After a couple of minutes of silence, Allison speaks up. "I never did it either, I'm not a nymphomaniac… I'm a compulsive liar," she admitted. Samantha nearly laughed at what Allison said. This girl was a very convincing liar. She was impressed that she was able to pull that off.
However, Claire wasn't impressed. "You are such a bitch! You did that on purpose just to fuck me over!" Claire shouted in anger.
"But I would do it, if you love someone, it's okay," Allison said. "I can't believe you, you're so weird. You don't say a word all day and when you open your mouth… you unload all these tremendous lies all over me!" Claire spat venomously at Allison.
Samantha was now starting to get mad at what Claire was saying. "Look, here, Claire. She wasn't doing to to fuck you over. All she asked for was a simple answer to a simple question. It's not a big deal," Samantha said.
Claire suddenly turns to Samantha and glares at her. "You're no better! How come you're always covering your arm? Is it because you're trying to hide those cuts so people wouldn't see them! You got Andy wrapped around your little finger! You only do it because you're such an attention whore who's too insecure to fix yourself," Claire yelled at her.
Samantha felt a stab in her heart. Tears rose in her eyes. Andrew noticed and held her tighter. "What the fuck? You think I'm an attention whore? Is that what you fucking think of me? Let me give you a fucking lesson here, princess! You don't know a damn thing about me or what I've been through in my life! You're lucky that you've got your dad in your life! I don't have that luxury! So fuck you for saying that," Samantha ranted coldly.
Andrew kissed her on the side of the head to help her calm down. "You're just pissed off because she got you to admit something you didn't want to admit to, and don't get mad at Samantha," Andrew said, defending Allison and Samantha.
"Fine, but that doesn't make them any less bizarre…" Claire said. "What's bizarre? We're all bizarre! Some of us are better at hiding it, that's all," Andrew explained. "How are you bizarre?" Claire asked, rolling her eyes as she picked her nails. She didn't look up at Andrew to listen on what his response was.
They knew that Andrew was on the wrestling team because of his strength and speed. He's got strength like a racehorse. "He can't think for himself," Allison spoke for him. Andrew's body became more relaxed, feeling more comfortable with admitting what was so bizarre about him.
"Do you guys know what I did to get in here?" he asked. "What'd you do, Andy?" Samantha asked, looking up at him. "I, uh, taped Larry Lester's buns together," he replied with a smirk. Brian raises his brows in surprise. "That was you?" he asked, taken aback.
"You know him?" Andrew asked Brain. "Yeah, I know him…" Brian replied. "And when they pulled the tape off, most of his hair came off and some skin too," Andrew said. Samantha looked away for a moment before back at him.
What he said next… she wasn't prepared for. Bender kept quiet through Andrew's reason. Everybody was judged before they get to know the person. You never know what they're going through in their personal lives unless you actually take the time to get to know them.
"And… the bizarre thing is, I did it for my old man. I tortured this poor kid because I wanted him to think I was cool like he was at my age. He was always going off about, when he was going to school, all the wild things he did and got away with. I always had this feeling that he was disappointed that I never cut loose on anyone and for once I wanted him to be proud of me," Andrew started, making the room go silent. Nobody needed to say anything; he needed to get this off of his chest.
"I… I was just sitting there in the locker and I'm taping my knee. Larry's undressing a couple of lockers down from me. Yeah, he's kinda- he's kinda skinny, weak. And I started thinking about my father, and his attitude about weakness. The next thing I knew, I uh, I jumped on top of him and started wailing on him. My friends, they just laughed and cheered me on. Afterwards, when I was sitting in Vernon's office, all I could think about was Larry's father. Him having to go home and explain what happened to him. And the humiliation- the fucking humiliation he must've felt… It must've been unreal…" Andrew explained, clenching his fist tightly.
Samantha's heart shattered when she saw that Andrew started to cry tears of regret and mental pain. She couldn't believe that his own father would put pressure on him to be stronger. He didn't even want to be a wrestler. It was what his narcissistic father wanted him to do. He didn't want to be seen as weak to his peers.
