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HOLLY JOLLY

Steve woke up that morning- barely, and started getting ready. because believe it or not, it was still a wednesday.

once he was ready ate breakfast, that whole thing that guys do in the morning. he went to go grab his keys. only to realize they weren't there.

he searched for a good ten minutes until he heard honking outside.

and there she was, Valerie benson sitting in the driver's seat of his car, in all her glory.

"cmon harrington, we don't have all day!" she shouted.

last night when she got woken up by nancy to go home, she told her that they had to walk home because steve fell asleep and was in a "deep slumber" while barb decided to leave early leaving them stranded.

Valerie being Valerie refused to walk home at night so she stole steve's car.

not actually stealing just for the night and she would return it the next day, ignoring nancy's protest.

steve just stood there in shock until an annoyed Valerie yelled

"LET'S GO!" "ok!ok!, jeez"

he scrambled over to the car and tried to open the locked passenger seat door.

"oh, my bad" she said, as soon as he got into the car she started driving like it was no big deal "oh, im sorry, can you explain to me why your driving my car right now" steve said infuriated that someone else besides him was driving his "baby".

"oh yeah, funny story" she laughed "um after you and nancy had your whole um... whatever you call it-" "sex" "ew, yeah whatever. you fell asleep and nancy was about to drag me to walk in the woods all the way home at night, so like any smart person i said no because i don't plan on dying anytime soon" that was kind of a lie "so i took your keys" she said calmly.

he looked at her with a baffled impression "valarie that's called stealing" he said firmly "n-no , it's called borrowing from a friend" she said, in denial.

"we are not friends"he said "ouch" she didn't actually feel offended at all.

"ok whatever, you don't like me or something and trust me i don't like you either, at all. so just be thankful i didn't actually steal your car"

"so if you don't like me then why did you come pick me up, you could of just left me at my house stranded" steve said with confusion. she sighed "Because harrington, you are my bestfriends boyfriend- somehow, and since nancy puts up with your bullshit, i am... somehow forced to deal with yours as well. and.." she trailed of.

"and what?" he asked "and... she really likes you, it baffles me how someone likes you out of all people" "ouch" "and i have to tolerate you, barely" she said, he smirked.

"wipe that sly smirk of your face, we are not friends. i tolerate you at most- if i do at all" she said.

"wait so where are we heading now?" he asked "school, are you actually this dense?" she asked, he shrugged.

----

When Valerie got to school she realized barb wasn't there.

so she went to go ask nancy, "hey nance" she said "oh, hey" nancy said with a smile, fake, again.

"have you seen barb anywhere?" she asked "oh, i was about to ask you the same thing, i haven't seen her all day" nancy said "do you think she... drank to much?" she question "no- no way barb doesn't drink, i don't even think i saw her go near the beers last night" nancy said.

the lunch bell ringed. "do you want to go ask carol or something?" she asked "yeah, yeah let's go" nancy agreed.

so that's what we did, we grabbed our lunch and went to go find them.

"no, I swear. look at this. it's totally frostbite" carol said worriedly. "no,no way it's a heated pool" Tommy H. said "well then what is it then" she asked "ugh, i don't care what it is, it's disgusting! just get it off the table. we're eating here" steve said as they sat down "hey tommy, when you left, did you see barb?" nancy asked "what?" tommy asked "barbara, she's not here today" she clarified "I seriously have no idea who you're talking about" he said.

"tommy, look we all know your dumb but not that dumb, just answer the damn question." Valerie said annoyed. he sighed "no, she was gone when we left" he said "probably couldn't stand listening to all that moaning, Oh, steve!" she imitated. it went on for a while even Tommy decided to join in on moaning steve's name, while steve sat there trying not to laugh.

"jesus christ close your mouth!" valerie yelled as they where moaning with a bunch of the cafeteria corn in there mouth, they started laughing.

"listen... i'm sure she's fine. she's probably just... she's probably just skipping or something" he said trying to comfort nancy. Valerie rolled her eyes knowing that barb wasn't like that, she would never skip. but once again nancy tried to believe his bull shit "yeah. yeah probably"

and then valarie see nancy give a longing look to none other then jonathan byers, i gave her a look and she just shrugged her shoulders.

----

after last period Valerie walked outside to see the whole "gang" including nacy talking to jonathan byers.

