DANCIN' ► DUSTIN HENDERSON [1]

2/3

DUSTIN KNEW WHAT HE HAD HEARD. Just like he knew before what he had seen when Billy's car was slowed down for a short moment, saving the boys on Halloween. It was Jasper.

He wasn't sure why he had heard Jasper call out his name. Or why he felt a strange sense of warmth touch him once he turned around, despite finding nothing standing there. None of made sense, except for the fact that Dustin was completely positive now that Jasper was still alive.

Now he just needed to figure out how to find her.

These thoughts plagued Dustin's brain as he mindlessly followed his friends out the school building. The boys watched Joyce beckon a stoic Will Byers into her car with concerned faces.

"Okay, that totally freaked me out," Max admitted, breaking the stunned silence shared between the party. "Did that not freak you guys out?"

Dustin glanced over at the ginger, meeting her wary eyes. His heart dampened with pity for the new girl. She had no idea what just happened and none of the boys could really explain it to her. But more importantly, Dustin knew how unnecessarily rude he had been to her. Alive or not, Jasper would've never wanted Dustin to be so cold towards a girl just because she looked like her.

He knew he needed to apologize.

"Two episodes in two days," Lucas pointed out, leaning against the wooden pole solemnly.

"It's getting worse," Mike mumbled.

"You think it's True Sight?" Lucas questioned, earning himself a hard stare from the other two boys. He needed to be careful with his words around Max.

"What's True Sight?" Max asked, completely bewildered.

Lucas's dark eyes shifted back and forth between looking at Dustin and Mike. Both of the boys were sending him very small head shakes with huge eyes. There was one agreement they needed to make stand: keep Max out of what happened last year.

"It's nothing," Lucas answered vaguely, and all four of them turned back to watch Joyce's mini green car vanish down the road.

"Guess we should go home now," Mike sighed heavily, his eyes remaining on the road where Joyce's car had been. "We can continue our search for Dart tomorrow."

Almost as if on cue, Dustin felt the small pollywog-like creature wiggle around on top of his head. Dustin's hands flew up to the top of his hat, pressing down on the fabric in order to keep his pet hidden. The others would no doubt murder him if they discovered he had lied about finding Dart. But Dart had become Dustin's friend, and he didn't trust the others to not hurt the little animal.

As the party began to disperse, Dustin felt himself reaching out and wrapping his hand around Max's wrist gently. "Hey, Max?" The redhead spun around, peering up at him with her curious electric blue eyes. "Can we talk for a second?" Dustin's eyes slid over to see Lucas and Mike both gawking at the two foolishly. "Alone?"

Taking the hint, the other two boys reluctantly walked away to go retrieve their bikes.

"What's up?" Max questioned, casually plopping herself down on the stone steps. She placed her skateboard at the bottom of the steps, rolling it back and forth slightly with her foot out of boredom.