November 9th, 1983

Hawkins High School

I sat on the counter behind Jonathan as he began to develop almost a dozen photos, though he insisted on concealing what they contained from my view.

"So what are they exactly?" I questioned finally, having quickly gotten bored with looking down at my hands. "Hmm?" Was Jonathan's only response as he continued to develop one of the blank pages. "The pictures? Why couldn't you just develop them in class?" I asked and jumped from my place on the counter to get a closer look at them. Though he was quick to move in my way and block the images with his body. "They're private..." He muttered and tried to usher me away.

Assuming that he was just being humble, I scoffed lightly before shooting him a reassuring smile. "Jonathan, chill. Seriously, they can't be that bad." I spoke softly as I peered past his shoulder to get a look at the mysterious photos. "Wait... Jonathan what are these?" I asked and picked up a photo that captured Nancy, Barb and I walking into the backyard of the party from last night. "Did you follow us to Harringtons' party?"

"It isn't what you think Nellie, I promise. I was just looking for Will and found you guys instead..." He went in front of the pictures again and stared down at me with a pleading look. "Please don't tell anyone." Looking between the photos and my brother, I slowly began to nod in response. I knew Jonathan didn't have any ill-intent but that wouldn't change how others viewed him. "I promise, but why did you take them? There's gotta be a reason?"

Moving out of the way, Jonathan turned to look at one of the photos he had captured of Nancy sitting alone. "She just looked so vulnerable. You just can't capture art like that naturally-- I know, that sounds weirder than I meant." "Very. So then why did you take the other photos?" I asked as most of the other pictures weren't focused on Nancy but on all the teens playing in the pool or laughing and talking.

"Maybe I took them out of envy? You know, seeing other kids our age not going through the same situation of events as us. They're just so carefree and happy." He glared slightly at the photos of the teens before beginning to develop the remaining pictures.

Once he had finished the development he hung them up to dry on the line when the curtain that connected to the room slid open to reveal another girl in our grade, Nicole.

"Oh, hey Nicole.." I muttered and stood in front of some of the photos, Jonathan doing the same. Though Nicole still caught a glimpse of a few of the photos, her kind smile quickly fell from her face as she scanned her eyes over the few uncovered photos.

Jonathan quickly ripped them down, pulling them away from her sight. Pushing the photos into his bag, he practically ran out of the red room, "Bye Nicole." I quickly muttered as the two of us left behind a confused and freaked-out Nicole.

"I should go back and explain myself..." Jonathan spoke quickly as we made our way down the deserted hallway. "She wouldn't get it, I have next period with her so I'll just tell her to keep it quiet. Maybe she didn't see anything." I tried to sound confident only to be shut down by Jonathan. "Doubt that."

~~~

Walking towards my next period I spotted Nicole talking to Steve and his friends, the look on his face wasn't a pleasant one. Just as I went to turn back around the corner to instead take the long way to class, Steve spotted me but thankfully didn't say a word.

After rushing to class and just barely making it before the bell rang, I sat in the back tapping my foot at an ungodly speed as I kept my eyes glued on the empty chair in front of me that belonged to Barb.

Barb had never missed a day of school in the time that I'd known her. And she's only been late to school once, but she never missed more than two periods. Much less all of them.

Looking towards the door, Nicole walked in late, glaring in my direction before taking her seat and ignoring me for the rest of class. While I worried about how much worse this week could possibly get, and not just for me but Jonathan as well. There couldn't be any other reason that Nicole was talking to Steve besides the fact that she knew of the photos that Jonathan took of Nancy and now since it was a known fact to everyone in school that Nancy and Steve were officially a couple, he'd be the first person she told.

~~~

Walking out of school with Jonathan, I spotted Nancy at the public phone hopefully calling Barb's parents to see if she had ever made it back home last night. Once we made it to the student parking lot, Jonathan slowed down his pace once he spotted a group of teens leaning on his car. "Shit..." I muttered and walked in front of Jonathan and towards the group.

"Can we help you? If not could you please get your asses off my brother's car?" I demanded as I stopped in front of the group, crossing my arms over my chest. "Great. The Byers twins, just the two we're waiting for." Steve said with a fake grin as he pushed himself off the car.

"Just leave us alone." I stated before Jonathan spoke up, "What's going on?" He asked as everyone in the group faced him. "Well, Nicole here was just telling us about your work." I tried to pull Jonathan away from the group as Steve continued to speak but he stayed frozen in his place. "And we'd love to take a look. You know, as connoisseurs of art." He finished and stepped closer to Jonathan and me.

"I- I don't know what you're talking about..." Jonathan muttered and tried to make his way around the group and towards the driver's side of the car, only to be pushed back by Steve and have his bag taken off of him by Tommy.

"Give it back!" I demanded and tried to grab the bag from Tommy's hands only for him to throw it to Steve while Jonathan stood there terrified of what they'd find. "Man, he is totally trembling. Must really have something he wants to hide." Steve looked between his group of friends, now dropping the smile, replacing it with a cold scowl.

"Maybe cause you're being a complete dick and messing with him." I stated with a scowl before reaching out for the bag again. "Don't start something we all know you won't finish, Byers." Steve rolled his eyes at me and opened the bag anyways, pulling out the photos.

"Ah, here we go." He grinned and flipped through the photos as I grabbed Jonathan's hand for the comfort he desperately needed. "Dude, this is messed up..." Steve mumbled as Tommy and Carol grabbed a few of the photos. "Yeah, totally not creepy at all."

