Andy was exhausted, and he only had himself to blame. His little stunt after first period had not only landed him with lunchtime detention, but also an hour after school, doing push ups and other forms of torture. When it was finally over, Andy left the gym and headed to his locker, seriously questioning why he bothered with it all.

He wondered where he should go now. One thing was for sure- he wasn't ready to head home yet. There was every chance his coach had reported back to his father by now, and Andy just wasn't ready for that conversation.

A week ago, he might have cared. A week ago, he wouldn't have dared speak to his coach that way in the first place. And hey, a week ago, he probably wouldn't have kissed any girl in front of the entire school, never mind Allison Reynolds.

But now? He had changed. She had changed him.

He'd been met with mixed reactions over his public display of affection against the lockers. Most of the other sports had teased him a little, a couple of them had thought he was crazy, but on the whole, it hadn't been half as bad as Andy had expected.

He had done it. He'd stood up and showed everyone that he liked Allison, and had dealt with the consequences.

Tossing his books into his locker, Andy made his way to the front entrance of the school, left through the main doors, and got hit in the head by a lunch box.

"What the..?" he turned to face his attacker.

"For a sport, you're a pretty poor catch," Bender smirked, as Brian scrambled around on the floor beside him, picking up his lunch box and reattaching the lid.

"Hilarious," Andy said sarcastically, but he couldn't help smiling at his friends- Brian on the floor, Bender and Claire leant against the wall, and Allison sat on the steps, watching him quietly. "What are you guys doing, anyway?"

"Waiting for you," Claire shrugged. "We heard about the detention. Figured you might want to hang out for a bit."

"What, with you dorks?" he joked.

"Well.. you know, if you don't... that's okay. I... we get it, and I mean... I have homework to do anyhow so.." Brian rambled.

Andy laughed, helping Brian up from the floor. "I was kidding."

"So, where are we going?" Bender asked with mock excitement.

Andy shrugged. "I dunno, but I'm pretty hungry."

"Okay then let's go grab a burger. Unless that doesn't fit into your daily food pyramid, Johnson?" he asked.

Brian laughed nervously. "A burger works for me."

"Great, then let's go," Claire said, amused.

Andy went over to Allison, helping her up from the step. "Hey."

"Hi," she responded in a quiet voice, but she smiled.

"Come on, love's young dream, we've not got all day!" Bender called.

Sniggering, Andy took hold of Allison's hand and followed after the others.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"So, Sporto, you get any trouble today?" Bender asked, when they'd sat in a booth at the local diner.

Andy shrugged, aware everyone was watching him, waiting for an answer- after all, he was the only one that hadn't been around at lunchtime.

"Not really. A couple of the sports who saw me and Allison after English were joking around with me. But nothing major. I figure they woulda done that regardless of who I was seen kissing," he responded, turning to Allison and putting one hand through her hair. "But I uh... heard about what happened at lunch. Are you okay?"

Allison nodded. "I'm fine. It wasn't a big deal."

"They're just a bunch of bitches," Claire agreed.

"Yeah. Truly dreadful. The youth of today," Bender said sagely, shaking his head.

"Sounds like you had it covered," he said, amused. "You and Claire here."

"Ah yes, our Claire. Hero of the hour," Bender smirked. "I've gotta say, Cherry- a very impressive performance. Didn't think you had it in you."

Claire rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

"Well I think it's great that you stood up to them," Andy told her.

"You do ha? That's good, cause this might be round two," Claire muttered.

"Huh?"

"Jake Turner, ten o'clock," she sighed.

They all turned to see the group of three or four jocks that had just walked into the diner, lead by the captain of the soccer team.

"So? Just another dumb jock," Bender shrugged.

"Helen Rafferty's boyfriend," Claire elaborated.

"You know him?" Brian asked Andy.

He nodded. "Sure. He's an asshole, alright."

Brian laughed nervously, glancing across at the group again.

"Relax man, nothing I can't handle," Andy assured him.

"I don't think they've noticed us anyway," Allison commented, seeing the sports had gotten a table in the far corner and were paying them no attention.

"Well if they have, they aren't doing much about it. Probably too scared to come over here, considering we're with Brian and all," Bender quipped.

"Hey, don't involve me in this," Brian rose his hands defensively. "I'm a lover not a fighter."

"I feel so much better now," he said sarcastically.

