The shooting

It had been one month since that fateful day in detention, but the breakfast club was still alive and going strong.

That Monday back, they started off avoiding each other like the plague, hanging out with just their circles, acting like nothing had happened.

Finally, around lunch, Brian invited Allison to his table. After a bit of hesitation, she quietly sat down while Brian introduced her to his shocked friends.

When the bell rang, John went to Brian and offered to help him in shop, which he nervously accepted.

Claire and Andrew took a bit longer.

The next day, some of Andy's friends went over to Allison and tried to hurt her. Andy couldn't take it anymore and he punched one of them out, earning himself isolation from his friends. That alone was enough for Claire to join the breakfast club at lunch.

Ever since then, they had been strong.

Brian's friends were okay with Brian hanging out with people outside his social group, they were even starting to befriend the breakfast club, John's friends would drop the odd insult, but they didn't try to stop him, wether it was because they knew he'd kill them or because they really didn't mind, John still wasn't sure. Andy and Claire, however, were dead to their friends. While it stung the first few days, they realized, they never really considered them as true friends.

Claire and John were even in a relationship, as was Andy and Allison.

One day, Claire and Allison were heading to school, laughing and joking, and ignoring the glares the preps were giving them.

"And so I said, 'no. You're supposed to wait until were out of the kitchen'." Allison joked.

Claire snickered happily.

When they got to the school, John, Andy and Brian were waiting for them.

"Hey, Cherry." John began, taking a drag on his cigarette.

Claire rolled her eyes, but still went and hugged him.

Andy and Allison, on the other hand were kissing each other so passionately, it was almost like they forgot they were in school.

"Careful, Clark!" One of Andy's former friends began, walking past,

"you may catch her loser... Oh wait."

Brian on the other hand, looked kind of uncomfortable.

"Let's go, you guys." Claire began.

The five began heading into the school, but a loud, unfamiliar "Claire Standish?" Called Claire back.

A boy around her age, who she never saw before, was standing on the stairs.

He was quite buff and ripped, his hair was a dark brown and well cut, and he dressed quite nicely. He was everything John was not.

"Claire?" John began.

Claire turned. "Don't worry." She began.

"I won't be long."

John nodded, then turned and shot the guy a warning look before following the other three inside.

"Claire?" The boy asked again.

Claire nervously nodded.

"Hello, my name is Robert Smith."

Claire nodded. "Hello." She stiffly began.

Warning bells were going off in her head.

"I don't know if you remembered me. I had moved away in the end of freshman year. Now that I'm a senior, I've decided to come back. I had to let you know..."

"Know?" Claire began.

Robert's lips twisted into a grin. "I love you. I always have."

Claire's eyes widened. "I'm sorry." She began.

"I have a boyfriend."

Robert's eyes widened. "Boyfriend?" He asked.

Claire nodded.

Robert took a deep breath. "I'm sure we can find a way around it." He began.

"No. There won't be a way around it." Claire argued.

"What's his name?" Robert asked.

"It's..."

"Claire!" Allison came running out of the school. "Come on!"

Robert looked up. "Allison?" He began.

"I almost didn't recognize you."

Allison narrowed her eyes. "Robert." She merely said.

Taking Claire's hand she towed her away into the building.

"What did he want?" Allison asked.

"He wanted me to go out with him."

Allison stopped, terror in her eyes. "What did you say?" She asked.

"I told him I was in a relationship." Claire explained.

Allison let out a squeal of terror. "Did you tell him who it was?"

Claire shook her head.

"Good." Allison relaxed. "If Robert finds out about John, then you've pretty much murdered him. So be careful."

Claire nodded.

When she got to her class, ignoring the comments and the odd spitball, she couldn't help but feel scared at Allison's words.

She didn't want John Bender to die.

When the bell rang, and Claire scraped the last of the spitballs off her, she went to the cafeteria.

Her friends were sitting in a table of their own, one seat left for her.

When she came in and sat down, Andy, Brian and John were looking at her in fear.

"What's wrong?" Claire asked, unpacking the sushi out of her bag,

"Allison told us." Brian began, nervously biting into his sandwich.

Claire looked over at Allison who mouthed 'sorry' to her.

"Listen." Andy began. "Allison was with this guy before, you need to trust everything she says about him."

