Ayo, hope ya'll are having a good Monday! Next chapter let's gooo! This chapter feels a bit rushed T.T I was trying to write it while I was at work most days.

GRABBING HER BOOKS FROM HER LOCKER, BONNIE sighed heavily. It might have only been Wednesday, but the week was already testing her. Halfway through the week she was getting close to her wits end. Samuel was being an asshole, which isn't all that new, her mother was now becoming overbearing after the news of Will reached her, and her father was starting to become overprotective. If her parents had it their way, they would assign Samuel as Bonnie's personal bodyguard.

'As if he'd ever agree to that,' Bonnie rolled her eyes as she turned to walk to her first class.

Just as she turned she nearly ran into Steve Harrington as he came sauntering down the hall. She gave him the stink eye as he passed while he did not spare a look at her as he went. It wasn't a surprise to see the boy swagger up to his girlfriend. Bonnie silently watched them as they talked for a short while. Nancy jumped at Steve's arrival, she noticed. Not only that but Steve seemed more than elated with seeing her. Bonnie would even say that he was glowing. She could only make a pretty accurate assumption as to why. Which also might explain why Nancy seemed… shy, in Bonnie's words. However, in case she seemed like a creep, Bonnie moved on. Whatever they were talking about was not her business nor did she care.

"Hey, little lady," Gareth greeted her as he came waltzing down the busy hall.

Bonnie smiled widely at his arrival. She loves getting to see her good friends in the morning. Though most of the time they're either too late for her to see them in the morning, or they were skipping. So getting to see any of them always brought a sweet smile to her face.

"Anything exciting planned today?" He asked her as they started to head off. Like the gentleman he is, he was walking her to her first class for the day, which was calculus. A class that Bonnie despised right next to chemistry. Bonnie just isn't good when it comes to numbers and formulas. Though she still got herself prepared for the grueling class. Gareth certainly wasn't opposed to walking her, since as they say, "freaks together, stay together" or something silly like that.

She shrugged her shoulders at his question. There wasn't much that she wanted to do today besides survive her classes and then hang out with Hellfire after school. A perfectly normal day.

"You need a ride from Eddie after school?" Bonnie rolled her eyes and shook her head. Gareth knew what that must mean. "Issues with your big brother." It wasn't a question, he already knew. They were well aware of all the issues that Samuel caused for Bonnie on a near daily basis. "That jackass really doesn't know how to just be a decent human being." Samuel is the embodiment of the people that Hellfire hates. It's unfortunate that he happens to be the brother of a good friend of theirs, but you can't choose your family.

Bonnie gave him a look as if that was an impossible notion, Samuel would never be a decent human being. Even if it were to benefit him in the long or short run. Gareth laughed at that, since he knew what she was getting at. After being friends ever since they met, most of the Hellfire club was able to read Bonnie's nonverbal communication pretty easily. In the beginning none of the boys knew how to go about talking to her or what she could be meaning by not speaking. Though after a while, a long while, they got it down to a science. Gareth had to be the one who was the best at reading her. After a few more little comments about their day and how horrible Samuel can be, the two friends made it to the door of Bonnie's calculus class. Gareth bid her a goodbye and headed to his own class for the day.

Bonnie made herself as comfortable as she could at her desk, preparing herself to go through this daily torture. As more students piled into the classroom, ignoring Bonnie's existence and getting seated, Nancy finally came in. She hurried to her seat, either more than ready to get right to work or something else. Though Bonnie noticed something.

Once Nancy asked one of their classmates something, her demeanor grew weird in Bonnie's eyes. In the hallway, Bonnie figured that whatever had been going on with her and Steve made her slightly nervous, but after coming into the class and asking a classmate something it became worse.

Bonnie isn't close to Nancy, that was quite obvious. Bonnie would say that they are close acquaintances. They weren't hanging out after school, going shopping in town, going to the local diner together to gossip and gush over boys, they weren't friends. Would Bonnie like to say that they were friends? Maybe, it would be nice to have more girl friends. Though that still didn't change the fact that she knew Nancy didn't view her as a close friend. However, Bonnie would say that she knows Nancy.

Being observant like her, Bonnie could see the little ticks that make up a person. The tells that people subconsciously have were quite blatant for her to say. Perhaps it was because she was not focused on what she was going to be saying to them and could instead see what they were nonverbally saying to everyone.

