Chapter One - Barry Manilow

Shermer High School had always been a bit of a drag. Whether it was due to the stinking locker rooms, the lack of teacher's attention to their students, the excessive amount of decorations for prom, the less than adequate computer labs, the lack of musical instruments or the graffiti on nearly every bathroom in the building. It was just a big shitty building that was filled to the brim with even shittier students and equally shitty teachers. Yet, it was the only high school the Shermer, Illinois council bothered to build. Because of that, nearly every single teenager in town had had a few too many experiences at that school, good, bad and ugly. Especially those who were given Saturday detentions, because coming into school on the one day of the week where they consider themselves to be free is a teens worst nightmare. So, on Saturday March 24th 1984, when 6 students were forced to come and sit in the school library together for a full 9 hours, they all pretty much wanted to be anywhere else in the world but Shermer.

At precisely 6:48 am, a large, silver BMW parked just outside the school's main steps. Inside, the girl stared up at the entrance, her mouth slightly ajar in distaste, as her father sat in the driver's seat, patiently waiting for his daughter's response to seeing the school on a weekend. When he first received the news that his youngest had been given a detention, Mr Standish wasn't sure what to do first. Feel annoyed that his daughter acted out, or rub it in his wife's face that she clearly hadn't raised their kid well enough to respect the rules. He chose the latter, and Claire was once again thrown in the middle of another long and tedious argument between her parents. Claire shook her head as the seconds ticked by, her watch now reading 6:50 am.

"I can't believe you can't get me out of this." She said, her father sighing beside her, as if it was his fault she was here. "I mean, it's so absurd that I have to be here on a Saturday." Claire looked at her hands, almost showing a hint of shame. "It's not like I'm a defective or anything." She mumbled. Her father chuckled beside her and rested his arm on the back of her seat.

"I'll make it up to you." He promised, reaching into the backseat to pull out Claire's brown, leather Ralph Lauren purse. "Honey, ditching class to go shopping doesn't make you a defective." He smiled, handing over her purse and a bag filled with her lunch that their maid had prepared that morning. Claire put her lunch in her purse and sighed sadly, already feeling sorry for herself. Her dad then placed his hand on her shoulder. "Have a good day." She stared at him as if he had three heads, but rolled her eyes and got out of the car, slamming it shut and trudging up the stairs with a scowl across her pale, freckled face. Her father watched her go through the window and smiled, thinking his little pep talk helped her, before pulling out of the parking lot, passing a red car on his way out.

"Is this the first time, or the last time we do this?" Mrs Johnson said with a raised eyebrow to her eldest, and only, son. Brian couldn't even be brave enough to look at her straight away, knowing he was going to feel guilty the moment his blue eyes met hers. He clutched his packed lunch to his chest nervously, glancing at the door handle and wishing he could just make a break for it right now.

"The last." He muttered. His mother nodded.

"Well get in there, and use the time to your advantage." She ordered. Brian looked her way and gulped at the serious expression on her face. His little sister looked up at him with a small smirk and he tried to not let it bug him.

"Mom, we're not supposed to study." He said simply. "We just have to sit there and do nothing." Mrs Johnson looked, and sounded, far from impressed by that.

"Well mister," Her tone sharper than before, "you figure out a way to study." His little sister took this opportunity to smile up at him wickedly.

"Yeah." She said and Brian just looked at her, unamused, before his mother began to get impatient.

"Well go!" She snapped. Brian licked his lips and clambered out of the car, carefully shutting the door, resisting the urge to slam it shut with full force. In the truck behind the Johnson's, Andrew Clarke couldn't have looked more pissed off at the situation he had gotten himself into. As his father talked to him, his military like voice drilling into his brain, he wondered whether or not anything he did was worth it. Up to this moment he had been content with being a sport fanatic, but for just a few moments, he considered quitting. Maybe he wouldn't be such a complete bonehead if he thought about something other than wrestling for once in his god damn-

"Hey, I screwed around." Andrew was brought back to reality by his father turning to look at him properly. Andrew didn't react. "Guys screw around, there's nothing wrong with that." He just nodded quickly, knowing that agreeing with his dad would get him out of the car and into detention quicker. His dad shrugged. "Except, you got caught, sport." It was somewhat sympathetic, but Andrew shook his head.

