I don't own the Breakfast Club
Enjoy!
After the whole issue with John and Susan being escorted out of the library Claire, Andrew, Brian, and Allison remained in silence. John may have been the rowdy of the bunch, it felt like a piece of the group had been missing. For Susan's presence, even though she was not as loud as John was, was evident within the group.
"Vernon went too far with what he said," Claire spoke up as she sat on her table and looked at the group. "What was the point of him doing that to John?"
Andrew have Claire a shrug of his shoulders. "I didn't take you as the type to defend Bender after what he had been saying to you."
Neither did Claire. She may have assumed that everyone is school loved her but there was also the part of people that despised her. Those people would talk behind her back, but John was upfront with his insults. He was rude, obnoxious, insulting…and yet was chivalrous enough to save the group from getting caught.
Then the doors of the library opened and everyone turned their eyes to the door. Brian got up from his table and immediately approached Susan. "Hey, you okay?" he whispered and took a gentle yet hesitant approach to take a hold of her arms.
Susan hoped that her eyes had dried from the tears. The last thing that she wanted was to bring family drama into the library. She mustered a smile and nodded her head. "Yeah," she lied, "I am fine."
"Vernon didn't do anything…did he?" Brian reluctantly asked.
"No," Susan lied again with a shake of her head, "he just wanted to make sure I didn't backtalk again." She didn't like lying to him, but it was best to keep the conversation that she had with her uncle private. She gave Brian a look of assurance and then walked around him to go to her table. She opened her sketchpad and tapped her pencil against it. She felt anger, hurt, and overall sadness. Influenced by Vernon's words, it was that moment where she didn't know what to draw. She stroked the blank sheet of paper with her pencil, making a line. Then she made another line until she was able to think of what she could draw.
Suddenly, the ceiling of the library tore open and everyone turned their heads to see John Bender falling through. Getting up from the floor, John made his way down the stairs and saw everyone staring at him. "Forgot my pencil," he coolly said.
"Goddamn it!" came Vernon's voice outside the door and everyone quickly hurried to their seats. John hid under the table where Claire and Andrew were sitting.
The door was hurled open and Vernon angrily walked inside. Susan avoided eye contact with her uncle as he looked at the students. "What in God's name is going on in here?" he demanded. He saw Claire, Andrew, and Brian shrugging their shoulders to him. "What was that ruckus?"
"What ruckus?" Andrew inquired.
"I was just in my office and I heard a ruckus," Vernon explained.
"Could you describe the ruckus, sir?" Brian asked him. Susan stifled a laugh as she kept her eyes stuck on her sketchpad.
Vernon pointed at Brian. "You your tongue young man, watch it!"
A thump was heard from underneath the table and Andrew quickly disguised the noise by slamming his hands on the table.
"What is this? What is that…what is that noise?" Vernon pushed the students to answer him.
"Really sir," Claire spoke up, "there wasn't any noise." Her voice shuddered when she felt something on her leg and immediately bought her legs together, causing John to yell. She bought her hands in front of her mouth and began to cough, followed by the rest of the group. "That noise? Was that the noise you were talking about?"
"No it wasn't," Vernon replied and folded his arms across his chest, "that was not the noise I was talking about. Now I may not have caught you in the act this time, but you can bet I will."
Allison let out a laugh, delighted by the fact that they had fooled Vernon. Quick thinking Claire she thought.
"You make a book on that, Missy," Vernon said to Allison. "And you!" he pointed to Claire and he watched her sit up straight in her seat, "I will not be made a fool of." He turned around to head back into his office along with the toilet cover seat that was attached to the back of his pants.
Susan looked up to send a glare at her uncle but stifled another laugh when she noticed the toilet cover seat hanging from the back of his pants. She made a quick sketch on her sketchpad thinking you already did. She then looked up when she saw John crawling from under the table and Claire slapping his back. Whatever happened down there, Susan didn't want to know.
