I really shouldn't have done this. I have several other stories to finish, one of which was on my New Year's Resolutions' list, and on top of that I have a silly new job which I should probably be spending every waking minute on. But I've had the biggest Breakfast Club binge recently and this just sort of happened. It's largely written itself with some more awkward points where I've had to work at it, but I've just hit the chapter which was the original idea and I reckon I might actually finish this one! I can probably do an update a week to prevent myself getting in a stress about never finishing.

The idea's been done to death of course, extra kid in detention, but I've tried to do something different. Starts in the original detention so I've borrowed some of John Hughes' amazing script although tried not to do it word for word. John Bender is an absolute treat to write I'm finding, and that's down to Hughes' excellent writing in the first place (and Judd Nelson being sexy as hell in the film).

Please review. I almost never get reviews and I like reviews!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Madison and her family.

The truck drew to a slow stop outside of Shermer High School. It was strange seeing the parking lot so empty without all of the teachers' and seniors' cars. Instead there were just a couple of other parents dropping their offspring off for this, the dreaded Saturday morning detention.

Madison turned her gaze away from the dismal view outside of her window and looked at the equally depressing sight of her mother next to her. She looked so tired, Madison thought. Getting up at six am in order to bring her errant daughter to school was absolutely not what Laura Lawrence needed at the moment and Madison opened her mouth to apologise once again.

'Don't.' Laura cut her dead. 'I get it, you're sorry. Stop apologising.'

Madison hung her head even lower, her too-brassy dyed blonde hair falling across her face, embarrassed at having been called out like that. Laura had always had the uncanny ability to read her children's minds and call their bluff. It was lucky that she was usually so cool about what they got up to.

Laura gave a deep sigh. 'What time is this thing over then?'

'Four.'

She nodded slowly. 'Okay. You okay to get home by yourself?'

'Yeah.'

Laura turned to look at her only daughter then. 'Mads, I'm not angry, okay? I get why you did it. But there's rules, honey and-'

Madison interrupted by opening up the car door and picking up her overpacked satchel. 'It's cool. I can… catch up on some study or something.'

Laura nodded again. 'Okay. Well, you know where I'll be if you need me.'

'Yeah.' Then, as she shut the door, she added, 'Tell Zach I'll come see him tomorrow, yeah?'

'Of course.' Then Laura was pulling away and Madison was left standing alone, huddled inside a coat two sizes too big for her. Another kid walked into the school, a blond haired jock. Madison tried not to roll her eyes in exasperation: today was going to be beyond long.

'…oh six. You have exactly eight hours and fifty-four minutes to think about why you're here. To ponder the error of your ways…'

Madison let her attention wander again. Mr Vernon was well-known as somebody who liked his own voice and she'd never had much time for him since junior year when he'd bawled out Jennifer Graham for being late the day after her father's funeral. The man was a disgrace to the teaching profession as far as she was concerned, and besides, she'd already heard much of this particular speech when she'd first been hauled in front of him for having missed fifth period on Tuesday. He wasn't very original either.

Her ears pricked up as she heard one particular word though.

'…essay – of no less than a thousand words – describing to me who you think you are.'

Before Madison could say anything, the boy sitting directly to her right, whose feet had been on the table until recently, asked 'Is this a test?'

It was, Madison thought, a reasonably sensible question, one she might have asked herself; the unfortunate thing was that John Bender never asked sensible questions and so Mr Vernon completely ignored him, breaking into a familiar rant.

'And when I say essay… I mean essay. I do not mean a single word repeated a thousand times. Is that clear Mr Bender?'

Madison glanced briefly over at Bender who seemed bored with the entire situation. This was at least better than the usual antagonism he displayed regularly in the history class they both took; it never ended well, for either teacher or student.

'Crystal.' The word fell from Bender's mouth with more sarcasm than it strictly needed.

