Breaking the Stereotypes

Chapter 2: The Breakfast Club…Sort Of

***

They walked down the hallway together at the end of the school day. Scott easily cradled both of their books with his left arm and slung his right arm around Juliette's waist.

"This is so unfair," she declared, her brown eyes flashing indignantly. "I don't know why they gave you detention today."

He shrugged. "At least they aren't going to bench me for the game. I was expecting worse."

"Brett is such a jerk. Everyone knows he got what he deserved."

"Too bad Scarbrow didn't see it that way."

They stopped outside of the classroom designated for Scott's detention. "Do you want me to wait around?" she asked.

"Nah," he said. "I'll call you tonight."

She pressed her lips against his cheek briefly. "Have fun."

He rolled his eyes. "I'll try."

***

Auggie looked up from his notebook just in time to see Juliette saying good bye to Scott. He stared after her longingly as she walked away. Juliette Weybourne was one of the prettiest, nicest girls that he knew. True, she was popular, but she never looked down on others because of it. She always wanted to help everyone and always seemed to be so cheerful and happy. Too bad she didn't know he existed. He went back to sketching in his notebook. No use thinking about things he should definitely not be thinking about.

He didn't know why he had even bothered showing up for detention. It didn't matter anyway. His grades were crap, his attendence was crap. The only thing he knew was his art. And he didn't need a high school diploma to paint, no matter what his parents said.

He raised his head briefly as Scott took a seat in the back of the room. What a lucky bastard. He wondered if he knew how lucky he was.

***

Shelby eyed the pretty blonde haired woman in front of her warily. What does she want from me, she wondered silently. "Miss Becker," she finally said, "I'm sorry, but I really have to get to detention now."

Sophie looked up from Shelby's file. "I'll have you there in a few minutes. I just want to talk to you for a second." She looked back down at the file in front of her, then back up at Shelby. "Shelby, your GPA and SAT scores are amazing. Have you started filling out any college applications yet?"

"No, not yet."

"Why not?"

"Because honestly, I don't think I'll be able to go anywhere besides the community college, and they accept everyone anyway."

"Why do you say that?" she asked, as she leaned back in her chair.

"Money," Shelby stated matter-of-factly. "We don't have it. It's just my mom, my sister, and me. There's no way my mom would ever be able to afford to send me to college."

"What about scholarships, loans, grants?" asked Sophie.

"You know as well as I do that it wouldn't be enough. Believe me, I've looked into this. Say a state school offers me a full ride. That doesn't take into account how much the tuition is raised every year. I'll still have to pay the difference, not to mention books and food and stuff."

"I still think you should start applying to schools. You never know what can happen unless you try. And I'd hate to see someone with your potential slip through the cracks. You've got a bright future ahead of you, Shelby. Give it a chance."

There was a knock at the door. Juliette poked her head in the door. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't know you were with someone. I'll just wait outside."

"No, that's alright. We were just wrapping up," said Sophie.

Shelby sighed with relief. She looked gratefully at Juliette. "Your turn," she said pleasantly. She gathered her books and tried not to run out of the office.

Juliette plopped down in Shelby's vacated seat. "I need help."

Sophie smiled at her. "With what?"

"I need more extra-curriculars. I need to have more to put on my applications. 'Cheerleader' just sounds so…insufficient."

Sophie took a second to skim her file. "Let's see. Your grades are good, your SAT scores are well above average…what kind of schools are you applying to?"

"I'm not sure yet."

"Okay, well what kind of major are you considering?"

"I don't know!" She threw her hands up in frustration. "I guess that's the problem. I don't know what I want to do or where I want to go. I don't even know what I like to do! I cheerlead because that's what is expected of me. But I don't want to do it anymore, and now I don't know what to do." She banged her forearms on the edge of the desk and buried her head in them.

Sophie stifled a smile. "Juliette, what you're going through now is completely normal. Most kids who go to college don't know what they want to do. And if they do, most of the time they end up changing their minds a thousand times before they really settle into majors. Don't be so hard on yourself."

"So what should I do?" she asked, lifting her head up.

"I think I have just the thing for you."

***

'Give it a chance,' Shelby mimicked under her breath. She stalked down the hallway, late once again. And to top that off, now she had the guidance counselor breathing down her neck about college. These problems were nothing new to her. The question was, why was Miss Becker suddenly taking an interest in her life? No one had ever cared much or noticed before.

