Warm Up

Disclaimer: I do not own the Breakfast Club.

Monday morning was do or die. It was their first chance and, in a way, it was their only one. Sure, if they messed this up and ignored each other – or worse – on that first day they could always try again. Just the same, it would be harder as each day passed and they would have already set the tone for their post-detention relationships.

Monday was a big day and nobody quite knew how it was going to go so they had agreed to meet up before school.

Claire was the last one to show up.

"My parents," she announced, "are under the impression that I've been robbed."

"Why?" Andy asked.

Bender smirked and ran a finger over his new earring. "Because of this, you mean?"

Claire nodded. "It took them until the end of dinner yesterday to notice but once they did they were quite sure it was robbery."

"Imagine how long it would have taken them if it wasn't a diamond," Allison mused.

"Why didn't you just explain to them that Bender didn't steal it?" Brian asked. He paused. "You didn't steal it, did you?"

Bender rolled his eyes. "Right, because the best thing to do with a stolen diamond is to flaunt it."

"I did explain to my parents; that's why they think it's a robbery," Claire explained. "At first they just thought I lost it and started arguing about which of their fault it was that I lost something valuable."

"Your parents haven't even met me and they already hate me," Bender noticed. "This sounds like a very promising start to a getting-back-at-Daddy relationship."

"You sound like you've had experience," Andy noted.

Bender laughed. "Would that surprise you in the slightest?"

"It's not just because of that," Claire insisted. "I mean, I can get back at them in a lot of ways without putting up with a guy I couldn't stand and there's a reason I didn't have a boyfriend when I came in on Saturday. The getting-back-at-Daddy thing is just an added bonus."

"Claire, you gave me a diamond earring before our first date. If you had any ulterior motives for doing so, I'm fine with that," Bender said with a shrug.

"That's actually why they thought it was robbery," Claire told them. "Apparently you're not supposed to start giving a guy jewelry until after he's at least met the parents. Well, actually my parents didn't seem to think you should ever give a guy jewelry but if you were going to you were supposed to wait until they had met him."

"Why?" Brian asked.

"So they could tell if he were only in it for the diamond earrings or not," Allison said matter-of-factly. "Of course, if he was and they didn't realize it then they'd have no one to blame but themselves."

"So when will you be introducing me to your parents?" Bender asked innocently.

"That depends on two things," Claire said seriously.

"And those are?" Andy prompted.

"One, exactly how much I'm willing to risk giving them a heart attack by doing so so it would have to be a week when they were being especially difficult," Claire began. "And two, I strongly believe meeting the parents should come after the first date which, in turn, should come after it's established whether or not we're going to be able to do this."

"I still can't believe that you won't commit to acknowledging us or not," Andy complained, shaking his head.

"We can all say whatever we want," Allison pointed out. "But the way I see it, I'm the only one with no clique so I'm the only guarantee. We won't know how everyone else will react until it actually happens."

"You have us!" Andy said fiercely.

Allison nodded. "I know. But somehow I don't think you guys will disapprove of me being friends with…you guys. Even if we go in there and everything goes back to the way it was Friday."

"It won't," Brian promised her. "At least not with me. I guess that is the upside of not being popular, though; no one pressuring you to be an asshole."

Claire sighed. "You almost make that sound nice."

"I won't do it either," Andy swore.

Bender snorted. "You sure about that? You know that your little wrestling buddies won't approve and we all know what you did just last week to get their approval. Not talking to us is a lot less drastic than that."

"You know, I stopped by to see him yesterday," Brian said idly. "He still can't really sit down."

Andy looked at the ground. "I…that was then. I knew even before Saturday that that was a shitty thing to do and I don't think I would have done something like that again even if I hadn't met you guys."

"Still, it's hard to get into a completely new mindset almost overnight," Allison said gently.

Andy actually smiled. "Well, with all this lack of faith I'm taking it as a challenge. I will stay friends with you guys. After all, it's not acceptable for me to lose remember?"

"That sounds like cheating," Bender remarked. "You are such an athlete."

Andy rolled his eyes. "So how about it, Claire?"

"I didn't say that I planned to ditch you guys or anything!" she insisted. "I just…don't know. I want to stick by you guys. I want you all to know that right now, whatever happens, I want to keep hanging out with you and I definitely want to keep hanging out with him." She nodded Bender's way. "It's just that while no one would care if Andy and I started hanging out, the rest of you…I just don't know."

"If you want to talk to us then why the doubt?" Brian asked her.

