CONNECTION |steve harrington x oc| BOOK 4

chapter 11-good news or bad news?

"Listen, I'm all for comfort food, but don't you think we should get him something with a little substance?" Phoebe asked as she pushed the cart through the aisles of the supermarket.

"This is fine." Dustin assured as he continued to pile in the junk food. 

"We should at least get him something to drink." Max agreed. Dustin rolled his eyes and added a few bottles of chocolate Yoo-Hoo milk. 

"You're lucky I still have money saved up." Phoebe grumbled as the approached the register. "There's no way Mom would've given us money without questions. I'm supposed to be saving for college." Steve scoffed behind her. "What?"

"Nothing." He said flatly. "It's just a few bucks, you have plenty of money set aside."

"That's not the point." She mumbled, pulling cash from her wallet and handing it to the employee. "Let's get this over with." They quickly loaded the bags into Steve's car and began the drive to Reefer Rick's. Dustin made sure to tune into the local news radio station so they could stay updated on the situation. Phoebe knew how worried he really was for Eddie and it made her nervous to think about what they were supposed to do once the cops try to find him. They were almost to the garage before the radio people began their hourly update.

"Some more news from Hawkins Police Department. They have confirmed that the victim was a Hawkins High student, sadly. A young girl by the name of Chrissy Cunningham. Her parents are understandably upset and have asked the police to stop at nothing to find whomever did this to their daughter. Chief Powell's latest update did not include a suspect, but we are continuing to hear from them and will be back later with more information." 

"This is bad." Dustin mumbled. "They're gonna find him."

"We don't know that." Phoebe tried to calm him down. 

"Yes we do. We literally hacked into their system with Cerebro last night and heard them make a plan to find him." Dustin argued. 

"We'll figure it out, man. Calm down." Steve mumbled as he put the car in park. They all got out, various grocery bags in hand. The main house looked just as lifeless and Dustin didn't bother knocking as he opened the door to the garage. It obviously startled Eddie, Phoebe stepping inside to find him backed into a corner holding the same broken bottle as last night. He sighed as he realized it was them, but there was still fear in his eyes.

"Delivery service." Dustin chimed enthusiastically. As soon as they set the bags down Eddie rifled through them. He then returned to the same spot in the boat, a box of HoneyComb cereal in one hand and chocolate milk in the other, and began scarfing the food. "So we got, uh, some good news and bad news. How do you prefer it?"

"Bad news first, always." He answered through a mouthful of dry cereal. 

"Alright. Bad news- we tapped into the Hawkins PD with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you." Eddie's face fell. "Also, they're pretty convinced you killed Chrissy."

"Like, 100% kind of convinced." Max added. 

"And the good news?" Eddie asked like he couldn't believe there could be an upside. 

"Your name hasn't gone public yet." Phoebe tried to sound positive, but she wasn't even convinced herself. 

"But if we found out about you, it's only a matter of time before others do, too." Robin adds. "And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you."

"Hunt the freak, right?" Eddie's voice cracked as he looked at Robin.

"Exactly." 

"Shit."

"So before that happens," Dustin immediately jumped in. "We need to find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence."

"Dustin." Phoebe tried to slow him down, but it was no use. 

"That's all Dustin? That's all?" Eddie was now fully unconvinced that clearing his name was possible. 

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." Dustin mumbled in a high pitched tone. 

"Listen, Eddie, I know everything Dustin is saying sounds totally delusion, but we've actually been through this kind of thing before." She tried to make it seem less impossible to him. "I mean, they have a...a few times, and I have once. Mine was more human-flesh-based, theirs was more smoke-related, but-"

"Bottom line is, basically, we know what we're doing." Phoebe cut in.

"Right." Robin agreed, her eyes silently thanking Phoebe for stopping her rant. 

"Well, we usually rely on this girl who has super powers." Steve starts. "But, uh, those went bye-bye."

"So we're technically in more of the, um, kinda.." Robin paused. 

"Brainstorming phase." Max offered. 

"Exactly." Phoebe pointed as everyone mumbled an agreement. 

"There's nothing to worry about." Dustin spluttered as everyone plastered a smile on their faces. Eddie looked at them like they were insane. It was only quiet for a second before sirens sounded and began getting closer to them. "Shit." 

"Tarp." Phoebe instantly ordered, Eddie throwing himself to the bottom of the boat as she and Steve covered him. They all rushed to the windows and saw multiple police cars zipping past them. "Now what?"