Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
Back in the high school, a girl from a class was handing out orange flyers. As Kali and Jonathan was exiting the class, the girl handed her a flyer, greeting her with, "Hi, Kali."
She smiled at her and greeted back, "Hey, Tina." She looked at the flyer and asked, "Can I get one more?" The girl nodded as she gave her another one. She gave that to Jonathan as they both walked down the hallway. "Here. You have to go."
He smirked at her and looked at the flyer, reading, "'Come and get sheet-faced.'" He looked back at her, shaking his head. "No thanks."
She clicked her tongue at him. "Come on, Jonathan. You can't be all alone for Halloween."
"I won't be. I'll be trick-or-treating with Will."
She gave him a skeptical look. "All night?"
He nodded. "All night."
She laughed at him. "That won't happen. You'll be home by eight, listen to your radio, and read a book."
He shrugged, keeping his smile. "Sounds like a nice night."
She rolled her eyes at him. "You might meet someone, Jonathan. Someone you might like." She gave him a smile.
He scoffed at her in disbelief. "Yeah, no."
"Yeah, uh-huh." She then stopped at her locker to open it. "You might not know when you'll find your true love." Suddenly, she felt someone hoist her up and spin her a little, making her scream in surprise. She turned and saw no other than Steve, wearing sunglasses. She laughed and cried out, "You idiot! You scared me! And take those damn things off!"
He was laughing with her, taking the sunglasses off. "I missed you, Kal," he said in a charming voice.
She began to smile. "It's only been an hour, idiot."
"Oh, tell me about it." He placed a hand on the back of her head and began kissing her.
Jonathan rolled his eyes again and said, "Ugh, get a room, you two." He then began to leave, making them break the kiss and look at him.
"Ah, c'mon, man!" Steve shouted to him. "If you had a girlfriend, you'd understand!"
"And that's why I'm not getting one!"
The jock shook his head and released his hold of his girlfriend. "Jeez, that guy." Kali giggled a little as she began getting her things from her locker.
Back on the middle school campus, the four friends saw Max skateboarding around. Jane was the only one that looked annoyed however. "That can't be Mad Max," Lucas stated.
"Yeah, the only girl that plays video games is Jane," Will added.
"And even so, she can't rank up 750,000 points on Dig Dug." The black-haired boy then looked at her. "No offense."
She only rolled her eyes and asked, "Why are we stalking her again?"
The boys gave her concerned looks. "We're not stalking her," Dustin retorted. "We wanna know if that girl's Mad Max."
She shrugged. "Maybe she is, maybe she isn't, I don't care."
Dustin and Lucas looked at each other, then looked at her. "Ya jealous?" the curly-haired boy asked.
She raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Are you jealous that another girl beat your score on Dig Dug?" Lucas asked.
She scoffed and shook her head. "What? No."
Will felt concerned about her, so he said, "Jane, you can be honest with us-"
"I'm not jealous of Mad Max, okay?!" She huffed and turned away from them. "Jeez..." They all felt more concerned about her behavior, but she wasn't in the mood and the worst thing to do to a girl was piss her off more, so they just let her be.
They looked back to find Max, but didn't see her, freaking out a little. "Shit, where is she?!" Dustin exclaimed.
They continued looking around until the auburn-haired boy looked to his left and saw her, pointing at her. "Right there." The boys and even Jane turned to see her walking up the stairs, throwing a crumpled piece of paper into the trash can, and going inside the school. The boys looked at each other before running to the trash can. The tomboy looked at them all in disbelief and ran after them.
"Guys!" she shouted at them. They all stopped at the trash can, the boys looking down in it. Jane face-palmed as Dustin was the one digging through the trash and the two other boys blocked him from anyone's sight. A group of girls passed by, giving the four friends distasteful looks while Lucas and Will just waved at them, trying to look as innocent as possible.
