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ONCE MARY RETURNED to her bedroom, Eleven was gone. She began to panic, "Eleven?!" She hissed, keeping her voice low, "Crap." Mary put on a jacket before rushing outside and into the woods, "Eleven!"
"Mary?! What are you doing out there?!" Her mother questioned,
"Nothing." Mary answered, staring off into the woods while rain pelted at them.
The next morning Richard found her at her locker, "Are you okay?!"
Mary furrowed her eyebrows, "What? Why wouldn't I be?"
"Didn't you hear? Benny was found dead in his diner. Suicide." Richard stated and Mary gasped, feeling bad about forgetting about Benny,
"Suicide?" She questioned, tears filling her eyes and Richard wrapped his arms around her,
"Yes, baby. I'm sorry. I know you two were really close." Mary sobbed into Richard's jacket before the principal approached the couple,
"Miss Henderson? You have a visitor." Mary followed him to his office where Chief Hopper was waiting for her,
"Is this about Benny?" She asked as she sat down, pulling her bag close to her.
Hopper sighed, "Yeah. Sort of. Earl said yesterday there was a boy eating food in the kitchen. Did you see him?"
Mary nodded, "Yeah. Kind of." She knew Eleven was in danger, so she didn't want to say too much about it, "I didn't really see him, though. I was with customers when it happened."
"So you don't know if it was Will or not." Hopper stated and Mary shook her head,
"I doubt it was Will. Why would he run off?" Mary questioned, "It was probably just some hooligan or something."
"Your car was there when we investigated the scene this morning. And your bag was in the break room. Any reason why you left in a hurry? Without your car?" Hopper asked,
Mary began to sweat, "My car wouldn't start and I forgot my bag."
Hopper nodded before standing up, "Thanks for your time."
She left the office and Richard was waiting for her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead, "I have good news. Harrington is having a get-together tonight."
"Tonight? It's Tuesday."
"Yeah, but his parents are gone. It's only gonna be a few of us, Nance and Barb are going to. You can even ask Susan to come. So how about you catch a ride with them and we'll meet up, yeah?"
Mary looked up at him and nodded, "Yeah, sounds good."
That night Barb picked both of them up before Nancy had her stop three blocks away, "What are we doing here?" Barb asked, putting her car in park.
"We can't park in the driveway." Nancy informed them,
"Are you serious?" Mary asked, rolling her eyes,
"Yeah, the neighbors might see."
"This is so stupid. I'm just gonna drop you two off." Barb stated and Nancy sighed,
"Come on, Barb. You promised that you'd go. You're coming. We're gonna have a great time." Nancy stated,
"He just wants to get in your pants." Barb assumed,
Nancy chuckled, "No, he doesn't."
"Nance... seriously. He invited you to his house. His parents are home. Come on, you are not this stupid."
"Tommy H. and Carol are going to be there. Along with Susan Montgomery."
Mary leaned forward, "Tommy and Carol have been having sex since, like, seventh grade." She joked,
"It'll probably be, like, a big orgy." Barb continued and Marry shivered in disgust,
"Gross."
"I'm serious!" Barb exclaimed,
Nancy began taking off her shirt, "All right! You can be like my guardian, okay? Make sure I don't get drunk and do anything stupid."
Barb sighed and looked over at Nancy, "Is that a new bra?"
"No." Nancy quickly answered and Mary snickered.
Once Nancy was changed, the three went to Steve's house. Music was playing loudly as they chilled in Steve's backyard, by the pool. Mary sat in between Richard's legs, watching as Steve punctured a beer with a knife and drank from the hole,
"Didn't realize you were too stupid to open a can normally, Harrington." Richard joked as he wrapped his arms around Mary's middle,
"Har har. Suck it, Michaels." Steve replied as Nancy picked up her own can and copied Steve's actions.
"Chug. Chug. Chug." Everyone but Barb and Mary chanted. Mary rolled her eyes and did the same, but finished before Nancy as Susan joined in,
"Show off." Susan joked as she tossed the beer aside,
"Barb, you wanna try?" Nancy asked her friend,
Barb raised her eyebrows, "What? No. No, I don't want to. Thanks." Nancy and Steve kept encouraging her and Barb stood with the knife and beer can,
"Barb, you don't have to." Mary stated before the knife slipped and Barb cut her hand, "Are you okay?!"
"Yeah." She hissed putting pressure on the wound,
"You're bleeding." Mary told her, trying to comfort her friend.
"I'm fine." Barb urged before looking at Steve, "Where's your bathroom?"
"It's down past the kitchen, to the left." Steve answered.
Once Barb went inside, Tommy pushed Carol in the pool. He followed after and Nancy was the next to go in and then Steve. Susan giggled, stripping off her shirt before doing a cannonball into the pool. Richard lifted Mary up bridal style and she laughed, holding on before they jumped into the water.
Mary left herself have fun, forgetting about the previous days' events. After their fun in the pool, Mary was drying herself off as Barb came outside, "Barb, what happened?"
"Nancy happened. Look, I'm gonna go home, okay?" Barb stated,
"Okay. Let me dry off and I'll come with you. Stay here." Mary urged before rushing inside and finding Richard, "Hey, I'm gonna catch a ride with Barb. Do you mind keeping her company until I'm ready?"
Richard nodded before kissing the redhead, "Of course."
Mary was cleaning herself off as quickly as possible, trying not to keep Barb waiting. "Where are you going?" Susan asked as Mary approached the back door with her shirt in her hand,
"I'm going with Barb. I don't think she really wants to be here right now." Mary answered,
"Whatever. I'll see you at school tomorrow." Susan sighed before venturing further into the house.
Mary pulled her slightly damp shirt on and went outside to see both Barb and Richard gone and the lights off. "Barb?! Richard?!" She exclaimed before sighing, "Seriously?"