Before Brian could think of a witty response (which was unlikely, anyway), the waitress appeared to take their order, and the four of them forgot all about the new arrivals.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Once the group had finished eating, they split the check five ways, and got ready to go home. After all, Brian had pointed out he had homework to do, and Claire had to repaint her nails, since Mrs Tyler had made her take it all off during Home Ec that day. Andy had a training session with his father (or a lecture, depending on whether or not his coach had made that phone call yet), and Allison decided she might as well go home too, since she had nothing better to do. Not wanting to be left out, Bender announced that he had some more paint waiting to be spilled in the garage.

Andy paid a visit to the restroom on the way out, so the others waited in the parking lot for him.

He was just about to leave the restroom when the door swung open, nearly hitting him in the face.

"Watch it!" he exclaimed, managing to catch hold of the door before it knocked him out.

Steadying himself, he realised the identity of the over-enthusiastic door opener.

Jake Turner had appeared in the doorway.

"Clark," he nodded.

Andy nodded back. He had never particularly liked the taller boy- a grudge dating back to 1973, when Turner had pinned him face down in the sandbox at kindergarten and sat on top of him.

"How's life as Coach Carr's golden boy?" Jake asked.

"Same as ever. How's the soccer team?" Andy asked, hoping the disinterest wasn't too evident in his voice.

"Never mind that."

Andy shrugged. "Fine. Just asking."

"Yeah? Well now I'm 'just asking' you- what the hell did your weird little crew say to upset my girlfriend at lunch today?" Jake demanded, stepping further into the bathroom so that Andy was trapped in between him and the wall.

Despite being several inches shorter than the soccer player, Andy stood his ground and faced up to Jake.

"I dunno, I wasn't there. Why don't you ask her?"

Jake sniggered. "Smart ass huh? What the hell has happened to you Clark? Hanging around with scum like that?"

"I'll hang around with whoever I like," he snapped.

"Is that right? Well Helen doesn't like them, and neither do the rest of the boys," Jake told him.

"Not my problem Turner."

"Oh it is your problem. If you hang out with people like that, then you're just as bad as them," he said.

Andy shook his head in disbelief. "Whatever. Do you realise how much of an idiot you sound right now? What difference does it make to you who I'm friends with Jake?"

"You're supposed to be one of us Clark, but right now you're a joke. Hanging out with that pot head. Is he your dealer or something?" he asked.

"Get real."

"Well I'm just trying to make sense of all this, Clark. Last week you were a freaking legend, the way you taped that guy's ass up in the changing rooms," Jake reminded him. "Now you're hanging around with these losers. There's gotta be some reason why, there must be something in it for you, so I figured maybe you liked a bit of the wacky backy. I mean, the other two I can sorta get. The geek's probably doing your homework, and I'm guessing you're nailing the creepy chick."

That was enough for Andy, and in a split second, he had hold of the collar of Jake's letter jacket, pinning him up against the door.

"We're done," he said, his voice dangerous. "From now on, mind your own business, Turner. Don't talk about my friends, and definitely don't talk about her."

With that, he let go, leaving the restroom.

"You're wrong Clark- we're not done!" Jake called after him. "You watch your back, and tell your new girlfriend to do the same!"

Andy kept walking until he reached the front entrance of the diner, hoping the other members of Jake's group weren't out there causing more trouble. But there was no sign of the other jocks. In fact, there was no one outside. No one except for Allison, who was sat on the wall in front of the restaurant, waiting for him.

"The others had to go," she said when he reached her. "You were a long time, is something wrong?"

"Nothing," Andy lied, putting one arm around her as she stood up. "Come on, I wanna walk you home."

"You don't need to," she began.

"Yes I do."

"Why?" she asked, a little more sharply than she had planned to.

But Andy just shrugged. "Well... because that's what boyfriends do, isn't it?"

"Are you my boyfriend?" Allison asked.

"Yes I am."

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out, so instead she just stood there, staring at him.

Andy smiled. "Look, you said on Saturday you wanted me to think for myself more. Well I've thought for myself, and I've decided that I'm your boyfriend. Is that okay with you?"

Allison still didn't speak, but one corner of her mouth turned up into a crooked smile.

"I'll take that as a yes," he declared. "So now, I'm going to walk you home."

And she let him.

It was a fairly long walk, but Andy didn't mind. He just enjoyed walking with her- sometimes silently, and sometimes chatting, learning more about each other.

This evening was just about him and Allison.

He would deal with Jake Turner tomorrow.