"Got it!" Dustin shouted as his face and arms got out of the trash can. He had the crumpled piece of paper in his hands and the two other boys peeked over to read it. They all read out loud, "'Stop spying on me, you creeps.'" Dustin frowned. "Well, shit." Jane actually giggled a little, making the three look at her again. "What's so funny?"
She shrugged, looking at them. "You guys deserve it."
They all kinda grinned at her before Lucas added, "She might add you too to that 'creeps' thing."
"Yeah, she might not know you're a girl." She just shrugged at them again, since that could be a possibility.
"William Byers," the principal said, the kids all turning to him. The man looked at the auburn-haired boy. "Your mother's here." His face turned solemn as well as everyone else's. They all knew what that meant...he had to go to a certain appointment.
He turned to his friends and waved at them. "Well, see ya later, guys," he said, the three waving back. He saw the worried look on Jane's face. God, he hated that look.
As he left with the principal, the three kids stood next to each other, walking to the side of the school. When they got there, they saw Will getting into the car with Joyce. "You think he's going to be alright?" Dustin asked his friends.
"He always acts weird when he has to go in," Lucas answered.
"I don't know, he's been more quiet than usual..." Jane replied. He didn't exactly talk that much when the three were talking to each other as usual and she did notice that he wasn't paying that much attention in class until Max came in. She hoped he will be alright.
Back home from Hideaway late in the afternoon, Terry changed into a turquoise shirt and loose-fit jeans. She went downstairs to the basement. As she reached to the floor, she spotted the handmade fort with the walkie-talkie in it. She approached it and sat on her knees in front of it. She took a good look at it. Shortly after Mike disappeared, Jane told her that she made this for him when she first brought him home. She kept this set up in case he came back.
That made her let out a heavy sigh, covering her mouth a little. She couldn't tell her. She wanted to, so badly, but she couldn't. She knew she couldn't. If she did, she would erupt a storm no one wants to be in, but will get stuck in. So she forced herself to keep her secret only to herself...and Hopper. Only she and him knew and no one else.
Later, she and Jane were alone at the dinner table, eating steak, mashed potatoes, and vegetables and sitting next to each other. Kali was out on her dinner date with Steve, which was why it was just those two. Terry looked at her daughter, playing with her food and frowning. She felt heartbroken to see her like that, so she said, "Jane?" She only looked up at her. "What's the matter, sweetie?" The girl sighed and continued playing with her food. The woman sighed as well and set her silverware down. "Jane."
"What?" she replied in a cold tone.
She looked taken aback by that. "Don't answer me like that." The girl looked up at her again. "I'm just worried about you. You're playing with your food again, you have that face..." Jane knew what she was talking about, making her drop her fork. "Seriously, I need to know. You don't need to hide anything from me, sweetheart. We both went through what happened last year."
She was right. No bullshit could get through her again. She sighed again and looked at her straight in the eye. "I just miss him, Mama," she answered, looking sad. "I miss Mike."
The woman frowned at that. "I miss him too, Jane. I know how much you care about him." She then hugged her to her side. "And you know how much I care about him." She nodded. "He will come back someday, I know it." Although it was spoken in a context different from what Jane interpreted it is, she did hope it would happen, that one day, Mike will come and everything will be alright.
"I'm just tired of waiting..." She looked up at her. "I wanna find him."
The mother felt the wave of deja-vu hit her. It was just like one of their dinners last year, when her daughter said she wanted to find Will. "I know you want to, but you also know I can't let you. It's dangerous."
The curly-haired girl sighed, looking down at her food. "I understand, Mama."
"Sweetheart." The girl looked up at her again. "I know it's been a hard year for you. You stole from Kali, you cursed out one of your teachers, you plagiarized your essay, you graffitied the bathroom stall-"
"Everyone does that, Mama."
She sighed. "The point is, I get it. It's been a rough year. But I need you to shapen up and stay positive. That way, I don't have to carry the load of the problems you've gotten yourself into this year and I don't have to take away your things as punishment. Is that fair?" Jane sighed. She thought that her mother never really understand how she felt. She got a few problems and they were bothering her more than ever. Sure, they went through that one night last year and they both missed Michael, but that was it.