"Yeah, Mom already reamed me, alright?" He said with a grunt, trying to forget the yelling he had received last thursday from his mother the moment he stepped out of the Principle's office. He couldn't get the image of the kids around him giggling at his flushed face as she screamed at him for screwing up and embarrassing her and his father, again. Andrew's dad frowned at his son's sudden attitude and sat up straighter in his seat, tilting his chin up to assert some sort of dominance over his son. That was something even Andrew could admit he was good at.

"You wanna miss a match?" His father said more harshly, making Andrew cast his eyes down to his hands that were fiddling with a loose strand of fabric from his cream white jumper. "You wanna blow your ride?" Andrew hesitated but shook his head. "No school's gonna give a scholarship to a discipline case." Andrew turned his head and bit the inside of his cheek as he tried not to glare too hard at his dad. He was fuming on the inside. He was fed up of being in the truck with him and had to get out, now. And so he did, shoving the door closed with more force than necessary. Once he was out of sight, and the truck had pulled off, John Bender made himself known. He had been waiting for the other kids to go inside first, knowing that he wanted to save the best till last. Himself. He had been stood by the football field, smoking a cigarette, and staring at all their cars in the deserted parking lot for a few minutes, wondering what it would be like to be driven by his parents to one of his many detentions, before eventually stubbing it out on a tree and sniffing, shoving his cold hands into his coat pockets and striding over to the entrance. As he made his way over, he did his best to ignore the slight limp in his left leg and the ache in his back from the night before. He grimaced at the memory, not wanting to think about anything to do with the Bender residence for at least the next few hours, and crossed the road, completely ignoring the car that was speeding towards him. He didn't even flinch as it came to a screeching halt in front of him, and continued on walking without a care in the world.

The girl who stepped out of the backseat of the car quietly shut the door and hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether to go straight in or say goodbye to her mother first. She bit her lip and shook her hair out of her eyes before shuffling over to the door, only to watch in dismay as the car pulled away with such speed that she stumbled. Allison Reynolds was left alone, as usual. She heard a car pull up somewhere behind her and quickly ran inside, not wanting to see anyone as tears brimmed in her eyes. The final student had her feet up on her mother's dashboard and was leaning on her palm as she looked straight ahead of her. Her mother just glanced at her before nudging her shoulder with her's and nodding towards the school once she got her attention. The girl sighed.

"I said I'm sorry, okay?" Molly groaned, seeing the look of disappointment in her mother's eyes. Mrs Foster just shrugged.

"Just get this over with, okay? We can talk about any other punishments when you get home." Molly closed her eyes in defeat. "Don't waste anymore time, you're going to be late as it is if you're not careful."

"I don't care." She grumbled and that set her mother off.

"Don't give me that. Out. Now!" Molly swore under her breath but grabbed a hold of her backpack, pulling it up her arm and getting out of the car, kicking the door shut with her combat boot just to put the icing on the cake of bad luck she had baked for herself. Her mum just drove off and out of the school without a second glance and Molly let out a long winded sigh. She slowly turned to face the school, noticing a girl dressed in all black at the entrance watching her before hurrying inside. Molly frowned.

"Great." She sucked it up and trudged her way up to the large, glass double doors and forced her way inside. The school was completely different like this, looking practically abandoned when there wasn't thousands of annoying, and very loud, kids running around inside. Molly dragged her feet across the squeaky clean floors, just for good measure, and smirked as she passed a locker and noticed the scrawled graffiti on it.

OPEN THIS LOCKER AND YOU DIE, FAG!

