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ANDREW STARED AT THE FRONT door, pondering. He didn't really consider himself a bad guy. He got along with pretty much everyone he met; even those that social norms said he wasn't allowed to associate with. Yet, here he was, making a fool of John Bender. Did John deserve it? No. Clearly, humor and wittiness was how he coped with his own trauma.

Nobody other than Esther really saw John's trauma the way Andrew did in that moment. He realized, even if John seemed like a delinquent with a bad attitude, he was just as vulnerable as the rest of them. Andrew really was concerned for him, but because of what he said that morning, John didn't believe him. That was why the latter acted the way he did. He didn't want to burden anyone, so he covered it up by acting like a big-mouthed bastard.

"Andrew..."

He perked up.

"I know you're just trying to help, but don't bother. Not even I can help him."

He frowned.

Esther jumped up from her seat and walked to the back of the library with hopes of finding John. Andrew stood up and followed.

"Esther, I'm sorry," Andrew spoke loudly. Esther turned to look at him with surprise. "I wasn't thinking about what I said this morning. It was seriously uncalled for."

"So then why are you apologizing to me? I'm not the one you hurt."

"Because I know it hurt you just as much as it did to John." Esther sighed in response. "You aren't a nobody, John isn't a nobody, contrary to what I said this morning, you count. He counts. Everyone in this world counts."

"Then why did you say it?"

Andrew reached for his hoodie strings. "I don't mean to make an excuse, but I'm not exactly good with my own negative emotions," he said. "I've been working on it, but today I seemed to have forgotten everything. He was frustrating me with all of those jabs, and I wasn't thinking."

"You're right, that is an excuse."

Andrew frowned, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Right." He turned away and began to walk back to his seat, but Esther grabbed him by the hood, holding him back.

"Why aren't you good with your own emotions?" Andrew hesitated, back still facing Esther.

"Well... for the same reasons as John, I guess."

Her heart dropped. "...you get abused?"

"No!" Andrew paused for a moment. "Well..." he trailed off. There was no sense in saying anything; Esther would consider it an excuse.

"Well... what?"

"Um..." Andrew reached for the strings of his hoodie, tugging at them again as he turned to face the girl. "Not like... physically... but..." Esther put her hand up. He didn't need to elaborate; she understood.

In turn, that didn't stop her from feeling any sort of guilt, though. She didn't think about Andrew's family; she assumed it was perfect, just like he made himself out to be. The charming varsity letterman with popularity like no other, he certainly couldn't have any faults... right?

Well, maybe he didn't make himself out to be perfect in the first place. Maybe it was just his image; he was perceived as a perfect person when in reality, he has just as many faults as everyone else.

"I guess I should apologize too," Esther finally spoke, "I thought you had this, you know, amazing life... I guess assumptions aren't always the real thing, aren't they?"

Andrew shook his head as a low laugh escaped his lips, "No they are not," he agreed.

"Your excuses aren't like... bad. They're valid. And I'm sorry for not listening to you."

"It's okay." He paused for a moment, running a hand through his hair, "My father expects me to be the best in everything, I guess. See, if I do badly when I wrestle, he'll yell at me and say that I'm a loser for doing what I did; he doesn't tolerate them... losers, I mean." The word 'loser' in question was a complete coverup; he's been told worse things. Esther didn't need to know that, though.

"I guess your father wouldn't tolerate John, or even myself," Esther said, a small laugh escaping her lips, "I'm pretty much the epitome of a loser."

"No, you are not!" Andrew denied, shaking his head, "You are so much more than that. You're intelligent, witty, and I mean... has anyone ever mentioned how beautiful you are?"

Esther blushed as her eyes darted around the library, "What... you're..." Her heart began to pound as she stammered over her words. After a brief moment, she cleared her throat to steady her composure, "...you're just saying that to make this situation better. You know that."

"Don't pity yourself. I know it's true, Bender knows it's true, everyone should know that it's true."

Esther couldn't hold her smile back any longer. She hid her face deep into her hoodie to prevent Andrew from seeing her extremely red face. He smirked as he removed the hood and tilted Esther's face towards his.

"I'm going to go back with the others. You should go talk to John," he proposed softly. The girl nodded, waving Andrew goodbye as she went to find John.

"John, are you up there?" she called, standing under the staircase.

"I don't know, am I?" Esther smiled, walking up the stairs and sitting beside him.

John scoffed, "He got the hood off of you?" he quipped.

"Would you like me to put it up?" she asked.

"No!" John answered, "Keep it off." Esther shrugged as she kept her hands by her side. Her smiled softened.

"Are you okay?"

John nodded. "I want weed."

"John, you know weed can't solve everything."

"It's solved my problems before." He jumped up, extending his hand for Esther to grab. "Come onnnn. I wanna get high."

