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Happy Reading! XOXO- Erika

I laughed at the look on Claire's face. I could almost see the fury rise from within her eyes. "You are a total bitch! You did that purpose just to fuck me over!"

I grinned, saying nothing.

"I would do it though," Allison said. "If you love someone, its okay…"

"I can't believe either of you," Claire said, looking highly angry. She turned to Allison. "You're so weird. You don't say anything all day, then you open your mouth and you unload all these tremendous lies all over me."

I perked up, knowing she was coming after me next. "AND YOU. I don't know what the hell I did to you, but you've been acting like a bitch all day towards me. Towards all of us really. You walk in here, acting like you own the place, and think you can control everyone!"

I chuckled. "Well ya know what? You have no room to talk about walking around and thinking you know the place. What was that that you told us earlier? 'I'm sooo popular. Everyone loves me.' Well reality check bitch. You're lucky if you can count the people that can stand you on your left hand, because I sure as hell am not one of them. By the way, Brian doesn't count," I spat out at her. "And you can stop making eyes at my boyfriend too. Don't think I haven't noticed how you've been acting around him all day. Frankly, it pisses me off. So go find your own prince-fucking-charming, and stay the hell away from mine."

She looked at me like a gaping fish. "Well, I don't know what you're talking about."

I sat straight up and crossed my legs together, putting my hands in my lap, staring at her with a deadly look and an icy tone. "I know you're not calling me a liar, Claire."

"I'm not calling you a liar, I'm calling you a freak of nature, all of you are," she said, glaring from me, to John, to Allison.

"You're just pissed off because they got you to admit something you didn't want to," Andy said, staring at the both of us.

"Okay….fine. But that doesn't make it any less bizarre," she finally sighed.

"What's bizarre? I mean, we're all pretty bizarre. Certain ones of us are just better at hiding it," he replied.

"How are you bizarre?"

He was silent. Then Allison answered. "He can't think for himself."

Andy nodded in her direction. "She's right."

He then proceeded to tell us how he had gotten detention, explaining how he snapped from the pressure from his father, feeling sorry for the poor geek and how he would have to explain it to his father. Then Brian found the courage to tell us all that he was going to commit suicide, but the plan literally backfired when the flare gun he had in his locker went off, and that was how he had gotten detention.

Soon enough, we were all comparing what we all could do.

Allison said, "I can write with my toes! I can also eat, brush my teeth.."

"With your feet?" I said, almost horrified. I have a fear of feet…sue me.

"Play Heart and Soul on the piano.." she drifted off.

"I can make spaghetti!" Brian put in.

"I can read a 400 page book in four hours," I said sheepishly.

"What can you do?" Claire asked Andy.

He looked a little anxious, then smiled. "I can uh…tape all your buns together."

I rolled my eyes. "We're quivering in our shoes."

He just smiled at me.

"I wanna see what Claire can do," John said behind me. I looked at him, a bit confused. After all that fuss I made, he still wants to pick on her? Even I think it's a bit weird.

"I can't do anything," she said.

"Aw, c'mon. Everyone can do something."

Claire shook her head. "No way. The only thing I can do is way too embarrassing."

"Ya ever seen Wild Kingdom?" Bender asked. "That guy's been doing that show for thirty years."

I laughed at his antics, watching Claire squirm. "Fine," she relented. "But you have to promise not to laugh at me."

Everyone swore, but I could tell that John was itching for another argument. She took some lipstick from her compact and opened it, then stuck it inbetween her breasts, applying it on her lips without her hands. She lifted her head after a few seconds and her lipstick was perfect. Everyone started clapping, but John's was obviously slow and sarcastic.

"That was wonderful Claire. Now my image of you is totally blown," he said, staring at her.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You swore you wouldn't laugh!" Allison hissed.

John rolled his head so he was looking at her. "Do you see me laughing?"

"You're a fucking asshole!" Andy burst out, glaring at John.

"Why?" I ask. "Because he can spot out a total whore move when he sees one? I guarantee you half the strippers in Chicago can do the little stunt she just pulled," I replied easily.

"It still doesn't matter. John still didn't have to make fun of her. He's just putting others down to hide behind his girlfriend anyways," Andy shot back, glaring at the two of us.

John had to literally restrain me from crawling over and feeding that boy his own dick. "Calm down, I got this Peaches," he whispered in my ear. I looked at him, still quite pissed, but sat down beside him and leaned against the wall, staring daggers into Andy's face. Once he saw that I wasn't moving from my spot beside him like I was earlier, he turned to Andy.

"Why would I care what you think anyways? I don't even count, right Sporto?" John baited. "I could disappear forever and it wouldn't make any difference…We may as well not even exist at this school, remember?" He looked back to Claire. "And you don't like me anyways! Not that I give two shits, it just makes my life easier in avoiding your little ass."

Claire was nearly in tears. "You know, I have just as many feeling as you do, and it hurts just the same when someone steps all over them! I can tell it hurts you too!"
John scoffed. "One, stop fucking profiling me. You don't know shit about me. Two, don't you ever…EVER compare yourself to me! Okay? You have everything someone could ever ask for and I have SHIT!" At this point, Claire was looking at the ground. "Fucking Rapunzel, right?" John continued. "The whole school would probably shut down if your little princess ass didn't show up…you know, I like those earrings Claire," he said, goading her.

