A/N Okay I was mean in the last chapter but when I was in school I was a lot like Allison and the popular girls/cheerleaders would have done exactly what wrote them doing. Sucks I know. Just trying to keep some realism here and not make it too hearts and flowers. I'll make it up to her later on.

I had a great morning. Andy sat next to me in English. That surprised me. I had talked myself into believing that he wouldn't give me the time of day once today came around. Pretty negative I know but if you expect the worst it doesn't hurt as bad when the worst happens. Then when something good occurs it is even better because you thought it would be bad. So sitting next to Andy was good. Better than good because it was unexpected, hoped for but I doubted it would happen. Before I knew it he had stood up to his sport friends and it was as though I stepped into Oz. Where things were once dull and gray my world suddenly became a live with color, chirping birds and rainbows. I was floating on air. In art class second period I started a new painting. We were working with oils and it was quite abstract; very different from my usual realistic drawings and sketches. The colors were vivid and alive. Maybe because that is how I felt for the first time since seventh grade.

I don't remember much about third period which was chemistry. I was called on by Mr. Valeri. He never called on me. It was then I realized it wasn't to answer a question but to let me know that my happy humming was distracting the rest of the class. Oops. I slouched down in my chair. A few of the bimbos in my class started whispering but the teacher called their attention back to balancing the equation he had on the board. Even after he got my attention I kept drifting off into dreaming about Saturday and first period.

The lunch bell rang and Mr. Valeri called me back for a moment. "Allison, I was wondering. I know you are an excellent art student. Well my wife works with underprivileged children and they are holding a workshop next month to teach the kids about art and how to paint. I thought you may be interested in participating. There is no pay but it would look good on a college application." I loved art. I was planning on hopefully going to the Art Institute in Chicago and he was right this would look good. Part of me wondered if he would bother to ask me if I was dressed like I usually dressed. Readily I accepted. Telling Andy was the first thing on my mind I was just so excited. I should have known that with the good comes the bad. It always does come. The universe is balanced.

I shoved my things in my locker and pulled out what I would need for the second half of the day, French, Anatomy, and drivers ed. Then I headed downstairs to the cafeteria and went through the hot line. There was the usual slop to choose from hamburgers, chicken nuggets, tater-tots, salad, and chili. I grabbed a bowl of salad and asked the lunch room lady if the chili contained meat. She grunted what I took to be no so I told her I would take a bowl. Placing it on my tray I paid and headed out to see if I could find a place to sit.

All the tables were occupied since I was a bit late since Mr. Valeri held me to talk about the art and the kids. Finally I saw Andy. He waved to me. I saw he was sitting with Brian and Bender. I probably would have been surprised but after the morning I had nothing was surprising. What happened next wasn't that surprising either. Despite everything I was still in school. I didn't even realize what was going on until my knees hit the cold tile floor and the hot chili splashed up and all over the dusty rose colored cardigan I had on and my face.

Laughter rose up and surrounded me like a wall. "God you should really watch were you are going freak," said a girl's voice from near me.

"Let me through." I heard someone else say. Then I saw a pair of boots and felt a hand gentle on my arm. "Are you okay Allison?" I couldn't say anything. "Let me help you up." I let the person assist me and saw Claire looking at me with sad eyes. She started to lead me out of the cafeteria, turning to hiss at the blond with big hair, "You really are a bitch. You know that?" Then to me, "Let's go to the bathroom."

My shock wasn't long lasting; just until we got way from the smirking snickering of the others. "I hate them!"

"I know. Marsha is such a bitch," she said while wetting a bunch of paper towels. "Take off your sweater we can try to get it out before it sets. Tomato sauce is a pain to get out."

I shrugged out of my sweater and let her handle it. "Why are you being nice to me?"

"Same reason as Saturday. Because you are letting me."

"I thought you were just going to go on ignoring me."

She gave me a smile. "Well if Andy didn't ignore you then I certainly am not."

"Oh my god, Andy! He saw that." He would probably never want to see me again. "I'm so embarrassed." Just then there was a knock at the bathroom door.

"Just ignore that," she said about the knocking but then it persisted. "What," yelled Claire?

Brian popped his head in, his hand over his eyes. "Is everyone decent? I wanted to see how Allison is."

Neither of us could help laughing at that. "Come on in Bri." Claire waved him in. He entered hand still over his eyes. "And yes, we're decent. You can look." Cautiously he peeked through his fingers. Once he was sure we were both dressed he removed his hand.

