Author's Note: when I say 'applied symmetry in advanced geometry and trigonometry', I mean that it is advanced trigonometry and geometry in one chapter, as well as symmetry applied in advanced geometry. Like two separate parts of one chapter. Page 248 is the title page for that chapter. I know it weird, but it's exactly like this in the maths textbook of one of my cousins. Sorry if any confusion was caused for anyone over this (**cough-cough**Nemmy!**cough-cough**)
Second Author's Note: yes, Brian is a little bit dopey towards the end of the chapter, but you remember in the movie, he blurted a lot of things out without thinking, so it isn't as if he's OOC. And, he started crying in front of them, for goodness sake, so it isn't as if he isn't emotional.
For all other author's notes and the disclaimer see Chapter One. Please read them before reading the fic. Thanks. Send feedback to nova_mist@yahoo.com Please read and review.
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The Altered View Monday Can Bring
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March 26th, 1984
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Chapter Eleven – Trigonometry Made Simple
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Brian walked apprehensively through the halls his maths classroom. When he went to the library with his friend Jeff, they had met up with Scott Portman, another of their friends. The fourth member of their group, Renford Li, wasn't arriving at school until at least third period, due to a dentist appointment. Larry Lester, who Scott reckoned he had seen in the science hallway five minutes ago, was nowhere in sight. So Brian, Scott and Jeff had sat around in the library discussing the differences between Star Wars and Star Trek until the bell had rung.
But Brian hadn't really been focused on the conversation. Particularly when he had to try very, very hard not to laugh when he spotted Carl the Janitor and Mr. Dennis, the school handyman, having an argument over what possibly could have shattered the glass in the door of the Foreign Languages annex in the library. Brian knew full well that Andy had broken it on Saturday after his spectacular dancing performance after smoking too much weed.
"I'm telling you, man, that light-sabre noise, I bet you they got at least half of it from recording a refrigerator motor." Scott insisted.
Jeff frowned. "I dunno, Scott," Jeff argued. "it sounds more like a car motor to me." they both looked at Brian. "Brian, what do you think?" Jeff asked him.
Brian didn't reply, his thoughts miles away, still focused on Saturday, still wondering what the hell was going to happen now that Monday was finally here. His thoughts were doing nothing but run around in circles: I mean, sure, Claire ran over to John, and they were standing very close together, and were talking about something, but that doesn't necessarily mean that any good came of that confrontation. They could have got angry and yelled at each other, and hate each other again. And what about Andy and Allison? What is going to happen there? Will Andy be strong enough to blow his jock friends off? He isn't as strong as Claire…
"Bri?"
"Huh?" Brian asked. His two friends were standing there, looking at him intently.
"We asked where you think they get the humming noise for light-sabres from." Scott told him.
"Umm…I don't know." Brian replied. "Uh, we'll talk later, okay? I have to go, guys. Bye!" he said, running off quickly.
I don't know how this is all going to turn out, but I know that I have to find out, and soon. Brian told himself. And soon, or I think I'll spontaneously combust from the stress. I don't care if it's good or bad, I just have to know. I hope it works out.
*****
"Right." Mr Simpson snapped as he finished calling the class roll. "There are four people away. Do you all have your books open to page 238?"
"Uh, excuse me, sir. You said page 248, not 238." Brian pointed out.
Mr Simpson glared at Brian. "Well, thank God you're here, Johnson." He said snidely. "Otherwise I fear I might not be able to teach."
Sniggers broke out around them room.
"What are you all laughing at?" Mr Simpson snapped.
The laughter died down. "Good call, Johnson." Asher Zhang, who was sitting in front of Allison and Brian, congratulated Brian.
"Thanks." Brian replied, grinning. There was just something about Asher that you had to like. He was one of the school's party animals, and from what Brian could tell, a good friend of John's. Asher was one of those easy-going people who made everyone feels comfortable.
"You two down the back! Knock it off!" Mr Simpson bellowed. "Page 248, now!" he ordered.
Asher winked at Brian and Allison, and turned back around in his seat.
