Well, here we are. Another chapter. As always, let me know what you think. PLEASE REVIEW. I can't know what you think without reviews. Remember, even a "you suck and you should stop writing" is better than no review at all. Criticism is always welcome. And very necessary for me to know if you guys even want me to continue.

Oh brother I can't, I can't get through

I've been trying hard to reach you 'cause I don't know what to do

Oh brother I can't believe it's true
I'm so scared about the future and I wanna talk to you
Oh I wanna talk to you

-Talk, Coldplay

Brian's face was flushed as he caught up with Bender.

"Hey, you okay there, Big Bri?" He asked.

"Um, yeah. Weird day, is all." Brian replied, reaching into his bookbag and taking out a brown paper bag and handing it to Bender.

"S-should we go on outside, or did you have plans with Claire or something?" Brian asked, nervously.

Bender raised an eyebrow. "I thought you'd be eating with the fellow dweebies today. Shouldn't you guys be having some kind of physics club welcome back party or something?" Bender quipped.

Brian shrugged, and it became clear to Bender that he had struck a nerve. "Well, I- I guess I should be eating with them, first day and all, but my friends…have been behaving strangely today. I think they may be avoiding me. So I thought I'd have lunch with you. You know, like last year."

"Gee, thanks," Bender said sarcastically, pretending to be hurt.

"Unless you're supposed to be meeting Claire?" Brian asked again, ignoring Bender's sarcasm as they walked toward the parking lot.

Bender rolled his eyes. "Of course not. She's eating in the cafeteria, same as always. Nothing's changed just because it's a new school year, dweebie."

"But, I thought you guys were dating now? That is, that's how it seemed this morning."

"We are. At least, whatever twisted version of…dating…two people like me and Claire could do. But that's not gonna fucking change either one of us. At the end of the day, I'm still gonna be me, and Claire is still….Queenie."

Brian nodded, understanding. He knew to accept that for what it was.

As they headed to Freddie's car under the trees, as they had done quite a few times last year, Bender said, forcing his voice to be dripping with sarcasm, "Which is actually why I'm so fucking thrilled to see you."

"Oh?" Brian inquired as they sat. Bender indicated that he didn't have any drugs on him today. Brian shrugged, not caring in the slightest.

"About this whole thing with me and Claire. I wanted to ask you if you think I might be in over my head." Bender stated it as the furthest thing from a question.

Brian thought it over for a bit. "You mean, do you two stand a chance?"

Bender nodded.

"I think it's going to be hard, definitely. Sometimes you'll annoy her, and sometimes she'll say or do something that really upsets you, but that is just because y-you both….I don't know, to me it looks like there's definitely something there. I think you guys are crazy about each other, and maybe, despite everything, in the end, that'll be enough. Or maybe it won't, and you guys will just be too different to make it work."

Bender's eyes turned downward. He'd never told Brian that those were the exact words that had caused them to stop trying after their first date, in the first place.

"You know, there are only so many places I could even take her. Like on a date, I mean. Maybe three. And two of those are places that we'd run into someone we know. And then what? What would Queenie really do if that happens? And even if it doesn't happen—how long will it be before the whole forbidden bad boy fruit thing gets boring? Especially when I have nowhere to take her?"

Brian knew the best way to get through to a hard head like Bender's was to play devil's advocate. "How long will it be until you get tired of Claire being a tease and nothing more? Or until you get tired of not having enough money for her, and her whole rich princess thing?"

Bender's eyes went wide at these words from Brian. "I won't. I'm not that fucking screwed up or shallow, dweebie. Obviously I know by now that there's more to her than that. She can actually be kind of fucking cool."

"And she can't know that there's more to you than how much money you do or don't have? It's not possible that she doesn't care about where you can and can't take her? That she might like you for more than that? It's not possible that she might not get tired of your whole forbidden bad boy thing? That she might see enough in you to make her want to stand up to her friends?"

Had this been said by anyone other than Brian, Bender would have been furious. But that was the thing of it, really. He wouldn't have even been able to have these conversations with anyone but Brian. Not even Freddie. But there was just something about the kid that just made people want to open up to him. Bender thought that the dweebie should maybe put all those science books aside and consider a career as a therapist.

