The Next Saturday - John Bender

5.

The fact that Bender had picked out a dictionary did not discourage Laura from finding some way to entertain herself with it. This was evident to him as he watched her snicker at a word that looked like it must be somewhere in the "B's." 

It had already been an hour since his explosive episode, and as much as he hated to admit it, he was dwelling on it. She must think he's crazy for all that, and he should have never yelled anyway. She'd only been trying to be nice, and God knows he needed her help as much as he hated to admit it. 

He was sobering up enough to see straight, as Laura had brazenly walked out of the library a few minutes after she got him settled back down and announced to Mr. Vernon that she had to use the restroom and that it was an emergency.

When he asked her why she was up, and why she needed her bag in the restroom, she grinned at the man and dramatically waved a tampon in his face.

She'd thought she would earn another detention for that, but the vice-principal only turned a bright red and muttered his permission, and she took the opportunity to fill up the empty water bottle she had in her bag to bring back to John, who was still sipping on it as she laughed again at a word she'd discovered.

"Are you laughing at a dictionary?" he asked dryly.

She met his critical glare, only smirking at him before shrugging, "Bumfuzzle."

"What'd you just call me?"

She laughed heartily at that, "It means to confuse."

"You are a toddler, Laura. A real, walking, gigantic toddler." 

She gasped at the insult, putting a hand over her heart for effect, "Are you saying I'm fat, John?"

"Not what I meant," he said, rolling his eyes.

She just grinned at him, then her eyes cut over to the clock on the wall, "It's already past 1:00. That's wild."

He looked too, still a little woozy, but able to read the time well enough, "Closer to 1 sharp. That's 20 minutes fast."

"I can't believe we only have two hours left," she mused, "Time flies."

John Bender stared down at the floor, the realization hitting him that his time with Laura was almost over. He'd all but blown his chances to use her to get back at Claire by making himself look like an idiot...not that it mattered anyway. The more he got to know Laura, the less he wanted her to make Claire angry, and the more he wanted her because he just liked being around her. It startled him a little if he were being honest.

Would she be like the others and pretend like this day had never happened? Would she ignore him if he were to say hello in the hallway, as Andrew had? 

More importantly, why did he care?

What was she doing to him?

Laura put the book back on the shelf, deciding that they had better get back to their seats. Vernon was probably planning to check on them any minute now, and they were a long way from their designated seats. When she looked back at the boy to tell him her thoughts, she noticed that he seemed to be bothered by something.

"You okay?" she asked softly, patting him lightly on the shoulder.

He cleared his throat, "Uh, yeah. We should probably get back to our seats."

She nodded in agreement, "I was thinking that too. Hey, how about on the walk over there you can tell me what's wrong."

He rolled his eyes at her, but the corner of his mouth twitched up slightly, amused and surprised that she cared enough to ask twice, "Last week's bunch of kids. We didn't even look twice at each other once Monday rolled around."