As Mr Vernon droned on, Madison picked up the pencil he'd placed on her desk, already wondering how she'd tackle this task. She was vaguely aware of the boy in front of her, a sort of nerd-y character called Brian who she recognised from chemistry and English lessons, standing up and giving some sort of stammered speech, but it wasn't until there came a pause from the teacher that she really tuned back in, almost surprised at the sudden lull in noise.

'…any questions?'

There was a brief pause.

'Yeah, I got a question.'

Madison looked over again, wondering how this has already become the John Bender Show; this made history class look like a breeze in comparison. It seemed Vernon wasn't enjoying it either. If he wasn't such an asshole, she might feel sorry for him.

Seemingly satisfied with his audience, Bender asked, 'Does Barry Manilow know you raid his wardrobe?'

Madison inwardly groaned as Vernon threw another detention at him before stalking out. She wondered if the vice-principal was aware that it was behaviour like that which made people like Bender go out of their way in order to wind him up. She thought it would have been obvious but in her experience, sometimes people, especially teachers, missed the obvious things in life.

Not so Madison. Years of keeping a low profile had taught her that quickly assessing your surroundings was the best way to avoid standing out within them. Mimicking body postures and finding the most inconspicuous corner of a room was second nature to her now. Actually, the corner wasn't always the best place to sit if you didn't want to be noticed, she'd found; fixing yourself to such a point often allowed teachers to learn your name far quicker than if you buried yourself away amongst people somewhere else in the room. She guessed it was something to do with how they learned seating arrangements or something. Whatever the reason, she was pretty certain that her choice of second row back, just off centre, would help her to avoid too much attention today. It also provided the perfect vantage point to check out all but the table behind her without really looking up.

Across the aisle sat John Bender, professional irritant, amateur psychopath. There were more rumours about him than Madison could ever have hoped to remember, and it was just possible that most of them were true. His little performance today had already proven that he would be no less annoying in detention than he was four days a week in history. She'd employ the tried and tested technique of avoidance and hope for the best with him.

In front of her was Brian, a boy who'd made much less of an impression upon her in the year they'd shared chemistry and English classes. He was the archetypal geek, the sort of boy who didn't hang around in corridors much and tried to stay out of everybody's way. Madison could empathise; not everybody wanted to be the centre of attention. She'd give him the right to remain silent and undetected.

Just in front of her and to the right sat a boy who she'd no doubt bumped into before. She was probably supposed to know who he was; his letterman boasted of his sporting prowess and athletes were virtual gods in high school. The fact that Madison had ceased taking an interest in sports before she even made it to Shermer High meant that she was probably one of the few seniors who didn't know who this was. She expected she was probably the only girl in school who didn't know him as well: he was pretty cute. But she'd ignored cute boys before. She'd just avoid eye contact; she was generally beneath such Adonises notice anyway.

The girl behind her was, Madison knew from her entrance, the standard school-issue loony. She was trying the age-old tactic of wearing dark colours in order to blend in, a strategy completely useless in a snow-covered Chicago March. Madison knew that wearing neutral colours was far less conspicuous, but it had been a process of trial and error. She'd forgive the girl and give her what she desired: absolutely nothing.

Which just left Claire Standish. It was the first time Madison had allowed herself to look directly at the pretty red-head since she'd walked in the door. Dressed in pink, which should by rights have clashed with her hair, Claire looked the epitome of high-school chic. Everything about her reeked of money and excess, only making her appearance here doubly surprising to Madison. Bender and the lunatic were probably regulars here. The jock had probably done something dumb and the principal, so as not to be accused of favouritism, had used him as an example to everybody. Right now, Madison couldn't really imagine was Brian had done to wind up here with the deadbeats and criminals of the world, but it was Claire she was most baffled by. Not quite a cheerleader, but close enough for it to be a moot point, Claire was the kind of student who didn't end up in situations like these. If she couldn't charm her way out of a Saturday detention, her father's credit card could almost certainly have done it for her. It wasn't that Madison couldn't believe she'd done anything wrong; it was simply unbelievable that she'd been punished for it. And moreover, why it had to be this weekend that the principal and Mr Standish had decided to put their respective feet down and treat Claire like an ordinary human being instead of the princess she usually was. Madison had successfully avoided being in an enclosed space with her for nearly six years. When she thought back to the last time they'd been left to their own devices like this, she felt a familiar fluttering in her chest and pressed it down inside her firmly. She would not panic. She would not freak out. Claire Standish was no different from the hundreds of people she slid past without their ever noticing every day. It was just a case of keeping silent and still. She was good at that.

