71. Chapter 71

Chapter Seventy-One

By the time Saturday night came, everyone who was supposed to go to the movies for Will's birthday had gotten permission to go and Steve, Jessica, Jonathan, and Nancy were responsible for getting them to and from the theater.

Everyone had gotten together at the Byers' place earlier for cake and ice cream and so Will could show off his new paint set, brushes – he'd moved up from crayons – and canvas stand Joyce had bought him. Jonathan had bought a few canvases for Will to practice on. He'd never actually painted on a canvas before.

Because Jonathan and Jessica worked at the theater they received a discount on the tickets and the concessions they bought, which was nice because they ended up needing ten tickets, four buckets of popcorn, and a drink for each kid – Steve was sharing with Jessica, and Jonathan was sharing with Nancy.

It helped a lot that Hopper had provided money when he decided El could go with them on the condition that she keep a sweatshirt on and not take the hood off until the lights dimmed in the theater, and that Mike's and Lucas's parents pitched in as well.

Steve had been almost right when he'd predicted that they would take up a whole row – there were only four seats left in the row they chose. Steve and Jessica sat on one end while Jonathan and Nancy sat on the other end, boxing the kids in in the middle. Dustin sat beside Jessica, then it was Lucas, Will, Mike, El, and Max.

When the lights finally dimmed, the previews came on and the kids talked through them. Jessica didn't mind since she already knew what was coming out. Perks of working at the theater.

The kids were excited when the film started, but Jessica was not thrilled when two murders happened within the first five minutes of the movie. She was glad it wasn't super graphic, at least.

The first scene actually ended up being a dream. The kid from the fourth movie had been having a nightmare. He was a few years older in this movie – and he was played by a different actor – but the character was obviously still being affected by what he'd gone through as a kid. Who wouldn't have been, really? He'd been stalked by a guy in a hockey mask and had had to 'kill' him in the last movie. That would mess anyone up.

The main character, Tommy, was on his way to a half-way house for people who had been in an institution. The place was supposed to help rehabilitate the patients so they could be released back into society.

When Tommy arrived at the place he was shown to his room and was able to arrange things to his liking. He had a duffle bag full of masks he'd made and got after one of the kids when he messed with them.

Not long after that, one of the teens was literally axed to death by one of the other teens there. He'd been chopping firewood and had just snapped. Jonathan and the kids loved the gore of it; Nancy grimaced but showed no other reaction; Jessica turned her face into Steve's shoulder so she wouldn't have to look.

Dustin laughed at her. "She hid her face when we watched the last one too."

"What? It's disgusting. He's, like, chopped into pieces."

The next people to go where two guys messing with a broken-down car – at night. One of them was killed by having a road flare stuck down his throat and the other had his throat cut.

The movie didn't seem to bother Steve either. He just put his arm around her and she was able to hide her face more firmly against him whenever something violent happened.

At one point one of the people from the half-way house stole one of Tommy's masks and jumped at him, scaring him and making him angry when he realized that one of his masks had been taken. Tommy went Billy Hargrove on the guy and one of the leaders ended up having to pull Tommy off of the guy.

There was, of course, a gratuitous sex scene and boob shot.

The last time she'd come to a horror movie with Dustin she'd only had to worry about him, but this time she had to worry about Steve too. She ended up putting a hand each over their eyes because she didn't really want either of them looking. Actually, she didn't want any of the kids seeing it, but she could only worry about the two people sitting on either side of her.

"I wasn't even looking," Steve said, sounding amused and pulling her hand away.

"They're boobs."

"They're not your boobs."

Dustin pulled her hand away from his face and said, "I still don't care about boobs, for the record. And also . . . stop talking about boobs."

Jessica felt her face heat up and hid her face against Steve again, although this time it was for a completely different reason. She'd noticed that the others hadn't been bothered by the nudity at all – or no more than normal teenage embarrassment would call for – and realized that she may have overreacted a little bit.

The sex scene was soon forgotten as the ones who had been having sex were quickly killed. The girl got a pair of gardening shears stabbed into her eyes, and the guy basically got his skull crushed.

"I don't know why I keep coming to these things," Jessica said.

"Because I need an adult to get in here, and you love me," Dustin said casually.

"Right."

By the time the movie was over, there were only three people left alive.

Jessica was glad it was over. It was great that they had all been able to get together for Will, but she wished they had been able to see a different movie.

"Come on, I promise not to let any serial killers get you," Steve teased.

She scoffed. "The serial killer wasn't what bothered me. It was the methods of killing I didn't like."

It was still around eight, so the boys didn't have to be home for another hour or so, but El needed to get home. Jessica and Steve had been responsible for picking up both El and Max, so they herded the girls to the car while Jonathan and Nancy walked the boys over to the arcade.

"If you wanted to go with them, we could swing back and pick you up on the way," Jessica offered.

"Nah, I'll just go with you guys."

She and El got in the backseat and, since it was Steve's car they had taken, Jessica got in the passenger seat.

"So . . . El first?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, so Hopper doesn't have a heart attack."

