I do realise that there's a lot of 'what happened on monday' stories, but I felt like there hasn't been any new ones in a while, so I wanted to write something. Hope you like it, and please leave reviews. I'm not sure how many chapters this story will have, but readers' support always contributes to inspiration, doesn't it?

There was something about his manners (or maybe lack of thereof) that kept everyone on the edge of their seats. He was the textbook definition of danger – every parent's nightmare. Especially for parents of good girls like Claire.

Truth be told, Claire was starting to get tired of the whole 'good girl' stereotype. Sure, she liked being involved in activities at school, she liked having friends that cared about her opinion (except not about her actual opinion, more like an opinion that suited her social status and was expected of someone like her) and she really liked all the attention she got from boys – part of the package of being a popular teenage girl. Those boys were nothing like John, however. True, not all of them did well academically, some of them had a reasonable amount of swagger, and they quite often made crude jokes. John still stood out to her. He somehow managed to mix all of those things within him in a way that made him ridiculously attractive.

The attraction Claire felt towards him was besides his looks (although those shouldn't be underestimated either), it was about the way he spoke, the things he said, the way he looked at her. Andy would later tell Claire that she and Bender really should tone it down with the eye sex. Admittedly, she did find it difficult to avert her eyes from John sometimes, even after a reasonable amount of time one should look at another passed.

She once read an article on flirting in Cosmo, and what stood out the most was that one needed to hold another person's gaze for more than three seconds to demonstrate attraction. John seemed to abide by that rule unconsciously. Every time she said something to him that eventful Saturday, his eyes would meet hers and keep looking until something distracted them both. Every time he looked at her, it was different, though. Sometimes shocked – like when she asked Vernon why anyone would need to steal a screw or when she said that it's okay for a guy to be a virgin; sometimes resentful – that trick with the lipstick; sometimes bewildered – like when she kissed him lightly on the neck. His looks were never plain, they always constituted something important. He seemed good at controlling his facial expressions so as to not appear an open book to others, but it's his eyes that gave away everything. To her, at least.

At some point, it became almost impossible not to smile when looking at him. Especially when he was being himself – a bully that didn't really mean the bullying, doing it just because he didn't know how to act differently, and not out of maliciousness. That's what Claire saw in him, anyway. Somehow she knew that, despite having stuck his head between her thighs, he would never do something like that seriously. That was especially clear when, after she had kissed his neck, he looked at her with a lost expression on his face, and a smile that was forcing its way through. She knew he'd never make a move first and would never force himself on her unless she made it abundantly clear that she wanted that. So Claire decided to make it clear.

Frankly, she was terrified. She didn't believe herself to be what someone would call a conventional beauty. So what if John made jokes about her constantly? Maybe he just did that out of resentment for rich people that she represented in his eyes? Maybe he said all those things and stuck his head between her legs just to be nasty? She didn't know for sure if there was any possibility of him actually liking her. The real her, because she was positive John would never like a stereotypical popular girl. So she took a leap of faith and planted a kiss on his neck, although her heart did threaten to jump out of her chest as she did it. But his face after that was priceless, and Claire never regretted taking that risk.

It seemed like it was all about risks with John.

Her friends always joked that Claire was waiting for a prince in shining armour – mainly because she loved old Hollywood classic movies with their cheesy romances and always imagined that something like that would eventually happen to her.

Her best friend Julia always criticised those movies. "How on earth can Susan say that David is the only man she ever loved if she'd only met him two hours ago?" She would ask, throwing her hands in the air in question, as they watched Bringing up Baby. "In real life, Jan would never forgive him," she would shake her head at the characters of Pillow Talk.

Claire usually didn't say anything in response. She understood perfectly well that things like that didn't happen in everyday life, but she really hoped that hers would be an exception. She didn't need anything magical from a relationship. She just wanted real feelings, and all her friends seemed fine with dating guys they didn't particularly like just because. But Claire wanted romance, she wanted someone who would live to see the smile on her face, and every kiss with that person would feel like thunder and lightning.

