I don't own The Breakfast Club

Enjoy!

"Mademoiselle Standish," the French teacher's voice rang out in French class as her eyes looked over to the red-haired student who sat in front of the class.

Claire straightened her back as much as possible when she was called upon. French was a language that she loved to study and she knew it was going to be useful when she traveled to France. If she was honest, learning a different language was difficult but Claire was determined to study it well. Some lessons were harder than others, especially when she had to translate from English to French. What was interesting about this class was that the teacher didn't allow a single English word to be spoken in the class, otherwise she took off points on quizzes. Harsh.

"Oui?" Claire spoke up as she looked at the teacher.

"Tarduire cette phrase," she said as she turned around and wrote a sentence on the chalkboard.

Now Claire had teachers who complained about a students' handwriting on essays and tests, so why couldn't the teachers also fix their own handwriting? Claire resisted the urge to squint her eyes at the board and decipher what the letters were. Crows feet? Unattractive for a girl like her! "Uh..." Claire looked from the board over to the teacher, "can you please write it again, Mrs. Dubois?"

Mrs. Dubois raised an eyebrow at her student. "En français, s'il vous plaît," she said as she wrote down on her grade book to subtract point for Claire on a future quiz.

Claire gave Mrs. Dubois a slight glare. Just because they were learning French in this class, didn't mean that the teacher had to be scornful. Whatever Claire thought as she reverted her brain to think in French. "Uh...pouvez-vous s'il vous plaît réécrire la phrase? Je ne peux pas lire ce que vous avez écrit."

Prononciation! Prononciation! Prononciation! Mrs. Dubois wanted to yell at Claire. How long had this girl been taking French? With a pronunciation like that, she might as well kiss France goodbye! Mrs. Dubois closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose before attempting to rewrite the sentence once more. Clearly this time. "C'est mieux, Votre Altesse?"

There were more words that Claire had to learn, but from the tone that Mrs. Duboise spoke, she knew that she was being sarcastic with Claire. Her head slightly turned when she heard a few snickers behind her. Advance French students who understood what the teacher had said. Go figure. Whatever. She was not going to let their haughty snickers get the best of her. She was Claire Standish, the most popular girl in the school and they were just a bunch of jealous nobodies who wished they were part of her group. Taking a deep breath, she stared at the sentence on the board and a surge of confidence surged within her. Oh she was going to own this sentence with pronunciation and everything that came with it.

I am what I am, and if I am what I am, what am I?

Whoa Claire thought. Even in English the sentence was confusing but she just had to show them that she could do it. The more she stared at the sentence, the more I ams were popping up in the sentence. Just focus on what's written she said to herself and a small smile appeared upon her lips. "Je suis ce que je suis, et si je suis ce que je suis, qu'est-ce que je suis?" There.

"Bravo!" Mrs. Dubois said as she wrote the translated phrase in French. "C'est un virelangue. "Tout comme en anglais, il existe des virelangues en français." The bell suddenly rang, an indication that class was over. "Ah-ah-ah!" Mrs. Dubois held her arms in the air as her class began to gather their things. "Devoirs ce soir! Traduire les virelangues anglaises en français. Je veux que vous en fassiez dix."

Claire barely heard the last words on what Mrs. Dubois said.

"Ten tongue twisters," one of the advanced French students said as she closed her book, "I can barely think of one."

Her friend laughed and motioned for her to follow. "Come on, we'll think of some together."

Claire watched them as they exited the classroom whilst she gathered her school items. She wished she had some of her own friends taking French class with her. It would be nice to get together and do homework just like those two girls, but her friends didn't share the same enthusiasm as Claire did about French. In the beginning, they had teased her for enrolling in the class to the point where Claire wanted to drop it. However, a very wise woman had come to her mind when she was about to do it. Her grandmother, Marie-Claire Standish spoke French fluently and as a little girl, Claire remembered how much she loved hearing her grandmother talk to her like that. It was such a beautiful language. Very melodious and elegant and when her grandmother spoke, it made her seem more sophisticated than she already was.

A small smile formed upon Claire's lips at the thought of her grandmother. Ever since her passing a year ago, she had left Claire a precious heirloom. Diamond earrings that Claire never took off ever and she felt that her grandmother was right there with her wherever she went. She missed her grandmother just as much as she missed her brother and she wished she could do anything to get back both of them. Sometimes life was unfair and no matter how pampered she was, there was always that empty feeling that she had ever since the loss of her grandmother and her brother moving.

Stepping into the hallway, Claire's eyes fell on her group that had formed in the middle of the hallway. "Hi girls," she greeted them.

"Hey Claire," Jennifer Martin greeted her, "just came out of French class? I don't know how you, or even why, you do it?"

Claire shrugged her shoulders in reply and pasted another smile on her lips. "I don't know what I was thinking enrolling in it. Mrs. Dubois makes the class a living hell. It's too bad I can't drop out of it." Sometimes a little white lie was all that her friends needed to get off her back about this French class, though that didn't mean that they pressured her into giving it up.

"Well Jodie here has come to our rescue," Jennifer chuckled as she threw back her shiny brown hair over her shoulder and looked at her curly-blond friend.

Jodie popped a bubblegum in her mouth and held up a fashion magazine. "Check this out," she said as she pointed to a beautifully designed handbag. "I have got my eyes on this bag before it came out. Tomorrow you, me, Jennifer, Christina, and Katie will be there to get this."

Claire took the magazine in her hands and examined the handbag. It had been a week since she had shopped with her friends and they were due for another one. In that case, she might as well buy that Ralph Lauren outfit set that she seen in the magazine earlier this morning. "What time?" she asked.

Jennifer and Jodie exchanged a mischievous look with one another. "We're going there tomorrow. Store opens at 9:00 AM and you're coming with us."