Claire nodded.

"And if he ever tries to harm you," John began, "I'll have a friendly... Heart to Heart with him."

He pulled out his knife, which Allison finally returned, flipped it, and put it away.

"So, how bad is he?" Claire asked.

Allison stopped smearing yogurt over her apple and looked up. "When we were dating, he kept me on a two inch leash. Every time I tried to talk to someone else, he would pull me away and isolate me. He also tried to do... Things to me."

Andy almost broke the table at that.

"We would hang out, and it would lead with him trying to rape me."

This time, Andy ripped out a huge chunk of table.

"But the crunch was when I befriended another guy. The second Robert found out, he put the guy in a coma. I dumped him and he was sent to jail. I guess he got out."

Claire gasped and grabbed John's hand.

John replied by giving her hand a reassuring squeeze, then turned back to Allison.

"So, you're saying I'm also in danger?" He asked.

Allison nodded. "He can't know you two are dating. I'm not saying you two need to break up, or even stop hanging out. Just pretend you two are friends, until this blows over. Okay?"

Claire and John looked at each other and nodded. Little did they know, Robert was right beside them.

He hadn't heard any names, but he could tell Claire was dating that scruffy looking stoner beside her.

Getting up, he went to the prep table, the table Claire used to sit at.

One of the girls looked up.

"What do you want?" She asked, looking at him like he was a dog that rolled in something smelly.

Robert pointed over at the table.

"That guy. What's his name?"

The girl looked over. "Oh, you mean John Bender." She said.

"The reason that twit decided to abandon us for loserville."

Robert nodded. "Thank-you." Then he went to the table.

"John Bender, it's high time we meet."

For the rest of the day, either Brian, Andy, Allison or John would stay by Claire.

She didn't mind at all, in fact, it showed her just how much they cared.

When she got home, after dinner and listening to her parents quarrel, she went to her room, changed into her nightgown and checked through her freshman yearbook.

Sure enough, Robert Smith was staring back at her with looks that would make the old her melt.

She closed her yearbook, when there was a low thunk on her window.

Going to it, she saw John standing in her yard with a handful of pebbles.

"Hey, Cherry." He said, his trademark smirk visible.

Claire laughed and opened her window.

"Come on in." She said.

In what seemed like no time, John had scaled the side of her wall and was in her room.

"Nice room, Cherry." He said. Looking around, he couldn't help noticing everything was pink.

"I have to say, I think your theme song should be 'pretty in pink.'"

"Shut up, John." Claire replied.

Bender faked a look of hurt. "Ow, that hurt,"

Claire rolled her eyes.

"All joking aside..." John continued, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Claire nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay."

John nodded and turned to the window.

"John, wait." She began.

"Yes?"

Claire gulped. "Can you... Stay?" She asked.

John turned back. "Why, Cherry!" He began. "Won't your parents have a fit when they see their princess being tainted by a criminal?"

Claire narrowed her eyes. "John, I didn't mean 'have sex with me', I meant... I just don't want to be alone."

John nodded. "Okay, Cherry. If you do change your mind though, I'll be waiting."

"You're disgusting." Claire replied.

"And you love it." John replied.

"Sadly." Claire replied.

They went under the covers and Claire turned off the lights.

"Cherry?" John began.

Claire turned to her boyfriend.

"Check my wallet." He said.

Claire rolled her eyes and flipped on the light. He was still wearing his clothes, so she asked him to hand it to her.

When she opened it up, to her surprise, the thousands of pictures of girls were gone, and in their place was a lone picture of Claire.

"I only want you." He explained. "I realized that when Psycho decided you were his next kill."

Claire hugged him tightly. John pushed some hair out of her eyes and kissed her on the lips.

The two of them remained like that for what seemed like a lifetime, until Mr. Standish called out. "Claire, lights out!"

"Dad! I'm 16!" She argued.

John smirked as Claire turned the light out.

The two spent the night, quietly whispering to each other, holding each other, and every now and then kissing each other.

Eventually, Claire fell asleep.

That night, she dreamt Robert and John were fighting. Eventually, Robert knocked John on the back and began killing him.

"John!" Claire screamed waking up.

It was morning, and to her surprise, John had left.

In his place, was a note.

