School mornings at the Sinclair house were always incredibly chaotic. The source of that chaos was usually Lucas who enjoyed taking his time in the mornings as everyone else waited impatiently for him to begin their day.

This morning was no different as Sam finished making her brother's breakfast. His was usually that last one she did as she was aware that he was always the last one to come down stairs even after everyone had finished their own meals.

"Honey, make sure Lucas gets to school on time. I'll take Erica to daycare today." Sam's mom instructed as she began to gather her things to head off to work. Mr. Sinclair had let early in the morning which he greatly preferred to avoid any of the morning drama that usually unfolded among the three Sinclair children.

Erica chuckled as she slipped on her backpack. "Good luck."

There were times when Sam was absolutely astonished by how smart Erica was for her age. And the feud she seemed to have with Lucas was always amusing as they were both a lot more alike than they realized.

"Okay mom." Sam replied as her mother and Erica slipped out the door. Looking at the clock above the sink Sam silently cursed as she placed the scrambled eggs and toast on a plate as she realized that they only had a couple more minutes until they were both officially late. "Lucas!"

"What!" He yelled back from his room upstairs.

"Get down here!" Sam yelled almost dramatically just as the kitchen phone began to ring. With a sigh Sam picked up the phone attached to the wall keeping her eyes on the stairs waiting for Lucas to finally make his way downstairs. "Hello?"

"Samantha. It's Joyce." Ms. Byers' urgent voice came from the other line.

"How can I help you Ms. Byers?" Samantha questioned as she looked out into the hallway watching Lucas slowly make his way down the stairs. He was clearly intentionally attempting to anger her further, something that he was succeeding in doing.

"Eggs? Again." Lucas complained as he sat down in front of his plate with a look of disgust as he began to move the scrambled eggs around his plate with his fork. He looked up to meet Sam's irritated glare before grabbing the ketchup bottle covering his plate with its contents. "Can't you cook pancakes for a change?"

Sam covered the phone speaker with her hand doing her best to keep her voice down and not snap at her younger brother. "You want pancakes? Then wake up early and cook them yourself."

"Will? Was that Will?" Ms. Byer's voice came through the phone, forcing Sam's focus to return to the phone call she was currently in the middle of.

Suddenly Sam realized how odd this conversation was, there was no real reason for her to believe that her youngest son was here. Whenever the boys had sleepovers they usually spent them at the Wheeler's house. "No it was just Lucas."

"So Will didn't happen to sleep over? Did he?"

"No. He didn't." Sam replied Joyce Byers panic caused her to begin to worry, though there really shouldn't be anything to worry about. This was Hawkins, and children didn't go missing, there had to be some kind of misunderstanding or lack in communication if Will forgot to tell his mom that he was going to sleep over at the Wheeler's or Henderson's. "Did Will not come home last night? Because you should try the Wheelers' because..."

"I did. I did." Ms. Byer's quickly assured not able to hide the clear panic in her voice. Sam remained quiet for a moment hearing as Joyce sighed on the other end, however it did not resemble a sigh of relief. "But nevermind he probably just left early for school. Thank you so much."

She hung up abruptly leaving Sam slightly stunned as I placed the phone back in its place on the wall. Sam felt like she should be worried, but she couldn't wrap her mind around the idea of there being a missing child in Hawkins. "What about Will? What happened?" Lucas asked as he put his plate in the sink.

"Uh...nothing." Sam replied, feeling there was no need to worry her brother over something that could very well turn out to be nothing. Of course she was tempted to question her brother what had happened after their game night last night, but ultimately she was sure that Ms. Byers was right and Will was probably at school this very moment. "Just that apparently Will went to school early. School..." Looking up at the clock she realized that we were almost running late. "Come on we have to go."

I picked up the key from the counter and pulled my bag over my shoulder as Lucas did the same. "But you didn't even eat breakfast." Her brother pointed out as she looked at her plate of food that was undoubtedly cold by now. Even if she wanted to eat there was no time for her to sit and eat her meal, Sam would just have to pick something up from a vending machine at school.

Reaching over the table Sam picked up a slice of toast taking a quick bite before throwing back on the plate. "Now I have. Let's go."

The two oldest Sinclair children practically ran out of the house, as Sam locked the front door Lucas ran to the garage door forcing it open. The siblings both got on their bikes heading down the street towards the schools.

As they rode down the street at full speed Sam stole causal glances at her brother unable to shake her conversation with Joyce Byers from her mind. She thought what she would do if Lucas and Erica went missing, and the idea itself was horrifying. Children went missing in big cities, not in small towns.

So Will Byers had to be okay. Sam was simply overthinking this whole situation.

The halls of Hawkins High were full of laughter and chatter among the exicted teengager, but one couldn't ignore the dread that was also in the air at the thought of having to attend their first period class.

Viviane Bennet stood by her locker stuffing all the materials she would need for her first period Honors Algebra class, which was the worst possible way to start your morning. Especially considering she always found herself dozing off to Miss. Othmar's monotone voice as she taught a course that no teenager really cared for.

"Hey Viv." Sam greeted as she leaned beside a locker next to her's. Viv momentarily met her eyes and noticed the worry reflected in them. Sam couldn't have been a more carefree person. Seeing her visibly showing some kind of distress was not normal for her.

