✨CHAPTER 21✨
Steve sat in his car in the school's parking lot, Nancy in the driver's seat. He gave her his college admission letter, he would have like if Hailey was the one going through the letter, but Nancy insisted that she would do it for him.
"It's crap, I know." Steve says, looking in the other direction, hoping he would see Hailey, so that he can get out of this tense situation with his girlfriend.
"No, it's not crap." Nancy simply says, still going through it.
"It's not good." Steve says, trying to get her to tell him the truth and not string him along. "It's going to be." Nancy says looking up from the paper, it made him feel even worse. "Just... It needs some reorganizing. Can I mark on it?" She asks, pen in hand, and this is why he wanted to ask Hailey she would've been a lot more gentler about things.
"Yeah, I guess." He says, Nancy slowly started pointing out what she found wrong, "So, in the first paragraph, "you used the basketball game versus Northern as a metaphor for your life, which is great.
But then, around here, you start talking about your granddad's experiences in the war, and I... I don't see how they're connected." Nancy points out, staring at him.
"It connects because... because, you know, we both won." Steve tries to explan, but she didn't look impressed with his explanation. "Do you think I should start from scratch?" He asks her. "No. I mean..." Nancy says, not able to find the words.
"When's the deadline?" She asks instead.
"It's tomorrow for early application. Can you come and help me tonight?" Steve speaks up, but got shot down. "We have our dinner tonight, remember?" Nancy reminds him.
"Oh, my God!"
"We already canceled last week." Nancy says, not planning on cancelling again "You don't have to go. Just work on this." She adds, Steve was leaning his head against the car seat, he already just wanted to give up.
"No, no, no. What's the point?" Steve asks, grabbing the paper from her hands, crumbling it up.
"Hey, calm down."
"I'm calm. I'm calm."
"I'm just being honest. You know, I mean... I'll end up working for my dad anyway." Steve says frustrated all over again.
"That's not true."
"I don't know, Nance. Is that such a bad thing? There's insurance and benefits and all that adult stuff, and if I took it, you know, I could be around for your senior year." Steve says, knowing if he went he won't be seeing Nancy, or have any contact with Hailey.
"Steve... "
"Just to look after you a little bit. Make sure you don't forget about this pretty face." Steve says trying to be sweet, but Nancy only gave him a look, so he adds, "Nance, I'm serious. I love you." He says leaning in to kiss her.
"I love you, too." She says with a smile, not long after a car they've never seen before drove into the school parking lot, the two curiously got out Steve's car to get a closer look, just then Hailey appears next to them, she was shamelessly staring at the stranger that got out of the car, Steve noticed, and he didn't like her doing that.
"Well if you just look at that ass." Hailey mutters, it made Steve glare at the guy even harder.
Hailey turned to the two with an innocent smile. "Hey guys, I guess I'll see you tonight at the dinner." She says, walking away from them, not saying anything else.
Hailey and Jonathan was making their out of class, to get to the next, by the door Tina was handing out flyers to a party she was holding tomorrow on Halloween, neither was actually interested.
"Hey. Be there."
"Hey, Nancy." Tina says giving the Wheeler girl a flyer.
"Hey! Thanks."
Nancy took a look at the flyer turning back to Tina. "Oh, could I get two more?" She asks, Tina handed them over to her. "Yeah, sure."
Hailey and Jonathan looked at Nancy than each other in confusion, Nancy handed each a flyer. "You two are coming to this." She demands, Hailey just rolled her eyes.
"Come and get sheet faced. No, I'm not." Jonathan declines, not really in the mood for any kind of party. "I can't let you sit all alone Halloween, and let Hailey hanging out with a bunch of middle schoolers. That's just not acceptable." Nancy states, determined to have the two at that party.
"Well, you can relax. I'm not gonna be alone. I'm going trick-or-treating with Will." Jonathan says, Hailey's head snapped in his direction. "Wait, your going to be there too?" Hailey asks him.
"Yeah."
"All night?" Nancy asks curiously.
"Yeah."
