SCREAM

smells like teen spirit

Jane woke up feeling unsettled. She wasn't sure why, but something in the air felt off. She got ready for school relatively quickly before walking downstairs and heading out the door. She decided against taking the bus in favor of walking to school. She had left earlier than usual anyway, and maybe the fresh air would help her clear her head.

When she arrived at school she was shocked to see the campus was flooded with news vans and reporters. The entire chaos of the situation left chills in her bones. Nervously, she weaved her way through reporters and kept her head down. This situation reminded her all to well of Hopper. She shook her head, she wasn't going to think about it.

"Boo!" A familiar femme voice shouted behind her, grabbing onto her shoulders and shaking her. Jane flinched instinctively, "God! Erica!" She turned to face the younger girl, who was currently grinning at her like a shark. Erica was a freshman and ever since she joined the D&D club officially with the rest of the Party, she has been adopted into the group. She swatted her boisterous friend, scowling bitterly. "You scared the shit out of me!" Erica shrugged, "Not my fault you're so jumpy. It's like you're begging for me to scare you." She teased nudging her shoulder with no remorse. Jane rolled her eyes playfully. "Whatever, do you know what all the commotion is about?" She nodded toward the crowd and Erica's eyes widened comically. "Holy shit! You haven't heard?! Heather Holloway and Billy Hargrove were butchered last night!"

Jane felt her eyes triple in size. Her face paled in horror as she processed Erica's words. "W-what?!" Erica nodded, entirely unphased. "It was sick! Both of them were gutted outside of Heather's house." Jane had a complex relationship with Heather. Ever since she had saved the girl back in the summer of '85 she felt somewhat responsible for Heather's safety. The girl had long graduated and was attending University in Indianapolis. She was happy and was dating Billy Hargrove, who happened to be the older brother of Jane's best friend Maxine. Oh God, "Max-!" Erica's face turned somber. "I have to call Max!" Jane's voice shook with shock and panic. Erica shook her head, "No use, she stayed home and I don't think she's doing well. I mean, who can blame her?" Jane covered her mouth in horror. This was awful.

As if the day couldn't get worse, Jane noticed a familiar brunette, a few years older than her, speed in her direction. "Jane! Jane!" Jane turned, eyes dull as none other than Nancy Wheeler thrust a microphone into her face. "Nancy Wheeler, Hawkins Post, do you have anything to share about this recent tragedy that has shocked the seemingly peaceful town of Hawkins, Indiana?" "No comment." Jane stated, trying to shove past the older girl. Nancy ignored her attempt at escape and motioned to the camera man shadowing her, "Jane, everyone is saying how this gruesome murder is almost identically parallel to the death of Captain Jim Hopper of the Hawkins Police Department. He was found dead almost a year ago this day, correct? Do you have anything to say about that?"

Jane flinched, stunned at Nancy's complete apathy towards the subject none of her friends brought up. She turned to face Nancy fully. Nancy stared back at her, face composed, a plastic smile plastered on her face. That fake snake. All she wanted was to stick her nose in the dirt at the first scent of a 'good story'. It made sense why Mike despised his sister. All she cared about was getting her scoop so she could make it to the big leagues. "Stay the fuck away from us." Erica jutted in before either one of them could get another word out. Erica shot the reporter a cold look before guiding Jane away from the mob flittering about.

"I actually cannot believe where that bitch finds the fucking audacity-" The dark skinned girl mumbled, angrily marching into the school building. "Erica, it's fine." Jane sighed, rubbing her forehead. She could already feel the familiar sting of a headache behind her eyes. "Look, I have to get to class." Erica pulled her into a hug, her braids swishing as she did so. "Okay, but come sit at our usual spot at lunch? I don't want you to be alone." Jane nodded, "Of course."

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Jane stared at the empty desk to her left. Max's absence rang loudly in the classroom and whispers of rumors were already spreading like a blaze throughout the school. Mrs. Smith was calling students into the office one by one. Allegedly everyone had to be questioned. "Jane Hopper?" Jane felt her head snap up, face flushing. "Yes?" "You're next." With that, Jane stood, gathering her things and awkwardly made her way to the Principal's office.

As she rounded the corner, she caught sight of Mike exiting the office, hands stuffed deep into his jacket pockets, his head tilted down, causing his dark curls to fall into his eyes. But he must've felt her gaze on him, because he looked up and locked eyes with her, nodding almost imperceptibly as he made his way down the hall. She smiled slightly, this had been the first she had seen of him all day, causing her to feel somewhat worried about his safety. She felt reassured to know he was fine.

Walking into the office, she immediately recognized a familiar face. "Jonathan?" He smiled slightly, "Hey kid, how're you holding up?" She moved forward and hugged her adopted brother fiercely. "I'm okay, I guess." She pulled back, her brow furrowing in confusion. "What're you doing here?" "I'm a forensic photographer for the Hawking PD, I'm also technically the Deputy. I graduated from the Police Academy six months ago!" Jane nodded, realization flooding her. "Oh that's right! I completely forgot. But I thought you were studying at Law School?"

He nodded, "I haven't enrolled yet. I'm planning on next semester. But I thought this was a better way to help the community and keep people safe. Besides, it's something I'm passionate about. Protecting people." Jane understood why he felt that way, ever since Will's disappearance and then return all those years ago, Jonathan became set on protecting those who couldn't protect themselves. She was pretty sure, his actions were also fueled by his guilt of being unable to save his brother, even though none of that was his fault.

"So you decided to become an officer to uphold justice and lock away bad guys?" She chuckled, "Like Batman?" He smirked, punching her lightly. "That's funny. But yeah, I guess it's something like that huh?"

Feeling more at ease, Jane turned to the other officers who sat across from her. Officer Powell and Officer Callaghan looked mildly annoyed at her bantering with Jonathan so she quickly sat down across from them. Officer Powell got straight down to business. "Hello Miss Hopper, we need to ask you a few questions if you don't mind." Jane nodded, "Not at all."

"Let's start with your whereabouts last night. Can you tell me in excruciating detail where you were starting around 7 pm?" "Sure, of course." She thought back to the start of last night and began to retell the evening to the Officers as best she could. Leaving out the part of Mike sneaking into her house, of course.

"Thank you, Miss Hopper. We only have a couple more questions."

"Okay."

"What was your relationship like with Miss Holloway?"

Jane thought to herself for a minute, while she did care about Heather the two had never been particularly close.

"I'd say I knew her, but not closely. We've only really talked a couple of times."

"What about your relationship to Mr. Hargrove?"

"All I know about Billy comes through my relationship with his sister, Max. The two of us we're never close."

Officer Powell exchanged looks with Officer Callaghan. "Alright, I think that'll be all Miss Hopper. Thank you for your time."

"Of course, anything to help." Jane nodded quickly, before standing and grabbing her things. Making her way to lunch.

A creeping sense of dread crawled up her throat and she couldn't help but feel like something much worse was coming.