Oh, men don't notice what they got
Women think of that a lot
1000 ways to please your man
Not even one requires a plan. I know

-You Only Live Once, The Strokes

Halloween had come and gone. Andrew and Brian both had younger siblings they were responsible for taking out on those nights, and Claire gave out candy at her house, like she'd told Bender, so Bender and Allison were both on their own without their friends.

Bender had come up to her at her locker and asked if she'd wanted to hang out with him and Freddie. Before going to their hangout, they usually spent Halloween night listening to music in Freddie's car, drinking, and making fun of dorks going trick or treating. Allison had agreed. "It's not like I have anything better to do," she smirked at him and said.

Finally the weekend after Halloween arrived. Allison and Andrew headed off to Lyle's party, while Bender and Claire had agreed to meet up at Salt.

Bender was already there with Freddie when Claire showed up with Brian. She raised her eyebrows at him, and Bender knew what that meant in girlfriend language.

He let Claire take him off to the side. "What happened? You said you were bringing Saidie. I kept my end of the bargain."

"Relax, Cherry. She's coming. She said she'd be here later, but she'll be here before the Ramones cover band goes on." Claire relaxed a little.

"So, how did you manage to get Big Bri here?" Bender continued.

Claire smiled. "It wasn't easy. He's so down about the whole thing, he said he was going to stay home and study. But I told him that I had direct orders from you to make sure he showed up. Then I pouted a little. When that didn't work, I told him that you'd be pissed he didn't get his ass up and show up. Then I said, 'you wouldn't want to upset Bender, would you? I mean, I don't know about you, but I know Iwouldn't want an angry Bender on my hands.' And you know what? Funny enough, he hopped right up and got dressed. Funny how that just worked." Claire said, with faux innocence.

Bender smirked. And then he looked down at her and finally noticed the way she was dressed. Tight jeans. Extremely high heels. And an off-the-shoulder shirt that showed her skin off provocatively.

"Damn, Cherry. Why do you have to dress like that when we're in a public place? You're torturing me." She blushed and that innocent look that clashed so intensely with her trashy outfit just made her even hotter to Bender. He pulled her in and kissed her. No one would ever guess that she was a prim and proper princess from the rich-people side of Shermer; not the way she looked tonight.

"You still enjoying scheming with me, Cherry?"

Claire stuck her hands under the back of his shirt. "Oh, yeah. We make a good team. We're, like, so bad." She teased.

"Fucking right, we are." Bender replied, pulling her closer and biting her ear. He could feel Claire practically melt into him, then quickly pull away. "People are watching," she said, looking over to where Brian and Freddie were sitting.

Freddie was grinning. "Get. A. Room." He teased. Bender laughed at the shade of red Claire turned.

Claire was nervous when she and Brian first arrived. She hadn't known what to expect and was a little bit afraid of what she'd find, even though even Brian had told her he'd had a great time the night he went there with Bender, Andy, and Freddie. But after about an hour, she'd completely relaxed and was enjoying herself. She was even beginning to think that hanging around with guys was a whole lot easier than girls.

She even told Bender how much fun she was having. "Really?" he said, smirking, "then, you ready to go out there and dance with me, Princess?"

By his smirk, Claire knew he expected her to cower. Well, it was time to show Bender he wasn't the only one who could be a tough guy.

"Alright. Come on." She said, taking his hand and pulling him out of their booth and towards the dance floor.

They both laughed at the wide eyed way Brian was looking at them.

Brian and Freddie were sitting, enjoying the music and watching Claire and Bender dance. Claire was dancing similar to the way she had in detention, only less freely and more seductively. Bender was cooler; bobbing his head back and forth and moving around in circles, switching his feet around in a cool way, rocking out.

Brian was in mid-sentence with Freddie when he noticed than Bender had stopped dancing and was looking towards the door, completely caught off guard.

It took him a second to regain his composure. When he did, he swallowed and his eyes found Brian. He raised his eyebrow at Brian and then nodded his head towards the door. So Brian looked in that direction.

That was where he saw Saidie standing, talking to the doorman. And he knew exactly why Bender had stopped short when he'd seen her.

If Claire had gone out of her way to look like she fit in, and dress like one of the burnout rocker chicks, then Saidie looked like she'd raided Claire's closet.

Her hair was up in a long ponytail held together by a pink barrette, and she was wearing a pink sweater that showed more than enough cleavage, with a white skirt. She was also wearing long white heeled boots. In short, she looked like one of Claire's queenie friends.

