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Allison took in a shaky breath and watched the defeated stance of the former star wrestler. She couldn't believe the turn of events just then. Brian and Andrew - the two boys who seemed most likely to be able to keep their heads held high and continue in their successes sure took a drastic turn. Oh, how the mighty had fallen. Brian was crumbling at the seams and smoking his life away; Andy's life in general was falling apart. Claire seemed to be the only one who had made any sort of leeway since their last meeting; it was almost as if that day had really changed her even though she did not keep up any sort of friendship with anyone.

Allison wanted to slap herself in the head for making any sort of prejudgment when she walked through the door that morning. She should have known from last time that passing any sort of ignorant, pre-conceived thought on these people would have just been ludicrous. She figured that nothing had changed and everyone was still the same; brainy and dorky with no life; spoiled and snobby, unwilling to change; handsome and heroic, with no sense of self worth; and plain out mean and critical, but so sad on the inside. But she was wrong - just like she had been the first time around.

Just like last time, however, she had a hard time believing that she wasn't alone in these feelings; like they had been wrong all along and some how - some way - fate had put them there on purpose. They were just as unstable as she was - mentally and emotionally. What did they really want from each other? Why did it seem like it always fell back to that detention? It had changed all of their lives - for better or worse. It was all hard to grasp and now - more than ever - she felt as if the detention was serving its purpose. They needed each other a lot more than they would ever know - or understand. This time around she felt that things needed to change, or be fixed.

She watched as Andrew's shoulders slumped further and he looked back at the others as if he were desperately pleading for some sort of answer or solution for his problem. She wished so badly that she could help him. He hurt so much on the inside; that hurt that burned so brightly in his eyes was what caught her attention in the first place.

Andy was always ignored - just like her.

No one wanted to listen to what he wanted to say. They never understood what he wanted or what he needed and now his dreams were shattered because of it. He was driven to the point where he burned out completely and couldn't carry on physically. She never had that sort of problem with her parents of course, because frankly, they expected nothing from her. But at the same time the lack of attention drove her crazy at home. She could cry and scream and steal and break the law all she wanted and they would expect nothing more. They would sit back and nod their heads as if they magically knew it all along.

She was burned out too - not physically, but emotionally.

Andy and Allison always had way more in common than they had ever let on. She understood him well, and could - not always easily - relate to him. Sure they were polar opposites, but they were opposites with similar wants and needs - similar problems and frustrations. The two of them shared a bond much deeper than a physical attraction, although it was a very unstable and fragile one. She had a hard time understanding it.

The more she thought about them the more she came to regret some things that happened last year. Sure, being scared away was as valid a reason as anything, but now that she understood their position and that everything was just a big misunderstanding, she regretted things more than ever. She knew she couldn't turn back the hands of time and fix things with him, but it still ate away at her.

Now that those hurt, burning eyes were watching her again she felt more motivation than ever to fix things; to say screw everything that happened and to start fresh. She wanted to show him that things would be okay, but how was she to do it?

She hoped the rest of the day in detention would help progress in the right direction.

... ... ...

"What in the hell were you thinking, Rich?" Carl scolded. He was pacing back and forth in front of a table situated in the teacher's lounge. Vernon sat straight faced at the table and said nothing. All he could do was nervously rake his fingers through his messy hair and sigh.

"I don't know, Carl. I just..." He closed his eyes and sighed. "I just snapped. I don't know what happened."

Carl stopped pacing momentarily and placed both his hands down on the table in front of Vernon. "You know they could easily rat you out. You could get canned, lose your pension, worse, you could go to jail!"

Vernon rolled his eyes at Carl's over exaggerating and put his head in his hand. "Carl, I don't know what to do about these kids anymore. I just totally lose it on any of them. It's almost as if they are all the same to me now a days."

Carl smirked. "What are they all John Bender clones?"

Vernon visibly shuddered, which earned a laugh from Carl. "No Carl...what I mean is I just freak on them all. To me, they are all snobby stuck up pricks that only do the things they do to piss me off."

Carl nodded. "I think you're getting old, Rich."

Vernon glared at Carl. "I remember you being here over twenty years ago!"

Carl laughed loudly. "Yeah, difference is that I was a student; you were still teaching here over twenty years ago."

Vernon rolled his eyes. "Whatever. But that just says something about my point. I have seen the changes in the last twenty years. Kids aren't the same as they used to be. Everything now is about drinking, drugs, vandalism and gangs." He looked at Carl with a smug grin. "Kids like you got along doing just about everything, and they tried to stay out of trouble."

