suıʞʍɐɥ oʇ ǝɯoɔlǝʍ sƃuıɥʇ ɹǝƃuɐɹʇs

Chapter Fourteen: The Spy

ʎds ǝɥʇ
uǝǝʇɹnoɟ ɹǝʇdɐɥɔ

November 3, 1984

When we got back to our house it was dark. Steve grabbed the bat out of his trunk and we took Steve around back to the cellar. “I don't hear shit,” Steve said. “He's in there,” Dustin told him. Steve hit the doors a few times but nothing happened. He stood back and pointed the flashlight at Dustin, “All right, listen, kid. I swear, if this is some sort of Halloween prank, you're dead,” he said. “It's not a prank, Steve. I helped get him down there,” I told him. His expression softened and he sighed, “You got a key for this thing?” He asked. I pulled the key out of my pocket and handed it to him.

He handed Dustin the flashlight and he opened the doors. Me and Dustin stood behind him and looked down the cellar stairs, Dustin pointed the light down into the darkness. “Let me see that,” Steve said and took the flashlight. He pointed to the bottom but nothing was there. “He must be further down there,” Dustin said. YN and I will stay up here in case he tries to… escape.” Steve sighed and headed down into the cellar. Dustin and I waited but we’re two very impatient people. “Steve?” I called. “Steve, what's going on down there?” Dustin asked.

Steve came to the bottom of the stairs pointing the light at us. Dustin and I grabbed onto each other stepping back a little. “Get down here,” Steve told us. I pushed Dustin in front of me, “you go first,” I said. “Why me? You’re older,” he said. Steve sighed heavily, “Will you two just get down here!” Dustin went first but kept a hold of the sleeve of my jacket. When we got down the stairs Steve was holding some kind of gooey stuff on his bat. Oh, shit,” Dustin said. Then Steve pointed at the wall. There was a huge hole in the wall with a tunnel leading out. “Oh, shit! No way. No way!” Dustin said. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I mumbled.

November 4, 1984

Steve picked Dustin and I up and we headed to the train tracks. Dustin had the idea to lore Dart to the old junkyard. Steve opened his trunk pulling out two buckets of meat chunks. He and Dustin were wearing yellow cleaning gloves. We all had backpacks on, Steve and I had our bats and Dustin had a bunch of other stuff he usually carried around.

"Well, well, well, look who it is," Dustin said. I looked over at him with a questioning look and he mouthed that it was Lucas. "Well, when you were having sister
problems, Dart grew again, he escaped, and I'm pretty sure he's a baby Demogorgon," Dustin told him. "I'll explain later. Meet me, YN, and Steve at the old junkyard. And bring your binoculars and wrist rocket." Dustin said. "All right, let's go," I said. "Just be there, stat. Over and out."

After walking for a while Steve strates to talk to Dustin. I was walking behind them, my bat swinging beside me. "All right, so let me get this straight," Steve said as he threw down a few meat chunks. I made sure to not step on any. "You kept something you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl who… who you just met?" He asked. Dustin threw some meat down. "All right, that's grossly oversimplifying things," he said.

"I mean, why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway?" Steve asked. That was a good question. And the only girl I could think of was Max. Eleven ended up in the upside down after she killed the demogorgon last year. "An interdimensional slug? Because it's awesome," Dustin said. "It's gross. And it ate our fucking cat!" I said. "Well, even if she thought it was cool, which she didn't, I... I just… I don't know. I just feel like you're trying too hard," Steve told him.

"Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, all right?" Dustin said, annoyed. "It's not about the hair, man. The key with girls is just…" Steve started but I cut in. "Is just what, Harrington? I'd like to hear your expertise on girls." He looked back at me before continuing. "just acting like you don't care," he said. I laughed, "oh, my god! Are you serious?" I asked. They both ignore me. "Even if you do?" Dustin asked. "Yeah, exactly. It drives them nuts," Steve said.

I walked a little faster and pushed myself in between them. "Don't listen to him, Dustin. If you act like you don't care it's just going to push her away," I said. Steve scoffed. "Then what?" Dustin asked. "You just wait until, uh… until you feel it," Steve said. My head whipped over to look up at him. "Feel what?" Dustin asked. I closed my eyes and groaned. He was not talking to my brother about sexual attraction. "It's like before it's gonna storm, you know? You can't see it, but you can feel it, like this, uh… electricity, you know?"

"Oh, like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere…" Dustin started. He was so innocent and Steve was going to corrupt him. "No, no, no, no, no. Like a…Like a sexual electricity," Steve said. "Oh," Dustin muttered. "Steve! He is thirteen! He does not need to know this." He just looked at me and smiled. "He's going to find out soon anyway," he said. "You feel that and then you make your move."

"So that's when you kiss her?" Dustin said. I was going to say something but Steve was quick to step in. "No, whoa, whoa. Slow down, Romeo," he said. Dustin looked bashful. His cheeks turned pink, "Sorry." Steve went on to explain more. "Sure, okay, some girls, yeah, they want you to be aggressive. You know, strong, hot and heavy, like a…I don't know, like a lion." I snorted and then slapped my hand over my mouth. "Mmm," Dustin hummed. "But others, you gotta be slow, you gotta be stealthy, like a…like a ninja."

This shit made no sense to me. Was this really how boys thought? "What type is Nancy?" Dustin asked. That's when I fell back behind them. I hadn't even thought about the fact Nancy and Steve had just broken up like twenty-four hours ago. "Nancy's different. She's different than the other girls," Steve said. He wasn't wrong there. Me and Nancy couldn't be any more different. "Yeah, she seems pretty special, I guess," Dustin said. "Yeah. Yeah, she is," Steve said. I fell back a little more so they could have their little boy talk. I did not need to hear how special Nancy Wheeler is to Steve. "But this girl's special, too, you know. It's just, like, something about her," Dustin said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, hey," Steve stopped him. "What?" Dustin asked. They had completely stopped walking. "You're not falling in love with this girl, are you?" He asked. "Uh, no. No," Dustin said. "Okay, good. Don't," Steve said and we continued to walk. "I won't." Steve nodded, "She's only gonna break your heart, and you're way too young for that shit."

After that it was silent for a while. I had moved ahead of them. I didn't need one of them to turn around and see how my mood had changed. "Fabergé," Steve said. "What?" Dustin asked. "It's Fabergé Organics. Use the shampoo and conditioner, and when your hair's damp…It's not wet, okay? When it's damp…" Steve told him. "Damp," Dustin repeated. "You do four puffs of the Farrah Fawcett spray." That changed my bad mood around. I was trying so hard not to laugh.

"Farrah Fawcett spray?" Dustin asked. I had to cover my mouth with my hand so I wouldn't let out a burst of laughter. "Yeah, Farrah Fawcett.You tell anyone I just told you that and your ass is grass.You're dead, Henderson. Do you understand?" Steve said. "Yup," Dustin said. "That includes you, yn. Stop laughing!" I jumped at the sudden voice right beside me. I looked over at Steve and lost it. "Okay. Ha ha. Very funny." Steve rolled his eyes. Dustin came up on the other side of me. "Farrah Fawcett, really?" He asked. "I mean, she's hot," Steve said and Dustin agreed. I just rolled my eyes and smiled.