So now there was John, someone who for the first time made her fell those butterflies in her stomach and heat between her legs. Someone who made her hands sweat with worry when talking to him without anyone else present. Someone whose kiss did feel like nothing she'd ever felt before. So there was no way she would let it go. Not now, not ever.

Claire spent the weekend after Saturday detention in her room, alternating between her homework and phone conversations. Except phone conversations with her friends didn't last as long as they used to before. Julia kept talking about her boyfriend Stan, who as she said, never treated her right, yet she would never gather the courage to break up with him. She actually believed that it was better to stay with him, hating her life, than being alone.

Claire didn't judge her friend. If anything, she felt sorry for her because despite playing the same game of pleasing the crowd quite often, Claire had never gone as far as being in a relationship that sucked, just for social status. She didn't think it necessarily made Julia shallow, merely lost.

Claire also spent a while deciding in advance what she was going to wear on Monday. She always chose her clothes the night before so that she could sleep in a little longer in the morning, but this time she took way longer than usual. She wanted to wear something that wouldn't let John tear his eyes off her, but also something that looked effortless (at least to an extent). She considered a mini dress for a minute, but then realised that that didn't say effortless even a little bit. Eventually she decided to wear a plaid skirt (shorter than what she usually wore) and a colourful top. She hoped John would notice the length (or rather, shortness) of her skirt and would be impressed. Claire thought of wearing heels for a while, but then decided against it – that would be too much, Bender would definitely know she was trying to impress him.

Getting out of her father's car on Monday was nerve-wrecking. Julia, Madison and Beverly – her closest friends – were waiting for her at the bottom of the steps by the main entrance to the school. It was a rule amongst the popular crowd to never walk the halls alone – the more people walked with you, the better. Beverly was talking to Mason Fallon – one of Andy's acquaintances and a football player; she was smiling at him and flicking her long hair over her shoulder flirtatiously, her skirt – part of her cheerleading uniform – only just covering her butt. Claire barely resisted rolling her eyes at that. Beverly didn't even like the guy that much, she was just desperate to find a new boyfriend since her college love had broken up with her a week ago.

"Heeey," Julia linked her arm with Claire's. "Looking stunning as always. Those knee high socks look great on you, I'm so happy they made a comeback. Thank God you're all mentally recovered after that terrible detention…"

Claire unconsciously stopped listening to what her friend was saying as they entered the school, she couldn't stop thinking about John. She might see him soon. What should she do? Should she come up and say hi? Stop for a short chat? Or should she just smile as she walked past? More importantly, what was he going to do? Would he ignore her? Most likely. After all, they're in completely different crowds. But then, she felt like Saturday changed a lot about the way all five of them thought of school life. Maybe something would be different, and despite the fact that he didn't promise her anything specific, it might happen that he decides to change his tactics too. She sure as hell hoped he would. She didn't even want to think about him not talking to her again, or worse even, pretending that nothing happened between them on Saturday.

"…so everyone's talking about that Allison girl," Claire heard by accident.

"What did you say?" she turned to look at Julia, stopping in her tracks.

Madison gave her a condescending look for not knowing the fresh gossip. "Haven't you heard about Andy's new girlfriend?"

"Yeah," nodded along Julia. Beverly wasn't part of this conversation, her arm was linked with Mason's arm, and the guy seemed extremely happy as she told him a joke that, judging by his reaction, was the funniest one on the planet. "Mason just told us five minutes ago that he saw Andy smooch her by the lockers. Apparently they're together. Everyone's saying that he just lost a bet and has to date her now."

Claire frowned, "Why would anyone say that?"

"Well, why else would he date her?" Madison asked, and then lowered her voice to mock-whisper, "The girl's a psycho."

Claire stopped at her lockers, not knowing how to respond to that. Normally, she would just agree and contribute to the insult, because that was what popular kids did in this school. Bringing everyone else down to appear cool. But this was her friend they were talking about.

To some extent, it scared her. If this was how they took Andy dating Allison, what will they say about her and John? Well, it wasn't like they were dating anyway. But she hoped one day they would. Even though John said he wasn't into that kind of thing.

