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CHAPTER SEVEN
HE WATCHED AS DYLAN STAMMERED ON HER WORDS, unsure how to respond to Lucas's comment. Her mouth hung agape but no words came out.
Finally, she spoke. "Why would you say that? Why does everyone keep saying that?"
Steve looked to Lucas, urging the younger teen not to say anything but Lucas never looked Steve's way, too wrapped up in calming down Dylan's dramatics, which he had caused.
"I'm sorry," the boy apologized meekly. "I don't know — I thought you knew about the whole Upside Down thing."
"Steve gave me a brief description," Dylan turned to him abruptly, her bright eyes dark. "What does the Upside Down have to do with my sister?"
Now, all eyes were on him. Lucas, Max, and Dustin all giving him the same disappointed looks. He wasn't one to crack under pressure but this was too much for him. Dylan expression was desperate, she had been torn apart by the loss of Barb — but Steve didn't want to be the one to break the news.
"Three out of the five of us here definitely know what happened," Steve frowned. "Why do I have to be the one to explain?"
Three of the younger teenagers rolled their eyes. Dylan just continued to watch him —her blue orbs silently pleading with him: explain, explain, explain.
He would lose her. They were hardly still friends at all, not like before — she didn't randomly drop by his house for a midnight swim anymore and she didn't drag him out midday just to grab slurpees — that part of Dylan had died a long time ago, but till this day they had always smiled at each other in the hallways and she still teased him mercilessly. Once he explained what had really happened to Barb, all that was gone, and it was the selfish part of him that wanted to keep the secret to himself for as long as he possibly could. He didn't have many friends left.
"It's complicated, Dyl," he said quietly. "And I'm not supposed to tell you."
"Can someone just tell me what the fuck they know about my sister?"
Lucas and Dustin exchanged glances before nodding. "You remember how I told you Will went missing last year in the Upside Down?"
Dylan nodded.
"He wasn't the only one," Dustin looked to Steve for help but he stayed silent. "Er, Barb — she was there, too."
