"LOOKING GREAT, MIKE!" CARLA EXCLAIMED IN AN ALMOST SARCASTIC TONE, NOTICING HER BROTHERS ATTIRE FOR THE DAY.

"Shut up, Carla." Mike groaned, turning to give her a small eyeroll aswell, showing his annoyance of not just her, but of his mother aswell.

Karen Wheeler narrowed her eyes, about to scold her son. "Mike! Eye's over here. And, be nice to your sister please." The woman put the camera up to her face, snapping a photo of her son in his costume with a smile.

"All right, that's the last one." Mike spoke, his mother disagreeing with his choices in all ways possible.

"No, just one more. Come on, please?" Karen spoke, taking the previous photo out of the camera and replacing the item by her face, snapping another photo of the boy. Mike's face wasn't even in a smile anymore, it was turned into more of an annoyed look but the mother didn't seem to mind. "Ah!"

"Can I go to school?" Mike asks with a 'can we be done yet?' face, but instead of getting his dream come true of getting to leave, he's met with a camera to his mom's face.

"Mike, just put up with it. If me and Nancy survived, so can you." Carla says, walking past her brother and mom towards the front door.

"Wait, wait." Karen exclaims, snapping another photo, not being able to get enough of her son in the Ghosbusters attire. "Carla, come take one with your brother."

Carla made her way over to Mike, putting a smile on her face as Mike frowned instead. The mother gave a happy smile as she pulled out the picture, just as she had the other times.

"I'm leaving. Bye Mom, bye Mike." the Wheeler girl announces, leaving Mike and going to the door, opening it so she could head out to Jonathans car, the sound of it pulling up filling her ears.

"Bye Honey, love you." Karen exclaims before turning back to Mike with a huge grin spread on her face. "Okay, say, 'Who you gonna call?'"

"No!"

With that, Carla closed the door and walked over to Jonathan's car, hopping in with a small laugh. 

"What's so funny?" Jonathan asked as he pulled out of the Wheeler driveway, looking at the smile Carla had on her face.

"My mom just won't let Mike go to school, she's too busy taking photos of his ghostbuster costume." Carla replied, looking out of the car window as Jonathan drove.

"My mom was the same way." Jonathan replied with a small smile, stepping on the gas a little more so they got to school with enough time to get their books.

After hopping out of Jonathans car and waving bye, she quickly walked into the school and made it to her locker, grabbing her things rather fast aswell. She was hoping to just get the day over with so she could prepare a halloween coustume for tonight at her house...but instead, her eyes were met with the face of Billy Hargrove.

"Oh, hi." Carla said, slamming her locker shut as his piercing blue eyes looked her up and down. "What brings you over to me?"

"Your still on for Tina's party with me?" Billy asked in his normal flattering tone, looking at her intensly with his blue eyes.

Carla gave a quick nod and looked back up at her date for the party, "Pick me up, 8pm sharp."

"Yes ma'am." Billy gave a small laugh at her serious tone of voice, "Got an address for me?"

Carla nodded again, looking down at her notebook and ripping out a piece of it, writing her address down for Billy before handing it to him.  Billy gave her a small, but still cocky smile. "Perfect."

"Are you dressing up in a coustume?" Carla asked, thinking of ideas for what Billy would even wear to the party. A leather jacket maybe..or he'd go totally shirtless. Either option was possible.

"You'll see when I pick you up." Billy respinded casually, before asking the same question back at her. "You?"

"You'll see when you pick me up." Carla responds, mimicking his tone of voice. Billy didn't have a chance to reply because the bell rung, signaling first period. "Well, I better be off."  she sighed looking over at the Hargrove boy in front of her, meeting his blue eyed gaze which was always set on her. "I'll see you at eight."

"On the dot." Billy replied before heading off, leaving the girl at her locker with a smile woven into her face. The effects Billy Hargrove had on her were something she'd never felt before...and something she'd never want to end.

After she made it to first period, the day passed rather quickly. It wasn't until she was studying in the library did the time slow down, and she realized the day was almost over.

Carla had been sitting in the back of the library, but as soon as she noticed that her sister and Steve were sitting in the middle table, papers surrounding them, she decided to sit with them instead.

Nancy looked up from her paper as soon as she noticed her sister taking a spot before her, she looked towards the librarian and other students around her before giving a small wave at the girl. Carla gave a wave back, careful not to break the library silence.

Steve hadn't looked up from his work at all, and it seemed as if he hadn't noticed Carla's appearence either. Carla didn't feel the need to say anything to him, and looked down at her work instead and began where she'd left off.

It wasn't long before a quiet snap was heard, along with a sigh before Nancy got up and walked over to what Carla assumed was the pencil sharpener. Carla looked over at her sister for a moment, aswell as Steve before the two looked back down at their own work. 

A tear of paper later and some scribbling later, Carla watched as a little snip of paper landed on her notebook, casuing her to look at it with confusion, before looking at the boy infront of her with the same look. 

Steve nodded towards the little snippet of paper, causing her to pick it up and read what it said.

'Are you going to Tina's party tonight?'

