THE KIDS AREN'T ALRIGHT ｡ STRANGER THINGS

27 - BONNIE AND CLYDE

The air was stale with no wind in Hawkins; the night of trick-or-treating holding the promise of candy and partying. The younger children in town had gotten their parents to handcraft Halloween costumes that would have others talking all week, while the older teenagers had planned their party costumes to resemble movie characters or painfully original ninjas or wicked witches costumes. Halloween was going to be a night to remember for a few selected kids that were trying their best to forget the troubles of last year.

Daisy Lonsdale was fiddling with Jonathan Byers's car radio that night, trying to decide what to listen to while his little brother was giddy in the backseat. Since Daisy had convinced Jonathan to tag along to the party tonight, Will was able to spend time with his friends without the looming presence of his older brother. "Remember to stay in the neighbourhood and you've gotta' be back at Mike's place at nine o'clock." Jonathan was reminding little Will Byers.

Will was smiling brightly, all too pleased. "Right. Yeah."

"Promise me. I really don't need mum knowing that I let you go trick-or-treating without me." Jonathan went on, staring out the windscreen and spying his brothers' tiny group of friends that were all wearing matching Ghostbusters costumes. "She would have a heartache. Okay?"

The younger boy was nodding his head while grabbing Jonathan's heavy camera and pushing open the car door, a little too excited about the promise of candy and a little bit of freedom tonight, even though a strange and awful feeling formed in his stomach with his strange dreams lately. He pushed that fear away though, only wanting a good time tonight. "Okay."

Daisy twirled around in her seat to grin at Will Byers. "You hate candy corn, right? Wanna' save me some? Sadly, there's an age limit for begging for candy from strangers, who knew right?" Will laughed but agreed, throwing his pillow case which would be full of candy soon enough over his shoulder. "Alright, have fun, kid."

Will was tumbling out of the car with a wave at them both. "You too, Bonnie and Clyde."

The teenagers watched together as he rushed towards his friends into the dying sunlight. Daisy rested back in her chair, bringing her knees to her chest and humming lightly to the song that was drifting through the car now. Jonathan started the engine with a scowl, not quite sure he even wanted to attend Tina's Halloween Bash. While he steered away from the curb, he eyed the girl beside him and found himself smiling. "Do you think the matching costumes were too much? Maybe we should have done something else."

"Come on, Clyde, don't pussy out on me now." Daisy chimed out, adjusting her short blonde wig in the side mirror. Despite the realisation she would most likely spend the night sipping on watered down beer and detesting the idea of wasting her night being a stupid teenager, she was very glad she had a partner in crime tonight, even if he would sneak glances at Nancy Wheeler the entire time.

Jonathan finally nodded. "Okay. Let's do this."

***

The party was in full-swing when they arrived, kids chugging down beers and jumping messily to the heavy beat of the music that one could hear half way down the block. Daisy quite literally had to push her way through the front door where a pack of goons had decided to fill smoke into their lungs. Jonathan was almost regretting his decision completely, but wasn't about to leave Daisy Lonsdale high and dry. The matching duo circled the house for a little bit, nodding to a few familiar faces before finding the punch bowl. They found Dottie Fields hanging around the snack table, who was dressed up as a brain eating zombie, fake blood splashed down her front with heavy makeup circling her eyes.

"You guys look so awesome," she greeted them around a mouth full of brownie, which tasted a little odd on her tongue but she just assumed it was a different kind of recipe than her own. She had already eaten three brownies, her appetite growing with each passing second. "Why didn't I think of matching costumes? Ooh right, because I'm single and alone and forever will be, because my taste in girls is extremely out of my league." She hadn't noticed that her thoughts were growing a little hazy and she blurted out everything on her mind, which happened to be directed at a certain girl that didn't even know about her crush.