A/N: My sweet readers! My plan is to hopefully give you updates on all of my stories this holiday season, including the potential release of a new story. But first, I still have one exam to conquer before I am free of stress. I will hopefully make good on my promise though because I have been meaning to give you all some good updates. Anywho, please enjoy!
"Hey, Nancy." Tina passed out one of her many orange flyers to the brunette as she stepped out of the classroom. Nancy looked down at her hand as the invitation was pressed into her hand. "Hey! Thanks." The girl said as she passed. Jonathan stepped out of the classroom right behind her and Nancy couldn't help but notice he wasn't passed a flyer. She read the contents before turning around,"Oh, could I get one more?"
Presuming it was for Steve, Tina smiled as she passed out another flyer. "Yeah, sure." She told her. Once Nancy had the flyer in her hands, she took only a few steps before she passed it over to Jonathan with a grin on her face. "You're coming to this." She insisted. "And you're bringing Reagan." Nancy decided.
He chuckled a little before reading the flyer. "Come and get sheet faced." Jonathan quoted before rolling his eyes and looking over at Nancy. "No, I'm not. And I'm not dragging Reagan to this while we could be spending our time together doing other things." He said. "What sort of other things?" Nancy questioned, making him a little squeamish at the sort of suggestive tone of voice she was using.
Nancy sighed,"Come on. I can't let you sit all alone Halloween. That's just not acceptable. A party will definitely pull Reagan out of her application stress." She tried to persuade him. "Well, you can relax. I'm not gonna be alone." Jonathan informed her. "You and Reagan already have plans?" She asked. He pursed his lips together,"No. I'm going trick-or-treating with Will." He explained.
"You've got to be kidding me, Jonathan. All night?" Nancy asked. He shrugged,"Yeah." He said unconvincingly. "No, no way. You're gonna be home by eight, listening to the Talking Heads and reading Vonnegut or something." She guessed. Jonathan smiled a little,"Sounds like a nice night." He said. She rolled her eyes,"Jonathan, just come. You'd have a nicer night with Reagan and you know that." She pointed out as she approached her locker.
Jonathan frowned a little,"Look, I know you're ri–" Before he could finish his sentence, Steve crept up behind Nancy and wrapped his arms around her waist. The girl shrieked as he lifted her up into the air. She whipped around to see her boyfriend wearing sunglasses. "Oh, my God! Take those stupid things off." She scolded. "I missed you." Steve said sweetly as he took off his sunglasses. "It's been like an hour." Nancy told him.
"Tell me about it." He said, putting his hand on the back of her neck and pulling her in for a kiss. Nancy kissed him with a smile before pulling away. "Okay. Okay, okay. God." She tucked her hair behind her ear as she opened her locker door. Steve apologized as Nancy turned her head to see Jonathan had already walked off in the direction of Reagan's locker.
Reagan's mind rarely strayed whenever she was in school. She was focused on school more than ever considering she wanted to get into the best universities and colleges in the country. She even applied to schools in England. Reagan felt almost too ambitious because even though she was going after the future she wanted, part of her future she would have to leave behind.
When it came to the thought of leaving Jonathan next year for school, she grew worried. She knew she always wanted to end up at a school like Harvard or Princeton but now Reagan wasn't so sure. Maybe she could take a year off and then attend a school closer to where Jonathan wanted to go. She felt silly altering her dreams for a boy, especially when they haven't even said the word 'love' to each other yet even though they had been together for almost a year.
Once the bell rang signaling the start of lunch, Reagan headed to her locker. She tried not to think about that as she opened her locker but then her eyes fell on a certain book. She had promised Jonathan that she would read Christine. Stephen King's book came out the previous year but she hadn't picked it up yet. When she saw that Jonathan owned it, he lent it to her to read.
But it had been sitting in her locker for weeks.
She had been too busy writing essays for applications, keeping up her grades, and spending less and less time with Jonathan. She felt bad. Reagan reached up to grab the book just as a hand was pressed on the closed locker next to her. She looked over her shoulder, expecting it to be Jonathan but was surprised when it was a boy she didn't recognize.
"Can I help you?" She asked.
Billy Hargrove eyed Reagan up and down as he leaned against the lockers. "I don't know, can you?" He questioned her back. Reagan rolled her eyes as she pulled out the Stephen King novel and tucked it underneath her arm. "How many girls have you used that one with?" She sighed. Billy smirked while he studied her,"None who have ever minded it." He said as he moved closer to her. "I'm Billy." He introduced.
