𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓 - 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧

02. the weirdo on maple street

THE FOLLOWING DAY

"I mean, it was the storm right? It had to have been." Beatrice told Aubrey as they walked through the halls before class this morning. She still couldn't believe she was even here.

She shouldn't be. She thought, not after last night. Not after the last day she's had.

"I don't know." Aubrey said, she walked tiredly and almost mindlessly while everyone around her was talking. She didn't hear a thing they were saying until,

"Hey!" Nancy yelled, catching Aubrey's attention.

"I think you've studied enough, Nance." Steve said, their group were now standing face to face with him, Carol, and Tommy H. Why the hell were they doing that? She wondered then and almost wished she had been paying more attention.

"Steve—"

He cut her off, "I'm telling you, you know, you got this." He flipped through her study cards aimlessly, then patted them back in order, "Don't worry. Now, onto more important matters. My dad has left town on a conference and my mom's gone with him, 'cause, you know, she doesn't trust him."

"Good call." Tommy snickered, Aubrey rolled her eyes, and looked at Ruth who looked like she was ready to be sucked into a black hole by now. But she also almost always looked like that... was hard to tell if it was because of this conversation or not.

"So, are you in?" He asked then.

"In for what?" Nancy asked, so innocently.

"No parents? Big house?" Carol mocked her. Aubrey was still wondering why she hasn't walked away by now.

"A party?" Nance replied.

"Ding, ding, ding!"

"It's... Tuesday." She said, which was a fair point but Aub knew that now Tommy and Carol would never let her live that down.

"It's Tuesday! Oh my god." Tommy laughed, Steve hit him.

"Come on. It'll be low key. It'll be just a few of us." He said, "All your girlfriends can come too." He looked at the rest of us.

"No, thanks." Aubrey mouthed then, for only Beatrice or Ruth to hear. Bea snickered at her.

"What do you say?" Are you in or are you out?" He asked.

"Uhm..." Nancy thought for a moment.

"Oh, God. Look." Carol then said, they all turned around and saw Jonathan.

"Oh god, that's depressing." Steve said, to which Aubrey whipped her head around.

"What is wrong with you?" She scoffed before walking off to her brother, Beatrice and Ruth following suit.

"Hey, did Hopper come by?" Aubrey asked her brother as he hung up a missing sign for Will.

"Yeah, I'll tell you about it if you go to Lonnie's with me." He replied.

"Lonnie? Why?"

"To see if Will's there before Hopper does." He said.

Aubrey considered it, "I don't think you guys should do that." Beatrice said, "I mean, let Hopper handle it."

"Yeah, Lonnie's a piece of shit." Ruth added.

"If Will is there and sees cops, he'll get scared, probably run and then who knows when we'll find him."

Aubrey nodded, "You're right." She looked at her friends then back at him, "I'm going with you then." She said just as Nancy walked up to them.

"Hey." She said, Jonathan, his demeanor changing back to the default shy and awkward Jonathan, instead of the Jonathan who was just talking to his sister and friends.