Chapter Three: Holly, Jolly

chapter six , Friend Breakups & Fake Bodies

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Gus wasn't popular. That was already known. And nobody (that she knew of) was head over heels attracted to her, so hearing a tap at her window late at night scared the living shit out of her. Especially, after almost dying at the hands of a telekinetic bald child.

The brunette stalks over to the bay window, with her sharpened pencil.

What? It was all the teen had.

Gus pulls the curtain back and quickly opens the window with her eyes shut. She pulls her arm back.

"Holy shit!"

Gus quickly stops before she could stab the person in front of her. The brunette opens her eyes and she focuses on the curly-haired girl in front of her.

"Fallon?!"

Gus slaps a hand over her mouth, realizing how loud she was. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I came back from Steve's party." Fallon lets out a huff, crawling through the window. Gus takes a step aside and Fallon stands up straight.

Gus closes the window and turns back to her friend. The brunette tilts her head, "Were you drinking?"

Fallon turns to Gus and pinches her fingers together. "Juuust--a little."

Gus rolls her eyes and snorts. "I don't get how you guys party on a Tuesday."

Fallon chuckles, "That's what Nancy said."

Gus raises her brows, "Riiight, so how was the party?"

Fallon inhales, "I almost had a threesome."

"Again?" Gus raises her brows. "Wait--with Steve and Nancy?"

Fallon scrunched her nose, "What?--No! Tommy and Carol."

Gus is now the one to scrunch her nose. "Gross, now I wish it was Steve and Nancy."

Fallon stuffs her hands into her pockets and sits on Gus' bed. The brunette notices that Fallon was keeping something inside. And she wanted to say something about it.

"Well, why'd you back out?" Gus asks. "I mean, haven't you done that before?"

The curly-haired girl chews on the inside of her cheek. "I was telling Barbara that she shouldn't do something that she doesn't want to do and...when Tommy and Carol were calling me uncool, I guess I freaked out."

Gus walks over to Fallon and sits next to her. "Yeah? And why is that?"

A lump forms in Fallon's throat. And a pain starts in her chest. "God--it was so much easier talking to Barb about this stuff."

Gus pulls her brows together.

Fallon lets out a huff and she lays her back against the bed. Gus follows her lead.

"I didn't want them to...think anything about me." Fallon keeps her eyes on the ceiling.

"What did you think they were going to assume about you?" Gus props herself up on her elbow and stares at her best friend.

Fallon's eyes blur with tears, she turns toward her friend, and her heartbeat accelerates. Gus raises her brows, "Fal, what happened?"

She inhales a deep breath. Fallon knew her true feelings and she knew how she wanted to handle them. Fallon wanted to stay quiet about everything, hoping her feelings would pass and that was the plan. But with the alcohol still coursing through her system. It made her feel invincible.

But in her book, it just ended up being reckless.

Fallon leans forward and hastily places her lips onto Gus'. The brunette pulls her brows together, shocked. Gus raises a hand, but her brain froze. Everything went completely blank for her and she didn't know what to do.

She needed to pull away. She had to.

Gus pulls away from Fallon. Fallon opens her eyes and meets Gus' shocked expression.

"Uh--"

"I am...so sorry."

They both quickly sit up.

"Oh, shit." Everything hits Fallon like a truck.

Gus keeps her eyes glued to the ground. "That...was my first kiss."

"I know, I'm sorry," Fallon whispers.

Gus pulls her brows together, "You're drunk. That's it."

Fallon looks at the brunette and sees Gus shrug nonchalantly.

"It doesn't have to mean anything."

Fallon's chest tightens and she looks away from Gus. A bubble forms in Fallon's chest and a choked sob leaves her lips. Gus looks at her friend and pulls her brows together.

"Fal, what's wrong?" Gus fully turns toward her friend.

"I'm such an idiot..." Fallon sobs.

"Why would you? You're not an idiot--"

"It means something, Gus, okay?" Fallon turns to the brunette, tears leaving her eyes. "At least, to me."

Gus' jaw goes slack, "O-Oh..."

Oh.

"...shit."

Fallon nods her head, "Yeah..."

Fallon wipes the tears from her eyes. "Shit, I ruined everything."

Gus watches her friend break down. Then it hits Gus, in all the years she has been friends with Fallon; she's never seen her break down. Fallon was always there for Gus when she needed her, despite having a crush on her. Everything that Fallon had built from her friendships to her built-in personality of being perfect was crumbling down. Gus chews on her lower lip. She couldn't let her friends life continue to crumble. So, she tried to help in the only way she thought she could.