She spotted Brian and Freddie and waved at them as she started to walk over to them. She stumbled on the steps, and almost fell, but caught herself. Brian figured, because she was a tomboy, it was just because she wasn't used to wearing heels.

He was an idiot. Bender and Claire came off the floor to talk to them, and it took Bender all of a minute to realize Saidie was stinking drunk. She was grinning way too hard.

"How long until the band comes on? You know, the one I wanted to see?" she said, slurring her words.

Bender cleared his throat, smirking. "Saidie, how the hell did you get here?"

"A friend from my neighborhood dropped me off."

"Where did you get the alcohol?" Bender asked.

She smiled and shrugged. But she kept staring at Brian, who was staring at her like she was a supermodel or something, not even noticing her conversation with Bender.

A few minutes later The Ramones cover band came on. Saidie practically shrieked with happiness. "Let's go, Bender." She slurred.

He eyed her with amusement. "You sure you're okay to dance in those heels, boozer?"

She rolled her eyes. "Please." She took them off under the table and then held them up for everyone to see. "Come on!"

Bender and Freddie got up to join her. She looked back at Brian seductively. "You coming?"

Brian blushed. Then he nodded.

The other three walked off ahead of them, and Brian whispered to her, "So, you're not mad at me anymore?"

She shrugged. "I was never mad at you. I was just jealous. I thought you'd like that Annabelle girl more than me. But Bender told me you rejected her."

That was a relief to Brian. He smiled and let her pull him into the crowd.

Claire and Brian danced together for a few songs while Bender and Freddie danced side by side in their rocker guy ways, and Saidie danced around them both in her own carefree, loose limb way. Claire and Brian kind of stood back and watched as the other three freaked out and jumped back and forth and bumped into each other as they danced to "Pinhead."

But then the band started to play "I Just Want To Have Something To Do". Bender, Freddie, and Saidie smiled at each other and raised their fist in the air to the music, with all the other rockers. It was as if they were in on some secret code, or secret world, that Claire and Brian weren't a part of.

When the lyrics started, Bender went over closer to Claire, while Saidie slowly danced her way over to Brian. And in between fist bumps in the air, when the second verse came around, she looked at Brian with a look that Bender would have classified as eye sex, and danced toward him. She mouthed the lyrics and danced around Brian, pointing directly at him and eyeballing him as she mouthed, "I don't want to be with anybody else/ I just want to be with you."

Bender smirked as Brian blushed. This was a side of Saidie he'd never seen; an amusing one, and it tickled him that it was Brian the Brain bringing this out of her.

Bender bumped into Claire and they both laughed and watched as Saidie pushed Brian up against the wall and backed a little away from him, never taking her eyes off of him, and coming back closer to him and mouthing the words again.

"The girl is blitzed out of her fucking mind." Bender whispered to Claire.

But Claire had been doing some thinking of her own. Girls got other girls. Sure, Saidie had indulged in some alcohol (and so had she; she was started to feel a little buzzed herself), but it was more than that. She remembered how Saidie had told her never to question her feelings for Brian. As she watched the two of them, and the way Saidie looked at her friend, she knew Saidie was completely crazy about her Brian. And he was just too blind and stupid to see it. He was a guy, after all. It made her understand her own relationship; how Bender could make her so happy and yet so mind-numbingly mad as well. Guys were so stupid.

She and Saidie had both dressed up for Bender and Brian (it didn't take a rocket scientist to know that Saidie's attire was all because she thought if she dressed more like the preppy, popular girls she'd be more attractive to Brian), and were both equally interested in each guy, but the boys were too insecure to just accept that. Claire felt stupid for ever thinking Saidie was a threat to her relationship. Bender was crazy about his "Princess", and while Saidie may have had a thing for Bender once upon a time, he didn't seem to even exist to her when Brian was around.

These boys are so lucky to have us girls, Claire thought to herself.

After a few more songs, they were all tired, so they decided to sit down and get some food. Freddie sat in a chair at the head of the booth. On one side, Claire and Bender sat; Claire stretching out across Bender. On the other, Brian stood aside to let Saidie in, but she pushed him in and sat in his lap.

Brian turned so red Bender thought his head would explode.

After they ate, Freddie went back out to dance and Claire joined him, and the other three sat talking and laughing. At one point Bender made a joke that made Saidie laugh hard and shift in Brian's lap, throwing her head back and leaning into Brian without even realizing she was doing so.

Brian's eyes went so wide they looked like they'd pop out of their sockets, and he looked to Bender.

