Some time later the others joined her, sitting in a line along the railings. Resolutely keeping her head down and buried in her book, Madison promised herself she wouldn't look up. Anyway, she knew without looking that they were one down again; Bender had obviously returned to wherever it was Vernon had taken him. The library suddenly seemed smaller.

The sheet of paper still sat, blank, in front of her. With less than an hour left before they were due to be released for the day, she supposed she ought to get on with the essay, though she was no nearer knowing what to write now than she had been at seven this morning. Indeed, this morning she could at least have claimed she was a nobody, nothing, invisible. Now she wasn't so sure; she had a feeling at least five members of the student body would remember her, if only as the crazy girl with the sick brother. She'd worked so hard to be more than that.

'Brian?' Claire asked at length.

'Yeah?'

'Are you going to write your paper?'

'Yeah, why?'

'Well, it's kind of a waste for all of us to write our paper, don't you think?'

Madison glanced over the top of her book, recognising the tone of voice. It was the one which had led to her doing more than her fair share of paired projects in fifth and sixth grade.

'Oh, but that's what Vernon wants us to do…'

'True, but I think we'd all kind of say the same thing.'

The penny finally dropped for Brian. 'You just don't want to write your paper, right?'

Claire at least had the good grace to smile. 'True, but, you're the smartest, right?'

Madison rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe somebody as smart as Brian was would fall for such blatant flattery and bribery. Bender would have totally called her out on that one. She missed him.

'Oh well…' Brian was saying now, and then suddenly, 'Madison's the one who writes essays.'

She jerked her head up and looked at the four of them lined up along the railings. Allison and Andrew gave small smiles at her surprise, whilst Brian was looking at her eagerly now. Claire shifted awkwardly and gave a vague hesitant nod.

'Oh. Well, you could help, Madison, if you want.'

Gee, thanks, she thought, but merely gave an undecided half-shrug, half-nod. Despite herself and her promises to avoid spending any more time in conversation with these people, a joint essay had some appeal. It would certainly be preferable to trying to plough through one-thousand words herself.

'We trust you,' Claire said, completely sealing the deal for Brian who only needed agreement from Andrew before he fully agreed, leaving Claire to whisk Allison away for God alone knew what.

Brian slid into the chair next to her. 'So, erm, what do you think we should do?'

She shrugged. If she'd known what to do, she'd have done it hours ago and saved herself this drama.

'I mean, who do we think we are?' He seemed to be thinking aloud and so Madison didn't reply. Then, as the minutes dragged on and nobody was saying anything she ventured,

'Like he cares. What we think, I mean. He's already made his mind up about us.'

'How do you mean?' Andrew looked over from where he was.

'Like, he's already got a picture of us in our heads and what we're capable of.' Madison fixed the jock with a fierce stare. 'Like today, with Claire and you,' she gestured to Brian. 'You didn't get detentions when you pissed him off because of who you are. You're not troublemakers. But John and me…' She shrugged again.

Andrew nodded slowly. 'Then maybe that's what we give him. What he wants to hear. Think you can do that?' He looked between Brian and Madison.

Brian gave a thoughtful frown and then nodded. 'Yeah. I've got an idea. If that's alright?' he checked with Madison.

For once, she was glad to offer the assignment up to somebody else. 'Go for it.'

Brian scribbled away furiously for the next fifteen minutes. Madison sat back, her book abandoned, and watched as Allison emerged from Claire's beauty salon, her eyes freed from their dark make-up and her hair pulled back off of her face. She looked beautiful and Madison didn't blame either of the boys for their awestruck looks. She felt like punching the air as it seemed that, for once, the underdog had won as she captured Andrew's complete attention.

Then she noticed that Claire had disappeared without a word to anybody. The good girl went bad. Madison didn't need to ask anybody where she'd gone – it was all too obvious, and she bit her lip even harder as she tried to pretend that she wasn't interested anyway. She had shared less than ten minutes conversation in total with John Bender. She could care less who he was intending to nail next, even if it was Claire. Hey, maybe he'd cure her of her obsession.

At length, Brian pushed his sheet of paper underneath her nose. 'What do you think?'

Madison read it through. 'It's not a thousand words,' she remarked. It was barely skimming one hundred by her reckoning.

'I know. Should I… add something?'

She lifted her head from the sheet of paper and looked Brian directly in the eye. Shaking her head, she said, 'It's really good. Like, brilliant. It says everything it needs to.'

Brian practically beamed. 'You're sure?'

She nodded.

'You done?' Andrew dragged himself away from Allison's eyes long enough for the two of them to lean over and look at the essay. He grinned. 'That's awesome.'

'Really good,' Allison agreed.

Madison bit her lip before blurting out, 'You included me.'

