Worlds Apart

Ally's Outfit
- - -
Glass shattered across the hall. I shot up in bed scrambled out of my covers as I heard Don scream,

“How do you like it when I take away your things?!”

“I didn’t take it!” Dustin shouted, close to tears; I rushed out of my room. He was backed up against his bed as Don towered over him, tears running down his face, glaring up at our stepdad. His lamp was broken on the floor, and one of his comics was torn in half.

“What the hell is going on?!” I cried; Don turned to me, malice in his eyes.

“This waste of goddamn space stole my calculator!”

“I did not!” Dustin cried, and Don whirled back around. He jammed a finger into Dustin’s face, making my brother flinch back. “I didn’t take it!”

“Don, he didn’t -”

“Shut the hell up, Allison!” he roared, and moved even closer to Dustin. My brother dropped onto his bed to try and get distance between them. I grabbed Don’s elbow and tried to pull him back. He threw his arm back and forced my hand off. “I know you took it! It was in my bag last night! It’s a three hundred dollar calculator! Do you understand that?! Did it just get legs and fucking walk away?!”

“Maybe it did, because I didn’t take it!” Dustin shouted; I could see Don tense up. I froze, watching his movements. If he put his hands on my brother…

Instead of grabbing Dustin, he reached over and grabbed his walkie-talkie off the table. Dustin jumped up and reached to take it back. Don shoved his hand away and stepped back, lifting it up.

“Don’t!” Dustin shouted, going for it again. The moment Don shoved him back I rushed forward. I ripped the walkie-talkie out of his hand and moved between him and my brother, handing the talkie back to Dustin.

“Don’t touch him,” I said coldly, holding my ground as he came towards me. He went to step around me and I put my hands on his chest to bump him back. “Dustin wouldn’t take your calculator.”

“Then did you take it?” he threw out, vein in his neck bulging. “I’m sure the goddamn cat didn’t! So where the hell is it?”

“Probably wherever the hell you left it!”

“What did I say about showing some fucking respect -”

I shoved past him, fuming, and made my way to the living room. As I’d hoped, he followed me instantly, leaving my brother alone. I knelt next to his work bag and dumped everything on the floor. No calculator.

Where else was he? I thought quickly; Don wasn’t gonna give me much more interrupted time. Not in the kitchen, so that meant either the couch, or mom’s room. I hurried to our couch and ran my hands around and under the cushions and, sure enough, the calculator was wedged between them. Right where he’d been sitting last night.

“Here. Go yell at the couch for pick-pocketing you.”

I went to shove past him again but it seemed I’d pushed my luck to its limits. Don’s hand locked onto my upper arm and before I could brace myself, I was slammed up against the living room wall. I kept the pain off my face; I didn’t want to give him any satisfaction. I was too heated, seeing him act like that with my baby brother.

“You don’t watch yourself, you little brat, and I’ll be teaching you what happens when you disrespect me.”

I gave him the most heated glare I could and tried to pull away. Don pressed my harder into the wall, but I kept struggling.

“The next time you put your hands on my little brother, it’ll be the last time.”

He actually started laughing, which was somehow more frightening than his yelling.

“Are you threatening me?” he cackled; I tried to push him off me.

“It’s not a threat. It’s a promise.”

In an instant the laughing stopped, and the words on the tip of my tongue disappeared. Don loomed over me, hard eyes going dark, cold with malice. He had me pinned to the wall with both hands wrapped tight around my upper arms; the ache in them was nothing compared to the fear racing through me.

I’d never seen him this mad.

“The next time you threaten me, kid, it will be the last. Do I make myself clear?”

“Y-yes -”

One hand came off my arm and hit me across the face hard enough to make my head snap to the side. I let out a gasp of pain but didn’t react further, keeping my head turned away from him.

“What was that?”

“Yes sir,” I whispered; finally, he moved away from me. I held perfectly still, barely breathing, as he straightened his tie.

“Now make yourself useful and clean up my shit.”

I nodded and rushed to the bag I’d upended, shoveling all his things back inside with shaking hands. I forced my tears back; the last thing I needed was to start crying in front of Don. I got to my feet quickly and held the bag out to him. He took it from me and pointedly put the calculator back.

“Anything else of mine goes missing in this house, your brother’s gonna be the one to pay for it.”

