A/N: Long chapter, yay. It might be helpful to remember that Charlotte, Claire's friend, is the girl that sold Bender the brownie in chapter four. She was also the girl that Allison overheard talking about her friend in chapter six. Elliot is a friend of Brian's from the Latin Club (he's the one who made the big, dramatic speech to boost morale).

Chapter Eleven: Defectives

2:34 P.M.

Vernon stared down at the piece of paper in his hand, wishing he could tear it into millions of tiny little pieces. Or light it on fire. Maybe he could tear it into a million little pieces, then light it on fire.

Vernon pushed the detention list aside and leaned back in his seat. No, what he really wanted to do was tear John Bender into a million little pieces and light him on fire. That arrogant little jackass. Thanks to his stunt with the fire alarm, Vernon was going to have to be there on Saturday at 7 A.M. Of course, if Bender hadn't gotten himself in trouble, Vernon still would have had to be there because of Clark, but that was beside the point. Bender was the one that started everything in the first place, and things had gotten steadily worse from that point forward. The fact that Andrew Clark would be joining them on Saturday made about as much of a difference as someone peeing all over a big, steaming pile of dog shit.

Vernon was still fuming about his ruined golf plans when the phone rang. "Hello?"

"Richard?"

Vernon sighed. "Yes, dear."

Molly Vernon let out a deep breath. "Oh, good. I'm glad you're there. I need you to stop at the grocery store on the way home."

Vernon pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil, ready to copy down her list. "Alright."

"Okay, I need you to pick up some vanilla icing."

Vernon paused. "Vanilla icing," he echoed.

"Yes, I'm baking Virginia a cake."
"Virginia?"

"Yes, she's got the flu. I thought I would do something to cheer her up."

Vernon blinked. He knew that his wife wasn't the sharpest pencil in the drawer, but sometimes he literally feared for her sanity. "Don't you, uh…do you really think a cake is going to do much good?"

"Well, it's going to have flowers on it, so it'll be really pretty."

Vernon closed his eyes. "No, I meant that maybe you should do something else since she won't be able to eat the cake."

"Why wouldn't she be able to eat it?"

"Because she's sick." When she didn't respond right away, Vernon went on. "She's probably not eating a lot of desserts right now."

Molly was quiet for a moment. "That's a good point. Maybe I should do something else."

Vernon let out a little breath of relief. "Yes, I that's a good idea."

"Okay, thanks, sweetie. Bye!" And she hung up.

Vernon stared at the phone for a moment, then replaced it on its cradle. It was on days like these that he was glad he'd never had children.

A few seconds later, the phone rang again, and Vernon answered it, his eyes still glued to the list in front of him. "Hello?"

"Richard?"

Vernon wanted to fling the phone across the desk. Who the hell else would it be? It's a direct line to my office, for crying out loud! "Yes, dear, it's me."

"Oh, good. I need you to stop at the grocery store for a few things."

Vernon sighed. "What do you need?"

"Milk and orange juice."

"Alright. Anything else?"

"Yes. Vanilla icing."

Vernon squeezed his eyes shut. "I thought you decided not to make the cake, dear."

"Oh, no. I'm making it, but I'm not going to give it to Virginia. I'm going to give it to Tom and Barbara next door."

"Why Tom and Barbara?"

"I don't know. I just thought they might like it."

Vernon started silently counting backwards from ten.

"Richard? Honey, are you there?"

"Yes, dear. I'm here."

"So, you're going to get the icing?"

"Yes, dear."

"Can you get some flowers, too? Because Virginia's sick, and I wanted to give her something pretty to cheer her up."

"I think you've mentioned that."

"So, you'll get the flowers?

"Yes, dear."

"And the milk and juice?"

"Yes, dear."

"And the icing?"

"Yes, dear."

"Okay, thank you!" She blew him a loud, squeaky kiss and hung up the phone.

Vernon replaced the phone on its cradle and rubbed his eyes. Good Lord, is everyone else crazy, or is it just me?

Before he could come to any conclusions, the phone rang once more. Vernon slammed his hand down on the desk and answered on the second ring. "Yes! I'll stop and get the icing!" he shouted.

The was a pause before Mrs. Norris, the secretary, responded. "That's very kind of you, sir, but I'm afraid I've got enough at home," she said dryly.

Vernon sighed. "I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else."

"I'm sure you did, sir."

Vernon pretended not to notice the secretary's sarcasm. "Was there something you needed to tell me?"

