after their shift ended, steve came with me.
i dropped him at his house before going back to my own.
i parked and walked inside quietly.
"back so soon?" mike asked.
"fuck off." i glared at him, walking upstairs and trying not to get upset again.
i fell down into my bed, dropping my bag beside me and sliding off my shoes.
i sighed and fixed my position, falling asleep there.
the next morning, i was woken up my mike shaking me violently.
"what? what?" i yelled, sitting up and rubbing my eyes tiredly.
"you need to see this." he said, grabbing my arm and dragging me out of bed.
i fell out of bed and landed on the floor on my knees, getting up and walking quickly with him downstairs.
the news was playing as it always was on a saturday morning.
dad watched the news, then mom listened to her music and cleaned the house.
"the body of a hawkins high student was discovered early this morning. police have not yet released the victim's name, however we are being told they are currently notifying the family." the reporter said, her blue jacket blindingly bright in the sunrise.
"jesus, why did you wake me up for-" i started, cutting myself off when i realised why.
she was standing in front of eddie's trailer.
i ran to the hall table and grabbed my keys, fumbling with the locks on the door.
"where are you going?" mike asked, looking between me and the door.
"i've gotta go find eddie." i said, walking out and rushing into my car.
it was only when i sat down on the cold leather of my car seats that i realised, i wasn't wearing pants.
silently cursing myself out, i rummaged through the bag on the seat beside me.
nothing.
i sighed and just started driving, driving to the caravan park.
what the fuck?
maybe they were just using his trailer as a background?
or max.
was max dead?
drive.
drive faster winnie.
drive.
i pulled into the caravan park and navigated through roads until i got to max and eddie's street.
surely enough, police and reporters were at eddie's trailer.
i sighed in almost relief before remembering this was just as bad.
i parked and quickly ran up to max's house, pulling my shirt over my butt as i knocked frantically on her door.
it cracked open slightly and she peeked around, opening it properly and letting me in.
"ok first things first, do you have a pair of pants, or like a skirt i can borrow? second, what the fuck happened?" i asked, motioning towards eddie's trailer.
"i could ask you the same thing."
"what do you mean?"
"you came all the way out here, makeup and nice dress done, went to eddie's door, waited and then left looking like you were about to cry."
"i was gonna go over to his place, i was bored last night. he was calling that cheerleaders name over and over again."
"chrissy cunningham?" she asked.
i nodded.
"how did you-"
"i saw them go in together last night, him run out and her body on the ground this morning." she cut me off.
"what?"
"yeah, chrissy is the dead one."
"holy fuck, where's eddie?"
"i have no idea, i was gonna go to dustin's and ask him."
"let's go then, i'll take you."
"put some pants on first. these are my moms, they should fit you." she said, throwing a baggy pair of grey sweatpants at me.
i pulled them on and nodded, tying the drawstring and running back out to my car.
we got in and headed for the video store, driving along the main road.
"wait! dustin." max suddenly called out.
"what?"
"dustin, dustin would know something, or be able to help us." she said.
"yeah...yeah you're right. hold onto something." i said, putting the car down into 2nd gear and drifting around in a u-turn, changing course for henderson's house.
~~~ time skip bc there is way too much dialogue ~~~
we got in my car and headed for the video store.
"where's mike in all this?" dustin asked from the backseat.
"he's on a plane to california. mom took him to the airport just after i left." i said, turning up onto the street the store was on.
"how long is he there for?" he asked.
"whole summer. he's staying with el and the byers' at their new place." i answered, parking outside the store and rushing inside.
"you see this?" steve asked, pointing to the news.
"how many phones do you have?" dustin asked.
"someone was murdered-"
"how many phones do you have here?" he repeated.
"two, three if you count keith's." i answered, walking around the counter.
"three works." max nodded.
dustin threw himself over the counter, knocking out robin's pile of tapes.
"what are you doing!" steve yelled.
"my pile!" robin hissed.
max followed behind me as dustin got onto the computer.
"what are you doing?" steve asked, watching.
"setting up base of operations." dustin nodded, typing something into the desktop.
"base of operations?" robin questioned.
"looking up eddie's friend's phone numbers."
"oh eddie? your new best friend that plays that nerdy game and cheated on winnie with chrissy cunningham?" steve asked.
"what?" dustin and max asked in unison.
"yeah about that, chrissy's dead and eddie definitely wasn't cheating on me." i said, looking up at steve.
"what?" him and robin yelled together.
"max, fill them in while winnie and i work." dustin said, waving me over.
~~~
we were all making calls, crossing names off lists.
"wait guys, what about rick?" i suggested, hanging up on the person i was just talking to.
"rick?" robin asked.
"eddie's supplier."
steve was off flirting with some girl.
"find him in the system!" dustin said, waving at the computer.
i jumped over piles on the ground and started typing the name into the computer.
"twelve ricks."
"annie and dumbo?" robin read as i clicked on the first.
"definitely a parent, too old. rick's like 20."
"you've met the guy?" dustin questioned.
"long time ago. next rick...romcoms. definitely not him." i said, moving on to the third rick.
"mask, footloose, grease?" robin read.
"definitely not."
"blue lagoon, splash?" she read as i moved on.
"not him."
i clicked on the next rick.
"fast times at ridgemont high, cheech and chong's next movie, cheech and chong's nice dreams, cheech and Chong's up in smoke?" she laughed.
"that's him!" i smiled, looking up at the details.
"lipton, he's out on holland road near lover's lake. let's go!" i said, jumping the counter and getting into my car with the rest of the gang.