I DO NOT OWN THE BREAKFAST CLUB. SHOUTOUT TO POPPY471.
Shermer High School. Later that night.
(Claire)
I was right, Allison picked just the right dress and looked fabulous. Madam Henri gave her several choices in black and she went with the best one of the lot. It was a tight black lace bodice with a full, flowing skirt of black velvet that sparkled with a dusting of silver points. My own pale pink dress was Madam Henri's masterpiece, also lace, form fitting until just above the knees, where it flared out into an elegant gathered skirt. Jen and Hannah both looked beautiful as well. Hannah especially seemed glowing, and I suspected that Brian's affection was definitely returned by her. And the guys looked great too. We were an attractive bunch. Our attire was not at the forefront of my mind, though, when we entered the gym to find Michelle and Anita there to confront us.
"Well well, look who it is: The loser squad." Michelle laughed cruelly. "Did you hit your head when you fell off your throne Standish?"
Luke put his arm around me. "Just ignore these bitches," he muttered.
I pulled away. "No, I'm done ignoring them." All the jabs and snide remarks and cutting glances added up in my head. I couldn't stay quiet. "You know what Michelle, maybe my friends aren't as rich or as popular as you, but at least we actually care about each other and we're honest. Everything that you have is fake. You think that everyone at school worships girls like you, but they don't. They hate you, I learned that the hard way."
"Rarw, the cat has claws." Anita called out, anticipating seeing me squirm. But I wouldn't squirm. I faced the princesses erect and proud.
My pride grew when Luke stood up to them, too. His voice was level and clear when he said, "She's right, all you do is pick on people who you deem less than yourselves. Why would anyone admire you?"
Allison surprised me by taking half a step forward. She seemed ready to speak when another girl called out, "Take em' down Michelle."
Ignoring this, Allison quietly said,"You think you're so beautiful, but inside...your souls are dead." The rest of the Breakfast Club moved up to flank us.
"Enjoy your bourgeoisie bullshit while you can, in a few years, you'll just be sex deprived housewives." Bender shot back.
"Girls like you are so conceited, you don't care about anyone but yourselves and we're all sick of it." Even Brian was speaking out! I was overwhelmed with love for my new friends.
Andy put in his thoughts, saying, "That's right, I'd rather go with a nerdy girl who has a heart than bitches like you."
"You spread hate wherever you go, you make it so that people don't even want to come to school anymore." Hannah was trembling, but being part of our group had evidently given her courage.
By now the entire room had gone quiet and other students had gathered, making a circle around the Breakfast Club and Michelle and Anita.
"The fact that you need to hurt other kids to make yourselves feel good, maybe you should talk to someone, get some help." Jen took her turn standing up to the two biggest bitches in the school.
There was silence as our group stood facing Michelle and Anita. Then Larry Lester raised his hands and began clapping slowly, emphatically applauding our group's resistance to the popular girls. To my astonishment, other kids joined in, and soon it seemed like half of Shermer HIgh was clapping loudly. I even heard a wolf whistle from the back of the crowd. That came from Bender's group of heavy metal friends.
It seemed to dawn on Michelle and Anita that they were alone in the center of an unfriendly crowd.
"Screw all you losers!" was Michelle's pathetic response. She and Anita looked at each other. Humiliation drove them to push into the crowd and escape. The applause increased as we watched the ruling princesses flee.
All these people, so many students, supporting us, supporting me, brought tears of gratitude to my eyes. The clapping trailed off and the circle of students broke up into groups as they moved away. I was no longer the center of attention and breathed a sigh of relief. The Breakfast Club and their dates had gathered round me, all talking at once. Bender gave Andy a high five, and we laughed.
I turned to tell Luke how proud I was of him, but he wasn't there. How could he disappear like that? I scanned the crowd and found him behind me. He was talking quietly with Vernon. Oh no, did Luke get in some kind of trouble? But then Vernon was shaking his hand. Luke rejoined us and I asked, "What did Vernon want?"
"I'll tell you later," he murmured. "Let's enjoy our notoriety while we can."