It was a message from Principal Geller. As Mrs. Norris talked, Vernon curled his fingers around the pencil in his hand, tightening his grip until the pencil broke in two.

"…you get all of that, sir?"

Vernon took a measured breath. "Yes," he said curtly, hanging up before she could respond. He took a fresh pencil from the cup on the corner of his desk, then reached for the detention list and wrote two words:

Claire Standish

2:55 P.M.

Claire glared at the piece of paper in front of her, wishing that she rip it up and flush it down the toilet. If she had been in the bathroom, she might have done just that, but she was stuck in Mrs. Pritchard's seventh period Calculus class, and there wasn't a toilet in sight. Besides, ripping it up wouldn't change the fact the fact that she had to be back at school at 7:00 the next morning so that she could sit in the library with a bunch of delinquents who carried guns and knives and probably hadn't bathed in a week.

"For homework, finish the chapter review on page 300. I'll pick up questions one through eighteen on Monday." Mrs. Pritchard finished writing the assignment on the board, then went back to her desk.

"God, you'd think we didn't have anything better to do than to sit around doing Calculus equations all weekend."

Claire glanced over at Charlotte, who was glaring at the chalkboard and tapping her nails on her desk. After a moment, Charlotte looked over at Claire and rolled her eyes. "Just because she has no social life doesn't mean I have to give up mine."

Claire nodded in agreement, but didn't say anything. Charlotte narrowed her eyes. "Are you okay?"

Claire clenched her jaw in anger and released a deep breath. "No. I got a detention today."

Charlotte narrowed her eyes. "For what?"

"I skipped sixth period to go shopping."

Charlotte wrinkled her nose disdainfully. "God, what are you going to do?"

Claire sighed. "I don't know. Maybe my dad can do something."

"What if he can't?"

"I don't know. I guess I'll just…go."

Charlotte arched one of her perfectly plucked eyebrows. "It's nine hours, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"In a room full of defectives."

Claire sighed. "I know."

Charlotte paused. "Remember that time Mel had detention?"

"Yeah."

"Some guy peed in her purse."
Claire's eyes widened. "That's disgusting. Who was it?"

Charlotte shrugged and tucked a blonde curl behind her ear. "Some stoner. And he hit on her, too." She scoffed. "As if she would stoop so low."

Claire could do nothing but shake her head in disbelief. "This is a nightmare…"

Charlotte watched her for a moment before speaking. "Don't worry about it." When Claire didn't respond right away, Charlotte sighed. "I wasn't trying to scare you or anything. I'm sure your dad can do something."

Claire nodded mechanically, trying not to think about the damage some burner would do to her new Gucci handbag. "I sure hope so."

3:00 P.M.

Andy didn't take very many notes during seventh period. Mrs. Studebaker, his physics teacher, was going over some review questions to prepare them for their exam on Monday, so it would have been a good idea if he'd at least written down the formulas that he would need to know for the test. Actually, it would have been a good idea if he'd paid attention long enough to find out that they even had a test, but his mind was too scattered to focus on anything related to school. As it was, Andy didn't do much of anything for the entire period except stare at the clock and count the minutes until he was free to go home.

At 3:00, the last bell finally rang. Andy slung his backpack over his shoulder and followed the rest of the students out into the hall. He was at his locker trying to remember what books he needed for the weekend when Ray and Joel, two of his teammates, found him. "Hey, Clark."

Andy looked up. "Hey."

Ray leaned against the locker next to Andy's. "So, what happened to you, man? Did you get suspended?"

Andy shook his head. "No, they gave me detention."

Ray's eyes widened. "That's it? Just a detention?"

Andy nodded. "That's it."

Ray just shook his head. "Lucky bastard. If I did something like that, I'd probably get expelled."

Joel rolled his eyes. "That's because you're a shit wrestler."

Ray glared at him, but didn't deny the charge. He looked back at Andy. "So, can you still wrestle?"

Andy nodded. "Coach talked to Principal Geller. He told him that the scouts will be there next week and he doesn't want me to lose my scholarship."

Ray scoffed. "And Geller agreed?"

Andy shrugged. "I guess."

Ray shook his head. "Like I said, if it was me, I'd be kicked out of school and half-way to a military academy by now. You, they treat like the fuckin' king of England."

"England doesn't have a king right now, you twit."

Ray looked over at Joel and glared at him. "It was a metaphor, alright, asshole?"

"Not a very good one."

