"Alive and Kicking"
Chapter One
(Hope you'll like! The titled was inspired by "Alive and Kicking", that Simple Minds' song which I consider some kind of "answer" to "Don't you forget about me"... Sorry the possible English mistakes - a friend of mine has already checking it out - and read & review!!!)
Monday - March 26th 1984
John Bender hadn't slept very well that night, he had just thought about Claire. So, would she recognize him at school? What if she didn't care abouthim? John couldn't bear that kind of feeling, Claire became so much important to him in such little time. This was a very frightening feeling for him. He was used to not caring about anybody or anything, but the "Princess" had changed that so many ways. For a tough guy like him it was too much to handle.
"Shit! What can I do about it?". He woke up from his bed, his heart beating faster than usual, his stomach seeming to have zillions of butterflies inside it. "Shit! Shit", he thought. He saw his own image in the mirror and soon noticed the diamond earring in his left ear. His profoundly dark eyes narrowed a bit, full of concern.
"Oh God, what can I do? I'm lost, I don't know how to deal with this... I am supposed to be a tough guy, I *must* be a tough guy, I *have* to survive the pain... But it's hard to realize that. If Claire won't give a shit for me today, my heart is going to be broken!", he thought, freezing at this realization.
John hardly ate any breakfast and uttered few words to his usually void as ever mother before going to school.
"Thank God that she didn't notice the earring. She could think that I had stolen it, and told to dad and make things even worse..." He was walking to the school in a very inattentive way which was a very uncommon thing for him, who always looked for a person to tease, or a nasty thing to do.
His mind was divided in two parts: one of them was claiming to he shouldn't show his inner feelings to Claire and his new friends Brian, Andy and Allison. And the other one - which was directly connected to his heart - was telling to him to live these new emotions with intensity. A new life was coming, a good one... but John was afraid. He didn't want to be hurt anymore.
"Fucking Saturday...", he thought, "I don't want to change my fucking life, I don't want to recognize my own faults, I don't want to be acquainted with Brain, Sporto and Basket Case, and I don't want to fall in love with Claire!" His thoughts were suddenly interrupted, when he heard a friendly voice behind him:
"Bender! Nice to see you, dude!" Brian Johnson gave John a bear hug. He was smiling and wasn't afraid of Bender's reaction to him. He knew they were friends, real friends, the great lesson they took from the last Saturday. John flinched for a brief moment, but Brian was so nice to that John couldn't help but give his friend a big smile: "Dork! I was missing you...", he smirked, "Let's drink some vegetable soup together? I want to get high!" Brian laughed and said: "Well, who knows? Today is going to be a great day... My mom didn't take me to school because my sister is sick, so I am totally FREE. Isn't that great? John?" John's thoughts were quite far from there, and Brian noticed: "You're afraid, aren't you? I mean, if Claire doesn't want to talk to you..."
The intense gaze of Bender's was full of irony: "You're a very bad mind reader, dork! Better go to Shop class and destroy some porcelaine giraffe, or something... I don't care about Claire at all"
"Yeah, I know...", Brian answered with a hint of sarcasm. The two of them were two blocks away from Shermer High, when an old red Volkswagen parked near them and suddenly Andrew Clarke and Allison Reynolds got out of it. Andy and Allison seemed very happy and when they noticed John and Brian, they smiled frankly.
John seemed quite surprised and asked to them: "What the hell are you two doing together?"
Andy and Allison stared at each other meaningfully. Andy spoke out in a very gentle way:
"Well, I lost the fucking wrestling match, but I won a very sweet weekend, courtesy of Allison, to say the least". Allison only nodded, with a sweet smile. She and Andy were holding hands.
"Are you hanging out?", Brian asked happily. "So fast, huh?", he grinned.
"Yeah, even a basket case could be as fast as a race horse sometimes", Allison answered and all of them giggled, except John. He thought: "Sporto and Allison are hanging out. God, how I want to do the same with Claire... NO!"
