Monday morning arrived and Homer was making his way to school trying his hardest to keep his feelings under control and to forget all that had happened Friday night. He had thought about what to do most of the weekend and usually found himself walking down the block thinking things over by himself. Barney never called him that weekend and Homer wondered what became of his best friend. But being by yourself did have some advantages and Homer realized that he could just go about his business. If he did run into Marge, he would find out for sure if it really was just a one night fling with Artie Ziff. But what if it wasn't? Homer couldn't figure that one out; it was hard to get that lovely girl out of his mind.

He was so deep in thought by this that he wasn't paying attention to any of the songs playing on the radio or even where he was going. Apparently he was so used to driving to school that he arrived safely enough into his own parking space right next to Barney who was waiting for him while the song Waterloo by Abba was playing loudly on his radio. For a moment Barney was so into the music that he did not even notice Homer until he got out of the car and stood by his driver's side door. Barney looked up with a start before sheepishly turning off the radio and his car before getting out.

"It's not what it looks like," Barney said nervously, apparently he did not want to admit that he was an Abba fan.

"Sure it isn't," Homer said with a sly grin on his face before he began to walk toward the building.

"What? I swear, there was nothing else on," said Barney as he locked the door and followed Homer into the school. Homer only giggled under his breath while Barney tried to catch up. "So how did prom night go for you, apparently someone gave me a really powerful drug because I woke up Saturday afternoon in an alley in Little Italy, naked and covered in tomato sauce."

"At least your night was eventful, I had to walk home because Marge wet out with Artie Ziff," said Homer sadly.

"You mean that girl you liked stood you up?" Barney exclaimed. Homer let out a sigh and nodded before looking back at Barney with a sad face. "You didn't even get to first base like you hoped?" Homer shook his head. "Oh man talk about a really bad luck, she seemed perfect for you, but now you are bachelor like me again so I guess this means one thing!"

"What's that?" Homer asked as he looked down at the ground not wanting to meet Barney's gaze, afraid that he would burst into tears any moment over the girl he liked.

"It's time to ruin our lungs out!" Barney said as he took out a cigarette and started to smoke before handing Homer the pack. Homer stared at the package, he usually only smoked in Barney's presence and he could barely even finish one before coughing up a fit, he preferred beer really but beer was still illegal for him, so cigarettes would have to do for now. But Homer was in no mood to smoke at the moment, he really needed to get to class since he had been away from school for three weeks to avoid Marge, and not bother her by asking if the invitation to the prom has really been cancelled, which of course it was. He quickly handed the package back to Barney.

"Maybe later, I can't miss any part of class today, I've been gone for too long," Homer said.

"But you've missed enough to know that you have to take summer school so why not just hang by the bleachers for a bit?" asked Barney.

"Hey I could get lucky," said Homer as he walked away from Barney toward the building. There was no way he was going to get distracted by his best friend, he wanted to at least try to pass a class or two and only take a few in the summer, at least he hoped it would happen.

Homer entered the building, a place that seemed new to him since he had not been there in three weeks. For a moment he had forgotten which side of the building he was on as he tried to remember where his locker was. It didn't take long once he got his bearings corrected and ran down the main hall passing students who were either running to class or talking to their newfound boyfriend or girlfriend that they had made while at prom. Some of his fellow classmates recognized him as he ran down the hall calling out his name and asking where he had been. Homer of course ignored them; he did not want to be distracted at the moment and soon found himself at his locker which of course he forgot the combination of.

For a few moments, Homer stood by the locker staring at the combination and numbers surrounding it, he really should have had it memorized by now but his thoughts were swimming on other things like getting to class and if he was going to see Marge today or not. But he had to get those thoughts out of his head in order to get what he needed at that moment and once he was finally able to do so, after a good five minutes, he opened his locker to discover that there was a very strange odor coming from inside. Homer took a whiff and backed away a little, nearly knocking down another student heading to class.

"Everything alright there Homer?" a familiar voice said. It was his friend Carl Carlson and both shared first period class together.

"It will be once I find what I left in here three weeks ago," Homer replied as he moved his books out of the way.

Carl moved forward a bit before backing up from the smell. "Oh man Homer; you could choke the entire school with that smell! What in the world can smell that bad?"

"I'm trying to figure that out, I don't think its food, I never forget the food I bring," Homer said before letting out a gasp and backing up again. "I think I found it." He then grabbed his ruler that was on top of one of his books and began to push things aside with it to get to what he was after.

