Chapter Seven
"What would I do for a million bucks?" considered Andrew, looking around the group as he pondered. "Well, I guess I'd do as little as I had to," he shrugged in reply.
"That's boring," accused Claire, rolling her eyes.
"Well, how am I s'posed to answer?" he responded, insulted. The Athlete frowned at the Princess and she huffed, laughing a little as she shrugged.
"The idea is to, like search your mind for the absolute limit. Like, umm," she told him clearly, a smile forming on her face as she thought of an example and turned to him. "Would you drive to school naked?" she asked, spurring a laugh from the Athlete.
"Um, uh," he paused, weighing up his options. "Would I have to get out of the car?" he asked.
"Of course," nodded Claire. Everyone smiled, watching the way the conversation was going. John looked over at Aideen, but when she looked back – feeling his stare – he quickly looked at Claire, pretending he had been looking at the Princess all along.
"In the spring?" the Athlete continued to question, "Or winter?"
"It doesn't matter," replied Claire, shaking her head, "spring," she shrugged.
"In front of the school or in back of the school?" he asked.
"Either one," she decided. Andrew thought for a moment and nodded.
"Yeah," he stated firmly. Claire's eyes widened, not expecting that answer, and she laughed.
"Well, it is a million bucks," shrugged Aideen, smiling at the two. Claire nodded in agreement.
"I'd do that," said Allison suddenly. Everyone turned to her, taking a moment to process her words, and she continued, "I'll do anything sexual, I don't need a million dollars to do it, either," she said quickly. No one spoke for a while, until Claire frowned cautiously and rolled her eyes.
"You're lying," she accused easily.
"I already have," Allison persisted, shrugging. "I've done just about everything there is, except a few things that are illegal," she told the Princess. Andrew smiled in amusement and Allison leaned in further, "I'm a nymphomaniac," she concluded. Rolling her eyes again, Claire scoffed.
"Lie," she muttered. Aideen tilted her head slightly, not really believing Allison but at the same time worried that it was true – from the look on John's face, he half-believed her, too. Brian had no trouble voicing his concerns about the Basket Case's apparent escapades.
"Are your parents aware of this?" he asked, his tone suggesting that he'd tell them if they weren't. Allison bit her lip and looked down, seemingly ashamed.
"The only person I told was my shrink," she admitted, leaning back again. Now fully drawn into her tale, Andrew spoke up.
"And what's he do when you told him?" he asked, his eyebrows pulling together as he leaned closer to the Basket Case. She looked up, an impish smile crossing her face.
"He nailed me," she boasted.
"Very nice," scoffed Claire. Aideen, wide-eyed, looked between the Basket Case and the rest of the group until her eyes fell on John, who shrugged.
"I don't think from a legal standpoint what he did can be construed as rape, since I paid him," Allison continued.
"He's an adult!" burst Claire, looking offended at the suggestion and slightly disturbed by the tale Allison was telling.
"Yeah," nodded the darker-haired girl, still smiling slightly, "He's married, too."
"Do you have any idea how completely gross that is?" noted Claire in disgust, but Allison seemed nonchalant about the situation.
"Well, the first few times," she shrugged.
"First few times?" yelped the pink-wearing redhead, "You mean he did it more than once?"
"Sure," nodded Allison and Aideen blinked, the story started to being less realistic in her mind. Still, she could never be too sure, and Allison seemed completely serious.
"Are you crazy?" accused Claire, her eyes narrowed at the Basket Case.
"Obviously she's crazy," scoffed Brian, "if she's screwing her shrink."
"Leave her alone," snapped Aideen, glaring at the Brain. He bit his lip guiltily and looked away.
"Have you ever done it?" asked Allison, speaking directly to Claire. This seemed to grab everyone's attention, as the boys were now looking at Claire with interest. Aideen rolled her eyes and leaned back on her hands, her legs still tucked under her.
"I don't even have a psychiatrist," replied Claire, dodging the real question.
"Have you ever done it with a normal person?" Allison smirked, not letting Claire out of answering this particular question. Aideen sighed, glad that she had not been faced with such a personal question, while also feeling sorry for Claire that this enquiry kept coming up about her.
"Now, didn't we already cover this?" asked the Princess nervously, still trying to avoid answering. Unfortunately for her, it seemed John had picked up the topic, and raised his eyebrows.
"You never answered the question," he told her, seemingly bored but with a hint of amusement in his tone.
