Monday (A Breakfast Club Short Story)

Chapter 3

      GUILT ran through Claire's body all morning. She felt terrible, but what was she supposed to do? She'd warned them that this would happen. She'd warned them that she'd crumble under the pressure. At home she'd hoped she was stronger than their opinions, but when it came to it, she just wasn't.

The nausea came and went throughout her classes leaving only when her mind gave her a break from the overwhelming guilt.

When she passed by the faculty lounge on the way to lunch, she couldn't help but remember the chase Bender had taken them on after getting his weed from that disgusting locker. She smiled at the memory. It had felt exhilarating.

The cafeteria was bustling with hungry and energetic kids. From where Claire stood it was easy to see the typical cliques of Shermer High School. The populars, stoners, brains, etc.

However, a new table had been formed, one that no one could keep their eyes off of. One of the brains, basket cases, and criminals were sat together at the back of the cafeteria.

Claire's eyes finally met Bender's, and, as quickly as it happened, the moment faded away. He had looked away in an instant. He must've found out about what she did. She tried to catch his eyes again, but was dragged to her usual table by her friends.

Claire made it a point to sit by Andy; she needed to talk to him about what was going on.

"I was thinking we could go to the mall tomorrow," said Vanessa as she looked at her compact mirror to fix her makeup.

All the girls agreed and Claire essentially brushed them off with a, "yeah, sure," before turning to Andy.

"Did you see?" she motioned with her head to the table.

He nodded, but made no move to stand up.

"Did you talk to Allison?"

"She called me a spineless prick and told me to fuck off. I don't think she wants to talk to me," he said in a low voice.

"What are you two whispering about?" Addie, who was sat in front of them, leaned forward.

Andy and Claire side-eyed each other before laughing.

"I already told you that there's nothing going on between us," Claire said. Andy nodded his head in agreement.

"You're telling me you two spent hours by yourselves and nothing happened?" she asked.

"We weren't alone," Andy pointed out.

"You basically were. Why would you even acknowledge their existence?" she motioned her head to where Bender was currently unpacking Brian's food just like he'd done on Saturday.

It was then that everything went into slow motion for Claire. She looked around and saw arm wrestling and sports talk, as well as nails being filed and magazines being looked over. She didn't hate it, but she was tired of it. Why should she deprive herself of something new that's fun just because of opinions? If they were really her friends they wouldn't care.

Mindlessly, she grabbed her brown leather bag and walked over to the Breakfast Club table.

"Hi," she said.

"You missed your table, Cherry," Bender spoke without giving her a glance.

"Come on, Bender. Don't do that. I thought we were past that."

He looked to the person sat in front of him, "Brian, are we past that?"

Brian turned to Claire, hurt still evident in his eyes, "apparently not."

Bender turned his head to the person sat next to him, "Allison?"

Allison, who had gone back to her smudged makeup and messy hair, flipped Claire off.

Bender turned to her, "are you a...sociopath, Claire?"

"What?" she asked shocked.

"Do you get off on making people feel special and then taking it away?"

"No! You know that's not true!"

He kept peeling his orange nonchalantly, "seems like it."

Claire took a deep breath. Bender was an instigator, she'd deal with him later.

She spoke to the other two when she said, "Saturday was one of the best days I've had in a long time, and I'd be stupid to let those idiots stop me from having more. I'm tired of the pressure. I don't care anymore. I'm ashamed of what I did and I'm really really sorry," tears welled in her eyes.

"Bravo," Bender stood up and started to clap, "have you considered theater club, Princess?"

"It's actually called Drama Club," Brian chimed in.

Bender threw him a glare.

Claire wiped the tear that had fallen down her cheek, "all I can say is I'm really sorry. You either forgive me or you don't," and turned to leave.

Brian quickly stood up and blocked her path, "I do, and so does Allison. Right, Allison?"

Allison studied her for a moment trying to figure out whether she was being genuine or not, "I guess."

Claire smiled and threw her arms over Brian's shoulders, "thank you," she whispered in his ear.

Gasps were heard all around them as she did so, but she didn't care.

She also gave Allison a hug—who tensed up before hugging her back—before sitting down.

Bender threw an orange slice up into the air and caught it with his mouth, "you always get what you want?"

He's hurt, Claire thought, he thinks I'm going to do the same to him.

She stood up from next to Brian and took the chair on the other side of Bender.

Wordlessly, she took his hand from his lap and held it. He tried to pull away, but she held on tighter. And, when he tried to again, she leaned her head on his shoulder. Gasps were once again heard across the room.

She whispered so that only he could hear her, "I really am sorry."

"You gonna leave me when you get bored of me?" he asked after a while.

"Truth?" She asked.

"Truth," he confirmed.

She nodded, but her voice said, "no."

He let out a short and soft laugh remembering when he'd done the same when she'd asked whether he was disgusted by her lipstick trick.

"As if you could ever bore anyone."