"Fallon..."

The curly-haired girl shakes her head. She then feels a soft hand on her shoulder and looks back at the brunette. Gus inhales a soft breath and she leans forward to connect their lips. Fallon flinches and slightly pulls away from her. Gus stops, but her lips were still brushing against Fallon's. Fallon reconnects their lips and Gus inhales. She kisses Fallon back. Fallon places a hand on the side of Gus' neck and pulls her close.

Fallon then pulls away from Gus and opens her eyes. She stares into Gus' eyes and pulls her brows together. "I should go..."

Gus inhales a soft breath before she could say anything. Fallon stands up and makes her way over to the window.

"Fallon, wait--"

"No. Don't try to talk me out of this...I need to go." Fallon sniffles.

Gus' eyes fill with tears as Fallon leaves through the window. The brunette curses quietly and hits her head.

"I am such a fucking idiot..."

☆

"Hi, Mrs. Wheeler!"

Karen blinks, "Oh, hi...Gus. What are you doing here?"

"I just...left something here and I couldn't wait until the end of the school day." Gus lies. "May I come in?"

"Of course, come in. The boys are already in the basement." Karen informs.

Gus nods her head. She walks into the house and hesitantly makes her way down the stairs. The brunette makes it into the basement and she sees the kids circled around the table, her eyes land on Eleven who was sitting on the couch. Gus' chest tightens and she looks away from the glaring child.

"Please tell her to stop staring at me."

The kids all turn toward the nervous brunette.

"We can't make her stop staring at you." Mike shrugs. "It just comes with the mission, I guess."

Gus nods, "Right, operation Mirkwood--nice name by the way."

"I came up with it!" Dustin and Lucas chorus.

Mike rolls his eyes.

"Why are you lying?" Dustin looks at Lucas.

"No, why are you lying?"

"We all made it up!" Mike exclaims. "They just want to impress you."

Gus smiles softly and looks at Dustin and Lucas.

"Yeah, right!" Lucas scoffs.

"Do not!"

Gus walks over to the table and frowns at the supplies. "Nice." she grabs the army knife and pulls it out of the sheath.

"What did you bring?" Dustin asks.

Gus raises her brows, "Oh, uh..." she takes her messenger bag off her shoulder. "I had to leave all my school stuff at home for this."

"Don't you leave some of your stuff at school?" Lucas asks.

"I mean, yeah. But...whatever!" Gus pours everything out of her bag. Packets of Twizzlers fall out.

"Okay, so, I have Twizzlers and...some more Twizzlers and...mor--"

"Okay, okay, we get it."

Gus scrunched her nose, "And...my dad's Army knife." she points at it.

"My mini crossbow." She huffs.

"My dad's dog tags." Gus pulls them out of her shirt and reveals them hanging around her neck.

"You wear those all the time." Lucas deadpans.

Gus purses her lips, "Oh, right."

"Ummm..." Gus taps her finger against her hip. "Oh! and..." she pulls something out of her waistband.

The boy's eyes widen. "Is that real?!" Lucas shouts, seeing the gun in her hand.

Gus pulls her brows together, "What?--No! Of course not! What do you think I am an idiot?" she shakes her head. "This is an airsoft gun."

Dustin relaxes.

"It was in your waistband," Mike says. "How do you forget to mention that?!"

Gus thinks for a second, before shrugging her shoulders. "Dunno."

"So is Operation Mirkwood a go?" Gus questions.

"It's definitely happening," Mike says.

"I would just like to say that out of everyone's packs..." Dustin speaks. "...mine is the best."

Everyone turns to him, "Really?"

"What? We need energy for our travels. For stamina. And besides, why do we even need weapons anyway? We have Eleven and Gus!" Dustin exclaims.

Gus rolls her eyes.

"She shut one door!" Lucas states.

"Uh--excuse me!" Gus waves a hand. "Are we all just going to forget that she almost choked me out too?!"

"With her mind! That's insane!" Dustin smiles.

Gus turns to him with an arched brow, "I'm glad you're finding enjoyment in my near-death experience with your new friend, Henderson."

"I wasn't smiling at you almost dying, but you gotta admit--it was kinda cool." Dustin bunches his shoulders.

Gus folds her arms and she turns to look at the bald girl. Of course, Gus thought that Eleven having powers was cool; but the part she didn't like was the fact that Eleven almost choked her to death.

"Imagine all the other stuff she could do." Dustin states. He walks over to Eleven. "I bet...that she could make this fly!" he grabs the spaceship. Gus stuffs the airsoft gun back into her waistband. "Hey, hey. Okay, concentrate. Okay?" Dustin releases the spaceship and it drops to the ground.

