A/N I'm becoming a bit concerned about the direction this is going. These characters are so good and complex that they are difficult to capture. Please let me know what you think. I hope I am doing the characters justice and that I'm successfully continuing what I started. Tell me what you think. Is this a good direction? What would you like more or less of?

Take all your fears
Pretend they're all true
Take all your plans
Pretend they fell through

-Out Of The Blue, Julian Casablancas

Claire tuned her friends out (she'd have to figure out what was going on with Annabelle later) while she tried to figure out how she could get in touch with the group by the end of the day before they all left—without actually talking to them at school and risking social suicide.

Pull them out of class? Nope. How the hell would she even do that? Sure, she was practically queen of the school (or, at worst, princess in line to take the throne after Erica graduated) but that only meant she had power over the other students, and at best a few select teachers who adored her. There was no way she could pull off having the authority to pull four students out of class, although Bender at least probably wouldn't have been a problem.

Coerce another kid into being a messenger for her? Nope, by the end of the week it'd be all over school, whatever she sent the poor kid to tell the others. That defeated the whole purpose.

Pass notes? A good plan, but that was the whole problem. She didn't know any of their class schedules, so how would she get a note to them? And even if she did, she'd be seen giving it to them. If she knew where all their lockers were, she could stick notes in each one. Last year she'd known where Brian's locker was and Allison's, but it was a new school year, and she hadn't seen any of them since the library that morning.

But she knew where Brian hung out between classes (he'd often duck into the library), it wasn't a big deal if she was seen passing a note to Andy (except that she didn't want anyone thinking she had a crush on him or anything), she knew what doors Allison used when she left school for the day, and she knew someone who usually hung out outside the boys' room on the first floor near the brainiac classes, oogling the smart girls; he would know where to find Bender.

As soon as the end of lunch bell rang, Claire excused herself from her table, and left the cafeteria, pulling a pen and a piece of scrap paper out of her purse and scribbling a sloppy note as she walked.

She beat Brian to the library. He was looking down at his feet as he walked, and almost walked into Claire.

"Oh, um, excuse me, I'm so sor-sorry. Oh! Hi, Claire!"

"Hey, Brian." She smiled at him. Then she put a finger to her lips as if to say "shh!", then got a sip from the water fountain as she slyly dropped a piece of paper on the floor.

Brian, ever the gentleman, went to pick it up and was going to hand it back to her. But when he looked up, she was already gone. Brian sighed and shook his head, until he looked back down at the paper and saw it was folded with his name on the outside.

As he walked into the library to pick up a book he had on hold, he unfolded it and read it: Brian, meet the Club at my car in the back lot fifteen minutes after school ends. Love, Claire xxxooo

Brian blushed and smiled at the pure girly-ness of Claire's note. But it felt good to have someone pass a note to him.

Claire's next move was to find Freddie. She waited on the wall opposite the door that led outside to the burnout wall. Several burnouts came inside before Freddie walked in. At first he didn't see her. She cleared her throat loudly and Freddie looked in her direction. Her eyes got wide and she tilted her head suggesting for him to come over. He did so inconspicuously.

Claire stuck something in his hand as she met him halfway and purposely bumped into him, making it look as if she were handing him money or as if she were hitting him for daring to breath the same air as her. She knew he'd know what to do with the note she was handing him.

And he did. He sauntered over to Bender's locker and said, "Hey, man. I didn't know that you getting a girlfriend would mean I'd have to play messenger boy." But he was smiling. And then he handed the note to Bender, who read it, covering with his book, as he sat down in his next class.

Criminal, See you after school? Fifteen minutes after the last bell, meet me and the others at the back lot. –Princess

She at least knew the general area where Andy's locker would be—on jock hall. Their lockers were all together, near the basic classes, since that's what so many of them took, either by requirement or for the easiest grades.

He was there with his friend Stubbie. Stubbie was trying to talk to Andy while Andy had the same annoyed look on his face that he'd had when Vernon had made him help move the heavy rack to block the door in detention.

As Claire walked up to them and greeted them, she handed Andy a piece of paper and said, "Here you go!" as if he was expecting a delivery from her.

As she walked away, she was glad that she'd remembered to code her note to Andy, expecting that someone else might read it, as he was normally as surrounded by jocks as she was by her girlfriends and cheerleaders.

B.C. 3:15. Criminal's spot. Dinner club?

Stubbie read it over Andy's shoulder. He scratched his brow. "What the hell does that mean?"

