I don't own the Breakfast Club

Enjoy!

After leaving Susan, Brain walked into the Shops class. Walking into a classroom that had filled him with dread, he felt different. He took his spot at his usual seat and watched as the rest of the class filed inside. After completing the lamp project, Brian wondered what they were going to focus on next. He hoped something easier that didn't involve the fundamental of electricity.

Just stop thinking about it! Brian mentally scolded himself. There had to be something that he could do to distract his mind from that. He still hadn't told his parents about what he got on that lamp, and they hadn't bothered to ask him. If they did, what would he say? That would be a discussion in the future, where he hoped that they had forgotten about it. Suddenly, Brian heard chains clinking against one another and he looked up to see John Bender making his way to his own seat. There was no eye contact from John, which surprised him.

Just then, the teacher walked in the classroom, ready to start the lesson with a new project in mind. "Some of your attempts on the lamp were better than others," he announced to the classroom. "We will be moving onto woodwork. This should be a simple concept. However, instead of this being an individual project, I want to see how you work in a collaborative manner." From his desk, he held onto a baseball cap that was filled with the names of half the students from the class. His goal was to partner them up with the students that were on the right side of the classroom. "Pick a name out of the hat," the teacher said to one of the students, "that will be your partner for this project."

Brian leaned against his seat. He didn't prefer to be partnered with anyone. In the end, it was going to be him doing all the work and his partner getting full credit after their project. Brian wished that he could voice his concerns to the teacher but the kept it to himself. It would only make him look bad in the eyes of his classmates.

"This a magic trick, teach?" John Bender asked the teacher when he approached the table where he sat.

The teacher resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Come on Bender, pick a name. I don't have all day for your shenanigans."

He was one of the few teachers who even put up with John's shenanigans. Giving the teacher a smirk, John reached into the baseball cap and picked out a name. He looked down at the piece of paper and then crumped it in his hand after the teacher walked away.

Once the names had been picked, Brian tapped the tips of his fingers as he waited to see whom he was partnered with. He flinched when he felt a strong hand on his shoulder, making him look up at his newfound partner.

"You're stuck with me, Dweeb," John said in triumph as he pulled the empty chair next to Brian and took his seat.

Brian wasn't sure if he should feel relieved or nervous that John was his partner. For the past couple of projects that they had done, John seemed to be very practical with the materials and tools that they used. John had done practically well in those projects, especially with the lamp.

"Now," the teacher said as he walked up to the front of the class and threw the empty baseball cap onto the table, "I want you all to brainstorm with your partner on what you want to build. It can be big, it can small, it can even be catastrophic…but do be careful, I don't want anyone to suffer an injury in the process."

Brian was glad that thus far the only injury he had was a wood splinter. It had been extremely painful but his finger was able to get better after a while, unlike the bruised fingers that his other classmates suffered when using a hammer. Brian looked through his textbook for any idea on what to make. "What do you think, Bender?" he asked John who didn't seem too bothered to contribute any ideas. "Should we make a birdhouse?"

John made a face at that. "Let's stick to something that has more practical use," he suggested. He pulled Brian's textbook close to him and flipped through the pages. A birdhouse required a lot of math, which John knew that Brian was able to do, but it was going to take a long time to build it. John wanted to make something bigger, something that he could show his skills in. But making a birdhouse that was big enough for a hawk was out of the question. "We'll make this," he said and pointed to a picture of a bookshelf. "You gotta have a place to keep all those books of yours."

"But isn't a bookshelf too simple?" Brian asked him, "how is that going to get us a better grade?"

Did this kid learn nothing? John wondered as he looked at Brian. "Listen," John said as he held his hand up in the air, "when you make something of practical use, you expect to use it. All these losers here are probably making musical instruments or freaking birdhouses that are probably going to break. For a bookshelf, you're gonna use that every day."

Brian had to admit that John made a good point about that. Through the past couple of projects that they had done, one of the requirements that the teacher had was how practical was their design. Just like the lamp, its practicality was light. For the bookshelves, it was to hold books and decorations. An idea struck Brian as he snapped his fingers, getting a bit too enthusiastic about the project, which he never thought he would. "We can add a cupboard under the shelves!"

John furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Brian. "Did you get a carpenter license overnight?" he asked him, "that's gonna take forever to finish."

"Not if we put some hours outside of school," Brian said. "We can meet at your—" he stopped immediately after he realized what he was about to say.

A smirk came upon John's lips. There was no way in hell he was going to bring Brian to his house, let alone have his parents meet him. He also realized that Brian's parents wouldn't want anyone like John to hang out at their garage.

"Sorry," Brian apologized when he realized his mistake. He nervously ran a hand over his hair and tried to think where they could meet, where they would be able to start and finish this project. Unless they stayed after school, but that was also at a limited time. "You think we can ask one of our friends to open their garage for us?"

"What parent would want to do that?" John asked him. "I don't know what Claire's parents are like, but I can tell they'd probably call the police and arrest me, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere near Andrew's." It was probably for the best after how Andrew described his father on Saturday. The last thing that John needed was a reminder that there were other people just as malicious as his own father but they can in different forms.

Brian tapped his pencil against his notebook. So Andrew and Claire were not an option…until another person came into his mind. "I know just who to ask," Brian said to John, "but its gonna have to wait after class."

"Your way of suspense is just as annoying as you are," John said to Brian and hit his arm with the back of his hand. He leaned towards Brian with his elbow on his knee. "Spill it, just who did you have in mind?"

Brian rubbed the area of his arm that John had hit. "I'm talking about Allison," Brian answered him, which caught John off guard. "Considering how her relationship is with her parents, I don't think they'd mind having some company over."

John could already see a flaw in that plan. "Just because her parents don't pay attention to her, doesn't mean that they won't pay attention to us."

"You know that we can ask her, right?" Brian asked with a tone that was firmer than he had expected. He leaned back when John gave him a stern expression. "We'll ask her and see what she has to say."

John pulled away from Brian. "That was the last person I expected you to say." He crumpled up one of Brian's notebook paper and threw it across the room and watched it bounce off the table and onto the floor.