CONNECTION |steve harrington x oc| BOOK 4

chapter 14- stupid clock

"Fred and Chrissy, they both came to Ms. Kelley for help." Max began once they were back in the counseling office, surrounding the desk that now had papers scattered all over. "They were both having headaches, bad headaches that just wouldn't go away." Phoebe's mind flicked back to seeing Max in the hallway last week at her locker. She had tried to say hi, but Max kept her head down. As Phoebe turned to walk away she saw Max's head jerk back and then shove a rattling bottle into her bookbag. "And then...then the nightmares. Trouble sleeping." Max was starting to breathe shallowly and her eyes brimmed with tears. "They'd wake up in a cold sweat. And they started seeing things. Bad things from their pasts. And these visions, they just...kept on getting worse and worse until eventually- everything ended."

"Vecna's curse." Robin said as she looked up to Max.

"Chrissy's headaches started a week ago." Max read from the dead girl's file. "Fred's six days ago." It was quiet for a moment. "I've been having them for five days." Phoebe sucked in a breath as her hand instinctively reached for Steve's wrist. "I don't know how long I have." Her voice cracked. "All I know is that for Fred and Chrissy they both died less than twenty-four hours after their first vision." Phoebe pinched her eyes shut. "And I just saw that goddamn clock, so..." Her breath was even more shaky. "Looks like I'm gonna die tomorrow." Everyone was quiet, unsure of how to comfort their doomed friend. Phoebe opened her mouth to speak, but a loud clang down the hall turned everyone's head to the door. 

"Stay here." Steve whispered, Phoebe ignoring him as they both walked to the door. "Pheebs, come on, stay with Max."

"No, you know how this works. You die, I die."

"Well that's a bit dramatic." He grabbed a lamp that stood behind the door. 

"Wish you would've let me keep the bat?" Phoebe said snidely before stepping into the eerie darkened hallway. They only got a few steps away before everyone else was behind them with flashlights. "Does nobody follow directions?" Another loud noise, and then hurried, heavy footsteps. Someone was running. They grew louder as whoever it was got closer. As the mystery intruder rounded the corner Steve gripped the lamp and swung it back, letting out a yell. The person yelled back, causing everyone to let out a scream, lights flaring about as the flashlights moved with everyone's readied hands. 

"Guys, it's me!" Lucas shouted over the screams as Phoebe was able to steady her light on him. 

"Lucas?" She asked. 

"It's me." He panted. "I'm sorry." 

"Jesus, what's wrong with you, Sinclair?" Steve yelled. "I could've taken you out with this lamp."

"Sorry, guys. I was...biking for eight miles." He breathed heavy. "Give me a second." He forced a swallow. "We've got a code red."

"What?" Steve asked. "What now?"

"Dustin." Lucas walked toward him. "I've been with Jason, Patrick, and Andy, and they've gone totally off the rails. They're trying to capture Eddie and they think you know where he is. You're in terrible danger."

"All right, yeah that definitely sucks, but we've got bigger problems than Jason right now."

"What could be worse than that?" He asked. Dustin looked at Max, her eyes still red and slightly puffy. "Max?"

"We have a theory." Nancy started. 

"And I'd rather not be here to test it out." Phoebe said as she reached a hand into Steve's pocket. "Let's get out of here." She jangled the keys to his car.

"And where do you propose we bunker down?" Robin asked as they walked to the parking lot.  

"We can't go to our place, my mom was losing it earlier." Dustin said.

"My parents are going to kill me, I gotta at least stop in." Lucas sighed. 

"Let's just go to my house." Nancy offered. "My parents never go in the basement and are always telling us that we should hang out at home more."

---

Phoebe paced back and forth in the small basement of the Wheeler home. She'd been down here plenty of times before when picking up Dustin but she'd never actually looked around. It was outdated compared to the upper levels, discolored carpet covering the cold cement floor. The squishy couch in the corner was unappealing, but she soon found it was very comfortable as Steve made her sit. "Sorry."

"You always do that. Pacing, it's like your nervous thing." He smiled to himself. "I'm pretty sure there's a worn line around your bed from pacing while you made me read flashcards before a test."

"And I've never failed one. Don't mock the process." She smiled. "Are you okay? I don't want to fight right now, but you've been in a mood for like a week now. And don't give me a bullshit answer, we don't do that." He looked intently at her for a moment and sighed. 

"Okay fine. You were so excited for Spring Break a few weeks ago, but as it got closer you started talking more about graduating and college, I just...this week was supposed to be just us."

"Why didn't you just talk to me?"

"It kinda felt like you were the one pulling away. I know how busy the end of senior year feels, even if I did barely pass, there's a lot of tests and papers. Plus you actually have the college thing hanging over your head. You didn't tell me any of the schools you got accepted to, even after I saw the stack on your kitchen table."

"I didn't want to think about it or bum you out. We weren't supposed to think about this yet. We're supposed to be being dumb teenagers who stay out too late and sneak beer or wine coolers out to Skull Rock. We're supposed to be making out in the back of your car, not worrying about the future. Especially not the end of the world."

"Tell me what schools you got into."

"Steve I don't want to do this right now."

"We could both use the distraction." He placed a hand on her thigh. 

"Fine." She said through gritted teeth. He smiled and placed a quick peck on her lips, nodding her along. "Indiana State, obviously. I definitely qualify for an academic scholarship, but I don't know how I feel about a smaller school like that. Wesleyan up in Fort Wayne accepted me, but I don't know how I feel about a school that requires religion classes." She paused. 

"Northwestern offered me a choir scholarship."

"You got into Northwestern?" He asked with wide eyes. "Pheebs, that's one of the best schools in the country!" 

"I know, it's insane." She sighed. "I never thought I'd be able to get an out of state offer like that, let alone for singing. I don't even know what I want to major in."

"Okay, that doesn't even matter right now. I can't believe you're going to be up in Chicago in just a few months."

"Whoa, I haven't even responded to any of them. Hold your horses."

"Fine, but you know you're going to go there. You have to."

"Let's just worry about this after we save the world again." She glanced around and saw that all three of the younger kids were dozing off around the basement, Nancy and Robin nowhere to be found. She smiled as she leaned in and kissed him. 

"What was that for?" He whispered. 

"Because this is how we're supposed to be spending spring break."