The six detainees returned to the library after their bathroom break. They were sitting and standing in random places. Andrew had his leg up, stretching it on the banister. Brian stood near the card catalog to sharpen his pencil. Sheila sat behind Claire. Bender sat on the librarian's desk, ripping a book apart and tossing pages in the air. Andrew rolled his eyes at the delinquent.

"That's real intelligent!" he remarked sarcastically.

"You're right," Bender answered flatly. "It's wrong to destroy literature. Such fun to read"

He continued to tear up the book. He glanced at the front page of the destroyed book in his hand.

"Molay really pumps my nads," Bender said.

"It's Molière, dumb ass," Sheila said, rolling her eyes.

"I love his work!" Brian chimed in.

Bender glared at Brian and took a handful of pages and threw it at him. The geek ducked as the flying pages came raining down on him like snow. Sheila glared, annoyed because someone was attempting a simple conversation.

"Why are you such a troglodyte?" she said.

"Why are you such a Teacher's Pet?" he shot back.

Sheila gave him the finger, making the delinquent gasp in mock surprise at her gesture. Brian decided to start a conversation in order to defuse the tension.

"Hey, Sheila," he said. "That was pretty cool what you did yesterday."

Bender paused over rearranging the card catalogue on his lap upon hearing what the nerd had said. He looked at the new girl with a tilted head, intrigued about what the Teacher's Pet had done.

"What'd she do yesterday?" he asked. "Forget her homework?"

"Mr. Vernon took over history class for Mrs. Russell yesterday," Brian began. "He was giving Claire a hard time."

Bender reacted in mock horror as he heard this.

"Oh NO!" he gasped. "Not dear sweet Queenie!"

"Shut up, Bender!" Claire snapped.

"Yea, well, Vernon was really laying it into her..." Andrew added.

"And Sheila stuck up for me," Claire said smiling appreciatively.

"What could the Teacher's Pet have done to earn a detention for defending Miss Poor Little Rich Girl?" Bender asked.

Claire and Sheila rolled their eyes at the insult. This moron was going to be a pain in the ass all day. It was nothing but endless insults towards everyone...except the dark haired quiet girl. He hadn't said anything to her.

"Mr. Vernon said..." Brian added, feeling a bit uncomfortable for swearing since he rarely did it. "He said, 'This asshole is getting irritated', so Sheila suggested that he use ointments for his irritated ass. So that's why she's in detention today."

Bender chuckled as he heard this. Despite the fact he cut classes all the time, he would've given anything to see Dick get his ass handed to him by a wisecracking girl. That would've been the cherry on top of a perfect sundae.

"It was pretty ballsy even for a newbie," Andrew said with a small smile.

"It was nothing," Sheila replied dismissive. "Anyone else would've done the same. Vernon was being a real dick."

"I wouldn't have," Bender said.

Sheila looked at the criminal and saw that he couldn't hide the fact that he was a little impressed.

Soon Claire and Andrew began a conversation about going to a party at someone's house named Stubbie and that his parents were in Europe. Sheila rested her hand on her fist, listening to the conversation. She wondered if she should ask to go as she wanted to meet new people and make friends in her new town of Shermer. But she felt it would be weird to ask the popular kids such a thing. Given she was new, she figured it was an invite only event.

Shrugging, she looked over at Brian and decided to talk to him a bit about what happened regarding the kiss. She leaned against the card catalog. Brian looked up, seeing the redhead standing there. There was an awkward silence between them.

"Um..." she said. "Ah...well, that was pretty...I didn't make you uncomfortable, did I?"

She couldn't believe she said that! Really smooth! She face palmed.

"Are you talking about that kiss?" Brian asked.

Sheila nodded. "It must've been uncomfortable to be kissed like that out of the blue," she said. "And without asking first."

"No, I just didn't expect it," Brian answered, playing with his fingers. "I've never been kissed by a girl before."

"You didn't think it was shitty of me not to ask you first?" Sheila asked.

"No. I kinda had a feeling you were trying to prove Bender wrong."

Biting her lip, she felt a blush spread on her freckled cheeks. "Well...you're very sweet..."

"T-thank you," Brian said, rubbing his neck.

Given she was new to Shermer and Brian was such a nice boy, she did want to spend a some time with him. He was really nice to her on her first day of school. She looked at him.

"One more question," she said. "How are you in chemistry?"

"I have an A in that class," he answered, then arched an eyebrow. "Why? Do you need a tutor?"

"I was just thinking that," Sheila said, beaming. "I'm pretty shitty in that subject, along with math. Maybe we can meet during study hall and work together."

Brian smiled. "I'd be happy to help you," he answered.