He smirked at Brian. "Well, look who grew some balls over the summer." He said. Then he sighed. "Okay, fine. Most of what you said, I'll give you that. I can buy it. I'll even buy that Cherry at least believes it. But it's the reality that's the problem. People get bored with each other, that's the way it goes. The world's an imperfect place. Just look at Sporto and Klepto." Bender said, almost smugly, believing he'd made his point.

The way Brian turned red and unconsciously shook his head let him know that there was more to it. "No, it's more complicated than that. Allison and Andy—trust me, that whole thing had nothing to do with either growing bored with the other. It's… much more complicated. " Brian insisted.

Apparently Bender wasn't the only one confiding in Brian.

"What do you know?" Bender asked. Brian shrugged. "I just…I'm pretty sure those two are as crazy about each other as you and Claire. And they've got issues to work through just like you two did. Theirs may be even bigger than you guys'."

It was Bender's turn not to be pushy. He reconciled himself to the thought that it was at least good to know that Brian could keep some secrets.

Then he smirked. "What about you and Saidie? Are you two 'crazy about each other' as you so elegantly put it?"

Brian blushed. Bender knew that no matter how old he got, no matter how much he and others might change over the years, if he and Brian stayed friends, Brian would always be the one person he'd have complete power over in the sense of having the ability to make him uncomfortable. He'd never take advantage of that power, but it was good to know he had it.

"Well, I don't think it'd be right to compare the two of us to you and Claire or Andy and Allison. She and I haven't known each other that long, and we haven't spent nearly as much time together as you guys have. Plus, you know, there was no…tear-inducing bonding conversation to bring us together like you guys in detention." Brian tried to joke.

But Bender wasn't falling for it. "You didn't answer the question, Bri. There's no time table for these things. Didn't I tell you that already?" Then he paused. "What happened with you and Saidie after me and Freddie left this morning?"

It suddenly looked like Bender was talking to a tomato, instead of a blond dweebie sophomore. "She, um, well she…it was…that is, there was a kiss. She, um, yeah…kissed me."

Bender looked him dead on in the eye, then rolled his eyes, but smiled. "Well, fuck me. Don't tell me that was your first one, Big Bri."

Brian took a bite of his sandwich and prayed for the bell to ring and put an end to the conversation.

Andy's lunch had been just as nerve wracking as the end of Brian's was. He'd decided on Sunday night that lunch time, while no one else was around, was the perfect time to go talk to his Coach and tell him that he wanted to quit the wrestling team, and the football team. Those had been his main two sports. He was good at football, and really good at rallying the team, but not good enough to get a scholarship. Wrestling had been what everyone was counting on to get him his scholarship. He liked football a lot, but he hated wrestling. He thought that maybe, somewhere deep down, he always had. Or maybe he subconsciously hated it because it had been his father's decision, and because his father had been a wrestler. Whatever. The point was, he wanted no part of it anymore.

His plan was to soften the blow by reporting that he wanted to stick with baseball. Baseball was the sport he really loved. It was fun, and his teammates were cool guys. The baseball jocks weren't walking stereotypes. And most of them weren't full of machismo.

If worse got to be worst, and his coach totally flipped out, he'd agree to do basketball too. Basketball could be fun. So long as the end result was that Andy got to stand up for himself and make his own decision. He just knew he needed the Coach on his side to talk his father down. Samuel Clark was going to go berserk when he found out about all this.

He'd wanted badly to have lunch with the guys—and this time, odd as it was, by "the guys" he meant Bender and Brian—to talk to them before he went to Coach Fuller. But they had been nowhere to be found. Andy scoffed, knowing that the two of them were off somewhere together without him. He'd needed someone to talk to; some reassurance that he'd at least have those two guys to pal around with if and when his other guy friends turned their backs on him for quitting the team. But he'd have to find them and tell them later. The thought actually made him smile to himself. He knew they—especially Brian—would be proud of him, and he was looking forward to having more free time to do things like just hang out and maybe even have another guys' night like the one they'd had last school year, shortly after they'd all met.

So, all of that was the plan. And it would have all happened if he hadn't had to walk past the art room on his way to Coach Fuller.