A plan of action decided upon, Madison closed her eyes slowly and tried to find her usual composure. She had studied in far worse situations than this. In fact, studying in the library was practically a luxury compared to her usual spot curled up on her bunk at home. She could do this. Even if the school felon was sitting across the aisle from her. Even if the school lunatic was behind her. Even if Claire Standish was directly in her eye line. Ignoring people was something she was very good at. She was born for this.

Blocking out her fellow detainees mutters and mumbles, she stared down at the sheet of lined paper in front of her. Essays were her thing. She'd received nothing lower than an A- for every quiz and assignment in English since sophomore year and her history record was pretty good too. Her favourite teacher, Mr Anderson, had told her that her sensitivity when responding to texts was mature beyond her years. Analysing herself should be a cinch.

Half an hour later, it didn't seem quite so easy. Brian had been murmuring to himself, clearly as stumped by this as she was. Who did she think she was? If she was honest, she didn't give it a whole lot of thought. She didn't have time. Who did, she mused now, thinking of all the other things the day could be filled with rather than spending it navel gazing. Quite apart from school and work, there were ten thousand things she could think of which would better waste her time than this. Such as the clubs the others were talking about now. Madison was unable to tune out that voice any longer.

'… you're afraid that they won't take you. You don't belong so you just have to dump all over it…' asserted Claire with the familiar certainty that only came with the security of Daddy's cheque book. She'd always been so confident, Madison remembered; of course she'd try to take John Bender on. Perhaps she'd even win; stranger things had happened.

'Well… it wouldn't have anything to do with you activities people being assholes now, would it?' Bender shot back. Boy had a point, Madison supposed, although she knew she was probably as ill-placed to judge as he was. She hadn't joined a single club at Shermer High and whilst she knew that would probably count against her when it came to college scholarship applications, she was hoping her flawless GPA and full work CV would balance that out. Her dodgy attendance record she was hoping they'd overlook.

She'd missed Claire's comeback and only caught Bender's retort: 'Well I don't know any lepers either, but I'm not gonna run out and join one of their fucking clubs.'

Madison decided to tune out again as the jock reprimanded him for his language. She wasn't sure why: the sports teams usually weren't averse to some swearing. Still, he seemed to have appointed himself as some kind of white knight to Bender's black knave; he was only playing his part. Claire, for her part, was slipping effortlessly into the damsel in distress role. By the same analogy, Madison was hoping she'd be more of the innocent bystander who made up the crowd scene; essential in a completely unimportant way.

The small benefit of joining a club, she supposed, was that answering this damn essay question would likely be a lot easier. Claire, for instance, could make reference to her substantial commitment to student wellbeing through her organisation of senior prom. She was Queen Bee, a princess in her own small sphere. An easy answer, although Madison wasn't convinced how that could be spun out for a thousand words. Still, it was a start, whilst she was still staring down at a blank page.

The inclusion of Brian jerked Madison back into the room rather reluctantly. She was usually very good at zoning out of situations she wasn't happy in; she'd had a lot of practice. It wasn't even very interesting talk, all about what he did in his physics club. For Madison, who was only taking chemistry in order to balance her subjects, physics club sounded pretty horrific.

'So it's sorta social,' Bender commented. 'Demented and sad, but social. Right?'