Don left without another word, slamming the door hard enough to make the pictures on the wall shake. I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a breath, all the emotions of the past few minutes surging through me and overwhelming me.

When I opened my eyes, I saw Dustin’s head poking out of his room.

“Ally? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, kiddo. Hey, watch out for that glass.”

The perfect distraction. Forcing my emotions back, I grabbed the vacuum and dragged it down the hall, ushering my brother back. I could feel his eyes on me as I cleaned up the mess, and when I went to pick up the lamp, he reached out and caught my hand.

“Your face is bleeding.”

My eyes widened in surprise, and I turned to the mirror hanging on his wall. My cheek was dark red; I could already see the hints of a bruise forming. There was a small cut just underneath my eye along my cheekbone, and a few drops of blood had run down onto my cheek.

As I went to grab a tissue, Dustin’s hand around my wrist tugged me towards his bed. He urged me to sit down, and then held up a finger, telling me to wait as he hurried out of the room. A few moments later, he returned with a damp washcloth and a bandaid.

“You don’t need -”

“You helped me, so I’ll help you,” he said simply, not meeting my eyes as he wiped gently at my cheek. Once the blood was gone, his hand lowered slowly and he asked softly, “why is he such a bag of dicks?”

“Language,” I told him lightly, reaching up and gently tipping his chin back to meet his eyes. “He just… I don’t think he likes kids. He’s just with mom for the easy money.”

“From dad’s insurance.”

I nodded as Dustin gently put a bandaid on my cheek.

“With mom on her medication, she doesn’t see the kind of guy he really is.”

“If mom knew what was going on, she wouldn’t still be married,” Dustin said bitterly, and I gave his chin a gentle squeeze.

“She wouldn’t,” I promised. “But until mom’s well enough to get off the meds, we’ve gotta handle this as best we can.” When Dustin didn’t answer, I said gently, “I won’t let him hurt you, okay? And we’ll get you a new comic.”

“I don’t care about the comic, it was Mike’s anyways,” he dismissed. I gave him a dry look until he added, “I don’t want him to hurt you.”

My heart tightened; I could see the sadness on Dustin’s face. Saw his eyes flick to my cheek, and the bruises on my arms. As much as he hated hugs, I needed to give him one right then. I pulled him to me, and was surprised when he hugged me back, tight as he could.

“I promise I’m alright, kiddo. Okay?” Dustin gave me a dubious look as we pulled apart.

“What if we talked to Mike’s parents? Mrs. Wheeler could -”

“No, absolutely not.”

“What? Why not?”

“Because,” I sighed, getting up and nudging him towards his closet to get dressed. “I can handle this, okay?”

“But -”

“Dustin, this stays between us. I mean it.”

“Yeah,” he muttered, eyeing me until I slipped out of the room. Once back in my own, I shut the door and leaned against it, letting out a shaky breath now that I was alone.

I’d considered telling someone, dozens of times. Every time Don put his hands on me, it crossed my mind. But Don was a smart guy, well-liked by most people in our town. He went golfing with Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Sinclair every other Sunday. He was old high school friends with Chief Hopper.

So who would they believe, their friend or his step-daughter? Bruises or not, he knew how to turn things around, and if he found out I reported him…

I wasn’t risking it. And I prayed Dustin would let it go. I knew Don had scared him pretty bad, but he trusted me. Hopefully enough to let me handle it. How I was gonna do that.... Well, I’d figure it out later.

Dustin, thankfully, seemed a little more calm when I finally came out. He was at the table, pouring milk onto a bowl of cereal. There were two more bowls sat on either side of him, waiting for mom and I.

Mom.

Don was usually the one to get her up when he was home, but that looked like it would fall to me today. I eased her door open with my shoulder, leaning inside. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, gripping the sheets as she stared out the window.

“Mom?”

She turned her head slowly, tear-filled eyes regarding me for a moment before they went back to the window. My heart twisted a bit. It always hurt to see her like this. She was spacey and distant with her medicine, but at least she was happy.

Without it…

“Hey, momma. Dusty made us breakfast. You want to come and eat?”

I heard her murmur something, but she didn’t move. I sat beside her and grabbed the medicine bottles off her bedside table, starting to pour her medications out. She didn’t say a thing to me as I did so, barely even blinking. She didn’t even acknowledge Mews as he crawled onto her lap and butted her hand affectionately.

