"I can't believe Vernon only threatened me with detention and not you!" Claire said to her friend Heather.
They were in their fourth period History class; the only lesson that they actually sat next to each other in. Their teacher, Ms Makowski was too busy scribbling notes on the black board about the New Economic Policy to notice that the girls had leaned towards each others desks so they could form a quick conversation.
"Well, I only missed Art and, like, really, who needs that? But it's not like you actually got detention."
"I guess. It's just so frustrating. He always seems to pick on me whenever he sees me around. Like that time he told me my skirt was inappropriate across the hallway, so he had to shout to be heard."
"It was only inappropriate because he couldn't stop staring at your ass."
"Shut up!"
"Come on, Claire, it's your best asset."
"That's so irrelevant to what I'm trying to say."
"Yeah, yeah, I know what you're getting at. Woe is me, I'm Claire."
Claire glared back at Heather, her lips pursed.
"Okay, so you almost got a detention, big deal. Almost doesn't go on records, almost doesn't get you grounded. So you can definitely go to Stubby's party on Saturday night," Heather said.
"I don't know, my dad is still pretty mad."
"So ask your mom to let you go!"
Claire shrugged, and glanced up at the front of class just in time to catch Makowski turning around, and the girls quickly broke apart.
For as long as Claire had known Heather, which had been since the start of middle school, she'd recognised that she could be very persistent. Correction: relentless. As Makowski started lecturing the class on Lenin's economic goals for Russia, Claire felt a bony elbow nudge her arm. She looked over at her friend.
"Please go," she mouthed.
Claire pulled a face.
"Stubby, party," she whispered, then raised her hands slightly, but not enough to be noticed by anyone not watching her, and waggled them up and down like she was dancing.
Claire sighed and looked away, refusing to reply and willing the lesson to end quickly before she was dragged into doing something she didn't want to do.
Her prayers were answered minutes later in the form of a fire bell—a random, completely out of the blue fire bell, that could only be credited as an accident in a home ec. lesson or a prank.
Although the students were often reminded to evacuate the building quickly but orderly, staying with their class at all times when in a fire drill, the opposite always happened. As others began to shuffle out, Claire stood and swung her bag over her shoulder, walking slowly towards the field with Heather, leaving the rest of their class behind as Makowski tried to herd them all back together.
They passed by Vernon along the way, and Claire felt her face grow hot from embarrassment, mostly due to the fact he probably had her picked out now as a trouble maker, but also at the idea of his possible perverted glances at her skirt lengths.
"Go back to your classes! False alarm!" he shouted in his stern voice at the students, but nobody seemed to pay much attention to him. Any excuse to skip fourth seemed like a good one.
Claire and Heather quickly located the rest of their group, meaning Benny and Steff, and they huddled together on the chilly and wet Illinois day. Heavy and warm coats were currently out of season.
"Oh, Claire, please, please, please come to the party," Steff whined, "it won't be the same without you!"
"Yeah, remember how fun his last party was?" said Benny.
"All I remember about the last one was Heather throwing up in my car on the way home," said Claire.
"So this time I'll be the designated driver, okay?" said Heather.
"I'll believe that when I see it!"
"You know, Andrew Clarke will be there, and he's totally been checking you out lately," said Benny.
"No he has not!" said Claire.
"Yeah, he has! James told me he asked about you the other day."
Just round the corner from where the girls were standing, Vernon was attempting to catch the culprit of the impromptu fire alarm. Currently, John Bender was attempting to climb up the school's flag pole to get away from him. Upon hearing the commotion, a crowd gathered round to watch, but no one attempted to help their principal. Instead they cheered the criminal on until he was pulled back down by his legs.
"What a joke," said Benny.
"Who is that?" asked Heather.
"That Bender kid. The one who got caught smoking pot during Homecoming week. He was lighting up on the bleachers in the middle of the game," said Steff.
"I'll say it again, what a joke."
"Yeah," Claire added, glancing over as Bender slapped Vernon's hand away from his leg, complaining about how near it was to his ass.
Now that he had been caught, everyone went back to their conversations, Bender no longer being of interest anymore.
"So we'll all go to Heather's house on Saturday to get ready, and then she can take us to the party," said Steff.
"Sound like a good plan, Claire?" Benny asked.
Claire had stopped listening to the conversation. She was perhaps the only one still paying attention to what was going on with Vernon, the only one watching him cart away John Bender by the arm back to his office. The only person to look back as John looked out at the crowds of people on the field, pleased with his work, grinning from ear to ear. His eyes paused when they found hers, and didn't leave her. They watched her, and she watched back, and neither looked away until he had turned round the corner.
"Yeah," Claire murmured, half aware of the question.