I must respectfully disagree on almost all points. I’m glad you must have had a much more positive high school experience than many of us, but Vernons existed when I was in school and still exist today, doing far worse than leave students unattended and threaten a student with violence, as discovered many times over my work as an education journalist. Abused teens like Bender do act out and rebel as his character did, and I think the whole point of the ending was that their bonding was temporary and they knew it, enjoying it anyway.

Agree on Claire, however. Girls may go for bad boys sometimes, but usually because they exert their manipulation and charm on them. Chalk that up to male screenwriters.