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c h a p t e r f i f t y - t w o
Bianca was ninety percent sure she'd never want to take another road trip in her life after this. Nine hours spent in the back of a pizza van was enough to drive anyone crazy.
All she wanted was a shower, a comfortable bed, and a meal. Maybe a hairbrush, too.
Finally, they end up at Suzie's address, stretching as they get out of the car.
"Can't feel my butt. Can you guys feel your butts?" Argyle questions mid-stretch.
"I can feel my butt."
"My butt is fine, now let's go," Bianca hurries them up the driveway.
"Everyone needs to be on their best behavior, okay?" Jonathan announces, glancing directly at his best friend.
"Why are you looking at me when you say that?" Argyle chuckles.
"Isn't it obvious?" Bianca chuckles.
"I didn't," Jonathan stammers.
"He totally did," she whispers.
"They're just super religious," Mike explains.
"I'm super spiritual, dude," Argyle attempts to defend himself.
"Yeah, I think they're spiritual too, just... in a different way," Mike shrugs, knocking on the door.
As soon as it opens, they're met with a small child in war paint and holding a bow and arrow, which he shoots directly at Mike's forehead.
"Oh, that's..." Bianca tilts her head, popping the suction cup off of Mike's face. "Hey, you need to work on your form, mysterious child!"
"Thank you," Mike rubs his forehead, walking in.
The house was in complete disarray, with children yelling and running around in seemingly every corner.
For example, on the dining table stood two kids in a sword fight, shouting Elvan insults at one another.
"You elf-skin! You dried neat's tongue!"
"This is my kind of party," Argyle nods in approval.
"I thought Suzie was Mormon," Bianca whispers to Mike and Will. "Is this how Mormons are?"
"I have no idea."
In the next room was a girl pretending to be dead as a boy records her, applauding, "Beautiful performance!"
"Excuse me?" Jonathan taps the "director." "Uh, hey, we're looking for Suzie."
The little boy then snaps in annoyance, mocking him. "Can you... not see... that we are filming?"
"Okay," Bianca leads them to the kitchen, coming up on two kids way too young to be doing whatever they were at the stove.
"Hey, we're looking for Suzie?" Bianca speaks up.
"Don't know, don't care," the girl retorts. "That's too much salt, Peter. Father's kidneys! Father's kidneys!"
And as if things couldn't get any weirder, all the lights go out, shrouding them in only the light from the windows.
"Cornelius!" an older voice yells, making them sigh in relief that there is someone mature here. "How many times do I have to tell you? That is not a toy."
The voice was attached to a teenage girl, seemingly her sister's age with choppy black hair and a clear affinity for Ally Sheedy in The Breakfast Club.
She moves the boy away from the breaker box, walking past the group, but making eye contact with Argyle.
They follow her upstairs, Argyle seemingly in a trance, as she asks, "Who the hell are you?"
"Argyle. Uh, and you are?" he stutters.
"Eden."
"Like the garden..." he sighs dreamily.
"Wow," Jonathan interrupts their moment, asking the girl what they've been trying to find for the past five minutes. "We're looking for Suzie. Do you know where she is?"
"Third floor, second door on your left," she starts, the group immediately running to find her. "When you see her, make sure to give that selfish, four-eyed little shit a nice little shove for me."
"Is it just me or did that make you miss your sister?" Bianca nudges Mike, who nods with a chuckle.
Finally, they find the room, only for it to be empty.
"You can't be serious," Bianca sighs.
"Great, she's not here," Jonathan drops his hands in annoyance, just as the window begins to creak.
"Do you hear that?"
"Give her a shove," Mike recites, leaning his head out the window.
Surely enough, the brunette was on the roof, fiddling with a satellite of some sort.
"Is anyone in this house normal?" Bianca mumbles to herself.
"No," Will deadpans.
"Suzie!"
"Who the heck are you?" she furrows her eyebrows. "And what are you doing in my room?"
"Sorry, that's- that's fair!" Mike shouts, stammering as he begins to step back.
"Seriously?" Bianca gives an incredulous look. "Hey, Suzie, we're Dustin's friends! Mike, Bianca, Will?"
"Yeah, and we really need your help!" Mike grins a little too widely.
"We'll explain when you come in," Will adds, noticing her hesitant look.
"You're gonna wanna sit down for this."
_____
"Dude, I'm telling you, you're taking us the wrong way," Steve continues to bicker with Dustin as he has for the entire trek.
"You should listen to him, if anyone memorized the way to this place, it's Slut Harrington," Dawn teases.
"Thank you, Dawn. Real nice."
"Truth hurts," she shrugs.
"It's north, I'm positive. I checked the map."
"You do realize Skull Rock, it's a super popular makeout spot, right?" Steve adds, and Sam can't help but roll her eyes at his tone.
"Yeah? So?"
"Yeah, well, it wasn't popular until I made it popular. I practically invented that place," he explains with a smug smile.
"Try not to brag," Sam glares, making Steve backtrack.
"Did I say I made it popular? I meant I uh..." he fumbles his words.
"No saving yourself now, Harrington," Dawn laughs.
"Anyway, as much as I hate why he knows this," Sam steps forward. "He's right. It's this way."
"See? I'm right," he smirks, before his face drops. "Wait, I never took you to Skull Rock."
"I know," she chuckles, speeding up as she leads the way.
Truthfully, it wasn't a very memorable encounter, but sometimes it was fun to make Steve sweat a little bit.
"But who'd you go with?" he urges.
"Nope, not answering that."
