Brian walked out of his fifth period Honors Latin 2 class. This had easily been the worst day of classes in his entire life. Every single minute dragged on for what seemed to be hours. He had trouble concentrating, he almost failed his history quiz, his mind was on his social life for the first time in all of high school. He could now look forward to a quiet lunch period at the nerd's table discussing Star Wars, Star Trek, StarGate, etc.
He had seen only two of his new friends the entire day and conversed briefly with only one. He had an almost comforting talk with Andy, and he also saw Allison briefly in the hall the period before, they had not interacted. He was just walking into lunch when he saw his next one: Claire. She was leaving the cafeteria in a hurry; she was looking distressed, as if something traumatic had happened to her. She ran passed him without noticing him, must have been something important. Broke a nail perhaps? Brian thought as he went into the cafeteria, but didn't give it much mind figuring he'd find out sooner or later.
He entered the cafeteria to a commotion he wasn't expecting. He saw several teachers and several students standing in the middle of the large room arguing. He didn't want to get close, but he wanted to know what was going on. Brian walked over to a nearby table where he saw a few of his friends and sat down facing the group. "Hey Bri-guy, have you caught any of this?" His friend Thomas asked him as the rest of the table greeted him. "No what happened?" Brian responded but his question was quickly answered as he spotted his two friends and the unlikely pair of Andy and Bender.
Bender seemed to be arguing with two school administrators while Andy was talking to Mr. Vernon. Brian thanked god that Bender wasn't arguing with Vernon, he knew very well what that was like. Brian also spotted several jocks amongst the crowd, all talking to teachers and the school security guard.
"What happened?" Brian asked to no one in particular, as he stared, he wanted answers. "Well I guess that punk looking kid was talking to that wrestler or something, what's his name? Clark, perhaps. Well they were standing there when some other guys, big guys, jocks walked up and they all started arguing. The punk got punched, and they all started going at it. It was two on maybe four, I'm not sure, it didn't look like the punk and Clark were fighting, fists were flying everywhere, WWF style. It got broken up pretty quickly, it was going to get major though." Brian could not believe it, actually, he could believe it, types like Bender and Andy have so much testosterone built up they would punch a sandwich if it didn't taste good. But still, them fighting on the same side?
The small mob of people was beginning to disperse, and Brian looked to see what was happening. He remembered Claire, and wondered if this had anything to do with the fight. He saw Andy, Bender, and another one of those jocks being led to out of the cafeteria with Vernon and a small throng of teachers. Brian decided it was out of his hands and that he would probably find out later. So he bit into his peanut-butter and jelly with the crusts cut off and tried not to think about it.
Andy walked out of the cafeteria followed by a surprising group of people; Bender was at his rear, Vernon following closely behind as if she were chasing them, and he was followed by a few other teachers acting as though they were on a mission. It had been an unexpectedly eventful lunch period so far Andy thought. It had actually been a very short lunch period.
Andy recalled it like this: he walked into the caf and walked over to a bickering Bender and Claire. They were arguing about long hair or something. Claire was right, Bender's hair made him look like a fag. Bender got defensive and asked something about curtains and drapes being the same color. Claire slapped him on the arm and Andy told him to clean up his act, but it was no big deal. Just when they were about to move on and get some food (Andy had four sandwiches, a bag of potato chips, an assortment of fruit, and a can of juice, and he was hungry) disaster struck.
"Something wrong here Claire, Andy?" Mitch Edson, a football player, was standing between Claire and Bender like he was protecting Claire. "Something wrong with you, or something?" Bender replied with a mock gorilla voice and smirk, he lived for shit like this, Andy could tell. "Thanks Mitch, but we're fine here," Andy said, trying to keep things cool despite his nervousness.
"Claire, you okay?" Mitch asked, shooting look from her to Bender. Claire was silent; she looked scared though, embarrassed maybe, Andy wished she wouldn't look like that. John seemed to have noticed this and looked at her with disgust. "I love how this is how its gonna happen, you know, you can play in the dirt so long as you keep your hands clean huh, Cherrie?" Bender asked incredulously. "John, stop," But Claire was cut off by Mitch "Get out of here scuzzball, she doesn't need you being an ass to her, " Mitch said as he pushed Bender. Bender Pushed back, and Mitch punched him.
The next thing that happened, as Andy recalled himself doing it, were two hits. Him hitting Mitch and Mitch hitting the floor. What Andy hadn't noticed was a few of his, Claire's, and Mitch's friends behind them. "What the fuck is wrong with you Clark?" said one of them as he pushed Andy back. The last thing Andy wanted was trouble, he cursed himself for punching Mitch but he had to. "Fucking dickweed! New friend or something?" one of Andy's friends Chris yelled at him. As Chris approached him Andy looked afraid of someone for the first time. Chris quickly approached him; Andy was not ready for this. Chris was starting to wind up when he saw it.