"Are you okay?" He asked. It was nice to see he was concerned. Had it happened before Saturday no one would have bothered with me but here was not only Claire but Brian too. Of course it happened because of Saturday. Had I not gone and had I not hit it off so well with Andy it wouldn't have happened. I tried to decide if it was worth the transformation from invisible to obvious, or not. Was Andy worth it?

"Yeah I'm okay."

"You sure?"

"I guess. It's just a scrapped knee and a bruised ego, but nothing that is too bad." There was another knock on the door.

"That's probably Andy and John," said Brian and started for the door.

"I don't want to see him." Both Brian and Claire looked at me like I was nuts. "Fine John can come in but not Andy. I can't handle seeing him right now."

"You're just embarrassed right now. He knows it wasn't your fault," said Brian as he reached for the door.

"If you let him in I'm leaving." Yes, I was being a brat and bitchy but I didn't want to be pitied and I certainly didn't want to know if he thought it was my fault or not. At that moment all I wanted was to be invisible again.

"No, you're not. Brian, go ahead and let them in."

He looked between me and Claire, shrugged, and then opened the door. In came Bender and Andy.

"Bri, what took you so long to open the door? Had to zip back up after being alone with the ladies?" ask John with a grin. A blush colored Brian's face and his ears glowed a shade of deep red.

Andy pushed past Claire and stood in front of me. I looked away. "Allison, are you okay?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I just want to know if you are okay."

"Leave me alone."

I could see in the mirror that he looked to Claire. "She's embarrassed but she is okay."

"You don't have to be embarrassed." He said and took my hand which I quickly snatched away from him. "If I were to dump him now then I won't get hurt again later," my mind thought.

"I said Leave-me-a-lone," and with that I jumped off the edge of the sink on which I was sitting and went into a stall and locked the doors.

"Give her some time." I heard Claire say to him.

"Fine. She wants time. She can have time." The anger in his voice was intense. I heard the bathroom door slam as he left. I could see the others in the mirror as I peeked out the crack between the door and the stall frame.

"What now," asked Brian?

"Now?" questioned Bender. Claire looked between them and then gave John a look. "Okay okay you talk to him. I'll talk to her. And Bri..." The bell rang. "You go to class."

Claire leaned over and gave John a kiss on the cheek. He looked surprised. "Fine well all meet after school." With that she and Brian left the restroom.

"So you going come out or do I have to talk to the door?" Bender asked. Slowly I opened the door and stepped out. I had taken the headband out and now my hair hung lankly in my face like it did Saturday. He leaned against the edge of the sink and pulled out a cigarette. "Since it's the bathroom I shouldn't waste the opportunity." I coughed as the flame lit the tobacco and the first smoke hit my nose. "You don't mind do you?" I just shook my head. "So did you bite your tongue off when you fell?"

I just glared at him and him back at me. Finally I said, "I just have nothing to say."

"Great then just listen. Andrew there really earned my respect when I found out he stood up to his friends to be with you. Hell I was pretty sure both he and Claire would take the easy way out and just stick to their little bands of mindless minions. Of course Claire hasn't come out like Andrew and publicly said there is something between us. I'm not even sure there is but Andrew did that for you. He is getting hassled for it." I just looked at him. "Just as bad if not worse than you are. He could have said, 'This is too much effort' and just laughed with the rest of them. Gotten his reputation back and been forgiven for being seen with you. What did he do?" He paused and then motioned with his hands that he wanted me to continue. "You know the answer." When I didn't respond he did. "He came here to see if you were okay and you blew him off."

"Its better this way."

"Better?"

"Better."

"Better how?"

"This way he can go and get his reputation back before it's too late."

"Ever think it might be too late already?" I didn't reply. "So your motives here are purely selfless." I nodded. "Altruistic aren't you? Are you really getting nothing out of it?" Again I didn't answer. "Wow you really are a candidate for sainthood. Make way for Saint Allison of Shermer. We both know that you want to go back into your comfort zone. Look at you."

He grabbed me by the shoulders and made me look in the mirror. "This wasn't the Allison I saw earlier today. Yeah, I saw you. I told you Saturday I see you around. The Allison I saw earlier looked like a happy person. A lot of work being happy huh? Easier to hide behind the hair and the clothes isn't it?

"What do you know?"

"I know we are a lot a like." I realized then that he was talking about the act, the attitude, the image. He was talking about the person who was the real John Bender that we got a glimpse of Saturday. "It's too late for me, but you? You proved you can be who you are."

"What would you do if it was Claire?"

"Really want to know?"

"Yeah."

"I think I'd fight for her." He kissed me on top the head and opened the bathroom door. I slipped out into the hallway and started for my class.

"John?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't think it's too late for you either."