Other Friends

2

Byer's House: November 7th, 1983

"Where the hell are they?" Joyce exasperatedly says while searching for her keys.

Jonathan in the kitchen, making eggs; shouts "Check the couch!"

She finds them behind a pillow, "Oh, got them!" She walks into the kitchen, stressed. "Okay sweetie, I will see you tonight."

Jonathan nods, putting the eggs onto a plate, "Yeah see you later."

She pauses, looking back to Jonathon, "Where's Will?"

"Oh, I didn't get him up yet. He's probably still sleeping." Jonathan tells her with a shrug.

She sighs, "Jonathan, you have to make sure he's up!" making her way down the hallway.

"Mom, I'm making breakfast" He said panicky, thinking Bella is still in Will's room from the night before..

"I told you this a thousand times. Will! Come on honey. It's time to get up." She opens Will's bedroom door, looking confused that no one was there. She makes her way back into the kitchen, asking; "He came home last night, right?"

"He's not in his room?" Jonathan asks, trying not to show his confusion.

"Did he come home or not?" Joyce asks her son again.

"I don't know." he replies.

"You don't know?" she questions, eyes wide.

Jonathan avoids eye contact with his mom as he answers. "No... I got home late. I was working...I asked.... Bella..." he stops, realizing he blew his cover.

"Asked Bella what?" Joyce grills him.

He shrugs and sheepishly admits, "I asked her to bring him home."

Joyce's eyes went wide and asked shrilly; her voice getting higher, "You asked Bella to bring him home? Even when she has a lot on her plate?"

"She's THE babysitter!" He emphasizes to his mother..

Exasperated, Joyce threw her arms in the air, "That's not an excuse, Jonathan!"

"Eric asked if I could cover. I said yeah. Bella said she'd do this for free, because she knows we could use the extra cash." He tries to explain it like it was no big deal.

"You can't take shifts when I'm working!" disappointedly says Joyce.

"Mom, it's not a big deal. Look, he was at the Wheelers all day with Bella. He probably stayed the night there. If not the Wheelers', then the Henderson's." he tries to explain to calm her down.

"I can't believe you. You know how I feel when we can't pay her!" she angrily says as she grabs the phone.

Windy-

Getting woken up by something so soft yet so forceful was disorienting for Windy. "Wake Up!" her little brother's voice wakes her up from the disorientation.

"What the shit Dustin?" She questions the middle school as looks over at him.

"Ms. Byers is on the phone for you." He says as she started getting up from the bed.

"Well alright, you didn't need to wake me up like that." she grumbles towards him.

"Well, it was either by pillow or water. Be happy it wasn't water." He sassed back.

"I'll wake YOU up with a pillow next. See how you like it." she pauses looking at her clock, "Also be ready to leave so we can head to school."

"No need, I'm taking my bike. " He calls back as she starts to walk to the phone in the kitchen.

Windy shrugs at him as she grabs the phone. "Morning, Mrs. Byers. What can I do for you this morning?"

A sigh was heard on the line, "Did Will spend the night at your house?"

"No Dustin came home alone." she pauses, "Did Will not make it home?"

Another sigh, " He probably went to school early. I'll call Bella-." Joyce starts to explain.

Windy interrupts her, "No need, she's probably already there. I can ask her when I get there. And I'll let Jonathan know."

"Oh, thank you. Thank you. I would really appreciate it, Windy" she said gratefully.

"Oh, it's no problem. Since I have you on the phone. Is dinner still on for tonight or do you want to postpone it?" Windy questions the kind mother.

"I'll talk to Jonathan, but until I know what's going on with Will; I don't want to think about it." She denies.

Windy nods, "Oh, it's not a problem. Talk to you later then." Joyce quickly says bye and hangs up.

Dustin comes into the room suddenly with the new D&D prints his sister was working on, "Don't you need these today?"

Her eyes then widened before grabbing them, "No touching the merchandise Dustin! You know how Eddie gets." She scolds before holding them out of his reach.

Dustin's face became annoyed, "No touching the merchandise." He mocks. "When are you going to redraw our characters?" he asks.

"When you guys pay me for them. Paint is expensive." Windy sasses him. He groaned and left the house, sassily.

Hawkins, High School-

Windy pulls up to Hawkins High, and is able to pinpoint her other best friend, Lizzy, cuddling with her boyfriend, Eddie, in his van. She scrunches her nose at their cuddly behavior before grabbing the bag with the D&D prints and walking up to them, nearly gagging at their snogging.

"Yo lovebirds, I have business to attend to." She says loudly as she walks up to them.

They broke apart, surprised at the sudden interruption. Once Lizzy saw her friend, she waves and rolls her eyes, knowing what was about to happen. Eddie gave the girl a cheeky grin. "Ah, my dealer has arrived. I was worried you bailed on me."

"You know me Munson. You pay. I deliver." As she opens the bag, stopping before them.

As Windy pulls out the art, Lizzy exasperatedly says; "For fucks sake. It's just art you two had to make it weird."

"Course we do, gotta keep it interesting. Besides, you're the one dating him." Windy sasses back.

Eddie looks up at Lizzy, with a dorky smile; "Yeah she is." She bops him in the back of the head lightly.

Windy laughs at the two before making gimme motions with her hands at him, "Give me my money before you get a concussion Munson. I got shit to do."

"Menace. Here ya go and off you go Henderson." Windy grabs it before also using her other hand to grab Lizzy's arm to drag her away.

"I'm stealing your girlfriend! We gotta find Bella. See ya Munson!" The two hurriedly went to the school before he could stop them, leaving him confused.

"What do you mean to find Bella? She's at the same place every day." Lizzy questions as they walk past Nancy and Barb in the hall.

"I gotta ask her something and I couldn't watch you and Munson suck face any longer." Windy replies with an eye roll.

"Someone's sassy today." She snarks back with an amused look.

"Well, you would be too, if you got woken up by a pillow to the face." She explains with an eye roll.

Suddenly, the intercom comes on just as they get to Bella's locker where there was no sign of their friend, "Will Bella Rose, Windy Henderson and Elizabeth Hopper come to the principal's office. Thank you." The two look at each other in confusion as the class bell rings.

"Lizzy, what did you do?"