Will Byers is missing. I used to babysit Will every time Joyce and Jonathan's shifts at work clashed and Will was at home by himself with no one to keep an eye on him. We would just sit and watch cartoons until his Mom or brother came home from work. I don't know Jonathan too well, but I know him well enough to give him a hug of sympathy and that is my goal for today.

"Hello?" Steve calls, trying to get my attention. "Earth to Liz. Earth to Liz. Do you copy?"

"Yes, I copy," I try to joke, but it sounds so unenthusiastic, it actually sounds pathetic. "Sorry, my mind's just in a different place since Will went missing."

"He'll be fine, he's probably just done a runner from home," Steve shrugs off, trying to help, but doing the total opposite. "It's nothing to worry about, I promise you."

"You don't know Will like I do," I shake my head at the boy. "He's not really rebellious like we were at that age. He's always back before curfew."

"Just try not to worry about it, I'm sure he's fine," Steve waves me off. I start to get riled up, but I don't react. I begin to sulk and I stop talking to him until he understands what he has done wrong.

"Beth, what's with the face ache?" I hear a voice say from behind me. I turn around to see Tommy and Carol walking up to Steve and me.

"Tommy, kindly fuck off," I bluntly reply. "I'm not in the mood for you, today."

"You weren't saying the same thing a couple of weeks ago," he snaps back at me, making my heart sink. Surely he isn't going to tell Carol?

"What?" Carol questions, getting rather confused, looking frantically between the two of us. "What does he mean?"

"We seemed a lot closer than that, that's all," Tommy replies, spitefully. He looks at me, intently, knowing that he's pushing my buttons and how close I am to having a mental breakdown.

My heart starts to pick up the pace of beating and my palms get sweaty. I clench my fists in tight balls, keeping them directly by my sides. My nails start digging into my palms and I can feel them ripping off the top layers of skin. A hand grabs my clenched fists, which loosen at the gesture.

"Tommy, don't be such a dick," Steve shakes his head at his best friend. "She's got a lot going on at the moment and she doesn't need you making a tit out of her."

"Chill, man," Tommy smiles, sarcastically. "I was only messing with her."

"When alpha particles go through gold foil, they become..."

"Unoccupied space."

"A molecule that can-" Barb is cut off by Steve removing the flashcards from her hands, and by doing so, letting go of mine. "Hey!"

"I don't know, I think you've studied enough, Nance," Steve explains, looking down at the colored flashcards.

"Steve," Nancy begins to talk, but she is once again, cut off by the boy himself.

"I'm telling you, you know, you got this," Steve assures her. "Don't worry. Now, onto more important matters. My Dad has left town on a conference and my Mom has gone with him, cause, you know she doesn't trust him."

"Good call," Tommy jokes, but everyone ignores him.

"So, are you in?" Steve asks Nancy.

"In for what?" Nancy questions Steve, looking slightly confused.

"No parents? Big house?" Carol elaborates for Nancy.

"A party?" Nancy answers her own question. Carol makes a dinging noise and Nancy looks confused. "It's Tuesday."

"It's Tuesday," Tommy mocks her. "Oh my God!" He and Carol laugh at poor Nancy, who is standing there, looking slightly intimidated.

"Guys, can you just seriously grow up?" I let out a sigh of annoyance at the two. I turn to Nancy. "It'll be lowkey. It'll just be us. What do you say? Are you in or are you out?"

Nancy hesitates a second before she is cut off by Carol. "Oh, God, look." We all look in the direction she is looking to see Jonathan pinning up missing posters for Will.

"Oh, God, that's depressing," Steve grimaces, looking at Jonathan in slight disgust. I scoff at him and fold my arms over my chest.

"Should we say something?" Nancy asks the group, concern laced in her words as she spoke to us.

"I don't think he speaks," Carol shakes her head.

"If you actually bothered to talk to him, then you would know that he does speak and he is a really nice guy," I tell her in return. "But you're too self-centered for that, right?"

"To say you're in the popular group, you know quite a lot of losers, don't you?" Carol quips back in response.

"How much do you want to bet he killed him?" Tommy speaks out.

I raise my hand up and hit him harshly across the face, my hand making a sharp clapping noise -as it hit his left cheek. "Shut up, Tommy."

