THAT SAME DAY, it was after lunch and all the kids were outside. The five boys and Julie hid behind a gate, watching the red head girl that they assumed was Mad Max as she skated around the area.
Julie was uninterested though, sitting against the wall and reading her book.
"There's no way that's Mad Max" She heard Mike say. "Yeah, girls don't play video games" Will agreed with Mike, making Julie look up from her book.
"Even if they did, you can't get 750,000 points on Dig Dug. That's impossible" Mike continued. Julie closed her book loudly, making the other boys glance at her as she stood up, walking away from the boys.
Julie didn't understand why they were so interested in this girl named Max and it made her even more upset that they would say something like that right in front of her.
She started to hear herself, was she jealous?
-
IT WAS FINALLY after school, Julie was at her locker once again, stuffing books into her backpacks.
"Hey."
She closed her locker, turning to see Mike beside her. "Hey" She replied, Mike instantly noticing something was wrong from her tone. "Why'd you run off earlier?"
Julie looked at her feet, quickly trying to come up with a lie. "Oh I, uh--I just remembered that I had some last minute homework that I forgot to do" She rubbed her nose.
"Oh" He nodded as he took the backpack from her hands, "Are you ready to go?" He asked as the two of them walked down the almost empty halls. "Yep" She answered back.
The two of them walked outside as Mike carried his backpack on his back and Julie's backpack in front of him. It was something he did often, even though Julie always tried to tell him she could carry it on her own. But every time he would assure her that it's okay.
Julie listened to Mike talk about how Lucas and Dustin were going to spy on Mad Max at the arcade which made Julie furrow her brows. They reached the bike racks as Mike dropped Julie's backpack in the front basket of her bike.
The two both got to their bikes and started to make their way to the Wheeler's residence.
-
NORA WAS SITTING on her bed as she was reading the Fantastic Four 257 comic that Julie had got her from the library.
She had her reading glasses on as she licked the spoon with chocolate ice cream on it.
Nora liked to read comics often, it gave her some type of peace that she rarely ever had. She's always been hiding her passion for comics ever since Nancy voiced her opinion on them, saying they're for little kids like her little brother.
Ever since, Julie has willingly offered to get them for her, the younger girl understanding.
She was interrupted by the phone on her nightstand ringing. Nora placed her open comic on her bed, taking off her glasses and placing them on top as she leaned over to reach her phone.
"Nancy?" She assumed the caller on the other end.
"Yes, it's me. I'm outside your house, I need you to come with me."
Nora got up out of her bed, pulling the wired phone with her to look out the window, seeing a car sitting in the front of her house. "Who's car is that?"
"It's Steve's."
"Steve's with you?" Nora asked as she held the phone to her ear with her shoulder as she rumaged through her laundry to find some decent clothes to put on.
"I--Yes, he's with me. He's coming with us" Nancy hesitated on the other end.
She put the phone down for a quick second to pull a long sleeve shirt over her head, "Okay and do you want tell me where exactly we're going?"
"I'll explain it to you on the way, can you please just hurry?" Nancy said as Nora rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah, okay. I'll be down in a second" She hung up the phone as she put on her jacket.
She grabbed the bowl of ice cream from her bed, running downstairs and leaving it in the kitchen.
She put on her shoes before she headed out the door, approaching Steve's car as she opened the door to the back seat.
She closed the door behind her as he pulled off, "So?"
-
MIKE AND JULIE SAT at the dinner table with Mike's family, minus Nancy. Before that, the two were in Mike's basement, completing homework for Mr. Clarke.
It was silent at the table as everyone ate quietly before Mrs. Wheeler spoke up "After dinner, I want you to pick to your toys for the yard sale. Maybe Julie could help."
"Fine" Mike said, sitting back in his chair. "Two boxes worth" His mom said, Mike sat up in his chair .
"Two boxes worth?!"
"You heard me."
"I'm fine with you giving away a couple, but the others have way to much emotional value!" Mike tried to argue but his parents weren't hearing any of it.
His mom scoffed, "Emotional value?"
"They're hunks of plastic, Michael" His dad spoke up.
"You already took away my Atari" He told them, still trying to argue.
Julie awkward slumped in her chair a bit, feeling as if she shouldn't be here for this.
"Didn't wanna lose more toys, you shouldn't stolen from Nancy."
"I didn't steal. I borrowed."
"Oh, and you didn't curse out Mr. Kowalski last week either, right?"
Julie recalled when Mike told her about how he got in trouble with his parents for yelling at his math teacher for being unfair with grading.
Mike glanced at Julie, annoying that his parents were doing this while she was here.
"Or plagiarize that essay? Or graffiti the bathroom stall?"
"Everyone graffitis the bathroom stall" Mike told them.
"So if your friend jumps off a cliff, you're gonna jump, too?" His dad sarcastically asked him.
Julie stopped chewing her food, remember a year ago when Mike nearly jumped off a cliff for Dustin but she saved him.
Mike rolled his eyes with a frustrated groan.