"Well, I think she's real pretty," she shrugged like it was nothing, hoping they wouldn't act too weird about her not bitching about Allison.

"Not even," disagreed Madison.

Claire shut her locker and then pulled her skirt down a little bit, suddenly self-conscious about its length. Her motion didn't escape her friends, but they didn't say anything, merely exchanged a look of wonder.

"And Andy wouldn't date someone just because he lost a bet, he's better than that. Besides, don't you guys think it's none of our business?"

Julia and Madison exchanged another look and suddenly burst out laughing. Claire wasn't amused and simply rolled her eyes at them. Having noticed that, Julia's eyes widened, "Oh you're serious."

Claire rolled her eyes again and, letting out a huff, started to walk ahead, leaving her friends behind her. Julia gave Madison an accusing look, and Madison shrugged, then they both caught up with their friend. "Wait, Claire," Julia said, linking her arm with Claire's again. "Are you alright? You seem… strange today. What happened in that detention anyway?"

"A lot," Claire said. "But that's beside the point. I just think we should concentrate on ourselves, rather than bitching about others. For one, what are we even doing about the school dance in two weeks? Have you sorted out the problem with air conditioning? You said at the council meeting that you'd look into that," she asked Madison.

Madison looked down. "No."

"Well, that needs to be taken care of. The school board won't let us have a dance if the air conditioning isn't fixed in the gym. So worry about that, and stop bitching about Allison, okay?"

Beverly caught up with them just in time to hear Claire's last sentence. She frowned, but in an amused way. "What happened to you in that detention? Crowned yourself queen of this school?"

Claire ignored her. "I better get to homeroom. Don't want to be late."

Beverly exchanged looks with Julia and Madison who still couldn't quite grasp what was happening to their friend and what caused such changes. She then followed Claire because they were in homeroom together.

Out of all three girls, Beverly was the one least close to Claire. But Claire never felt uncomfortable around her, a lot less dependent on her approval. They shared a few moments of comfortable silence while walking to their homeroom.

"So who is he?" suddenly asked Beverly, taking Claire completely by surprise.

"What?" she looked at her friend, bewildered.

"The guy you dressed up for."

"I didn't dress up for anyone," Claire huffed, rolling her eyes in mock-frustration.

"Sure," Bev chuckled, not believing her for a second.

"What makes you think that?"

"It's simple. You never wear skirts so short, and you clearly feel uncomfortable because you keep pulling it down. And knee high socks? Seriously? You definitely want to draw attention to your legs. Also, that's a lot of eyeliner you're wearing. You're probably the shyest one out of our crew, you wouldn't dress like that unless you were planning to impress somebody."

They walked into the classroom and took their seats, Beverly behind Claire. After they settled in, Beverly tapped Claire's back.

"And the push-up bra is a good clue too," she whispered into her friend's ear, making Claire's face go crimson red.

"Can't believe you noticed that," she whispered back in frustration, crossing her arms on her chest.

"So who is he? That's why you've been all uptight this morning, right? Trying to be a better person to impress him? I get it, guys dig that stuff."

It sometimes scared Claire how observant Beverly was. She could definitely be fickle from time to time, but Claire had to admit that out of their whole clique she was probably the most independent-minded. She was a practising Christian who attended church every Sunday morning because she wanted to, and not because she was forced by her parents (like a lot of people Claire knew). She was definitely kinder than most of other Claire's friends, and now Claire actually wondered why she isn't closer with this girl. Truth be told, Beverly always had a busy schedule – she was the president of Christian club in their school and obviously a cheerleader. Maybe that's why they didn't spend as much time together.

Claire turned around to look at her.

"Since when are you a psychic? You weren't even listening to our conversation. You were busy flirting with Mason."

"Oh please," Bev scrunched her nose, which only made her look prettier, and flicked her long blonde hair over her shoulder in a classy gesture. "I only need him to drive me to school in the mornings because my parents banned me from using my car."

"So you don't like him?" Claire asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise. Although, it was true, Mason wasn't known for being kind without expecting anything in return. Selflessness just didn't seem to be in his habit.

