The Brat Pack

The fire cackles in the quiet night, smoke curling up into the dark sky. Ally sits curled up in one of the chairs, a blanket wrapped around herself. Brian sits in a chair to her right, staring into the fire. Directly next to him is Bender, laying out on a blanket, arms crossed behind his head.

"Aren't they beautiful?" Bender asks quietly, pulling Brian from his thoughts.

Brian looks over at him. "Hmm?" He glances up. "Oh, the stars? Yeah, they are," he says, lounging back. He names a few of the them to Bender, who looks over at him when he's done.

Bender frowns. "Who taught you that?" he asks.

Brian shrugs. "Myself," he says sheepishly, and Bender grins.

"Yeah? That's pretty cool."

It's quiet again for a few more minutes until Brian speaks up. "Does it scare you?" he asks.

"That your brain retains everything and mine doesn't? No," Bender says.

Brian laughs, then turns serious. "No, I mean, everything up there. Does it scare you?"

Bender swallows. "Yes," he says.

Brian looks over at Ally. "What about you? Does what's out there scare you?"

Ally looks over at Brian. "Everything scares me," she whispers.

The sliding glass door opens and Brian jumps, watching as Claire and Andy come out holding drinks.

Bender sits up quickly. "Please tell me you spiked those," he pleads to Andy, who shakes his head.

Bender sighs and throws his hands up. "Typical," he says as Claire hands a glass down to him.

"Non-alcoholic," she says. "Deal with it."

"I will, but I'm not happy about it," Bender says. "The one day I forget my flask..." he mutters to himself as Claire hands a drink to Brian and sits down in the seat next to Bender.

Andy gives a drink to Ally and plops down in the seat next to her, setting his arm on the top of her chair. She smiles down at her drink as Brian clears his throat loudly, all of them looking over at him. He stands up and shoves his free hand in his pocket, looking around at them all before holding his drink up.

"I'd, uh, I'd like to make a toast," he says, earning a snicker from Bender.

Claire leans down and slaps Bender on the chest with the back of her hand, mouthing at him to shut up. She smiles up at Brian. "Go ahead, Brian," she says.

"Uh, well, uh." He clears his throat again. "It's funny to me because two weeks ago we were all in detention together, and I knew nothing about any of you even though I've been in school with you guys most of my life. And now here we are two weeks later and I've spent my first day skipping school without a doctor's note with you guys. You guys who told me we wouldn't be friends after that Saturday." He looks at Claire as he says this and she looks down quickly. "And uh, even if we aren't considered friends to any of you, I uh, still consider you all friends to me." He's quiet, then adds loudly, "To the Breakfast Club."

"No," Allison says, and they all look over at her, Brian with a frown. She holds her glass up, smiling. "To the Brat Pack," she says, and they all grin and yell "cheers!", downing their drinks.


Bender, Brian, Ally, and Andy all wait around by the door as Claire finishes cleaning up the kitchen. Bender leans against one of the big windows overlooking the driveway, his head on the glass as he stares out, lost in thought. Brian stands with his arms crossed as he surveys one of the paintings on the wall. Andy stands with his forehead pressed to Ally's, talking quietly to her as she continues to laugh and bite her lip, looking down.

Claire switches out the light in the kitchen and comes in, smiling. "Everything seems to be in place. Anyone need to use the powder room before we leave?" she asks.

They all shake their heads and Claire nods, picking up her purse and handing Ally her bag. Ally slips it over her head and wanders outside, holding Andy's hand and dragging him along behind her. Brian smiles at Claire as he slips by. Bender stands behind Claire and she turns around, looking up at him. He leans close to her face and she flinches, holding her breath as he squints his eyes and studies her.

"There's something on your face," he says and she squeaks, putting her hand on her cheek.

"What? Where!" she cries.

He leans forward and kisses her lightly before pulling back with a smirk.

"Me," he says, and she punches his arm playfully.

He goes outside and Claire turns off the light, locking up the house behind her. She heads over to her car and unlocks the doors, pushing the seats forward. Ally climbs in first and Andy sits in the middle, Brian on his right. Bender sits in the passenger's seat and Claire gets in and starts the car, putting the radio on low as she pulls away from the house and starts their drive back to Shermer.


