{The Vanishing of Will Byers, Part II}
School kind of sucked.
That was an understatement: School really sucked.
10th grade wasn't so bad, but Alice was anxious to be done with the prison known as Hawkins High School, a
It's not like Alice didn't have friends-she did. And her teachers weren't too bad. She just felt that high schoolers wasted their time caring about stupid things, like parties and dating. Alice never got invited to parties or asked on dates. Not that she was bitter, or anything.
...that's a lie. She was indeed quite bitter.
As she walked in the doors, she spotted her friends Nancy and Barb standing by the lockers, whispering about something or someone.
Alice became friends with Nancy because Mike and Dustin were friends. They moved to Hawkins when he was in fourth grade and Alice was in seventh, and by middle school, most people already had cliques. Nancy was nice enough to invite Alice over once when Dustin was playing Dorks and Dweebs with his friends, and it turns out they had a lot in common. Through Nancy, Alice met Barb.
Alice also had friends in the drama club, but sometimes she needed a break from them. One could take random outbursts of monologues from Shakespeare plays only so much before it was too much.
"...We just made out a couple times," Nancy said to Barb, cheeks turning red.
"Who are we talking about?" Alice said loudly, walking up to them. "Steve Harrington?"
"Keep your voice down," Nancy hissed. "But, yes."
""We just made out a couple times," Barb said in a mocking tone. "Nance, seriously, you're gonna be so cool now, it's ridiculous."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes!" Alice said. "You'll be as cool as Tommy Lancaster. Did you guys hear he won the state fair pie eating contest? 50 pies in fifteen minutes! There's no way that's healthy."
Barb wrinkled her nose.
"Ew. That's disgusting."
"I know, right? But kind of cool, though."
"Anyway," Barb said, shaking her head, "you better still hang out with us, that's all I'm saying. If you become friends with Tommy H. or Carol-"
"Oh, that's gross!" Nancy said with a scoff. "Okay, I'm telling you, it was a one-time..."
Alice coughed, "Liar!"
"...two-time thing."
Nancy opened her locker. A note fluttered to the ground.
Nancy picked it up and opened it.
In a messy scrawl, it read, "Meet me in bathroom. -Steve."
"A love note!" Alice teased. "What's more romantic
than a public-school bathroom?"
"You were saying?" Barb added, smirking.
Nancy ran off to her knight in shining hair gel, and Alice opened her own locker to get her books.
"What's this?" Barb said, eyeing a sheet of paper that had fallen out of her locker. "Don't tell me you've got a not-so-secret admirer too."
"Oh! That's nothing-"
Alice went to grab the paper, but Barb was already reading it.
""Searching for birth parents. I was born on February 14th, 1968 at St. Patrick Hospital in
Indianapolis..." Barb looked up from the note, brow furrowed. "Al, what is this?"
Alice bit her lip.
"I want to find my birth parents," she said, avoiding eye contact.
Barb's eyes widened. "Oh."
"Problem is," Alice continued, bitterness coating her words, "they gave me up to become a ward of the state, so I have no way to access any record on who they are. I'm trying to write something to put in some local newspapers around the state, to see if I can get some leads."
"Some 'leads'?" Barb said hesitantly.
"Yeah, you know, maybe a nurse from when I was horn remembers my parents' names or something."
Barb gave Alice a pitying look, causing her to blush.
"Look," Alice said, snatching the note back. "I know it's a long shot, but I really want to know where I come from."
"I understand," Barb said softly. "Does your mom know?"
Alice shook her head.
"I don't want her to get offended," Alice said, "like I'm not happy with her and Dustin or anything. I love her, but..."
"You don't have to explain," Barb reassured her. "I get it. Hey, maybe Nance and I can help you finish writing this later?"
Alice smiled. "Yeah, that'd be great!"
The school day dragged on as usual. That is, until two cops approached Coach Sanders in gym class.
"What are the cops doing here?" Alice's friend Samuel asked her as they jogged laps. "Damn, do you think someone in this school is a narc?"
