▸ Tumbling Dice - The Rolling Stones

W I L L T H E W I S E

"Maybe I should just avoid boys in general." I grumbled into my straw as I sipped a strawberry milkshake.

We were outside of Amanda's house sitting in lawn chairs and starting out into the forrest. A Rolling Stones cassette was loudly playing in the background from a boombox. There was a loud cough coming from Chad.

"Except you boys." I chuckled out, sending them a small smile. Chad grinned and gave me a thumbs up.

"There is nothing wrong with being single." Rebecca pointing her shake at me. She was sitting on my brother's lap. "Take your time. You have the rest of your life to find someone."

"No," Amanda scoffed. We turned too look at her with confusion. "You're gonna be with Steve. Just you watch."

"I'm with Manda." Danny nodded in agreement, wrapping his arm around Rebecca.

"What?" I blinked at him.

"Yeah, you and Steve are gonna get together and then he will be my brother-in-law." Danny playfully winked at me. Everyone laughed as I sunk in my chair and angrily sipped my shake.

"Whatever." I huffed, reaching over to the plastic table next to me to turn up the volume. Tumbling Dice started to play and we all immediately started to sing loud and obnoxious.

"Baby, I can't stay, you got to roll me!" Chad practically yelled at the top of his lungs, standing up. He pulled Amanda to her feet, twirling her into his arms. "And call me the tumblin' dice."

"Always in a hurry," Amanda giggled out, moving her hips to the beat. "I never stop to worry."

Rebecca squirmed out of my brother's hold, placing her shake on the table. She grabbed mine as I drank from it.

"Hey!" I protested, covering my mouth to wipe away some of the drink that spilled onto my lips.

"Let's dance!" Becca tugged me out of my seat by my hands. "Amanda! Join us!"

Amanda eagerly walked to us, grabbing a hold of our hands. Laughs speed from our lips as we danced to the music. The boys just scoffed at us, only wanting to dance with their girls. 

"Girlfriend stealer." Danny stuck his tongue out at me.

"Hey, she came to me." I winked at him before getting into a fit of laughter.

▷

A few hours later, Danny and I finally arrived home. The gang and I are our fill in pizza as we watched reruns of The Brady Bunch.

As I was finishing up my math homework with Danny at the kitchen table, Dustin walked passed us. He went to the cupboard where Mom has the candy stashed.

"What are you doing?" I eyed my little brother.

"Getting some nougat for Dart." Dustin replied. He open the cupboard and grabbed two candy bars. After he closed it, he sent us a teeth-full grin. "Are you guys done with your homework yet?"

"Almost." Danny muttered, erasing an equation on his paper. "Why?"

"I got some news to tell you guys." Dustin licked his lips. Danny and I glanced at each other, anxious about what our brother had to say. "About Dart and Will."

"Give us ten minutes max and we will meet you in your room." I told him. Dustin gave us a curt nod and went straight to his room.

Danny and I quickly finished out homework with a minute to spare. We went to Dustin's room, nerves eating at me. I closed the door behind me after I entered the room behind my twin.

"So, what about Will and Dart?" Danny and I walked over to the terrarium that held Dart. The creature now had four legs. He had two earlier today. Dustin had broken more pieces of nougat for Dart to eat.

"Have I told you how Will is having episodes?" Dustin placed the second candy bar on his nightstand.

"No you haven't." I shook my head. "Will is having episodes? I thought Johnathon said that his mom was taking Will to some sort of doctor?"

"Yeah, but a few days ago Will started having episodes." Dustin frowned and scratched his head. "At least that's what he tells us."

"What type of episodes?" Danny questioned, crossing his arms.

"He keeps spacing out and he gets all unresponsive to us. He tells us that he keeps visiting the Upside Down." Dustin explained. "He had another episode today after school. I took Dart to show them. Turns out, we found out what he is."

"What is he?" I stepped closer to Dart, squatting to have an eye level view of the unknown creature.

"Demogorgon." Dustin replied. I jumped to my feet staring between Dart and Dustin.

"What?" I stuttered out, walking backwards to keep my distance from the small monster. My legs hit the bed, causing me to fall o to the mattress. "Are you kidding me?"

"What the hell, Dustin?" Danny gasped blinking in shock.

"But Dart is good!" Dustin quickly inputted. "He listens to me and he hasn't harmed us!"

"He's a monster, Dustin!" I snapped, pointing at Dart. "That thing, is what killed Barbra and took Will. We were almost killed by it."

"But Dart isn't the monster who attacked you!" Dustin rebutted. "He's only a baby."

"He's still a demogorgon." Danny told him. He quickly rushed out of the room, leaving Dustin and I alone.

"He won't hurt us." Dustin looked at me, his blue eyes begging me to believe him.

"Dustin..." I sighed, taking my fingers through my hair.

Danny came back into the room with his weapon from the last time we fought a demogorgon. He closed the door behind him and stomped towards Dart.

"Danny, no!" Dustin slide in between Danny and Dart. "He's not harmful!"