"Shut up." Ray turned back to Andy, rolling his eyes. "So, what else did Coach say? About the fight, I mean."

Andy paused thoughtfully. "Nothing," he said finally.

"Nothing? Not one thing?" When Andy didn't say anything, Ray let out a sharp chuckle. "Must be nice."

Andy rolled his eyes and turned back towards his locker. He pulled out his history and physics textbooks and slipped them into his backpack, then slammed the door shut. When he was finished, he looked back at Ray and Joel, who were watching him expectantly. "What?" he snapped.

Joel cocked an eyebrow. "So, why'd you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Beat up that guy. You know, nerd boy."

Andy shrugged. "I don't know."

Joel smirked. "Bored?"

Andy shrugged again. "I guess."

Joel laughed. "Fuckin' fire drill, man. Might as well have some fun if you're gonna freeze your balls off, huh?"

Andy paused, thinking back to the fire drill when the entire wrestling team was standing outside in the freezing cold wearing nothing but t-shirts and gym shorts. Ray and Joel had spent the entire time pestering a couple of nerds, pulling down the boys' pants and watching them scramble to cover themselves up again. Despite his best efforts not to, Andy felt himself start to smile. "Yeah."

Joel grinned. "So, are you grounded?"

Andy look a deep breath. "I don't know yet."

Joel nodded. "Stubby's party's tomorrow night."

"Yeah, I know."

"You can't miss it, man. It's gonna be huge."

Andy sighed and adjusted the shoulder strap to his backpack. "I know."

Joel nodded and turned back to Ray, who had been distracted from the conversation by a nearby cheerleader wearing a long cut blouse and a pair of stilettos. Joel hit him in the shoulder. "Hey, pervert."

Ray look up. "Yeah?"

Joel cocked an eyebrow. "Are you done drooling yet, or are we gonna stand here all day?"

Ray just sneered at him and, without even saying goodbye to Andy, started walking down the hall. Joel looked over at Andy and rolled his eyes. "Later, man."

Andy nodded. "Later."

Joel nodded back and started jogging down the hall to catch up to Ray, who was almost out of sight. Andy looked down at his watch. 3:07 P.M. It had been over an hour since Vernon handed him his detention slip, and he wondered whether or not the vice principal had managed to get ahold of his parents yet to tell them about his detention. More than likely, he had, and they already knew about what he'd done. The only question then was whether his mother would call him from her office to start yelling at him right away or whether she would wait until she got home from work before she grounded him for life.

Either way, Andy was pretty sure that he wasn't going to Stubby's party.

3:00 P.M.

Brian spent the better part of seventh period staring at the chalkboard and trying to remember what class he was in. Unless he was sick, he hardly ever had any trouble concentrating during school, unlike some of his classmates, who used the time to take naps. He'd never fallen asleep in a class before, but there were several times during that last period when his eyelids would flutter closed and his breathing would become shallow and the only thing that he could hear was the sound of his heart beating lazily in his chest. After a few seconds of dozing, he would realize what he was doing and jerk himself out of his sleep, only to find himself disappointed that his body wouldn't let himself escape from the real world, even for a few silent minutes.

When the bell rang, Brian didn't bother hurrying to leave. He took his time putting his books away and shuffled down the aisle, his body having drained itself of all energy and motivation during the past half hour. He made his way down the hall towards his locker, hardly noticing when another student would bump into him or offer him a nasty look for getting in their way.

He'd just reached his locker and was trying to remember what books he needed for the weekend when Elliot walked up to him from the opposite direction. "The meeting is still on."

Brian looked up. "What?"

Elliot checked his watch. "The meeting is still on. They didn't cancel it."

Brian frowned. "What meeting?"

Elliot sighed. "The Physics Club meeting, Brian. It's Friday, remember?"

"Oh." Brian paused, his brain struggling to catch up with Elliot's words. "Wait, why were they going to cancel it?"

"Because of Larry."

Brian frowned at the mention of the club's president. "What about Larry?"

Elliot raised an eyebrow. "You haven't heard?"

"Heard what?"

"He was beaten up this afternoon."

Brian's eyes widened. "Really? By who?"

"I don't know. I think it was one of the wrestlers, but I didn't recognize him."

"You were there?"

Elliot nodded. "We have gym together fifth period. Some of the jocks were hassling us during the fire drill, but they were just being immature, so we just ignored them. But when we got back inside, one of the wrestlers taped Larry's buttocks together and started beating him up."

