𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐁𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐒𝐌𝐔𝐃𝐆𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒. The cold washed over his skin whenever he stopped pedaling, licking at his face and creeping between the crevices of his clothes to freeze his fingers grasped against the handlebars, chilling his limbs into clumsiness and nearly causing him to crash more than once. The small crystals of ice formed on blades of grass and pipes might have been beautiful to stop and admire, but he was more focused on riding, his backpack bouncing against his chilled back as he pedaled faster and faster.

The vibrant glow of his bike lights reflected on passing cars and store windows, giving Scout a glimpse at what other people saw when he rode by, temporarily blinded for the briefest of moments until he dipped his head as if to apologize and glided by, the crisp light throwing him off balance when it hit him at just the right angle, the flash of light akin to what one might see right before they died.

Blue eyes winced at the illuminating glare that almost sent him spiralling into a stop sign that he saw at just the last second, a gasp escaping his lips as he jerked the handlebars to the side to avoid running into the frozen pole, sending him tumbling onto the grass beside it. He put out his hands to break the fall, but it wasn't enough, because he ended up slamming face first on the ground, sitting up with a groan a few seconds later, spitting bits of grass out of his mouth. He reached for his hat which had fallen off at his feet and jammed it back onto his head, before quickly turning his head in both directions to see if anyone had seen him fall. Seeing as how the only people around were a group of middle schoolers walking to school with their parents, he nodded to himself and picked up his bike, resuming the ride.

It only took a few more minutes for Scout to reach school, his breaths coming heavier than usual as a result of his riding, and locking his bike and making his way inside are motions he'd gone through what seemed like hundreds of times. It was more reliable to just ride to school than to ask his dad for a ride, and he liked to do it when he could anyway, since it gave him time to clear his head and simply focus all his energy on getting to where he needed to be. It was the only time the silence gave him space to breathe; anywhere else, it would have been stifling.

He didn't have to put up with it for long, however, because despite arriving far earlier before class, Scout picked up on all sorts of sounds, including ones he might not have supposed to; kids slamming locker doors and yelling across the hall, teachers chatting as they paced the weathered path from their classroom to the break room, while still others played music as loud as the settings of their walkman could go, each and every person enjoying the time they had left until they were forced to settle down and study for hours on end, doomed to repeat the same routine until they died or graduated—whichever came first.

He let his feet carry him down the halls he knew all too well until he found himself stopped outside the music room, the muddled jerks of a guitar making him grin as he pushed open the door, already knowing who was waiting for him inside. He was instantly bombarded with a crash of cymbals, and he threw his hands over his ears, wondering if there was someone else in the room, before raising his head and finding Letitia laughing on the floor beside the music stands.

"I didn't appreciate that," Scout told her in lieu of a greeting, making his way over and dropping his back on the floor, plopping on the floor beside her.

"Please," she scoffed, poking his cheek with a finger, stretching her legs out in front of her, careful to stretch her skirt over her thighs in case a teacher walked in, "I did you a favor and woke you up, you look half dead. You didn't even leave that late either, what's up?"

She knew him too well. Lying would have been useless, Letitia was far too good at reading people so trying was in vain, and it'd make him feel guilty anyway. He shrugged. "Just couldn't sleep, is all. You know how it is."

Which wasn't entirely a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. Scout had grown used to sleeping alone in an empty house, seeing as how his dad was too busy doing whatever he did to come home some nights, but that didn't mean it didn't bother him. His imagination had a bad habit of running away from him at the worst of times, and it wasn't the easiest task at reining it back when he most wanted to. Suffice it to say, he didn't have a restful night.

Letitia caught his eye and sighed, as if wondering if the answer to her question was one she was prepared to hear, no matter how many times it'd been repeated over the course of their friendship. "Your dad forgot again, didn't he?"

Scout made a high-pitched noise and drew out the first word out of his mouth. "Well—he forgot but then he remembered, he actually ended up picking me up. Almost killed us driving ten times over the speed limit, but he remembered."

