Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
Terry arrived at the police station and went to the front desk, seeing Flo there. She walked up to her, the elderly woman looking up. "May I help you, m'am?" she asked.
"Hey, is Chief Jim Hopper here?" she asked her.
She shook her head. "No."
She sighed heavily and darted her eyes away for a second. "Do you know where he is?"
"If my woman's intuition is correct, he's probably at City Hall."
"Great," she muttered under her breath, looking at the time. She needed to go to work now. "Well, thanks for the help." Flo just nodded as she left the station. She couldn't feel more annoyed. When she's got the time, she'll go and have a few words with him.
Hopper, stiff and nervous as all hell, parked at Melvald's, seeing Joyce alone at the register, surely with no service before him. He took a deep breath. During his ride here, he was thinking about what to tell her. He can't lie about having the heart-to-heart, Terry would have to break the news afterward-and the last thing he wanted was Joyce to be pissed off at him. At the same time, he couldn't disappoint her by telling the truth. He was sure she wouldn't think well of him when he admits that he screwed up and Terry probably wanted to kick his ass for it.
He finally came up with something. It's vague and he'll have to put on a convincing performance, but it was the best he could think of.
He took another deep breath before exiting the car, wearing his sheriff's hat and sunglasses. He entered in and let out an exaggerated huff, getting the brunette's attention. "Y'know, Joyce?" he asked her, making her expression towards him a curious one. "I'm gonna be honest with you." She nodded slowly, looking concerned as he finally got in. He removed his hat and faked a smile. "I...maybe got a little nervous about my 'heart-to-heart' with Mike for a while before I had to drop Jane off at Terry's." He chuckled, getting close to the brunette, who looked even more concerned. "Like, I started imagining a thousand different ways it could go down, okay?"
She nodded, understanding. "That can happen," she said. "Then what?"
He looked away from her for a second, continuing, "I just thought that maybe, since he's...not a little boy anymore, it could go wrong in those thousands of different ways."
She nodded again. "Uh-huh..."
He sighed and took off his sunglasses. "I thought he was going to act like I did when I was his age, having my dad try to talk to me about my personal life." He paused, looking her in the eyes and faking a smile again. "But..."
Her eyes widened in interest and she made a circular motion with her hand. "But...?"
And then, he got away from her, grinning and announcing, "Nah, I shouldn't ruin the surprise."
Joyce looked shocked, smiling nervously. "What surprise?"
He turned to her and said, "A surprise you'll get at dinner tonight, Enzo's, 7 o'clock."
It was clear that wasn't the answer she was looking for. As she was going to rebut, he added, "And before you say no, lemme just take one thing-" He held up one finger, getting close to her again. "One thing, crystal clear." She looked a bit puzzled, but then crossed her arms and listened. He motioned his hand between them. "I'm not asking you out on a date."
She looked baffled at that statement. "W-w-wait, a DATE?" She quirked up an eyebrow and leaned towards him. "You didn't say anything about a date-"
He nodded and interrupted, "That's just it. I didn't SAY that. I just wanted to make sure I clear up any confusion on your part."
She looked a bit appalled to hear that coming from his mouth. "There's not...?"
"That's great, 'cause it's just two friends gathered for a nice dinner."
She nervously laughed. "Me and Terry eating at Enzo's are two friends gathered for a nice dinner-"
He looked a little bit hurt, though it was clearly exaggerated. "I'm not your friend, Joyce?"
She nervously laughed again, shaking her head. "That's not what I mean, Hop."
"Of course it's not." They both laughed with each other, a playfulness now in the air.
After they stopped, Joyce finally asked, "Well, how late is it gonna be?"
He looked away from her for a second before answering, "I'll make sure you'll be home by 9."
Her smile dropped. "8."
"8:30. I'll pick you up."
She scoffed. "I'll meet you there."
He nodded. "Okay. Enzo's at 7, meeting there. That's a deal." Joyce sighed, clearly defeated by his persistence. Though it wasn't a particularly BAD persistence...especially since she usually goes back home alone...
The two exchanged smiles before Hopper's walkie-talkie whirred with Powell's voice. He sighed and said, "I gotta go, but remember-"
"Enzo's, 7, meeting there," Joyce replied, the two exchanging smiles again...liking the looks of them. He then exited as he answered Powell through the walkie-talkie.
While the African-American officer was telling his chief about what was going on outside of Town Hall, Dave stood in front of protestors with a megaphone in one hand and a large cardboard sign that wrote "DOWNTOWN OVER MALL-TOWN" in blue and red paint in the other. In the megaphone, he chanted, "What do we want?!"
