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There’s a world out there, maybe, where Nancy Wheeler isn’t the center of it all. Where she’s more off-to-the-side, easier to ignore. A world where Carol Perkins didn’t swoop in during eighth grade like some sort of fairy godmother, teaching Nancy just how far some mascara and lip gloss could take you. Where she’s just one of many small, barely visible stars in the solar system of Hawkins High.
But that’s not the world she lives in. And Nancy Wheeler is not just a star. She’s the goddamn sun. Bright, loud, and utterly impossible to ignore. She’s the center of attention at her school, and everybody and their mother knows her name. When it comes to Nancy Wheeler, people either love her or hate her.
People think that’s what drew her to Jonathan Byers in the first place. They whisper about it in the hallways. Say that she’s only with him because she got tired of hanging around people who were just as popular and pretty as her. That she dates him just so his dullness will make her own shine seem brighter in comparison.
It’s bullshit, though. All of it. Nancy likes Jonathan. Really. Even if he’s not as popular, or sporty, or maybe even as cute as other guys she’s dated. Even if he hangs around with weirdos like Eddie Munson, who’s practically destined to wind up in jail for stealing booze from the general store before he turns twenty. Even if he still doesn’t quite make her feel the way she wants to inside. But Jonathan’s sweet, and funny, and he makes her laugh. When he kisses her, it’s not like the kisses she’s had with Aaron or Michael or Todd, or all the other first-names who’ve shelled out for a chance with the Queen of Hawkins High. Jonathan’s kisses are just like he is. Sweet, soft, gentle. So Nancy couldn’t give a damn about the rest of it.
———
Nancy’s life changes the day the Henderson kid disappears.
It shouldn’t. Nancy doesn’t even know the Hendersons. Sure, her brother is friends with the kid. But that’s Mike’s life, not Nancy’s. It’s sad that a little kid has gone missing, sure. But she doesn’t find herself thinking about it too much. The kid probably just got lost in the woods or something like that. He’ll turn up soon, Nancy’s sure of it.
So she doesn’t give the Henderson kid too much thought. She goes to school like normal. She kisses Jonathan when she sees him in the hallway. She listens to Carol bitch about Tina or Sheila or whoever’s annoyed her this week. She watches Tommy and Eddie Munson give each other the side-eye, because she knows that neither of them like each other, deep down. And she watches as Robin Buckley sticks missing posters to the hallway cork board with thumb tacks.
“Oh, God.” Carol stifles a laugh. “That’s depressing.”
Tommy snorts. “How much do you wanna bet she killed him?”
Nancy rolls her eyes, because Tommy really doesn’t know how to shut up. One of these days, he’s gonna open his big mouth and get himself punched. “C’mon, Tommy. Show some class.”
“It’s sad.” Jonathan murmurs, almost to himself. Carol rolls her eyes, leaning back up against the locker.
“It’s weird.” She protests. “I mean, it’s not like she’s related to the kid or anything. She’s just his babysitter.”
“Cut her some slack.” Eddie says. “Kid’s missing.”
“Eddie’s right.” Nancy says, tearing her eyes away from Robin Buckley and her messy hair, her overalls, her tie-dye t-shirt, the camera hanging around her neck. “It’s none of our business, anyways.”
So they go on talking, with Tommy mentioning that his parents are gonna be out of town this weekend, so they should totally go hang out at his place tonight. When Jonathan brings up that it’s a Tuesday, Tommy and Carol laugh as if he’s just told the world’s funniest joke. Robin Buckley, along with her missing posters and her camera, are forgotten.
For a while, at least.
_______
She and Carol get ready at Nancy’s house before heading to Tommy’s party.
“All I’m saying, Nance, are you sure he’s not a queer?”
“Don’t say that.” Nancy smacks Carol lightly with one hand, using the other to apply a fresh coat of lip-gloss. “Jonny’s not gay.”
Carol quirks one eyebrow up. “Could’ve fooled me.”
Nancy turns in her seat to look at her friend. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I mean, come on.” Carol sprawls across Nancy’s bed, hugging a pillow to her chest. There’s a mischievous half-smile on her face, like she knows something Nancy doesn’t. “What other excuse do you have for dating the most popular girl in school and still being a virgin?”
“That doesn’t make him queer.” Nancy protests, but she can’t stop the ghost of a smile that creeps up onto her face. God, Carol really is ridiculous sometimes.
“Uh-huh.” Carol nods, unconvinced. “And how many girlfriends has he had before you, exactly?”
Nancy rolls her eyes. “That doesn’t mean anything, and you know it.”
Carol gives her best friend an almost knowing stare. “Nance, I hear everything that goes on in this school. You wanna know how much I’ve heard about Byers-“
“Jonathan.” Nancy corrects, because Carol still isn’t used to being on a first-name basis with her best friend’s boyfriend.
“Jonathan, whatever.” Carol waves her hand dismissively. “You wanna know how much I’ve heard about his love life? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Hell, as far as I know, the guy’s never even held hands with a girl before.”
“Or maybe he just doesn’t go around blabbing about his sex life to everyone he meets.” Nancy looks at Carol’s reflection in her vanity mirror, giving the redheaded girl a pointed stare.
“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Carol feigns offense. “Because if we wanna talk sex, Nancy Wheeler, I’ve got quite a few anecdotes up my sleeve. Remember Todd and the lake house…?”
“Carol!” Nancy shrieks, before dissolving into giggles. And then Carol laughs too, and the previous topic is forgotten.
Almost.