The dark-skinned girl made a noise in the back of her throat as if she'd been denied the chance to verbally rip his father to shreds after breaking his own streak of forgetting he had a son in the first place. It was clear Letitia couldn't stand the man, and it became painfully obvious whenever they crossed paths, Scout often having to quickly excuse them before she said something he might regret. He knew she wouldn't regret it, but he definitely would, his father may not have been the best parent, but he still wanted him to like his best friend, even if he did think there was something going on between them.

"He's not that bad," Scout defended, tracing a finger on the cymbals between them as he tried to recall a happy memory with his dad, grinning when he saw her roll her eyes, because he knew it would get a reaction out of her.

"Remember that time you had your birthday party at The Palace and he was supposed to bring the band, but he never showed up?" Letitia said, nudging her shoulder against his as he groaned at the memory, shaking his head with a smile on his face, "You ended up playing at your own party and he never apologized, he only gave you a gift when my mom mentioned it like weeks later."

"That wasn't a good birthday," he agreed, the corner of his mouth turning up at how panicked he felt at having to play in front of his middle school class, despite receiving positive responses to his music, Letitia planting herself beside him and pretending to conduct in an effort to take people's eyes off of him. But he didn't remember that day so vividly because of how nervous he was or his dad bailing, he remembered because of the feeling he felt while entertaining everyone there was electrifying, but in a good way. He'd played in front of those people and he liked it, liked it far more than he imagined he would.

He hadn't done it much since then, though. Gigs in Hawkins were usually scarce, not very many people in Hawkins were lining up to hear a two-person band, and it was difficult to compete with musicians who seemed to be household names—as famous as one could get in a town like Hawkins—but everything suited the pair just fine, preferring to keep to themselves and deciding that the only people they needed to entertain was one another. But Scout would be lying if he said he didn't miss that feeling when he played in front of an audience—an audience that liked his music no less—a feeling that sent electricity through his veins and made him feel more alive than he'd felt in a long time.

"It wasn't all bad, though," Scout mentioned, almost like an afterthought and more to himself than to Letitia, "Everyone there liked my music—if you had your guitar then we would've put on a great concert, just the two of us."

"It's always just the two of us," Leticia reminded him in a teasing tone before looking at him thoughtfully and nodding, "But yeah, you're right. That would've been cool."

He almost expected her to say something else, but when she didn't, they ended up looking at each other for a moment before glancing away in thought, and he couldn't remember the last time things had been awkward with Letitia. They never were, even back when they first met, and he didn't want to start now.

Luckily, he didn't have to say anything about it, because the sounds of more students filing into the hallways quickly became louder and louder until the bell rang, and they were forced to groan and pick up their backpacks to head to class. Letitia jumped to her feet and slung her bag over her shoulder before offering a hand to Scout, the corner of her mouth lifted every so slightly, and he grasped it and allowed her to pull him to his feet easily, despite him being much taller, offering her the same small smile.

And just like that, they were back to normal, walking off and chatting about music and school and everything in between as if nothing had happened. Part of him was grateful for the transition—things had always worked between him and Letitia, so even the slightest indication that it might not would be an unpleasant conversation to have—while another part wondered if she felt the same way about playing in front of an audience. They may have both agreed that they preferred to play alone but he didn't regret that decision at the time as much as he did now—now that there was a chance she felt the same way.

But the last thing he wanted was to ruin their friendship over something so small, so he held his tongue and pushed the thought of his mind, coming back to their conversation about whether Chewbacca was a person or not, something that seemed to be a debate between avid Star Wars fans.

"Like what even makes you a person anyway?" Letitia continued as they made their way to class, waving her hands in front of her while she spoke as if it would further her argument, "He had a body and soul and feelings and he spoke a language, so what doesn't make him a person? I swear, some Star Wars fans are wild, it makes me want to smack them."

Scout had to laugh. "I think you're forgetting that I agree with you on this, I'm not the one you should be going feral at."

"Ugh, I know," she exclaimed, throwing up her hands and giving a dramatic sigh, "All I want is to debate with another Star Wars fan about the movies without them using slurs as if it furthers their argument, is that too much to ask?"