"What is it?" asked Carl as he watched Homer take the ruler and dig deep into one of the corners.

It wasn't long before Carl realized that it definitely was not food, but it was definitely something that was capable of being very smelly when left alone for a while. Homer's gym shorts.

"I've been wondering what happened to these, I guess they have been in my locker longer than three weeks," said Homer as he held them up with the ruler causing the entire student body in the hallway to gag from the horrible smell.

Carl of course did the same until he covered his face with his shirt and noticed something strange about the shorts that had once been pure white. "Is it just me or are they turning green?"

Once the toxic pants were disposed of properly, Homer and Carl made their way to Algebra, the first class of the day and one they both despised tremendously. Their teacher Miss Swartzski was not the most pleasant of teachers to deal with. She was not afraid to speak her mind about students, and had no second thoughts about revealing who was failing her class. Homer knew today was not going to be a good day to be there, but he had to, he had to finish and hopefully find a way to pass.

Both entered the classroom a little early so Homer could at least take some notes from Carl and hopefully find out what assignments he had missed over the three weeks. He tried to enter in a nonchalant manner by quickly making his way over to his favorite seat and gathering what he needed for class, but Miss Swartzski was quick to notice and was quick to have a few choice words with him.

"Glad to see you back Mr. Simpson, though seeing as how there are only four weeks left in the school year I highly doubt you can catch up, especially with how your grade was before you disappeared," Miss Swartzski said in a voice that made her sound like a rude old rich lady. Of course she was already two out of three of those things and many of the students believed she was rude because she was not rich and because she was old. She probably had the freedom to retire soon but everyone believed she would not do it just because they believed she wanted to suck the lives out of everyone for as long as she could. Not only that, she never married and many believed her rude and angry behavior was the result of no sex life. Homer could already feel the happiness slip out of him as she made her way toward him and as she did so, he felt himself shrink in fear.

"W-W-Well I d-do have my h-h-homework from the l-last time I-I was in c-class," Homer said worriedly as he handed her the homework he had done three weeks ago.

Miss Swartzski quickly grabbed the paper out of his hand and looked it over for a moment before turning it back to him. "You know the rules for my class, no late assignments unless you are on your death bead and I highly doubt you were on your death bed seeing as how I heard rumors of you at prom."

Homer glared back at her before looking around the room, half the students were already in and all of them were staring at him, it felt like the whole world was on his shoulders now. "But Miss Swartzski, have a heart, I did my homework and I can do the rest, I promise, I really want to pass just so you won't have to see me this summer."

"I already plan on seeing you this summer Mr. Simpson, seeing as how since before you left you had a C-, and since you haven't done any homework since then or the quiz I gave two weeks ago, you will have to get something higher than an A- minus for the next quiz and for the final. I seriously doubt you will be that lucky," Miss Swartzski replied icily before moving to the front of the room and started writing on the board.

"Aren't you supposed to encourage kids to do good, not humiliate them in front of the entire student body?" asked Homer who now had been quite embarrassed by what his teacher said to him that he had to fight back. He wanted to get the last word in to show that he was willing to try.

"And aren't you supposed to be speaking to Principal Dondelinger about your absence, no doubt you are failing your other classes," Miss Swartzski said without turning around.

"I don't know, am I? Or are you just trying to fail me further?" Homer asked with great spite causing Carl to actually back away a little bit.

Miss Swartzski turned around and glared back at him for a moment, her foot tapping on the smooth linoleum as if waiting for another comeback before she said anything else. Homer waited for her though before she finally replied. "I am not starting class until you leave this room, and if you don't, I will have Dondelinger drag you out myself."

Homer gave Miss Swartzski one last glare before slamming his book closed and stomped out the door in an angry huff. But not before leaving behind a few choice words. "Should have thrown my algae encrusted pants at you ya old bat!"

Homer knew the location of the principal's office well, for the past four years; he had been there more times than he could count. He and Principal Dondelinger had a mutual hate toward each other and it always seemed that Dondelinger was counting down the days till Homer finally left the academic field for good. Homer hated visiting him too, he knew if he did better in school and didn't break any rules he wouldn't have this problem. But being around his friends wouldn't stop him of that; you would always expect Homer Simpson to be in Principal Dondelinger's office once a week, sometimes accompanied by Barney.

It wasn't long before Homer reached the Principals office, well his secretary was the first office to be reached and he quickly made himself known by grabbing a seat against the wall as hard as he could, this caused the secretary Mrs. Warner to look up from what she was doing.