'Well, yeah. It's your essay too.' Brian shrugged, his ears going slightly pink.

'No one ever does that.'

'Maybe cause you never let anybody,' Allison said, giving her a meaningful look. Madison had already worked out that she liked the basket case. For the first time in a very long time, she found herself hoping that Monday would be different.

Leaving the detention that afternoon things definitely felt like they'd changed. They'd walked in that morning by themselves, virtual strangers. Now they were leaving as… something else. What that something else was, Madison was still unsure. Allison and Andrew kissed before they said goodbye. Claire gave Bender one of her diamond earrings which he placed inside his ear. It would all be beautifully neat, Madison thought, if she and Brian were to pair off as well. That wasn't happening though. Madison Lawrence had let down more barriers than she'd really wanted to today; no more were collapsing in the near future.

Turning away from the school, trying to forget that the whole process would be repeated for the next five Saturdays, she began the hour's walk back home.

Dear Mr. Vernon. We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. What we did was wrong, but we think you're crazy to make an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain and an athlete and a basket case, a princess, invisible and a criminal Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.

'Hey delinquent.' Madison broke into an unwilling smile. Her brother had always had the ability to embarrass her in public, often using his diagnosis as a weapon of choice. Now he was hollering at her across the day room and making everybody turn and stare. 'What's life on the inside like?'

'It was one detention, Zach!' she rolled her eyes. 'It was hardly USP Marion.'

'You know, when Mom said you'd skipped school, I thought you might finally be having some fun. Empty trailer during the day, hint hint.'

'You know, Mom would be horrified if she really knew the depraved thoughts that went through your mind.'

'But then she said you went to work. I mean, Jesus, Mads, what is that all about?'

'It was paid overtime.'

'And you've not even bought yourself some decent shoes with the money.' Zach rolled his eyes, too large in his thin face. 'Those sneakers are gonna walk out of here by themselves one day.'

Madison sat down in the chair next to him. 'I was going to ask how you were feeling but it doesn't really seem necessary now. Mom said you weren't great yesterday.'

Zach shrugged and changed the subject. Talking about his illness was something he tried to keep to a minimum, and Madison usually let him. If she'd fought against becoming the girl whose brother had cancer, he'd fought fifteen times as hard against being the boy with cancer. Laura was usually the only person who got real answers out him about how he was feeling. Madison received jokes, stories and mild insults instead. It was depressing that even her kid brother who had spent more time in hospital than in school felt her social life was less than desirable.

'Okay, so, you see that girl over there?' He dropped his voice to whisper. 'No, don't turn and look!'

'Well I can't see her if she's behind me,' Madison pointed out.

'You'll see when you go. Honestly, anybody would think I was the girl here.' He shook his head in despair. 'Anyway. She's totally been giving me the eye.'

'Really?'

'Really. Watch this space, sis.'

From anybody else in his position, Zach's insistence upon his status as a player would have seemed pathetic. In his case though, it was partially true. He had always been the good-looking one, Madison mused, remembering how she'd hated it as a child when strangers had cooed over his large dark eyes, long eyelashes and skin which turned a beautiful golden colour as soon as the merest hint of sun appeared. It seemed unfair that he had charm and charisma and a wicked sense of humour as well, but then, as they both knew only too well, life was unfair. It would, however, have been especially churlish for Madison to have envied her sick brother's love life. He had always had girls chasing round after him, even when his hair had all fallen out on his first round of chemo. Even now, his skin pale from a combination of the Chicago winter and too much time spent in the hospital, his hair in the buzzcut he'd appropriated ever since his second bout of chemo when he was eleven, his smile would catch anybody's eye. If he thought the girl was checking him out, she probably was.

'What happened to Amber?' she said, asking after the last girl he'd been more than friends with. Quite what they'd got up to, she'd never really liked to ask, and unusually for Zach, he'd been quite reticent. She'd thought he actually quite liked his fellow patient.

'She went home. Remission.'

'Oh wow. That's great.'

'Yeah.' He fiddled with the IV line in his arm which he knew she hated. He didn't sound thrilled.

'Well, you can still see her,' Madison said. 'You know, she could come visit or you could go see her or…'

'Yeah, she'd love our place. Or spending yet more time here.' Zach's face turned uncharacteristically stormy. 'She didn't even leave me a phone number.'

'Oh.' Madison fell silent again, unable to come up with a response to that.

'What about you? Got a date for prom yet?'

'It's not till June.'

'Mads, you really think you'll be able to pick a date up on May 31st?'

'Who says I want a date?'

'You want to go alone to prom?'

'I might not even go.' Madison rolled her eyes. 'God, Zach, who made you my mom?'

