Notes : I know, I know, Its been so long. I'm sorry guys. It's a combination of writers block and not having any time to myself. Anyway, I apologise again and hope this chapter is all to your liking. Thanks x

Claire looked in the mirror and groaned. The elation of standing up to Ruth had worn off and all she was left with was a bruise on her cheek that was getting darker by the minute. She touched it gently and winced.

"Cant you just cover it up with some of that make up crap?" Allison stood behind Claire and looked in the mirror over her shoulder.

"No, not totally anyway. Oh my god. Look at it."

Allison looked. As far as battle scars went, it was pretty impressive. She was still trying to comprehend what she had seen a couple of minutes go; the popular clique falling apart in front of her. She had been right all along, popularity was just a joke. Although she suspected Claire wasn't finding it too funny at the moment.

"Can't you just go home?" She asked her.

"No, not after all those classes I skipped yesterday. Besides which, if my Mother saw this, she would go postal."

"But you have to go home eventually."

"About that," Claire looked at Allison "Do you think I could maybe stay at yours tonight?"

Allison hesitated a minute "Of course you can. But sooner or later you should go home"

"I'd rather it be later."

Both girls were cut off by the sound of the bell. Claire looked pleadingly at Allison, as if she could do something about her face. Allison shrugged.

"Maybe you just have to brazen it out. It wasn't as if nobody saw what went on anyway. It was in the car park."

Claire groaned. Allison was right. It would probably be around the whole school by now. She wished she could just bury her head in the sand and make it all go away. But she knew she would have to face school and finish what she started. You cant just make a stand and run away from the consequences. It struck her how stupid this all would seem in a couple of year's time. She would have a husband and a job, maybe some babies, and this would all mean nothing to her then. Just memories of people she would have left far behind. But she was here now, and as she picked up her books, took a deep breath and headed towards class, she decided she would just have to deal with it.

…………………………………………………

"Oh man, where have you been?"

John sat down and looked at Spike suspiciously.

"Why? What the fuck do you care?"

Spike laughed and looked and John.

"Anything you wanna tell us buddy?" Spike looked around at the rest of the stoners and they all laughed. John suddenly felt very uncomfortable, like he was the butt of some joke.

"What's going on with you guys? Smoked some bad shit or something?"

The crowd laughed again. John wouldn't exactly call these people his friends. More like-minded individuals. He liked them because they didn't ask any questions or make any real effort to get to know him. They were content to skip class, smoke weed and hang out around the back of school. Only now, something was distinctly up and he didn't like it. For a second he thought they were referring to his father. When he showed up with bruises, he usually spun some yarn about how he'd beaten some punk up and they'd gotten a lucky shot. This morning John had escaped the house without crossing paths with his father. He had to climb out the window and shimmy down the drainpipe to do it, but it had worked. All in all, he had been having a good morning. Until he got to school that is. Now every pair of eyes were looking expectantly at him and John could feel his temper flaring. He looked at Spike,

"Look man, you either tell me what the fuck you losers are talking about, or I'm out of here"

Spike grinned, and that only served to anger John further. He sensed this and decided it was time to probably stop playing with him.

"Chill man, look at you," He turned to John "I know I would be a lot happier if I were making out with the prom queen."

John looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh come on man, don't play dumb. You and that hot redhead, Its all around the school."

"I don't know what your talking about." John prayed that he looked like he wasn't bothered. How could they know? He and Claire were over and he hadn't said anything.

"There was a chick fight this morning. The redhead and some other babe. Anyway, they shouted, the other chick slapped red right across the face, and then red shouted that she had been making out with none other than your good self. Its all over the school man. You're a legend."

"Your not bullshitting me?" John looked closely at Spike, searching desperately for some clue that this was all a joke.

"No shit dude, I don't care enough about those people to make shit up"

"Oh man."

What the hell had happened? Claire got slapped? To say he was confused was an understatement.

"Is it true?" His thoughts were interrupted Spike asking him a question, and noticed the rest of the group staring at him. He couldn't stay here, he got slowly up and began to walk away, he needed some space to think, and he clearly wasn't going to get that here with everybody staring at him.

"Oh man, don't leave us hanging. Is it true?"

John looked over his shoulder "What do you think?" He asked them. He didn't slow down, and didn't stick around to hear the reply.

……………………………………….

"No way"

"Way"

Brian looked up from his desk. The two girls seated in front of him were gossiping loudly and he couldn't hear a word his chemistry teacher was saying. All he could hear were the two girls bitching about some member of their group. At least he thought that's what they were talking about. He tried to ignore them, and had almost succeeded when he heard Claire's name being mentioned.

"She totally slapped her, right across the face."

"Ruth Marsters slapped Claire Standish? No way!"

"Way"

Brian was confused, he tapped the girl closest to him lightly on the back. She turned around and glared at him.

"What?" She asked him impatiently

"What you just said, was that true? About Claire getting slapped?" Brian asked her.

"You shouldn't be listening to other peoples conversations. Geek." The girl turned back around to her giggling friend. Brian was aching to find out more. He inched his desk a little nearer the two girls and leaned as close to them as he could without looking suspicious.

"So what were they arguing about?"

"I don't know, but Cindy said that she heard that Claire said that she had been making out with John Bender."

"John Bender?"

"Yah I know."

"But he's like a criminal. Although he is kind of hot, in a bad boy way"

"Totally"

The two girls laughed quietly and Brian smiled to himself. He wondered what Bender would think if he knew he was considered a school heartthrob. With that, the two girls stopped talking and Brian started thinking, how did those girls know about John and Claire. He hadn't even know there was really anything to talk about. Why did Claire say anything to her friends if they really were how she said. The whole thing just didn't really make sense. He wondered if Bender knew about this yet, and Allison and Andy. The bell rang and the class began to shuffle out of stuffy chemistry lab. Brian made his way to shop class, and as he made his way down the hall he heard snatches of conversation.

"I heard she's pregnant"

"yeah, she's got a broken nose from what I heard"

"I don't know why, I heard she stole her car or something."

Brain chuckled as he heard all these distorted versions, he didn't know what had happened, but if Claire was pregnant like that one girl said, that happened fast considering she was a virgin Saturday and it was only Tuesday. This time last week, his life had no drama and now he was involved with some of the biggest drama queens ever to grace Shermer. Bender included. Brain sucked in his breath and entered his shop class. He was disappointed when he noted that John wasn't there. He guessed he would just have to wait until lunch to get the real version of events but until then….there was shop class to get through. Great. However hard this was for him, he'd bet his hands that Claire's day was going a lot worse. And he wouldn't exactly be wrong…