For a burner who had never played a sport in his life, Bender laid him out harder than he had ever seen in a cafeteria. Chris was down, and the scuffle began. After no more than a minute of fists and feet flying every which way, mostly at Bender, the fight was broken up. There were teachers everywhere and they were looking for explanations. Vernon started up with Bender but Andy interceded, and after what seemed to be a while, he was walking down the hall to the Dean's office. He was sat down in Vernon's office next to Bender, Claire was nowhere to be found, and the first thing he heard was "Mr. Clark, got a meet this Saturday?"
Allison walked the halls every lunch period. She had been doing this all of high school. She figured this was a lot easier than trying to find someone to sit with in the cafeteria. Every now and again she sat with some of the artsier new-wave kids by the elevator and talked. She wouldn't consider these kids her friends exactly, but they all seemed to accept her. But today she decided just to roam the halls to pass the time.
Allison was just passing the Dean's office when she ran into them. Bender and Andy stormed out of the office looking absolutely livid. Bender walked on, apparently not noticing her, but Andy stopped. "Hey," Andy said quietly, as if he'd been beaten down. "Hey," She responded even quieter.
It was funny; she had tried to outdo him in how quietly they greeted each other. She thought about how stupid that was and for one of the first times in her life, she took the initiative. "Are you okay?" She asked as she saw him trying to calm down. "No," Andy responded. "Well, would you like to walk with me?" She asked him, he nodded and they silently walked down the hall together.
They walked with no particular place in mind. They walked around the library, they both stopped and looked at each other and smiled. Allison thought about what a transformation she saw in Andy. At first he looked like a wild beast ready to hit anything, but only after a few minutes of silence he was as peaceful as anyone. "Do you want to talk about it?" Allison asked him. "I thought you didn't want to talk about things," He responded. "Well now I do," Allison said with a small smile.
And so Andy told her the entire story, everything from talking with Claire and Bender, up until the fight, and then about his talk with Vernon. She sat there quietly, she liked listening to people, it was talking she wasn't comfortable with. She could tell he was very comfortable talking to her, this made her really happy deep down. She was shocked by the story and how fast things could escalate. She hoped to god that something like this would never happened to them.
"I'm so sorry about your meet Andy," Allison said as sympathetically as possible. "Did you get detention?" "No, Vernon knew this was punishment enough. Personally I'd rather have detention so I wouldn't have to deal with my old man for 9 hours." Andy answered glumly.
"Well at least you stood up for Bender, that's important," Allison said trying to sound encouraging. "I'm happy you did that," she added. "I know, it still sucks. I was the only one standing up for him too." Andy explained. "Claire didn't say a thing, I don't know how much he liked that." Allison could tell by Andy's explanation that everything was not peachy with those two. "Well I'm sure they'll be fine," Allison added as she took Andy's hand. "Do you want to come to an art show with me on Saturday afternoon?" Allison asked, without a lot of confidence. "I've never been, I'm not too into art," Andy replied. "Okay," Allison said trying not to sound disappointed. "I never said I wouldn't go, we'll see." Andy said and they smiled. After that they sat down in the hallway in almost complete silence for the rest of the lunch period.
Today was not a good day, Claire thought as she sat in the stall of the girl's bathroom in Shermer High School. She was miserable, luckily she didn't cry until she reached the bathroom. None of her girlfriends had bothered to come after her. Maybe they were afraid because of the event between the guys, or maybe they were so perturbed by her talking to John Bender that they assumed she wasn't friends with them. Her friends weren't as bad as she made them out to be, but they sure weren't coming through for her today.
She had actually been looking forward to lunch today. She was excited to see John, especially after she had been asked out on a date to the hockey game. She was talking with John at the cafeteria about hockey; she had no idea that he played a sport ever in his life. They were laughing and being friendly and she told him he'd look better with short hair. It got a little hostile when Andy got there and after John's disgusting comment, but everything was fine, at least until their little incident happened.
She decided it was time to figure out her life; her makeup was smeared, she had no clue where her books were, and she hadn't eaten yet. Claire cleaned herself up, remembered she left her books in her locker, and she left the bathroom feeling a little bit better. She wanted so badly to talk to John but she was so afraid of what would happen. She felt bad about how she froze up in the cafeteria, but he had no clue where she was coming from. John was not very understanding about what it was like to be Claire, and vice versa. This did not make her feel better about their chances.