"Mmmh, I dunno, sounds difficult," he joked, shrugging his shoulders as he tried to keep the smirk from growing on his face, "You can't expect people to actually recognize their bigotry, Tisha, didn't you know that?"

"I didn't think I needed your white boy wisdom today, Scout, but boy, am I glad to hear it," she responded, linking her arm with his and grinning up at him, stopping in the middle of the hallway where they had to go their separate ways, the two of them quickly doing their secret handshake before turning away.

Just when she was about to turn the corner at the end of the hall, Leticia turned and waved, and he waved back, his smile as bright as the fluorescent lights above him. Even after she'd disappeared and the amount of students around him began to thin, Scout stood there for a moment, a fond smile replacing the beaming one, before shoving his hands in his pockets and going to class.

○ ○ ○

Scout was ready to keel over by the time school was over. He had never been all that great with school to begin with, but now the lack of sleep from the night before was starting to catch up on him, and it took more energy than it should have to keep himself from falling asleep at his desk right then and there. It was blessing when the bell rang at the end of the day, because he could now finally grab his bike, go home, and sleep; Letitia had permission from her parents to stay the night after far too much weedling on her part—they'd been friends for years and nothing had happened between them, it seemed like their parents should have gotten a clue by now.

By the time he'd made it to Letitia's car after school, his eyes were drooping dangerously low, making it impossible for him to ride home on his own even if the two hadn't already made plans. He raised an arm to rub his eyes with his sleeve, wincing as the fabric chafed his eyelid and settled for simply opening his eyes wide and blinking as if it would keep him from falling asleep.

Nearing a decade old, the Volkswagen Beetle named Benvolio—Benny for short—stood in its aging glory amongst other cars in far better shape in the school parking lot, waiting until the precious moment it could be put into use by the two people who truly appreciated it.

Benny was, more or less, a shoddy replica of its titled 1957 version, her parents having bought the car after a minor (major) scrape that involved a near fist fight between Letitia's father and a rather racist woman several years back, the former blowing off steam by "accidentally" ramming their old car into the woman's a week later at the market. As much as she would have liked to see him punished for it, there were far too many people present that felt that same way about her to support her story, so consequences weren't handed out, but Scout thought she got what she deserved.

It only took him a moment to open the trunk and place his bike instead before coming around and settling in the passenger seat, leaning his head back on the headrest and closing his eyes; her own parents didn't even have a key to Benny, but Scout did. The brief moment of peace he'd had since he'd woken up that morning was suddenly cut short, and he jumped in his seat when he felt someone wrench open the door and plop in the driver's seat, groaning when he peeked to see Letitia shoving her backpack in the backseat.

"Why are you so loud?" Scout groaned, leaning his head back before reaching over to pull on his seatbelt, shifting until the leather no longer felt like it was digging painfully into his chest.

"Why are you so tired?" she countered, raising an eyebrow as she shoved the key into the ignition and started the engine, shaking her head from the explanation he'd given that morning, "Never mind. But hey, it's the weekend and you look like you're dead, we can go to your house and you can sleep till tomorrow to the Star Wars trilogy, that always puts you to sleep."

Her teasing tone made him sit up at that, his lips twisting into a defensive smile, holding up a finger in her direction. "Nuh-uh, I'll have you know I love Star Wars just as much as you do, but it's just as fun to be critically of it and—"

"There is no way you can enjoy the movie when you talk so much during it," Letitia argued, rolling her eyes playfully as she eased Benny out of the parking lot, pulling on her own seatbelt while waiting behind a long line of cars waiting to leave the school.

"That-that is definitely not true," Scout defended, chuckling as he made a note to talk even more that afternoon during the marathon, pulling out a carton of school milk in lieu of water, because he could never remember to bring a water bottle.

"Please do not drink non-clear liquids in Benny," she told him, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye while focusing on the road at the same time, raising an eyebrow at the milk mustache on his upper lip after he'd gulped it down.

"Milk is a clear liquid."

"Lies," Letitia replied, and before they set off, she drove Benny to the front entrance of the school and waited until he'd chugged the rest of the container and threw it away.