Madison gave a small smile and then straightened her face, hoping nobody had noticed. So used to passing through each and every school day without anybody really acknowledging her, she found she really didn't want to be outed right now. The tension in the room was electric and she didn't want to get involved.

If she'd been kinder, she would have intervened and saved the boy from Bender's teasing. Answering the question with a profound seriousness, he said, 'Yeah, well, I guess you could consider it a social situation. I mean, there are other children in my club and at the end of the year we have, um, you know, a big banquet at the, uh, Hilton.'

That sounded intensely social to Madison. She knew that 'the Hilton' probably sounded more exclusive than it really was: they were letting Shermer High School's physics club rent a room, for God's sake. But it was certainly a more social occasion than she had taken part in for as long as she could remember and for a moment she was jealous of Brian, even if the trade-off was attending physics club.

Perhaps that was what she was, she mused, as the conversation continued around her: jealous. It wasn't something she'd ever considered herself before, but now she thought about it, jealousy was a pretty familiar feeling. Glancing around this room now, she could think of a few things she envied her detention-mates. Even the girl behind her who had spoken as little as she had seemed to have more going for her judging by the drawing she'd already completed. Madison was hopeless at art.

And of course there was Claire. Madison tried to limit herself to only being jealous of one tiny aspect of the Princess's life, imagining how college deans would salivate over having someone with Claire's social standing apply. Even the jock could command some attention when it came to application time, and judging by the way Claire wasn't completely blanking him, she guessed he was pretty set up for life as well. Madison shut down her thoughts then, desperately trying to avoid going too far down that path. Her fear was that once she started considering Claire Standish's life too much, she'd never run out of things to be jealous of.

Much easier to consider how Brian was another shoe-in for college. His whole life was studying and building up a GPA others could only ever be envious of. Madison was mainly envious of the time he had to complete all his assignments; she could hazard a guess he even had his own desk at home.

Jealous of Bender though. Madison risked a quick glance at the senior from underneath her bangs, hoping he wouldn't notice her taking any interest. She knew his reputation around school. It was said that there was nothing he wouldn't smoke or drink and nobody he wouldn't flip off if the need arose. His chances of gaining a scholarship to any college other than clown school were even more remote than hers were. 'Envy' wasn't the first word to spring to mind when you thought of John Bender. But at least people knew who he was. At least there were stories told about him. Sometimes, only sometimes, Madison tired of needing to be invisible; perhaps she wouldn't always feel so exhausted if she was allowed to be noticed.

It did have its perks though. Setting her non-existent essay aside, she rooted through her bag and retrieved the well-worn book which Mr Anderson had lent her that week. He'd provided a steady stream of texts in the last year, knowing that money to buy books was thin on the ground at home. It was ironic that Madison would likely finish high school more well-read than wealthier students such as Claire, who she knew considered books to be mainly ornamental. However, unlike many of her achievements to date, not least the B+ she'd gained in biology the previous semester, it wasn't for how it would look on an application form that she willingly ploughed through the books. Madison doubted Mr Anderson would ever really appreciate how much of a lifeline he'd thrown her in these small temporary gifts. Reading took her away from the daily events she tried her best to forget about; he'd given her the gift of escape.

Now she opened the copy of To Kill a Mockingbird where she'd left it the previous evening and instantly she was at the trial of Tom Robinson, listening to Mayella Eweull's statement and feeling her heart break for the girl who knew no better. Madison knew what it felt like, people looking down on you. She just hoped she wasn't quite as childish in the way she coped with it.

It was only when the noise around her quietened down enough for her to feel awkward that she looked up. Her discomfort only increased as she found five pairs of eyes rooted upon her, accompanied by some mildly surprised expressions. For a few moments, she braved it out, her eyes darting from face to face and hoping the next one would turn away. Claire at least had the good grace to drop her eyes momentarily as they made eye contact, six years vanishing in an instant, before the red-head remembered how much everything had changed. Even the strange girl behind her seemed riveted by the sight of her. For the invisible girl it was all, suddenly, too much.

