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― season one, episode twelve;
FRIENDSHIP BRACELETS
[ the finale! ]

0:00 |───────── 13:22
▁ ▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ █ 100 %

3178 words

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*.✧ 𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐋𝐄𝐘 ✧.*

I was staring at the hospital room floor, anxiously waiting, counting every last crumb and speck of dust on the tiles. My mom was clutching my hand so tightly, I thought that my fingers were going to break.

Hopper and Mom had found Will in the Upside Down and brought him back, where he was currently hooked up to a ton of machines and asleep. We were waiting for him to wake up, Mom, Jonathan and I, right beside his bed. But I couldn't bear to look at him yet, not while he was like this, it hurt too much.

I heard Mom gasp and I looked up quickly to see that Will was opening his eyes. My heart skipped a beat from excitement and I felt tears pricking the corners of my eyes.

"Hi, sweetheart!" Mom whispered.

"Where..." Will's voice was weak and quiet. "Where am I?"

Mom sighed and reached out to push his hair out of his face. Jonathan grabbed Will's hand whilst I leaned back in my chair, throwing my head back as the tears of relief started to stream down my face.

"You're home. You're safe." Jonathan told him.

I looked back down at Will to see him furrow his brows together as he looked at Jonathan's bandaged hand.

"Are you okay?" He asked sweetly.

Jonathan scoffed. "This? This is just a scratch, it's nothing. You're worried about my hand?"

Mom, Jonathan and I exchanged a glance before we all started to laugh through our tears. Jonathan grabbed the care package that he and I had spent all night making and put it on the bed so Will could see it.

"We brought you some stuff," I finally spoke up, my voice trembling as I tried to fight my tears. "So you don't get bored in here."

Jonathan reached inside the box and pulled out a cassette tape and held it out to Will, who took it. "I made you a new mixtape." Jonathan told him.

"I brought your sketchbook." I took it out of the box as well, showing him. "And I bought you some new crayons. I thought maybe we could draw together at some point, if you're gonna be here for a while."

A smile overtook Will's face. "Yeah! I'd like that!" He said eagerly.

This made my heart swell. I was so happy that he was okay.

And all of this was finally over.

*.✧ 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄 ✧.*

I was sat inbetween Nancy and Mike in the hospital waiting room, waiting to be allowed to see Will. Everybody was here, but nobody was speaking. We all wore solemn faces and were looking at the floor, nervously anticipating news about Will. Hopefully it would come soon, and be good news.

Just then, Jonathan opened the door to the waiting room and we all looked up at him expectantly. He opened his mouth to speak but before he could, Mike leaped to his feet and shook Dustin and Lucas awake, as they had fallen asleep on top of each other, and then the three of them ran out of the room and down the hall.

I rose to my feet slowly and grabbed my coat, holding it close to my body. Nancy walked beside me as we went down the hall along with everybody else. She rubbed circles in my back, trying to comfort me.

As much as I was happy that Will was okay, a part of me wished that I was going to see Barb in her room instead. I sniffled at the thought, feeling my heart tug painfully.

Nancy and I reached the doorway to Will's hospital room and we stood in the entrance, watching the boys greet him. As they excitedly filled him in on everything that had happened, I could feel my chest getting heavier and heavier until there were tears brimming my eyes. I pushed past Nancy and quickly left the room, walking down the halls until I found the women's bathroom.

I stood over the sink and clutched the edge of the counter as I began to cry. My tears splashed into the ceramic sink bowl and my shoulders shook with my sobs.

This is so unfair. I miss Barb. I miss her so much, it feels like it might kill me.

I heard the door open slowly but I didn't look up. "Belle?"

I felt Nancy put her hand on my back again and for once in my life, I didn't pretend that I was okay when other people were around. In fact, I threw my arms around Nancy's neck and sobbed into her shoulder.

She just held me tight and I felt her start to cry as well.

"I just wish it was her, you know?" My voice cracked. "I wish that Barb was here, and I was visiting her. I wish that she was okay."

"Yeah," Nancy's voice trembled. "I know."

We just stood there in the middle of the ladies room and cried for at least ten minutes straight. When we finally calmed ourselves enough to step outside, we saw that Jonathan was leaning against the wall across from the bathroom door, waiting for us.

He stepped towards us, alarmed when he saw our puffy eyes and red noses, putting a comforting hand on Nancy's shoulder.

"I'm really sorry you guys," He muttered. "I wish we could've saved her too."

I looked over at Nancy and saw her looking up at Jonathan with a sparkle in her eye. I dropped my gaze to the floor and bit my lip to hide my smile at them. When I looked up again, I peered down the hall, back towards Will's room.

I caught Ashley poking her head out and staring at me. Once we made eye contact she quickly ducked back inside like nothing had happened. I sighed sadly.

"I'll drive you guys home, yeah?" Jonathan offered. Nancy and I nodded and then the three of us left the hallway and made our way out to Jonathan's car.

