Standing outside the Becker house Samantha felt her heart sink to her stomach at the sight of the empty driveway. She expected Mr. Becker to out. He ran the Hawkins Post and was holed up at work. And when he wasn't at work he was at one of the bars downtown.

Even if Mr. Becker was home, it wasn't like she could simply knock on the door and speak to the man. Julian's father hated her and Jules always had to see Sam in secret. It was something that Samantha had long ago accepted, but just this once she wished that things were different.

That Jules' father was a better man and that she could easily talk to him to ease her worries.

But did Julian's father know?

If he did Samantha was sure that he didn't even care.

Or Samantha was overreacting and making connections that didn't even exist. There could be multiple explanations as to why Julian skipped school and wasn't home today. He could be visiting his mom who he had been secretly talking to for the last couple of weeks. He could be out grocery shopping, because he was the only one that made sure there was food in the house.

If he had gotten sick from being out all night he could be at the doctor right now.

So many possibilities and yet none of them felt right. Because Samantha couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. And her unusual conversation with Jonathan hadn't helped. If anything her mind was no going to dark places, even if what Jonathan had told her about a faceless man seemed ridiculous.

It was ridiculous.

With a sigh Samantha got back on her bike and headed towards her house, peddling as fast as she could like it would help leave her worried behind.

By the time she had gotten home she was out of breath as she headed towards her room. She needed to paint. Or do anything really that would help keep her mind off of Julian. She had to convince herself that she would her from him soon. That at any moment he would call her and everything would be okay. It had to be.

The her surprise the door to Lucas' room was slightly ajar. Yesterday it had remained locked the entire day and her brother had only left his room to eat dinner before he locked himself up again.

Samatha knew what the slightly open door meant. It meant that Lucas was finally ready to talk. That this was his way of inviting her in without ever having to ask for any help. Lucas was prideful in the same way that Sam was. In was same way that Erica was, because even though her younger sister never showed it she was worried about Lucas too.

Slowly pushing the door open, Sam stopped as she watched her little brother laying on his bed staring at the ceiling. "Lucas?"

"What?" The boy muttered not bothering to move or even look up to acknowledge that she had entered the room. He was doing his best to act stoic, like he was holding it together better than he actually was.

"We just haven't talked in a while." She replied as she took a seat at the edge of his bed. There was no predicting just how much she would have to work to get anything out of him. She wanted him to finally talk to her and now that he was she was afraid that he would be worse than she originally thought. That the disappearance of one of his best friends would break something in Lucas that she couldn't fix. "How are you feeling?"

"Like crap. I feel like crap." Lucas declared as he finally sat up and met his sister's eyes.

Sam sighed struggling with finding the right words and the need to try to make her brother laugh. The feel anything other than the sadness and worry that he felt now. "Watch your language."

In that moment she saw Lucas' face crumble in an instant as his eyes filled with tears. He leaned forward letting his head rest on her shoulder and Sam immediately pulled him into a hug. "It isn't fair."

"I know." Sam replied as she held onto her brother just a little bit tighter. Wishing that she could take the pain away with that gesture alone. But hugging him wouldn't bring Will back. Neither would hoping that he would return. The truth was that Will's fate was out of their hands. At the end of the day they were both just kids that couldn't change reality. "I know."

They were useless words. Words that wouldn't help ease the ache that Lucas felt inside. But they were the only words that Sam could think of. It felt like she had been saying those two words a lot lately. And she realized that it was her just accepting everything that was happening around her. She just kept accepting it and not doing anything about it.

But she couldn't lie to Lucas and give him false promises or hope of Will's return. She couldn't say words that she didn't believe. Lucas was much too smart to find any comfort in them. All she could do was hold her brother and offer him momentary comfort while the worst of the storm passed.

Another day had gone by and Will Byers was still missing. Three days and its had already seemed like the town had moved on. Like Will had never existed.

Maybe everyone in Hawkins just wanted to move on, because why would they want to accept the fact that something terrible had happened in their perfect little town. The school assembly and the search parties were all for show, because everyone simply had seemed to accept that Will wasn't coming home.

Viviane hated this fucking stupid town. A fact that she never tried to hide.

From across the cafeteria Viviane watched as her younger sister, Sherlyn made a fool of herself trying to catch the cheer teams attention. She had never wanted to in cheer until she realized how the girls on the team practically walked on air to the kids at Hawkins High.

Sherlyn had missed tryouts from the team during the summer and although she wasn't part of the team Chrissy Cunningham, captain of the cheer team, was too nice to turn the freshman girl away. It should have been a relief that at least the girls on the team weren't the stereotypical bitches that were depicted in movies, but a cruel part of Viv wanted that to be the case.

That the girls on the team would turn Sherlyn away and put her in her place. Remind her not to pretend to be something that she wasn't.

"Hey." Viviane greeted as Samantha sat down, she set her lunch tray on the table with little inters revealing that she had no intention of actually eating.

"Hey." Sam replied, and it was clear that that the girl was probably having the worst day of her life. She hadn't even bothered to explain why Jonathan Byers was sitting at their table.

