Chapter Six

Brian, John and Claire sat in a circle, laughing hysterically. The girl of the trio leant over to John with a spliff between her lips, allowing him to light it for her before she leant back, a smile on her face as she inhaled. Not two seconds later, she was coughing and spluttering, prompting both John and Brian to laugh at her and she tried again. The Brain, wearing Bender's sunglasses, exhaled his smoke, starring at it for a moment before attempting to catch it back in his mouth, his teeth clicking together.

"Chicks cannot hold der smoke!" he exclaimed in a strange voice, "That's what it is," Brian concluded. Claire sat up and cleared her throat.

"Do you know how popular I am?" she asked and John raised an eyebrow, "I'm so popular, everybody loves me so much, at this school..."

"Poor baby," the Criminal said, rolling his eyes and looking back over to where Allison and Aideen were sitting. He almost walked over and picked her up, carrying her back to join the fun, like he did last time – somehow, though, he knew that she wouldn't appreciate it. After all, drugs are a lot more serious than some questionable reading material.

Brian waved Claire over to him and he fell over, getting up in just enough time to watch Andrew emerge from a smoky reading room, a spliff in his mouth. After one more inhale, he flicked it away and started dancing, taking off his jacket and t-shirt, leaving him in only his white vest. Brian and Claire applauded when he started to dance, running around the upper level of the library, hitting her flags and vaulting over the bookcases. Finally, he walked back into the reading room, closing the door and screaming, shattering the weak glass.

"Be right back," John told the duo as Andrew walked out of the room again, leaping down the stairs two at a time and joining the Princess and the Brain in the seating area. Spying his target, John paused a moment as he watched her and Allison talking.

"Really?" the Irish girl smiled, leaning in closer to the Basket Case. Her jacket was back on, thanks to a small chill, and her bag was strapped over her shoulder; she had apparently either forgotten to take it off, or had only recently moved to sit with Allison.

"That's what he said," she nodded, smirking as she leant back. Not at all sorry to interrupt 'girl-talk', John strode over and took Aideen's arm, pulling her with him to the back of the library, but away from the others.

"What are you doing?" asked the redhead, a wavering of worry in her voice that almost made John feel guilty. Once they were sufficiently far from everyone else, he stopped and let her go.

"I don't even know your name," he told her as way of an explanation, sitting down on the floor and tugging her down to sit with him, "so we're gonna get to know one another, okay?"

"Like what?" she asked cautiously. Rolling his eyes, John reached over and took her bag, pulling it open. "Hey!" yelled Aideen, reaching over to take it back. All John did was hold it out of her reach, one hand ruffling through it blindly, "That's my stuff! You can't just root through a person's belongings!" she told him angrily. Smirking at her, his hand met what he was looking for.

"Ah-ha!" he cried in triumph, giving her bag back as he pulled out her wallet, watching her expression turn from anger to shock.

"How did you...?" she trailed off, trying to figure out how he had managed to distinguish her wallet through touch alone.

"Name: Aideen Campbell; Age: 16," he paused, looking up at her, "Well no wonder I've never seen you before! You're in the year below me," the teen continued, looking back at her ID. "Never pegged you for a junior," he muttered after a moment and Aideen frowned.

"I'm surprised you're actually a senior," she shot right back. John's eyes widened and he looked at her with a half-grin.

"Some mouth you've got on you, Angel Face," he breathed, leaning closer. "I thought, after all the squeaks and red-face moments that you were some sweet, shy little Daddy's Girl," he chuckled, but his amusement dried up at the sight of her enraged face.

"You don't know the first thing about me," she hissed at him, snatching her wallet back and shoving it into her bag. Standing, Aideen turned to leave but was stopped by John's hand around her wrist. He was still sat down, giving her a serious look.

"Then tell me," he urged. She avoided his eyes, looking everywhere but in John's direction; he sighed, taking her chin and turning her to face him. "Tell me," the teen repeated. Aideen bit her lip and she moved her chin away from his hand, slowing pulling off her gloves.

"You're not the only one with scars," she whispered, showing him her bare hands and he frowned, taking one of them and tracing the spider web marks marring the skin of her palms.

"How did it happen?" he asked, not looking away from her hand. She smiled weakly and pulled her hand away, putting her gloves back on quickly and rubbing her legs. John didn't miss this and stared at her, "Your legs, too?" he asked and she nodded.

"I live with a foster family," she told him and John winced – he now felt bad about the 'Daddy's girl' comment. "They're good to me – I love my brothers and Jessica is nice enough, and so is Edward. My real parents abandoned me when I was a baby; I was too young to remember them, really. The first people I knew as my 'parents' were named Margret and Paul McLaren – they were older people, but from time-to-time they would take in orphans between homes, like me. I loved them so much," she told him, smiling fondly as she opened her wallet, plucking out a picture from behind the one of her current family and handing it to him.

"This them?" he asked, looking at the slightly charred picture of an elderly couple and a young – probably only four-years-old – Aideen. She nodded with a smile. John connected the burnt photograph with her scars as he handed it back.

"When they died – of old age – I was still in their care," she told him, her voice quiet as she looked at the photo once more before putting it back in her wallet fondly. "It was my next home that was awful, y'see. They just took us lot in for the money, not for love; me 'nd five other girls shared a room, while there were three boys that slept in the living room – it were only a two bedroom house, y'see, and the couple took the other room. One of the boys started the fire, to get out; the man was a drunk, a used to hit us from time to time – I was still new when we got out, so I was never really on the receiving end, but I saw it often enough."

