I DO NOT OWN THE BREAKFAST CLUB. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO JOHN HUGHES. SPECIAL THANKS TO POPPY471. WORKING WITH THEM ON BREAKFAST CLUB FANFICS WAS A GREAT EXPERIENCE & I AM OVERJOYED TO BE COLLABORATING WITH THEM ONCE AGAIN. ALSO, TO PREVENT CONFUSION, PLEASE READ THE ARTIST OF SHERMER HIGH AND THE ARTIST AND THE PRINCESS BEFORE YOU READ THIS ONE.

Claire and Luke's apartment. Chicago, Illinois. August 25, 1984.

(Luke's POV)

I wiped the sweat off his brow as I finished my latest sketch. It had been a week since me and Claire had started classes at our respective school and about 3 weeks since we had officially moved in together into the apartment that Mr. and Mrs. Standish had bought for us. MacCormac College, where I was attending, didn't have housing on campus. Loyola University, where Claire was going, did have on campus housing, but since she would have just been sneaking me into her room anyway, we figured that we might as well just cut out the middle man and get a place together. Luckily, Claire's parents had agreed with us and sprung for a one bedroom apartment in the city. It was honestly pretty nice as far as apartments go. I had begun taking classes for my general education requirements, but luckily I was still able to squeeze in an art class. The first assignment that we received was to make a sketch of whatever or whoever we wanted. It was pretty basic, but I think that the professor just wanted to get a sense of our talent; or lack thereof. Naturally, I drew Claire. Drawing Claire was always one of my favorite things to do, but at that time, it started to make me sad.

After graduation, cracks started to appear in our tightly formed breakfast club. Andy was going to get a teaching license to teach high school P.E. at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Ever since, his calls and letters had started getting less frequent. Brian and me kept staying in touch regularly, but it felt our conversations mostly focused on him bitching about his new boarding school & how he still felt like an outsider. Bender and Allison were the ones we had remained closest with because they were in the same city, but their relationship was going downhill and Claire and I kept getting pulled into the middle of it. That only made the cracks in our relationship more apparent. Since starting college, Claire and I had begun to fight more. She was part of the popular crowd at Loyola and we could all tell that she was falling back into her princess ways. Claire didn't want to introduce me to her friends and I even caught her lying about me to them a couple times; saying that I was from a rich family like hers. Everyday, she started acting more and more like the Claire we had known before Saturday detention and it was breaking all of our hearts. We stopped having sex and even our kisses got less & less frequent. Something had to give and eventually it did.


Maple and Ash Steakhouse. Later that evening.

That night, Claire's grandparents had come to Illinois for a visit and we all got together at a fancy steak house in the city. Luckily, Chip's clothes still fit me well enough so I could keep up with the dress code. As we drove, Claire and I got into our fifth big fight of the week.

"It's just one dinner, do you have to bitch about dressing up?" Claire asked as we pulled into the parking lot.

"I ain't bitching about dressing up, i'm bitching about having to eat with people who are just going to insult me because i'm poor." I clarified as we stopped.

"Just because you're poor doesn't mean to have to dress like it." She countered.

"Just because you're a princess doesn't mean you have to get your way all the time." I shot back as we slammed out door after getting out of the car.

"Go to Hell!" Claire exclaimed as we headed for the door.

"Dating you feels like i'm already in Hell!" I exclaimed in return as we walked inside. The place was quite fancy, which just made me queasy.

"Hello, we have a reservation under Standish." Claire said in a sickly sweet tone of voice.

"Oh yes, they're waiting for you." the hostess said as she led us to a table where Claire's parents and grandparents were waiting for us.

"Claire bear!" Everyone shouted in unison as they all got up to hug and kiss her. I got no such affection, so I just sat down. The younger Standishes looked at me with pained smiles while their parents made their contempt plain to see. As we browsed through the menus, everyone fawned over how Claire was making everyone so proud. I tried to drown it out until the conversation turned to me.

"Claire, you should be so proud of getting into Loyola, far better than any community college." Grandpa Standish said with pride as he turned up his nose at me. I was still pissed about the fight with Claire and I decided too let loose.

"At least I don't act like a jackass." I replied as everyone was shocked.

"Luke, will you please be professional for once?" Claire asked in frustration.

"I am being professional, you want to see unprofessional, this is unprofessional." I growled as I stood up and splashed the old man with my ice water. "That is unprofessional, see the damn difference!" Everyone turned to look at me with shock and disgust as a waitress tapped me on the shoulder.

"Excuse me sir..." she said, trying to act intimidating and failing miserably.

"What?" I asked angrily.

"If you can't be decent...i'm afraid that i'll have to ask you to leave..." she said, nearing tears as she had clearly never told a customer to piss off before.

"Fine, I was on my way out anyway...and for the record, I can get a steak down at Duckie's Steaks for half the price and it'll taste the same!" I shouted as I stormed out of the restaurant with Claire on my heels.

"You asshole, you embarrassed me in front of everyone!" Claire shouted as she got in my face.

"I am sick and tired of everyone in your family insulting me because i'm poor and you won't even stick up for me; not with them or your friends!" i shouted back. "If you have to lie about me, maybe you should get yourself a richie boyfriend!"

"Maybe I should!" Claire shouted back as everything stopped. Those words couldn't be taken back and we both knew it. It had finally come to a head. Our relationship had foundered.

"So that's it then...we're done, just like that?" i asked as i tried not to cry.

"Luke...we've been done for a while now, but neither of us was willing to admit it. We just aren't the same anymore." Claire said as she started to cry.

"No Claire, you aren't the same anymore." I countered as i wiped away a tear, my heart damn near breaking in 2. "This is who i've always been and you knew that. You need to go be with your kind...and i'll go be with mine." Claire sobbed, but did not call for me to come back as I kept walking away. I couldn't go back to our apartment and see a hundred things that reminded me of Claire. I decided to go to Bender and Allison's apartment; they would let me stay the night. I hopped on a bus and went to their neighborhood where it turns out that romantic misfortune was contagious.

THE HEARTBREAK IS NOT DONE YET. REVIEWS NEEDED AND APPRECIATED.