Chapter 2- Andy's Lucky Weekend

Andy squinted uncomfortably as the sunlight began to invade his room. He instinctively reached for the blanket to protect his eyes.

"Rise and shine son," his father said with far too much enthusiasm. As an energetic Danny Clark sauntered around the room, Andy only buried his head deeper into the blanket at his command.

"I said get up," Danny said gruffly, pulling off the blanket. Andy moved toward his clock to take a better look. This is cruel even for him, he thought. "It's only eight."

"Extreme circumstances call for extreme measures."

"What do you mean?"

"You need to keep those recruiters interested and I'm not gonna let you lose focus just because of some girl. Even if it was off-season, I don't know why you would screw around with someone like that. She's just so, so- well, just get your lazy ass out of bed."

Andy didn't move. He couldn't after his father insulted Allison in front of him. He almost laughed when Danny couldn't think of a way to describe Allison intelligently. But he immediately realized that he didn't want to know exactly what his father thought of her.

"Come on! Move it," Danny screamed, dragging Andy off the bed, who was too tired to resist. Does this really need to happen to me now, he wondered. But then he remembered that he didn't deserve a day of rest. After all, he never got any proper punishment for what he did to Larry Lester. Perhaps this forced workout would help quiet his conscience.

Danny led his son to the basement, which held the best training equipment money could buy. While the Clarks conserved financially in other areas, they spared no expense into making their basement the best home gym in all of Shermer. Or from Andy's perspective, the ideal place to produce a racehorse.

"You better be grateful I'm letting you pick which exercise to do first. And that you get to hear your music," Danny said rudely, blindly picking up a Madonna tape and slipping it into the stereo. "Now get to work. And don't even think about the girl."

Oh I'll get to work alright, Andy said to himself. He decided on the treadmill, believing that running hard would be the most punishing thing for his lethargic body at the moment. He stepped on to begin the grim task of pushing his muscles to their limit.

However, the task became more tolerable than it should have been when the beat to "Lucky Star" began to play. Andy's mood lifted even higher when the lyrics reminded him of Allison. He thought of her beautiful face, her independent spirit, and most importantly, how refreshingly different she was from all the girls he dated before. It was no wonder Allison was the first girl he truly melted for. She's not even here and she already makes me so happy, he thought. He smiled even more when he realized that he was defying his father right under his nose.

"What the hell's gotten into you?" Danny asked.

Andy flinched at the question but did his best to hide his reaction. "What?"

"You never smiled during a workout before."

Nice observation genius. And you wonder why I'm normally unhappy, Andy thought darkly. But he decided against airing out those complaints. He didn't want his father to notice anything else unusual about him. "I just love this song so much, that's all."

"I'm turning it up for you champ."

Even though he knew his father wasn't catering to him for the most altruistic reasons, Andy couldn't believe this was happening. Was his luck really taking a turn for the better? This could very well be the only logical explanation. After all, it didn't make much sense that God or fate could decide that meeting the girl of his dreams was a fitting consequence to taping someone's buns together.

But there was no use in thinking about whether he really got what he deserved now. Yesterday's fateful detention had given him, no, given them all, a second chance to live by their own terms instead of other people's expectations. Andy knew he couldn't let this opportunity go but wondered if the rest of the Breakfast Club would take it. There seemed to be hope for Brian but Bender was just too much of an enigma to figure out. And for the first time in his life, Andy actually pitied Claire. Saying it was impossible for them all to be friends showed that she didn't even know this opportunity was knocking on her door. He wondered what it would take to make her see that.

Now that he thought of it, Allison never really cared about how others expected her to act. But she had been isolated for so long that no one knew how much she was worth. Claire's makeover showed him how much Allison could shine if she didn't hide herself. At that thought, Andy was again mesmerized by her eyes, which were heavenly to look at, with or without black shit. While she seemed to be stepping out of her shell at the end of detention, he still had no idea if she really knew how beautiful she was. The intimate environment of detention made it easy for Allison to be comfortable in her own skin because no one persecuted her for being herself. But would she withdraw again after his soon-to-be-former friends treat her like dirt? Andy knew he had to agree with Claire's realism to that extent. This was a grim but likely possibility. And as strong as his connection was to the rest of the Club, he would be fooling himself if he believed they could all be one happy family overnight.

Still, he had been fortunate enough just to meet Allison Reynolds. If this kind of luck continued, a future with her really would indeed be possible. Andy smiled at the thought and decided that tomorrow's troubles could wait until Monday. He spent the rest of his time on the treadmill lost in Allison's eyes……