"Sue me," John said and he got up from the floor, keeping his gaze fixated on Claire. He walked to the table where Brian was. "So, Ahab, can I have my doobage?" he asked as Brian reached inside his pants and pulled out the marijuana package. John gladly took it from him and looked over at Susan, who went back to her drawing. Her eyebrows were knitted together, her jaw tight, and her eyes fixated on that piece of paper but whatever she was drawing said a lot. "Picasso," he called her and she slowly looked up at him, "you're gonna need some of this after that conversation with, Dick."
So he had overheard her just like she had did with him. "No," Susan said with a shake of her head and went back to her drawing.
"Suit yourself," John said and headed to the back of the library.
Andrew turned around and looked at John. "Yo wastoid," he called, "you're not gonna blaze up in here."
Claire felt humiliated after what had happened to get under the table. No one had ever treated her like that before. How could someone who had insulted her for almost the whole day do such a gesture? No one had done something like that to her before. She was the untouchable princess. Regarding to getting caught, not only did John risk of getting himself in trouble, but also her and the whole group. She turned around and looked at the back of the library, seeing John rolling out a joint. A part of her was tempted to join him and another part of her screamed screw him. Yet she wanted to she turned to Andrew, who shook his head 'no' at her.
Whatever Claire thought as she got up from her chair and headed to the back of the library to join John.
Not too long, Brian got up from his table and went ahead to join the group. "Do you want to join?" he asked and looked over at Susan.
"No," Susan shook her head.
To Brian, it seemed like she had put a wall between them. There was no doubt that something had happened to her in the office with Vernon. However, he was not going to push her for any information if she wasn't comfortable in sharing it. He gave her a nod of his head and headed to the back of the library.
Allison looked at her classmates as they joined Bender. Her eyes fell on Andrew who was contemplating about whether to join them or not. It wasn't long until he fell to the temptation and headed to the back of the library. Now it was just her and Susan. She looked behind her when she heard Claire declaring how popular she was in the school and Brian and John having a fit of laughter. She gathered her satchel and approached Susan. "You okay?" she asked her.
Susan had not expected Allison to talk to her after she remained quiet for most of detention. "Yeah," she simply answered and didn't look up from her painting.
Allison remained quiet for a beat and pulled the chair to sit down. "You're a bad liar, Susan," she pointed out to her. "Now tell me what's wrong."
Susan was grateful for Allison's company, let alone the friendship that they developed during the week. "Not if you tell me what you did to get in here," Susan said, mustering a smile as best as she could.
"I asked you first," Allison said.
Susan took a deep breath and set her sketchpad on the table. Allison caught a glimpse at her sketches before she looked back at Susan. "It was just Vernon lecturing me not to backtalk to him."
Allison looked at her as if she knew every secret that Susan was hiding. "Your uncle…I heard you talking to Brian earlier before," she assured her when she saw the look of surprise on Susan's face. It shouldn't have been that big of a surprise, Allison was sitting behind them. "What else did he say?"
Susan slowly shook her head. "My uncle can be…well he is something," she said, trying to avoid from swearing, fearing that he may hear her and walk in the library. "But I didn't like how he was tearing into John like that."
"Why?" Allison asked her. "John can take care of himself."
Allison was right about that, but Susan thought otherwise. "You wouldn't believe what he said to John. I overheard them talking and it was just…just awful."
Curiosity crossed over Allison's eyes. When John fell through that ceiling, it didn't look like Vernon's words had bothered him. Some people were just good at hiding their true feelings and she had become proficient at that. "What did he say to you?" Allison asked her.
"He is worried about me, but not in the way that you think," Susan confided in her, "he think that art is not a priority but he doesn't understand that it's important to me. It's this only connection that I have with mom, that I can communicate with her some way." She felt tears well in her eyes and looked away before Allison could see them.
There was no need for Susan to do that. Allison could feel the desolation that was looming between them.
"He told me he didn't want me to wind up like mother," Susan continued and shook her head once more. "Unbelievable…my mother had her share of mistakes but she wasn't a bad person. She just wasn't so lucky. He ignores everything I say to him."