They turned their attention turned to the rest of the group, listening to Claire complain about her parents: how her mom would always says one thing, but her dad would tell her to blow her off. Sheila thought about her own parents, wishing they would fight over her like Claire's. They went towards the desk to sit back down.

"It's a total drag. It's like any minute...divorce," Claire said.

Divorce. Sheila's heart stung when she heard that word. How hard it was to deal with. How she didn't understand why her parents were no longer together. It happened when she was so young. From all the hype, she recalled some friends at her old school who bragged about having two holidays and birthdays with their divorced parents. But she never had any of that. She pushed the thought away, trying to stay engaged in the current conversation.

"If you had to choose between them, who would you pick?" Bender asked.

"I don't think either gives a shit about me," Claire said. "It's like they use me to get back at each other."

"HA!" a voice in the back said.

The detainees looked towards the back where the quiet girl sat, surprise as it's the first thing she had said all day. She blew her bangs out of her face, looking at Claire with her dark eyes.

"Shut up!" Claire snapped.

"Oh the problems of a poor little rich girl," Bender derided.

"Dude, just because people have a lot of money doesn't mean their lives are perfect," Sheila defended. "Take Romeo and Juliet for example: sure, they had a shit ton of cash, but their families were always at each other's throats."

Claire smiled appreciatively. Andrew rolled his eyes, shaking his head. Bender muttered her given 'nickname' that he dubbed her. Brian was impressed that Sheila had used references from Shakespeare. She even pronounced Molière correctly. He wondered what else the new girl's interests were.

"You're just feeling sorry for yourself," Andrew said, turning to Claire.

"Well, if I didn't, nobody else would," Claire argued.

"Oh, you're breaking my heart," Andrew remarked sarcastically.

"Sporto?" Bender asked, hopping off the librarian's desk. "Do you get along with YOUR parents?"

"Well if I said yes, then I'm an idiot, right?" Andrew said.

"You're an idiot anyways," Bender said, hopping over the banister, facing him. "But if you say you get along with your parents...then you're a liar too."

"And how would you know that, Bender?" Sheila asked, arching an eyebrow.

"It's pretty obvious that nobody does," Bender said. Bender strode over to where Sheila was sitting, his head tilted. "How 'bout your parents, Teacher's Pet? Do you get along with them? Especially Big Stepdaddy?"

"I live with my grandpa," Sheila said simply, not wanting to talk about her parents.

"Oh RIGHT! The blind ol' geezer who almost ran me over this morning!" Bender said snidely.

"Doesn't change the fact that YOU stepped out in front of the car, dumb ass!" Sheila argued. "And don't talk about my Gramps like that! He's a hard ass, but at least he gives a shit about me."

The other detainees looked at the comedian curiously as she told them a little about her home life. They wondered why she was living with her grandfather and not her parents. Assumptions fired in their brains about her family life. Brian decided to be brave enough to ask. Bender unfortunately cut him off.

"Where are your parents?" Bender asked.

"And why are you living with your grandpa?" Brian added. "Why aren't you living with your parents?"

"So I can go to school here," Sheila said. "And my actual parents are divorced."

"Obviously, Teacher's Pet, since we all know about Big Stepdaddy," Bender said. Then emphasized his original question, "But where are they?"

Sheila didn't want to get into any details about her parents or her stepfather. In fact, she didn't want to talk about them at all. She kept the details to herself. The delinquent was asking too many questions. He'd probably use this information against her and insult her throughout the day.

Christ! She didn't know how long she could deal with Bender and his primeval behavior. She had to push the discomfort away and not let anyone see her resentment and anger over it. To wear her comedy mask. Hide her real feelings. She just put on that smile like she always did when she felt uncomfortable.

"Back home in Detroit," she said simply.

"It must be an absolute JOY to have TWO holidays and birthdays being a child of divorce, huh, Teacher's Pet?" Bender said.

Sheila snorted with derision. "I WISH!" she said.

"I-I don't get along with my parents," Brian added. "I don't get along with them when their idea of parental compassion is...is just, you know, wacko, you know."

Sheila listened to Brian and wondered what his relationship was with them. What did he mean by wacko? She imagined Brian's parents were teachers or some kind of intelligent scholars who encouraged him to do his best, being positive role models, praising him for his intelligence.

"Dork?" Bender interjected, holding a hand up to silence him.

"Yea?"

"You are a parents' wet dream, alright," Bender said, patted him on the arm and then lightly shoved him towards a desk, making Brian stumble back a bit.

"Well, that's the problem," Brian answered.

No one actually understood what it was like at home for him. It was like he had to do the best all the time or they would push him down. He'd never had a supportive family network and he knew that people had it worse but it was difficult for him.

