Jess was riding her bike to school, grinning at Dustin who now had caught up.
"¡Buenas días Dustin!"
"¡Buenas días Jess!"
"¡Buenas días chicas!" Lucas says, causing Jess to stick out her tongue.
"Shut up Lucas!" Jess laughs.
X
As the four of them (Mike had joined them as soon as they passed his street) went to park their bikes, Jess bit her lip, looking for Will.
"That's weird. I don't see him."
"I'm telling you, his mom's right. He probably just went to class early again." Lucas says, walking with the group.
"Yeah, he's always paranoid Gursky's gonna give him another pop quiz." Dustin laughs.
"Step right up, ladies and gentlemen."
Jess groans, turning to see Troy and his minion.
"Step right up and get your tickets for the freak show."
Jess rolls her eyes, squaring her jaw.
"Who do you think would make more money in a freak show?"
Troy walks up to the group.
"Midnight, Frogface, Toothless, or Bookworm?" he asks, hitting the each of them on the shoulder.
Jess rolled her eyes at her name.
It wasn't even an insult!
"I'd go with Toothless." his minion says, mimicking Dustin's slur.
Jess' hands turned into fists, her face going bright red in anger.
"I told you a million times, my teeth are coming in. It's called cleidocranial dysplasia." Dustin says, clearly getting tired of explaining his birth defect.
"I told you a million times." The minion continued to mimic.
"Do the arm thing."
Jess growled, her teeth baring.
"Do it, freak!"
Dustin sighs, removing his jacket.
He stretched out his arms, making it pop.
The boys groaned, wincing.
Jess rolled her eyes at them being overdramatic.
"God it gets me every time," Troy says, pushing Jess to the ground, causing her to groan.
"Jess! You alright?" Dustin asks, pulling her up.
She just glared at the direction Troy and his minion went.
"Fuckers." she hissed.
"Assholes." Lucas agreed.
Mike sighed, turning to Dustin.
"I think it's kinda cool. It's like you have superpowers or something," he says, causing Jess to nod her head in agreement.
"Like Mr. Fantastic."
"Yeah, except I can't fight evil with it," he says, causing Jess to roll her eyes.
"So? You're still cool to me," she says, causing Dustin to smile at her.
"Thanks, Jess."
X
The bell had rung, ending class.
"Remember, finish chapter 12 and answer 12.3 on the difference between an experiment and other forms of science investigation. This will be on the test, which will cover chapters 10 through 12. It will be multiple choice with an essay section." Mr. Clarke says, trailing off in the end when he noticed no one was listening or cared.
He turned to see the four kids standing excitedly at his desk, grinning ear to ear.
Jess was jumping up and down, her curls bouncing, grinning widely as her dimples showed, her freckle-covered nose scrunched up.
"So, did it come?" Mike asked.
Mr. Clarke sighed.
"Sorry, boys and young lady. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but..."
Jess' excitement melted away, bit by bit.
"...it came."
X
The four kids opened the door to the AV room, Jess squealing when she saw the radio.
"Yes!" Mike exclaimed.
"The Heathkit ham shack." Mr. Clarke says, smiling at Jess jumping up and down.
"Whoa." Mike sighed, smiling at it.
"Ain't she a beaut?"
"She's more than a beaut!" Jess exclaimed, grabbing the headphones and putting them on.
"I bet you can talk to New York on this thing."
"Think bigger." Mr. Clarke says.
"California?" Lucas asked.
"Bigger."
"Australia?"
Mr. Clarke nodded.
"¡¿QÚE?! ¡NO!" Jess exclaimed.
"I'm not joking."
Jess shrieked in excitement.
"Oh, man! When Will sees this, he's totally going to blow his shit." Lucas exclaimed.
"Lucas!"
"Sorry."
Dustin chuckles as they turned it on, Jess and Mike leaning into the microphone.
"Hello, this is Mike Wheeler,"
"And this is Jess Hernandez."
"Co-presidents of Hawkins Middle AV Club." they both say in terrible Australian accents.
Dustin grabs the headphones from Jess' head, putting them on.
"What are you doing?" Lucas chuckled.
"Hello, this is Dustin, and this is the secretary and treasurer of Hawkins Middle AV Club. Do you eat kangaroos for breakfast?" Dustin asks, causing Jess to howl with laughter, leaning on Lucas who had grabbed the headphones for his turn.
They heard a knock on the door, causing the four kids to turn, Jess' excitement melting away when she saw the principal and Chief Hopper there.
"Sorry to interrupt, but, uh, may I borrow Michael, Lucas, Dustin, and Jessica?"
The boys and the girl all looked at each other, frowning.
X
Jess sighed as the boys tried to talk over each other.
This is what she suffers for being the only girl in the group.
"Okay, okay, okay. One at a time all right? You, since you're not being annoying." Chief Hopper says to Jess causing her to nod.
"You said he takes what?"
"Mirkwood," she answered, biting her lip.
"Mirkwood?"
"Yeah," Mike says, causing Jess to nod.
"Have you ever heard of Mirkwood?"
"I have not. That sounds made up to me." The cop next to him says, causing Jess to roll her eyes.
"No, it's from Lord of the Rings," Lucas says, causing Jess and Dustin to look at him.
"Well, The Hobbit." they both argued.
"It doesn't matter."
"He asked!" Jess argued.
"He asked!" Lucas mocked, in a terrible Spanish accent.
Jess turned bright red in anger as Dustin defended her beloved natural accent.
"Shut up, guys!" Mike said, who was between the two.
"Hey, hey, hey!"
"What'd I just say? One at a damn time. You."
"Mirkwood, it's a real road. It's just the name that's made up." Mike explained.
"It's where Cornwallis and Kerley meet." Jess continued.
"Yeah, all right, I think I know that-"
"We can show you if you want." Mike offered.
"I said that I know it!"
"We can help look," Jess says, looking at the boys.
"Yeah."
"No," Hopper says, looking at all of them.
The four kids started clamoring, demanding they help.
"No. After school, you are all to go home. Immediately."
Jess sighed in anger.
"That means no biking around looking for your friend, no investigating, no nonsense. This isn't some Lord of the Rings book."
"The Hobbit." Dustin corrects.
"Puta," Jess says, rolling her eyes.
"Shut up!" Lucas says, hitting Dustin in the chest.
"Hey!"
"Stop it!"
Jess and Mike looked at each other and rolled their eyes at their childish demeanor.
She was just as passionate about The Hobbit like Dustin however, there were more important things to worry about.
Will is missing.
"Do I make myself clear?"
Chief Hopper got up, glaring at the four kids.
"Do I make myself...clear?"
"Yes, sir."
"Yeah."
Jess sighs before looking at the Chief.
"Si Señor," she says, frowning.
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