I DO NOT OWN THE BREAKFAST CLUB.

Friday. April 20, 1984. Chicago, Illinois.

(Luke)

After a few days had passed, the arson thing began to cool down. Four days passed without the cops finding any information about who built the tennis ball bomb and eventually, the cops let up. Except for Michelle and her family, people stopped caring as they found other things to talk about. My friends and I also put the burnt down garage out of our minds as something far more prominent took over our lives: the junior/senior prom at Shermer High School. Ever since Claire had turned her back on the rich girl squad, she had assumed that she had also sacrificed her dream of prom for us along with her reputation. I was not going to let that happen though. After all of the bullshit that Claire had gone through for us, she deserved one magical night. I didn't know how I was going to give it to her, but I knew that I would somehow. Luckily for me, We were able to use the never ending Standish feud to our advantage.

Mr. and Mrs. Standish were still trying to get Claire to pick a side and they were going to milk prom for all it was worth. Mrs. Standish had sent Claire and Allison to a professional dress maker she knew that would make them the belles of the ball. Mr. Standish refused to be outdone and paid for me, Bender, Brian, and Andy to go all the way to Chicago and get dressed up to the 9's. It was a half hour drive and Claire's old man paid for a limo to take us to the tuxedo shop. When we arrived, we started to enjoy dressing up. I found that even I was amused by the idea of trying out all of these rich people clothes.

"This is so awesome." Brian said as he admired himself in the mirror. He was dressed in a tan suit with a green tie and matching slacks.

"Wow dweeb, looks like you've moved up in the world." Bender remarked as he came out in a dark suit and a brown tie that he didn't care for at all.

"Well, well, well." Andy said as he sat back in a chair, dressed in a navy blue suit and a matching tie. "John Bender, finally brought into the bourgeoisie, today every doper weeps."

"If it means that Allison is going to give me some action on prom night, I can play along in this monkey suit for a while." Bender shot back as he gave Andy the finger.

"Is that all you ever think about Bender, getting under Allison's skirts?" I asked in exasperation. I had settled on a bright grey suit with a red tie to match Claire's ruby red lips

"Up yours Luke, look me in the eye and tell me you aren't planning on taking queenie to bed." he challenged. I was silent because Bender had me over a barrel and he knew it. The thought of making love to Claire and crossed my mind and I had been preparing for it.

"Are you?" Brian asked, his curiosity piqued.

"I'm going to ask Claire if she wants to, we're only going to do it if she wants to." I clarified to the other guys whose eyes were fixed on me.

"If all else fails, you could offer her a product or service in return?" Bender offered and I'll admit that got me red in the face.

"She's not a whore, shit head!" Andy snapped.

"Yeah, and even if she was, you couldn't afford her." Brian added. We were all taken aback because we had never seen Brian stand up to Bender before. Before we knew what was happening, we all burst out in laughter. It wasn't really that funny, but we all needed a good laugh.


Saturday. April 21, 1984. Standish Family Home. Clarendon Hills, Illinois.

The next day, the house was in a mad rush to get ready for prom. Claire's parents had brought corsages and boutineers for everyone to give to their perspective date. The whole thing made me sick to my stomach, but since the Standishes were letting me stay at their house rent free, I had to tolerate their bourgeoisie bullshit. I finished getting dressed in my room and got everything I needed. I had cash and a condom in my wallet and I had Claire's favorite blanket under my arm. If Claire said yes, I had been planning to build a pillow fort in her bedroom, but I had nearly been caught by the maid and had to give up on the idea. It was also too late to rent a hotel room, so I decided that the first romantic spot that I found would be our spot. I made my way downstairs and to my surprise, Claire's parents were impressed by my appearance.

"I must say Luke, you could almost pass for a gentleman." Mrs. Standish remarked. I knew a backhanded compliment when I heard one, but I was determined to be the bigger man.

"Thank you Mrs. Standish." I replied coldly. When Claire came down, it was like an angel descending to Earth. She was wearing a beautiful pink dress and her hair was done beautifully in a way that let her eyes be shown off above her ruby red lips.

"You look so handsome." she said as she came over to me.

"Claire...you look so beautiful." I insisted as she blushed.

"Thank you, Madam Henri found this for me." Claire replied. "You should see Allison's dress. She's dressed like a goth, but with fashion sense."

"I'll take your word for it." I replied as we stood in the foyer for family photos.

