"Will Byers: Dead. 12 years old." He said, looking at Lucy. "Only a couple days later, The Boy Who Came Back to Life." He looked at her again.

"So what?" She looked at the newspaper clipping. A smiling boy was in the picture. She was in an assembly at school about his death. Then Troy peed his pants. Pretty unforgetable day.

"So what? Luce, in the span of days a boy reportedly came back to life! This is a huge break! There is something else going on here. I-"

"DAD. Stop. Isn't this why mom left? Please stop with this crap. I need to go to school." Lucy looked at her dad with fear. His eyes blinked back tears. He gathered up the clippings and nodded his head.

"Okay." He whispered. "Okay Luce."

Lucy Armstrong walked the short three blocks to Hawkins Middle School. Today was the day before Halloween. She hated Halloween. With all the creepy movies and mentions of ghosts, it puts her (and her dad, Leroy) on edge. She walked into the school and walked straight to her locker. Avoiding all the mean girls. They love to latch on to the fact that her mom left 'cause her dad went bonkers. Now she only wears flannel. Black sheep.

She opened her locker. In the very back was a family picture from a year ago. Her mom's bright green eyes and glimmering smile and Lucy give a sad smirk. Lucy's little brother was in her arms, laughing because at that moment, she was tickling him. Her dad had his arm around Lucy's mom, without the crazy look in his eye. 'Normal,' she thought.

"Ah yes. Class…" Mr. Clarke introduced the new student. Lucy had seen her at the Palace. Her sarcastic look and orange hair made her roll her eyes. Student of the year everyone.

"It's Max. Not Maxine, Max." The girl glared at Mr. Clarke. Lucy dropped her look. Max walked to her seat as four students in the front row looked at her. Will Byers, and his friends. The AV Club. Lucy ( in the second to last row) looked back at Max, who had a punky position, arms crossed. Lucy was good at "judging character". Which means she determines whether or not she hates people in the first five seconds of meeting them. And she hated Max.

"Class, since we are close to Halloween, I want everyone to write a story about Halloween. This essay will be about these three topics. Either your favorite costume, scary movie, or your favorite candy." Ms. Talkum, the english teacher stated. Lucy smiled. A nice, simple essay. Lucy loved writing, and this would give her a reason to escape the madness of her dad. Imagine just sitting in her room writing while listening to her favorite mixtape. "And this must be three pages long front and back, and due November second. And I will be assigning partners."

"What?" Lucy whispered. No, no, no. Partners are her worst nightmare. She has no friends and what if she gets paired with Stacie? Or any other girl? "Ms. Talkum? Can we not have partners?" Girls in the back laughed, whispering. Probably about her.

"Lucy, we've talked about this. Partners are required for this essay." Lucy slumped back and looked around the room. The AV kids were in the back corner, the mean girls were in the other corner still laughing and making shrewd faces to her, and the rest were just boring kids.

Ms. Talkum started listing off names. Luckily Stacie and the other mean girls were put with each other, squealing with excitement. As if they will do the essay anyway. Finally the last kids. Lucy squeezed her eyes shut. 'Oh God please not a boring kid or nerd or anything.'

"Michael Wheeler, Will Byers. Lucy Armstrong, Dustin Henderson." Ms. Talkum smiled. Lucy's eyes popped open. "Please get started on your essays late this evening stay after school if you must." The bell rang and all the kids got up. Lucy went straight to the Henderson kid. She poked him on his chest.

"Listen, I like essays and working by myself. So you can just leave me alone. I can do it, and I'll give you partial credit. You'll get a good grade."

"O-Okay." He said shocked. Lucy marched out of the room, the AV club glaring at her.

"What's up with her?" Lucas asked. He was clearly upset on who he was put with.

"Why does it matter?" Mike said. "We need to figure out if Max is really Mad Max." Will and Dustin nodded and left the room.