Chapter Text
one week after the events of the breakfast club
Turns out a day in detention cant change much after all. Bender was still serving his sentence. He and Claire didn't last long. They both decided a relationship was no fun if you had to keep it a secret, and Claire was never going to relinquish the crown. Allison visited detention from time to time and braided Bender's hair. He grumbled about it but he liked seeing her smile. Andrew's dad hadn't been happy when he was introduced to Allison. Allison didn't hear from Andrew again. Brian's grades were slipping. There was something wrong with him. He needed to tell someone.
two weeks
Bender was still in detention. He wished more people would break the rules so he would have someone to talk to.
Brian was getting worse. When he couldn't take it anymore he told his parents that he liked boys. They stopped pressuring him to do so well in school, but they also stopped talking to him altogether. Dinners were silent and he left as soon as he could in the mornings before school.
three weeks
Claire was getting bored of the idle chatter of her friends, and they were starting to notice. She blew off school for the second time and got caught a second time. She told Allison to come to detention again to keep her company. Claire could be seen with her if they were in detention. Claire mentioned to Andrew that next week would be a good time to get detention. Brian was caught with razor blades in his backpack.
four weeks
All together again.
It was nice to see each other again. They all felt like they were in on a good secret. When Vernon was out on a call they smoked more weed and settled into banter. But there was a tension too. This was the first time they had talked in weeks. Andrew and Claire had avoided eye contact in the hallways with any of them.
Claire had her arms crossed but was smiling while Allison talked about something crazy and completely Allison. Andrew was the highest of all of them and was laying on the ground, limbs splayed out, not comprehending what was happening. Brian was nodding along to Allison's story but had his legs pulled up and tucked under his arms. Bender was watching Brian.
Brian leaned over to take the joint from Bender and his sleeve caught on the desk and pulled up slightly. Bender's eyes narrowed. Brian looked up as he saw Bender standing over him. On instinct, he raised his hands to protect himself, but Bender grabbed his wrist. Brian was still struggling to free himself when Bender shoved up his sleeve.
"WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT." Allison and Claire whipped around Andrew raised his head off the floor. Brian was a little too stoned to understand what was happening. What did he do to make Bender mad? They had been having fun. But Bender was pointing to his forearms. The angry scars. The torn skin that hadn't really healed correctly. The places where there was still dried blood because he was in a hurry to get to detention. Bender stared at his wrists, mouth open like he didn't know what he was going to say next.
Brain wrenched his arm free and shoved down his sleeve. His eyes burned. "What do you care? You haven't looked at me in weeks. Leave me alone!"
Mr. Vernon heard the shouting and stomped back into the room. "BENDER I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU-"
But Brian had already moved to a table far from Bender. And far from everyone.