A/N: This chapter is pretty much going to be some of the other character's reactions to how the core six have paired off.

Maggie

Five times sixteen equals eighty. Ten times ten is a hundred. A hundred times five is five hundred. Math is the only thing that makes sense anymore. Today was the most peculiar and upsetting day of my life. I had accepted that Andrew Clark would never possess feelings toward me, and now, neither would Brian. Brian was the right choice all along, but I was seduced by Andy's popularity. Besides that, I also assumed that a relationship was not proper due to my academic ambitions. But alas, the heart wants what the heart wants. And today, my heart had been doubly crushed. At promptly eight am, twenty minutes before the warning bell, I had arrived to school in my sedan. Almost as soon as I parked, a familiar blue Fiat pulled up next to me. Andy got out first, and he actually smiled at me. It was the first time he'd acknowledged my existence since the party we met at. "Hi, Maggie," he greeted cheerfully. I tossed my hair in an attempt to be seductive, and lowly replied, "Hello, Andy." Just then, the other car door slammed abruptly, and another girl got out. She had nicely cut dark brown hair, an impish grin, freckles across her nose, and dark eyes. I knew her, but couldn't pinpoint how.

"Thanks for the ride," she said to Andy, planting a kiss on his cheek. "See you after school?"

He nodded and turned back to me. "Maggie, you know Allison Reynolds, right?"

"Allison," I gasped.

Allison Reynolds was one of the biggest freaks at Shermer. She was dirty-looking, wore baggy, threadbare clothing, and seemed to have real mental issues. This girl in front of me looked completely different. She had on a nice yellow plaid jumper and a violet t-shirt. She was nothing like the Allison I'd seen before.

"Hi," she chirped. "We have Mr. Sinclair's second period together, right, Maggie?"

My face flushed in shock. "Y-yeah," I stammered. "Advanced Algebra..."

"See you then," she replied cheerfully. I watched her squeeze Andy's hand and walk away.

"So, you're seeing her," I asked directly. It seemed completely implausible.

"Yeah," he said with a shrug. "We met in detention. She's great."

"That's nice," I replied coldly, before turning on my heel.

"Maggie...I'm sorry. About Steff McKee's party, and how I never called you. I mean, I'm dating Allison now, but I still wish I had treated you better," Andy said.

"Forget it," I snapped. "I wasn't interested anyway."

I stormed away angry. Why couldn't it have been me? Why wasn't I worth his time? Why had I been as stupid as to fall for him? Brian was the rational choice for me. We both were academics, we both had intellectual minds, we were both juniors. Why couldn't I have just said yes when he asked me out? At the time, rushing into the building, I thought I had a chance. I was wrong.

The hallway, typically raucous with students, had come to a halt. "Can you believe it," I heard Angela Carlisle gasp. "Those two?"

I looked over the crowd to see another disturbing sight. Brian, my Brian, and that slut Fallon Morris holding hands. Clearly, something was wrong. I was genuinely concerned for him. I'd heard that after I'd yelled at him, he'd tried to kill himself. And now, he was hanging around some girl who was bound to break his heart. I had to talk to him. "Brian," I yelled. He looked up from Fallon to see me, standing down the hall.

"Hey, Maggie," he said, much more morosely than Andy, I should note.

I leaned against my locker and watched in disgust as the pair walked over to me. "Hi, Maggie," Fallon said shyly. "How's it going?"

I smiled weakly at her. "I need to talk to Brian," I said firmly. "I'll see you around, Fallon. Soon, I imagine."

"Okay," she said, smiling back feebly. "See ya, Brian."

She gave him a brief kiss on the cheek and left. "What's up," Brian asked me.

"What are you doing," I asked. "I heard about the flare gun, and now I see you with that-that girl. Is something really bothering you?"

"Yes," he said coldly. "Two people. My mother and you."

"All I care about is you and your future," I told him. "You're most likely to be valedictorian."