Dad’s death had hit her hard. They’d been high school sweethearts, together for nearly 20 years. Dad had been on his way home from work. The speeding truck driver hadn’t even seen the stop sign, and the t-bone collision was… well, the paramedics assured us he hadn’t felt any pain.

Dustin and I had been devastated, but mom… we lost her that night too. Before the medication, she’d been like this all day. Never speaking, never eating. Locked up in her room with the blinds drawn, staring at the wall for hours upon hours. At least with the medication, we had a little piece of her still.

She didn’t fight me as I rested the medicine in her palm and grabbed her glass of water from the nightstand. She swallowed them obediently and went back to staring out the window. In about half an hour she’d be just fine. Or, as fine as she could be.

“Have a good day, momma,” I said softly, kissing her temple as I got up and went to eat breakfast. Dustin was slurping the milk out of his bowl - dripping most of it on the table - when I sat down.

“Really?” I sighed, eyeing the mess as he licked his lips, satisfied. He gave me a toothless grin. “Go get a napkin, dork.”

There was a knock at the door as Dustin was mopping up the table. I finished my cereal and hurried over, not surprised to find Will when I opened the door. He looked a little surprised to see me, but instantly blushed and gave a shy smile.

“Hi Ally. Is Dustin coming to school?”

“Yeah, he’s just getting his backpack. Come on in,” I said, stepping aside. Will nervously scampered inside and smiled at his best friend. I left them to it as I went and grabbed my own things. As I scooped my history book into my bag, I couldn’t help smiling, thinking back to the phone call last night.

And, okay, maybe I was kind of looking forward to history class today. Maybe.

“Bye Ally!” Dustin and Will chorused from the living room. They were gone by the time I came back out, but Barb was waiting in their absence. I hurried to the car and hopped in, knowing we were running a little late.

“Forget to set your alarm again?” she teased, pulling onto the street. I opened my mouth to reply when she gasped. “What happened to your face?!”

“That’s not very nice, pointing out my horrible looks,” I started to joke. When we came up to the stop sign, Barb turned her sharp gaze onto me.

“Ally. I’m not joking around.”

My eyes dropped to my lap as I mumbled, “I know. Sorry.”

“Are you okay?” she sighed after a few moments of tense silence. I nodded quickly; tears were welling in my eyes again. I didn’t want to cry, and if I talked, I would. “It was Don, wasn’t it?”

I didn’t answer. It felt like if I acknowledged it, all the chaos would become real. As crazy as it sounded. And I didn’t want it to be real. So I kept quiet until we pulled up to school. Barb shut the car off; as I went to get out, her hand wrapped around mine.

“Allison. I’m sorry. I didn’t meant to pry. I just… I’m so worried about you.”

“I know,” I said again, voice tight in my throat.

“You know this isn’t okay. I know you, I know you think you can handle it. But this?” her hand came up and cupped my cheek, turning my head to examine my injury. “This isn’t handling it. What if this was happening to Dustin?”

“I won’t let it,” I assured her, and she sighed.

“Why are you and Dustin any different? You don’t need to put up with this either. We could go talk to Chief Hopper. I’d be your witness. I know you think he won’t believe you -”

“I can’t risk it, not with his ties to everyone. And if he found out I ratted him out, and no one stepped in? I don’t want to think about what would happen.”

“Fine. Then we handle this ourselves,” she said, voice full of authority. I lifted my eyes to look up at my best friend. She saw the look on my face and said simply, “I’m not letting this happen to you. And if you don’t want to go to Hopper, then you and I will take care of it.”

“Barb, you don’t -”

“I do, Ally. You’re my best friend. You’ve been with me since kindergarten. I’m not letting you go at this alone anymore, okay?”

The tears couldn’t be helped. I let out a small, watery laugh and threw my arms around my best friend, crying onto her shoulder. Barb hugged me tight to her, and the two of us sat like that until we heard the warning bell for class.

“Thank you,” I sniffled, wiping the tears off quickly as we hurried across the parking lot. Barb nudged my arm affectionately and gave me a smile before we parted ways inside. I still had a couple minutes; I paused at my locker and quickly started putting my books inside.

“Hey Allison.”

A shiver of warmth spread through me at Jonathan’s voice. I glanced over briefly and gave a bright smile.

“Hey!”

