GLORY DAYS ｡STEVE HARRINGTON

CHAPTER FOUR ; PATHETIC DECEPTION

"What?" Patty furrowed her eyebrows, pure confusion washing over her features. Stella grimaced slightly at how she had asked the question, realising she had dug herself into a little bit of a hole. "Stella, are you in trouble?"

"No, no!" Stella blurted out, raising her hand to dismiss the inquiry. But the answer probably should've been yes. "Absolutely not! I-I'm just thinking about...my math midterm!"

"Your math...midterm?" Patty repeated, observing her daughter looking as if she was in extreme pain as she forced out the lie. The middle-aged woman knew her daughter like the back of her hand, especially the fact that when it came to deception, she was extremely unskilled. "What about your math midterm?"

Stella tried her best to remain calm, though her poker face wasn't convincing at all. "Yeah, um, there's two papers and I was wondering if it would be a good idea if I do one with the possibility of failing...or do both and had a fifty-fifty chance of passing both, one, or neither."

Good cover-up? Debatable.

Patty quirked an eyebrow as Stella plastered a pained smile on her face, her left eye twitching a little. Patty's hands tightened around her mug, and she cleared her throat, leaning forward. "Well...maybe you should focus on doing one, and if you have time, do the other one? I don't see how any of this is relevant, your midterms are in January."

"I know, just thinking ahead," Stella responded uneasily, before averting her eyes and straightening her posture. "I'm gonna take a hot shower and then head off to school, might as well get there early."

"Okay," Patty's voice trailed off, watching as her daughter brushed past her and walked towards the hallway. "I'll see you tonight?"

"Hopefully, but if you don't it's cause I'll be looking for Will," Stella smiled at her mother, before turning and disappearing further into the house. "Later, mom."

★☆

"Star!" Lucas' voice chimed as Stella skated down the path, her headphones over her ears and a song by Stealers Wheel blaring. "Star!"

Stella's eyebrows furrowed at the faint sound, turning her head and seeing the three boys on the bikes, trailing after her. She pulled her plugs down and flashed them a fatigued smile, before looking back at where she was skating. "Morning, guys. Any luck with Eleven?"

"She has superpowers!" Dustin exclaimed, causing Stella to nearly tumble to the ground in shock. She leaned forward and stopped where she was, turning to the kids.

"What?" She wheezed, clearly not believing him. "Dustin, this is serious!"

"I'm being serious!" The curly-haired boy retorted, pulling the brake on his bike so he slowed down. "She's like Yoda! She made the door slam and lock when Lucas was being an asshole!"

"I wasn't being an asshole!" Lucas argued, to which Stella sighed, growing irritated with their constant arguing. Along with the fact that she hadn't gotten any sleep, she was plagued with worry and guilt. She had turned into a giant mess over the last couple of days, and dealing with stubborn children wasn't on the top of her list for the day.

"Look, you guys can explain all this to me later," she sighed, running a hand through her damp hair. The boys all looked at each other briefly, each of them surprised by her mundane reaction to their incredible news. The statement had clearly flown over her head, seeing as she was sleep deprived and in utter shambles. "Are you going out tonight to look for Will?"

"Yeah, we're gonna go through Mirkwood after school," Mike asked, his hands twisting the handles of his bike, clearly on edge. "El's meeting us by the powerlines at three-fifteen, wanna come?"