"N-No, I was looking for our brother." Jonathan tried to defend himself but it was too late as the group had already made up their mind about the type of person he was. "No, actually this is called stalking." The group continued to flip through the photos as Nancy made her way towards the parking lot after spotting her two different friend groups together. "What's going on?" She questioned with a frown, with Carol being the first to respond, "Here's the starring lady."

"What's that supposed to mean." Nancy asked, tightly gripping onto her bookbag strap, while Carol looked towards Jonathan and me before looking back down at the photos in her hand, "Carol, just leave it." I tried but it was no use. "This creep was spying on us last night, probably was gonna save these for later." She passed the stack of photos towards Nancy who flushed at a picture of her taking her sweater off.

"Want this for memories, Byers?" Tommy asked holding up a picture that captured Steve putting his coat around me. Rolling his eyes Steve took the pictures from Tommy and rolled them up glaring at the two of us. "See you can tell that he knows it was wrong, but that's the thing about perverts. It's hardwired into them." Steve took the photos and hit Jonathan lightly on the chest with them. "They just can't help themselves. So we just have to take away his toy." He stated as he ripped up a few of the photos, throwing them in our faces.

"Please, no. Not the camera." Jonathan practically begged and went to walk towards Steve who went through his bag again only to be pushed back aggressively by Tommy.

Tommy went to push Jonathan back again but I quickly pushed him away. "Don't touch him." I glared up at the boy but as he went to push me back Steve stopped him, "Hey, it's okay. Come on." He rolled his eyes at his friends' actions and held the camera out to Jonathan. "Come on, take it." Steve nodded towards the camera in his hand.

With shaky hands, Jonathan slowly made his way towards Steve and just as he went to reach his hand out for the camera, Steve let go of the strap allowing it to crash onto the pavement, practically shattering it to pieces.

Jonathan dropped to his knees and started picking up the pieces of his camera as the group laughed and ripped up a few more of the photos, throwing the pieces in the air.

Nancy fell to the ground and began to help pick up some of the picture scraps as the rest of the group made their way back towards the school, "Games about to start, let's go." Steve muttered and glared down at the two of us.

"What the fuck Harrington!" I yelled and followed him out of the parking lot. "Don't start." He stated not looking at me. Scoffing I pushed his back, causing him to stumble forward. "Tell me what to do again, I dare you," I stated, glaring up at him. "You know, just when I start to think you're a good guy you go and show your true colors. After everything Jonathan has been through did you seriously have to go that far? Is your masculinity that fragile?" Steve just stared down at me in both anger and insecurity.

"Let's go, Nancy." Steve called out to Nancy, still staring down at me. "All right Harrington, do what you do best and ignore the truth and act like something you're not. Big help." I stated with a roll of my eyes, turning around to walk past Nancy who shot me an apologetic glance.

"I'm sorry-" "Go fix your boyfriend Nancy." I cut her off and dropped down onto the floor next to my brother, grabbing the rest of the photos. "What am I going to tell Mom?" Jonathan whispered, his voice cracking as he stared down at the broken pieces of his camera.

~~~

I had decided to ride home with Jonathan after the ordeal that went down in the parking lot and almost debated on canceling with Mike and the rest of the party until we got home. Once Jonathan had put the car in park, he practically ran inside the house, locking his bedroom door behind him, later followed by the blaring of The Smiths from his radio.

I stayed seated in the car and thought about what to do before I looked down at my watch and decided it would be best to just grab Will's bike and make my way towards the Wheeler's home before it was too late.

Making my way around the back of the house, I spotted multiple empty boxes of Christmas lights sitting next to the shed. Furrowing my brow I turned towards the house and noticed that instead of the lights decorating the roof of the house. The lights instead decorated the walls and ceiling inside.

Deciding to ignore the strange choice of decoration, I grabbed Will's bike and stared down at the dead headlight. "Will?" I called out into the air and looked around before focusing on the light. "God I sound insane..." I muttered and shook my head.

"I... if you're listening bud. I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you... I miss you so much." I whispered and held in my tears but let a few fall once the light blinked on. "We're gonna find you and bring you home, okay? I promise." I held my pinky against the light as it turned back on again.

Pulling myself together I jumped onto the bike and made my way down the road and towards Mike's home to search for Will and hopefully meet the strange new girl they had found.

~~~

Quietly making my way behind Mike's house and trying to stay out of the view of his parent's windows, I spotted the young girl standing by the fence in the backyard, staring down at a cat that hissed wildly at her.

She didn't flinch though, she just stayed in her place and watched the cat. "You must be Eleven?" I called out to the girl, causing her to jump out of her trance and turn towards me, a look of fear etched on her face. "Hey... Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. Do you remember me?" She walked up to me and stared at me for a second, "Jacket." She stated in a soft voice, holding the sides of the jacket she wore now and I nodded, "Yeah, I gave you my jacket. I'm Eleanor, but everyone calls me Nell or Nellie."

"Nellie." She stated in the same small voice and smiled up at me. "Great you're here." Mike called out as he, Dustin, and Lucas pulled up on their bikes. "We gotta get started on Operation Mirkwood right away, we only have a few hours." Mike stated and patted the back of his bike for El. "Operation Mirkwood?" I asked and rode alongside the kids. "Yeah, I came up with the name it was either that or Operation Save Will."