A/N Just a little something I wrote after one too many glasses of port. Hope you all like it. I do not own any of the members of the Breakfast Club or the plot or dialogue. I am just borrowing it for amusement purposes.

He was supposed to be going to Stubby's house. It was what he had been waiting for all day drinking a beer and hanging out with his friends. Were they his friends? Before today he would never have doubted it. They wrestled together, hung out together after school, had the same friends, liked the same kinds of girls, and ripped the unpopular kids apart. He thought that was what friendship was but now he wasn't so sure. Today he met people who he could be himself with. He met people who liked him for who he was really not the image he portrayed.

He combed his hair and then checked himself over in the mirror as he buttoned his letterman jacket. The bare patch caught his eye. This morning his championship patch was the proud occupant of the empty circle on his arm. It had meant the world to him. Now his mind drifted to Allison, who for a moment meant more to him. Did she still? That was something he kept asking himself during training under his father's watchful eye in the basement and during dinner while his mom asked him benign questions such as how was he doing in math.

For a moment he connected, perhaps for the first time, on a more than superficial level with someone. He knew he would. The day had started out with a surreal quality that reminded him of a dream. He found himself opening up to a group of people who he wouldn't have given the time of day to, well except for Claire; his friends had been trying to set the two of them up forever. It made sense since after all he was top jock and she was a shoe in for prom queen. Everyone thought that they would be a great match. He had half way convinced himself of that too which is why he sat next to her. Eight hours of detention was a good way to talk to someone. He never suspected that the one he talked to the most was the one he didn't expect to talk to at all.

What had caught his eye about Allison? To say she was different was an understatement. Bender had said he had seen her around. Andy spent the whole day trying to remember if he had too and came to the conclusion that he hadn't or maybe he hadn't wanted to. He really figured she was a freak and if he ignored her she would go away but when Vernon pair them to go to the vending machine for drinks he realized she wouldn't so he made small talk.

"What's your poison?" He couldn't think of anything else to say to her. She didn't answer and he assumed that maybe she couldn't talk. Some schools had programs for disabled kids maybe her parents had pulled some strings and got her into Shermer. He could feel her eyes analyzing him and then she spoke, "Vodka." So she wasn't mute.

"When do you drink Vodka?"

"When ever." She was weird. She could have been an alcoholic for all he knew. It wasn't unheard of. Heck Steve, another guy on the team had a problem with drink although he hid it pretty well. Maybe that is why she was in detention but when he went to ask she turned the question around on to him. He gave her what he liked to think of as his "Miss America" answer, something that sounded good but was complete bullshit.

"Why don't you tell me why you're really here?"

She managed to see through it. No one had ever seen though his Miss America answers before. People usually believed what he told them and quoted him in the school paper. She threw him for a loop. "Nevermind."

Allison was her name. He tried to remember how he found it out. He remembered Bender asking Claire her name. "What's your name?"

"What's yours?"

"Claire."

"Claire?"

"Claire. It's a family name."

"No, it's a fat girl's name."

He remembered asking Brian his name. "He has a name you know. What's your name?"

"Brian."

And Vernon didn't hesitate to use Bender's but for the life of him he couldn't remember how he learned Allison's. It didn't matter. Her strangeness which had put him off at first also intrigued him. He had made fun of people like her but had never really gotten to know one. The more he got to know her the more he realized they had a lot in common. His parents didn't exactly ignore him. His father was more than aware that he was there but his dad did ignore the fact that he had his own goals; was his own person. He could see how being ignored made someone feel lost. She understood what it was like. Claire couldn't; Claire whose parents doted on her; or Brian's who cared about his grades, and packed him a lunch containing the four food groups, Brian who had the same goals for himself that his parents had for him. Bender wished his parents; especially his dad would ignore him the way Allison's ignored her.

He watched her; little things about her. The way she blew her bangs out of her face, the way she could get Claire to admit things she didn't want to admit to. Hell she made him admit things he didn't want to by the end of the day. She made him admit, as much as he would admit to any girl, that he had fallen for her. It helped that Claire got her to finish coming out of her cocoon.

As he sat on the railing bored out of his mind with nothing to do as the girls did their thing, John went back to Vernon's closet, and Brian wrote their paper he wondered about Brian's question. Would they be friends on Monday? Pondering the question he played with the chain around his neck. He felt closer to them than he had to anyone in a long time but Monday was a lifetime away. What would happen when the dream like state lifted? Maybe it was all a dream and he was in still at home in his bed. Once she walked out of the room where she and Claire had secluded themselves he was almost sure it was.

He heard Brian whisper something that sounded like "Wow," so he looked up and she was there. He could hardly believe it was the same girl who hid in her parka earlier in the day standing in front of him looking at him in anticipation. What to say? He knew he was never good at words."

"You look different."

"Why? Claire did it... What's wrong?" He couldn't help but smile at her defensiveness. She was kind of cute. Okay more than kind of. She was beautiful. It was as though Claire helped what was underneath come to the surface.

"Nothing's wrong... it's just so different, you know? I can see your face."

"Is that good or bad?"

"It's good." He thought about kissing her then and there but Brian was watching. Not that he hadn't kissed a girl in front of people before but he was feeling as self-conscious she looked. When he did kiss her as they left for the day it was something. He hadn't felt that way when kissing Michelle or Julie, his previous girlfriends, but with Allison it was like locking in the last piece of a jig saw puzzle.

The feeling that he was in a dream never went away and now he was pondering whether or not to head to Stubby's. Maybe it would clear his head and bring him back to the real world but Andy wasn't sure that was where he wanted to be. The real world had a dad pressuring him to be the best and friends pressuring him to be with Claire. His mom called upstairs startling him away from his thoughts. "Andy, you have a visitor."

"Be right down," he called wondering who would be there. It was already going on eight and everyone would be going to Stubby's place. Bolting down the stairs he half expected one of the guys from the team there to give him a ride since part of his punishment was not being allowed the car for a week; instead he saw Allison.

"Hey."

"Hey," she replied softly.

"What are you doing here?"

She got a funny look on her face. Beginning to turn and go she said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come."

"No! No, don't go. Want to have a seat." He motioned to the couch and she smiled.

"If it's okay."

"Yeah it's okay." They sat for a moment in silence then Andy spoke up, "I was on my way to Stubby's party."

"Oh, I forgot about that," she said looking down playing with the string to his sweat jacket. "Okay I didn't. Not really. I just didn't have anything better to do and thought you would already be there."

"Then you could say you tried but I wasn't home."

She nodded. This time he managed to see through her.

"You wanna come to Stubby's with me?"

"Do you want me to come?"

He couldn't help but think about it a second, it meant standing up to his friends and thinking for himself, and it meant risking his reputation. Was she worth it? "I want you to come." She looked at him doubtfully as he stood and walked over to her offering her his hand but took it. "Thanks."

"For what?" She asked.

"For not rejecting me."

"Thank you"

"For what?"

"The same." With that they left. Was it just a dream? If it is he hoping he doesn't wake up anytime soon.