Andy rolled his eyes. "Uh, nothing. Just a note on this book from Mr. Stinson's class. We were thinking of studying together. Can't believe he's giving a test the first week of school. It sucks."

Andy didn't believe Stubbie would buy it, but he just nodded. "Yeah, man. Mr. Stinson blows."

And that was the end of that.

After school, Claire kissed Annabelle's cheek and said goodbye to her. "I'll see you tomorrow morning. I've got to get home and start on this book for Mr. Stinson's class."

She hid out in the bathroom, pretending to fix her makeup, until she heard the halls empty. Then she came out, practically running to the front doors. She really hoped today would be one of the days when Allison's parents forgot to pick her up.

She opened the front door to find Allison sitting alone on the steps, and sighed with relief.

"Hi, Alli!" she said cheerfully.

Alli looked up at her. The only person she'd spoken to all day was Per. She smiled up at Claire's friendly face.

"I thought you'd be gone by now. Where are your friends?" Allison asked.

"Gone. Come on." She said, nudging Allison. "We're meeting the boys in the back of the school."

They hopped into Claire's car and drove around back.

Andy and Bender were sitting there waiting on the back steps. They appeared to be arguing about something.

"You don't know what you're talking about. He was a highly overrated player, I don't care how good he was. I can think of many fucking players better than him, and it ain't just that, Sporto. He was a raging misogynistic idiot and a racist to boot, anyone with fucking sense knows that. And if you don't see that you're just as much of an idiot as I originally thought you were."

"Look, I never said the guy was a great humanitarian. I'm just talking about quality of the game." Andy started to retort.

The guys stopped talking as they heard the sound of Claire's heel approaching. Claire thought it was weird to see Bender and Andy discussing what sounded like ball players, together. She hadn't even realized Bender was the kind of guy who liked sports. She'd just thought he was anti all organized activities.

But all thoughts of guy talk went out of her mind as Bender pulled her in ad kissed her. She didn't even notice Andy and Allison left to stand there awkwardly eyeing each other. Andy tried to smile at Allison.

"Hi," he said softly.

"Hi." She said back, biting her lip. She realized she wasn't quite sure how to act around him anymore.

Bender cleared his throat, bringing them back to attention again. Allison turned to them as Andy kept his eyes on her.

"So, Cherry? To what do we all owe the honor of your summons?" Bender asked.

"Well, we should, like, wait for Brian." Claire said.

"Has anyone seen him since this morning?" Allison asked.

"I'm here!" Brian's voice called behind them. He was awkwardly walking toward them quite quickly, trying not to stumble over his own two feet, with Saidie at his side.

"Hi, guys!" he said, almost out of breath, as he caught up with them. Sadie stayed silent next to him, but waved at Brian's friends. Brian eyed her with his peripheral. Should he be the one to re-introduce her to the group, or should he let Bender? She was more Bender's friend than his, after all.

But, no. This year was all about the new Brian. The Brian who would be more than just a brain. He was going to be less awkward, stutter less, and spend a little less time in the books. He was going to be cool, or at least normal, or he'd die trying.

He cleared his throat. "Guys, you remember Saidie, right? Saidie, you remember Claire and Andrew and Allison." he said. Claire nodded, Andy waved to her, and Allison smiled at Saidie. Saidie waved to them all again, and stood proudly by Brian's side. "I invited her. Um, to hang out." Brian finished.

"No shit, Big Bri." Bender said, and Brian blushed, and cursed himself internally for doing so. But Bender smiled at him good-naturedly and gave him a "What ever did I do?" look with his eyes. Brian decided to let it go.

"So, again, I ask, to what do we owe the honor of your summons?" Bender asked.

"Well, I um, was like, thinking we could all hang out. It's been a long day, and I thought we could go get dinner, maybe, and talk about how everyone's first day went."

"I can't tonight. I'm having dinner with Frank." Allison said softly.

"Um, I'm supposed to be walking Saidie home." Brian said, nervous but proud. "She's going to let me borrow one of her Jane Austen books."

"Yeah, and I'm sure Sporto here has practice of some sort he needs to be getting to." Bender retorted.

"Oh," Claire said, clearly deflated. Andy didn't respond.

"Looks like it's just you and me, Princess." Bender said suggestively, sliding his arm around Claire's waist. "We could still hang out. Under the bleachers. Or, hell, in your car, in the backseat." He smirked when Claire turned red and hit him in the chest. "Bender! Not in front of everyone." She tried to whisper, but they all heard.

