At around 5:30 PM John walked into his small, empty house after what seemed to be a pretty delightful day. Not only did he get to punch a few jocks, he also got to skip class, both pastimes of his, but he also saw Claire Standish tell her friends off, a true spectacle. John put his jacket down on the sofa and walked into his kitchen. The kitchen, like the rest of his house was both small, and filthy. There were dishes piled up in the sink, it was a rare occasion when the Benders got around to doing dishes, the tiles for the floor, not only looked cheap, were also filthy. Assorted items that belonged anywhere but in a kitchen peppered the room, a multiplicity of different tools, books (unread), clothes, and so on could be found everywhere from the table to the shelves.
John heard the telephone ring, he debated on whether or not to pick it up, it was probably for his parents, and it was definitely nothing good. John decided to be productive today so he picked up the phone. "Yeah?" John said uncouthly. "Mr. Bender, this is Veronica Lipinski form Shermer High School, I was wondering if you were aware your son John was not present for his seventh, eighth, or ninth period classes today, or his first period class for that matter?" The woman said in a matter-of-factly voice that made John cringe. He had to think fast, so he put on the grumpiest, most John Bender Sr-ish voice he could muster and said, "Umm, yes Johnny wasn't feeling well so he called my wife at work, and she uh had him go home." This was not one of the best lies he's ever told. "Might I remind you, Mr. Bender, that your son does not have what we would like to call an 'exemplary attendance record' here at Shermer," the probably fat woman with oversized glasses said.
"We are aware Ms, uh what was your name again?" John said coarsely. "Ms. Veronica Lipinski, Mr. Bender." "Ms. Lipidski, we thought that by excusing Johnny from school that it would be in his health's best interest, we would never want to subject him to further school absences," John said, he knew his father would never talk like this, but what had to be done had to be done. "Well, if these continue Mr. Bender, I'm sure that the Dean Mr. Vernon would have no hesitation in holding John back another year." The woman said sternly. "Oh, uh, Dick Vernon would do that, Ms. Lipidski?" Bender said stifling a laugh. "Yes, Mr. Bender, he would, well have a good day." And with that the woman hung up. John was going to have to play it safe with ditching class from now on.
He thought about how he kind of had a reason to go to school now other than academics. He had a few new friends, well hopefully. Andy shocked him; they had fought along side each other. Andy sacrificed his friendships with a few of his asshole jock friends for him. He never would have expected this from him. Claire had surprised him as well, they had a fun time ditching school, they got a long overdue lunch, they drove around in her sweet car, and then they topped it off with little kissy kissy session outside his neighborhood. He thought about how he made her drop him off at the entrance of his neighborhood, he did not want her to see where he lived. He knew she was better than that, but he wasn't ready for that, but he didn't care, he now had a girlfriend, it was like 'totally ofish' he thought in a mock preppy girl voice.
Allison was sitting on her couch watching TV when her parents got home. "Hi mom," Allison said uncharacteristically. "Oh hi Allison," Her mother said quietly, almost surprised that her daughter was greeting her. Mr. Reynolds walked past them hastily not wanting to be caught up in familial conversation. Allison wondered why she was talking to them. They didn't talk to her ever, but she figured that her parents might reciprocate if she made an effort. "How was your day?" Mrs. Reynolds asked Allison. "It was good, and yours?" "Ohh it was alright, everything's backed up at work," Her mother said disinterestedly as she walked into the kitchen. The conversation had ended as quickly as it started, but it was an improvement.
She thought about what Andy was probably going through right now. His parents were probably yelling at him, at least as far as she knew they weren't beating him like what Bender got. She pictured Andy sitting on a chair in the middle of the room while his father stood there and screamed at him about how wrestling was his life. She hadn't participated in athletics since she was a small girl. When she played soccer she would stand there and when she got the ball she would either pick it up, or she would take it straight to the goal and score. In T-ball she would sit in the outfield and pick flowers and weeds. It was no surprise to her parents when she asked them if she could quit. They didn't fight it; they probably figured it saved them a trip to the park every afternoon.
She sat in her living room staring at the television but not watching it, while her parents ate dinner in the next room. Allison was worried about Andy, he had really stuck his neck out for Bender, and she hoped that Bender would be appreciative of what he did for him. Andy not only lost a match, but he also lost a few friends, granted those goons were assholes, but still. She enjoyed her walk with him, Andy was so strange to her, once the layers are peeled off she could see them being together. She, however, could not see herself with a 'guy who rolls around with other guys.'