"What's wrong with you?" Viviane replied rather bluntly finding no need for a greeting as they saw each other practically everyday anyway.

Sam raised her eyebrows, tugging nervously at the strap on her backpack clearly unsure of whether or not she wanted to share what was troubling her. Viv attempted to wait patiently although she knew that Sam would talk regardless, she was an extremely open person. Willing to talk about what she felt freely, except with anything related to Julian. As much as Samantha Sinclair wanted to act as if no one knew about her feelings for her best friends it was painfully obvious to anyone who saw her when she was with Julian Becker.

"Ms. Byers called this morning asking for Will." She began biting her lip deep in thought, almost like she was determined to make sense of the fact on her own. "Apparently he didn't come home last night. Weird right?"

Suddenly Vivinae recalled the weird light display that occurred at the Byers' house the night before. At first she had believed it to be Will Byers who was messing with the lights, but if the boy wasn't at his house last night then who could have been messing with the lights at the Byers' house?

It couldn't have possibly been Joyce or Jonathan Byers. That simply didn't make any sense. "You know last night..."

A loud metallic crash above the girls heads had both of them gasping in surprise. It took Viviane a moment to realize that it was a basketball that has been thrown their way hitting the lockers beside them. Tommy H. stepped forward picking up the basketball that now lay at Viviane's feet and it took a tremendous amount of self control for her to not kick him in the face as he did.

Tommy H. chuckled as he tossed the basketball to Steve Harrington who like any coward looked down at his shoes. "Crazy how the dirt poor and the colored undesirables gravitate towards each other."

"Sad really." Carol agreed as she continued dramatically chewing on her gum believing herself to be better than anyone in her eyesight.

Sam bit her lip a clear sign that she was holding herself back from saying something that would only bring more trouble. Everyone around them went quiet for a moment waiting eagerly for what was about to happen next.. Viviane considered doing the same as Samantha and simply brushing off the incident but seeing Tommy's satisfied smile as he turned to walk away from them was enough for her to snap.

"Hey Tommy!" Viviane called out, waiting until the three assholes turned around to face her before raising both of her hands flipping them off. "Go to hell you dickless fuck!"

The hall went silent for a moment before everyone burst out in laughter, even Steve Harrington began to chuckle in response. Tommy and Carol on the other hand were turning a bright scarlet, staring daggers at Viviane who was very aware that they wouldn't let this incident go anytime soon.

But the instant gratification at having the entire school laugh at their face made whatever would be coming at Viviane's way worth it.

"You shouldn't have done that." Sam stated, a small smile still tugging at her lips. "They won't forget it."

Viviane shrugged dismissively knowing that unlike Sam, she did have the ability to retaliate against rich kids like Tommy H. and Carol. Samantha had to endure the cruel comments from others, any form of retaliation for her would result in a quick suspension while band kids could get caught with their hands down each other's pants in the band room with little to no consequences. "God knows they deserve worse."

Hawkins like any other high school had a food chain where the rich kids like Steve Harrington and their friends were at the top with the rest of the school athletes. Viviane, Samantha, and Julian made up the population that was at the bottom of the food chain as they were deemed too weird or undesirable to interact with anyone who was above them in any way

Initially Viv didn't enjoy the idea that she was thrown at the bottom of the school hierarchy, though to some degree that was entirely her fault. After being swept up in the gossip that her family had lost everything, she decided to separate herself from her classmates and old friends. Cherry was able to at least make it in the middle of the hierarchy where she was able to mostly fly under the radar and avoid malicious taunts.

"What did I miss?" Julian questioned as he suddenly appeared beside them slightly out of breath no doubt having rushed here in fear that he was late. Though unlike Viv and Sam he did own his own car allowing him the liberty to sleep in, which was always the reason as to why he always arrived just a couple of seconds before the school bell rang. However, the flustered look on his face was enough for Viv to determine that sleeping in was not the reason why he was late this time. "Sorry car troubles."

"You mean dad troubles?" Viviane corrected knowing perfectly well what this had to be about. Sam knew it too, but she would never be as forward with Julain about such matters. Sam was more likely to wait until someone wanted to talk about their feelings than confront them directly. Maybe that was why her and Julian seemed to be dancing around each other about the way they felt, even if it was clear that Jules didn't see Sam as anything other than a friend.

Julian smiled sadly and nodded just as the school bell rang signaling the official beginning of the day. The three teenagers went their separate ways, all having separate first periods.

As Viviane walked to Algebra she decided to ignore the glances and hushed whispers as she walked by. No doubt the gossip of this morning's events was already spreading throughout the school like wildfire. Normally the whispers and glares would annoy her but at this moment all she was trying to do was make sense of what Sam had told her before they were interrupted.

Was Will Byers really missing?

A/N: Things will definitely begin to pick up now, and I have to say that I am so excited for where I am going to take Julian's story. For the record, I do want to warn you that the first season is going to lack in the romance department as I am focusing more on plat and character development for this season. And you all know how I enjoy a slow burn, so although there won't be any romance that doesn't mean that there won't be little hints about what's to come.