She rushed into the classroom while the teacher's back was turned. She was only a few minutes late, maybe he hadn't noticed.

"Miss Merrick, so glad you could finally join us," said Mr. Scarbrow.

Shelby stifled a groan. Leave it to her to be late when the freaking principal was the one supervising detention that day. "I'm sorry, I was in Miss Becker's office."

"Okay," he said, letting it slide. He turned to address the rest of the classroom. "Alright, now that we're all here, I thought we'd do something other than stare at the wall for the next hour. We're going to talk instead."

Shelby rolled her eyes as a Latino guy sitting on the opposite side of the room groaned. Then she heard another voice in the back of the room.

"Are you kidding me?"

Scott Barringer again. She cast her eyes up toward the ceiling. God, why do you hate me? she asked silently.

"Come on guys, this will be painless, I promise."

Mr. Scarbrow walked to the center of the room and arranged three desks so that they were facing each other. He gestured to the desks with a nod of his head. Grumbling silently, Shelby pushed her chair back and sat at one of the desks. The other two did the same.

"Okay, let's start off easy. Let's have everyone say their name and why they're in detention. Shelby?"

Shelby rolled her eyes again. "My name is Shelby Merrick. I was late to school this morning."

"Augosto Ciceros. Been cutting class."

"Scott Barringer. I started a fight in the cafeteria."

A knock at the door interrupted them. Mrs. Bauer's face appeared in the glass. She motioned for Mr. Scarbrow to join her in the hallway. "Okay guys, talk. I'll be right back."

The three teenagers stared at each other petulantly, no one willing to speak first. Finally, Scott opened his mouth. "Did you draw that?" He pointed to the sketches in Auggie's notebook.

"Yeah." There was a note of pride in his voice.

"Nice."

"Thanks."

Awkward silence.

Shelby couldn't contain her curiosity any longer. "Who'd you get in a fight with?"

"Brett Johnson."

A small smile swept over her face. "Good for you. What a creep."

"What was the fight about?" Auggie asked.

Scott looked at Shelby. Her eyebrows were raised, waiting for his answer. "Uh, nothing big," he said quickly. "It's been a long time coming."

"Why isn't he stuck in detention too?" asked Shelby.

Scott grinned despite himself. "He's still at the hospital. I kind of…broke his nose."

Shelby snorted. Soon, the three of them were laughing hysterically.

***

Peter Scarbrow stepped back into the classroom. The three teenagers were talking like old friends. "Sorry guys," he said. "I've got to take care of something. You can all go." He was back out the door before they could respond.

They stared at each other in surprise. Then there was a flurry of activity as they grabbed their stuff and hurried out of the classroom too. They walked down the hallway and out the main doors together.

"Nice meeting you, Auggie," Shelby smiled.

He waved to them as he swaggered off, adopting his homeboy persona.

"I guess I'll see you around," Scott said to Shelby.

"Yup, homeroom," she said grinning. Her grin became decidedly evil. "I can't wait to see Brett Johnson's face tomorrow."

Scott snickered. "Later, Merrick."

The only response he got was the sound of her laughter as she headed toward the parking lot.

"Hey," came a quiet voice behind him.

"Hey," he responded, pulling Juliette into a hug.

"That was a short detention, considering you sent the star quarterback to the hospital today," she said, shaking her head bemusedly.

He grinned. "I rock. So what are you still doing around?"

"I had to talk to Miss Becker about something. Guess what?"

"What?"

"I'm going to start tutoring people after school."

"What about cheerleading?" he asked immediately.

She frowned. "That'll be over soon anyway. I'm excited about this tutoring thing though. I'm looking forward to it."

He smiled at her indulgently. "I just can't see you doing anything besides cheerleading."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She was getting more and more angry with Scott. Her own boyfriend was implying that she was nothing more than a fake, brainless airhead!

He opened his mouth to say something, eyes wide with bewilderment, but she cut him off.

"You know what? Never mind. I don't think I want to hear anything else you have to say today."

Without another word, she angrily shook his arm from her shoulders and stalked away.

He stared after her in amazement. What the hell had just happened?

END

Part 2