DANCIN' ► DUSTIN HENDERSON [1]

2/3

DUSTIN WAS WAITING outside of Jasper's house that morning, riding his bike in restless circles. "Finally!" he screeched, seeing the girl shut her front door and grab her bike to join him. "I've been waiting out here for at least 10 minutes," the curly-haired boy complained.

"Hey," Jasper said defensively. "It's not like I asked you to wait for me."

"No, but it's our code. It's what friends do," Dustin informed her. His furrowed eyebrows let Jasper know that he was being completely serious.

She shook her head, letting out a small giggle. "Well thank you, Dusty."

"No problem. C'mon! The others are probably halfway to school by now," Dustin kicked up the breaks of his bike, leading the way down the street.

"Where's Will?" Jasper questioned curiously, glancing over her shoulder at the empty road behind them. "He always rides to school with us in the morning."

Dustin scoffed. "Well he probably decided to go on his own since your ass took so long today!" he snapped, but the amusement in his eyes told Jasper he was only joking.

"I overslept," she told him with a small, careless shrug.

"Oh yeah. I bet you were getting all that beauty sleep when we could've been talking last night," Dustin taunted, snorting. "Did Ruby tell you to go to bed? And you actually listened to her?"

"Hell yeah I did. She already goes through enough on her own," Jasper murmured, picturing her sister sitting at the kitchen table, stressed out as she worked on paying the bills.

"I can't believe she works for the police now," Dustin breathed, a small ounce of admiration in his tone. "Working with that asshat Chief Hopper probably isn't fun."

"No," Jasper shook her head in agreement. "For a police chief he sure acts like one sketchy dude. Ruby invited him over for dinner once and he was really...weird to me."

"Damn. Ruby really is a badass for working with him," Dustin mumbled.

"Careful, Dusty," Jasper sniggered, throwing playful looks at him. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you have a crush on my sister."

"That's disgusting!" Dustin shouted, his eyes widening as he looked at Jasper. "She's almost twice my age!"

"No no," Jasper chuckled, shaking her head. "It makes sense. Nancy starts rejecting you, and you move on for the other older sister, eh?"

If they weren't riding bikes, Dustin probably would've slapped her on the arm. "Oh my God," he sighed in exasperation, earning a laugh from Jasper.

"Hey guys," Mike and Lucas join the two as they ride closer to the school.

"Where's Will?" Mike asks, noticing the absence of the shy boy from the group. "Doesn't he ride with you two in the mornings?"

"He's supposed to, yeah," Jasper answered, a small frown forming on her lips.

"That's weird," Mike mumbled, looking into the distance. "His mom called this morning looking for him. She said he probably just left for class early again."