She could see the little tells in Nancy's demeanor and it was strange. From the silent communication from Nancy's twitching, Bonnie knew that something wasn't right. Nancy was nervous. She didn't know what Nancy would be nervous about. Did they have a test that Bonnie forgot about? Did Nancy forget to do some homework?

'No that can't be it.' Bonnie thought to herself, 'Nancy's always on top of school work.'

So if it wasn't school work that was bothering Nancy, what could it be? From the way that Nancy's leg was bouncing under her desk, and her eyes darted to the door every time someone walked through the door, Bonnie figured she was looking for someone.

'Barbs not here yet,' Bonnie thought looking at the empty desk in front of Nancy. 'Which is weird.' Everyone knew that Barbara Holland was one of the best students at Hawkin High. She was never late to school, never missed an assignment, never missed a day of school. So it's out of character for her not to be five minutes before the bell rang. Perhaps that was something to worry about, though there was no need to overthink things. Still, there already was one kid who went missing, Bonnie could only hope that Barb didn't get added to it.

Bonnie might not be super close to Nancy, but that didn't mean she wasn't concerned. Hesitantly, Bonnie tapped on Nancy's shoulder to get her attention. The other girl jumped slightly at the sudden tap but turned around.

"Oh," Nancy did her best to smile, though it was more of a cringe, "morning, Bonnie."

Bonnie gave her a tight-lipped smile in return as her eyes portrayed how concerned she was at Nancy's odd behavior. She then pointed at Barb's desk silently asking, 'Where's Barb?'

Nancy figured what she was saying, "I don't know where Barb is. You haven't seen her?"

Bonnie shook her head, 'I wouldn't be asking if I knew already.'

"I haven't heard from her since last night," Nancy explained, "she must just be a bit late." Nancy was trying to convince herself of that, though both of them knew that it wasn't that convincing. Nancy trailed off, thinking back to last night and how it ended up. Bonnie could tell that there was a bit of a conflict in Nancy's mind having to think back to it. She doesn't know what Nancy or any of her friends get up to out of school, but she knew Nancy wouldn't get herself into trouble.

Doing her best to silently portray her concern clearly, Bonnie gave Nancy a reassuring smile. She could tell from Nancy's furrowed eyebrows, pursed lips and wide eyes that something happened between Nancy and Barb. She could recognize the look of someone who was regretting something or thinking back on a not so pleasant memory.

Though to imagine that not even Nancy knows Barb's whereabouts is more than concerning. Bonnie knew that Barb and Nancy were attached at the hip in some regards. Sure, Bonnie didn't know everything about the two, but everyone knew that they were the definition of best friends. Which made the knowledge of Nancy not knowing where Barb was even more concerning. Their teacher came into the room, telling the room of rambunctious students to quiet down, even though they weren't really going to listen. And so began the next forty five minutes of torture for Bonnie Ward.

Once school was over, Bonnie's mind was still thinking back on Barb. All throughout the day she kept an eye out for her red hair and big glasses, but didn't catch any sight of her at all. She even enlisted the help of her friends to keep an eye out, though they had yet to say anything about seeing her. Just as she was walking out of the school when she spotted Nancy at one of the pay phones. Wanting to see if there were any updates about Barb being missing.

"Sorry to bother you." Nancy said, her tone growing worried as she hung up the phone. She stared at the receiver for a moment and sighed heavily. The conversation that she had with Mrs. Holland was not a progressive one. Not even she knew where Barb was, which was extremely concerning. Nancy turned around and came face to face with a silent Bonnie. "Ah, Bonnie! You kind of scared me." Bonnie smiled apologetically, since she knew she shouldn't have scared the poor girl. She just happens to be a completely silent person, that goes for talking and walking. Plenty of people have told her that she needs to wear a bell so they can hear her coming. Nancy gave Bonnie a tight-lipped smile, "I called Barb's mom, she hasn't seen her either."

Now that is definitely beyond concerning. If Barb's own mother didn't know where Barb was and why she wasn't at school, then where the hell was Barb? The worry etched on Bonnie's face certainly was mirrored on Nancy's. Bonnie wasn't close to them as good friends, but anyone would be worried about all of this happening to anyone. First Will Byers goes missing, now Barb. This wasn't sitting right in her chest.

