"Music is my heart and soul, more precious than gold
Turn on some music, I got my music"

-Music, Erick Sermon

Claire's giggles could be heard before Bender even opened the door to the school's back parking lot. When Bender came out she was sitting on the steps next to Brian, who was making her laugh by doing spot on impressions of Saturday Night Live comedians. They both looked up when they heard the door open, and when they saw Bender making his exit they stood to let him by.

"I'm surprised Mr. and Mrs. Johnson let their baby angel boy stay up late enough to watch that show," Bender said in a snarky way, but with a smirk.

Brian grinned right back. "I'm surprised you'd even know that show. I-I thought you'd be out trashing the town at that time on Saturday nights, you know?"

Bender punched Brian in the shoulder, and he laughed when Brian tried to pretend it didn't hurt. Then he smiled at Claire, who blushed. "Cherry." He greeted. She smiled up at him. "Burnout." She teased. "Come on, let's go." she ordered. Brian and Bender followed her towards the parking lot.

Andrew and Allison were sitting inside of Andrew's pickup truck. "Sporto." Bender called out. Andrew nodded at him. Bender started to call out to Allison, but he noticed she had headphones on her ears and probably wouldn't be able to hear him.

"You guys ready?" Andrew called. "I'm starving!" Claire responded.

"What's the name of this place again?" Andy asked. "Del Rossi's," Claire responded, "I know the way. Why don't I drive?"

Andy turned a little red and stammered, "Um, we'll…we'll follow you there." Bender realized before Claire and Brian did that this was probably Andrew's first ever real chance to be alone with Allison. He rolled his eyes and winked at Andrew.

"Come on, Big Bri, you can ride with me in Cherry's BMW."

Brian nodded, and as he did he managed to catch Andrew sending a look of gratitude to Bender. Bender smirked back. As Brian followed him and Claire to Claire's car, he thought to himself Great, I get to go from being the third wheel with one couple to being the third wheel with the more tumultuous couple.

But it didn't turn out to be so bad. As they drove off Bender said, "I can't believe I just played matchmaker for those two. I'm stuck with you two while they're probably going to play kissy face the whole way there. And to think, Cherry, I thought you were the one he was slipping the hot beef injection to."

That did it. Claire turned all kinds of red, and called Bender the most disgusting pervert she'd ever seen in her entire life. That just made Bender tease her more, and the two of them went back and forth until Brian realized they weren't arguing but were doing their own twisted version of flirting-without-actually-flirting right with him in the car. And after that it just became amusing to him. Brian didn't know much about dating and relationships, but he knew that with every insult and every word of banter between the two, for a unique couple like Claire and Bender, those words were how they called each other "honey" and "sweetie pie".

So when Bender said: "My, aren't we in full glory today? Fully made up lips, full princess attire," and Claire responded: "Yeah, too bad it's all wasted on a burnout like you," Brian knew they were really saying: "You look beautiful today," and "Thanks, I'm glad you like it, because it's all for you." Brian was no John Bender when it came to reading people, but he was sure of this.

He was so sure, in fact, that instead of intervening and changing the subject to something he knew would at least distract Bender, he let them bicker (flirt) all the way to the restaurant.

Andrew and Allison beat them to the restaurant. When Claire's car pulled up next to Andrew's, they could see that the two had their heads leaned in towards each other, and at first it looked like they were kissing. But getting out of the car revealed to Claire, Bender, and Brian that they were just looking at something in Allison's bag.

When Allison heard them exit Claire's BMW, she quickly stuffed whatever it was back into her bag, and jumped out of the truck. Andy did the same. Bender stayed behind with him as the others walked inside of Del Rossi's.

"So, Sporto, should you be thanking me or hitting me right now?"

Andrew practically giggled. "I'm not telling you anything, Bender. But, yeah, thanks, man." And that was about as far as the two of them were ready to go with the guy talk.

Once they'd all settled in at the table and put in their pizza orders, Bender asked, "So, Cherry, Sporto tells me you organized this little affair."

"Yeah." Claire replied, almost proud.

"But I was under the impression you hadn't spoken to any of us all week."

"That's not, like, entirely true." Claire said shyly. "Oh?" Bender asked.

"She came to my house on Monday." Allison blurted out. Claire nodded and said, "Yeah, I gave Alli a ride home. We talked then about maybe doing lunch today. I mean, I know we're supposed to be the Breakfast Club and not the Lunch Club and all, but that's, like, going to be kind of difficult when one of the five of us is always in detention on Saturday mornings," she looked at Bender, "and another of the five of us has church every Sunday morning." She looked at Brian.

