Author's Notes: So, I've posted the second chapter now. It's mostly background story, because I wanted to tell that as well. I'm not perfectly happy with it, cause I think I might have messed up with the tenses a bit, but I hope I didn't. I hope you'll like it anyway. Oh, and by the way, thanks for the reviews! They really made my day.


An hour and a half had passed by. Mr. Standish and John were both sitting, at a few meters distance from one another. During the time that had passed by, John had tapped his feet to the floor, toyed with the various items found in his pockets – including a cigarette lighter, a pen and a pack of playcards – and gone to the window to smoke two more cigarettes. Mr. Standish had tried to read some papers, but had found himself unable to concentrate. At the moment he was staring at the door of the room where his daughter was. His mind drifted back to where this all had begun.


At the age of sixteen, Claire was one of the most popular girls in Shermer High. Then she had gotten a saturday detention because of skipping a class, and everything had started to change after that.

The rest of that weekend she had spent deep in thought. She hadn't even wanted to go shopping with her friends, which was a clear sign that something was off. Mr. Standish had noticed the scruffy-looking boy who had come from the school building with Claire, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to ask about him from Claire. Maybe he was afraid of the answer.

When he had driven Claire to school the next Monday, she had looked very nervous and confused, but had claimed that everything was ok. In the dinner table that evening she had looked really happy, but had said that nothing special had happened.

Claire's happiness had continued, and even grew, it seemed, during the rest of the week. But it all had started to seem very weird after her mother had heard an odd rumour about most of her friends deserting her. Usually when Claire had fights with her friends, she became very cranky and depressed, but this time she had looked like the happiest person in the world.

Then, one day, a young lad had appeared on their doorstep, asking for Claire. Mr. Standish had happened to be home that day, and had recognised him as that guy from the detention. At close range he looked even worse than Mr. Standish could have imagined. His hair was too long, his clothes were bedraggled and he smelled strongly of cigarettes. Claire had come downstairs and taken the guy to her room. When he had walked by, Mr. Standish had gotten a glimpse of a very familiar-looking diamond on his left ear.

It had soon become apparent that Claire was dating this guy, whose name was John Bender. Mr. Standish hadn't liked the situation at all, while at this point his wife didn't seem to care much what her daughter was doing. But then she had started to hear nasty rumours about Claire from the other rich ladies, and had noticed that her daughter didn't spend much time with the popular kids anymore. That had caused her to start having major fights with Claire. That was what Mrs. Standish had always been like; she only cared about the things that threatened her social standing.

Mr. and Mrs. Standish had both become more and more horrified with each bit of information they had managed to get about John Bender. Their daughter possibly couldn't date a guy who smoked weed, played in a heavy metal band, lived in the dingy part of the town and was in the danger of dropping out of high school any moment. Keeping that lowlife scoundrel away from their daughter had been the only thing that had united the couple in a long time, but it wasn't something they were going to success in.

In that same detention Claire had also made three other friends. They weren't as horrible as John, but also not the kind of people her parents wanted her friends to be like. Well, Andrew Clarke was suitable and that Brian was at least polite, but the girl, Allison, was definitely an oddball. However, Claire had felt comfortable with her new friends and wouldn't bat an eyelid when her mum whined that she had made a social suicide. She would only occasionally spend time with some of her old friends. Most of them didn't even greet her anymore.

The situation had gone on like this for a good part of ten months. Mr. Standish had tried to make himself believe that everything would soon turn back to normal. But when the things had started to change again, they had changed for worse.

It had started when John was caught smoking pot in school, and was expelled. He started working as a newspaper dealer, and the instant he had gotten his first salary he had rented a run-down one-room apartment and moved there.

Around that time Mr. And Mrs. Standish's marriage was really starting to crack. They had married in their youth because it had been expected from them and their love for each other had died quickly. They had kept up the appearances, but Mr. Standish had finally decided he didn't want to do that anymore. After all, their son had finished his studies already and their daughter would go to college next fall.

Claire had been devastated when she had heard the news about her parents' breakup, although she had always known it would happen some day. She had really hated it when her parents had started to fight about the money and her custody, and that had led her to make her decision.

One day she just didn't come home, and when Mr. And Mrs. Standish had gone to her room, they had found out that a good part of the stuff had been taken away. At first they had phoned some of Claire's old friends. Then they had phoned Andy, then Brian and then Allison. Not that they hadn't known where they were most likely to find her. They just didn't want it to be true.

Of course, they had finally found Claire in that horrible, little flat with John, and she had refused to come home. When they had tried to force her, she had just pointed out that even if she had to bring her stuff home, she would still sleep at John's and never be home. They all had yelled at each other for ages, and Mrs. Standish had been the first one to give up. "Fine, if you want to ruin your life, then do it!" she had said. "Just don't expect me to help you when you're working as a dishwasher and being beaten up by that lowlife scum in some trailer park!"