Allison opened her maths textbook to the page instructed. Then, she groaned. "Oh, not this damn 'applied symmetry in advanced geometry and trigonometry' stuff again!" she complained. "It's complicated!"
Brian smiled slightly. "Would you like me to help you with it if you have any problems?" he offered.
Allison just looked at him. For a terrible moment, Brian thought that he might have offended her. He opened his mouth to apologise, when suddenly, she smiled at him. "I'd like that very much. Thank you." She responded, very grateful.
Brian smiled. "Happy to be of help." He responded.
It was about five minutes later when Allison suddenly tapped Brian on the shoulder. "Um, Bri?" she asked quietly.
Brian looked up from his already half-completed exercise, and looked across at her. "What's up?" he asked.
Allison smiled, embarrassed. "Um, well, I'm having a little problem with this equation." She said coyly.
Brian smiled slightly. "Here, let me have a look to see if I can help." He skimmed over the equation, and then at Allison's working out. "Well, you have right technique of working out the problem, but you just have a couple of the steps the wrong way around." He explained, and proceeded to show her how to work out the problem. It continued this way for the rest of the period, with Brian helping Allison with a total of eight problems. With his help, not only did she understand it all now, but she finished it in no time.
There was a collective sigh of relief as Mr Simpson left the classroom on an errand ten minutes before the period finished. Allison looked over at Brian. "You know, now that you have explained the problems to me, and how to work the damn things out, it's suddenly all so simple." Allison observed.
Brian smiled. "It's always the way." He replied.
"What do you have next period?"
Brian grimaced. "World History with Mrs Hammond."
Allison squeaked. "Yuck." She sympathised.
Brian smiled. "On the bright side, of course, Jeff and Larry are in that class, too."
Allison looked at him sideways. "You mean Larry Lester?" she asked cautiously.
Brian nodded. "Uh-huh." He shook his head. "He was at school this morning, yet he didn't meet up with us."
"Do you think he still suffering from what happened to him last Monday?" Allison asked, referring to how Andy had attacked Larry, but was careful with her words in case anyone was eavesdropping.
Brian shrugged. "Well, it has been a week, and the…injuries…are healed. He's still a bit upset, I guess, but I think it's more the shit that he got from his older brother over it that is the thing that's worst for him."
Allison frowned. "His older brother?" she asked.
"Yeah, Tom Lester." Brian said, a hint of bitterness in his voice.
"The college varsity football champion?" Allison squeaked.
Brian nodded. "Uh-huh." He confirmed. "Tom isn't very intelligent, yet he is very good at sports. Also very tall and imposing. Which is why he picks on Larry so much."
Allison grimaced. "Sounds like fun." She said.
"Yeah, a real barrel of laughs, Larry has assured me."
"Don't their parents know?" Allison asked.
"Tom only does it when they aren't around." Brian replied.
"Well why doesn't he just tell th-"
BRRRRIIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGGG! BRRRRRRIIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGGG!
"Aw, cool shit!" Asher yelled loudly over the echo of the bell. "Free half-period!"
Everyone bolted out of the room, anxious to get to freedom.
Allison turned to Brian, but he started to speak before he had the chance to. "We'll talk later. I have to go an find Larry, and you have to go and find Andy, and sort out your disagreement."
Allison blushed. "Yeah, you're right."
Brian smiled at her, and started to walk in the other direction.
Allison dashed down the hall towards the gym to find Andy.
Brian grinned to himself. They'll work it out. He told himself. Now, to find Larry and the others.
*****
It took Brian a good fifteen minutes to find Larry Lester. Larry was in the boys' bathroom near the art rooms, looking into the mirror with such intensity that Brian thought Larry might have been looking for the meaning of life.
"Uh, Larry?" Brian asked hesitantly.
Larry didn't respond. He was still completely transfixed on the mirror, as if it held the answers to the mysteries of the universe.
Brain frowned. What the hell is going on here? he asked himself. "Larry?" he asked again. "Larry, are you alright?"
Larry's eyes flickered, as if he were coming out of a trance. He turned to face Brian. "He apologised." He whispered to Brian, awed.