_______
Tommy’s party isn’t really a “party” at all. It’s just the five of them hanging out by the creek, far enough from Tommy’s house that the neighbors can’t see them. Carol smuggled a bottle of tequila out of her parents’ liquor cabinet, so they’re taking turns passing that around, and Eddie brought weed, because of course he did. About halfway into the night, Tommy pulls out a twelve-pack, and starts off with some story about how he finessed old Doris Driscoll down at the general store into selling it to him. Carol tells him to shut up, kisses him, and challenges everyone to shotgun some beer from a can.
It comes easily to Tommy and Carol. They’ve done this plenty of times, been to enough parties to have experience. Nancy struggles a bit more, but she manages. It really gets funny when it’s Jonathan and Eddie’s turn, though. Jonathan gets more beer on his shirt than he does in his mouth, and Nancy must be drunker than she thought, because the very sight is enough to send her into near-hysterical laughter.
Maybe it was a mistake to let Eddie poke a hole in the can with a knife. He’s already had one too many as it is, and it’s dark, so it really shouldn’t be surprising when he overshoots and misses the can completely, grazing the palm of his hand with the blade instead. He drops the can, letting out a storm of swear words that make even Tommy’s ears turn pink, and asks if anyone has bandages.
“There’s some in the house.” Tommy murmurs, his words half-muffled. Carol’s sitting in his lap, trailing kisses along his jaw, and Nancy feigns disgust at the sight. Carol flips her the bird in response, and Nancy can’t help but laugh.
“You want me to walk back there?” Eddie looks at Tommy with an expression suggesting that he’s well and truly lost his mind. “In the woods? Alone?”
“Aw,” Tommy pouts. “Is Eddie-boy scared?”
“Don’t be like that, man.” Eddie rolls his eyes. “There’s, like, animals and shit.”
“You’re so dramatic.” Carol huffs.
Eddie opens his mouth as if to protest, but stops himself. He stares at Jonathan and Nancy, and there’s something in his expression that Nancy can’t quite place. “Fine.” He gives Jonathan a pointed stare. “I’ll try not to fall in a ditch or whatever. Have fun sucking face.”
“Eddie-“ Jonathan calls out, but Eddie’s already vanished into the woods.
Jonathan wants to go in after him, but Nancy stops him. “He’ll be okay,” she whispers, clinging onto Jonathan’s arm and pulling him close to her. She likes this. She likes having Jonny with her.
From her seat in Tommy’s lap, Carol nods. “Munson’s a big boy. He can handle it.”
In retrospect, maybe Nancy shouldn’t have stopped Jonathan from going after Eddie. Maybe if she hadn’t, Eddie would have stood a chance. Maybe then, that night in the woods wouldn’t have been the last time she saw Eddie Munson alive.
But she did. So it was.
_______
When Eddie doesn’t show up at school the next day, Nancy isn’t alarmed. This is Eddie Munson, for Christ’s sake. The guy’s probably skipped more than he’s actually gone to class. So Nancy doesn’t worry, even when Jonathan sits down at their lunch table with his brow all furrowed and declares that he hasn’t seen Eddie since last night.
Carol’s about as concerned as Nancy is, waving her hand all dismissive-like and saying, “You know Munson. He’s probably off somewhere getting high.”
Jonathan seems unconvinced. “He didn’t return any of my calls this morning.”
“Chill, Byers.” Tommy reaches across the table and gives Jonathan a pat on the shoulder. Jonny doesn’t seem particularly reassured. “Dude’s probably still pissed from last night. Probably butthurt that you got some and he didn’t.”
Nancy swats Tommy on the arm, because Jonathan did not get some last night, and besides, that was a completely inappropriate remark. Jonathan just looks down at his lunch tray, resolute in his point. “Eddie always answers my calls.”
“Jonny.” Nancy reaches over, placing her hand on Jonathan’s arm. “He’s probably fine.“
Jonathan doesn’t say anything for the rest of lunch.
Maybe Jonathan is concerned, but Nancy? Nancy has bigger things to worry about. Like Nicole Peters, who practically bounces up to her in gym class and (rather bluntly) informs her that Robin Buckley is stalking her.
“What?” Nancy fights to keep her voice low. Coach doesn’t like people talking during class.
“I saw her in the darkroom.” Nicole says, smacking on a stick of watermelon bubble gum. “She was developing all these photos. You guys were in a couple of ‘em.”
“Who?” Nancy furrows her brow. It doesn’t make sense. Buckley, Robin Buckley- a stalker? What reason would she even have to stalk Nancy Wheeler of all people? The two of them might as well live on separate planets.
“You, Carol, Tommy…” Nicole lets her voice trail off for emphasis. “And your boy-toy, Byers.”
“What?” Nancy says, a little too loudly to go unnoticed.
Coach blows his whistle. “Wheeler! Evans! You got something you wanna share?”
Nancy shakes her head. “No, sir.”
When Coach turns away, Nicole leans in, lowering her voice to a whisper. “I snatched some of the pics while she wasn’t looking. I’ll show you after class.”
And sure enough, when they’re all getting changed in the locker room, Nicole produces several black-and-white printed photos from her book bag. She hands them to Nancy, allowing her to shuffle through them while she babbles on about what could have possibly stirred Buckley to take these pictures.
“I mean, I knew she was a weirdo. Her mom’s so fucked-up, I guess it’s bound to run in the family. But this?” Nicole taps the photo with a lavender-painted nail. “This is a whole new level. I can’t believe it. You think she’s, like, obsessed with you or something? I mean, people always said she was a dyke, but I never really thought-“
Nancy doesn’t hear any of the rest. She’s too focused on the images in her hand. Pictures of her and her friends. Pictures of her and Jonny. She feels uncomfortable. Watched.
Carol has the same reaction when Nancy shows her, later that day.
“Oh my god.” Carol bunches up her fists in anger. “That fucking creep!”
“What do we do?” Nancy asks. The photos disgust her, but she can’t stop looking at them. How long has this been going on?
