Beauty And the Brain (The Breakfast Club)

Late

Saturday, March 24 1984 7:00 am

Fuck! Here she was on a Saturday. Spending it in detention. Sheila sat in her grandfather's Buick in front of Shermer High School. Joseph stared at his granddaughter sternly.

"I might be hard of hearing, but I was told you had to leave home because of severe allergies..." he began.

Sheila pouted, staring out the car window. Severe allergies my ass, Sheila thought bitterly as she heard her grandfather's words. Chris, her stepdad, probably thought of that lame excuse just to cover up the whole reality of the situation. 

"But I did not survive the Great Depression, WWII, the Polio Epidemic and disco without developing a good bullshit detector. So what's really going on?" he said. 

Sheila just kept staring silently out the window, unable to look at her grandfather. She knew what she had done at her previous school. It was the reason she was here in the first place. After getting herself in huge trouble, she was so scared that she begged her grandfather to help her. Joseph always loved his granddaughter, but he didn't want her to make any more mistakes. He worked out a deal with her and her parents. 

"I made some mistakes at my last school," she said quietly.

"Such as?"

Sheila shrugged. She didn't want to talk about anything. While Joseph didn't believe the excuse her mother and stepfather told him, he didn't know the real truth about her life with her mother and stepfather. 

Joseph pinched her arm, making the redhead cry out in pain.

"If it's something you can't tell me, then you deserved that," he replied sternly.

With a sigh, Joseph shook his head in disappointment. His granddaughter was a good kid. Smart. But ever since the divorce and her mother's remarriage, it all went downhill. She was unhappy. 

"I promised your parents..." Joseph continued.

"Chris isn't my dad," Sheila interjected bitterly.

"Regardless of how you feel about your stepfather, Sheila," Joseph said. "We have a deal. Remember that we talked about it? If you want to stay here, you have to agree to my terms. Already on your first day of school and you get yourself detention." 

Sheila sighed, nodding defeated. She loved her grandpa. She hated to disappoint him. She felt numb as she listened to his lecture. 

"I am going to make sure you would get your diploma," Joseph continued. "So even though I love you...if you leave me with no choice, I will make life difficult for you. Understand?"

"Yes, Gramps," she answered.

"Keep your head down and your nose clean," Joseph warned. " Because if you screw up, the next stop is Calvin Military Academy. You remember that part?"

Sheila frowned a bit. She figured her stepfather had convinced her grandfather that she was a bad enough troublemaker worthy of becoming an Army drone. It was one place she did not want to go. She did a sarcastic version of a military salute. The old man went to pinch her again, but she evaded him.

"This is not a joke, Sheila," he said with seriousness. "You don't want to go to military school. Believe me. My advice, be mindful of who you make friends with because the people you surround yourself with, they define you."

"Thanks, Gramps," she said half-appreciative.

"Have a nice detention," he said smiling. "Remember, you're a good kid, Sheila. Be good."

"I will," Sheila said, half-smiling at her grandpa.

She got out of the car and headed inside to detention, shifting her backpack on her shoulders. As her grandfather was about to pull away, she heard the brakes screech to a halt. She turned to see a surly-looking burnout who had walked in front of the car with his hands in the pockets of his ragged trench coat. His dark hair was neck length, his skin was olive, he wore sunglasses, faded tattered black pants and out of shape boots. He had a red bandana tied around his left ankle.