Brian looked at Larry, confused. "Um, huh?" he asked, knowing he didn't sound particularly eloquent.
Larry smiled a faraway smile. "He apologised to me, Brian. In front of everyone. Andrew Clark apologised to me."
Brian's jaw dropped. "Andy apologised to you?" he asked. "In front of everyone, you say? You mean, in front of the entire class? And Coach Sheldon?" Brian thought he might faint from complete shock.
Larry smiled, and looked Brian right in the eyes. "Yes." He replied, nodding, his black curls bouncing. "Coach Sheldon was out of earshot, talking at the gym doors with one of the office secretaries about something. We were climbing up the ropes in the gym, and I lost my grip and slid down the rope at the speed of light and fell straight onto the ground, landing on my butt."
Brian winced.
Larry looked at the ground. "The pain was so bad there were tears in my eyes, and Ben Lopez was sneering: 'Oh, the wimp isn't gonna cry, is he? Because I bet his arse is still sore from last Monday!'. And everyone was laughing, except Andrew. He looked at Ben, and said: 'shut up.' and he came over to me to help me up. His friends were yelling: 'What the hell are you helping him for? You're the one who pulled the prank, remember? And it was bloody funny!'"
Larry suddenly looked Brian right in the eyes again. "And Andrew said to Ben: 'Yes, and that's exactly why I'm helping him: because it's my fault, and I'm sorry. And I never, ever should have done it.' And he looked at me, and asked me if I would forgive him for the cruel prank he pulled."
"I knew it!" Brian cried without thinking. "I knew he had it in him! He and Allison will be made up in no time!"
It was Larry's turn to look confused. "What do you mean?" he asked, voice quivering slightly. "Who's Allison?"
Brian looked at Larry, who was looking very apprehensive. "Oh, nothing. Just that I know Andy…er, I mean, Andrew…"
Larry noticed the slip and raised his eyebrows.
Brian continued quickly, so that Larry wouldn't think that anything was fishy. "…isn't like the rest of his friends. Sure, he can be a self-obsessed dickhead at times, but otherwise he seems to be a nice guy." Something was telling him that now was not a good time to tell Larry that he'd made friends with Andy over Saturday detention.
"Oh, okay…" Larry said, still sounding a little uncertain.
"So, how are you feeling?" Brian asked Larry, before Larry could ask him anything. Like how exactly he knew Andrew Clark so well. Or ask him again who Allison was.
"Better." Larry said after a moment. Brian was relieved that Larry was letting the matter drop. For now, anyway. "There was only a little bit of skin peeled off," Larry continued after a moment. "And that has pretty much healed over. There's just some bruising left over, which I'm sure has been made worse by the fall I had in gym."
"Are you okay from that?" Brian asked, concerned. Brian just hoped that Larry wouldn't break down in tears: Larry always had been far too emotional for his own good.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Although I don't think Coach Sheldon is. He just about screamed Andrew's head off about him helping me. And then started going on about some wrestling meet he went to on Sunday."
"Sunday?" Brian blurted. "But he told me that it was next Saturday…er, I mean…"
Larry was looking at him suspiciously. "What do you mean 'he told me'?" Larry asked sharply. "Since when did you talk to Andrew Clark?"
Oh, no. I said that out-loud, didn't I? Brian thought, panicked. It must be the stress getting to me.
He looked at Larry again, who was getting more suspicious by the second. "Well?" Larry asked him again. "Since when did you and Andrew Clark talk to each other?"
"Uh, detention on Saturday." Brian said vaguely, remembering for one tiny instant…
"I just wanna tell, each of you, that I wouldn't do that...I wouldn't and I will not! 'Cause I think that's real shitty." Brian said, sniffing slightly to try and calm himself.
Claire looked at him. "Your friends wouldn't mind because they look up to us." She told him.