"Bender? What's up?" - Andy's question woke John up from his confusing thoughts. "Oh, sorry Sporto, but I was planning to break some rule to make Vernon's Monday unforgettable", he tried to grin devilishly.
Allison, always the observer, said: "I see... Are you planning to do this with a certain red-haired girl?"
John answered fast: "Hell, no!", his dark eyes plenty of confusion andself-defense.
"Easy, Bender, easy"... Brian said, and look meaningfully to Andy and Allison." We don't know, maybe the Breakfast Club is going to reunite today..."
The quartet was already in the school's hallway, attracting a lot of disbelieving stares from people, Claire Standish among them.
"Yuck, Claire, what's Andy supposed to do with those losers?", asked Camilla Taylor, prom-queen wannabe. Claire wasn't able to answer, because she was staring directly at John Bender, mesmerized with his looks, his gaze , his dark longish hair, his body...
She said: "Cam, I... I don't know..."
"That John Bender is awfully obnoxius... Why is Andy with him and those other weirdos?"
Claire was still quiet. John and the others hadn't noticed her yet. Her heart was in pure flame, beating fastly and wildly.
The only thing that she had thought of during the entire weekend was John Bender. He was completely different thing to see in real life. He had devastated her self-defense with only that intense stare. He had told her nasty things, made her cry but nevertheless was very sweet and compassionate as well.
She was totally sure about his so hidden weakness, and this only made him even more interesting. He was a charade, a charade which Claire wanted to resolve. But she was afraid. What she could do to confront her disgusting peers from in-crowd? She wasn't sure about her own strength to fight against them... But she wanted deseperately to deal with John, and to talk to Brian, Allison and Andy.
The five of them *did* achieve some level of intimacy that Claire had never experienced before. And those dark eyes...
"Claire! Where are you going ?", Camilla Taylor asked in desbelief.
The pretty redhead had run into her mates from TBC. John was the first who realizes that Claire was approaching the group. Like a secret code, the hazel dark eyes met and glue their stare into Claire's light brown eyes. It was something magical, something that only John and Claire could feel at that moment.
Chapter One
(Hope you'll like! The titled was inspired by "Alive and Kicking", that Simple Minds' song which I consider some kind of "answer" to "Don't you forget about me"... Sorry the possible English mistakes - a friend of mine has already checking it out - and read & review!!!)
Monday - March 26th 1984
John Bender hadn't slept very well that night, he had just thought about Claire. So, would she recognize him at school? What if she didn't care abouthim? John couldn't bear that kind of feeling, Claire became so much important to him in such little time. This was a very frightening feeling for him. He was used to not caring about anybody or anything, but the "Princess" had changed that so many ways. For a tough guy like him it was too much to handle.
"Shit! What can I do about it?". He woke up from his bed, his heart beating faster than usual, his stomach seeming to have zillions of butterflies inside it. "Shit! Shit", he thought. He saw his own image in the mirror and soon noticed the diamond earring in his left ear. His profoundly dark eyes narrowed a bit, full of concern.
"Oh God, what can I do? I'm lost, I don't know how to deal with this... I am supposed to be a tough guy, I *must* be a tough guy, I *have* to survive the pain... But it's hard to realize that. If Claire won't give a shit for me today, my heart is going to be broken!", he thought, freezing at this realization.
John hardly ate any breakfast and uttered few words to his usually void as ever mother before going to school.
"Thank God that she didn't notice the earring. She could think that I had stolen it, and told to dad and make things even worse..." He was walking to the school in a very inattentive way which was a very uncommon thing for him, who always looked for a person to tease, or a nasty thing to do.
His mind was divided in two parts: one of them was claiming to he shouldn't show his inner feelings to Claire and his new friends Brian, Andy and Allison. And the other one - which was directly connected to his heart - was telling to him to live these new emotions with intensity. A new life was coming, a good one... but John was afraid. He didn't want to be hurt anymore.