"You bitch!" Tommy yells as I begin to walk over to Jonathan and smile as I approach him. "Hey."

"Oh, hey," he replies, warily. He looks beyond my shoulder to see the whole group behind me, watching.

"I just wanted to say - um - I'm sorry about everything," I tell him. He still keeps looking over my shoulder, so I turn around to see them all intently staring. "Everyone's thinking about you." He nods his head and looks to the ground. "It sucks."

"Yeah," Jonathan replies, quietly.

"I'm sure he's fine," I try to reassure him, but the uncertainty in my voice tells him otherwise. "He's a smart kid." The school bell rings and everyone in the hall starts to clear out and go to their next classes. "Look, I've got to go, but stop by mine after school and I'll help you put up posters around town."

"Yeah, will do," he nods his head.

"Good luck," I say, beginning to walk away, heading back to the group of five behind me. "Attention faculty and students. At 8 pm tonight, there will be an assembly on the football field, in support of Will Byers and his family."

"Beth, you're really going downhill on us, aren't you?" Carol asks, looking down her nose at me.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I reply as we all turn around to go to our next classes.

"Socialising with losers isn't exactly what you're supposed to be known for, you know, being popular and all," she explains, still keeping an eye on me.

"Can you be any more pathetic, Carol?" I scoff at her, not believing those words just came out of her mouth. "You judge people before you know them and it's unfair. You treat people like shit, Carol, and I'm not standing for it anymore. You need to knock it off."

"Okay, I'm going to go to Chemistry now," Nancy states, before leaving with Barb for her next class.

"Who's pissed in your coffee this morning?" Tommy intervenes, trying to make it all into a joke.

"Fuck off, Tommy, this doesn't involve you," I snap at him. He gets a look in his eyes and it sends a chill down my spine. He knows exactly what to say and knows how to push my buttons.

"Hm, I find it interesting that you don't like getting involved with me anymore," Tommy retorts back. I get a spur of anger through my body. My heart begins beating really fast and I raise my hand to his cheek, hearing it crack as it makes contact.

"Woah, Liz," Steve finally cuts in, pulling me away from Tommy and placing me behind him, before Tommy can reach for me and hit me back. "That's enough, all of you," Steve tells the three of us. "I'm going to leave everything up to you guys to sort all of this out before tonight."

"Personally, I don't see what I did wrong," Carol mutters to herself, crossing her arms over her chest. "Liz, can we just sort this out, the two of us, first?" She questions. I don't give her an audible reply, just the nod of my head. "Bleachers?" I sigh and nod my head.

We both head over to the bleachers, deciding to skip class. I pull out a packet of cigarettes from my pocket, taking one for myself and handing one to Carol. She gets out her lighter, and I do the same. We both light our cigarettes and inhale the toxic smoke, before letting it all out in a sharp exhale.

"What's going on between you and Tommy?" Carol finally speaks up, breaking the silence. We both sit down on the bleachers and I throw my bag down on the floor. "You used to be so close but recently, you've both been on edge and you've been fighting a lot more," Carol points out to me. "What's happened? Has something gone on?"

I take a moment to think about how I am going to answer her question. I take another puff of the cigarette before answering her. "No," I lie. "Nothing's happened," I lie again. I can never tell her what really happened. I've only ever told Steve and he swore to keep it a secret and I trust that it's safe with him.

"Guess it's just a clash of personalities or something," Carol shrugs her shoulders, oblivious to the whole thing. I do feel bad for her and I do feel really guilty for it and I definitely regret everything that happened. It was a big mistake which I hope she never finds out about.

"Yeah, must be," I sigh, taking one, last, long puff of the cigarette before putting it out on the bleachers. Carol does the same and we both flick the butts away onto the field. "No matter what, Carol, you know I love you, right?"

"Of course I do, Beth, same goes for you, no matter what, I'll stick by your side," she replies, putting her arm around my shoulder.

"No matter what?" I ask her, thinking of all my wrongdoings in the past. She nods her head in reply, offering me her pinky. I wrap my pinky round hers and confirm the promise that we will stick together no matter what - but I already know if she finds out what I did, then she'll never forgive me ever again.