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❛ sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴡɪᴄᴋᴇᴅ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐎𝐍𝐄 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ʀᴇᴅ, ʀᴇᴅ ᴡɪɴᴇ ꒱


❝ MAKES ME FORGET THAT
I STILL NEED HER SO ❞

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Jessie didn't talk to Max for the rest of the year. In fact, she didn't talk to any of the party even as summer vacation rolled around. Sure, the redhead had tried to talk to her and had even so much as sat at the same table during lunch, but Jessie was quite skilled at holding on to grudges. Whenever Max attempted to have a conversation with her, the brunette iced her out and kept on pretending like she didn't exist. Eventually, Max gave up.

It didn't help that Jessie believed that she was in the right while the other girl was in the wrong. Jessie was used to so-called friends not being who they said they were but she liked it better when she knew that they were putting up a front. Max had seemed entirely genuine and they'd even shared secrets— secrets!— that they wouldn't have normally told anyone. But, Jessie had been fooled. She should've seen it coming, really.

Who would want to be friends with her, after all? The outsider, the weirdo, the loony.

She was better off on her own. She always had been and now she knew that she always would be. She'd gotten to have too many friends, anyway. It was almost scary how easily she could drop them; if she didn't make the effort, neither did they.

Now, it was almost the end of the second week of summer. Jessie usually took odd jobs during her vacation to help pay for the house and food. This summer was no different and she could usually do three or four per day depending on the task. She was up at the crack of dawn and asleep long after the sun had gone down; almost when it was time for it to rise again.

While normally she'd grumble about her lot in life, this summer was different. She welcomed the distraction of work which kept her from thinking about the stupid boys in the 'party' and a certain redhead. Instead, she kept herself entertained by keeping her radio near her as she occasionally switched it different frequencies while she worked. Sometimes she caught snatches of the boys' conversations but she usually ignored their voices.

Today, she was on the hunt for a new job since she'd finished painting Mrs. Wood's fence. At eight in the morning, she stopped by Old Man Humphrey's house and knocked on the door. His house was as nearly run-down as her own but she'd heard from Lucas last year that he paid well. Besides, it looked like his lawn hadn't been cut since the boy did it last summer.

Jessie bounced on the balls of her feet as she waited for the elderly man to open the door. It took several minutes but it finally opened to reveal a dark interior as the man himself opened it just wide enough to see out. "Wadda you want?"

"Hello Mr.— er, Humphrey. I was wondering if you had any jobs that needed to be done around the house."

The older man hunched over and peered down at her near-sightedly. "Who'd you say you were?"

The brunette winced uncomfortably. While most people already knew her and tended to slam the door in her face, for those that didn't she tried her best to stall in introducing herself. She cleared her throat. "I, uh, didn't. I'm-I'm Lucas' friend." The words felt bitter in her mouth. "Jessie."

"Lucas?"

"He mowed your lawn last year," she reminded him helpfully. "You know, about this high." Here, she held her hand above her head. "His last name's Sinclair."

"Ah, Sinclair. Yes, I remember the boy. A good worker."

"Right. I, um, wanted to know if I could fill his place this summer? He's. . . out of town so he won't be able to help," Jessie lied easily and didn't feel the slightest bit of guilt about stealing the boy's job. He'd stolen her girl, after all.

Humphrey bent again and studied her through squinted eyes. "You said your name was Jessie, hmm? I think I've heard of you. You're that—"

The brunette grit her teeth at the way he finished his sentence but said nothing in response. Instead, she opted for a blunt: "do you have any jobs or not?"

"Hmph. Well, since you said Sinclair wasn't available I suppose I have some tasks around the house that you can do. You're not going to eat my cat, are you?"

She gave him an acidic smile. "Only if I'm feeling in the mood for a snack. Aren't you going to ask me about rates?"

He gave her a beady-eyed look. "No need. I'll pay you five cents an hour."

Jessie's eyes widened incredulously. "You paid Lucas twenty!"

"It's that or no deal, girl. You'd best get workin' if you wanna be done in time."

.・。.・゜✫・.・✫・゜・。.

Jessie's thoughts were mutinous as she pushed the lawn mower back and forth across the grass. She really should have been used to this reception, all things considered, but sometimes she was willing to give people the benefit of the doubt. (She was wrong every time.)

