"Hey, um, have you seen Barb today?" Nancy asks, stopping by the lunch table.
"Never would I have thought I'd see the day Nancy Wheeler stops by my table," Eddie Munson says from the far end of the table, sitting at the head like a king.
I ignore him. "Not since last night, sorry."
"Oh, okay. She's probably fine," she says in a way that sounds like she's trying to convince herself of that. "She probably just, decided to skip or something."
To me, Barb doesn't seem like the kind of person to skip. She seems very introverted and studious, a girl who wouldn't take risks or cause trouble.
"Yeah... probably," I say, trying to ease Nancy's nerves. "Wait, was she at Steve's house with you guys?"
Her brows furrow. "How did you know...?"
"I biked past Steve's on my way to John's last night. I could hear you guys from the street."
Her cheeks redden. "Oh. Um, yeah, she was at Steve's with us. Why?"
"I was just wondering," I say, but my mind keeps flashing back to the thing I could've sworn I saw.
She turns to leave. "Thanks anyway."
I feel Eddie's eyes boring into me. "Yes, Eddie?"
He holds his fork of Mac and cheese hovering above his plate, too focused on me and Nancy to eat the bite of food. "I didn't know you were friends with Wheeler."
"Yeah, well, we aren't that close anymore." I jab my fork into my peas. "Her little brother plays Dungeons and Dragons with my kid neighbor, that's how we met."
He strokes his chin, lost in thought. "Dungeons and Dragons, you say?"
I swallow my bite of food. "Yeah. I sometimes play with them, and Nancy used to. Why?"
He shrugs. "No reason. How old are these kids?"
I raise my brow at him. "If you're wanting to recruit them into your little club, you're going to have to wait a couple of years. They're only twelve. And before you ask me to join again, the answer is still no, sorry."
"And why's that?"
I look him in the eye. "I have way too much going on in my life right now."
✶
A body slams into the locker next to mine and huffs. I shut my door to find John leaning against the lockers, pouting. "You promised you'd come over last night."
I look at him apologetically. "I'm so sorry. You wouldn't believe what happened to me."
"No, you wouldn't believe what happened to me." He jabs his thumbs at himself. "I stayed up til midnight waiting for you."
"Really, I'm sorry, it's just...."
"It's just what," he spats.
I can't tell him the truth about why I didn't come over, that's for sure. "I really wanted to, but an emergency came up. I couldn't. I'll make up for it. I will—"
Robin runs over, pink in the face and panting heavily.
"Woah, Robin, breathe," I say.
She leans against my locker. "Fight. Parking lot. Thought you'd like to see it."
"Fight?" I question. "Who?"
"It's not really a fight yet, but Jonathan Byers, you know him? Him and Steve Harrington's gang are having a confrontation in the parking lot and when you have the loner and the jock together a fight is bound to break out," she rushes out, grabbing my hand and pulling me away from John.
I look at him over my shoulder and shout back, "I'll make up for it!"
We make it outside and Robin hides behind the bushes. "Front row seats," she whispers, glancing up at me through the branches.
"I don't think that's necessary..." I begin.
"Shh! I'm listening to them."
"And we'd just love to take a look," Steve says, approaching Jonathan in a cocky manner. "You know, as... connoisseurs of art."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Jonathan tries to get by them, but Tommy grabs his backpack from his arms and tosses it to Steve.
"Hey. Please, give me my bag." He reaches for his backpack, but Tommy plants himself between Jonathan and Steve.
"Man, he is totally trembling," Steve says, setting the bag on the back of a car and going through it. "He must really have something to hide." He pulls out some photos. "Here we go." he flips through them. "Ah... here we go."
"Let me see." Tommy takes a stack of photos. "Dude."
Carol scrunches her face up in disgust. "Yeah, this isn't creepy at all."
"I was looking for my brother," Jonathan tries.
"No," Steve says. "No, this is called stalking. Mm-hm."
"I wonder what's on the photos," Robin whispers.
I shrug. "Who knows. Obviously something bad."
She glances up at me. "Are we being stalkers by watching them?"
"Oh yeah, totally."
"But we're only doing this to make sure they don't actually fight," she says.
"Right." I nod. "Our stalking is justifiable."
"Y/n?" Nancy asks, nearly making me jump out of my skin.
"Hey... Nancy." I rub the back of my head.
"What are you doing?"
"I was monitoring this scene..." I gesture to her boyfriend, asshole followers, and Jonathan.
Her brows furrow and she walks over to the group. "What's going on?"
"Here's the starring lady." Tommy grins.
Nancy tilts her head. "What?"
"This creep was spying on us last night." Carol eyes Jonathan. She hands Nancy one of the photos. "He was probably gonna save this one for later."
Steve clicks his tongue, watching Jonathan's reaction closely. "See, you can tell that he knows it was wrong, but... man, that's the thing about perverts... it's hardwired into 'em. You know, they just can't help themselves."
"Maybe we should go," I tell Robin. "This sounds like it's personal."
"No, no, wait! I wanna see what happens!"