"Okay, one more time." Dustin picks the spaceship back up. "Use your powers, okay?"

Dustin drops it again.

"Idiot," Lucas says.

Gus walks over to him and picks it up. "She's not a dog!"

"Well, what about you?" Dustin asks.

Gus pulls her face back, "I'm not a dog either." she says through her teeth.

"I'm not talking about that--you have the same tattoo as El! Maybe you have powers too!"

Gus shakes her head, "No." she shuts down the idea. The brunette knew there was a high possibility it was true. But Gus still didn't understand all her nightmares herself, so how could she discuss them with anyone else?

"I would remember if I had powers." Gus scoffs.

"Well, you don't remember half of anything else," Dustin says. "So, you're most likely missing a lot of things in that noggin of yours."

"I hate to say it, but you're right." Gus looks at her tattoo. "Maybe I shouldn't even trust myself."

"Boys! Gus! Time for school!" Karen shouts from upstairs.

Gus sighs. "Okay, so, I'll see you guys after school."

Mike nods his head. He then turns to Eleven. "If you get hungry you can eat Dustin's snacks and Gus' Twizzlers--"

"Aht, Aht, Aht!" Gus voices. "No way!"

"Gus, come on you have all of those bags--"

"Listen, I'm a charitable person." Gus sighs. "And any other day I would say yes. But today, the day after she almost killed me..." she presses her lips together and folds her hands. "...I'm gonna have to go with no."

Gus looks at Eleven, she was glaring at the teenager. The brunette pulls her face back, "What did you think was gonna happen?" she squints her eyes.

"Gus, please. Just one pack."

Gus looks at Mike and exhales. "You should be happy I have a soft side to you guys." she then points at Eleven. "Not you."

Eleven brushes off the girl and looks back at the walkie. Gus scoops all the packages of Twizzlers back into her bag in a slow manner. Eleven pulls her brows together and looks at Gus. Gus continues to glare at Eleven as she swipes the candy into her bag. The brunette leaves one of the packages on the table and stands up.

"You done?"

Gus turns to the kids and nods. "Yeah, I'm good."

☆

Gus nervously gnaws on her bottom lip, her eyes observing the work on the board that the teacher was writing. Her eyes shift to her friend, whose eyes were glued to her paper.

"Psst!"

Nothing.

Gus frowns. "Pssssst!"

Fallon pulls her brows together and turns her gaze toward the brunette. Gus waves her hand timidly. Fallon's heart thumps and she shifts her gaze back to her paper. Gus' smile falls and her worries sadly start to become answered.

The bell rings.

Gus quickly packs her things up and watches as Fallon does the same. Fallon darts out of the room and Gus' eyes widen, "Shit!" she sprints after Fallon.

The brunette sees Steve in the doorway and her upper lip curls. "Move, Harrington!"

Steve's eyes widen, seeing the brunette about to bulldoze him over. He sidesteps while exhaling a sharp breath. "Holy shit..."

"Fallon!"

She glances behind her and sees Gus sprinting towards her.

Damn, she's fast!

Fallon pivots the corner and slams into the bathroom door, swinging it open. Gus' vans slide against the school floor. She watches the bathroom door slam shut. Gus runs over to the door, expecting it to open. Her face collides with the door and she curses.

"Godammit, Fallon. Please, open the door and talk to me." Gus knocks on the door.

The brunette inhales a deep breath, and she closes her eyes as her headache becomes more present. She leans her forehead against the door. Gus' ears start to ring. She felt her right hand start to twitch, thinking about losing her best friend. Gus wanted to push everyone away at some point in her life, but now at this moment when she felt like she was going to lose Fallon. It made her panic.

The ground under Gus' feet starts to shake and the lights begin to flicker. Gus opens her eyes and the bathroom door flies open. Gus gasps from the invisible force, opening the door. The brunette steps into the bathroom and sees Fallon looking at her.

"Hi." Gus exhales.

Fallon shakes her head. She tightens her grip around the straps of her bag. She walks toward Gus, then brushes past her.

"Whoa, hold on!" Gus grabs Fallon's arm.

Fallon stops in her tracks, "I can't be friends with you anymore."

Gus pulls her brows together and her heart practically stops. "Wh-what are you talking about?"

Fallon looks at the ground and Gus' mouth slightly opens.

"Listen, if this is about last night--"

"This is exactly about last night, okay?!" Fallon snaps.

Gus flinches and lets go of Fallon. Guilt rises in the brown-skinned girl, but she pushes it away. "Why did you kiss me back?"

