There's No Place Like Hawkins//Stranger Things. SH

SEVEN

"Yeah, she's not here today." Nancy elaborated.

"I seriously have no idea who the two of you are talking about." Tommy told them as Cat rolled her eyes and sighed in annoyance.

"Come on, don't be an ass, man." Steve said. "Did you... Did you see her leave last night or not?"

"No, she was gone when we left." Tommy told the three sitting opposite him and Carol.

"Probably couldn't stand listening to all that moaning." Carol interjected through a mouthful of food and Catherine looked at her in confusion as the girl started moaning. Cat sent Nancy a look, understanding exactly what Carol was going on about, despite not having been there.

"Listen... I'm sure she's fine." Steve attempted to reassure the girls, although Cat knew he was mainly talking to Nancy. "She's probably just... she's probably just, like, skipping or something." Both Nancy and Cat shared a look knowing that it wasn't like their friend to skip school. She always had 100% attendance, never missing a day of school in her life. Unlike Catherine who tended to skip a lot of her classes, especially recently.

"Yeah." Nancy said, unconvinced by Steve's words. "Yeah, probably." The girl looked over to the doorway, seeing Jonathan and making eye contact with the boy. She tapped Cat's shoulder, getting the girl's attention. Cat looked over at her friend, bidding farewell to Nancy knowing the others wouldn't notice her leaving.

She ran out of the lunch hall and down the corridor, calling out to her friend. "Jonathan! Hey, Byers!"

The boy turned around and waited for her to catch up to him. When she did, she bent over her knees trying to catch her breath. "Out of breath?" He asked her as the girl shook her head in denial.

"Ha, ha." Cat laughed sarcastically as the two friends started walking down the hall. "Wanna hang out for a bit? Not particularly fond of my next lesson."

Jonathan looked at his friend. "You're not skipping chemistry again, are you?" He looked at disapprovingly.

Cat smiled. "Oh yeah. The teacher is so boring and he's gonna make me take the test that I missed the other day! And I haven't studied at all." She pulled out her packet of cigarettes, picking one and placing it between her lips.

"You do realise that one of these days those things are gonna kill you." Jonathan told her, watching as she pulled the lighter out of her pocket, lighting the stick that was hanging from her lips.

Catherine held the lit cigarette between her fingers, letting the smoke blow from her lips. "That's the point." She stated with a serious look on her face, watching as her friend looked at her in concern.

***

A bit later after the last period, Cat stood at the phone box outside the school, leaning against it with another cigarette between her lips while she watched Nancy call Barb's house to find out if she really had just skipped school that day.

"Come on, come on, come on..." Nancy muttered as the line rang. A second later she spoke into the phone so Cat assumed that someone at the house had picked up. She moved closer to Nancy so she could try and hear whoever was on the other end. "Hi, uh, Ms. Holland, it's Nancy."

"Oh, Nancy, how are you?" Cat heard her friend's mother speak through the receiver, although her voice was faint. The girl blew out smoke from her lips, causing Nancy to let out a cough. She grabbed the cigarette from her friend and chucked it onto the pavement, making sure to step on it and put out the death stick. Catherine let out a sigh, placing another one between her lips, this time leaving it unlit.

"Good. I'm good." Nancy spoke into the phone. "Um, I was just wondering, uh, is Barb there?"

"Mmm... No, she hasn't come home yet." The older woman informed the teen.