"Back again Mr. Simpson?" She asked in almost an annoyed sigh.

"Yes ma'am, Swartzski told me to," Homer said.

"Well I will let Dondelinger know you are here, he said he was expecting you sometime this week any way," Mrs. Warner said before she went down the hall toward Dondelinger's office. Homer sat there thinking, was he going to be expelled for the rest of the semester? Would he have to wait another month to go back to school and graduate in August? He could not believe this was happening and it was all over a girl he liked, one that refused to acknowledge him. Homer let out a sigh and was about to lean back on his chair when he heard Dondelinger call out his name. Homer looked up and saw the old principal motioning for him to come into his office. Homer slowly got up and moseyed his way over, taking his time to think of any excuses to come up with.

Of course once Homer was close enough to Dondelinger's office, Dondelinger grabbed him by the cuff of his jacket and pulled him in before making him sit down. Homer landed heavily on the hard chair and looked up at Dondelinger with a sheepish smile. Dondelinger only glared back before turning to his file cabinet to find Homer's record. As he did so, Homer looked around the room to see if there was anything new to stare at. Nothing out of the ordinary until he looked out the window and saw the morning gym class exercising, it wasn't long for him to realize that one of them was Marge. He stared out at her with a longing look in his eyes, he wanted to talk to her now, find out if she broke up with Artie and if so, would she be interested in being his boyfriend. He hoped he could do so after the meeting with Dondelinger which at the moment he had forgotten until the man woke him from his trance.

"SIMPSON!" Dondelinger's voice called out. Homer jumped up and turned back at him.

"I sense Miss Swartzski sent you?" he asked.

"Yes sir, can you believe she embarrassed me in front of the entire class about my grades, I did not like that at all," said Homer as he twiddled his fingers.

"Well you probably deserved it, doing nothing for three weeks, we began to believe you dropped out, but there you were Friday night at the prom and here you are this morning. What was the reason for your absence?" asked Dondelinger.

Homer stared back at his principal for a moment, trying to think of the best excuse he could come up with. But nothing was really coming out, all he could see in his mind was Marge stretching out on the field. Apparently honesty was the best policy at the moment.

"Girl problems sir," Homer said quietly.

"Girl problems? Have you been picked on by them or something?" Dondelinger asked, his brow rose in curiosity at the idea of a girl picking on Homer.

"No sir, I have a crush on one and I upset her one night after I asked her out to the prom, she said yes but then she told me she didn't like me after I tricked her into teaching me French. So in order to not upset her I decided to avoid her by not showing up until prom night," Homer replied.

Dondelinger stared back at Homer, obviously confused by his idea of skipping school. Kids today, always thinking about what to put in their pants and not what to put into their brains. "Well because of your foolish idea, your grades are suffering."

"Is there any way I can try to pass some classes with at least a C?" Homer asked.

"Well I talked with your teachers this morning, all seven of them, and the good news is that you can fix most of them. Your gym teacher doesn't seem to care if you show up or not, he thinks it's more of a workout class to help keep your weight right. Your shop class teacher currently only has one assignment and you had an A in it all semester. Your English teacher, Mr. Larson, well you got lucky on that one, he is currently in the hospital after slipping down the stairs the second week you went missing, been too injured to assign anything with the substitute teacher. Your history teacher will let you catch up, you had a B- and he thinks you are a solid student; apparently he's never met the real side of you. Your speech teacher wants to hear the speech you were supposed to give the first week, if you do it sometime this week, he will give you a C+ since that is what you have in the class."

"So I am going to be fine then? Woo Hoo! Today's not a total loss after all!" Homer cried out in a voice that sounded very excited as he jumped up with glee and stared back out the window at Marge who was now getting ready to do some track with the rest of the gym class.

"Not quite Simpson, sit down," Dondelinger said. Homer was once again not listening as he continued to stare out the window. Dondelinger then got up and closed the blinds. Homer stared back with surprise before remembering what he was here for. "You still have two classes that I'm afraid will be too hard for you to catch up, Algebra and Remedial Science 1A. Now you already spoke with Miss Swartzski this morning, and I really don't see you passing that class unless you really study. And your science teacher Mrs. Trandel, well you know how she gives out quizzes twice a week, and if you miss them, that's it, you failed them. So it's really going to be hard for you to pass that class."

"So what am I supposed to do?" Homer asked.