"Shut up," she said quietly.

"Are those real diamonds, Claire?"

"Shut. Up."

"I bet they are. Did you work for the money for those diamond earrings…"

"Shut your mouth."

"…or did Daddy-dearest buy those?"

"Shut up!" she was full out crying now.

"I bet he bought those for you! A Christmas gift, am I wrong?" John said, clearly more angry than he was before. "You know what I got for Christmas this year? Oh, it was better fuckin' year at the old Bender household! I got a carton of fucking cigarettes! The old man grabbed me and said, "Hey! Smoke up Johnny!" Okay, so go home and cry to Daddy, don't cry here, 'kay?"

It was completely quiet except for Claire sniffling.

"My god, are we gonna be like our parents?" Andy said, looking disturbed by the thought.

"Not me…never," Claire said, wiping tears. I glared at the floor, praying to whoever would listen that I wouldn't. End up like my parents I mean.

"It's unavoidable," Allison says quietly.

"What are you talking about?" Claire asks.

"She means, that our parents raise us, drilling their beliefs and views into our heads and down our throats until we grow up thinking those things, thinking like them. Therefore, we become them," I say, not even liking the thought.

"When you grow up, your heart dies," Allison said. I looked over at the girl and she looked like she was going to throw on the waterworks. Jeez. Was I the only one around here who wasn't PMSing? Or maybe this was how they reacted to the after-effects of weed. Who knows.

"Who cares…" John said, staring at the ceiling.

"I care," she replied.

"You know, I was just thinking," Brian said suddenly, for the first time in a while. "I know it's a weird time, but I was just wondering what's going to happen to us on Monday? When we're all together again? I mean I consider you guys my friends, I'm not wrong, am I?"

"No, you're not," Andy said, looking at him.

I shook my head. Brian was a nice kid, a bit of a nerd, but I'd hang with him…when I wasn't working or trying to sort out my horrible family life.

"So on Monday…what happens?" he asked again.

"Are we still friends you mean?" Claire asked.

Brian nodded.

"The truth?"

"Yeah, I want the truth."

Claire shook her head. "I don't think so…"

Brian looked a little heartbroken.

"Well, do you mean all of us or just John and Alexa?" Allison asked.

"All of you," Claire said, sighing.

"Oh, that's a real nice attitude Claire!" Andy exclaimed, clearly pissed now.

"Come on Andy, be honest with yourself. If Brian came walking up to you in the hall on Monday, what would you do? I mean, picture this, you're there with all the Sports. We all know exactly what you'd do, you'd say hi to him and when he left you'd cut him all up so your friends wouldn't think that you really liked him."

" 'Kay, what if I came up to you?" Allison asked.

"Same thing…"

I had had enough of this. "You are a bitch!"

She looked at me with crazy eyes. "Why? Because I'm telling the truth, that makes me a bitch?"

"No, you're a bitch because you know how fucked up that is to do to someone! And you don't have the audacity to at least stand up to your friends and tell them that you're gonna like who you want to!"

"Okay, what about you, ya hypocrite?" she asked. I felt John squeeze my hand in warning. "Why don't you take Allison to one of your stupid little techno rave druggie parties? Or take Brian out to the parking lot at lunch to smoke up? What about Andy for that matter, what about me?"

"What about you ya rich bitch?" John asked.

"What would your friends say if we were walking down the hall together? They'd laugh their asses off and you know it. You'd tell them you were banging me just so they'd lay off."

John was absolutely furious right now. "Don't you EVER talk about any of my friends. You don't know any of my friends, you don't know any of my friends, and you definitely wouldn't lower yourself to speak to my friends. So why don't you just stick to things you know, like shopping, lipstick, your father's BMW, and your poor-rich-drunk mother in the Caribbean!"

"SHUT UP!" she cried, sobbing again.

"And as far as you being concerned about what's gonna happen on Monday with you and me being friends, in any sense, you can forget it, because it's NEVER GOING TO FUCKING HAPPEN! Just bury your head in the sand, and wait for your FUCKIN' prom!"

There was another bout of silence before Brian spoke again. "I just wanna tell you, all of you, that I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't and I will not! 'Cause I think it's real shitty…"

"Your friends wouldn't mind because they look up to people like me and Andy," she replied.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh god, here we go again."

"You're so conceited Claire," Brian said, looking disgusted with her. "You're so full of yourself, why are you like that?"

"I'm not saying that to be conceited! I hate it! I hate having to go along with whatever my friends say!"
"Then why do you do it?" I asked her.

"I don't know," she sobbed. "You don't understand, you're not friends with the same kind of people that Andy and I are friends with! You know, you don't understand the pressure that they can put on you!"

"I don't understand? I don't understand pressure? I don't understand it Claire? Well FUCK YOU! Fuck you," he said, putting his head in his hands.

It went on like that before Allison decided she wanted to speak. "Do you all know what I did to get in here?...Nothing. I had nothing better to do."

I burst out laughing, essentially making everyone else do it too.

"You're laughing at me," Allison said, looking at us all.

"Oh no!" Andy cried.

"Never!" I added, still laughing.

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