Carl snorted at that. "You know, being Mr. Popularity and hanging around with kids from every social group isn't all that easy."

Vernon snorted right back. "Oh yeah, a perfect life sounds real hard, Carl."

Carl glared. "I got so into it that I blew any chance I had for a future on partying and gambling. Now I'm a fucking master of the custodial arts." He cocked an eyebrow at Vernon. "Sounds real perfect to me."

Vernon again glared right back. "Well maybe you shouldn't have been so stupid, Carl."

Carl's nostrils flared and he pointed a finger at Richard. "You know what, Rich? I don't blame anyone for treating you the way that they do. Some people will be completely respectful to you and all you can do is piss on them. Why do you think the kids hate you so much?"

Vernon just huffed and looked the other way; he didn't want to hear Carl's hostile but truthful words.

Carl continued. "You never give anyone a chance. You just dump all over anything that isn't exactly the way you want, or the way you believe, or the same as you think. What were you like when you were a kid, Rich? Because for some reason I can picture you as someone who hated people like the present you."

Richard glared. "What the hell do you know, Carl?"

"I know that I just pissed you right off because you know I'm right."

Vernon cringed and raked his hands through his hair. "I liked to ride bikes." When Carl only cocked an eyebrow he quickly continued. "...motorcycles. I greased my hair and rode bikes. I smoked cigarettes and drank beer."

Carl bit back a laugh. "Sounds like someone we know..."

Vernon pointed at him. "Shut up! I straightened out! I knew that I was smart and I actually used it to my advantage. I went to school and got a degree, and look at me now! I have a high position, big salary, my own house and car..."

Carl regarded him seriously. "No wife, no kids, and no friends."

Vernon glared at his bluntness. "Now come on Carl..."

Carl said nothing and just stared at him expectantly. Vernon knew he wasn't going to let up because they both knew that he was right. Rich had a horrible attitude and he did not treat people right. Things never worked out the way he wanted to and he was the first person to admit that he took that out on other people. It was the easiest way out for him.

"You need to ease up, Rich," Carl finished.

Vernon sighed and nodded. "I know."

... ... ...

Bender slowly twirled his pencil between his fingers as the others slowly digested Andy's news. It really did come as a surprise to Bender; when he first heard that it was Andy that kicked the shit out of Ben Murray, he figured he was just being an asshole jock again. Even though they had 'gotten past' their stereotypes last year, Bender couldn't put bullying past Andrew after what he heard he had done to Larry Lester, and not helping Brian last year when his friends were beating on him.

But Bender knew first hand just what kind of impact a pissed off father could have on life. Sure his dad and Andy's dad's were two totally different people, but Bender didn't have a hard time picturing the two older men being friends. The two of them going to a sports bar to get drunk, talk sports, and discuss how big of fuck ups their kids were. Yeah, he could totally see it.

"So you're just going to do nothing?" Brian asked quietly.

Bender watched as anger built up behind Andrew's eyes. "I don't have the grades to go do anything."

"But..." Brian began.

"Save it, dork." Bender warned. "Not everyone is as brainy as you, kid."

Brian's cheeks burned a light pink color and he scoffed. "I wasn't saying that...I just can't believe it..."

Andy seethed. "You can stop rubbing it in my face now, you know!"

Bender watched as Andy turned around and told the kid to shut the hell up. For once, Bender couldn't blame him. He wasn't dying to go to college or anything, but he knew what it felt like to know that everyone else - except him - was going off to do bigger and better things. He got to stay in Shermer and rot.

At least Sporto would be there too.

Claire cleared her throat. "We aren't rubbing anything in your face, Andrew. You could always find something else to do..."

Andy shook his head angrily. "No, not really. I am not qualified to do anything without a college degree."

Claire's eyes quickly went to the floor and she whispered. "That doesn't mean you have to lose hope."

Bender snorted. "What do you have to worry about? You don't know. I'll bet you you're going to some fancy pants school next year and your old man is paying for it."

Her cheeks flushed slightly and she nodded. "It's true. He's paying for me to go to Philadelphia."

Bender shut his mouth from reply. He wasn't really expecting her to agree so easily, although he knew it would be true. The damn princess always got what she wanted. "What are ya doin', hair styling?" Bender drawled sarcastically.

"No," she replied, obviously annoyed by his comment. "I want to be a nurse. I want to help people, make them feel better."

Bender cocked an eyebrow. "So you want to change dirty diapers?"