"Well you can either take those two classes and try to pass, but you would have to study day and night, or you can wait to graduate in August and take both classes in the summer. It's your choice," Dondelinger replied as he shifted through his notes to make sure he had said everything he needed to say.

Homer thought for a moment, he tried to shift his eyes toward the window before realizing that Dondelinger had closed it. He could not remember if he had any big plans this summer, save for finding a job and maybe moving in with Barney. He had no plans for college, just to find a job and maybe get Marge to like him, it was farfetched on that last one but it could work. Would his father care? He didn't think so, Abe never showed any support any way so there was no point in asking his father or telling him. Plus the idea of studying day and night was not something he was prepared to handle, he could not stay in one place for long, he liked to have fun and memorizing things got really boring after a while. It was best to start things over.

"I'll take the two classes in the summer, graduate in August, and then you will be out of my hair for good," Homer replied finally.

"Very good, don't worry about going to Algebra then, I will inform Miss Swartzski that you will continue starting June first," Dondelinger said as he took his notes and put them back in the filing cabinet. Homer let out a sigh and started to walk out the door to go find Marge, but not until Dondelinger had one more message for him. "And Simpson!" Homer turned around nervously. "Tell Mr. Gumble to see me as soon as possible about his indecent exposure at the prom."

It didn't take long for Homer to reach the field where gym was being held in its last ten minutes of class. Homer made his way toward the track where most of the students were running and saw Marge coming around the turn, he knew she was almost finished by the way most of the students were getting off the track, getting drinks and sitting down. As soon as Marge left the track, Homer made his way toward her cautiously. Marge quickly saw him come over and stood where she was, letting him come over to find out what he wanted.

"Hi Marge!" Homer said with a nervous smile.

"Hello Homer, what are you doing here?" Marge asked as she took a sip of water.

"I just came over to say hi and to find out how your night went," Homer replied.

"Well hello then, and my night was fantastic," Marge said before walking over to a group of girls, apparently in no mood to hear about Homer's night. Homer stood there, realizing he had been shot down yet again.

"So it's serious?" Homer asked in a pitiful sounding voice.

"Oh yes Homer it's very serious," a voice replied from behind him.

Homer turned around to find Artie standing there in his gym clothes with an angry look on his face, obviously upset that he was bothering Marge yet again about being with her. Homer backed away a little bit until he realized that Artie was more of a scholar and not much of a fighter.

"I was just curious, no need for that bug up your ass to go up further," Homer said. "I was making sure she still wasn't interested in me and that maybe you ruined her night to make her change her mind or something."

"Well she's not, so stay away from her if you know what's good for you," Artie said as he walked by and gave Homer a heavy shove.

"Or what will you do if I don't poindexter?" asked Homer in a sarcastic voice.

Artie turned around and ran forward, grabbing Homer by the collar looking him straight in the eye. "Just stay away from her, do you hear me?" Artie then shoved Homer back, causing him to fall roughly into the pavement while Artie walked toward the group. Homer sat there for a minute a little shocked by what went on and surprised Artie had it in him. Slowly he picked himself up and dusted off his pants before he heard a familiar voice call back to him.

"Nice try Romeo, you gave it your best shot." Homer turned toward the bleachers and found Lenny sitting there with Barney; both had apparently seen what had gone on.

"Next time pummel the four eyes ass," Barney called back as he took a swig of some soda while Homer made his way over.

"Thanks Barn, but I guess I am supposed to remain single, and Dondelinger wants you in his office," Homer sighed.

"Oh great what did I do?" Barney asked with a burp.

"You know how you woke up in little Italy naked, well you were naked long before that," Homer said.

"Oh that explains why my tuxedo was hanging on the basketball hoop in the gym." Barney replied as he followed Homer back into school.

A/N: First off before I begin: CURSE YOU WIKIPEDIA! Any way this is my response to Simpson fans review about how he for some odd reason decided to look up information about Queen. Yes I did know the song was made in 1976, but that was after I decided to look up some information about it and I liked what I had written and didn't want to change it. I even discussed it with a friend who said no one will notice, but Simpson Fan you proved us wrong, surprised you were the one who found it too, but I will shut up now about it.

And another thing, just so you all know, I have no plans to kill Homer in this story, the only injury he will probably receive is him and Barney drinking too much beer and ending up in the hospital with alcohol poisoning, that is it, he is already suffering enough being single and all that. But he will have some fun so don't worry about that. Any way sorry for the long wait on this chapter as well, I forget that October is my busy month which is weird. But please review when you guys can, I love hearing from you all, see you all soon.