"Fucking Saturday...", he thought, "I don't want to change my fucking life, I don't want to recognize my own faults, I don't want to be acquainted with Brain, Sporto and Basket Case, and I don't want to fall in love with Claire!" His thoughts were suddenly interrupted, when he heard a friendly voice behind him:
"Bender! Nice to see you, dude!" Brian Johnson gave John a bear hug. He was smiling and wasn't afraid of Bender's reaction to him. He knew they were friends, real friends, the great lesson they took from the last Saturday. John flinched for a brief moment, but Brian was so nice to that John couldn't help but give his friend a big smile: "Dork! I was missing you...", he smirked, "Let's drink some vegetable soup together? I want to get high!" Brian laughed and said: "Well, who knows? Today is going to be a great day... My mom didn't take me to school because my sister is sick, so I am totally FREE. Isn't that great? John?" John's thoughts were quite far from there, and Brian noticed: "You're afraid, aren't you? I mean, if Claire doesn't want to talk to you..."
The intense gaze of Bender's was full of irony: "You're a very bad mind reader, dork! Better go to Shop class and destroy some porcelaine giraffe, or something... I don't care about Claire at all"
"Yeah, I know...", Brian answered with a hint of sarcasm. The two of them were two blocks away from Shermer High, when an old red Volkswagen parked near them and suddenly Andrew Clarke and Allison Reynolds got out of it. Andy and Allison seemed very happy and when they noticed John and Brian, they smiled frankly.
John seemed quite surprised and asked to them: "What the hell are you two doing together?"
Andy and Allison stared at each other meaningfully. Andy spoke out in a very gentle way:
"Well, I lost the fucking wrestling match, but I won a very sweet weekend, courtesy of Allison, to say the least". Allison only nodded, with a sweet smile. She and Andy were holding hands.
"Are you hanging out?", Brian asked happily. "So fast, huh?", he grinned.
"Yeah, even a basket case could be as fast as a race horse sometimes", Allison answered and all of them giggled, except John. He thought: "Sporto and Allison are hanging out. God, how I want to do the same with Claire... NO!"
"Bender? What's up?" - Andy's question woke John up from his confusing thoughts. "Oh, sorry Sporto, but I was planning to break some rule to make Vernon's Monday unforgettable", he tried to grin devilishly.
Allison, always the observer, said: "I see... Are you planning to do this with a certain red-haired girl?"
John answered fast: "Hell, no!", his dark eyes plenty of confusion andself-defense.
"Easy, Bender, easy"... Brian said, and look meaningfully to Andy and Allison." We don't know, maybe the Breakfast Club is going to reunite today..."
The quartet was already in the school's hallway, attracting a lot of disbelieving stares from people, Claire Standish among them.
"Yuck, Claire, what's Andy supposed to do with those losers?", asked Camilla Taylor, prom-queen wannabe. Claire wasn't able to answer, because she was staring directly at John Bender, mesmerized with his looks, his gaze , his dark longish hair, his body...
She said: "Cam, I... I don't know..."
"That John Bender is awfully obnoxius... Why is Andy with him and those other weirdos?"
Claire was still quiet. John and the others hadn't noticed her yet. Her heart was in pure flame, beating fastly and wildly.
The only thing that she had thought of during the entire weekend was John Bender. He was completely different thing to see in real life. He had devastated her self-defense with only that intense stare. He had told her nasty things, made her cry but nevertheless was very sweet and compassionate as well.
She was totally sure about his so hidden weakness, and this only made him even more interesting. He was a charade, a charade which Claire wanted to resolve. But she was afraid. What she could do to confront her disgusting peers from in-crowd? She wasn't sure about her own strength to fight against them... But she wanted deseperately to deal with John, and to talk to Brian, Allison and Andy.
The five of them *did* achieve some level of intimacy that Claire had never experienced before. And those dark eyes...
"Claire! Where are you going ?", Camilla Taylor asked in desbelief.
The pretty redhead had run into her mates from TBC. John was the first who realizes that Claire was approaching the group. Like a secret code, the hazel dark eyes met and glue their stare into Claire's light brown eyes. It was something magical, something that only John and Claire could feel at that moment.