"No, no way. You're gonna be home by 8:00,
listening to the Talking Heads and reading Vonnegut or something." Nancy points to Jonathan, than her attention was on Hailey, "And you will be hanging out in my basement with all our brothers, doing god knows what until you have to go home." She says, Hailey just shrugged, she couldn't complain, it sounded better than being surrounded by a bunch of drunk teenagers.
"Sounds like a nice night." Jonathan spoke up.
"Jonathan, Hailey, just come. I mean, who knows, you guys might even, like, meet someone." Nancy says, and so Hailey finally saw what the girl was actually trying to do, it made her laugh on the inside.
Steve appeared out of nowhere, picking Nancy up from behind spinning her around. "Oh, my God! Take those stupid things off." Nancy says to a laughing Steve, and he did as he was told.
"I missed you." Steve says to her, Hailey wanted to gag right there.
"It's been like an hour." Nancy points out.
"Tell me about it." Steve says like it was an eternity, pulling Nancy into a kiss.
Jonathan gave her a push, nodding in the direction of their next class, with one last glance at the couple the two started walking away with heavy hearts.
Nancy and Steve watched the two walk away without saying a word, even they were walking around with heavy hearts, because their hearts were pining after other people.
The day went by agonizing slow in Hailey's opinion, but when she finally looked at the time, it was time to head out to the Holland house, so far at least once a month did her, Nancy and Steve go to them for dinner, just to see how they were holding up.
Hailey arrived just about the same time as the other two, the for sale sign standing in the front yard had the three confused.
"Okay, ready?" Steve asks before reaching out to ring the doorbell.
The Holland house is always so warm and welcoming, each time they went, there was never a time the adults didn't let them feel welcome.
"I'm so sorry I didn't get to cook. I was gonna make that baked ziti you guys like so much, but I just forgot about the time, and before you know it,
'Oh, my God, it's five o'clock.' " Mrs Holland says pointing to the dinner table, were there was KFC standing, ready to be eaten.
"It's fine. It's great." Nancy says.
"Right. I love KFC." Steve says agreeing with Nancy, Hailey on the other hand just gave the woman a warm smile, Mrs Holland was use to the girl not saying much.
"So, I noticed a "For Sale" sign out in your yard.
Is that the neighbors', or..." Nancy tried asking, wondering what was going on.
"You wanna tell them?" Mrs Holland asked her husband.
"Go ahead."
"We hired a man named Murray Bauman. Have either of you heard of him?" Mrs Holland asks the three.
"No." Nancy says shaking her head.
"No, I don't think so." Steve says.
"Never heard of the guy." Hailey says, leaving her food to listen to the conversation at hand. "He was an investigative journalist for the Chicago Sun-Times." Mrs Holland informs them.
"He's pretty well known." Mr Holland says, handing them the guy's card, he didn't look familiar to any of the three teenagers. "Anyway, he's freelance now, and he agreed to take the case." Mrs Holland says, with a big smile.
Hailey's stomach started turning, the two adults sitting infront of them, still thought their daughter was missing, having no idea that their daughter was no longer in the world.
"That's... That's great. No, that's really... That's great, right?" Steve says, trying to lighten the mood.
"Um, what exactly does that mean?" Nancy asks them confused.
"Means he's gonna do what that lazy son of a bitch Jim Hop..." Mr Holland stopped talking when his wife placed her hand on his arm.
"Sorry."
He took a deep breath, before he spoke up again. "What the Hawkins police haven't been capable of doing. Means we have a real detective on the case."
"It means... we're going to find our Barb." Mrs Holland says her eyes full of hope.
"If anyone can find her, it's this man. He already has leads. By God, he's worth every last penny." Mr Holland told them.
"Is that why you're selling the house?" Nancy asking looking down at her lap. "Don't worry about us, sweetie. We're fine. More than fine. For the first time in a long time, we're hopeful."
Those words had the Henderson girl feeling guilty, she really wished she could tell them the truth, but that could put a lot more people in danger.
"Excuse me. I'll be right back." Nancy says, getting up in a hurry, Steve staring awkwardly at Hailey unsure what to say, he took a bite of his chicken, trying to feel less awkward.
"It's finger-lickin' good." Steve says, trying to lighten the mood.
"Mmm." He was able to make everyone smile at him, enjoying the rest of their dinner.
*°Unedited°*