There was a far off look in Nancy's eyes as she said, "There's something wrong, and I want to find out what." Bonnie pursed her lips and nodded her head. She tapped Nancy's arm, gaining her attention and pointing to herself. It took a moment for Nancy to understand what Bonnie was getting at before it clicked. "You want to help?" Bonnie nodded, "I guess there's no harm in having someone else looking with me." Bonnie smiled reassuringly. The only thing they could do was look and hope that nothing bad had happened to Barb. Nothing bad happened in Hawkins, after all.

The pair then spotted a group forming. It was easy to spot Steve with his pompous hair and his lackeys behind him. So Nancy started to approach them. Bonnie followed behind though kept her distance slightly. "What's going on?" Nancy asked, glancing at all of them. Jonathan wasn't looking in her direction and Steve looked quite pissed. Whatever it is that happened here was not something good.

"Here's the starring lady," Carol announced at their arrival.

Nancy's eyebrows furrowed at all the attention, "What?"

Bonnie made sure to make herself seem separate from Nancy. The sneers that she was getting from the other popular kids surrounding Jonathan like a pack of hyenas gave her an unsettling feeling. Whatever they had walked up on was not something pleasant in the slightest. Though the group certainly didn't seem to be happy with her appearance.

"This creep was spying on us last night." Carol explained, handing Nancy a photo. "He was probably gonna save this one for later."

Nancy took the photograph from her to see that it was a black and white photo of her. Though it wasn't like she knew the photo was being taken. She had her back to the camera, just in a bra, and in a window. Obviously, it wasn't something that should have been photographed.

Bonnie peered at the picture over her shoulder, but averted her eyes quickly. Her eyes widened as she glanced at Jonathan from the corner of her eyes. He at least had the decency to appear ashamed. Though she wondered if he was ashamed of his actions or of being caught. She knew that Jonathan liked taking pictures, he told her once he loves capturing raw moments of people in their elements. Though this was far beyond that. It was just down right creepy.

"See," Steve sneered, "you can tell that he knows it was wrong, but… Man, that's the thing about perverts… It's hardwired into 'em. You know, they just can't help themselves. So… we'll just have to take away his toy."

"Steve…" Nancy started, but stopped not really knowing what to say.

"No," Jonathan started to beg, "please, not the camera."

As much as Bonnie wanted to stand up for Jonathan, she really couldn't justify it in her mind. Jonathan gets picked on a lot, just like anyone else the school deemed a freak. Though at the moment… Jonathan was beyond just a freak at the moment. It was perverted to do the things he did, and Bonnie couldn't find it in herself to defend him at the moment. There was proof of what he had done, being quite the creep.

"No, no, wait, wait…" Steve said, taking the camera with a sick smirk, "Tommy, Tommy. It's okay. Here you go, man." He held it out for Jonathan to take it back. Though before Jonathan could properly take the camera, Steve dropped it. Bonnie cringed at the sound of it hitting the ground, the lens cracking as it fell. She knew how much Jonathan loved that camera, and it was disheartening to see it broken, but she wasn't sure if she disagreed with Steve. It was harsh, but their privacy was breached, it was understandable that they'd be upset. Steve just glared down at Jonathan as he turned away, "Come on, let's go. The game's about to start."

"Boo," Tommy menacingly whispered to Jonathan as he passed.

Carol threw the photos in her hands on the ground and sang, "Bye."

Nancy stayed behind for a moment, spying the photos on the ground. She saw the revealing one of her and grabbed it from the ground and also grabbed a few of the ripped up ones. She kept glancing up at Jonathan uneasily before hastily grabbing the pieces.

"Hey, Nance!" Steve shouted out, "Come on."

Nancy gave Jonathan one last look before saying to Bonnie, "meet me at the school entrance after the game." Then she left Jonathan and Bonnie alone.

Jonathan knew that he wasn't going to really get much sympathy from Bonnie at that moment. He couldn't even look at her due to his shame. He could feel the disappointment wafting off of her like a wave. He didn't need to see her soulful eyes filled with sorrow in his actions. So he just settled for trying to clean up his newly broken camera as Bonnie shuffled away.

