Disclaimer: No, I am not John Hughes and I'm not making any money from this story.

Rating: T, for language and mild adult situations.

Summary: After witnessing some suspicious activity, the BC starts spying on Carl in an effort to find out how he went from Man of the Year to janitor. Includes bumbling detective work, breaking and entering, making out in the bushes, and faulty flashlights.

A/N: I am writing this story because I wanted to do something in a genre that hasn't been used in this fandom: mystery. This story isn't really going to explore the deep and complex emotions that tie our Fab Five together. Mostly, it's just about what would happen if the BC decided to solve a mystery together (and get into a lot of trouble doing it). So, no, this story will not change your life or make you a better person. Hopefully, it will make you laugh, though. Also, keep in mind that you aren't going to get all of the information at once. If something confuses you, feel free to tell me, but also know that it will probably be explained in future chapters. After all, it is a mystery, so the BC is probably just as confused as you are. ;)

Okay, I think I've babbled enough. Please enjoy and let me know what you think.

Chapter One: Man of the Year

October, 1984

"So, if we do our best and sell as much as we possibly can, we'll have enough money for the end of year banquet." Mr. Gray smiled kindly at the small group of students that had gathered at the front of his classroom. "Any questions?"

No one said anything.

Mr. Gray nodded. "Alright, everyone take a catalog and a sales sheet. If you have any questions, let me know. And thanks for coming."

Brian Johnson waited until most of the other members of the Physics Club had taken their catalogs, then stepped forward to get his. A quick glance at the front cover told him all that he needed to know. They were selling wrapping paper again…for the fourth year in a row.

Brian sighed and exited the classroom, heading down the hallway towards the cafeteria. When he arrived in the lunchroom, he saw that the others were already sitting at their usual table. He tossed his bag under the table and plopped down on the bench.

Claire frowned at him from across the table. "What's wrong?"

Brian sighed. "Nothing. Does anybody want to buy some wrapping paper?"

Next to him, Andy cocked an eyebrow. "Huh?" he asked, the message coming out garbled due to the fact that his mouth was full of half-chewed cookies.

Brian pulled open the catalog and held it up so that everyone could see it. "The Physics Club is having a fundraiser to raise money for the end of year banquet. We're selling wrapping paper again this year, and I--"

"What the fuck is this?" Bender grabbed the catalog from Brian's hand and brought it close to his face so that he could see. "Is that a boob?"

Claire grabbed the book from his hand. "It's a balloon. Stop being so perverted." She handed the catalog back to Brian, who accepted it gratefully.

"Looked like a boob to me," said Bender, taking a grape from a pile on top of Allison's lunch bag. Allison didn't even flinch, just pushed the sack away from her so that Bender could take some more. Claire rolled her eyes and went back to her chicken salad.

Brian paused for a moment, enjoying the silence as he watched his friends eat. It hadn't always been this easy between them. After that first detention, all five members of the Breakfast Club returned to school on Monday with high hopes and big plans, determined to see their new friendships through to the end. They soon learned that nothing is that easy. After catching Claire and Bender in a compromising position after school one day, some of Claire's friends decided that she'd gone crazy and cut her off from the group. Andy's teammates didn't take too kindly to his newfound friendship with Bender, and Andy didn't take too kindly to his friends' nasty comments about Allison. Even Brian lost a few of his friends after they found out about his friendship with Andy, whom most of them considered a jerk. In the end, the only person who didn't lose anyone was Allison, who had no one to begin with.

By the end of the school year, most of the controversy had calmed down, and Claire, Andy and Brian were able to piece together some of the relationships they had lost after detention. But some things would never be the same, and the five of them found that they were more comfortable hanging out with one another than anyone else. When school started up again in September, they immediately fell in together again. The rest of the school still didn't know quite what to make of them, but then again, neither did the Breakfast Club.

"So, when is this banquet?" asked Andy, breaking into Brian's thoughts.

Brian looked up. "Oh, it's not until May."