Claire managed a wry smile. "I chronically give into peer pressure. It's such a cliché, I know, and I can't believe that I just used the words 'peer pressure' but there you have it. My friends – my other friends – aren't going to be happy with this. That's just a fact. When you guys are there I think I'll be fine but when you're not…I don't know. I hope not but I don't want to make any promises I don't know if I can keep."

"My turn to be clichéd," Allison announced. "Claire, if your friends were all jumping off a bridge and would make fun of you if you didn't, would you do it, too?"

Claire hesitated. "I want to say no…"

"Claire!" Andy exclaimed.

"What?" Claire said defensively. "I hate hypotheticals. It's all well and good to say that you'll do the good and noble thing but who knows what you'll really do until you're actually there?"

"For most things I'd say you have a point but I'd hope you could at least make up your mind about jumping off a bridge," Andy replied.

"I'm sure they'd sell it better than you guys did," Claire sniffed.

Bender shook his head. "Even I wouldn't jump off a bridge and if you listen to Vernon I'm the self-destructive one."

"Why would we listen to him?" Allison asked.

"Point," Bender acknowledged.

Claire sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "I'll try, okay? I can't guarantee anything but know if I don't then it's not because of you guys and I'll be thoroughly hating myself."

"While I'd like to think that you know that I am hoping that you'll succeed, I have a question about if you don't," Bender told her.

"Go ahead," Claire said tolerantly.

"Can I still keep the earring?" Bender asked her. "Sentimental value and whatnot."

"Sentimental value that's ridiculously expensive," Claire said, rolling her eyes.

"I hadn't noticed," Bender claimed.

"I'm sorry but I have to say something," Brian said suddenly. "Allison, your hair is up. And you're actually wearing normal make-up. And your clothes aren't black!"

"I'm glad to see that my rad makeover skills won you over," Claire said with a pleased smile.

"I wouldn't say that so much as…" Allison trailed off.

"As what?" Andy asked her.

"It's kind of silly," Allison demurred.

"Proven fact: people who get high together are allowed to say stupid things to each other," Bender said, nodding sagely. "But be careful that the person you're talking to isn't in a bad mood or it might end badly."

"Well…alright," Allison relented. "I first started dressing like that to make people notice me but now everyone's used to me wearing that so I figured that I'd get the same sort of attention if I dressed more conventionally. I'm not sure if I like it yet but I thought I'd at least try it for today."

"Well I like it," Andy told her. "I have to admit, though, that I almost didn't recognize you on Saturday after Claire did the makeover despite the fact that there was only the five of us there."

"That's kind of what I'm going for," Allison told him.

"If nobody recognizes Allison then your friends actually might not have a problem with the two of you," Claire pointed out. "She's very pretty, after all."

"I wouldn't care if they did have a problem with it," Andy insisted. "I am done listening to them. It's never made me happy and nothing good is going to come from it."

"So you keep saying," Claire remarked. "We'll find out soon enough."

"Yes, we will," Andy said firmly.

"I think I could get behind that, actually," Allison said thoughtfully. "I could meet all your friends and they'd have no idea who I am. Then, in a couple of weeks or months when they're used to me I could suddenly just switch back and freak everybody out."

"A couple of week or months, huh?" Andy repeated, grinning. "I like the sound of that."

"How very interesting that some of us are planning things a bit more long-term," Bender said, seemingly casual. "What do you think, Claire?"

"Please. If I started planning things long-term, you'd run for the hills," Claire responded.

"I would not run," Bender disagreed. "I would…walk. Briskly, perhaps, but in a very dignified and manly manner."

"Whatever makes you feel better," Claire replied.

"And I wasn't talking about marriage or anything, just something a little more long-term than first period!" Bender exclaimed.

"I told you guys, I'm working on it!" Claire insisted.

"Don't worry, Claire, we'll help you stay strong," Brian said innocently.

"How so?" Claire asked suspiciously.

"We could always follow you around until you admitted that we were friends," Brian informed her. "Not all the time as we do have lives, too, but it could be fun."

"It might almost be less of a scandal if you just admit that we're friends," Andy said, pretending to seriously consider the idea.

"I'm not sure if I should be grateful or slightly horrified," Claire confessed.

"Who says you have to choose?" Allison said, shrugging.

The first bell rang.

The five looked at each other silently for a moment before they grabbed their things and started to head to class.

"You know, I don't actually remember the last time I showed up to first period," Bender remarked. "I wonder if my teacher even knows who I am…"

"Hey, do you think it's kind of weird how we all became friends just because we had detention together, even if it was for a few hours?" Brian wondered aloud. "I mean, that kind of thing can't happen all the time, can it?"

"Probably not," Andy replied. "But you never know. There's got to be some reason they call it the breakfast club."

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