Crossfire - Book 1 - S.H.

Chapter 1: The vanishing of Will Byers

As she climbed up her window that night, Shelley had half the mind to worry if she was growing too attached. It was, after all, the third night in a row she had allowed Steve to convince her to slip out of her room late at night for and spend about four hours making out with him in the backseat of his car. It was stupid of her too - those were, after all, school nights and, considering she had been only sleeping about four hours each night, if that, it would be no surprise if she failed all of the important tests coming up in a few days.

Even so, Shelley could barely find it in her to feel embarrassed. Not when Steve made her feel the way he did whenever they were together - good, pretty, smart, special. So, even while she slipped inside her own bedroom through the window after sharing a few last giggly kisses with her boyfriend as she watched him run out of her backyard and into his car parked two streets down from her house like some sort of criminal, she couldn't bring herself to care. She enjoyed her time with Steve. And pretending they were living some kind of forbidden love like fucking Romeo and Juliet only made it the all more exciting.

"Shit..." Shelley grumbled under her breath when her feet hit her wooden floor a bit too harshly, causing a rather loud bang to echo around the room.

Shelley held her breath, freezing on the spot as she waited for anyone to have a reaction. Maybe Will would wake up and come up to her bedroom, rubbing his eyes and asking what the hell she was doing up. Maybe it would be Jonathan instead, coming to check on her, only to roll his eyes and understand exactly what she was doing out of bed this late as soon as he caught sight of her boots in her hands. Maybe it would've been her mom instead, barging into the room with wide eyes and a worried tone as she fussed over her daughter to make sure she was okay and probably mistaking the hickey in her neck with a wound of some kind. But, instead, no one came and, as much as Shelley found it weird, she knew it was already three in the morning, so everyone was probably asleep.

Which, by the way, she should be too. So, instead of worrying, Shelley decided to just drop her boots by the bed and change from the rather pretty dress she had decided to surprise Steve in into some of his old clothes she still had laying around before climbing into the bed and tucking herself in. After all, considering she had a Chemistry test tomorrow - or rather, later today -, it would be better for her to get as much sleep as she possibly could.

***

Jonathan was a saint and Shelley knew she should be grateful she had such a caring and responsible boy for a brother - a boy that not only didn't care about waking up earlier and making their little family breakfast but that also actually really enjoyed doing so -, but good God, was he loud. It was almost as if he tried to make sure that every single pan he used, he could, somehow, bang against the counter. So that was usually how Shelley woke up - groaning loudly as she rolled around in her bed to face her door as she called out loudly:

"Some people are trying to sleep, you know?" She would yell and, every morning without a fail, Jonathan would chuckle in response.

"Some people are gonna be without any pancakes today if they don't stop complaining!" He'd call back. "And that's for you too, Will!"

And Shelley would laugh, finally slipping out of bed to start getting ready for school. She'd head to the bathroom then, washing her face, brushing her teeth, fixing her hair and then, she'd go back inside her room to change. Most mornings, as soon as Shelley was done with her bathroom routine, Will was already outside, waiting for her to come out with a smile and small morning, Shell, before slipping inside and starting his own little routine. That morning Will wasn't there, but, considering Shelley was a little late already, she supposed he was already out in the kitchen with Jonathan. So she went into her room, changing into some of her own clothes but smiling to herself when she caught sight of Steve's jacket from the night before that he had let her borrow once she started shivering in his car - more from the cold air of the night and less from his touches and caresses. She picked up the jacket then, putting it on over her own green cardigan before stepping out of her room and heading over to the kitchen instead.