Claire and I drove to the hospital in her white BMW. It reeked of expensiveness. The seats were a beige leather, and the backseat was spacious. It smelled like some girly perfume that Claire always wore, and her 8-Track had an amazing stereo system.

"Do you think he hates me?" Claire asked me out of the blue.

"Who?"

"Brian."

'Why would he hate you?"

"Because I didn't visit him."

I sighed, rolling my eyes at her comment. How could anyone really hate the popular, beautiful Claire Standish? Sure, there were probably people who envied her with a passion, but no one hated her. She was just too appealing to hate.

"He doesn't hate you, Claire." I replied, suddenly remembering the basket Brian had claimed was from her. "He kept going on about that basket you sent him."

She looked over at me, shrugged, and said, "I...I had to at least do something nice for him."

There was another bout of uncomfortable silence.

"What happened that night, John, wasn't a mistake."

As much as I didn't want to know what she meant, I knew fully. She was talking about the night in the car. And I really didn't want to get hooked onto that subject.

"Yeah, okay. Let's just get to the hospital already. You drive like an old woman, Grandma." I told her as we drove down the highway. She gave me a pissed off glare and sped up a little in spite of my comment.

Once we arrived at the hospital and walked into the lobby, I noticed that there was a truckload of people sitting and waiting inside. They all looked tired and bored, some were even sleeping on the shoulder of a friend. My eyes drifted towards two people sitting in the corner holding hands, whom I recognized to be the varsity quarterback, JC Neil, and his girlfriend. Then it hit me. And then it hit Claire.

To Claire's absolute horror, we both realized that almost 3/4 of the lobby was filled with students from Shermer High. Her eyes got big as she looked around the room, and she looked up at me nervously. Deciding to be generous today, I whispered out of the side of my mouth, "I'll sign us in. Just sit down and ignore them."

She had already walked off before I finished talking, but she nodded at me in an understanding way and took a seat by the magazine rack. I shook my head and got in line for what seemed like years. I noticed that Claire was now talking to some guy from the wrestling team, flirting like only she could. She'd bite her full lower lip, smooth out her skirt, and would shake her fiery red curls every time she'd giggle. I knew those tricks because I had fallen for them like every other guy at Shermer.

"Can I help you?" A nasally voice asked me, signaling that I was finally at the Sign-In Desk. The nurse who I was facing was inexcusably ugly with graying hair pulled into a long braid that trailed along her back and a pointed nose that made mine look like a button.

She grimaced at me and repeated, "Can I help you, Mr. Bender?"

"No, ma'am, I think the question is can I help you." I said in a smarmy tone. This was the nurse that had told Riley to stay away from me, so naturally I couldn't resist giving her a rough time. "And the answer is no, I'm afraid. Not even an iron could straighten out those wrinkles on your face."

Her eyes widened, then narrowed at me. "You see here, Mr. Bender. I'm going to let that one slide. If it hadn't been for me and Dr. Mayle, your mother would probably still be in a coma. I'd show some respect, if I were you."

"Well if you were me, you wouldn't looked like a raisin, would you?"

The old nurse shook her head and handed me two name tags and a pen. "I suppose you're here to see that wrestler Clark, eh? Well, you'll have to wait. There's been so many kids coming in that there's some who've been waiting here for three hours."

I didn't want to wait that long, and I'm sure Claire didn't either, so I replied, "We're here to see Brian Johnson."

"Fine then. Room 902B." She said in a grumpy voice. "Now get out of my face, Mr. Bender. Next!"

I walked away towards Claire, who was now flirting with two guys who were both on the swim team. She ignored me when she saw me, which made me in an even worse mood. I grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her up and out of the lobby. She gasped at my actions.

"What was that all about?" She asked me as I shoved the name tag towards her.

"Let's just go, okay? I told the lady we were going to see Brian so we wouldn't have to wait to see Sporto."

She said nothing, but followed me with a loathing look on her face. I didn't know where Andy's room was, so I asked a doctor who passed us by. He told us where to find him on the first floor. We found the room after about another three minutes.

The door was closed, so Claire knocked softly. No one answered. She knocked again, peered through a sliver of an opening, and opened the door to see Andy lying under the sheets with Allison straddling him while they kissed. Andy's eyes opened to see us standing there. He pulled away from Allison and cleared his throat.