Bev huffed. "I'd want a guy who has a brain," she paused, looking down at her nails covered with bright red nail polish. "Besides, I don't think I'm over Ryan. Dating someone so soon would be unfair. On both me and the guy."

Once again Claire thought that maybe she misjudged her friends just like she misjudged the people in other cliques.

They couldn't talk anymore because Miss Mills – their homeroom and French teacher – came in. "Let's all settle down please," she said, and Claire turned away from Beverly to face the front of the classroom. She didn't listen to the register though. She kept thinking about how much she needed to change, especially in terms of her outlook on the people who surrounded her. And that she needed to spend more time with Beverly – she would definitely be a good influence.

"Seriously, I need a name."

On the way to Maths, they stopped by Bev's locker, and she was swapping textbooks and looking at herself in the mirror, quickly fixing her lipstick.

"Whose name?"

Bev rolled her eyes, "Don't give me that. The name of the guy you like."

"You're not going to like it. It might come as a shock."

She huffed. "Try me."

Claire shook her head with a slight smile. If asked, Beverly could keep a secret, and to be honest Claire was dying to talk to someone about what happened on Saturday.

She let out a sigh. "Fine. His name is John Bender."

Beverly glanced at Claire from behind her locker's door, confusion on her face. "That was weirdly anticlimactic. Don't know anyone by that name. Is he from our clique at all?"

Claire didn't respond. She finally saw him. He was walking across the hall with a few of his friends who were dressed in a similar way and had similar reputations, but were nothing like John. Because no one could be like John, he was different from everyone, in his own special way. He hasn't noticed her yet, but he would soon if he kept walking that way. Somewhere in the background she could hear Beverly shut her locker but didn't pay attention because John finally looked at her. Once he did, it felt like her whole body was on fire. She subconsciously wiped her palm on her skirt because they started to sweat. She tried to control the expression on her face so that all her worry wouldn't show, and gave him the best smile she could master at this particular moment. He nodded slightly and smiled back in one of his amazingly attractive ways. When John was a little further ahead but Claire could still see him, he flipped his hair in a signature gesture and Claire's breath hitched when she noticed that he was wearing her earring. She was hoping that that was intentional. Maybe he did it to give her a sign that he was still interested in… whatever it was that happened between them on Saturday. He wanted more of that, just like she did. At least she hoped it wasn't an accident but a deliberate attempt to convey a message without actually speaking to her.

And then it all ended. He walked on forward, and a moment that felt like an eternity finally ended. Claire was happy with the way it went. They didn't speak and didn't say hi to each other openly, but Rome wasn't built in a day. They were moving forward. Baby steps.

Claire tried to wipe the delirious smile off her face and turned to look at Beverly who was leaning against her closed locker, her arms crossed over her chest. She shook her head.

"What?" Claire asked, a wave of heat that usually came with panic hitting her body.

"So that's your knight in shining armour," she looked down the corridor again, in the direction in which he walked away. "Okay. Makes sense why you didn't want to tell. But honestly, it's no shock to me."

With that, Beverly walked off down the hall, and Claire had to catch up with her. She realised she didn't have to worry about this. Bev didn't seem to be judgmental of her at all. If anything it looked like she approved.

"Why not?" Claire asked, clutching her Maths textbook to her chest.

"Well," Bev flipped her hair in her usual gesture, her face completely relaxed, a smile on her lips, "you don't seem to dig any of the popular boys. Because if you did, you'd've dated someone by now, for sure – it's not like you don't have any opportunities. But you haven't, and that means your taste is somewhat… different. Also, you're trying to change your ways – don't want to appear as shallow, and that wouldn't appeal to guys from our circles, so it has to be someone who actually cares about your personality and who won't be impressed by your popularity," she paused. "That guy you like, he's very good-looking, has the whole bad boy dynamic to him. I think that's what made you so interested in the first place. But then you got to know him – in detention on Saturday, I'm guessing? He looks like someone who's in detention a lot – and once you got to know him you realised he has an interesting personality and he actually turns you on and excites you like no one else ever has."

Claire didn't know what to say to that, her friend's observance left her speechless.

