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╰┈➤ It was now a new school year. I sat in the back of Steve's car. Nancy was in the passenger seat and Steve was in the driver's seat. We were in the parking lot of Hawkins High School. Nancy was reading Steve's college application paper. I sat looking out the window.
"It's crap, I know." I heard Steve say to Nancy. "No, it's not crap." Nancy said back to him, looking up from the paper. Us three became close over the winter break. "It's not good." Steve said, putting himself down again. "It's going to be. Just-- it needs some reorganising." Nancy said, looking at Steve. He sighed. I looked at the paper. "Can I mark on it?" I asked Steve. He looked at me. "Yeah, I guess." Nancy passed it over to me.
I quickly read it. "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..." I pointed at the paper. "...you start talking about your granddad's experiences in the war. And I-- I don't really see how they're connected." I looked up at him. "It connects because-- because, you know, we both won." I looked at him with a straight face. I looked back down. "Do you think I should start from scratch?" "No. I mean...when's the deadline?" I asked him. I passed it back to Nancy. "It's tomorrow for early application." He looked away from me and towards Nancy. "Can you come and help me tonight?" Steve asked Nancy. I fell back into the car seat.
"We have our dinner tonight, remember?" Nancy said to Steve. "Oh my god!" "We already canceled last week. You don't have to go. Just work on this." "No, no, no. What's the point?" Steve says, grabbing the paper and scrunching it into a ball.
"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 anyways." "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..." "Just to look after you a little bit. Make sure you don't forget about this pretty face." Nancy looked away and chuckled. "Nance, i'm serious." They both lean in and kiss each other. "I love you." "I love you, too." They say to each other. "Oh, gross." I say, opening the door and getting out.
I hear Nancy and Steve laugh. A small breeze hits my face. I shut the door and turn around. A loud car engine starts revving behind me. Nancy and Steve both got out of the car. The shiny car comes driving through the car park with loud music playing inside of it.
A man steps out with a blond mullet, he's wearing denim, and a small redhead opens the other door and steps out, skateboarding away. I look back over to the licence plate, it says California. I looked back up at the man. He looks around at the other people in the car park and then his eyes land on me. We make eye contact for a second and then he walks away. Damn. I put on my backpack and started walking into school.
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╰┈➤ After class, Nancy, Jonathan, and I exited the classroom. A girl is handing out flyers for a Halloween party.
"Hey, Nancy." She passes Nancy a flyer. "Hey! Thanks." She then passes me one. "Thanks." "No problem." I walk ahead with Jonathan as Nancy slows down to read it. "Oh, could I get one more?" "Yeah, sure." I hear from behind me. Nancy comes up in between me and Jonathan.
"You're coming to this." Nancy says as she gives Jonathan the extra flyer. "Come and get sheet faced." Jonathan reads. "No, i'm not." "I can't let you sit all alone on halloween. That's just not acceptable." "Well, you can relax. I'm not gonna be alone. I'm going trick or treating with Will and Y/n." "All night?" She asks, looking at both of us. "Yeah." I say. "No, no way. You're gonna be home by 8:00, listening to the Talking Heads and reading Vonnegut or something." She says to Jonathan. "Sounds like a nice night." "Jonathan, just come. I mean, who knows, you might even, like, meet someone. You too, Y/n." Nancy says to us as we arrive at her locker.
Steve runs up behind her and grabs her. "Oh my god! Take those stupid things off." "I missed you." "It's been like an hour." "Tell me about it." They say and then kiss again. Gross. I look at Jonathan and we both start walking away to the next class.
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╰┈➤ It was now after school and I was at home with everyone else. Mom and Bob were in the kitchen together. I was sitting on the couch. I was looking through some movies that we could all watch. Jonathan was helping me pick out a few that Will, Jonathan and I could decide on.
Jonathan and I made our way to Will's room. His door was closed, so I knocked on it and opened it. "Hey, bud. I didn't know what you'd like, so I got a variety." I said to him, holding out three movies. "Take your pick." I said to him, placing them down. "Whatever you want." Jonathan came in behind me. "All right." I said, sitting down on his bed.
He was drawing a picture. "What are you working on?" Jonathan asked him. "Zombie Boy? Who's Zombie Boy?" I asked him. He stayed quiet for a second. "Me." He answered. "Did someone call you that?" Jonathan asked. Will didn't say anything. "Hey. You can talk to us. You know that, right? Whatever happened." I said. He didn't say anything. "Will, come on, talk to me." Jonathan said.
"Stop treating me like that." Will finally said. "What? Like what?" I asked. "Like everyone else. Like there's something wrong with me." "What are you talking about?" Jonathan asked again. "Mom, Dustin, Lucas. Everyone. They all treat me like i'm gonna break. Like i'm a baby. Like I can't handle things on my own. It doesn't help. It just makes me feel like more of a freak." He explained.
"You're not a freak." I said to him. "Yeah, I am. I am." He says, and then goes back to drawing. I sigh and look away. "You know what? You're right. You are a freak." I sit up and sit in front of him, crossing my legs. "What?" "No, i'm serious. You're a freak. But what? Do you wanna be normal? Do you wanna be just like everyone else? Being a freak is the best. I'm a freak." I said to him. "Is that why you don't have any friends?" Jesus. I laugh. "I have friends, Will." "Then why are you always hanging out with me and Jonathan?" "Because you guys are my best friends, all right? And I would rather be best friends with Zombie Boy and Jonathan than with a boring nobody. You know what I mean? Okay, look...who would you rather be friends with? Bowie or Kenny Rogers?" I said to him. "Ugh." "Exactly. It's no contest. The thing is, nobody normal ever accomplished anything meaningful in this world. You got it?" "Well...some people like Kenny Rogers."
"Kenny Rogers." I hear a voice say. I turn my head and see Bob standing outside Will's room. "I love Kenny Rogers." He says. Me and Will looked at each other and laughed. "What's so funny?" Bob asks. "Nothing." Jonathan says "Mr Mom. Perfect!" He leaves. We all laughed again.
We all sit in front of the tv watching Mr Mom. Jonathan yawns and Bob and Mom laugh at the movie. I sit next to Will, who's eating popcorn. The phone starts ringing, which makes me jump. I turned my head around to look at it. "Hey. It's okay. Let it go. Probably just a prank call." I hear Bob say. I turned back around and continued watching the movie.