"If anyone is," Alice said, "it's probably Carol. I het she's secretly 35 under that caked-on makeup."
They snickered and high-fived, until Coach Sanders shouted, "Henderson! Get over here."
"Oh, shit!" Samuel crowed. "You're the narc!"
"Fuck off," Alice snapped, turning beet red as she jogged across the gym.
"Don't tell them where I hid all my illicit substances, narc!" Samuel shouted after her, causing the other students in the class to giggle.
Alice sweated heavily when one of the officers-whose nametag said Callahan asked her, "Can you come with us, Miss Henderson?"
"Uh..."
"Alice is getting arrested!" Tommy H., the most obnoxious kid in school, shouted. More giggles broke out across the gym.
"Thomas Hagan, shut your mouth and run laps!" Coach Sanders yelled.
"Am I getting arrested?" Alice asked nervously. "I swear, I've never broken any laws-unless not returning library books is a crime..."
"That is a crime," the other officer Powell said. "But if you pay all your fines, you'll be all right."
"We need to talk to you about Will Byers," Officer Callahan explained.
For a second, Alice stopped breathing.
"Is he okay?"
"Let's go somewhere else to talk," Officer Powell suggested. "We'll bring her back soon, Coach."
The gymnasium was alight with whispers and gossip. as they left, and Alice's face burned.
"All right, simmer down, everyone!" Coach Sanders shouted. "Get back to running. Buckley, pick up the pace. Harrington, keep up the good work."
The officers led Alice to the empty art room and sat her across from Chief Hopper.
"So, Miss Henderson," a tired-looking Hopper said. His eyes were bloodshot and sunken in. He didn't look well. "Your brother and his friends informed me Will biked home on...Mirkwood?"
"Where Cornwallis and Kerley meet," Alice explained. "It's some made-up name from Lord of the Rings."
"The Hobbit, actually," Officer Callahan piped up. Alice and Hopper turned to him with confused looks.
"What? The curly-headed kid just told us that," he said, crossing his arms. "I remember stuff."
"Anyway," Hopper said loudly. "He biked home, and that's the last you saw of him?"
Alice nodded.
"He and Dustin raced to our house, and Will won, and he said he wanted my brother's X-Men 134, and then he kept going, and...that's the last I saw of him." 1
Alice cleared her throat, almost afraid to ask the question that burned in the back of her mind.
"You don't think he's..."
"We're not sure what happened yet," Hopper cut in, reviewing his notes. "Just let me know if you hear from him."
"Of course," Alice said quickly.
"I'm going to tell you what I told your brother and his friends," Hopper said. He leaned
closer, narrowing his eyes. "Do not, under any circumstances, go looking for Will Byers. You hear me?"
Alice nodded, avoiding Hopper's intense gaze. "Yeah, totally."
"Promise me you'll go right home with Dustin after school? No funny business. You got that?"
"I promise, Chief. No funny business."
Hopper sighed and stood up. "Good. Now get to class."
"Yes, sir."
As Alice walked back to class, she worried about Will. He was a sweet kid, and the thought of something happening to him...
Alice shook herself out of her reverie when she got to the gym and saw her class playing basketball. She preferred artistic activities over sports, but realized throwing herself into some physical activity could distract her from the worrying.
"Henderson! Everything all right?" Coach Sanders asked. For a second, he didn't look as angry as usual.
"Uh, yeah Coach."
He nodded curtly, face hardening. "Good! Now, take this" he tossed her a red jersey, "and join your team."
He blew the whistle to signify a time out, and the teams dispersed into huddles. Alice ran onto the court and, to her dismay, saw that the blue team consisted of mostly basketball players Steve "Mr. Good Hair" Harrington and Tommy H. included. The red team was mostly the artsy kids-Alice, Samuel, and the other drama and band students.
"Is Coach trying to get us killed?" Alice heard Robin Buckley mutter to Quincy Leeds, the Hawkins High School band's first-chair flautist.
"Okay, team," Samuel said. "Somehow, I've been made team captain. I know it's scary to face off against the jocks"
"The meatheads," Robin corrected.