━━

*.✧ 𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 *.✧
Christmas Eve, 1983

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*.✧ 𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐋𝐄𝐘 ✧.*

"Something is coming...something angry. Hungry for blood. It's almost here." Mike's voice was low.

"What is it?" Will exclaimed, slapping the game board frustratedly.

I laughed at his eagerness. "Will! Calm down!"

The boys had tried to convince me to join their D&D party, but I managed to compromise with them and say that I'd play with them for one short campaign, and this is the one that they picked to do with me.

And there's no place I'd rather be, or people I'd rather be with. I was glad to have made some friends, it felt nice. I am happy.

"It's the thessalhydra, I'm telling you guys!" Dustin exclaimed.

"No way." Lucas countered.

Mike slammed a tiny figurine on the table top. "The thessalhydra!"

We all groaned.

"It roars in anger!" Mike went on. "Will, your action!"

"What should I do!? I-" Will started.

"Fireball him!" Lucas and Dustin exclaimed.

Will looked to me and I held my head in my hands in mock agony for a dramatic effect. Then I looked back up at him with a smirk. "Fireball the bastard." I said.

Will grinned and grabbed the dice. He tossed them onto the table and we all watched eagerly to see what the roll would be. 14! We jumped up from our seats with excitement.

"Direct hit!" Mike said. "Will the Wise's fireball hits the thessalhydra. It makes a painful-" Mike let out an animalistic impression of the mthycial beast. "And then...it crumbles to the ground!" Mike got out of his chair and crouched. "It reaches for you one last time with it's clawed hand and, and, and..." Then Mike fell to the floor, playing dead.

The four of us cheered as Mike layed on the floor, motionless.

Then the door to the basement at the top of the stairs opened and Jonathan came down the into my room. I rose to my feet and Will did the same. "Bye Ash, bye Will!" The other boys chorused. We waved to them before the three of us went upstairs.

Right as we were about to go out the front door, Nancy called out from the top of the steps. "Hey Jonathan, Ashley, wait up!"

She came down the stairs and approached us, holding two wrapped Christmas presents. She handed one to me and the other to Jonathan. She looked at me and told me, "It's from Belle. She told me to give it to you."

My heart skipped a beat and my breath hitched but I don't think Nancy noticed, because she just turned away and looked at Jonathan to tell him about his present.

I moved away from everyone, facing the wall, before I pulled the ribbon from the present and then peeled the wrapping paper back. It was a very small velvet box, and it fit in the palm of my hand. As I finished taking off the rest of the gingham patterned paper, I realized it was a jewelry box.

With a gentle hand, I removed the lid from the small black box. Inside was a thin, silver, sparkling bracelet. I gasped. It was so pretty!

I held it up out of the box to examine it further. It had a purple stone embedded in the center. I was so entranced by this beautiful bracelet that it scared me when Will asked me what it was.

I showed him and he smiled at me. "That is a really nice gift. It seems like that girl really likes you." Then he turned away and back to Jonathan.

I clasped the bracelet around my wrist as I let his words sink in. I was shaken out of my second trance of the night by Jonathan who was grabbing my arm and dragging me out the door. The whole car ride home, Will's words kept playing over and over in my head.

It seems like that girl really likes you.

*.✧ 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄 ✧.*

"I made Barb's favorite!" Mom said, bringing a casserole dish over to the table where Dad and I sat. Mom took her seat at the table and sighed contently while looking over the kitchen table that was piled high with food.

"Let's say a prayer, shall we, honey?" Mom looked over at Dad, who nodded. We all took each other's hands and Dad began to speak.

"Dear Lord, please bless this food and help it nourish our bodies. And please bring our precious Barbara back soon, you know how much we all miss her."

My eyes started to water and Mom squeezed my hand, assuming that I was emotional because Barb was missing, not because I knew what had happened to her. And that I knew that she was gone.

Dad finished the prayer with an amen and then him and Mom started to dig in, but I had lost my appetite. I pushed myself up from the table, lying and excusing myself to the bathroom. I went upstairs and locked myself in my bedroom.

I broke down into sobs before I even made it to my bed, so I let myself hit my knees on my floor and just let it out. I cried for a solid five minutes before I was interrupted by my phone ringing.

I debated answering it, but when it continued on ringing I figured I better make sure it wasn't an emergency. I crawled across my floor, trying to stop my flowing tears. I grabbed my phone off my dresser and brought it down with me on the floor. I took a deep breath, wiped my face and then answered.

"Hello?" I asked, forcing my voice to come out stable.

"Hey, Belle, it's Ashley!"

I felt my heart swell at the sound of her voice and I bit my lip to fight my smile. "Oh, hi Ash! Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas to you as well. Speaking of which, you didn't tell me you were getting me a present. I didn't even get a chance to buy you something!"

I gulped as I realized that she had gotten the bracelet. It was a bold move, I know, but I figured that I might as well just go for it. I mean, as shown by past events, life can be short. If something happened to me, I didn't want to have any regrets.

"Oh, yeah," I said, trying to remain calm. "I'm glad you like it. And don't even worry about getting me anything, I got one for myself!" I brought my hand to play with the silver bracelet with the purple pendant that was on my wrist. It matched the one I had given to Ashley.