Friendly. Molly smirked and leant over to flick the locker before shoving her hands into her pockets and walking off. "Bite me." She then strolled towards the library whistling a Billy Idol song as she went. She expected to be the last in the library, fashionably late she tended to call it nowadays, but once she got in there, she realised that not everyone had arrived yet. So far there was only one girl sitting right at the front in the first row, covered from head to toe in expensive clothing, with a very bored expression on her face. Then a tall, skinny blonde kid on the table behind her, setting his stuff down and trying to get comfortable. She recognised Brian almost instantly from her Physics class and nodded at him with a smile. He froze for a moment, not realising who she was, before nodding back stiffly. Molly raised her eyebrows once her back was turned and sighed, so much for making friends today. She slumped down on the table opposite to the red head, and sat on the farthest seat so she could get a good view of the room. The library was enormous compared to the rest of Shermer High School, with different floors and endless bookcases. Molly fidgeted in her seat whilst taking it all in just as a boy wearing a letterman's jacket came in, wiping his mouth and licking his lips, evidently just using the water fountain down the hall. He stood at the front table where Claire was sat and nodded at the last seat on the row. She nodded with a curt smile and Andrew perched on the chair, chucking his bag underneath the desk and leaning back. Molly looked him up and down and wondered how someone could actually like running around all day in tight gym clothes. That's when Bender showed up.

Everyone heard him before they saw him, the clattering of door handles and locks could be heard from the library entrance and Molly curiously watched as John staggered in, managing to graze his hand over everything on the front desk, even going as far as to take some neon pink post it notes before making his way over to the rest of them. All eyes were on him, which is exactly what he wanted, as he ventured to the middle table on the right side of the room, glaring down at Brian who apparently had sat in his seat. Brian instantly grabbed all of his things and stumbled over to the table behind Molly's, sitting down without a second thought as John practically snarled at him. He then grabbed a chair and pulled it to face him so when he sat down he had a good place to rest his boot covered feet, leaning lazily back against another wooden chair. As he was doing this, Allison barged in, holding her bag tight to her chest and ignoring everyone's curious gazes as she made a beeline all the way around the tables and behind the large, grey statue in the centre of the room, before taking a seat at the farthest table, turning her back to everyone and doing her best to ignore the sniggers from Claire and Andy.

Molly just pulled her sunglasses down from her head to her nose and leant against the railing behind her chair, propping her feet up and tapping a tune to a new song she had been working on, mouthing the lyrics to herself as everyone waited for their least favourite person. Richard Vernon. The asshole who had given each kid a reason to be here today. They all despised him, mostly Bender due to the two's constant bickering and arguing either during the school day or beyond. Bender seemed to have a bone to pick with Vernon, or 'Dick' as he had so fondly nicknamed him, and did everything in his power to make the man furious whenever he could. Today would be no exception.

The devil himself walked in only a moment later, striding over and looking as smug as he always did, before stopping at the front of the room and looking around. "Well, well. Here we are." The room was dead silent. "I want to congratulate you for being on time." Claire took this opportunity to raise her dainty, manicured hand.

"Excuse me, sir?" Her voice oozed innocence and Molly raised an eyebrow at her. Vernon merely glanced in her direction. "I think there's been a mistake. I know its detention, but, I don't think I belong in here." There was a pause before Vernon looked away and checked his watch.

"It is now, seven-oh-six." He said, purposefully ignoring Claire and earning a huff from her. Brian quickly changed his watch to match the time, most likely to count down the minutes until he had to go home. And study. Molly took a look at the clock hanging on the wall and slumped in her seat. Today was going to be hell. "You have exactly 8 hours and fifty-four minutes to think about why you're here." Bender made a loud hacking noise, deep within his throat and shook his hair away from his face before leaning back and harshly spitting into the air, only to catch it back in his mouth a second later. Claire looked downright disgusted and Molly turned away so she didn't have a direct view of him. "To ponder the error of your ways." Vernon continued. "You may not talk." He pointed directly at Claire. "You will not move from these seats," He glared at Brian who had just gotten up to move one seat over, only to reluctantly sit back in his original chair. "And you," he walked straight up to Bender, knocking his feet off the chair and dragging it back to its original place, earning a hard glare from John. "Will not sleep." Vernon then stood up straight and ruffled the papers in his hands. "Alright people, we're going to try something a little different today." No one looked even the slightest bit thrilled at that. "We are going to write an essay," he explained, handing out the papers to everyone one by one, starting with Allison and ending with Claire. "Of no less than a thousand words, describing to me who you think you are."

"Is this a test?" Bender asked, feigning innocence like Claire had. Vernon ignored him and carried on handing out paper.

"And when I say essay, I mean essay." He said sternly. Bender grimaced and put his feet up on the table in front of him. "I do not mean a single word repeated a thousand times. Is that clear, Mr Bender?" Vernon asked. Bender looked away and fiddled with his coat sleeve.