Dear Cherry,

Don't worry, I haven't abandoned you. I didn't want us to get in trouble, and I didn't want to wake you, but I've gone home, I'll see you at school.

Love

John

Claire took the letter.

It smelled just like him, like cigarettes and motor oil, and she couldn't get enough.

When she got downstairs for breakfast, her mom was looking puzzled.

"Claire honey?" She began.

Claire looked up as a bowl of oatmeal was placed in front of her.

"Yes?"

"I could have sworn I saw a boy in our yard last night. And this morning I thought I saw him again, do you know anything about this?"

Claire shook her head.

When she finished her breakfast, she got her stuff and went outside where Brian was waiting for her, as he only lived three doors down.

"Hi, Brian." She began.

Brian smiled back at her as the two went to school.

"Guess what Claire!" Brian said.

Claire cocked her head to the side.

"I have a girlfriend."

"Oh, Brian! That's amazing! I am so happy for you! What's her name?"

Brian smiled. "Her name is Jillian. Jill for short. She was in my English class. We got along quite well, and at lunch, I'm going to introduce her to you guys."

When they got to school, Brian told the others about Jill.

"Good job, Brian." John began, handing him a condom. "You'll need this."

They all laughed.

Once the bell rang, Andy walked Claire to her class.

"Wow, we're all in relationships." Claire said.

Andy nodded. "Yeah, I think Brian really likes her, based on how he talked about her."

"So, how are you and Allison?"

Andy's face burned red. "We're doing great, in fact, I think I'm in love with her."

Claire's jaw dropped. "Wow! I don't know if I love John or not, but I know I have strong feelings for him."

"If that time comes, don't hide." Andy said. "Anyway, here's your class. See you at lunch."

He hugged her, turned and left.

For Claire, she was horrified when she walked in and saw Robert sitting 3 seats down.

Doing her best to ignore him, she sat in her usual seat and ignored the glances he was giving her.

When the bell rang, Claire tore out of the room and went to the cafeteria.

John, Andy, Allison, Brian and a girl she never saw before was sitting at their table.

The girl was wearing a yellow tank, a pink skirt, rainbow leggings and arm warmers and had her long auburn hair tied up.

"Claire!" Brian called her over.

Claire went over.

"This is Jillian Kolo." He said, motioning to the girl.

"Hi, you can call me Jill." She said.

During lunch, Claire learned that Jill was in the choir, had parent problems just like them (her dad kicked her out and she lived with her older sister Jennifer), and had moved to Shermer from Canada.

When lunch had ended, Jill had been dubbed a member of the breakfast club.

On Claire's way to class, something grabbed her.

Turning in surprise, she saw Robert staring at her with a psychotic look on his face.

"Claire, I think you and I need to talk."

Claire frantically tried to pull her arm away.

Robert's response was to pull out a handgun.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Help!" Claire screamed.

Robert fired a round of bullets into the ceiling.

"I won't waste any bullets on you. My target is John Bender!"

While that was happening, John was sitting in class, planning a way to get Robert away from his Cherry once and for all.

He had considered carving a reminder into Robert's arm, but he didn't want to go to jail.

"Attention!" The announcements called out.

"The school is now in lockdown! This is not a drill!"

John felt a flutter of fear in him.

He didn't know why, but a tiny part of him whispered that Claire was involved, but he didn't want to go charging incase it was a false alarm.

Instead, he crawled underneath his desk and waited for the lockdown to end, so he could run to Claire's class and see if she was okay.

He heard a gunshot and a pool of blood splattered against of the door.

John's eyes widened.

That was more blood then what he spilled in a week, and he spilled a lot each day.

Suddenly, there was a crackle over the announcements.

"Would John Bender please come to the principal's office?"

The voice sounded like Robert's, but John didn't want to fall victim to his trap.

Then the announcements went again.

"I have your girlfriend! For every five minutes you aren't here, she gets hurt. As proof..."

There was silence and a loud, scream was heard.

"CLAIRE!" John cried out.

"If someone who is not John bender arrives, I will kill her with no hesitation. If John brings reinforcements, I will kill her. That is all."

The announcements went out.

John jumped up.

"No, Mr. Bender!" The teacher said. "You are staying here!"

"He has Claire!" John argued. "I'm not going to let her die!"

The teacher still shook his head. "No, we're going to save her."

