Julie didn't fall asleep until she physically couldn't stay awake anymore. Her dreams were plagued with nightmares worse than the reality she had faced, and she really wanted someone to be with her.
She couldn't ask any of her friends to come over, because she didn't really have any, and because they wouldn't believe her that she was face-to-face with a literal monster. Julie couldn't tell Joyce, because she didn't want to bombard her without Jonathan knowing.
In times like these, Julie really needed her brother. Before Julie and Billy's dad ran their mom away , married Susan and devoted all of his time to her and Max, Billy was the sweetest kid you'd ever meet. If Julie was ever upset, Billy would drop everything to make her feel better. Whether it be joking with her, or hugging her, or going surfing with her, Billy would never let Julie go to bed upset.
But Julie had gotten used to going to bed upset in recent years. Billy was different now. He was hostile, aggressive, and had taken on the persona of their father. In Julie's eyes, it was their father's fault for ruining such a sweet boy, but it was Billy's responsibilty to turn his life back around, and Julie hoped he could do it.
When Julie woke up that morning, her face had fresh tears dripping down it and her blanket was slightly damp. She pulled the covers back dramatically, crawling out of bed and stretching. Julie stood quietly and sauntered to her dresser, tugging on a pair of jeans and a dark green sweatshirt, lightly braiding her hair over her shoulder.
Julie walked over to her door and carefully unlocked it, stepping back into the real world. Joyce wasn't home, Jonathan wasn't home, so Julie made breakfast for herself and ate it quietly. The teen sat on the couch with her headphones on and distracted herself with the music.
Not much later, Jonathan pulled up to the house with Nancy in the car beside him. Julie rolled her eyes and grabbed her bag, lacing up her dirty converse and walking out the door.
"Hey, Jules." Nancy greeted while Julie clammered ungracefully into the backseat.
Julie wasn't in the mood to interact with anyone, so she sent Nancy a small smile and put her headphones back on. Julie pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them, looking out the car window as her ears were filled with the sweet sounds of Madonna and Whitney Houston.
The drive was short, and before Julie could consider asking where they were going, Jonathan parked the car in front of an army surplus store. Julie tossed her walkman in her bag and exited the car, walking beside Nancy, who squeezed her hand supportively.
"What are we looking for, exactly?" Julie inquired, looking at the selections in the store. Her eyes were drawn to a nail bat, that was similar to her barbed wire bat. She grabbed it and slung it over her shoulder.
"Anything to kill the son of a bitch." Jonathan said, and Julie nodded.
Jonathan took one section of the store, and Nancy and Julie took another. "Are you okay? After everything that happened?" Julie asked Nancy, picking up a bear trap.
Nancy shrugged. "It was so scary. Jonathan made me feel better, though. Are you okay?" Nancy said, looking at Julie and analyzing her.
Julie nodded. "I'm fine." she said simply, and Nancy left the matter alone.
"We figured out that the monster can detect blood. It makes sense. We want to go back out there, with you." Nancy revealed what she and Jonathan had figured out that morning.
Julie sighed, taking some more tools that they could use. "I'm not letting you guys do it alone, so I'm in." she agreed, and Nancy smiled in relief. "Hey, do you have my necklace? I put it in your bag before I followed you last night." Julie said, looking over at Nancy.
"Yeah, let me get it." the girl said, and Julie sighed in relief. She didn't know what she would do if she lost that necklace. "Here." Nancy said with a smile, holding her hand out with the bronze jewel in it.
"Thank you." Julie said honestly, putting her necklace safely around her neck.
The girls met up with Jonathan at the register, putting everything on the counter and being faced with a very confused shopkeeper.
"And I'll have four boxes of the
.38s." Jonathan said casually.
The shopkeeper grabbed the bullets and laid them on the counter. "What you kids doin' with all this?" he asked, and Julie and Nancy made eye contact with furrowed brows.
"Monster hunting." Nancy said, and Julie looked at the man with a tight lipped smile.
"Huh." he scoffed, and rung them up for all their equipment.
