Chapter Two

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in between chapters. I had an idea for this chapter, but it wasn't fully formed, I didn't know what I wanted to do with it yet…until now. I present to you now, Chapter Two!

"You can bury it in my backyard, but you better make damn sure my dog won't smell it, dig it up, and bring it back in the house" called Joyce from the back door, the phone to her ear as Steve and Dustin trudged across the backyard.

Dustin muttered to Steve, "I always thought Mrs. Byers was the meek one and Mrs. Wheeler was the controlling one, but I guess things have changed"

He was startled when he heard Joyce shout, "Hey, I heard that!"

Meanwhile, over at the pizza place, Greg, the one on line with Joyce, turned to his coworker Trent and asked, "Think she knows we've picked up and can hear everything she's saying?"

Trent shrugged, "Give it a few minutes, she'll realize"

Later on, back at the Byers' residence, while Steve and Dustin were scrubbing out the fridge (Steve was watching, Dustin was doing the scrubbing), Jonathan was gluing a plate back together and Joyce had just gotten off the phone with the pizza place, satisfied for once that her order was right, the doorbell rang.

Dustin looked up and asked, "Is that the pizza guy already?"

Steve shot back, "Shut up and get back to scrubbing"

Looking up from gluing the plate, Jonathan spoke, "Steve, you know, instead of watching Dustin scrub the fridge, I think you should be the one gluing the plate back together, since you're the one who broke it over Billy's head"

Steve shot back, "How do you know, you weren't there"

The other boy shrugged, "Mike and Lucas told me the whole play-by-play, in turn, of course"

Steve shook his head, "Nah, man, you're better at gluing the plate than I am"

Jonathan sighed, "Okay, then you think of a way to get back on my mom's good side after getting into a fight at our house and messing stuff up"

Before Steve could reply, Chief of Hawkins Police Jim Hopper entered the kitchen with Billy. Joyce soon entered the kitchen and walked around to stand in front of them. With a hand on Billy's shoulder, Hopper muttered, "Apologize to Mrs. Byers"

Billy sighed, glared at Hopper, sighed again, looked Joyce in the eye and with great difficulty spoke, rather hurriedly, "Sorry"

Increasing his grip on the boy's shoulder, Hopper muttered again, "Sorry for what" and then when the boy didn't reply, the chief sighed, "We're not leaving until you apologize to Mrs. Byers"

Billy stood in sulking silence with Hopper glowering at him.

Finally, the mullet-haired redhead spoke, "Mrs. Byers, I am sorry for getting into a fight in your house and messing a bunch of your stuff up, although, Steve started it"

Steve called out from where he stood at the fridge, "Hey, that's not important right now"

Ignoring this, Joyce asked, "Thank you for the apology. How are you going to make it up to me?"

Glancing around the kitchen, Billy sighed, "Uh, I could help clean up and fix stuff that got broken"

Nodding, Joyce replied, "That's a start. Steve could help with that, since he was a participant of the fight. Hey, you know what would really make it up to me and really show you're sorry for what happened?" Billy shook his head.

Hopper noticed a rather mischievous glint in Joyce's eyes that he knew all too well, and opened his mouth to stop her, but she was already talking, "If I could give you a haircut, a real nice one. You'd look very handsome and put-together without that raggedy mullet"

Billy put a hand to his mullet and spoke, in a voice nobody in the room had heard from him before, "But I like my mullet. Besides, what will my father say?"

Hopper spoke up, "Don't worry about that, I'll talk to your father"

Joyce gave a little grin, "Do you want to be forgiven for the fight or not?"

Billy sighed and relented, "Okay, fine, what else do I have to do?"

Joyce replied, "Help Steve clean up the house. Trust me, you two might end up getting along. I made him and Jonathan clean up the house last year and look how well they get along now" Behind her, Jonathan and Steve just shrugged at each other.

Eager to change the subject, Hopper asked, "Anything I can do to help?"

The woman replied, "Yes, check in on the kids, make sure they're doing okay, make sure none of them have gotten into mischief and supervise Billy and Steve so that they don't get at each other's throats again"

Tipping his hat, Hopper answered, "Yes, ma'am"

At this, Steve and Dustin smirked at each other.

I (the Author) should note that the kids; Mike, Lucas, Max, and Eleven were in the living room, playing cards. They were working their way through all the card games they knew how to play. Eleven watched with interest and the others were eager to teach her.

As for Will? Well, he was sleeping. After what he just went through, it seemed like the best thing for him. He did wake up out of a dead sleep as soon as the pizza arrived, though!