"Look, I'm not gonna discuss my personal life with total strangers," Claire shot back, looking away from all of them and crossing her arms angrily across her chest.
"It's kind of a double-edged sword, isn't it?" quipped Allison, her smile gone.
"A what?" asked Aideen; she was suddenly interested. Allison shrugged.
"Well, if you say you haven't, you're a prude," she replied, looking between the two redheads, "If you say you have, you're a slut. It's a trap," she sighed, seemingly despondent. "You want to, but you can't; but when you do, you wish you didn't, right?" she prompted.
"Wrong," scowled Claire, unwilling to admit the truth in Allison statement. The other redhead said nothing, and didn't nod or shake her head. She figured that the best way to avoid the question was to ignore the question.
"Or are you a tease?" suggested Allison. Andrew laughed once, nodding.
"She's a tease," he spoke.
"Oh, why don't you just forget it," barked Claire, irritated.
"You're a tease and you know it," he accused outright, "All girls are teases!" he announced. Aideen tilted her head, looking to John. He shrugged and turned to Andrew.
"She's only a tease if what she does gets you hot," he commented. The Criminal turned back to Aideen and smiled slightly, kindly.
"I don't do anything!" yelped Claire, unhappy about everyone – except the quiet Irish girl – ganging up on her.
"Exactly," nodded Allison. "That's why you're a tease."
"Okay, lemme ask you a few questions," challenged the Princess. Allison sat straight, suddenly defensive.
"I've already told you everything!" she replied, her eyes darting around.
"No!" rejected Claire, "Doesn't it bother you to sleep around without being in love?" she asked reproachfully. "I mean, don't you want any respect?"
"I don't screw to get respect," Allison retorted, turning the argument onto Claire again, "That's the difference between you and me."
"Not the only difference, I hope," hissed the Princess. Aideen glared at her, not liking the tone she was using against her friend – regardless of the conversation Allison had started.
"Face it, you're a tease!" groaned John, getting tired of the topic.
"I'm not a tease!" shrieked the redhead.
"Sure you are!" disagreed John, "You said it yourself: Sex is a weapon, you use it to get respect."
"No, I never said that!" cried Claire, "She twisted my words around!"
"Oh, then what do you use it for?" he continued, not letting up even when Aideen looked at him pleadingly, seeing how upset Claire was getting.
"I don't use it," she cried, on the verge of tears, "Period!"
"Oh, are you medically frigid or is it psychological?" he scoffed and Aideen sent him a scolding look, which he ignored.
"I didn't mean it that way!" the Princess said, "You guys are putting words into my mouth!"
"Well, if you'd just answer the question," he suggested.
"Why don't you just answer the question?" pressured Brian.
"Be honest," prompted Andrew. The boys continued to badger her, Allison and Aideen remaining quiet, until Claire burst.
"No!" she screamed, "I never did it!" the girl said honestly. She breathed heavily with the effort of her loud yell and everyone was quiet for a moment.
"I never did it either," confessed Allison and everyone turned to her with wide eyes. "I'm not a nymphomaniac, I'm a compulsive liar," she told everyone, her impish smile back in place. Aideen laughed at the confession, but Claire was less than amused.
"You are such a bitch!" she yelled. "You did that on purpose just to fuck me over!"
"I would do it, though," she continued softly. "If you love someone, it's okay."
"I can't believe you," groaned Claire, "you're so weird. You don't say anything all day, and then when you open your mouth you unload all these tremendous lies all over me! Oh, and why me; why not her?" she continued, pointing to Aideen suddenly. John sat up from the post, almost daring anyone to say a bad thing about the Irish redhead.
"Because it's pretty obvious," Allison said, rolling her eyes. "She's nice and sweet, and obviously never done it. You're a tease, so it was more of a mystery."
"So I act like a slut or something?" hissed Claire. Andrew spoke up at this point, rolling his eyes.
"You're just pissed off because she got you to admit something you didn't want to admit," Andrew noticed, brushing off her whining.
"Okay, fine," admitted Claire, "But that doesn't make it any less bizarre."
"What's bizarre?" the Athlete questioned, "I mean we're all pretty bizarre! Some of us are just better at hiding it, that's all," he shrugged. Claire bit her lip and looked at him.
"How are you bizarre?" she asked, not believing what he said. Allison looked up, deciding to field that question.
"He can't think for himself," she responded. Andrew looked at her for a moment before nodding slowly, coming to the same conclusion.
