Gutsy: A John Bender (Breakfast Club) Story

Claire

John spent the next week sleeping and working on the homework I brought him from school. I had worried that he would put up a big fuss about it, but I think he was bored. Laying around resting all day was not very exciting and I had to babysit the twin terrors again in the evenings. Part of me was dying to ask what he and my parents talked about while I was at the MacMurray's, but I kept my mouth shut.

Friday morning rolled around and I got a major surprise at school. Claire was waiting for me at my locker. She was impeccably dressed in boots and a sweater that clung perfectly to her frame. She was biting her lip and clutching her books to her chest in a way that said she would rather be anywhere than at my locker.

"Hi," Claire said scrunching her nose.

I studied her for a long moment, "Good morning."

"Ummm, so I heard what happened to Bender," she said.

"I'm pretty sure that everyone in school has by now," I replied with a shrug.

Claire gave a worldly sigh, repositioning the books in her arms, "I also heard he's staying at your house."

"That's correct," I said not giving her anything. I was dying to know what she wanted, but I needed to play her as cool as she was playing me.

"So, uh, is he okay?" she asked, eyes darting back and forth watching the students around us.

I opened my locker and took out a notebook, letting Claire squirm. "He got hit by a truck, so no he's not okay, but he will be."

"Andrew made it sound like it was real bad," Claire said.

"Andrew tends to exaggerate," I said with my first smile.

Claire huffed, "Well which is it? Is he bad off or not?"

"He bruised some internal organs and broke six ribs. That's pretty bad, but he honestly seems to be healing well all things considered. He sleeps a lot which is good and already is coming off the pain meds for aspirin." I said finally relenting.

"That is pretty bad," Claire said drawing out her words. "I'm glad he's improving though."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, "Me too."

I pulled my backpack off and stuffed the notebook into it expecting Claire to leave, but instead she kept standing there giving me a strange look.

"Why are you dating, Bender?" Claire asked after watching me zip up my backpack. "Are you trying to get back at me or something for ignoring you after detention?"

I had to bite back the words that flew to mind at her conceit. I opted for a raised eyebrow and said, "I promise going out with John has nothing to do with you."

A look of relief washed over Claire, and she seemed to release some of the tension that she carried. "Look, I know I haven't exactly been friendly toward you or Bender, but I've thought a lot about what happened that day in detention. And I realized that Bender was right, about pretty much everything. This might be hard to believe, but I want to change. I just don't know how."

I couldn't hide the skepticism that crossed my face and I tilted my head, "Well good for you. What does that have to do with me?"

Claire shuffled and took a big breath, "I've been watching how you changed Bender, and Andrew has told me some thing too. I want you to help me change."

Of all the things she could have told me this was the last thing I expected. I desperately wanted to laugh at her, but cool and collected is my game so I squashed the internal giggles.

"You want ME to help you change?" I said.

"YES!" Claire burst out before retreating back into her shell, "Popularity doesn't affect you and you seem so in control all the time. You don't even let Bender boss you around and rumor has it that you outfoxed Vernon. If all of that is true, then you can help me."

"Claire, you do realize that any help I could give you would probably be detrimental to your popularity status." I said staring hard at her.

Fear shone stark in Claire's eyes, but her words were hard and didn't carry any of the anxiety I saw in her eyes, "I know. But I'm tired of just letting things happen to me. I mean yeah I definitely know what circles to run in, things to wear, and what to say, but I'm stuck. This is senior year and I haven't done one original thing other than get detention. I want to be different before school is over, in fact I really want to have a new start by the time of the winter formal."

My brain was spinning. If she really meant it, then I had my work cut out for me. There was also another angle. What if she was playing me? What if Claire really had feelings for John and was using me to get to him? She had kissed him after all. I knew John was committed to me, but I had a feeling that a side affair with Claire would be an awfully big temptation. John loved trouble and women. If I agreed to this was I going to be setting a bomb to our relationship?

"Look if you're really serious about this, Claire, I need you to prove it to me," I finally said. "There's too many ways helping you could backfire on me if you don't really want it. I'm willing to take long shot gambles, but only on things that I'm sure will have excellent payback."

"You want money? I can give you whatever you ask for." Claire rushed out.

I shook my head, "That's a bonus, but not really what I mean. I went after John because I saw him as a good business opportunity that just happened to turn into something more. With you I see something similar. I'm talking about political connections, business partners, intelligence gathering."

"I don't understand," Claire said. "We're teenagers. We aren't even in college yet."

"True, but we are seniors, and your parents have connections to good colleges. Not only that, but some of your socialite friends have parents with even more important ties. Ties that could prove useful for internships and jobs later on." I said trying to calm my inner frustration at her density. Claire was not as stupid as she made herself out to be so I was annoyed by her lack of drive.

I watched as a flood of understanding came over Claire. Her eyes flashed and the look of fear left her, "You don't think like other people." She said at last.

The bell was about to ring so I shrugged on my backpack and said, "I'm not like other people. And for the record I'm going to have to do some thinking before I agree to this."

With that I turned and walked away.