64. Chapter 64

Chapter Sixty-Four

Jessica pulled up to the Hargrove house at five o'clock on Saturday to pick up Max. Dustin was in the passenger seat, his pillow and a few movies on his lap.

"I'll be back in a minute."

She got out of the car rather than honk the horn because she figured Billy's dad would find it disrespectful if she didn't come to the door.

It was Billy who opened the door and moved aside to let her step in.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey."

She said hi to Mr. and Mrs. Hargrove as well. They were sitting in front of the TV, watching some kind of sitcom.

"We should let Max know you're here," Billy said.

"Uh . . . okay."

She was confused as to why they both needed to go get Max, but she followed Billy down the hall towards the bedrooms anyway.

"Hey, so I need Harrington's address, so I can pick Max up tomorrow."

"Right."

"I mean, you did say not to call there again," Billy said, a small smirk on his face.

"And I meant it." She tapped him quickly on his arm. "Thank you for remembering and respecting that."

"I don't live to make your life difficult, Jess."

"Right." She realized they were standing in the middle of the hallway, having stopped when Billy mentioned the address. "Uh, why did you stop hanging out with Tommy?"

"What?"

"You mentioned it at the movies last night."

"Oh, right. I don't know, he's a spoiled, rich kid."

"He's always been a spoiled, rich kid. It never stopped you before."

Instead of answering, he moved forward to what Jessica assumed was Max's closed bedroom door.

"Billy," Jessica said softly and reached out to grab his wrist.

He cursed under his breath before turning to look at her. "I didn't like the things he would say about you, okay?"

Jessica's breath caught for a second. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh." He gently pulled away from her grasp and turned back to the door. "Max, Jess is here."

"I'll be out in a minute."

Billy walked away from Max's door and went towards his own bedroom. Jessica followed after him quietly. Once there, he went in, grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and turned back to her.

"You can write the address on this."

So she did.

Max's door opened and she came walking out with a bag and her pillow.

"Hey, you," Jessica said.

"Hey. Ready?"

"Yeah."

She sent a small smile Billy's way before they all headed back towards the living room. She had to admit she was slightly touched by the fact that Billy had pushed Tommy out of his life on her behalf. It wasn't something she had expected at all.

Max said goodbye to her mom and step-dad when they reached the living room and then she and Jessica headed out to the car.

Once Max and Jessica were settled in the car, Jessica turned the car on and "Born in the USA" by Bruce Springsteen began coming through the speakers.

"So, what are we doing tonight?" Max asked after saying hi to Dustin.

"Movies mostly. Junk food, music. Just fun stuff."

"Awesome."

"Yup. So, your mom and step-dad don't know, but we'll be at Steve's tonight. Billy knows because he's picking you up tomorrow, but just keep that little secret to yourself, okay?"

"Sure."

The ride to Steve's didn't take too long since Steve had suggested just ordering the pizza by phone and having it delivered since they didn't know what everyone wanted yet.

Hopper's truck was parked on the side of the road in front of Steve's house when Jessica pulled into the driveway. Hopper was leaning against the side of his truck, arms crossed over his chest, El beside him, pillow held close to her chest. They were both tense if their stance was anything to go by.

"Uh, you guys go on in. Tell Steve I'll be there in a minute."

She was sure Hopper just wanted to make sure they weren't going to be going anywhere that could put El in danger, which they weren't, so it probably wouldn't take long to get everything settled.

"Hey, Hop," she said when she reached him. "Hey, El. What's up?"

El didn't respond other than to look away, but Hopper sighed and stepped away from the truck. He opened the driver's side door and pulled out a plastic bag that had the Melvald logo on it. He basically shoved it into Jessica's hands.

"Talk to her," Hopper grumbled.

Jessica hesitantly opened the bag, wondering what the world the matter was. Inside the bag was a 24-pack of pads.

"Oh," she said softly.

"Yeah. Oh."

El shuffled from one foot to the other, obviously uncomfortable, and maybe even a little embarrassed. Jessica felt sorry for the poor girl.

"Uh . . . what did you tell her?"

"Enough to make sure she knew it was normal and that she wasn't dying."

Jessica bit her lip to keep from grinning, imagining Chief Hopper having that talk with little El.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. It's bad enough that Joyce found this hilarious when I went to buy those today."

Jessica did actually laugh a bit even though she felt sorry for Hopper, as well.

"I'll talk to her, okay?"

"Thank you," Hopper said, some of the tension releasing from his body. "Give me a call when I need to pick her up tomorrow."

"Sure."

Hopper ruffled El's hair a bit. "Have fun, kid."

Jessica put an arm around El's shoulders to lead her up the walkway towards the front door.

"You okay?"

"No. Feel gross."

"Aw, yeah. It can feel that way sometimes. Does your stomach hurt?"

"A little."

"Okay. We'll talk some more when we get inside, and I can get you something to make you feel better. Okay?"

El's lips quirked up a little. "Okay."

The only other person to have arrived already was Lucas. He and Max were in the living room, talking on the couch. Steve and Dustin weren't with them, but Jessica could hear noises coming from the kitchen, so she assumed that was where they were.

