If I Fell

Disclaimer: I don't own The Breakfast Club, nor any of the characters in it. I also, unfortunately, do not own The Beatles or their song "If I Fell" I'm just borrowing it.

Chapter One

Bender walked into his house quietly, hoping his dad would be too deep into his drunken stupor to notice his arrival. He glanced into the living room and breathed a sigh of relief, when he saw his dad passed out on the couch, empty beer bottles everywhere. Bender picked his way through the mess, stopping suddenly when his dad let out a snore and flipped over onto his stomach. Bender waited a few seconds and let out a breath he hadn't even been aware of holding when he was sure his dad was still sleeping.

As soon as he got into his room Bender relaxed. His room was his sanctuary, though in all honesty, it was a crappy room. The walls that used to be white now resembled a dirty grey color with cracks running up and down them. His carpet smelled and had stains on it that were questionable, to say the least, but Bender had done well in covering his room's blights. His walls were covered in posters and pictures and he had covered the worst of the stains on the floor with rugs that he had snagged from the Salvation Army. The room's best feature though, was the window that looked out over the roof and his back yard. He had escaped from many of his dad's drunken rages through that window. The way Bender saw it was that that window had saved his sanity and very possibly his life on more than one occasion.

Bender collapsed on his bed which consisted of a mattress and a comforter on the floor. He thought of his day and smiled. Who knew so much good could come out of a detention? Brian had turned out to be an okay guy, even if he was a sexually repressed nerd. Allison was…interesting, but not so bad to hang out with. Sporto was an ass, but by the end of the day he had been the one Bender had identified with the most. Andrew had as much of an issue with his father as Bender did, just in a different form.

And then there was Claire. She was a princess and, God, she could be a brat, but something about her had gotten to him. He had been an ass to her all day, because that's what he did, if no one likes you, you don't get hurt, and it had worked, at least until today. He had pushed Claire away, but she had kept coming back. Bender reached up and fingered the earring she had given him right before they kissed. Bender had never felt like that when he kissed other girls but when he kissed Claire his body felt like it was on fire. He was acutely aware of every part of her body that was touching him and yet he knew nothing about what was happening around him. As far as he was concerned, he and Claire had been the only two people in the world at that moment. Bender closed his eyes and remembered her closing his fist around her earring and kissing him. He could remember every detail of her lips and tingles ran through his body just from thinking about them.

Bender eyes snapped open. His dad was awake and coming towards his room. He instinctively headed towards his window but when he heard the hand on his doorknob he stopped, knowing he didn't have enough time. He quickly reached up and pulled the diamond earring out of his ear and put it into his pocket. He didn't know what would happen if his dad found it and frankly he didn't want to find out. He pulled his hand out of his pocked and spun around just as his dad entered the room.

"Where the hell have you been?" slurred Bender's dad.

"You don't give a shit if I live or die, why would you care what I did on this lovely Saturday?" snapped Bender.

"Don't cuse at me! Now where have you been!" yelled his dad.

"I was at Saturday School!" Bender yelled back.

All of a sudden Bender was aware of a fist flying at his face. He tried to dodge it but his dad was too fast and Bender ended up lying on his floor, groaning.

"Get up!" yelled his father. When Bender didn't move his dad growled and kicked him in the stomach, knocking all the air out of him. Bender groaned again and curled into a ball, trying to protect himself. "I said get up! You little whining worthless piece of shit! What did you do to get yourself into Saturday School? Huh? Quit whimpering on the ground like a baby and answer me!"

Bender glared up at his father and started to get up. His father smiled and kicked him again, making him fall back down to the floor when Bender got to his knees. Laughing cruelly, Bender's dad left the house to go find some booze. Bender stayed on the ground for a few minutes, making sure that his dad was gone and started the painful process of getting up. Once on his feet he took inventory of the damage. His right left eye throbbed and when he brought a hand up to touch it he could feel the eye starting to swell. He lifted his shirt and noticed two dark bruises forming on his chest. No broken ribs, though. He'd gotten off lucky.

Bender left his room headed towards the front door. He glared at his mother on the way out while she stared at him with tears in her eyes. Bender knew his mom loved him, but she never did anything to stop the beatings and for that Bender would never forgive her. Angry, he walked out of his house and slammed the door behind him. He was halfway down the street when he realized he had nowhere to go. He considered going to the park where his friends went to get high, but it didn't seem as appealing as it usually did. He continued walking aimlessly, hands in pockets, until he felt something poking into his hand. His eyes lit up in realization and he knew that there was only one place he wanted to go, but he didn't know the way.

