Kissing Habits.

09. The Ghost of Rudy Dodger In The Bus

Chapter Nine
The Ghost of Rudy Dodger In The Bus

WHEN THE BABYSITTER'S CLUB REACHED THE JUNKYARD, THEY TIPPED OUT THE REMAINDER OF THE MEAT INTO A PILE ON THE DEAD GRASS. Steve had deemed this place perfect for Demogorgon-killing, but Camila and Theodora weren't too sure what that meant. Last time Camila had been here, she was making out with Rudy Dodger on one of the seats in the abandoned school bus; good memories, I guess.

"I said medium-well!" A voice called down to them, and Camila felt her heart stop. Had someone found them already? Come to stop them, or at least ask what they're doing with a pile of meat in the junkyard?

But when she looked up, all she saw was a kid on a bike, and a ginger girl beside him, seeming all too out of place for her own good; but, as if Camila could judge someone on that.

She recognised the boy as one of Dustin's friends, one of the boys he rides around town on his bike with, getting up to whatever it is that they do. The girl, however, Camila couldn't place.

"Who's the girl?" Steve chuckled as he, too, looked up at the newcomers. But Dustin couldn't seem to reply.

The curly-haired, cap-topped boy just stared on at them in longing, his expression a contortion of all sorts of things, but none of them appearing good.

Just by looking at him, Theodora Özdemir could tell this little mop of ginger hair was the girl he was swearing he wouldn't fall in love with.

However, with the new pairs of hands, everybody got to work, worming out any junk they could find to reinforce the abandoned school bus. Theodora went to go make friends with the new girl - Max, she'd introduced herself as - and the other two tweens had gone off somewhere, which left two.

Camila Dimaano and Steve Harrington rummaged through the junkyard, trying to find anything and everything that could be use in defending themselves from whatever was coming for them.

"It's gonna be so weird being in that bus again," Camila chuckled after too many agonisingly quiet minutes of working beside Steve. She was about to dig herself in it again, but she couldn't handle it.

One thing was for sure; Steve Harrington was gorgeous, and Camila hadn't been able to live with herself since drunkenly mistaking him for Tom Cruise in that one movie. Another thing: Camila didn't do well around people she found attractive, which was why she'd only ever had romantic relations with less-than-average guys. Rudy Dodger, for example.

"Oh, yeah? And why's that?" Steve breathed as he pulled a heavy sheet of metal out from beneath an old trashed car.

"I think about a year ago, maybe year and a half, I was seeing Rudy Dodger, and for our first "date", I suppose, we came here and just made out like crazy in the bus," the girl explained, stepping over to help Steve pick up the metal, and walk it over to lean it against said bus.

An airy, exasperated chuckle brushed past Steve's lips as he made his way back to where they had been. "You and Rudy Dodger? Why him? No offense, but he's kind of a loser."

Thinking on the subject, Camila gave a shrug. "Yeah, he is," she agreed with a nod. "He wasn't as bad back then, though, now he's always smoking something and looks like a hobo."

And then she thought about it more, and tugged out a rope from beneath an empty oil canister. "He's actually quite rancid now, glad I got him in his prime. Wasn't too skilled in the kissing department, though, which deducts a couple points."

"I can imagine," Steve mumbled back with a small smile, before his eyes landed on the rope now in Camila's grip. "What you got there?"

"Found some rope," she answered, grunting slightly as she used some oomf to tug the rest of it out from beneath the rusty metal. "Think it can be used as a weapon against some Demogorgons?"

With a laugh, the took hold of the mid-end of the rope and began to swing it around overhead. "I could be like a cowboy and grab 'em round the neck, you think?"

Watching her with a smile, hands on hips, Steve shook his head. "Get yourself a hat and you're basically Clint Eastwood," he chuckled as Camila brought the rope back down. "No, but, seriously, it's a good find. Maybe spend some time honing your craft, and you'd be a good match with my bat."

As she began to bring the rope in a loop, she watched Steve continue to rummage around, a small smile on her lips. Maybe it would be easier working with him than she thought.

NIGHT WAS SLOWLY BEGINNING TO FALL, AND EVERYTHING WAS COMING INTO PLACE. The bus had been reinforced with old sheets of metal and old tyres and empty oil canisters.

The meat pile in the middle of the yard was doused in gasoline, along with the path Steve had created of it on his way back to the bus. This bitch was going up in flames.

They took one last check that everything was where it ought to be before Theodora pulled the lever, and they were officially trapped inside the bus Camila had snogged in with Rudy Dodger a year ago. It's funny how old ties are never fully cut.

Waiting for the time to roll around, the Babysitter's Club and co. sat about the bus, bored, tired, and somewhat scared in anticipation for what would meet them when the time did come.

Camila Dimaano leaned against one of the walls of the bus, pointedly not taking any of the red leather seats, for any of them could have been where she and Rudy Dodger had sat, mouths and tongues interlocked... Yeah, no, that's gross.

Across from her, Steve sat on the floor, back against a sheet of metal, fiddling with a metal lighter that was beginning to grate the back of her head.

"So, you've really fought one of these things before?" Max, Lucas's new friend, and Dustin's desperate crush, piped up from one of the seats. God, hopefully that's not the seat.

At the question, Steve's flicking of his lighter paused, and he looked up, eyes meeting with hers, and then glancing over at Camila before him, and Theodora fighting a nap on the next seat over from Max. "Sure did."

"And you're totally sure it wasn't a bear?"

"Don't be an idiot," Dustin butt in before Steve could reply, much to the surprise of all parties within the bus. "It wasn't a bear. Why are you even here if you don't believe us?"

A beat of silence passed, and Camila met eyes with Theodora, who had been pulled out of her fatigue for the drama - usual Theo.

"Just go home," Dustin finally said, a crease in his brow as he stared on at Max, who didn't waste any time in hanging around.

With a roll of her eyes, she got to her feet and began to climb the ladder they'd leaned against the emergency skylight exit, where Lucas had been on watch. "Someone's cranky," she commented with a tone of annoyance. "Past your bed time?"

At the response, Theodora and Camila, who'd been staring at each other during the exchange, tried to not laugh, but of which was replaced by a poorly-covered snort.

"Get your ass handed to you, Henderson," Camila chuckled, placing her hands in her back pockets, as opposed to the front pockets of her hoodie.

"No, it's good," Steve piped up, his eyebrows raised. "You're showing her you don't care."

But Dustin wasn't smiling, wasn't laughing. Nothing about his stature showed happiness, sunshine and rainbows.

"I don't," he replied flatly, his jaw settling.

Steve, however, did smile. "Sure, sure."

"I don't!"