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November 7th, 1983

(Monday)

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Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

Although I'm already awake, Dustin's knuckles wrap against the wood of my door to wake me up for school. Most people hate Monday's, but I actually hate every school day that's not Friday, and even that's pushing it, or the weekend.

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

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

I glance down at my baggy sweatpants and the wrinkly t-shirt I slept in... this will do. I fish my olive green jacket off the ground that I always wear, even in the summer, and call it good. I brush my teeth slowly while staring at myself in the mirror, the violet veins and circles painting my under-eyes don't look too bad this morning, but I never make an effort to conceal either way. I lazily shove my blonde curly mess back into a ponytail before laying out on the couch while I wait for Dustin to finish so we can leave.

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I angle my gaze down at Dust 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, don't take shit from anyone." I remind him, our Monday morning mantra. He looks at the ground. Him and the other boys are always restlessly bullied 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. Experiencing 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 calls over his shoulder as he begins pedaling away.

"Love you, too."

I drive over to my parking lot, ignoring the weird looks I get everyday for being the only teenager, or probably person, in this small town to drive a moped. I'm use to it at this point, and when they wreck their precious, dangerous cars, they take shove their stares up their asses. I kill the motor and pick at my nails while I wait for Jonathan, but a few minutes the bell rings.

That's... weird, he's usually never late, Joyce would have his head. After a couple more minutes stall by I have to pee, so I finally give up and drag my feet toward the building. The second bells rings as I step inside hot, sweaty hell, and before a hall monitor can catch me, I make a b-line for the bathroom, avoiding as much shoving and yelling as I can.

Rubbing my palms against my pants, I come face to face with two people sucking face as I enter. "Ech, can't a girl take a piss around here in peace?"

The girl immediately jolts back as if the boy caught fire and glances at me before quickly turning her head away, cheeks shading red in embarrassment. But not quick enough for me to see who it is: Nancy Wheeler, Mike's older sister. Oh. Then that means.... I turn to find the last person on Earth I want to see this early in the morning, or today, or ever. Nostrils flaring, my jaw tightens as I make eye contact with Steve Harrington who breaks it faster than I could form a 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 water-stained 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 the girls bathroom. Creep." I finally manage to spit out.

"Right." He breaks out of his trance and abruptly swipes his bag off the ground making a mad dash for the door in one swift, fluid motion, but pauses, stealing a long glance over his shoulder. I squint wildly, why isn't he leaving? "I-Um, ummm...." He trails off. "Sorry." He mutters before hesitantly leaving. Anger breathes through my nose and the deafening sound of my own heartbeat fill the silenced room. Finally.

A strange, strained sound escapes the back of my throat, since air struggles to reach my lungs as soon the door shuts. My hands start shaking and I hurry over the sink, gripping both sides to make them stop.

Why do you let him get to you, JJ?

Stumbling back until my back harshly hits the stall, the force knocking air back into my body, I sink down until my body slams onto the ground. My knees curl up to my chest and my head falls to hang in between. I need Jonathan. Now.

A cigarette or two will have to do instead.

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

I heave myself off the bathroom floor to check the parking lot... andddd still no Jonathan. I don't feel like finding Barb, so I decide to go over to the middle school and see the boys. They always go to the 'AV Club Room' during their lunch, which is actually 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 sponsors it. He's their favorite teacher and it's pretty clear they're his favorite students. I'm glad they have him through everything they deal with all too young.

The lady in the front office lets me through with simply a wave since this is a regular occurrence and I easily find the door open and the boys with Mr. Clarke inside, just as I thought. They're in front of the Heathkit ham shack they've been waiting to come in for a good while now, but a frown instantly tugs at my lips when I don't see Will. Are the Byers sick or something?

I realize I've been standing here for too long so I clear my throat and the boys jerk their heads up.

"JJ!!" They all yell excitedly.

"Nice of you to join us, JJ." Mr. Clarke smiles warmly in greeting and 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." He says bummly. 

"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 towards Dustin as he looks 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 at school." Mike says, concern evident on his face.