Claire sat in her bay window reading a magazine. She was trying to get some reading done before her parents came home and started fighting again but she couldn't concentrate. Her mind was on other things, namely John.

It was amazing how fast things could change. One minute she and John were ripping each other's throat out and the next she was kissing him outside the school, not even caring that her dad saw them. She smiled and reached up to her left ear. Right before kissing him she had taken her diamond earring out of that ear and given it to him. She placed it in his palm and closed his fist around it, her manicured nails standing out against his black gloves. When she had looked up John was staring at her with a strange look in his eyes. Without any hesitation she had reached up and kissed him. When she broke the kiss she was breathless and one look at him told her that he was too. He kept his head down after the kiss, but Claire could see the smile forming on his lips. She got into the car without saying goodbye, but she met his eyes as they drove off and smiled.

Claire snapped out of her day dream, scolding herself. She couldn't get too attached. She was a princess, John was a criminal, it could never work. She closed her eyes; shocked at the pain she felt when she thought that, but it was for the best. The only problem was that she couldn't seem to stop thinking about him, about that kiss…

Finally giving up on her magazine, Claire stared out the window. Storm clouds were moving in and it was getting dark early, but there was a beautiful pink and orange sunset on the horizon. Claire smiled and rested her head on the window. She had been sitting for a while when she noticed a movement in her backyard. She saw the silhouette of a person sitting on her swing set, gazing up at her. Her heart stopped when she realized who it was and she ran downstairs and out the back door, stopping in front of the person sitting on her swing.

"John," she breathed

Bender looked up at Claire, a little surprised. He hadn't expected her to come outside. He figured if she knew he was there she'd kick him out, if anything. He didn't fit into her world and he knew that, but that didn't mean he couldn't hope for more. Needless to say when she came through the back door, running towards him he had been shocked.

Realizing he hadn't said anything to her yet, Bender smiled and said "Hey Princess."

"Hey," said Claire, smiling. "What are you doing here?"

Bender's heart sank, she didn't want him here. He shrugged and looked back at the ground. "Swinging. I was leaving when you came out." he said, his voice turning cold.

"What? Why?" asked Claire, a little hurt that he didn't want to stay with her.

Bender shrugged again. "Got things to do." He stood up and started walking towards his house, which was the absolute last place he wanted to be, but if Claire didn't want him here, then he wasn't gonna stay.

"Don't," said Claire, making Bender freeze.

"What?"

"Stay, please. We can talk or watch a movie if you want…" Claire trailed off when Bender didn't turn around. If he really didn't want to stay she wasn't going to force him, but she couldn't help trying one more time, after all, he'd stopped hadn't he?

"Please. I-I want you to stay."

Bender turned around and looked at her. He was confused. Before it sounded like she hadn't wanted him there and now she was asking him to stay. Before he could figure it out he heard Claire gasp. Bender swore, he had forgotten about his eye. It had been covered by his hair, but when he turned around she must have seen it.

"What happened to you?" Claire asked, her voice filled with worry. Bender hated that voice, he hated being pitied.

"None of your god-damned business, Cherry," he snapped. Claire winced and shrank back from him, looking angry. Bender immediately regretted his words.

"I don't want to talk about it," he added quietly, turning away from her.

She nodded and moved toward him again. She stood in front of him and turned his face back toward her. When she reached up to touch his black eye, Bender winced and backed away before she could touch him.

"I'm not going to hurt you," whispered Claire, looking into Bender's eyes. He nodded and stepped closer. Claire brought her hand up and gently ran her fingers over his now swollen eye. Bender closed his eyes as she moved her hand down his face and fingered the earring that she had given him, glad that he was wearing it. Bender opened his eyes and looked into hers intensely, causing Claire to blush.

"It's going to rain, we should go inside," said Claire quickly, turning to go inside. Bender grabbed her arm and turned her back towards him.

"Wha-" Claire was cut off by Bender's mouth on hers.

"If I give my heart to you I must be sure from the very start that you would love me more than her. If I trust in you, please don't run and hide. If I love you too, please don't hurt my pride like her cause I couldn't stand the pain and I would be sad if our new love was in vain." - 'If I Fell' by The Beatles