Still, she had to say yes.
She nodded at her and replied, "Yes, Mama."
Terry used her free hand to pat her daughter's hair. "Sweetie, I'm not mad at you. I just want the best for you." She then kissed the top of her head. "Please eat. None of us want leftovers." The girl nodded as her mother released the hug. The two then continued eating, staying silent again.
Kali, wearing a gray coat over her sweater, was walking with Steve to the...Holland house. They both saw a "For Sale" sign on the front yard, worrying the both of them. They looked away and faced the door, stopping in front of it. Both of them didn't look that happy. "Okay, ready?" Steve asked her.
She nodded at him. "Ready," she answered.
"Alright." He then pressed the doorbell so that Mr. and Mrs. Holland could answer the door.
...
Inside, Kali and Steve got their coats off and sat with Mr. and Mrs. Holland, eating chicken from KFC. "I have to say I'm sorry that I didn't get to cook," Mrs. Holland stated. "I was going to cook that baked ziti you two loved so much, but I forgot about the time and before I even knew it, 'Oh my God, it's five o'clock. What now?'" She and her husband laughed a little, the couple grinning.
"This is just fine, you two," Kali said to them reassuringly.
"Yeah, I just love KFC," Steve added. Mrs. Holland kept smiling at them, relieved that they said that.
After a few seconds of silence, the Indian girl stated, "When we got here, we saw a 'For Sale' sign on your front yard." She looked at them with concern. "What's that about?"
The parents exchanged glances, Mr. Holland gesturing his wife to tell her, so she looked at her and answered, "Recently, we just hired a man named Murray Bauman. Ever heard of him?" Both of them shook their heads.
"No, doesn't ring a bell," Kali replied.
"Yeah, I don't think I've heard the name 'til now," Steve added.
Mrs. Holland kept smiling. "He was an investigative journalist for the 'Chicago Sun-Times'."
"He's a pretty well-known guy," Mr. Holland added, handing the brown-haired guy a business card. Both him and his girlfriend looked to see a bearded man and his contact information.
"Now he's freelance and he agreed to take the case!" the woman finished in joy.
"Uh, that's great..." Steve said, looking at Kali for support. "That's great, right?"
She gave him a face that told him that she didn't know before looking at Barb's parents. "What does that mean exactly?"
"It means that he's gonna do what that lazy sonuva bitch Jim Ho-" the man said before his wife placed her hand on his arm to calm him down. He took a deep breath and said, "Sorry, I meant, what the Hawkins Police won't do." He then smiled. "We got a real detective on the case."
"And it means..." Mrs. Holland was near tears. "We're going to find Barb, our Barb."
"If anybody could find him, it's this man." Kali looked down at her chicken and sighed. Steve looked at her worriedly. "He has leads already, so he's proving to be worth every penny."
She looked up at them, looking worried. "And that's why you're selling the house?"
Mrs. Holland tried to give her a reassuring look. "Oh, sweetie, don't worry about us. We'll be fine. More than fine." Both parents smiled at her. "For the first time in a long time, we became so hopeful."
Kali nodded and gave her a half-assed smile. She then set her chicken on her plate and stated, "Excuse me. I need to use the bathroom."
"Oh, go ahead." She then left the table and went into the bathroom. She leaned against the sink and looked down on it, breathing heavily. The guilt she felt for not telling them the truth hung around her like a chain. Even if she did tell them, they wouldn't believe her. The talk about finding Barb, it was getting to her...because she knew.
She knew they weren't going to find Barb...find her alive...find her at all.
She wasn't going to be found, not even by this Murray guy.
She could feel her eyes getting watery, making her look up at her reflection on the mirror. It was getting blurry. She wiped her eyes to clear her vision. She then saw a picture of Barb to her right. It was a picture of when she was in middle school. She sighed and set the picture down. Even though that thing, the monster that killed her, was dead...
She still felt the same as she did before.
She sat on the end of the shower, covering her face as she began to cry. She missed her, she missed her so much...