"Crystal." He drawled in a bored tone. That was enough for Vernon.

"Good, maybe you'll learn a little something about yourself. Maybe you'll decide whether or not you care to return." Brian eagerly put his hand up and Molly stared at him in disbelief as the boy stood up and cleared his throat.

"Uh, you know I can answer that right now, sir, you know that would be no, from me, because-"

"Sit down Johnson." Vernon said impatiently and Brian just nodded a few times and smiled awkwardly.

"Thank you, sir." He said. Molly couldn't help but smile at him a little but looked back at the Principle. Bender had been smiling too in amusement.

"My office, is just across that hall. Any monkey business is ill-advised. Any questions?" No one said anything, Andrew turned away the second Vernon looked at him and Claire bit her lip. Molly looked at her feet just as Bender sat up in his seat a little.

"Yeah, I got a question." He announced to everyone, once again gaining the attention of every person in the room. "Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?" Claire and Andrew had to bite back smiles, as they were right under Vernon's nose, but Molly just about managed to conceal a grin as Vernon pointed at Bender and scowled.

"I can give you the answer to that question, Mr Bender, next Saturday." John just watched him. "Don't mess with the bull young man, you'll get the horns." And with that, Vernon waltzed out of the room and into his office, slamming his door shut behind him. Molly let out a breath of air and sank lower down so she could try and get comfortable enough to take a nap. Bender pointed at Vernon's retreating back.

"That man," he said to Brian, "is a brownie hound." Brian looked lost but nodded, not wanting to annoy the kid that could probably give him a bruise just by looking at him. After that, nobody spoke. Andrew undid his jacket buttons whilst Claire folded her arms and huffed again. John smirked to himself and moved his feet around on the desk, letting the loose laces swing across the table. Brian just fiddled with his hands and Molly tried her best to drown everything out and get some shut eye, but then she heard a snapping sound from the back of the room. She looked over at Allison, who still had her back to everybody, and slowly removed her sunglasses to stare at her in confusion. Brian frowned back, thinking he was the target of her eyeline, but then followed her gaze to the girl behind him. Soon, the other three notice what was happening and stared as well. It took a moment for Allison to stop biting at her thumb nail and realise everyone's judgemental looks, her eyes widened in shock. But then went right back to biting.

"You keep eating your hand and you're not gonna be hungry for lunch." Bender said slyly. Allison paused and then spat at him, completely missing and making his smirk grow wider. "I've seen you before, you know." He stated, pointing a finger at her. Allison just turned away. Bender then trailed his eyes to the front of the room where Molly was sat and cocked his head to the side. "And you. I've seen you too."

"Someone's gotta good eye." Molly replied behind her leather jacket.

"You're always locked in that music room." Bender said. "Play anything good?"

"Everything and nothing, can you leave me alone?" Molly snapped and Bender shrugged carelessly. Silence. Brian took a pen from his pocket, mumbling to himself, and pressed his teeth down on the end to make the pen click and for the nib to pop out. He did this multiple times, staring at the ceiling.

"Who do I think I am? Who are you?" This went on for a while and Molly was ready to snap, and by the look on Andrew's face across from her he felt the same way. Brian eventually managed to get the pen lid between his teeth, the button for the nib slightly up his nose. He let go of the pen and let it hang from his mouth. "Who are you?" He repeated. "I'm a walrus." Bender looked less than impressed with him and narrowed his eyes until Brian slowly turned to meet his gaze. He gulped and took the pen out of his mouth with a nervous laugh. Bender ripped his scarf away from his neck. Brian tried to calm down, as he began to get flustered at the embarrassing stunt, and started to take his coat off, only to quickly realise Bender was doing the exact same thing. Neither boy noticing at first. Bender then glared at Brian and Brian dragged his coat up his arms once again, allowing John to remove his trench coat. Brian then rubbed his arms, as if to say he was cold. Bender just rested his arm against the table and leant forward to study Brian. Molly couldn't stop herself from watching the scene unfold beneath her glasses and was trying her best not to smile at the two of them. Idiots, she thought and folded her arms. Brian turned to Bender.

