CHAPTER VI:
The cafeteria at Hawkins High looked the same as the Friday before spring break. Bright white painted brick walls with green, orange, and pale yellow stripes. The tall ceiling echoed with the absence of teenage chatter. At least a third of the student body is gone from moved families or parents unwilling to have their children return, fearing another 'earthquake' might occur.
A reasonable fear but unnecessary, the small group of friends who sat at the once empty lunch table were all too aware.
Lucas, across from Dustin and Mike. No longer feeling welcome with the remaining jocks of the school. Robin joined 'the boys' on this fine sixth-period lunch hour of a Friday. Eleven and Will, 'guests attending school,' ironically easier to handle than the chaos at Hopper's cabin. The usual three looked sullen, possibly even dejected, as they poked at their school lunches.
The Senior decided to join the somber group for lunch instead of her usual floating attempt to find a discarded friend from Band or Art. Even the possible classmate studying for a test. No, the big Eddie-shaped hole made her decision for her. "What's with all the brooding," Robin waved her hand at the center of the table. In a half-hazard fashion at all the teens.
"We need to check the backstage theater space for…, but if we go there, we could call attention to…, but we agreed it's still not a good idea to acknowledge the…." Dustin motioned with his hand this time.
"Hellfire Club," whispered Robin.
"Yeah." Lucas and Mike said in unison, twirling their forks in mac 'n cheese.
Dustin slapped his food tray onto the table. Calling attention to the surrounding tables for a moment. "How do we…," He abruptly sat up, then leaned towards Robin. He whispered, "you could go. You have no 'real' association with the club. We'd just like to know what got left behind or forgotten." He sat back.
"But you can't because we live in a town of…," interjected Robin. She flicked about a plastic fork. "Sure, I've got work this afternoon, though. So, you'll have to wait till later this evening if I find anything."
A man in ill-fitting khaki, a fresh-pressed white shirt, and a predictably patterned tie crept closer to the group. His greasy comb-over was visible, and he cleared his throat. He tapped the table aggressively. "15 minutes to the bell."
...
Nancy flicked a switch, lighting a new row of the already lit room as she entered the backstage area of Hawkins High auditorium. Illuminated at the center of the room, Robin crouched back to the door.
"Well, this is a surprise." Nancy shut the door and walked in the direction of the table.
"So, who guilt you,"
"Mike, you?"
Nancy dropped her bag next to Robin's.
"Dustin, also, nothing better to do." Robin rose from her position, "Band's basically a free period now, with everything sport canceled, and Steve isn't picking me up for the afternoon shift until the end of school. So I'm stuck here till four."
"Same, the day really is dragging on. If I have to read for approval another story about what might have 'caused' the earthquake and sinkhole." Nancy and Robin released a stressed sigh and began surveying the area for any discarded Dungeons and Dragons paraphernalia.
"I see only two options here," Spoke Robin. She began to move random pieces of stage equipment from the table clearly used for the Hellfire Club game nights. "We can do this in silence, which we both know, will end with me rambling about God knows what to fill the silence." She dropped an oddly shaped foam prop into a chair.
Nancy laughed in agreement. Robin was right.
"Or, we could play twenty questions," she finished and eyed Nancy.
"Twenty questions, really?"
"We've witnessed a twenty-five, maybe thirty-foot flesh monster, running amuck in a mall together. We've done Scooby-Doo style sloothing together twice." Robin states in a matter-of-fact tone. "Escaped the Upside-Down together and went back down to fight a tentacle-telepath-man with fire. You're afraid of an innocent game of twenty questions."
"I'm not following." Nancy bit her lip. Robin's sporadic logic was both fascinating and infuriating at times.
Robin shrugged. "We agreed we're friends, and I don't know what your favorite color is, what your favorite book is, or why you haven't decided to throttle Sarah-Jane after what I overheard she tried to do to the paper on Wednesday." Robin hesitated and turned her attention back to the table. "It was a stupid idea."
Nancy tilted from one foot to the other. She debated if placating Robin would be worth it or not. She decided yes. "Purple. The Princess Bride. She's only safe because it was a good idea."
Robin smirked.
"I answered your questions. What's so funny?"
"Nothing, I'm sorry, purple just… that doesn't sound like a very Nancy Wheeler-like, answer. Now, Lavender or Lilac… no, no Wisteria, that sounds like a Nancy Wheeler answer."
"Same questions."
"What would I do about Sarah-Jane," she looked at Nancy, half a smile, then squinted. There was a glint on the floor. She pushed aside a rolled-up theater rug and grabbed an abandoned four-sided die.
"Funny. Favorite color. Favorite book."
"Don't really have a favorite color, more a favorite color scheme."
Nancy watched Robin, a fervent look on her face.
"Blues, oranges, and yellows, right now, and 'Interview With The Vampire." Robin noticed two more red and blue dice in the shape of a diamond. She picked it up. "Also, we can veto questions, say something like, it's complicated." She tilted forward, her balance swaying back and forth for a moment.
Nancy placed a hand on Robin's lower back to help her regain her sense of balance.
Their eyes lingered on one another again, a few seconds too long. Nancy removed her hand from Robin's back.
"Fair, but we can revisit the questions if we are in a more private setting,"
"Yeah, we can revisit those questions in a different setting." Robin agreed. She handed the dice to Nancy, and a pleasant tingle passed from their fingertips. "Favorite food."
