𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐖𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐒

thirty-five

when sam, steve, dustin, and max arrived at the counselor's home, there was nothing for the three to do other than to wait. "okay. she's in." steve said as they all watched max walk inside the woman's house.

"i'm missing collarbones, not eyes." dustin replied sarcastically, which normally would've made sam laugh. but she couldn't, why had her sister been seeing this school counselor. why had max been lying? after a couple minutes of silence, dustin cleared his throat. "so, are we gonna.. talk about.. it?"

sam looked at him through the rearview mirror. "how has max been at school? like how is she?"

"look, i don't want to start anything if it's going to turn into a fight." dustin clarified.

she rolled her eyes. "you are about to start one. tell me how she's been."

"she's closed off. it's like she hasn't recovered. she broke up with lucas, she's been distant, rarely hanging out with any of us. she's like a..like a ghost."

"have i really been that blind? i couldn't see my own sister was struggling!" sam turned in her seat so that she could look completely at him.

dustin shrugged. "i don't...think this is my place."

her brows furrowed. "i'm such a bad person. i can't even notice the simplest things."

"no! what, no, i just.. i mean-"

sam ran a hand through her hair, frustrated. she was frustrated her sister had been lying, she was annoyed she had been so busy, and she was disappointed. she was disappointed in not knowing what was going on with her sister.

"i'm sure it's because max didn't want to bother you!" dustin, consoled. steve looking over to his girlfriend finally.

steve then turned so he was fully facing his girlfriend. "what-"

"this vecna is in hawkins, and i don't know the first thing about my sister. i didn't even realize she was struggling so hard. i'm such a terrible person-"

"samantha!"

sam's eyes fell to the floor. "you are not a bad person. you are kind and thoughtful. and i know that because you are sitting here stressing while your sister is safe with the school counselor." steve reassured.

"but." she groaned, her face dropping into her hands.

"i should've known. she never would've actually come to me."

sam looked to steve. "it's okay. you will survive this like you did both times before. look, there she is right now. "

"phew-"

"got 'em."

"really?!" dustin exclaimed.

"yes, really." max stated, sliding into the back seat. the shiner set of keys dangling in the air.

her sister turned back to face the front. "i appreciate you getting the keys, or whatever's else happened, and i'm glad you are back in one piece."

"thank you?" max replied, looking at her sister oddly.

sam frowned, nodding her head. "drive to the high school. we'll look through her cabinets, find the files and compare them. maybe if we find what vecna's looking for we can help prevent the next attack."

steve nodded his head. "sounds like a good plan. i'm starting to dig this new detective mode you have going on."

she reached across the glovebox to grab his hand. "new detective mode?"

steve looked over at her. "yeah. it's like ten times more badass!"

"i don't even know what you are blabbing on about over there, steve." she laughed, a large smile spread on her face that became contagious.

"sam..."

"steve..."

"hello!"

"mom and dad?!" dustin attempted, trying his best to grab their attention.

"hey, dustin." steve said, "can you see we are sharing a romantic moment."

"what do you mean?"

"i mean use those eyes, dipshit. we are having a moment."

steve turned in his seat again. "well, hurry your moment up. ms. kelley will probably realize her keys are gone and we are still sitting in the street."

dustin threw his head back with annoyance as the teens sat there smirking. "i'm just saying, we might want to make this a quick trip." he said, gesturing to his watch.

"dammit dustin." steve spat. "i don't want to talk about this-"

"if you do this again. i'll punch you so hard your teeth will fall back out." sam reaching to the backseat to grab ahold of max's hand.

the arguing ceased as everyone in the car turned to look at steve wordlessly. "woah. too far."

steve stared at dustin for a moment. "not cool. sorry."

"not cool." he agreed. "it's okay." they both nodded at each other in some sort of silent understanding before fist bumping.

steve began to drive. and he was driving as fast as he could go without getting pulled over. the cops were everywhere recently and he was pretty prone to speeding. the silence in the car was awkward at first, until. "dustin, do you copy?" lucas' voice sounded.

dustin picked up his walkie talkie. "lucas. where the hell have you been?"

"just listen." he pleaded. "are you guys looking for eddie?"

"yeah, we found him, no thanks to you."

"you found him?" lucas asked.

"he's at a boathouse on coal mill road, don't worry, he's safe." dustin replied.

"you guys know he killed chrissy, right?"

dustin shook his head. "that's bullshit. eddie tried to save chrissy."

"then why do all the cops say he did it?"

max then stole the device in dustin's hands. "lucas, you're so behind it's ridiculous, okay? just meet us at the school, we'll explain later."

"i can't." he replied. "i think some bad shit's about to go down."

sam turned, pressing the button on the walkie talkie that was now in max's hands. "what do you mean, 'some bad shit'?" before they could get any sort of response from him, they could only hear static.

sam immediately felt this pit feeling in her stomach. "i'm not one to threaten, but if lucas puts this plan in jeopardy. i, samantha mayfield, will turn lucas into the cops for framed murder." she huffed, laying her head against the headrest.