ʀɪɢʜᴛsɪᴅᴇ ᴜᴘ: sᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇʀ ᴛʜɪɴɢs-sᴇᴀsᴏɴs 𝟷-𝟻

Chapter Two: The Weirdo on Maple Street- Part 3

I drive closely behind Jonathan, listening to his radio blast. I'm taken aback when 'Should I stay or should I go' starts playing, Will's favorite song.

Will and Jonathan are at the edge of Jonathan's bed bobbing their heads to 'Should I stay or should I go' as I lay flat on my back behind them listening comfortably.

"You like it?" Jonathan asks him.

"Yeah, it's cool." Will chimes.

I raise up, grabbing him by the shoulders. "It's more than cool, it's The Clash." He laughs.

"All right, you can keep the mix if you want." Jonathan offers.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really." Jonathan smiles at him turning to me as I nod, smiling myself as I wrap my arms around both of their necks. I made the mix for him a few months ago, but Will's gonna love it. He'll play the hell out of it.

"Really. All the best stuff's on there, courtesy of Toni. Joy Division, Bowie, Television, The Smiths..." He lists off.

"We all know I have the best music taste." I say proudly.

"It'll totally change your life." Jonny adds.

"Yeah, totally." Will smiles, continuing to bob his head.

"Where the hell are you, Lonnie?" I flinch at Joyce's voice. "I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it." I drop my arms as the boys slowly turn their heads to the door. I sigh, picking at my finger nails. Joyce and Lonnie always fight, or more so Joyce always calls him out on his bullshit. "This is ridiculous! I'm so sick of your excuses."

Jonathan jumps to his feet, quickly shutting the door so Will doesn't have to hear anymore of it. We're use to it, Will's not. Jonathan comes back over, lowering the volume.

"He's not coming, is he?" Will asks sadly. My heart cracks as I glance at Jonathan.

"Do you even like baseball?" Jonathan asks him truthfully. That'd be a no.

Will pauses. "No, but... I don't know." He shrugs. "It's fun to go with him sometimes." I miss baseball with my dad. We'd always play together and he'd tell me to ignore those who make fun of me for liking and playing it. I stopped playing after.... But see, that's what a dad is supposed to be like.

"Has he ever done anything with you that you actually like?" Jonathan asks yet another good question. "You know, like the arcade or something." I mean not even the movies or something?

"I don't know." Will shrugs.

"No, all right? He hasn't." Jonathan concludes for him. "He's trying to force you to like normal things. And you shouldn't like things because people tell you you're supposed to."

"Exactly." I nod.

"Okay? Especially not him." Jonathan adds. Will nods. I really hope he understands and never lets anyone change him. Ever. "But you like The Clash? For real?" Jonathan goes back to the song.

"For real. Definitely." Will's smile returns.

"Good." I ruffle his hair and Jonathan turns the volume back up. Screw their dad.

Jonathan starts air-drumming as I rock the air-guitar.

We pass the 'Leaving Hawkins' and I sigh. Welp, no turning back now. I just hope the school's too busy with everything to call my mom again, or I'll never get to find Will. Because I seriously doubt he's going to be where we're going...