THIS IS TOO INTENSE
November 1st, 1984
⏰ 3:45 pm, 📍Hawkins, Indiana
༺♥༻ Stephanie's eyes go wide. "What?"
Mike looks around the room. "Will. He's not here. What if he's having another episode?"
The group shares terrified looks. Dustin tries to reason with Mike. "Maybe he tried to find us? We could've taken too long to get here?"
"No. No. His walkie-talkie is right there." Mike points to the floor, where Stephanie and Max are standing.
Stephanie looks to where Mike is pointing. "Oh, shit."
"We gotta find him," Mike says with a scared look that Stephanie has never seen before.
The party runs out the door like lightning.
Stephanie runs aimlessly down a hallway. "Will? Will!?"
The rest of the group runs in different directions, screaming Will's name.
After running across half of the school, Stephanie crosses paths with Dustin, who's walking in front of Max.
Stephanie slows her running. "Did you find him?"
"No. We haven't"
"Shit."
Then Mrs. Byers comes walking down the hallway. "Dustin!"
Dustin turns around. "Mrs. Byers?"
"What's going on? Where's Will?"
Stephanie was about to explain the whole interdimensional slug-ran out the AV room-Will found it in the bathroom-now he's gone situation, but Lucas comes running into the school from outside.
"The field!"
Without hesitation everyone follows Lucas out the door.
They make it to the field outside the school and see Mike shaking Will, who's standing still, not not moving.
"I just found him like this!" Mike yells to the group running towards him. "I think he's having another episode!"
Mrs. Byers puts her hands on Wills shoulders. "Will! Will! Will!" Wills eyes are closed, but they look like they're still moving. "Sweetie, wake up! It's Mom!"
"What's going on? Is he okay?" Stephanie pants.
Mrs. Byers persists. "Will, wake up! Can you hear me?"
Stephanie looks at Mike and sees that he's about to cry.
Stephanie knows him and Will are really close. She puts her hand on Mikes shoulder to get his attention. "He's gonna be alright, Mike."
"You don't know that."
Stephanie doesn't argue back because Mike right, she doesn't know anything that's happening.
Why won't he wake up?
Is he having another episode?
Will he wake up?
What if he doesn't wake up?
Stephanie chews on her lip to distract herself from the bad thoughts.
Mrs. Byers is still trying to wake Will.
"Will, please, just wake up."
"Please, wake up!"
"It's Mom!"
"It's me!"
Almost as quick as it started, Will gasps as he opens his eyes.
"What was that?" Max whispers to Stephanie.
Stephanie walks closer to Max. "I don't know."
Will doesn't say anything.
Mrs. Byers walks Will back through the doors they rushed out of earlier and back through the school.
The group follows Will and Mrs. Byers through the school whispering about the incident.
Stephanie's almost positive that Mrs. Byers can hear them, but she's probably too busy worrying about Will.
They get to the front doors of the school and Mrs. Byers walks Will to the front door of her poorly parked car.
What's left of the party remains on the steps.
Max looks around at everyone. "Okay, that totally freaked me out."
Then, Max turns directly at Stephanie. "Did that freak you out, Steph?"
Stephanie doesn't turn to Max. She just keeps watching Will. "It totally freaked me out."
Lucas nods. "Two episodes in two days."
"It's getting worse," Mike adds.
Dustin adds onto Mike, "you think it's True Sight?"
Everyone turns to look at Dustin.
"What's True Sight?" Max asks.
Lucas sighs. "It's nothing."
Mike looks back at Will through the car which is now starting to pull away.
"This is too intense." Stephanie sighs, watching Mrs. Byers car speed away.
————
November 2nd, 1984
⏰ 7:30 am, 📍Hawkins, Indiana
༺♥༻ Stephanie sighs in relief when Lucas pulls the short straw from Max's hand.
The party decided to search for Dart in the dumpsters before school started.
Obviously, none of them wanted to jump in a dumpster, so Max came up with the idea of picking straws.
Lucas walks up to the front of the dumpster, and stops.
Lucas turns around. "I really don't want to do this."
"Lucas, come on. Just do it," Stephanie scoffs.
Mike gestures to the dumpster. "Stop being a baby and do it already!"
Lucas sighs, and reluctantly jumps in the dumpster.
Stephanie turns to Max. "I am so glad that's not me."
Max chuckles. "Ugh. Same."
Max then turns to Mike. "This is so disgusting. Is this really necessary?"
Then Dustin comes out from the alleyway. "What the hell's going on?"
