Brian

Brian raised the last mouthful of oatmeal to his mouth as he scanned his math homework one more time. As he expected, all of the answers were correct, but his ritual was difficult to break. If only he could check the less scholastic subjects before handing in the results. He had enough trouble getting the stuff even close, and he'd needed to put in the work in shop to get the grade he needed. Otherwise he may have to settle for a different college. Around him his family moved in their rehearsed, regular morning dance – coffee, newspaper, breakfast, briefcase, goodbyes. Always the same, always co-ordinated, always dull and boring. And at least on the outside, Brian went along with them. But inside his head, things were racing. Saturday's detention had been a real revelation for Brian. He'd seen a different life, a different way of coping. He never would have had the nerve to talk to Bender, or Andrew Clark. Andrew would have bawled him out. Then possibly hit him. Bender would have hit him first.

And as for the girls – sure it looked like the other four had paired off, but that was OK somehow. Brian, like all of the guys in 'the smart clubs', kept his own list of girls at school, kind of like a league table. And Claire had always been near the top of his list. Never quite made the number one slot, because there was that blonde that he sometimes managed to watch during physics class. But Claire was always there or thereabouts. Allison… had never really been someone he'd noticed before. He knew she was there, but somehow her attitude and appearance had made her very forgettable. That had changed somewhat after her makeover. The really strange thing was that the girls hadn't treated him like some kind of throwback. For that one, short Saturday in school, he was just another guy. Girls had never been like that before with him. He knew that he would get his chance – and things would be different now. Math now wasn't the most important thing he could learn at Shermer High.

Still, he mused as he stood up and placed his bowl under the faucet, it's easier to say that when you know you've got all the answers right.