“So uh, I found some articles we can use for a few of the chapters,” he started; I heard papers shuffling. I grabbed a few books and shut the locker, turning to him. “I figured in history we could -”

Jonathan’s words cut off as his eyes swept over my face. The light smile on his face faded, replaced with a concerned frown. I felt my cheeks flush and immediately started thinking of an excuse.

“What happened? Are you -”

“Oh, this?” I asked, giving a nervous laugh and touching my tender cheek. “I was roughhousing with Dustin and hit my face on his nightstand.”

Jonathan’s frown deepend just a hint, and his hand came out, taking my chin gently. He turned it and studied my cheek; my face flushed even darker.

“Looks worse than just an accidental bump,” he said slowly; as a group of students passed, he dropped his hand and shifted back a hint, aware of how close we were.

“I hit it pretty hard,” I lied, shrugging. “Hey, I gotta go. Can’t be late. I’ll see you in history, okay?”

Before Jonathan could reply I spun and took off down the hall.

-x-

Nancy hadn’t shut up about Steve. Barb and I were doing our best to fake our excited smiles, but it was a losing battle. I mean, yeah, I was happy she and Steve had an ‘unofficial’ thing, but I didn’t want a play-by-play of their tonsil hockey.

Mr. Roberts got our attention as soon as the bell rang.

“Today is another project work day -” the class cheered, but went silent when he held up a hand. “However, it will not be a collaborative work day. The only person I want you sitting with is your partner. Don’t think I didn’t notice the lack of work done yesterday.”

While the rest of the class groaned, I found I was actually looking forward to just working with Jonathan. And it was just because that meant we’d actually get something done. And I wouldn’t have to worry about Adam and Steve being jerks.

“See you guys after class,” I said with a smile, grabbing my stuff and making my way to Jonathan. He gave me a smile in greeting and pulled a desk up to his own. I sat down and instantly leaned a little closer, studying the articles on his desk.

“Wow, these are perfect!” I said excitedly, picking one up to read through it a little more. “Where’d you find these?”

“I used them last year for an essay,” he said simply, but I saw the smile of satisfaction flit over his face. I gave him a wide smile and pulled out my notebook, already jotting down a few things that came to mind.

“Hey,” he said after a few moments, leaning down a bit to meet my gaze. I lifted my eyes as he asked, “are you really alright?”

I blinked in surprise at him, a million different answers running through my mind. But I forced down the ones I wanted to give and settled on a small smile as I said,

“I am. Really.”

Still, he looked unconvinced, but I could tell he didn’t feel confident enough to push the subject. We were friends, but we weren’t close enough for him to start calling out my lies.

So instead, we settled into our work. We chatted idly about the assignment and even touched on some stuff we’d discussed last night. For once, class seemed to end too soon.

“I just don’t get it. They’re so lame, it’s not even funny,” he threw back at me as we shoved our books into our bags. I gasped and glared at him.

“The Beach Boys aren’t lame!”

“They really are. The only songs they have are about surfing.”

“Which is cool!”

“Which is lame.”

“You’re lame,” I muttered, following him into the hall as the bell rang. He rolled his eyes.

“Nice comeback.”

As I stuck my tongue out at him, he laughed and shook his head. He glanced around and, seeing as we were alone, he moved a step closer.

“I was wondering if you uh, you still wanted to come by after school. For the project,” he added quickly. Doing my best to fight the flush creeping up into my cheeks, I nodded quickly.

“Yeah, definitely. We can get ahead if we finish outlining everything.”

“Sounds good,” he said, backing down the hall. “See you tonight, Allison.”

As I waved to him, I heard a chorus of ooh’s rise up behind me. I let out a gasp and spun, seeing Barb and Nancy smirking at me.

“Don’t even start with me!” I demanded, shoving past them to head to our next class. They snickered behind me the whole way there.

-x-

“Uh, what are you doing?”

As I climbed onto Dustin’s old bike, I turned to give my brother a questioning look. Except it wasn’t just him; all the boys were staring at me in curiosity.

“Riding a bike?” I tried, wanting to avoid what I knew was coming. Dustin gave me an unamused look.

“I meant, where are you going? You never go anywhere.”

“I have a life, you know.”

“That’s debatable,” he threw out; I gave him a dry look. “The only people you hang out with have a car. So where are you going?”