Ignore. That one word that Allison has not been a stranger to. There were many ways of ignoring someone, and they hurt just the same. Allison slowly raised her hand and placed it on Susan's shoulder, giving it a light squeeze.
Susan appreciated the support that Allison gave her, causing her eyes to sting even more. If she was at home, her grandmother would have been dismissive and she had no one else to turn to but her art. Art allowed her to be cathartic, but it didn't provide the support that a friend would. Susan turned around and wrapped her arms around Allison, squeezing her tightly.
Allison was caught off guard at Susan's gesture. She couldn't remember when the last time was that she had been hugged by anyone, let alone her parents. The hug was warm and tight enough to bring tears to Allison's eyes. Sniffling, she hugged Susan in return. It was a while after the two girls pulled away when an idea came into Allison's mind. She looked back at the group and saw that everything had seemed to calm down after the group enjoyed smoking their joint and after Andrew cartwheeled through the library. "Let's go an join them," Allison said.
"Now?" Susan asked.
"You need something to distract yourself from your uncle," Allison said as she gathered her bag in her arms and overheard Brian asking Andrew to guess his middle name. Now was her moment to speak up and join the group that she felt she had been left out of far too long. "Your middle name is Ralph, as in 'puke,'" Allison told him causing Andrew and Brian to look over at her.
Susan looked over at Allison, wondering where she got that type of information.
"Your birthday is March 12th, you're 5'9 ½, you weight one hundred thirty pounds, and your social security number is 049380913," Allison continued and approached the two boys with Susan and sat down next to them.
Even the social security number Susan thought and she glad that she didn't have that on hand.
"Wow," Andrew said, amazed that Allison had memorized all of that. "Are you psychic?" he asked her.
"No," Allison answered and looked directly at Andrew.
Brian leaned forward. "Would you mind telling me how you know all of this about me?" he asked her.
With a mischievous smile upon her lips, Allison reached inside her bag and pulled out a black leather wallet. She held it in her hand. "I stole your wallet," she responded.
"Give it to me," Brian asked her twice until she finally threw the wallet towards him. "This is great, you're a thief too, huh?"
"I'm not a thief," Allison said.
"Multitalented," Brian shot back and opened his wallet to make sure that everything was in there.
Doesn't taking his wallet account for thievery? Susan wanted to ask but avoided such a question.
"What's there to steal?" Allison voiced, "just two bucks and a bad fake I.D."
Andrew reached over and grabbed the wallet out of Brian's hand. He looked at his image and let out a small scoff. "Dude, this is the worst fake I.D. I've ever seen. Do you realize you made yourself sixty-eight?"
Susan raised an eyebrow at that. "For someone in the Physics Club, I'm surprised that you would get the math wrong on that one."
Brian let out a chuckle. "I know I goofed it."
"What do you need a fake I.D. for?" Andrew asked him.
"So I can vote," Brian answered him.
Sure, if anyone took one good look at the youthful face and compared it with the age on his fake I.D. there was no way that anyone was going to let Brian vote.
Allison had kept herself silent when Andrew and Brian exchanged words with one another. Feeling determined she asked, "you wanna see what's in my bag?"
"No," both answered.
Allison did not appreciate that answer. She took a hold of her bag and held it upside down, causing all of the contents to spill out onto the couch between her and Brian. Some of the items rolled off the couch and it was then that Susan caught sight of a colored pencil that had been extensively used.
"Hey," Susan pointed at the colored pencil, "is that mine?" When Allison didn't answer, Susan reached over and took the colored pencil in her hand. "I've been looking all over for this."
Brian and Andrew stared in shock at the number of objects that Allison had in her bag. "Do you carry this much stuff in your bag?" Brian asked her.
"Yeah," Allison nodded her head.
"Are you gonna be like a shopping bag lady?" Brian asked her, "you know, like sit in alleyways and talk to buildings and wear men's shoes and that kind of thing?"
Was this some kind of image that Brian had created of her? Where had he gotten that from? Allison was not at all affected by Brian's words when he said that. "I'll do what I have to do," she said to him.
"Why do you have to do anything?" Brian asked.