But that meant...she was going to skip school to go shopping? Claire looked at her friends dumbfounded. She was the type of girl who never said 'no' to shopping but skipping class because of this? What do I have tomorrow for class? she thought and at that moment, it dawned on her that she had a test in Biology class. Ugh.

"You'll be coming right?" Jodie asked her.

"How will we get there?" Claire asked her. It seemed so wrong, skipping school to go shopping but Claire just couldn't back out on her friends.

"Easy," Jodie assured her, "Christina will drive us there. She already got her license and knows her way around town."

"And where is Christina?" Claire asked, knowing that she didn't see her at all in the hallways earlier this morning.

"Who knows?" Jennifer shrugged her shoulders, "probably on the bleachers checking out the wrestling team. She knows real well that Katie's got her eyes on Andrew, but you k'now how Christina is."

As juicy as that headline was, the last thing that Claire needed was a fight to happen in her group. Christina was known to be quite the, how should Claire put this lightly about her friend, vixen? Though Katie was quite the she-devil. They both complained about one another to Claire, though Claire never said a word to either of them of what she had learned. Why start a vicious drama in her friend group. "Yeah," Claire then agreed, "they'll be okay."

Just then, Jennifer staggered forward when a male student pushed passed her. "Hey!" Jennifer yelled as she caught the males attention. "Watch where you're going scumbag!"

The male turned on his heel and faced the three girls before him. A curly-blond, a brunette, and a redhead but the one who had yelled at him was wearing an extensive amount of eyeshadow she might as well have not been walking around in this school.

"Oh my God it's Bender," Jodie whispered, "Jennifer don't."

"Then get outta the way Cleopatra!" Bender yelled back at her, "what? Did I misalign your crown?"

"Go to hell!" Jennifer defended herself as she formed her hands into fists.

"After you," Bender responded before flipping her the middle finger and walking into the depths of the hallway.

Claire's breath caught in her throat. She had seen him around school before but never interacted with him. Though he had given quite the first impression upon her, and one that she did not like. "Are you okay Jennifer?"

"Yeah," Jennifer responded with a nod of her head, "who does he think he is? Loser," she said and before both Claire and Jodie knew it she marched down the hallway to head to class.

"I guess we should just let her calm down," Claire suggested and Jodie agreed with her. "I'll see you at lunch." The two girls exchanged their goodbyes and walked in opposite directions, unaware that two other students had been watching them.

Across the hallway to where the debacle had been exchanged, Allison and Susan were standing against some lockers. Allison had been the only one seeing the exchange happening between The Criminal and The Preps. Susan on the other hand had been extensively sketching on her notebook and didn't bother to bat an eyelash as to what was happening. Only this time, Allison was able to get a better look at what she was drawing and it was something that Allison hadn't expected. From she could make out, it was Bender and Jennifer and in the drawing, Bender had taken a swing at Jennifer.

"Is that something that you wished to happen?" Allison suddenly heard herself asking Susan.

Her pencil stopped coloring in the details of the drawing as she looked up at Allison. How long had she been standing there? The last thing she remembered was sitting next to her in World History and never had they exchanged a sentence between one another. "What?" Susan asked her.

"That," Allison pointed at the drawing.

Susan glanced down and immediately closed the sketchbook. It was a highly inappropriate thought, wishing for a Prep Girl to get punched but she deserved it. If she could do it, she would have if she had the courage to stand up to her. "It's personal," she answered her, "you wouldn't understand."

"Try me," Allison said.

Why was this girl suddenly talking to her all of a sudden? "Why should I?"

"Because I have been in a situation like you before," Allison said to her, "with them." Ever since that situation, Allison had avoided any proximity with them other than this morning where they miraculously walked past her and they didn't notice.

Susan stared at Allison for a beat. One thing in common that they had was that they lived in a world where it was just them and nobody else. Sometimes that world had unwelcomed guests that would come in and tear them down, only for them to build a higher wall and make sure that no one would cross it. "Yeah," Susan answered her with a nod of her head, "I wanted that to happen."

That was an answer that Allison had expected. She too wished that Jennifer had taste of her own medicine but she knew that Bender wouldn't do it. He had this tough and rough persona and she knew that he would fight but with a girl? Now that was something that she had yet to see. Allison's thoughts were then disrupted when Susan cleared her throat.

"You're Allison, right? My name is Susan," she introduced herself.

Allison looked at Susan before a small smile formed on her lips. She couldn't tell whether this form of introduction was an acquaintanceship or a try at friendship. "I know," Allison said as she reached into her bag and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. She smoothed out the paper and held it up in front of Susan and it was a discarded caricature sketch of the World History teacher.

"Hey! I threw that away," Susan said.

"I was curious," Allison said, "and it's mine now." She crumpled the paper and threw it back in her bag.

Susan slowly shut her eyes and hid her smile behind her hands. From what she could tell, Allison seemed to like the drawing as opposed to some adults who regarded her drawings as strange or not up to par. Her grandmother had been a supporter of her drawings, but it was nice to see someone other than a family member like them. "What's your next class?"

"Free period," Allison said to her, "you?"

"Same. I just go and sit in the Art classroom and draw."

A thought wandered in Allison's mind. Normally, on her free period Allison would be sitting in the cafeteria and would be finishing her homework or staring off into the distance. She had always wondered what happened outside of the school building with other classes such as gym or sport meets? "Want to hang out on the bleachers?" Allison asked her.

This was an offer that Susan hadn't expected. Though she thought that some fresh air and being with a classmate would do her good in her creativity and ease her mind off from Jennifer and company. "Sure," she nodded her head to Allison, "hopefully we don't get caught."

A mischievous smile came upon the girl's lips. "No such thing," she said as she tugged on Susan's sleeve and they headed out of the school building.