"He's a monster, Dustin. Move." Danny placed a hand on our little brother's shoulder. He gently moved him a side.

"He isn't a monster! Dawn," Dustin turned to look at me. He grasped my hands. Tears were looking in his eyes. "Don't kill him. Mike, Lucas, Will, and Max tried to earlier. Please don't."

"Danny," I looked up at him. Dustin's hold tightened. "Let's give him a chance."

"Thank you!" Dustin wrapped his arms around my waist.

"What?" Danny scoffed is disbelief, shaking his head.

"Dart hasn't harmed us. If he does," I glanced down at Dustin who looked up at me. "We put him down. He has one shot, you here me?"

"Yes, thank you, thank you!" Dustin happily hugged me again.

"One chance, Dustin." Danny glared at Dart. "If he harms any of us, including our pets, he's out of here."

"Okay." Dustin nodded in agreement, grinning at Dart who let out a chirp.

▷

It was seventh period and I was ready to go home.

"Ugh, I'm hungry!" I whined, leaning my head dramatically onto Amanda's shoulder. The boys were playing basketball again on the same teams.

"Lucky for you," Rebecca smirked as she bent down to get her bag from the floor. She unzipped it and reached her hand inside. When she pulled it out, she wiggled the bag of Cheese Puffs. "I'm loaded with snacks."

"You're the best!" I beamed, teaching for the bag.

"Nuh huh," Rebecca tsked, smacking my hand away. I frowned at her. "You got to tell me something first."

"You guys already know everything." I rolled my eyes, going for the bag again.

Smack.

"No." Rebecca raised an eyebrow. I nervously swallowed. She averted her gaze to the boys.  "Why are Steve and Billy eyeing you like you are some trophy?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" I exasperated, throwing my head back. "I just want food."

"And she isn't some trophy for someone to flaunt around." Amanda scoffed, glaring at the two boys. "Why do me always treat women like property? We are able to vote and get degrees now. We're are better than damn arm candy for them."

"Woah, cool it Manda." Rebecca patted her arm. "You okay?"

"Fine." Amanda sighed, rubbing her temples. "Mom and Dad are fighting again. My mom wants to go to college and have an actual degree but my dad won't let her. He says that it's going to be tough on her since she is black and people are still racist. Her being a women will only make it worse."

"I'm waiting for the day where women take over the world." I bluntly stated, grabbing the bag away from Becca. Opening it, I grabbed a cheese puff and popped it into my mouth. "We are going to show how tough women are."

"Or we could just become Amazons and like enslave men." Amanda shrugged with a playful grin. We laughed, grabbing more cheese puffs. "No, but seriously, once I'm old enough, I'm going to run for president. It's about time America sees that."

"And we will totally help you." Rebecca wrapped an arm around Amanda's shoulder.

"It wouldn't be girl power without the your squad." I grinned, nudging her shoulder.

"Now that sounds promising." Amanda beamed.

"All right! All right, all right!" Billy loudly laughed, dribbling the basketball in place. Steve was in front of him in a defensive stance. Everyone in the gym stopped what they were doing to watch the pair. "King Steve. King Steve, everyone."

"What the hell is he doing?" I muttered, nervously glancing at my friends.

"I have no clue." Amanda shrugged.

"He's starting shit, that's what." Rebecca glanced over to my brother. Danny shrugged in response.

"I like it. Playing tough today." Billy started to walk while dribbling.

"Jesus! Do you ever stop talking? Come on!" Steve said in frustration.

"What?" Billy laughed. "You afraid the coach is gonna bench you now that I'm here? Or that I'm going to steal your girl? Huh?"

Steve hesitated, moving his eyes to meet mine. Using that as a distraction, Billy shoved his shoulder against Steve. Steve fell to the ground as Billy moved around him. Hargrove ran towards the net, doing a lay up. The net swished as the ball hit the inside of the net.

Bryce, a junior, high fived Billy. Hargrove went over to Steve and held out a hand. Steve grasped it. Billy muttered something to Steve before letting go of Steve. Steve was left on the floor, staring after him.

"Get changed and hit the showers!" Coach yelled. The boys and girls who were out playing sports headed towards the showers.

"You know...now that I think about it. I could have done my chemistry homework." Rebecca hummed with a frown. She shrugged and popped a cheese puff into her mouth. "Oh well."

"Becca," I sighed, "you gotta take school more serious."

"Why?" Becca perked an eyebrow. "We're going to be a famous band after we graduate. What's the point?"

"What if we don't become a famous band? What if the band doesn't make it out of Hawkins? What then?" I flung my arms into the air.

"Dawn?" Amanda placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. Her brows were pulled together in confusion. "Is your mom still hounding you about college?"

"What if she's right?" I buried my hands into my face. "We won't make anything out of our band and we will be struggling to make money. And-and I want to be vet, too, because I want to help animals, but I want to sing and play-"

"Woah!" Rebecca held up a hand. "Woah, calm down. We still got time to decide our future."