Upon that question, Allison hesitated. However, if John was able to freely reenact his home life, why didn't she have the courage to do so? "My homelife is unsatisfying," she replied to Brian.
"So you're saying you'd subject yourself to the violent dangers of these Chicago streets because your home life is unsatisfying?" Brian continued.
Allison was not the type of person to be kept in one spot. Chicago was her hometown, but over the years it had become a prison for her. "I don't have to run away and live on the street," Allison said, "I can run away and I can go to the ocean, I can go to the country, I can go to the mountains, I could go to Israel, Africa, Afghanistan." Allison couldn't believe how much she had confided in Brian of what she wanted to do.
"You've never opened that much to me before," Susan commented.
Brian then leaned closer to Andrew. "Andy you wanna get in on this?" he asked and Andrew turned his attention to Brian and Allison. "Allison here says that she wants to run away because her homelife is unsatisfying."
Why does it sound like they're being dismissive of me? Allison thought and then looked over at Andrew when he began to speak.
"Everyone's homelife is unsatisfying," Andrew began, "if it wasn't, people would live with their parents forever."
No way in hell Brian thought would he be living with his parents forever.
Can't wait till I'm old enough to get out of here Andrew thought.
No parents to look after me, but would I really want to leave my grandmother alone? If it means staying far away from my uncle Susan thought.
"I understand," Brian spoke up, "but I think hers goes beyond what, you know, guys like you and me consider normal unsatisfying."
This is the last time I open up to anybody Allison thought. "Never mind, forget it. Everything's cool," she interrupted Brian and packed her belongings in her bag.
Andrew noticed the shift of her behavior. "What's the deal?" he asked her.
"No," Allison said as she managed to pack everything in her bag, "there's so deal, Sporto. Forget it. Leave me alone."
"Wait a minute," Andrew jumped back in, "you're carrying all that crap around in your purse. Either you really wanna run away or you want people to think you wanna run away."
Allison stood up from the couch and walked away, leaving her bag unattended.
"That girl is an island onto herself," Brian commented and Andrew got up from his seat and walked towards Allison.
Susan took Allison's seat and placed back all the things that she had stolen back in her bag. "That wasn't fair Brian," she said to him.
"What did I say?" Brian asked her. "Come on, you're really okay with all of this?" he asked her and motioned to the stuff that were littered on the couch.
Susan took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She didn't want to lose her respect for Brian after what he had said to Andrew about Allison. "You shared with me about how your homelife was like…and no one judged you for that. Why should we judge Allison's?" she asked him.
Brian had been getting too comfortable with his classmates…let alone that the joint he smoked earlier was getting to his head. Allison had kept to herself for most of detention and this was her way of opening up to them. What Susan had said, made him feel that he had lost that trust with Allison. "I guess I should have thought before speaking," he answered Susan. "You seem to know her more than we do, do you think I offended her?"
There was more to Allison than Susan knew. She gave Brian a light smile and gave him a gentle nudge, "I'm sure that she'll get over it quickly." She turned her head to where she noticed Andrew speaking with her.
After a small argument that was exchanged between them, Andrew slowly approached Allison. "So what's wrong?" he could see in her face that something was bothering her. Something that she wanted to tell someone for such a long time but nobody bothered to listen to her. "What is it?" he asked her again. "Is it bad? Real bad? Parents?"
Andrew noticed the tears that welled up in her eyes, threatening to fall down her face. When she nodded her head, Andrew had a feeling that it was just that. "What do they do to you?" he asked her.
He was giving her the chance to open up, something that she had been deprived of before. Taking a deep breath, Allison looked at Andrew and answered, "they ignore me."
Her answer was a stab to the chest. Similarly, Andrew felt that he suffered the same punishment from his parents…primarily his father. If Andrew had a concern about something, his words were ignored. If he was too tired to train, ignored. At least he had his mother who showed some form of care. But for Allison…to have both of her parents ignoring her was just despicable.
Our parents did a hell of a job raising us Andrew sarcastically thought and looked around the room, hoping that doing so would distract him from feeling the sting in his eyes.