Her mom had always said she had a temper on her, one which was like that of a wild animal. When backed into a corner, Madison's natural desire to remain unnoticed vanished and she lashed out, all spitting teeth and claws.

Facing them defiantly, she shook her bangs out of her face and demanded, 'What? You've never seen somebody reading before?'

'No. I've just never seen somebody enjoying it before.' Bender faced her down, his retort as cutting and drenched in sarcasm as all of those he'd directed at the others. 'Has it got a lot of dirty chapters in it? To… Kill… a… Mockingbird…' he overlaboured every syllable as though the ability to read was one which had evaded him so far in life.

Madison bit her tongue and refrained from snapping again as the jock frowned.

'That's not on the syllabus.'

'It's for extra credit.' That was far easier than explaining that Mr Anderson had become her personal librarian of late. She doubted anybody here would think much of that particular development. Besides, he had recently set an assignment which asked students to select a book and explore a theme of their choice in three thousand words. Madison just hadn't quite picked which book she was going to write on yet.

'You're doing that assignment?' Brian put in now, as though extra credit were an alien concept to him, when Madison knew full well that he'd completed one on cell division only last month. She knew what he was saying though, because it was the reaction of all science nerds.

'What, literature doesn't count?' Lashing out again, she regretted it almost instantly as Brian began a stammering explanation which only landed him in further trouble.

'I didn't say… I didn't mean… just… well… it's only a book, it's not…'

Rolling her eyes, she tried to turn back to her book, 'Forget it.'

'No!' Bender leapt into action and Madison cringed inwardly, having seen him in action one too many times before. 'Brian here thinks literature is a waste of time.'

'I didn't say that!'

'You, however, seem to think that reading three hundred pages about two kids trying to smoke out their schizo neighbour whilst around them race relations go to absolute shit is a jolly Saturday evening jaunt.'

Madison blinked twice, taken aback. Unguarded, she said, 'You've read it?'

'I've seen the movie, Twinkie.' With that, he turned away, as though his judgment on the book was the only one which counted. Madison was reminded of Claire's earlier statement: '… you're afraid that they won't take you. You don't belong so you just have to dump all over it…'

Madison had never considered herself especially courageous. True, some people might say that what she did every day was kind of brave, especially those who were being particularly patronising and made her want to puke as much as Zach did, but in terms of real ballsy standing up for herself courage, she could probably have counted on one hand the amount of times she'd bothered. Certainly, nobody in this room had ever been on the receiving end of her temper. Whatever possessed her on this occasion, she had no idea.

'Then you'll also know,' she said now, watching as Bender's back froze in surprise that the so-far almost completely silent girl had mustered up a response from somewhere. 'That it's about how wrong it is to pick on someone who has done you absolutely no harm. How attacking something harmless and innocent is one of the biggest sins you can commit. Or maybe they don't cover that in the film.'

Five pairs of eyes landed on her again, four of them astonished at the literary debate which had suddenly broken out before them. The fifth pair stared back at her steadily and after a brief pause, Bender's mouth twisted into a small smile.

Unnerved by his response, Madison went straight into defence mode again. 'I don't even know why I'm fucking bothering.' She knew the curse sounded too studied and not careless enough. The one thing Laura really drew the line at was swearing: 'You're a bright girl, Mads. Cursing makes you sound dumb.' Still, it gave her words a little extra edge which seemed to make her tormentor back off.

Burying her nose in her book again, she tried to get into Atticus's closing speech. It was quite possible she had a crush on Atticus, she thought, even if he was only a fictional character. He was certainly the kind of father she'd always wished she could have. It seemed she could even be jealous of Scout and Jem Finch.