I furrow my brows, getting lost in thought as my stomach twists into knots, from lack of food other than candy or that the Byer's boys are both mia, it's really a toss up, while the boys take turns speaking into the microphone in their best Australian accents. They're probably just not feeling well, both of them? Or maybe Jonathan had to work late so he slept in and Will did too, but how would Joyce allow— A knock on the door causes the hairs on my arm to stand as I jump out of my twisted thoughts and look up to find the boys principal, police chief, and a cop behind at the doorway. The pit in my stomach plummets to my asshole.

"I've come here before, I swear." Deflective humor flies out of my mouth as 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 the three of them to find all of their smiles fade quickly.

"What for?" I question, did they contact the secret service or something on their new Heathkit or something, damn?

"She can come, too." The police chief adds, looking in my direction. I throw my head back with a sigh, groaning internally. Good ol' Hopper. We've had our share lovely encounters, more than I'd like to count. Apparently people don't like when you throw cigarette's in their yard and take their flowers because they can't properly take care of them... and I supposedly speed. But I think I'm just an easy target because of what I drive, just saying. 

Mike, Lucas, and Dustin glance at each other before looking at me and I nod towards to door for us to follow before they hesitantly rise from their chairs.

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Will's missing.

He's... missing.

I'm trying to process what we were just informed and tighten my fingers to stop my hands from shaking and not freak out in front of everybody while the boys all talk over each other, causing my head to pulse.

They brought us to the principal's office to break this news and it's like a explosion of who can be heard the fastest went off. The boys are occupying the couch, so I'm sitting on the couch arm, which isn't very comfortable, Hopper and the other 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. My palm flies straight to my facce. 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, shaking my head I toss 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 jolts to start writing it down.

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

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

"We can help look." Mike says confidently.

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

"No." Hopper shuts it down. All three jump 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." Hopper points his gaze at me. "You'll see to it they get home." He put it as more of an order than a question. "This isn't some Lord of the Rings book."

"The Hobbit." Dustin repeats. 

My tongue ricochet's off the roof of my mouth. "Dustinnnn." I grumble. Hopper face grows more even more irritated, if that's possible.

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

"Hey!" Dustin shoves his arm away.

"Stop it!" Mike gets involved.

Hopper raises a brow at me as if to say 'control them' to which I simply shrug and lean my head back against the wall, watching them out of the corner of my eye. Best to just let them get it out. Dustin and Lucas take a couple whacks each before Mike pushes them away from each other. All done.

"Do I make myself clear?" Hopper finishes before standing causing the boys to sink into the couch. "Do I... make myself... clear?" He drawls out. 

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

Hopper clears his throat and I glance back over at him. "Got that?" He repeats towards me. 

I lift both brows. "Yup." I pop the p, raising up I slip off the couch arm and motion for the boys to do the same, filing out of the office we leave Hopper and tiny notepad.

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

"Why?" 

"I'm going to the Byers." 

"Now?" 

"Yeah. I haven't been to a single class today anyways." I admit, never been one to sugarcoat to him or the others, hating that when I was their age, or even now. They slow to a 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 I'm sure Joyce and Jonathan are losing their minds right now." I tell him, flexing my fingers in and out before stabbing my nails into the weathered skin of my palms. I can't imagine how they must be feeling, handling this. 

Dustin slams me in for a tight hug. "Be safe." He whispers.

A faltering smile tugs on my lips as I hug back. "See you guys later." I say loud enough for Lucas and Mike to hear too. I make sure to noticed them waving back before I head out. 

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Original 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 JJ'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! How cool!

Old 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.

𝟶ʙᴜᴛᴛᴇʀʙɪsᴄᴜɪᴛ𝟽 sᴘᴇᴀᴋs!

Hello nerdsss!! I'm trying to go through & edit since I changed the fc & name for this oc, & I'm so glad I am bc it needed it!! Currently 17 days until s5!! Also, not only did I write a similar bathroom scene first, I named this book Rightside Up wayyy before they announced it as the s5 finale ep. titleee!! I feel like a freaky genius!!