1

To be perfectly honest, the term `English Awards' was a little bit of an overstatement for what Will Byers was called to attend during third period that Friday.

What would be more accurate: every girl who has ever made honour roll and every boy who has been called a fairy by Troy Harmer compete to get a laminated certificate.

Whoopsidoo.

`Hiya,' a voice said. Will jumped as something plonked itself down next to him.

`Oh,' he said, when he realised who it was. `Hello.'

Jennifer Hayes beamed at him. She was still wearing the beret she'd come in with, folded in two and pinned to the back of her head. Two hairslides were pinned over her ear, with black flowers on the end, keeping her fringe out of her eyes.

`You're here for the awards too?'

`Mm hmm.'

`What for?' She asked eagerly. Will considered telling her, then mumbled something non-committal. `Sounds cool- listen,' she said. `I've got a party on tonight- you know, parents out of town, Friday night- want to come?'

Will found himself holding a blindingly pink Xeroxed flyer. COME TO MY PARTY! MY PLACE, NINE O'CLOCK! it read. FREE DRINKS- SEEK HAPPY NIGHTS, TO HAPPY DAYS!

`Um,' he said.

Jennifer took full advantage of the silence. `You know my parties are, like, legendary, so you may as well come.'

`Sure,' said Will, deciding he didn't have much to lose. `I'll ask my friends.'

`Oh,' Jennifer said. `The Nerd Herd?'

`Mike, Lucas, Dustin,' he said, loudly and slowly. Jennifer grinned.

`Sorry,' she said. `Didn't realise you don't like being called that. Sure, bring them. Bring anyone you like.'

The door swung open. Everyone peered round, then immediately snapped their heads back down to whatever they were doing.

El Hopper walked in, slicked-back hair, untied laces, black eye makeup and all. A watch glittered on her wrist.

Will copied everyone else and looked away, but still snuck a glance at The New Girl out of the corner of his eye. Everyone in the school knew she was terrifying. There was legitimate speculation about whether or not she had killed someone, and that was why she had shown up in Hawkins with no explanation, halfway through a school year. I guess her Dad's chief of police, Will thought. That'd probably get her out of jail.

El sat down three chairs away from anyone else, and then stared at the floor.

Will realised Jennifer was looking at El, and nudged her. `What are you doing?' He whispered.

Jennifer glanced at the receptionist- Miss Taylor's nose was firmly buried in Cosmopolitan magazine- and scooted three chairs along.

`Hi,' she said cheerfully. `I'm Jennifer.'

El looked up; she didn't smile or acknowledge the greeting. Jennifer wasn't put off and held out the flyer.

`I've got a party on,' she said. `There'll be boys there. Or girls,' she added. `Who's the redhead you hang round with?'

Will had never heard El Hopper say more than two words to anyone- and those two words were generally banned from daytime TV- so he was shocked when she rolled her head a little and said, `Max Mayfield,' sounding thoroughly disinterested.

`Oh, yeah,' Jennifer said, nodding like she knew who Max was. `Why not bring her?' She attempted to push the flyer into El's hand, who didn't take it.

`Tell me where,' she said. `And what time.'

`My place,' Jennifer said, not missing a beat and putting the flyer back in her bag. `Nine o'clock.' She scooted back along the row of chairs, looking immensely pleased with herself.

Will was left to wonder what in the name of God went on in girl's heads.

The pink flyer was still in his hand. He folded it carefully and put it in his pocket.


Winter sun hung low over the school, casting long shadows across the recess yard.

`Hey,' Will said, walking towards the figure sitting on the low wall around the yard. Mike Wheeler turned around.

`Did you win?' He asked, edging along the wall to make room. Will Byers is a gaylord! was scratched into the brick below.

`Yep.' Will held aloft the certificate like it was a trophy, before shoving it in his bag. `I saw Jennifer Hayes.'

`Really?' Mike asked hopefully. `What did she say?' Will could tell he was hoping Jennifer had said something along the lines of, Hey, your friend Wheeler's cute, can you set us up?

`She invited me to a party.' Will pulled the flyer out of his pocket. Mike took it.

`Oh, wow,' he said. `That's great. That's really great.'

`She said you could come.'

`No.' Mike got up with his bag, but Will's hand shot out and he dragged him back down again.

`It'll be fun.'

`This is your chance to ask Jennifer out, I don't wanna get in the way of that.'

Will huffed and kicked the wall with his heels. `Maybe I don't want to anymore. We're in high school now. We should at least try to socialise.'

`No, because we'll get ignored, it'll be awkward as hell, we'll end up shut in a corner somewhere then Dustin will do something stupid like inhale helium so people think we're funny.'

`Hey,' a voice shouted, coming towards them at alarming velocity. `That was one time!'

