saturday, march 24, 1984- 10:22 AM

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Andrew was stretching as Bender started ripping pages out of library books and tossing them all over the place. Opal tried to write her paper, but was distracted by the commotion going on.

"That's real intelligent." Andrew says to Bender sarcastically.

"You're right, it's wrong to destroy literature." Bender returns, with the same sarcastic tone. He continues to rip pages out of the book.

"It's such fun to read! And 'Molet' really pumps my nads!" Bender continues.

"Molière." the redhead corrected.

"I love his work." Johnson says.

"Me too." Opal replies. Johnson looked at her, and they both smiled, blushing. Bender rips the rest of the pages out and throws them at the two. He then proceeds to take cards out of the card catalog.

"Big deal, nothing to do when you're locked in a vacancy." Bender grumbles.

"Speak for yourself." Andrew says. 

"Do you think I'd speak for you? I don't even know your language!" Bender exclaims. Andrew ignores him and turns to the redhead.

"Hey, you grounded tonight?" Andrew asks her. She shrugs at him.

"I don't know. My mom said I was, but my dad told me to just blow her off." she says.

"Big party at Stubby's, parents are in Europe. Should be pretty wild." Andrew says.

"Yeah?" the redhead asks.

"Yeah. Can you go?" the jock asks.

"I doubt it..." the redhead tells Andrew.

"How come?" he asks.

"Well 'cause if I do what my mother tells me not to do, it's because because my father says it's okay. There's like this whole big monster deal, it's endless and it's a total drag. It's like any minute, divorce." the redhead explains. 

"Who do you like better?" Bender interjects. The redhead turns to Bender.

"What?" she asks.

"You like your old man better or your mom?" Bender repeats.

"They're both strict." the redhead says.

"No, I mean if you had to choose between them." Bender says.

"I dunno, I'd probably go live with my brother. I mean, I don't think either one of them gives a shit about me. It's like they use me just to get back at each other." the redhead explains. Opal felt bad for her. She knew how it was, living in a slightly similar situation.

"Ha!" the girl in all black shouts from the back of the room. The other five teenagers turn to face her. She blows her hair out of her eyes.

"Shut up!" the redhead says to the girl wearing all black.

"You're just feeling sorry for yourself." Andrew says.

"Yeah, well if I didn't, no one else would." the redhead retorts.

"Aw, you're breaking my heart." Andrew said sarcastically. Opal's eyes widened. She thought that those two were friendly, and he wouldn't say something like that.

"Sporto." Bender calls to the jock.

"What?" Andrew answers, rudely.

"You get along with your parents?" Bender asks.

"Well if I say yes, I'm an idiot, right?" Andrew replies.

"You're an idiot anyway...But if you say you get along with your parents well you're a liar too!" Bender exclaims. Opal nodded her head slightly, agreeing with the male. Bender walked away from the jock. Andrew follows him and pushes him.

"You know something, man, if we weren't in school right now, I'd waste you!" Andrew shouts.

"Whoa, there's no need to get like that..." Opal mutters so only Johnson could hear. Bender pointed his middle finger at the floor.

"Can you hear this? Want me to turn it up?" Bender asks as he turns his hand around, giving the infuriated jock the middle finger. Johnson walks over to the two boys and puts his hands on their shoulders.

"Hey fellas, I mean," Johnson gets cut off as the two push his hands off their shoulders. "I don't like my parents either, I don't, I don't get along with them. Their idea of parental compassion is just, you know, wacko!" Bender looks over at the blonde.

"Dork." he says.

"Yeah?" Johnson answers.

"You are a parent's wet dream, okay?" Bender says. Opal had quite a soft spot for the blonde since she arrived at detention, but she had to side with Bender on that one.

"Well that's a problem!" Johnson shouted.

" Look, I can see you getting all bunged up for them making you wear these kinda clothes. But face it, you're a Neo-Maxi-Zoom-Dweebie! What would you be doing if you weren't out making yourself a better citizen?" Bender told the blonde.

"Stop!" Opal whispered. Thankfully Bender didn't hear her.

"Why do you have to insult everyone?" Andrew asks Bender.

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

"Yeah, well he's got a name!" Andrew says.

"Yeah?" Bender asked.

"Yeah. What's your name?" Andrew asks the blonde.

"Brian..." he answered. 

"That's a nice name, I'm Opal." she tells him. Brian looked over at her and smiled.