"Recall the mall!" the protestors chanted back.
"What does that mean?!"
"Better for us all!"
"And the supporters?!"
"Shame on them all!"
Even though his female friend works there, it wasn't like she loved it there or anything, so that's why he never feels guilty doing this. Besides, that damn place was why he, and the rest of these protestors, were out of jobs. Stacey was just lucky to land one in the midst of annoying-ass teenagers flooding in to get them.
"What do we want?!"
"Recall the mall!"
Officer Powell then told Hopper, "You need to get your ass into Town Hall NOW!"
Steve couldn't be more thrilled to have Dustin back. He missed this kid, who was obviously his favorite among the other kids (yes, including his girlfriend's little sister). He didn't care Robin gave him looks 'cause he was friends with another kid. He was BACK!
And has a girlfriend that sounds really right for him, yet too good to be true...apparently.
They sat at a booth, Dustin eating a free sundae shaped like a sailboat. He pointed at it and looked at him, asking, "So, you can eat as much of this as you want?"
He nodded. "Yeah, I mean, sure. It's not really a good idea for me though." He motioned his hands to his body. "Gotta keep myself in shape."
Dustin ate another piece of the sailboat sundae. "For Kali, right?"
He chuckled. "Kinda, but just for me."
He nodded. "You two are still together?" He ate another piece.
He nodded back at him, confident. "Oh yeah, we're still going strong. It's just...we got different jobs-"
"Apparently, she's got a slightly better one," Robin called out condescendingly, throwing an empty used cup out.
He looked annoyed at her before looking at Dustin. "Ignore her."
The curly-haired boy shrugged. "She seems cool."
"No, she's not."
"But Kali's got a better job than you?"
He scoffed. "Okay, listen, she's in an internship, that means she doesn't get paid."
He nodded. "Oh, I get it."
He shook his head. "I've yet to hear her say anything good about it though."
He looked surprised. "Oh."
"Yeah." He looked around. "So, where're the other knuckleheads?"
Dustin had told him that they ditched him and of course, he didn't like that as much as him. However, he seemed to have intercepted a secret Russian communication, which he tried to whisper, then exclaimed for everyone in the store to hear. But this could mean that they could be heroes...American heroes. He liked the sound of that.
He scooted next to him, smiling. "American heroes, huh?"
He nodded. "Just think. You could finally prove to Kali that you're as worthy and just as capable as she is."
"I can prove I'm worthy and capable." He nodded slowly. "I like that." Dustin nodded with him. He was getting tired of being the least accomplished in their relationship, after all. "What's the catch?" Turned out all he needed to do was help him translate the communication somehow. Just somehow.
Suddenly, Kali appeared in the parlor and saw Steve and Dustin sitting together on the booth to her right. They both looked surprised to see her, Dustin hiding the English-to-Russian translate book. She looked surprised to see Dustin. "You're back," she said to him.
He smiled, saying, "Yup."
She sat down next to her boyfriend, who wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "How was camp?"
He nodded. "Pretty good."
"Get this." Kali looked up at her boyfriend. "He's made this thing that carries communication to another state."
She looked awed. "Wow, really?"
"Cerebro," Dustin said. "That's its name."
She nodded at him. "Well, I'm happy you had a good time there AND invent something good."
He bowed his head to her. "Thank you."
"AND..." Kali looked at Steve again. "He apparently has a girlfriend now."
She looked surprised again, looking at the curly-haired boy once more. "A girlfriend?"
The boy smiled. "Name's Suzie, with a 'z'. Met her at camp."
"He says she's ho-" He caught himself and cleared his throat. "Prettier than Phoebe Cates. You know her, right?"
She nodded. "'Fast Times', right?"
"Right," they both answered.
She smiled at him. "Well, I'm glad you got a girlfriend now."
His eyes widened. "You don't think I'm lying?"
She scoffed. "I never took you as a liar."
He pointed at Steve. "Well, your boyfriend does."
She looked up at him with narrow eyes, him holding his hands up. "Little skepticism never hurt no one." She chuckled and shook her head. "By the way, don't you have your internship?"
"Yeah, Steve told me about it," Dustin added.
She sighed and leaned forward. "I trust the two of you to keep a secret, right?"
They nodded. "Yeah, of course, babe," Steve answered, his arm off of her shoulders.
