A Taste of Desire

Disclaimer: I do not own The Breakfast Club.
Date Posted: August 27, 2006
Warnings: Bad language, as always
A/N: You'll never have to wait that long for a chapter again. I apologize sincerely. Thanks for everyone who kept reading, and who'll read this new post now. The reviews really helped keep me going!

Chapter Two: Voices Carry
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I don't remember when I first learned that life wasn't fair. I don't remember when I realized that nothing in this world is perfect. But I was young enough to be pretty fucking hurt by the realization– and I was old enough to want nothing to do with a world that was populated by people like my father. Oh yeah– it's about time I got to him, isn't it?

"Oh my God," some people would say– "do you really, like... have to deal with stuff like that? I'd totally die."

I wish you would die, you sorry bitches, and leave me alone in my own little sphere of indifference. Because I can't let myself care. I mean really... What do I have going for me? Nothing. What am I going to do with my life after school? Nothing. What, at the very end of it all, am I really worth?

I know the truth.

Nothing.

I'm not worth a damn thing.

No one is! And I hate those people who think that they're so fucking special, that they have something the rest of us lack. Don't they breathe the same air? Aren't they made of the same shit everybody else is? I sure as hell think so, no matter what high and mighty load of bull they've got shoved into their empty heads. I've been told my whole life that I'm nothing special– so I guess I had no choice but to believe it. I guess I had no choice but to finally accept that it's the truth. I'm not anything special. I know I'm a hell of a lot better than some of those other assholes in the world, so at least I have that going for me.

Well... That. And my amazingly good looks and winning personality.

Right. Because I'm so fucking cheery all the time.

I said earlier that I'd get to my father– but I'm not really in the mood to go into all of that. I don't really like him, I sure as hell don't respect him, and as soon as I'm able, I'm leaving that house and I'm not ever going to have to see him again. Maybe I hate him; I don't know– I hate a lot of things. But he's left more than just scars on me, that's for sure. I was hanging out with this girl for a while– she was gorgeous, and I was more than happy to consider her thoroughly. But one day, we were sitting around somewhere, just talking. And she asked me to pass her a drink.

"Hey Johnny," she said, "can you grab me something, please?"

The next day I told her to fuck off and I've never spoken to her since.

Because my father calls me Johnny. And the last thing I need with a girl is the image of his ugly face in my head.

(Line)

Claire was ashamed. And not only ashamed, but scared. What would her friends think of her? What would the rest of the school think of her? She did have a legitimate excuse; Allison was in her English Lit class, and Claire had forgotten to do the homework. That could certainly be her excuse to her friends... But that wasn't fair to the others– not fair at all.

Holding her head high, she walked into the cafeteria.

And, of course, her friends noticed when she started to pass their usual table.

"Hi Claire!" a blonde girl named Laurie said. "Where are you going?"

Claire smiled, trying not to let her determination waver. "Oh, I... I need to catch up on some homework, so I'm going to go sit with Allison and work on it with her." Her throat constricted with the little white lie. She actually sort of liked Allison and Brian– why couldn't she have said that?

"Allison?" The name was unfamiliar to Laurie and the other girls. "Claire, who's Allison?"

Greta, another pretty girl with pale skin and dark hair, suddenly gasped. "Oh, is she new? Ooh, fun! Invite her to sit with us, Claire."

But Claire shook her head. "No, I don't really think she's your kind of person. I mean, she's really nice but she's..." She bit her lip, searching for a euphemism for eats cap'n crunch and pixie stick sandwiches. "Odd."

"Odd?" Laurie laughed cutely. "Why would you want to eat lunch with somebody odd?"

Seeing Andy approach the table Allison and Brian already occupied, Claire gave her friends a half-hesitant smile. "I've got to go sit down. I'll see you after school at the mall, though. Bye!" She quickly walked away, her new designer shoes clicking against the linoleum.

When she got to the table with Brian, Allison, and Andy, she suddenly felt a surge of bravery. She set her lunch down on the table and plopped proudly down onto the hard seat. "Hi!"

