Chapter Nine: A History Lesson

Claire had sat with Alyson in English and with Brian in math.

It had been great talking to them and in no way awkward like she thought it would be.

After asking why Alyson had walked off earlier, Claire had found out that it had been because of a look Mary had given Alyson that had made her leave.

Claire ranted and raged about the whole affair in math and Brian had simply replied when he had heard the whole story for the third time, "That's pretty fucked up Claire."

Recess had passed in a blur with Claire talking with Alyson and not even caring that the entire group of popular girls had ignored her and Alyson whenever they strolled past.

Double history was next and Claire became a little worried when she went into the classroom and realized that she would have no members from the Breakfast Club to sit with.

She took a seat right up in the back corner next to the window.

Her 'friends' walked into the room and sat in their normal seats at the front. They didn't look directly at her but every now and then their voices dropped to whispers and someone would quickly glance back at her then look back at the front.

The teacher still hadn't come in yet and all the jocks in the class were missing because of some meeting, so the grand total of their class was twelve. So it was very quiet.

Therefore Claire could hear exactly what they were saying about her.

"Oh my god! I can't believe she kissed scum like that!" and "Oh I know! How gross is that?" and "She has committed social suicide and there's no chance she'll get prom queen now." and "I don't think we should let her sit with us anymore." and "I don't even think we should be friends with her anymore either cause she's with that dickhead Bender."

Claire's temper finally snapped.

She pushed her chair back and stood up with such force the chair slammed into the back wall and caused all twelve sets of eyes in the room to look back at her.

"Girls I don't give a shit what you think of me!" she yelled at the top of her voice, angered beyond belief. "So until you can get that into your thickheads you can get fucked!"

Suddenly a loud voice boomed, "Claire Standish! You will see me after class!"

Claire turned to the door and saw her history teacher, Mr. Segger, standing there, red in the face from yelling.

Instantly she picked up her chair off the floor and sat back down in it, facing the front just to see her bitchy ex-friends giggle and snicker at her.

Claire glared out of the window. She heard the door shut and her teacher's footsteps travel to the front of the class.

Her focus and attention faded away as she gazed out of the window and she couldn't hear her teacher begin to give today's lesson.

Suddenly a sound caught her ears and brought her back to reality.

The door opened and she heard Mr. Segger's deep voice say, "Ah Mr. Bender, better late than never I suppose."

Instantly Claire looked at the door and sure enough Bender was standing there and gazing at Mr. Segger with an innocent expression.

"Yes sir, better never than late."

Mr. Segger just rolled his eyes and went back to writing on the board, allowing Bender to gaze and Claire and gave her a wink.

She smiled back and felt truly happy for the first time since she had spoken to him earlier.

Bender quickly sat down in the space next to Claire at her desk and looked back at the board.

"The Spanish Inquisition." He read out loud, but only loud enough so Claire could hear him, "that really pumps my nads." He said sarcastically and Claire just shook her head with a smile.

Claire began to take notes from the board but she didn't get far when Bender took her spare writing book and stole a pen from her pencil case.

She didn't say anything but rolled her eyes at his inability to ask for things.

Bender had seen her reaction and annoyance instantly filled him but he faded when he looked up and observed her interesting seating arrangement.

He suddenly began to scribble furiously on his paper and Claire watched it, curious as to what it could be.

When he had finished writing, Bender slid it over to Claire and she read it.

Why are you back here?

Claire looked at him and Bender just looked at her before motioning with his hand as if he was writing with a pen.

Quickly she got his meaning and wrote on the paper with her own pen.

Cause I didn't want to sit with the people I had called my friends.

Bender raised his eyebrows at this but replied:

Fair enough. Their stuck-up bitches anyway…so why was the Seggmeister yelling at you?

Claire scribbled:

I told my old friends that I didn't give a shit what they think of me and I told them to get fucked.

Claire suddenly felt his hand join with her own underneath the table. He gave her hand a quick squeeze as he wrote:

Why did you get shitty with them?

She sighed as she replied:

They were bitching about me as if I wasn't here. They were talking about…

She stopped writing as a thought occurred to her.

Claire skipped a line and started writing a new sentence:

Are we... going out or just a thing?

Bender paused for a full minute before answering:

I…don't know. Yeah I guess cherry, we kinda are. I don't know what to call what 'this' is but…yeah sorta.

Claire didn't know how to feel as she read this but:

Well they were bitching about us. That was what made me lose my cool with them. Just some of the things they said about you just made me lose it.

Bender's heart felt all weird and warm as he read this. He shifted himself towards her till one side of his upper body was touching hers.

Claire felt the warmth of his body radiate through her clothes and it gave her goosebumps.

You're nice and warm.

Bender smirked.

I could make you burn.

Claire blushed profusely and looked away for a second before writing:

How would you know?

Suddenly Claire felt his denim clad leg press against hers.

Tease…

I am not!

Bender drew a stickman with two love hearts for eyes and a drooling mouth.

You are and you know it.

Claire wracked her brain for a witty answer and she smirked as she wrote:

Why would I need to tease you in order to get attention? Does that make you a tease for teasing me?

Bender stared at her sentence for a minute and frowned, finding it difficult to come up with an answer.

She knew she had him.

Finally he replied:

What if I like your pristine teasing?

I'm not that pristine.

Bender gave her a knowing smile:

How could I forget cherry?

Claire smiled at him and Bender saw her lone diamond earring in her ear. The one she gave him was still in his ear and he had been wearing, unembarrassed if anybody saw it.

Thankfully he hadn't run into Vernon yet but the sudden remembrance of his eight Saturday detentions made Bender's face fall.

Claire saw his change in mood and began to worry:

What's wrong?

Eight fucking detentions with Dick. I had completely forgotten about them.

Claire's face fell too:

You really shouldn't have bitten back at him. He is an asshole and enjoys goading you cause he knows he can get a rise out of you…

Bender wrote furiously:

Don't you think I don't fucking know that?!

Claire felt Bender suddenly fully move himself away from her so they weren't touching, including her hand. His moving away made Claire feel extremely hurt and she shifted her chair away from him as far as she could.

Time passed and soon the second lesson was nearly over. Claire had spent the entire time stewing and her pain turned to an uncontrollable anger and she finally wrote:

If you knew that then why did you do it?!

She slammed the pen on the table and grabbed her bag before getting up and storming out of the room, ignoring Mr. Segger's warnings and yells.

Bender watched her slam the door with a loud BANG and instantly he found himself jumping up out of his seat and ran to the door. Before he opened the door he heard Mr. Segger's voice growling at him.

He turned to look at the infuriated teacher and gave a shrug.

"She's on her period sir. Hormones in teen girls these days. She just needed some fresh air. I'll go and check on her."

The mention of periods made Mr. Segger suddenly go really white. His fear of blood was common knowledge throughout the school and it was often used to get out of his class.

When the pale teacher didn't reply, Bender shot out of room, shutting the door behind him.

Once outside in the corridor, Bender quickly looked left and right to see if there was any sign of Claire.

A flash of red hair going around a corner to his right, Bender immediately started off after her.

Just as he did, the bell for lunch went.