Finally Mr. Standish had given up as well, but he didn't want to leave his little princess to cope on her own, and had offered to pay Claire's half of the rent so that they could afford a little better place. Claire was secretly very thankful. After all, she wasn't used to living in such a miserable place.

When the word of Claire moving in with John had gotten out, it was naturally a big catastrophe. In the upper-class circles young couples generally wouldn't start living together until they were at least engaged, preferably married, and certainly not when they were still in high-school. But Claire wouldn't care about other people's opinions, after all the rest of the Breakfast Club accepted and she was happy with John.

In June that year Claire had graduated from high school. She wasn't elected Prom Queen, and maybe she was a bit sad but not much. There was a reasonably good college in Shermer and she had gotten there. Mr. Standish was a bit dissapointed because he had thought that she would want to go somewhere else and leave John behind. No such luck. Claire had started to study English and had done quite well.

John's life wasn't that bad, either. He had played in a band with his friends for a few years, and they had started gaining some popularity in the Illinois area. They had started to earn a bit with their music and soon John would only need to deal newspapers twice a week. Of course, that didn't make Mr. Standish like him more. To him, John was still a lowlife scoundrel.

The Thanksgiving dinner that year had become a memorable event. Mr. Standish's mother had arranged a big, formal dinner for the whole family. At first she hadn't wanted to invite Claire at all, but had finally done it when her son had asked her to. Claire had brought John, and things had been quite awkward. It had been a couple of months since Mr. Standish had last seen his daughter, and he had noticed immediately that something had changed about her. She had looked a bit sick, she hadn't eaten much nor drunk any wine.

Mr. Standish had gotten quite worried. After the formal part of the party he had made a point of chatting privately with Claire.

"Are you all right, Sweetheart? You look a bit pale and sick," he had asked her worriedly.

"Oh yes, I'm fine, there's nothing to worry about," she had answered. Then, after a few seconds, she had looked her father straight in the eye, her stare both timid and challenging at the same time. "Or actually, there's something I need to tell you. I'm pregnant."

Mr. Standish had looked completely dumbstruck."W-what? You can't ... I mean how... I mean... um, are you sure?"

Claire had smiled a bit at her father's rambling. "Yes I'm sure, been almost a month already. It was a shock at first, but me and John have mostly gotten over it now, and we want to make it work."

"But you just started college and you're so young. Are you sure you won't regret it later?"

"If I didn't keep the baby, I would definitely regret that. I'd probably never stop thinking about it. And I can keep a break from my studies and then continue later. Don't worry about me, dad," Claire had smiled. Then she had walked away to chat with other people.


Mr. Standish snapped out of his thoughts. John was still sitting in the same position than some time before. Mr. Standish stared at him with a look of utmost loathing. It was all John's fault, he thought. Claire's pregnancy had gone well, but Mr. Standish was still thinking that she was making a mistake, having a baby with such a loser – and he got cold chills when he thought what his precious little princess must have been doing with him to get pregnant in the first place. Besides, John was so irresponsible. He would no doubt be a bad father, or maybe he would even leave when the reality of childcare kicked in.

John looked up, and stared back at Mr. Standish. There was a moment of understanding between the two men – they understood how much they really hated each other.

"I know what you're thinkin', man," John spoke challengingly. "You think I'm some big, bad, fucking wolf who swallowed your Little Red Riding Hood."

"I don't think I even have to answer to that," Mr. Standish answered coldly. John continued to stare at him.

"Right. You probably also think that I'm gonna be one crappy dad, that I can't handle it."

"Can you, then?" Mr. Standish shot back.

"At least I'm not gonna try to wim my kids over by bribing 'em."

Mr. Standish was really angry now. Now he has gone too far, he thought. After all the things he's done, he's talking about my mistakes.

"Then tell me how are you going to raise your children," he asked, raising his voice. "Are you going to beat them, perhaps?"

The instant he had closed his mouth, however, Mr. Standish knew it had definitely been the wrong thing to say. John had gone all pale, and he was up in a nanosecond, yelling:

"Don't you ever say that to me again, you fuckin' piece of shit! You may think whatever you fuckin' like of me, but for your information, I would rather fuckin' kill myself than hit my kid, you asshole!"

Mr. Standish stared at John in a complete shock. For a moment he thought that John was going to slap him in the face, and apparently John thought so himself. Suddenly he turned around, though, and walked to the open window where he lit a cigarette with shaking hands.


So, that was that. I'll try to be quick with the next chapter, but I can't guarantee anything since I've got loads of stuff to do around Christmas.