Gutsy: A John Bender (Breakfast Club) Story

The Fight

The first thing John did when he met me in the hall was ask if I was high, "I've never seen you this happy before," he said giving me a suspicious glare. "I might smoke weed, but its not a good look for you."

I laughed, "I promise I'm not high. Weed is not something I am interested in."

"Then if you're not high you're clearly up to no good. You only get happy like this when you're scheming." John said cautiously.

"Why do you assume that I'm plotting?" I asked still grinning from ear to ear.

John sighed and shook his head, "I can't believe you're turning ME into the goody two shoes. I should be ENCOURAGING you to plot whatever wild stuff you can come up with. Instead, I look at you and wonder how much trouble you are causing."

I had planned to tell him right away about my encounter with Vernon, but now his words hit me making my stomach lurch. He really did care about me. How was he going to take it when he found out what I had done?

Swallowing down my nerves I sassed, "I guess I'm rubbing off on you."

"What did you do, Laura?" John asked staring hard at me.

I stared back at him for a moment, "I'll tell you after school, okay? I'm afraid it will take too long to explain."

John took my hand and said, "I'm holding you to that. You're the blunt one, remember?"

"Oh, I remember," I said as my stomach continued to do backflips.

With that we walked off to our classes. The school day went quickly and Miss Lacey even let us work on our projects during class which was super helpful. After lunch John and I went our separate ways and I didn't see him till I walked out to my car.

He was sitting on the hood again smoking with his sunglasses on. I waved at him but he didn't wave back. My pulse picked up when he didn't even say, "hello," when I came up beside him. Instead, he threw his cigarette on the ground jumped off the hood and ground it out ferociously with his heel. My blood turned to ice. He was mad. Really mad.

"How could you?" John said, his voice low and cold. "I specifically told you to stay out of my business." He swore and continued, "And I didn't even find out from you. Mrs. Langley pulled me aside today and told me my detentions were discontinued."

The ice turned to fire in my veins as my temper rose to match his, "I'm TRYING to help you! You and I both know that what Vernon did giving you all those detentions was wrong."

"I DON'T NEED YOU'RE HELP!" John burst out.

I ground my teeth in frustration deciding to ignore the outburst and keep explaining, "And I'm really sorry that it was Mrs. Langley who told you and not me. I should have told you this morning, but I chickened out."

John swore again, "That makes it way worse ice queen. I thought you were starting to trust me! You talk about respect, but you didn't even respect me enough to leave my detention problem alone even after I asked you. AND to top it off you wouldn't tell me the truth this morning. You acted just like I was still a bum who you couldn't trust."

His words hurt and spurred me to speak, my voice growing louder with each word, "I DO trust you! And I'm sorry I'm not perfect and chickened out. It's nothing to do with you. I like you. A LOT, okay? And because I like you I wanted to get you out of detention so I could spend more time with you. Is it really that big of a crime to try and help your boyfriend?!"

John's voice came back in a sharp rebuttal, "It's not that wanted to help me that hurts, Laura. It's the way you did it. You should know better!"

Anger clouded my brain, but I knew he was right. I wanted to yell at him again. I wanted him to understand why I had stood up for him against his wishes. But I also couldn't turn away from the fact that he HAD asked me to stay out of his problems between him and Vernon.

"So what are you going to do about it?" I challenged, covering up my hurt and letting out my anger.

John whipped off his sunglasses and got in my face, "You've got a lot of nerve to ask that!"

"I JUST WANTED TO HELP YOU!" I shouted finally blowing my top.

John looked just as furious, "I DON'T NEED YOU'RE HELP! I THOUGHT I COULD TRUST YOU AND YOU BROKE MY TRUST!"

Fists clenched he pushed past me and stalked off leaving me stewing in my anger. I got into my car and slammed the door, vibrating with anger. How dare he talk to me like that? I CARED about him for crying out loud! I wanted what was best for him. All evening I was upset, blowing it off to my parents as a migraine, but by the time I got ready for bed I had cooled off a bit.

How were we supposed to finish our English project if we were yelling at each other, I mused. I was going to have to get over my anger and apologize tomorrow if I wanted to make our relationship work.