Chapter Three
John started to whistle a marching tune, getting through the few three lines of the melody before Brian joined in. For a moment, when John paused, it seemed as though he would embarrass the Nerd by stopping, but he merely took a breath and continued. Soon enough, Claire joined in with the whistling, quickly followed by Andrew – who was down-playing his involvement as he rested his head on the desk. The last thing he wanted the Criminal to know was that he was joining in for entertainment.
A high pitched whistling sounded from the back as the Basket-Case joined in sharply; she was looking between the teenagers in the room, as if they would turn around and tell her to stop participating. Aideen, hearing everyone else and not wanting to be left out, started up with her own sharp, though tuneful, exhalations. They all continued the marching tune for a moment, creating a harmony of whistles that cheered them all up and boosted morale – or, it would have, were they not in Saturday detention.
Most everyone stopped when Principal Vernon entered the room, through the still-broken doors; the sole exception to this being John as he morphed the marching tune into a the most famous part of Beethoven's 5th Symphony just as the Principal moved to stand in front of them. He glared at John as the teen slowly drew his tune to a close, a mockingly innocent look covering his face while the Principal looked away from him.
"Alright, girls," mocked the Principal, "that's thirty minutes for lunch."
"Here?" protested Andrew quickly, sitting up in his seat.
"Here," established Richard firmly, but Andrew was un-intimidated by the authority in his tone. If anything, it prompted him to speak up more clearly – then again, with his earlier display of aggression, Aideen was surprised that he didn't just up and wrestle the Principal to the ground in remonstration of the inappropriate setting for their lunch.
"Well, I think the cafeteria would be a more suitable place for us to eat lunch in, sir," he articulated, making a valid point. The Principal, however, was having none of it.
"Well," mimicked Principal Vernon, "I don't care what you think, Andrew!"
"Uh, Dick?" interrupted John, getting the attention of their Principal on him, alone, "Excuse me, Rich," he corrected, as though addressing him as such were more respectful, "will milk be made available to us?"
"We're extremely thirsty, sir," agreed Andrew.
"I have a very low tolerance for dehydration," inserted Claire, hoping to further push their case.
"I've seen her dehydrate sir," Andrew lied, "It's pretty gross," he added and Aideen giggled while Claire, unable to glare at him so that they would keep up the excuse, bit her lip angrily. John stood up, a look of complete innocence across his face.
"Relax, I'll get it," he volunteered, making a move to leave his seat when the Principal spoke up.
"Ah, ah, ah," he contradicted the idea, "grab some wood there, bub!" he said as John grinned and sat back down. "What do you think, I was born yesterday?"
"Not with those wrinkles," said Aideen under her breath – but, just her luck, everyone heard it. Claire and Andrew snorted behind their hands while Brian tried to hide his grin. A loud, but quick and very sharp laugh was heard from the Basket-Case at back of the room and John was outright beaming.
"Looks like I'll have some company in even more of my Saturday detentions," he commented, "right, Rich?"
"For once, Bender," ground out the Principal, "you're right. Campbell, you have another Saturday added to the two you already had."
"Great," she groaned, genuinely upset but Principal Vernon obviously though she was being sarcastic.
"And that's four!" he announced as her face became shocked. "And as for you volunteering to get the drinks; you think I'm gonna have you roaming these halls?" he asked John before pointing at Andrew. "You!" he announced as Andrew looked up sharply. He then began 'subtly' gesturing to Claire, as though the Principal might actually send her with him. Instead, he pointed at the girl in the back, "And you! Hey! What's her name? Wake her! Wake her up!" he yelled and she sharply turned her head to glare up at him. "Come on, on your feet, missy! Let's go! This is no rest home!"
"Hm," grunted the girl as she stood, pulling her bag strap around her torso.
"There's a soft drink machine in the teacher's lounge," he told them, herding the two teenagers towards the door, "Let's go!"
As soon as the doors closed behind the Principal and the drink-fetching-duo, the library burst into a flurry of movement. Claire moved to pick up her bag and sifted through it, pulling out a mirror to check her hair and makeup. Brian had picked up his pencil and was tapping the table quietly, staring at his piece of paper in thought. Aideen took off her jacket and rubbed her hands, still gloved, together before running her fingers through her ponytail.
The girl looked over to the Criminal as John leapt up from his seat, running to the door to check if Principal Vernon went to his office, or was gone up the hall with Andrew and the Basket-Case. Judging by his grin, Aideen guessed that the Principal was now out of hearing distance. He moved away from the door and walked towards her, stopping in front of her on the other side of the desk as Aideen looked up at him curiously.
"C'mon, Angel Face," he prompted, clapping his hands and rubbing them together, his grin still firmly in place. "You, me, Brianna, and Princess Ka-Laire are gonna break some rules."
"Says who?" scoffed Claire, scowling at him.
"Says me," he mocked, raising his eyebrows and standing up again, walking backwards between the desks and further into the library. When he was out of seeing distance, Claire rolled her eyes and turned back to the front for a moment before her curiosity got the better of her.
"Fuck," she cursed, getting up quickly and following John. Watching her go, Brain glanced at Aideen once before he, too, followed the Criminal. Now sitting alone, Aideen bit her lip looked down at her desk. Heavy footsteps came towards her and she felt large hands on her upper arms, lifting her from her seat and steering her towards the back of the library. Her jacket was left on the table.
"Come along, Angel Face," John's voice sounded. She could tell he was grinning as he made her walk to where the other two were. Claire was leaning against one of the many sculptures the library housed while Brian was sat opposite her, reading a book about human disease.
"I see he got you, then," smiled Claire, walking to the Loner and the Criminal, pulling Aideen away from John and taking her to the statue she was leaning on while John stole the book from Brian and flicked through it.