"Right. The meatheads. But we've got this!"
"Do we, though?" Maria DeLuca asked. "I really don't think we do."
"Shut up, Maria!" Samuel said. "Let's just try our best not to die."
"Famous last words," Alice muttered, causing the rest of the team to chuckle.
Coach Sanders blew his whistle again and tossed the basketball to Tommy H. "Blue team starts. Now, I want a good, clean game. You hear that, Carol Wendelson? No pulling hair this time. Now, play on!"
The blue team sprang into action, giving it their all. The red team halfheartedly played against them, not completely caring about winning but wanting participation points from Coach Sanders.
"So, Alice," Tommy H. taunted, dribbling the ball through his legs while Alice tried to steal it. "Did someone pay your bail?"
"Yes, actually," Alice quipped. "I was arrested for murdering a freckled idiot."
She dove forward and snatched the ball from his hands, dribbling toward the hoop.
"Yeah, Alice!" the red team cheered as she threw the ball. It soared higher...higher...
...and missed the hoop by a full two feet. Instead, the ball bounced off of Coach Sanders' bald head, leaving a bright red spot where his hair used to be.
"Agh!" he shouted, rubbing his head. "Henderson!"
"I'm so sorry, Coach!" she said, running over. "I-I thought I had it-"
"Detention!" Coach Sanders said sharply. "Your free period will be spent in detention, with me. You'll be doing free throws for fifty minutes."
"Yes, Coach."
The blue team cackled like hyenas, and the red team shook their hands in shame.
When the period was over-the red team losing by a full twenty points-Alice shuffled toward the gymnasium doors, dragging her feet and wishing the gym floor would swallow her whole.
"For the record," a voice said behind her, "I think hitting Coach square on the skull counts as a three-point shot."
She glanced over and saw none other than Steve, Nancy's boy toy.
"Thanks, Harrington," Alice said with a wince.
"Better luck next time, though," Steve said with a kind smile. "Good game."
He stuck out his hand for a shake, and Alice hesitated. Steve's cronies had never been very nice to her or her friends, but he seemed like an okay guy.
"Yeah," she said, shaking his hand. "You too."
Steve ran off to join his basketball friends, and Alice met up with Samuel and Maria in the hall to walk to lunch.
"What did the officers want?" Maria asked, eyes shining.
"Oh, um, I probably shouldn't talk about it," Alice said. She had almost forgotten about Chief Hopper and Will.
"Oh my gosh, what did you do?" Samuel asked excitedly. "Are you really a narc?"
"No, I'm not!" Alice said with a huff. "Would you stop asking that?"
She saw Barb and Nancy sitting at their usual table.
"Listen, I've got to talk to Nancy," Alice said. "I'll see you guys in drama class."
"All right, criminal mastermind." Maria said. "See you."
She and Samuel giggled as they walked to the hot lunch line.
Alice sat down next to Barb and launched into her story without missing a beat. "Guys, you'll never believe what happened to me at gym-"
"You hit Coach Sanders with a basketball!" Nancy interrupted.
"And the cops interrogated you," Barb added.
Alice groaned and covered her face with her hands.
"How did you both know that already?"
"Word travels fast at this school," Barb said, eyeing their fellow students disdainfully. "Also, Mr. Good Hair just told Nancy."
"Barb, stop calling him that!" Nancy said, face flushed. "But, yeah, Steve told me."
"What was the cop thing about?" Barb asked, leaning closer.
Alice sighed. "Okay, so, it's because... Will is missing."
"Will who?" Nancy asked. "Will Byers?"
Alice nodded.
"That's impossible," Nancy said, tugging at her hair. "He was just at my house last night."
"Yeah, and I saw him bike down Mirkwood, but I guess he never made it home."
Barb shivered. "So creepy."
"I know, right!" Alice said. "I hope he's alright."
"I'm sure he just ran off," Nancy said quickly. "He's got a tough life. He'll come home soon."
"Yeah," Alice said, running a hand through her hair. "I hope so."