A/N: I'm really sorry that I didn't update sooner, so I gave you guys an extra-long chapter! Brian's POV, Ally's next. I'm not sure how I'm going to protray her, but I'll figure something out. Tell me what you think!

Oh, and I dont' have spell check, so if oyu find a word that's misspelled or two words run together or what have you, be sure to tell me so I can fix it! Thanks!

Love from Scribs

Chapter Four: Getting Over Anger

Brian was mad. He was mad at everyone and everything, and he didn't care if they knew it. He'd never been really mad at anyone in his entire life, but now he was, and he kinda liked it.

He got mad at Claire first, for everything she did to Allison. Although she didn't like to show it, Ally was probably the most fragile out of all of them. Brian had never felt like he should protect someone before, but with her, he felt like it was somehow his duty. She probably didn't need it, she was definitely more capable than any girl he'd ever met, but... well, she reminded him of his little sister, Denise.

Then it was Andy. Granted, Andy had just tried to be a friend, but... did he really think that Brian needed protected? Did he really think that Brian was just a child who couldn't take care of himself? It just made him so angry! Brian could have slugged Tanner if he wanted to, it wouldn't have been that hard, but he'd never gotten the chance.

And John was just like Andy, in a psychotic, twisted kind of way. He had the same ego, the same way of thinking he was stronger than everyone else. It was only a matter of time until Bender started trying to "protect" him, too.

But, truthfully, what most bothered Brian about Bender was how absolutely brilliant he was. Brian had spent that first Monday's lunch period explaining the Theory of Relativity to him, mostly because Ally seemed uncomfortable if they watched her crying, and Bender had understood it. Just like that! And he was wasting his mind. He could have aced every class without even trying, and that made Brian mad. He had to struggle and work hard to get his A's, but he did it. Bender could have had the school in the palm of his hand with just the snap of his fingers, but he refused to try.

As for Allison, he wasn't really mad at Allison, per se, but when the rest of the Breakfast Club left, so did she. Vanished into smoke. She stopped talking to him, and after a few weeks, he stopped trying to get her to start. It was a shame, really. Ally might have been a better friend than all of them combined.

Brian was jerked out of his thoughts by his mother's shrill call of, "Phone for you, Brian!" from the kitchen. He was sitting in the living room doing his homework on the coffee table. He'd told his mother that he hadn't understood it, and that's why he was still doing it at ten on a Sunday night, but really, he'd just blown it off until then. He wandered into the kitchen lazily, wondering who could be calling him this late.

"Make it quick, Brian," his mother said. "She said it was important, or else I'd make you finish your homework. But you have to be in bed by ten thirty."

"Yes, Mom." He put the phone to his ear and listened to someone breathing, making sure it was actually a person. He didn't do that a lot, but it was ten at night. He was feeling a little loopy. "Hello?"

"Brian? Oh, thank God!"

Brian started. "C-Claire? Is that you?"

"Yes..."

She seemed ashamed. Well, good, he thought, more forcefully than he felt. She should be. What was she thinking anyway? After everything she did, especially to Allison and then not even apologizing or anything like that. And blowing him off to be partners with some hockey player. What was she thinking?

"Look, I know you hate me," Claire said. Brian snorted. "But this is important, Brian! Please! I need a favor."

Brian rolled his eyes and lowered his voice so his mother and sister in the living room couldn't hear. "What do you need? Homework done? Tutoring?"

"What? Oh, no, Brian, nothing like that. I don't... I'm not like that."

Brian snorted again. Yeah, right. Like he was supposed to believe that. They were all the same, Claire, Andrew, Bender... even Allison was somewhat like them, giving up on Brian as though he had been the one who made her cry. So when he spoke, he allowed the bitterness to seep into his voice. She deserved it. They all did. "Why should I believe that?"

"Really, Brian, it's not that kind of favor. Please."

