November 7th, 1983

(Monday)

Dustin bangs on my door to wake me up for school, even though I'm already awake. I know most people hate Monday's, but I actually hate every school day that's not Friday, and even that's pushing it.

"Get up!" Dustin hollers. I throw a shoe at the door to let him know that I am. "Mom's gone to work, I'm grabbing a poptart for breakfast, ya want one?"

"No!" I yell back. I don't like Poptarts and can't keep breakfast down on school days.

I look down at my sweatpants and t-shirt I slept in... this will do. I throw on my maroon jacket I always wear and call it good. I brush my teeth slowly while staring at myself in the mirror, the circles under my eyes don't look too bad this morning. I throw my hair up with a clamp and then sit on the couch and wait for Dustin to finish so we can leave.

I turn to him as we arrive at the path that separates the middle and high school. "Have a good day, okay?"

"You too." He flashes his toothless grin which I can't help but smile at.

"Remember to not take shit from anyone." I remind him. He looks at the ground. Him and the other boys always get made fun of at school. I wish I could tell him it stops when you get to high school but I've never been one to lie to him or sugarcoat things. I know firsthand that's just bullshit that adults tell you so that they don't have to actually deal with the problem. "Got it?"

"Got it." He repeats with a strong nod. "Love you." He says before pedaling away.

"Love you too."

I drive over to my parking lot, ignoring the weird looks I get everyday for being the only teenager, and probably person, in this town to drive a moped. I'm use to it at this point, they can all take their stupid, dangerous cars and shove them up their asses. I kill the motor and pick at my nails while I wait for Jonathan.

After a few minutes the bell rings. That's weird... he's usually never late, Joyce would have his head. After a couple more minutes of waiting I have to pee so I give up. The second bells rings as I step inside hell. I make a b-line for the bathroom, avoiding as many people shoving and yelling as I can.

I immediately come face to face with two people making out as I enter. "Ech, can't a girl take a piss around here in peace?"

The girl immediately jumps back and glances at me before quickly turning her head away, cheeks turning red in embarrassment. But not quick enough for me to see who it is: Nancy Wheeler, Mike's older sister, who's one grade below me. Oh- that means.... I turn to find the last person on Earth I want to see this early in the morning, or today, or ever. My jaw tightens as I make eye contact with Steve Harrington who breaks it faster than I could make my sound of disgust.

"I-um, I'm so sorry." Nancy stampers before turning to Steve. "See you tonight." She rushes out leaving just Steve and I. Great.

I think I'd rather they go back to making out. God, why do I always get stuck in these situations? Huh? Why me? I look up to the ceiling like I'm expecting to get an answer before Steve clears his throat bringing my attention back to him. He shifts awkwardly, kicking his foot against the tile.

"This is a girls bathroom. Creep." I finally manage to spit out.

"Right." He breaks out of his trance and abruptly swipes his bag off the ground, then looks back at me. I squint my eyes at him, why isn't he leaving? "I-Um, ummm...." He trails off. "Sorry." He mutters before hesitantly leaving. Finally.

I let out a loud strained sound, since there's no air in my lungs at this point, as soon the door shuts. My hands start shaking and I hurry over the sink, gripping both sides to try and calm down. Why do you let him get to you, Toni? I stumble back until by back harshly hits the stall. I take a long breath in and out before sliding down til I slam on the ground, bringing my knees up to my body and I hang my head in between them. I could really use Jonathan right about now. I guess a cigarette or two will have to do instead.

❁❁❁

After sitting here smoking for first period, eating a whole box of Runts that I found in my backpack during second period, and then napping for the next two, it was now time for lunch. I'm thinking Tuesday is starting to sound like a better day to try harder.

I go out check the parking andddd still no Jonathan. I don't feel like finding my other best friend Barb, so I decide to go over to the middle school and see the boys. They always go to the "AV Club Room" during lunch, which is just a big janitor's closet that they made their own. The club only consists of them- well and Mr. Clarke, their science teacher, who is in charge of it. He's their favorite teacher and it's pretty clear they're his favorite students. I'm glad they have him.

The lady in the office lets me through no problem since this is a regular occurrence. I find the door open and the boys with Mr. Clarke inside. They're in front of the Heathkit ham shack they've been waiting to come in for a good while now. I frown when I don't see Will, did the Byers take a sick day or something?

I realize I've been standing here for too long so I clear my throat

"Toni!!" All three yell excitedly.

"Nice of you to join us Toni." Mr. Clarke smiles warmly at me. I nod in return.

"We missed you last night!" Mike eagerly shouts.

Lucas nods in agreement. "Yeah, it wasn't as fun without you there."

"Yeah right, last night's campaign was the best!" Dustin chimes in. The other two elbow him. "Ow!"

"I missed you guys too." I chuckle. "Had to give someone else a chance to win for once." I grin, jutting my head to Dustin when he looks back down making the other two snicker. "So where's Will?"

"We don't know." Lucas shrugs.

"Mrs. Byers called Mike's this morning looking for him." Dustin adds.

"Yeah, we just thought he'd be here already." Mike says.

I furrow my brows, getting lost in thought as the boys take turns speaking into the microphone in a funny Australian accent. A knock on the door makes me jump and I turn to find their principal, the police chief, and a cop behind at the doorway. My stomach drops.