Andy frowned and pulled out one of his ham and cheese sandwiches. "Why are you guys starting so early then?"

Brian sighed. "We have to make sure that we make enough money. If we don't raise enough during this fundraiser, we'll have to have another one in January. Two years ago we didn't earn enough and had to hold the banquet in the school gymnasium."

"School gymnasium?"

All five teenagers looked up to see Carl, one of the school janitors, standing at the head of the table, an industrial size broom in one hand and a broad grin on his face. "You can't have it in the school gymnasium," he said, stepping closer to the table. "You might as well stamp the word 'Loser' on your forehead now and save yourself the trouble later on."

Brian sank a little lower in his seat, dejected.

Carl took the catalog from the table and started flipping through it. "How much?"

Brian sighed. "Three dollars a roll."

Carl whistled. "Damn, that's expensive. I remember when they were a buck fifty each, and they threw in the ribbon for free."

"I didn't know they had wrapping paper during the Dark Ages," said Bender.

Carl looked up from the book, eyebrow cocked in surprise. "Are you still in school, John? I figured you'd be in prison by now, servin' time for knockin' over the 7-11 on Bushley Avenue."

Bender smirked. "Actually, it was the Shell station on the boulevard, and I'm out on parole."

"That's too bad," said Carl, reaching into his pocket for a pen. He glanced at the catalog, then wrote something on Brian's sales sheet. "Get me a roll of F-11. You can't go wrong with Christmas trees."

"I don't know," said Bender. "Did you see that balloon paper on the first page? That's pr--OW!" he exclaimed, turning to glare at Claire. "What the hell was that for?"

Carl ignored Bender and returned to Brian his catalog and sales sheet. "I pay now or later?"

"When you pick it up." Brian smiled. "Thanks, Carl."

"No problem." Without saying anything else, Carl took his broom and moved along to the next table.

Brian waited until Carl was out of earshot before he spoke again. "Do you guys ever wonder why he works here?" he asked tentatively.

Andy looked up from his sandwich. "No. Why?"

Brian shrugged. "I don't know. I just can't imagine how someone could go from being Man of the Year to high school janitor. It just doesn't fit."

"Man of the Year?" Andy asked, swallowing a piece of lunchmeat. "Here at Shermer?"

Brian nodded. "His picture is in the awards display by the front entrance. You guys haven't ever noticed it?"

Claire shook her head. "I never go over there."

"Well, I do, but I never saw Carl's picture," said Andy. "What year was it?"

Brian shrugged. "I don't remember."

"Let's go check it out," said Bender. He started to stand up from the table, but Claire pulled him back down so that he was sitting next to her again.

"The lunch period isn't over yet," she said, rolling her eyes.

Bender cocked an eyebrow. "Since when are you such a stickler for the rules? Last Thursday, we didn't even show up for lunch, remember? We were in the--"

"Alright!" Claire shouted, her face flushing with embarrassment. "I just meant that maybe we should wait for everyone to finish their lunches."

Allison tossed a half-eaten bag of grapes in Bender's direction, then looked over at Claire. "I'm done."

Bender grabbed the bag and tipped an imaginary hat in Allison's direction. "And I'm portable."

Brian looked his untouched peanut butter and jelly sandwich, then slipped it back into its sack. "I'm not that hungry anyway."

Claire sighed. "Yeah, me neither."

Everyone turned to look at Andy.

Andy swallowed a bite of chocolate chip cookie and scowled. "What, I can't even finish my lunch now?"

"Don't be such a crybaby, Sporto," said Bender, rising from his seat. "Besides, you've already eaten enough to feed a small horse."

Andy rolled his eyes and stuffed the rest of his sandwich into his lunch sack. Claire, Brian, and Allison followed suit, and soon all five of them were walking down the hall towards the school's front entrance.

"Here," said Brian, walking up to the Man of the Year display case. "1964."

The others crowded around him to get a better look. For a moment everyone was silent.

