Sorry this has been a long time coming. I had midterms and was on spring break during which I had been sleeping and drinking a lot. Hope this will satisfy any cravings for breakfast club you might have. Cheers. Happy Easter and St. Pattys Day.
Brian had checked everywhere; the bleachers, the gym, the library (he wasn't surprised when he didn't find him there), the cafeteria, even behind the school. Every minute Brian spent outside of class was a minute spent looking for John Bender. John got him into this mess, well to be fair Brian was one of the first to join him in this irresponsible display of substance abuse, but Brian wanted John to get him out of this mess. Of all the months for the Johnson's to request their son's urine, they had to pick this one.
Brian's father seemed to be on his side, maybe if he kept himself in line his parents wouldn't even make him take it. The possibilities of getting off the hook and the probabilities of him losing his parent's trust for life flew through his head. This was a bad situation that a week ago Brian would never have guessed he would be in. He needed John's help, he would know what to do, he had probably needed to pass many drug tests in his time. He was having no such luck with finding his delinquent friend today.
Brian entertained the idea of using someone else's pee, but what if his mom made him procure 'the sample' in her presence? This was a sticky situation, Brian thought to himself as he opened his locker to get his books for third period. "Hey Brian, hows it going?" Brian heard behind him. Claire was walking towards him with one of her prissy looking blonde friends. "Oh hey Claire, things are alright. Did you end up going to that hockey game with John? I saw that they won last night," Brian said glumly, but conversationally. "Yeah it was really fun, Brian this is Jackie, Jackie, Brian," Claire said enthusiastically. They both exchanged greetings, and Brian got down to business. "Hey have you seen Bender today?" he asked hopefully. "No I haven't, have you? I wonder if he's in school." Claire said, Jackie rolled her eyes; Brian noticed but didn't say anything. "Well if you see him, tell him I need to talk to him," Brian said quietly trying not to give anything away. "Yeah of course, anyway, I have to jet to class, I'll see you at lunch?"
And with that Brian Claire walk away with her friend in her wake. He wondered what it would be like to have someone always walking with him. To constantly be with a friend was a very foreign concept to Brian. Brian wondered if she even realized what she had, friends, money, parents who didn't stifle her. Claire had problems of her own, but Brian just wished that for once he would have someone walking in his wake to class. Right now he would settle for a friend to loan him some pee.
Andy walked out of his third period class after an exhausting lecture about the writing process. English and writing had never been his strength in school, and now that Shermer was preparing him for college, he had to take some tough class making him write college-level essays and whatnot. He had been up late doing homework and was pretty beat, all he wanted to do was sleep it all off. Andy had also thought a lot about his friends, his sport, and his father. His brother had always been into the whole wrestling thing, and that mindset had motivated Andy just enough to try to retake at least a little of what he had before recent events.
He decided late the night before that he was going to try and make peace with the people he had offended and that would be enough. If he could wrestle, have his old friends, and have his new friends, that would make the rest of his high school experience pleasant enough for him. He thought of his graduation and how nice it would be to leave Shermer with Allison as his girlfriend, and to remain a popular athlete, he would also be content with leaving Shermer in one piece.
Andy walked towards his locker to grab a few books. He was just opening it when out of the corner of his eye he saw his friend Mitch, a guy he had hit just a few days ago. Without really thinking about it, Andy caught up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, Mitch man, what's up?' He said stupidly, but he got Mitch's attention. "Clark, nothing, you?" Mitch said coolly. "Can we talk real quick?" Andy asked. With a nod they both went to Andy's locker. They stood there leaning in on his locker, an awkward silence, but it wasn't the deadlock Andy had had with Brady the day before, Mitch and him were much closer. Mitch wasn't going to win any awards for diplomacy, but they were close, and he knew he could trust him.
"Mitch, I want to apologize for what happened, it was a complete misunderstanding, things got totally out of hand, and I flipped." Andy explained, Mitch again nodded. "You friends with that trashy kid who punched me?' Mitch asked, this was not the response he was hoping for. "Yeah, you could say that. And I know it's crazy, he's not so bad, but that's how it's gonna be," Andy said sternly. "Yeah, man, this is all kinda weird. Listen, I'm gonna go to class," Mitch said turning away. "Hey Mitch, nothing any of the guys think is really gonna change any of that, but at least accept my apology," Andy said trying to salvage the conversation. Mitch turned and smiled, this relieved any of Andy's fears almost immediately. "Clark, are you getting with that dark looking girl?" Mitch asked with a smirk. "Yeah, what of it?" Andy asked standing up taller. "Dude, you've lost it, but I think that's all cool," Mitch said approvingly and he stuck out his hand, Andy shook it. Andy laughed to himself, for someone with a 2.1 grade point average and a college future smelling of in-state tuition and cheap beer, Mitch wasn't as dense as he let on. "You know that Bender fag is dating Claire Standish, right?" Mitch asked. "Yeah, they're a funny couple, I gotta get to class though, thanks dude, means a lot," Andy said locking his locker and heading the opposite direction.
