Chapter Five

"Okay, okay, check this out." Cody stuck his tongue out at curled it into his nose.

The Breakfast Club all laughed, looking over at Jim. "Your turn, man." Dominic chuckled, taking a drink of his milk.

Jim smirked, bending his arms all the way behind his head and popping his elbows into odd angles. "How's that one?"

The group jumped back as milk shot out of Dominic's nose. "Where the hell did you learn that?" He asked, wiping the leftover milk from his face.

Jim shrugged. "I've always known how to do it."

Claire jumped as she heard John's voice and a loud boom from inside the play house. "Are you okay up there?" She called, just as she noticed John and Amelia coming down the slide. "Oh my God." She covered her mouth trying to hide her laughter.

"What?" He asked, setting Amelia down at the table.

"You look like a porcupine!" Kaylie didn't even bother to hide her laughter, nearly falling off her seat as she snorted.

John rolled his eyes, smoothing his hair down. "Just be happy it's growing back." He picked up his cheese burger, taking a bite like a normal human.

Amelia guarded her chicken nuggets and fries against him, glaring at him every time he moved with a look she'd obviously learned from him. She watched him so carefully that she missed Andy stealing a fry.

Allison giggled, pointing to her boyfriend. "You better watch it. She's been hanging around John an awful lot."

John shot her a look, swallowing his food before speaking. "I'm getting better."

Claire smiled, shaking her head. "Only because you can't get too worked up yet."

The table went silent, remembering John's seizures and how bad they used to get if he got too excited. They remembered the one at the fundraiser concert gone wrong, knowing how that still got on John's nerves. The fact that he'd been wrongly accused of being a meth addict by choice burned them all up. They'd been trying to think of a way to bring that to the attention of the media, but were yet to think of something.

John finished his burger, smiling as Amelia pushed her empty food box away. "You full already?"

She nodded, leaning back in her seat and patting her belly like John did after a good meal. "I could get used to this."

Claire gave a sad smile, remembering how thin John had been when he'd first come to her for help. He was gaining weight again, but he wasn't packing it on quite as fast as he had been before he'd been drugged by the Silverman's while protecting Amelia. He'd lost a lot of what he'd been able to gain when in the grips of the withdrawals, and was practically having to start over.

They all knew he was still struggling with the cravings, but they also knew he was getting healthier with every passing day. The dark circles under his eyes were almost invisible now, and his skin tone was almost back to his normal healthy tan. But they also knew he still had a long way to go. Three months of recovery may have seemed like a lot to anyone who'd ever dealt with what most of the burners had, but to them, three months flew by like three hours. They were all used to cramming twenty years into one day for most of their lives, that most had forgotten that life wasn't a race against time, but a float down a river.

That was something that they all struggled with on a day to day basis. Most of them had taken up music to help them cope, but others had found quieter methods -much to the joy of the parents.

Clarissa turned to the other adults at her table. "They're all looking better, aren't they?" It was true, all the burner kids were starting to look healthier than when they'd first became a part of the Breakfast Club.

Kathrine nodded, pointing to the smallest of them. "Even Tyler's looking better."

Vernon looked at the kids, shaking his head. "Never in a million years did I think that I'd become so close to these kids."

Thomas nodded, looking around the table at them all. "I don't think any of us thought we would."

Paul chuckled, shaking his head at the irony of what had happened. "I used to tell Brian to avoid them, I was worried that he'd end up getting high all the time, but now we're moving into the same house as all of them."

Chris Clark looked over at the teens. "We've got a bunch of winners over there. They're just in a different kind of competition than Andrew."

"More of an individual sport." Vernon looked up as the teens started laughing again, shaking his head as he saw that Landon had Jessop in a head lock. "Landon!" He looked back to the adults. "I swear those two are worse than all of the Breakfast Club combined."

Clarissa chuckled. "Only because they're brothers, and the only others who are related are cousins." She pulled her coat on, remembering the odd Bender stare that the boys shared. "And I'm glad there's not more of them."

"Are two Bender's too many for you?" Jan laughed, motioning for the teens to get ready to go.

"One Bender is too many for most." Vernon stated, following behind the line of teens. "Isn't that right John?"

John smirked, giving Vernon a look that they were both familiar with. "Eat my shorts." He chuckled, picking Amelia up and placing her on his shoulders.