Major Malfunction (Sequel to American Heroes)

Let's Dance

At the end of the school day, Will meets El outside her classroom, and the two of them go to the cafeteria payphone to tell Jonathan their whereabouts. Will dials up the number of the pizza shop.

"Surfer Boy Pizza, what can I do for you today?"

"Hi, uh, can I speak to Jonathan?"

"Who's this?"

Will recognizes Argyle's voice. "It's me. Will."

"Will who?"

"...Jonathan's brother."

"Oh, yo, what's up, little man?"

"Not much. Can I talk to Jonathan?"

"No can do at the moment. He's out delivering. Can I take a message?"

"Oh. Yeah, sure. Um... can you tell him that El and I are going out with some friends and to tell Mom when he gets home."

"Sure thing."

"Thanks."

After hanging up, he and El head to the main entrance, bracing themselves in case they run into the bullies. As they step outside, they put on their sunglasses and glance around. El nudges Will, gesturing to the street corner where the bullies are standing by a stop sign. "There they are."

"Okay, good." He takes her hand, and they rush down the school steps, heading in the opposite direction. "They're probably expecting us to go that way to Surfer Boy."

As they cross the street, El asks, "Will they be at the party?"

Will makes a face. "I hope not." They walk over to a bus stop where a couple other people are waiting, and he turns to El. "Have you ever been to a party?"

Pouting, she tilts her head. "I'm confused. What exactly is a party? Why are we called the party?"

"Oh, that's just our name because of D&D." He lets out a quiet laugh. "It doesn't really have to do with an actual party."

Her eyebrows draw together.

"A party is basically like a group of people getting together to celebrate something," he explains.

"Like when Dustin came home for summer. And everyone's birthdays."

"Yeah, sort of. I guess I meant if you've ever been to, like, a really big party before. With people you don't know and stuff. Well, I guess the Snow Ball would count."

"Is this going to be like the Snow Ball?"

Will laughs. "I hope not."

After a few minutes, the bus pulls up in front of them; they board it and take seats by the front, peering out the window as they drive through the city. He's a bit nervous, seeing as he's never been to a party here before and the only people he talks to in school are El and Daniel. But he figures what's the worst that can happen?

When they get off the bus, they walk out onto the asphalt of the beach parking lot, groups of people hurrying around them, cars honking their horns and blasting music from their speakers. Will and El go over to the fence separating the parking lot from the beach and survey the party below. There are a couple picnic tables set up where people put snacks and drinks – from what Will can tell, it appears to be mostly alcohol – and a boombox blaring music. Some guys are playing soccer a few feet away, a couple toss around a frisbee near a volleyball net, and several people run in and out of the water.

"What do you want to do?" Will asks El.

She gazes around the beach and opens her mouth to reply, but before she can do so, a guy on a dirt bike, face covered by a helmet, rides up into the parking spot behind them. Will and El exchange looks. Before the guy takes off his helmet, Will recognizes him by the dragon tattoo and the Byers' address scrawled in Will's handwriting on his arm.

Daniel gets off the bike and nods at them. "Fancy seeing you here."

Will gestures to his bike. "You have a dirt bike?"

"Sure do." Messenger bag slung around his shoulder, Daniel hops over the fence and starts down the sand.

Will and El look to each other.

"Coming?" Daniel calls, motioning for them to follow him. They hop over the fence and catch up with him. As they walk down the beach, he shakes hands with a couple guys they pass, making their way to a fire pit past the picnic tables where two girls are trying to start a fire. A cooler sits in the sand by one of the logs surrounding the fire pit. Daniel reaches into the cooler and pulls out two cans of soda, tossing one to El and the other to Will before reaching back into the cooler and getting one for himself.

El flips the can over in her hand. "What is this party celebrating?"

Daniel pops open his soda, lifting it in the air. "Spring break!" He chugs the soda while Will and El crack smiles. Exhaling, Daniel plops down on a log, kicking at the sand in front of him. He pats the log. "Join me."

Taking off their backpacks and setting them behind the log, Will takes a seat next to him, El sitting in the sand by their feet. Daniel ruffles Will's hair. "I see you two took my advice and went to that thrift store."

Resting her head on Will's knee, El says, "We took Jonathan's old clothes, too."

Daniel snorts. "Nice."

Setting his soda down in front of him, Will leans forward and grabs a stick out of the fire pit – apologizing to the two girls who are still trying to start a fire – and sits back down on the log, poking around in the sand with the stick. El takes a sip of her soda. "How are we getting back at the bullies for good?" she asks.

Will stabs the stick into the sand. "Wish I could figure that out."

"If Jake and his scumbag friends are messing with you," Daniel says, "I could always tell them to lay off it."

"Would that work? Wouldn't they just come after you?"

Daniel wrinkles his nose. "Not if they want to keep coming to the Rollerlux."

"I don't know. They seemed pretty angry about the paint."

"What if we let your mom call their parents?" El suggests.

"They'll literally kill us if we do that."

She huffs. "I don't get it. You said we shouldn't let her because they don't like snitches, but they told on us for dumping paint on them. If Joyce calls their parents, how do we know it won't solve everything?"

Will stops poking the stick in the sand. "Huh... I guess I just figured they would hurt us even more if we said anything, but then yeah, they did tell on us."

"Pff, yeah, they're total narcs," Daniel says.

Tossing the stick back into the fire pit, Will turns to El. "You're right. We should tell Mom to call them. It can't hurt, especially since it's spring break, and we won't see them for a week anyways."

The corner of El's mouth turns up. "Good." Chugging her soda, she hops to her feet, hiccups, and holds a hand out to Will. "Let's dance."

Will makes a face. "Dance?"

Beside him, Daniel grunts as he stands up and nods at El. "I'm down to dance." He looks to Will. "You coming?"

"Oh, I don't-"

"Come on. Loosen up a little."

"Yeah," El says, grinning, "loosen up a little."

Sighing, Will cracks a smile and gets to his feet. "Okay, fine." Daniel and El grab his hands, and the three of them stride across the beach to where a group of their classmates are jumping around to the music on the boombox.

"Hey, Lisa!" Daniel shouts to a red-haired girl dancing with her friends. "Turn up the music, would ya?"

Lisa rolls her eyes but goes to the boombox and cranks up the volume. "Twist and Shout" plays over the radio. Everyone hoots and hollers. Daniel takes Will and El by the arms and pulls them into the crowd of people dancing. Laughing, they jump around, waving their arms in the air and making faces at each other. And for once after months of pain and torment, days and days of endless agony, Will finally feels an ounce of genuine happiness.