"I mean, how do you apologize for something like that? There's no way. It's because of me and my old man." Andrew sobbed quietly, the tears threatening to fall, "God, I fucking hate him! He's like this- this mindless machine that I can't even relate to anymore. 'Andrew, you've got to be number one! I won't tolerate any losers in this family! Your intensity is for shit! Win! Win! WIN!' You son of a bitch…" Andrew sobbed, now they were tears of anger and frustration.
Samantha was in tears by now along with Allison. She understood just how pressure can change a kid, it makes them do things they don't want to do. Bender looked away, his face full of remorse for how he challenged Andrew earlier that day.
Before this, Andrew was the first and only person that she told about the abuse she went through. The rest of that time, she always kept it to herself. How that one kid knew about it, she'll never know. But all she saw was red, next thing she knew, she lost control and beat this kid so badly that he had to be sent to the hospital.
"You know, sometimes, I wish my knee would give, and I wouldn't be able to wrestle anymore. And he could forget all about me," Andrew finished, wiping the tears from his eyes. Samantha reached up and hugged him. He didn't hesitate to hug her back.
"I think your old man and my old man should get together and go bowling," Bender said as a joke. Samantha and Andrew laughed at this. "Maybe mine can go with yours," Samantha commented bitterly, "Oh right, he can't because he fucking bailed on me,"
Everything went silent for a moment until Brian broke the silence. "It's like me, you know, with my grades. Like, when I step outside myself kinda, and when I- when I look in at myself, you know? I see me and I don't like what I see, I really don't," he says.
"What's wrong with you? Why don't you like yourself?" Claire asked. "'Cause I'm stupid. 'Cause I'm failing shop. See we had this assignment to make this ceramic elephant, and- and we had eight weeks to do it and we're supposed to, and it was like a lamp, when you pull the trunk, it was supposed to turn on. But mine didn't work. I got an F on it. I've never got an F in my life. When I signed up, you know, for the course, I mean, I thought I was playing it real smart, you know. 'Cause I thought, I'll take shop, it'd be an easy way to maintain my GPA," Brian replied, sounding just as bitter as Samantha.
"Why'd you think it'd be easy?" Bender questioned, sounding curious. "Have you seen some of the dopes that take shop?" Brian scoffed. "I take shop. You must be a fucking idiot!" Bender spat, eyebrows narrow. "What? I'm a fucking idiot because I can't make a lamp?" Brian spat back defensively.
"No, you're a genius because you can't make a lamp," Bender sarcastically says. "What do you know about Trigonometry?" Brian asked. "I could care less about Trigonometry," Bender spat at him. "Bender, did you know without it, there'd be no engineering?" Brian spat.
"Without lamps, there'd be no light!" Bender retorted, raising his voice. "Okay, so neither of you is any better than the other one," Claire exclaimed, trying to calm the heated argument. "What's so bad about it? It's like any other class. Most people are talented enough to be in it," Samantha shrugs her shoulders.
Allison, feeling left out, decides to change the subject. "I can write with my toes. I can also eat, brush my teeth," she elaborated. "With your feet?" Claire asked in surprise. "And Play Heart and Soul on the piano," Allison finished.
"I can make spaghetti," Brian piped in. Claire looked over at Andrew. "What can you do?" she asked him. Andrew rubbed the back of his neck in an awkward way. "I can… tape all our buns together," he joked, smirking.
"Be serious, Andy. We wanna know what you can actually do?" Samantha wondered, smiling up at him. Andrew smiled back and ruffled her dark brown hair playfully. "Well, I always liked doing stunts. Parkour, stuff like that," he replied, "How about you, Sam? You got something you can do?"
"Yep. But I'll need Bender's knife," she says, looking over at Allison, "If you don't mind that is," Allison hands over Bender's switchblade and stood up, pulling her own knife out in the process. Taking a deep breath, she opens both blades.
She holds them by the blades, tosses them in the air, not even watching as they spun in the air. She bends over and catches both with one hand behind her back, twirling them with her fingers. Everyone started to clap at her talent.
"That's pretty cool, Sam! Where'd you learn to do that?" Andrew asks. "Fifth grade when I was on a field trip," Samantha replied, closing Bender's blade before tossing it back to him. She puts hers back in her pocket before sitting next to Andrew.