Once everything was paid for, courtesy of Julie's most recent paycheck, the teens carried everything to Jonathan's car and shoved it all in the trunk.
""Monster hunting"?" Jonathan teased, and Julie snickered.
"You know, last week... I was shopping for a new top I thought Steve might like. It took me and Barb all weekend, and we had to get Julie's approval. It seemed like life or death, you know? And... and now--"
"You're shopping for bear traps and mallets with Juliana Hargrove and Jonathan Byers." Julie cut her off, teasing her.
"Yeah." Nancy agreed, bumping her shoulder with Julie's.
"What's the weirdest part?" Jonathan asked. "Us or the bear trap?"
Nancy looked at both Julie and Jonathan. "You two. It's definitely you two." she said, causing them all the chuckle.
Julie looked over at the sound of a car horn. "Hey, Nance! Jules! Can't wait to see your movie." some teen laughed, driving by.
"What the hell was that?" Jonathan asked, but neither Julie nor Nancy knew the answer.
"I don't know." Nancy said, but Julie had an idea.
She snapped around and walked off in a different direction. Jonathan and Nancy followed her. "Hey! Where are you going?" Jonathan called after her.
"Jules, wait!" Nancy shouted, following Julie as she broke out into a jog, crossing the street and coming face to face with the movie theater.
As Julie looked up at the handiwork done by someone in red paint, Nancy joined her at her side, tears brimming her eyes. 'ALL THE RIGHT MOVES starring Nancy The Slut Wheeler, Guest Starring Julie The Felon Hargrove' Julie chuckled bitterly, biting her tongue to keep from lashing out.
"Shocked? Not really." Julie muttered to herself, rolling her eyes. It didn't bother her what high schoolers thought of her, but she knew it was getting to Nancy. From the alley beside the thearter, Nancy heard Tommy H's voice and a can of spray paint. She took off in a fast paced walk towards the sound, and Julie sighed.
"Son of a bitch." she said to Jonathan, pulling his arm to get him to come with her. Julie arrived at the alley just in time to see Nancy slap Steve Harrington across the face.
Julie, with a stunned expression on her face walked up to Nancy until she was slightly behind her, looking at Steve and his friends.
"You don't want to be known as the lying slut now, do you?" Carol taunted, and Julie felt the need to stand up for her best friend.
"Shut the hell up, you little bitch." Julie said, her voice steady.
Tommy got off the steps he was standing on to approach Julie. "What did you say to her?" he asked, trying to be threatening.
"I think she heard me." Julie said, a sarcastic smile on her face. Tommy walked up to her further and got directly in her face. "You trying to kill me with your withering stare? Back off."
Instead, Tommy pushed Julie backwards rather aggressively. She stumbled a few steps, before she walked up and slapped a laughing Tommy across the face, shoving past him to get to Steve, but Tommy blocked her.
"What?" Julie snapped.
"Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the felon of us all? Julie." Carol said in a sing-song voice from the side.
Julie scoffed. "You spend all day planning that?" she said, shoving Tommy again and looked at Steve.
"I'm a felon now?" she asked Steve, her head tilted to the side.
"Who knows what you did in California." was all Steve said, turning back to Nancy.
"Speak of the devil." a red faced Tommy said as Jonathan walked closer to the rest of them. "Hi." he smirked, and Julie wanted to slap him again.
"You came by last night?" Nancy asked Steve, and Julie turned her head with a confused expression on her face. Whatever had happened between Nancy and Jonathan was something Steve probably wasn't meant to see.
"Ding! Ding! Ding! Does she get a prize?" Carol taunted, and Julie sighed.
"Do you ever stop talking?" she said to Carol, and her and Tommy just chuckled at her.
"Look, I don't know what you think you saw, but it wasn't like that." Nancy defended herself and Jonathan to her boyfriend.
"What, you just let him into your room to... study?"
Tommy smirked, and Julie sighed. "Or for another pervy photo session?" he laughed, and Julie clenched her fists unknowingly.
"We were just--" Nancy tried, but ultimately failed.
