I don't own the Breakfast Club

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After classes were over for the day, Andrew Clark found himself at the gymnasium. His knee had healed after he had decided to not participate in any practices for the past couple of days. If Andrew was being honest with himself, watching the practices had been both painful and relaxing. His mind had been wired to practice for hours every day and not being able to do it, it made him feel as if he was missing something in his life. However, the only relaxation he felt was in his mind. No one pushed him to go beyond his stamina, nor berate him for being lousy. Andrew knew that he was eventually going to have to jump into the practices once again, and it was going to be a repeated cycle. The one thing that he feared was after all this time that he had been on a temporary break, was he still going to be good enough for the team?

Andrew had kept up with his daily stretching exercises, just to keep his muscles in movement but he knew it wouldn't be enough. Now that he was facing the rest of his team, he hoped that he could keep up with their stamina. Andrew watched as two of his teammates grabbed a hold of one another and used as much strength as they could to pin their opponent to the mat. That was a piece of cake for Andrew. All it took was strategy, technique, and good judgement. No matter how good an opponent was, there was always a moment of weakness that he had to be vigilant for.

The two opponents that were up against one another was Angelo against David. The two looked like a perfect match for one another, though Angelo was equivalent to Andrew in strength. Andrew had a couple of practices with Angelo prior to the incident with Larry Lester, but he had managed to pin Angelo down. At that time, Angelo had proven to be a good challenge for Andrew. It helped him realize what he had to work on to make himself a better athlete.

Angelo's and David's feet struggled against the mat, but to Andrew, it seemed that Angelo had the upper hand. Just like he had predicted, Angelo bought David down with him where his opponent was unable to lift himself from the mat.

"Getting better and better Angelo," Andrew heard his coach say to his teammate. He watched as Angelo and David shook hands. David walked off the mat to catch a slight break as Angelo did the same. The coach looked down the list of names as they landed on Andrew's name. It had been a while since his star athlete had participated, due to that wretched knee injury. "Clark," he called and looked over at Andrew. "You're up. Rossi, five minutes are up."

Andrew stood on the mat and looked over at Angelo. This was the first time in weeks that he had last faced his team member. Andrew didn't know why, but he had an uneasy feeling. Ever since he had decided to bail out on his group of friends and sit with Allison, he had felt this subtle disregard from his teammates. With Angelo being the second strongest on the team, Andrew had a pestering feeling that Angelo would try to outdo him.

However, Andrew wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. He had worked hard to get to where he was now. All the years that he put, the time that he sacrificed, not to mention the teammates that he put down, all those efforts would be thrown away. Yet would anyone else other than him, care about what he had done?

Andrew got himself in a square stance position upon the coach's command as Angelo did the same. "Ready for this?" Angelo asked Andrew.

"Been waiting for this man," Andrew answered him believing that they were going to have a good-natured practice with one another.

Angelo smirked upon Andrew's words. "Good, because I ain't letting you take my spot." With those words, Angelo gripped Andrew's arms in a lockup and pushed himself against him.

Andrew felt his muscles stiffen. He resisted Angelo's push as his grip tightened upon his opponent's arms. Before Andrew had a chance to move, Angelo kept his neck in a headlock. Angelo's grip was tighter than Andrew had expected. Andrew managed to pull Angelo's arm away from his head and slipped his arms towards Angelo's wasit. Using as much strength as he could, he tried to pin Angelo to the mat.

Angelo using his strength, pushed Andrew back on the mat and tried to pin him down on his back. Andrew rolled on his stomach and pushed himself off the mat in a sitting position. He pushed against Angelo and slipped his arm around Angelo's leg, causing him to stagger back and fall back on the mat.

I still got it Andrew thought, even though his muscles burned from lack of practice. He felt that he had the upper hand against Angelo and was impressed at how far along his teammate had come along. Andrew got on top of Angelo and slipped his arm under Angelo's and pinned his head on the mat.

A scoff escaped from Angelo's mouth as he turned his head to look at Andrew. "Hanging out with that Basket Case has made you soft Clark."

Upon those words, Andrew's grip lessened, giving Angelo the advantage to use his strength and push back against Andrew. Andrew was airborne for a second until he felt his body hitting against the mat. Adrenaline surged through his veins as he jumped to his feet. He barreled towards Angelo and gripped him around the waist, but Angelo resisted as much as he could.

Basket Case…I told him to leave her alone! Andrew thought as his hand form into a fist. Andrew released Angelo and connected his fist against his chin.

The attack was enough to cause Angelo to stagger back but not enough to stun him. His anger matched Andrew's as he launched himself towards him and grappled Andrew on the mat. Andrew felt his back hitting against the mat and before he could react, Angelo's fists rained upon him.

"Clark! Rossi!" the coach's voice bellowed as he intervene towards the fight, "what the hell is the matter with both of you?!"

Andrew felt Angelo being pulled off him, yet the damage had been done. Andrew felt the warm sensation of blood slipping down his nose and lip. He looked up and saw Angelo removing his mouthguard, yet he had been able to inflict some damage towards Angelo's teeth.

The coach took a deep breath as he surveyed the damage between Angelo and Andrew. He couldn't fathom the fact that two of his best teammates not only broke the rules in wrestling, but they went after each other like a pack of dogs. It was inexcusable behavior from both, but the one thing that shocked him the most was Andrew. He had gotten his first and last warning after what he had done to Larry, and he couldn't believe that he had chosen this path of violence once again.

"Both of you," the coach pointed at Angelo and Andrew, "in my office right now."

Andrew and Angelo sat in front of their coach's desk, awaiting their judgement. Angelo nursed his bruised chin with an icepack while Andrew held a tissue against his nose. "What you both displayed was inappropriate behavior. Neither of you shows good sportsmanship."

Angelo let out a scoff and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "What sportsmanship coach? Andrew freaking attacked me."

"You were out a line you—" Andre defended himself but was immediately interrupted.

"I don't want to hear it!" his coach exclaimed. "I've had it with this behavior, Clark. This is not your first warning. I expected a little more from a varsity letterman."

Those were the same words that Richard Vernon had said to him in detention. This time, they were not in reference to his strength. As a varsity letterman, he had to set a good example not only for his teammates but also his class. It was a responsibility that Andrew was aware of, but his temper got the better of him. Andrew let out a defeated sigh and averted his gaze from Angelo and his coach.

"You've both put me in a tough position," the coach continued. He didn't want to remove his strongest players from the team, but he couldn't condone this behavior in front of the other players. If other schools heard about this, none of them would take Shermer High seriously. As for him, his reputation was a coach was to train players who not only understood the sport but were well educated and disciplined. Andrew and Angelo had turned that into a whole circus just by their behavior.

He looked from Angelo and then at Andrew. If he expelled Angelo from the team, he would have Andrew. However, Angelo hadn't exhibited any form of violent behavior unlike Andrew. If he was to expel Andrew, he would lose his star athlete and would have to see through Mr. Clark's counterarguments. Dealing with Andrew's father was a whole other story. "Rossi," the coach spoke up and looked at Angelo, "you're benched for the next month. You won't be participating in any practices or tournaments."

Angelo took a deep breath. At least it was better than not being on the team.

"Clark," the coach then turned his eyes on Andrew. "You got your first warning after what happened to Larry. I could send you to Saturday detention again but I'm afraid the first time wasn't enough to teach you a lesson. You're expelled from the team."

Andrew had a feeling that the coach was going to say something like that. Even though he had mentally prepared himself for it, he still felt his stomach drop.

There it was in the end. A fallen star athlete. Expelled from the team. And for what? For defending Allison's dignity against an idiot.