“It’s not safe for a beautiful lady to be biking around alone,” Lucas added immediately, giving me a wide smile. Will nodded enthusiastically as Dustin groaned. “We can be your escorts!”

“I’m fine, thanks,” I laughed, shaking my head at them as I rolled to the end of the driveway. To Dustin, I added, “I’m just going to Jonathan’s to work on our project. If you need me -”

“Is that all you’re going for?”

“Excuse you?” I asked incredulously as he shared a smirk with Mike.

“Well from what we heard, you and Jonathan stayed up all night talking!”

I knew my face turned at least six shades of red, going by Dustin and Mike’s laughter. Will looked embarrassed, clearly the source of the information, but Lucas looked disgusted. I took the moment of surprise to kick off and start riding down the street.

“Get back here!” I heard Dustin shout, but when I glanced over my shoulder, I saw he was calling after Lucas, not myself. A moment later, he pulled up beside me.

“We’re hanging out at Will’s today!” he called back, giving me a pointed look. “We’ll make sure nothing unexpected happens.”

“What, like her actually doing homework instead of Will’s brother?” Dustin chortled, having caught up to us with the others. I gasped and leaned over to smack his arm.

“Dustin Nicholas!”

“Ooh, she used your middle name!” Mike laughed. Will snickered behind us.

“You’re in trouble now.”

I let the boys bicker as we rode down to the Byers. Will pulled up ahead when we coasted down the driveway, and was already scampering inside by the time we pulled up. Just as I sat down my bike, Jonathan appeared in the doorway.

He gave a friendly smile, but hesitated for a second, glancing beside me. I looked down to find Lucas glaring at him.

“She’s here to study,” he said pointedly, brushing past the older Byers as he headed inside. Jonathan gave me a perplexed look and I just shook my head.

“Ignore that,” I started, only to be cut off by Dustin sidling up to us, Mike smirking at his side.

“Have fun you two, and be respon -”

“Dustin,” I hissed, shoving him inside and giving Mike a look to follow. He didn’t argue and went inside ahead of me. Jonathan seemed more bemused than anything, looking between myself and the snickering boys.

“Do I want to know?”

“Nope,” I said instantly as he shut the door behind me, turning to lead us to his room. Lucas caught his eye as he passed, doing the ‘I’m watching you’ motion as we passed. I shot him a hard look and he instantly spun around.

“Right, so,” Jonathan chuckled, pushing his door shut as I came inside. “Ready to get started?”

“Actually, we have more important matters to discuss.” Jonathan raised a brow as I pulled out a cassette. “You think The Beach Boys are lame. We’re changing that.”

He gave me a goofy grin and shook his head as I held it out. When he didn’t automatically take it, I huffed and grabbed his hand, putting the tape in his palm.

He shook his head and crossed to his stereo, putting the tape in and pressing play. The first song to play was my favorite, Wouldn’t It Be Nice.

We both sat on the edge of his bed. I busted myself with getting my textbook out as the song played through. At the end, as the next song started up, he hmm’d and nodded.

“Okay, okay. That wasn’t half bad.”

“Half bad?” I scoffed, turning to face him and giving an incredulous look. “That’s their best song!”

He made a face as if to say ‘that’s sad’. I smacked his arm playfully.

“You need to hear some real music, apparently,” he teased, pulling my tape out and putting his own in. “Here. See what you think.”

I sat the book aside and let the song take over, listening to it with my full attention. I was more interested in watching Jonathan though, truth be told. He was into the music, opening up how I’d never seen him.

He bobbed his head to the beat and even mouthed some of the words, smiling at the lyrics he sang. As it ended he turned and gave me an expectant smile.

“That wasn’t half bad,” I teased, and Jonathan actually laughed. “What was that?”

“That’s All by Genesis. Just came out last month.”

“I did like it,” I sighed, rolling my eyes as he smirked. “But The Beach Boys are still a hundred times better.”

“They are not -“

His bedroom door swung open and we both looked over in surprise. Lucas was leaning in, frown on his face.

“Don’t you two have a project to be working on?”

Jonathan gave him a frown as I rolled my eyes. I held up the book and gave him a pointed look.

“We are. Thanks, mom.”

Lucas huffed and started to walk away, but leaned back to add, “the door stays open. In case of an emergency.”

“Right,” I snorted, shaking my head as he stalked down the hall. Jonathan turned his puzzled look to me.