"what the fuck" she muttered and walked up to them just in time to see steve about to rip a bunch of photos in his face until Valerie took them "what the hell, steve?" she asked not even looking at the pictures "yeah, before you say anything why don't you take a look at those pictures, Valerie" he said.

she gave him a confused look and took a look at the pictures, one after another of just pictures of them at the party.

her and nancy chugging there beers.

when tommy H. pushed carol into the pool.

when she was chasing the boys in the pool for her shoes.

all of it, he stalked them.

she looked back up "what the hell is this?" she asked looking at jonathan, he stood there in shame "i asked you a question" she said intimidated "i-im sorry" he stuttered out "your sorry? sorry for what exactly, you stalking us or taking pictures of us without our permission, or awareness" she said with anger, she started ripping up the papers staring right into his eyes.

"y' know what i think? i think we have to take away his toy" he said going to grab the camera.

"no, please, not the camera" he said rushing to grab it, tommy stopping him.

y'know stuff like this valarie would think it's wrong, but not this time, no he deserved it.

"no,no, wait,wait.. tommy, tommy.it's okay, here you go, man" he said handing him the camera. jonathan went to go grab it but steve drop it before he could leaving it shattered on the ground.

steve looked almost regretful "cmon, let's go the game is about to start".

they started to leave, nancy stood there for a while and started to collect the pieces of a picture until steve called out "guys let's go" Valerie waited for nancy when nancy went under steve's arm she went back over to jonathan.

"look i never thought you were this bad, but if i ever catch you doing something like this shit again. your broken camera will be the least of your worries" and with that she went with the rest of them to the game.

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"so i told mr. Mundy. the solution of ten plus Y equals... blow me" carol said, who does she think is going to believe that "bull, if you did that, you'd be in detention right now." "saturday" she responded "I bet mr.mundy's still a virgin" tommy said "oh, he's so a virgin!" she said "you should blow him carol, help your grades a little bit" tommy said sarcastically, carol smacked him.

suddenly nancy started walking "woah nance, where you going?" steve asked standing up "i totally forgot, i told my mom i would... do something with her" she said, lie. "well, what do you mean? the game's about to start" steve said "im sorry" she responded.

"i'm pretty sure her mom is more important than a stupid game, harrington" valerie said "shut up" he said annoyed.

"so, Valerie. i heard your mom fell into a coma" Carol said. Tommy started smiling "im sorry?" Valerie said, no one has never asked her that "yeah well people are talking about it , this town is small, people talk" she said "yeah, well i don't think it's any of your business carol but my mom is perfectly fine" she lied through her teeth "well i just thought-" Carol tried to say but Valerie interrupted her.

"yeah well do everyone a favor carol and stop thinking and just stick to your bubble gum and lipgloss, alright?" Valerie said, you could practically see the steam coming out of her ears as she walked away as well.

"Valarie!" steve called out "give it a break harrington, were not friends" she yelled back.

"what's her problem?" he asked "maybe what carol said was right, she looked pretty offended" tommy said "well of course i was right, it's no secret" carol said.

----

Valarie went home and her dad wasn't home yet, he was probably taking the night shift.

she heard her door bell ring, and she opened it to only see steve the hair harrington standing there.

"can i help you?" she asked "yeah i just wanted to ask if you were okay after you stormed out of the school, after saying what everyone was thinking to carol" he said, she laughed "yes, i am perfectly fine. do you wanna come in?" she asked "yeah, yeah sure".

as soon as he walked in all he saw was pictures of their family, new , old, all of them. "cute kid" he said looking at a picture of a girl "yeah that was my cousin" she said turning back for a second "was?" he asked. "yep, she went missing one day, just like will. we found her in that quarry." she said with ease.

"im sorry" steve said. "no your not" she laughed "everyone says that no one really means it" she said.

once they came to the living room steve found her mom in a bed, with a bunch of tubes coming out of her and a faint beeping could be heard.

beep...beep...beep.

carol was right.

"i know right ,carol was right" she laughed it off "how did it happen?" he asked "story for another day Harrington " she said, suddenly she heard a ring of the phone.

"hello?" no answer "hello?" no answer "hello?" she asked again

"help me!" a distorted voice could be heard "will? will? where are you? everyone is looking for you?" she asked.

a faint sound of the phone could be heard, he hanged up.

"was that will?" steve asked "i- i don't know" she said looking at the phone.

the tv caught steve's attention attention

"byer's body was found in the water of this quarry by state police earlier this evening it was discovered by state trooper David O'Bannon, just after dark. the state police are mountaning an investigation" the news man continued to say "oh my god" she said.

something was seriously wrong here.

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ok i'm sorry this chapter was kinda a filler but it is important to the storyline, trust.