"By doing that, she's going to still die!" John argued. "I'm going, if I get detention, so what! I'd rather die in a rescue attempt then let the girl I love die."

With that, John jumped on his desk, moved a ceiling tile away and began crawling through the vents to save Claire.

While he was crawling through the ceiling, he knew he had to calm down before he murdered Robert and ended up in jail.

"A pregnant woman is in a bank." He began, trying to make himself feel more light.

"She gets shot in the stomach twice, but is okay, the doctor told her she's pregnant with twins, who have a bullet in their stomach that they will pass in time. Years pass, and the twins have been born, and are living well. One day the daughter tells her mom she passed a bullet, the mother explained what happened. The next day, the son said he did something bad. The mom said 'did you pass a bullet?' The son said...*"

Suddenly, like that day in detention, the floor fell out from under him, right in front of the office.

Looking through the window, John wanted to murder Robert.

Claire was tied up in a chair, tears in her eyes, her skirt was up and a knife was plunged into her bare leg.

"Five minutes have passed. That loser still isn't here. Oh well."

He ripped the knife out of Claire's leg, causing her to scream.

"Maybe this time, you'll both get the point."

He was about to plunge the knife into her other leg, when John threw the door open.

"Don't you touch her!" He roared.

"John!" Claire cried.

"Ah, John Bender." Robert smirked. "What kind of name is 'John' anyway?"

"My name." John replied, pulling out his knife.

"Really?" Robert asked. "Cause in my house, that's what we call the toilet."

"F*** you!" John screamed.

"F*** yourself." Robert smirked.

"That's impossible." John countered.

"No it's not, it's called masterbation. And when I'm finished with you, that's all you can do, because Claire won't bother looking at you."

"Are you done babbling?" John asked.

"Good idea. You'll be dead faster."

With that, the two began fighting. Claire couldn't help noticing they were evenly matched.

"I already killed Vernon." Robert smirked.

"Good to know." John spat.

He pushed Robert back.

"You disgust me." John replied.

"Oh? You can't tell me you never thought of doing this?" Robert asked.

John looked over at Claire, who was trying to shift the chair to the intercom.

John needed help!

The other breakfast clubbers could help.

John was starting to lose, Robert had began slashing John across the face.

"I should cut off your lips. You'll never kiss Claire again!"

"Idiot! I grew up to that! Be more creative!" John replied, slashing the side of Robert's face.

Blood spilled everywhere.

Claire managed to turn on the intercom.

"Breakfast club!" She began. "John needs help. I'm okay, but please, help John!"

Then she turned off the intercom.

When the breakfast club heard Claire's announcement, they sprung to action.

Andy charged out of the classroom, ignoring the teacher's objections, Allison managed to get out without being noticed, a perk to her past life of isolation, Brian and Jill told the teacher the truth and left.

When the four met in the hall, they made their way to the office.

Opening the door, it was a bloodbath: John and Robert were rolling around on the floor, their blood spraying everywhere and Claire was tied to a chair, blood trickling down her leg.

"Brian!" Andy began. "You and Jill go untie Claire, Ally and I will get John."

Brian and Jill went to untie Claire, but it wasn't easy.

Robert had used a very complex knot.

John and Robert hadn't yet noticed the reinforcements until Allison sent her bag crashing down on Robert's head.

The impact caused him to let go of John long enough for her to help him up and for Andy to pin Robert down.

Meanwhile, Jill was putting lipgloss on Claire's wrists.

"What are you doing?" Brian asked.

"Try to free your arms now." Jill said to Claire.

Claire felt her arms budge a bit.

Jill spread more gloss on her wrists, and Claire got out of her restraints.

"Where did you learn that?" Brian asked.

"T.V."

"What did you have in that bag?" Robert screamed.

"An anvil." Allison smiled.

"You freak! I'll kill you!" Robert screamed.

"Hey!" Andy cried out, pushing Robert into the ground. "Don't you dare talk to my girlfriend like that! Brian, Jill, get Claire out of here."

The two of them nodded and led Claire out.

As she set foot outside the building, a loud BANG was heard.

Turning, Claire saw John holding his stomach as he fell to the floor.

"John!" She screamed, running to him, tears spilling from her eyes.

"Someone call an ambulance!" She screamed.

