I don't own the Breakfast Club

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With his hands in his pockets, Brian didn't hesitate for a second until he found his way to the nurse's office. On his way there, he wondered what had happened that would have caused Susan to go. The most the school nurse could do was apply an ice pack or have someone lie down. Also, there had been cases of students wanting to go to the nurse's as an excuse to ditch class. Brian assumed that Susan wouldn't have done that after Allison had told the group. Brian remembered that day when he had gone to the nurse. At gym, Brian and the rest of his classmates were playing a very competitive game of dodgeball where it resulted in Brian being hit on the nose. He had been taken immediately to the nurse, where she had told him to apply pressure to his nose until it stopped bleeding. Brian was glad that he hadn't suffered a concussion out of all that.

As Brian was almost close to the nurse's office, he heard Vernon's voice coming from inside. Brian stopped just before the doorway and took a seat at one of the empty chairs, to wait for his turn. However, he couldn't help but eavesdrop on the conversation from within.

Susan was holding her face in her hands. She leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees and tried to control her breathing. This was the second time that Vernon had to be called in the nurse's office within the day. His constant back and forth pacing and the sound that his shoes made against the floor was enough to bother her.

The first time Vernon had come to the nurse, she wasn't able to breathe. The second time he had arrived, Susan was exhausted, and he found her in the same position she was sitting now.

Vernon stopped pacing and looked over at Susan with an expression that was a mixture of frustration and concern. The last time that he had seen her in such a state was last year when she heard the news about her mother's death. It had been difficult trying to have Susan manage it, until she was finally able to do so. Now, even though it was minor, he couldn't believe that Susan had slipped back.

Susan felt relieved that Vernon had stopped pacing. Peace. That's all she could ask for. She was grateful for the school nurse who stepped in and knew how to handle the situation. Taking another deep breath, Susan managed to straighten up and lean back against the chair. The feeling in her hands had slightly returned but she didn't trust herself to stand up without falling.

"Are you able to speak now?" Vernon asked as he hovered over her.

Susan glanced up and him and slowly nodded her head.

"What happened?" he asked her.

How was Susan going to tell him about a negative critique that she had gotten on her artwork, when she knew that her uncle didn't care at all about her art classes? Susan then shook her head, "it's…it's nothing."

That was an answer that Vernon didn't expect. "Look," he said, trying to soften his stern demeanor for he knew that in the situation she was in, was delicate, "getting called down here twice in a day because my niece is not able to breathe is not 'nothing,'" he told her. "What happened that caused this?"

There was softness in that tough exterior, but it was rarely shown and Susan didn't want to be the cause to make him vexed. "Just something that happened in class."

"What? What class?" Vernon nudged her to continue, "another bad grade?"

That was half the truth. Even though the art teacher hadn't graded the artwork yet, Susan could feel that it was going to be a bad grade.

Jesus, how many times do we have to go through this? Vernon thought as he pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to suppress that headache that was beginning to form. If he had the opportunity for an early retirement, he would take it right this second.

"No," Susan shook her head, "not yet anyways. I just…I just had a moment of uncertainty." She braced herself for a lecture but only received a sigh from Vernon.

Vernon did not take any excuses from Susan to perform poorly in her core classes. However, for all students there came a moment where their confidence would wane, no matter how good they did in their classes. To Vernon, that was still not an excuse. "Then you need to get it together," he said to her, "there's only a couple of months before the term ends."

There was no way that she could argue with this man. If she did, it would escalate into an argument and Susan didn't have the energy to continue. "Yes Uncle Richard," she said to him with a nod of her head. If only you knew how deep the cause of it was she thought.

Vernon was about to make a comment when he held his hand in the air. He stopped before continuing and then finished their conversation with, "just…pull yourself together and finish the rest of your classes for today."

Susan had not expected from him to tell her to take the rest of the day off. Although, it would have been nice.

Brian heard footsteps coming out of the nurse's office and before he could leave, he heard Vernon calling after him. "What're you doing here, Johnson?" he demanded as Brian slowly turned around and faced him.