"Look, I can see you getting all bunged up for them making you wearing these clothes," Bender said, gesturing to his attire. "But face it: you're a neo-maxie-zoom-dweebie. What would you be doing if you weren't making yourself a better citizen?"

Andrew shook his head in complete disappointment as he listened to Bender just shoot the poor nerd down.

"Why do you have to insult everyone?" Andrew said.

"I'm being honest, asshole," Bender reasoned. "I would expect you to know the difference."

"Yea, well, he's got a name," Andrew said,

"Yea?" Bender said.

"Yea," Andrew echoed. He looked at nerd. "What's your name?"

"Brian," the blond nerd answered.

"See?" Andrew said.

"My condolences," Bender said with false sympathy.

"What's yours? Or is Bender even your real name?" Sheila asked, resting her hands on the seat of her chair.

"It's John. I prefer to be called Bender," he answered. "Nice to make your acquaintance..."

Bender paused for a moment, trying to remember her name, but didn't seem to give a shit what it was. Sheila rolled her eyes. God! Vernon had said her name several times along with the princess, jock and the nerd. Did he really not know her name already or just not give a shit?

"Sheila. Sheila Donovan," the class clown responded, moving a thin strand of her bangs out of her eye.

"How very..." Bender commented. "Traditional."

Sheila was dumbstruck with confusion by this comment about her name; her mouth dropped open. Scoffing, she couldn't believe Bender was going to insult her name now. What would be next?

"Gee, thanks, Bender!" the redhead responded deadpan.

Bender strode to the front of Claire's desk, posing his question to the princess, "What's yours?"

"Claire," the princess responded.

"Kuh-Laire?" he sneered.

Jesus! Was he going to insult everyone about their names? Just the way Bender pronounced it, he sounded like a complete caveman.

"Claire," the popular girl answered simply. "It's a family name."

"No. It's a fat girl's name," Bender declared.

"Why, thank you!" Claire responded sarcastically.

"You're welcome!" he shot back.

"I'm not fat!"

"Well, not at the present," Bender answered. "But I can see you're pushing maximum density."

"Wow, Bender," Sheila remarked, shaking her head. "Why don't you just kick her in the ribs while you're at it?"

"Sorry that the truth hurts, Teacher's Pet," he said snide.

Then turned his attention to Claire to continue his degradation.

"Y'see I'm not sure if you know this," Bender said. "But there's two kinds of fat people: there's fat people that were born to be fat. And there are fat people who were once thin, but they became fat. When you look at them, you can see that thin person inside."

Claire looked a bit hurt, but swallowed it back. Some thug calling her fat and even telling her she was going to be in the future really hurt her.

"Y'see, you're gonna get married," Bender continued. "You're gonna squeeze out a few puppies and then..."

He puffed his cheeks out, making grunts and cupping his hands to emphasize someone getting fatter and fatter. Claire glared, giving him the finger. The delinquent gave a mock gasp of shock.

"Obscene finger gesture from such a pristine girl!" he said.

"I'm not that pristine," Claire fired back.

The delinquent approached Claire's desk, leaning on his hands and stared intensely into Claire's soft brown eyes, studying her.

"Are you a virgin?" he asked.

She sat there looking uncomfortable in silence. Sheila made a disgusted scoff. Was he kidding? Of all the questions someone could ask and this had to be one of them! Like really?

"I'll bet you a million dollars that you are," Bender continued, pushing with his interrogation.

Sheila decided to break the growing tension by making Bender the butt of the joke.

"The man doth protest too much, methinks," Sheila singsonged in fake British accent.

"Huh?" Bender responded dumbly. "What're you babblin' about, Teacher's Pet?"

"I'm just saying, dude...sounds like you're projecting. Maybe you're insecure about your OWN sexuality?" Sheila responded with a shrug.

Andrew and Brian sniggered as the class clown took some shots at Bender.

"Yea. OK. Whatever you say, sunshine," Bender shot back with an eye roll.

Shit! Well, that didn't work. Sheila had to carefully consider what she said next time. Trying to crack this criminal was like tiptoeing through a field of land minds. He always had a comeback. He always had a burn.

"Let's end the suspense," Bender continued, then imitated Billy Idol's voice. "Is it gonna be a...white weddin'?"

"Why don't you just shut up?" Claire snapped.

"Have you ever kissed a boy on the mouth?" he asked in a low, tense voice.

Claire sat there, frozen and flushed as she heard the question posed. Her mouth dropped open for a second, then swallowed.

"Have you ever been felt up...over the bra, under the blouse, your shoes off, hopin' to God your parents don't walk in?" he continued in a husky voice.

