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TODAY WAS A SPECIAL DAY for Dustin, so he promised himself he would try to be in a more upbeat mood. So far, things seemed to be going well as he mouthed the theme song of "Ghostbusters" with his friends. He even managed a small smile for his mom that morning while she cheerily snapped pictures of him in his costume.

Halloween was always a very special day for Dustin Henderson.

"Who you gonna call?" All three boys sang in unison, sharing the same thrilled look on their happy faces.

"Ghostbusters!" An enthusiastic Will Byers appeared behind his friends, the grin on his face reaching his light brown eyes.

The boys all clamber off their bikes in excitement, greeting the Byers boy with a series of cheers and hugs. "Hey, Spengler!" Mike gave Will a mad grin.

"Egon!" Lucas exclaimed, throwing a pair of flailing arms around the smaller boy. "Yeah!"

"Venkman," Will said back to the Sinclair boy, sharing possibly the widest smile on his face in months with the group of boys.

"Wait," Mike's smile dropped as he placed a single hand on Lucas's shoulder, turning him away from the others to face the raven-headed boy.

"What?" Lucas demanded, a tinge of annoyance already forming in his tone.

"Why are you Venkman?" The Wheeler challenged incredulously.

"'Cause I'm Venkman," Lucas declared obviously, his dark eyes narrowing into two tiny slits.

"No, I'm Venkman," Mike argued defensively, gesturing to his name tag with his hand.

"Why can't there just be two Venkmans?" Will asked hurriedly, attempting to save the two boys from another one of their typical arguments.

"Because there's only one Venkman in real life," Mike answered almost immediately. He began chattering in words that were strung together, speaking all on one breath. "We planned this months ago. I'm Venkman, Dustin's Stantz, you're Egon, and you're Winston!" He pointed at Lucas.

Lucas gave the raven-haired boy a furious shake of his head, baffled by the statement. "I specifically didn't agree to Winston," he pointed out.

"Yes, you did!" Mike nearly shouted, growing more frustrated with himself and the others.

"I don't think he did," Will reminded Mike in a timid voice, still desperately trying to stop the fight before it could grow more intense.

Dustin crossed his arms over his chest, sighing through his nose. It was Halloween, the most important holiday to him, and he was being forced to listen to more bickering from Mike and Lucas. Perhaps a holiday, even one as special as Halloween, wouldn't ensure he'd get a day off from these two and their nonsense.

"No one wants to be Winston, man," Lucas snapped, holding his arms out by his side. Dustin's blue eyes peered at Mike, shaking his head in agreement with Lucas's words; he couldn't deny that there was truth behind them.

"What's wrong with Winston?" Mike inquired aggressively, determined to win the pointless argument.

"What's wrong with Winston?" Lucas repeated, shooting his friend another aghast expression. "He joined the team super late, he's not funny, and he's not even a scientist!"

"Yeah, but he's still cool," Mike fired back, his panicking eyes refusing to meet the fire held in Lucas's gaze. He was on the losing side of the quarrel and he knew it.

"If he's cool, then why don't you just be Winston, Mike?" Dustin angrily spat, becoming the most frustrated out of the four. "Why are you defending a character you clearly don't want to be?"

"I can't be Winston," Mike huffed, scarcely meeting eyes with Dustin. He didn't want to see the moody look he was currently being given by the Henderson boy.

"Why not?" Lucas challenged, folding his arms.

Mike drew back, his eyes sliding over to face something in the distance. "Because..." he stammered, trailing off.

"B-B-Because you're not black?" Lucas finished for him, raising an eyebrow at his friend. Dustin had to stifle a laugh at the Sinclair's sarcastic but clever comment.

"I didn't say that!" Mike protested.

"You thought it," Lucas growled.

Dustin's eyes slowly became more transfixed on the surrounding students, his ears draining out the unnecessary disagreement still being shared. He gradually spun around, pulling away from the others as he watched several other kids walk past him and inside the school building. Many shot him weird glances, judgement glazed over in their eyes.

"Guys...guys!" Dustin rose his voice, still facing the school bus as children scrambled off of it. Finally, he whirled around on his heel, sending an irritated glare at them. "Guys!"

The three boys' heads all shot up, jerking to the left to look at Dustin. They came up to flank his sides, witnessing the same horrifying sight as he was.

"Why is no one else wearing costumes?" Dustin questioned, his short nails digging into his palms. Before any of the boys could reply, the school bell resounded throughout the campus as a sign that they had no choice but to walk inside.

"Crap," Lucas uttered in a small voice.

Sheepishly, all four boys entered the halls with bowed heads and anxious expressions. Everyone passed by them, either taking the time to tease them or simply laugh at their costumes.

"When do people make these decisions?" Dustin mumbled in a low tone, his hands squeezing together as he continued to eye many of the strange looks they were receiving.