“I could beat her up.” Tommy offers, an unlit cigarette hanging from his lips. “Get some of the boys from the team to help me out. We could get her alone, really knock the living daylights outta her-“
“Tommy!” Carol smacks her boyfriend on the arm, giving him a sharp glare.
“What?” Tommy looks at Carol defensively. “I don’t give a shit that she’s a girl, Carol, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m still gonna pound her into the ground.”
“No.” Carol shakes her head. “No, that won’t work.”
Nancy furrows her brow. “What do you mean?”
“There’s only one way to teach a pervert a lesson.” Carol looks up at Nancy, her eyes shining with something dangerous. “You take away their toy.”
_______
They find Buckley after school. It’s easy to spot her in the crowd- she doesn’t have a car, and she’s the only junior at the bike racks. The freshmen and sophomores move out of the way when they see Nancy and her friends, like they can sense that trouble is coming. In a way, they’re right.
“Buckley!” Carol calls, all sing-songy.
Buckley turns around, her eyes wide. She looks afraid, Nancy realizes. With good reason, too. Kids like Carol Perkins don’t usually talk to kids like Robin Buckley. And when they do, it’s almost never good.
“Um, hey.” Buckley gives a small nod of recognition. “What’s up?”
“You’re a photographer, right?” Carol asks. The smile on her face is so unassuming that if Nancy didn’t know any better, she’d think Carol’s intentions were entirely innocent. But Nancy does know better. And judging by the expression on Buckley’s face, so does she.
“Yeah.” Buckley eyes Tommy and Nancy warily. “Why do you ask?”
“Oh, we just wanted to ask about some of your work.” Carol turns to Nancy, nodding. “Right, Nance?”
Nancy doesn’t know why, but something about the look on Buckley’s face stirs up something inside her. She feels… guilty. Guilty for what they’re about to do. But she shouldn’t feel guilty, she reminds herself, because Buckley has this coming.
“Right.” She nods, reaching into her backpack and pulling out the photos from Nicole. “These.”
Buckley doesn’t even have to look at the photos before her eyes go even wider. “I was just-“
“You were just what?” Carol’s still smiling, but there’s something else behind her words. A threat.
“I was looking for Dustin-“ Buckley chokes out, but Nancy cuts her off.
“Are you serious?” Something replaces the guilt inside Nancy- anger, hot and festering. Buckley’s being confronted with literal photographic evidence, and she’s still trying to spin it into something it’s not?
In that moment, Nancy hates Buckley. She hates the guilty look on her face. She hates the way her brows knot together, hates how the corners of her mouth turn down into a pitiful frown. She hates everything about Robin Buckley, and she’s not sure why.
“Do you think we’re stupid?” Nancy finally speaks, finally regains the ability to form words into a complete sentence.
“I didn’t-“ Buckley stammers, but Carol cuts her off before she can finish.
“Save it for the judge.” Carol rolls her eyes, turning to Tommy and nodding. Before Buckley can even do anything to stop it, Tommy’s reached out and grabbed onto the camera around her neck. He passes it to Nancy with one hand, using the other to hold Buckley back.
“Give it back.” Panic swells in Buckley’s voice.
“Oh,” Carol feigns a resigned expression, “but if we did, wouldn’t you just use it for another pervy photo sesh?”
“I won’t.” Buckley blurts out, eyes darting between Carol and the camera in Nancy’s hands. “I promise, I won’t ever do it again, just please, drop the camera.”
“You heard her, Nancy.” Carol looks over her shoulder at Nancy, a smirk appearing on her face. “Drop it.”
Part of Nancy wants to call it off, to say that Buckley’s learned her lesson now, so they should just leave it at that. But Carol is looking at her, and those photos are burning themselves into her brain, and that hate is still simmering within her, hot and dangerous. So Nancy closes her eyes and lets the camera drop from her hands.
________
Jonny’s pissed at her.
She’s not sure what exactly for. He doesn’t say it, but he’s mad. Nancy can feel it in the way he looks at her, in the way he bristles away when she tries to hold onto him like she normally does. He knows about Buckley’s camera, of course, it’s not like it’s some big secret- but she didn’t think he’d be mad about it. He was just as creeped out as Nancy had been when she’d told him about the pictures on Buckley’s camera. So why was he looking at her like she’d done something wrong?
Tommy and Carol didn’t think that they’d done anything wrong. “Because we didn’t, Nance,” Carol insisted. “That creep, Buckley, she started this. All we did was get her back.”
And Nancy had nodded, but it didn’t feel right. She didn’t tell Carol, but deep down, something about the situation felt like it had been more than karma.
God, Nancy just wants things to be normal again. She almost finds herself hoping for Eddie Munson to show up, just so Jonny can stop worrying and get back to his old self.
“Hey, Jonny.” Nancy slides in next to Jonathan at lunch the next day, offering him a smile.
“Hey.” Jonny says, and he smiles, but it’s too thin, too tight to be genuine.
“Have you heard anything?” Nancy asks gently. “About… about Eddie?”
Jonathan pauses, like he’s surprised Nancy would even bring that up, then shakes his head. “No. His uncle hasn’t heard from him either.”
“Hey.” Tommy snorts. “Maybe the guy finally got himself arrested.”
Nancy opens her mouth to scold Tommy, but Jonathan beats her to it.
“Look, I know you never liked Eddie, and I’m not asking you to pretend you do. But can you at least show a little class?” He snaps, with a ferocity that Nancy’s never heard coming out of his mouth before.
Tommy whistles, low and quiet. “Touchy.”
There’s a long, dead pause, with Jonathan glaring at Tommy like he’s trying to bore holes in his skull.
“Anyway,” Nancy begins, desperate to break the awkward silence that’s settled over the table. “Jonny, I was thinking we could all catch a movie later today? They’re still playing All The Right Moves down at the theater. Remember, with the guy from Risky Business?”
