"Okay, fine," you say. A little shy in front of your friends, you give Steve a soft kiss on the cheek. "Please be safe."

"Always," he says. He gives your hand a reassuring squeeze.

You wish your friends luck and drive home. You settle on the couch with a cup of tea, hoping to distract yourself from the stress of what's going on in town.

You don't sleep as well without Steve next to you. Early in the morning, the sound of your phone ringing startles you. It's early for a call, but you assume it's Steve.

"Steve? How did it go yesterday?"

"Hi, Waldenbooks," a boy's voice says apologetically. "Sorry, it's not Steve."

"Lucas!" you say, a tad surprised to hear Lucas Sinclair on the other line. "Sorry. What's up?"

"I need your help," he says. You can hear his voice waver over the phone. "I'm with my basketball teammates and I'm kind of...in danger."

Your blood pressure spikes. Cradling the phone between your shoulder and ear, you reach for your car keys off the hook by the door.

"Where are you?" you demand. "I'm coming to get you."

"Wait, hold on!" Lucas pleads. "We have to be subtle about this. The guys I'm with...they're bad news."

"Lucas, you're scaring me."

"I'm scared too!" he says. He lowers his voice. "Jason Carver's girlfriend is the one who got killed and he thinks Eddie Munson did it. And now he's got all the Tigers hunting the Hellfire Club, but-"

"But you're in the Hellfire Club," you finish.

"Exactly! They haven't figured me out yet, but they have plans to go by Eddie's band practice. And if Corroded Coffin lets it slip that I'm a part of the group..."

Lucas doesn't have to finish the thought. You met your fair share of asshole jocks in your past life before Hawkins.

"What do you need me to do?" you ask.

Lucas rattles off an address. You scramble for a pen and an old coupon to scribble it down.

"Park down the block from there," Lucas instructs. "And keep the door unlocked. I'll make a break for it."

You drive past the house in question and see the garage door open. A group of boys in letterman jackets seem to be starting some kind of ruckus with Eddie's bandmates. You wonder if you should go in there and break it up.

Before you can, Jason and his cronies are climbing back into his car. You see Lucas look your way. You wave frantically, ushering him to run to your getaway car.

However, Jason must say something that intimidates him, because Lucas gets into the backseat of his vehicle.

You curse and shift your car into drive. Leaving a wide-enough berth so it doesn't look suspicious, you begin following the Tigers. Lucas needs an extraction, and you aren't sure how to get it for him.

You end up in Dustin's neighborhood. Scratch that-you end up at Dustin's house. You've been once before, for a Christmas party thrown by his mom. Again, you park far enough away to keep from looking suspicious. You watch as Lucas bolts to the back of the house.

You take the chance to sneak out of your car and run where Lucas went. You catch a glimpse at his legs disappearing into Dustin's window.

"Lucas!" you hiss, climbing on a tree stump to get a view inside. "What are you doing? Get in the car!"

"I can't!" Lucas says, powering up Dustin's fancy Cerebro radio. "I have to warn Dustin!"

"I have a walkie. We can do that from the safety of my car. LET'S GO!"

Lucas vehemently disagrees that this can't wait, that he needs the power of Cerebro to ensure Dustin gets the message, and you watch and listen as he speaks with Dustin.

"Who the hell are you?"

You stumble off your tree trunk at the menacing voice behind you. You turn and inwardly groan. It's Jason and his teammates, and they look pissed.

"Oh, hi!" you say. "Sorry, I don't think we've met." You stick out a hand to shake and introduce yourself.

Jason doesn't shake your hand. He just glares at it, and then at you.

"What are you doing here?" he snaps. "And what are you doing, Sinclair?"

"They're Dustin's babysitter!" Lucas blurts out. "They're also looking for him."

"Right," you say, a lie falling off your tongue smoothly as Lucas climbs out of the window clumsily. "The little punk was supposed to pay me an advance for watching him next weekend, but he didn't, so..."

"Do you have any idea where he might be?" Jason asks, stepping closer.

You shake your head.

"Sorry. No clue."

Jason narrows his eyes.

"You're with Harrington, aren't you?" he asks. "The Melvald's clerk he's obsessed with?"

"I don't see how that's relevant," you drawl, "but yes, we're dating."

"That's funny," Jason's friend in the baseball hat pipes up. "You don't seem his type."

You aren't sure what that means. It irritates you anyway.

"Well, this was a bust," you say, ignoring him, "and I don't feel very welcomed here. C'mon, Lucas."

Jason steps in front of Lucas to stop him following you.

"You aren't leaving until we find Henderson," Jason warns.

"Yeah," Hat Man says. "Tell Steve's Bitch you'll see them around."

That has you seeing red. How dare he speak about you that way?! You're about to tell him off, but before you can, Lucas says:

"I think I know where Dustin or Eddie might be!"

You swallow hard. Lucas wouldn't sell out Dustin. Would he? Wherever he is, Steve is probably with him. And you know Steve can hold his own in a one-on-one fight, but one-on-three, Steve vs. Tigers? You don't love his odds.

Lucas assures Jason and Co. that he'll lead them to Dustin. He gives you a look and says, "Waldenbooks, can we reschedule our lunch plans? Dairy Queen, 6 o'clock?"

"Dairy Queen, 6 o'clock" is a code word that you all came up with after Starcourt. Dustin, Lucas, and Erica thought it would make sense to have secret codes in case you had to speak about secret plans in front of any sort of villain. It means 'Watch my six,' or 'watch my back.'

"I'll buy the Blizzards," you affirm-the code that means, 'I've got you.' "See you, Lucas."

You stand back while Jason, Lucas, and the Tigers climb back into his car. You don't want them to see what your car looks like so you can keep following them. As soon as they're out of sight, you hop into your car and hit the gas, leaving a two-car following distance so you won't get spotted.

***

Jason parks by a secluded stretch of forest. You park a few yards away, grumbling and wondering how Lucas is going to get away from his basketball team "buddies."

You keep the doors unlocked, and it's a good thing too. A while later, you see a light bobbing through the trees, and suddenly Lucas with a flashlight barrels into your car and says, "DRIVE!"

He doesn't have to tell you twice. You hit the gas and peel away, hoping to give lots of distance between you and Jason.

"Where are those guys?" you ask, glancing in the rearview mirror to make sure you aren't being followed.

"At Hopper's old cabin," Lucas explains, huffing and puffing to catch his breath. "I lied and told them Hellfire liked to hang out there."

He instructs you to drive to Hawkins High. He wants to meet Dustin, Max, and Steve and debrief about what he learned from Jason. You relay that yesterday, they met with Eddie to learn what he saw when Chrissy was killed, but that you haven't spoken with them since.

You see Steve and Nancy's cars parked at the school when you arrive. You and Lucas sprint through the hallways, trying to navigate to where the others are when-

"AHHHH!" Steve screams, hoisting a lamp over his head as you and Lucas turn a corner.

"AHHHH!" You and Lucas scream back, startled.

"What the hell!" Steve says, lowering the lamp. "I could've taken you both out with this lamp!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Lucas says, breathless. He explains the trouble with Jason, but you soon find out there's worse trouble brewing: the murderer is a creature from the Upside Down, and he's got his sights set on Max next.

MAX IS CURSED. GO TO PAGE 29 TO CONTINUE THE STORY.