“What’s with him today?”

“He’s just a weirdo,” I diverted, not wanting to try and explain that situation. “But he does have a point. We should actually do some work.”

Jonathan nodded in agreement and grabbed his bag, digging through it for his book. As he did so, a couple of photos slid out onto the bed. He saw me staring, and sheepishly nudged them towards me.

“For my photography class,” he explained as I sifted through them. I lifted up one - a black and white photo of a streetlight. The road disappeared into shadows and the light from the streetlight gave an ethereal glow to the bushes and trees it illuminated.

“This is beautiful,” I breathed, studying the picture. “I love it.”

Jonathan mumbled a thanks, cheeks bright red, head down to hide his eyes behind his bangs. It was a god look on him.

I looked through the rest on the bed, blown away by his work. Seriously, I had a hard enough time snapping a good picture of Dustin with my Polaroid. This was pure talent.

“You’re really good,” I gushed, reluctantly handing the pictures back to him. He somehow managed to blush even more. “Really. I love these.”

“Thanks,” he said again, finally meeting my eyes again sheepishly. “I love photography. It’s been my thing since I was little.”

“It shows,” I promised, and gave a warm smile. Jonathan sat the pictures aside as we started to work; after a few moments he asked,

“Do you have a hobby?”

I paused in my writing and rolled my eyes up, thinking. After a moment, I shrugged.

“Not really. I mean, I love history. Museums are my thing. But don’t think that’s a hobby. Not like photography.”

“Is that what you want to go to college for?”

I nodded enthusiastically.

“I’d love to. Maybe be a curator or something someday. I just don’t think that’ll happen for a while.”

“Why not?” He asked; we both pushed our books aside and got into more comfortable positions. I thought out my words carefully. I couldn’t just come out and say I can’t leave my brother alone with our abusive stepdad. That didn’t work. So I gave him a simplified version of the truth.

“I don’t want to leave Dustin right when I graduate. I’m sure you know we lost our dad two years ago. And since then… well, Mom was really knocked off her feet. I help her out and take care of him, so if I just left…”

“I get it,” he promised, voice softer than I expected. “After my dad left, mom had to pick up extra shifts, and Will’s already home alone a lot. If I took off for college in another state, I just…” he blew out a breath, and for a moment we stared at one another in mutual realization.

We had a lot more in common than we thought.

Jonathan and I spent the rest of the afternoon working as best we could. We did take a few music breaks - where he showed me some of his own mix tapes - and I even talked him into showing me more of his work.

Sure, we’d gotten a head start on our project, but the real takeaway was realizing just how much we had in common. And by the time 5 o’clock rolled around I felt more like old friends than project partners.

Dustin had waited for me; he and Will were outside watching us with smirks as Jonathan followed me onto the porch.

“So if we get the last few years lined out tomorrow, we could have it finished by next week I’d bet,” I said with a smile, getting one back from Jonathan.

“Alright. We’ll get it done,” he promised. For a few moments we stood awkwardly on the porch, staring at one another, not sure what to do next.

I was a hugger; I never left Nancy and Barb without one. And Jonathan was my friend, so… I moved in fast, giving him a quick hug. He tended up immediately, but when he realized what I was doing he eases into my hold and actually hugged me back.

“Get a room!” Dustin called out, making both of us blush as Will snorted and burst into a fit of giggles. I flipped my brother off as I backed off the porch.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said, smiling and trying to force the blush off my face, just like he was. He nodded and held up a hand in goodbye as I got onto my bike.

“See you, Allison.”

Dustin and I biked home, bickering the whole way there. We slowed when we came around the corner, but when I saw the driveway was empty, we both hurried home.

“I’m just saying, if you and Jonathan got married, Will could be my brother!”

I swatted him upside the head as I kicked the door shut. Mom was on the couch with Mews. She looked up and smiled wide as Dustin gave her a hug.

“You want Mac n cheese or chicken nuggets for dinner?” I asked, getting started on dinner.

“Both!”

“Pick one -“

As I argued with him, I caught sight of the answering machine flashing. I held up a finger to keep him quiet as I listened to the message.

“Don?” He asked nervously. I shook my head.

“Just Barb. Did you finish your homework?” He didn’t answer; I rolled my eyes and pointed at his backpack meaningfully as I called my best friend back.

