Invisible- Stranger Things Fanfiction

Chapter Forty Six: Ghost Girl

*Dustin's POV*
By the time Mon came back in Monday morning, pretty much everyone knew what happened to her. Well, the gist of what happened: she watched her boyfriend die and ended up in a psych ward. I was terrified for Mon, for what they might say to her when she walked through those halls. The whole Party (except me and Mon) got to school half an hour early to make sure there wasn't anything taped to or inside of her locker as a joke. Luckily, when Mon and I got to school, Lucas discretely gave me a thumbs up, indicating the coast was clear.
   "Oh sure, I got bullied for years about being Zombie Boy, but this they're fine with," Will muttered.
Or so we thought.
"Hey, look who it is."
Troy Harrington, Mon's deranged cousin, was standing in the middle of the hallway, staring at Mon like a lioness (the hunters of their species) looks at an injured gazelle. 
   Mon rolled her eyes, not even wanting to retort. Her hands weren't clenched into fists, her pocket knife nowhere to be seen. She was simply going to take it.
   "Our very own little Ghost Girl." Troy circled her, his smirk never faltering. "You're all quiet now, huh? Like you've seen a ghost. Well, you have- Liam's ghost, right? Bet he was glad to be dying and getting away from you."
   "Shut up," Will said, pushing the boy away from Mon.
   Troy laughed sarcastically. "Oh? Byers being tough now, is he? What are you gonna do... Zombie Boy?"
   "Look, if Nikki won't kick your ass, I will, so just step the fuck off."
   We all froze for a second, dumbfounded by Will Byers' newfound bravery. I guess he and Mon really are close.
   While Will had Troy distracted, I got Mon out of there. "Are you okay?"
   "I'm fine," she muttered, walking quickly to her locker. "Look, I saw someone die. It happened, it's over. I'm not some fragile little snowflake, alright, so you don't have to... protect me, or whatever."
   "We just thought, since you didn't even fight back-"
   "Fighting back is pointless, isn't it? It only prolongs the inevitable. Didn't help that night, and that was a real problem. This? This is just high school."
   "Well said." A girl with dirty blonde hair that reached her chin leaned against the locker next to Mon's. "Georgia Pierce. Liam was my best friend."
Oh, shit.