Andy felt like he was on top of the world. He was going to make it happen, to have the best of both worlds, he could have his wrestling friends, he could have his girlfriend, and he could have his new friends. He wanted to tell Allison about this, he knew she wouldn't jump up and down, but at least she might be happy for him.
Claire walked over to her locker and retrieved her bagged lunch, today she had a lemon chicken breast with wild rice. Her friends had agreed to meet at her locker for lunch today, like the day before. As she closed her locker by habit she began walking, but realized, that her locker was her destination. She shrugged to herself and stepped back, put her jacket down, and sat on the floor. She hoped no one would be judging her by her new lunch spot, it was not like she was sitting on a dirty sidewalk, but it was certainly different from her usual table. She saw a few sophomore girls, cheerleaders, look at her with surprise but they just kept walking.
She recalled her sophomore and junior years at Shermer High School, she was so into the fact that she was popular, and rich, but now she could hardly care. She liked shopping and she was going to hang out with her girlfriends tonight, but it didn't matter as much. Putting much less emphasis on what people looked like or where they were from was a change in her that she was very proud of. Of course, if a girl looked like a zombie, she would mentally point that out, but everyone has their days of looking like shit. The weekend was a few days away, and she had no plans, maybe another date, maybe a party, maybe she would invite a few friends to her lake house in Wisconsin.
"Hey Claire," Andy said sitting down by her, offering her a can of soda. "Hey Andy, hows your day?" Claire asked. "It's good, I'm so tired, I just want a nap, but I have practice, thank god for that," Andy said sarcastically. "That's rough, that's why I quit tennis last year, I HATED having practice every day," Claire agreed as she nodded to Brian as he at down next to her. Allison and Brian had joined them quietly as they were talking, it seemed as though they were coming the same way, but hadn't been talking at all, Claire laughed at the thought.
"Does anyone have Mr. Haggle?" Allison asked the group. "Yeah, I have him for chemistry eighth period," Claire responded, the others didn't have this teacher. "Well he's out today, I just had a free period, apparently that loser is sick or something," Allison said flashing her rare and bashful smile. Claire was excited to not have to go to chemistry, easily her most hated subject in school, it was dirty, smelly, dangerous (she had no sense of measurement, and no steady hand) and a big hassle, which gave Mr. Haggle the title 'Dr Hassle'. "That is good news to me, I can go home early now."
As they ate, conversing about teachers and making fun of other students they knew, they took notice that John wasn't there yet. The minutes passed on, everyone seemed unworried, Claire wasn't worried, but she wanted to see him after their date. Claire looked over at Brian, he suddenly looked white as a sheet. Claire was about to ask him if he was okay, but the ever-perceptive Allison beat her to the punch. "Ralph is everything okay?" Aside from not understanding why Allison called Brian 'Ralph', Claire was a bit annoyed by how she went about asking him. Claire sometimes had little patience with Allison's lack of social skills and extreme lack of empathy, but a more pressing matter to her was Brian.
"Yeah, I'm okay, so none of you have seen John today?" He asked looking around, his face was turning green. The group shook their heads to his dismay, Claire had no idea why he was all of the sudden so distressed. "Why do you need to see John?" Andy asked. "Well, you know how we all tried marijuana on Saturday?" Brian asked, all nodded but Allison, Claire didn't know what about Allison was annoying her, but this annoyed her. "Well, my parents, out of the blue, want me to take a drug test, they think I might be experimenting with controlled substances. They think that's why my grades aren't up to my standards," Brian said plainly, clearly embarrassed. Claire couldn't help but think about what bad timing that was, she felt sorry for Brian, his parents had him on a tight leash. "So you think Bender could help you?" Andy asked, Brian shrugged. "I have no idea, but I'll have to think of something or I'm toast," Brian said.
After the conversation ended, lunch wasn't quite as enjoyable. Claire sat in silence and thought about John, she explored some of the ideas of him ditching, or even that he was in trouble at school and just couldn't come to sit with them. She rarely saw him in the halls unless they were together. She wondered how their relationship could pan out when there was so much between them, so much separating them. She couldn't remember ever seeing him before, she had no idea he existed the previous week. She thought about how many people didn't know or care about John. Maybe he was a nothing, maybe no one would notice if he disappeared, she thought. "I would notice, I would care," Allison said to Claire, snapping her out of her thoughts. Allison was staring at her, she saw right through her. The other two boys sat there looking dumb, this was between the girls. "You don't think I care about John?" Claire asked, sounding hurt, she was hurt. "Doesn't seem like it."
Allison looked at Claire, her stare burning through her. Claire was defenseless, she was taken aback, and she was apparently on the verge of tears. The two boys had no idea what they were talking about, they might as well have bras covering their heads. Claire didn't seem too distressed, she was so full of shit, pretending to care about John. Allison thought how Claire had no idea what went on in John's home, she had no clue what went on in a 'broken home'. Allison didn't either, her home life may be 'unsatisfying' but in no way did her parents ever harm her. This frustrated Allison, she was not one for dealing with things she didn't know about. Her frustration turned into anger. Allison got up, scratched Andy's head, and stormed down the hallway. She was going, going, gone. And not even sporto could catch her.