Hopper's cabin was a good way away from the actual town part of Hawkins so it was the perfect time for Steve to bring up Jessica's own birthday, which was coming up that week.

"Okay, so, my parents are going to be home on the day we're having your birthday party," he said. "I don't think Dad will want a bunch of kids running around. Is there anywhere else you'd want to have your party?"

"Well, we can't have it at my house because it's not big enough for everyone," Jessica said. "But we could have it at the quarry if everyone is okay with that. We could have a picnic or take a grill and have a cookout or something like that. It's not that cold during the day now."

"I think that would be cool," Max said from the backseat. "When is it?"

"Well, my birthday is on the 27th, which is Wednesday, but we're going to have it on Saturday, kind of like we did with Will."

"Oh, okay." Max was quiet for a few seconds and then said, "Billy's birthday is Friday."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Look, I know that he messed up by fighting Steve again, but I think he'd appreciate it if you at least told him Happy Birthday or something."

"Max, I –"

"He's been miserable this week."

"I'm sorry," Jessica said.

"And Neil doesn't really believe in doing anything for birthdays, so –"

"Hey, Max. You do know that he almost hit Jessica . . . right?" Steve asked quietly.

"Steve!" Jessica exclaimed.

"What? He did!" Steve said at the same time Max said, "What? Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because he didn't actually hit me."

"But he tried?" Max exclaimed.

"Maybe. I don't know. He hit the locker instead."

Max didn't say anything, but El spoke up for the first time since getting in the car.

"Who is Billy?"

"My brother. He's got . . . issues."

"Major ones," Steve said.

"Has he been giving you a hard time this week?"

"Not really. He's been taking me to school and picking me up like normal, working out when Neil's not home, and avoiding him when he is."

"Oh, okay. Well, I'm glad he's not taking it out on you."

Hopper was waiting on the porch when Steve pulled up. He began making his way to the car before Steve even parked the car.

El got out of the backseat and went on up to the house. Hopper ruffled her hair as she went past him. He went around the car to the passenger side, so Jessica rolled the window down.

"What's up, Hop?"

"How did it go?"

"I think she enjoyed it."

"Good. Good." He sighed and placed a hand on the hood of the car. "You, uh . . . you don't work weekends, do you?"

"Uh . . . sometimes I pick up an extra shift on Saturdays, but I'm normally off. Why?"

"What does your job pay you? I can match that if you'd be willing to watch El on the days I have to work late on the weekends."

"Like $25 a night. I usually only work four hours."

"Would you be willing to watch her? Mike has been coming over every day since he found out she was here and I refuse to leave them alone here."

Steve could tell by the way Hopper was speaking that he didn't really appreciate Mike spending so much time with El. To be fair, if Steve had a daughter that age with a boyfriend Mike's age, he wouldn't like it either. He was a guy; he knew what guys were like.

"Uh . . . sure, as long as you give me some kind of notice beforehand." Jessica glanced at Steve before looking back at Hopper. "Can Steve come sometimes? We usually spend the weekends together."

"Sure, as long as someone's here to watch over the other lovebirds."

"Right. Oh, and just so you know, we're having my party at the quarry next Saturday. You and El are totally invited. Or we can pick her up if you're working."

Steve noticed that Hopper hesitated in agreeing to let El go.

"It'll be at the bottom," Steve said. "Hardly anyone ever goes there. It'll be mid-day. We'll have a cookout or a picnic or something like that."

"Yeah, okay. Just let me know the time when you guys figure it out."

"Will do."

The first thing Max did when she got home was go to Billy's room. It was locked as it normally was when he was in there. Billy only unlocked it when Neil demanded it.

She knocked softly to let him know it wasn't his dad – not that Neil ever knocked anyway.

"Billy?" she called out quietly. "Will you let me in?"

"What do you want?"

"Just to talk to you. I got your homework for you all week, so just . . . talk to me."

There was a very audible sigh from the other side of the door, but there were also the sounds of movement – Billy getting off of the bed, maybe – and then the door was being unlocked and opened.

"What?"

Max looked down the hall, back towards the living room, before hissing out, "You almost hit Jessica?"

"I did not almost hit Jessica," Billy said.

"Steve said you did."

"Yeah, well, Harrington's wrong. I hit the locker beside Jessica's head."

"Like that's any better." Max rolled her eyes. "Now you really need to apologize."

Billy rolled his eyes. "I'm working on it."

"If it makes you feel any better, she doesn't seem mad at you."

"Her being mad at me was never the issue."

"Hm. Her birthday is Wednesday. Just so you know."

Max knew Billy couldn't really get her anything. He probably didn't have the money, and Jessica wouldn't accept it anyway, but he could at least wish her a happy birthday.

Monday morning found Jessica nervous to go into her first period. It would be the first time seeing Billy since the fight a week ago. She wasn't sure how he would react or if he would react at all, she just knew that Steve could not come in the room with her. She didn't want either boy reacting negatively to the other.