"It's the shits, huh?" He said. Bender didn't react. Brian just laughed, again and breathed out in relief once Bender turned his attention to the two kids at the front, grinning wickedly and scrunching up his piece of paper before throwing it at a perfect angle over Claire's head, making her roll her eyes. Andrew just sighed, knowing what was about to happen. After getting no reaction, Bender looked down at his feet and started recreating the bass line from 'Sunshine of Your Love', jerking his shoulders in time to the beat he was making with his feet. He eventually began playing air guitar, badly in Molly's opinion, and sat up in his chair, flipping his hair back.

"I can't believe this is really happening to me." Claire said dramatically to Andy, just before Bender swore a little too loudly.

"Shit! What are we supposed to do if we have to take a piss?!"

"Oh, please." Claire complained and Andrew shook his head in annoyance. Bender looked wildly around the room at everyone but then shrugged and leant forward onto the desk, moving his hands out of sight.

"If you gotta go, you gotta go." Molly shot up in her seat, in fear of what he was doing, and even Claire turned round only to blush and face forward again.

"Oh my god." She breathed. Andrew turned around and watched Bender in disbelief.

"Hey, you're not urinating in here man." He said and Bender shook his head. Molly and Brian shared a concerned look.

"Don't talk, don't talk! It makes it crawl back up." Bender said. Brian then got curious and tilted his head to look under the desk and Molly scoffed at him, making him blush and look away.

"You whip it out and you're dead before the first drop hits the floor." Andrew threatened. That made Bender stop and look up. He smiled, baring his teeth.

"You're pretty sexy when you get angry." Bender drawled, growling a little under his breath as Andy turned to face the front again. John immediately sat up again and folded his arms on the desk. His head spun round to Brian. "Hey, homeboy." Brian pointed at himself in confusion. "Why don't you go and close that door?" Bender cocked his head towards Molly. "We can get the musician impregnated." Molly whipped her head round and stared at him with a scowl. Brian bit his lip and quickly looked away. Even Claire looked shocked at Bender's words. It was so easy to rile these guys up, he thought to himself, but then saw Andy trying to get his attention.

"Hey. Hey!" Andy hissed at him.

"What?" Bender snapped.

"If I lose my temper, you're totalled man." He threatened.

"Totally?" Bender mocked. Andrew didn't flinch.

"Totally." Molly mentally thanked him for sticking up for her, even though she guessed Clarke was just getting fed up Bender's antics already, not that she blamed him. She had heard John around school for years, constantly getting high at lunch or bunking off whenever he felt like it. Yet she had never managed an actual conversation with him until today, and even then it had been only a sentence from each of them. And no wonder, Molly looked John up and down, he was annoying as hell when he opened his mouth.

"Why don't you just shut up?" Molly saw Claire looking at John with an irritated look on her face. "Nobody here's interested." John pretended to look hurt and even faked a small sob. Claire turned back around at the same time as Andy.

"Really. Buttface." Molly sniggered. Bender looked her way for a split second.

"Well hey Sporto, what did you do to get in here? Forget to wash your jock?" John accused.

"Uh, excuse me fella's, I think we should just write our papers." Brian tried to cut in, but Andy was already turned back around to John. Molly shrugged at Brian, knowing the way these two were getting on meant that nothing could interrupt them from arguing.

"You know, just because you live in here it doesn't give you the right to be a pain in the ass," Andrew spat, "so knock it off!" John just nodded sadly.

"It's a free country." He pointed out and Andy just shook his head in defeat. Molly took the opportunity to put her glasses on the table and take her jacket off with a sigh. As Claire leant over the table.

"He's just doing it to get a rise out of you." She said in a hushed voice to Andy.

"She's right." Molly cut in. "Just ignore him." That got Bender's attention. He flipped his hair back and watched her for a moment.

"Sweets." He said, and Molly slowly looked at him. He smirked, again. "You couldn't ignore me if you tried." Molly raised an eyebrow.

"Watch me." She turned her back to him and crossed her arms. She could have sworn she heard Brian laughing quietly into his hand behind her and she felt a smile appear on her face. Even Andy looked somewhat smug. Allison put in her two cents and turned around to watch the action. Bender twitched his nose and sniffed, annoyed at the rejection but trying not to be too obvious about it.