Title: The World through the Eyes of A Basket Case
Author: TWBasketcase
Chapter Summary: Back again in detention, part two…here we go folks! Please R&R!

Chapter 24 – Back To Where We Started Part 2

Andy laid down flat on his back and lowered his arms, "Ally, come sit on my back…" He asked through gritted teeth. I crawled over the vent and sat on Andy's back for support; there wasn't much room in here and John is much bigger than me and Andy but I guess this plan should have been thought out a little better. John grabbed Andy's hands and just as he was about to pull up we heard the sound of whistling.

Andy and John looked at one another with monstrously wide eyes and John let go, "Bender, what the hell are you doing?" Andy asked.

"Just get back to the library…now!" John ordered, and pulled away.

"God dammit John we aren't gonna leave you here!" I yelled.

"Go! He's coming!" He yelled.

Andy pulled the grate back up and looked at me with worried eyes. I looked back to the rest of the group and they gave me blank and shocked looks.

"Fuck!"

"What are we gonna do?" Brian asked in a panicked voice; the only thing the rest of us could do was shush him as Vernon was approaching. Andy and I looked back down towards the hallway as John laid flat on his back on top of the lockers. For the most part Vernon seemed unaware of his presence and it looked like it was gonna stay that way until Vernon was right underneath of our grate…and Claire let out a sneeze. We stared at her in horror as she covered her mouth and widened her eyes. I guess now she had a reason to whine.

"What in God's name!" Vernon howled. He looked around frantically and amazingly John stayed still enough on the lockers.

"You kids better come out wherever you are!" He stormed down the hallway away from John and a few seconds later John kneeled towards the grate, "Get your asses outta there now! I can distract him!"

We were about to protest when Andy stopped us, "Just trust him! Turn around and get going!" With that we all turned as quickly as we were able to; we probably got about ten feet away from our previous spots when just seconds later we were almost scared shitless as the fire alarm sounded.

"Oh my God!" Claire and Brian shouted simultaneously. We booked it through the vents as fast as we could go until we found the next grate.

"Where does it lead to, Brian?" Andy asked hurriedly.

Brian peered down and looked back at us with a frantic expression, "Vernon's office!"

"Just go!" Claire shouted.

"What!" Brian asked incredulously.

"Get your ass down there now, Brian!" Andy ordered. Brian nodded without further reply and dropped the grate. Within seconds he jumped through the hole and Michelle followed closely behind, all the while remaining silent as we proceeded with our crazy antics. She is probably asking herself 'why?' now! Ha!

Claire turned around to me, "He really got us into some trouble now, didn't he?" She said with a wicked laugh. I couldn't help but laugh along with her as she lowered herself down and dropped to the waiting arms of our friends. I turned to Andy who shot me a mischievous smile and ushered me to go. I placed my hands on both sides of the opening and tried as swiftly as I could to lower myself down; thankfully there were three of them down there waiting for me as my un-athletic body couldn't hold my weight very well. Just as my feet hit the floor the piercing sound of the fire alarm sounded much louder and in the distance I could hear the sirens of the fire department. Andy came out of the vent smoothly and jumped on Vernon's desk to quickly replace the grate. He gave us all wild looks and we headed out the door. All of the ceiling sprinklers were going off and the hallways were absolutely soaked with water. I looked up and down the hallway and spotted Bender sprinting towards us or the library.

"John!" Andy called.

Bender let out a hard laugh as he reached us, "Well let's get the hell outta here, ladies!"

"What did you do? How the hell did that work out? Is this seriously happening?" Brian asked completely off the walls. Bender turned him towards the school entrance and pushed him forward as we started running. We reached the front doors of the school in about ten seconds; we were the only ones who stood outside of the school; Vernon and Carl obviously trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

We walked briskly – and at the same time casually – to the sidewalk as the fire department pulled up. Bender lit up a cigarette and pretended to look out to the road, Michelle and Brian whispered amongst each other as Claire, Andy, and I stood in total silence as the firemen ran towards the building.

Andy shook his head, "Jeez John, I thought you woulda learned from last time; pulling fire alarms gets you in detention…"

John smiled at Andy, "Or in this case out of it." The two chuckled amiably as the commotion around us started to slow down. I still couldn't believe that we had only been here for an hour an already we had someone in here that wasn't supposed to be here, we snuck out, crawled through the school's vent system, almost got caught with drugs, set off a fire alarm, and broke into Vernon's office. It wasn't even eight o'clock yet! Ha!