"Nice to officially meet you, Opal." Brian says. Opal giggles and blushes.

"See..." Andrew says.

"My condolences." Bender says sarcastically. He walked over to the redhead.

"What's your name?" the redhead asks Bender.

"What's yours?" he asks her.

"Claire." the redhead responds.

"Ka-Laire?" Bender asks.

"Claire. It's a family name!" Claire says defensively.

"No, it's a fat girl's name." Bender says.

"Thank you..." Claire says sarcastically.

"You're welcome..." Bender says with equal sarcasm.

"I'm not fat!" she says, getting defensive.

"Well not at present, but I could see you really pushing maximum density! You see, I'm not sure if you know this, but there are two kinds of fat people. There's fat people that were born to be fat, and then there's fat people that were once thin but they became fat, so when you look at them, you can sorta see that thin person inside! You see, you're gonna get married, you're gonna squeeze out a few puppies and then, uh..." Bender rants. He imitates being fat while Claire gives him the finger.

"Oh, obscene finger gestures from such a pristine girl!" Bender says, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Opal laughs slightly. 

"I'm not that pristine..." Claire says resentfully. Bender bends down to her.

"Are you a virgin?  I'll bet you a million dollars that you are! Let's end the suspense! Is it gonna be... a white wedding?" Bender asks.

"Why don't you just shut up?" Claire says, getting madder. 

"Have you ever kissed a boy on the mouth? Have you ever been felt up? Over the bra, under the blouse, shoes off, hoping to God your parents don't walk in?" Bender continues. Claire starts to get even madder.

"Do you want me to puke?" she asks. 

"Over the panties, no bra, blouse unbuttoned, Calvin's in a ball on the front seat past eleven on a school night?" Bender continues, ignoring Claire.

"Leave her alone!" Andrew shouts. Bender gets up and faces the jock.

"I said leave her alone!" Andrew exclaims.

"You gonna make me?" Bender asks.

"Yeah." Andrew says.

"Guys, stop it." Opal says quietly. They disregard her.

"I wouldn't get involved, it'll probably make it worse." Brian whispers to the new girl. She nods, and puts her head down, blushing. Bender walks over to Andrew.

"You and how many of your friends?" Bender asks the smaller teen.

"Just me, just you and me. Two hits. Me hitting you, you hitting the floor! Anytime you're ready, pal!" Andrew proclaims. Bender goes to hit the jock, but he takes him down with a wrestling move.

"Can they fucking stop?" Opal mutters.

"I don't wanna get into this with you man..." Bender says. Andrew stands up.

"Why?" he asks. Bender stands up.

"'Cause I'd kill you... It's real simple. I'd kill you and your fucking parents would sue me and it would be a big mess and I don't care enough about you to bother." Bender says.

"Chicken shit." Andrew murmurs. He walks back to his seat. Bender takes out a switchblade. Opal gets scared, and grabs Brian's arm. Bender stabs the switchblade into a chair. Brian and Opal look at each other as Opal lets go of his arm, both teens blushing.

"Let's end this right now. You don't talk to her, you don't look at her and you don't even think about her! You understand me?" Andrew tells Bender.

"I'm trying to help her!" Bender says, defending himself.

"Help her, my ass." Opal says. Bender turns around.

"Excuse me, chick?" Bender says, walking to her. Opal turns away in fear. The janitor walks into the library.

"Brian, how you doing?" the janitor says, addressing the blonde.

"Your dad works here?" Bender asks Brian. Brian quickly becomes embarrassed. Opal puts her hand on his shoulder, comforting him.

"Uh, Carl?" Bender calls.

"Yeah?" Carl replies.

"Can I ask you a question?" Bender asks.

"Sure..." says Carl.

"How does one become a janitor?" Bender asks.

"You wanna become a janitor?" Carl responds.

"No I just wanna know how one becomes a janitor because Andrew here, is very interested in pursuing a career in the custodial arts." Bender says. Opal snorts.

"Oh, really? You guys think I'm just some untouchable peasant? Peon? Huh? Maybe so, but following a broom around after shitheads like you for the past eight years I've learned a couple of things. I look through your letters, I look through your lockers, I listen to your conversations, you don't know that but I do. I am the eyes and ears of this institution my friends. By the way, that clock's twenty minutes fast!" Carl says, walking out of the library. The teens all groan.

"Shit!" Andrew says. Bender smirks. Opal rolls her eyes.