“Oh.” Jonathan blinks, like he’s been snapped back to reality. “Um, sorry, Nance, but I don’t think… I mean, my mom, she wants me to stay home and keep an eye on Will. Sorry.”
“Oh.” Nancy tries to hide the disappointment in her voice, but some still slips through. “That’s alright.”
“Ok.”
There’s more awkward silence, before Jonathan clears his throat. “Hey, I gotta run.” He says, keeping his eyes on his lunch tray. “I forgot I have, uh, a test. Physics.”
“Bye.” Nancy manages a small wave as Jonathan stands up, disappearing into the cafeteria crowd. Almost as soon as he’s gone, Carol turns to Nancy with a resolute stare.
“He was bullshitting you.” Carol whispers.
“He’s pissed at me.” Nancy admits, because there’s no use hiding it anymore.
“What?” Tommy squints in confusion. “Why?”
“I don’t know!” Nancy groans, placing her head in her hands. “All I know is, he’s mad.”
“He’s probably just stressed.” Carol says. A slow grin spreads across her face, like the beginnings of a plan are forming in her head. “And you know what helps with stress?”
“What?” Nancy asks. Carol’s grin just gets wider, and suddenly Nancy gets what she’s implying. “Oh my god, Carol, you are not-“
“I’m just saying!” Carol throws up her hands, almost defensively. “We can give you a little makeover, put you in a nice dress, make you look real sexy. You can show up at his house, give him a little bit of sweet-talking… Nance, boys forget when they’re mad when you give ‘em what they always want.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tommy furrows his brow, like he doesn’t quite get it.
“Tommy, can it. The girls are talking.” Carol rolls her eyes, then turns back to Nancy. “My point is, we’ve got all the stuff we need in our toolboxes. Show a little skin, and Byers will be so turned-on he’ll forget why he was ever mad at you.”
Some part of Nancy feels disgusted, hearing Carol talk about Jonny like that. She’d never agree to this kind of plan under normal circumstances. But right now, the circumstances are anything but normal. And dammit, Nancy just wants one thing in her life to be consistent, so she nods.
“Alright. I’m in.”
***
She doesn’t know why she has to go up to Jonny’s window instead of knocking on his door like a normal person.
It had been Carol’s idea, and she’d refused to budge no matter how much Nancy protested. “Christ, Nance, what if his mom answers? You think she’d let you in her son’s room if you showed up at her front door dressed like a slut?”
And Nancy furrows her brow, because she wasn’t even dressed that slutty to begin with.
Her displeasure must be showing on her face, because Carol rolls her eyes and goes, “C’mon, Nancy, don’t be like that. You know what I mean. Adults see a girl dressed like you and automatically assume the worst.”
Nancy looks at herself in Carol’s rearview mirror. She’s all dolled up, in a black top and pants that make her feel a little bit like Sandy Olson in Grease. Her lipstick is red, and it’s darker than what she’d normally go for, but Carol said it’ll look hot. Still, she feels something knotting in her stomach. “I don’t know about this.”
“It’ll be fine.” Carol reaches out and gives Nancy a pat on the shoulder. “Look at you, Nance. Byers would be mental to turn you down.”
“Yeah.” Nancy nods, as if she can will the pit in her stomach to go away if she tries hard enough. She turns in her seat, giving one more glance to Carol and Tommy before she exits the car. “Wish me luck.”
Carol grins and flashes a thumbs-up. “Knock ‘em dead.”
Tommy wolf-whistles, and Carol smacks him in the shoulder. Despite herself, Nancy laughs before she shuts the car door and begins making her way over to Jonny’s bedroom window.
The window is cracked open just a sliver, and Nancy hears music coming from Jonathan’s stereo. Rebel Rebel, she thinks automatically, Bowie. And then she smiles, because Jonathan would be proud if he knew that she could identify a Bowie song from the first line. Two months ago, when they’d first started dating, Nancy hadn’t even known who David Bowie was, except that her dad thought his music was queer garbage that only Satan-worshippers and druggies listened to. But Jonny liked him, so Nancy had given him a try. Because, God, she wants to make her and Jonathan work. She wants it so damn bad-
Nancy looks through the window, and her breath catches in her throat. Because it’s not Jonathan who’s asleep on his bed. It’s a girl. And not just any girl.
It’s Robin fucking Buckley.
For a second, Nancy wonders if maybe they got the wrong house. She clings onto the idea, even though she knows Jonny’s address by heart, because what reason would there be for Buckley to be in Jonathan’s house, let alone his bedroom? Unless they… unless something…
No, she says to herself, Jonny wouldn’t. Jonny would never-
And then Jonathan walks in.
He’s trying to be quiet, Nancy can tell, but Buckley stirs, so it obviously didn’t work. He says something, and Buckley laughs, and then he sits down at the foot of the bed. Their mouths move like they’re talking, but the buzz in her ears is so loud that Nancy can’t understand a single word they say. Buckley must have made a joke, because Jonny laughs, and Nancy is trying to remember if she’s ever seen Jonathan smile like that when Nancy talks to him.
Buckley’s face suddenly gets real serious, and she sits up, brow furrowing. Whatever Jonathan says in response must be comforting, because Nancy watches as the corner of her mouth quirks up before she leans in, placing a hand on Jonathan’s shoulder.
Nancy tears her eyes away after that, not wanting to watch for one second more. She’s seen enough.
She trips and falls a few times as she makes her way back to the car, almost certainly getting grass stains on her clothes, but she can’t bring herself to care. The only thing running through her mind is her own voice berating her, because how could she possibly have been this stupid?