"What if I don't want to be valedictorian," he asked. "What if I like school because I like learning, and I don't care about grades or recognition? Maybe it'd be nice to take things in stride. You know, keep working hard without giving myself an ulcer so I can read one stupid speech. If you care so much, why don't you work for it? You're second in our class. I'm sure once my F gets factored in, you'll be a lock for valedictorian, gym class or not."

What he was saying made sense, but at the same time was impossible. I was a peerless person. Despite my participation in a multitude of academic clubs, I had no friends except Brian. For Brian, there would be claps and cheering from his handful of buddies. For me, there would be crickets, followed by polite clapping. "I can't believe you dropping everything that was ever important to you for Fallon Whore-is," I spat.

"You don't know her," Brian snapped. "She's not who you think she is."

"You don't either," I shot back. "She made junior high a living hell for me; her and her little friends. And rumors or not, I call her reputation karma."

The bell rang at the perfect time. "Bye, Brian," I said. And for the second time today, I ran.

At lunch, I found myself in the girls' room, sitting on the toilet's tank with my feet on the seat. My hair was dangling in my face as I eat my sandwich in solitude. I couldn't face the others. I typically ate with a few girls from Latin club, and I knew they'd only pester me about today's scene in the hallway. I couldn't face that today. Outside the stall, I heard two girls giggling together in hushed tones. "I swear, Maggie nearly had a coronary when she saw them," one girl said. "She basically brushed Fallon off, and then she tore Brian a new one."

"Why? I thought she liked Andy Clark?"

"So? She probably realized she has, like, no chance with a jock. That's why she went crawling back to Brian."

"What'd he do?"

"He told her she was bothering him, and that she was the reason he brought a gun to school last week. I bet he was gonna try to shoot her. No big loss."

"God, Angela, that's so rude," the second girl said.

"What, is she your friend?"

"No, but that's no reason to wish her dead. Maggie's not that bad."

"God," Angela gasped. "First Claire, with this whole palling around with the nerds and burnouts, and now you. What, are we supposed to act like any of these people are on our level?"

"It's not that bad," the other girl said. "I mean, it would be nice to actually be friends with everyone, instead of just acting like we are."

"Jesus, Brenda, are we all supposed to hold hands and sing 'Kumbaya'?"

"No," Brenda said. "I just think-"

"Whatever, Farmer Fucker," Angela snapped. I could now discern who was talking. Brenda was dating Ted Farmer, which is what I assumed this nickname was derived from.

"Angela, this is what I mean," Brenda protested. "I can barely keep track of who we are and aren't supposed to talk to anymore. When did my boyfriend get blacklisted, huh?"

"He's a sophomore," Angela said. "A baby."

"That's one year," Brenda went on. "God, everyone was right about you. You really are shallow."

I heard them both leave and considered what had been said. Apparently, everyone in detention bonded so well, they wanted to start a six-person revolution against cliques so they could all hang out. Wonderful. I wondered where I fell in the scheme of things. Did that mean I could be sitting between Ferris Bueller and Jacob Scully someday? I certainly hoped not. I heard someone else come in.

"Maggie," a female voice asked. A familiar one. Fallon. She knocked on my stall. God, how could she have guessed I was in here? "It's me, Fallon. Wanna come eat with me and some other people?"

"Go away," I said weakly.

Instead, she tucked her head under the stall door. "Ew," I screeched. "What if I was actually using the restroom?"

"I can smell the bread," Fallon said. "You're clearly eating in here. And you shouldn't have to."

"Like you want me to eat with you," I snapped.

"I do," she protested. "Brian and I...well, I mean...we're friends. I want to be friends with my friend's friends. That makes sense, right?"

"You can say he's your boyfriend," I said.

"We haven't gone out yet," she said. "But, well...I guess he's more than a friend."

"Thank you, " I said primly. "You don't have to condescend to my feelings. I assure you, I am not crushed. Now go away. Brian's not even in this lunch period, and I doubt I'd fit in with your little posse."