Mike answers Dustin. "What do you think? We're looking for Dart."
Stephanie pretends to throw up. "I hope it's not in there."
Dustin scoffs. "He. He's a he, Stephanie."
"Whatever, if it's in ther-"
Stephanie's cut off by garbage bags flying out of the dumpster.
"Jesus!"
Lucas jumps out of the dumpster and turns to Dustin, crossing his arms. "Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to show up. After I drew the short straw. Real convenient."
"You stink!" Max walks away from Lucas and stands next to Dustin.
Dustin looks at Max and smiles. "Hi, Max."
Max looks at Dustin, confused. "Hi?"
"Why are you smiling like that?" Stephanie interrogates. "Do you have a crush?"
Max laughs at Stephanie's joke but Dustin returns his middle finger.
"Anyways," Dustin shoots Stephanie a glare, "where's Will?"
"He'll be here," Mike assures him, almost assuring himself.
"Are you just gonna stand there?" Lucas picks up a big stick Stephanie had found for everyone to look through the trash bags. "Or are you gonna help?"
Everyone starts poking at the bags with their sticks and a cockroach escapes from one of the bags.
Stephanie jumps back at the sight of the cockroach. "Oh, Jesus!"
Max laughs. "It's not gonna eat you, Steph."
Stephanie crosses her arms. "It could have, like...rabies or something."
Max returns to poking the garbage bags, laughing.
Stephanie keeps looking at Max too see if she's looking back at her. On one of the looks, Max and Stephanie meet each others eyes.
They're staring right at each other.
Her eyes are so pretty.
Neither one of the two break the stare until the bell rings, starting the school day.
Both girls jump at the sound of the bell and run to get their backpacks.
Stephanie grabs her bag which was (strategically) placed next to Max's.
The group runs to the front of the school and through the doors into the hallways.
Stephanie and Max walk next to each other, their only thought is that stare.
Does she think I'm creepy?
I didn't mean to stare at her like that.
But she was looking at me too.
Maybe we both were staring.
Why was I staring at her?
Do I like her?
But that's not even allowed.
Why am I thinking things like that?
Stephanies thoughts were cut short because they had arrived at their classroom, although there are tons of other things she could worry about.
The girls arrive at the door and Max opens it, steps to the side, and dramatically gestures towards the door. "Ladies first."
Max offers out her hand and Stephanie gracefully takes it. "Thank you, madam."
"Always."
Max and Stephanie walk into the classroom, laughing.
Both girls take their seats and Mr. Clarke starts the class. "All living things, from complex mammals to single-celled organisms, instinctively respond to danger."
Stephanie takes a piece of paper from her notebook and writes a note to Max.
you should teach me to skateboard
Stephanie folds it up, writes max on the front of it and passes down to the back of the class.
Stephanie watches Max as she reads the note.
Max takes her pencil and write down something on the piece of paper, smiling.
The paper makes it's way back to Stephanie, and she opens it and reads.
Sure ◡̈ Tomorrow??
Stephanie turns around and gives Max a thumbs up and Stephanie receives a smile in return.
Mr. Clarke continues his lesson. "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."
————
༺♥༻ Mike has used everyone's coins to call Will during lunch.
Max, Stephanie, Dustin, and Lucas are all sitting on the steps in the back of the school watching Mike call again, and again, and again.
Mike slams the phone back onto the cradle and runs back to the group.
"Anything?" Lucas yells, watching Mike return to the steps.
"We need to talk. AV room. Right now," Mike pants.
Everyone gets up to go inside, but Mike stops Max. "Party members only."
Dustin protests. "Come on, Mike."
"No! This is non-negotiable."
"Sorry, Max."
"Sorry."
Stephanie knew it was about Dart and probably about Wills episodes, but what about Max? Will she be mad that they left her?
The boys are already long gone to the AV room but Stephanie was still hesitant about leaving Max alone.
Without talking, Stephanie walks through the doors, cursing herself for not apologizing.
Stephanie makes a beeline for the AV room, hoping to not miss anything important. She arrives at the door and when she opens it Mike is in mid sentence.
"-want me to tell anyone, but on Halloween night he saw a sort of shadow in the sky."
"A shadow? What kind of shadow?" Lucas asks.
"I don't know. But it scared him. And if Will really has True Sight...I mean, if he can really see into the Upside Down, maybe he saw that shadow again yesterday." Mike takes a deep breath.
"So that's why he was frozen like that?" Dustin offers.
Mike shrugs. "Maybe."