"Yeah, absolutely," Dustin answered at the same time.
She nodded and said, "So, Jonathan and I are investigating something..."
Max had skated all the way to Jane's house after getting a call from her to come. Once she saw the house, she skated into the driveway and did a kick-stop, walking to the front door. She rang the doorbell, Becky opening it up a few seconds later. She put on a friendly face and greeted, "Hey."
Jane told her that family was visiting, so she assumed that woman must be her aunt. "Hey...Aunt Becky, right?"
She placed a hand over her heart. "You can just call me Becky."
She nodded, liking this woman already. "Alright...Becky."
"You're Max, right?"
She smiled at her. "That's me."
She pointed her thumb back. "Jane's down in the basement."
She nodded again and got in. "Okay, thanks." She saw Tina watching Sesame Street in a booster seat with Carl sitting next to her. It kind of reminded her of a vague memory of watching Sesame Street with her dad...
Her real dad.
She looked away and went downstairs, seeing Jane laying on the couch and staring at the ceiling. She sat up when she saw her come down. "Hey," she greeted her.
"Hey, Jane," she greeted back, leaning her skateboard against the pole the phone was on and sitting next to her. "You said you were having a shitty morning?"
She nodded. "Yeah."
"You mind me asking why?"
She looked at her. "It's Mike."
She widened her eyes, getting close to her and getting all her attention towards her. "Boy troubles?"
She nodded. "Definitely."
She nodded back at her. "Okay, hit me."
Mike sat on the edge of the bed, Will at his desk, still with his D&D board, while Lucas was pacing around the room, lending an ear to the freckled boy's story. "And then I said to her that she shouldn't hang out with me, and then she said she wasn't planning and...called me an idiot."
Both the boys looked shocked that she said that, Lucas saying, "Oooof...after all you two have been through..." He bared his teeth in cringe.
"Jane...called you that?" Will asked.
He looked at him. "Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." That didn't sound like her at all...
"Then what happened?" Lucas asked.
He sighed, pursing his lips and looking down on the floor. "I said she could go hang out with her stupid family, then..."
"I told him he could go hang out with his piece-of-shit dad," Jane said, looking down at the floor.
Max looked sad and understanding of her. "Then what?"
"We both yelled 'fine' at each other, then..."
"I hung up and cried."
"I hung up and cried."
Lucas sighed sharply and held his arms up. "Well, dude, you got yourself a Class-A problem," he said, sitting next to him.
"Class-A problem?" he asked, perplexed.
He placed a hand on his shoulder. "You two just had a heated argument."
"Yeah, if what you're saying is true," Will said. Both the boys glared at him, making him look away and gulp. "Which I think it is..."
"And you cried too. That's a MAJOR problem 'cause no girl should make a guy cry in a relationship."
"He made you CRY?!" Max exclaimed, Jane nodding. She scoffed and stood up, pacing around. "What a piece of shit!"
"Exactly," Jane replied. "Even though Hopper never had the talk with him, he acted so defensive and rude."
Max clapped her hands and pointed them at her. "Exactly. No guy, EVER, should make a girl cry in a relationship."
"What if I made her cry?" Mike asked. Will tensed up at that.
"Whether or not you did, she made YOU cry-" He pointed at him and stood up to make a clearing gesture with his hands. "-so nothing's forgiven."
"What if I...made him cry?" Jane asked.
Max scoffed. "Boys don't cry."
She narrowed her eyes at her. "Mike does."
She sighed, remembering that he wasn't like any other boy. "Okay, but even if he does, he made YOU cry, so nothing should be forgiven."
"What should I do?"
Before Lucas could say anything, Will blurted out, "Stay away from her." The two boys looked at him, making him feel nervous for saying that out of the blue. He wished he hadn't at the moment, but he took a deep breath and added, "I mean, girls are really unpleasant when they're mad, right?"
Lucas nodded and replied, "Yeah." He then grasped Mike's shoulders tightly, the two exchanging glances. "For now, you HAVE to stay away from her. Don't call her, don't see her, none of that!" He shook him a little, Mike's eyes widening a little. "Don't even answer her calls and if she tries to get your attention, just walk away. Run, if you have to!"
Will felt guilty for bringing that up, but then he thought...the less he hangs out with Jane, the more she'll be back to the girl she was before. And also, Mike giving her the cold shoulder...could give Will an advantage.
"You understand that?" Lucas asked Mike.
He nodded. "Yeah."
"Auntie Becky said I should take some time away from him and then talk to him when the time is right."