"Sam!" he attempts to follow, but God, that girl could move fast.
Dawn catches up, giving her and Sam a moment alone. "You okay?"
"Yeah," the brunette nods, before tapping her headphones. "I think I'm gonna start singing this song in my sleep, though."
"If it saves you from that evil wizard guy everyone's telling me about, I think it's okay," she shrugs. "It's like every time I leave, you guys get involved in some shit."
"Trust me, it's unintentional," Sam swears. "Also why I can't wait to get out of here."
"Does that mean you're 100 percent choosing Pratt?" the blonde excitedly asks.
"Yes, I am. And um," she gives a bashful smile. "Steve is coming with. If you're cool with him staying with us."
"Wow, Dustin owes me 10 bucks," she grins. "Of course I'm cool, you know I love that idiot. Just no sex on our couch."
"Dawn!" she looks around.
"What? You guys are like rabbits, it'd be disgusting if I weren't so happy for you guys. Everyone's been rooting for you."
"Well, speaking of relationships, what exactly happened with you and Eddie?"
"Sam."
"Dawn. You're practically giving puppy dog eyes every time someone mentions him. Just say you miss him."
"I dumped him. Like, dumped him. Like, told him I wasn't feeling it anymore and disappeared to New York for four months."
"Why would you do that?" Sam gasps.
"Because I was leaving, and you know how I feel about long-distance, and-"
"And you were actually starting to like him?" Sam crosses her arms.
"I hate that you know me."
"What happened to the Dawn that forced me to give Steve a chance?"
"He was just too good to be true, you know? I've had very few good things and it felt wrong somehow. Like the rug was gonna be pulled out from under me."
"How about this? We finish this, and you promise you'll tell him how you really feel."
"I thought you were creeped out by him."
"That was me judging a book by its cover. And he clearly makes you happy, even if you can't see that."
"Do you really think we can get him out of this?"
"I really don't know. But we'll drive ourselves crazy thinking about it. Right now, we take it one step at a time."
"Ugh, I missed you, Flores," Dawn wraps an arm around her, eliciting chuckles as they rush towards the direction of the boulder.
Along the way, Steve catches back up, cheering at the gray rock through the bushes. "Oh, boom! Bada bing bada boom. There she is, Henderson. Skull Rock."
He grabs Sam's hand, helping her step up on the platform as he continues to taunt his friend. "In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face."
"Doesn't make sense."
"Yeah, yeah. Even with it staring you right in the face, you can't admit it. Just can't admit that you're wrong, you little butthead."
"Which one of you is 14 again?" Sam teases, making Steve poke her side.
"Eh, he's right. The lesser Henderson has a serious attitude problem," Dawn pats his shoulder, making her brother glare.
"I concur," Eddie announces himself, jumping down onto the platform. "You, Dustin Henderson are a total butthead."
"Jesus, we thought you were a goner," the boy rushes to hug him.
"Yeah, me too, man. Me too," he looks up, meeting eyes with Dawn. "Well, isn't this a surprise? Dawn Henderson, right before my eyes."
"You know my sister?"
Steve and Sam snort at that, as Eddie did more than just know Dawn.
"Yeah, yeah, don't be so dramatic," Dawn rolls her eyes. "I hear you're a fugitive."
"Yes, it seems we both are pretty good at running away from things," he retorts.
"What is happening here?" Dustin whispers to Sam, who takes this as a good time to step in.
"Eddie, we have some news," she crosses her arms.
"Oh, the Queen is serious," he jokes. "Can't be worse than it already is, right?"
"Um..." she runs a hand through her hair, her expression telling him everything he needed to know.
"Damnit."
______
Meanwhile, Leo and Gianna had just returned from the town hall meeting, joining the rest of the kids' parents at the Wheeler home.
"Guys, are you down here?" Karen opens the door to the basement, shocked to see it empty.
"I thought they were hanging out here," Leo furrows his eyebrows.
"They went to see a movie together. But they should've been back by now," Karen pants. "They should be back."
"What time was the movie?" Sue asks, remaining calm.
"Uh, four hours ago."
"Hate to break it to you, Mrs. Wheeler, but they lied to you," Erica grimaces.
"Liar, liar, pants on fire," Holly sings.
"Holly."
"We don't think they're actually involved with this Eddie, do we?"
"I think at this point, anything's possible. I mean, that Flores girl-"
"Watch your mouth, Ted," Leo threatens, Gianna glaring at the man.
"Our children are not murderers," Karen argues.
"Don't put words in my mouth."
"Ted, our children are missing, in case you forgot," Claudia frowns.
"Please, they do this every week."
"There's not a killer on the loose every week," Charles reminds him, sharing an exasperated sigh with Leo.
Karen then frantically walks over to the phone, making Erica ask, "You're calling the theater?"
"The police."
"Leo, come here," Gianna pulls him aside. "I know our daughter, so I know she would never involve herself in a murder. But I also know that she would defend someone if she really didn't think they were guilty."
"So what are you saying? She's out giving a fugitive legal advice?"
"Does it sound so far off? When everyone thought Steve was a bad kid, she was the one defending him. When everyone treated Dawn like an outcast, she made sure to keep her up. Bianca says she does the same for all her friends."
"Eddie Munson is not her friend."
"That we know of. Don't tell me I'm the only one who feels like our kids have been hiding things from us."
"They're teenagers, it's what they do, Gi. Doesn't mean she is befriending a murderer."
"Unless he's not a murderer," she retorts, walking over to comfort Karen.