She wondered whether one single day made them a couple or not. It did not make any sense; she had no idea what he thought either. He never said anything about them going together, but she did know that it seemed to be going well until the rest of Shermer High got involved. She would just have to apologize, explain herself, and try to move on, with or without him. Maybe it was just easier if they didn't, but maybe it would be better if they did this together. She thought that this might not only be good for them, but it could also help Andy, Allison, and Brian. Maybe Brian would be someone good to talk to about this, if she saw Brian, she would have to confide in him.
Claire was walking down the hall when she saw him. Oh great, she thought, she wasn't quite ready for this at that moment, especially without a pre-drama pep talk with her girls. He was at his locker and kicking it, or the locker next to his. He probably wasn't aiming, just kicking blindly. "Who the fuck stole my fucking lock, all my shits been fucking nicked!" He yelled to her as she walked towards him. She was surprised that he noticed her without anything to her.
"I have an extra lock," she quietly, nervously. "If you want it," Claire quickly added. "Yeah, you're gonna do that for someone you don't want to talk to when it counts?" John said to her inquisitively. "Well I lost mine last year, and after I bought a new one, I found my old one in my purse," she explained. "Daddy buy it for you? Did you guys go to the mall, get lunch, and find the best damn lock for daddy's girl?" John asked mockingly. "Okay, if you don't want it, I could always just go to my own locker." Claire was sorry for what she did, but she didn't deserve treatment like this. "Well I wouldn't want to upset Chris." John retorted.
So princess wants to make up, John thought to himself as Claire looked up at him. She looked upset, like she had been slighted. "I'm sorry John, I just, I just like, I froze and like, everything happened quickly and I wasn't thinking," Claire babbled sounding increasingly distressed. "Well if you aren't ready to talk to me in public, then we can just walk our separate ways," John said. "John I want to- but," "BUT WHAT?!" John interrupted, he was sick of her shit.
"John, I want to, I do, I'm sorry!" Claire exclaimed desperately. "Here's your earring, you miss it? Lucky I didn't pawn it off. You know that would have happened if my dad saw this?" John went on angrily. "John, stop doing this, stop!" "Fuck this locker, I don't care about this shit, and fuck you, I'm out of here," John shouted as he slammed his locker shut and marched down the hall. John didn't have the time or patience to give her back her earring, she probably had four more pairs, John thought.
"Where are you going, John?" John heard Claire ask as he walked away from her. "Well you can't expect me to spend the rest of the in this dump with the likes of princess Claire when she's all upset!" "I'm coming with you! But let me get my coat!" Claire yelled back as she followed him. John stopped, turned around, and almost smiled, but he couldn't let her get to him. "You are not coming with me." "Yes I am," "You wouldn't want detention with me this weekend would you," "I DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT!" Claire finally yelled, tired of this argument.
"I don't care, at least I'll be able to spend Saturday with you maybe," Claire said sounding a little bit unsure of herself. "Where's your locker?" John asked clearly annoyed. "This way," Claire dictated. They walked quietly, John had lost, Claire had won. John was angry, he hated losing arguments, especially to someone like Claire. They reached her locker, and she started going through it without saying anything while John stood there against the locker next to hers impatiently. John looked through her locker, "Maids definitely not on vacation," John said eyeing it. Her locker was utterly perfect, perfect in the worst way possible; it was organized, clean, and pink. John looked at it as though it would he would turn into Andrew Clark if he stared at it too long, so he looked down at his boots instead, they were getting old.
"Here's my extra lock," Claire said to a surprised John, he reluctantly took it. "Thanks," he said trying not to sound too grateful. "Claire what are you doing?" John heard an unfamiliarly annoying voice behind him. "Claire, where are you going?" another voice asked as they turned to see two of Claire's fellow pretty pretty princesses. "Jackie, I'm just going out for a bit, I'll talk to you later," Claire said hastily as she turned and started to walk away. "Claire, what are you doing with him?" princess number two asked. "It's none of your business, but if you must know, I'm going home," Claire responded turning around. "With himm?" They said in unison. "Yes, and I don't really care what you have to say about this, sorry, but I don't." Claire said loudly and with purpose.
John was loving every minute of this. "Claire, what the fuck is going on with you?" One of them said, but it didn't matter, him and Claire were already on their way out. "Wonder how many detentions you're gonna to get, Cherry? You think you're up for this?" John asked her amusedly. "Well this months good, but after that I'm gonna have to check my calender," Claire said with a laugh. They walked out of Shermer High school to Claire's car and took off. This was the most expensive car John had ever been in, but it wasn't the car that mattered but who was in it. They drove off without any destination in particular. Hopefully Claire didn't try to make this a crummy date.
Shermer High School changed to seventh period after what was not only the longest lunch period in Shermer's history, but also the longest lunch period in the history of all fanfiction.