A/N: Just a short break. A few vignettes with some characters.

Allison Reynolds was sitting on the couch in her doctor's office. Her parents sent her there back when she was a freshman to maybe help her along the way into adolescence. She hardly ever wore any color other than black or other neutral colors; she never talked about her problems; she enjoyed doing odd things with her feet for fun; she wrote in notebooks and was outdoors a lot doing sketches and drawings, which were quite extraordinary.

So, now here she was, visiting Dr. Barnett. She was staring up blankly at the office's white ceiling.

"So, Allison. What's new in your life?"

"I met a boy."

This caught her attention. Allison had long talked of avoiding or feeling alienated from most people. She decided to delve into this matter.

"Who is he?"

"His name is Brian. I met him at school."

"And tell me about Brian."

"Well, We've kind of got a thing."

"You're seeing him, you mean?"

"Yes. We started going out maybe a week or so ago."

Dr. Barnett thought to herself and made a sort of grimace. It was odd hearing Allison say those words, feeling love for someone after knowing her introverted-self for so long.

"What is he like?"

"Well, he's really smart. He's in a few academic-related clubs. He studies and reads lots. He's friends with all the misfits of school. He's in a few of my honors classes."

"So, he's a good student. You two have that in common."

"Yeah, but his parents can really strict. His mom always wants him to get straight A's."

"I see. They'll put him through Harvard or Yale and he'll get a PhD?"

"I guess. He got an F in Shop class and almost killed himself."

Dr. Barnett just stared wide-eyed. She wondered about her beau and how his parents must have pushed him to think about suicide. Allison had spared her the details about the flare gun.

"Is he alright?"

"Well, he gets pushed around at school a lot. The jocks beat him up Monday and the popular kids talk behind his back and humiliate him."

"I guess he's got it rather tough?"

"Yeah, he's hurting, but I'm helping him along. I want him to know I'm there for him. I know what it's like to be an outcast or called a freak. It's not fair."

"I was once your age, too you know."

Allison just shrugged it off. She liked her shrink, but figured she never went through the anguish Brian went through. Allison decided to show her the sketch of Monarch Butterfly she did for Art class.

"Impressive, Allison. Are you going to add some background scenery?"

"I'll probably have it be on a milkweed or something."

Dr. Barnett nodded and took more notes in her notebook.

He gets pushed around a lot.

Brian sat on a wooden green park bench while he jotted down the procedure he used to solve the math problem he was on. He was finding the system of a pair of equation as he meticulously went through inputing variables into formulas.

"So, if X equals 1, then Y equals..."

The loud engine of the Pontiac Firebird that cruised by nearly made Brian jump out of his seat. He looked over and saw Mike Dexter, Brian McAllister, and who else? Andrew Clark, in the sports car that eerily pulled to the curb and shut it's engine off. Andrew thought back to Monday and how Brian was nearly cracked in half by a full nelson. He got out and stayed behind the other two cautiously.

McAllister grabbed an old apple that was near his shoe and tossed it at Brian, and scored a bullseye as it hit his notebook and sent his books and papers on the ground in an unorganized mess. Both of them stood on either side of the bench Brian occupied,blocking ny chance of him escaping. Andy just stayed a few feet back and watched.

"Hey, geek."

Brian just figured it would be better just to ignore them, like his mom always said.

"When I talk, you better look at me!" McAllister was still pissed about not getting the chance to wail on Brian that Monday; Ferris had stopped him.

"I just want to do my homework, if that's alright with you guys," Brian said, meekly.

Mike Dexter chuckled, "I remember Monday, when me and Andy almost wrecked this kid's moped! Hey, Does your mom know you stole her hairdryer?"

"I don't want to fight you guys."

"Fine we won't fight. We'll just take this."

They grabbed his backpack and tossed it back-and-forth to each other while Brian chased then trying to get it back.

"Hey, Clark! Catch!" Mike tossed the knapsack to him. Andy caught it in both his hands and just laid it beside Brian and motioned for his friends to get back to the car. Mike and Brian just shrugged and jogged back to Mike's car.

"Andy, you coming?"

He just waved them off and they drove off.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, thanks Andy. Your friends can be real jerks."

"I know. I just figured I'd start making it up to you since..."

"Monday?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, um.. Do you need a ride?"

Andy looked at Brian's dark green moped and let out a slight chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

"On that thing?"

"Hey, I know it's no Pontiac, but it gets me around."

"Yeah, you're right." Andy hopped on the back and held onto the metal bar end of his seat as Brian mounted in front of him and gave it a kick start. Brian strapped on his helmet and looked back at Andy.

"Where's your house?"

"Ash Street."

Brian nodded and sped off as the buzz from the small 50 cc engine resonated through the street.