By the time they had reached Scout's house, it was getting dark and the two had stopped more times than probably necessary, having driven to several gas stations—the first few didn't have what they were looking for and the one before last had a cashier that stared at them too much, so they ended up leaving without buying anything, both of them agreeing that it was weird back in the car—to find the snacks they wanted before going to his house. Clark only went grocery shopping when he noticed there was nothing to eat but left a billfold of money for Scout's expenses in a hidden compartment in the kitchen; he wasn't sure if his dad ever noticed how much money he took but it didn't seem to matter as long as it wasn't extravagant, and he never took more than he needed, so that was that.

There was something freeing about driving on the freeway with your best friend and good music turned all the way up, and that was just what Scout and Letitia did. Thanks to Benny, a couple hundred square miles of the American Midwest was theirs for the taking, and they spent the next several hours going in circles on the highway until their throats were hoarse from screaming and laughing, Letitia's hair more poofed up than he'd ever seen it from the dry air pumping through the windows rolled all the way down, frequently running a hand through his own tousled blond hair. With the radio turned up to a song they liked called "Now of Never," the bass sizzling in Benny's long-blown speakers, the lyrics real and chilling, it was everything he needed.

Their journey had only cost less than ten dollars in gas, they found when they finally made their way to Scout's house, and he knew it was wasteful, but he felt so much better afterwards, and he could tell Letitia felt the same way. They took turns carrying the junk food they'd bought into the house, laying the bags on the counter and Letitia taking out what they wanted to eat first while the blond went to check which channel the Star Wars marathon was happening on.

"We probably shouldn't have bought this stuff until after driving around," Letitia observed, pulling out a box of popsicles that were undoubtedly melted by now, exaggerating a frown before placing them in the freezer, tilting her head as she caught sight of a Post-It note stuck on the front, "Scout, your dad left you a note."

He raised his eyebrows at that; his dad didn't often remember to leave a note when he wasn't home. He pushed himself off the ground next to the television and made his way over to the kitchen, where his friend plucked the note off the fridge door and handed it to him.

Scout,

Gone until midnight

Dad

It wasn't much, but the short note left Scout feeling even happier, his father remembering to tell him when he'd be home. It might have even been pathetic, but he didn't care, he'd been meaning to show his dad some of their new music anyway—he doubted Letitia would stick around for that, though, and a part of him didn't blame her, but it didn't matter—and the plan of hanging out with his best friend and being with his dad on the weekend was better than he could have hoped.

"I'm surprised he remembered to leave a note," the brown-skinned girl said, pursing her red lips as she turned her attention back to the food, looking through the cupboards for bowls.

"Well, I'm glad he did," Scout replied, trying not to show how stupidly happy he felt, even though he knew she would never make fun of him for it, "I can show him our new music tomorrow, it'll be great. What time are you leaving?"

"Long before you do that," Letitia answered, half-joking, giving him an apologetic smile, shrugging her shoulders before reiterating, "But I can stay to play with you, the music sounds better when there's both of us."

As much as he knew she didn't like his dad, Scout did want him to hear their new music and it would sound better if it were the two of them. They already had plans to hang out at his house for the weekend, doing homework and playing music, so it didn't really make sense for her to leave so suddenly the next morning anyway, but a part of him said he was being selfish for asking her to stay when she didn't really want to.

Maybe it was alright to be a little bit selfish from time to time.

"Could you?" he asked, wondering if she would indulge him and say yes, turning away from where he was getting two glasses from a cupboard and facing her, "If he says anything weird then I'll say something, but it'd sound so much better if you played with me."

Pausing, Letitia stopped trying to cram plastic bags into the trash can and straightened up, lifting one shoulder ever so slightly, looking at him with the corner of her mouth tugging upwards. "You already come to my house when my parents think we're making out in the basement, I should probably return the favor."

Scout couldn't help the grin that grew on his face at her answer, making a cha ching motion and letting out a cheer, and she laughed, raising her hand before quickly adding, "But if we don't finish our chemistry homework by Sunday I'm never coming over again, I don't wanna fail the test next week."