"I-I could…they wouldn't mind…maybe we'll do…an earlier service?" Brian babbled, unsure of himself.

Claire and Allison both looked shock. "You'd do that for us?" Allison spoke up.

"Yeah, well… Claire does have a point, and it's not exactly like Bender can reschedule detention. I could just ask my parents if we could start going to the early service; and tell them that way I can have more time to study after church."

"Is that all your parents think you do, is study?" Andrew asked, horrified. Brian nodded, embarrassed.

"No offense, Big Bri, but I'm beginning to wonder if you can really be that smart if you and your parents think you need to study that much. Shouldn't you need to study less if you're such a genius?" Bender questioned.

"It doesn't really matter to them how smart I am; they believe there's always room for improvement, or that if I don't study x amount of hours per week, I'll lose my smarts and become dumb, or something." Brian replied.

"That's actually sort of how this whole outing came to be. " Claire said. "I spoke with Brian outside of his Latin club and I ended up giving him my number so that he can call me if he ever feels overwhelmed or stressed out. No more guns, right, Brian?" Brian nodded, embarrassed.

So Brian hadn't told Bender everything Claire said when she waited for him outside of Latin club. If it had been anyone else but Brian, Bender would have been disappointed to discover that the encounter Brian had with Claire hadn't just been all about Bender as he'd originally thought. But since it was Brian, Bender was just glad that Claire had been there for him, since Bender wouldn't have ever thought of that himself.

"I had already exchanged numbers with Allison on Monday at her house, and I got Andrew's number in study hall, so I called everyone and set it up. That just left you." Claire said, looking at Bender.

"Which is how I found myself getting a phone call from a very pouty princess to go to detention to tell you all about it." Andrew added, smiling.

"Oh, he was glad to do it. I think he, like, missed you." Claire teased. They all laughed. Just then their pizzas were brought to the table. Allison was laughing so hard that she sort of bumped the waitress, who bumped into Allison's bag (which had been on the table) as she was setting the pizzas down. Some of Allison's stuff fell out of her bag, and Brian and Andrew went to help her gather it all. Just as Bender was about to look down and help, something caught his eye.

"Hey! That's my Walkman! I've been looking for it since yesterday afternoon. Screw you, Klepto!" Bender exclaimed.

Allison grinned devilishly and set the Walkman on the table. "Keep it," Bender said, "I've got a backup, and you've probably ruined that one forever for me by playing crappy music on it."

"What makes you think I listen to crappy music?" Allison challenged.

"Ok, fine. Impress me. What do you listen to?" Bender asked. "I like Prince. But mostly Pink Floyd." Allison said.

Bender rolled his eyes. "Could be worse. But not impressive."

"I also really like The Ramones." Allison added. Bender's eyes got wide. "No fucking way."

Allison nodded.

"Seen Rock 'n' Roll High School?" Bender asked.

"Five times." Allison replied.

"Eight for me. Favorite song?"

"Pinhead."

"Mine, too." Bender said matter-of-factly. "Okay, you can definitely keep the Walkman now. You've earned it. Use it in good taste."

Then he turned to Andrew, Claire, and Brian. "Okay, let's have it. I suspect at least one of you has atrocious taste in music. Let's see which one of you it is."

Andrew started. "I don't get much time to listen to music. If I'm not practicing, I'm doing schoolwork or sleeping. But I do listen to country sometimes in the car."

Bender looked at him with dead eyes. "I'd say we have a winner, but let's see if Cherry and Big Bri can do even worse."

Claire blushed. "I don't want to say. You'll definitely laugh at me."

"Spill it, Red."

"I like pop music, okay? I love Madonna."

Bender just smiled at her. "You are such an adorable cliché." He laughed, then turned to Brian.

"Um, I don't have a lot of time to listen to music, either, but… I like a lot of the Motown artists. Diana Ross, The Temptations, the Jacksons…"

Bender studied him for a bit then said, "That's…at least respectable. I really shouldn't be surprised that Klepto is the only one of you with decent taste."

"I like Aerosmith too." Allison contributed.

"So do I!" chimed in Andy excitedly. "I've seen them perform."

"Dream On is, like, possibly the best song I've ever heard. And Joe Perry is a major babe." Claire said, almost dreamily. Allison nodded slightly in agreement. Bender raised an eyebrow at that but remained silent.

"No way, Walk This Way is their best song. I tried to learn how to play that on guitar once. Before I quit." Brian chimed in.