Thankfully, today was one of the days that the Hellfire Club was having a short meeting. They had finished one of their most intense campaigns the other day, and Eddie was getting the newest one set up. So today was nothing more than a short hang out for the boys and Bonnie to hang out, talk a bit, plan some things before heading home.

However, as Bonnie was making her way out of the school, declining yet another offer from Eddie to get a ride home. She still had to stay til the game ended and she met up with Nancy. So she'll just sit outside, enjoy the chilly afternoon as much as she can, and get a start on some homework. Though only after about five minutes of waiting, the school doors slammed open and it was Nancy. She was in a bit of a rush until she spotted Bonnie's startled expression sitting by the front doors.

"Come on," Nancy said and just continued on marching to her car. She was on a mission to start the search for Barb, and Bonnie wasn't going to let her go on her own. So Bonnie hastily packed up her things before bounding after Nancy before the girl took off without her.

They climbed into Nancy's car and she peeled out of the parking lot quite quickly. "We have to check Steve's house. That's the last place I saw her, so it seems like a good place to start, right?" Bonnie just nodded her head anxiously.

The car ride over to Steve's house was quiet. Nancy hadn't even turned on the radio to fill the silence. Even if Bonnie felt like talking to Nancy, she wouldn't know what to say. 'Would I ask her what she thought? Maybe ask her more about what she already knew about Barb being gone.' Bonnie thought to herself. It's not like she could just make comments about their homework or something mundane while they have the looming thought of Barb's disappearance.

Though there were a bit more questions racing through her mind. Why Nancy had recruited her to help with the small-scale search for Barb, Bonnie wasn't sure. Nancy could have gone to a closer friend of hers, like Ally or someone. Hell, Bonnie wondered why Nancy hadn't asked Steve to do this with her. After all, it is his house. She didn't know why they had to be a bit sneaky about their search, but she didn't care to ask at the moment. What mattered was making sure that they found something to do with Barb's strange disappearance.

The two arrived on the stretch of road where the Harrington's house resided. When they parked the car, they climbed out to see Barb's car parked in front of them.

"It's still in the same spot." Nancy breathed out as they approached the car. She glanced at Bonnie who shrugged her shoulders.

'As if I'd know why her car is still here.' Bonnie thought as her stomach churned, 'though why she would leave her car behind is not making me feel any better about this.' People don't just leave their cars behind without a good reason. This only cemented the idea of something being really, really wrong with Barb.

"Barb?" Nancy called out, "Barb!"

The two stayed close together, not really wanting to stray too far from each other in case something happened to the other. The last thing they need is for another person to go missing or get in trouble while looking for the missing Barb. They headed towards Steve's house, and Bonnie was certain that they Even if this was just Steve's backyard, there still wasn't any need to risk getting lost.

"Barb? Barb?" Nancy called out as they ventured further in. "Barb?" Bushes rustled behind them, scaring them just a little bit. An unsettling feeling washed over the two as they held their breath. There was something there… Just as they were eyeing their surroundings a figure ran close by them. "Oh!"

At the sight of something running nearby them, the two took off. They raced back to Nancy's car and quickly climbed in. Their breath was ragged after their sprint back to relative safety as Nancy started up her car and drove off as quickly as possible.

"What the hell was that?!" Nancy asked, though Bonnie just stared at her with wide brown eyes.

The ride to Nancy's house was tense. Neither girl knew what to think after what they had seen, if what they had seen was true. Bonnie relies on her abilities to observe things and would say she has a sharp eye to spot things. Though what they saw… It was some strange creature. It had no face! It was humanoid but certainly not human by any means.

Nancy hadn't suggested taking Bonnie home. Perhaps the idea didn't even cross Nancy's mind since she was quite disturbed by what had happened. Hell, Bonnie wasn't necessarily thinking of going home just yet since she was too disgustingly curious about what they saw. They made it to Nancy's house and headed inside.

"Hey!" Mrs. Wheeler shouted out in greeting as the two entered the house. "You're home early! How was the game?" She asked before noticing another girl alongside her daughter, "Oh, you brought a friend over?" Though she then noticed the distraught expressions on the girls' faces. It alarmed her that there was something wrong with them. "Nancy? What's the matter?"

"It's Barb," Nancy breathed out, tears rimming her eyes, "I think… something happened. Something terrible."