A slow song started and Luke asked me to dance. Still rather overcome with the positive response we got, I let Luke lead me onto the dance floor. From that point on, I was busy dancing with every guy in the Breakfast Club, and chatting with the girls between dances.
A hush rippled through the crowd as attention was focused on the stage, where Vernon stood with an envelope in his hand. I was quiet and polite but not very interested in finding out which princess would rule the roost this year. I was actually looking off in the other direction, lost in thought, when Luke nudged me, hard.
Vernon was saying "Miss Standish and Mr. Henderson, please come forward." What was this about? Luke led me up to the stage where Mrs. Williams stood with one crown and Mr. Townsend stood with the other. Someone started chanting, "Claire and Luke! Claire and Luke!" When we mounted the steps to the stage, I understood. I was elected Prom Queen, with Luke as my Prom King. I don't know how I made it across the stage to where the teachers waited. When I staggered a little, Luke steadied me and whispered, "C'mon, Claire, let's give them something to talk about."
I had tears in my eyes, but I smiled as radiantly as I could. It wasn't hard, happiness seemed to be beaming out of me. Mrs. Williams and Mr. Townsend crowned us and stepped back. Luke bowed, so I nodded my head and sort of curtsied. Someone was handing me a bouquet of roses. I bowed over my flowers, blushing furiously. Luke said, "Look up Claire. Look at everyone. They chose us." I looked up and saw a crowd of students, applauding and smiling. Applauding and smiling at me.
Vernon was saying something into the microphone and Luke was leading me towards the steps again. Someone else took my flowers, and Luke tucked my hand over his arm. We descended regally and a slow song started again. We moved to the center of the dance floor and began a slow glide across the floor. I was able to pay a bit more attention now, as I didn't want to make a misstep and ruin our solo dance. Eventually other dancers joined us and the spot light dimmed. We were no longer the center of attention.
"Luke, how did this happen? We weren't even on the ballot."
"Bender had the idea to get people to write us in. Lester talked to the mathletes, Hannah talked to the younger kids, Andy talked to the jocks, Jen spoke with the other girls not in the princess circle, and of course Bender got all the heavy metal guys on board." Luke paused while I absorbed this. "I think for some people, it was a big fuck you to the princesses, but a lot genuinely like us. Your struggle with Michelle and Anita has been pretty public and I think many people admire you for standing up to them."
"And you stood up to Skyler and his friends. You were very brave to do that." I kissed his cheek and snuggled up to him, leaning my head on his shoulder. "I love you, Luke."
Luke pulled me closer and said, "I love you too, Claire." We swayed on the spot, slowly revolving in time to the music. I became aware of Luke's body pressed against mine, his warm scent with just a hint of cologne, his arms wrapped around my waist. I looked up from his shoulder and he kissed me. It was soft and gentle, but thrilling. As we broke apart, the song ended and another began, something faster. Without speaking we joined hands and made our way off the dance floor.
Instead of joining our friends, Luke steered us towards the side exit door. "I want to be alone for a minute."
We pushed through the door and found ourselves in the breezeway between the gym and main building. Luke led me to a bench in a shadowy nook. When I turned to him, he took my face in his hands and said, "I can't tell you how much I love you." I leaned in to kiss him. This was no ordinary kiss, it was like Luke was distilling all his feelings for me into this one kiss. I returned his passion. Soon I became breathless and had to pull away a little.
"I love you more than I've ever loved anyone." He followed this declaration with kisses on my neck. Thrills swooped through me.
My eyes were closed when he breathed in my ear, "I want to make love to you." I tried to see his face in the shadows. "Claire, will you, would you…." He trailed off, looking into my eyes.
"Yes," I said. "I want to." I loved Luke so much sometimes it hurt my heart, but right now I felt only pure delight in being with him. Then another couple exited the building, walking in our direction. There was no privacy to be had here.
I had thought about this. We were always with other people, at school, in my house, going out with the Breakfast Club. But I knew one place where we could be alone. I checked my watch, it was 11:30. Brian and Hannah had to be home by midnight. If we could get rid of the Breakfast Club, Luke and I could sneak off to be by ourselves.
