𝐀𝐖𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐍 𝐁𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄, 𝐋𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐒 𝐍𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐘 𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐀 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐓 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐃. "Laurie, I thought you left last night." She sighed, "Barb was upset that I was making sure you had safe sex and didn't drive me home. So I slept on the couch with my walkman playing. I heard nothin', scouts honor." Nancy laughs before handing her a jacket, "I don't think Steve would mind if you borrowed this."

She looks at Nancy, confused as she takes the jacket, "You're okay with your best friend wearing your boyfriend's jacket?" Nancy shrugs, "You need it, and I'm wearing his sweatshirt too. If anything, people will think he scored double." Laurie sits up, and her back pops, making Nancy cringe. She slides on the jacket, and with her bag in hand, the two girls head off into the night.

"So, Barb just left you?" Nancy questioned, "Well, she looked very upset, scoffed at me, then just walked away, and I didn't see her for the rest of the night. I would assume so."

The girls quickly make it to the Wheeler house and sneak in, but it seems too easy. Unfortunately, the door was left unlocked. They make their way to the stairs as the light is turned on, and they freeze. 'Shit, shit, shit,' Laurie thinks when she sees Mrs. Wheeler walking over to them. "Oh! Jesus, you scared me." Nancy says, looking at her mother. "Oh, I scared you?" Karen asks, and Laurie looks down quickly; she is mad.

"I know. I should have called."

"Where have you been?" Karen asks loudly, making Laurie jump a bit. "We agreed on 10" Karen softened her voice when she realized how loud she had gotten. "After the assembly, some people wanted to get something to eat. I didn't think it's a big deal."

"You didn't think to call and let me know? With everything that has been going on? I was worried enough with you being out, but I have another person's child in my care." Then, Laurie starts feeling even worse because she got Nancy in worse trouble.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Wheeler." Laurie starts, but Nancy quickly stops her, "No, Laurie. It's not your fault. I didn't realize how late it was, okay? I'm sorry, mom. What more do you want? Come on, Laurie." Nancy heads upstairs, "Sorry, again, Mrs. Wheeler." She starts upstairs, but Karen stops them both.

"Whose sweatshirt and jacket is that?"

"...Steve's," Nancy says slowly. "We got cold at the assembly, and he lent them to us. The poor boy was freezing by the time the assembly ended." Laurie quickly lies. "You can go on up, Laurie. I wanna talk to Nancy." She sends her friend a sad look and then heads upstairs.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Laurie can never thank god enough that she and Nancy are the same size in clothes. She looked more preppy than usual, with a light blue sweater adorned with a peter pan collar and dark pants. "Hey, Laur." Nancy says, coming up to the girl after the bell rings, "Sup, Nance?" She asks, looking at the girl and noticing she seems uncomfortable. "Have you seen Barb at all today?" She shakes her head no, and her mind starts to think.

"That's not like her; she never skips."

"I know; that's why I'm worried." Laurie and Nancy put their stuff in their lockers and then head to lunch. For once in their friendship, they said nothing on their walk to the cafeteria. Both are caught up in the idea that Barb isn't at school.

After getting food, both girls look around the lunchroom to see if they can find Barb. Nancy sits next to Steve as Laurie sits at the end of the table. Both girls are ignoring the conversation at hand while still looking for Barb.

"Hey, Tommy. When you left, did you see Barb?"

"What?"

"Barbra," Laurie says with an annoyed look as she opens her milk. "She's not here today."

"I seriously have no idea who you're talking about," Tommy says as he and Carol chuckle. Steve notices how sad Nancy and Laurie look, "Come on, don't be an ass, man. Did you...Did you see her leave last night or not?" He says, looking at his friend seriously.

"No, she was gone when we left," Tommy says, being serious for once. "Probably couldn't stand listening to all that moaning," Carol says before mocking Nancy from last night. Nancy looks down in embarrassment while Laurie grits her teeth to not make a scene right here. "Okay. chill." Steve says with a smirk that makes her blood boil, and he is enjoying her getting mocked.

"Listen...I'm sure she's fine. She probably just...she's probably just, like, skipping or something." Steve says, looking at Nancy, brushing off the whole situation. It did not sit right with Laurie, "Yeah. Yeah, probably" Nancy pulls her brows together, looking focused as she starts to look around again.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

After lunch, Laurie quickly locks her arm with Nancy's, "Sorry to steal you, girl Steve, but I need to talk to her in private." She doesn't wait for him to answer as she drags Nancy to the closet bathroom. "What the hell was that?!" Nancy asks, shocked.

"Barb doesn't skip school. She's too much a goody for that. She leaves twenty minutes before her curfew to ensure she's not late when we hang out. Something is wrong, Nance!"

"I know, Laurie! I just don't know what!" Both girls sigh. Laurie leans against a stall while Nancy rests against the wall opposite her. "If something bad happened to her –'' Laurie's voice starts to break as Nancy cuts her off, "Nothing bad happened to Barb. You can't psych yourself out already, Laur."

"But it's our fault if something did happen! I didn't make sure she got to her car safely, and you...well...you were preoccupied." The air becomes tense as both girls go quiet. Laurie feels guilty because she thinks that she slut shamed Nancy, but Nancy feels guilty because Laurie is right. "I'm going to call Mrs. Holland and see if Barb is just sick or something." Nancy starts to the bathroom door as Laurie speaks up.

"Nancy, I'm sorry if I offended you." Nancy looks at her, confused, "Why would you have offended me?" Then, she looks down in shame, "Because I kind of slut shamed you for..." she lowers her voice, "sleeping with Steve."