Brian laughed mirthlessly, a harsh, mostly unfamiliar sound that hurt his throat. Oh, is only you knew, Princess, what my friends think of people like you. Brian thought, smiling bitterly to himself. If I started hanging around people like you and Andy, they'd disown me, thinking that I'd abandoned them because I think that you lot are better than they are. Ironic really, when I know that none of us are any better than anyone else, not really.
"You're so conceited, Claire." Brian replied instead of voicing his thoughts, once again on the verge of tears. "You're so conceited."
"Brian?" Larry repeated.
"Yes?" Brian asked.
"You were in detention with him?" Larry asked. "Was it just the two of you?"
"Uh, no." Brian replied, shaking his head. "There were three others besides Andy…er, Andrew…and myself."
Larry narrowed his eyes. "You keep calling him Andy instead of Andrew. Only his friends call him Andy." Larry accused. He said the word 'friend' as if it were a curse word.
"Uh, well-"
Larry didn't give him time to finish. "Does that mean that you are his friend?" Larry asked.
"Uh, well, I'm not sure exactly-"
But Larry wasn't even listening, and was simply making his own assumptions. "You're friends with that dickhead?" Larry shrieked, over-emotional. "That arsehole beats me up and you become his friend?" Larry continued incredulously. "And at the detention he gets as punishment for doing that to me?!"
"Larry, I-"
"No, Brian. Forget it. Don't say anything. If you want to be friends with people like that, that is your choice."
"But I thought you said he apologised and you forgave him…"
Larry laughed. "No, I said he apologised. I didn't say I forgave him. He told me to think about it. And I replied, 'Uh, okay.' That doesn't mean anything." Larry looked at Brian. "You know what he did! Do you really think that I would forgive him that easily?!"
"No." Brian replied. "Of course not. But you just need to know that he isn't a complete arsehole." Brian said carefully. "And he really is sorry. He only did it because his father was-"
"I DON'T CARE WHY HE DID IT!" Larry exploded. "Don't you understand?" he pleaded with Brian. He turned and walked out of the room.
Brian ran after him. "Larry, wait!" Brian yelled after his friend. "Just-"
BRRRRRIIIIIIINNNNGGGGGGG! BBBBRRRRRIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG!
"Shit!" Brian cursed loudly, getting a funny look from several people in the hall. "Oh, why can this not be easier!" he snapped, and ran to World History as fast as he could. I'm risking all my normal friendships for these people, and I still don't even know if they want to be friends or not! He thought to himself as he ran past the lockers in the hallway near World History. This is stupid! So incredibly stu-
"OW!" Brian hadn't been looking where he was going and tripped over somebody's schoolbag.
"Oh, crap, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to leave my bag there like that! I…Brian?"
Brian's head snapped up. "Andy!" he blurted.
Andy smiled at him, and leant down to help him up. "Shit, sorry, dude." Andy apologised again. "That was a pretty stupid place to put my bag, eh? Are you okay?" Andy asked, pulling Brian to his feet.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Brian replied, feeling relieved. Andy was being nice to him. He only hoped it would hold out.
"How was your weekend?" Andy asked, keeping the conversation going.
Brian was surprised. So he does want to talk. Brian pondered. Interesting…"Yeah, it was okay. Nothing much happened. Although one good thing is that my father is away for a bit, visiting my gre-"Brian trailed off as he saw Allison walking up to them both.
Curious as to why Brian had stopped talking, Andy followed his gaze. He immediately looked a little green.
"Oh, hi, Allison." Brian said casually, trying - and failing – to keep the grin off his face. "Fancy seeing you here."
Allison blushed, as did Andy. "Uh, hi, Brian." Allison said quietly, looking at him, then flicking her gaze to Andy. "You're a hard man to find." She told Andy.
Andy looked like some great internal battle was going on inside him. "Uh, sorry." He replied. "And I'm sorry about earlier, too, I just-"
Brian smiled. "I'll leave you to it." He said told them.
They both looked at him and smiled. "Okay, Bri, see you later, dude." Andy said.
Allison nodded. "Yes, we'll catch up later, okay?"
Brian nodded, and winked at Allison, who grinned. And waving over his shoulder, Brian walked down the hall to his World History class.