"Just a basic green salad, maybe some chicken. I can't really stomach read meat after Starcort," answered Nancy.
"We had McDonald's last Sunday, you're suggestion."
"I had Chicken Nuggets."
Nancy and Robin watched each other. Daring one another to ask 'the complicated questions.'
"Same question, and you mentioned something about your dad over the weekend. I thought your mom was a single parent." Nancy pressed. "Sophomore year, Mrs. Michelson's Biology Class, you said you couldn't complete that weird DNA assignment because your dad wasn't 'in the picture.'"
"Gnocchi." Robin paused to find the words. "Oh, yeah… I was talking about Tommy. He's a friend of my mom's, basically been in my life since I was like four. Call him Dad at random," Robin laughed. "They know each other from work. Mom retired from the marines after I was born. Any more than that, and it gets complicated."
The silence is palpable, although not uncomfortable. Robin and Nancy look toward an awkwardly painted hill for the school's Fall production of Macbeth. Robin rhythmically drummed her fingers. "Have you figured out what you're doing with the Jonathan thing," asks Robin. It's only fair.
"It's complicated. What did you hear," asked Nancy, a fire starting behind her eyes.
"Nothing, just absentminded Dustin ramblings. During work."
"Damnit, Mike… I swear my brother and his friends gossip more than I ever did when I was his age." She sighed. "What about you and Steve? I know you say it's platonic, but you must see what everyone else does when you are together." She shifted the plywood to the side, exposing a discarded box of black and white baseball jerseys, the hellfire insignia on the front. She picked up the box and placed it on the table. Throws the shirts inside and interlocks the flaps, locking them in place.
Robin laughed. No one was ever going to let this go. "You know how Steve and I got drugged in the underground base?" Nancy nodded. "When we escaped Dustin and Erica in the theater. We ended up in one of the bathrooms, and I might have said something to Steve while drugged that I've never told anyone. I mean, my mom knows, but that's—that's beside the point." Robin waved her hand in an effect to show the comment about her mother was not necessary. "Anything more I do not want to talk about here at school," Robin finished her tone final.
Nancy nodded. She understood, then hesitated. Robin deserved more than just an 'it's complicated' after that explanation on her and Steve. So, she inhaled hard, "Jonathan and I, it's still complicated, but we… I'm starting to realize maybe we didn't have as much in common as I thought."
End of School Day bell raided through the walls. The sounds of opened and slammed lockers echo from adjacent sides. The clock above the door read three-fifteen.
Robin sighed. She looked at the table and random stage backdrops. "Should we tidy up, or do you think they'll even notice?"
Nancy looked skeptically at their 'mess.' She pushed in a few chairs. Hands outstretched, she eyed her work. "No, I don't think they'll… Actually, I don't think they'll care." She went to her back and lifted the strap over her head to her shoulder. "You're really going to just wait here for," she looked at the clock. "For forty-five minutes, for Steve?"
Robin shrugged.
Nancy grabbed the discarded dice, and turned to the door, with her hand on the handle, stopped. "Well, come on. I'm not letting you sit here at school for forty-five minutes. I'll take you to Family Video."
"Really," asked Robin, a touch shocked.
Nancy looked at the clock and tapped her foot. She might be exaggerating, though she would not admit it. She swung open the door for effect and walked out without a second look.
"Right." Robin grabbed her backpack, then the box of shirts, and rushed to the door, catching it before it slammed shut.
...
Family Video was crowded. Saying with customers could be a stretch considering everyone in the building was Nancy and Robin's friend as they entered from the front door.
"Shit! Is it passed four," Steve panicked, "Robin, I'm so sorry," his attention now on his best friend, ignoring what Dustin was previously talking to him about.
Nancy motioned for him not to worry.
Everyone was there except for Lucas and Erica. Their mother insisted on a weekend of family time. Something that both Erica and Lucas said never happened ever. The whole ordeal from a few weeks ago changed everyone's parents' attitude toward them. Obviously, the group was allowed to play Dungeons and Dragons. The time they were allowed together as a whole had been shifted around depending on the set of parents. Steve and Robin's parents were excluded. Steve's never around in the first place, and Robin's mom is preoccupied with work. At least, that was what Robin assumed.
Eleven, Will, and Jonathan, even Argyle were still in town. Eleven and Will are the easier of the two to transition back into Hawkins. Something about it not being safe to stay in California anymore, at least that was all Joyce willing to say for the time being. Jonathan and Argyle had basically finished school, like any other senior, for the rest of the year. All that mattered now was attendance. What to do about community college was left to the two of them, and all they would need to do was ask Owens to help them transfer to another school, and it would be done.
Nancy watched Jonathan. He watched her back. Robin ignored their behavior and pulled Nacy by the forearm along the aisles of movies. "Over here, personally, I would choose Young Frankenstein and History of the World Part I, both amazing Madalin Kahn movies. There's also High Anxiety, but the setting is not something I think any of us," she waved in the group's direction, "could stomach right now, after everything." Robin grabbed both films and placed them on the counter.
"What is she doing," asked Steve.
Nancy shrugged. "We talked about movies on the way here."
"Right… Right…" Steve pushed two movies toward a pile of at least five others. "We are condensing this down, or you are helping me pay for everything," He yelled in the direction that Robin disappeared. A single hand lifted with another film.