Jill nodded and ran to the phone.

Andy, meanwhile, managed to find a role of tape and, after confiscating the gun and knife, taped and gagged Robert to the chair.

"John! I'm sorry!" She whispered.

"What for, Cherry?" John asked.

"Because I let myself get held hostage, you're hurt."

John laughed. "I've been in worse, Cherry." He said, his eyes starting to glaze.

"Look at me! Look at me!" Claire panicked. "Don't give up!"

John smiled. "Claire." He gently said. "If I was the kind who gave up, I would have died long ago."

Claire laughed through her tears.

"But, if I do go..." John began.

"Don't say that!" Claire began.

"If I DO go." John repeated, hands trembling, he took his knife and gave it to her.

"So I can still protect you." He said.

More tears spilled from Claire's eyes.

She leaned over and kissed him. He took her hand and placed his other hand on the back of her head.

"I love you, Claire." He said.

"John... I..." She began, but the paramedics were here, taking John away.

The police arrived afterwards, and arrested Robert for kidnapping and attempted murder.

Once the breakfast club explained what happened, John was dropped of all charges.

The paramedics tied a bandage around Claire's knee.

Robert hadn't hit anything vital, so she didn't need to go to the hospital.

When John was loaded up and the ambulance drove away, tears spilled from Claire's eyes.

"I never even told him I loved him." She whispered.

A week passed, and no one had seen or heard from John Bender since the lockdown.

Claire was a total mess.

When she had gone home that night, the incident was played on the T.V that night, and when it showed John, his face battered up and the wound in his stomach, Claire had to turn the T.V off so she wouldn't cry.

Whenever she walked down the hall, most of her classmates looked at her with sympathy.

Her former friends were another story.

Claire's former friend Jewel came over and said "you can come back to our table now."

Claire looked at her in surprise.

"Why?" She asked.

Jewel laughed. "Now that John Bender is dead, you have no need to hang with those losers anymore."

Claire's response was to punch Jewel in the nose.

"F***ing Rapunzel!" She said, mirroring John that day.

Brian, Andy, Jill and Allison stayed by her side during that week.

"They would have said something by now." Jill began.

Brian nodded. "So, we know John's still alive."

Claire nodded.

She was still moping by the end of the day, so Andy pulled her aside.

"Claire?" He began.

Claire looked up, her eyes were red.

"We're taking you out tonight." He said.

"But..." Claire began.

Andy raised his hand. "No buts." He said. "You are coming with us."

That night, Andy's car pulled into Claire's driveway.

Claire was dressed in her usual pink outfit.

Allison was next to Andy and Brian and Jill were in the back.

Claire climbed into the back.

It could have been her imagination, but the other four exchanged an odd look.

Andy drove for what seemed like forever until they stopped.

Before Claire could see the building, Jill undid the cloth she used to tie up her hair and used it to blindfold Claire.

"You'll thank us later." She whispered.

Blindfolded, she felt the four of them lead her into the building, heard Andy discussing something with someone, then felt herself get guided through halls and elevators.

Finally, they stopped and a door opened.

The blindfold was removed, and Claire felt her heart jump.

They were in the hospital, and sitting in front of her, alive and lucid, was John Bender.

"John..." She whispered.

He smiled at her. "Either the drugs the nurses gave me have great side effects, or my girlfriend is here. Please let it be her."

Claire responded by running to him. "It's me! You're alive!"

John took her in her arms as the other four left.

"I guess I don't look as dashingly handsome as when we first met, huh? Still want to be mine?" He asked.

Claire nodded and pressed her lips against his.

They broke apart to catch their breath before going back.

They were making up for lost time.

"I love you too." Claire whispered.

Outside, the four friends did a victory pose.

Graduation had came and passed, but the six friends remained through the years.

They were there for each other during the trials.

Brian became a scientist and married Jill, who became a singer, Andy became a coach, and married Allison who was a therapist, and, of course, John became a spokesperson for child abuse and married Claire, who became a fashion designer.

One day, they found out Robert was put in jail for life, that took a weight off Claire's shoulders.

And as the six of them watched their kids grow, they knew their friendship would last forever.

The end

*the punch line was 'I was masterbating and I shot the dog.

I'm thinking of writing a story about how Brian and Jill officially met. If you think I should, leave a message.