Chapter Seven,
"Stop being a baby and do it already!" Mike yelled. "This is so disgusting. Is this necessary?" Max asked. To be honest it wasn't the best way to start the morning, looking for Dart in the school's dumpster.
"What the hell is going on?" Dustin asks once he finally shows up. "What do you think we're doing? Looking for Dart".
Without any warning, Lucas throws two garbage bags over and almost hits everyone. "Jesus!" Dustin yells before Lucas jumps out of the dumpster.
"Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to show up. After I drew the short straw. Real convenient".
"You stink," Max mocks and walks beside Dustin. "Hi, Max". She furrowed her brow at him before speaking again "hi?" she mumbled which sounded more like a question.
Dustin looks around "where's Will?"
"He'll be here" Mike assured before handing everyone sticks and everyone started the search for Dart. Jess looked up at Dustin. Instead of looking worried about Dart, he looked guilty.
After the bell rings the five drop their sticks and head inside the school. "I like your shirt by the way" Max mumbles after glancing at her shirt again which was a 'Smith's' t-shirt. "Do you like the Smiths?" Jess asks with a small smile.
"Not the biggest fan but I love some of their songs" she replies. Jess's cheeks turned pink and she felt her body warm-up. She tried to hide it by covering up her face and walking ahead of her into the classroom.
☆ ゜・ 。。・ ゜゜・ 。。・ ゜★
"All living things, from complex mammals to single-celled organisms, instinctively respond to danger. Expose a bacterium to a toxic chemical, and it will flee. Or deploy some other defence mechanism. Were very much the same. When we encounter danger, our hearts start pounding. Our palms start to sweat. These are the signs of the physical and emotional state we call fear".
The lunch bell rings and everyone quickly runs out of class. Jess waits for Dustin to put away his textbooks by his locker. "I know you have Dart". She wasn't sure if he had him or not, she thought if she confronted him then it would answer her question.
"What?" he asks before his face turns pale.
"It's pretty obvious, you were the first one in the bathroom and then Dart wasn't there. I don't remember him being able to open and close doors, so how could he leave?".
"Ok fine, I did find him and then I lied because Mike would just hurt him and we have this special bond".
"Are you serious? I was joking" she said with a small smirk and then sat down next to him. Dustin didn't say anything, he just glared. "I won't tell anyone but it's good to know I'm kinda smart" she snickered.
"You promise you won't tell anyone? Even Max" Dustin clarifies. "I promise".
☆ ゜・ 。。・ ゜゜・ 。。・ ゜★
Jess, Max, Lucas and Dustin sat on the front steps of the school as they waited for Mike and Will to leave the school. "What's all of that?" Jess asks Max who's holding a whole binder of papers. "I joined my math class when they were just finishing the unit. And my teacher still wants me to take the test next week so he gave me a bunch of worksheets and shit"
"That's bullshit, did he even teach anything?" Jess asked and she shook her head. "I can help. I mean math isn't my best subject but I can help you sometime this week at my house or something"
Max opened her mouth to speak but before any words came out Mike ran outside "we need to talk. AV room. Right now!". Everyone got up. Mike glared at Max "party members only," he corrected.
"Seriously Mike?" Jess asked.
"No! This is non-negotiable" he snapped back before running back inside the school. "Sorry Max" Dustin and Lucas mumbled before walking into the school.
"Will didn't want me to tell anyone, but on Halloween night he saw sort of a shadow in the sky"
"A shadow? What kinda shadow" Dustin asks. "I don't know. But it scared him. And if Will has true sight- I mean, if he can see into the Upside Down, maybe he saw that shadow again yesterday"
"So that's why he was frozen like that"
"Maybe"
"Can it hurt him? I mean, this shadow thing isn't from our world"
"I'm not sure, Dustin?" Mike replies.
"Well, if you're in another plane, you can't interact with the material of the plane, so theoretically, no, the shadow can't hurt him"
"Well, what about is possessing him or like taking control. Can it do that? Remember Mr. Clarke's lesson about Phineas Gage, his personality changed and everything because of his accident. Same with Will's, I mean yes he was quiet before but he's even quieter now-"
"So your saying Will has brain injuries?" Mike asked.
"No, I'm saying that maybe something stuck with Will from the upside down and he's possessed. His episodes might be happening or something"
"Yeah, you could be right," Mike said and he started tracing around the room. "I'm going to go to his house tonight and see what's going on. You guys stay here and find Dart" Mike adds, Jess eyes Dustin, waiting for him to tell them that Dart has already been found.
"Dart? What's he gotta do with this?"