Brian hid the shock with a smile. "Hey Mr. Vernon," he greeted him as if they always got along with one another, "I needed to see the nurse. I have a bit of a headache."

"She's busy. Someone's already in there," Vernon said to him, "go on, get to class."

Brian gave Vernon a nod of his head and he turned on his heel. He pretended to walk in the direction of the lunchroom. He glanced over his shoulder and once he saw that Vernon was gone, he hurried into the nurse's office and saw Susan sitting on the chair. Wherever the nurse was, Brian was going to have to hurry before she came back. "Susan," Brian said as he hurried over to her and knelt in front of her, "you okay?"

Susan was surprised to see Brian, yet grateful that he cared enough to check in on her. "Yeah," Susan nodded her head and mustered a smile at him, "I'm good."

What Allison had told them in the lunchroom to the stress that lingered on her face, Brian knew that this wasn't true. "I've been there before," Brian said to her as he took a gentle hold of her hands in his, "look at what it's doing to you, don't keep it to yourself."

There had been a time when Susan thought that she was the only one going through this. It was good to see that she wasn't alone, but she didn't wish anyone to go through something like this. "It was just a mild panic attack," Susan assured him with a small smile, "I used to get them last year. They were a lot worse but I was able to manage it after a while." She shook her head and ran a hand through her hair. "I didn't think it would come back after my teacher tore down my art homework in front of the class."

Brian let out a sigh. There was nothing worse than being publicly ridiculed or having your grades compared to others in the class. Teachers should be the ones to guide their students into doing better, not be critical just because they didn't like how their students expressed themselves through their homework. Brian was always the one that took what a teacher said to him to heart, both the positive and the negative. The positive was what pushed him to perform better, but the negative tore him down. Yet, he wondered if those negative words were going to matter five or ten years from now, when he would have a successful career. It was just not worth it. Brian stood up on his feet and pulled Susan. "Come on," he said as he put an arm over her shoulders and escorted her out of the office.

"Where are we going?" Susan asked, grateful that she was able to walk without falling.

"You're going to have your lunch and forget about what your teacher said," he said to her. He was not going to let her alone in this office. It may have served as a temporary sanctuary, but the more she stayed, the more she was going to overthink about her art homework and the conversation she had with Vernon.

At lunchroom, the group had finished their food and waited for the bell to ring. Claire looked up when she noticed Brian arriving back with Susan. "He's back," she pointed out.

John looked over his shoulder and held his hands in the air. "She lives!" he exclaimed as Brian took his seat next to John and Susan sat next to Brian.

"Seriously Bender?" Brian asked as he looked at the eaten food items on the table, "you ate all my lunch."

"I left you the PB&J with the crusts cut off," John pointed out to him, "I don't like that crap."

Brian shook his head and split half of his sandwich with Susan. He hoped that he wouldn't starve before heading home.

Andrew leaned forward to the table and looked at Susan. "You doing better?" he asked her as Susan nodded her head. "Allison told us what happened. That's rough."

"That's one of the reasons why I never took an art class," Claire said to Susan, "some of the teachers here are not at all open-minded."

"This ain't about you," John said to Claire and earned a glare from her. Dismissing her glare, he looked over at Susan. "That teacher doesn't know what good art is if it hit her in the face. How you holding up Picasso?" he asked her.

"Much better," Susan answered John and then smiled gratefully at Brian for offering her half of his sandwich.

"By the way," Joh continued, "you still have a hold on my painting, Picasso?"

"What painting?" Susan asked him.

"The one that we did on Monday before Vernon busted us," John told her. He had place where he was going to put it as a reminder of what it felt to finally have some fun for the first time, in such a long time.

Ah-ha! That painting. Susan was just going to have to sneak in there after school when the teacher had left. She did not wish to see her for the remainder of the day and be reminded of the grade that was to come. "I'll meet you after school to hand it over," Susan told him.

"I'll hold you to it," John pointed at her and with that, the bell rang signaling the end of the lunch break.