They hadn't really talked about it, but she hadn't liked Steve saying that she only spent time with Billy because she felt sorry for him because it wasn't true. But they hadn't talked about Steve feeling insecure about her being able to do more with her life if he wasn't in it – that wasn't really true either. She wanted to grow with him not ahead of him. She didn't want to be the one to start that conversation, though, so she let it rest for now.

As it was, Steve walked her to the door and he kissed her on the cheek as he normally did.

"Good luck. Let me know how it goes."

"Yeah. See you at lunch."

Billy was already in his seat when she walked in and she took him in, looking for sign of injury and not finding any. She knew at this point she probably shouldn't care, but she couldn't help it. Complete jerk or not, Billy didn't deserve abuse from his dad.

She was on her way to her seat when the teacher called her to his desk. She had no clue what he wanted.

"Now that Mr. Hargrove is back with us, would you like me to move you to another seat?"

"Oh, um . . ." She'd never really thought about that option. "If he doesn't bother me, I don't mind sitting beside him."

"Okay. Let me know if you change your mind."

She nodded and then turned to actually go to her seat this time. Billy didn't speak to her, but he did watch her as she sat down. She didn't speak to him either because she was not going to be the one to start talking to him again.

In fact, she wanted an apology – a sincere one – before she would even consider speaking to him again.

Later that same day while walking to lunch, Jessica talked to Robin again. They had been talking over the last week, mostly while Jessica was on her way to lunch because that was when they saw each other in passing. Robin would walk with her to the cafeteria before heading off to the band room to eat her own lunch.

"You know, you could sit with me," Jessica suggested softly, not knowing how Robin would take it.

"You, yes. Maybe even Byers. But Wheeler and Harrington . . . no."

"Why not?"

"Well, Wheeler as a Miss Priss and Harrington is a . . ." Robin seemed to have to think for a minute before smiling brightly. "A dingus."

Jessica rolled her eyes but laughed anyway. "What even is a dingus? You had to have made that up. And come on, if Nancy is a Miss Priss, then so am I."

"No way. You bitch-slapped Jason Donovan last year, which he deserved by the way, and you threw a fruit cup at Tommy H's head – also well-deserved – and then you . . . you hit Billy Hargrove with your bag. Nancy wouldn't do any of those things."

It was true that she hadn't done any of that, but she had learned to shoot a gun so she could face an interdimensional monster about a year-and-a-half ago. Of course, she couldn't tell Robin that.

"Nancy slapped Steve in the face one time, before they broke up. It was . . . well-deserved, to use your terminology, so she's not all Miss Priss all the time."

Robin grinned. "But you do agree she is sometimes?"

"Unfortunately . . . yes." Jessica shook her head. "Anyway, the invitation is always open if you want to come sit with us. You're pretty cool yourself, Robin Buckley, so you'll fit right in."

"Yeah, right."

"I'm being serious. And if you don't want to hang out with the others, we can always hang out without them."

Robin slowed to a stop and Jessica looked at her with a raised eyebrow in question.

"Seriously? Like, you're not joking around?"

"Why would I joke about something like that? Do I look like I would be someone who would joke about something like that?"

"Well, no, but I thought you and Harrington were attached at the hip."

"Steve can survive without me for a few hours, I'm sure. We could maybe pick a movie to go see or we could have a sleepover."

"I . . . yeah, that would be cool."

"Yeah, just let me know. I don't know what type of movies you like, but there's a new one coming out next week called Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. It's supposed to be like a romantic comedy or something, which usually isn't my thing, but the previews don't look too bad."

"Could be fun to laugh at if nothing else."

"A'right, uh . . . I'll give you my number tomorrow and we can set something up."

"Awesome. I have to go. My fellow band geeks might send out a search party if I don't hurry up."

"A'right. We'll talk later."

Author's note: I am not happy with the last two episodes of Season 4. I'm actually not happy with a LOT of Season 4. I'm like "I have so much to fix!" I want to save Billy and (Spolier alert) Eddie, but I don't know how without interrupting the flow of the story. Eddie stole my heart this past season with how he was portrayed and uh . . . I was not okay with how it ended. Anyway, on further things I had problems with in Season 4 was how disjointed it was because it was skipping all over the world, also the Steve/Nancy stuff was annoying, mostly because she was still with Jonathan and because Steve had admitted under the truth serum that he didn't love her anymore, but also because he'd basically admitted that he would have been dating Robin if she wasn't into guys . . . so . . . yeah. I also didn't understand how electricity suddenly worked in the upside down. Did they have an extension cord or something hooked to our world? If they did, I missed it. Eddie's solo was awesome, but I don't understand how it worked . . . That being said . . . the Duffer brothers have admitted to retconning their own mythology for no reason and changing things, which frustrates me to no end as a writer. Like, if the mythology is changed, you have to show it on screen and there has to be a logical reason why. I also feel that it was copout having El have memory loss in 1979 being the reason she doesn't remember Vecna/Henry/001. Plus if he was kept in the lab, she would have memories of him before what she suddenly remembered, I'm pretty sure as Papa wouldn't have let him out in the real world. El would have earlier memories.

All in all I'm gonna say that this season felt like badly written fan fiction that made no sense.