Carla then tore a little piece of paper from her own notebook, and wrote back in a much neater form of handwriting. 'Yes, I am...with somebody.'

She tossed the paper over to Steve, and watched as he read in and looked up at her with a raised eyebrown. His eyes showed an emotion, but Carla didn't have enough time to figure out what before a piece of paper was on her notebook.

'Who?'

Carla looked at what he'd written for a moment, before debating whether to tell Steve that she was going with Billy or not, but before she could write anything more, Steve had left his seat, and was by Nancy, an arm on her shoulder as she stared at someone walking intensely.

Nancy then dragged Steve towards study rooms in the back, giving Carla her cue to leave the library.

She had no clue what Nancy was doing or talking to Steve in the backroom, but she honestly would rather not find out.

The day finished soon after that, and she quickly put all her materials away, and walked outside to meet Jonathan at his car, but got cut off as she watched the same red headed girl who came from Billy's camaro this morning skate past her.

She stopped at the camaro, and picked up her skateboard before seeming to begin to argue with the blonde boy, causing Carla's face to drop a little. Something didn't seem right as they argued, and that made all good feelings about going with Billy disappear, but she decided to investigate before changing her mind and making assumptions.

"Hi," Carla approched the two with a small smile, causing Billy to stop mid setence with whatever he was going to say to the girl.  He turned to look at Carla with a classic Hargrove smirk before placing a cigarette between his lips and lighting it, something Carla disliked completly.

As Billy lit his cigarette, Carla looked over at the red headed girl and gave a small smile, "I'm Carla."

The girl looked at Billy, almost asking for permission to speak, which only added on to the suspicious and worried feeling Carla had. Billy looked at the girl before turning back at the Wheeler, "That's Maxine, don't mind her."

Carla noticed that Maxine's face dropped when Billy said, 'don't mind her', so Carla decided to go against what he'd said and speak to her some more. "Well, Maxine. Its nice to meet you."

"It's, Max actually." Maxine─well Max─clarified before opening the door to Billy's camaro and hopping inside of it. Billy looked back at her with a look that Carla disliked, before turning back to the Wheeler girl as if Max had never spoken. 

"Well, we have to go, but I'll see you at your house, at eight." Billy spoke, giving her a small wink before getting inside his camaro.

Carla gave a small wave before walking over to her original destination; Jonathans car.

Jonathan was waiting in his car for her, so she quickly got in the passenger seat without another word and allowed him to pull out of Hawkins High.

"And you were talking to Billy Hargrove because?" Jonathan asked midway through the drive,  breaking the silence that the car had been filled with.

Carla decided to just tell Jonathan that she was going with Billy. There was no point in lying about it. "You can't tell anyone else, alright...I'm going with him to Tina's party."

"You, Carla Wheeler are going with Billy Hargrove to Tina's party?" Jonathan asks with small disbelief.

"Yeah, I know very...unexpected. But he asked, and I just thought,'screw it' and here we are." Carla responded. "Besides, it does feel good to know someone feels that way about me."

"Look, I'm happy someone asked you and that your happy about it...but I'm just not sure that Billy is who you think he is." Jonathan replied after a moment, with an almost aplogetic face.

"Maybe your right, maybe your wrong." Carla shrugged, looking over at her best friend. "We'll find out tonight."

"I just don't want you hauling youself over to me when Billy turns out to be a total asshole to you." Jonathan said, his eyes staying on the road. "You did it when you and Steve broke up-"

"I don't want to talk about me and Steve." Carla snapped, causing Jonathan to stop talking. She changed her tone to an apologetic one quickly. "I'm sorry I snapped like that. I just don't want to talk about Steve. That was the past."

"Okay, I'm sorry for bringing it up." Jonathan said, before beginning where he'd left off. "I'm just saying, I don't want to calling me late at night to come get you just to see you crying in the middle of the road-"

The sudden memory rushed back to the front of Carla's brain as if it had happened yesterday.

"I'm leaving." Carla muttered to her 'boyfriend', grabbing her bag from his bed. Instead of asking her to come back, Steve stayed silent, allowing the girl to walk away from him and out of his house.

She stumbled down the stairs, checking to make sure Mr or Mrs Harrington weren't sitting around. She really wasn't in the mood to talk to them, or anyone really. After her fight with Steve, she'd been left rather emotional, and honestly felt like she could break any minute.

The Wheeler ran out the door, making sure to slam it so Steve knew she really left and wasn't just sitting on his steps waiting for him and herself to calm down a second. 

Carla wasn't exactly sure how she was going to get home. It was pretty late at night, and she was supposed to be spending it at Steve's for the next hour but that was scraped. She could go back to ask Steve if he could drive her home now, but she didn't feel like talking to him...and she definetly didn't feel like talking to her mom about why she came home a little early.

Jonathan was supposed to pick her up in a hour, but what was she supposed to do with the hour she had?

She didn't really know where she was running, but she kept running, feeling tears fall down her face as she did. It was stupid to be getting so upset, but she just couldn't help it.

At somepoint, she stopped and just sat on the sidewalk, tucking her knees into her chest and shoving her face into her knees, almost curling into a ball.  She let her feelings free, and just began crying .