"Um, we could meet in the library tomorrow morning?" Brian said, trying to cheer Claire up. Claire looked around at them. Andy and Allison nodded, and Bender shrugged.

"I'll bring breakfast for everyone." Claire said.

"Can Saidie come?" Brian asked hopefully. Saidie chipped in, "Uh, no, that's okay. You guys should hang out. Really, it's okay. I don't want to intrude on your little group. We can all hang out some other time." Saidie said nervously.

Bender's nostril flared. "Saidie. You can fucking come if you want." He said.

Saidie just shook her head. "Some other time." Brian and Bender could both tell she didn't feel completely comfortable around the group yet. Or at least one of them.

"So we'll see each other in the morning? Bright and early?" Andy asked. They all nodded. "Now that that's settled," Bender said, taking Claire's hand, "to your car, Cherry."

Claire blushed but followed him.

"I guess we should go, too. 'Bye, guys. See you tomorrow." Brian said, as he and Saidie left.

Andy stood there looking down at his shoe. "Um, I guess I better go, too. Back inside. Yeah. I'll see you."

Allison squeaked, nodded, and turned to start home.

Brian was nervous all the way to Saidie's house. He could tell she was, too, because she didn't say much of anything. At first. Then she said, "So, I can't believe you've read most of Austen but never read Sense and Sensibility. It's my favorite book. I could read it all the time. I feel weird saying it, but it's so romantic. Lost loves, reconciliations, broken hearts. Ugh, it makes me cry every time I read it."

"Um, is it anything like Pride and Prejudice?" Brian asked.

"Ugh, much better. You know, I know it was Austen's most popular book and all, but really, as good as it is, it doesn't hold a candle to Sense and Sensibility. Or even Emma, for that matter. Anyway, Sense and Sensibility is about these two sisters who both fall in love. One of them with an absolute jerk, because she's silly and young, and the other with a good man who…well, you'll see. But you'll like it. The way they get their hearts broken but find their way to love again…it's a great story." She was so excited about what she was talking about she didn't even realize it when she took Brian's hand in her own. Brian blushed, but gripped her hand tighter.

"Sounds great." He said. At that moment, he would have read anything she asked him to.

When they reached Saidie's house, both her parents were there. Brian was nervous about seeing them again, but they both smiled warmly at him. He relaxed a little.

Saidie led him to her father's small study. He sat down on a couch as she searched for the book.

"Ah, here it is." She said finally. She grabbed it and handed it to him, their hands touching again. She sat down beside him on the couch, her eyes flickering again. Brian swallowed nervously. It was now or never.

"Um, Saidie? I don't want to sound weird or lame or anything, but I was wondering. I'm not quite sure how to ask this, but…are we… I mean…are you my…sorry, I'm not really good at this kind of thing at all." He said, smiling nervously, sweat starting to build on his forehead.

Saidie smiled at him, and kind of moved closer to him on the couch. "I know what you mean. And, yes, that's fine with me."

Brian smiled back and relaxed even more. This time, it was him that leaned in to kiss her.

And this kiss was not like before. It lasted a little longer. Their lips almost parted this time. Saidie even put her hand on his face. Brian almost moaned when she finally pulled away from him.

He realized he had taken longer than he intended to in getting home. "Um, I better get home. Gotta get some homework done if I want to get started on the book tonight."

Saidie nodded, unable to speak. "'l'll see you tomorrow?" he asked. She nodded again.

"'Bye, Saidie." He kissed her cheek after she'd walked him to the front door.

Brian was unbelievably happy as he walked home. He couldn't believe he had a girlfriend now.

He was so wrapped in his own mind that he almost started (as they'd say in one of those Austen books, Brian thought) when he saw Andrew Clark sitting on his front steps.

"Andy? What are you doing here? I mean, um , hi. Of course. But what are you doing here?"

Andy sighed tiredly as he stood up. He ran his hand through his hair and said, "Hi, Johnson. Sorry to just show up like this, but, um. I need a favor. Can I stay here tonight? I just, I just can't go home."

A/N Well, that's all for now! I hope you guys have found these chapters to your liking. I know they're not my best, but they (hopefully) keep the story moving.

What is next for Brian and Saidie? Will The Breakfast Club embrace her? Why did Andy show up at Brian's house? Find out more next time...