"We know you've had a hard year, Michael. But we've been patient. This isn't strike one. This isn't even strike three."
"It's strike 20. You're on the bench, son. And if it'd been my coach, you'd be lucky to still be on the team" His dad said, agreeing with Mrs Wheeler.
"Two boxes. Two" Mrs. Wheeler pressed, putting her foot down this time.
Not arguing anymore, Mike stabbed his food aggressively with his food, making a loud sound as the rest of dinner was consumed by silence.
-
IT WAS TIME FOR Julie to head home now as she was saying her goodbyes to Mike's parents.
"Thank you for having dinner with us and I'm sorry that we argued with you at the table honey" Mrs. Wheeler said as she gave the red head girl a hug, Mike rolling his eyes.
They pulled away, "Thank you for having me, the food was great" She thanked with a smile.
"We'll like to have to over anytime" Mr. Wheeler said from behind Mrs. Wheeler as he held Holly.
"Thank you. Goodnight!" She waved as she followed Mike to the garage.
She dropped her school bag in the basket of her bike.
"Thanks for having me over Mike, it was really fun" She said as Mike nodded, "It would've been nicer if my parents wasn't so annoying" He mumbled but it was loud enough for Julie to hear.
The two of them hugged goodbye before Julie got on her bike. "I'll see you later Mike, I'll ring you when I get home" She told him as he smiled, nodding his head.
The two waved goodbye before Mike watched Julie pedal away until she was out of sight.
-
AS JULIE REACHED her house, she left her bike in the garage, grabbing her bag out of the basket and walking inside.
All the lights downstairs were out but Nora's car was here, indicating that she should be home.
"Nora?" Julie called out, but no answer.
As she walked upstairs, she noticed Nora's room light was on as she could faintly hear crying coming from the room. "Nora?" Julie called out as she approached the room.
Nora sat on her bed, with her knees pulled into her chest, crying.
Julie moved closer towards her sister, "Nora?"
The older girl quickly picked up her head. Wiping her eyes, as if trying to cover up that she was crying, "Oh, Jules, hey. I didn't hear you come home."
Julie sat on the bed next to Nora, "What happened?"
Nora sighed before taking a breath, "It's...about Barb."
When Julie didn't answer, she wiped her eyes and continued. "Nancy and I went to visit her parents and they were telling us about how they're hiring some investigativer to help find her."
"They're selling her house in order to pay for it. And I...I can't help but feel guilty. It's been a whole year and they're still so hopeful about finding Barb. And the fact that...that I know what happened to her but I can't tell them is--"
"Hard" Julie finished. "You did nothing wrong, Nora. And you shouldn't feel guilty, you didn't cause any of this. Okay? This is not your fault."
Julie and Nora sat there in silence as Julie just comforted her older sister.
-
IT WAS A little bit later. Julie was all changed and had just sat in her bed. She just sat there, staring off for a bit until she opened her nightstand drawer.
She dug around for a bit before pulling out her supercomm. She turned it on and messed with a knobs for a bit as static could be heard in response.
Julie gulped, "El? Eleven? It's me, Julie. It's day 352 at--" She paused to look at her clock, "--7:40 pm. I'm still here."
Julie had been trying to contact Eleven ever since she disappeared. She kept it from the others, especially Ashton. When Eleven had gone, he started to distance himself and the rest of the party had noticed it too.
She was worried for her sister though. Sure Eleven could defeat herself but it still made Julie feel anxious. Where had she gone? Is she safe? No one has any idea.
She missed Eleven terribly and the group didn't feel the same without her.
"Eleven if you could hear me, I...I'm still here" She paused, waiting for a response.
"Please, if you could hear me, say something. I won't tell anyone. I just really miss you and wanna know if you're out there."
She waited for another moment, sighing when she didn't get a response.
She exhaled, about to turn of her supercomm because she halted.
"Julie..."
The red head was quick to reply, "Hello?! El-"
"It's Mike, what are you doing on this channel? Were you talking to Dustin too?"
Julie frowned a bit, "Uh, yeah" She lied, rubbing her nose which, obviously, Mike couldn't see.
"Cool. Wanna help me pick out some toys that I have to give away?"
Julie turned off her lamp, laying down in her bed with a smile on her face, "Sure."
author's note !
hey guys. i've been holding off on updating for quite some time but i'm here and im back. school has been draining especially since i pay sports ANDD band. however, i am in the making of a schedule were i will update every one day of the week (I haven't decided which day works for me) but thank you so much for our patience. ANDD than you guys so much for 1k readers!!!! It may not seem like a lot o some but it's a big start for me and i appreciate you guys that enjoy my writing.
Recap: The boys spy on the girl they assume is Madmax at school. Julie and head to his house for dinner as Nora, Nancy and Steve are off at Barbara's house, talking with her parents. Nora and Nancy feel guilty for hiding the truth about Barb.
Fun Fact: Max is slightly jealous of how more red Julie's hair is than hers.
until next time !!! <3