𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 : 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐓'𝐒 𝐌𝐄𝐎𝐖
❝ WHAT'S WRONG WITH HER? ❞
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HALLOWEEN. LUCINDA BRISTOW'S FAVORITE NIGHT OF THE YEAR. It wasn't the fun parties or the sweet candy that induced sugar comas that she looked forward to or the cute kids that ran around the neighborhood from noon to evening, but it was the fact that she could be anyone she wanted to be. Anyone but herself.
Luce was tired of being a scared girl in a scary world with a fear of what lurked in the dark and no way to get out of the crappy town she lived in. She was tired of living a boring and bland continuous routine that slowly turned her life to gray.
She wanted out. Luckily, Halloween was the perfect escape route.
The halls of Hawkins were alive and bustling today as news of Tina's party spread from mouth to mouth. Luce trudged through Hawkins's bustling hallways to her locker where Kimberly Moore happened to be waiting.
Kim was Luce's pretty dark haired friend who liked to wear sweaters and read all the newest novels that the Hawkins library had to offer. She was sweet and kind, and never had a mean word to say about anyone. Luce only wished she could think so positively.
"You look tired today." Kim called as Luce approached her locker. Kim's arm tightened around her binder and notebooks as she leaned against the lockers behind her, "Well, I mean, you look tired everyday, but you look extra tired today." She added, but Luce knew she was just joking.
"Oh, shut up." Luce rolled her eyes before sighing loudly, "I stayed up all night watching Friday the 13th."
"That's the one movie you'll never get me to watch."
"It's not even scary, Kim, you're just imagining your fear." Luce grabbed her English textbook from her cluttered locker that desperately needed a cleaning job.
"Maybe I am, but at least I'm not watching people get chopped up and murdered." She replied just as the warning bell rang for class. The two started walking together toward their first hour.
"You got your costume for tonight?" Luce asked, her eyebrows raised in question as she glanced over at her friend.
"Down to the cat ears and everything," Kim sighed, "I can't believe I let you convince me into this."
"Oh, come one, we'll look hot," Luce gave a small smirk and nudged with her elbow, "And maybe you'll finally catch the attention of my cousin's boyfriend."
"Hey, it sounds bad when you put it that way," Kim paused, "Steve is just the only cute guy at Hawkins, alright? Give me a break."
"Not anymore." Luce chuckled as she spotted someone down the hall. Billy fucking Hargrove was standing twenty feet away from them, leaning against Carol Perkins' Locker. The red headed girlfriend of Tommy H. was laughing at something Billy said and smacking pink bubblegum as she replied, earning a cheeky grin from the Californian. Lucy's state turned into an icy glare as his face soon became more and more punchable. She felt something rise inside her as she watched him and Carol flirt so obviously in the public.
"He has no shame." She muttered underneath her breath, scoffing.
"What a fucking bitch, am I right?" Cynthia Brooks butted in on the conversation as the three stopped on the side of the hall. From that angle they could get a perfect view of Billy and Carol's public displays of affection.
"You shouldn't call girl's bitches, Cyn." Luce said without breaking her gaze at Billy.
"Well, I think we can make an exception for Carol Perkins," Cynthia muttered, glancing at her friends, "Do you think I should go over there and talk to them? Carol honestly still thinks we're friends, and I kind of want to see what guy's all about."
Luce's eyebrows shot up, "Uh, no, I don't think that's such a good idea."
"Why? Are you scared or something?" Cynthia chuckled, "Whatever, bye." She left the two girls standing in the hall before walking up to Carol and Billy. It was only a few seconds before Billy walked off, leaving Cynthia and Carol at her locker. Luce gave Kim a look that said, "I told her so."
"Sometimes I wonder why we're still friends with her." Kim furrowed her eyebrows, worriedly.
"Me too, Kim, me too." Luce replied, and the two walked to English together. The day had surprisingly passed by quickly to Luce and soon the final bell was ringing and she found herself walking to the library where Kim was supposed to be waiting for her. Luce's grades weren't exactly the cream of the crop. In other words, she was barely passing most of her classes. Predictably, Kim was proficient in all her classes and a great study partner.
The library was mostly empty today, most likely because of the holiday, but there sat Kim at the table by the window pouring over a few textbooks. I walked in and dropped my books down in front of her. She jumped at the loud sound and put the cap on her highlighter.
"In what world is it okay to give a test on Halloween?" Luce exclaimed as she collapsed into the chair beneath her, "I already know I failed it."
"What class?" Kim asked, glancing back down at her work.
Luce rolled her eyes, "Civics. That class is so boring it makes me want to skip school all together."
"You want to know what I heard from my AP Physics teacher?" Kim asked, she twirled a highlighter between her fingers before setting it down on the table, "She said you can sign up to tutor someone and get a few extra credit points for any class of your choosing. Maybe you could use the points for Civics or something? You've always been good at math."
"Really?" Luce raised her eyebrows slightly before she sighed, "I don't want to have to do it though. It sounds like so much work."
"No, honestly, it's kind of fun... I tutored a few kids last summer and it wasn't all too bad."
"Yeah, I remember." Luce opened her notebook and began scribbling doodles on it with her pen. The silence between them grew as Kim went back to doing her homework. Kimberly was one of the first few people who talked to Luce when she first moved to Hawkins last year. The kids there were a lot different than the ones she knew back in Ohio and other than Kim and Cynthia, she wasn't interested in making friends with any of them. The three were a nicely balanced group. Kim balanced out Cynthia's... callous tendencies and Luce stood as the sort of neutralizer for both. While she would always miss the life she had before Hawkins, Luce was grateful she at least had friends through everything.
"So, how has everything been lately?" Kimberly asked after a while. She bit her lip nervously and glanced up at Luce who leaned back in her chair and ran a hand through her hair.
"Fine."
"You see, you say that, but yet you haven't been the same after whatever happened to you last year. You won't tell Cynthia or I what happened, and you continuously push that nothing's wrong even when you wake up screaming in the night," Kim's voice rose as she spoke quickly, "Listen, it's just frustrating when I know something's up with you, but you won't tell me what it is. I feel like you're lying to me about something."
Luce's heart stopped. There was that word again: "Lying." It was something that was so prominent in her life now. She had heard it countless times from Nancy, from the Hollands, and now from Kimberly... and she really, really hated it.
"Nothing is wrong... I just have been missing my dad. That's all." It wasn't exactly a lie, Luce was always missing her dad, but it was just "withholding the truth" as Nancy had put it. Luce's dad had died two years ago from cancer, but not before her parents divorced a few years earlier than that. It was half the reason why Luce's mom decided to move them back to Hawkins in the first place.
"Oh, well, I'm sorry for snapping. I was just really worried about you." Kim tried to muster a smile but failed. Luce swallowed the knot in her throat as she sat up and rested her elbows on the table.
"I know..." she trailed off, "Anyway, let's get going. Cynthia will kill us if we're late to her house." Luce and Kim started to gather their books when they noticed Nancy storm out of the library with Steve Harrington in tow. She looked frantic to leave in her lavender colored sweater with what looked like tears in her eyes. Luce stood up from her chair, but it was too late as the brunette was already out the door.
"What's wrong with her?" Kim asked, brows furrowed.
"I don't know." Luce murmured. The thing with keeping a secret this big was that not only were you worried that others would find out, but you were worried that the people that already knew would spill. Nancy was the type of person who acted like she was strong for the sake of others, but inside she was really falling apart herself. Luce knew Nancy was dealing with this just as hard as her, maybe even harder, and she wished she knew what to say to make it better for her cousin. Unfortunately, Luce had never been good with words.