Risky Business ｡ Stranger Things

10 : Splendor in the Grass

Prue's mind was full of rotting pumpkins, beating sunrays and confusion. So much so, she couldn't even concentrate in her afternoon classes. Her brain was ticking over and over with every piece of information and detail that spoke to the strangeness of Hawkins, including her father's work at the laboratory, and it felt as if she was stuck in a corn maze, the stalks closing in on her as her mind crazed. Prue was even surprised when she actually noticed an absent Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers from their shared biology class in fourth period. 

Her brown eyes turned away from the window as the last bell of the day sounded in the classroom, declaring to all that the school day was over.

"Girl, you have ink everywhere!" Selena exclaimed from beside her, guesting towards Prue's page and the sleeve of her sweater. Blue ink had seeped through the soft material and shapes resembling rotting pumpkins filled the margins of her word-free page. "You okay? You seem—"

"Distracted? Conflicted? Slightly losing my mind?" Prue muttered, slapping her notebook closed. The rest of the class was filing out into the hallway.

Selena tilted her head to the side, her mane of dark locks tumbling over her shoulder and her dangly earring swaying. "I was going to say bored... because I doodle when I'm bored in class. But at least I draw normal things like hearts and flowers, and the occasional cube. Not—what? Retarded shaded in circles?"

"Rotten pumpkins, actually."

Selena scrunched up her nose. "Gross." The girls stopped by their lockers before heading to the carpark where they were met by Ronnie struggling with a stack of books. "You can't honestly have this much homework."

"Midterms are coming up! You know what my parents are like if I waver below an A-," Veronica Marra said nearly breathless as both Prue and Selena helped with the load of books. Golden sunlight drenched the carpark and a wind blew with a cold force, brushing through Prue's hair with invisible fingers. She fished out her white cat-eyed sunglasses and perched them on the top of her head.

"Come on, Ronnie. You're the smartest one of us all!" Prue said truthfully.

Selena nodded in agreement. "Absolutely. Who gets me through every math test? Certainly not this one," she added, jabbing her thumb at Prue.

"Hey, I do fine in mathematics, thank you! Besides, Patrick helps us all with trig." His name on her tongue was a simple reaction, but it troubled her heart. He hadn't shown up at school at all that day and she found herself bleeding with concern for her possibly-ex-boyfriend.

"Speaking of Patrick Turner, what exactly is the situation between you two after last night?" Selena questioned, clawing strands of hair out of her eyes from the strong wind whipping at her hair.

"I'm not exactly sure." The three girls had reached Prue's car. Selena ditched the books she was carrying onto the boot before easing herself up, her legs swing back and forth. Ronnie lent her hip against the heated metal, draping one arm over Selena's long legs; both girls intrigued by what Prue had to say. "I think we broke up—but we were both drunk and it was just a fight. I don't think it really counts. Apparently, the basketball team calls me Prue the Prude—" Ronnie's mouth dropped open in shock but Selena's face was still with knowledge. Prue's eyes narrowed in on Selena. "You knew about that and didn't tell me?"

"How could I tell you that, Prue? Besides, I don't give a flying hoot what the basketball team thinks or says. And neither should you! They're a bunch of dipshits!" Her voice was apologetic, but ringing with truth. And while Prue did feel a tad betrayed, she didn't blame Selena for not telling her and knew she really shouldn't care about what a group of stupid adolescent boys thought of her and her sexual activities. "I'm so sorry! But please don't unleash that Prue fury out on me in public."

Prue's lips twitched with a smile. "I am mad at you, just not that mad. I think I'm madder that Patrick didn't stop the basketball team from saying it, you know?" she added, sighing heavily.

"And you haven't spoken to him yet?" Ronnie asked, tucking her raven hair behind her ears. Prue shook her head. "Are you planning on it?" Prue chewed at her lip.

"Maybe tomorrow, if I see him. It's all just so complicated." And the main complication was strolling through the carpark with a girl tucked up close to his side. The afternoon sunlight shone brilliantly on Billy Hargrove's blond hair. Prue felt her heart cracking, like her mother's favourite china teacup set had when Grey ruined it with Jackie one afternoon by playing football indoors. Time slowed down and it felt like everything was happening in slow motion. Billy Hargrove was passing by her now. The wind rushed through Prue's brown hair which flew into her face. She was quick to pull her hair back as Billy's eyes locked with hers, and while his face stayed emotionless, his eyes were wicked and over-confident, like he had become the true king of the jungle that was Hawkins High. He pulled the girl tighter and her giggles were high-pitched. The whole wordless exchange felt melodramatic with the wind rushing and the sunlight glowing down and tinting the carpark in golden and orange hues. And suddenly time had returned to normal as Prue half-turned, watching Billy striding away with another girl not even twenty-four hours after... The Incident of Halloween. There was a sharp pain in her chest and Prue couldn't figure out if it was jealousy, mortification or shame that stabbed at her chest. Perhaps a mixture of all three.

"I heard that's his third girl already," Selena gossiped.

"Third?" Pure squeaked out, turning back to her two good friends, both still watching Billy and the girl with the high-pitched giggles head towards his navy Camaro.

"Yes, ma'am. Miss Bella Hyde the day before All Hallow's Eve, someone on the evening of All Hallow's Eve—though I have yet been able to catch a name on the ol' grapevine—and now this filly." Selena managed to say all that in a deep Southern accent as if this was a humorous matter. Prue felt the blood drain from her face and she lowered her white cat-eye sunglasses over her eyes, knowing the truth would be shimmering in the earthy depths of her brown eyes.

  ◈ 

Prue's mind was even more occupied during the car ride home with Grey, who kept up most of the conversation about his day at school.

"I think they are hiding something. Jackie and Madison think so too. Cynthia said Mike Wheeler was running around with Will Byers and Alice saw Dustin Henderson carrying this box around. And it was moving around like something was inside of it!" Grey was mumbling and the conversation Prue was only half paying attention to sparked her memory of the pumpkin patch and her father's eagerness to turn her away. 

"Remember last night when we were talking about Dad's secret and important work?" she said suddenly, eyes turning away from the road to flash upon her younger brother buckled next to her.

"Yeah, the work Dad and Mum were fighting over," he acknowledged. Prue's fingers tightened around the steering wheel, her knuckles turning pale with the tension.

"Well, I think you were right to question the work Dad is doing at the lab. I saw something weird today when I was visiting him during lunch. Miles of dead and decaying pumpkins, and men in white hazmat suits collecting samples for testing," she explained, seeing Grey's eyes light up.

"You think something weird is going on too then!" It wasn't a question but a statement.

"Something weird and strange that Dad doesn't want us to know about. It's straining him and Mum something terrible and—" her voice was filled with concern and worry.

"And you think we should find out what it is? To protect our family?" Grey sat higher in his seat, his face eager and eyes shining with powerful curiosity and the need for action.

"And possibly even the rest of Hawkins." That dreadfully unsettling feeling was heavy on her shoulders again.

"I'm in," he nearly shouted, pumping his fist in the air. "This is the official first meeting of Mission Strange!"

"Grey, this isn't a game. Whatever is happening in this town is serious and could be dangerous." Life or death. Her voice was hard, her eyes shifting between the road and her younger brother.

"Yeah, I get that." Grey calmed himself down. "Doesn't mean we can't have a cool name."