"Can it hurt him? I mean, if this shadow thing isn't from our world?" Lucas asks.
"I'm not sure." Mike looks at Dustin. "Dustin?"
Dustin leans forward in his chair. "Well, if you're in another plane, you can't interact with the material plane, so theoretically, no, the shadow can't hurt him."
Mike looks down at the floor. "Yeah, if that's even what's happening. This isn't D&D. This is real life."
"So what do we do?" Lucas shrugs, looking to his friends for answers.
"We acquire more knowledge. I'll go to Will's after school. See what's going on. You guys stay here and find Dart," Mike orders, pointing to each kid.
Dustin's eyes widen. "Dart? What's he gotta do with this?"
Mike continues. "Will heard him in the Upside Down. I didn't know how yet, but he's gotta be connected to all this. He's gotta be. If we find Dart, maybe we can solve this thing. Maybe we can help Will."
The bell rings, and the group runs out the door to their next period.
Stephanie tries to find Max in the swarm of people in the hallways, but ends up unsuccessful.
————
༺♥༻ At the end of the day, Stephanie sees Lucas walking up to Max. Lucas says something that Stephanie couldn't make out, but Max just slams her locker door shut and storms away. Stephanie decides to follow the two outside to try and eavesdrop on their conversation.
"-wrong with you?"
"Whats wrong-"
"-don't understand."
"No!-understand!-friend-like garbage!"
"-not true!"
Stephanie finally reaches the two to be within earshot.
"You and Dustin can just go hide in the AV Club keeping secrets like we're in second grade or something."
"But what about Stephanie?"
"At least Steph didn't want to leave me alone! You guys didn't hesitate for a second."
"Steph?"
"I thought you guys wanted me in your party."
"We do! But there's just things...things we can't tell you, all right? For your own safety."
"For my own safety?"
"Yes!"
"Because I'm a girl?"
Ha. Nice one.
"What? No!"
"Did you keep secrets from El? Or Steph?"
"How do you know about El?"
"Did you?"
"That was different. Trust me. Okay? That was just...different."
"Okay. you know what? Forget it, okay? I don't wanna be in your stupid party anyway. I'm out."
Max starts to skate away.
"Have a nice life."
"Max!"
"You still stink, by the way!"
Lucas smells the arm of his coat and throws his hands in the air. "Oh, shit!"
Stephanie was watching Max skate towards her stepbrother, Billy. He was leaned up against the car and had apparently noticed Stephanie's staring and makes intense eye contact with her.
Max gets into the passenger seat and Billy opens the drivers seat door, still staring at Stephanie.
Stephanie is still watching Max through the window as the car speeds away and it looks like she's...crying?
What did Billy say to her?
Then Stephanie sees Steve's car pull through the driveway of the school.
She gets in the car and immediately asks Steve, "What do you know about Billy Hargrove?"
Steve scoffs and flips through the radio. "Ugh, yeah. Total asshole. Don't talk to anyone even associated with him."
"I mean, his sister's really nice though." Stephanie keeps her head down.
Steve keeps flipping through the radio. "Sister? I didn't know he had a sister."
"Yeah she's super cool, and actually kind of mean, but in a nice way you know? Oh! and she skateboards! That's super awesome, too. She's gonna teach me how to skateboard tomorrow. And she goes by this really badass nickname, Max, but her real nam-"
"Steph, Steph, I get it."
Just as Steve started talking Stephanie realizes she was rambling about how awesome Max is.
"Oh, sorry. It's just she's so cool."
"On a scale of one to ten, how much do you like her?"
"Hmm...eleven."
"And how do you feel when you're around her?"
"My stomach flips and sometimes I can't even say a word, even though you know I talk a lot."
Steve nods his head. "Yeah. I think I knew that."
"Wait. You think I like her like her? No. No way."
Yes. Yes way. "That's not even like allowed though." It should be. "It's not like, socially acceptable. Boys like girls, and girls like boys." But can't girls like girls?
"You are a terrible liar, Steph."
Stephanie turns her head. "What?"
"I know when you lie. You just did thirty seconds ago!"
"What! No! Of-of course not!"
"Of course yes!"
"Will you hate me if I did like her?"
"Of course I won't hate you. I would never hate you."
"Oh. Okay."
After building up the courage, Stephanie manages to croak out, "I think I do like her. Like, like her like her."
"Then I think that's awesome."
༺♥༻
stephanie coming out scene??!?!?!? we all knew anyway
(the closet was glass steph)