Chapter 12

But sometimes, even the best people in the world have a hard time dealing with stress.

"I hope everything works out in the end, okay guys?"

A chorus of agreements echoed around the group as they continued their journey to the mall, occasionally glancing sideways at each other and sharing brief words of encouragement and encouragement to one another, much to Nancy's confusion.

"So, what happened yesterday between you and Billy?"

Nancy stiffened slightly at Steve's question, prompting Dustin to turn around with a questioning expression and ask, "Huh? What did happen between you two?"

"Just, uh... Nothing. We fought, okay?"

"Well, it doesn't seem like nothing to me."

"Guys, please," she begged. "Let's just focus on finding Nancy some snacks before we talk about something else entirely."

The group went silent after this remark, allowing them to reach the mall and enter the store together, each of them choosing to avoid speaking to the other. Once inside, Nancy immediately walked over to the nearest rack of clothes and began searching through its selections. After about five minutes, the trio of boys joined her.

"So how many clothes do you need?" Nancy questioned, holding a pink top up to her chest to examine it.

"Two. One for summer break and one for winter break."

"Okay, what are the sizes?"

"Five. I'm taller than Will, though."

Nancy rolled her eyes, causing her brother to smile at her.

"Don't worry about it", Dustin said. "Do whatever you want. I'll pay."

Nancy looked up from the dress and gave her brother a nod, which caused both Will and Dustin to smirk at one another knowingly before returning their attention back to Nancy.

After purchasing a pair of white leggings, a black turtleneck, and a pair of gray high tops, Nancy made her way over to the dressing rooms in search of her brothers. While she waited for them outside, she sat on one of the benches surrounding one of the bathrooms, trying her best not to focus too hard on how cold it was outside or how wet she felt compared to the temperature outside, due to her wet clothing.

"Hey", Nancy said when the two boys exited the bathroom, which had a large mirror attached to its wall.

"Hey", they both replied.

"What size?"

"Six."

"Cool. Okay, I'll pick these out then", Nancy stated, standing up and grabbing their bags.

They followed behind her silently as she made her way over to the register to place all of her purchases into the shopping basket that was sitting next to the cashier, paying for them after the woman wrote down their names and addresses on the receipt.

"Alright, so where does that leave us? Where do we head next?", Nancy asked as she turned around and faced her friends again.

Dustin thought briefly for a second and glanced at the clock hanging above the cash register.

"Why don't we go visit your dad's old house? There's something I gotta do anyways. And after that, maybe we can go to the movies tonight?"

Mike, who was still staring intently at Nancy, tilted his head a little bit to the side, wondering what his friend meant by this. However, he didn't really care, considering he still didn't understand why he was acting the way he did – at least not until that day.

"Yeah, sure. What movie are we seeing? I kind of remember watching it last year", Will piped up, grinning excitedly.

"Oh yeah, same here. So, who's paying for tickets?", Dustin asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

Will raised a hand and pointed at the girl.

Dustin looked over at her and frowned. "Is there any particular reason you're paying for tickets? You can just rent them online or something."

Nancy hesitated for a couple of moments before responding, "Uh... Well, I sorta feel bad, so, actually, I kinda owe Mr. Clarke for helping my family last year... So I kind of have to bring him something", she explained.

"Ah", Dustin replied simply, nodding his head as if he'd already anticipated this reaction.

"Anyway, let's move. I'm freezing my butt off here", Mike said, shaking his coat vigorously while shivering.

"Well, you might wanna hurry up because I'm freezing my ass off", Dustin replied as he began walking towards the exit.

Will and Mike chuckled slightly as they followed his lead.

Upon entering the elevator, they realized that Will hadn't taken his phone out yet and sighed. They'd have to wait for a while before they could call Max.

Once they reached the ground floor, they headed towards the car park where Dustin and Will had left their bikes parked and started heading towards the parking lot. They found their bikes and began putting their equipment in the backs of the bikes respectively.

"Alright, so what do you guys wanna watch?" Nancy asked. "Because the movie is called 'Pawns and Clubs' and that sounds pretty boring to me..."

"I know, right?", Dustin said sarcastically as he threw his arms up in frustration. "There are only four of us, there has to be more interesting stuff!"

Max shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Well, I guess we can always watch TV", Will said, picking up his bag of chips and slinging it over his shoulder.

"Or we could get food. Are you hungry guys?", Steve asked as he adjusted his backpack on his shoulders.

"Yeah, let's eat.", Mike agreed.

Everyone nodded in agreement and began making their way into the parking lot where all of their friends' cars were located.

They piled into Dustin's beat up truck and drove away from Hawkins High School, heading towards McDonalds. Upon arriving at the parking lot, they all pulled up to the entrance and grabbed their trays before piling into the lunchroom. The six teenagers took their seats and began eating while waiting for Dustin's order.

After a few minutes passed, they heard a familiar voice calling them over.

"What are you doing here? Did you get lost?", Joyce exclaimed upon noticing the five boys entering her office.