The Fighter

Chapter 14

       Bender exploded after that. I just got so tired of all the fighting that i just stayed quiet. I got out of Benders lap and sat next to Allison. She had tears in her eyes and I could tell she was trying very hard to hide it. I held her hand tightly remembering the time I had the same look on my face when I was at home.

       You already know what my life is like back home so im not going to bore you with another sob story. All i can tell is that that heart breaking feeling is back and all i feel is this overwhelming sense of uselessness.

       I feel useless. The friends i have made here might not even be there come Monday. I looked over at Andy and realized he was looking at me as well. He had a tired look on his face, mixed with hurt. I just sent a small sad smile to him and he sent a friendly one back. Him and i had an understanding. Despite the differences we had at the beginning of the day to now, I actual think that he's pretty good.

       I was brought back to Clair yelling back at Bender.

      "Why?  'Cause I'm telling the truth, that makes me a bitch?" I wanted to nod yes but I just looked over at the tearing Brian. He looked so broken it broke my heart. Poor kid. Parents are assholes. No matter what he does its not good enough. 'Sound familiar?' I thought.

      "No!  'Cause you know how shitty that is to do to someone!  And you don't got the balls to stand up to your friends and tell 'em that you're gonna like who you wanna like!" I grinned at Bender. If there is one thing I love about him, its that he stands up for what he believes in. As far as i can tell he doesn't care about what others think of him. For all he cares they can all kiss his ass.

     "Okay, what about you, you hypocrite! Why don't you take Allison to one of your heavy metal vomit parties?  Or take Brian out to the parking lot at lunch to get high?  What about Andy for that matter, what about me? What would your friends say if we were walking down the hall together. They'd laugh their asses off and you'd probably tell them you were doing it with me so they'd forgive you for being seen with me."

      The minute those words came out of her mouths I wanted to pounce. But to be honest she has a point. Like i said before... I'm not entirely sure what he will do to these people on Monday. But I do know that what he says next will involve a lot of yelling.

      "Don't you ever talk about my friends!  You don't know any of my friends, you don't look at any of my friends and you certainly wouldn't condescend to speak to any of my friends so you just stick to the things you know, shopping, nail polish, your father's BMW and your poor--rich--drunk mother in the Carribean!"

     My mouth widened. I never thought.... Ehhh yes i did. Never mind.

      "Shut up!" She yelled while sobbing.

      "And as far as being concerned about what's gonna happen when you and I walk down the hallways at school, you can forget it!  'Cause it's never gonna happen!  Just bury your head in the sand...and wait for your fuckin' prom!"

     "I hate you." Clair sobbed once more. "Yeah? Good!" Said Bender.

     Everything was silent until Brian spoke up.

     "Then I assume Allison and I are better people than you guys, huh? Us weirdos..." He asked. Tears clear in his eyes. He looked at Allison and asked, "Do you, would you do that to me?" He asked.

     Tears in her eyes she spoke with a broken voice. "I don't have any friends..." "Well if you did?" She took a breath before speaking. My head on her shoulder as she spoke. "No...I don't think the kind of friends I'd have would mind..."

     "I just wanna tell, each of you, that I wouldn't do that...I wouldn't and I will not!  'Cause I think that's real shitty..." Brian then looked at me. "That includes you Kate. I wouldn't do that to you either." I smiled at him as he smiled at me. As did Andy and Allison.

      "Your friends wouldn't mind because they look up to us..." She was interrupted by Brian's laughter. All I could do was sit there and stare at her in utter disbelief.

        "You're so conceited, Claire.  You're so conceited.  You're so, like, full of yourself, why are you like that?" She started crying again as she spoke. "I'm not saying that to be conceited! I hate it!  I hate having to go along with everything my friends say!" I whipped away a tear that fell and took a deep calm breath and asked her. "Well then why do you do it?" She looked at me shocked as if she was waiting for an insult or something sarcastic to come out. "Im not asking to be mean or rude. I just want to know why. Answer me that and.... I'll leave you alone for the rest of our time here and then some."

        She looked at me im amazement and finally spoke. "I don't know, I don't...you don't understand..you don't. You're not friends with the same kind of people that Andy and I are friends with! You know, you just don't understand the pressure that they can put on you!" I shook my head. I can not believe her.

Brian is shocked. The look on his face, I will never forget.

         "I don't understand what?  You think I don't understand pressure, Claire? Well fuck you!  Fuck you!"  He hides his head in his arm because he started crying. "Know why I'm here today?" He asked. "Do you? I'm here because Mr. Ryan found a gun in the locker..." I was... I dont have words. He... I never ever thought that Brian... My thoughts were drawn away when Andy spoke.

         "Why'd you have a gun in your locker?" Brian whipped his eyes. "I tried.  You pull the fuckin' trunk on it and the light's s'posed to go on...and it didn't go on, I mean, I..." "Whats the gun for Brian?" I asked. "Just forget it..." He said trying to get off topic. "You brought it up, man!" Andy said. "I can't have an F, I can't have it and I know my parents can't have it! Even if I aced the rest of the semester, I'm still only a B.  And everything's ruined for me!"

          "Oh Brian..." Said with pity. He knocked the chair over next to him causing me to jump slightly. "So I considered my options, you know?" He said. "No!  Killing yourself is not an option!" Said Clair. "Well I didn't do it, did I?  No, I don't think so!" "It was a hand gun?" Asked Allison. "No, it was a flare gun. Went off in my locker." For some odd reason I started laughing. "Really?" Andy scoffed with a hint of laughter and a smile.

        "Its not funny..." Said Brian. Everyone started to laugh and after a second so did Brian. "Yes it is...fuckin' elephant was destroyed!" After everyone died down, Allison spoke. "You wanna know what I did to get in here?  Nothing...I didn't have anything better to do." Everyone started laughing again. "You're laughing at me." She said while smiling. "No!" Andy denied. Then he looked at me. "What about you Kate?" I looked at him puzzled. "What about me?" He smiled. "What did you do to get in here?"

        All eyes were on me. I didn't do anything extremely bad. It was actually quiet pitiful but im not complaining cause I got here anyways. And thats all I want. "I umm... wrote 'Vernon is a fuck tard' in lipstick on the girls bathroom mirror and afterwards snuck up to the roof of the school to smoke a joint. One of the other janitors caught me and dragged me down to Vernons while I was high." They all started laughing. "Vernon must have loved that." Said Brian. I smiled. "Yea, apparently when he went out in the hall to be free of the smell he came back into his office to see me passed out on his desk."

       Everyone was dying with laughter.

Who knew that getting a group of Fighters together would make one beautiful group friendship?