"That fire was where you got...?" he trailed off, gesturing to her hands and legs while Aideen nodded.

"Aye," she replied. "We were told to get out quickly, but that photo of Margret and Paul was still in my room, under my mattress. I went back in to get it, but the fire was spreading so fast. A fireman got me out in the end, but I was in hospital for burns on my hands, arms, legs, and stomach. It was worse on my hands and legs – the rest healed well, but you can still sort of make out the scars if you really look for them."

"Were you put with, umm," he paused, trying to remember the names she had used, "err, Jessica and Edward...after that?" the teen asked, knowing he had the names right because Aideen nodded when he named them. After the question, though, she shook her head.

"I was juggled around a wee bit," the redhead smiled. "There were about four families between the ages of six, when I left the hospital, and twelve, when I was taken in my Edward and Jessica. It's not uncommon at all for a kid to be moved around so much, but it was still hard – new people every time, a new place. Though this is the first time I've been shipped out of Ireland, and that's only because I was with the family for more than a month when they decided to move."

"So you're happy with them?" asked John, moving closer to her. Aideen thought for a moment, a smile on her face, before she nodded.

"Yes," she said truthfully, looking John in the eye. "They're great – they look after me, watch over me, and make sure I'm setting myself up well for when I turn eighteen." The girl stopped, thinking her story over, before moving up closer to John until the two were leaning on each other and she spoke, "What about you? Anything to tell me?" she smiled. John laughed, emptying his pockets and handing her his wallet.

"Dig away," he offered as the girl opened it. John pulled her bag to him, looking at her for permission – which she granted – before going through it, putting her wallet back inside. He pulled out her lipstick, uncapping it and winding it out until it almost broke, before he wound it back up and capped it again, dumping it back in her bag.

"Who're these girls?" asked Aideen, flicking through the pictures he had in his wallet. John looked up, frowning, as he leaned over and had a look.

"Girlfriends," he shrugged, going back to her bag, "Ex-girlfriends, potential-girlfriends. Some friends, some not friends – celebrities I think are hot. Y'know, typical stuff," John explained. Nodding, Aideen put the photos back and John gave her a look.

"What?" she asked; the girl was pulling out his ID without looking as she tilted her head in response to his look. John smiled.

"Aren't you gonna check to see if your picture's there?" he asked, leaning closer to her.

"Is it?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow. John shrugged.

"It might be," he said calmly and she laughed, causing him to smile.

"I doubt it," Aideen finalised easily. "You probably didn't know I existed before today," she giggled. Almost bashfully, John turned back to her bag. "So, don't you believe in monogamy?"

"Mono-what?" asked John, snorting and pulling out new Smash Hits magazine from her bag. He flicked through it with a bored look on his face.

"Monogamy," Aideen explained, putting his ID back after reading it and placing down his wallet. She then began looking through the other stuff he had taken out of his pockets. "It means, like, one guy for one girl – no cheating in relationships, and that kinda stuff," the girl continued and John looked at her over the magazine.

"Do you believe in that kinda stuff?" he asked curiously and Aideen shrugged.

"I guess," she confessed, "but within reason. It should only happen when two people are perfect for each other, because if they are then there shouldn't need to be anyone else."

"Makes sense," he shrugged, "but that's just not for me." Aideen looked at him as he put her magazine back in her back.

"Any reason, or just because?" she asked, giving him an out if he didn't want to answer. Appreciating it, John smiled.

"Just because," he replied. The two were quiet as Aideen shifted through the random things John kept in his pockets, including cigarettes, his matches, the rest of his marijuana – which she placed to one side as she sorted through it – as well as a pack of bubblegum and a small A7-sized notepad with lined paper and a pencil that had been sharpened down until it was the size of her little finger. She held them up with a smile, looking at him curiously.

"What's with these?" she asked and John looked up, "You don't seem the type to need to take notes all the time," the girl giggled. Bender reached over and flipped the notepad open, showing her the first page.

"Numbers and names," he grinned as she read over it, seeing the numbers of twenty or so girls over the first three pages, but then it was blank. "Want to add yours?" asked John slyly, handing her the pencil. Aideen smiled, but shook her head.

"I don't want to be one of a handful," she laughed, handing him back the notepad. He took it with a frown, ripping out the pages that had numbers on them and tearing them up, sprinkling the ripped up paper on the floor around them while Aideen looked at him in shock.

"Now you'll be the only one," he assured her gently, handing it back. Shaking her head softly, Aideen gave in and wrote her number down quickly. She looked at John sternly as she handed the pad back.

"Don't call just because you're bored," she warned him and he grinned innocently.

"Now, why would I do that?" he questioned, throwing an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his side. Aideen rested her head on his shoulder and they relaxed slightly, but jumped apart when they heard the others – who they had forgotten about in their talking – approaching them.

"Hey, guys," greeted Brian as he walked over with Claire, the boy sitting by the banister while the girl rested on the pillar near it. John was leaning on the opposite post and Aideen was kneeling between the two as Andrew and Allison joined them, the Athlete sitting across from Aideen and beside Brian as the Basket-Case sat between Andrew and John.

"What where you talking about?" asked Claire, looking between the Loner and the Criminal. They exchanged small smiles.

"Nothing," the two mumbled, looking away.