"I thought that after everything that happened, we should be friends. And I feel like friends that have been through the shit that we have together should have friendship bracelets, don't you think?" I finished.

I waited nervously for her reply. Her cute laugh echoed over the speaker and the sound made me blush.

"Of course!" She gushed. "We are totally best friends after all that!"

I couldn't stop my heart from sinking when she said 'best friends'. It felt a little bit like I had just been friendzoned, even though I technically had said it first. It was stupid of me to ever assume we could ever be more.

"Yeah," I said, faking a smile and a positive tone. "Best friends."

"Anyways, I have to tell you about this drama with Nancy!" Ashley went on. "I was at her house today, playing D&D with the boys, and I saw her on the couch with Steve! Can you believe that!? I guess they are back together!"

"You have got to be joking!" I leaned into the playful banter, ignoring my aching heart. After a few minutes of gossiping, my sadness genuinely left my chest and I was able to enjoy our playful conversation.

I got so into the juicy gossip that Ashley was spilling that I didn't even notice the faint rumbling coming from underneath the house.

And I definitely didn't see my lamp flicker.

𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐄𝐃...

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ೃ༄ author's note!

omg i can't believe this season is over 😭 i put a lot of time and effort into it so i REALLY appreciate if you read it all the way to the end.

ashley saying that it hurt too much to see will all hooked up in the hospital, oh honey just wait until next season you've got a big storm coming! 🤧

aww poor belle. she really just misses barb. i hope she doesn't have too much survivors guilt and regrets that would affect her in later seasons!! how awful would that be 🤗

ALSO BELLE AND ASHLEY OMG!!
#BELLEY!!
i love them so much, i wonder what's in store for them in the future! oh that's right! i already know! 😈

so, season one may be over, but there are still three more seasons to insert belle and ashley into and i'm excited!! it's coming soon, i promise!

while i finish up season two, make sure to check out my eddie munson fanfic; 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐃.

here's a sneak peak!

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ೃ༄ PROLOGUE

Ten at night and still no phone call. Lizzie Harrington should have seen this coming.

She had been waiting for her big brother, Steve, to call her once he got off of work, and as usual he had forgotten to do so.

He was probably crashing at a friend's house, or working late yet another night. Lizzie knew that he wasn't partying, or it wasn't very likely. Steve had changed, grown up even, over the past two years, and in a good way at that.

But self improvement or not, he still forgets to call his baby sister.

Typical.

Finally Lizzie gave up and left her post by the family phone in the living room. She sighed, feeling slightly disappointed, and went upstairs to her bedroom.

She was home alone again, with Steve M.I.A and her parents working late, like they did almost every night these past few months.

At first, Lizzie liked the quiet, with Steve at his job at a local video store, and her parents God knows where, selling some sort of scam to innocent, unsuspecting customers. It gave her time to think.

And time to paint.

Lizzie loved to paint. Everywhere she went, she felt overshadowed by Steve. At school especially. Boys were always trying to get with her, assuming she was a flirt like Steve. This made girls think she was a slut.

None of this was true, in fact, Lizzie hadn't slept with anyone, ever. She had never even had her first kiss. And she was content with this fact.

She shut her bedroom door behind her, quietly padding over to her desk. She slid into the chair and picked up a paintbrush.

She had started a piece earlier, before school. A painting of a lake, which was reflecting the pink sunset as the waves lapped, and the bank was blanketed in white flowers.

She dipped into her watercolors, adding some dimension with a darker shade of blue.

Because of the presumptuous ideas that everybody had of her, Lizzie didn't have many friends. And she was okay with that. She didn't find herself yearning for human connection like most people her age. Instead, she preferred her own company, a cup of tea and some watercolor paints.

Steve had always been the social one, constantly making new friends and going to parties. It was never Lizzie's scene.

On top of that, because of Steve's poor school record, teachers would expect Lizzie to be trouble, or for her to get bad grades.

Lizzie, of course, was a straight A student, with a perfect record but still the adults love to assume.

The kids were worse, always trying to invite her to parties or to skip class with them, or something along those lines. Lizzie always denied them, walking away before they could call her a goody two shoes.

She liked being a goody two shoes. It was comfortable, and it was safe. Besides, when all these partygoing losers realize that they peaked in highschool and have no actual plan for their life, Lizzie will be long gone at a nice college, studying hard and preparing to become an art teacher, her dream career.

Nothing was going to throw Lizzie off of this path that she had planned for herself.

Nothing.

━━

i'm very excited for it and i have grown to love lizzie so very much, and i hope you guys to do!

make sure to follow me so you will be notified when i update that, and when i start season two for this book!

love you lots,
catie ♡

(p.s. for every comment on this line, i'll reply with a minor spoiler for season two hehe)

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𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄; mind over matter
' 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆, 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒎𝒆? '𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊'𝒎 𝒂 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍... '

FINISHED.

ೃ༄ ACT TWO COMING SOON.