layers | john bender

[10] "I forgot my pencil..."

10. sᴜᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀɴ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇsᴋ

We all sat back in our seats as soon as we reached the library. I sat uncomfortably in my seat. I got up and paced near the railing. Claire walked over to me and stopped me from pacing by placing her hands on my shoulders. "You've gotta stop pacing, Berkeley. He'll be fine, he knows what he's doing." I thought about it and nodded at her even though I was still hoping Bender wasn't getting into serious trouble. I don't think he could afford to continue to get in trouble when his parents act the way they do.
Claire sat back down and I followed after her, sitting back down in my chair. I placed my head down on the table and tried to just fall asleep, thinking maybe it'll calm me but as if on que, Bender and Vernon burst through the doors.
"Get your stuff, let's go!" I looked up and Vernon was pushing Bender towards his seat where his coat, jacket and scarf were. Bender grabbed his belongings as Vernon spoke to all of us in an irritated manner.
"Mr. Wiseguy here has taken it upon himself to go to the gymnasium. I'm sorry to inform you, you're going to be without his services for the rest of the day." I looked over at Bender who simply just rolled his eyes at Vernon. "B-O-O H-O-O!"
"Everything's a big joke, huh Bender? The false alarm you pulled, Friday, false alarms are really funny, aren't they...What if your home...what if your family...what if your dope was on fire?"
"Impossible, sir. It's in Johnson's underwear."
Andrew laughed, I attempted to contain my laughter but I couldn't.
"You think he's funny? You think this is cute? You think he's bitchin', is that it? Lemme tell you something. Look at him, he's a bum." Vernon called Bender out and I knew it was to show his authority off and embarrass Bender as a consequence but I knew Bender. I knew that words didn't get to him often but when they did, he was going to cause a scene.
"You wanna see something funny? You go visit John Bender in five years! You'll see how God damned funny he is!"
I wanted to scream. I got up once again and started pacing. I didn't care whether or not Vernon saw me standing or not but I didn't know how else to contain my anger.
"Sit down, Rhiannon Berkeley. I'm tired of you constantly trying to be a follower." Dick pointed at me and I stopped pacing. I didn't sit back down, I just stood there with my arms crossed. He glared at me and looked back at Bender.
"What's the matter, John? You gonna cry? Let's go." He grabbed a hold on Bender's shoulders and from then I thought I would fly over that table and punch him but I didn't. I stood there staring straight at Vernon.
"Hey keep your fuckin' hands off me! I expect better manners from you, Dick!" Bender took his sunglasses out of his pocket and placed them in front of Andrew, who was smirking at Bender. "For better hallway vision!" As mad as I was, I let out a small chuckle, thinking back to Andrew's terrible choice in direction. Claire looked over at me with hopeful eyes and turned back around when we saw John push all the things on the library front desk off.

I finally sat back down in my seat. My table felt so empty. I had thought about the situation and told myself that Bender was a smart guy. He knew exactly what he got into and he knew how to get out of it. I didn't let myself worry about it and I placed my head back down.
"Not so talkative without your boyfriend, huh?" I looked back up to see Andrew holding out Bender's sunglasses to me. I took them and looked back at Andrew with a sarcastic smile. "Look, asshole, I don't want to keep this brawl with you. Let's just keep it cordial." Andrew sighed but he nodded in agreement and I placed the sunglasses on the collar of my sweater. I laid my head back down, carefully to not break the sunglasses and slowly drifted off.

It felt like I had taken a short, erupt nap as I heard crashing coming from behind me. I lifted up my head to see Bender shaking off some dust from what looks like the ceiling above the second floor balcony. He walked down the stairs and looked at all of our confused faces.
"I forgot my pencil..."
We all heard Vernon once again screaming 'god damnit' at the top of his lungs. We assumed he heard the noise as Bender ran over to my table and hid under it. We assumed right as Vernon then walked in.
"What was that ruckus?"
Andrew played a confused act as Vernon question us. "Uh, what ruckus?"
"I was in my office and I heard ruckus!"
Brian nearly could've made me laugh as he fit right into our act. "Could you describe the ruckus, sir?"
Vernon was yet again visibly pissed. "Watch your tongue young man, watch it!"

I could feel Bender move slightly as he is right in front of my legs and he bumped his head on the table as he moved. He let out a painful groan. Andrew and Claire made more noise to make it seem like they were the ones who did it.
"What is that? What, what is that, what was that noise?"
"What noise?" Andrew and Claire chirped in sync and I played with my hands anxiously. I looked at Vernon and gave him a small thin lipped smile.
"Really, sir, there wasn't any noise-" I was cut short as Bender placed his head in between my legs. I let out a short squeal and covered my mouth. I squeezed his head between my knees and he moved his head slightly, placing a single kiss on my left inner thigh. Everyone began to fake cough and Claire spoke up for me as I was too flustered to even speak.
"That noise? Was that the noise you were talking about?"
"No, it wasn't. That was not the noise I was talking about. Now, may not have caught you in the act this time, but you can bet I will." Vernon spoke with a tone that was trying to be intimidating but instead came off as a fool trying too hard. Allison laughed a bit at him and he looked at her. He said something about writing a book then pointed at Claire saying he will not be made a fool of. He turned to walk away and we all saw the toilet seat cover stuck to his pants. I contained my laughter as everyone else laughed. Bender got out from under the table and I slapped his arm and chest repeatedly.
"It was an accident!"
"You're such an ass!" I wasn't entirely mad more like frustrated that he left a single kiss on my thigh and acted like nothing.
"So sue me." I rolled my eyes at him and watched as he walked over to Brian, saying random shit before Brian handed him the bag and Bender walked away. I followed after him despite the exchange that just happened 2 seconds ago.
"Yo waistoid, you're not gonna blaze up in here!"
Claire and Brian followed after us, we all sat at the same area as before when we had that small conversation. Soon, Andrew followed and so did Allison.

We all sat in a circle as Bender pulled out the illegal substance. I watched as he pulled out a few joints and I bit my lower lip. I didn't know what felt so good about doing something so bad.