"Uh...h-hey guys...," He stammered as Allison turned around to look at us with a smile on her face, not one trace of embarrassment or guilt. She didn't look as dark as she had when we had first met, but she wasn't exactly Claire's makeover model either. Her dark brown hair was combed to the side, showing her slightly made up face. Her eyes wore a peach eyeshadow and she had brown eyeliner on. She wore Brian's letterman jacket over a black tee-shirt, a gray skirt, fishnet stockings, and her black Converse shoes.

"Hi," She said in her soft voice, slipping off the bed to stand beside Andy. Claire grinned and walked into the room, going over to give Andy a kiss on the cheek. As I came in and closed the door behind me, Claire spoke up.

"Andy, are you okay?" She asked concernedly.

I crossed my arms and sat in the chair next to where Allison stood. "Well, after what we walked in on, I'm pretty sure he's fine." Allison gave off a giggle, causing me to smile. I hadn't heard that laugh in ages. It reminded me of good times.

Andy just shrugged and shifted in his bed, saying, "It was nothing. I just had a seizure." He put an arm around Allison, who was now sitting on the bed with him. "My dad and I were practicing some techniques–wrestling techniques–and I hit my head on the floor. Then I just started twitching and stuff."

Claire raised a perfect eyebrow. "But I heard something about steroids."

"Well, that's a whole other story. My father used them when he was in school. He was a wrestler and all. He had an incident with them back then, and I guess they figured it was my downfall too." Andy replied, not looking at any of us in shame.

We were all quiet for a moment, Claire looked over at Allison with a slight smile.

"So when did you get here, Allison? Did your parents drive you here?" She asked.

Allison shook her head. "I don't live with my parents anymore." She said, tracing Andy's arm with her fingers. "My aunt and uncle took custody of me. They live in this nice little town outside of Cleveland. So Andy called me yesterday, and my uncle drove me down here."

She planted a kiss on the top of Andy's head, then rested her head on his shoulder. He put his hand on top of hers. I still couldn't believe how two people so different could be so made for each other. But I was happy for Allison.

"Staying out of detention down there?" I mused with a look of amusement on my face. Allison grinned and nodded.

"Yeah...and I have friends, too." She added, pausing when she saw our pitying looks. Then she bowed her head. "They aren't like you guys, but they'll do for now."

There was another knock at the door. When Andy told them to come in, the door opened and it was Brian in a wheelchair. He smiled at us with that goofy grin.

"What's this? The Breakfast Club reunion?" He asked us. Everyone laughed and began to talk, welcoming Brian into the room. He stayed by the door, so Andy said, "Hey man, get in here. The only thing that's contagious is your smile."

Brian nodded, turned around, and looked out the doorway. He was whispering something to someone outside the room. I decided to take matters into my own hands and walked over to wheel him closer to the bed when I saw a familiar brunette standing outside the door.

"Why is it that whenever I'm at this hospital, you are too?" I asked Riley as she looked up at me. She smiled and shook her head.

"I need to go." She said, turning to go down the hallway. "I'll see you later."

Brian called to her, "Wait, Riley. I want the others to meet you. This...is sort of a big deal for me." I stared at both of them confusedly, wondering what the geek had meant. Riley cast me an apologetic look.

"Brian, why don't you just tell them? I need to get back home."

"Please?"

With a sigh, Riley walked back to Brian looking slightly remorseful. I opened the door for the both of them. Riley wheeled him in and set him in front of Andy's bed. She looked a little shy as everyone looked at her.

"Guys, this is Riley." Brian introduced. Everyone greeted her warmly with smiles and hellos, but she still looked shameful. "She's going to come with me to Homecoming."

My eyes widened and my mouth opened up a bit in shock. Riley looked back at me regretfully. Now I knew why she seemed so hesitant to come into the room. I was the only one with the shocked look on my face, whereas everyone else was congratulating Brian on his date.

I felt a burning jealousy in the pit of my stomach. It overwhelmed me so much that I leaned back on the wall with my arms crossed in envy. While everyone talked about the topic of Brian and Riley, I watched the floor sullenly and cursed myself for being such a loser.