"And I'm uninterested, unimpressed, and unavailable." Reagan told him as she shut her locker door. She turned around to face him, realizing how close he got to her and she took a step back. "Part of me says that you're not entirely uninterested and unimpressed. As for unavailable, I can easily fix that." Billy said as he took another step closer to her. Reagan gently put her hand on his chest to stop him from coming any closer.
"Please stop." She asked him politely, never failing to use her manners. Billy looked down at her hand on his chest and he smirked. "What did I tell you? I can tell you're the littlest bit interested." He chuckled. Reagan frowned up at him as he met her eyes.
Jonathan cleared his voice as he stood in front of the door. Reagan jumped back at the noise, embarrassed she hadn't noticed her boyfriend was there before. She moved over to him and linked arms with him as she looked at Billy. "Like I said, unavailable." Reagan explained. Billy eyed Jonathan before his eyes fell on Reagan. "And like I said, I can easily fix that." He said to her, sending a small glare to Jonathan before leaving.
Her boyfriend looked down at Reagan with an annoyed expression. "What was that?" Jonathan questioned her. He wasn't angry with her, more angry with Billy who had just fled the scene of the crime. Reagan frowned,"It was just some dumb guy. He's probably new here so he doesn't know that we're–" "It didn't seem to be much of a problem for him, Reagan. No, I don't think that– that jackass is going to back off just because you have a boyfriend." Jonathan cut her off as he looked off in the direction Billy had walked off in.
She lifted her hand to his face, softly touching his cheek. "Hey." She caught his attention, changing his gaze so that it would be on her. "Nothing on Earth is going to take me away from you." Reagan assured him.
"And what about the things not on Earth?" Jonathan questioned, thinking of the Upside Down. Reagan sighed a little as she looked down. It had almost been a year since everything happened. "We're going to be fine, okay?" She tried again. Jonathan studied her face,"Will we?" He asked her suddenly, not expecting to say those words out loud.
There was an elephant in the room and neither of them wanted to acknowledge it.
"We will." Reagan said, too stubborn to admit what was going on. She leaned up and pressed her lips to his. The kiss seemed to calm him down until the two were interrupted by a venomous redhead.
"Watch out, Hawkins! It's the freakshow! Wow, I didn't know they allowed porn on school property. Anybody have a video camera? Oh, wait... no one would actually buy freak porn. It's too pathetic." Carol mocked as she passed the couple. Reagan glared in Carol's direction, opening her mouth to say something.
Jonathan stopped her by taking her hand. "You're not Carol. Don't say something she would just so you could hurt her." He tried talking her down. Reagan huffed in her anger before looking back at Jonathan. He met her eyes,"We both know that's not who you are." He said quietly.
She nodded her head at him. "You're right." She admitted. Reagan gave his hand a squeeze. "Can we please get out of here?" She asked him. Jonathan nodded his head a little,"Darkroom?" He asked her. Reagan nodded her head back at him and he led the way.
The darkroom was one of the places in the high school where Jonathan and Reagan remained almost completely safe from the rest of the world. The other place was in the library and known as Reagan's signature place while the darkroom was Jonathan's.
Whenever they felt the urge to leave everyone else behind, they would sneak off to these places and would either read, talk, or not talk at all.
Reagan sat down in a chair and watched as Jonathan developed some of his photographs that he took a week ago. She stayed silent as she watched him and eventually Jonathan took his attention away from his photographs to look at her. "Carol still bothering you?" He asked. She nodded her head a little.
"I wish she wasn't. I really wish she didn't have that power over me." She lamented as she played with the hem of her skirt. Jonathan moved over to her, meeting her eyes. "She doesn't, Reagan. You proved that to me a long time ago, remember?" He told her. She smiled softly and nodded her head. "I remember." She said.
He held out his hand to her and she took it. Jonathan helped Reagan out of the chair and wrapped an arm around her waist. He pulled her close slowly and pressed his lips to her forehead gently before pulling her into a hug. "It's okay. She was your best friend. I understand." Jonathan spoke softly into her ear as she rested her head against his chest. "Thank you for understanding... despite the fact she's a complete bitch." Reagan joked lightly.
Jonathan pulled away to smile down at her. "You call her a bitch with tears in your eyes." He mused. Reagan chuckled a little,"Yeah... I hate how she makes me feel so... hateful. I don't like feeling that way." She confessed. Jonathan nodded his head at her,"That's because you're one of the best people I know." He complimented. She blushed as he pulled her in for a kiss.