"Max, can I borrow you for a second?"

The red-head looked her way. "Sure."

"Cool. Grab your stuff and we can go ahead and take it upstairs."

Jessica led them to the guest bedroom that she would be sharing with the girls that night whenever they decided to go to bed. Once inside, she closed the door and gestured for them to sit on the bed. She sat down with them.

"Okay, so . . ." Jessica took the pack of pads out of the Melvald bag and put it on the bed between them. "I figured I would kill two birds with one stone by talking to you both at the same time."

"Oh, God," Max said. "I don't need the talk. I've known for about a year."

Jessica smiled at the reaction.

"Well, good. But . . . apparently El only found out today." She looked at the brunette. "Is that right?"

"Yes."

"And Hopper probably wasn't much help."

"Said it was normal. Doesn't seem normal."

Jessica had a flashback of when she'd had her first period. Of course, she'd known what was happening, but at least she'd had a mom to go to if she'd had questions.

"I promise you it is. It's not great, but it is normal. It can make you feel horrible for a few days sometimes. Sometimes you'll get angry or sad for no reason. Sometimes it'll make you feel sick. You might get headaches. Sometimes you lose your appetite and sometimes you are hungry all the time. It can make you feel like you're going crazy, emotionally, but it is part of being a woman."

El scrunched her nose up, in disgust or confusion Jessica wasn't sure, but it was adorable.

"Do you have any questions or anything?"

"How long?"

"A week, give or take a couple days. It'll happen every month around the same time."

"Every month?" El's eyes widened. "This happens every month?"

"Yeah," Jessica said. "It's okay, though. If you feel pain, there is medicine you can take, and when you get older there are even pills that can make most of the symptoms easier to handle."

"I have to take medicine for cramps," Max said. "They work pretty good. You kind of get used to it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you do," Jessica agreed. "It's only weird and scary right now because it's the first one. You'll find out how it affects you and you'll be more prepared next time. And you have me and Joyce and Max, now, that you can talk to if you need to."

El nodded. "I've been starving all day."

"Well, let's go order that pizza then."

Everyone had arrived by six o'clock and the pizza was delivered not much later than that. Once everyone was settled in the living room with their food – some of them on the floor and some on the couch – they chose their first movie.

Jonathan had brought 'Children of the Corn' with him, and for the sake of everyone's sleep, Jessica suggested watching that first. She wasn't sure how El would do with a horror movie, so watching that first seemed smart. If she didn't like it, they could watch another movie to take her mind off of it.

The movie started off with a bunch of people coming out of a church service. It appeared that only one child had attended. The kid and his father go to a diner for lunch after the service and they see a few other children there.

The dad uses a payphone to call home to check in with his wife and daughter since his daughter was sick with a fever. His son goes to get a milkshake while he is on the phone.

Another boy comes into the diner and locks the door behind him. There's another boy outside, dressed all in black, looking in through the window into the diner.

The girl at home is drawing – in her sleep, as if possessed – a picture of the diner where her brother and father are. The people in the diner are all being killed. Some have been poisoned by their coffee; others are being slaughtered by the children. The boy with the milkshake is the only one left alive in the diner aside from the children who killed the adults. He is obviously traumatized.

"Why are we watching a movie about a bunch of kids killing adults when we are the adults in this situation?" Steve asked.

Jessica laughed and leaned to press her face against Steve's shoulder.

"I think we're safe," Jonathan said. "These kids aren't under the thrall of the corn demon thing."

"Corn demon thing?" Nancy said, amused.

"Well, that's what it is."

All in all, the movie was weird, more disturbing than scary.

"Gremlins" was picked as the second movie and everyone seemed to enjoy that one. Gizmo was a brown and white furball with floppy ears that pretty much everyone cooed over. Gizmo's offspring, however, were little hellions that turned into slimy green goblin looking things that liked to cause mayhem.

It was a fun movie, it was meant to be a fun movie, and by the time it was over it was already 9:30. The kids were still planted in front of the TV, a huge bowl of popcorn now in front of them, each of them with a can of soda.

Mike had brought "Ghostbusters" with him, so that was what they popped in next. It was mostly for the kids because Jessica opted to go in the kitchen to do some of her homework during it. Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan followed after her.

"Who does homework at a sleepover?" Steve teased as he took a seat at the kitchen table.

Jessica and Nancy were both setting up to get some work done.

"Someone who doesn't want to be stuck doing it all the next day," Jessica answered.

"You're still a nerd."

Jessica gently elbowed him in the ribs. "Maybe. But you're the one in love with a nerd, so . . ."

"True," Steve agreed, leaning closer to kiss the side of her head.

Steve and Jonathan talked softly while Jessica worked on math homework and while Nancy worked on history homework. The two girls continued working until around midnight, which was when "Ghostbusters" was over and when Nancy and Jonathan decided it was time for them to go home.

Steve offered them a room for the night, but they hadn't planned on staying to begin with, so they left.