"She's right," he agreed. "Do you guys know what, uh," he cleared his throat, looking nervous and guilty, "what I did to get in here? I taped Larry Lester's buns together," he told them. Claire laughed, but she was the only one.
"That was you?" asked Brian in shock, looking appalled.
"Yeah, you know him?" question the Athlete. The Brain narrowed his eyes, scoffing.
"Yeah, I know him," he replied, sneering slightly.
"Well then you know how hairy he is, right?" asked Andrew and Aideen winced, putting the story together in her mind. John, on the other hand, grinned at the Athlete, "Well, when they pulled the tape off, most of his hair came off and some, some skin too," he looked down, shame covering his face.
"Oh my God," gasped Claire, suddenly guilty for laughing.
"And the bizarre thing is, is that I did it for my old man," he said, a haunted look crossing his face and he frowned. "I tortured this poor kid, because I wanted him to think that I was cool. He's always going off about – y'know, when he was in school, all the wild things he used to do. And I got the feeling that he was disappointed that I never cut loose on anyone, right?" he paused. "So, I'm...I'm sitting in the locker room, and I'm taping up my knee. And Larry's undressing a couple lockers down from me. Yeah, he's kinda – he's kinda skinny, weak. And I started thinking about my father, and his attitude about weakness. And the next thing I knew, I uh, I jumped on top of him and started wailing on him."
Aideen looked down, sighing slightly as she recalled hearing about Larry.
Allison looked sympathetic, but also interested in the story.
John's face was blank, but his eyes seemed slightly distant.
Brian was cringing along with the story, obviously recalling times when he was bullied.
Claire seemed upset, but was having a hard time relating.
"And my friends, they just laughed and cheered me on. And afterwards, when I was sittin' in Vernon's office, all I could think about was Larry's father," he paused, taking a deep breath, "And Larry havin' to go home and – and explain what happened to him; and the humiliation – the fucking humiliation he must've felt. It must've been unreal. I mean," he was crying by this point, consumed by guilt, "I mean, how d'you apologize for something like that? There's no way; it's all because of me and my old man. Oh God, I fucking hate him!" he cried.
"It's okay," Allison soothed slightly, not reaching out to comfort Andrew but prompting him to continue.
"He's like this," he paused, sneering, "He's like this mindless machine that I can't even relate to anymore. 'Andrew, you've got to be number one!'" he yelled, impersonating his father, "'I won't tolerate any losers in this family. Your intensity is for shit! Win. Win! Win!'" he sniffed, rubbing his eyes. "You son of a bitch!" he yelled, thinking about his father before looking around at the others again, "You know, sometimes, I wish my knee would give – and I wouldn't be able to wrestle anymore. And he could forget all about me."
Everyone was silent for a moment, taking in what Andrew had just told them with mixed opinions. It was Bender who finally broke the silence.
"I think your old man and my old man should get together and go bowling," he said jokingly, but with little humour. Andrew laughed briefly.
"It's like me, you know," Brian spoke up, gaining the group's attention, "with my grades – like, when I, when I step outside myself kinda, and when I, when I look in at myself you know? And I see me and I don't like what I see, I really don't."
"What's wrong with you?" asked Claire, genuinely confused. "Why don't you like yourself?" she questioned. The girl herself, in the short period of time she had known him in, hadn't found anything about Brian she seriously didn't like.
"Because I'm stupid," he said, choking on a sob, "'cause I'm failing shop. See we had this assignment, to make this ceramic elephant, and um – and we had eight weeks to do it and we're s'posed ta – and it was like a lamp, and when you pull the trunk the light was s'posed to go on," he sighed, "My light didn't go on, I got a 'F' on it. I've never got an 'F' in my life. When I signed up – you know, for the course I mean – I thought I was playing it real smart, you know. 'Cause, I thought, I'll take shop; it'll be such an easy way to maintain my grade point average."
"Why'd you think it'd be easy?" asked John, frowning – he was clearly agitated by Brian's words.
"Have you seen some of the dopes that take shop?" snorted Brian, rolling his eyes slightly.
"I take shop," announced John and the atmosphere became even more awkward than before. "You must be a fuckin' idiot!" he accused.
"I'm a fuckin' idiot because I can't make a lamp?" yelled Brian.
"No, you're a genius because you can't make a lamp," scoffed John, shaking his head at the Brain.
"What do you know about Trigonometry?" challenged Brian. John scoffed again and sneered at the smartest person in the group.