Nancy blushes as a small smile appears on her face, "You didn't do any of that. Thank you for being considerate, though." The two girls hug, and for a minute, just a little minute, everything seems okay.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The final bell rings for the day, and Laurie can feel the relief wash over her. Her steps are quick to the outside, the cool air refreshing her face as she releases a sigh. She quickly heads for her bike when she sees Steve and his crew Jonathan by his car. Something is not right. She walks over to the group with her bike rolling by her side and quickens her pace when they start tossing Jonathan's bag between themselves.

"Hey, guys. What's going on?" She gives Jonathan a sweet smile, but it falters when she sees how nervous and guilty he looks. "Seems like Johnny boy here likes to spy on people," Carol says, handing over a stack of photos. Laurie's brows knit together as she looks over the images. They were of her, Steve, Nancy, Carol, and Tommy at Steve's party last night.

"I was looking for my brother." He says, trying to defend himself, but Steve quickly shuts that down, "No, this is called stalking." Nancy walks over and stands beside Laurie. "What's going on?" Tommy smirks happily, "Here's the starring lady."

"What?" Nancy is clearly confused, "This creep was stalking us last night." Laurie shifts uncomfortably before handing the pictures in her hand to Steve. "He was probably going to save this one for later." Carol gives a photo to Nancy, and Laurie leans over to look, then quickly looks away when she sees what photo it is.

"Oh my god, Jonathan," Laurie whispers at the boy, but he doesn't say anything. He stands there looking all sorts of emotions. As Steve starts to talk, Nancy looks at the boy, stunned, "See, you can tell that he knows it was wrong, but..." He walks up to the boy, and Jonathan seems to shrink. "Man, that's the thing about perverts...It's hardwired into 'em." He messes with Jonathan a little, "You know, they just can't help themselves." Laurie jumps when Steve rips the photos in his hands as Tommy laughs. "So..we'll just have to take away his toy." Steve throws the ripped-up paper in the air before walking to Jonathan's bag.

"Steve..." Nancy whispers as Laurie looks at him, shocked. "No, please, not the camera," Jonathan begs, and she can feel her heart twist. "Harrington, he messed up. You made your point now; leave him alone." Steve ignores Laurie as he grabs Jonathan's camera. The Byers boy goes to grab it, but Tommy stops him, "No, no, wait, wait...Tommy, Tommy." He stops his guard dog while turning to Jonathan. "It's okay. Here you go, man." Steve holds the camera and drops it as Jonathan reaches for it.

Laurie knows she shouldn't feel bad, but she also knows how much Jonathan loves that camera and its meaning. The Byers aren't a wealthy family, and poor Joyce has to work almost 24/7 after she and Lonnie divorced to ensure they stay afloat. Steve and his group head inside to watch the game, "Nancy, are you okay?" She asks the girl who was violated the most in the situation. "Yeah, go give Steve a piece of your mind." She laughs at Nancy's comment, then sighs, "It won't work. He'll just ignore me." Both girls lean down and start to pick up the ripped picture. Steve calls out for Nancy, and she gives Jonathan one last look before heading off to her boyfriend.

That leaves Jonathan and Laurie in the parking lot. "Laurie, look, I know this is bad..."

"Of course, this is bad, Jonathan! It's an invasion of privacy. I am the first person at this school who would stand up for you in any other situation against Steve, but this? Johnny, I know you have a crush on Nancy, but this is not how you go about it." She rants while still picking up his ripped-up photos.

"I know, I know. I don't have an excuse for doing this, but how are you handling being in love with your best friend's boyfriend." She freezes up when the words come out of his mouth. "Laurie, I'm–" She stands up and hands him the pieces. "It's fine, Jonathan. I have to go. I'm surprised Dustin and co. aren't already down here yelling at me." She sits on her bike and then rides off without another word as tears come to her eyes.

It's stupid, and she knows that but my god. There is not a day where she doesn't feel guilty for crushing on Steve Harrington. Granted, it only started after he and Nancy got together, but it all seems to be a major flip of the bird to her from the universe.

It didn't take long for Laurie to get home after she saw that Dustin and his friends had already left the school. She parked her bike in her usual spot, unlocked the door, petted Mews hello, walked to her room with her cat behind her, locked the door, and let her eyes pour with tears.

Mews laid beside her in her bed as she silently cried, holding back sobs as guilt consumed her body. She was a terrible friend, her feelings for Steve should have stopped when Nancy told her about the two of them, but maybe also she could have avoided this whole thing if she had told Nancy she liked Steve. Tell her best friend the basic thing that best friends tell each other, but she doesn't want Nancy to laugh because, of course, love, sick Laurie Henderson would have a crush on the most popular guy in school. She's a cheesy rom-com ready to happen.

She doesn't know how long she cried before a voice called out her name; all she knew is that her throat hurts, and it's dark outside."Laurie." Her mother's sweet voice says, walking into her room. She wipes tears as her mom sits next to her, "What's wrong, boy trouble again?" Words don't escape her lips, only a sob as she leans into her mother's embrace. "I'm a horrible friend."She cries, not even realizing her words are causing her mother's heartbreak.

"You are not a horrible friend. You can't help what your heart wants." She whispers into her daughter's hair as more sobs escape. The front door slams shut as Dustin's voice rings out, and it's not his usual tone, "Mom! Laurie!" He quickly walked to Laurie's room and whatever sorrow she felt melted away when she saw Dustin's face.

"Dustin, what's going on?" He doesn't say a word as he runs over and hugs them both. She feels tears wet her shirt, and it clicks, "Oh my god!" She whispers, hugging him tighter.

Will Byers is dead.