Chosen Sisters

Episode 7 - Words Last Forever

 "But she did come home, right? After the vigil?" Nancy pressed, clutching the phone and leaning against the small booth. I stood next to her, unable to meet her eyes and my arms crossed against my chest. It was killing me inside, knowing while Nancy was contacting Barb's mother, I knew where our friend was. Well, technically, not where, but what had happened.

"Right, yes," Nancy continued. "She did... sorry. I meant. did she come home this morning? I think she left some textbooks and she was gonna go pick them up." There was a brief silence as Mrs. Holland replied back. "Do do you know what? I just remembered... she's at the library." Nancy closed her eyes as she tried not to cry. I looked down at my feet. "Yeah, yeah. I will. Sorry to bother you." Carefully, Nancy put the phone back on its pedestal before setting her head against the booth. The bell then rang, signaling that school was now over. Only Wednesday, and I was already overwhelmed.

"Barb isn't home?" I finally spoke, and Nancy shook her head.

"I'm really worried, Rachel," she sighed shakily. "Like, what if she got lost on the way home? Or she was kidnapped?" I subconsciously bit my bottom lip.

"We'll find her, I know it," I promised, but my heart hurt. I was lying to my best friend. I looked over to where Steve was waiting for Nancy, except now he was talking to Jonathan. Crap..."C'mon, I need to get something from Jonathan."

"And we'd just love to take a look," Steve pressed, the girl from the photography room by his side. Nancy and I stood a bit away from the scene, but my hand was twitching. This wasn't good. "You know, as connoisseurs of art."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jonathan said nervously, and he began to walk away from the group surrounding Steve's car. Tommy lurched forward and ripped Jonathan's bag off him.

"Oh, no? Oh..." Steve smirked.

"Hey," Jonathan pleaded. "Please, give me my bag." As he reached for it, Tommy passed it to Steve. "No, just..."

"Man, he is totally trembling," Steve chuckled as he opened the bag. "He must really have something to hide. Here we go." While Nancy stood, frozen, I marched toward the group, my hands in fists.

"Give him the bag, Harrington," I ordered as Steve set the bag against his car to open it better. Steve stopped just to look me in the eye.

"Or what, Hopper? You gonna have your dad arrest me?" he sneered, and I glared at him. "I'm not stealing anything, just taking a peak. Jonathan here was the one acting sneaky. Ah..." Steve pulled out a few photos. "Here we go." His cocky expression changed as he looked through the pictures. "Oh, man."

"Let me see," Tommy exclaimed, taking the rest of the photos out of Steve's hand. He looked at Jonathan in disgust. "Dude." This time, Carol took the picture and scoffed.

"Yeah, this isn't creepy at all," she verbally attacked him, and Jonathan looked at his feet.

"I was looking for my brother-"

"No," Steve stopped him with a squint. "No, this is called stalking. Mmm-hmm." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nancy gather the courage to walk forward. Steve didn't pay attention; he focused on me. "Doesn't your dad do stuff like this too? Just, on a more, larger scale?"

"You cocky, ass-kissing, son of a-" I swore, and without thinking, my fist came flying around. Steve doubled over from the punch he got in the jaw. I backed away, pushing my glasses back up my nose. I shook off the punch, giving the others glares as if they would be next.

"Rachel? Steve?" Nancy interrupted, looking at us curiously. "What's going on?" Steve rubbed his jaw and glared at me.

"Here's the starring lady," Tommy chuckled, causing Nancy to tilt her head.