"Everyone dressed up last year," Will muttered in agreement, sounding just as surprised and even a little scared.

"It's a conspiracy, I'm telling you," he whispered back to his friends, his stiff muscles continuing to push him towards his locker.

"Who ya gonna call? The nerds!" A random feminine voice taunted, the source of the sound unknown.

Dustin smiled nervously, the corners of his lips instantly fading back into a frown. He imagined how Jasper would've handled this situation. Knowing his fierce redhead best friend, and her ability to absolutely not give a fuck, she wouldn't care. If anything, she might have even strolled down the halls singing the theme song whilst flipping off every idiot that judged them. The image in his head was enough to let a small laugh fall from his lips.

Mike, Lucas, and Will all exchanged knowing looks. Dustin, given his tendency to snap at everyone and throw rude comments in their face, seemed to be in a much better mood today. If anything, the three of them had believed he would be in more horrible mood than normal.

Dustin and Lucas peeled away from the other two boys, splitting up to stop at their lockers. The sound of wheels rolling smoothly against the tiled floor caused both boys to spin around.

A certain redhead skated down the hall, the sight of her causing Dustin to instantly twirl around again and shove his head into his locker whilst he mimicked vomiting. "Who the fuck skates in the hallway?" He uttered, surprising to find he had actually almost spit in his mouth.

"Girls like Max," Lucas sighed hazily. He hadn't moved from his position, his eyes still glued to her in wonder as she arrived at her locker. "We should talk to her," he concluded after a moment of observing her. His head turned around again to see that Dustin's was still crammed in the narrow space of his locker.

"Get out of there," he scolded the Henderson, slapping his arm harshly.

"Ow!" Dustin winced as his head flinched upwards, flying into the shelf built inside his locker. "Sorry not all of us are interested in girls who skate in the halls, which is totally against the rules."

"What are you? The hall monitor?" Lucas scoffed with a shake of his head. "You're just trying to find an excuse to not like her more."

"I don't need excuses to not like her," Dustin murmured in disgust, his nose wrinkling at the sight of her. Deep down, he knew what Lucas had said was true. The girl was cool, but the painstaking look of her strawberry hair and blue eyes was enough to spark hatred in Dustin's stubborn heart.

"Get your head out of your ass," Lucas snapped over his shoulder, rolling his eyes. His lips pressed together in anticipation, his feet screaming to move forward towards Max.

"Are you gonna talk to her or what?" Dustin prodded, having no interest in joining him however. "She probably thinks you're a stalker by now, with you staring at her so much."

"Shut up, Dustin," Lucas simply replied, a small amount of hostility in his tone. It bothered Dustin that he was taking any offense to this at all. He didn't even know the girl.

"What was that?" Dustin asked, pressing a hand against his ear. "Sorry, I couldn't hear you. Looks like I have my head too far up my own ass," he snickered, bowing to his friend dramatically.

Lucas had zoned out, drool practically pooling in his mouth as he continued to examine the redhead. He moved forward an inch, stopping himself at the sound of her locker slamming shut. She paced away from them, reaching the far end of the hall.

"Welp," Dustin nodded, popping the 'p'. "Looks like you'll just have to talk to her answer class."

"Yep!" Lucas chirped back immediately, his own hand reaching up to close his locker. Dustin copied his actions, hurriedly racing after the Sinclair boy.

After another long and excessively dragged out class period, Dustin found himself walking behind Lucas with a tight-lipped and completely feigned smile. The two boys stopped once they arrived at Max's locker.

"Uh, hi Max," Lucas stuttered awkwardly, fidgeting with his hands nervously. Dustin cocked a brow at his friend, confusion swirling in his blue eyes. He had never seen Lucas so antsy with a girl before. "I'm Lucas, and this is my friend Dustin."

Dustin didn't even bother meeting the icy blue eyes of Max as Lucas gestured to him. Instead, he sassily pretended to be more enticed by a clump of dust forming on the wall.

"Yeah I know," she responded, giving them both a cocky grin. "The stalkers."

Dustin reeled back in surprise, placing a hand on his chest. "Correction: stalker. Just one. I don't even have enough interest right now to be speaking to you, let alone stalk—" He was cut off by his own grunt of pain as Lucas's foot collided with his shin.

Max said nothing, instead just shot Dustin a puzzled and offended look before focusing on Lucas again.

"We weren't stalking you," Lucas mumbled, fighting against his instinct to stammer. "We were just, uh, concerned! For your safety, and all. There's...a lot of bullies here, you know?"

"Hang on, lemme go get some popcorn real quick, cause this is too good," Dustin half-muttered to himself, becoming more amused than anything by Lucas's bizarre speech. He earned himself another screaming glare from Lucas, his eyes pleading to stop embarrassing him.

"Is that why you're wearing proton packs?" She chuckled, looking both boys up and down and scrutinizing their costumes.