"I wanna see what Claire can do," Bender suddenly suggested. It was a little sketch that he was actually asking that. "I can't do anything," Claire said, laughing a little. "Now, everybody can do something," Bender said, prodding on. "There's one thing I can do… No, forget it. It's way too embarrassing," Claire said hesitantly.
"You ever seen Wild Kingdom? I mean, the guy's been doing that show for thirty years," Bender tells her in an attempt to convince her. She waited a few moments before considering. "Okay, but you have to swear to God you won't laugh," she said, "I can't believe I'm actually doing this,"
Everyone watched in amazement as she places her open lipstick between her cleavage. When she lifts her head, her lipstick is perfectly on. Everyone started clapping. "That was awesome, Claire," Samantha said with a smile. "Yeah, where'd you learn to do that?" Andrew asked. "Camp, seventh grade," she said, closing her lipstick and putting it back in her purse.
Bender's clapping however was slow and sarcastic. "That was great, Claire. My image of you is totally blown," Bender said, sarcasm in his words. Samantha glared at the criminal. "You're a shit. Don't do that to her. You swore to God you wouldn't laugh," Allison snapped at him.
"Am I laughing?" Bender spat, completely unfazed. "You fucking prick!" Andrew growled, glaring at him. Bender glares back at the couple. "You're really gonna make fun of what she can do?" Samantha added bitterly.
"What do you two care what I think anyway? I don't even count, right? I could disappear forever and it wouldn't make a difference. I may as well not even exist in this school, remember?" he spat at the two of them, his words hitting close to him. He then turns to look at Claire, "And you don't like me anyway!"
"You know, I have just as many feelings as you do, and it hurts just as much when somebody steps all over them," Claire complained. Samantha rolled her eyes at what she said. In Samantha's eyes, she had more problems to deal with than Claire.
Bender was furious at what Claire said and he scoffed coldly at her. "God, you're so pathetic! Don't you ever- ever!- compare yourself to me, okay? You got everything, and I got shit! Fucking Rapunzel, right? School would probably fucking shut down if you didn't show up! 'Queenie isn't here!' I like those earrings, Claire," Bender growled at her.
Claire looked away, tears starting to fill her eyes. But that didn't stop Bender from his rant. "Shut up…" she muttered. "Are those real diamonds, Claire?" Bender asked. "Shut up!" Claire snapped.
"I bet they are. Did your daddy give you those earrings?" Bender continued. "Shut your mouth!" Claire snapped. "I bet he bought those for you! I bet those are Christmas gift, right?! You know what I got for Christmas this year? Oh, it was a banner fucking year at the old Bender family! I got a carton of cigarettes! The old man grabbed me and said, 'Hey, smoke up, Johnny!' So go home and cry to your daddy, don't cry here, okay?" Bender ranted on, leaving them in a few beats of silence.
"My God, are we gonna be like our parents?" Andrew asks, making a horrifying realization. Samantha looks up at him for a moment. "Not me. Ever," Claire said, her voice stern. "It's unavoidable, it just happens," Allison softly said.
"What happens?" Claire asks nervously. "When you grow up, your heart dies," Allison says. Bender's eyes were pointed to the upper left, avoiding eye contact with everyone. "Who cares?" he bitterly said, trying to not care. However, Allison was on the verge of tears herself. "I care," she tearfully replied.
"Unlike you guys, I'm already turning into my parents," Samantha spoke, getting their attention. "How so?" Andrew asked, now hesitantly intrigued.
"My father left me when I was eight. My life had turned into a hellhole… Every single day, my bitch of a mother does what she can to put me back into the spiral of depression. She's- She's always saying it's my fault that I drove my father away; that I was the reason he hated us so much. She spends her time getting drunk and when she was sober, she would- she would lay her hands on me. I was even sent to the hospital because she threw her glass bottle at my head and I had to get 25 stitches. God… I fucking hate her so much… These cuts on my writs, I'm hoping to get the knife deep enough to make it stop… She can forget about me. Do you want to know what I got for Christmas this year? A fucking package of pencils because they had nothing but fucking pity for me!" Samantha explained, tears of anger running down her face, "I just want this pain to stop! I can't take it anymore!"
Andrew pulled her into a hug, a tight one so she can let it out. Nobody thought for a second that her home life nearly killed her.