"Do you know who Andy is bringing as his prom date?" Claire inquired. "I know that Brian is bringing Hannah Dwyer from the physics club."

"Andy said that he's bringing Jen Levinstein." I replied as Claire smiled.

"She's on the cheerleading squad and she's the only rich girl who's been nice to me since i defected." she explained.

"That's good to know, At least Andy didn't bring some preppie bitch." I chuckled. At 5 on the dot, a limo pulled up; paid for by Mr. Standish. Inside, we found Bender and Allison, decked out in all black. Then came Brian and Hannah in a tan suit and green dress respectively. After them came Andy in the navy blue suit and Jen in a periwinkle dress.

"Attention richies, the pussy wagon is here!" Bender declared.

"One day of Bender being decent, will we ever get it?" Brian asked.

"Doubt it." Andy replied with a smirk. We all made our way through another round of prom photos before we were finally on our way. For our prom dinner, Mrs. Standish had sprung for a fancy dinner at Benito's, this really fancy Italian place in the good part of town. Since we weren't paying for anything, we stuffed our faces with gourmet pasta and other dishes. Bender tried to get them to serve him wine, but the waitress wasn't feeling his fake ID. To this day, I am honestly surprised that we didn't get thrown out right then and there. Despite that, it was one of my best memories. Everybody eating and laughing and having fun. I still get teary eyed just thinking about it.


Shermer High School.

After we had eaten our fill, we pulled up to Shermer high. People were surprised to see the Breakfast Club riding in such high style, Claire especially. People must have assumed that when her popularity was gone, her riches went with her. As we walked into the gym, it was done like a cheap fairy tale land. Claire was excited though and I was determined to let her have every bit of magic she could get from this. Unfortunately, it was not to be as Michelle and the rest of the bitch squad stomped over towards us.

"Well well, look who it is: The loser squad." Michelle said as they laughed at us. "Did you hit your head when you fell off your throne Standish?"

"Just ignore these bitches." I said as I tried to lead Claire away, but she would not be lead away; not this time.

"No, i'm done ignoring them." Claire insisted as she stood her ground. "You know what Michelle, maybe my friends aren't as rich or as popular as you, but at least we actually care about each other and we're honest. Everything that you have is fake. You think that everyone at school worships girls like you, but they don't. They hate you, I learned that the hard way."

"Rarw, the cat has claws." Anita shot back with a giggle. I decided to step in.

"She's right, all you do is pick on people who you deem less then yourselves. Why would anyone admire you?" I asked incredulously. The girls keep laughing at us.

"Take em' down Michelle." Another girl called out as Allison stepped forward.

"You think you're so beautiful, but inside...your souls are dead." she said quietly as the rest of the breakfast club joined in.

"Enjoy your bourgeoisie bullshit while you can, in a few years, you'll just be sex deprived housewives." Bender shot back.

"Girls like you are so conceited, you don't care about anyone but yourselves and we're all sick of it." Brian added.

"That's right, I'd rather go with a nerdy girl who has a heart than bitches like you." Andy insisted as he stared them down. Even their dates were joining in.

"You spread hate wherever you go, you make it so that people don't even want to come to school anymore." Hannah declared.

"The fact that you need to hurt other kids to make yourselves feel good, maybe you should talk to someone, get some help." Jen finished as the entire prom floor had gone quiet. The ice was broken by none other than Larry Lester who clapped slowly at us for saying what the unpopular kids had thought for years. Eventually, all of the kids started to applaud us as Michelle and Anita and the other rich bitches were utterly humiliated.

"Screw all you losers!" Michelle cried as she and her friends quickly fled the scene. In that moment, we were the heroes of prom. Claire was trying not to tear up as everyone chanted her name. I had never been more proud of my girlfriend. Before I could tell her how much I loved her, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Mr. Vernon behind me.

"Mr. Henderson." he said, wearing a poker face.

"Sir?" I asked, not knowing what he wanted.

"I wanted to say that i'm proud of you and the others for standing up to those mean girls...I also never got to tell you what I thought of your paper." he replied as he leaned in close to me. "If you stay on this course young man, you'll have a bright future." He then offered me his hand and I shook it, surprised that Richard Vernon was giving me a compliment.

"Thank you sir." I said quietly as he smirked at me.

"Enjoy the rest of your prom." Vernon said as he retreated back into the crowd.

NEXT TIME, THE MAGIC OF PROM COMMENCES. REVIEWS NEEDED AND APPRECIATED.