STRANGER THINGS HAVE HAPPENED_JIM HOPPER

022

It was a lot of absurd information to take in, but Ana felt she couldn't be surprised by much life had to offer at this point. Thus, they got back to work without further questioning.

While the trio was preparing supplies for their journey, Dustin's radio had finally sounded with a call from Lucas. His sister had turned his off the day before, so he'd missed all incoming calls. That sounded right on brand with what Ana had witnessed from Erica Sinclair at parent teacher night the year prior. Regardless, Dustin gave him a brief rundown of the Dart situation and told Lucas to meet the three of them at the old junkyard. Lucas seemed more than a little dumbfounded to hear that Harrington and his English teacher were who Dustin was keeping company with.

Once everything was ready, the trio headed off on their quest.

Walking along the railroad tracks, Ana and the two boys trekked to the designated meetup point, dropping bits of raw meat for bait as they went. Somehow, the conversation had come around to why Dustin was keeping Dart in his house in the first place.

"Alright, so let me get this straight. You kept something you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl who you just met?" The judgment was strong in Steve Harrington's tone.

"That's grossly oversimplifying things," Dustin said in defense of his actions. Still didn't make Harrington's assessment wrong, though.

"I mean, why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway?" Ana decided, right then and there, that she was a fan of the high school senior-he asked some solid questions.

"An interdimensional slug? Because it's awesome," Dustin continued to argue. It wasn't fair that Harrington got to refer to Dart as a slug while she was immediately corrected upon uttering the slighted term, but obviously the older boy's opinion took precedence over hers. Teenagers.

"I saw it. It wasn't," Ana said, adding her two cents to the conversation.

"Well, even if she thought it was cool, which she didn't, I just think...I don't know. I just feel like you're trying too hard." Steve probably thought his statement was helpful, but it only caused to upset the other boy.

With a frustrated sigh, Dustin retorted, "well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, alright?"

"It's not about the hair, man," Steve admitted. "The key with girls is just acting like you don't care." Ana rolled her eyes and dropped another chunk of meat to the ground where it splatted by stayed. Boys with underdeveloped frontal lobes were dumb.

"Even if you do?" Dustin questioned while appraising Steve.

"Yeah, exactly. It drives them nuts," he assured.

A muffled choke of laughter from behind them finally stopped Dustin and Steve in their steps. Turning around, they found Ana biting her knuckle to try and keep the harsher laughs from ringing out at their expense. Bucket long abandoned beside her.

"Oh my God," she said while trying to catch her strangled breath beyond waves of laughter. "That's gotta be some of the dumbest advice I've heard in ages."

Steve looked offended. "What? It's true."

"It might be true for bimbos," Ana said, composing herself as to not scoff further at their efforts, "but, Dustin isn't trying to attract bimbos. Right, Dustin?"

"Right," Dustin confirmed with a nod of the head.

"Then you tell him how it goes," Steve challenged the adult with a wave of the hand.

"Yeah, what did the chief do to get you?" Dustin asked with such genuine curiosity. "You're, like, the coolest chick I know."

"Aw, thanks, bud," she said, giving him a pat on the head that brought a blush to the boy's cheeks. "It wasn't Hopper's hair, I can tell you that much. The key is confidence, Dustin," she stated as they resumed walking. "Girls like a guy who knows who he is and what he wants."