"Well, since you asked," Lucas began to grow excited, reaching over and grabbing a part of Dustin's costume. "Dustin has this cool trap thingy that even opens and closes! Look, look!"

"Don't touch me you goon," he snarled, slapping Lucas's hands off him after he pressed the button to open the makeshift trap. "That's not even how you impress a girl, shitbrain," he stated matter-of-factly.

Max felt a small giggle fall from her lips, unable to not admire how sarcastic the Henderson boy was being to his friend. She quickly bit down on the insides of her cheeks, hoping neither had noticed.

"Anyways," Lucas let out another anxious laugh. "We were just talking, you know, and we figured you, uh, didn't have friends to go trick-or-treating with tonight, and you're scared of bullies. So we were thinking it'd be okay if you could come with us."

Dustin had to resist the urge to slap Lucas. He was clearly wasting his time with this obnoxious girl.

"'It'd be okay'?" She echoed, her eyebrows knitting together.

"Yeah!" Lucas exclaimed with enthusiasm. "Our party's a democracy and the majority voted you could come."

"I didn't agree to that," Dustin grumbled under his breath, earning another kick from Lucas.

"Oh, I didn't realize it was such an honor to go trick-or-treating with you," Max gasped mockingly.

"Yeah, we know where to get the full-sized candy bars," Lucas nodded with an goofy grin. "We figured you'd want in."

"That's presumptuous of you," Max pointed out, raising a ginger colored eyebrow at Lucas.

"Oh my God," Dustin breathed, spinning around and rolling his eyes. "Says the girl skating in hallways," he muttered to himself, tightening his grip on the backpack straps of his costume.

"We're meeting at the Maple Street cul-de-sac at 7," Lucas shouted after the redhead before running to catch up with Dustin.

He had a huge, idiotic smile plastered on his triumphant face. "I think she'll come," he spoke with confidence as he strut down the halls with Dustin.

A small, sarcastic laugh came from the Henderson as he repeatedly shook his head. "I hope not."

"Dude seriously," Lucas suddenly snapped, stepping in front of Dustin's path and blocking him. Challenge glowered in his eyes as his nostrils flared with anger. "What's your problem?"

"Well right now my problem is you, being in my way," he placed a hand on Lucas's shoulder before pushing past him. "And you know what today is. I have every right to have a problem."

Lucas opened his mouth to holler back another string of harsh words, but he closed it again. Dustin was right. Given today, and after everything's that happened, maybe for once his mood swings could be justified.

Things took quite the turn on Halloween day as Mike, Lucas, and Dustin biked home that afternoon. Dustin was rambling to the other two about the costumes, still upset over the fact that no one bothered to dress up.

Suddenly, a car engine revving loudly down the road blasted in their ears. All three of their heads swiveled around to see a dark blue camaro rushing towards them with absolutely no intent of stopping.

"Shit! Go go go go!" Dustin yelled demandingly at his friends, picking up speed and furiously pedaling forward. "You better haul ass!" He shouted at them as they began turning to veer off the street.

Dustin glanced over his shoulder, his heart leaping into his throat to find the car just feet away from them. Strangely, however, the car began to slow down until it only inched towards them.

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and amazement. "Hey guys, are you seeing this?" He hollered to Mike and Lucas, eyeing the incredibly slow car. Before they could whirl around and look, the three of them ran off the road to safety and the car hurdled back to its insane speed again.

"What the fuck!" Dustin screamed, hobbling off his bike and leaving it laying in the autumn leaves. He dashed back onto the asphalt road, watching with a pained expression as the car swerved down the street.

"Madmax," Lucas uttered, joining Dustin as they both observes the vehicle and watch it disappear further down the road.

Dustin wasn't even thinking about why Max's brother wanted to run them over. His mind was clouded with paranoid questions about what had just occurred. The other two clearly didn't seem to have noticed that it happened.

There was only one good, logical answer for this: Jasper Hopper. Her ability to slow down time could have easily caused the car to suddenly decrease dramatically in speed. His blue eyes searched their surroundings, his bottom lip trembling in hopes that she would appear from the undergrowth.

"Dustin, hello?" Lucas snapped him out of his trance, flailing his arms in front of him. "Is everything okay?"

Dustin breathed through his nostrils, focusing back on the sudden stillness of the forest. "Yeah," he finally murmured, disappointed to find no trace of red hair. "Just thinking," he lied simply before rushing back over to his bike.

He couldn't stop thinking about Jasper. Even if she wasn't physically there with him, she could see him. She had saved them once again from another certain death, but only Dustin knew about it. This gave him hope again, hope that she would come back. He remembered the blinding lights on his bike, and how they almost fled when he called out her name.

She was definitely alive, but somehow, it almost hurt more to know she was alive and possibly never coming back than to believe she was dead.