She’d actually thought Jonny was different. Different from Todd and Aaron and Michael. She’d thought he liked her. Thought she was good enough for him, for someone, for anyone. Thought, thought, thought-
She finds Carol’s car door with tears in her eyes, fumbling her way into the front seat. She can’t bring herself to care about Tommy and Carol’s stares, or how messed-up she must look right now. All she can get out is a feeble “drive” before the tears start flowing.
“Nance? What happened?” Carol’s eyes grow wide, then narrow. “Did he hurt you? Did-“
“No.” Nancy chokes out between sobs. “No.”
“What happened?” Carol repeats, concern rising in her voice.
“He-“ Nancy hiccups. She’s little more than an incoherent mess right now, but she can’t bring herself to care. “He’s not gay.”
“What?” Carol’s brow furrows. “Nance, what is going on?”
“Buckley was in his room. Robin Buckley. She was asleep on his bed.”
She doesn’t have to say any more for Carol to understand. There’s a split second of shock, then her expression morphs into one of sympathy. “Oh, Nance…”
Carol reaches forward and envelopes Nancy in a hug. Nancy leans into it, not even caring about Tommy, who’s awkwardly in the backseat watching the whole thing. She’s probably getting lipstick and mascara all over Carol’s sweater right now, but Carol doesn’t mention any of that.
“I’ll kill him.” Carol says finally, after Nancy has cried so much she’s pretty sure she’s dehydrated. The tone in her voice isn’t angry, but firm, unwavering- it’s a promise, rather than a threat.
“No.” Nancy shakes her head. “You can’t-“
“Like hell we can’t.” Tommy growls. “That asshole… I have half a mind to walk in there right now-“
“Tommy.” Carol cuts him off, glaring sharply.
Tommy, to his credit, seems to realize that it’s time for him to shut up.
Carol turns back to Nancy, steely determination in her voice. “We’re not gonna let him get away with this, Nance. We’re gonna make sure everyone knows what they did.”
Nancy blinks, eyes still blurry with tears. “How?”
Carol turns to look at Tommy. “Tom, does your dad still have that spray paint in his garage?”
“Yeah.” Tommy nods. “Why?”
“Good.” Carol turns back to Nancy, taking her friend’s hand in her own. “I got an idea, Nance. You in?”
And Nancy really shouldn’t be, because Carol’s got that spark in her eyes, that look that means danger. But she can’t stop thinking about Jonathan, about him and Robin, about what they’ve been doing-
“I’m in.” She says, before she can stop herself.
________
Jonathan finds them the next day at school.
He walks right up to them in the courtyard, his jaw set and brow furrowed, clenching something in his hands. Buckley’s a few paces behind him, and the sight of her only fills Nancy with even more anger. Nancy really doesn’t feel like talking to him now, but Jonathan doesn’t give her much of a choice.
“Nancy.” He says, in a way that she’s never heard him say it before.
“Jonathan.” She shoots back, injecting as much venom into the single word as she can.
From the look that Jonathan gives her, he’s just as pissed at her as she is at him.
Jonathan glowers, holding something out for her to see. It’s a picture, crumpled from the way Jonathan clenched it in his fist, but the image is still clear. It’s of the marquee on the Hawkins movie theater.
All The Right Moves, it reads in big black letters. And underneath it, in an angry red scrawl: Starring Jonathan Byers and Robin “The Slut” Buckley.
“What the fuck is this?” Jonathan whispers, voice low. He’s trying not to show it, but he’s angry. Really angry. And there’s something else in his eyes- hurt?
It makes Nancy clench up a bit inside, but she shoves it down. Jonny- Jonathan did this to himself. “Looks like you pissed someone off.”
Jonathan shakes his head in an almost disappointed way. “Don’t play dumb with me, Nance. You did this, didn’t you?”
“It’s Nancy. Nancy spits out, cold as ice. “Not Nance.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Jonathan snaps. “Why would you do this?”
“I don’t know.” Nancy takes a step forward. Jonathan’s taller than her, but she still looks him in the eye as she speaks. “Why would you sleep with Robin Buckley?”
A crowd’s started to gather at this point, a low Ooh rising up from the observing students at Nancy’s dig. From behind Jonathan, Nancy sees Buckley step forward.
“That’s not true.” She blurts out, and all eyes turn to her.
Carol raises an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t lie if I were you. Don’t wanna be known as the lying slut, do you?”
“I went to your house last night.” Nancy says angrily.
“You-“ Jonathan narrows his eyes. “Look, I don’t know what you think you saw-“
“I don’t think, Jonathan!” Nancy cuts him off. “I saw you two. Together. She was on your bed.”
A low murmur of shock rises up from the crowd of gathered students. One boy whistles.
“We were just-“
“Just what?” Carol glances to Jonathan, and shit- if looks could kill, Jonathan would be dead right now. “Studying? Or having another pervy photo sesh?”
“You lied to me.” Nancy pokes her finger into Jonathan’s chest. “You told me you were watching your brother. Instead you let her into your house, into your room, to do God knows what, and you won’t even admit what you did!”
There’s silence in the air, so thick you could cut it with a knife.
“Fuck you, Jonathan.” Nancy glares. She tries to seem pissed, but she can’t help how her voice breaks. “Fuck. You.”
“Jonathan,” Buckley murmurs, stepping forward, “Let’s just go-“
“You know what, Buckley?” Nancy turns to Buckley, stepping towards her. “I’m actually kind of impressed. We all thought you were a queer, but I guess you proved us wrong.”
“Nance-“ Jonathan starts, but Nancy keeps talking.
“You’re just a slut, aren’t you?“ Nancy spits out. The next words come tumbling out of her mouth like water out of a faucet, before she can even think about what she’d saying. “Like mother, like daughter.”
