The Stancy Files

Chapter 9: The Rebel

Nancy and Steve had just been interrogated once more by the Hawkins police. Karen pulled her daughter into the kitchen for a quick chat. "Nancy, why in the world were you with Steve? You can't just move on from dumping one innocent boy to another! You owe Jonathan an explanation and an apology!" The blue-eyed beauty glared at her mother. "I explained this to you before! I don't owe Jonathan an apology and I told you and him both why I was breaking up with him! God! Can't you see that this is why I ran away in the first place?" The mother was fed up with her daughter's behavior. "Nancy Wheeler, you should be ashamed. You are grounded! No hanging out with friends for the next month and no dating until after you graduate!" Nancy was beyond enraged. "No! You don't get to decide what I do with my time or who I spend it with! I tried to tell you the truth and now you're grounding me. This is ridiculous! I'm leaving and I'm not coming back!" Karen's jaw dropped as her oldest daughter stormed out of the kitchen. Ted watched Nancy strut towards the door in annoyance. "Listen to your mother!" He hollered from his lazyboy.

Steve was still talking to Officer Powell about everything when he saw Nancy moving towards the door. He immediately knew something bad must've happened and jogged out the door after her. "Nance, did something happen? Where are you going?" He asked, breathless. Nancy turned around quickly, not realizing Steve had followed her out. "My parents think I'm crazy! My mother isn't letting me go talk to anyone or do anything all because I broke things off with Jonathan! She's a nut-case!" He walked over to her, grabbing both of her shoulders, trying to calm her down. "Whoa, whoa. It's gonna be okay. My parents are dicks too. Just give them time, okay Nance? Your parents aren't like mine. At least your mom isn't. Your dad doesn't say much so I can't really tell." Nancy searched his eyes. "I get that you want the best for me, Steve. I do. But I can't just stay in that house for the rest of my life... not with everything else going on. We have so much to do and to plan and they won't even let me out of the house. It's going to be horrible if I go back in there." Steve's heart was saddened for his friend. "Just trust me, Nance. It's better than going out there all alone. You'll be safer here." She shook her head lightly, turning away from him. "I'm sorry, Steve. I can't do that... Not right now." Nancy started to walk down the street, and Steve had no idea what to do. He slowly began to follow her. "Nancy, please! You have to re-think this! Hawkins isn't safe anymore!" He called after her. She wouldn't listen and continued walking as far as she could from Maple Street.

Steve ran back to his car as fast as he could once Nancy was out of sight. He hated to do this, but it was for her own good. He had to hunt her down and make sure she was at home. He knew Nancy wouldn't be stupid enough to go back to Benny's and there was no way in hell she was going anywhere close to Jonathan. Steve's house was a possibility but he highly doubted she would end up there. Nancy, on the other hand, was just walking around the block to get back to the house where she got into her car. She drove over to Forrest Hills Trailer Park to visit Max. Max had been out of the hospital for about three weeks. Her legs had healed and she could see now, but her arms were still healing so they were both still in casts. Hawkins collectively decided to not re-open schools for a month because of the "earthquake" for a short amount of time, but within the next week, the schools would be back in session for a little over a month and a half before the end of the school year. Nancy planned to be back at school while still staying with Max as long as she could.

Max heard a knock on the door and went to open it because no one else was there to do it. Her mother was at work and her father had just left to go back to California once Max was back up on her feet again. She opened the door. "Oh, Nancy, hey." Nancy looked eyed around the outside of the trailer, looking suspicious. "Hi, uh, can I come in? It's a little urgent." Max nodded and moved to the side, letting Nancy in the door before shutting it. Nancy decided to get straight to the point. "Things are really... rough at my house right now, and I was wondering if I could stay here. I mean... there's not much of anywhere else I can go and I can help around whenever you need it. Whatever you need me to do. Just name it. I just... need a place to stay... for a little while." Max shrugged as best she could. "I mean, sure. Home situations suck sometimes, well a lot of times. But my mom won't mind. You'll have to sleep with me though because well... we don't really have anywhere else right now." Nancy nodded, completely understanding. "Of course! Anything is better than my house right now." Max looked up at her. "Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask, is Mike okay? El hasn't heard from him much lately." Nancy nodded. "Oh, yes! He's totally fine. My mom is just super crazy about everything that's happened lately. And she doesn't even know what really happened. She's not letting us go anywhere... so I ran away. Multiple times. That's how I ended up here. Mike is fine though. I was just there and he seemed okay. A little sad, but okay. Nothing I would worry about." Nancy looked up, a little concerned. "How is El? With everything going on? I haven't seen her in a few weeks." Max nodded. "Yeah... I heard about the breakup. I get it. I mean we're all going through something. But El is taking it the worst. She thinks she failed. She's been hanging out here as much as Hopper lets her which is helping some, but she's taking it hard. Really hard. She's coming over later today. So is Lucas. I can call them and tell them to wait a day or two if you want though. To get settled in or whatever." Nancy shook her head. "No, don't do that! I don't want anything to seem... strange or... confusing just because I'm here. If anything, I want to help. I don't want to be a burden on you, Max." Max shrugged. "Okay. Umm, there's not much to do so we can just hang out until then I guess." Nancy was happy with that and had the chance to catch up with her younger friend until Lucas and El got there. She just went into the bedroom and did a crossword puzzle for a little while Max, Lucas, and El spent time together.

Early the next day, there was a loud banging on the Mayfield's trailer door. "Hey, Max! Are you there? It's- it's Steve!" Nancy opened her mouth and fled into the bedroom, shutting the door as fast as she could so he wouldn't know she was there. Max opened the door to a frantically pacing Steve Harrington. "Steve, what are you doing here? What did Dustin do this time?" He rolled his eyes and stepped in the door, pacing back and forth even more than just moments before. "It's Nancy. She ran away yesterday and I'm really worried. I don't know where she is. Have you heard anything from her?" Max's eyebrows narrowed. "Oh-well-" A sneeze came from the bedroom. Steve immediately knew who it was. He walked towards the bedroom door and flung it open. "Nancy! Oh my god! Where the hell have you been? I've been up all night looking for you!" An eery shadow passed across her face. "Steve, you have to go. I'm sorry that you spent all night looking for me, but I can't go back there. It's better here and I'm with Max. We can keep each other safe." He walked closer to her. "Nance, I can't just leave you here. You know it's not safe at all. Max and her mom shouldn't even be here. Please. Come with me, Nance. Please." She met his eyes and was saddened for him. "You know I can't, Steve. I'm sorry." Steve brought a hand up to his head. He was worrying even more. "Nancy, this is crazy. You said it yourself- we have so much to do and to plan- and- and we need you safe for that! Both of you!" Nancy walked closer to Steve, taking his hand. "We're safe here, Steve. We are. And we'll be back at school in a week. We do have a lot to do, and I'll be here. We're safe. It's okay. You don't need to worry. Just go home. Get rest. I'll see you on Monday when you drop Robin off at school." Steve met her eyes, speechless. He didn't like it, but he listened. He squeezed Nancy's hand. "I'll see you. Monday. If you're not there, I'm calling the cops. I'll know something is wrong." She smiled. "Monday. I'll see you then. And Steve," she said, a little more light-heartedly. "Be smart. And safe."