𝙼𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌 𝚃𝚘 𝙼𝚢 𝙴𝚊𝚛𝚜 - 𝙹𝚘𝚑𝚗 𝙱𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗

Alex found Bender and sat next to him on the staircase, mirroring his position. Their hands rested on the railing, and it almost looked like she was wearing white versions of his gloves. He took a deep breath as she sat down.

"I saw it when I fixed your bandages." Bender answered her unspoken question, and Alex nodded. It was almost a relief she didn't have to hide it anymore, and the hair in her face was annoying. She sat back and pulled her hair up into a bun, keeping it away from the bruise. She turned to look at him and he sat up, turning to her.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly, and her eyes widened. For the short amount of time she had known him, Alex could tell he was not one to apologize. Not for anything. She gave him a small smile in return and moved her hand atop his on the railing. He turned and looked at it for a while before smiling slightly. Alex guessed he wasn't used to any sort of gentleness. He turned back to her, and the look in his eyes was different. It wasn't anger, concern, sarcasm, worry, fear, not anything of the sort. It seemed like understanding, connection, or maybe something more.

Alex took her headphones from around her shoulders and placed them over Bender's ears. He smirked at the action and their closeness, but he genuinely smiled when Alex pressed play. They did have a similar taste in music, after all.

After a while of listening to music together, and quiet questions, Bender stood up. Alex followed suit, unsure what was about to happen. He gently grabbed her hand and led her down the stairs and toward the door. She grew a bit nervous at the idea of leaving, but Bender's surprisingly gentle touch was soothing. He opened the door and led Alex out, and the rest of the group looked at each other before following.

"How do you know where Vernon went?" Claire asked Bender, coming up to his other side. Alex rolled her eyes. If Bender really was here every week, he would know what he was doing.

"I don't." He responded.

"Then how do you know when he'll be back?" She asked again.

"I don't." Bender repeated, smirking to himself. Alex shook her head and smiled. Bender looked down at her. "Being bad feels pretty good, right?"

They arrived at Bender's locker shortly, and they all took notice of the mangled writing and little noose hanging from the inside. Bender opened it and a makeshift guillotine came down and cut off the tip of a shoe. The inside was completely cluttered, full of pictures of different rock bands, paper bags, and other random junk.

"You're such a slob." Andrew stated, scrunching his nose.

"My maid's on vacation." Bender replied, pulling out a nasty-looking paper bag that happened to be wet. Alex didn't even want to know. He pulled out another paper bag, and another, and lastly, a wrapped-up bundle of weed.

"Drugs?" Brian sniffed and gave Bender a disbelieving look.

"Screw that, Bender. Put it back." Andrew insisted. Bender took Alex's hand again and led her away. Claire followed.

"That boy has marijuana!" Brian continued in outrage. Yet, they all continued to follow Bender's lead through the school.

"We'll cross through the lab and then we'll be back." Bender explained, walking around, keeping an eye out for Vernon or Carl.

"You better be right. If Vernon cuts us off it's your fault, asshole." Andrew stated from beside Alex. She raised an eyebrow at him and he frowned. They turned the corner, only to see Vernon walking down that hallway. Bender turned and led them another direction. They all started running, now trying to make it back to the library before Vernon.

They ran and turned another corner, finding Vernon walking down that hallway too. It was like he teleported. Bender skidded to a stop, causing the rest of them to do the same. Alex was still holding his hand, so she crashed into him with a small yelp. He caught her gently by the waist before she fell to the ground and smirked. She stuck her tongue out at him again as they turned and kept running. After a while, Bender stopped again.

"Wait, wait. Hold it, hold it. We have to go through the cafeteria." He stated.

"No, the activities hall." Andrew countered.

"Hey, man, you don't know what you're talking about." Bender shot back.

"No, you don't know what you're talking about." Andrew replied. The quiet girl made a noise of protest, and Alex knew she was right. They'd get caught if they just stood here arguing. "We're through listening to you. We're going this way. You go where you want, mother hen. Come on!" He stated, and the rest of the group slowly followed him. Alex turned to look at Bender, who was frowning after them. He turned and raised an eyebrow at her.

"We might as well. Come on." She said, pulling him with her to follow the group. Bender ran forward to take the lead again, pulling Alex with him. They ran down a set of stairs, only to come face to face with a metal security gate.

"Great idea, jag-off." Bender said sarcastically, smacking the grate with his free hand.

"Fuck you." Andrew replied.

"You should have listened to John!" Alex groaned. Claire nodded in agreement, but nothing mattered. They were stuck.

"We're dead." Brian threw his hands up in defeat. Bender huffed.

"No." He said after a minute. "Just me." Alex gave him a concerned look but he shrugged it off, gently squeezing her hand before letting go. "Get back to the library. Keep your unit out of it." Bender said, shoving the package of weed down Brian's pants.

"Bender..." Alex called after him but he ran off.

"I wanna be an airborne ranger..." John began to sing as he ran away, leading Vernon away from the group of them. His voice echoed and carried as he ran down the hallways, but Alex, Claire, the quiet girl, Andrew, and Brian hurried to get back to the library, this time taking Bender's initial suggestion.

When they got back, Alex just sat down at Bender's desk as Vernon burst through the doors of the library, pulling John with him by the back of his collar. Bender put his arms behind his head like he was being arrested, and Vernon pushed him into the room.

"Get your stuff. Let's go." Bender came around to his desk and picked up his jacket. "Mr. Wise Guy here's take upon himself to go to the gymnasium. I'm sorry to inform you that you'll be without his services for the rest of the day."

"B-O-O-H-O-O." Bender stated, sitting down next to Alex. She gave him a concerned look but he smiled at her in reassurance

"Everything's a big joke, huh, Bender? The false alarm you pulled Friday? False alarms are really funny, aren't they? You got your little friend in trouble, too. I bet you don't even feel bad about that, do you?" Vernon said, making Bender glance at Alex guiltily. She shook her head. She'd forgotten he got her caught yesterday, but at this point she didn't mind so much.

"What if your home, what if your family... what if your dope was on fire?" Vernon asked mockingly. Alex frowned.

"Impossible, sir. It's in Johnson's underwear." Bender replied quickly, causing Brian's face to go red and his eyes wide. Andrew snickered.

"You think he's funny? You think this is cute? You think he's bitching? Is that it?" Vernon asked him. Andrew shrugged, looking down. "Let me tell you something. Look at him. He's a bum. You wanna see something funny? you go visit John Bender in five years. You'll see how goddamn funny he is." Vernon walked around and stood next to Alex, looking at John sitting beside her.

"What's the matter, John? You gonna cry? Look at yourself. New slut on your arm every hour, nowhere left to go but further down." Alex's eyes widened. John stood up angrily, his fists tightening, but Alex was fast to put her hand on his wrist. He looked to her from his stare-down with Vernon and she shook her head. Her father has called her worse. Vernon rolled his eyes and grabbed John's other arm. Bender was quick to smack it away.

"Don't fucking touch me!" Bender said, walking past Alex and Vernon. "I expect better manners from you, Dick." He walked past Andrew, placing his sunglasses down on the table. "For better hallway vision." John turned around, winking at Alex before walking out, pushing more things violently off the librarian's desk. Vernon was quick to follow after him.

Alex looked down at her hands, now folded on the table. Andrew turned and slid the sunglasses over to her, and she put them on. Bender took the heat for all of them, and it surprised her. Especially when he was about to defend her. He knew what it was like for her, and she knew what it was like for him. Maybe that meant something.

♦