THE GOLD | b. hargrove

chapter eleven

Harriet had taken to spending her lunch periods with Steve seen as they were both feeling a bit out of place after their relationships both ended abruptly. Harriet sat cross-legged on the hood of his car as he leaned next to her, her focus on the assignment she was working on for her History class.

"You heard much about Will lately? It's nearly been a year." Steve had been piping up with questions for the past 20 minutes, trying to distract her from her work.

Harriet didn't look away from the page, but did remove the pen she'd been chewing from her mouth to speak. "Mike said he's been having like fits or black outs or something. He didn't say much about it though, don't think he wanted Karen to ask too many question." She put the pen back in her mouth, chewing on it seemed to help her focus. That was when she wasn't being distracted every 5 seconds.

"Something weirds definitely going on. Did you hear Nance wanted to tell the Holland's the truth too? As if they'd ever believe her. And I heard all the pumpkin patches are rotting out at the edge of town, must be something in the water." Steve knew it was more than likely nothing to do with the water, and much more to do with the monsters they'd faced the year prior.

Harriet finally looked up from her work at her friend, who was peering down at her with a worried look. She sighed and gave him a sympathetic smile. "I'm sure it'll be fine Steve, Will is seeing a doctor so they're keeping an eye on him, and crops die all the time. It's nearly winter after all." She chose not to touch on the Nancy subject, she felt a lot of pity for her cousin losing her best friend. She knew she blamed herself for it and couldn't fault her for wanting to tell the girls parents the truth, even if it wasn't a wise choice.

"Thanks for trying to be the voice of reason Harriet, but I don't think Hawkins works like that anymore." He furrowed his brow as she gave him a nod, knowing he was right. It was easier to try and explain away any strange goings on than admit that the same dangers they faced 12 months prior could be making a return.

"Well right now I just need to pass History, and so do you, so theorising will have to wait." She leant her arm out to give him a shove, and he just groaned at the thought of doing any work.

"Or you could just do my work for me." He batted his eyelashes at the girl, jutting out his bottom lip in the hopes she'd crumble.

"I don't even know what you're studying Steve, you'll have to try and charm some senior for that." She was already back to scrawling quickly across the page, getting as much out as she could before Steve would surely distract her again.

"So, you and Hargrove ..." Harriet's head snapped up as soon as the words came out of Steve's mouth. She put her pen down on top of her work and just stared at the boy beside her. He raised his eyebrows a little, clearly still waiting for an answer.

"I thought we had dropped this, he gave me a ride. That's it. You give me rides all the time, it's no different."

"Yeah but I'm your friend Harriet, he's just a dickhead. If I were you I'd be staying as far away from him as possible. You know what people have been saying about you two, you think he didn't love that shit?" Steve sighed, he knew she didn't want to talk about any of this but he couldn't just let her make stupid decisions without at least trying to stop her.

"Steve, everything is fine. I'm fine. I know you mean well but I don't need protecting, okay?" You could hear the exasperation in her voice, though she was trying her best to hide it.