"Yes, ma'am!" he said, still grinning as he saluted in her direction, motioning towards the impressive set up they'd made in the living room, "Now come on, we don't wanna miss the marathon just cause you're too busy making sure all the shit we bought is put away, that's the least important thing right now and you're the only one who cares about it."

"I'm putting it away so we know where to find it later!" Letitia defended, making her way over to the couch and plopping beside him, pushing her hair out of her face and resting the edge of her sneaker on the coffee table.

"Whatever," Scout dismissed, chuckling as he waved a hand in front of her face as she flicked through the channels, "Wanna hear why R2-D2 is actually the narrator of the movies?"

"You and your Star Wars theories again," she grumbled, rolling her eyes as the title screen began to play, reaching for a handful of popcorn from the bowl in his lap, "Can't you just watch the movie and enjoy it like a normal person?"

"Impossible," he answered, popping a handful of M&Ms into his mouth, his words coming out muffled, "I'll tell you all about it when he comes on."

At that, she groaned, and they both fell silent as the first scene began to play. They stayed like that for the rest of the movie, sitting comfortably on the well-worn couch as they watched Luke do his chores on Tatooine, later moving onto the floor with their bodies propped up by couch cushions, until Letitia announced during a commercial break that she needed to stretch, pushing herself off the floor with a groan, her joints literally cracking from sitting for so long.

With the television muted as they waited for the commercials to subside and the rest of the movie to continue, Scout thought he was imagining the quiet buzzing sound that soon grew louder and louder until he thought there was a hornet's nest somehow inside the house. He knew he wasn't crazy because when he covered his ears and looked over at Letitia, she too had a strained look on her face, until she was the last thing he saw before the lights went out completely.

Everything seemed still for the briefest of seconds until he realized what was happening and screamed, wildly pushing himself off the floor to find Letitia and hold onto her, something anything, in the dark, jumping up and down so much that he later shook his head at in embarrassment, but for now, he was scared and alone in the overwhelming darkness and needed an anchor, finding it in Letitia's squirming body several feet away when they collided, her screaming even louder until he shouted it was him.

"W-why'd the lights go off? What's going on?" Leticia whimpered, clutching Scout's jacket so tightly it had to be leaving a mark.

"I-I-I don't know," he whispered back, their faces inches away from one another, too scared to do anything but stand there and hope nothing would come out of the shadows and grab them. "Was it just us?"

"Let's go outside," she suggested, her voice cracking, and they moved together in what they hoped was the direction of the door, only cursing a few times as they bumped into the wall and the dining table until Scout finally managed to grip the doorknob, throwing open the door only to find that all the other houses on the street had their lights on as if nothing had happened.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Scout blurted out worriedly, still holding onto Leticia on the doorstep as they stepped forward, staring at the fully-functioning lights all around them, as if their bright and cheerful hues were mocking them with their existence.

Just as Letitia opened her mouth, he almost screamed again at the sound of rustling far too close for comfort, but looked down to find it was simply that morning's newspaper lying discarded on the cement, a large black footprint gracing the front page. "It's just the paper," he assured both himself and Leticia, extracting his arm from her deathly tight grip to reach down and pick it up to add it to the ever-growing pile inside, showing it to her, the girl letting out a tiny sigh of relief.

"That doesn't explain why the lights went out," she muttered, turning her head to glance behind them at the house, looking even more eerie than before with the door swinging sinisterly on its hinges against the slight breeze, frowning when her friend didn't say anything. "Scout?"

But he was preoccupied with the newspaper in his hand, his thumb covering the bottom right corner of the front page that boldly pronounced that day's headline at the top, sucking in her breath as she read what made him stop short.

𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄 — 𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐎𝐑 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐎𝐋𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐆𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄

Leaving you guys on a cliffhanger! I hope this chapter wasn't too much nothing, save for toward the end, but I just really love Scout y'all what can I say, I'll prove it through how much angst I put him through

Also credit to DICKBENDERS for coming up with the name of Letitia's car, although there were several other runner ups thanks friends for giving me such colorful suggestions <3

Thanks for reading!