DUSTIN KNEW WHAT HE HAD HEARD. Just like he knew before what he had seen when Billy's car was slowed down for a short moment, saving the boys on Halloween. It was Jasper.
He wasn't sure why he had heard Jasper call out his name. Or why he felt a strange sense of warmth touch him once he turned around, despite finding nothing standing there. None of made sense, except for the fact that Dustin was completely positive now that Jasper was still alive.
Now he just needed to figure out how to find her.
These thoughts plagued Dustin's brain as he mindlessly followed his friends out the school building. The boys watched Joyce beckon a stoic Will Byers into her car with concerned faces.
"Okay, that totally freaked me out," Max admitted, breaking the stunned silence shared between the party. "Did that not freak you guys out?"
Dustin glanced over at the ginger, meeting her wary eyes. His heart dampened with pity for the new girl. She had no idea what just happened and none of the boys could really explain it to her. But more importantly, Dustin knew how unnecessarily rude he had been to her. Alive or not, Jasper would've never wanted Dustin to be so cold towards a girl just because she looked like her.
He knew he needed to apologize.
"Two episodes in two days," Lucas pointed out, leaning against the wooden pole solemnly.
"It's getting worse," Mike mumbled.
"You think it's True Sight?" Lucas questioned, earning himself a hard stare from the other two boys. He needed to be careful with his words around Max.
"What's True Sight?" Max asked, completely bewildered.
Lucas's dark eyes shifted back and forth between looking at Dustin and Mike. Both of the boys were sending him very small head shakes with huge eyes. There was one agreement they needed to make stand: keep Max out of what happened last year.
"It's nothing," Lucas answered vaguely, and all four of them turned back to watch Joyce's mini green car vanish down the road.
"Guess we should go home now," Mike sighed heavily, his eyes remaining on the road where Joyce's car had been. "We can continue our search for Dart tomorrow."
Almost as if on cue, Dustin felt the small pollywog-like creature wiggle around on top of his head. Dustin's hands flew up to the top of his hat, pressing down on the fabric in order to keep his pet hidden. The others would no doubt murder him if they discovered he had lied about finding Dart. But Dart had become Dustin's friend, and he didn't trust the others to not hurt the little animal.
As the party began to disperse, Dustin felt himself reaching out and wrapping his hand around Max's wrist gently. "Hey, Max?" The redhead spun around, peering up at him with her curious electric blue eyes. "Can we talk for a second?" Dustin's eyes slid over to see Lucas and Mike both gawking at the two foolishly. "Alone?"
Taking the hint, the other two boys reluctantly walked away to go retrieve their bikes.
"What's up?" Max questioned, casually plopping herself down on the stone steps. She placed her skateboard at the bottom of the steps, rolling it back and forth slightly with her foot out of boredom.
"I just...I wanted to apologize," Dustin began, awkwardly squirming in his seat. This was his first time being serious with a girl other than Jasper. And maybe even one of his first times ever needed to apologize for being incredibly rude to a girl.
"Apologize?"
"Yeah," Dustin nodded, fidgeting with his fingers. "I, um, haven't been really nice to you. And I'm sorry. It was completely unnecessary."
Max's eyes scanned over the boy, observing his small and squeamish movements. He could hardly glance up at her and meet her scrutinizing gaze. She could tell from the way he was uncomfortably picking at the dirt under his nails and refusing to look at her that he hadn't done this a lot before. But she could see he meant well.
"Apology accepted," she declared, sending the Henderson boy a half-smile as his head shot up and he gave her a toothy grin.
"Really?"
"Really," she nodded before her face grew solemn again. "I gotta ask though, why have you been so mean? Is it something to do with Jasper?"
Dustin felt his heart do many different things, from cartwheels to flips, in his chest when she said her name. It had been a very long time since someone had uttered her name so nonchalantly, like the word wasn't a bomb that could blow Dustin to bits. He hated how precautious everyone had become with talking about her around him, it was a nice refreshing moment.
"Yeah," Dustin answered truthfully, embarrassment creeping across his cheeks. "I must be a pretty big douche to have been mean to you because of another girl. You just look like her a little, I guess. Doesn't excuse all the things I said, though."
"She must have been pretty special, huh?" Max inquired, and Dustin couldn't even begin to tell her how the word 'special' was too simple to describe it.
"Very much," he replied, his eyes clouded with nostalgia. "She was my best friend before she...before she moved away. She was the best."
That night Dustin spent countless hours tossing and turned, plagued by questions and thoughts jumbled into his mind. He needed to figure out how to find Jasper, but trying to construct a plan only troubled his brain more. He knew he wouldn't be able to do this alone, so he promptly decided to tell Mike and Lucas about everything tomorrow.
His friends were nowhere in sight, however, when he got to school the next morning. Bewildered, Dustin's eyes examined the front of the school, searching for any members of the party.
"Stop being a baby and do it already!" Mike's particularly moody voice caught Dustin's attention, and he ran towards where he heard it: the dumpsters.