"I've come here before I swear." I hold up my hands causing the boys to laugh quietly.

"We're not here for you, Miss Henderson." The principal assures politely before turning to Mr. Clarke. "Sorry to interrupt, but, uh, may I borrow Michael, Lucas, and Dustin?" I turn to see all of their smiles fade.

"What for?" I question.

"She can come too." The police chief adds. I throw my head back, groaning internally. Good ol' Hopper. We've had more lovely encounters than I'd like to count. Apparently people don't like when you throw cigarette's in their yard and take their flowers, and I supposedly speed, but I think I'm just an easy target. We hesitantly follow them.

❁❁❁

So Will's missing and while I'm trying to process this and not freak out in front of everybody, the boys are all talking over each other and giving me a headache.

We moved to the principal's office to learn this information and get questioned. The boys are on the couch, I'm sitting on the couch arm, which isn't very comfortable, Hopper and the cop are sitting in front of us quite intimidating like, or maybe I'm just on edge and hate cops, and the principal is at his desk trying hard to follow along.

"Okay, okay, okay." Hopper finally interrupts them. "One at a time, all right." I let out a sigh of relief, thank you. The cop pushes up his glasses as he's chewing on the pen he's supposed to be taking notes with on the tiniest notepad ever. "You." Hopper looks at Mike. "You said he takes what?"

"Mirkwood." Mike answers. I face palm. No one knows what that means but us.

"Mirkwood?" Hopper looks confused.

"Yeah." Mike nods.

"Have you ever heard of Mirkwood?" Hopper turns to the cop.

"I have not. That sounds made up to me." Glasses replies with.

I roll my eyes. "No shit." I mumble. Tax dollars hard at work people.

"No, it's from Lord of the Rings." Lucas explains.

"Don't get into that." I whisper under my breath.

"Well, The Hobbit." Dustin corrects.

"Here we go." I sigh, tossing a hand up.

"It doesn't matter." Lucas turns to him with an annoyed expression.

"He asked!" Dustin exclaims.

"He asked!" Lucas mocks. Oh good grief.

"Shut up, guys!" Mike yells at them.

"Hey, hey, hey. What'd I just say?" Hopper intervenes. "One. At a damn. Time. You." He tries Mike again.

"Mirkwood, it's a real road. It's just the name that's made up." Mike explains better. "It's where Cornwallis and Kerley meet."

"Yeah, all right, I think I know that-" He turns to Glasses who quickly jumps to start writing it down.

"We can show you if you want." Mike eagerly adds.

"I said that I know it!" Hopper gets louder.

"We can help look." Mike says confidently.

"Yeah." Dustin perks up. He's not gonna like that.

"No." Hopper shuts it down. They all go to object. "No. After school, you are all to go home. Immediately. That means no biking around looking for your friend, no investigating, no nonsense." He then turns to me. "You'll see to it they get home." He put it as more of an order than a question, then continues. "This isn't some Lord of the Rings book."

"The Hobbit." Dustin repeats.

"Dustinnnn." I grumble. Hopper face turns even more irritated, if that's possible.

"Shut up!" Lucas leans over Mike and hits him.

"Hey!" Dustin shoves his arm away.

"Stop it!" Mike gets involved.

Hopper looks at me as if to say 'control them'. I shrug and lean my head back against the wall. Best to just let them get it out. Dustin and Lucas take a couple whacks each before Mike pushes them away from each other.

"Do I make myself clear?" Hopper finishes before standing causing the boys to sink back. "Do I make myself... clear?" He speaks slower this time.

"Yes, sir." Mike and Dustin nod as Lucas says. "Yeah."

"Got that?" Hopper then asks me.

"Yup." I pop the p. We all finally leave the office and Hopper and tiny notepad leave the school.

"Hey, don't wait up after school." I tell Dustin as Lucas and Mike walk ahead.

"Why?" He looks at me.

"I'm going to the Byers." I tell him.

"Now?"

"Yeah. I haven't been to a single class today anyways." I shoot it to him straight.  We stop at the AV room so they can grab their stuff.

"So you're not gonna do as the cop said? You're gonna look for Will?" Dustin asks eagerly.

"Exactly. I can't just sit here and do nothing while Joyce and Jonathan are losing their minds right now." I tell him. I can't imagine how they must be handling this.

Dustin pulls me in for a hug. "Be safe."

A smile tugs on my lips as I hug back. "See you guys later." I say loud enough for Lucas and Mike to hear too. They wave and I head out.

❁❁❁

Author's Note: So, many author's on here always do an author's note at the end of every chapter so I wanna try to do that and hopefully interact with y'all more!

What'd y'all think about the very fist chapter!! Hope y'all enjoy Toni's little interaction with the boys. Any theories on her encounter with Steve? Don't be afraid to comment and let me know your thoughts <3

P.S. just wanna say I wrote this bathroom scene before watching S4 bc it's kinda similar to Max's and for a sec I thought it was gonna be exact lol

Updated Author's Note: I still think it's so cool that I wrote a similar scene to S4 before watching!! I miss the season 4 hype so much... Also it's so funny that I do Author's Notes on every chapter for all of my books now, oh how time flies.