She didn't even know why she left them. She did not want to be there right now, and she was not used to people caring about whether or not she was there, so it wouldn't matter. She heard them call back to her, she had no idea who did, she had a knack for droning out things she didn't want to hear, this would definitely explain her abysmal biology grade. She decided she wanted to go back to her usual pastime, walking the halls. She walked in silence for a few minutes, and decided to go to her guidance counselor, she was actually supposed to go tomorrow for an appointment. This appointment was not for her future or for academics, but for her school diagnosed depression.
She walked into the counseling office looking for Dr. Hashimoto. "Oh hello Allison, how are you?' said Grace Mackenzie, the office's secretary and a friendly woman that Allison liked. "Hi, is Dr. Hashimoto in?" Allison asked. Before Grace could respond they were interrupted by some yelling in one of the rooms to Allison's right. "I fucking told you already, I fucking fell, how retarted are you?" Allison heard a voice she knew and a yell she knew even better. "Now John, settle down! I'm trying to help you, tell us what really happened!" Said one of the counselors she didn't know, but recognized. "John, sit down, please," she heard Dr. Hashimoto say. "Allison, could you come back a little later, Dr. Hashimoto's in a meeting right now," Grace said looking flustered, almost embarrassed. "Yeah, sure, thank you Grace," Allison said turning to the door when she heard the door blast open.
John bolted past Allison without noticing her, she was used to things like this. Something about John worried her, had he fallen down? Allison eyes opened when she thought of why he would say that, broken home. "Hey John, wait!" She called, this could have been one of the first times she had risen her voice at Shermer High School. John didn't stop, so she didn't stop. They kept walking, speed walking, at times running, but they kept moving.
Allison finally caught up to him when he was about to exit the building. She grabbed on to his sleeve, this somehow stopped him. She recalled the previous Saturday, 'want to talk?' 'no', if Andy couldn't take no for an answer, she wouldn't either. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Nothing, why the fuck do you care, anyway?" John answered. There was a little more hostility in this exchange of words than she thought there would be, but she had to try. She didn't answer at first, John turned to leave, until as loudly and as clearly as she could she said "Because if I don't I'm afraid no one else will."
The weirdo in black just asked John what was wrong. John didn't want or need this, he just wanted to be out of this hellhole. Of all the places for his old man to punch him it had to be his face. It could have been his stomach, his side, anywhere, at least with his cigar burn he got to go out in public unbothered. "You don't need to care, and I don't want you to care," John said harshly. "Well, life's a bitch," Allison said sternly, this girl wasn't giving up. "I wonder if I'll be able to leave without getting any absences," John said looking at her. Allison gasped when she saw his face; he had a black eye and a terribly bruised cheek, John admitted that it looked bad, but that didn't stop his annoyance at her reaction. "John that's awful," Allison told him. They stood there for a while.
"I'm out of here, I'll see you later," John said as he turned and walked out of the building towards the football field. She was following him, he didn't care, he tried speeding up, but she stuck close. "He walked up to the bleachers, it was cold out but he had his jean jacket. He perched himself up high, but on the far side so no one could see him. Allison sat a few spots away from him, she sat there looking at the field, she looked strange, she always did. They sat there in silence, she probably didn't know what to say, John could think of a lot of things he wanted to say, a million things, mean things, sad things, things that made him want to cry, things he knew would make Claire cry.
"John, is your face okay?" Allison asked plainly, she was concerned though, John knew this. In fact, it was the only thing that kept John from lashing out at her, running away, or leaping off these bleachers. "Well I was planning on entering a beauty contest on Saturday, so now I guess I don't need to postpone detention," John said laughing. Allison giggled, but turned and moved toward him. "John, we were all worried about you today," she lied to John. John knew they all cared, but not that much. John laughed rudely, "Yeah sure, I'm sure sporto was crying," John said. "Well, we were, whether or not you want to be an ass about it," Allison said. After that they both sat in silence for what seemed to be hours, it was likely to only be a few minutes.
John thought about going and buying a pack of cigarettes, he could ditch school, those counselors were all a mush at John's 'broken home' he didn't care, he was John Bender, the world shits on him all the time. Allison must have been kidding, none of those kids cared, they had no reason to care. John didn't want them to care, if there's anything he hated more than people being full of shit it was people pitying him.
They didn't talk when John got up to return to the building, they walked in silence down the bleachers steps. They passed the field where sporto had probably made his home, they walked through the parking lot where he had gotten high so many times. They walked by the bench at the bus stop where dweebo had probably traded star trek cards with his socially retarted friends. They walked into the building and past the art center, the only classroom fit for the quiet girl walking in his wake. They walked past a group of cheerleaders who looked at them him strangely, Claire's species.
They got closer and closer to his locker, people stared at them as they passed. John had no idea whether or not he was going to class next period. Allison silently went her own way, perhaps she saw that there was a certain redhead waiting at John's locker. John looked at her, she stood up in anticipation, possibly happy to see him, she looked him up and down. Her mouth dropped, and she covered her face with her hands.