"Maggie," Fallon said firmly. "My hair is touching the floor. If that doesn't scream to you that I'm trying to make an effort, what will?"

I sighed and lowered my feet to the ground. "Get your head out from under the door before I break your neck," I instructed. She slid out and stepped back as I exited the stall.

"So, who are these other people," I asked.

"Bender, Chelle, Sam, Scully, and Mal," she said. "I'm sure you see them as burnouts."

"That's what they are," I said firmly. "But if it will placate your ego, I shall sit with you and your burnout cousin for today."

"That's all I ask," Fallon said enthusiastically. "One day."

I followed behind Fallon into the cafeteria, towards a table in the corner. The boys, Bender, Scully and Mal, looked as if seeing me walk over behind Fallon was as normal as anything else. Then again, they were probably so stoned, they didn't know the difference. In contrast, the two girls, a junior named Sam and a freshman named Chelle, looked as if Fallon was dragging a bag of manure behind her. I pitied them; they were pretty enough girls. Sam had shoulder length curly brown hair, and catlike hazel eyes, with bronzed skin and a petite frame. Chelle had similar hair to Sam, albeit a lighter shade and slightly shorter, with perfect clear cocoa brown skin and big brown eyes. If she wasn't a burnout, she could give Claire Standish a run for her money.

"So," Sam trilled. "You're that smart girl, right?"

"Yeah," I said. "I care about school."

"Why," Chelle asked. "I'm dropping out as soon as I turn sixteen."

"No you're not," Bender said.

"Why can you tell me what to do," she snapped. "It's not like you care about me."

She turned away from him angrily. Typical burnout theatrics. I always saw them fighting, whether it was with each other or some of the other kids. Fallon leaned over and whispered to me. "Chelle likes Bender, but he has a new girlfriend."

I shrugged in response and opened the book I brought here. If I had to sit with Neanderthals and the school slut, fine. But I wouldn't stoop to interacting with them. I was better than that. I was probably better than most of the school's inmates. If solitude was where I found myself, I'd live. It was better than wasting my time with these people.

Chelle

I didn't care about any of this bullshit. So Bender was nailing the prom queen. Fine. So they were a couple. Cool with me. He's talking to his ex-richie cousin? Nice. Fallon wasn't that bad. She was almost...cool. A little too goody-goody, but okay. She even earned an explanation on that whole incest thing from me when Bender brought her to our table. "You're the cousin, right," I asked as she sat.

"And you're...Rachelle?"

"Rochelle," I enunciated. "Call me Chelle. I guess the rumor mill can't maintain my name."

She blinked in curiosity. "I was telling Sam about how me and Bender hooked up at the 7-Eleven, and I mentioned how you two were neighbors now. Needless to say, whoever was snooping in the bathroom took what I said and ran it in a new direction."

Fallon nodded and shrugged. "Typical Shermer gossip," Fallon said. "Always distorted beyond recognition."

"We would know," Sam said. "You, my friend, are looking at school sluts dos y trés."

"No way," Fallon gasped. "There are others?"

We both nodded. "Well, I'm also known as 'Rachelle' and 'the black girl'," I put in. "My title tends to change around."

"So, anyway, Bender's cousin," Sam asked. "How do ya like the new neighborhood?"

"Well, there are a lot of dirtbags, delinquents, and derelicts, but that's not any different from the rich neighborhood," Fallon said. "In fact, I'd say the people of the wrong side of town are actually a little better off than the richies."

"How," Bender asked.

"Everything's out in the open," Fallon said. "If someone's gonna rob you, you'll know it. In the richie world, money disappears with no explanation, until one day, someone gets dragged in handcuffs out of his house."

"That sounds... Interesting," I commented.

"So, Bender," Fallon said. "I heard you gave Claire a ride to school today."

"Yeah," he said.

"I live right next door," Amber pointed out. "Was there no room for your own cousin?"

