Other Friends

Chapter 7 - Code RED

"We're calling them." Lucas tells the group as they sit in the AV club.

"Hell no." Dustin argues back, not wanting to call his sister.

The three boys and one girl look at him like he's lost it. "What do you mean hell no? We have an upside down creature loose in the school, we're calling them!" Mike fires back.

"If we call them, I'm dead, especially if my sister's with them." Dustin tells them.

"Dude, your sister is the only one with a walkie, of course she's gonna be with them." Lucas reminds him, making the boy groan.

"We really should call them." Will brings up, making it three against one.

Dustin looks over at Max silently asking her to back him up, "Don't look at me. Your gross pollywog is somewhere, and I think we need all the help we can get." she tells him.

"I'm calling them." Lucas says before grabbing the walkie off the table.

Back at the high school, everyone was slowly leaving the school. Windy didn't let Lizzie leave with her new boy toy Billy. "You are staying with me." She instructs earning an eye roll but no argument.

Bella was making her way out when a certain senior stopped her in her tracks. "Jesus Steve!" she exclaimed in surprise.

He just gives her a small smile, "Sorry. But I needed to talk to you real quick."

She looks at him confused, seeing him in his gym clothes. "If it's about basketball practice the answer is, yes you smell like sweat." she jokes continuing on her way outside.

Steve rolls her eyes but follows after her, "No. It's about Nancy. We... We sort of had a fight. And I don't know what to do."

Bella pauses and looks at him with a raised eyebrow. "You're asking me for advice? The girl who's never been in a relationship? Really?" she questions.

He looks at her waiting for her to laugh but she doesn't. "Wait. You're serious, you've never been in a relationship? Not even flirting with someone?" he asks, getting off topic.

"Everyone thinks I'm the buzzkill weirdo. No one wants to date that." She reminds him of who he's talking to.

"But you're really nice and smart and pretty. I don't get why someone wouldn't date you." he compliments, making her blush and look away.

She clears her throat, "What's going on with Nancy?" She changes the topic back.

"Right! So, during the party yesterday, she got a little drunk and called me bullshit, and our relationship bullshit, and then said she didn't love me." he admits to her quietly as they slowly make their way through the parking lot.

"Oh wow." she comments.

Steve nods, "And I went to talk to her about it today and she didn't remember it. She even thought I was the one who took her home. But Jonathan did. So, I reminded her, and she just brushed it off as a Drunk mistake. And I-I sort of blew up and told her if she didn't mean to say that she loved me and she just stared at me." he explains, sounding sad. "I don't know what to do. I'm mad at her but... I don't know."

"You're allowed to be mad Steve. You care for her a lot so her saying all that can sting. Honestly you just have to stand your ground. She's not mad at you, you are mad at her." she tells him.

"But I just... feel bad. Like should I apologize to her?" he asks.

"Apologize? Steve I-" Bella was cut off by someone shouting.

"Bella! I'm giving you a ride today!" Windy shouts from where she stood in front of her car.

"Yeah, I'm going to apologize to her. Thanks Bella." Steve says, giving her a pat on the head before jogging to his car.

"No, Steve, that wasn't..." she sighs, "And you're gone. Great." she says to herself before making her way to Windy. "Hey."

"Hey. I think we all need to talk about-" Windy starts but Lizzie rolling down the window cuts her short.

"Please take this, the dweebs are shouting." Lizzie says, holding out a walkie that was shouting out incoherent every few seconds.

"What did they say?" Windy asks as she grabs the walkie.

"All I heard was something red and then they started-" she pauses as the walkie screeches again, "doing that." she winces at the noise.

"Red? As in Code red?" Bella asks before it screeches again.

"Probably?" Lizzie says unsure.

"This is Windy. Stop shouting, over." she says into the walkie.

It goes silent for a moment before it explodes with noise again. "Windy! Are the others with you!?" Lucas's voice comes through.

"Yeah? Did you say code red?" she asks him.

"No, No code red! Ignore Lucas." Dustin's voice cuts through before a "Dude" is heard.

"What's going on?" she asks again.

"Nothing" "Something!" the two overlap.

Bella rolls her eyes before snatching the walkie, "Listen here you two, hand the walkie to someone else." she scolds them.

It was silent for a moment before, "Hello? This is Max, over?" a confused but annoyed sounding girl's voice comes through.

The three girls look at the walkie confused. A girl joined the party? "Hi Max... Was there a Code Red?" Bella asks the girl calmly.

"Yes." she confirms simply, ignoring the boys squawking in the background, arguing with one another still.

"We'll be right over. AV room?" she asks the tween.

"AV room. See you soon." Max confirms before the radio goes silent.

"Well, let's go see what trouble they got themselves into." Bella tells the two, getting into the car.