Don't You Want Me? ✵ Steve Harrington

Chapter 9

The three teens continued through the woods, opening up about stuff they never thought they would tell anyone. As the sky became dark, they found out that they actually really enjoyed each other's company. Jonathan talked about sweet memories with Will, while Nancy blushed as she told them about embarrassing things she had done as a kid, and Kim entertained the group with stories of her many run-ins with Hopper.

"Wait, you really said that to him?" Nancy said as she doubled over laughing. "To the chief of police?"

"What, the cigarettes really did just appear in my pocket! I don't know how they got there!" Kim defended, laughing as well.

"And Steve did all of this with you?" Nancy asked. There was no jealousy in her voice, she just couldn't picture her boyfriend getting in trouble that often.

"Yeah, sometimes it was even his idea!" Kim smiled at the memories.

"No way," Jonathan chuckled, being a lot more comfortable with the girls than he had been a few hours ago. "You have to be lying. No way Steve Harrington was a petty criminal in middle school."

"The pettiest," Kim smirked. "One time he got caught trying to steal a record for me, but that was definitely because he didn't have the brains of the operation with him," she said, gesturing to herself.

"Please tell me it was at least a good record he tried to steal," Jonathan said.

"Jonathan!" Nancy exclaimed, lightly slapping his arm as she laughed. "They shouldn't have been stealing at all."

"It was a Human League album, Dare," she told him. "Don't You Want Me is one of my favorite songs."

"I approve," Jonathan nodded.

"The best part was that he went back and actually got away with stealing it the second time," Kim laughed.

"Wait, really?" Nancy asked, still unable to picture Steve being such a rebel.

"Yep," the longer haired girl said with a huge smile. "I'm not sure how they didn't recognize him, but he got away with it. I still have the album at my house if you don't believe me."

"You two were truly insane as kids," Jonathan said.

"Oh, for sure," Kim nodded in agreement. "We absolutely tortured those poor cops."

"Shut up," Nancy snapped.

Kim and Jonathan exchanged a look, wondering if Nancy had become jealous all of a sudden. "Nace-" Kim started to say.

"Just shut up," Nancy said, holding her hand up.

Kim realized that she wasn't mad, but she had heard something in the distance. The three teens exchanged a look before following the noise further into the woods.

"Oh, my god," Nancy breathed, staring at the slowly dying deer. "It's been hit by a car. We can't just leave it." She looked down at the gun in her hands and then back at the mutilated deer.

"I'll do it," Jonathan said, taking the gun from her hand. "I'm not nine anymore." Jonathan took a deep breath as he cokced the gun, getting ready to shoot. Before he could pull the trigger, the deer was snatched out of sight and into the bushes behind it.

The three friends gasped, quickly backing away from where the deer had just been.

"What was that?' Kim asked breathlessly. "Where the hell did it go?"

Nancy and Jonathan had no idea, so the group slowly started walking through the woods, trying to see if they could find any trace of the deer. Jonathan and Kim stood back to back, not realizing that Nancy had wandered off.

"Do you see any sign of where the deer went?" Jonathan asked.

"No, but I think we know what took it," Kim replied. "I think that thing — that monster — is close."

"Kim! Jonathan!" Nancy's voice screamed from off in the distance.

Jonathan and Kim exchanged a worried look before calling back to her and trying to find her in the dark, foreboding woods.

"Holy shit," Kim whispered, spotting Nancy's bag discarded on the ground. "Nancy! Nance where are you?"

"Kimmy!" Nancy's voice echoed strangely. No matter how hard Kim tried, she couldn't seem to pin point the sound. One minute Nancy sounded right next to her and then a second later it sounded like she was miles away. "Kim, Jonathan, I'm right here."

"Nancy!" Jonathan called out to her, signing his flashlight all over the place. "Nancy, come on!"

"Where are you?" Nancy yelled back, her voice still weirdly echoey.

"I'm right here! I'm right here!" Kim cried. "Nancy, just follow my voice! It's going to be okay."

They both heard Nancy scream in terror and rushed around, trying to find where the sound was coming from.

"Kim, what the hell is that?" Jonathan asked, pointing to a gooey hole in the side of a tree.

"You don't think she's-?" Kim started to ask.

"Where else would she be?" Jonathan replied. "It's not like she's anywhere we can see."

After a minute a hand sprung out of the hole, making Jonathan and Kim stumbled back in fear.

"Jonathan! Kim!" Nancy screamed, trying desperately to crawl out of the tight hole.

The two grabbed onto her hand and pulled as hard as they could, collapsing to the ground once Nancy was free.

Nancy was gross and slimy, but Kim didn't care. She pulled her best friend into the tightest hug she had ever given. "I got you," she whispered to her. "You're okay now." Nancy was shaking like a leaf as she cried into Kim's shoulder.