The thing about becoming best friends with someone is that after a while, you get to know someone so well that you can read their facial expressions easily, and just intuitively know when they need you. Because Bender had already been so good at reading people, it had taken him no time to reach this point with Brian. The look on Brian's face was clearly pleading Bender for help. And Bender knew immediately what had happened to poor Brian.

The poor dweebie had just gotten his first erection that came from actual contact with an actual girl. Bender couldn't wait to tease him about it later, but for now he had to help his buddy out.

"Saidie. Let's go get Cherry and Numb Nuts over there. I'm tired of sitting." Saidie nodded, and as the two walked off, Brian gave Bender a grateful look as he shifted under the table.

By the end of the night, Bender and Saidie were both drunk. Freddie assured Claire that he would get Brian home and Bender to his house safely.

"What are we gonna do about this one?" he asked, pointing to where Saidie was still dancing even though no one was playing anymore and most people had already left.

Claire laughed. "Has she ever gotten like this before?"

Freddie smiled. "Never. She's never even been around alcohol, except maybe around me and Bender. I didn't even know she knew where to find any booze. What the hell has gotten into her?"

Claire thought she maybe had some idea of what had gotten into the girl. "Um, I'll take her. She can stay at my house. Brian, help me get her into the car."

Saidie passed out shortly after she and Claire pulled out of the parking lot. Claire gently woke her up when they arrived at Claire's home and helped her into the house. She sat Saidie on the couch and went into the kitchen to fix them both some coffee.

By the time she got back, Saidie had woken up anyway.

Claire had been wanting to talk to the girl alone, and she figured now was as good a time as any.

"Saidie? Are you okay?"

The girl nodded. "I probably won't be in the morning, though." She smiled.

"Saidie? I've been meaning to apologize again for how rude I've been to you. What made you decide not to tell Bender what happened between us?"

Saidie kept her eyes planted on the floor. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so hard on you. I'm no more perfect than you are."

Claire sat and stared at her in silence. She continued. "After I got out of your car that day, I got into a fight with my mother. See, she's always getting on me about how I should be more girly and all that kind of stuff. It made me realize that maybe I was a little bit jealous of you. And maybe you had a reason to not like me. People think I'm so perfect and happy. Even Bender does. But it's not true. I hate having to be the good girl because of who my dad is. I hate that I feel pressured to be who my mom wants me to be, and when I don't I just feel bad about myself for who I am, because who I am is a disappointment to her."

"Wow," Claire said, "I know what that's like."

"Yeah. So I'm sorry if I've been intruding on you and your friends. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. It's just that I don't have many of my own, beside Bender and Freddie and a couple others, and I've never had any girlfriends before, so I thought it might be nice to try to fit in with you guys, especially you and Allison. And then when I saw that you didn't like me, it just reminded me of my mother and what she thinks of me. I felt bad about taking that out on you. So I decided to not tell Bender and keep it between us. I probably wouldn't have told him anyway. And then the next day all that stuff with Annabelle liking Brian. And I thought for sure he'd choose her over me. That's why you found me crying that day. I understood why you might like being popular. At that moment, I thought it might be easier for me if I were more like the girl my mom wants me to be; girls like you. "

"My mother's the same way. All she cares about is appearances. And I would never want to make anybody else feel the way she makes me feel." Claire said. "So I'm sorry, too."

Saidie smiled at her. "I don't want to force myself on any of you. But Brian… is so great, and I wanted you guys to like me, and maybe I haven't been myself. I mean, I have, but the version of me that my dad wants me to be. I love him so much, and I can't do anything to embarrass him. So I just try so hard to be perfect and clean and nice to everyone, and people, most people, end up hating me for it. It's okay if you don't like me yet. Maybe it'll just take time. Maybe if we don't spend so much time around each other because of the guys."

"It's not that I don't like you, Saidie. Not really. I just am not good with new people. I've had the same friends since practically elementary school, and they're not very welcoming of new faces. So, we all kind of suck at this branching out thing. Me included." Claire admitted.

"Well, I think I'll be hanging out with some of my other friends for a while. I embarrassed myself completely tonight in front of Brian, so I doubt you'll be seeing much of me anymore. He probably thinks I'm crazy or wild." Saidie looked like she'd lost her best friend.

Claire tried to hide her grin behind her cup of coffee. "Maybe you do need to stick with me. You clearly have a lot to learn about guys." She giggled, and Saidie shrugged and laughed along with her.

A/N And there you have it. I'm a little shaky on these few chapters, so definitely let me know what you think. Hope you're liking the way this is all playing out, and the way things are going.

Also, can you tell what my favorite band is, yet? Lol