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HAWKINS, INDIANA — 1984.
THERESA WAS IN DENIAL.
She did not know what to do with her feelings other than bottle them up, because she had never met someone that cared about her the way Steve Harrington did.
But what she did know was that she felt terrible. For the way she had been treating Steve when all he was doing was trying to do was help her. He did not deserve any of it.
She tried not to think about it as the last bell rang to let them out of school, Tess heading for her car without even finding Jonathan first. She was just ready to pick up Erica and Lucas and go home.
Theresa picked up Erica from the elementary school first, because Lucas was taking too long to come to her car. When she circled back around to pick him up, Tess frowned when she saw that he was not out there waiting.
"What is this little dipshit doing?" she muttered to herself, rolling her eyes.
They sat in the parking lot for what felt like forever, Theresa beginning to grow concerned. She wondered if he might have taken the bus home, although that was odd. She checked her watch, bouncing her knee irritably.
Finally, Tess unbuckled her seatbelt and looked over at Erica, saying, "Wait here. I'm going to look for that dumbass."
Erica nodded, keeping her head immersed in whatever she was coloring.
Theresa got out of the car and started toward the middle school building, pushing open the doors to the entrance.
"Will!"
She heard numerous shouts for Will's name, immediately creasing her brow and hurrying around the corner. As she turned it she collided with someone, stepping back to see Dustin standing there.
"Dustin? What's going on? Where's Will?"
Dustin was about to reply when Lucas suddenly burst through the back door frantically.
"The field!" he said with fear in his voice, Tess not wasting a second. She tore off in a sprint right behind Lucas, following him out to see Will standing in the middle of the field.
"I just found him like this!" Mike explained, trying to shake Will to get him out of whatever trance it seemed like he was in.
Theresa ran up to the boy, peering down in his face to see his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Her mouth fell open with horror, kneeling down in front of him.
"Will, wake up!" Tess shook him by the shoulders, her hands trembling. "Will! Will, wake up. Please wake up, come on Will."
His eyelids moved rapidly, but Will would not budge. Theresa was fully panicking, having no idea what to do. If he was having a seizure, she only had a small idea of what she was supposed to do. Tess looked at her watch, checking the time. It had been almost a minute, and that was just since she had gotten out there.