"This isn't a TV show. This is their personal lives. Jonathan was very wrong for if he did what I think he did, and I really hate to say it, but he does deserve whatever Steve's gonna give him. So let's go." I reach for her arm to pull her up, but stop when I hear something hard and metal hit the pavement and shatter. Steve and his posse leave Jonathan standing over his now broken camera, Nancy to the side of him.
"Not gonna lie," Robin begins, climbing out of the bushes, "I was hoping for some more excitement. It's just so boring in this town!" She turns and walks back into the school.
I glance back over to Jonathan. He's on his hands and knees, gathering the torn photos strewn across the pavement and picking up his shattered camera.
If he was out in the woods around Steve's house last night, maybe he could've seen something.
Nancy is gathering a few of the pictures, then runs off after Steve, leaving me alone with Jonathan.
"Hey..." I say, walking over to him.
He lifts his head and stands up, shoving the torn photos in his bag. "Hey."
"I was wondering if you saw anything in the woods last night?"
"Like what?"
"A, uh, it kinda looked like a big dog," I hesitate. If I told him it had no face he'd think I was crazy. You've gotta be careful what you tell people. "It was big. And dark. Stood on 4 legs sometimes, and other times 2 legs..."
"Like a bear?"
"No. It didn't have fur... or other features. Anyway, I'll be going. Thanks for humoring me." I sling my backpack higher onto my shoulder from when it had slid off and quickly walk back to the school.
✶
Mom takes the casserole out of the oven and sets it on the counter. The whole house smells good from the feast I made tonight, with mom's help. I had to make it up to John somehow.
It's still early in the evening, only five o'clock. I told John to be here at five o'clock sharp, which gives us a couple of hours to spend with each other before curfew. It'll also give me time to get to Robin's for movie night.
The doorbell rings and mom offers to get it since I currently have my hands covered in flour from the cookies I'm baking.
"Mrs. y/l/n," I hear John's voice greet her. "My, it smells delicious!"
I rinse my hands off and hurry into the living room. I muster a smile. "It's your favorite," I say. "Vegetarian Moussaka."
"You know me so well." He pulls out a seat at the dining room table and sits down. Mom starts bringing the food out and we serve ourselves.
"So, John," mom begins, "have you decided what college you're going to attend? I heard you were looking into Yale."
He blots the corners of his mouth with a napkin before speaking. "Yes, ma'am. I already got acceptance letters to Yale and Princeton. Now I'm just trying to figure out which I'm going to attend."
"I know someone who went to Yale. He loved it. But it's so far away..." she frowns.
"Don't worry, every break I have I'll come home to visit." He looks over at me, offering me a comforting smile. "And I'll always call."
"And as soon as I graduate in a year, I'm coming to live with you," I say, remembering our plan since we started dating a year ago.
"Maybe you'll decide to attend one of those colleges, too," he says.
"Or I could attend a smaller college near the one you go to?" I suggest, doubting that I could ever get into a prestigious college like he will. "All that matters is that we'll be close."
"And also that we'll both be getting higher educations, unlike most people in this town." He shakes his head with distaste.
"It's not so bad here," I say. "The community is small and friendly—"
"More like ignorant," he cuts me off.
Mom nods her head with too much enthusiasm. "I could not agree more. These people here need to get out more."
I take a sip of water. "That may be, but I would choose ignorant friendly people over smart mean ones any day."
He straightens his already perfect posture. "I certainly wouldn't."
I give up on this discussion. John comes from an upperclass family with a big home and fancy cars. Both his parents are doctors, like he wants to be. Even his accent is different from mine—his being more posh. It must be fake, because no one around here talks like that.
When we finish eating, John offers to stay and help clean up, but I insist he goes on home for two different reasons. One—being because of the curfew; and two—being because I really just want a break. I want to go to my room and listen to music, or read, or draw. Just take time for myself.
I stand in the doorway as he leaves. "So does this make up for having to miss a couple dates?"
He pecks me on the lips. "No. But it was a nice gesture. Thank you."
I lean against the door and watch as his Porsche leaves. He never seems to be happy with anything I do for him and I'm growing sick and tired of it.
My eyes wander over to the woods and I wonder if that thing is still out there. It has to be—if a creature like that was found or even killed by hunters, it'd be on the front page of the newspaper. I shut the door and lock it, making sure all the locks are secure. I'm not taking any chances with that monster out there.
"He's such a nice boy," mom says as I start cleaning up the table. "So driven and studious. He will make a great doctor one day."
"Yeah..." my voice is low and quiet. I'm too distracted thinking about that monster to pay her any attention.
"Did something happen between you two?"
"What?" My head snaps in her direction. She stands with a hand on her hip and her brows furrowed. "Oh, um, no. Everything is... okay, I guess. About as okay as things can be with him."
She brushes it off. "Well I like him. You should be more like that—focused on your studies. Instead of obsessing over all those silly comic books."
I roll my eyes, tired of hearing that for the millionth time in the past month. "Yes, mom."
"Because before you know it, you'll have graduated. You don't want to be stuck in some dead-end job. No husband. No future. No life. Aim higher, y/n."
I sigh in frustration, setting the dish towel on the counter. "Yes, mom." After I finish with the dishes I check the clock, making sure it isn't quiet curfew yet. I grab The Apartment tape from the top shelf in my closet, then head over to Robin's for movie night.