Her Walkman was firmly clamped over her ears, though as usual no music was playing; it was just to deaden the sound of the mower. Even though it was the height of summer she still wore her long, olive-green coat with its sleeves pulled down to her wrists and the hem flapping at her feet. Sure, it made her a bit more winded than if she didn't wear it, but she wouldn't be caught dead without it.

She was so focused on her work that she didn't notice a very familiar redhead skateboard past. Max had almost missed the brunette too, but the recognizable color of the coat made her bring her skateboard to a screeching halt before she whirled around to confirm who she'd seen. A bright smile appeared on her face as their time apart had made her forget the brunette's icy silence momentarily. As she picked up her skateboard, she waved as she approached the chain-link fence. "Salvador! Hey, Salvador!"

The motion caught Jessie's attention and the mower ground to a stop as she looked up to see who it was. At first, a similar bright smile appeared on her face before she remembered that she hated Max (though as often as she tried to tell herself that, she knew she didn't.) Her expression became sour.

"Why the long face, kooky?" the redhead teased her.

Immediately, the brunette glowered at her. "Don't call me that."

"What? Why not? You used to like it."

"I just don't anymore, okay?"

Max looked surprised at her harsh attitude as she'd figured Jessie's negative feelings would have diminished by now, so she shrugged in response. "Alright. What's the deal?"

"I don't have any deal."

"Yeah you do, Salvador. You look like you could cook an egg with just your eyes."

"Nothing that concerns you," she snapped back shortly. "Are you gonna let me keep working or what?"

Max paused a moment before she leaned on the fence. "Hey, the guys and I are going to the movies— y'know, in that new mall?— tonight if you wanna come with us. It might help you feel better."

Jessie scowled at her and wondered why the other girl wasn't getting the message that they were no longer friends. "You wouldn't catch me dead inside that mall. I mean, what if it's a cover up for a Russian spy operation?"

"What?"

"Look, I'm not about to take the time and explain it to you but there's something fishy about a state-of-the-art mall that just popped up out of nowhere, okay? Besides, I don't want to do anything with you." 

"Why not?" the redhead sounded hurt.

"Just leave me alone. Okay, Mayfield? I'm better off on my own anyway." With that, the brunette put her headphones back on her ears and started up the lawnmower without a backwards glance to the girl.

.・。.・゜✫・.・✫・゜・。.

June was nearly over before she received another caller. This time, she was working on one of her own home-improvement projects when an unexpected voice greeted her from the sidewalk. "Salvador?"

She tensed at first as she half-wondered if Max was back, but then she turned to see Will's familiar face. Her expression became several degrees friendlier. "Hey, Byers. You're a little far from home aren't you?" He shrugged, looking awkward. "What are you doing here? Is-is someone in trouble?" That was the only reason that she could think of for this impromptu visit.

"No. Um, no. I just. . ."

Jessie studied him carefully and she took in his slightly-hunched shoulders and how his hands were stuffed in his shorts pockets. "Did you have a fight with Mike?"

"What? No!" he exclaimed immediately. After a moment, he backtracked: "maybe. Uh, how'd you know?"

She gave a soft huff of amusement. "He's a very difficult person to get along with."

"You could say that again," the boy mumbled. "It's just. . ."

The brunette sighed and brushed her hands free of dirt before she stood. "Do you wanna come in?"

"Um, sure."

She lead him inside the house where it was cool and dark as she'd turned off most of the lights to save electricity. There was a faint murmur that came from the TV and Will's attention turned towards it and the man that sat nestled in a cushioned chair. Jessie nodded as she acknowledged his interest. "Um, that's my dad. He doesn't say much. You don't have to say hi. Um, do you want anything to eat?"

Will shook his head. "I'm good."

"Alright. Uh, I guess we could go to my room. C'mon." She ventured further into the house and down a shadowed hallway before she opened the door on the end. "It's a little messy, sorry."

"That's alright," he said quietly. Then, his eyes moved around the small space and they widened. "Oh, wow."

She grimaced slightly. "I warned you it was messy."

"No, no. That's— what is all this stuff?" He gestured to the myriad of papers that covered the wall.

"I'm a bit of a conspiracist," Jessie admitted. "I mean, I'd rather learn about the world around me than whatever shit school tries to teach us. Like, when are we ever gonna use Algebra?"

He chuckled at that. "What. . . which ones do you follow?"