She pulled away from the kiss to notice his photographs were finished developing. "Are these from the pumpkin patch?" She asked as she moved away from him to approach the table. Jonathan looked over,"Yeah." He confirmed as he moved behind her. Jonathan put his hands on her waist and looked over her shoulder.
"That one's a good shot of us." Jonathan pointed out before brushing her hair away from her neck. Reagan smiled as he gently kissed her neck and she studied the photograph he had pointed out. It was one of her crouched down in the pumpkin patch, pretending to be in a Shakespearian play, pretending that a pumpkin was a skull. Jonathan was in the picture, laughing at her antics.
Reagan chuckled,"I look ridiculous." She said as she stared at the photograph. "You are ridiculous." Jonathan told her and she rolled her eyes lightly. Reagan grinned,"I love it." She mentioned. He froze in his movements, thinking that for one second that she didn't say 'it'. Jonathan moved away suddenly, a little bit uncomfortable even though Reagan never said what he thought she did. "What?" She asked him, confused by his reaction.
He shook his head. "Nothing... I was just– too much into my head." He realized. Jonathan looked around,"I should get going–" The boy rushed out. He went to collect his things when Reagan stopped him. "What do you mean you should get going?" She inquired. "Lunch is almost over so– I have class, you have class– I should get going." He was nervous all of a sudden and Reagan didn't realize it was because he was freaked out over mishearing her.
"Jonathan." She tried to get his attention as he hung up his photographs to dry. "Jonathan." Reagan tried again, failing to grasp his attention. "Jonathan, look at me!" She didn't mean to shout at him but she did. Jonathan froze and turned around to look at her.
"I'm sorry." He quickly apologized. "I thought... I just– I overreacted." Jonathan explained. She furrowed her brows,"Why?" She questioned. He frowned,"You said that you love it and I thought you said..." He trailed off, too embarrassed to say it out loud. Reagan clued in and crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh." She said, realizing how awkward things were now.
She suddenly wanted out of the darkroom as well. "You're right. I should get going too." Reagan said as she grabbed her backpack before leaving the room. Jonathan sighed as he watched her leave. "Fuck." He breathed out.
Thank goodness things were less awkward between them by the time school was over. Jonathan waited for Reagan by his car and smiled at the sight of her. He took the smile as a good sign. She walked up to him,"Hey." She greeted. "Hey." Jonathan looked at her, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
Reagan stared at him,"...Can we forget about what happened today?" She asked him. Jonathan nodded his head at her. "Yeah, of course." He agreed. The boy went around to open the door of his car for,"Let's just have a good night, okay?" He told her. "Okay." She said, sliding into the passenger seat. Jonathan closed the door behind her and made his way to the driver seat. He got into his car, starting it up.
Unfortunately, things were quiet between them as they made their way to Jonathan's house. They wanted to talk to each other about what happened but neither one of them had the right thing to say.
Jonathan couldn't say that he loved her, even though he did and had for a long time. He was too afraid. She was going to leave him soon and no matter how much he loved her, he couldn't stop her.
That would only be unfair to her. He couldn't stop her from leaving and ask her to give up her dreams for him. Her dreams were one of the many things he loved about her.
The conversation didn't start again until they reached the Byers household. Reagan was still quiet as they got out of Jonathan's car. He looked at her as she walked towards the front door. "Reagan?" He said. Reagan stopped, turning around to look at him. "Yeah?" She asked. Jonathan stared at her, wanting to say what she has waited a long time to hear but he couldn't.
"Do you... want to go to a Halloween party?" He wanted to physically smack himself in the face. Reagan looked at him in surprise, not expecting him to say something like that. She blinked,"I– I don't have a costume." She realized. Jonathan nodded his head,"Yeah, me either– it was a stupid idea." He shook his head. Reagan looked at him,"I could wear the one I wore last year." She offered. Jonathan was surprised at her response. "So... you want to go?" He asked.
She nodded her head at him. "Why not? You don't have to dress up if you don't want to. I like you just the way you are." She told him with a smile. Jonathan grinned at her and walked over. "You know me all too well, Reagan." He said, pressing his lips to her before wrapping his arms around her. Regan smiled into the kiss before pulling away from him. "You say that like you just won the lottery." She teased with a chuckle, entering his house.
Jonathan smiled as she walked in. "That's because I did." He mumbled to himself as he followed behind her.
