No one cares when you are wrong
But I've been at this far too long
To act like that when we should be
In perfect harmony

-I Stand Corrected, Vampire Weekend

Five pairs of eyes glared at each other. Four of the people attached to four of the sets of eyes weren't sure how they'd found themselves here. But they weren't happy about it.

Bender, surprisingly, had been the first to show up. Brian had lured him to the house under the pretense of a fight with Saidie and needing his advice. Bender was first because he had just come from work, and as tired as he was, rather than go home and shower and rest first, he couldn't wait to hear what two innocent brainiacs could possibly have to fight about. He had gotten there expecting to find Big Bri in tears, but instead he was his normal, awkward self—only even more awkward, tense, and shaky.

Not expecting Bender to arrive first of the friends he had lied to to get them to his home, Brian could only silently pray that Claire wouldn't be the second one to arrive, as he tried to stall Bender and make up some story about a fight as best he could until (hopefully) Andrew or Allison showed up.

Luckily Allison showed up next, and Brian couldn't have been more relieved to see her, as she was the one person of the other three remaining Club members who, as things currently stood, wouldn't send Bender running from the house in a rage. Brian hadn't even had to come up with a lie to lure her there; he'd merely had to tell her that he felt alone because of the tension and separation in the group, and she had all but invited herself over to keep him company.

Bender had given him a quizzical look, and Brian explained that she was there to give a female perspective on the so-called fight, to counter Bender's take. Surprisingly, Bender appeared to buy this. But it became clear to him that something was up as Brian struggled to explain his fake fight story. Bender could tell that Brian seemed to be making up the details as he went along.

Andy was next; he, too, was coming from work. Brian had had to work the hardest to come up with some excuse to get him there. Eventually he had decided on telling Andy that he needed a break from studying, and that since his parents were out of town for a wedding weekend and Emma was sleeping over at a friend's house, would he mind coming over for video games and a boys' night? Andy, always worried about Brian overworking himself, had quickly agreed.

The hardest tasks was keeping everyone there once three out of the four had arrived and once it became clearer what was really going on. Andy had wanted to immediately walk right back out once he saw that Bender was there. Brian had quickly looked at Allison with pleading eyes, and she understood. Bender snorted and said, "What's he doing here? Oh. Oh. Fuck you, dweebie. Let me guess. Queenie is on her way as we speak."

"Yes. Yes, she is. Please don't go. I'm sorry I lied, but I really need to talk to you guys. It's important. Please." Brian begged.

Bender was standing now, too. Feeling for Brian, Allison had jumped up and made her way in front of Andy. "Alli, no. I don't want to hear anything Brian or that jackass have to say right now."

"Please, Andy. Hear him out. I know, the little shit lied to us," she said, pausing here and giving a devilish grin to let both Andy and Brian know she was teasing, "but it's obviously important to him. I… I don't think he'd have gone through this if it weren't. And it's not him you're mad at, anyway. So hear him out."

Andy hated that that it was so hard to say no to her. But he sat back down. Clearly Allison was referring to Claire just then, when she said that it wasn't Brian he was mad at. She didn't seem to understand his anger at Bender. And somewhere deep down the jock knew she'd be pissed with him if she did understand why he was so mad at Bender.

Bender, for his part, sat back down once Andy did. As much as he wanted to leave, he wouldn't let stupid Sporto appear to be the bigger man. Not for anything in the world.

But the two couldn't help glaring at each other. Brian noticed this, and cleared his throat. "Guys? Can we just each stay in our own corners and not do anything to each other and wait for Claire?"

Bender and Andy both rolled their eyes.

Brian felt worst of all about what he had done to get poor Claire to his home. He winced every time he though of it, recalling phoning her and telling her that the stress was getting to him, and that he really needed someone to talk to, and could she come over right away on this early Saturday evening?

He felt terrible about using her love, care and concern for him against her. But given that she had never been to his home other than the time she helped him pick out clothes for his first date, and that it would obviously seem weird for him to invite her over, alone, during this weird time with the group, it was all that he could think of. The brain hoped she wouldn't be too mad at him when she discovered the truth, and vowed that he would find some way to make it up to her.

Claire had rushed over as soon as she had gotten the call, panicked and praying that she could help Brian and that it wouldn't get so bad that he would do something drastic again. She felt thankful that he had called her first, and tried to find some relief in that. That thought helped her calm herself down on the drive over, but she felt her stomach drop a little when she arrived and saw Andy's Bronco in the driveway. It must have been really bad if he'd called Andy too.

Claire hopped out of the car and ran up the steps to the front door, which was unlocked. That, she found strange, and it was also the moment that she realized that there were no other cars around besides Andy's; that Brian's parents weren't home. Claire flew in and ran all the way up the stairs and swung Brian's bedroom door open to find all four of her friends sitting there, instead of just two. Not wasting time greeting any of them, she hurriedly made her way over to Brian and sat down next to him on the bed. "Brian? Are you okay? What's going on?"

Brian's face went red. He felt so awful. And now he was starting to lose his confidence about hosting this meeting of the Breakfast Club.

"I'm fine, Claire. I… I—I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to worry you. I…I couldn't see any other way. Had to get you all here."