"I just wish this day would end, already," whispered Aideen as she slumped to the ground, pulling her legs up and resting her chin on her knees as she leaned back against the statue. Claire put all her weight on the statue as well as she moved, rolling on her shoulder from the side of the sculpture to the front.
"Damn," John muttered, his leg shaking, "I could really just go to my locker right now."
"Why?" scoffed Claire, "You got a 'Get out of Jail Free' card in there, or something?"
"Or something," he chuckled, looking back at the book.
"Freak," the Princess whispered, glancing down at her nails.
"Girls," called John, who had put the book down and been watching them, "you wanna see a picture of a guy with elephantitus of the nuts?" he asked, watching Claire's face morph into disgust while Aideen blushed and buried her face in her knees – he found the Irish girl's reaction cute. "It's pretty tasty," he teased.
"No, thank you," the American redhead rejected, rolling her eyes as she moved along the statue again.
"How 'bout you, Sweetheart?" he grinned, looking towards Aideen.
"Leave her alone," sighed Claire, moving back beside the other redhead.
"How do you think he rides a bike?" John persisted while Claire sneered at him and looked at her nails. "Oh, Claire," he continued, this time sounding almost sincere and she looked at him again, "would you ever consider dating a guy like this?"
"Can't you just leave me alone?" she groaned, using her hands to emphasis her weariness of his bullying.
"I mean if he had a great personality," the teen carried on, ignoring her, "and was a good dancer and had a cool car," he paused, smirking, "Although you'd probably have to ride in the back seat, because his nuts would ride shotgun."
"You know what I wish I was doing?" Claire mused, now taking it as her turn to ignore him.
"Uh, watch what you say," warned John, pointing to the Geek, "Brian here is a cherry."
"A cherry?" the boy repeated, frowning in disbelief.
"I wish I was on a plane," Claire continued, causing the boys to look at her for a moment, "to France," she sighed, still ignoring the boys. Aideen was beginning to drift to sleep again.
"I'm not a cherry," Brian denied, getting John's attention back on him.
"When have you ever gotten laid?" asked John, speaking quietly so only Brian would hear him.
"I've laid lotsa times!" he claimed, raising his eyebrows as if daring John to disagree with him.
"Name one," challenged the Criminal, smirking.
"She lives in Canada," Brian said as John shook his head, "met her at Niagara Falls. You wouldn't know her." When he finished, John scoffed and grinned mockingly.
"Ever laid anyone around here?" he asked, this time not even trying to be quiet in front of the girls.
"Shh," Brian motioned for him to be quite as he gestured with his head towards the girls – Claire had her back turned to them still and Aideen was halfway asleep, with her head still buried in her knees.
"Oh," taunted John, loudly, "you and Claire did it!" he gasped. Claire spun around sharply, narrowing her eyes at the two, while Aideen lifted her head to see the aftermath of that statement.
"What are you talking about?" challenged Claire, looking between the Criminal and the Brain.
"Nothin', nothin," he assured her before turning to John, "Let's just drop it, we'll talk about it later," he said.
"No!" rejected the redhead furiously, "Drop what? What're you talking about?"
"Well," John began to inform her, "Brian's trying to tell me that, in addition to the number of girls in the Niagara Falls area," he explained, "that presently you and he are, riding the hobby horse!"
"Little pig!" sneered Claire, looking at Brian.
"No, I'm not!" denied the Brain, "I'm not! John," he gestured, "said I was a cherry, and I said I wasn't; that's it, that's all that was said!"
"Well then," contested John as he picked up the conversation again, "what were you motioning to Claire for?"
"You know I don't appreciate this very much, Brian," scolded Claire. Aideen looked between the three of them, eyebrows raised. She didn't expect this from Brian; no one did, really.
"He is lying!" accused the Brain as a last resort, not wanting Claire angry at him.
"Oh, you weren't motioning to Claire?" asked John, but this time his question was less mocking and more serious. "So, it was Angel Face, right?" he dared, standing and glaring at the boy.
"What?" yelped Brian, "No, it wasn't!"
"Excuse me?" squeaked the meeker redhead.
"You're disgusting, Brian," sneered Claire. "What's she ever done to you? What did I ever do to you?"
"I wasn't," he began lamely.
"Who, exactly," said John slowly, "where you motioning at, then? Claire, or Angel Face?" he asked. Brain looked from John to the girls for a few moments and, unable to lie anymore, he avoided the question.
"You know he's lying, right?" he asked the girls.
"Were you or were you not motioning to one of the girls?" John persisted.
"Yeah, but it was only," he began quietly, embarrassed, "was only because I didn't want them to know that I was a virgin, okay?" he admitted while John just stared at him. A smile came to Claire's face and Aideen relaxed, standing up and dusting off her dress and gloves. "Excuse me for being a virgin, I'm sorry," he muttered, feeling humiliated at his confession as Claire walked across to the desks.
"Why didn't you want me to know you were a virgin?" she asked him calmly.
"Because it's personal business," he excused, "It's my personal, private business."
"Well, Brian," smirked John, "it doesn't sound like you're doing any business."
"Y'know, I think it's okay for a guy to be a virgin," Claire assured him, nudging Aideen.
"Hmm?" she said, looking up, "Oh, yeah; n-nothing wrong with it," she agreed nervously, looking down again as John looked at them, surprised. He was sure that the confession would cause Brian some social humiliation, but he seemed to be more popular with the girls than before.
"You do?" asked Brian, a smile on his face as Claire nodded at him, mirroring his smile. Aideen shrugged, not caring too much, and Brain looked at John, sneering for a moment, before smiling again and resting his nose on his knee in satisfaction.