Dustin and Lucas vaulted over the wall and threw themselves on the ground. `Ssh,' Dustin hissed. `Ollie just found out we got his homework wrong. He's gonna kill us- oh my God, don't look round,' he snapped, swatting at Mike's legs. `Stealth, Wheeler.'

By the bike rack, Ollie Chafer was looking furious and scanning the playground. Like all boys on the football team, he looked like he could twist Dustin into a pretzel.

`What's he doing?' Dustin whispered.

`Vandalising your bike,' Mike whispered back grumpily.

`Really?'

`No, not really, shut up-' Mike peered over to the bike rack again. `He's gone.'

Dustin and Lucas sighed, then sat on the wall. `That was way too close,' Lucas panted, wiping his forehead.

`Well, it was your bright idea to muck it up,' Dustin snapped. Lucas had just started to vehemently defend himself when Will blurted, `Jennifer Hayes has a party on!'

`Huh?'
`Look-' Will shoved the flyer under their noses. Mike groaned and pressed his hands to his face.

`It'll be terrible,' he insisted. `And anyway, those two won't want to go. Right?' He said confidently.

Lucas tilted his head, reading the flyer. `I kind of want to.'

Son of a bitch. `Well, Dustin doesn't!' Mike carried on, a little desperately. And then he saw Dustin's face. `No. Don't do this to me.'

`Sorry, Mike.' Rather dramatically, Dustin stood up and sat down next to Lucas. `I'm with these guys.'

`Oh for God's sake.'

`There,' Will said, `three versus one. Majority rules. Stop sulking,' he added. `It might be fun.'

`You can make me come,' Mike said. `Can't make me enjoy it.' They got on their bikes and pedalled away.


Hanging upside-down off the edge of her bed, El Hopper took another bite out of the pizza. On the carpet was a box of half-eaten takeaway, and Maxine Mayfield. Both of them were dressed head to toe in black, with mascara dusting under Max's eyes in place of freckles. El's fingernails were chewed and black with varnish. The Breakfast Club VHS played on the TV.

`Hey, stop that,' Max said. She took El's hand and smoothed the rough, gnawed edges of her nails. `You've mucked up the polish now.'

El shrugged apologetically. `Habit.' She rolled onto her stomach. `Oh, this bit's amazing,' she sighed.

`Yeah,' Max said. `You've only rented it a billion times.' She chanted the dialogue until El whacked her with a book.

Stickers decorated the top of the TV, skulls and rock symbols. A poster of Cyndi Lauper was in pride of place over the bed. Next to it was a laminated certificate: best written composition. It had a smiley face sticker on the corner.

The door suddenly rattled in it's frame. El hit pause and Hopper walked in.

`Hi, Dad,' Max said before El could. Hopper rolled his eyes.

`Hello, adoptive freeloading daughter,' he said, before sitting on the bed with them. `The Breakfast Club?'

`Yep,' they said. `Again,' Max added. El picked up the book again but Hopper intercepted it and slid it onto her desk.

`I brought Troy in today,' he said.

Max jolted up. `He couldn't get through one week without doing something?'

`Seems not. This was in his pocket.' Hopper pulled out a crumpled flyer.

El groaned. `Oh, God,' she said, burying her head in her arms.

Max leaned over to look at the paper. `What is it? A party?'

`Yeah. I thought maybe you'd want to go,' Hopper said. Both girls stared at him until he rubbed his forehead and prayed that they'd grow out of the all grown-ups are stupid phase soon. `El, you've barely interacted with anyone since we moved here.'

`I don't want to,' she said. `Everyone's a mouthbreather.' She picked up another slice of pizza before Hopper confiscated that too. `Besides,' she added through soggy pepperoni,`you seriously want me and Max to go to a party? With strange boys there?'

`Okay, maybe I'm not so hot on the idea of strange boys,' Hopper conceded. `But just try to talk to people who might be a good influence.'

`Are you saying I'm a bad influence?' Max asked, pretending to be hurt.

`Max, I'd love to say no,' Hopper said, standing up, `but ever since you and El made friends I've been this close to going grey.' And then when both girls gleefully opened their mouths he said, `don't,' and walked out the door.


Fireworks squealed and exploded in the sky, casting the boys into flashing red and green. Fairy lights were twisted around the fence and hedges, shattered bottles and crushed plastic cups scattered across the lawn.

`Oof,' Dustin said, blinking at all the lights. `This should come with an epilepsy warning.'

`Quit it,' Mike said. `It was your bright idea to come here at all.'

`Hey, it was a bright idea- watch-' Dustin turned to the girl walking through the front gate, tapped her on the shoulder, and purred at her with his new teeth.

`Watch it, Nerd,' she spat, and shoved her way past.

`Great technique, Dustin,' Lucas said.

`That was one girl. There's loads in there. Might even be one for you, Michael,' he added, raising his eyebrows.