She wasn't even sure how long it had been, but it must have been more then a hour later because soon she heard the engine of a car pulling up, a engine she knew very well.

The Wheeler heard the door open and shut, before footsteps quickly approahced with an, "Oh my god, Carla."

Carla slowly looked up to see Jonathan running over to her with a frown on his face.  The Byers boy quickly crouched down and helped the girl up, immedietly letting her sob into his arms, which she did.

"It won't happen, I promise." Carla left the memory she'd just been taken back to and replied to her friend as she looked back out the car window. "Besides, its not like we're dating or anything."

"Whatever you say." Jonathan answered, pulling into the Wheelers driveway. "Well, I'll see you later when I drop off Will. You need a ride?"

"No, Billy's picking me up." Carla replied, opening Jonathans car door so she could get out.

Jonathan made a face at Carla, causing her to roll her eyes. "Alright, remember don't say a word."

"I won't."

"See you later."

"Bye."

Jonathan gave a small wave before driving off back to his house, giving Carla her cue to walk into hers. Karen was sitting on the couch, having only gotten at half day at work for the holidays.

"Hey hon, do you mind giving me some donatble things, I know you said you'd do it today so-" Karen began to speak, but got cut off my her daughter soon after.

"I'm really sorry, Mom. I know I said I would but I gotta get ready for this party with Nancy, my uh friend is picking me up at eight." Carla said quickly, walking over to the stairs.

"Wait, do you have a date?" Karen said loudly as Carla raced up the stairs, ignoring her mothers question.

Carla quickly rushed into Nancy's room, not bothering to see what her sister was currently doing.  What she first saw was Nancy nodding her head to the song that was playing, along with singing the lyrics quietly as she looked through her drawers."Oh, hey Car." Nancy stopped singing as she looked up from her drawers, a white sweater in her hands. 

"Hey."Carla replies, as Nancy walked over to lower the music she'd been playing. "Do you have that white lace cover up?"

"So you are dressing up for this party." Nancy teased before walking over to the back of her room and picking up exactly what Carla needed. "Lucky for you, I do have it."

"Great, thanks." Carla replied, taking the cover up from her sisters hands with a small smile.

"No problem," Nancy replied as she grabbed a black piece of cloth from the top of her dresser, something to go with her costume.

Carla rushed from her sisters room to her own, and opened one of her drawers finding the red bathing suit that she'd gotten that Summer. She was going to go as Phoebe Cates in Fast Times, which could be a risky move but Carla could care less at this point.

After putting on the bathing suit and making sure she looked alright, she put on the cover up and tied it around herself so she was covered up best she could with her costume. She then added a pair of red flats so she wasn't walking around completley barefoot.

Carla decided against wetting her hair down, and just decided to keep it how it normally was. It wasn't like anyone was gonna call her out on it. 

A few minutes later, the doorbell ringed, causing Carla to put her shorts on and rush down the stairs, her red flats and a pair of shorts in hand. Nancy must have been making finishing touches because she never came down the stairs, causing Carla to be the one to open the door.

Instead of meeting the piercing blue eyes of her date, she met the soft brown ones of Nancys. Steve gave a small smile at his ex girlfriend, nodding towards the stairs. "Hey, Nancy coming?"

"Yeah, she must be making some finishing touches." Carla replied, looking up her stairs to yell for her twin sister. "Nance, Steve's here!"

"Coming!" Nancy called back down, signaling that she'd be down soon enough.

Carla looked back at Steve, noticing his costume as she did. "I see you've gone with Tom Cruise."

"Yeah, me and Nancy are going as Joel and Lana." Steve replied, looking her over briefly., noticing the red bathing suit top that was peeking through the cover up,"And I see that you've gone with Fast Times."

"Yeah...I guess I did." Carla replied with a small laugh towards the end, looking herself over aswell. "Do I look bad or anything?"

"No, you look really nice." Steve said in a soft tone, looking at her with a smile on his face.

"Thanks." Carla muttered back, the final thing she could say before Mrs Wheeler approached the two teens.

"Its soo good to see you again, Steve." Karen announced her arrival with a smile, taking a spot next to her daughter. Her voice sounded a little too happy, but Steve took the same tone, not wanting to upset the mother.

"Good to see you too, Mrs Wheeler." Steve replied, looking up the stairs again for Nancy.

Soon enough, the sound of thumping was heard from the stairs, and Nancy appeared with her shoes in hand. She ran over to her boyfriend and gave her mom a small smile. "Well, we're gonna leave. Bye mom, see you there, Carla."

"Have fun you two!" Karen said, shutting the door behind Steve and Nancy as they walked out, Steve's arm around Nancy's waist. Carla sighed and took a seat on the couch, her mother following suit. The relaxtion didn't last long though because soon enough, the loud engine of a car was heard outside.

The sound Carla would be able to recognize from a mile away.

"Thats me, bye mom, love you." Carla said quickly, racing out the door before Karen could say anything back. 

maras misc

i cut this chapter short, so you'll get the halloween party next!

it took me so long to write the beginning of this chapter, istg