Chapter 5: The Final Bell

A/N: Okay, I felt kinda bad leaving you people hanging for an update, so yeah, I did all the rest of my editing today.

Allison walked over to the old supply closet and gingerly knocked on the door. Andy stood up and came over.

"Allison! I wasn't expecting you."

"Who were you expecting? Claire?"

"Bender. He said we were gonna hang out in here."

"Oh. Well he only did that because I need to talk to you."

"You do? What's wrong? Because, no offense, you look kind of sick."

"Yeah. Right after you gave me that note, I was rummaging through my purse in the bathroom and it fell in the toilet, and even though I wanted to read it, I wasn't about to stick my hand in toilet water and fish it out."

Andy laughed. "Don't worry. It wasn't anything bad."

"You didn't break up with me?"

"God no. Besides, I would do that in person. Not in a note."

"Oh."

Some of the sick feeling Allison had subsided. He didn't break up with her. For that, she was relieved. They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Do you want to know what the note said?"

"Sure. I mean as long as you're not dumping me it doesn't really matter."

"Oh. Well it said how I love you, and how I'm sorry that even though I felt it before since we shared Biology class together…I had listened to my stupid friends who said they'd disown me if I actually went out with a "kook like Allison Reynolds." He wrapped his arms around her. "Now I see what an idiot I was, and now I really could care less what those narrow minded idiots think."

Allison grinned and kissed Andy. "Okay, now that I'm not shitting myself with worry…I guess I can relax."

"Why were you so worried that I was going to dump you? Because of my friends?"

"Kind of."

"Oh. Like I said, you can be assured of two things: My friends can all go to hell where you're concerned, and I will have the common courtesy to speak to you in person in the unlikely event that I need to dump you." Andy sat down next to Allison for a while, and just looked at her.

"So, where are you supposed to be?" Allison asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Home Ec."

"Sounds about as stimulating as Calculus. Abrams had to go to some meeting at the school board. I guess they might sack Vernon, since in their eyes he let Bender trash the library. So Sloss is there instead—what a joke."

"Yeah, when Vernon was giving me the 'Andrew Clarke, you're an athlete, not a delinquent' speech, he seemed to be missing some of his usual cockiness and arrogance. I think I came in right after he found out."

"Sucks for him."

"Yeah—hey…you want to come to my practice this afternoon? We're gearing up for the final meet of the season on Saturday."

Allison paused a second and racked her brain…her social calendar was never exactly full, but on alternate Mondays, she was stuck supervising the neighbor's 11-year-old daughter while her yuppie parents hit happy hours all over the greater Chicago region. It was pretty easy. Sit on the couch, make sure Anna does her homework, cook up some dinner, and make sure she's in bed by 9. She usually whiled away the time drawing, and then left at 9:30.

She sighed. "I'd love to, but I have to watch my neighbor's kid today. They're massive yuppies and cruise the general area and hit as many happy hours as they can by 9:30. It's pretty stupid, but they pay me about 8 bucks an hour, so I can't complain. You have a practice tomorrow?"

"Yeah, you could come to tomorrow's. Have fun."

Just then, the bell rang. They kissed for a minute, and then Allison had to run off to catch her bus. "I'll call you! Love you Andy." She yelled, as she bolted from the supply closet. She made it by the skin of her teeth, the bus door snapping shut a split-second after the last strap of her bookbag cleared the door. She plopped down in the first empty seat she saw and grinned, extremely pleased with herself. Things seemed like they'd be better than they'd been in a while.

And so that concludes "The Monday After". I have begun a sequel called "This is What Dreams Are Made Of", so keep your eyes peeled!