Apocalypse, Steve Harrington

Chapter Six. The Party On Tuesday

CHAPTER SIX
— the party on tuesday

    LUCY HAD ONLY broken two bones in her life— one, when her brother pushed her down a hill while they were rollerblading. She had her brother to blame for her shattered wrist, no one else; the fault was entirely Daniel's. The second and most recent break was the summer going into eighth grade. Lucy knew she was easily influenced— but why she listened to fifth grade Mike Wheeler was a mystery. In nothing but a wet bathing suit, she slide down the banister; it was no surprise when she showed up to Hawkins Memorial with broken collarbone. Her arm was in a sling for three weeks— in Lucy's opinion, though, the worst part was that the entire Wheeler family had witnessed her embarrassing injury.

    Since then, that faithful day in the summer of '81, Lucy had her place in the Wheeler family. They drove her to the hospital, after all, and not to mention she was their eldest daughters best friend and the dedicated babysitter. Sleepovers, invites to house-parties, barbecues— whatever it was, Lucy was probably there.

    So, when a dinner invite popped up, Lucy accepted it. Her family had never been the 'sit down and dine together' type— they made meals on their own time and ate alone. She enjoyed Wheeler family dinners; the table was packed this time around, though. The entire Party was there, full plates of meatloaf and mashed potatoes in front of them.

    They each had their own little secrets. The Party was hiding the fact that there was a girl hidden away in the basement, and Nancy had devised a plan to show up at Steve's "small gathering". Lucy, though? She was concealing both.

"Something wrong with the meatloaf?"

Her blood pressure spiked. Was it obvious that she was hiding a secret— secrets? Was Mrs. Wheeler even speaking to her? Swallowing thickly, Lucy's eyes darted across the table.

Dustin spoke. "Oh, no, I had two bologna sandwiches for lunch." He gave a toothless smile, fork clutched in hand. "I don't— I don't know why."

    "Me, too," Lucas chimed in, brown eyes going wide when his babysitter gave a face palm from across the table.

Second-hand embarrassment gnawing at her, Lucy spoke up. "I think the meatloaf's great, Mrs. Wheeler," she nodded rapidly. "It's really, uh, yeah, it's tasty."

    Nancy shot a sweet smile at her mother. "It's delicious, Mommy."

"Thank you, girls," Karen grinned, watching as Lucy swallowed the meatloaf dryly, hand shooting for the glass in front of her.

    Water nearly going up her nose, Lucy's eyes went wide with surprise when Nancy stomped on her foot. Glancing towards her friend, she shot her an annoyed expression. She said enough without speaking— Lucy was not trying to be the one to tell Karen about this so called "assembly".

"So, there's this— special assembly thing tonight... for Will at the school field," Nancy said awkwardly, playing with the green beans on her plate. Lucy's eyes were glued to table, refusing to partake in the conversation even when Nancy looked at her for help. "Barb's driving— she's driving me. Lucy's taking her own car."