Claire looked around at the others, who were awkwardly watching the two of them. "Wait. Why are we all here?"

"We're here because the dweebie lied to us to get us all here. And judging by your reaction just now, he gave you the worst lie of all to get you here. Nice going, dork." Bender said.

Brian was on the verge of tears. "I'm so sorry. I had to! None of you will talk to each other, and it's driving me crazy! All of you come to me with everything, but you don't talk to each other! And then you swear me to secrecy and won't let me help you or tell anyone anything, and it sucks! And I just have to listen to all of you bitch and complain about every little thing, knowing that you're being idiots and screwing with each other. And what's worse is that none of you, except Claire, EVER ask me what's going on with me. You just assume that I have nothing going on, and that I'm just here to be your free therapy session!" Brian's face was red and he was almost sobbing now.

No one spoke for a moment. Bender and Andy were in shock and Claire and Allison's hearts were breaking.

Then, as if the room had been on pause and someone suddenly unpaused it, the girls sprung into action. The princess ran to get some tissues and the basket case took her spot next to Brian on the bed and put her hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

Claire reentered and handed the brain some tissue to wipe his face, while the older two boys watched on in amazement.

"Brian?" Allison said softly, "How long have you felt like this?" He considered. "Since last year. Claire would tell me everything about her and Bender, and he would do the same, but they would never tell each other how they felt." The couple glanced at each other, and then quickly looked away.

"But the big one," Brian continued, "was you." He pointed a finger almost accusingly at Allison. "You told me all those secrets about what was going on with you and Andy, and you wouldn't let me tell him. Did it ever occur to you that he's my friend too, and I might not want to keep secrets from him? Or that by doing that, by not letting me tell him anything, and by not listening to me, you were forcing me to take sides?"

Allison's face scrunched up. She opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out was "I…."

Andy looked at Brian, finally. "Wait. What secrets? You knew she was going to break up with me? You knew why she was going to break up with me?"

Brian nodded. "I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you. But she swore me to secrecy. And I couldn't betray her; she's my friend. And besides, I thought that if I… if I betrayed her, she wouldn't confide in me again, and I thought that as long as she confided in me, I could talk her out of it. I was trying to help. I did everything I could to try to help you guys, Andy."

The jock considered this. "It's okay. I know."

"And I," Allison spoke up, "I'm sorry, Brian. I guess I didn't think about how it would make you feel, or about your relationship to Andy. I was only thinking about myself. I…I guess I can be kind of selfish, sometimes."

"Me, too," said Claire. "All I cared about was that I needed someone to talk to about things, about Bender, and that I needed help. I didn't think about the fact that he's your friend, too. I was being self-centered, and I'm sorry, Brian."

Bender was the only one who had remained quiet through all of this. Everyone looked at him. He sighed. "Fine. You have a point, dweebie. Sorry." He couldn't help spitting the word out. He hated apologizing.

"I guess I did that, too. Brian was the only one I told about quitting wrestling before I actually quit." Andy said. They all sat in silence for a few minutes, until Claire finally broke through.

"I guess I didn't realize it would be so hard being friends with you guys. With people so different. Before, with my…my other friends, we all told each other everything. Because we were all the same. Sure, everyone had a best friend, but we were all one, so no one kept secrets from anyone else and no one felt left out. With you guys, we're all so different that I guess we all just have different relationships with each other. We're not the same. We're not all one unit. It's just easier for me to talk to Brian and Allison than you guys." Claire said, nodding at Bender and Andrew.

"Same for me with you, Claire." Allison agreed.

Andy nodded. "I guess that makes sense. I guess I can't really hold it against you, if you feel more comfortable talking to another girl about…certain things." He swallowed, like he was about to say something that was really tough for him to say. "I…I kind of thought that was the way things would go for me and Bender and Johnson. After guys' night out last year, and after I quit wrestling, I thought we'd be sort of a trio. But… that never happened."

Both Bender and Brian turned to look at Andrew, shocked looks on their faces. Andy continued. "I needed some male friends then more than ever, but you two were always going off together and never inviting me. When we agreed to stay friends after detention, I always figured Claire and Allison would do things together without us. I mean, they're girls, after all." He turned to the ladies. "So, yeah, it sucks to know that you felt like you could tell Brian about how you felt about our relationship, Alli, but when you tell Claire stuff that you don't tell me, or when you can't spend time with me because you're spending time with her, I get it. I can accept that. Because I thought it would be the same for me and the guys. But you guys," now he turned back to Brian, who had made his way to the floor, at the foot of Bender's chair, "don't tell me anything. Other than that one time we all went out, you guys are always off together. You always have little side conversations away from the rest of us when we're all together. It's like you two have your own little secret world sometimes, and no one else is a part of it. I'm not a part of it. Brian, you might think it sucks to have everyone running to you with your problems, everyone telling you every little thing. And maybe it does suck, and if so, I'm sorry we didn't pick up on it sooner. But at least you know you matter. At least you fit in with this group. You all were so worried that we wouldn't be friends after detention, but look at us now. Claire and Allison have each other, and you and Bender have each other, but what do I have? Who do I have?"

This time Andy had gone red in the face, and a few tears were rolling down his cheeks. He had left his four friends speechless.