Back at home in the basement, Jane laid down on the couch. Her mother already left for her "night shift", so she was home alone. She looked at the table. Dungeons and Dragons used to be there, but she, like the rest of the boys, moved on from it, so it was kept in storage with the rest of the stuff her mom took from her. She then looked at another table. It used to have toys on it, toys that belonged to her, but there was nothing. That was because her mother took them from her and will never give them back until she behaved better. She sighed and sat up.
She finally looked at the handmade fort. It was still there, still empty, still set up for Michael when he returns. God, no words could describe how much she missed him. She got up from the couch and walked over to it. She sat under it and grabbed the walkie-talkie, pulling up its antennae. She pressed a button and asked, "Mike, are you there?" She listened for an answer, but got static. "Can you hear me, Mike?" She listened for an answer again, still getting static. She sighed and continued, "It's me, Jane. It's day 352, 7:40 p.m. I'm still here. I'm not going to abandon you." She listened, only hearing static. "Mike, please, just tell me you're okay...give me a sign. I won't even talk, I just...I just need to know that you're there." She heard nothing more than static. She felt like crying. "Mike?" Nothing.
She sighed heavily and shortened the antennae, shaking her head. She then stood up and walked away, feeling like she was an idiot for doing this for so long. But then suddenly, she heard a distorted voice saying, "Jane?" She gasped. It sounded like his voice, so she ran to the walkie-talkie, pulled up the antennae, and asked, "A-are you there?!"
"Yeah, I'm here," Dustin answered. All the hope she got dropped when she heard his voice, making her sigh again. "Seriously, what're ya doing on this channel again?"
She looked upset and answered, "None of your business."
"Jeez, I'm just asking." He paused, now sounding happy. "So, guess what? Max IS Mad Max!"
Max, Max, Max...she's all the boys were talking about today. "Great," she replied coldly before shortening the antennae again.
"Jane, what's-" His voice got cut off when it was finally shortened and turned off. As if she wasn't upset enough today...
Both Lucas and Dustin were riding their bikes in the dark, having their headlights on. "Sheesh," the curly-haired boy said. "She's getting more grumpier."
"She's probably just really jealous of Max," Lucas replied.
"Yeah, probably."
Terry was driving a secret path to the destination she was going to. On the passenger's seat was a bag with two containers of the dinner she and Jane had. As she drove, she couldn't stop thinking about her daughter. She was really worried about her. Her missing Mike had taken a toll on how she used to be. She hoped she could get better, but she was a young teenager. Though Terry was a young teenager way back in the day, she knew she never acted like that. She knew that Becky, however, exhibited the kind of behavior Jane had recently. Taking away her things as punishment wasn't exactly helping either. She sighed heavily. She had to come up with a way to make her feel better.
She finally saw a cabin not too far from her, so she parked in one space and stopped her car's engine. She grabbed the bag and got out of the car. She took a good look at the cabin. It was old and made of wood, the windows shedding a little light though they were covered by curtains. At least the inside was comfy enough. She walked up to the door, opened the screen part of it, and used a special knock. As she waited for the door to open, she could hear some TV playing there. She knew it was a cartoon, making her smile. He always loved watching cartoons.
Finally, the door was unlocked and opened. She pushed it open and went in before closing it behind her. She set her bag on the floor to take off her coat and hang it on the coat rack. She grabbed her bag again and looked at the person watching the TV. "Hey there," she greeted, waving at them and holding up the bag. "I got dinner."
In his home, Will was drawing with his crayons. He drew something on top of his other drawings. It was a portrait...of Jane. Not that he did this often, but whenever he drew her, he just felt at ease. He loved the way he drew her and her features. It was his only way to deal with his...feelings towards her. His feelings he had for her ever since they first met...
Suddenly, he heard a knocking on his door, startling him and making him try to hide his drawing. The door opened and revealed Jonathan with three movies in his hand. "Hey, bud," he greeted him, waving the movies. "I didn't know which one you'd like, so I got these." He set them in front of him. "Take your pick."