*Nikki's POV*
"He was your friend?"
The girl nodded, making her round glasses fall to the edge of her nose. "He seemed to really like you."
"Tha-thanks." What do you say to something like that?
Dustin cleared his throat. "Are you going to the, uh... the memorial service tonight?"
They didn't want to have a funeral because they couldn't find a body, so the family was having a memorial service. When Steve told me about it, my stomach did flips. Now, though, I knew I had to go. For Hollie if not for myself.
"Yeah." Georgia smiled sympathetically at me. "I hope I'll see you there, Nikki. And if you need anything, come find me. He always said he wanted us to be friends."
   Speechless, I nodded, and Georgia walked away.
   "Mon, you don't have to go to that service if you don't want to," Dustin said quietly to me. "If you're uncomfortable or-"
"I have to go, Dustin. I'm the reason that service has to happen, so I should be there."
He sighed. "For like the millionth time, what happened to Liam wasn't your fault. He got behind to you protect himself. He dealt with the consequences. That's not your fault, Mon, you were trying to save all of us."
"Still. I don't even get why that thing was so nice to me. It's like it knew me or something."
"Maybe it noticed your scar. Maybe all the Upside Down monsters have a hive memory, too."
I touched my cheek self-consciously. The scar was still there, after so many months of trying to forget about it.
Suddenly, there was a horrible itch right behind my right ear. It was really bad, and the more I scratched, the more it itched. I felt the sting of scratched-open skin, but kept going.
"Mon? Mon, calm down, what's going on?" Dustin was looking at me in concern. His eyes widen when he took my hands, the fingertips now ruby red with blood. "Holy shit, what's behind your ear, wool? Why did it itch so much?"
I shrugged. "Stress rash, maybe? I used to get them when I was little."
Dustin also shrugged as the rest of the party came over.
"Troy's taken care of," Will said nonchalantly, a carefree smirk plastered on his face.
"Will totally kicked his ass," Max marveled. "With no help. From any of us!"
I gasped at the former most innocent member of the group. "Will? You beat Troy up for me?"
"Not really. Only got two hits in," Will said. "Me hitting him, him hitting a row of lockers right next to him."
El giggled. "It was awesome!"
I sighed. "Well, I've gotta get to class. See you around, you little brutes." I grabbed my things for class and headed to homeroom. Max and El stayed a bit behind, but Will walked right next to me.
"Nik, don't worry about what Troy said. He's just-"
"I know. Thanks."
The rest of the day went by pretty quickly, and I couldn't remember most of it. I hadn't talked much, even to my friends, I couldn't stop worrying. The itch behind my ear was still being annoying, but I tried to ignore it. Mostly, though, I worried about the monster, and if the itch had something to do with it.
   When I got to the bike rack at the end of the day, I saw Dustin and Will both waiting for me.
   "Ready to go?" Will asked with a smile.
   "Are you guys escorting me everywhere now?"
   Dustin stammered for a response. "Uh, I- well, we- we, um- um- Mon, we just wanted to-"
"I know." I rolled my eyes as I mounted my bike, feeling a droplet if water hit my nose. "Of course it's gonna rain."
Will and Dustin looked at each other as they followed me down the street, unsure of how to respond. "Rain brings life," Will said in an attempt to be positive.
"Yeah, to remind us even more of death."
"Shit, Dustin, what do I say now?"
I called over my shoulder: "As much as I appreciate you whispering for my benefit, you don't have to. You also don't have to try to make me feel better. Didn't the medieval rulers grieve for weeks after their loved ones passed?"
"They were also allowed to chop people's hands off for stealing," Dustin pointed out. Even though he was being somewhat sensitive towards this whole thing, he still wasn't dealing with any of my shit. Which, I've got to say, I appreciated. "Mon, I know all of this must be terrible. Seriously, none of us would blame you if-"
   I hit the brake on my handlebar hard, skidding to a stop and nearly falling over. The boys had to slam their shoes down on the pavement, running back to me with their bikes. "Damn it, I'm sick of people treating me like the victim here. I'm not the one who's dead, okay? I'm fine. And I'm going to that memorial service, with or without you." Kicking off of the ground, I sped back to my house, the boys a little bit behind me. When we got to the door, I noticed Steve was in the entryway as well.
"Why'd you get off work so early?" I asked, taking out my own key and giving it to the boys so they could go in ahead of us, telling them, "Apartment 5B."
Steve smiled gingerly at me. "I came back to help you get ready for the memorial service."
"I can style my own hair, but thanks."
"No, not just that." Steve sighed. "Nik, what happened sucks. And I'm not going to say anything else about it because I know you hate the attention you've gotten over this. I just- I wanted to be there with you tonight." He waited for me to go inside before shutting the front door, following me up the stairs in silence.
   When we got into the apartment, Dustin and Will has somehow already changed out of their school clothes, into black suits for the memorial.
   "What the hell...?" Steve muttered. "Where did you guys even keep those?"
   "In our backpacks," Will said with a shrug.
I walked into my bedroom, rummaging through my closet to find something black. I settled on a simple dress, pairing it with my leather jacket. I didn't feel much like dressing up, so I added my black Converse. Comfort kind of had to have the victory over style today.
   Knock, knock.
   As I was picking out earrings, there was a knock on my open door. (I'd opened it after I was done changing to signify that I was decent for when Steve came in to rush me out the door.) I turned around to see Will, standing casually against the doorframe.
   "Hey, buddy," I said, looking at him through the mirror as I put on my earrings. "What's up?"
   "I-I know you've been saying you're fine, and I'll totally let it go after this, but can we just talk for a second?" When I nodded, he came into the room more, closing the door just enough to give us a little privacy, but not so much that it was totally closed.
   After getting my earrings on, I sat on my bed (well, air mattress) and looked at him. "Everything... alright?" I asked, unsure of what he wanted.
   Still standing, Will ran his hand through his hair. "Well, I'm totally not trying to press you- 'specially not today- but I just wanted to see how you were after school today. On top of everything, Troy was definitely not helping."
   "He's a douche, he's always been a douche," I said simply. "But really, thank you for standing up for me. I wasn't even there for it, but I bet it was an epic moment for you."
   "Yeah, it was awesome!" Will laughed. "His face when I sucker-punched him- oh my gosh. Especially since I'm, like, the last person he'd expect to do that. Ugh, it was so great."
   I laughed at how excited he was, remembering the day I'd beaten up my cousin. What a day. "Thanks for checking up on me, but really, I'm okay."
   "Alright. I just- I didn't know how it would affect you."
   "How what would affect me?"
   "The nickname. Ghost Girl. It's... well, you only heard it once to your face, but you're basically the new Zombie Boy."
   I let out a small laugh. "You must be relieved."
   "Not at all, actually," he said. "I mean, people were mostly over that by the beginning of last summer. It sucks that they've moved on to you. Like, of all people, why you? You're basically the best thing that ever happened to this town, and I can't believe that-"
   I stopped him by putting my hands on his shoulders, smiling a sad little smile at him. "Will, seriously. What they say literally has no effect on me anymore. I mean, they said literally nothing about me for the past four years, and look where I am now. I have my friends- my real friends- kicking ass to defend my honor!" Will laughed at this. "And plus, ya know, I've got the greatest best friend in the world."
   "Really? Um... can you be a little more specific, coz you've been kinda close to all of us lately, and-"
   "You, dumbass," I said, making both of us laugh. We laughed so hard, for so long, it was like you could hear the tension leaving both of us. I think we both needed something to laugh at, and jumped at the opportunity.
   "What's going on in- Mon, you're crying. Will, what the hell did you do?"
   I'd laughed so hard, the little makeup I'd applied had started running from the laughter tears, and this made Dustin go down the road to Over-Protectiveville.
   "Dustin, it-it's fine, leave him alone," I said, taking a deep breath. "We were just talking."
   Will filled his eyes at Dustin, but was obviously holding his tongue for my benefit. "I'll be out there if you need me, Nik."
   "No, Will, stay."
   Dustin looked from Will to me, obviously also keeping his mouth shut in front of me. "Are you almost ready? Steve says we shouldn't show up late and draw more attention to y-"
   "Dude," Will cut in. "Sorry, Nik, your brother didn't want you to hear that last part."
   "Right. But we probably should get going." Dustin was standing idly in the doorway. It seemed everyone but Will was still seeing me as a delicate little child, in danger of spontaneously combusting at the first sign of stress. Ha.
   I stood up, grabbing a purse and walking toward the front door. All of the boys, including my brother, stared at me as I turned the handle. "Well? What are we waiting for? Let's do this."