodded towards the last few students making their way out to the parking lot to leave. "But on Saturday, the conditions were perfect. No outside forces working against us. Back here in the real world, it's not going to be the same. We've all got these different pressures. School, friends, family…sports." Brian nodded at Andy's letter jacket. "Of course it's going to be harder."

Andy nodded slowly. "I think I understand…sort of."

Brian smiled. "Really?"

"I said sort of, okay? Don't get you hopes up too far." Andy smiled and checked his watch. "I've gotta get to wrestling practice. I'll see you around, though, okay?"

"Sure, I'll see you around."

Andy hit Brian lightly on the shoulder and started off towards the gym. His friend John was walking down the hall from the opposite direction, looking past him at Brian. "Hey, man. I came to collect you so Coach won't get pissed off again and take it out on the whole team." He grinned. "Who was that?"

"His name is Brian."

"He doin' your math homework for you? I know how much you hate geometry!"

Andy glared at John. "No, you asshole, he's my friend. He's a good guy."

"Your friend? Why?" Andy, eyes blazing and jaw clenched, opened his mouth to speak, but John beat him to it. He held up his hands in mock surrender and chuckled. "Okay, okay! Jeez, lighten up, Clark." Andy didn't move and John stopped smiling. "Look, sorry, okay? Let's just get to practice before Coach blows another gasket."

Andy turned away and started walking down the hall, forcing John to jog for a few steps to catch up. They walked side by side until they reached the doors of the gymnasium, neither of them saying a word.

A/N: In Andy's section, Brian describes a vacuum. Now, I am not a science whiz, so I got all this info from encyclopedia dot com and the University of Wisconsin in Osh Kosh physics dept. website. Just wanted to give credit where it's due.