He just shrugged and replied, "Whatever you want, I don't care."
Jonathan looked a little concerned for him and sat next to him. "Okay..." He then looked over and saw one of his drawings, which was a zombie labelled as 'Zombie Boy'. "Zombie Boy? Who's that?" Will sighed. He didn't want him to see the drawing of Jane, but he didn't want him to see that either...well, it was too late.
"Me," he answered. He knew there was going to be a long conversation about that...
Another car was riding through the secret path Terry took to the cabin. It turned out to be Hopper's car. He parked it next to Terry's and got out, approaching the cabin. When he got in front of the door, he opened the screen part and used the same special knock Terry used. In a few seconds, it was unlocked and opened. He pushed it further and got inside. He closed the door behind him and placed his hat and his coat on the coat rack. He could smell some nicely-cooked food in the air, so he looked at the direction it came from. There was some nicely-cooked meat and vegetables at the dinner table, one for him and one for the kid.
He saw Terry at the part that was the kitchen, removing her apron. She looked at him and smiled. "Good evening, Jim," she greeted him.
He removed his belt and placed it on the kitchen counter. "Evening, Terry," he greeted back, nodding at her as he pointed at the food. "Smells delicious."
She giggled and smiled, walking towards him. "Thanks. I try." She then walked to the TV and shut it off. At the same time, he got a can of beer from the fridge and suddenly spotted a half-open tub of mint ice-cream. He looked curious.
"Hey, Terry?" he called out to her.
"Yeah?" She walked towards him and saw the half-opened tub of ice cream, her eyes widening. "Oh my God, I never noticed that." They both sighed, Hopper grabbing the tub, and began walking to the table.
"Hey buddy, what did we talk about?" Hopper asked in a loud voice across the room as he seated himself.
"No signal," a young boy's voice answered from a room.
He looked confused. "What?"
"There was no signal. It's eight-one-five, you're late."
"Yeah, I'm sorry, lost track of time," the police chief added. "I'll signal next time, alright? And it's eight-fifteen, not eight-one-five." The boy got out of his room and sat across from Hopper.
It was Michael.
He was taller and had full, curly, combed black hair. He wore a navy blue polo shirt with red and tan stripes, tan-colored pants, and white sneakers. "Eight-fifteen."
"Now, what did Terry and I tell ya?" the man asked him, putting the half-open tub on the table.
He sighed and looked at the two. "Dinner first...then dessert."
Both of them nodded. "That's right, Michael," the woman replied. "That's a rule you have to follow, alright?"
He nodded at her. "Alright."
She smiled at him and said to the two males, "Today's dish is steak, mashed potatoes, and veggies. Dig in." The two then began to eat. Mike said that the dish was good, Hopper practically repeating the same thing. Terry thanked the both of them and began talking to them about their day. Throughout the dinner, they just talked and talked, enjoying themselves.
This seemed like a simple, yet enjoyable night.
Done! What do you guys think? Any typos or mistakes I might've missed?
Yeah, like Mike in canon, Jane's getting pretty annoyed at the boys' interest of Max. It MIGHT be for a different reason though, 'cause last I checked, Mike's reason was that Max could replace El. It's not exactly the case here...
Poor Jane though...she misses Mike so much...
Speaking of Mike...boom! He makes an appearance in this chapter! Finally! He still looks the same as he did canonically in Season 2 with his hair and even his clothes (though his hair wasn't always like that...). He'll also still be a little emo like his canon counterpart did in Season 2, though it's for a different reason.
I hope I wrote the lone scene with Will drawing Jane. I figured he would do that if he had a crush on someone, drawing them, so yeah. Of course, he would keep them secret.
I also hope I wrote that dinner scene between Jane and Terry well. I maybe thought that Terry would still punish her for misbehaving the way she did, but due to what happened the year before, decided to take the mild route of punishment, which is taking away precious things and not giving them back until she was better behaved.
Anyways, review, follow, favorite, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!