She sighed. "Fine. But this conversation isn't over." He nodded, walking down the stairs towards the main lobby of the library.

"Where are you two going?" Claire asked with her hands crossed on the table.

"The lockers," John said nonchalantly. looking both ways of the hallway. He and Esther walked out, the rest of the group joined them.

As they walked, Claire interrogated John about Vernon, but he gave her a remark, as usual. Esther stayed behind as she walked with Brian and Andrew.

"What's the point in going to Bender's locker?" Brian asked nervously.

"Beats me," Andrew muttered.

"This is so stupid! Why do you think... why are we risking getting caught?" Brian questioned.

"I don't know," Esther answered.

"So then what are we doing?"

Esther and Andrew exchanged glances before she rolled her eyes, "Brian, respectfully, please stop asking questions."

"S-sorry."

John's locker was easy to spot; it was the only one in the area covered with graffiti - Esther's graffiti. As he opened it, a block of metal with a blade on the end which acted as a guillotine dropped, cutting the tip of a red Converse.

"That was my shoe!" Esther whined as she picked up the white tip from the ground.

"It was," John clarified as he took out a big brown bag.

"You're such a slob," Esther remarked in retaliation.

"My maid's on vacation," John said as he took out a brown bag. He unwrapped the baggage, revealing a small baggie of marijuana.

"Drugs?!" Brian exclaimed as John walked past him.

"Screw that, Bender, put it back!" Andrew shouted as Esther and Claire followed the boy.

"Drugs!" Brian exclaimed once more, "The boy has marijuana! That was marijuana!"

"Brian, shut up! Do you want Vernon to catch us?" Andrew asked nervously. Brian ferociously shook his head, staring at the locker with the girl in black practically wide-eyed.

"Do you approve of this?!" Brian shook his head disapprovingly as he followed to the group. The girl in black stole the lock from John's locker.

"We'll cross through the lab and then we'll double back," John ordered as the rest of the group walked behind him.

"You better be right," Andrew said, "If Vernon cuts us off, it's your fault." Esther hummed in response as they walked further down the hall.

"Oh my god!" Esther whisper-shouted as she spotted Vernon walking down the hall. The six took of into a sprint the other direction. Fortunately, the vice-principals back was turned. "He's right there!"

After a few moments of running, the group managed to run into the middle of a junction. Out of breath, John points to the cafeteria, "Wait, hold it, hold it, hold it!" he stifled, "We... we have to go through the cafeteria."

"No no no, the activities hall!" Andrew denied as John shook his head.

"Hey, you don't know what you're talking about," he retaliated quickly. He was genuinely concerned for Andrew's wellbeing.

"No, you don't know what you're talking about!" Andrew shouted as the girl in black made a noise that Esther could interpret as 'make up your goddamned mind,' "We're through listening to you. We keep ending up in different areas away from the library! Now, we're going this way, you go where you want if you don't like it." Everyone excluding Esther and John began to sprint behind the wrestler. "Come on!"

Esther shook her head, "Let's go," she said, "If he's wrong, you can tell him off."

"You won't be mad?"

Esther gave the boy a small nudge before taking off towards the others. They found their way to the head of the pack as they went down a few more steps and around a few more corners. They eventually saw a gate; John ran up and shook it.

Locked.

"Shit!" Andrew shouted.

"Great idea, jag-off," John said under his breath.

"Fuck you!"

"Fuck you, why didn't you listen to John?" Claire argued back.

"We're dead!" Brian sighed in defeat.

The group was silent for a moment. Esther picked at her fingernails. Just what were they going to do about this? John knocked her out of her trance by shaking the gate.

"Shit."

John turned to Brian and slipped the drugs into his underwear, "Get back to the library, and for fucks sake, don't lose the weed." He ran towards the gym, singing 'I Wanna be an Airborne Ranger' loud enough for Vernon to hear.

Esther sighed. "Come on, let's go while we still have the chance." Everyone filed behind her as they made their way back to the library.

Andrew and Esther found themselves ahead of the group. He tapped her on the shoulder. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to get him in trouble." He began to tug at his hoodie strings. Esther frowned. "I really mean it. We kept getting lost and... and I just thought maybe I could..." He cleared his throat, but didn't finish his sentence.

"I understand. No reason to get so upset over it. John has like... eight detentions anyway. Another one won't be so bad." Andrew chuckled.

"I mean, I guess... but still."

They walked the rest of the way back in silence, quickly sitting themselves down once they entered the library. The room was tense, thoughts bubbling about what was going to happen to John. Vernon may had the presence of a man that's easy to make fun of, but his words and actions can hurt. He's already done so much damage to John already that day, surely it couldn't get any worse.

...right?