feel

3

THE SMOKE drifted lazily from the backseat window of a red '67 Chevy Impala in the Hawkins High parking lot.

Carter held the piece of paper she'd found stuck in the side of her locker in front of her face. She reached over to tap the ashes out of the window from the end of her cigarette, groaning in the effort it took from her position of laying down stretched across the backseats.

The cryptic message in frankly terribly handwriting she'd deciphered several times over said something about meeting in the parking lot a half hour after school had ended.

She wasn't surprised to find a piece of paper sticking out from between the hinges of her locker. She was almost always doing someone a favor - pretending to have had a sleepover with a girl the night before, buying someone a pack of cigarettes or sweet-talking store owners into letting her get away with buying booze. All things she was good at.

She didn't do favors because she liked the teenagers at Hawkins High, nor because she wanted to be friends with any of them. No - Carter was much more simple than that. She liked it when people owed her things. She liked having the control of holding a debt over someone's head and having the ability to blackmail them.

Had she ever done so? No. But she liked having that kind of power; especially in a town with absolutely no drama and nothing to do except sneak around and lie to parents about it.

But it was forty-five minutes after school, now, and the music blaring from her speakers was doing a poor job of keeping her occupied.

"You're doing it again."

A groan escaped her lips as her brother's voice echoed on its broken record player in her head. The itch to leave was slowly and uncomfortably crawling up her spine. Carter was just about to get out of her car to try to find whoever had left the note before a small thump from the top of her car told Carter they'd just found her.

She rolled her head lazily to look up at the open window, propping her head up on one arm to make eye contact with the girl now peering through her window.

"Max Mayfield," Carter said, taking a drag from her cigarette to hide the surprise in her voice, "what can I do for you?"

Max's head swiveled left and right, her red hair shifting in the dying light as she leaned in through the window.

"How do you know me?"

Carter took another drag from her cigarette and let the smoke disperse as it wanted.

"I know everyone, kiddo. Even the new kids. So what can I do for you?"

Max leaned father into the car so she could whisper better.

"I heard some guys talking to my brother about you. They say you can go anywhere and even if you get in trouble you can get out."

Carter nodded. Sounded exactly like what she did.

"I need you to investigate somewhere."

Carter lifted an eyebrow and slowly sat up to face the girl.

"And where and why would you like me to investigate?"

Max's eyes were wild in fear or excitement, but Carter couldn't tell which.

"There's this group of boys - Mike, Will, Dustin, uh, then some other dumbass I can't remember-"

"Lucas. Lucas Sinclair." Carter offered.

She knew the group so well it wasn't funny anymore. They'd figured out pretty early on that Carter had a certain way of knowing how not to get caught and how to get out if she did. The boys argued for hours when they met her over whether Carter was a Lich, Owlbear, or Stone Giant - all of which Carter found out were monsters from Dungeons and Dragons she didn't give a shit about. After that, Carter settled into the official role of Jonathon's friend and "Lich" - which Carter found out very early on was a monster who tries to find knowledge and secrets and doesn't have any interest in any affairs but their own.