"This is so disgusting, is this really necessary?" Max questioned, scoffing.
Dustin gazed at his friends in confusion, noting Mike and Max both holding long sticks while something tumbled around inside the dumpster. His arms fanned out in front of his torso, expressing his perplexity. "What the hell's going on?"
"What do you think? We're looking for Dart," Mike answered sourly.
Before Dustin could reply, a mountain of trash erupted from the dumpster, nearly toppling the Henderson boy over. "Jesus!" Dustin shrieked, and the three lurched away from the musty pile of garbage.
Lucas's head popped up from the depths of the dumpster, his hands clutching onto the edge of the bin as he swung himself out. "Well well well," Lucas snapped bitterly, folding his arms over his chest. "Look who finally decided to show up. After I drew the short straw. Real convenient."
Dustin didn't answer him, casting a thoughtful look down at the trash. He wondered how long he would have to endure his friends searching for something he already found.
"You stink!" Max scrunched up her nose, veering away from Lucas.
Dustin sent the ginger female a small smile. "Hi Max."
"Hey," she responded, returning the smile.
Both of the two new friends were oblivious to the confused Mike and Lucas sharing bewildered expressions.
"Where's Will?" Dustin questioned, noticing the shorter, meeker boy was absent.
"He'll be here," Mike replied, and Dustin didn't dwindle on it any further.
"Are you just gonna stand there?" Lucas huffed, and it took a moment before Dustin realized the malicious comment was meant for him. "Or are you gonna help?"
Dustin barely had enough time to react and hold out his hands to catch the stick Lucas tossed at him. His blue eyes stayed on the Sinclair boy, wondering why his friend had become so agitated. He couldn't help but notice the occasional glances Lucas would throw at Max.
Will never did show up for class. The entire party felt the anxiety kick into their systems when they saw Will's empty desk. They all knew very well what happened the last time Will had missed class without telling one of the boys why.
"Do you think he's just sick?" Dustin asked Lucas at lunch, anxiously chewing on a leftover cookie from his lunch box. The two boys along with Max sat impatiently on the steps, waiting for Mike to return after calling the Byers' house. "Or something worse?"
"What's worse than being sick?" Max inquired, reaching over and stealing a piece of his chocolate chip cookie. Dustin didn't even bother protesting, knowing he was too apprehensive to eat it all himself.
"Do you think it has something do with his episodes?" Lucas pondered, slicing his own piece of chocolate chip.
"There's no telling," Dustin murmured, narrowing his eyes at Mike as he noticed the raven-haired boy running back to them.
"Anything?" Lucas called to him before he could entirely make his way to the steps.
"We need to talk. AV room. Right now," Mike ordered.
Lucas, Dustin, and Max all respectfully rose and turned towards the door, only for Mike to whirl around and glower at the ginger. "Party members only," he spat, hatred filled in his eyes for the Mayfield girl.
"Come on Mike," Dustin pleaded, sympathy filling his heart for Max. He didn't want his newly formed friend to be left out again.
"No! This is non-negotiable," Mike glared at the two boys before hurrying into the building. This just have meant it was about the horrible events of last year.
Dustin let a small sigh escape from his nostrils, turning to face Max. She looked utterly deflated standing there, her skateboard tucked in the crook of her arm. "Sorry, Max."
"Sorry," Lucas apologized to her as well, both of the boys sharing sad looks as they left their new friend outside.
"You better have a good excuse for that," Dustin snapped upon entering the AV room, his angry stares directed at Mike. "Max probably thinks we're a bunch of secretive assholes because of this."
"Since when did you care?" Mike challenged, annoyance sparking in his pine colored eyes. "Just two days ago you hated her more than I did!"
"I never hated her, okay?" Dustin fanned his hands out in front of his chest, rapidly dismissing the idea. "I hated how she looked like Jasper and how that made me feel. But I matured, okay? I can't dislike her just because of the way she looks."
"Well, congratulations," Mike replied sourly, slapping his hands on his knees.
"I apologized! Why don't you try it sometime? The only reason you hate her is because she's a girl and you don't want another girl in our party after Jas and El—"
"What's it got to do with El?" Mike rudely interrupted, contempt lighting up in his expression. His nostrils flared and Dustin noticed the way his relaxed hands had become balled fists. "El's gone. I don't like her because she's annoying. Simple as that."
"She's not annoying, Mike! Maybe if you got to know her you'd see that. Besides, that's not even a good reason to be a dickhead to her," Dustin growled, swooping in to his new friend's defense.
"Says the guy who hated her for having red hair!" Mike fired back.
"Guys!" Lucas shouted, intervening. The Sinclair boy had outstretched arms and a royally pissed off look on his face. "Will you two cut it out? Last time I checked we came in here to talk about Will."
"Well, I was trying to tell you guys something until Dustin—" Mike began.
"I said cut it out!" Lucas hissed, lightly slapping the Wheeler boy's forearm. "Just tell us, man."
