{Holly, Jolly, Part I}

The next morning at breakfast, Dustin kept giving Alice weird looks. When their mom's back was turned, he made a bunch of weird gestures that Alice didn't understand.

What? Alice mouthed.

Dustin waved his hands and blinked rapidly. Alice swore he mouthed back, "Dinosaur, pineapple upside down cake." That couldn't be right.

"Bye, angels!" Mrs. Henderson called a few minutes later as the kids mounted their bikes and began riding to school.

"Were you having a seizure at breakfast?" Alice asked as they pedaled through Hawkins. It was colder today than it had been yesterday, and Alice was glad she had worn a sweatshirt and heavy coat.

"No," Dustin said. "I wanted to talk to you. Eleven knows where Will is! I need to go to Mike's house and have a meeting with Lucas and Mike. After school, we're meeting her at 3:15 and are going to find him. Mike said you can come, too—Lucas said he doesn't want you there, but knows that won't stop you. You in? Or do you have another stupid party." Dustin curled his lip in disgust.

"I'm done with parties for a while," Alice admitted. "Yeah, I'm in. Make sure to get my baseball bat from Mike's house. I forgot to get it yesterday."

"Because of the party," Dustin repeated, looking peeved.

"Yeah, because of the party."

"Was it fun?" Dustin asked bitterly.

"Honestly?" Alice said. "No. Samuel told everyone my so-called tragic backstory at Sacred Heart Orphanage. Tommy and Carol will no doubt have a field day making fun of me about it."

Dustin shook his head.

"Don't let them bother you," he said. "You're awesome, and my sister no matter what."

Alice was touched. She smiled warmly.

"Thanks, Dusty. That was oddly...sweet of you to say."

"Thanks. Can I borrow $20?"

"I knew there was a catch."

She waved as he rode to Maple Street.

When Alice got to Hawkins High, she locked her bike on the bike rack and walked into the school to see Nancy and Steve kissing by her locker.

She loudly coughed.

"Hey, pretty boy, I need to get my shit."

"Oh, sorry," Steve said, moving to stand on Nancy's left side.

Alice opened her locker and saw a note on top of her math book.

"Who's that from?" Nancy asked, peering over her shoulder.

"It's a love note from my secret admirer," Alice joked. "But, alas, he goes to our rival school, and we can never be together."

Steve chuckled while Nancy rolled her eyes and said, "Forget I asked."

"It's from Samuel," Alice told her. "A half-assed apology. If Tommy makes one Annie joke today, I'm going to kick him in the groin."

"Hey, Alice," Tommy said as he walked by, arm slung around Carol's shoulder. "It's a hard knock life, isn't it?"

He cackled. Alice lunged.

"Whoa, slow down, slugger," Steve said, grabbing her arm. "Tommy's an idiot, but he's a pretty good fighter. And, not to mention, a head taller than you."

"I could take him," Alice said defiantly.

"Sure," Nancy said. Something was off with her today, Alice could tell.

They said bye to Steve and walked toward their class.

"You okay?" Alice asked.

"What?" Nancy said. "Oh. I'm alright. Weirded out, though, because Barb's car was still parked on the road leading to his house last night, but she wasn't there."

"Really?" Alice said, frowning. "When I left, she was sitting by the pool, waiting for you. Maybe she walked home?"

"Yeah," Nancy said, biting her bottom lip. "Maybe."

When they got to their classroom, Nancy asked one of their classmates if she had seen Barb. Barb's empty desk was an odd sight to see. She almost never missed class.

At lunch that afternoon, Alice looked for Barb at their normal lunch table, but she wasn't there.

"This is so weird," Alice said. "Barb never skips!"

Nancy sighed.

"I know. Do you think—"

"Nance! Come sit with us!"

The two girls turned to see Steve waving her over.

"Oh, um, sure," Nancy said. "Sorry, Alice."

Alice tried to hide the fact that she was upset.

"It's whatever. I'll sit with Maria and the drama club. It'll give me an excuse to continue giving Samuel the silent treatment."

Nancy sat next to Steve, and Alice breezed past, flipping Carol off when she shouted, "Hey Annie."

"Cut it out," Alice heard Steve say as she settled next to Maria two tables over.

"Hey, you all right?" Maria asked when she noticed the sour look on Alice's face.

"No," Alice said, eyes cast downward. "Nancy blew me off for Mr. Good Hair, and Barb skipped school for no reason. Oh, also, Tommy and Carol have been calling me Annie all morning. Who do I have to thank for that?"

Samuel's face turned red.

"I said sorry!" he said. "Did you get the note?"

"Yeah, I did."

"So? Do you accept my apology?"

"Nah."

Samuel groaned.

"It's not my fault!" he protested. "It was the alcohol. It makes me chatty. Nancy was talking about how you guys met in seventh grade through your brothers, and Carol mentioned how you and Dustin don't look that much alike, and I said, 'Well, of course not, they aren't related.' And then Steve was like, 'What?' And so I said, 'She's adopted.' And Tommy started asking all these questions, and I remember you mentioning you spent five years in an orphanage, so I told them that, not thinking Tommy would be a jerk about it—"

"That was your big mistake," Alice snapped. "Tommy's always a jerk."

She picked at her lunch, and Samuel begged for forgiveness once more.

"Please, please, please, please, PLEASE forgive me?" he asked. He began to pout, sticking his lower lip out further than humanly possible.

Alice really didn't want to forgive him, but he genuinely seemed sorry.

"Fine!" she said. "I forgive you—only so you'll stop pestering me."

"Woo, that's a relief." Samuel said. "I was afraid you were going to smack me again."