"I cannot believe you guys!" Michelle said with a bewildered look on her face, "When you guys said detention was crazy I never would have imagined…"

Bender shrugged as he took a drag on his smoke, "I told ya princess, you have no idea what you have gotten yourself into…"

"Bender!" Came a shrill scream from the entrance of the school. Vernon had finally caught up with us and the great thing is he has shit all on John.

"Yes Dick?" Bender asked nonchalantly.

"What is this?" He said motioning towards the school, "WHAT IS THIS?"

Bender shrugged, "Looks like a school to me…an institution…your place of employment…"

"Who pulled that alarm? And who was out in that hallway?" He screamed looking between Michelle, Claire, and I. The sneeze he heard was quite obviously female and I had no idea how we were gonna get out of this one.

"Excuse me, sir?" One of the fire fighters thankfully interrupted.

Vernon turned around to face the younger man with a look of frustration on his face, "Yes?"

"I just wanna let you know sir that the alarm itself wasn't pulled…your sprinkler system started and that's what caused the bell to go off."

Vernon put his hands on his hips and sighed, "Well do you know how the sprinkler system went off?" Bender turned to face the road as he finished his cigarette and Vernon continued, "Well?"

The firefighter shrugged, "It's hard to say…there wasn't a glitch in the system and the only thing that could have set it off was heat. We did a search of the school and there are no hazards or flames anywhere. I can't give you an explanation. It's safe to go back in." With that he waved us off and headed back to his squad and the truck.

Vernon turned to us with a glare, "Get your asses back in that library, NOW!"

Bender squashed his butt under his boot and led the way back towards the school; not a single one of us muttering a word.

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Once we were all situated back in the library Vernon cleared his throat, "Would anyone like to tell me who was out in that hallway."

Bender cracked a grin, "No one was sir."

Vernon folded his arms over his chest irritably, "Is that so? Then would you like to explain to me why I heard a sneeze and how the fire alarm went off?"

Bender smirked, "Like I said, no one was in the hallway…Claire sneezed when she was in the vent."

Vernon scoffed, "The vent?"

Bender propped his feet up on the table, "Yes, the vent in the ceiling." I was trying as hard as I could to bite back my laugh at Claire's look of horror.

Vernon shifted his weight to his other foot, "That's rich Bender, you expect me to believe that Miss Standish was in the ceiling and that was where the sneeze came from?"

Bender nodded, "It is a very logical explanation, Dick."

Vernon rubbed his face with his hands and groaned, "This is ridiculous! I may have not caught you in the act this time…but next time there will be some serious hell to pay! And when I find out how that alarm went off someone will be looking at an expulsion!" He said sending a threatening glare to Bender, who in his part just grinned. Vernon placed his hands on his hips once again, "I will be back here in one hours time…I would advise you stay put or some very serious consequences will be laid!" He spun on his heel and exited the room. The second the door closed we all burst out in a fit of laughter.

Claire spun around to face John, "You asshole, you could have got me in serious shit!"

Bender let out a snort, "Do you honestly believe that he was gonna believe me?"

She scoffed, "That isn't the point!" She sighed over dramatically as we began laughing again. I do have to give Bender some credit; even though Vernon didn't believe him he still got us out of a jam just like he always does. He stood abruptly and walked over to Brian and held out his hand; Brian passed him over the bag and he, Claire, and Andy followed Bender up the stairs. Michelle shot a look to me like they were crazy, "They smoke that stuff?"

I shrugged and nodded, "I guess but they are pretty entertaining when they do it. Don't think of it as a bad thing…its something to do."

She raised her eyebrows, "Do you do it?"

I shook my head, "I don't need to…it puts us all at the same sanity level."

She let out a snort as she stood up, "You're all crazy as it is if you ask me!"

I smiled, "Yeah…I don't blame ya for thinkin' that way."

I stood up to join her and we walked up the stairs; Bender had already gotten the first joint rolled and passed it off to Andy…who for some reason still insisted on getting high by himself, and then began rolling a joint for the remaining three. They sparked it up and Brian took it first, "I still can't believe I smoke this stuff…"

Bender smirked, "Take it easy brainiac…you need it to get the stick out of your ass." Brian coughed the smoke out violently at his comment. Claire laughed hysterically at him as she took a puff of the joint, "Who can't handle their smoke now?" Brian gave her a mocking look as Claire offered a hit to Michelle; she looked at it hesitantly.

