suıʞʍɐɥ oʇ ǝɯoɔlǝʍ sƃuıɥʇ ɹǝƃuɐɹʇs

Chapter Eleven: The Pollywog

ƃoʍʎllod ǝɥʇ
uǝʌǝlǝ ɹǝʇdɐɥɔ

October 31, 1984

"I'm not sure. Maybe a pollywog?" He said. We looked at it through the glass. "Where did you find it?" I asked. "In the trash outside," he said. "You found it in the trash and decided to bring it inside?!" I said. "Yeah. I couldn't leave him out there. You hungry?" He asked the thing. He dug through his bag of candy and pulled out a full sized three musketeers. "Nougat." He said, dropping a piece into the tank. "Go on, eat." He went to move the heat lamp onto it and it started to screech. "Too hot? Sorry about that, little guy." The creature started eating the nougat and Dustin chuckled. "You like nougat, too, huh? You're pretty cute, you know that? I'm glad I found you."

He watched it for a few seconds, "D'Artagnan." I looked at him in confusion, "what?" I asked. "I'm gonna call him d'Artagnan. Dart for shot," he said. "Dustin, you can't keep it," I told him. "Why not?" He asked, smiling at the creature. "You don't know what that thing is. It could be dangerous," I said. "I'll figure it out. I'm going to take him to school tomorrow. Show him to Mike, Will, Lucas, and Max." I raised an eyebrow, "Max?" I asked. "Yeah. The new girl. Redhead," he said. "Right. Max. Yeah, I know her brother Billy. Kissed him at the party tonight." His head whipped around to look at me, eyes round.

"You what?! Why him? He's an asshole! He tried running us over!" Dustin practically yelled. "Will you keep your voice down! What do you mean he tried running you over?" I asked. "Me, Lucas, and Mike were riding home when he came flying past us and ran us off the road. I thought you liked Steve," he said. I looked at him and scoffed, "what. No. No! Steve is with Nancy and Nancy is my friend," I said. "Since when? Look, it's obvious that you like Steve. I mean he's kind of an ass too. But he helped you guys last year so maybe he's getting better," he said. I shook my head and walked towards the door, "I'm not having this conversation with you. I'll take care of Billy." I walked out of his room and went to mine.

November 1, 1984

I pulled into my usual spot at school. I wanted to have a little chat with Billy about almost running my little brother over and his friends. I got out of the car, grabbing my bag off the passenger seat. I laid my bag on the trunk of my car and leaned against it, watching people head into the school. A few minutes later Billy pulled in right beside my car. When I saw Max getting out I stood straight and walked over to her. "Hey, Max," I said. She turned around and looked at me. "I'm yn. I'm Dustin's older sister," I told her. "The annoying curly head one." She laughed and nodded, "Hi."

I smiled at her, reaching into my back pocket and pulled out a ten dollar bill. "Hey, you wouldn't mind giving this to Dustin would you? I forgot to give it to him before he rushed out the door." She looked over at Billy then took the money from me. "Sure," she said. "Thanks. Have a good day. And be safe!" I called after her as she skated off. I turned and looked at Billy. "Are you sweet, giving your brother money," he said, taking a drag of his cigarette.

"That's what older siblings do. They look out for their younger siblings. You should know that since Max is your sister," I said. He sniffed and flicked his cigarette, "she's not my sister," he said. I raised an eyebrow and nodded my head. "Look, Hargrove... if I ever hear that you tried to run my brother and his friends over again... I will make your life a living fucking hell. Do I make myself clear?" He just smirked and chuckled, his tongue poking out to wet his bottom lip. "You think I'm joking but I'm being serious. No one messes with my little brother or his friends and that now includes Max. You're not as intimidating as you think you are." I grabbed my bag off the trunk and walked off towards the school.

After school I ran into Steve. "Hey, Steve," I said as he walked up to me. "Hey," he mumbled. "You okay? Have you and Nancy talked?" I asked. "Yeah, we talked," he said. "Is she okay?" I asked. He crossed his arms, "she's fine. But she didn't remember that Jonathan took her home after she told me that she didn't love me." I raised an eyebrow, "she said that? Like she actually said she doesn't love you?" I asked.

"She said it was all bullshit. She went on about how we killed Barbara. When I asked about us she said it was bullshit. Then today I asked her if she loved me and she couldn't even answer," he said. I didn't know what to say, "I'm sorry. That's tough," I said. We were walking outside towards the parking lot. I didn't know what to say to that. What would I say? 'Hey, that sucks but she's not meant for you anyway. I would be better for you.'  "Maybe after things calm down a little you  can talk to her and figure things out," I told him. He shrugged, "I don't know, maybe. I think she likes someone else though," he said.

We went separate ways and when I got to my car I saw Billy and Tina leaning against his car. "Is your sister coming?" Tina asked. I pulled my keys out of my pocket and unlocked the door, throwing my. Bag into the passenger's seat. "Screw it. She can skate home," Billy said. He walked around to the driver's side but stopped when he saw me. "Just so you know, I heard Tina is a lousy lay," I said, smiling. Tina scoffed, "better than you, Henderson," she said. I never got along with Tina; she was just like Carol. "Aww. Don't you know, Tina? I was the first girl at Hawkins to kiss Billy." I winked at her, got in my car, and pulled out.

I needed to head to the middle school. My gut  was telling me something was up. Something that wasn't good and something bad was going to happen. I needed to check on Dustin because knowing him he took that fucking thing he found last night to school. I don't know what it is but I was sure it wasn't from this dimension.