To Love a Boy ☆ S. Harrington

₀₁.₀₂.₀₁ ᵢₜ'ₛ ₑₐₛy ₜₒ dₑcᵢₑᵥₑ

⨯ . ⁺ ✦ ⊹ ꙳ ⁺ ‧ ⨯. ⁺ ✦ ⊹ . * ꙳ ✦ ⊹⨯ . ⨯ . ⁺ ✦ ⊹ ꙳ ⁺ ‧ ⨯. ⁺ ✦ ⊹ . * ꙳ ✦ ⊹⁺ ✦ ⊹ ꙳ ⁺ ‧ 

𓆉 ⋆.˚𓇼 ⋆.˚𓆟

November 7, 1983

It was well past 11 p.m. as Magnolia lay awake, staring at her ceiling. She had tossed and turned for an hour before she finally gave up and decided to stay awake. She was completely lost in the fact that a kid, not just any kid, but Will Byers, had gone missing. Wasn't this supposed to be the safest town known to man? He could've just gotten lost,  but from what she gathered from the conversations she had with him, he was intelligent. All of Dustin's friends were. They were mature for their age.

Magnolia's thoughts paused.

Before she could dive deeper into her messy mind, she heard the front door open gently. She tensed. Rising from her bed, she grabbed one of her textbooks off her desk, and took a careful step into the hall. That's when she saw it.

A short figure, closing the door just as quietly as he had opened it, sporting a backpack and a familiar hat.

"Where've you been?" she asked quietly, in an accusatory tone. Wow, she was starting to sound like her father.

Dustin spun around to face her with wide eyes. A yelp threatened to escape him, but he quickly reminded himself of his mother who was just in the other room, sleeping soundly. "Nowhere," he replied swiftly.

Magnolia squinted at him. "Where's nowhere?" she countered. 

The hesitance on his face was evident, and for a second, she saw a bit of herself in his doleful eyes, making her expression soften. "Look, I'm not going to tell your mom or anything. I just want to make sure you're okay. You can tell me things, you know that, right?" she asked with a timid voice.

Dustin nodded. After a beat, he explained, "We went to go find Will."

Offering him a sad smile, Magnolia walked over to him and they hugged. "He's going to be alright, Dustin. Everything's going to be alright. Just... please be safe."

𓆉 ⋆.˚𓇼 ⋆.˚𓆟

November 8, 1983

"Hey, Jonathan," Magnolia called out softly, spotting the younger boy pinning up posters on one of the bulletin boards littered throughout the school. They were posters for Will.

He turned his head, but avoided making direct eye contact. "Hey."

"How are things going? Can I help with anything?" she asked awkwardly.