"so how was your night, henderson?" the tall brunette leaned against the locker next to lydia's as he waited for nancy. she playfully rolled her eyes and closed her locker before feigning an annoyed face.

"i just hung out with this complete dud. he showed up soaking wet and then i had to make him dinner and everything. it was so lame." she bumped steve in the side before walking towards nancy's locker. "i'm offended, lydi, i truly am. how could my girl be so hostile towards me when i tucked her into bed and everything?"

"thank you for tucking me in, it was actually very kind of you." he looked at the girl with his head cocked to the side.

"did you have a good dream?" she looked at him with a questioning look. he raised his eyebrows as he waited for an answer. since she failed to recall her dream she shrugged in confusion.

"why do you ask?"

"no reason, it's just nice to know that you're thinking of me even in your sleep." he booped her nose before rushing over to barb and stealing nancy's flashcards out of her hands. lydia stood there dumbfounded. in her dreams? what was she dreaming about? and why was steve involved? she ignored her questioning thoughts and joined her small group of friends. steph leaned on the girls shoulder and practically fell asleep standing up.

"jeez steph, did you sleep at all last night?" her freckled friend groaned 'no' in reply.

"i took your stupid advice and studied for the test today and when i checked the time it was already 5 in the morning and now i'm running on an hour of sleeeeeeep." lydia simply shushed the girl and gently pushed her head back onto her shoulder.

"it'll be lowkey, it'll be just us. even lydia and steph are coming." the desperate teen looked at the two girls hoping that they would accept. steph mumbled a 'yeah whatever' and everyone's attention was on lydia. without missing a bear she replied.

"yeah, i'll be there." steve sent her a grateful smile, glad that she always had his back.

"so what do you say? are you in or are you out?" but before nancy could give a response, carol piped in with an ignorant comment. typical.

"oh, god. look." everyone turned in the direction that carol was facing and saw jonathan byers hanging up a missing poster for will. lydia's heart hurt for the poor boy, knowing how much his brother meant to him. she was sure that nancy felt sympathetic for him too because of the boys.

"oh god, that's depressing." steve said with slight sarcasm. the shorter girl lightly hit his arm and gave him a 'shut up' expression. he muttered a 'sorry' to her.

"should we say something?" lydia could tell how badly nancy wanted to talk to him about will, but carol- as bitchy as ever- simply answered with another rude response.

"i don't think he speaks."

"how much you wanna bet he killed him?" steve pushed tommy harshly for his comment and lydia stuck the middle finger up at the teen. he mouthed 'what' in disbelief as if he wasn't an insensitive prick. lydia shook steph off her shoulder, only for her to move over to barb's. her and nancy walked over to jonathan to express their sympathy for the boy. seeing his best friend and girlfriend leave to console byers made him roll his eyes in jealousy. but he thought about what lydia would say if she saw him being so rude and immediately regretted it.

"hey, jonathan. listen, i'm so sorry about will and everything." she said with sincerity. she thought about how she would feel if dustin went missing. it broke her heart just to think about it.

"yeah, i wanted to say, you know, um, i'm sorry about everything. everyone's thinking about you." nancy turned to look at the rest of the group who completely lacked sympathy. with exception of the sleepy girl and the owner of the shoulder she rested on, the rest were assholes. "it sucks." the older wheeler sympathized. jonathan nodded and whispered 'yeah' as a response but lydia could tell he had other things on his mind.

"im sure he's fine. he's a smart kid." she reassured him. "if you or your mom need anything just reach out to us. we'd be happy to help." jonathan thanked lydia as the bell rang so they both said their goodbyes and ran off to class.

~

nancy had invited lydia over to her house for dinner in order to try and persuade her mom into letting her out of the house. once she got home, she had changed out of her sweater into more appropriate party attire. she wore a black tank top and one of lawrie's flannels. she slipped on her high-waisted jeans and finished the look with a belt. she held her reebok high tops in one hand and her keys in the other as she started to open the door.

"um excuse me miss? where are you going like that?" her mother sat on the couch watching tv, mews purring on her lap. "mom i told you, i was going to the wheeler's for dinner then over to steve's to help him study." her mom shook her head no.

"firstly, it is too cold to just wear a flannel, go put on a jacket or something then come give me a kiss before you leave. and put your shoes on!" with a stubborn groan she grabbed jacket off her chair and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek, slipping on her shoes at the door. "have fun, love you!" her mom shouted as she ran out the door. she yelled back 'i love you too' before heading over to the wheeler's.

~

dinner with the wheeler's was strangely quiet. lydia eyed her brother as he refused to touch the meatloaf that mrs. wheeler had made. the boys pushed the food around their plates, making eye contact with each other every so often. to break the silence, mrs. wheeler asked if something was wrong with the meatloaf.

"the meatloaf is great mrs. wheeler." lydia answered before eating more. mrs. wheeler smiled at her kindly.

"oh no, i had two bologna sandwiches for lunch. i don't know why." dustin answered. his sister raised an eyebrow at him. the kid had an appetite so there's no way that he got full over two sandwiches he had 4 hours ago. she cocked her head to the side and questioned her brother silently. he just shrugged his shoulders.

"me too." lucas agreed. lucas doesn't even like bologna. she gave the other boy a strange look, only for him to look away. she knew something was up but she figured that she would ask dustin later on.

"it's delicious mommy." nancy tried getting on her mom's good side before asking the question that would likely be shot down. "so there's this special assembly thing tonight for will at the school field. barb and lyds are driving." her mom seemed to know nothing about this, but nancy went with the ' i thought you knew' tactic. it was smart.

"i told you, i don't want you out dark until will is found-"

"i know but it'd be super weird if i'm not there. i mean, everyone's going." nancy argued, her fingers gripping her silverware so hard that her knuckles turned white in anticipation. before her mom could say no she added in, "lydia will be there with me and so will barb." her mom gave in and told her to be home by 10. nancy smirked at lydia and gave her a wink.

"why don't you bring the boys too?" the boys immediately answered back with no. everyone at the table eyed them suspiciously. mrs. wheeler asked them a question before mike choked on his milk and dustin slammed on the table.

"dustin!" his older sister scolded. he looked at everyone with apologetic eyes.

"sorry, spasm." something was definitely up.