"Do we?" I looked up at her, tugging at the ends of my hair. "We're already having to fill out scholarships and college applications."

"Do whatever makes you happy, Dawn." Amanda gave my shoulder a squeeze. "If you want to help out animals and become a vet, go for it. You want to be in a band, go for it. Hell, if you want to be a vet who is in a band that's the life right there. Just do something that makes you happy."

"Billy." Rebecca muttered.

"What? No. Not Billy." Amanda scoffed. She reached over and smacked Rebecca's arm. "Steve, Becca. It's Steve."

"First of all, ow!" Rebecca groaned, rubbing her arm. "Second of all, Billy is coming this way."

"Great." I sighed, looking at the bottom of the bleachers to see Billy making his way toward us. He had his shirt slung over his shoulder. Licking his lips, he waved me down. "I'll be back."

"Be careful." Amanda warned. I gave her a soft smile and climbed down the bleachers.

"Yeah?" I anxiously shoved my hands into my pockets.

"Look," Billy started. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not one to apologize or anything but...I did like the way we talked and stuff. You're a good friend, babe. It wasn't right of me to treat you like that."

"Damn right it wasn't." I nodded before sighing. "I should apologize too. I didn't mean to lash out on you like that...both times. I've just been stressed and I took it out on you."

"So, friends?" Billy held out his hand.

"Friends." I grinned, shaking it. I saw Steve in the back frowning at us with Danny and Chad. "See ya later, Billy."

"Later, babe." Billy winked at me, putting his shirt on as he walked away.

"What the hell, Dawn?" Danny, Chad, and Steve quickly made their way towards me.

"What?" I looked at them.

"What did he say?" Steve licked his lips.

"Oh, so now you're talking to me?" I rolled my eyes. Rebecca and Amanda jumped off the first row of bleachers with our bags in hand.

"So?" Amanda handed me my bag. "What did he want?"

"Why are you guys making a huge deal? We apologized and made up." I sling my bag over my shoulder. Steve sighed and walked away. "What's wrong with Steve?"

"He's jealous." Amanda smugly stated.

"Made up as in you guys are dating or as friends?" Danny questioned, giving me a firm look.

"Friends, why?" I looked between my friends. They were giving each other knowing looks. "Why?"

"Billy was taunting Steve in the locker room about Nancy and you." Danny started. "Nancy skipped with Johnathon for two days now."

"Damn." I shook my head. "Steve didn't know, huh?"

"Not at all." Danny frowned.

"And Billy was telling him how he was going to get you back and stuff." Chad added. "But it looked like it was just for show. Just be careful around him, okay? I don't want Billy to mess with your heart again."

"He won't. I told him, we are just friends." I gripped the strap of my bag tighter. "Let's go. Mom is cooking meatloaf tonight and she wanted my help. Gotta make sure we have everything at home."

"Don't forget about our date, Danny!" Rebecca pecked his lips. "And don't be late."

"I'll pick you up earlier then." Danny promised with a sheepish smile.

▷

"Go ahead and start getting the ingredients together, Dawn." Mom called out as she got Mews' food. "I already have the meat defrosting since breakfast."

"Okay, Mom." I grabbed an elastic and pulled my hair into a high ponytail.

"Danny, have you seen Mews?" Mom asked as she looked around the kitchen. "She usually comes to the kitchen around this time for dinner."

"Maybe she's outside." Danny suggested. Mom worriedly nodded, opening the box of cat food. "I'll go look for Mews, okay?"

"Thank you." Mom sent him a smile. She started to pour the food into Mews' bowl. "Mew-Mew. Where are you? Mew-Mew!"

Danny opened the door to exist the house to search for the orange cat. He closed the door behind him only for the door to open a minute later. Dustin entered the house in a rush.

"Hey, Dusty." Mom greeted.

"Hi, hey. Hey, Mom." Dustin closed the door in a hurry.

"Everything okay?" Mom asked, standing up.

"Yeah, everything's fine." Dustin walked passed her. "Yeah."

"He's acting weird." I noted, opening the fridge to get out the vegetables. "Do you want me to go check on him?"

"Please, dear?" Mom gave me a hopeful look with worry.

"Of course." I nodded, setting the vegetables onto the counter. I went to Dustin's room to go check on him. Knocking on the door, I opened it. "Hey Dustin, you okay?"

Dustin turned to face me with wide eyes. He was breathing heavily with fear. I looked around the room noticing blood stains and slime. Concern and fear flooded through me.

"Dustin..." I trailed off, closing the door behind me. A weird noise was coming from the corner of Dustin's room.

"Dawn, you don't want to see this." Dustin warned, holding a hand up. He shook his head.

"What do you mean?" I stepped next to him only to gasp.

A bigger version of Dart was screeching at us with Mews laid next to him. There was a gaping hole in the cat's side with blood matted to her fur.

"Oh no."

Sorry that this took a while. I was on vacation and then after my vacation I was extremely busy

Hoped you guys liked this chapter

I will admit not my best

Until next time
Much love,
Lux