I stood up, brisk and determined. Luke seemed surprised. "What's wrong, Claire?"
"We," I said with relish, "are going to be alone tonight. Soon. Let's get the others and get out of here."
We rounded up Andy, Jen, Hannah, Brian, Bender and Allison. When I announced it was time to go, Allison and Bender exchanged a look.
"We're going to walk home," Bender said. He looked down at Allison again and they shared a mischievous look. "You guys can leave without us."
"We're going to an after party, one of Jen's friends invited us," said Andy. "Don't worry about us."
So I shepherded Brian and Hannah out to the limo. Brian was chattering away about some kind of physics thing, really excited, and Hannah was hanging on his every word. It was obvious she was as excited by the topic as he was. Brian had found the perfect girl.
On the ride to Brian's house, Luke and I were silent, cuddled together in one corner of the seating area, while they talked about black holes. After dropping them off, I powered down the window between the chauffeur and ourselves.
"The Country Club golf course, the rear entrance" I said, as if I ordered chauffeurs about all the time. I put the little window up again and told Luke, "I know a place where we can be alone."
I had to take off my heels as they sank into the grass, but the golf course was manicured, beautifully smooth. I led Luke through the course to a huge upthrust rock. We slipped behind it and found ourselves in a bower created by a tall hedge. Luke spread out his hopeful blanket. When we lay down and looked up, the sky was lit by a smattering of stars. I snuggled up to Luke, my head cushioned on his chest.
"My parents said we had to be home by two, so we've got a couple of hours." I suddenly felt very shy. Luke sat up a bit and rummaged in his back pocket.
"I brought this in case I got lucky tonight." He said he produced a condom.
I laughed and dug around in my beaded bag and showed him my own condom. "Allison gave it to me." I rolled on my side, up on my elbow, and looked down at Luke. "I think we'll both get lucky tonight." I bent to kiss him. I was aware once again of Luke's body pressed against mine, his delicious scent. His warm hands roamed over my hips and back, but he veered away from the more sexy areas.
"It's Ok, Luke. I want this, you want this, you have my permission, we are doing this together." I guided his hand up to the neckline of my dress. We pushed the fabric off my shoulders together. More kisses and I was climbing into a new world of arousal as he touched me. I paused to unzip my dress. As we went on, I slipped my hands under his shirt, to feel his smooth skin.
Our clothes came off, bit by bit. I always knew men desired to touch women, but I had no idea how strong my own urges would be. I was hungry to touch every part of Luke, excited by every plane and curve, his strong muscles, his wiry frame. I felt a hint of fear when he eased my dress down off my hips, leaving me bared to the night air, but it was Luke. Luke who I trusted, Luke who I loved, Luke who loved me. My fear fled and all that remained was love and desire. Our bodies met and my every desire was fulfilled.
We spent the aftermath snuggling under Luke's jacket, but I realized our time was almost up. I reluctantly sat up and began the process of resuming my clothes. Luke zipped my dress and I straightened out his suit. I checked him over carefully, seeing that all was tucked in and in place, not looking like he had just spent the last hour rolling around on the ground. A compact mirror helped me repair the damage to my up-swept hair. Luke brushed a leaf from my dress.
As we walked back to the limo, I pulled a $20 bill from my purse. "Give this to the driver," I instructed Luke. When we reached the limo, the driver was leaning against the vehicle, smoking a little cigar. He jumped to attention when he saw us and opened the door for me.
I heard the driver and Luke laugh and the driver clapped him on the shoulder. Of course he knew exactly what we had been up to. I found I didn't care much. I didn't feel ashamed about what we had done. Nothing I could do with Luke would ever leave me ashamed.
Father was awake when we arrived home, 10 minutes before curfew. He gave me a kiss on the forehead and asked if I'd had fun. I assured him I had. Then Luke and I went upstairs, to our own rooms and our own beds. This was a night I would always remember.
LUKE AND CLAIRE HAVE BOTH SWIPED THEIR V-CARDS. REVIEWS NEEDED AND APPRECIATED.
