G O O D G I R L S [BILLY]

C H A P T E R E I G H T

AUTHOR'S NOTE: THIS CHAPTER IS NOW UNDER RECONSTRUCTION

Halloween
Hawkins, Indiana
1984

By the time 9 o'clock rolled around, Tina's house on Mulberry Street was already overflowing with drunken, partying teenagers. Music was bumping all through the walls, vibrating the pictures of her family right off of their nails. Girls were swaying their hips to the sound, singing in obnoxious pitchy voices, and boys were falling after them in a desperate, horny haze. The stench of alcohol wreaked and lingered in the air. It travelled from the backyard where the keg was located, in through the kitchen, mixing and mingling with the punch bowl full of a chemical liquor, and met new arrivals who entered through the front door like a greeter at an exclusive hotel. The scent was a punch in the face to anyone who entered, immediately met by the beer and booze and every kind of alcohol in between. It was a regular Hawkins event. Music blaring, bodies jumping, alcohol flowing, and Penelope Christensen couldn't wrap her head around the fact that it looked like every last teenager in all of Hawkins had turned out for the party.

She was weaving her way through the crowd of bodies grinding against each other, clutching Dana D'Amico's hand as she lead the pair to the kitchen. Molly followed in hot pursuit, hand wrapped around Dana's other one, she was bouncing along, dancing with people she passed by, and found herself lost in a state of distraction as red solo cups that she just could not refuse were being handed to her repeatedly. Penelope would tug their chain forward, a beeline heading straight for the kitchen, and Molly would tug it backward, eyes trained solely on the mysterious liquid in the red cups. She'd sling back a swig, drink trickling down her chin, alcohol dripping onto the hardwood floor, and place the cup back in the giver's hand, haste to keep up with her friends clear in her actions. Overwhelmingly hyper, Molly's behavior for the night, her ridiculous drunken antics, were already beginning to show. The pair of friends she came with were both apprehensive and excited for the actions that would ensue that night as they laughed off their friend's excessive drinking. "This is amazing!" Molly shouted, voice almost lost over the sound of the music, and Dana chirped in, saying, "Everyone is here!"

"I can't believe Tina pulled it off!" Penelope replied, grinning back at her best friends as they bumped into people and slid past drunken teenagers. She could barely hear her own thoughts as she drank in the scene, sober as could be, and urgent to find alcohol to consume. Her voice strained to produce audible sound. The level of volume the music was playing at had to have been at its maximum because Penelope couldn't even hear the words coming out of her mouth.

"Me either, but I'm so happy she did." Dana's face was bright with enthusiasm as she soaked in her surroundings. Parties like this were the kind of thing the rich girl lived for.

A guy in a Oh my god, is that Johnathan Byers?" All three girls whipped their head around in the direction of the door, where an awkward and very obviously uncomfortable Johnathan Byers stood, hands stuffed deep into the pockets of his denim pants. His eyes were wandering over the massive crowd, searching desperately for someone he knew.