The red-haired girl nodded at that. "Yeah, that seems like a good idea." She then sat next to her again. "For now, don't call him, don't try to see him-don't even answer if he calls."
"If he calls?" Jane asked.
"Yeah, as far as you know for now, he doesn't exist."
"Doesn't...exist?" She wasn't so sure about that...
"Jane may be our friend, but she treated you like garbage," Lucas added. "It doesn't matter that she's a girl. Make her get a taste of her own medicine."
Will pursed his lips. He didn't like Jane being treated like garbage, but if it makes her and Mike history...
"Just go about your own business," Max added. "Don't worry about him or Hopper. No one likes hang-ups. Just focus on yourself for a while."
"Focus on myself..." Jane murmured to herself. That seemed like a good idea.
"You guys had a garbage argument. Get it out of your system 'cause garbage helps no one." The brown-haired tomboy nodded.
"And if she doesn't try to fix this..."
"And if he keeps on being a piece of shit..."
"If she doesn't explain herself..."
"If he doesn't explain himself..."
"Dump her ass."
"Dump his ass."
He looked shocked at that suggestion, knowing what the hell that meant.
Will held back the need to smile, drawing his lips to a thin line and nodding. For once, Lucas actually gave good advice. No Mike and Jane means no more bad influence on Jane.
She looked appalled her suggestion, then asked, "As a last resort, right?"
She nodded, though it looked like she was misunderstood. "Yeah, yeah, as a last resort."
Lucas got his hands off Mike's shoulders and gave him a reassuring smile. "You gotta trust me, dude. I know my shit from dating Max." He held up five fingers. "I've broke up with Max five times. FIVE. TIMES." He paused to put his hand on his chest. "But I didn't sit on my ass to despair about her. I went along with my own business, not doing anything concerning her, then when it was time for her, I won her back EVERY. SINGLE. TIME!" Mike nodded in understanding. He thought that clearly, Lucas knew what he was talking about, so he should follow his advice.
Max held her open hand up. "You see this, Jane?" she asked her friend, who nodded. "This is how many times I've broken up with Lucas. But I never, I mean NEVER, let myself get hung up on him. I've pretended that he never existed: never called him, never recalled seeing him if I did, never returned his calls, nothing! I focused on myself and did my own business. Then, when I think I should patch things up with him, he practically crawls to me and I win him back!" She snapped her fingers. "Like that! So, trust me on this. I'm a professional." She really was, wasn't she? Plus, it was amusing to hear how Lucas was as a boyfriend.
"In fact, we've never hung out as just us guys before," Lucas added, turning to Will. "Isn't that right?"
He nodded again, a bit slowly, and answered, "Yes..."
Lucas looked back at Mike and got him on his feet. "C'mon, hang out with the boys."
Mike looked interested, but also puzzled. "Where?"
"I'll show ya. Let's go!" He then got out the door, Mike following behind him.
Will threw his arm up and shouted, "What about D&D-"
"C'mon, Will! Let's show Mike a good time!" He groaned and stood up from his desk. Not ready to leave his D&D stuff, he grabbed the box and put the pieces there. He then grabbed his backpack, got the box in there, and zipped it up. "Come on, Will!"
"I'M COMING!" he shouted as he ran out to hang out with Lucas and Mike. God, he hoped that time will go by fast.
"In fact..." Max stood up again and faced her lady friend, putting her hands on her hips. "How about you convince your aunt and uncle to take us to the mall? That'd be a nice place to hang out and focus on yourself."
Jane stood up as well and smiled. "I can. It sounds like fun."
"Duh!"
They then ran up the stairs and into the living room, where the two and their daughter were at. Jane continued smiling as she said, "Max and I wanna hang out at the mall, so can you drive us there?"
Becky smiled back at her, happy that she was happy, and said, "'Course, girls." They both smiled at each other and high-fived. She then looked at her husband and asked, "Wanna go to the mall, honey?"
He shrugged and stood up, turning off the TV with the remote. "Sure," he answered plainly, picking up Tina from her seat. "I wanted to see what the mall is like."
She stood up as well, getting the keys from the new key-chain rack. She jiggled them and said, "Let's go." She exited out of the home, then the now giddy girls, then Carl and Tina.
So, in turn with Kali telling them about a possible rat infestation, they told her about the intercepted Russian signal and that they were going to decode it. That info was pretty interesting for her and gave her an idea. "What if these were all interconnected?" she asked them.
