I don't own the Breakfast Club

A/N: This chapter will have trigger warnings.

Enjoy!

Keeping his grades secret was harder than Brian Johnson thought. Ever since he had gotten that F, Brian had tried his hardest to avoid bringing up to his parents during their dinner conversations. Dinner conversations consisted of how work and school were going. Ever since, Brian dodged around the question with shops class, only giving a single word sentence which, he was glad that his parents didn't question him on. The more he thought his grade and keeping it a secret, he knew that the situation was going to get a lot worse.

He felt his chest tightening whenever he imagined the look on his parents' face when they heard about his grade.

Failure. Can't believe this. Even my father's grandfather wasn't a failure as you are!

This amount of stress was not worth it. Though how much was he going to endure? Ever since he was young, his parents had made him competitive with his educational career and he had always come out at the top. He remembered being happy, but he rarely remembered the proud looks that his parents gave him. Whenever he bought home an A-, his parents weren't happy with it. It was the plus that was important to them. Just a letter with a symbol right next to it. Were these grades going to matter in ten years? Brian hoped that he would be far away before then.

That's why he had decided that his only way of escape was to get away. He couldn't endure feeling that invisible hand grabbing him by the throat and squeezing it until he wasn't able to breathe. This was a decision that he had thought about but he had never done it. He always thought that things were going to get better ever since he had entered high school. Well, nothing had gotten better, and the stress and his mind were making him suffer. The rest of the school day had gone by in a blur. His body was present, but his mind was elsewhere. He was counting down the moments where he was going to do it…right here at school and in front of everyone.

As the last bell of the school day rang, Brian remained seated in his chair for a mere couple of seconds before deciding to get up. He held onto the books against his chest as he made his way over to his locker. His eyes were glued to where his locker was and bought his hand over to unlock it. His locker wasn't neat but there was that ugly looking elephant lamp that had ruined everything. Wait a second, it wasn't the lamp that had caused him to get such a bad grade.

It was me Brian thought as his eyes looked at the structure of the lamp, trying to see if there was anything positive that he could find about it. Nothing. There was absolutely nothing great about such a hideous lamp. Then his eyes bounced over to the object that was next to the lamp.

A gun.

He had gone into the garage earlier in the morning before school and taken the weapon with him. The number of years that he had endured with the stress and the disapproval of his parents, he felt that there was nothing for him anymore. Was the point in finding satisfaction in life when he felt like an empty shell? He bought his hand towards the gun and then stopped.

What would happen if I were to do it? he mentally thought as his eyes never left the gun. What would his friends think? What would his parents think? What about his little sister? They'd probably be happy that I'm gone. They won't have to be so disappointed any more than they already are. Nothing I do makes them happy anyway, so what's the point?

He grabbed onto the weapon and pulled the trigger. He thought he saw the light flash before his eyes before it tore into the elephant lamp and Brian jumped away from the noise, which was loud enough to cause a couple of students to scream as they walked past him.

"What the hell was that?" a confused teen yelled as he looked for the source of the noise before his eyes landed towards Brian's locker.

The door of the locker had become dislodged and there was a bit of smoke coming out of it. Brian coughed as he wafted the smoke away from him and looked at what had happened. The weapon that he gotten wasn't the one that he had expected. It was a flare gun that his father bought with him whenever he would go finishing, in case of an emergency. Brian didn't know whether he ought to be relieved that he didn't go through with the plan or scared to death that he had caused such a commotion.

"Brian Johnson!" came the familiar voice of the vice principal.

Crap Brian thought as he didn't dare turn around to look at the adult.

"I'm talking to you Johnson!" Mr. Vernon snapped at him, "to the office…now!"

Sitting in the office was worse than Brian had imagined. He had vowed to himself that he moment he started high school up to when he finished, he was not going to get himself into trouble. Another thing that would go into his record. An F and then a suspension…or expulsion. He didn't know what it would be. He looked at Vernon as he placed the receiver back to the phone handle before the adult turned his eyes over to him.

"What were you thinking Johnson?" was the first thing that Vernon said to him before a long silence between them. "Not only did you bring a flare gun into school, but you destroyed school property!"

"Sorry sir," Brian answered him. He wished he could scream why he had done it!

Why he was about to use that gun on himself! Why these adults had given him so much stress in his life that he wasn't able to handle it anymore. Now that he had failed, which deep in his heart he was glad that he did, he was going to endure another situation. The disappointment from his parents. They were probably on their way if they hadn't arrived already.

"M-Mr. Vernon," Brian said as the older man turned his eyes towards him. "When my parents get here, can I be excused? I'm not feeling too well and I…I don't want to hear what they have to say." Brian couldn't believe that he had asked for such a thing, and he felt that he already knew the answer to what Vernon was going to say.

Vernon looked at the student before him. He knew who Brian Johnson was and how great of a student he was in the school. If he was chosen to be the class valedictorian, he wouldn't be surprised by that. However, there was something that he could see in the student that had never been there before. Other than being in his office for the first time, there was a look of regret in his eyes. Be that as it may, Vernon couldn't let this deed go unpunished. He had a reputation to uphold in this school and he wasn't going to make an example of having these kids get away with something so dangerous because they were unhappy with their lives.

"You know Johnson," Vernon began as he folded his hands on the desk and looked at him. "Whatever is going on, this was something that never should have crossed your mind. Not only is it dangerous, but its criminal and I have the right to expel you."

Brian shut his eyes and leaned against the chair.

"I know your reputation as a student. I know that you're a good kid, but this is something that I can't easily forgive. What were you thinking in bringing a flare gun to school?"

"I…I guess I wasn't thinking," Brian heard himself say. "My dad never let me try it out at home and I thought of using it after school outside." That was the lie of the century!

Vernon took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead with his hands. This was something he would have expected from that Bender kid but Johnson?! Never! "Your parents will be here in five minutes and I will have to speak to them whether you want to be present or not. I have come to the decision that you will serve Saturday detention this week and I will not tolerate another act like this. Is that understood?"

He had fallen for it. Brian couldn't believe it. If he had told him the real reason behind his intentions, he would have gone to a shrink. "Understood sir," Brian said to him with a nod of his head.

"Good," Vernon said as he looked up and motioned for the Johnsons to come into the office. "Now get out of here. I need to speak with your parents."

Taking his bag in his grip, Johnson got up from his seat and kept his eyes glued to the floor. He walked past his parents but couldn't avoid his mother's voice calling after him. Don't look at them Brian thought as door closed behind him and his parents had their meeting with the vice principal. Whatever Vernon was saying to them, he knew it wouldn't be good but at least he could enjoy this moment of peace to himself.