Steve was surprised, but the kids didn't seem to be tired yet, so they all settled in the living room again to watch "The Neverending Story," a movie that Jessica had brought with her. Apparently it was based off of a book, but Steve wasn't a reader so he'd never read it.

The kids had seen it before, but they paid attention to it anyway. El seemed to get upset at a scene that showed a horse drowning in a swamp area, but she continued watching it anyway.

It was close to two in the morning when the movie went off, and Jessica had dozed off by that time. She'd gotten comfortable on the couch and had fallen asleep with her head on Steve's lap. Steve had dozed off too, his head back against the couch, and his neck was now stiff.

He shook Jessica awake, smiling when she just tried to turn her head further into his leg to resist being woken up.

"Hey, it's time for bed," he said, to which he received a chorus of 'no's' from the kids on the floor even though there was no way they weren't tired.

El and Max followed Jessica upstairs pretty quickly, but the boys muttered to themselves as Steve led them to his room.

"It's not like it's over. You'll still be able to hang out tomorrow," he said. "But we all need sleep."

"What he said," Jessica said. "The quicker you go to sleep, the quicker it'll seem that you wake up. We can have pancakes for breakfast."

The girls and boys split up then, Jessica taking El and Max, Steve taking the rest. Once inside his room the boys spread out on the floor while Steve settled into his bed. Mike and Dustin talked for a little bit, but Will and Lucas fell asleep almost immediately.

Steve was right there with them.

It was still before dawn when Jessica was woken up by a knock on the door. The door opened and someone tiptoed in. It ended up being Steve, who was wide awake.

"Steve?" she said, sitting up slowly. "What's wrong?"

"It's Will. He woke up and, uh, kinda freaked out. He won't say what's wrong, though, so –"

"He doesn't know you very well, so he probably wouldn't."

Jessica got up and gingerly went around the two girls on the floor, hoping to let them keep sleeping. She followed Steve to his room, noticed that the light had been turned on already, and squinted her eyelids against it.

The boys were on the floor basically surrounding Will, which probably wasn't helping the situation at all. Mike had an arm around him, and Dustin and Lucas were sitting in front of him.

"What's wrong?" Jessica asked, going to kneel down beside them.

"I don't know. He woke up and couldn't breathe," Mike said.

"Okay. Uh, guys, scooch." She touched Will's arm to gain his attention. "Come with me?"

He nodded slowly, so she helped him up. She gestured for the others to stay in the room with Steve and she led Will out and downstairs to the kitchen. Will sat at the table while Jessica went to get him a glass of cold water before sitting beside him

His breathing seemed to be evening out, but he was pale and quiet.

"You okay?"

Will shrugged, his shoulders barely lifting before falling back to their normal position.

"Do you know what happened?"

"I woke up and didn't know where I was at first."

"Oh."

"It was dark. I . . . usually sleep with the light on."

She remembered he had told her that once, but that had been over a year ago.

"You . . . had a panic attack?"

"Maybe. My chest felt tight and I couldn't breathe."

"Yeah, you had a panic attack. It's okay, I've had them too."

Will nodded. "I remember."

She rubbed his back as he sipped his water. "Did you want to try to go back to sleep? We can set you guys up down here and let you watch TV until you fall back to sleep."

"Yeah," Will said, smiling softly. "That would be good."

"Okay. Wait here. I'll be back."

Within thirty minutes, all the boys were set up downstairs with their blankets and pillows. She and Steve made sure everything was good and then went back upstairs. Jessica checked on El and Max, who were still asleep, and then went to Steve's room.

"Since the guys are downstairs now, I'm gonna stay in here with you."

"Of course," he said, pushing the covers aside for her to slip in under them.

She moved in closer to him, snuggling into his chest like she normally did and it didn't take long for sleep to take her.

It was around ten o'clock that Jessica and Steve woke up. They didn't hear any sound coming from downstairs, but it was a big house, so they might not have anyway. They still laid there for a few minutes to wake themselves up even more, but then they got up. Steve got a pair of clothes out while Jessica left the room to go check on the girls in the guest room. Plus, her clothes were there, so she had to make a pit stop anyway.

The girls were still sprawled out on the floor, but they weren't asleep. They were talking to each other quietly, and peacefully, Jessica noticed.

"Good morning," she said as she went to grab her clothes. "We're gonna have pancakes if you want to make your way downstairs in a few."

"Okay," Max said.

The girls sat up, but neither of them put on day clothes. They went downstairs in their pajamas. Jessica followed behind once she was dressed.

Steve was in the process of waking the boys up when Jessica reached the living room. Only Lucas seemed to be able to wake up right away.

"They'll get up when they smell food," Jessica said. "Come help in the kitchen."

She hadn't meant for El and Max to follow her, but they did. Steve didn't seem to mind. He set about making coffee while Jessica got the pancake mix out.

"Do we have chocolate chips?" she asked, and Steve pointed at a cabinet so Jessica would know where to find them.

El and Max helped her mix everything up and then Jessica went about showing El how to make pancakes. In the end, they had more than they really needed, but that didn't mean all the pancakes weren't eaten.

The kids were definitely going to go home with a sugar high.