"Right. Will didn't want me to tell anybody, but," Mike started, "on Halloween night he saw a sort of shadow in the sky."
"A shadow?" Lucas echoed, stumbling over his words. "What kind of shadow?"
"I don't know. But it scared him," Mike answered, his expression darkening as remember seeing the fear etched onto his best friend's face on Halloween night. "If Will has True Sight...I mean if he can really see into the Upside Down...maybe he saw the shadow again yesterday."
"So that's why he was frozen like that?" Dustin questioned seriously.
"Maybe." Mike's reply was simple.
"Can it hurt him? I mean, if the shadow thing isn't from our world..." Lucas trailed off into thought.
"I'm not sure. Dustin?" Mike gazed at his curly-headed friend, all signs of hostility lost. He knew the Henderson boy usually had a better understanding at the science behind a situation.
"Well, if you're in another plane you can't interact with the material plane," Dustin explained. "So, theoretically no, the shadow can't hurt him."
"Yeah, if that's even what's happening," Mike scoffed. "This isn't D&D. This is real life."
"So what do we do?" Lucas mumbled, his eyes darting back and forth between Mike and Dustin.
"We acquire more knowledge," Mike stated. "I'll go to Will's after school. See what's going on. You guys stay here and find Dart?"
The mention of his slimy friend caused Dustin's head to snap up. "Dart? What's he got to do with this?" He prayed neither of his friends realized there was a sense of urgency and panic in his voice.
"Will heard him in the Upside Down. I don't how yet, but he's gotta be connected to all this. He's gotta be," Mike declared "If we find Dart, maybe we can solve this thing. Maybe we can help Will."
His words alone were enough to sent Dustin into a maze of spiraling guilt. He knew he shouldn't keep Dart a secret, but he was still so afraid of what could happen to him.
"Is that all?" Lucas asked, leaning back in his seat. "Or are you two gonna go at it some more?" He gestured between Mike and Dustin, referring to their pointless argument.
"Actually," Dustin started, his blood sparking with nerves as his two friends gazed up at him. "There is something. It's about Jas."
"Jasper?" Both of the boys murmured simultaneously.
"What's she gotta do with this? We don't even know where she is. Or if she's alive," Mike pointed out, oblivious to the chance of how hurtful his words could be conveyed as.
"There's something I haven't told you guys," Dustin admitted, rubbing his sweaty palms on the fabric of his khakis. "The night at the arcade, I heard Jasper's voice say my name. I wasn't entirely sure, because it could've just been my mind playing tricks on me, but it wasn't. Wanna know how I know?"
Lucas and Mike exchanged wary glances before both nodding slowly.
"Do you remember how the lights kept acting up when somebody was in the Upside Down? Well, the night of Halloween the lights at my place were acting up. And I don't know man, I just felt Jasper's presence. She was there."
"So what I'm hearing is you hallucinated her saying your name and there was an electricity problem at your house?" Lucas raised an eyebrow, never failing to express his skepticism.
"There's more. When Max's asshole brother almost squashed us with his car, time actually slowed down. I don't know how I was consciously aware of it, but his car slowed down slightly so we could make it out of the way in time. Jasper did that multiple times before with her powers," Dustin explained furiously, desperate to have his friends believe you. "And then yesterday...while looking for Dart, I heard her. I swear to God, I heard her. It was almost like she was right there in the hall with me."
"Man, are you serious?" Lucas clicked his tongue against his teeth, his eyes squinting into two small lines. "You could be making this shit up. Besides, if you haven't seen her then what tells us it's not actually your mind playing tricks on you."
Mike's eyes examined the Henderson's boy thoughtfully. In truth, he had been having similar experiences while talking to El on his walkie, but he wouldn't admit it to his friends. "Maybe he's not lying, Lucas."
"I'm not lying," Dustin exclaimed, raising his volume for emphasis. "We need to find her, guys! Jas is out there and other than El and Will she's the only one who has a real connection with the Upside Down. Maybe she can help us help Will if we find her."
"Maybe. If we knew she was alive. We can't just abandon our very much alive and present friend to try to go search for someone we don't even know how to find," Mike shook his head defiantly. "Believe me, I want just as much as you do to see Jasper again. But we have no way of knowing how to find her, and we're no service to Will or to Jasper by hopelessly trying."
"But..." Dustin began, his words quickly falling back into his throat as he sunk lower into his seat, defeated. He knew Mike was right, he just hated how utterly impossible the situation felt. He just wanted to see Jasper again. More than anything.
"We stick to our plan," Mike commanded, leaping to his feet. "You guys find Dart. I'll see what I can do for Will." The raven haired boy stopped, eyeing Dustin as the shorter boy looked wistfully at the floor.
"And hey," Mike muttered softly, patting the Henderson boy's shoulder gently. "Once we help Will, maybe we can start looking for Jasper. Okay?"
Dustin exhaled deeply, feeling like his confession was deemed pointless. Almost pointless...until Mike spoke those words to him. His friends would help him find Jasper, sooner or later.
"Okay."