Claire rolled her eyes in disgust, and he knew he was bothering her. "No I'm not going to change diapers. I want to work in intensive care with the really sick people. I'm going to be a registered nurse; someone who is in charge of nursing, and other nurses."

Bender snorted. "Yeah, I should of figured you would need little people under you to do your dirty work."

"I think you would be good at it..." Allison piped up.

Claire looked her over with a cocked eyebrow. "You do?"

She nodded her head. "Yeah. You fixed me up before and made me feel better."

Bender watched as Claire gave her a sincere smile. "Yeah well it made me feel better about myself than I thought it would."

Bender snorted. "So was there just touching or did you guys fuck each other too?"

Allison snorted. "Wouldn't you like to know."

Claire just shook her head and rolled her eyes. "You know you sure do have a way with words. Have you ever taken seriousness into consideration before?"

Bender rolled his eyes. "Sorry I'm not so in touch with my emotional side."

Allison eyed him carefully and crossed her arms. "You're lying."

Bender stopped and glared at her. "What did you just say, basket case?"

Andy narrowed his eyes at him. "Watch it, Bender."

Allison paid no heed to either of them though. "You care...you're just too macho to say anything." He just glared at her, and she continued. "I know why you're here today."

Bender snorted. "Oh you do, huh?" He called her bluff; he couldn't even keep track of why he was here anymore, how could she? He knew that Allison was a lot nuttier than she let on.

Allison nodded and shrugged. "Yeah, I do. You're like a snail."

Bender's eyebrows furrowed harder than they ever have. "What the fuck did you just say?"

She grinned. "Big hard shell on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside."

He looked at her with a scared face. "Gooey maybe, there's lots of blood and guts..."

"And I saw what you did," She continued.

The other students eyed her carefully; Bender didn't want to let her trick him. That's what she was all about, tricking people into doing and admitting things that they didn't want to. He decided to play along with her. "So you saw me having sex with Jody Wilson in the bathroom?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, Jody Wilson doesn't like you. She wrote something dirty about you in the bathroom."

Bender's eyes widened at this. "What was it?"

She grinned evilly. "That you have Chlamydia."

Bender's eyes almost popped out of his sockets as the other three began to snicker. "What!?"

She ignored him. "No, I know why you're really here."

He glared. "That slut is the one passing it around the school, not me."

"I saw you climb the tree when a bunch of jocks threw Mark Waters' backpack up there."

Bender shrugged indifferently. Mark Waters was handicapped. He had Down's syndrome and was always getting bothered by the popular guys because of the weird sounds he makes. Bender could care less if the guy was retarded, he didn't bother anyone, and Bender could always get him to do the funniest things.

"So? That's not why I'm here."

Allison cocked an eyebrow. "No, you're here because you took an orange out of the kid's lunch and tried to throw it at the guy who did that to him. You missed and hit Vernon in the head."

Bender folded his arms and sighed. "So I hit Vernon with a piece of fucking fruit? Big fucking deal."

Allison let out a small laugh. "There is no deal. But you did make that kid laugh real hard and stop crying." Bender kicked at the floor and Allison continued. "The point is that you care, you just don't like to admit it."

Claire smiled at him. "The real good guys are the ones who do the right thing when no one else is looking."

Bender pretended to gag at their tackiness. "Obviously there was someone watching."

Andy laughed. "Did you know that?"

Bender sat back in his chair and rolled his eyes. "Fuck off."

Andy laughed. "What's wrong Bender? She get you all embarrassed because you were being nice to someone?"

Bender shook his head, becoming increasingly annoyed. "No, I still stand by the fact that it is Jody passing around Chlamydia. In fact, she has gonorrhea too. I know someone who had to get his cock repaired after being with her, or maybe that was her warts..."

Brian snorted loudly and began to laugh. Andy joined in and chuckled as well. Allison just looked at Claire who was watching Bender intently with a smile on her face. He scrunched up his face at her, but she kept that same look in her eyes. "I knew you could be like that."

Bender rolled his eyes. "You don't know shit, princess."

She laughed. "Yeah I know that you like to slip diamond earrings in your ear when no one is looking, and then carry them around in your jacket for a year."

He cringed and then gave her a dirty look. Andy laughed harder. "You really did go soft didn't you?"

Bender scowled and hit Andy hard on the arm. "Fuck off Sporto."

Brian's face was growing red with his laughter. He wiped his eyes and tapped Claire on the shoulder. "Just make sure he doesn't give you Chlamydia."

TBC