"You were just what? Finish that sentence." Steve said, inching closer to Nancy. "Finish the sentence." he threatened, and Julie had to step in.
"Do not talk to her like that, you understand?" Julie said as she stepped between Nancy and Steve and pushed him back.
"Back off, Julie." Steve looked at her with a dark look in his eyes, but Julie wasn't afraid. She had seen worse, time and time again.
"You gonna slam my hand in another locker? Maybe hit me? I will do a lot more than slap your prissy face, Steve Harrington." Julie threatened, tilting his chin up with her finger and pushing him back again, staring him down.
"It's okay, Jules." Nancy said quietly, and Julie stepped to the side.
Nancy could barely look Steve in the eyes, and she couldn't tell him why she and Jonathan were in her room. Julie could tell the lying was getting to her.
"Go to hell, Nancy." Steve scoffed, and backed away from her.
Jonathan walked up to both girls and grabbed their wrists softly. "Come one, guys, let's just leave." he pulled them back, but Steve wasn't done being an ass.
"You know what, Byers? I'm actually kind of impressed. I always took you for a queer, but I guess you're just a little screw-up like your father." Steve taunted, shoving Jonathan as the trio just tried to get away. "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that house is full of screw-ups." he kept pushing Jonathan, and Julie tried to stop him, but got her hand pushed away. "You know, I guess I shouldn't really be surprised."
"Jonathan, leave it." Nancy interjected, noticing that Jonathan had stopped walking.
"He's not worth it." Julie tried.
"I mean, your mom... I'm not even surprised what happened to your brother."
"Steve, stop!"
"Steve, shut up!"
"I'm sorry to tell you this, but the Byers, their family, it's a disgrace to the entire--" Steve was cut off by Jonathan turning and punching him in the face.
Steve landed in a pole, and stood up again to ram Steve against a car. He shoved him back onto the ground, and Jonathan rolled them over so he was on top. They both stood up, and Jonathan punched Steve again.
Every person was saying something about the fight, Tommy, Carol and Nicole egging Steve on, while Julie and Nancy pleaded with them to stop. Tommy got in Jonathan's face, but Steve pushed him out and focused solely on Jonathan.
Both boys continued swinging at each other, until Jonathan knocked Steve to the ground, climbing on top of him and repeatedly punching him in the face.
"Cops!"
"Jonathan, he's had enough!" Julie yelled, worried for Steve.
A cop car pulled up, and Tommy had Carol and Nicole flee the scene, attempting to pull Jonathan off of Steve, but Jonathan pushed him away and continued with his beating.
Callahan got his nose hit by Jonathan, and it took Powell and Julie to get Jonathan off of Steve. Tommy ran off with Steve with Callahan chasing them, Powell detained Jonathan and Julie and Nancy stood to the side with their hands on their faces.
•••
Julie sat in the police station with her knee bouncing. She was feeling a major case of deja vu, being in the same seat she was in when she first arrived in Hawkins two years ago. She kept thinking back to that day, seeing Hopper in front of her questioning her.
"Where are you from, kid?" Chief Jim Hopper asked, sitting in front of fifteen-year-old Juliana Hargrove, who was looking down at her lap with her headphones around her neck. Officers Powell and Callahan were behind the chief, but were instructed not to talk.
"California." Julie mumbled, playing with her necklace as she always did.
Hopper nodded, and wrote things down on a piece of paper. "Any family we can call? Let them know you're okay?" Hopper asked, looking closely at the young teen.
Julie shook her head quickly. Hopper clicked his pen. "A mom?" Julie shook her head, looking up at Hopper. "A dad?" Julie's blank face flashed with fear briefly, and Hopper saw. "He hurt you? That why you ran away?"
"I didn't run away. He kicked me out." Julie revealed, shrugging as if it was no big deal.
"Why?"
"He's... not a nice man. I was protecting my siblings, and he didn't like that." she said, blowing some air from her mouth and repositioning her body.
Hopper nodded. "Siblings? How many?"
