Into The Woods » Stranger Things (m.w) (ON HIATUS)

○Volume 15 - Mr Clarke Explains It All

"Hey Tabitha! When I last saw you, you were only a baby! How are you?" Tabby stared at the man in confusion. She partially lip read what he'd just said but was baffled by his ignorance and was certainly not going to answer him. Grace had told her how mean he was to Will. "She can't hear you." Rich spat out, causing Lonnie to raise an eyebrow at him. "She's deaf." Lizzy would've paid all the money in the world to get a picture of his shocked face. She had to use all the willpower she could muster not to laugh at it. "Oh nevermind then."

After examining the room while her parents tried to get away from the not-so pleasant man, she found Joyce sitting looking almost in pain. She was about to approach the woman but was drawn away by Lonnie who said, "Gracey, do you want to sit with the boys?"

She cringed at the use of her nickname (which was reserved for people who were close to her) and reluctantly nodded, not because she didn't want to sit with them but rather because she didn't want to interact with Lonnie, knowing farewell he didn't have the fondest opinion of her friendship with his son.

As soon as she approached the table Mike's face lit up. Lucas sent Dustin his signature look with the toothless boy giving a smirk in return. "Hey Gracey." The pale boy nonchalantly said. Grace could tell they had just been talking about her but decided to quickly just sit beside Mike and avoid any further suggestive looks from her other two friends. "So, what have I missed?" She quipped. In front of Dustin was a paper plate of some kind of cake which Grace was starting to pick away at despite getting a, 'are you kidding me' look from him.

"Mike was just professing his love fo-" Lucas was interrupted by a nudge in the side courtesy of Mike himself. "He's joking. We were just gonna ask Mr Clarke if he knew anything about parallel dimensions. Just like what El was saying about the Vale of Shadows." She slowly nodded her head, grasping an understanding of the plan. She spotted the kind science teacher near the buffet.

"Hey look! There he is! We should go now, before Lonnie sinks his claws into him and erupts into a grand speech about how glad his son appreciated the sciences despite being an absolute dick about the subject at parent-teacher night." She gave Lonnie the evil eyes as the boys burst into laughter, causing a few guests to stare at them in disgust.

Grace was brought back to reality. They were at Will's funeral reception. They thought he was dead and his friends were having a merry ol' time without him.

They stopped the laughter and got up to make their way towards their teacher.

"Mr Clarke?" He turned around the find the source of the voice and his expression immediately softened. "Oh, hey there. How you kids holding up?" Grace was distracted from his question by Dustin immediately reaching for the Nilla Wafers.

"We're in mour-ning" Grace turned around to see Mike and Lucas standing awkwardly. Dustin was in a Nilla Wafer world of his own. His face dropped into a look of disappointment as he shook his head and broke the group's sad facade. "Man, these aren't real Nilla Wafers." Grace nudged him in the side and nodded towards Mr Clarke which also brought his attention towards the shady look Lucas was giving him. Mr Clarke elected to ignore this entire interaction and remained sympathetic towards them. "We were wondering if you had time to talk?" Mike interjected. "We have some questions- a whole lot of questions actually." Mr Clarke smiled at the group.
"Sure, let's take a seat before I get in depth though." Lucas nodded and directed him over to the kids' table as Dustin grabbed a napkin full of not-Nilla Wafers which warranted a, "oh for gods sake Dustin!" from Grace.

"So, you know how in Cosmos, Carl Sagan talks about other dimensions?  Like, beyond our world?" Mike started to explain. "Yeah sure, theoretically-" Mr Clarke was cut off but Mike. "Right, theoretically"