"What do you think our parents are going to do to us?" Brian asks after a few minutes of silence as Claire heads for the highway.

"Probably ground me again," Claire mutters. "I was supposed to get off punishment on Friday but now most likely not."

"I'll have to do all physical work around the house for a month. Plus get grounded on top of that," Andy says and Ally rubs his arm.

"I'll be sat in the living room and my father will give a speech about responsibilities, disrespecting the family, and the statistics of kids my age is jail. Then I'll have to give a lengthy apology once he's done to him and my mom, and then he'll ask if he wants my sister to follow my example and I'll say no. Then he'll give me all his books full of Latin poems and tell me to choose at least fifty to translate each one twice, and he reads every single one of them and if it's wrong, I have to do that poem over again three times," Brian says.

Andy and Ally stare at him with their mouths open. Bender huffs in the front seat. "Yeah? You're all lucky. I'd much rather translate Latin poems and I don't even speak a lick of the language."

"What will your dad do?" Ally asks quietly.

"Beat the shit out of me, probably."

"Oh, John," Claire says sorrowfully.

"Shut up. I ain't asking for no sympathy," he snaps.

"What will your parents do?" Andy asks, looking at Ally.

Her eyes fill with tears. "The same thing thing they always do. Not notice."


Claire pulls up in front of Brian's house first. The entire place is lit up from top to bottom. Bender climbs out and pulls up the seat, helping Brian out. He claps Brian on the shoulder and Brian nods at him.

"Thanks," he says, and Bender solutes him.

Brian takes a deep breath and shoves his hands in his pockets, starting up the walk. The front door flies open and a man and woman come running outside as Bender quickly gets back in the car and Claire pulls away.

"Should we go back?" Claire asks, looking at Bender. He looks at her like she's crazy.

"Are you nuts?! What good will that do? They'll probably have us arrested!" he yells.

"Arrested for what?" Andy asks defensively, leaning forward.

Bender turns back to stare at him. "I don't know. Probably kidnapping or some shit. They're probably loopy in the head. I wonder what meds his old lady is on."

"Don't talk about Brian's mom like that, you don't know her," Ally snaps and he turns back around after staring at her for a minute, huffing and crossing his arms.

"I'm just saying," he says, flipping his hair from his face.

"So who wants dropped off next? Andy?" Claire asks, glancing at him in the rear-view mirror.

Andy shakes his head. "Nah. Actually I'm uh, going to Ally's house with her."

Andy tugs on the collar of his shirt and Bender turns around to stare at him with wide eyes. Ally bites her lip and looks down, smiling. While Ally is giving directions to her house, Bender points from Andy to Ally, then makes a circle with his thumb and index finger in his left hand, putting the index finger of his right hand through it.

Andy punches him in the arm angrily and Bender flinches. "Knock it off," Andy snaps.

Bender's face gets red and Claire slams on the brakes, turning around to look at them all. "Stop it, both of you, or I mean it you'll get out and walk home." She glances between them before turning around and stepping on the gas.

Bender turns around and punches the dashboard, fuming. "Can none of you goddamn idiots take a joke?" he snaps.

Claire pulls up in front of Ally's house and parks, getting out and pushing down the seat before helping Ally and Andy out. Ally thanks her and Andy stares back in the car at Bender, then follows Ally through the gate and up the walk to her house.

Claire gets back in the car and pulls away, glancing over at Bender, who is slumped down in his seat.

"How do I get to your house?" she asks and Bender shrugs. Claire sighs. "Bender."

"I don't know," he says, staring out the window.

"You don't know how to get to your own house?"

"No."

"Bender!" Claire says then groans, pulling over and putting the car in park, turning in her seat to look at him. "Tell me what's wrong," she demands, and he turns his head, hurt filling his eyes, then rage.

"Forget it. Just forget it, alright?" he snaps and opens the door, climbing out and slamming it shut, stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking quickly down the sidewalk.

Claire leans over and rolls down the passenger window before stepping on the gas to catch up with him. "Bender!" she cries, but he ignores her. "Bender, get back in the car!" Bender continues walking. "Bender, we don't have to talk, alright? Just let me take you home."

Bender starts across the street and Claire slaps her hand on the steering wheel before speeding up. "Forget you! Jerk!" she shouts at him as she drives by, leaving him behind in the dark.