Mike snorted.`As if. Come on, let's get this over with.' They picked their way through cans of beer and a few people sprawled on the grass, and eventually got to the door. The faint sounds of Boston came through the wood- And I begin dreaming- Till Marianne walks away.

The door swung open. `Guys!' Jennifer beamed. `You made it!'

`Yep,' Dustin said. `Nice retro music.'

`Thanks!' She ushered them in, then shut the door.

`God, how many people showed up?' Lucas asked, taking in the teenagers crowded in most of the rooms and on every available surface.

`Most of the grade,' Jennifer said proudly. `A few of Troy's group showed up, though, so just watch out for that… right, drinks're over there- dance floor's in the living room- watch out for the swimming pool out back-' Jennifer suddenly went, `oh!' like a lightbulb had gone off in her head- `The fireworks!'

`Guess they're not meant to be setting them off,' Will said, as another exploded. Mike felt unease worm into his chest. Troy's group. Troy, full stop.

Oh my God.


Not having much of an idea of what else to do, Dustin and Lucas headed to the punch, and helped themselves. They decided no matter what, they'd find a couple of nice girls there. Everyone needed a drink.

`Hey,' Dustin said to the nearest one. There wasn't any response. `Hey- hey there!' Finally, she looked around disdainfully: Dustin realised, too late, it was the girl from the front gate. `Never, never mind,' he said sheepishly. This time the girl looked a little sad for him, before walking off.

`Those two are getting massacred,' Will said, watching them across the length of the room.

`Yeah- is that for me?' Mike pointed at the second cupcake Will was holding.

`Yep.'

`Thanks.' It was so pink it almost glowed in the dark. Mike picked off the sprinkles, and tapped his hand against the wall. Till Marianne walks away...

As the song faded away, it transitioned into what was the bane of every school loner's existence. The Slow Dance.

People moved onto the sidelines to leave room for the partners. And then a swaying couple moved aside, leaving Mike a clear view to the other side of the room-

And suddenly he could see the girl directly across from him.

His breath caught, and Mike felt his face warm. She was laughing and talking to the girl next to her, eyes bright, holding a glass of punch to her stomach.

Mike swallowed and looked down at the cupcake. When he looked up, she was staring at him curiously.

He forced himself to meet her eyes, as if it were a staring contest. The girl glanced away, up at him again, then smiled a little at the floor. Her cheeks had gone pink.

Mike became aware someone was pulling his wrist- all the sound flowed back- booming rock music-

`Mike, the song's over!' Will was pulling him onto the dance floor-

`Wait-'

And he looked back, twisting his neck-

She was gone, people were running back towards them from the other rooms-

`Did you see where that girl went?'

`What girl?'

And then everyone flooded his view and he couldn't see anything-

`Will!' Mike said, as the noise level rose, `I mean the new girl! The punk one! Where did she go?'

`I don't know-' Will suddenly went white. `Oh shit-' Mike saw it too, just a second too late- Ollie and Troy were facing off against each other. He grabbed Will's hand and started trying to shove through the crowd, trying to get away.

Troy threw a punch and Mike felt Ollie's blood spatter on the back of his neck- and he realised he wasn't holding Will's wrist anymore- and Jennifer was screaming for them to stop fighting- and it was so loud and the punch had had something in it, Mike knew that now and the lights were too bright and he couldn't see anyone, let alone the girl and


and Mike stumbled outside, dragging his hand along the wall to keep his balance, before finally collapsing on the veranda patio. He rubbed his eyes and coughed a bit, in case he was going to be sick.

Eventually, the scenery stopped spinning. He began to feel colder, and looked at his surroundings. Jennifer's yard was massive, pitch black. All the light came from the pool at the centre.

He swallowed and pressed his head against the cool exterior wall. The others should be okay. They were smart. He tried to stop worrying about them and focus instead on sobering up.

As there wasn't any sink nearby, Mike decided the pool would just have to do. He began stumbling towards it, and almost immediately collided with something small and soft in the dark.

`Ow!' A voice gasped.

`Sorry-'

`It's okay-'

`Sorry, I can't see where I'm going, like, at all-'

`Don't, it's okay.' The voice sounded unfamiliar. `Um- you're stepping on my foot.'

Mike hastily removed it. `Sorry.' He laughed a little. `I'm saying that a lot, aren't I?'

As they edged into the light Mike's eyes widened. `Oh- it's you,' he half whispered.

`Yeah,' the new girl said. `You were on the other side of the room.' She paused, then smiled. `Staring at me like a stalker.'

`I wasn't!'

`You were.'

Mike tried to think of something witty to retort with, but the punch still seemed to be in effect.

In the silence, the girl grinned at him. `Stalker, stalker,' she chanted.

`Shut up,' he said, smiling. `Do you come to these parties often?'