“Don’t talk about my mom!” Buckley’s hand moves, and Nancy steps back, her cheek stinging. She doesn’t register what’s just happened until someone in the crowd gasps.
Buckley slapped her.
Nancy looks back over at the other girl, one hand to her cheek. There’s a split second of fear on Buckley’s face, but then it changes into something else. Anger.
Well, Nancy thinks, two can play at that game.
Nancy’s not a fighter. Far from it, in fact. But neither is Buckley. Which is probably why their “fight” amounts to little more than both girls angrily punching at the other and screaming insults, their hits only occasionally landing. At one point, Jonathan tries to pull Nancy off Buckley, but Carol holds him back. The two of them get into some kind of screaming match, but Nancy doesn’t pay any attention. The crowd around them grows, with more kids drawn in as the punches start flying. When someone finally goes and gets a teacher, it takes the combined efforts of the football and basketball coaches to pull the girls apart.
“All right, people, show’s over!” Coach Henry shouts, still slightly winded. “Get to class!” He turns around to face the two girls, face reddened with anger. “You two-“ He points. “Principal’s office. Now.”
As she’s wrestled to her feet, something settles in her stomach. She thought she’d feel something after all this. Maybe anger, maybe a twisted sense of satisfaction. But it’s neither of those. Instead, it’s something else entirely.
Guilt.
_______
She’s a bitch.
That’s the only thing Nancy can think about on the drive home. She’s a colossal, giant, mega-bitch. She, Nancy Wheeler, is the biggest bitch to ever exist.
God, what was she thinking?
Jonathan was right. She didn’t know what she’d seen that night at his house. There were a million reasons why Buckley- why Robin could’ve been there. The only reason why Nancy had jumped to what she did was because… because…
Because it was Robin, she’d assumed the worst.
She doesn’t even hear her parents talking on the way home. Doesn’t hear her dad going on and on about how that Buckley girl, she’s always been trouble and a girl like that, there’s no fixing it. Doesn’t hear her mom fussing about how ridiculous it is that her precious Nancy got suspended for simply defending herself.
She doesn’t bother to correct her mom on that one. She’ll fess up later, but right now, she can’t. Right now, there’s something more important that she needs to do.
She goes straight to her room when she gets home and dials Carol’s phone number. The phone rings for so long that it makes Nancy’s breath hitch, wondering whether or not Carol will answer.
“Oh my God, Nance.” Carol finally picks up, and Nancy breathes a sigh of relief. “Finally. I thought Principal Higgins killed you or something. What’s up?”
“Carol, I need a favor.” Nancy says. “Can you take me somewhere?”
“Sure, Nance.” Carol says. “Where do you need to go?”
Nancy takes a deep breath. “The movie theater.”
“What?” Even over the phone, Nancy can hear the confusion in Carol’s voice. “Why?”
“I can’t really explain right now.” Nancy winces and glances at herself in the mirror. There’s the beginnings of a black eye forming on her face, but Nancy really can’t bring herself to care about that. It’s not like she doesn’t deserve it. “How soon can you get here?”
Nancy can tell Carol has more questions, but she doesn’t ask any of them right there. “I’ll be there in ten.”
Sure enough, Carol’s car is pulled outside of Nancy’s house in ten minutes. Say what you will about Carol Perkins (Nancy certainly has quite a few thoughts about her best friend at the moment), but she keeps her word.
“Wow.” Carol gives a low whistle when she gets an eyeful of Nancy’s face. There’s a cigarette in her hand, but she snuffs it out as Nancy approaches (she knows Nance can’t stand the smell). “What a shiner!”
“Is it bad?” Nancy asks reflexively, then mentally kicks herself for it. She has bigger things to worry about right now than her appearance.
“It’ll heal.” Carol says, then pats the seat next to her. “Come on, get in.”
The drive to the movie theater is mostly silent, save for Carol singing along to a Joan Jett song on the radio. It only feels like minutes before they pull up outside the movie theater. In the broad daylight, Nancy can get a clear view of their handiwork from the night before. Someone is out there on a ladder, scrubbing away at the letters that Nancy helped write, red and angry and hurtful, obscene things about a boy she claimed to love.
“What are we here for, again?” Carol asks, and Nancy takes a deep breath.
“To do what we should be doing.” Nancy says, and she steps out of the car before Carol can question her any further.
She walks up to the guys on the ladder, Carol trailing a few steps behind. Both of them stop to stare at Nancy as she approaches, and she feels small.
“Need a hand?” Nancy blurts out, ignoring how Carol looks at her like she’s lost her mind.
One of the guys looks at Nancy, one eyebrow raised like he can see into her soul. “Did you ladies have something to do with this?”
“We-“
Nancy cuts Carol off. “I just want to help.”
The guy looks like he doesn’t buy that completely, but he shrugs and begins descending the ladder. “Be my guest,” he says, handing Nancy the wet rag he’d been using to clean off the paint.
Nancy takes the sponge, rolling up the sleeves of her sweater. She starts towards the ladder, but Carol stops her by grabbing her wrist.
“Nance-“
“Carol.” Nancy turns around, voice calm yet firm. “I want to do this. You can wait in the car if you want.”
She pulls her hand out of Carol’s grasp and starts up the ladder. She hears Carol sigh behind her, and then a few moments later, Carol’s ascended the ladder with her own rag in hand. The two of them stay there, silently scrubbing away at the letters for what feels like hours. They scrub until the angry red is gone, like it was never there in the first place. Nancy wishes that could be the case.
It’s dark when they finally climb down the ladder. Carol looks over at Nancy, nose and cheeks reddened from the autumn cold, and asks, “Alright. What now?”
Nancy stares up at the sign. “Can you take me somewhere else?”
Carol sighs. “Nance-“
“I need you to take me to Jonathan’s house.”
