Chapter Five
Not even five minutes after they had all sat back in their seats did Principal Vernon re-enter the library, shove John in with him. Bender looked positively depressed – stumbling as he was pushed again – but there was an undoubtedly gleeful aura surrounding him. Aideen watched with wide eyes as the Criminal smirked, winking at her, before adopting his dismal expression again.
"Get your stuff, let's go!" the Principal ordered as John walked to his previous desk, gathering his belongings. He then turned to everyone else, "Mr Wise-Guy here has taken it upon himself to go to the gymnasium. I'm sorry to inform you, you're going to be without his services for the rest of the day," he said. Aideen's eyes widened and she looked to John, who snorted.
"B-O-O H-O-O," he sneered.
"Everything's a big joke, huh Bender?" scoffed Principal Vernon, "The false alarm you pulled, Friday?" he hummed, allowing the others to know what John had done to land himself in Saturday detention, "False alarms are really funny, aren't they? What if your home – What if your family," he paused, rolling his eyes slightly, "What if your dope was on fire?"
"Impossible, sir," John began innocently, "It's in Johnson's underwear," he told him with all honesty. Andrew laughed out loud while everyone else sniggered at the unhidden truth.
"You think he's funny?" the Principal barked at the Athlete, "You think this is cute? You think he's 'bitching', is that it? Lemme tell you something; look at him, he's a bum," he sneered. Turning, he addressed everyone, "You wanna see something funny? You go visit John Bender in five years! You'll see how God damned funny he is!" the man yelled, turning this time to John, "What's the matter, John? You gonna cry?" he sneered and Aideen gasped, glaring at the Principal, "Let's go," he ordered, grabbing John's shoulder.
"Hey keep your fuckin' hands off me!" warned the teen loudly, batting the man's hand away. "I expect better manners from you, Dick!" he mocked. Bender took his sunglasses out of his pocket and laid them in front of Andrew. "For better hallway vision!" he said, referring to Andrew's lapse in judgement. "See ya later, Sweetheart!" he called to Aideen, leaving the library but not before pushing stuff over on the way.
"Keep quiet, or you'll join him," warned Vernon, following John out; "And someone pick up these books!" he added before the door closed.
"Well, that's just great!" yelled Andrew, standing from his seat and sitting on the desk, running his hands through his hair.
"Cool it, would ya?" the Princess sighed, rolling her eyes as she checked her nails, "It's your fault he's in that mess."
"Like I care," Andrew sneered. Seeing that their argument was going nowhere fast, Aideen stood from her seat and walked to the front desk, picking up the books John had pushed off and putting them back where they came from. The other four watched her with odd looks on their face and she turned, biting her lip.
"I got bored," she whispered as an explanation, hurrying back to her seat. A thoughtful look crossed the face of the Basket-Case and she stood, pulling her bag strap across her chest and clutching the satchel as she scurried towards the front row, sitting in the seat beside Aideen.
"Hi," she said quietly, not meeting the redhead's gaze. Aideen smiled weakly.
"Hi," she replied, her eyes directed to the desk.
"I'm Allison," the Basket-Case introduced. "Everyone else said their names, and I remembered that you and I didn't."
"Oh, right," nodded the girl, "I'm Aideen."
"I know you!" yelled Claire suddenly, standing from her seat and pointing a finger at Aideen.
"Yeah, she's the exchange student," Brain said, shaking his head. "I thought her accent would've made it obvious."
"Not that, genius" the Princess frowned, blushing at the insinuation that she was stupid, "I remember seeing you in my Art class, but aren't you in the grade below us?"
"I – I'm in some AP classes," replied Aideen, her cheeks turning pink at the new-found attention. Allison smirked in a friendly way, pulling a sketchpad out of her bag and flipping through a few of the pages until she came across her most recently completed work – something she had finished a few hours earlier.
"I'm an artist, too," Allison told her, sliding the sketchbook over to Aideen. The younger girl observed the work with a smile.
"You're very good," she compliment, rooting around in her own bag until she came across a smaller sketchpad, A4 whereas Allison's was A3. "I'm better at portraits and stuff than landscapes," she explained, handing the sketch over to the charcoal-artist, who also smiled.
"Cool," nodded Allison, handing the book back while putting her own away in her large bag, "Maybe sometime you could draw me, and I could come over draw your house," she laughed quietly. Aideen smiled weakly, but didn't laugh.
