CHESTERFIELD, S.C. -- About half of Chesterfield HS students stayed home today at their parents urging. Now, classmates of the teen accused of planning to bomb his high school are trying to figure it all out.

None of the students Eyewitness News talked to on Monday thought of Ryan Schallenberger as a loner or disturbed.

In fact many kids referred to him as "happy," "cool," "normal," and "a regular guy." Not the words you'd expect classmates to use to describe the boy accused of planning to blow up their school.

Ryan Schallenberger, 18, was living in a vacant home after an argument with his parents last month according to authorities. This new information was revealed at a press conference at Chesterfield High School in South Carolina Monday morning.

Later Monday, Schallenburger appeared in the town's courthouse in orange prisoner's garb and was assigned a court appointed attorney.

His parents told police the teens attitude dramatically changed over the last several weeks.

The high school senior collected enough supplies to carry out a bomb attack on his school and detailed the plot in a hate-filled diary that included maps of the building and admiring notations about the Columbine killers, authorities said Sunday.

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VIDEO: Community 'Devastated' By School Bomb Plot

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Schallenberger was arrested Saturday after his parents called police when 10 pounds of ammonium nitrate was delivered to their home in Chesterfield and they discovered the journal, said the town's police chief, Randall Lear.

The teen planned to make several bombs and had all the supplies needed to kill dozens at Chesterfield High School, depending on where the devices were placed and whether they included shrapnel, Lear said. Ammonium nitrate was used in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 that killed 168 people.

"The only thing left was delivering the bombs," the police chief said.

Schallenberger kept a journal for more than a year that detailed his plans for a suicide attack and included maps of the school, police said. The writings did not include a specific time for the attack or the intended targets.

He also left an audio tape to be played after he died explaining why he wanted to bomb his school. Lear wouldn't detail what was on the tape except to say Schallenberger was an angry young man. "He seemed to hate the world. He hated people different from him -- the rich boys with good-looking girlfriends," Lear said.

In his writings, Schallenberger said he admired the two teens who killed 13 people at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999 before committing suicide, Lear said. The attack happened nine years ago Sunday, but Lear said investigators do not know whether there was any link between the anniversary and Schallenberger's plans.

Schallenberger was one of the top students at the high school of about 580 students and had not caused any serious problems before his arrest, principal Scott Radkin said.

The teen was in the Chesterfield County Jail Sunday night, charged with possessing materials to make bombs, the police chief said. A bond hearing was scheduled for Monday.

Other than the bomb-making material, no other weapons were found at his home, Lear said.

Lear said Schallenberger did not have an attorney. His parents could not immediately be located Sunday by The Associated Press.

Security was tightened at the school when students return Monday. Students had to walk through metal detectors borrowed from a courthouse, and bomb and drug-sniffing dogs were called in.