Sheila's mouth dropped open when she heard these obscene comments. Doing this to Claire was not OK. While Claire was a bit stuck up, superficial, materialistic, and whiny at times, but that didn't mean anyone had the right to treat her like so. Andrew clenched his jaw, his face turning red with anger. Brian blushed, lowering his head, unsure of what to do about this situation.

"Do you want me to puke?" Claire said softly, panting and flushed.

"Are you insane?" Sheila said incredulous.

Bender broke contact with Claire to look at the Teacher's Pet, annoyed that she was once again being nosy.

"Typical Teacher's Pet: sticking your nose where it doesn't belong," Bender replied. Then added by rubbing his nose with his finger, "By the way, you got something on your nose."

"How IRONIC coming from someone who's asking about another's personal business," Sheila huffed disgusted. "You think your dirty talk is going to make her jump into bed with you? News flash, asshole! It's not cool to harass girls."

"Do you honestly think I give a shit what you think, Teacher's Pet?" Bender said glaring at Sheila.

"Apparently you do when it comes to someone's personal life," Sheila answered angrily. "Face it, Bender. You're a misogynist."

"Just stay out of this, you ginger Amazon," he snapped.

Oh Christ! Here we go again with the insults about my hair and apparently my height! Sheila thought, rolling her eyes.

"No, I'm not," Sheila said. "You're saying shitty things to Claire." 

"Leave her alone!" Andrew said, his jaw was clenched and shook with anger.

"You gonna make me?" Bender said, straightening up, glaring at the jock.

"Yea," Andrew answered.

Bender coolly stepped on top of the table, onto a chair and right towards Andrew.

"Y'know somethin', man," Andrew continued, glaring at the criminal. "If we weren't in school right now, I'd waste you."

"Can you hear this?" Bender said, pointing his middle finger towards the floor and then slowly turned his hand upward so that he was giving him the bird. "Want me to turn it up?"

"Stop it!" Claire snapped. "Just STOP it!"

"Let's end this right now!" Andrew said, his voice rising with his anger. "You don't talk to her. You don't look at her. You don't even think about her! You understand me?"

"I'm tryin' to help her!" Bender argued.

"Bullshit!" Sheila spat. "This wasn't even about Claire! It's about your oversized egos."

Andrew stopped to consider what Sheila had said, but Bender was having none of it. Bender shoved Andrew roughly, making the athlete stumble a bit. Given he was used to this, he was able to maintain his balance. He glared at the delinquent.

"Oh so you wanna play it this way, huh?" Andrew said in a low, angry voice.

"Let's go, Sporto!" Bender challenged. "When you're ready..."

"You can't fight in the library," Brian dithered timidly. "You'll get in more trouble."

The mystery girl squeaked as she watched the two boys reach their boiling point. Andrew stepped up to Bender; despite being shorter than him, he was ready to take him down.

"Two hits," Andrew said naming the terms. "You and me. Me hitting you. And you hitting the floor. Anytime you're ready, pal."

Bender went to smack Andrew across the face, but Andrew quickly got the better of him, pulling Bender to the ground with a wrestling move. Bender struggled on the floor, his face was crushed into the floor.

"I don't wanna get into this with you man!" Bender said.

Andrew leaped to his feet. Bender got back up.

"Why not?" the jock said.

"'Cuz I'd kill you," Bender answered. "It's real simple. I'd kill you and your fuckin' parents would sue me and I don't care enough about you to bother."

"Chicken shit," Andrew muttered, shaking his head.

Bender reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a switchblade, which he opened with a click.

Holy SHIT! Everyone's eyes widened at the sight. Was he really serious? Was he going to stab Andrew?

The athlete turned back around to see Bender holding the knife with wide blue eyes. Brian looked back, also scared. Bender turned and stabbed the chair. Andrew stormed up to Bender and the two of them began to argue again that it eventually escalated into another physical fight where Andrew and Bender were wrestling on the floor. It was pretty clear that Andrew had the upper hand.

Sheila saw the dark haired girl eyeing the knife. Worried that she might do something with it, given the last conversation with her in the bathroom, the redhaired comedian hopped up out of her seat and walked over with a quickstep. She grabbed the knife and pulled it out. Sheila looked at the switchblade, trying to figure out how to close it so she could hide it in her pocket. Since she had no knowledge of how to work it, the only option she had was to ditch the weapon. She panicked, looking for a good place to hide it since she knew having a weapon in school was illegal.

Shit! Shit! Shit!

Her mind was screaming 'shit!' a mile a minute. She had to find a good place to hide it. Where the fuck could she hide it? It was then, the library door opened with a bang and...

"DONOVAN!" a voice yelled.

Sheila could've sworn her heart stopped when she heard that dreaded voice she thought she'd never hear again.