"All kinds," the brunette replied dismissively. "Most recently those surrounding Hawkins. I've done a bit of research about the kids from the lab. Y'know, like El. It's not easy to piece things together when they're so well hidden."

"I can imagine," Will agreed. "Is there. . . do you have any on me?"

She smirked at him slightly. "Getting to be a bit of an egotist there, aren't you?"

"What? No!" he exclaimed as his face turned pink. "I didn't mean it like that, I swea—"

"Relax, I'm just kidding. Um, not everyone can tell when I am. But yeah, I do." She pointed to the farther side of the room and he recognized the headlines from when he'd "come back from the dead."

The brunet glanced over at her. "I. . . um, that's what I kind of. . . wanted to talk to you about." She nodded and went to sit on her bed before she patted the spot next to her. Once he'd sat, he continued hesitantly: "it's just. . . people know you're. . . you're different, right? You're not like everyone else in this town and you're used to getting treated differently because of it—"

"Well, I wouldn't say I'm used to it," Jessie cut him off with surprising gentleness. "Sometimes it still catches me off guard."

"Oh. Um, I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "It's not your fault. Go on."

"Well, I. . . I haven't really talked about it with anyone because they think I'll freak out if I do but how do you deal with it?"

She looked over at the boy and studied him for a moment. He refused to meet her eyes and kept his gaze focused on his hands, which where in his lap. He didn't even look up when she spoke next: "I'll answer that in a second, but why are you asking me this now? I mean, it's not like it was any different last year."

Will's hands curled into fists. "I just. . . it's like Mike and Lucas aren't even hearing me anymore. Dustin's off at camp so I'm not. . . upset with him, but it's like all they want to talk about are girls. It's even worse when Mike and El ditch us in the afternoon and then Lucas makes up an excuse to hang out with Max. All I want to do is play D and D and it's like they don't even want to play anymore."

As the boy explained what was going on in her absence, Jessie felt the annoyance that always came whenever those two specific boys were mentioned. She made an effort to tamp it down for Will. She took a deep breath and began to speak: "I may not be the best person to get people advice from since, like, more than half this town wouldn't miss me if I was gone, but I'll do my best. I. . . think you're feeling this way because they didn't experience what you did in the Upside-Down. I've read a lot about PTSD because of my dad so I know a bit about it. I know that it can make you feel isolated and detached, as if you're just seeing things happen instead of experiencing them yourself. Um, do you ever get nightmares or flashbacks?"

"Sometimes," he confessed.

She nodded. "So does my dad. This. . . detachment that you're feeling when Mike and Lucas talk about their. . . well, changing interests could be because of something in your brain hasn't caught up to what society deems you're supposed to talk about. You're playing catch up on your childhood years while they're racing ahead without you."

"So you're saying I'm crazy?" the brunet didn't sound too enthusiastic about her point of view.

Jessie nudged him lightly. "Hey, all the best people are. I mean, people think I am." When he didn't so much as smile, she reached over to rest her hand on top of his. "All I'm saying is that what you're feeling? It's completely natural and extremely valid. You don't have to explain yourself to anyone. I mean, most people's pea-brains couldn't even begin to imagine what that was like, let alone go through it and survive. Ithink that's— you're— pretty incredible, Will."

The boy didn't answer for a moment as he considered her words. In a way, this was an entirely new experience for him and it was incredibly refreshing. Whenever he even got so much as to near the subject with the guys, they skittered away from it like scared mice. He was used to the brunette's bluntness from the times she'd spent with them but he'd forgotten how much he appreciated her outlook, even if it was sometimes unpopular.

"I, um, can't really talk about my time in the Upside-Down with anyone," he began. "I know my mom means well but she's just. . . so afraid that something bad is going to happen again that she panics when I try to talk to her about it. She tries to hide it but I can see that she does. The guys don't want anything to do with it and I'm not about to bring it up with Max or El—"

Jessie squeezed his hand supportively. "Whenever you want to talk about it, come over anytime— even at midnight." She paused as he smiled slightly before she continued: "I'm serious. The only requirement I might have is that I'll have to put you to work while we talk. I could use your height, you know."

Will gave another amused chuckle as he nodded and unknowingly, an unspoken pact was sealed: Zombie Boy and Loony would stick together regardless of what the world threw at them.

For the first time, Jessie Salvador had someone permanently in her corner.

[edited jul. 2022]