He paused at great length, waiting. Last week, he'd have done it in a heart beat. Last week, he just missed them all. But now he was mad at them. He wanted nothing more than to say no to her, but he remembered that Saturday, brisk in his mind. He remembered how pretty Claire was that day. Sure she was always pretty, but that Saturday it had been more than outside her. He'd had a glimpse of what a wonderful person she could be, if she really tried, and he liked it.

Damn it, he thought, and sighed. "Fine. Depends on what it is though. I'm not killing anybody."

Claire actually laughed. At him. Three weeks ago, he realized, it would have seemed impossible for him to be on the telephone with Claire Standish, let alone her laughing at one of his jokes. It was all a sort of cursed miracle, if you thought about it, this Breakfast Club.

"Just... do you think you can sneak out and come over here?" she asked. Brian raised an eyebrow. "And call Allison and tell her to do the same."

"Claire, I can't! That's," he lowered his voice again, this time to a near whisper, "do you know what kind of trouble I'd get into if I snuck out?"

"I wouldn't ask you if it weren't important," she said, sadly, "and it is important, please, Brian."

He looked into the living room at his sister and his mother andclecnhed his jaw. His mom would be so disappointed... but he needed to think for himself. "Is it really important, Claire?"

"Life or death, Brian. I swear to God."

"And you want me to call Allison?" He dreaded that a bit. He'd called her three times the weekend before, and each time her father said that she couldn't talk.

"If you would, Brian. Andy doesn't want me to... and I really don't blame him for it..."

Brian resisted the urge to tell her that neither did he. "All right, Claire. But can you please just tell me what's going on?"

"When you get here, I promise." She went on to explain to him how to get up to her room without going to the front door. There was a pause. Brian thought she might have hung up but then she said quickly, "I owe you one, Brian. Thanks. Bye!"

And then she really did hang up. Brian sighed at the reciever and set it down for a second, then dialed Ally's number very quickly. One ring... two rings... three rings... four ri- "Hello?"

"Mr. Reynolds?"

"Whose this?"

"It's Brian, sir. I've called a couple of times before for Allison..."

"Well, Allison can't talk right now, you'll have to call back later-"

"Please sir, can you tell her that I really need to talk to her and that... that..." Brian searched for the words and decided on Claire's, "that it's life and death, sir?"

There was a horribly long pause and a gruff grunt of what Brian thought might have been approval. A few seconds later he heard a far away call of, "Allison! Come down here and take this call! You can't hide up there forever!"

A moment later, someone picked up the phone, but didn't say anything. Brian wondered if maybe it was her father. Should he say anything? He did. "Ally?"

"Yes," was the curt reply.

"Ally, it's... well, it's nice to talk to you."

There was silence.

"Listen, Ally," Brian pressed on. "Claire wants us to go over to her house right now. She, uh, she says it's important. Life or death were her words. I'm not sure if it's that bad but-"

"I can't."

"You can't sneak out? I probably can't either," Brian said. He gave a sideways look at his mother still sitting in the living room, pretending not to be watching him.

"No, I could sneak out if I wanted," she said, sounding proud, like she did when she told everyone she was a nymphomaniac. "I just can't."

"Why not?"

"I don't know where she lives."

Brian sighed good-naturedly and explained to her the neighborhood in which Claire lived and how to get up to her room. He'd been there once before when his father, an architect, had to add on some more to their neighbor's house. Claire had been out on her proch with some friends and just watched with mild interest. She never said a word to him.

"So are you coming?"

There was another long pause. Finally Ally said, "Of course. Meet you there." And she hung up.

Brian looked at his mom and yawned exagerratedly. "I'm gonna finish my homework in my room, then go to bed, Mom, okay?"

His mother looked suspicious, but just nodded her consent. He took his books into his room, closed the door loudly, crawled through the window and hung by his fingers until he let himself drop to the ground. "Oof!" he said. The rain beat down on him and he wished he'd brought a jacket, but it was too late now. He ran as fast as he could to Claire's neighborhood, mostly to get out of the rain.