They looked a little puzzled. "Uh...what?" Steve asked.
She looked at him, flipping her palm upwards. "What if these rats are part of the Russians' scheme?"
They both still looked puzzled. "What do you mean?" Dustin also asked.
She sighed, looking at the two of them. "If what this woman says is true, then it could be possible that the Russians would be deploying disease-ridden rats upon the town to send out a warning."
The curly-haired boy nodded, looking like he understood. He pointed a finger at her. "Like the Black Plague, but intentional."
She nodded back at him, smiling. "Exactly." Steve wished he got that. He learned about the Black Plague, it just didn't...click for him at the second.
"Could be. Maybe that's what the code is." He waved his tape around. "Could be a message to deploy the rats."
Now she pointed at him. "Exactly."
Feeling left out, Steve spoke up by saying, "Okay, so that is a possibility." The two looked at him. "Why here? This is practically nowhere compared to D.C. and shit."
Kali looked thoughtful for a moment, then answered, "Maybe they're starting small."
"That makes sense," Dustin added. "Targeting smaller, lesser-known towns would be a strategic move to destroying populations right under the government's nose." Steve and Kali looked at him curiously, making him say, "I've played a lot of D&D. I know this."
"You definitely have a point there," the Indian girl said, moving away from her boyfriend's hold and standing up. "I'll investigate though and see if it's legit." She held the strap of her purse before looking at her boyfriend. "Can you still come by tonight? At 8?"
Steve nodded, answering, "Yeah, you'd get the update from me."
She giggled a little. "Yeah." She waved to them and said, "I'll see you guys later." With that and the guys waving back at her, she left to go to the address and meet Doris with Jonathan.
The two looked at each other, Dustin with the tape in hand and Steve saying, "Let's go to the back and crack this thing wide open." He then got out of the table.
"Right behind ya," the boy replied, also getting out and throwing away the new empty sundae bowl as they went to the back. Little did they know that Robin was watching the entire time...
While Dave was too busy leading the protest against the mall, ironically, Stacey drove Andrew there. He said that he needed to look around so he and Terry wouldn't get lost when they finally hang out, so she let him be and went to work. There, her duty at the moment was folding clothes with Terry, a perfect time to talk to her.
"After waiting for an hour, I went to our room, took off my makeup, and fell asleep, IN MY DRESS," she told her, looking frustrated. "I usually sleep with my sleeping cap and my tank top and underwear, not my entire DRESS!"
Terry looked sorry for her, despite the fact that she had..."plans" with an 18-year-old, folding a decorative shirt and putting it down in a pile of shirts just like it. "I'm sorry about that," she said in a forgiving voice. "Why didn't you take it off?"
She sighed, folding up a plain blue t-shirt for the pile of the same shirts. "I was too tired to even try."
She nodded. "And he still didn't come?"
She shook her head. "In the morning, I just put my heels and purse back on, then left. I already paid the lady at the desk for the room." She shook her head again, putting the folded shirt into the pile. "Can you believe that? Not even when I went to bed did he come." After she was done, she moved onto another pile of shirts, another one of the decorative ones, and folded one of them. "You think there's some reason why he did that? You're a Psychology major, right?"
She answered, "That's right." She was done with that folded pile of shirts and going to a pile of tri-colored sweaters, folding one of those as she began thinking. "Have you seen The Graduate?"
Stacey chuckled. "No. Tried once, but I fell asleep." That made Terry chuckle as well. "But I know that film's about...that kind of relationship."
She folded another sweater and put it in the folded pile. "Since you haven't seen the movie in full..." She sighed. "There are two possibilities."
The curly-haired woman turned to her curious. "Which are...?"
"One, he could be intimidated by you."
That made her scoff. "What? HIM? Intimidated by ME?"
The dirty-blonde-haired woman looked at her, stopping her folding of another sweater. "It may not look like it from your conversations, but perhaps due to the fact that he's now old enough to vote and you're as old as his stepmother, probably..." Now Stacey stopped folding and looked at her friend, putting a hand on her hip. "He probably didn't feel ready or he may he was battling with his morality."
Stacey took that in, then looked disbelieved, shrugging her shoulders. "That doesn't sound like him."
Terry shrugged her shoulders as well. "That is one possibility. The second..." She went back to folding the sweaters. "He's met another girl his age that he's beginning to like as well."
Stacey's eyes grew large. "What?"
"It is possible for him to meet another girl and feel more comfortable with her than...with you."