"No," he said. "We wanted to be alone. Besides, you guys are still all weird around each other."

"Touché," Fallon noted. "But I'm a little stuck on the first part. Is something going on with you two?"

"No comment," Bender said.

"Aww," Sam teased. "Bender's got himself an uptown girl."

Bender looked at me pointedly. "Chelle," he said. "You didn't-"

"I didn't take anything about you seriously," I said harshly.

He glared and turned away from me. "Did I- say something wrong," Fallon asked.

Sam leaned over and whispered to her, like they were friends or something. Amber went pale as she listened. "Chelle, I," she began.

"Don't worry about it," I said. "No worries."

I rolled my eyes and made sure Bender was consumed by whatever Mal and Scully were on about. "Chelle," Sam started but I shook her off.

"I'm going to my locker," I announced. "There's homework I have to do."

"Chelle you never do homework," Sam pointed out.

"Well, Bender's never dated a richie, so the times are a-changin'." I stormed out of the caf, and walked through the empty hallways. How could he? How could he want Claire Standish more than me? Was it because I betrayed him in the girls' room? Or because I wasn't rich or glamorous? Was I too young? Or even because I was black and he was white? All of these things conglomerated into a big mess inside my head. I felt sick to my stomach. I had never been in so much pain before. And I never wanted to feel this way again.

Angela

My friends disgusted me. It had all started at Stubbie's party on Saturday night. I was looking for the bathroom, and what did I find but Brenda and a sophomore making out?! It was Ted Farmer, the kid on the varsity wrestling team. Last year, he was a total dweeb. Completely skinny and brace faced. Then he hooked up with Caroline Mulford, made the wrestling team in some kind of miracle, and now all the guys kept him around because he amused them. He even still hung out with his old geek friends. Definitely not the kind of guy we would associate with. And you know what happened when I caught them? Brenda didn't grovel for me to keep her secret. No. She seemed proud of herself. And I dismissed as a fluke. As popular as Claire was, I was the leader. I made the rules. And this was not up to our group's standards. But then, Claire did something worse than Brenda. On Monday morning, she arrived to school in John Bender's car. When I confronted her, she seemed equally as proud as Brenda. Brenda and I cornered by the lockers before first period "What," Claire asked. "I like him. You don't have to."

"Well then," I snapped. "Don't plan on sitting with us at lunch."

"I won't," Claire said. "I'm broadening my horizons."

"With a burnout," I spat.

"You don't even know him," Claire pointed out.

"We're just worried," Brenda said. "He could be dangerous. I mean, we don't know him, it's true. That's what scares us. Especially after what happened with Stef."

"Stef was a better choice," I muttered.

Brenda gasped. "Angela," she scolded. "He basically tried to rape Claire. He's obviously as bad, if not worse than Bender."

"Claire pussied out," I shot back. "Started bawling like a baby."

"I wasn't crying," Claire protested, but I ignored her.

"Help me, help me," I whined, imitating her. This whole Frigid Claire thing was embarrassing for all of us. Why couldn't she have just got losing her virginity over with, like I did?

"Angela, stop it," Brenda commanded.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever," I said. "Let's just go. Bye, Claire."

I started walking away. "You know," Claire shouted at my back. "If we were actually nice to everybody, school would be easier to deal with. And we might actually be popular, instead of inside our own heads."

I turned around and flipped her off. "Come on, Brenda," I said. "Let's leave Claire to her little revolution."

"Angela..."

I cut her off. "Let's go. NOW."

She tentatively followed after me, before waving at Claire. "I'll see you around," she said sheepishly.

"Like hell you will," I muttered.

"Angela, you can't..."

I nudged her at the sight I was looking at. Apparently the homecoming queen and the burnout weren't the only major hookup in Saturday detention. Fallon, the school slut, and Brian Johnson, the King of the Nerds, were holding hands. "Oh. My. God," I gasped. "Are you seeing this, Brenda?"