"I couldn't care less about Trigonometry," he stated.
"Bender, did you know without Trigonometry there'd be no engineering?" the Brain informed him.
"Without lamps, there'd be no light!" followed John, a triumphant look on his face.
"Okay so neither one of you is any better than the other one," Claire cut in before the fight continued. Feeling left out, Allison took it upon herself to change the topic.
"I can write with my toes," she told them randomly and everyone looked at her, surprise on their faces, "I can also eat, and brush my teeth..." she trailed off, impressed looks appearing around the group.
"With your feet?" asked Claire, seeming interested but also a little disturbed.
"...play Heart & Soul on the piano," continued the Basket Case.
"I can make spaghetti," smiled Brian happily.
"What can you do?" asked Aideen, looking at Andrew with a smile. He looked thoughtful for a moment before he smiled slightly.
"I can, uh, tape all your buns together," he offered and everyone laughed a little.
"I wanna see what Claire can do!" said John suddenly. Claire looked over at him and shrugged slightly, smiling.
"I can't do anything," she told him, shaking her head.
"Now, everybody can do something," John replied in a patronising tone, causing Claire to narrow her eyes.
"There's one thing I can do," she said, but then became slightly bashful and shook her head again. "No forget it; it is way too embarrassing," she laughed.
"Have you ever seen 'Wild Kingdom'?" asked John without warning, "I mean that guy's been doing that show for thirty years," he added.
"Okay, but you have to swear to God you won't laugh," she said to everyone, pulling her back closer, "I can't believe I'm actually doing this," she muttered, taking out her lipstick and opening it. She placed it between her breasts and applies the lipstick from her cleavage, lifting her head to reveal perfectly-applied lipstick. Impressed, everyone clapped, but John's was slow and sarcastic.
"All right, great!" smiled Andrew, "Where'd you learn to do that?"
"Camp, seventh grade," Claire grinned, before capping her lipstick and putting it away again.
"What camp?" giggled Aideen, and the other redhead laughed with her.
"That was great, Claire," John said slowly and condescendingly, "My image of you is totally blown."
"You're a shit!" yelled Allison, scowling at him, "Don't do that to her – you swore to God you wouldn't laugh!"
"Am I laughing?" John sneered, shaking his head and rolling his eyes.
"You fucking prick!" accused Andrew, glaring. Slowly, John turned to Andrew and spoke.
"What do you care what I think, anyway?" he asked rhetorically, "I don't even count, right? I could disappear forever and it wouldn't make any difference...I may as well not even exist at this school, remember?" he scoffed, turning this time to Claire. "And you don't like me anyway!" he added.
"You know, I have just as many feelings as you do and it hurts just as much when somebody steps all over them!" she cried, tears in her eyes as his words hit home for both her and Andrew.
"God, you're so pathetic," snarled John, furious, "Don't you ever – ever – compare yourself to me! Okay?" he barked loudly, harshly, "You got everything, and I got shit! Fuckin' Rapunzel, right? School would probably fucking shut down if you didn't show up! 'Queenie isn't here!' I like those earrings Claire," he continued, suddenly changing the direction of his attack.
"Shut up," she whimpered quietly, tears in her eyes.
"Are those real diamonds, Claire?" he cooed mockingly.
"Shut up!" she yelled at him.
"I bet they are," he continued, "Did you work for the money for those earrings?"
"Shut – your – mouth!" she ordered, clearly distraught by his verbal bullying.
"Or did your daddy buy those?" he sneered and Claire began to cry, her tears falling quickly down her face. Aideen looked shocked by John's vicious words.
"Shut up!" she yelled again, this time almost pleadingly as she breathed heavily, but John continued anyway.
"I bet he bought those for you," he said with fake kindness. "I bet those are a Christmas gift, right?" he added, and Claire shook her head to block out what he was saying, "You know what I got for Christmas this year? It was a banner fuckin' year at the old Bender family! I got a carton of cigarettes. The old man grabbed me and said," he paused, grabbing his own collar, "'Hey, smoke up Johnny!' Okay, so go home and cry to your daddy – don't cry here, okay?"
"Jackass," muttered Aideen, shifting over to Claire to comfort her. John looked shocked by the gesture, and insult, but said nothing.
"My God, are we gonna be like our parents?" asked Andrew, looking dismayed by the prospect.
"Not me," sobbed Claire as she and Aideen stopped hugging, "Ever," she assured everyone.