"Oh shit!" they heard from the back of the library, followed quickly by a loud bang and more cursing. Everyone swirled around to the noise, their eyes wide as John casually strolled down the stairs towards his desk.
"I forgot my pencil," he said as an explanation, grinning as he winked at Aideen again. Suddenly, more cursing was heard – this time from the hall – and John was quick to duck under Aideen's table as Allison darted back towards her own.
"What in God's name is going on in here?" demanded their Principal as he burst into the room, "What was that ruckus?"
"Uh," Andrew stuttered, "what ruckus?"
"I was just in my office and I heard a ruckus!" continued Principal Vernon, looking around at the group to spy out a weak link that might break, telling him the truth.
"Could you describe the ruckus, sir?" asked Brian in all seriousness while everyone else tried not to even smile.
"Watch your tongue young man," the Principal warned, "Watch it!" he snapped, and suddenly there was a bang from under Aideen's table.
"Argh!" groaned John, rubbing his head under the table. Thinking quickly, Andrew bangs on the table a few times, but when John returns the bangs the Athlete is forced to continue, wrapping it up with a zipping sound that made Aideen giggle.
"What is that?" asked their Principal suspiciously, "What, what is that, what is that noise?" he demanded to know. Suddenly, Aideen's eyes widened and she stiffened. John's hand was running along the outside of her thigh.
"What noise?" questioned Andrew; he said this as innocently as he could.
"Really, sir, there wasn't any noise," added Claire.
"Eep!" squeaked Aideen, lifting her foot and slamming it down where she knew John's other hands to be. He yelled out in pain, pulling his fingers from under her boot, and everyone started coughing to cover up the sound, Aideen included.
"That noise?" asked Claire, glancing at the flustered and red-faced Aideen quickly, "Was that the noise you were talking about?" she continued. Aideen daren't look under the table to glare at the Criminal, but John's hands remained with him and he didn't touch her leg again.
"No, it wasn't," rejected Principal Vernon, "That was not the noise I was talking about. Now, I may not have caught you in the act this time, but you can bet I will."
"Ha!" burst Allison, who had been holding in her laugh since Andrew had begun banging on the table.
"You may book on that, missy!" yelled Principal Vernon, shaking a warning finger in Allison's direction. "And you!" he added, turning to Claire, "I will not be made a fool of!" the man finished, turning to leave. Everyone choked on muffled laughter when they saw that he had a toilet seat cover stuck to his pants.
As soon as the doors closed behind the Principal, Aideen pulled her chair back for John to crawl out from under the table. She bit her lip, face red and tears of embarrassment in her eyes as he stood up. When John saw her face he swallowed hard, guiltily – he knew Aideen wouldn't appreciate his wandering hands, but he neglected to consider how sensitive she was. Now here she was, almost crying, and he felt like a jerk.
"It was an accident," he muttered and she sniffed.
"You're an asshole!" accused Claire, standing quickly and pushing him away from Aideen, slapping his arms a few times for good measure. Knowing he deserved it, John did nothing to stop her.
"So sue me," he snapped, not feeling so gentle when it came to the Princess of the group. He cast one more look at Aideen before sighed and walking over to Brian, "So, Ahab," John said, getting his attention, "Can I get my doobage?" he requested, holding out his hand.
"O-Oh," Brian mumbled, unzipping his trousers and reaching in, pulling out the bag of marijuana. Bender took it, holding it in the corner between his thumb and index finger, before walking towards the back of the library.
"Yo, Wasteoid!" yelled Andrew, his face contorted in anger, "You're not gonna blaze up in here!" he said, but John ignored him. Everyone sat silently for a moment before Claire stood up – not paying attention to the look Andrew was giving her – and walked after John. Andrew turned his glare to Brain, who had stood up almost as soon as Claire left.
"I – I'm just," Brian stuttered, "I'm gonna...Yeah," he finished incoherently, standing and following after the Criminal and the Princess. Sitting for a few more moments, Andrew slammed his hands on the desk.
"Shit," he cursed under his breath, standing and joining the three. Allison watched him go longingly, but was not willing to follow and get high. Aideen, who shared the sentiment of not wanting to smoke any marijuana – knowing how bad it was for her – remained at her desk as well.
"It sucks being the good ones," Allison called to her with a small smile. The redhead looked back and returned the gesture.
"Totally," she agreed.