"How many different ones did you rent?" Reagan asked, looking through Jonathan's selections from the video store. He shrugged,"A few." He said. She smirked,"These are not a few and more than half of these are horror movies. Will's not going to watch any of these." She pointed out. Jonathan furrowed his brows,"What are you talking about? He loves horror movies." He mentioned.
Reagan frowned,"I don't want to give him nightmares." She sighed as she looked at them. Jonathan frowned before looking through the pile. "Fine... nothing too scary then." He picked up the least squeamish films from his selection and exited his room. "Jonathan, where's Christine?" Reagan noticed he took that one from the pile. Jonathan tried to walk quickly but Reagan caught up with him.
She cleared her throat as she held out her hand. Jonathan rolled his eyes and handed over the horror movie. "You're no fun." Jonathan teased and Reagan sighed,"Tonight, we're keeping it PG." She declared as she walked back to his room. "Hopefully not too PG!" Jonathan called.
It was only then he noticed that Bob was watching him with his video camera. Jonathan's face flushed as he was filled with embarrassment. Getting caught in that sort of situation with his mother was one thing, but getting caught with his mother's boyfriend was a whole other. Jonathan scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he walked over to the end of the hall, knocking on his brother's door. He opened it up,"Hey, bud." Jonathan greeted his brother.
Will looked up from his drawing. "I didn't know what you'd like, so I got a variety. Take your pick." Jonathan said. Will looked at him,"Whatever you want. Or let Reagan pick, I don't care." He said. Jonathan noticed his brother's weird attitude but didn't decide to point it out. He just nodded his head slightly,"Alright." Jonathan said and took a seat on Will's bed.
"What are you working on?" Jonathan asked him, leaning over to get a look at Will's drawing. "Zombie Boy? Who's Zombie Boy?" He questioned. Will continued working on the drawing,"Me." The boy confessed. His older brother furrowed his brows,"Did someone call you that?" Jonathan asked. Will said nothing to him which only concerned Jonathan more.
He looked at Will,"Hey." He said, trying to get his brother's attention. "You can talk to me. You can talk to Reagan. You know that, right?" Jonathan told him. "Whatever happened– Will, come on. Talk to me." Jonathan tried to get his brother's attention which only angered the young boy.
"Stop treating me like that!" Will snapped. "What? Like what?" Jonathan questioned, confused by Will's reaction. "Like everyone else. Like there's something wrong with me." Will looked back to his drawing, not wanting to discuss it anymore. Jonathan wouldn't let it go, however. "What are you talking about?" He asked.
Will frowned,"Mom, Reagan, Dustin, Lucas. Everyone. They all treat me like I'm gonna break. Like I'm a baby. Like I can't handle things on my own." Will explained as Jonathan frowned and lowered his gaze. "It doesn't help. It just makes me feel like more of a freak." Will pointed out. Jonathan looked up at him,"You're not a freak." He stated.
"Yeah, I am." Will argued. "I am." The boy repeated as he looked at Jonathan.
A moment of silence fell between the two boys as Will continued with his drawing and Jonathan struggled with the right words to say to him.
Finally, it came to him.
"You know what? You're right." Jonathan said, swinging his legs over the side of the bed so that he could face Will. "You are a freak." Jonathan told him. Will was confused as he looked at his brother,"What?" He asked. "No, I'm serious. You're a freak. But what? Do you wanna be normal? Do you wanna be just like everyone else? Being a freak is the best. I'm a freak." Jonathan said.
His brother looked at him weirdly,"Is that why you don't have any friends?" Will asked. Jonathan blinked at him,"I–I have friends, Will. I have Reagan." He defended. Will looked at him,"She's not your friend, she's your girlfriend." Will pointed out.
Jonathan chuckled,"She- she is." He said. Will sighed,"Then why are you always hanging out with me?" He asked. "Because you're my best friend, alright?" Jonathan said. "And I would rather be best friends with Zombie Boy than with a boring nobody. You know what I mean? And I'm sure that Reagan would agree." Jonathan finished, moving a little closer to his brother. "Okay, look... who would you rather be friends with? Bowie or Kenny Rogers?" He asked.
Will cringed,"Ugh." The boy said, hiding a smile. "Exactly. It's no contest." Jonathan smiled at him. "The thing is, nobody normal ever accomplished anything meaningful in this world. You got it?" He said, looking at Will.
"Well... some people like Kenny Rogers." Will mentioned.
