The classes were slowly passing and eventually Steve and Robin made it to lunch. When they arrived at the cafeteria they realized that this week their school was hosting an event with another school out of Hawkins so there were way more people than there usually would be. Steve checked out the window and saw a wooden picnic table,
"We can eat out there"
Robin popped her head out to see and nodded at the peaceful sight. As they began to walk, they were suddenly joined by Eddie and Vickie,
"Afternoon Harrington, hello Buckley" Eddie smiled and Steve went red, "hi Eddie, what are you doing?"
Vickie and Robin had ignored both of them and were chatting about band, there was practice after school for the event. They all paused when they saw Dustin standing in the middle of the hall with...Chrissy?.
Dustin seemed to be smiling and Chrissy gave him a hug before leaving, she had gone down a separate hallway so she hadn't noticed the group of gawking teenagers. Dustin was still smiling until he turned around and saw his usual friends staring at him in shock and confusion,
"She was asking for help with something." He slumped his shoulders and rolled his eyes.
"I was about to say, little old Henderson"
"Yeah and don't you have a girlfriend?"
"I can talk to other girls! And it's Chrissy, she's nothing compared to Suzie"
Steve scrunched up his face and Robin was still in shock that her small, fuzzy haired friend had a girlfriend. They all walked outside together and sat at the picnic table, Dustin then finally spoke to Eddie,
"What are you doing here? Why aren't you sitting at our normal table?"
"Too crowded for my liking" The real reason was that Eddie was silently fighting with Jeff and Gareth and the last thing he wanted to do today was speak to them about Steve.
Dustin nodded and shrugged, he had seen all the new students enter the school this morning and all the fuss the teachers were making about the schools branding. He looked at Steve who was still eyeing him off maternally and wondered if Steve had managed to find anything, judging by Robin's lack of interest thought he thought that mustn't be the case.
Everyone continued to eat their lunch, minus Eddie who didn't have any but politely accepted Steve's apple juice.
"We should sit out here more often it's nice" Vickie looked around the yard, the table was outside near the football oval but high enough that there was some quiet.
"Yeah, especially at the moment with the new guys" Steve rolled his eyes, he was all for school events but Hawkins school just wasn't big enough to host a whole other year level.
"What do you think of the new kids Dustin, met any nerdy friends to join your club?"
Dustin was quiet, Robin poked him with her plastic fork, "hey Dustin, did you hear me?"
"Yeah sorry, they seem fine I guess, haven't spoken to any of them" Dustin fiddled with his plate, trying not to look at Steve or Eddie, "by the way I'm staying with Mike and Lucas the next couple of weeks"
"Really, why?" Part of Eddie was relieved he'd be with someone else since his mum worked so often.
"Mum's gone on a work trip so I'm staying one week at Mikes and then one week with Lucas" Dustin was happy, he was excited to spend some time with his friends outside of school, they had all been so focused on other things that they almost forgot to just hang out with each other every now and again.
