Chapter Two

I woke up warm. I smiled a little but then it dawn on me, I had stayed the night at Steve Harrington's house. I mentally groaned as the sunlight seeps through on a Wednesday morning.

"Steve," I whispered his name and he lets out a moan in response, causing me to frown. "Steve!" I had thrown the pillow that I was using, smacking him right in the face. I repeated it until he finally woke up.

"Juno, go back to bed, it's too early," Steve mumbled, rolling over. I sighed and climbed out of bed, going to check if Nancy is still there. I walked down the hallway quietly and peeked into the spare bedroom, only to find a messy bed and no Nancy.

I groaned loudly, Nancy had left me. Great. Standard at Steve's. I walked back into Steve's room and checked the time, it was 7.00 AM. That's still pretty good for me.

I threw the pillow at Steve once more. "Get up!" Steve finally, after some moaning and groaning, sat up and looked at me. "Nancy left me, and Barb, so looks like you're my ride to my house."

"So I'm your driver now? Jeez, Juno, crazy thought but why don't you get your licenses?" Steve asked.

"I'm scared of the roads," I told him, crossing my arms over my chest. "Now, get ready, please! Make it snappy, I don't want my Dad finding out that I wasn't home."

"Okay, okay!"

︾

"I don't understand why Nancy has to drive all the way out here when I'm already here?" Steve asked, cocking his head slightly as we wait in his car outside my cabin. Dad's work Ute is still here, so that means he's still home, which means I need to sneak through my bedroom window.

"Because, Nance always drives me," I tell him. Steve just gives me a look. "Fine, fine. I'll give her a call and tell her not to bother picking me up, that would save her gas."

"Okay," Steve agreed happily.

"I'll be back in ten minutes." I quickly said and climbed out of his car. I had worn Steve's clothes, one of his longs sleeved t-shirts with a sweatshirt and some sweat pants. My bare feet walk along the grass and to around the back, avoiding to get seen.

I eventually climb through my unlocked window, and rolly polly onto the ground. I jumped up and closed the window.

Suddenly, my door bursts open, causing me a near heart attack. "Dad!" I gasped. "Whatever happened to the knocking system?! I could've been naked!"

Dad rolled his eyes. "Stop being dramatic, and sorry, I forgot." He didn't seem hungover at all, but he looked like he just had sex. I rolled my eyes, knowing he has women outside with him. "Nice to see you up—Who's clothes is that?"

I almost blushed and he caught me wearing Steve's clothes. "A—A friends."

"A friends?" Dad questioned. When it came to boys, Dad was insanely over protective of me. I'm 17 and still haven't had my first boyfriend, I'm scared Dad will send them running away. "Is this friend a boy?"

I scoffed dramatically. "No! Who do you think I am?" I lied through my teeth. He nodded ever so hesitantly.

"Alright, I'm just here to tell you to get your ass to school. What time's Nancy picking you up?" Dad asked and I was surprised. Usually, he was always asleep around this time.

"Like, any minute," I responded, going through my closet of things. I chose a simple outfit, some jeans, a crop top and Steve's sweatshirt around my waist. "About to get changed, hello?"

"Right, sorry," Dad apologised before closing the door again and I sighed before changing. I quickly changed, knowing Steve was waiting for me. I exited my room and that sound of Dad's Ute was heard, I shrugged.

I walked around and a woman suddenly came in, frowning as I turned to her. "Who are you?" She asked and I recognised her to be the librarian. I snorted in disbelief, Dad went that low. 

"I'm his daughter, who are you?" I fired back, placing a hand on his hips.

She just rolled her eyes. "Where's your father?"

"Probably gone to work, where you should be," I answered, she was getting on my nerves. "And if you think there's something going on between you, you're mistaken. You're not the first girl I've seen come out of that bedroom."

She just glared at me, coming out of the bedroom. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

"Well, someone's gotta lock the house. So if you could kindly leave, that would be outstandingly wonderful!" I beamed, making a hand gesture towards the door. With a sour expression, the woman leaves without a word, huffing and puffing like she was a dragon.

I waited a few minutes, grabbed some of the things I'd need for school, then walked out of the house and locked it. I walked down the pathway, and saw Steve's car there, he must've come in after Dad had left.

He toots the horn. "Let's go!" He yelled and I rolled my eyes.

"Coming! Don't cream your pants, honestly," I tell him as I climbed into the car, running a hand through my hair.

"Who was that that came out of your house looking like she was gonna cry?" Steve questioned as he began the drive to school.

"I dunno, one of my Dad's hookups," I respond, putting on the seatbelt.

"Your Dad still gets hookups?" Steve asked, surprised. "Well, go Hopper."

"Ew, don't say that." I faked gag, as he turned out of our street and onto the main roads.

︾

I wait by my locker, alone. Which was unusual, I hadn't seen Nancy or Barb, and it started to concern me. My crazy thoughts died down when Nancy walked over to me, clutching onto her books, with a concerned expression.

"Hey, Juno." Nancy spoke. "I'm so, so sorry I left you at Steve's house. I had to go, otherwise my Mom would've killed me, please don't be mad at me."

"No, it's fine, Nance." I reassured her. Whatever I was feeling this morning completely left me. "Hey, have you seen Barb, by any chance?"

"No?" Nancy questioned. "I—I thought she left."