From the way the Jonathan awkwardly began to poke at the macaroni and cheese on his tray, it was clear that the lack of explanation was making him uncomfortable too. But Jonathan always looked like he was out of place everywhere he was, he was just those type of people to seemed to not fit in anywhere. Not that Viviane could judge considering that she had felt that way every single day of her life.

"What's wrong with you?" Viviane questioned and she realized just how much of a stupid question it was the moment that the words left her mouth. He little brother's friend was missing. Of course Sam wasn't okay.

Neither was Jonathan who was awkwardly sitting next to her clearly uncomfortable. He couldn't even meet Viviane's eyes, not that it bothered her. She had never spoken to him before and she knew that Samantha had decided to take him under her wing. Because that was who Samantha was, she was too kind for her own good.

With all the rumor going around about the photographs that Jonathan Byers had taken of Nancy Wheeler there was no doubt in her mind that Samantha Sinclair had to be a saint. Because no one would in their right mind would want to be anywhere near Jonathan now. If he wasn't already a freak before he certainly was now.

Viviane wasn't completely heartless though, because of course she felt bad for him. As much as she always fought with Sherlyn she would also go insane with worry if she were to go missing.

"Well, if it isn't the creep and his bitches." A familiar voice declared, and Viviane immediately felt like she wanted to punch a wall at the sound of that voice.

Viviane, Sam, and Jonathan all looked up to where a smirking Tommy was standing at the other end of the table. Steve and Carol were standing just behind him. Carol was proudly chewing her gum, while Steve looked around the cafeteria clearly having no interest in being a part of whatever Tommy wanted to start.

"Fuck off Tommy." Viviane replied as she raised both of her hands in a vulgar gesture. She could see the anger in Tommy's face and she was sure that he was going to retaliate, but unfortunately Steve Harrington placed a hand on his friends shoulder encouraging him to move on. Truthfully, it was always a joy to see the shock on Tommy's face when she decided to defend herself. People he bullied rarely did.

"That's one way to shut him up." Jonathan muttered so softly that Viviane wasn't sure if he had actually spoken.

Viviane looked behind her shoulder as Tommy, Carol and Steve took a seat at their usual table. "It's the only way to shut that asshole up."

"It just sucks being bullied by those assholes."

"Could be worse. You could be Ezekiel Aaron, that poor kid gets the shit beat out of him every other day." Viviane continued as she found Ezekiel seated by himself in the corner of the room. He was the most bullied kid in school, his long hair falling over his face as he picked at his food with a fork. The boy kept to himself and didn't talk to anyone. He was bullied on his looks alone. The severe acne on his face and crooked teeth making him the perfect target for bullies like Tommy.

Jonathan sighed. "At least you stand up to them."

"So I ask again Sam. What's up with you?" Viviane questioned as she turned to Samantha who had been uncharacteristically quiet. Usually she would make some kind of remark about how much she hated Steve Harrington and his friends.

"This is the second day Julian has missed school." Samantha pointed out and it wasn't until she said those words that she realized that Sam was right. Julian's usual seat next to Samantha was currently occupied by Jonathan. The realization that Julian wasn't with them made Viviane feel like a terrible friend. Not that she was particularly close with either Sam of Julian. But if it wasn't for Sam she wouldn't have any friends at all.

"So?" She questioned as she took a large bite of her apple. She didn't want to seem insensitive, but she knew that Samantha was overreacting. Julian missing school was nothing new.

Samantha seemed surprised by Viv's dismissive response. Almost like she expected the same level of worry. In fact, she seemed a little frustrated and angry. "So, I stopped by his house yesterday and his car wasn't there."

"There could be a lot of reasons for that."

"I know." Sam muttered, the disappointment and frustration in her face was clear. With that response both girl remained silent for the rest of lunch knowing that if they said anything else it would simply lead to them fighting.

Samantha Sinclair was in love with Julian Becker, a boy who simply did not feel the same way about her. It was painful to the too of them together. Truthfully Viviane couldn't understand why Julian didn't have any romantic feelings towards her. Samantha Sinclair was beautiful and many other things that made her someone that anyone would want to date.

The reason why Sam was so fixated on Julian missing a day or two of school was due to how enamored she was with him. It was like she couldn't spend a day without seeing him. Viviane couldn't understand Sam's fascination with Julian, he was nothing special. But to be fair Viv didn't understand all girls fascination with boys. It was a mystery to her, something that made her feel broken inside.

When the school bell rang, Samantha stood up without a word and headed out of the cafeteria. With a groan Viviane also stood up annoyed with how dramatic her friend was being. She had no doubt that tomorrow Julian would show up to school. Sure, maybe he would have a bruise or two curtesy of his dickhead of a father but that was nothing new.

It was just his reality.

Viviane Bennet's reality was that she was a shitty friend. But there was nothing that she could do other than wait til tomorrow when Julian showed up to school and Sam realized just how unreasonable and paranoid she was being.

A/N: This is more of a filler chapter to set up what's to come but it also shows a different perspective of what's going on through Viviane's eyes. I realize that this story is a bit of a slow burn, but I really want to spend a lot of time developing these characters and their backstories. considering I created four different oc's I do want to take my time with each one.