"You played guitar?" Bender asked. "I tried," Brian replied, "and failed."

"I play guitar. A little." Allison said.

"I've been working on starting a band. Maybe you and I could rock out someday." Bender said, actually sounding enthusiastic. Allison retreated, squeaking a little.

"You're a musician?!" Claire blushed as she asked Bender. He nodded. "Guitar. And drums." Claire gave him such a look of admiration that Bender almost had to catch his breath.

"So, do you like Aerosmith, too Bender?" Andy asked.

"You kidding me, Sporto? I fucking love them. Next to Black Sabbath, which is the fucking best thing ever, they're my favorite band. But you tell anyone that and you die." Bender quipped.

"What's your favorite Aerosmith song?" Andy asked innocently.

Bender looked at them as if he wanted to melt into the floor. "Sweet Emotion." He mumbled.

No one else said anything. Brian just nodded. And then Claire looked at him dreamily. "That's a really good song, too." She said. And Bender smiled, coming to a realization.

"Well. I think I've found Cherry's weakness. Guys, it seems our little prom queen here has one of those bad-boy-with-a-heart-of-gold-rocker-musician-with-long-hair fantasies. "

Claire blushed and averted her eyes downward. "Shut up!" She said. Brian and Andrew laughed. "I do not!" she defended.

"Please. Joe Perry? And when I told you I play, and that Sweet Emotion was my favorite Aerosmith song, you practically melted. Face it, sweets. You've got a major thing for rockers with great hair and a soft emotional side." Bender argued, smirking. Claire turned even redder.

Brian took pity on her and changed the subject. "So, you know what this means? We've actually found something, other than crappy parents, that all five of us have in common."

The others looked around at each other and nodded in agreement. "I… I think maybe I could get us tickets to see them the next time they're in town. If you guys are interested." Allison said softly.

They all looked at her in confusion. "How?" Andrew and Brian asked at the same time. But Allison just blew on her hair.

"Who cares how? I'm in." Bender said.

"Yeah, that-that'd be awesome." Brian said. The thought of actually going to a concert- a concert with his four new friends—was the most exciting social prospect he'd ever had.

The five of them spent the rest of the meal comparing notes on music, particularly Aerosmith. Soon they had to leave because Andrew had to get ready for a meet, and Brian wanted to go get a head start on a project he was working on.

Andrew and Allison spent their car ride talking about what they wanted to do after high school, and in Claire's car, Bender gave Brian the front seat this time. He spent the car ride listening to Brian and Claire talk about some new activities regulations put in place for all school clubs.

Claire dropped Brian off first. Then she turned to Bender and asked him where she should drop him off. He swallowed. "Just take me back to the school. I can walk home from there."

Claire just looked at him. Bender could tell she was seeing right through him. "Ben- John…" she said. " I don't—"

He cut her off. "Just do it, Cherry. Please." Claire decided not to argue.

When they pulled into the school parking lot, Bender turned to look at her. "Thanks, Cherry. "

"Thanks for lunch. You didn't have to—"

This time, Bender shut her up with a kiss. He meant it to be a quick one. He didn't expect for Claire to react by pulling him closer to her and moaning into the kiss, deepening it. Then she ran her fingers through his hair. It was a long time before they came up for air.

When Bender finally caught his breath he said, "Is this all because of the whole musician thing?" He asking, giving her his best mischievous grin. She smiled back and shrugged. "Maybe." She answered.

"Wow. Then I can't imagine how you'd react if you saw me play. You might lose any and all appearance of being pristine, Cherry."

"Perv." She quipped back. And then she kissed him again.

As Bender walked home he was full of dreams of his Cherry looking up at him dreamily as he played a song for her. That was an image that would stick with him and would get him through the rest of his weekend.

He was happy to see, as he walked up to his home, that neither of his parents seemed to be home. Good. He could go right in and get a shower and a nap. Or so he thought.

The phone was already ringing when he walked inside. Bender ran to catch it before the person could hang up. "What?" he asked.

"Bender?" a voice said. It took a moment before Bender could place the voice as Andrew's.

"Sporto? How the hell did you get my number?"

"From Johnson. He said he snuck and got it when he was in the secretary's office."

Leave it to dweebie, Bender thought. Why the hell couldn't Brian just ask Bender for his number? Bender would have given it to him willingly. There was no need for the poor dork to risk getting in trouble.

"What's up?" Bender asked. Andrew sighed. "I did something stupid. I asked Allison out on our first real date. And now I have no clue what the hell I'm doing or where I could even take her. I need your help."