"Will heard him in the upside-down. I don't know how yet, but he's gotta be connected to all this. If we find Dart, then maybe we can solve this thing and maybe we can help Will"
☆ ゜・ 。。・ ゜゜・ 。。・ ゜★
"Hi Max, are you busy right now. My dad is kinda pissed off at me for reasons I don't know and I don't want to go home right now so do you want to go to the arcade or something?" Jess asks as Max slowly packs her bag.
She slams the door of her locker and walks away, completely ignoring her. "Max?".
"Wait, Max!" Jess yells as she tries to catch up to her. "What's wrong?"
"What's wrong with you?" Max asks. "I don't understand"
"No, I don't understand!" "You guys act like you want me to be your friend but then you just treat me like garbage!" Max snaps back.
"That's not true!"
"Yes it is, you just hide in the AV club keeping secrets like were in second grade or something. You know, I thought you guys wanted me in your party"
"I'm sorry about what happened earlier. We do want you at our party it's just-"
"It's just what?"
"I can't tell you, there are things that I can't tell you for your safety"
"My safety?"
"Yes!"
"Did you keep secrets from El?"
"It was different, trust me. It was very different"
"Okay. You know what? Forget it, okay? I don't want to be at your stupid party anyway. I'm out. Have a nice life"
Jess watched Max skate away from her. She debated telling her but it would cause much more problems and wouldn't end well for both of them. When she saw Max get in the car she also saw an older boy staring directly at her.
"What was that all about?" Lucas asks. "Max is mad at all of us". "Why?". "Probably because we won't tell her the truth and we keep shutting her out"
"We should just tell her," Lucas said.
"Well good luck with that, she's not going to say anything to any of us. I have to go and look for Dustin, see you later"
☆ ゜・ 。。・ ゜゜・ 。。・ ゜★
"Max, who was that?" Billy asks as she ignores him and hops in the car. "Who was that?"
"She's just in my class, we were talking about a stupid class project" she mumbles. "Then why do you seem so upset?"
"I'm not" she replied, trying her best not to cry. "It's the mayor's daughter right?" Billy mutters. "How do you-"
He grabbed her arm. "Listen to me, Max. You're a piece of shit but were family now, meaning I have to look after you now. And there are certain people in this world that you need to stay away from, and that girl right there is one of them. I've heard shitty things about her family and I don't want you or me getting mixed up in any of that shit. So stay the fuck away from her"
☆ ゜・ 。。・ ゜゜・ 。。・ ゜★
Dustin and Jess dropped their bikes onto the driveway and headed inside his house. Instead of going home and facing her dad about her math grade, she decided to go to Dustin's house.
"Mew-Mew's! Where are you?" Claudia yelled once she poured all the cat food into Mew's bowl. "Hi Dusty," she said.
"Hi mom," Dustin said. "Everything ok?" "Yeah, everything is fine," he said and ran right to his room. Jessica came in shortly after and closed the door. "Jessica, I haven't seen you in a while. How are things?".
"Uh... Good". "Well, that's good to hear". Jessica quickly walked to Dustin's room before the awkward conversation could get even more awkward.
"Dart. I Gotta talk to you buddy, it's about my friend Will" Dustin mumbled as he took the blanket off. The glass was all broken and slimy. "Jess, are you seeing this too or is it just me?".
"It's not just you," she said and gripped his arm so tight that I could fall off. He picked up something slimy and the two got a closer look at it. "What the hell," they said in unison. Then they heard a loud screech from behind them.
This is the moment when Jess realized she should have just gone home. "Dart?". The two slowly walked towards it. There was blood all over the chair and carpet.
Jess's hands covered her mouth as she tried her best not to scream and Dustin stood there in horror as they started at the dead cat on the floor. She gripped Dustin's arm one more time before passing out.
☆ ゜・ 。。・ ゜゜・ 。。・ ゜★
"Dusty, baby, you're sure she's not in your room?" Claudia asks. "Thank you so much, Mr. McCorkle. Thank you so much. You are a true life saver. All right this is great, thank you. Have a good one".
"All right, great news".
"They found her?".
"No, But they saw her wandering around Loch Nora".
"How did the poor baby get out there?".
"I don't know. Lost, I guess. But they're gonna look for her. And I'll stay here, just in case they call again. And you're going to help look. You're gonna find her, you're going to find her ok. I love you".
The second she left he ran to the cabinet to get supplies and then back to his room to finally wake Jess up.
"Jess, Jess, Jess, Jessica, Jess" he repeated until she finally woke up. "What happened?". "You passed out, but everything is fine now".
"I passed out?".
"Yes but now you need to put this on" he hands her a bunch of hockey gear. "Why?". "To trap Dart".
"No! I'm not going near that thing!".
"I can't do this by myself!".
"You're the one with a special bond with Dart!".
"Fine, then you stay here in my room, alone". Jess grabs the hockey gear. "I fucking hate you".