John Bender couldn't believe that Claire had thrown him out as she had. She was his first real love and because she wanted to be a bigger star than she already was, had sold the house they were living in and told him that he had to be out by the end of the week. For the rest of his life, he tried to forget about the five years they had lived together.
When Brian and Andy found out what had happened from Alison, they tried to help him cope, but in the end, they could only sit back and watch him drink his life away while trying to get rid of the pain. After Alison and Andy moved away, Brian was the only one who was close enough to witness John's slow decent into alcoholism and was they one who found him the day he killed himself. According to the police report, Bender had mixed drugs and alcohol. The note he had held simply stated that he had never stopped loving Claire and that death was the only way he had to stop the pain of her rejection.
The day they buried him beneath the willow that he and Claire had secretly met under when they had first went out, Brian told them that life was short, but could be bigger then the strength it takes to get up off your knees. Every one of the members of the Breakfast Club was shaken, but no one was as affected as Claire was, she could have sworn that she heard someone singing a lullaby as they left.
It had been three years since Bender's death, and Claire had never stopped feeling guilty for what she had done eight years earlier. The other surviving members of the Breakfast Club never know the extreme guilt she felt because in her own way, she knew she had killed him. They could all smell the whisky in her breath no matter what she tried to use to hide it. Brian was the only one to recognize her destructive behavior, but was never able to be around to help her get over the pain of losing John.
The next thing anyone heard of Claire was when her brother called to tell everyone that she had died. Apparently, she had drunk too much, had died of alcohol poisoning, and had died with a picture of her and John taken during graduation. The weight of life had been too much for her to bear. They honored her last request and laid her next to John beneath the willow and, as they were gathered to pay their last respects, they could have sworn that they heard angels singing a lullaby.