Allison was the only one who didn't look shocked. Andy stared a moment before shrugging and continuing to engulf his two sandwiches. Brian kept stealing quick glances at her, as though unable to believe she was really there. Allison just opened three packets of salt and poured them on top of her tray of unidentifiable cafeteria food. "Hey Claire."

Andy grinned. "I saw you talking to your friends. I'm glad you could do it, Claire." He looked covertly at Allison. "I don't care what my friends think, either."

Claire shifted nervously in her seat. "I... I still care, Andy, but..." She sighed. "You guys accept me. I don't have to be fake." She nervously ran fingers through her neatly styled hair. "If that means social suicide, then so be it."

Allison grinned. "Glad to be the blade to run you through." She took a big gulp of her drink. "John would be proud."

Brian gasped at the mention of their missing member. "Oh! Guys, I saw him in the hall the other day. I mean, I sort of ran into him on accident, but I still talked to him, you know?"

Claire didn't look at him. "Really? I haven't talked to him."

"He mentioned you, though," Brian said quickly. "I mean... It was really just in passing, but he made it a point to say hello to me, and certainly not out of any consideration for me– he said he was doing it for you, Claire." Brian laughed. "Knowing Bender he just wanted to show you that he was better than you thought, but... He said hello to me, and told me to tell you that you were wrong." He coughed a moment, then cleared his throat and continued. "I think he wanted to show us all that he didn't care what people thought either– that he could break out against his own stereotype as well."

"Show all of us?" Andy asked as he continued to eat like a ravenous wolf, "Or just Claire?"

Allison and Brian shared a grin. "Just Claire."

(Line)

A confrontation was inevitable.

Bender had never been the kind of person to leave a spark to dwindle out– he always set things aflame. He hadn't really analyzed his own feelings for Claire, but he felt confident that he was right about her– she wouldn't want anything to do with him.

Or, were he being honest, he wanted to believe that because then it wouldn't feel like rejection. He didn't want to actively pursue a relationship with her, but there was something there– and he wanted to see if it could ignite.

So he waited by her locker that afternoon, hoping to goad her into a polite exchange of words. He wasn't disappointed.

Claire had just put a book back into her locker when she heard an obnoxious voice beside her.

"Well. What a surprise. Just fancy seeing you here, princess."

She hid her surprise as she whirled towards him. "It's you."

He nodded. "Yeah. It's me."

Claire looked around. None of her friends; none of his friends. A perfectly neutral territory– at least for the moment. "So... Why are you here? Come to bother or humiliate me?"

"Aww, come on, Red," he said with a smirk. "You don't sound too happy to see me."

She frowned and turned back to her previous task. "I wonder why." Before he could retort, however, she continued. "But if you're really not here just to pester me... Why are you talking to me?"

"To show you that I would. My friends are important to me, I'm not going to pretend they're not– but I make my own decisions. And if I want to talk to you..." He walked up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Then I will."

Claire swallowed nervously. She could feel him behind her, even though he was only touching that one spot on her body. He was warm and so real and it made her feel anxious and excited and almost giddy to be that near him. "Do you know how many people it would piss off to see us talking casually– like we were friends or something?"

"Hopefully a lot. What's the point in doing something if it doesn't make someone else livid?" But his crowd had just as much disdain for her type of person as her crowd had for his. And he wasn't going to let her in that easily anyway. So he backed away. He was going to make one last, obscene comment and then leave, but she stopped him.

"Hey," she said quietly.

He immediately got defensive. "What? You have something to say to me?"

She looked at him, her expression nothing but sincere. "You're still wearing my earring."

That surprised him. He nodded slowly, a thumb unconsciously coming up to rub behind the very ear he wore it in.

Claire smiled and moved her own hair back to show that she wasn't wearing a matching pair either. "Me too." Her smiled broadened out into a grin, and with a flirty flounce to her step, she shut her locker and walked off to her next class.

chapter end

End A/N: Thanks for reading! Gah, I'm SO SORRY it took so long to post. I really am ashamed. And I'm also sorry that I ended on the same note as the last chapter, but I wanted to go ahead and post this, and it seemed a good ending place-- and who knows when the next part will come out? (I assure you it won't be as long as the wait for this one was, though.) Thanks!

ILB