An explosion from across the room dragged her back from Maycomb County Court to Shermer High library. Unsurprisingly, Bender and the jock had decided to have a dick-off again.

'No! Fix the door!' the jock shouted, although it was news to Madison it was even broken. She supposed that must have been what Bender was screwing around with a moment ago. 'Get up there and fix it!'

'Shut up!' The scream was perhaps more over the top than it needed to be, but it made all of them wince. And it was surely only a matter of time until:

'God damnit!' The door flew open and Vernon strode in. Sensing his anger, Madison hastily scrambled for her book and hid her face again, hoping she'd regain her usual invisibility.

She couldn't help hearing the ensuring fall out though, wondering if Bender knew how guilty his voice sounded by mere fact of his attempted innocence. What surprised her the most though was how the others, with the exception of the girl behind her, seemed open to continuing the lie, if not entirely comfortable with it. Even the jock, Andrew Clark, was willing to cover for the delinquent. It seemed his luck was still in.

Hers, however, had run out.

'You're not fooling anybody, Bender!' Vernon declared now, not even attempting to hide the malice in his voice. He really hated him, Madison decided, and for a brief second she felt sorry for the boy. 'The next screw that falls out is gonna be you!'

It was a dramatic parting speech and he turned to leave with a flourish. Then he stopped. And turned again.

'You. Hey, you!'

Madison lowered her book marginally to find the vice-principal hovering over her. Up close, she could see where he hadn't quite managed to dye the roots of his hair and silver was breaking through. She wondered who he was trying to impress.

'Who said you could read?'

'No one, sir?' Surprise made her answer with a question of her own. Being under a teacher's close scrutiny was a new experience for her. Ordinarily she suspected she could have stripped naked in most of her classes and nobody would have batted an eyelid. She wasn't certain she didn't prefer anonymity.

'Have you finished your essay?' He picked up the all-but blank paper and read her name, partially proving her point that she'd gone completely underneath the radar until now. 'Madison Lawrence. Why is this still blank?'

'I was finding it difficult, sir, and I thought-'

'You thought?' Vernon gave a poor imitation of her voice, opting for a stereotypically high nasal female voice where Madison's had always been throaty, as if she'd been a heavy smoky since she was a child. 'I don't remember asking you to think.'

The irony of his statement unleashed her tongue. 'Well, sir, the title of the essay was-'

He clearly realised his mistake and he responded as she would have: by attacking. 'Don't get smart with me, missy! That's next Saturday gone!'

Disbelief ripped through her and she lost all control of herself. 'What? But sir…'

'Are you arguing with me? That's another one.'

'That's not fair!'

'Fair? Who's talking about fair? That's another.'

Panic overtook her and she babbled, 'But, sir, you don't understand…' Already she was losing count – was that two or three? The weekends stretched away ahead of her and each one sent another shot of fear through her.

'I'm not paid enough to understand, Miss Lawrence. That makes it four.'

'Four? But I can't…' A month. A whole month with every Saturday spent here.

'You can, my girl. That's five. Are you done?'

Madison opened her mouth to say something but no words would come out. There was a long pause as Vernon waited for her to put yet another foot wrong. Then she closed her mouth and her eyes, willing herself not to cry as she slumped down in her seat, her book left abandoned on the desk.

'That's right.' Vernon sounded satisfied, smug even, and a rare urge for violence swept over Madison as she wondered whether punching him in the face would make her feel any better. She expected it would only leave her with bruised knuckles.

'Now, the rest of you. I want these essays finished. I'm especially looking forward to yours, Miss Lawrence. And yours, Bender. Hop to it!'

'Eat my shorts.'

Madison wondered if she'd heard correctly and opened her eyes to look across at Bender. That look was on his face again, the one which promised he could break somebody's nose without even flinching. For an instant she wondered if he'd learnt how to read minds and she hoped he hadn't: she didn't actually want Vernon to be punched.

Vernon turned slowly. 'What was that?'