"That is the ugliest fuckin' suit I have ever seen in my life," Bender said finally.

For once, no one corrected him. Brian pointed at the nameplate. "Carl Reed. I never knew his last name." He paused thoughtfully. "I wonder how he got from Man of the Year to this."

"What's so special about Man of the Year anyway?" asked Allison, who was standing half a step behind Andy, chewing on her fingernails. "It's just a popularity contest."

Andy shook his head. "No, they count grades, too. It's about being well rounded."

"I know what happened," said Bender. "I'll bet he got busted for somethin' big and had to drop out of school. You know, drugs, gambling, women."

"Maybe he didn't go to college," said Allison.

"Everyone goes to college," Brian responded.

Allison cocked an eyebrow in challenge. "I'm not going."

"Maybe he got drafted. Didn't the Vietnam War start during the sixties?" asked Claire.

Brian paused thoughtfully. "Well, sort of. It's hard to say when the war started, you know? After the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in 1968, President Johnson--"

"I still think it was a girl," interrupted Bender. "Or drugs. Maybe both."

Claire scoffed. "Carl didn't do drugs."

Bender crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh, yeah? And how do you know?"

She paused uncomfortably. "He doesn't look like the type that would do drugs."

Bender cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, really? And what exactly does the drug-using type look like, Claire?" Claire just glared at him, and he smirked. "I think he got to college, hit the bottle, hit the pipe, got locked away for a while…"

"Locked away?" Claire exclaimed. "You mean like prison?"

Bender shrugged. "It happens to the best of us."

Andy rolled his eyes. "If he was in prison, he wouldn't be able to work in a school." When no one else said anything, he went on. "You know, with kids."

"So, what do you think really happened?" Brian asked, looking back at the picture again.

"Who cares?" Andy responded.

"I care," Brian said quietly.

"Well, even if we did want to know, how would we find out?" asked Claire. "It's not like we're going to go up and ask him."

Brian paused thoughtfully. "Well, we could do some research, I guess. I'm sure the library has newspaper archives and old yearbooks we could look at."

Andy frowned. "That's not going to tell us anything."

"Sure it will," Brian said. "I mean, maybe not everything, but it's a start."

"We could follow him."

Everyone turned to look at Allison, who was still standing behind Andy and Bender, biting her thumbnail.

"Follow him?" asked Brian. "You mean like--"

"Yes!" Bender exclaimed. "Like on Magnum. We'll wait until he's left work, and then we'll follow him in Sporto's Bronco. We can--"

"We're not going to follow him!" Claire exclaimed, eyes wide with disbelief.

"We're not taking my car," said Andy.

"I want to go," Allison interjected.

Andy turned to scowl at her. Allison just scowled back at him.

"Isn't that illegal?" asked Brian.

Bender shook his head. "They do it all the time on cop shows."

"Yes, but those are cop shows," Brian pointed out. When Bender didn't respond, he went on. "They're cops. They can do that sort of thing."

Bender shrugged. "Whatever. I say we do it."

"I don't," said Claire.

"Fine, don't come. More room for me," said Bender. "Does your car have a radio, Sporto? Because it's going to be pretty boring if we're just sitting there for--"

"I didn't say we could use my car," Andy interrupted.

"Well, what are we going to use then, Brian's ten-speed?"

"I think this is a bad idea," said Claire.

"Suggestion noted," said Bender. "Sporto?"

Andy paused, then sighed angrily. "Fine."

Bender grinned and turned to Brian. "Brainiac?"

Brian nodded. "I'm in."

Bender glanced over at Allison, who managed a brief nod. Everyone turned to look at Claire.

Claire glared at Bender. "You're such an asshole."

Bender grinned. "Good, we're all in. Sporto, are you going to finish those chocolate chip cookies? 'Cause I'm fuckin' starving."

A/N: Just because I know I'll get questions about it, I'll answer it now: no, Bender didn't really get arrested for robbing a gas station. He and Carl were just making fun of one another.

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