"Oh, that's weird," I spoke, frowning. "She never misses school. That chick lives for school, too."

"I know." Nancy bites her lower lip. "She'll show up. I think."

"Yeah—" I felt someone grab me by the waist, scaring the shit out of me. I let out a gasp and turned around, ready to smack them but it was just Steve and his stupid grinning face. "You're an asshole, Steve Harrington."

"I've been told before." Steve chuckled. "Hey, you good? You look worried. If you're worried that I told anyone about last night, I haven't—"

"I don't care about that." I shoved Steve away from me, stepping back with Nancy. "You haven't seen Barb, have you?"

"Who's that?" Steve asked and I glared at him. "I'm kidding, jeez. No. I haven't seen your little weird friend around."

"She's not weird, Steve." I defend her, not liking the attitude he was giving. "Well if you see her can you let me or Nance know?"

"Yeah, totally." Steve nodded his head. He glanced at Nancy for the first time today then back at me, letting Nancy know he's acknowledged her. "I'll see you?"

"You wish." I respond back, turning back to my opened locker as he leaves.

"You guys are so cute," Nancy gushes beside me. "You need to reconsider a relationship with him, like right now."

"Woah, Nance." I turned to her. "We're not starting this shit again, okay? Steve and I are just friends."

"With benefits," Nancy added on, giving me a smug look. "Oh, come on! Steve's looking at you with love in his eyes, I can see it. Why don't you just give up with the act already?"

"What act?" I questioned her. "There's no act. I don't like him like that. He's just a good hookup." The bell rings before Nancy could speak. "Come on, let's just go to class."

︾

The rest of the day was an entire blur. I couldn't but wonder where Barb was the entire day. She hadn't shown up to any of her classes, and I began to really worry about her. What happened? Maybe she was sick and had taken the rest of the day off.

Nancy and I had ended up calling Barb's parents on the phone at school, but they didn't know where she was, either. We had to lie about her so her parents wouldn't worry.

Now, I'm with Nancy walking out of the school, talking about Barb with Nancy. "I don't know, am I the only one getting a bad feeling about this?" Nancy asked. "She's not at home, she's not at school, where the hell could she be?"

"I don't know," I responded. "I'm just as stuck as you are Nance. I could try talking to my Dad about it, but he's already got Will's case and I don't want to stress him out even more than he already is."

Nancy sighed and my eyes trained over to where Steve was. He was with Tommy, Carol, a redhead girl called Nicole standing by Jonathan's car, who was with them.

"What's happening over there?" Nancy questioned.

"Dunno, but it can't be anything good." I tell her as we approached them.

"There's the starring lady!" Tommy H called out to me, eyeing me with a wide smirk on his face his arm is wrapped around Carol. Nicole had a mean look on her face. I disliked Nicole, she would do anything to get on Steve's and his gang's good side.

"What?" I asked, crossing my arms. "Can y'all stop teasing Jonathan and give back his photos?"

"You might wanna see this, then. This creep was spying on us last night." Carol informed us and Nancy looked at him, shocked. "He was probably gonna save this for later."

She hands me a photo and I looked at it, snatching it from Carol. I eyed the photo and my mouth pursed together, a photo of me taking off my shirt. I looked at Jonathan, wanting an explanation but he just looked guilty.

"See... You can tell that he knows it was wrong, but..." Steve clicked his tongue. "Man, that's the thing about perverts... It's hardwired into 'em. You know, they just can't help themselves." Steve tears up a picture. "So... We'll just have to take his toy away."

"Steve..." Nancy began worriedly, looking over at him.

"No, please, not the camera." Jonathan begged, making me almost feel bad for him. But how could I when he took photos of me basically naked?

Jonathan tried to lunge forward to take the camera away but Tommy stepped in. "No, no, wait. Tommy, Tommy." Steve tells Tommy as he chuckled. "It's okay." Steve holds Jonathan's camera out to him. "Here you go, man."

Steve lets it drop. Tommy gives him a mock sympathetic look.

"Come on, let's go. The game's about to start." Steve tells us. That's right, I forgot I had agreed to go to this stupid basketball game because Nancy told me to.

Tommy gets into Jonathan's face. "Boo." Tommy whispered before leaving with Carol, Nicole, and Steve. Nancy began to slowly walk back, shaking her head and following slowly behind them.

I stayed put, giving him a menacing stare. "I don't know what the hell's your game, Jonathan, but whatever you're doing you need to stop."

Jonathan bends down and tried to pick up the pieces of his camera. "I'm—I'm sorry, Juno." Jonathan stuttered out, not looking at me.

"I hope you find your brother," I added quietly, before looking down at some photos. I then saw one of Barb that was shredded. I quickly picked those up and stuffed them into my side bag.

"Juno, let's go!" I heard Steve's voice call and I turned.

"Coming!" I respond, before walking away from Jonathan. Steve and Nancy were waiting for me and I sprint walk toward them. Once I reached them Steve had wrapped an arm around my shoulder, which any other time I would've shoved him off and told him to go to hell, but I felt extremely uncomfortable and I'm sure he only did that as a protective thing.

I linked arms with Nancy. "You okay? That was totally creepy." Steve asked gently, looking down at me.

"I'll be fine, I guess." I somewhat lied and we walked towards the school, going to the basketball game.