"Two. Twin brother, younger step-sister." she said.
"Your step-mom, is she nice?"
"She's fine." Julie was getting a little tired of answering these pointless questions. "Are we done? If you're gonna lock me up, just do it."
Hopper looked to Powell and Callahan quickly, and they shrugged. Hopper turned back to the teen, and leant forward in his chair. "Listen, Julie. I want to help you, but I can't do that if you don't talk to me. Tell me about how you got here." he said softly, and Julie shook her head.
"He'll find out. I can't tell." Julie said fearfully, and Hopper placed a hand on her shoulder, calming her down.
"We will protect you. I swear to you, kid, okay?" Hopper said, and Julie believed him.
The girl nodded, and took a deep breath before beginning. "My dad is not a nice man, as I've said. He kicked me out and threatened my siblings if I didn't leave. I scored rides with strangers and found some money to buy bus tickets. I ended up running out of money here and the first house I found was the one you chased me out of. I didn't want to steal from them, but I was so hungry. I'm sorry." Julie said sadly, her green eyes glossy.
"Hey, it's okay. Now, I need you to know something. Based on what we got you for, you're here for at least a night." the Chief explained, and Julie sighed.
"Can I keep my walkman?" Julie asked quietly, looking at her hands.
Hopper sighed loudly. "Yeah. Come on, Julie."
"Julie? Julie!" Julie was brought out of her daze by Powell snapping in her face. She shook her head quickly and sat up straighter.
"Yeah?" she said.
"Do you need anything?" Powell asked softly, and Julie shook her head. Powell walked away, and Julie turned in her chair to see Jonathan cuffed and Nancy holding ice to his face at the desk beside the one she was sitting at.
Julie dug deep into her bag and pulled out her walkman and headphones. She listened to her music peacefully, until Joyce walked in the station with Hopper at her side.
"Hey. Jonathan? Jesus, what... what happened?" Joyce asked, and Julie slid her headphones onto her shoulders.
"Ma'am..." Callahan started.
"I'm fine." Jonathan said, refusing to look his mother in the eyes.
"Why is he wearing handcuffs?" Joyce asked Callahan.
"Well, your boy assaulted a police officer. That's why."
"Did he?" Julie said, seeming to recall Jonathan pushing Callahan with one arm. In her book, that wasn't exactly assault.
"What did you do?" Joyce asked Julie, noticing her for the first time.
"I just came along for the ride." Julie shrugged, smiling sarcastically.
Joyce rolled her eyes and turned back to Callahan. "Take them off." she demanded.
"I am afraid I cannot do that."
"Take them off!" Joyce said louder this time.
"You heard her. Take 'em off." Hopper commanded.
Powell spoke up from behind Julie. "Chief, I get everyone's emotional here, but there's something you need to see."
All three officers exited the building, and Julie instantly knew they found all of the weapons in Jonathan's trunk. While they were gone, Julie stood up with the goal of leaving and going to see Steve. She needed answers and apologies from him, and she wasn't going to get them sitting around for no reason.
"Where do you think you're going?" Joyce said, blocking her way.
"Gonna go take a walk, de-stress. It's been a crazy few hours." Julie played off, trying again to leave, but Joyce wasn't letting up. "Joyce, come on."
"Are you sneaking off to see a boy?" Joyce asked, analyzing Julie's body language.
"What? No!" Julie defended quickly.
"Then where are you going?" Joyce asked again, and Julie sighed.
"I am going to take a walk, because you're stressing me out. I am seventeen-years-old and I can choose these things." Julie said, using her hands to emphasize her points. She wasn't going to pull the 'You're not my mother so you can't tell me what to do' card, because she would probably be dead if it weren't for Joyce.
"Will is missing, Julie! I won't have you running off now." she said, and Julie frowned.
"I'm not 'running off'. But for the love of God, if it makes you happy I will sit right here for no reason."
"Good!"
"Great!"
So, Julie sat in her chair and swung her legs absentmindly, waiting for the officers and Hopper to come back into the station and end the tension.