A/N: Wow, everyone was very opinionated about which characters they wanted to see in the last chapter, LOL. I apologize to anyone I disappointed and give you this chapter as a peace offering. Lots of Allison and Bender and Andy. Enjoy.

Chapter Fifty-four: Practical Joke

On Thursday morning, Bender woke to the sound of "For Your Love" by the Yardbirds blasting into his right ear. Confused, he made a few violent swipes at the air next to his nightstand, finally hitting his target: the radio alarm clock.

He lay there for a few minutes, trying both to go back to sleep and to figure out why he'd set his alarm in the first place. School, something about school…and then he remembered.

He dressed very quickly, throwing on the same jeans he'd worn the day before and a flannel shirt from a pile of semi-clean laundry on the top of his dresser. Then he grabbed his trench coat from the foot of the bed and scooted out the window.

When he arrived at school, the student parking lot by the athletic fields was all but empty. Bender checked his watch. 7:30. School didn't start for another thirty minutes, meaning that aside from the odd teacher or overzealous student, the school would be pretty quiet for the next few minutes. Which was exactly what he needed.

Bender pulled his supplies from his jacket pocket and got to work.

Andy pulled into the student parking lot about fifteen minutes before the first bell rang. He spent a couple of minutes rummaging around in the back seat trying to find his water bottle, finally locating it under his seat, squashed between a dirty t-shirt and a bag of Cheetos. He stuffed the bottle into his gym bag and climbed out of the Bronco.

His friend Roy was standing just behind the vehicle, hands jammed into his pockets, waiting. When Andy came up beside him, Roy flashed him a warm smile and offered his hand. Andy hesitated, then reached out and slapped Roy's palm.

"I haven't seen you in forever, man."

Andy nodded. "I've been busy."

Roy nodded and ran a hand though his dark brown hair, a sign Andy recognized as one of nervousness. "So, are you, uh, you ready for the meet?" he asked.

Andy frowned. "Yeah, I guess."

"That's good."

Andy just watched him, waiting for Roy to tell him what going on…as if he couldn't guess. With their lingering silence towards one another, Andy and John were making the entire wrestling team as nervous as jackrabbits, and no one knew how they were supposed to act around them, including Roy, apparently. Not that this was any big surprise. Andy didn't think Roy had ever fought with anyone in his entire life. He was like a gigantic teddy bear; he looked like an Olympic athlete, but he was one of the nicest guys in the world and had all of the social graces of a five year old.

"So, uh, John looked pretty down yesterday, huh?"

Andy clenched his jaw. "I wouldn't know."

Roy nodded nervously. "So, are you guys not talking still?"

"No."

"Oh." Roy hesitated. "Well, it'll be okay."

Andy frowned and looked over at him. "What will?"

Roy paused, then continued uncertainly. "Well, you and John…it'll work out, you know?"

Andy just stared at him. "It'll work out?" he echoed.

Roy offered him a hesitant grin. "You guys need to just get over it. We're a team, remember? We're not supposed to fight each other."

Andy didn't respond. He adjusted the shoulder strap to his gym bag and opened the door leading into the school.

Roy followed him into the building, and neither of them spoke for a moment. Finally, Roy cleared his throat. "So, uh, how 'bout the Cubs, huh? Bad loss last night."

Andy nodded, relieved that the conversation about John was over and weary that the entire situation was far from it. "Yeah," he said emotionlessly. "Bad loss."

Roy started rambling about the Cubs' chances at making the championships--which Andy found very slim, if he was honest--and Andy tuned him out. After a couple of minutes of this, the two of them passed by the front entrance to the school, where a small crowd had gathered.

Roy walked up to Mark Evans, one of the varsity wrestlers, and hit him on the shoulder to get his attention. "What happened?"

Mark glanced over at Andy, then back at Roy. "Practical joke."

Andy craned his neck to see over the crowd of bystanders, but couldn't see anything. Roy started pushing through the crowd, and Andy followed him.

And then he saw it. Lining the wall were three framed portraits of school administrators, which included the district superintendent, the principal, and the vice principal. But one picture had been decidedly…improved. In his portrait, vice principal Vernon was now wearing a pair of white cotton briefs and a jock strap. Someone had super glued the underwear to his hips like a diaper and the jockstrap to his head like a party hat.

"…but it says 'Greene' on the label, man."

Andy looked over to see Caleb Greene and his friend Jordan Fawcett standing a couple of feet away, at the edge of the crowd. Jordan looked confused, but Caleb looked like he wanted to throw someone out the window.

"See?" Jordan asked, pointing to the underwear. "Right there."

"I know what it says, alright, Jordan?" Caleb responded angrily.

"So, they're yours, right?"

Caleb glared at him. "I don't know. Maybe."

Jordan nodded, considering this for a moment. "I think that might be my jock strap," he decided finally.

Caleb rolled his eyes. "And what makes you think that?"