Maggie, the Nerd Queen, was by her locker, staring at them. They both went over there, and I motioned to Brenda to listen in. It was hilarious. Maggie shooed Amber away, and the nerds had a huge fight. It was definitely big news. So big, it was still worth discussing by lunch. I led Brenda into the girls room, checking all the stalls for feet before beginning our gossip session.

"I couldn't hear a thing," Brenda said. "What were they fighting about?"

"I swear, Maggie nearly had a coronary when she saw them," I said. "She basically brushed Fallon off, and then she tore Brian a new one."

"Why? I thought she liked Andy Clark," Brenda asked.

I rolled my eyes. Brenda was so naïve. "So? She probably realized she has, like, no chance with a jock. That's why she went crawling back to Brian."

"What'd he do?"

"He told her she was bothering him, and that she was the reason he brought a gun to school last week. I bet he was gonna try to shoot her. No big loss."

"God, Angela, that's so rude," Brenda said. She was being so goody-goody. It's not like we liked any of these people.

"What, is she your friend," I asked.

"No, but that's no reason to wish her dead. Maggie's not that bad," Brenda said, her face turning red. Good. She should be embarrassed for acting like any of this was the important part.

"God," I gasped. "First Claire, with this whole palling around with the nerds and burnouts, and now you. What, are we supposed to act like any of these people are on our level?"

"It's not that bad," Brenda said. "I mean, it would be nice to actually be friends with everyone, instead of just acting like we are."

"Jesus, Brenda, are we all supposed to hold hands and sing 'Kumbaya'?"

"No," Brenda said. "I just think-"

"Whatever, Farmer Fucker," I snapped. I felt a little bad when I said that, but she had it coming. I mean, Ted Farmer? Really? And now she was acting like Claire hadn't gone bonkers. She needed to be straightened out.

"Angela, this is what I mean," Brenda protested. "I can barely keep track of who we are and aren't supposed to talk to anymore. When did my boyfriend get blacklisted, huh?"

"He's a sophomore," I said. "A baby." Duh, I thought.

"That's one year," Brenda went on. "God, everyone was right about you. You really are shallow."

She turned away from me and walked out the bathroom door. I followed her. How dare she walk away from me?! "Brenda," I snapped. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Claire invited me to sit with her and Allison Reynolds in history," Brenda said. "And I would like to sit there."

"Allison Reynolds," I gasped. "The freak?"

I looked over at Claire and Allison. I had to admit, Claire had done a good job with her. I heard she had a bit of a makeover, but I barely recognized her. Still, once a basket case, always a basket case.

"You can join us," Brenda said.

"I'd rather not," I snapped.

"Fine," she said. "See you around, Angela." She turned her back to me, and went to sit with them. Fine. I didn't need those two anyway. They were replaceable. I went to sit with the other cheerleaders. If they wanted to make fools of themselves, fine. "Move over," I barked when I reached the Varsity Cheer table.

"I can't," Bethany Hall, the flyer, said. "There won't be any room for Roxanne, my friend."

"I'm the cheer captain's best friend," I snapped, referring to Claire. "That trumps your little friend."

"Sorry," Bethany repeated. "Maybe if you sat here more often. Why don't you go sit with your friends?"

"They are not my friends," I snapped. "They are having a temporary mental break, and hanging out with Allison Reynolds."

Bethany gasped. "That's Allison Reynolds? God, she looks great!"

"Yeah, I know," I said. "Now move. Over. NOW."

"She won't move," Cassie, one of the spotters said. "Maybe if you were nicer, Angela."

I couldn't believe them. Without Brenda and Claire by my side, they were treating me like dirt. Those bitches! How could they? I humphed off and sat by myself. That's right. I, Angela Carlisle, for the first time since third grade, when I was sick, sat alone in the cafeteria. Obviously, Claire's actions were leading to a New World Order. One that was not in my favor. Unbelieveable.