"Hmmm. John Bender," Beverly said his name like she was tasting it on her tongue. "Nice name."

They got to their Maths classroom and took their seats. A few minutes into the period, Vernon came in – surprising everyone (in case of Claire – unpleasantly) by saying that their teacher had called in sick, so there would be a substitute, but ultimately this period would be used as an independent study lesson.

"Take it as a chance to finish any homework you haven't paid enough attention last weekend," he said, pointing his finger at Derek Gilbert – another member of the popular crowd with whom Claire shared Maths lessons.

Once he left, Bev turned to face Claire. "So tell me everything."

Claire sighed, but then smiled slightly and thought that maybe this wasn't a bad idea. She now realised that Bev was a lot less shallow than she seemed at first – or maybe Claire just never bothered to pay attention before. She briefly told her about the things that were done in detention on Saturday and mentioned the closet moment without going into particular details.

"But I really like him," she said, looking at her nails and smiling.

"I can tell. You seem to have changed after this weekend. I like it. I hope it works out for you and John."

Claire smiled, looking at Bev as she wrote something, taking some notes down from a Physics textbook. Bev was incredibly beautiful, if Claire could say so. Her body was the textbook definition of perfection. She was relatively tall, with long legs. She had blue eyes and blonde hair, and was quite busty, but skinny at the same time. She was any guy's dream, but now that she thought of it, Claire realised that Bev didn't date that much. Just her college boyfriend, with whom she was for almost two years and with whom she broke up because he was cheating on her. She'd heard the details before but didn't think much of it, too concentrated on her own problems of how to uphold an image of a perfect popular girl. Bev was also smart, always got good grades almost effortlessly.

But most importantly, she didn't have to be nice to Claire, but still was. That might sound weird, especially since they were considered 'friends', but really, Claire now realised that Bev wasn't close to anyone in their clique, she just sort of hung out with everyone to the same extent. So she was everyone's friend, but she didn't gossip, and not many people knew that much about her. She didn't have to be nice to Claire at all, didn't need to be concerned about this boy she liked or whatever happened to her on Saturday. More than that, she didn't have to be supportive of her feelings for John Bender, in fact, it would be expected of her to judge her for condescending to someone who is out of their social league. It seemed to Claire that Bev was placed into the popular crowd merely by the fact that she was a cheerleader, and also pretty and socially outgoing. She wasn't part of teen royalty because she desperately wanted to and was prepared to sacrifice her personality.

The saddest thing was that Claire could've noticed all of this before, had she only paid attention. But she wasn't interested until now. She wanted to do something nice for Bev, to pay her with kindness for her understanding and support.

"You know, my dad could drive you to school every morning. He drives me anyway, and I'm pretty sure your house is on the way, right?" Claire offered.

Bev threw her head back, her hair flowing beautifully, shining in the light and let out a laugh. "You don't have to buy my silence. I'm not a blabber mouth, your secret romance with John is safe with me."

Claire smiled. "That's not why I offered. Although, yes, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone for now."

"No problem," Bev shrugged, finding a ruler in her pencil case to continue with her Physics notes.

"But what do you think? Would you like that? You wouldn't have to flirt with Mason."

She smiled at Claire. "I'd love that. If you mean it."

Claire frowned. "Why wouldn't I?"

Bev shrugged. "Well, you don't seem to like your friends being around your parents that much."

It was true. Claire never wanted her dad to pick up her friends with her, mainly because she didn't want him to listen to all the chatter of boys and latest gossip. She didn't want her parents to know what sort of things they discussed, and how immature they sometimes were. But she didn't think that would be a problem with Bev. She could be trusted.

"Don't worry about it," she gave Bev a sheepish smile. "The ride is yours for as long as you need it."

"Thank you."

"Also, Bev?"

"Yeah?"

"There's something I need to do at lunch today, and I need your help."

"What is it?" Bev frowned, confused.

"I'm just going to help a friend, and I'll need you for my plan."

Bev rubbed her hands together. "Fill me in."

Claire smiled and leaned forward, "So here's what we're going to do…"

Thank you so much for reading. Please, review!