"Because it has my name on it."

Caleb sighed wearily and rubbed his eye with the back of his hand. "Any other reason?" he asked sarcastically.

Jordan nodded. "Yeah, I lost mine earlier this week. Just disappeared from my bag, like--"

"Yeah, that's great," said Caleb, cutting him off.

Jordan frowned. "So, who do you think did it?"

Caleb looked up at the portrait, the expression on his face as hard as flint. "I think I have a pretty good idea," he said quietly.

Jordan's eyes widened. "Really? Who is it? Because I have a pretty good idea, too, but I don't--"

"Jordan, can you do me a favor?" Caleb interrupted.

Jordan nodded enthusiastically. "Sure, man. Anything."

"Shut up."

Jordan paused for a moment, confused. Then he nodded and looked back up at the portrait of Vernon.

Andy watched the two of them for a moment, thinking. He had a pretty good idea who had done it, too.

"Bender, you fucking idiot," he muttered.

Allison's father dropped her off at school approximately ten minutes before the first bell rang. She watched him drive off, then made her way up the steps to the front entrance of the school.

When she opened the front door, she noticed that a huge crowd had gathered in the front hall. They were all staring at the wall right next to the trophy cases, some of them pointing and laughing. Curious, Allison moved closer to the crowd so that she had a better view of the object of such hilarity.

Immediately, Allison understood what was so funny, and she reached up to clamp a hand around her mouth before her laughter escaped. Bender had made good use of the underwear and jock strap that she'd given him, alright. With the jockstrap on his head and the underwear covering his crotch, Vernon looked like an insane party-goer who'd had a few too many cups of punch.

"What's going on here?"

Allison looked up just in time to see Vernon's initial reaction to the doctored portrait. His irritated expressed dissolved into one of horror, and then fury. "Who did this?" he demanded, glancing around at the crowd.

No one answered.

Vernon marched forward and grabbed onto the jock strap. He tried pulling it off, but it didn't budge. A few people snickered, and Vernon looked back, more angry than Allison had ever seen him before.

"Whose underwear is this?"

"Hey, we didn't put it--"

Allison looked over to see two jocks standing off to the side of the group. She recognized them immediately as the boys she'd stolen the underwear and jock strap from, the same boys that had been making fun of Bender. The stupid blonde jock was rubbing his arm and staring at his companion in bewilderment. His friend, the redhead, was glaring at him.

Vernon stepped forward, finger pointed at the blonde. "What was that?"

The blonde glanced over at his friend, who shook his head slightly. The blonde looked back at Vernon. "Oh, uh…nothing."

But even Vernon could tell that he was lying. He poked the boy in the chest, right where his last name was embroidered on his letter jacket. "Fawcett, huh?"

The blonde nodded mutely.

Vernon went back to the portrait. "Fawcett," he said again, pointing to the jock strap.

The blonde boy swallowed deeply and glanced over at his friend, who looked like he wanted to beat him up.

But Vernon wasn't finished. He pointed at the pair of underwear. "Greene," he stated loudly. He looked up at the redhead. "Mr. Greene, I presume?"

The redhead sighed angrily and nodded.

For a moment, Mr. Vernon stood with his hands on his hips, glaring at them. He looked so triumphant that Allison couldn't help but wonder if this was the first time in his life that he'd figured something out so quickly without any help. Then he turned back to the crowd that had gathered. "Get to class!" he roared.

The students didn't need to be told twice. Everyone started talking all at once, murmuring to one another about what they'd just seen as they moved away from the scene of the crime. The two jocks tried to follow suit, but Vernon caught them by their jacket collars and pulled them back.

"Not so fast. You're coming with me."

The redhead swore under his breath, but didn't protest. The blonde, however, seemed completely bewildered by the entire situation.

"Sir, we didn't do it," he explained. "That's what I was trying to tell you. Someone, like, stole our underwear and--"

"Stole your underwear?" Vernon echoed. He scoffed. "Sure, and I'm the President of the United States."

This comment seemed to confuse the boy even more, as he frowned thoughtfully and narrowed his eyes. Vernon gave the two of them a little push, and they started walking down the hall towards the administrators' offices.

Allison watched them until they rounded the corner, then took the stairs up to the second floor and headed to her first period class. When she arrived, she immediately scanned the back row for Bender, who was sitting in the corner with his legs propped up on an extra chair he'd stolen from the seat in front of him. He noticed her almost immediately, cocking his eyebrow in challenge.

Allison pretended not to notice. She kept her eyes on the floor as she walked down the aisle and plopped down in the seat beside his. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that he was pretending not to be staring at her.

Finally, still staring straight ahead, she allowed herself--and him--a crooked smile. "Nice job," she said quietly.

Bender didn't say anything in response, but out of the corner of her eye she could see him smirking, and she knew that he was pleased.

A/N: Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews!