The Fighter // The Breakfast Club

Does it even matter?

We all looked up as the janitor walked into the library.

"Brian, how are you doing?" He asked.

"Your dad works here?" Bender asked Brian. I could tell Brian was getting embarrassed. "Uh, Carl?"

"What?"

"Can I ask you a question?" Bender asked.

"Sure." Carl answered.

"How does one become a janitor?"

"Bender." I said from beside Brian, irritation clear in my voice.

Carl glanced at me before turning back to Bender. "You wanna be a janitor?"

"No I just wanna know how one becomes a janitor because Andrew here, is very interested in pursuing a career in custodial arts." Bender said.

"Oh really? You guys think I'm some untouchable peasant? Peon? Huh? Maybe so, but following a broom around after shitheads like you for the past eight years I've learned a couple of things. I look through your lockers. I listen to your conversations, you don't know that I do but I do. I am the eyes and the ears of this institution my friends." Carl said before glancing back at me. "Avery, right?"

"Yeah?" I answered, confused by how he knew who I was.

"Nice to meet you. By the way, that clocks twenty minutes fast." Carl said before leaving.

I looked over at Brian. "How does he know who I am?"

"Oh well I might've told him about the couple of times that you've stood up for me and the time you got in a fight with someone for picking on me. Plus I'm sure he's heard of you from other students too." Brian said.

I just nodded my head and it went silent for a minute. "Nice." I said as I got up and headed back to my seat, ruffling Brian's hair along the way.

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We were all sitting in our seats whistling some tune when Vernon walked in.

"Alright girls, that's thirty minutes for lunch."

"Uh Dick? Excuse me, Rich, will milk be made available to us?" Bender asked.

"We're extremely thirsty sir." Andrew spoke up.

"I have a very low tolerance for dehydration." Claire said.

"I've seen her dehydrate sir, it's pretty gross." Andrew said.

Bender tries to get up to get drinks, but Vernon isn't having any of it.

"You!" Vernon said while pointing at Andrew. "And....." He looks at Allison but she's asleep, then his eyes land on me and I shoot him an innocent smile. "I'm tired of looking at your face, go! Don't make me regret this decision!" Vernon said while pointing at me.

"So, what's your poison?" Andrew asks me once we're in the hallway.

"Whatever." I answered honestly. I would be fine drinking whatever they had.

"What do you want to drink?" He asked, turning around to look at me this time.

"Coke." I replied. "Nice choice." He said, while grinning at me.

"Why are you here?" He asked me.

"That's a stupid question. Why are you here?" I said while laughing slightly at what I said.

"Um, I'm here today because uh, because my coach and my father don't want me to blow my ride. See I get treated differently because uh, coach thinks I'm a winner. So does my old man. I'm not winner because I wanna be one, I'm a winner because I got strength and speed. Kinda like a race horse. That's about how involved I am in what's happening to me." Andrew explained.

I just crossed my arms over my chest and looked at him. He actually looked kind of nervous.

"That was such a great story. Now how about you tell me the real reason that you're here."

"Forget it!" He says as he starts getting the drinks.

I just chuckled and started helping him as we headed back to the library.

Everyone got their lunch out and started eating it, except for Bender and I.

Claire had sushi, Brian had a pb & j sandwich with soup, Andrew had two sandwiches, chips, cookies, an apple, and a banana, and Allison had a sandwich that she put sugar and cereal on.

I was just sitting in my seat, minding my own business when Andrew tossed me his bag of chips. "Thanks." I said with a smile, which he returned.

"Here's my impression of life at big Bri's house." "Son?" "Yeah, dad?" "How's your day, pal?" "Great dad, how was yours?" "Super, say son, how'd you like to go fishing this weekend?" "Great dad, but I've got homework to do." "That's alright son, you can do it on the boat!" "Geee!" "Dear, isn't our son swell?" "Yes dear, isn't life swell?"

We all laugh at Bender and then Andrew speaks up. "Alright, what about your family?"

Bender starts imitating his father. "Stupid, worthless, no good, God damned, freeloading, son of a bitch, retarded, big mouth, know it all, asshole, jerk!" He then starts imitating his mother. "You forgot ugly, lazy, and disrespectful."

Bender starts imitating himself and father arguing. "Shut up bitch! Go fix me a turkey pot pie!" "What about you dad?" "Fuck you!" "No dad, what about you?" "Fuck you!" "No dad, what about you?" "Fuck you!"

My parents acted the same way towards me as they did with Bender. I never bothered to fight or talk back though.

"Is that for real?" Brian asked.

"You wanna come over sometime?" Bender asked Brian.

"That's bullshit. It's all part of your image, I don't believe a word of it." Andrew said.

"You don't believe me?" Bender asked.

"No."

"No?"

"Did I stutter?" Andrew asked, getting irritated.

Bender rolled up his sleeve, showing a burn. "Do you believe this? Huh? It's about the size of a cigar. Do I stutter? You see, this is what you get in my house when you spill paint in the garage. See I don't think that I need to sit here with you fucking dildos anymore. At least Avery believes me. Seeing as though she can actually understand it." He said, voice getting low at the end but everyone heard it.

"You shouldn't have said that." Claire said to Andrew before anyone could say anything else.

"How would I know, he lies about everything anyway." Andrew said defensively.

After a few minutes of silence, Brian spoke up. "Is that really true? What Bender said?" He asked while looking at me. I knew he was referring to me being in the same situation as Bender.

"What does it even matter?" I replied before getting up and walking farther into the library.