“What?” Carol blinks. “Nancy, why would you want to see him again after-“
“I want to apologize.” Nancy blurts out, because she might as well rip the Band-Aid off while she can. Carol’s mouth falls open for a split second before it morphs into a scowl.
“Hell no.”
“Carol-“ Nancy starts, but Carol cuts her off.
“No, Nancy. You felt bad about the theater, okay, I can get that. But you are not going to walk over to that asshole’s house and apologize to him. If anything, he needs to be apologizing to you.”
“No.” Nancy shakes her head. “No, he doesn’t.”
“Like fuck he doesn’t!” Carol exclaims, a little too loudly for Nancy’s taste. “Nance, he cheated on you. He lied to you and went off to fuck another girl behind your back-“
“We don’t know that!” Nancy snaps.
“You saw them.” Carol says vehemently. “You saw them together, on his bed-“
“I didn’t see anything, Carol!” Nancy says, shame and embarrassment and anger at herself all bubbling up inside her. “I saw them talking. They didn’t kiss, they didn’t fuck, they were talking.”
“God, Nance.” Carol rolls her eyes. “Do you think they were just in his room playing Crazy Eights?”
“I don’t know what they were doing!” Nancy snaps. “But I know that I fucked up and didn’t give Jonny a chance to explain himself, and I wrote that awful shit about him and Robin, and I’ll be lucky if he even wants to see my face again after this! And frankly, you should be apologizing too, but that’s none of my business. But god damn it, Carol, if you don’t drive me over there, I will walk there myself!”
For a moment, Nancy achieves the impossible. She renders Carol Perkins speechless. It only lasts for a moment, but Nancy would be lying if she didn’t admit that she felt the teensiest bit of satisfaction watching Carol scramble for words, mouth hanging open like a fish out of water.
“You can’t walk.” Carol says finally, like that’s the only thing that matters in this conversation. “It’s fifty degrees, Nance-“
“I’ll walk.” Nancy repeats, staring Carol dead in the eye. Carol Perkins is not a poker player, but Nancy knows that Carol can guess a bluff when she sees one.
She’s not bluffing right now. And from the look in her eyes, Carol knows it.
“Fine.” Carol sighs, after a long moment of intensity. “Get in the car.”
“Really?” Nancy blinks. Out of all the reactions she’d expected from Carol, resigned acceptance had not been one.
Carol rolls her eyes. “Yeah, really.”
“You… don’t think I’m being stupid?”
“Of course I think you’re being stupid.” Carol scoffs, disagreeing. “But regardless, I’m not about to let my best friend die of hypothermia ‘cause she was hung up on some boy.”
“Carol, it’s fifty degrees, I really don’t-“ Nancy starts to protest, but stops when she sees the look on Carol’s face.
“Ever heard that thing about not looking a gift dog in the mouth?”
“It’s a gift horse.” Nancy corrects before she can stop herself.
Carol, to her credit, only seems mildly annoyed. “Whatever. Get in the car, Nance.”
_________
“Jonathan!”
Nancy knocks on Jonathan’s door again, for what must be the fiftieth time in the last five minutes. She knows that he’s home, because his car is in the driveway. But he’s not answering the door.
“Jonathan!” She repeats, rapping her knuckles against the wooden door. “Jonathan, please, I need to talk to you.”
There’s no response. Carol mutters something under her breath, but Nancy pretends not to hear it.
“Look,” Nancy sighs. “I know I fucked up. I was a total bitch, and what I did was horrible, and I’m sorry, okay? Please, Jonathan, talk to me.”
Nancy holds her breath, waiting to hear that familiar voice, but there’s nothing.
“To hell with this.” Carol mutters.
Before Nancy can do anything, Carol shoves past her, balling up her hand into a fist and pounding on the Byers’ front door.
“Byers!” She yells. “Open up!”
“Carol-“ Nancy puts a hand on her friend’s shoulder, but Carol just shrugs her off.
“I see your car, so don’t try to pretend you aren’t home!”
“Carol!” Nancy says, louder this time.
“Fucking hell, Nance, he can’t ignore you forever.” Carol grumbles, then resumes banging on Jonathan’s door. “Byers!”
“Carol, stop it-“
“No, Nance, he needs to stop being a pussy-“
Both Carol and Nancy fall silent as the door opens- just a sliver, but enough for Nancy to see a familiar pair of warm brown eyes on the other side.
“Jonathan.” Nancy breathes a sigh of relief. She’s never been so happy to see his face. “Jonathan, listen-“
“You need to leave.” Jonathan cuts Nancy off, his eyes wide and voice hushed.
“What?” Nancy feels something inside her sinking. “Jon, I’m not trying to start anything, I swear-“
“I don’t care about that.” Jonathan says. “Listen to me. You,” He offers a pointed glance to Carol, “both of you need to leave. Right now.”
“Are you mental?” Carol snaps.
“I’m serious.” Jonathan looks over his shoulder. “You two need to get out of here. It’s not safe-“
“What?” Nancy’s eyes widen. “What do you mean?”
“I can’t explain right now-“
“Like hell you can’t!” Carol growls.
“Jonathan,” Nancy pleads. “Just tell us what’s going on.”
“I-“ Jonathan starts. He readjusts his grip on the door, and that’s when Nancy notices the gauze wrapped around his palm.
“What happened to your hand?” Nancy asks.
Jonathan’s eyes widen, and he moves his hand behind his back, like Nancy wasn’t supposed to see that. Like he’s been caught.
“Nothing.” He blurts out quickly, too quickly to be convincing. “It was an accident. Look, there’s not much time, you guys need to-“
“No!” Nancy grabs at the door, holding it open even as Jonathan tries to shut it. “Jonathan, tell us what’s going on!”