She knew that sacrifices had to be made, and wasn't sure what she would have to give up, thankfully not friends as Andy had already done. She wondered what her parents would think if she over got to bring him over. They would probably be indifferent to him; she wondered if they would care about someone like John. Allison had been kissed before, but the boy ended up telling her that he did it on a bet. That did wonders for her self-esteem. Well, she now had a boy who liked her and she was sure that out of fear of missing matches he steered clear of gambling.
Claire looked up from her French 2 book to see her mother standing in front of her. Her arms were crossed and she had a stern look on her face. "Did your father tell you it was alright to skip class again?" Mrs. Standish asked her daughter with resentment. "No mom Dad had nothing to do with this," Claire replied disinterestedly. "Than who had something to do with this?" "Mom, I just had a really bad day and I needed to come home, that's all," Claire explained without putting much effort into this lie. "Claire you came home at around 6, in my day of school we were done with class and home by no later than 3 in the afternoon." Claire hated when her mom talked about her 'schooling',
"Mom I just needed some time to clear my head, I went for a drive." Claire explained. "Claire, you need to be thinking about your future, what about college?" "Mom, you don't need to patronize me because you got your MRS degree at Loyola Maryland," Claire snapped. "Excuse me, you do NOT talk like that!" Mrs. Standish shouted at her daughter. Claire rolled her eyes and looked away, her mom was stunned by Claire's cheek. And with that her mom stormed out of the room leaving an aggravated Claire alone in her sizeable, pink, pink room.
She looked back down at her book, French was easily her favorite subject in school, she loved the language, she loved the refinement, she loved the eloquence, and she loved how John hated it. She reflected on the events of the day; the fight was bad, but it turned into a positive experience with John. She stood up to her friends, she didn't really need to, but she did it anyway. Claire figured that her friends would accept her, they weren't horrible people, but her reputation and public image would definitely take a hit because of the fight. People would not understand her being with John, and same story with Andy. Andy was definitely in trouble with most of his friends, before she rushed out of the cafeteria, she saw Andy hit Mitch Edson.
Everyone was making sacrifices because of Saturday, she was skeptical about the reception the group would get, but she didn't think people would ever freak out about it. She entertained the idea of having all her new friends over. That would be really fun, her parents wouldn't really care; Claire had had a few parties in her high school career. If not a party, she could always just have them over for dinner; even thought hat would be lame, stupid fun things were not as important to her anymore.
She wondered if she would be able to go to the hockey game with John. She didn't know what would happen with her punishment for ditching class. There was a strong possibility of John being grounded; actually there was a stronger possibility of something worse happening to him. She felt really bad about dropping John off today; he wouldn't let her near his house. He said something stupid and stubborn like he 'wanted to walk' but she could tell he didn't want her to see where he lived. It was inevitable, but perhaps they'd get there sooner than later, or so she hoped.
Andy's ears hurt, they literally hurt; the feeling he had in his ears reminded him of what it felt like after a concert. He could hardly hear his radio; he was sitting on his bed looking out the window, it was dark out, it was light when his dad started in on him. He had never been yelled at so much in his life. His mother tried to calm his father down, but Andy was not escaping his wrath this time. After his father was done with him, his mother came in to pick up the pieces. She was comforting and supportive, she consoled him that they just wanted him to go to a good school and be happy.
Fortunately, he could still keep his scholarships he had lined up, the match he would miss was not an important one; there were no scouts or recruiters coming this weekend. He was thankful for this because he knew it would be his ass, not because he truly cared about whether or not some bloodsucking recruiters got to see him pound some kid from the west side who didn't stand a chance.
He never had a chance to think about the events of the day, his right fist was sore from the action. He wondered if he could ever recover his friendships with Mitch, Chris, and some of the other guys. He cursed them for instigating the fight with Bender. They knew he would fight back, he had to; but what they hadn't expected was Andy helping him out. It felt really good to fight those guys, they deserved every hit. Andy didn't hate them at all, but he knew they deserved it for some of the things they've done. Every single one of the people he hit today had done something on par, or even worse than what he had done to Larry Lester. He knew this was his punishment for what he did to that poor guy. He wasn't going to apologize to him yet, but he would have to some day.