"It ain't gonna kill ya…" Bender started. She stuck out her tongue at him and took the joint. She took three long tokes before letting out a massive cloud of smoke. Brian looked at her with huge eyes, "That girl can definitely hold her smoke!" He said in a squeaky voice. We laughed at his goofy behavior as the joint made its rounds. By the time it was finished Andy had joined us and we lay on the floor to admire the ceiling. My five friends were high out of their minds pointing out random pictures within the cracks and holes in the tiles. Claire and Michelle were seeing animals and castles, while Andy pointed out a car. Brian on the other hand had pointed out the Bohr-Rutherford diagram for Magnesium. We all looked at him strangely and he let out a whooping laugh. We shook our heads and laughed as John and Andy tried to figure out 'who' Bohr-Rutherford was. We lay on the floor in companionable silence until I dozed off.

"WAKE UP AND GET YOUR ASSES DOWN HERE NOW!" Vernon said; it didn't startle us however, just more or less woke us up groggily. Bender was sprawled out in the middle of the group; Claire and Michelle and fallen asleep beside each other, Andy and I had shared his sweater for a pillow and Brian was sucking his thumb. I sat up slowly and rubbed my eyes, "What time is it?"

"GET DOWN HERE NOW! What do you think you are doing up there?" He yelled loudly.

"Just pondering the error of our ways, Dick," Bender said stretching his arms over his head. Michelle and Claire stood and began walking back towards their tables. Brian followed in close pursuit, with Andy heading down next. Bender slid down the railing and I sat where I was; I was too sleepy to get up still.

"What is the meaning of this nonsense?" Vernon asked exasperated.

"What nonsense?" Bender asked coolly, "It wasn't like we were up there getting high or anything."

Vernon shook his head tiredly and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Who has to use the lavatory?" We all raised our hands and he picked two at a time to go with him.

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When we all were back and seated at our tables a short period of silence had taken over us. I was busy working on my latest drawing until Carl came in through the doors looking awfully pissed off.

"Oh God, you guys back again?" Carl sighed and looked at Bender, "do you realize how long it is gonna take me to clean up all that water out there?"

"Well water does evaporate, Carl," Brian started, "You see if you turn the heat up then it will dry itself up faster, then you won't have to clean it up at all…although you may have to put up a 'slippery floor' sign…" Carl looked at him in bewilderment, "I get it…"

"So Carl," Bender piped up, "How are the janitorial services holdin' up for you?"

Carl grimaced, "I'm fine Bender; just remember though when someone does you a favor it's a good idea to keep your mouth shut."

Andy and Claire spun around to look at Bender, "What is he talking about?"

"Nothing," Bender started but Carl cut him off, "Let's just say someone got you out of the damn school today and it wasn't your hero John Bender." John smirked and gave Carl a sly smile, "Thanks Carl."

Carl nodded his head, "Yeah but you kids owe me since I have to clean up this mess you know."

"Why?" Claire asked. Carl raised his eyebrows, "Why did you do it?"

Carl shrugged and set his broom against the wall, "I know what Vernon is like…he was my VP when I went here and I know exactly how he is. He is out to get you guys…"

"But how did you know what was going on?" Andy asked slightly confused.

Carl smirked, "Let's just say I am the eyes and ears of this institution my friends." And with that he grabbed his supplies and headed out the door.

TBC

End notes: Ha! That was fun to write; so I decided that I am gonna do this detention in a couple of parts…not only for some fun and entertainment but I am also gonna use it to enhance some storylines. So I hope you enjoy it. So like usual before I go I'm gonna do some shout outs, so thanks to: Moonjava, Hannah (I wouldn't mind getting Judd's ass in my face either! Ha!), Santafelover (thank you for being so patient about John/Claire…you'll find out soon enough what happens with them trust me!), UnicornPammy (I find it funny how you are the only one who noticed that I used the vents and not the ceiling! I had to do that so it would be a little more realistic; I couldn't have the ceiling fall down or it wouldn't have worked!), Katydid7186 (HAPPY BIRTHDAY :sings song: I'm glad you liked that chapter), Two Bit's Twobit, Lazaefair (Thank-you for all your wonderful reviews, I want you to know that I try and take all your suggestions to help improve my writing so thank you!), PoohIsMyHomie, Meg, Jenifer, and KushelKitten & DarkoBender (Thanks Guys for the awesome reviews). You're all awesome and thanks a bunch for all the feedback. I hope you enjoyed!

Kristen