'Eat. My Shorts.' Bender's gaze never flickered from the teacher's face.

Vernon momentarily looked flummoxed and then he fell back on his tried and tested methods of discipline. 'You just bought yourself another Saturday, mister!'

'Oh Christ!

'You just bought one more right there!'

'Well, I'm free the Saturday after that,' Bender struck a faux-conversational tone. 'Beyond that, I'm gonna have to check my calendar!'

'Good! Cause it's gonna be filled!' Vernon almost sounded as though he was enjoying this. Madison had no idea why he'd enjoy minding somebody he clearly despised. 'We'll keep going! You want another one? Say the word, just say the word! Instead of going to prison, you'll come here. Are you through?'

Bender's enjoyment of the situation seemed to be waning, yet still he persisted. 'No!'

'I'm doing society a favour!'

'So?'

'That's another one, right now! I've got you for the rest of your natural born life if you don't watch your step! You want another one?'

'Yes!'

'You got it! You got another one, right there! That's another one pal!'

'Cut it out!' Claire suddenly broke in, saying the words which were almost on Madison's lips only she had the courage to say them. Stop, she mouthed to Bender, as though she'd have any power over him when he got the bit between his teeth like this. Madison was starting to see why he was quite so feared at school.

'You through?' Vernon asked now and Madison hoped Bender could read minds now as she sent him silent messages: For God's sake, stop.

'Not even close, bud!' Bender spat the words out. It was like it was causing him physical pain.

'Good! You got one more, right there!' Vernon said gleefully.

'Do you really think I give a shit?'

'Another…' Bender fixed the teacher with a glare, as though he was disgusted that it was the worst punishment he could inflict upon him.

Vernon took his silence as a sign he was breaking him. 'You through?'

'How many is that?'

Madison was surprised to find Brian piping up. 'That's seven, including the one when we first came in and you asked Mr Vernon here whether Barry Manilow knew that he raided his closet.' God, how childishly this had all started.

'Now it's eight,' Vernon said decisively before adding to Brian, 'you stay out of it!'

In a rare moment of assertiveness, driven by his predilection for math, Brian said, 'Excuse me, sir, it's seven!'

'Shut up, Peewee!' Vernon dismissed him out of hand before turning back to the real prey. 'You're mine, Bender… for two months. I gotcha! I gotcha!'

'What can I say? I'm thrilled!'

'Oh, I'm sure that's exactly what you want these people to believe. You know something Bender? You ought to spend a little more time trying to do something with yourself and a little less time trying to impress people. You might be better off.' The intense exchange drew to a close. 'Alright, that's it! I'm going to be right outside those doors. The next time I have to come in here… I'm cracking skulls!'

The door crashed shut behind him only seconds before Bender yelled, 'Fuck you!'

Silence reigned in the library for an instant, as though everybody had just taken part in some kind of endurance race. It had been some show, Madison thought, almost enough to have taken her mind off of her own detentions.

Then, 'You could say thank you.'

She turned to look at Bender incredulously, instantly going into attack mode. 'Excuse me?'

'It's a little thing, people like it. Hey, I'm giving up my Saturdays for you.'

Her jaw dropped. 'You're… what?'

'I didn't think you'd want to be left alone with Dick-Wad Vernon for the next five weeks.'

She wondered if it was her being illogical. Perhaps this was what happened when you started skipping school and getting detentions. Maybe this was a social occasion in itself. Then she mentally shook herself. This was insanity. And not at all useful to her. She didn't want somebody keeping her company. She wanted the detentions to go away.

'You think I should be grateful?' she virtually spat at him. 'It would be more useful if you'd offered to do my shifts at work for the next five weeks. Which I'll now have to forfeit and I'll probably lose my job. But you know, thanks for your generous offer. Jesus.' She was semi-satisfied to see his cocksure smile fade off of his face as she resolutely turned her back on him and stared down at her blank sheet of paper.