"It's unavoidable," Allison sighed, "it just happens."
"What happens?" asked Claire, wiping away a few tears.
"When you grow up, your heart dies," she replied, on the verge of tears herself.
"Who cares?" snorted John, sinking more heavily into his slouch.
"I care," Allison said, her voice wavering.
"Me too," Aideen sniffed, thinking about the parents she never knew – the ones who abandoned her as a baby. John looked concerned, but knew she wouldn't allow him to pull her over and comfort her.
"Um, I was just thinking," spoke Brian, "I mean, I know it's kind of a weird time, but I was just wondering, um, what is gonna happen to us on Monday? When we're all together again? I mean, I consider you all my friends. I'm not wrong, am I?" he stuttered, looking around hopefully.
"No," Andrew assured him and Brian smiled slightly.
"So, so on Monday – what happens?" he asked, the hope still present in his tone.
"Are we still friends, you mean?" asked Claire, "If we're friends now that is?" she added, looking at John with distaste. He had the decency to look away.
"Yeah," nodded Brian.
"Do you want the truth?" she sniffed, wiping her eyes one final time.
"Yeah, I want the truth," assured the Brain, sitting up straighter. Claire shook her head sadly.
"I don't think so," she told him. Allison snorted.
"Well, do you mean all of us or just John?" she asked, glaring in his direction.
"With all of you," she confessed, looking away. Aideen frowned at her words, scooting further away from Claire and towards Brain, not wanting to be close to John right now.
"That's a real nice attitude, Claire!" clipped Andrew, sneering.
"Oh, be honest, Andy," the Princess glared, "If Brian came walking up to you in the hall on Monday, what would you do? I mean picture this; you're there with all the sports. I know exactly what you'd do, you'd say 'hi' to him and when he left you'd cut him all up so your friends wouldn't think you really liked him!"
"No way," rejected Andrew, but deep down he knew it was true.
"'Kay, what if I came up to you?" asked Allison, a small amount of hope in her tone that she knew was going to be crushed.
"Same exact thing," Claire admitted.
"You are a bitch!" screamed a furious John at Claire. At least Andrew was trying to deny his true nature, while Claire was just putting everyone down and destroying any happy mood they had.
"Why?" she returned harshly, "Because I'm telling the truth – that makes me a bitch?"
"No!" snarled John, "'Cause you know how shitty that is to do to someone! And you don't have the balls to stand up to your friends and tell 'em that you're gonna like who you wanna like!" he accused, but Claire glared back.
"Okay, what about you, you hypocrite!" she yelled right back, "Why don't you take Allison to one of your heavy metal vomit parties? Or take Brian out to the parking lot at lunch to get high? What about Andy for that matter, what about me?" she paused, looking at Aideen, "What about her? What would your friends say if you and she were walking down the hall together?" she sneered, "They'd laugh their asses off and you'd probably tell them you were doing it with her so they'd forgive you for being seen with her."
"Don't you ever talk about my friends!" roared John, still angry, "You don't know any of my friends, you don't look at any of my friends and you certainly wouldn't condescend to speak to any of my friends so you just stick to the things you know; shopping, nail polish, your father's BMW and your poor, rich, drunk mother in the Caribbean!" he said.
"Shut up!" cried Claire, furious and sobbing.
"And as far as being concerned about what's gonna happen when Aideen and I walk down the hallways at school, you can forget it!" he continued, not thinking about his words before they came out of his mouth, "'Cause it's never gonna happen! So, just bury your head in the sand, and wait for your fuckin' prom!" he finished, panting and looking around. John almost flinched when he saw Aideen's hurt expression.
"I hate you!" screamed Claire.
"Yeah?" he replied, "Good!" the Criminal scoffed. He crossed his arms, not daring to look at Aideen again, and everything was quiet until Brian spoke up.
"Then I assume Allison, Aideen and I," he smiled ironically, "are better people than you guys, huh? Us Basket-Cases," he paused, looking at Allison, "Do you – would you do that to me?" he asked her.
"I don't have any friends," Allison mused with a sad sort of smile.
"Well if you did?" he continued and Allison shook her head.
"No," she promised. "I don't think the kind of friends I'd have would mind."
"Would you?" the Brain questioned, turning to Aideen now. She shook her head.
"I like you too much," she smiled slightly, looking down. "I would be proud to have you and Allison as my friends," the girl added quietly and John felt a stab at his chest.
"I just wanna tell, each of you," Brian carried on, "that I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't and I will not! 'Cause, I think that's real shitty," he said.
"Your friends wouldn't mind because they look up to us," Claire told him weakly, wiping her eyes as Brian laughed sadly, also tearing up.
"You're so conceited, Claire," he whimpered, burying his head in his knees as he wept, "You're so conceited," he breathed, looking up and wiping his eyes roughly with the palm of his hand. "You're so, like, full of yourself. Why are you like that?" he asked genuinely.
"I'm not saying that to be conceited!" replied Claire, crying again, "I hate it! I hate having to go along with everything my friends say!"
"Well then why do you do it?" the Brain questioned.
"I don't know," confessed the Princess, "I don't – you don't understand – you don't. You're not friends with the same kind of people that Andy and I are friends with! You know, you just don't understand the pressure that they can put on you!" she sobbed and Brian recoiled in shocked.
"I don't understand what?" he said scornfully, "You think I don't understand pressure, Claire? Well fuck you! Fuck you!" he hid his head in his arms again, tears falling fast and furiously. He then stopped and stretched out, lying down slightly and leaning on a chair, "Know why I'm here today? Do you?" he cried, demanding an answer, "I'm here because Mr. Ryan found a gun in my locker."
"Why'd you have a gun in your locker?" asked Andrew calmly, feeling bad for the Brain.
"I tried," he cried, babbling, "You pull the fuckin' trunk on it and the light's s'posed to go on – and it didn't go on, I mean, I..."
"What's the gun for Brian?" the Athlete asked, more firmly this time. Everyone was looking at him with a mixture of shock and concern.
"Just forget it," he dismissed, shaking his head.
"You brought it up, man!" said Andrew adamantly. Brian bit his lip and sighed, giving in.
"I can't have an 'F'," he told them sadly, sitting up from his laying position and placing his head on his hands, "I can't have it and I know my parents can't have it," he laughed without humour. John looked away, this statement making him think back to his 'Big Bri's House' impersonation and the guilt hit him hard and fast, "Even if I aced the rest of the semester, I'm still only a B. And everything's ruined for me!" he cried.
"Oh, Brian," whispered Claire with pity. Angry, Brian hit the chair he was leaning on before.
"So I considered my options, you know?" he snorted, though there was no humour in it.
"No!" said Claire firmly, "Killing yourself is not an option!"
"Well I didn't do it, did I?" he retorted angrily, "No, I don't think so."
"It was a hand gun?" piped up Allison, looking at him with sad eyes.
"No, it was a flare gun," he said. Suddenly, the atmosphere changed and John tried his best not to smile, "went off in my locker," he added. All of a sudden, it was not John doing the laughing.
"Really?" asked Andrew, snorting but at the same time trying to contain his amusement to be sensitive.
"It's not funny," muttered Brian. Slowly, they all began to laugh a little, starting with Andrew, then John, Allison, Aideen, and Claire. It wasn't long before Brian joined them, "Yes it is," nodded, thinking on it. "Fuckin' elephant was destroyed!" he added triumphantly. Everyone continued to laugh for a moment until Allison spoke up.
"You wanna know what I did to get in here?" she offered. Everyone turned, looking interested and she smiled. "Nothing," she confessed, "I didn't have anything better to do," the girl shrugged and everyone laughed again, this time with Allison. "You're laughing at me," she accused, her smile still there.
"No," Andrew denied, though his laughter was making it obvious.
"Yes, you are!" she gasped, grinning with giggles. Eventually, everyone wound down and Andrew looked at Aideen.
"What about you?" he asked, a smile on his face as the redhead turned to him, titling her head. "What'd you do to get here?" he explained and Aideen turned away, shrugging.
"I, umm," she took a deep breath, sighing. "I may have borrowed a certain something belonging to Principal Vernon," she confessed, looking around at the surprised faces of her fellow students.
"Like what?" asked John, a smile on his face. Aideen smiled back, though it was strained.
"Like..." she smirked, "His new car, maybe?"
"No way!" roared Andrew, bursting out into laughter along with the others.
"I returned it right away!" the redhead assured them through her laughter, "It only had three or four dents in it, and the scratches are easily painted over!"
"Classic!" laughed John, a wide grin on his face.
Brian got up and walked around to the record playing, putting in a record and letting the song play. Their high mood was displayed as the six in detention danced around with each other, suddenly getting along better with one another than they ever thought possible.