Gus' jaw goes slack, "You were crying and saying that everything was ruined." she says. "And I wanted to try and reassure you that everything was—"

"You pitied me."

Gus raises her brows, "No, Fallon. I wasn't pitying you--"

"You don't like me that way, Gus." Fallon lets out a bitter chuckle.

Gus slams her mouth shut.

"And you kissed me back because I was crying." Fallon continues. "It's either you pitied me or you thought that was gonna save our friendship. Either way, it was dumb!"

Gus presses her lips into a firm line and nods her head. "I'm sorry." she looks at the ground.

Fallon wanted nothing more than to take back what she was saying. She wanted to hug Gus and apologize a million times.

"My mom was right about you."

Stop talking. Fallon pinches her thigh.

Gus pulls her brows together. "Your mom? Fal—"

"She never liked you, Gus." Fallon lets out a bitter chuckle. "And I always defended you, but...you're trouble. That's all you are."

Gus' eyes water and she shakes her head. "Please, don't say that—please."

A lump forms in Fallon's throat and she wipes her nose. "All those years ago, when you wanted people to leave you alone and I stayed. You should've tried harder to get rid of me. Then we wouldn't be in this mess."

"You're just saying this because your mom wants you to stop being friends with me. But what do you want? Tell me that, Fallon."

Fallon clenches her jaw and burns her glassy eyes into Gus' teary ones. Both girls were ready to bursts into tears. "I w-want..." Fallon'a lower lip quivers. "I want you to understand. I can't be friends with you anymore—I-I can't."

"This is done."

Tears form in Gus' eyes. Fallon takes a step forward, but Gus steps in front of her, to block her from leaving. "Fallon, Fallon--please..." the brunette's voice starts to shake and Fallon's chest tightens.

"...don't leave. I-I need you."

Fallon looks to the side and wipes her nose. "This was bound to happen sooner or later." she looks at the brunette. "Look at us, Gus. You're...you and I'm me."

Gus' heart drops into her stomach. "That's what Mr. Wheeler said..."

"And..." Fallon shakes her head and chuckles. "...I can't believe I'm saying this, but Ted was right."

"Bye, Gus."

Fallon walks out of the bathroom, leaving Gus alone.

☆

"I don't know, Chief."

Hopper raises his brows, "What don't you know?"

"This lady, Terry lives, sounds like a real nut to me," Powell states. "Her kid was taken for LSD mind-control experiments? She's been discredited. Claim was thrown out--"

"Okay, forget about her." Hopper pushes the article aside and pushes another one in front of the Officer. "Take a look at this." he taps his finger on the picture of the kids. "Dr. Martin Brenner."

"Who?"

"Brenner," Hopper repeats. "He runs Hawkins Lab."

"Okay..."

Hopper leans back in his seat and huffs. "You don't find that interesting?"

Powell frowns. "Not really." he shrugs. "He was involved in some hippie crap back in the day, so what?"

"No, this isn't hippie crap," Hopper says. "This is CIA-sanctioned research."

"Doesn't mean he had anything to do with our kid," Powell replies.

"Come on. Look at that. Hospital gowns. All of 'em." Hopper points at the picture again. "Now, that piece of fabric that the teacher found by the pipe. That sure looked like a hospital gown to me, huh? Am I wrong?"

"I don't know, Chief." Powell sighs.

"Come on, man." Hopper scoffs. "Work with me here. I'm not saying that there's some grand conspiracy. I'm just..." he inhales.

"...I'm saying maybe something happened. Maybe Will was in the wrong place at the wrong time and he saw something that he shouldn't have."

"It's a reach."

"It's a start."

Hopper still sees the look of doubt on Powell's face. He exhales sharply. "I'm gonna go look at more of these files. Try and find something else."

Hopper stands up and walks back over to the cabinets. He opens one of the drawers and looks through the files. Hopper felt like he was losing his mind. Why was no one else interested in Hawkins Lab?

He then frowns, maybe there was a reason as to why Gus always vandalized that place...

Hopper's eyes stop on a specific file name. He pulls his brows together and grabs the file.

Tristan Castillo.

Why the hell was Gus' father's file in the Hawkins Lab section?

Powell's walkie clicks. And Callahan speaks from the radio.

Hopper quickly grabs the file and walks over to Powell. He grabs Powell's walkie, "Hopper here, what do you got?"

...