`Nah. My Dad made me.'

`Seriously?'

`What?'

`Nothing,' he said quickly. `Just, generally Dad's don't like their kids going off to parties, right? In case they meet someone weird who'd exert their will on them.'

El tilted her head mischievously. `Like you?'


At the edge of the house, Troy leaned against the wall, unable to see in the pitch darkness. His knuckles ached. Bastard had it coming.

Troy still cursed himself. He'd had too much to drink. He was slow. Chafer had managed to get a couple of good hits in.

After they'd got him off of Ollie, he'd gone into Jen's yard. It was quieter there, giving an ease to the thumping headache he was getting-

`What's your name?' Someone whispered. Troy jumped and clenched his stinging fists, but it wasn't directed at him.

Slowly, silently he moved towards the pool. Two figures were beside it, so close together their shadows were intertwined on the paving behind them.

`What's yours? I still don't know.' A girl's voice this time. It sounded familiar. Troy's eyes widened, and fury lurched into his throat.

`Mike Wheeler.'

`El Hopper.' You bitch, you cheating lying-

`I like your watch.' Now Wheeler had his hand on El's wrist.

`Do you want to see it?' She fiddled with the strap on the watch, then passed it to him. Wheeler brought it to his eye level.

Troy wanted to hurt someone- he wanted to punch someone's face into pulp-

There was someone in the house who would be perfect.
His knife was tucked in his pocket. Troy took it out, polished it on his sleeve, then went inside.

Chafer was due a return visit.


Something flickered in Mike's vision- he put down the watch and twisted away from El. `Did you see-' he started, then shook his head. El looked around, her forehead creased. He almost didn't realise he was still holding her hand.

The moon suddenly emerged from behind a gauzy black cloud, turning the garden white. Mike could have laughed with relief. There was a statue, he'd just imagined it moving.

`What do they put in that punch?' He asked El.

`I can tell you,' she said cheerfully. `Max's the one who spiked it.' Mike snorted with shocked laughter, trying to press his lips together to stop it but it came bubbling out anyway- and El was laughing too, eyes bright and face flushed-

Something flipped in Mike's chest.

And then shrieks exploded from the house, desperate screams, going higher and higher and higher-

And three figures burst into the garden, narrowly followed by a fourth-

El jumped to her feet, pulling Mike up too-

`Oh my God!' Someone screamed, `oh my God HE'S BLEEDING TO DEATH!' It was dizzying, Mike felt dizzy- what happened- what-

`Mike, quick!' Dustin yelled. They were all running a little lopsidedly.

`But-' Mike realised they'd grabbed his wrist and were pulling him away. He turned back around to look at El, who was being screamed at herself by Max Mayfield.

`Come on, we've got to go!' She half-screeched, shaking El's arm.

`I-' El glanced back at Mike, and Max carried on dragging her towards the fence.

`Go over! Ollie-'

`Troy stabbed Ollie,' Dustin panted. `Jen phoned the police-' on cue, sirens began to wail. Everything was happening so fast-

Mike started running of his own accord as El clambered over the wooden latticed fence, catching the tip of her shoe on it and tipping over, skinning both palms. More crying rose through the night air. Maybe it was her.

`We can get to the road through here,' Lucas said urgently, shoving them towards a small gap in the hedge. `Go, go, go!'

Will and Dustin went through first. Mike scrambled through and almost got run over by a car speeding across the road.

`We can sleep at mine,' Mike shouted. `Keep running, come on!'

They ran until they couldn't hear the noise anymore. In the forest, Mike wheezed for air, pressing his hands against his tossing stomach.

`Let's get our stories straight,' Dustin gasped, bent over at the middle. `Ideas- we need ideas-'

`How about we say we left before someone spiked the punch,' Mike panted. `And, and say we stopped by Fort Byers... then got lost on the way back, 'cause it was so dark.'

`Good,' Dustin said, wagging his finger weakly. `That's good...' he went into a fresh fit of coughing. `Can you hear anyone?'

`No. I think we're okay.' Lucas rubbed his eyes, then stopped moving and started to slowly shake his head. `Oh shit. Oh shit. That was...' he fell silent, and so did the others. `That was the worst thing I've ever seen.'

`You got out,' Mike said, rubbing Lucas's shoulder. `It's okay. And I bet Ollie's gonna be okay, too.'

Mike glanced behind them. El. She'd gotten out.

And there was something else; he still had her watch.

Mike turned it over in his hand, squinting in the dark. It was black, silver stars around the edge. And on the back-

Return to El Hopper if lost, the note said, in scribbled, smudged Biro. Return at Hawkin's Police Station. Mike nodded. The police station.

Okay, El Hopper, he thought, slipping it into his pocket and pulling his jacket tighter around him, warding off the cold. Okay.