She scoffed, shaking her head. "I don't see him chatting with any girls his age at the pool."
"Then he probably sees this girl outside of the pool." Stacey took a bit to digest that, looking away in thought and a bit of sadness. Him seeing another girl outside of the pool...no...could he?
"Or..." Stacey looked at Terry again, who looked at her as well. "Maybe he's doing that right under your nose and you haven't seen it yet." Her eyes widened again, the woman shocked. She looked away in thought again. Were there any girls his age at the pool he could be getting steady with behind her back? There was that one lifeguard that goes before him-
Wait.
That lifeguard...yeah, that could be her.
She let out a heavy sigh and finally continued folding the shirts. "Well, thanks for your input, Terry."
She smiled at her. "You're welcome. It's no problem." Stacey returned the smile before her friend added, "But one good thing you can do is just talk to him."
Her friend looked at her curiously. "Why would I do that?"
"Well, just because he...just graduated high school, it doesn't mean that he still acts like a kid. I'm sure you two can talk about it like adults."
Stacey looked solemn. "And if he doesn't want to talk about it?"
Terry shrugged again, also looking solemn as she was thinking about...Martin. "Either he doesn't know how to handle that situation or...you got your answer." Stacey nodded, the conversation stopping there as they continued folding clothes. She did want to confront Billy about standing her up on their "private swimming lessons", but not right now. Andrew will eventually come by and she'll have to cover for Terry when they hit it off. Maybe when she gets off by six, she'll confront him then.
When Billy arrived at the pool, the first thing he did was go in the shade, go out back in the supply room, and drink the cleaning liquids there. He didn't WANT to do that shit, especially since that shit kills. But...ever since that encounter with that...thing last night, he didn't feel so well.
Hell, he didn't even feel like himself.
He's drinking this shit, he's sweating like a pig, he wore more to the pool than he usually does, and he became hyper-aware of his heartbeat. But that thing kept telling him one thing: that he needed to build. Build what? But whatever the hell that meant...for some reason, he wants to do it. He doesn't REALLY want to do it, but he wants to anyway. It was like he was possessed...by that thing. What it did to him last night...
Speaking of last night, that thing totally made him stand up on his "private lessons" with Stacey. Shit. He knew she would be pissed at him for it. If she were here, he would have to avoid her, no matter what. Yeah...avoid her. He looks and feels like shit and he doesn't want her to deal with that.
When he finally got out, it just so happens that it was his turn to look over the pool. However, his sight was hazy and more flickery. Not only that, he felt like he was melting under the sun, even though it wasn't over 100 today. Its light was also blinding to him, making him shield his eyes at direct contact. His hearing makes the cries and screams of joy and delight sound more awful than usual.
"Looking good, Billy," Heather, his fellow lifeguard, said, chewing her gum and smiling at him as she walked by. Her voice sounded like an echo to him.
When he looked at the moms he usually flirts with, they all looked at him flirtatiously like they did before and greeted, "Afternoon, Billy." Their voices were like echoes too. Goddamn it, what the hell was wrong with him?
When he got to the lifeguard stand, he felt a little better, him sighing in relief. The sunlight still blinded his sight, but he'd just have to deal with it until he finds some sunglasses. Just go along as usual...just go along as usual...
Stopping right here. How was this chapter? Any typos or mistakes I might've missed?
So I made Hopper not lie through his teeth, but be vague as hell with Joyce about what's happened. Of course, in this AU, lying's gonna do nothing but blow up in his face, but I'm sure that he wouldn't want to tell her the truth either. It comes off as less manipulative, I hope.
Since in Suspicious Minds, Andrew and his friends are practically hippies and anti-government, why not have Dave lead the protest? Andrew would join, but there's the matter of Terry...and maybe something else...
Again, it was fun writing the talks Lucas and Max give to Mike and Jane back-to-back! Both of them are perfect together in the sense that they give their respective friends not-so-good advice. xD And you guys know about Will. But at least they'll cheer them up...with the mall...
I hope you guys enjoyed the small Kali, Steve, and Dustin conversation. At least she doesn't think Dustin is lying and they were open to the possibility of the rats and Russians being connected.
Yeah, Terry was giving Stacey advice about Billy, but I made it clear that she wasn't that open about a woman around her age having plans with an 18-year-old. However, she likes her as a friend, so I made her decide not to judge her because of that situation.
Since Thanksgiving Break is here, I can have more time writing chapters! So review, follow, favorite, and I'll see you in the next one!