He wondered if he would be able to go to the art show. An art show could not sound less appealing to Andy, but what did sound appealing was a day with Allison. He knew he would have a fun time, he would pretend to be interested, they'd walk around, do something mushy like hold each others hand, maybe they'd see a movie after, do something normal. He tried not to think about it. It was probably not going to happen, with the way his father reamed him today, he was gonna be in his room a lot in the next week.
Andy's thoughts were interrupted when his bedroom door opened. Andy looked up, his father was standing in the doorway, "Hey sport, sorry I yelled at ya earlier, I was just angry. I don't want to see you lose your chances at school and wrestling, and your future." His father sounded sincere, but Andy wasn't having it. "Pop, I don't regret what I did, they asked for it," "I know, and I'm not sayin' you can't stick up for yourself, I mean, your manhood was bein' threatened." Andy knew his father would make it about this. "Dad, I was sticking up for a friend, not my manhood," "Whose this kid? Someone I know?" "Nah dad, you wouldn't know him." "He play anything?" "No, this kids like a slacker type," Andy finished; he could tell his dad wasn't liking that part. "Well, let's just try and be smart about people, and the fights, you know?" his father said and he left. Andy looked back outside his window, his old man would freak if he knew he John Bender.
Brian finished up all of his homework early that night. He started as soon as he got home, and he rushed through every bit of it. He was glad to be done, he needed some free time. He looked around his room for something to do, his parents rarely allowed him to watch TV on the weekdays, so he had to make due with whatever he could find. He looked at some unfinished Star Wars models he had been working on this month, a half finished Tie-Fighter, and an X-Wing that needed to be painted.
About twenty-seven minutes later he finished and painted both. Brian may be bad at building things that functioned in a household, but if it had something to do with space, he could build it. He had exhausted his activities for the evening. It was too late to call a friend, he was also grounded; he decided just to go downstairs to see if he could find something to do. He walked downstairs to hear his parents talking about bills and how money was tight and whatnot. Brian couldn't stand to hear stuff like that.
It was ironic to Brian how two people as smart as his parents could ever be struggling to make ends meet. Well, his family was making ends meet, they weren't struggling; but compared to what he was being promised for an engineering degree, he wondered what happened to his father. Mr. Johnson was a brilliant man, he did not wear the pants in the relationship with his wife by any means, but he was brilliant. His father was an extremely passive person, who never really got into it with Brian about grades, behavior and whatnot, his mother was the disciplinarian, an expert one at that.
"Brian, finished your homework already?" Brian heard his father called over to him as he sat on the couch. "Yeah, I had an easy day, pop," Brian said, turning on the television. "Hey Brian, would you come in here please?" His mother call, Brian complied. "How are your grades this term so far?" his mother inquired. "They're all good except for shop, mom," "Brian, we need you to get that up, we're going to be visiting colleges this summer!" Mrs. Johnson said callously. "I know mom, I'm gonna work really hard on this one." "Well, get to it, and it'll be all fine," "Yes mom, can I go watch some TV?" Brian asked hopefully. "Brian, it's a weeknight, I'm sure you can find something to look over for school, aren't midterms are in three weeks?" his father said sternly, not looking up from his bills.
Brian walked upstairs, he thought of his friends (again). And it hit him. The fight! He couldn't believe he forgot about that. He needed to find out what happened. Where they okay? Where they kicked out of school? How badly did Bender get it for this one?
He racked his disproportionately sized brain for ideas to find out what happened. He couldn't leave the house. But he could call, there was nothing in the agreement of being grounded that said you couldn't make a phone call. He ran down to the kitchen, past his parents, to the cabinet. He quickly located and retrieved the school phone book. He ran upstairs to the phone in the hallway. He looked up the first name he could fine, Bender, John. Brian immediately turned the page away, he was afraid of even calling that house. Clarke, Andrew; no, Standish, Claire, okay.
He dialed the number, it rang for almost a minute; no answer. He hung up the phone, frustrated. How was he ever going to find out what happened. Well, it was late, it's understandable that they didn't answer his call. He elected not to pursue this further, figuring he'd found out in the morning. He bid his parents goodnight, and he unrestfully headed for bed.