'Considering our own dear mother would probably let you curl up in bed every night from now till your 80th birthday, I figured somebody needed to sort you out.' Zach sighed. 'Madison, you can't not go to senior prom.'

'Why?' It was an argument they'd been having pretty much since senior year started. Senior prom was Madison's idea of hell for so many reasons. She never wore dresses or heels and she only danced when she was home alone. Being invisible meant she'd probably avoid anybody turning and staring at her, but she wondered if that wasn't potentially worse; being completely ignored at prom was almost certainly one of the most mortifying social experiences known to man.

So far Zach had failed to convince her otherwise. But today, he played a blinder.

'Because Mom really wants you to and so do I. Cause I might not get to.'

Madison felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. It was the closest he'd come to alluding to his illness in months. Zach was the one who was always so cheerful and positive. This was out of character.

'Don't be stupid,' she tried now.

'I'm not. It's true. I might not. Even if…' he tailed off, still unable to fully accept that his own mortality was distant possibility. 'It's not like I've been to school for ages. I'll probably skip high school altogether.'

'Lucky for you.' John Bender's words came back to haunt her as she knew she was using them as inappropriately as he had.

'Yeah, real lucky.' Zach gestured around himself, with a wry grin on his face. 'I'm sure you'd trade me any time, right, sis?'

Madison pulled a face. 'I didn't mean that. You're just not normally like this.'

'Oh, I'm sorry, the Cancer Kid's having a bad day.' Zach had clearly disgusted himself with his last words as they both fell silent for a time. Madison resisted the urge to glance at her watch; she ordinarily spent all day Sunday here for as long as they could convince the nurses to let her. Right now, she was wondering if it was too early to leave.

'They've started searching out of state for bone marrow,' he said eventually, his voice much smaller and quieter. He avoided looking at her as he spoke.

'Mom said.'

He nodded and then fell silent again. Madison wasn't expecting a great outpouring of anxiety and emotion. She suspected that Laura had had all of that yesterday; she'd certainly looked exhausted enough, so tired that Madison hadn't had the heart to tell her about her extra detentions. Whilst her mom might act like nothing her kids did could shock her, the disappointment at Madison's clocking up more sanctions would undoubtedly upset her. Zach was the troublesome child, even before he got sick; Madison was always the easy one. She'd tried her best to live up to that label.

The visit picked up after that, as Zach fell into his usual habits of sharing whispered gossip about fellow patients and staff. Madison was certain some of them couldn't be true as she couldn't imagine how her brother had become privy to such information, but they were told entertainingly and so well that they were almost plausible. Mr Anderson would have been impressed.

It was only when she was about to leave, having ignored the gentle requests four times and now being shot daggers by at least two nurses, that she broached the topic of her detentions.

'I… might not get to see you much in the next couple of weeks.'

Walking down the corridor beside her, his IV drip rolling along next to him, Zach snorted. 'Let me guess. Work?'

'Sort of.' Then, in a rush, she explained, 'I've got detentions for the next five Saturdays.

Zach stopped abruptly and turned to look at her. 'What?'

She wrinkled up her nose. 'Yeah. And if I miss work that often they'll definitely fire me but if I give them Sundays… Sorry.'

'That's… alright.' Zach blinked. 'You… got five detentions? What did you do, set fire to the place? My God, is my sister actually becoming fun?'

She smiled. 'I was reading a book and I shouldn't have been.'

'Wow. Rock and roll.' Zach deadpanned but then grinned again. 'Five detentions? That's insane!'

'I know.'

'Mom is gonna freak. Well, you know, without actually freaking.' Zach shook his head. 'You never said, anyway, how was it yesterday?'

'Good.' When he fixed her with a doubtful look, she added, 'Well, you know, not good. It was detention. It was… fine. Boring.' She shrugged for good measure. 'You know.'

He gave her a funny look, one eyebrow raised sceptically. 'Actually, I don't, but never mind. What happened yesterday?'

Nothing. Something. Everything. Madison had no idea how to answer that question. Finally she blurted out something she didn't even think was that important. 'Claire Standish was there.'

It took Zach a couple of seconds, his brow furrowed. 'Claire… our old next door neighbour? The red-head?' Madison nodded. 'You've not mentioned her in years.'

'I know.' She bit her lip, unsure why she'd mentioned it now.

Zach seemed about to say something and she dreaded it. Then absolution came.

'Madison, Zach, visiting hours finished over fifteen minutes ago.' The sister on the ward chided them. 'Your mom will wonder where you've got to.'

Madison escaped without her brother's comment on the situation, though if she knew Zach, it would be the conversational opener the next time she visited. That already seemed so far away that it was untrue. Setting out into the Chicago night, she tried to keep her mind off of that and off of school the next morning. She wondered if the Breakfast Club was a one-time thing.