Brian's eyes widened even further. "He taped his…"

Elliot nodded. "He also broke his glasses."

Brian shook his head in disbelief. "Is he okay?"

Elliot nodded again. "I think so. He went home early." He glanced at his watch again. "But Mr. Ryan said that we're still going to meet. I think he wants to talk about fundraisers."

"Oh." Brian felt his stomach twist itself into a knot. He didn't want to be at school anymore; he just wanted to go home and sleep.

"I think it's going to be a short one today since Larry isn't here."

Brian took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, okay."

Elliot nodded, and the two boys started down the hall towards Mr. Ryan's classroom.

3:04 P.M.

Claire found Heather at her locker checking her lipstick in the small rectangular mirror she'd pasted on the inside of the door. Claire sighed loudly to announce her presence, and Heather looked up. "Oh, hey." She shut the locker door and swung her purse over her shoulder. "Ready?"

Claire nodded, and the two girls walked out to the parking lot together. Heather started ranting about how much she hated her English teacher for assigning so much homework over the weekend, but Claire wasn't really paying attention.

Some guy peed in her purse…and he hit on her, too.

Claire shuddered.

"…not even listening to me."

Claire glanced over at Heather, who was digging around in her purse for her car keys. "I was listening," said Claire irritably. "You hate Mrs. McMillan. I get it."

Heather looked up from her purse and glared at her. "You could at least pretend like you cared."

Claire sighed. "I do care, alright? I'm just a little bit preoccupied right now."

Heather held out her hand. "You have my keys."

Claire rolled her eyes at the interruption, but didn't say anything, just pulled them out of her purse and handed them over. "Here."

"Thank you. Now, why are you preoccupied?"

Claire sighed again, this time a bit more dramatically. "I got a det-"

"What are all of these bags doing here?" Heather looked up at Claire and motioned through the back window. "Are these yours?"

Claire nodded. "That's what I was trying to tell you. I left campus to go shopping during sixth period, and Miss Marchetta caught me when-"

"What!" Heather's eyes widened in disbelief. "You went shopping?"

"Yes. I got caught when I was-"

Heather held up a hand to stop her from speaking. "Wait, you took my car to go shopping during school?"

"Yes."

"My car?"

Claire frowned. "That's what I was trying to tell you."

Heather shook her head and opened the car door. "I can't believe you did that. What if you'd wrecked it or something? What would I tell my dad? That I let all of my friends borrow it to sneak off campus without even telling me?"

Claire plopped down into the car and slammed the door shut. "It's not that big of a deal, Heather. Nothing happened to the car. I, on the other hand, got a deten-"

"Yeah, nothing happened, but it could have." Heather put the car in reverse and pulled out of the parking spot. "This is a BMW, not an El Camino. It's an expensive car."

Claire scoffed. "Yeah, I know that," she snapped.

Heather just shook her head as she pulled out of the parking lot. "I can't believe you took my car and…"

Claire slumped back in her seat and looked out the window, tuning her out.

3:30 P.M.

Elliot and Brian arrived at the Physics Club meeting a few minutes late. They found a couple of seats in the back of the room as Mr. Ryan continued talking about projected costs for the club's annual banquet, which was less than two months away. Brian's mind wandered endlessly during the teacher's talk, but he managed to stay awake for the entire meeting, much to his relief.

At about 3:30, Mr. Ryan glanced down at his notes. "I think that just about covers it. If anyone has any questions or suggestions, let me know, alright?" When no one said anything, he smiled pleasantly. "Have a good weekend."

Brian let out a sigh of relief and stood from his chair. "Is your dad picking you up?"

Elliot nodded. "Do you need a ride?"

Brian nodded. "If that's okay."

"Sure."

The two of them walked out of the classroom and started down the hallway. Just as they reached the front entrance, Brian stopped dead in his tracks, his entire body frozen in panic. "Wait. I, uh…I forgot something from my locker."

Elliot nodded and started walking in the direction they'd just come from. Brian's heart started thumping wildly in his chest. "No, it's okay. You don't need to…to go. I can get it. Just stay here and I'll, um, I'll get it."

Elliot frowned. "Alright."

Brian let out a sigh of relief. "Okay. I'll be right ba-"

Unfortunately, Brian didn't get to finish his sentence, as he was interrupted by the sound of a rather loud explosion.

A/N: Yeah, it was a bit filler-ish, but it was also necessary. Please review and let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is accepted and appreciated.