"Kenny Rogers? I love Kenny Rogers." Bob commented, appearing at Will's bedroom door. The boys shared a look with each other and Will chuckled a little. "What's so funny?" Bob asked them. "Nothing." Will said quickly.
Bob looked through some of the selections Jonathan had rented. "Mr. Mom." Bob let out a whoop. "Perfect!" He said, leaving the boy's room, leaving Jonathan and Will laughing at his antics.
Jonathan was shaken awake by his little brother by the time the movie ended. The teenaged boy blinked sleepily, looking at Will. "What– what happened?" Jonathan asked him. "You fell asleep halfway through the movie." Will pointed out. Jonathan got out of his chair, wiping his eyes. "Great." He said, standing up and looking around the room. "Where's Reagan?" Jonathan said when he saw no sign of her.
"Getting ready to leave!" Reagan called from the front door, putting on her shoes. Jonathan remembered that she had to be home tonight, especially since her brother had covered for her after their little sleepover. Jonathan made his way out of the living room. "Sorry about that. I almost forgot." He said, walking over to her.
She shook her head, getting her backpack,"It's no problem. I should probably walk though considering you're so tired." She said. Jonathan shook his head,"No– it was just the movie, let me drive you." He insisted. "Jonathan,"I'll be fine." She assured him but he wasn't buying it.
"I can drive her." Bob offered, overhearing their conversation. Jonation looked over at the man before looking back at Reagan and cringing. Reagan, seeing no problem with him, gave Jonathan a look of disapproval. She then looked over at Bob and smiled at him. "That would be really nice of you, Mr. Newby." She told him. Bob grinned at her,"Please, Reagan, call me Bob." He told her.
Reagan smiled over at Jonathan,"See? I have a ride home with Bob. Now get some sleep, I'll see you tomorrow." She told him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Jonathan sighed but nodded his head. He was too tired to give her a ride and Bob Newby wasn't the worst person in the world, so it shouldn't matter all that much to him. After all, he did manage to make his mother happy. Reagan was right. Jonathan should give him at least a chance.
"I'll see you tomorrow as well." Bob said, giving Joyce a quick kiss goodbye as he got his car keys. He looked at Reagan,"You ready to go?" He asked her. She nodded her head as they headed out of the Byers household. "Thanks again for this, Mister– Bob." Reagan corrected herself.
The man smiled politely,"Mr. Bob?" He questioned as they got into his car. Reagan felt embarrassed as she put on her seatbelt. "Trust me, Joyce had to endure a lot of 'Mrs. Joyce' as well when I first met her." She admitted as the man started the car. Bob chuckled a little,"Really? How did you meet her?" He couldn't help but be curious about it. He knew Reagan was Will's babysitter and Jonathan's girlfriend but didn't know how she came into their life exactly.
She looked over at him with a smile,"It's a good story." She told him. Reagan looked at the road as they pulled out of the driveway,"Turn right and just keep going straight until I say." Reagan instructed Bob as they drove away from the house. "I was around twelve years old and I wanted to start a babysitting service. A step up from my previous lemonade stand ventures. I made flyers and started putting them up all around Hawkins. Joyce was exiting the grocery store when she saw me. She asked what I was doing. When I explained to her my business proposal, she asked me if I had any clients. I told her I had none yet. She asked me my rate and then suddenly I had my first client." Reagan explained with a smile.
Bob nodded his head,"Is that how you met Jonathan?" He asked. Reagan shook her head,"No. It's how I met Will though. Jonathan and I have been going to school together for as long as I can remember." She said. Bob smiled,"But do you remember when you first met him? I remember when I first met Joyce." He said, nostalgia in his eyes.
"Yeah, I remember." Reagan said, looking at the road. She pointed,"Just down there." She directed him. Bob drove the car,"Well? Don't shy away. I'm interested." He told her with a slight chuckle. Reagan smiled and looked out of the car window,"Jonathan probably doesn't even remember." She said.
"Trust me, Reagan. He'd remember something like that." Bob told her gently and she smiled at his words. "Thanks." She told him, looking back out the window. "I'm just over there." She pointed. Bob pulled up in front of the Harrington household.
He looked over at Reagan,"I'd love to hear the story one day, but your mother is probably wondering where you are. Have a good night, Reagan." Bob said. Reagan nodded her head, exiting his car. "You have a good night too, Bob." She gave him one final smile before waving him off for the night and entering her house.