"I definitely thought about it," Alice said, glaring at him and taking a bite of her PB&J.

🔆 🔆 🔆

At the end of the school day, Nancy spoke with Barb's mom on the pay phone outside the school.

Alice didn't listen to the conversation, but her ears perked up when Nancy said, "Do you know what? I just remembered, she's at the library."

Nancy hung up, and Alice asked, "Is she really?"

"No," Nancy said, biting her lip. "I forgot Barb told her mom she was staying at my house last night. Ugh, this is all so twisted."

"Barb is fine," Alice said, trying to convince Nancy and herself.

"Yeah. I hope so," Nancy said.

They began walking towards the parking lot.

"Want to come to the game with Steve and I?" Nancy asked.

"And third wheel?" Alice said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "No thanks."

"Wait, what are they doing?" Nancy asked, seeing Steve and his posse confronting Jonathan by his car.

"Hey guys," Alice said hesitantly when she and Nancy arrived at the group. "What's going on?"

"Here are the starring ladies," Tommy said, snickering.

Alice and Nancy exchanged a look.

"What do you mean?" Nancy asked.

"This creep was spying on us last night," Carol said, venom in her voice. "He was probably saving this one for later."

She showed Alice and Nancy a stack of photos from the pool party, taken from the woods. Most of them were not very incriminating—just snapshots of drunk teenagers being stupid—but there was one of Nancy in only her bra, standing in Steve's window.

Nancy looked mortified. Alice, trying to diffuse the tension, figured she'd do what she did best—crack a joke.

She held up a picture of her sitting on one of the chairs, listening to her Walkman.

"Can I get this in an 8x10, 3x5, and eight wallet sizes?" she asked Jonathan. Tommy and Carol chortled, but Jonathan just blushed.

Steve snatched the photos back, ripping them up. "See, you can tell that he knows it was wrong, but, man, that's the thing about perverts. It's hard-wired into them. You know, they just can't help themselves." His eyes glinted. "So, we'll just have to take away his toy."

"Steve, no," Nancy pleaded.

"No, not the camera!" Jonathan said, voice desperate. He spoke to Alice, but his eyes flicked to Nancy. "Can't you stop him?"

"Okay, Steve, chill," Alice started, but Tommy cut her off while he pulled the camera out of Jonathan's bag.

"Be quiet, Little Orphan Annie," Tommy said. "Go scrub some floors or something."

Alice glowered at him, clenching her fists.

"No, no, wait," Steve said, "Alice is right. Here you go, man."

Steve held the camera out to Jonathan, but right before Jonathan could take it from him, he let his hand go limp. The camera shattered on the ground.

"Whoops," Steve said, no remorse in his voice.

Alice clenched her fists so tightly, her fingernails dug into her skin.

"Come on, let's go, the game's about to start," Steve said, his posse of assholes following behind.

Jonathan crouched down to collect the broken pieces of his camera, and Nancy and Alice started picking up the ripped pieces of the photographs.

"I'm sorry, Jonathan," Alice said. "Maybe we can fix it?"

Jonathan shook his head, holding up the broken pieces.

"It's beyond fixing," he muttered.

Nancy saw something in the photo of Barb, and her eyes widened.

"Hey Nance, come on!" Steve called, and she glanced at Jonathan and Alice before stuffing the pieces of the photo of Barb into her bag and following Mr. Good Hair.

"To be honest," Alice said, holding up the photo of her, "this is actually a great picture. I mean, the ones of Nancy are questionable, but I look pretty good in this one. And happy, too. I suppose Duran Duran does that to me."

Jonathan looked at her from the corner of his eyes. "You like Duran Duran?" he asked, surprised.

"Who doesn't?" Alice said with a scoff.

"They're all right, but I prefer The Clash," Jonathan admitted.

Alice grinned.

"Finally," she said, "someone here listens to some good music! All Barb and Nancy listen to is Cyndi Lauper. I mean, she's great, but come on."

Jonathan chuckled. He then remembered that Alice was probably mad at him for taking those pictures.

"Listen," he said, standing up and putting the camera pieces in his bag. "I'm so sorry about those photos. I wasn't trying to be creepy, I just—"

"You don't have to apologize to me," Alice interrupted. "Maybe apologize to Nance, though."

He nodded. "Yeah. Well, see you."

He unlocked his car door. Alice turned to him and said, "Wait, do you want these?"

She held up the ripped photos.

"No, just throw them away," Jonathan mumbled.

"Oh. Okay, bye Jon."

Jonathan hesitated before closing his car door. "Jon?"

"Oh, do you like Jonny better?"

Jonathan gave her a strange look.

"Just Jonathan is fine."

"All right. Bye, Just Jonathan."

Alice turned and headed toward the bike rack, and saw Dustin, Lucas, and Mike riding towards her.

"You're late!" Dustin chastised.

"Sorry about that," Alice said, unlocking her bike. "I'm ready now. Where to?"

"The power lines by Maple Street," Mike said. "El is waiting for us."

The four of them began riding along.

"Just 'cause you're coming along, doesn't mean you're in the party," Lucas told Alice matter-of-factly. "We're giving you, like, a guest pass. One-time-only type shit."

"I'm honored," Alice deadpanned. "First Nancy ditches me for Mr. Hair Gel, now you pretty much tell me we're not friends. Hurtful."

Dustin snickered. "Mr. Hair Gel. That's pretty funny."

"Oh, you know he spends most of his free time doing his hair," Alice said, smirking at the thought of Steve spending hours getting his dumb look just right.

{Edited July 7, 2020; Reposted September 22, 2024}