“Nancy-“ Jonathan starts, but Nancy pushes on the door, sending him stumbling backwards and allowing her to slide past him into the house. Carol is close behind, though she gives Jonathan a shove that’s probably unnecessary as she slips past him. With no door there to obscure their view, both a Nancy and Carol now have a full view of the scene inside Jonathan’s living room.
It looks like some shit out of a fucking movie. The furniture has been moved to the walls, and there’s some weird red stains on the carpet- (blood?). The couch is home to a small armory’s worth of weapons- a shotgun, a fire axe, what looks like a baseball bat with several nails sticking out of it. And Robin Buckley is there, though that’s somehow the least surprising thing about this whole scene. She’s got a machete slung over her shoulder, and yet she’s staring at Carol and Nancy as if they’re the odd ones out here.
“You shouldn’t be here.” Robin says, eyes wide and panic in her voice.
“Jonathan?” Nancy’s breath catches in her throat. “What…”
“What the hell, Buckley?” Carol’s voice sounds angry, but Nancy can sense something else in her tone- fear. That only makes Nancy even more anxious.
“I can explain-“ Robin begins, but Carol cuts her off.
“Explain what? Explain why Byers’ living room looks like a fucking warzone?” Carol’s eyes narrow. “I don’t know if this is some weird kink you two have or what, but…”
“Shut up!” Robin suddenly yells, eyes going wide.
Carol’s expression sours. “Don’t tell me to shut up-“
“Carol-“ Robin starts, but something else cuts her off.
A growl, low and inhuman.
Everyone in the room falls silent, even Carol. Nancy hadn’t noticed until now, but the lights in the Byers’ living room are flickering. Carol moves closer to Nancy, almost in front of her, but Nancy is so consumed by bone-crushing terror that she barely notices.
The next few seconds seem to happen all at once.
The roof starts caving in, and something comes out of it, and Robin is grabbing her wrist and screaming “Run!”
They take off down the hallway, and Nancy just barely jumps over a fucking bear trap, and the only thing running through her brain right now is a constant stream of whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck-.
She chances a glance behind her, and that’s when she sees it. Some sort of- thing, with a huge mouth that opens up like a flower to show more teeth than Nancy’s ever seen on anything.
Robin yells, “Don’t look!”, and Nancy keeps running. Carol is screaming obscenities that Nancy didn’t even know existed, and Jonathan is behind them all as they sprint into a nearby room and close the door.
Then, it’s silent.
For a moment, no one says anything. They’re all just standing there, breathing, and Nancy is trying to wrap her head around what the hell just happened-
“What…” Carol is the first one to speak, but Robin and Jonathan shush her almost as soon as she opens her mouth. Nancy has to admit they have a point- she’s seen enough horror movies to know that you never talk when something is chasing you.
They stay in the room for several agonizing minutes, until Jonathan props open the door and gives them the all-clear. The four of them make their way into the living room, back over the bear trap, which is maybe just slightly idiotic of them.
“What-“ Carol looks around, still panting heavily. “What the fuck was that thing?”
“A monster.” Robin says quietly, severely. Nancy would have called her crazy if she hadn’t seen the thing with her own eyes, if she didn’t know that monster was the only word that could possibly be appropriate to describe it.
“It’s gonna come back.” Jonathan looks to Nancy and Carol, his expression less scared and more severe. “So you two need to leave. Right now.”
“No.” The word comes out of Nancy’s mouth before she can stop herself. She thinks about that monster, and she feels like she’d rather die than see that thing again. But she can’t fathom leaving Jonathan alone to deal with that thing. Fuck that.
“Nancy-“ Jonathan looks at Nancy, his eyes filled with so much fear that it tugs at Nancy’s heart just a little. How did she ever think he didn’t love her?
“I’m not leaving.” Nancy repeats, not breaking away from Jonathan’s gaze. She turns over to Carol, and her best friend gives her a small nod. She doesn’t have to say anything for Nancy to know what she means- Neither am I.
Nancy’s not sure who exactly ends up killing the monster in the end. She’s pretty sure it was all of them, in a way. Sure, Jonathan hacked the thing a whole bunch with his axe, but Robin also went to town on it with her machete. And yeah, she’d shot it a fair amount of times, but it had been Carol who whaled on it with the nailed baseball bat when it tried to take a bite out of Nancy. And all of them had been there when they’d lit the thing on fire, doused it in gasoline and watched it burn, and then shot it a few more times for good measure after it stopped moving.
It didn’t really matter who’d killed it in the end. Because they were all alive. They were all here, sitting on Jonathan’s couch, and maybe they were a little bit roughed up, but they were alive. That counted as a win in Nancy’s book.
“Eddie’s dead.” Jonathan says finally, his voice breaking. “That thing got him in the woods.”
The woods. It feels like a lifetime ago. How has it only been a few days?
Nancy thinks about the monster, about its claws, about its teeth. She imagines Eddie all alone in the woods, with that thing diving on him like a shark. She wonders if it hurt.
“I’m…” Carol stalls. She’s holding a cigarette in between her fingers, because she always smokes when she’s stressed, and tonight Nancy doesn’t even have it in her to get onto her about the smell. “I’m sorry.”
There’s a heaviness to her words, and Nancy knows that Carol isn’t just apologizing for Eddie. From the look on his face, Jonathan knows it too.
Nancy leans back against the couch. Her sweater is stained with monster blood, and there’s no way the stains will be coming out any time soon. Somehow, Nancy can’t bring herself to care right now.
“What happens next?” She asks, looking over at Robin, at Jonathan, at Carol.
Robin sighs. “I don’t know.”
Nancy nods. She’d been expecting that. She doesn’t know what’ll happen next, either. But she knows one thing-
She doesn’t think her life will ever be the same.