Gus looks at the ground with a blank expression, walking through the woods with the kids. She didn't know whether she wanted to cry about her and Fallon's friend breakup or if she wanted to cry about all these painful nightmares running through her head. Were they nightmares? Or were they her memories? And if they were her memories why couldn't she remember the specifics about them?

What if she did have powers?

What if one day she was one inch from snapping and she would accidentally kill someone?

What if her nightmare was real?

What if she did kill someon--

"Gus!"

The girl blinks and looks at the kids in front of her. "What is it?"

"We're here."

Gus looks around and notices that it was now dark. But they were at a familiar location. "But this is--"

"Will's house!" Lucas shouts. "I told you she didn't know what the hell she was talking about!"

"Hey, calm down." Gus' voice was gentle. She looks at the girl. "Why'd you bring us here?"

Eleven opens her mouth, trying to find words.

"Gus, don't waste your time with her," Lucas says.

"Believe me, I'm close to that point, Lucas." Gus covers her eyes with her hands and exhales a sharp breath.

"Don't blame her--"

"Why not?!" Gus snaps.

Everyone falls silent and Gus' jaw slacks, noticing that she raised her voice. She closes her eyes and inhales a deep breath.

"I'm sorry that I'm having a little trouble trusting the child that almost killed me." she snaps her eyes over to Eleven.

The young girl looks away from the brunette and Gus scoffs.

"We should call the cops like we should have done yesterday," Lucas speaks.

"I agree." Gus nods.

"We are not calling the cops!" Mike raises his voice.

Gus inhales, "Mike, we tried it the childish way." she huffs.

"Hey, guys?"

"Now, we have to be rational, and--"

"Guys!"

Everyone turns to where Dustin was looking. Police cars speed down the street and Gus' eyes widen.

"Will..."

They all get on their bikes and ride down the street, following the sirens. They get there. Gus was the first person to hop off her bike and sprint towards the fire truck. She crouches down and hides behind the truck.

"Please don't be him, please don't be him..." Gus whispers, her heart ramming against her chest. She watches the cops pull out a body from the quarry.

"Oh My God..." Gus whispers. "That's a real body."

Then Gus saw it. That puffy red jacket. The same puffy red jacket that Will wore the night he disappeared. The same puffy red jacket he always wore.

Gus could've sworn her erratic heartbeat stopped.

"It's not Will. It can't be." Mike shakes his head.

"It's Will. It's really Will." Lucas says.

Gus shakes her head and her breathing quickens. Her right hand starts to twitch and a sharp pain shoots through her arm. Gus lets out a pain filled breath and steps away from the fire truck. She presses her hand against the fire truck to keep herself from collapsing.

Eleven touches Mike's arm, "Mike--"

Mike slaps her hand away. "Mike? Mike, what? You were supposed to help us find him alive, You said he was alive!" he shouts while his voice shakes. "Why did you lie to us? What's wrong with you? What is wrong with you?" Mike waits for Eleven to answer, but she couldn't say anything.

He stalks over to his bike and walks away with it, Lucas and Dustin calls for him. Gus presses her back against the firetruck and she slides to the ground. The brunette places her arms against her knees and tears blur her vision.

Everyone turns to the quiet teen, who was staring off into space.

"Gus--"

"You guys should get home." Gus lets out.

Dustin and Lucas look at each other.

"You can't blame yourself--"

"Yes, I can...I most definitely can." Gus nods. "I should've told Hopper, about what was going on, but...instead I just..."

Gus thinks back to her conversation with Hopper.

"Look, I don't know what kind of games you and those kids play in that basement, but this is a missing person case. Not a board game."

"I just should've told him..." Gus tangles her hands into her hair.

"Dustin, we have to go," Lucas says, seeing the cops approaching the firetruck.

Dustin looks at the spaced-out brunette. He reluctantly leaves with Eleven and Lucas.

Officer Powell walks over to the firetruck and hears the sniffling. He follows the sound and stops as he sees the familiar brunette sitting there.

"Hey, Chief!"

Hopper looks up and sees Powell waving him over. He walks over to Powell. The officer points to behind the truck and Hopper follows his motion. The Chief of Police sees Gus looking off into space. His eyes shift to her bike laying on the ground and he sighs.

Hopper walks over to the brunette and sits beside her.

Gus inhales a shaky breath, "Is it him...is it...really Will?"

And for the first time ever. Hopper tries and comforts Gus. He places his arm over her shoulders and pulls her into his side.

A tear slips out of Gus' eye.

"I'm sorry, kid..."

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author's note.

How is this story already at 4k reads??? TYSM!!! I am so glad that you're enjoying the story!!! Continue to vote and comment! I love hearing what you guys have to say <3

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