Half an hour later, mom and Mews were eating nuggets on the couch as Barb, Dustin, and myself sat around the table arguing the finer points of time travel.

“There is no way you can go six thousand years into the future with anything powered by a potato,” Barb informed my brother; he actually looked affronted.

“Well what’s your idea then?”

“Something that actually makes sense?” I suggested, smirking at his unamused scowl as Barb snickered.

“What, did Jonathan give you that line when you were on the phone with him for six hours last night?”

My eyes widened as Barb’s head whipped around.

“What?!” She laughed as Dustin smirked at me. Well played, kid. I scowled at him as I turned to Barb.

“It was not six hours!”

“Oh so you did call him?”

“Just for our project!” I defended. As Dustin got up to put his dishes in the sink, he said in a mocking tone,

“For the record, I don’t think you’re a freak. That’s what you said, isn’t it?”

“Go finish your homework!” I squeaked, turning bright red as a smirk spread over Barb’s face.

“What about ‘you DO even me out’ -“ I jumped up and shoved my brother down the hall as Barb doubled over laughing. I whirled around and glared at my best friend.

“Bedroom. Now.”

“Is that what you said to Jonathan earlier when you went to study?!” Dustin called from his room. I dropped my face in my hands and shuffled after Barb, humiliated. Once my door was shut - and the radio was on to drown out our voices - she asked in a hushed whisper,

“You so like him, don’t you?”

“I do not -”

Barb gave me a pointed look over her glasses. I felt myself cave and fell back onto my bed, covering my face again.

“I kind of sort of maybe like him. A little.” I instantly peeked at her and said sternly, “no teasing!”

“Why would I tease?” she laughed, laying down next to me. “Honestly? I think you two are super cute together.”

“You think he’s creepy,” I argued, giving her a look. She shook her head, so I continued, “when we got the projects, you said the way he was looking at me -”

“It was weird, but I think he’s just… awkward. Like you, before you met Nancy.” I cringed. I was pretty socially inept before we’d met Freshman year. “But watching you and him working together today, it was sweet. You were both totally checking each other out the whole time.”

“What!?” I gasped. “No. I wasn’t - I don’t do that. And Jonathan does not like me. He didn’t even want to work together -”

“Oh he so likes you.”

“Does not,” I argued, shaking my head. Barb smirked at me and sat up; I didn’t like that mischievous look. I sat up after her and watched as she made for the door. “What are you doing?”

“We’re calling him. I want to prove a point.”

“Barb he doesn’t like me! I don’t want to bother him -“

“Then I’ll talk to him,” she decided, grabbing the phone off the hook and coming back into my room. She held it out to me. “Either you or me, and you don’t want it being me.”

Glaring at her, I snatched the phone and stared at the numbers.

“What do I even say?”

“Ask him a question about the assignment,” she told me, dropping back onto the bed. We both laid back and I took a deep breath.

I dialed his number and waited. Barb leaned closer and pressed her ear to the phone to listen.

“Hello?”

Oh god, it was him! Why was I so nervous? I’d called just fine yesterday!! But admitting my crush on him to Barb made me feel like I’d screamed it to the world. Like he totally knew.

Barb nudged me to answer so I said quickly,

“Uh, hi. Hey. It’s uh, it’s Ally.”

“Oh hey,” he said; I could hear the smile in his words. “How are you? Everything alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good. I just… I was wondering, I totally spaced on what I needed to bring tomorrow.”

Barb gave me an ‘are you serious’ look as I smacked a hand to my forehead. I couldn’t have thought of anything better?!”

“Oh, I guess just your history book. That’s really all we’ll need.” I groaned internally, this was so awkward. What was the point - “And yourself,” he joked, catching me off guard. “I need you.”

The grin on Barb’s face looked painful; she started giggling as I felt my heart skipping beats.

“I-I mean, I need you to help with the project, you know,” he backtracked quickly.

“Yeah, totally. I figured,” I stammered. “Can you hold on a sec? Dustin needs me.”

I pressed my hand over the receiver and glared at her.

“Quit laughing!” I hissed; she wiped the tears from her eyes and shook her head.

“Only if you tell him you don’t have a ride tomorrow,” she countered. I frowned.

“What? Why?”

“Just do it!” She giggled moving the phone back to my ear. I scowled but finally moved my hand away.

“Sorry about that.”

“Everything okay?” he asked, and I glanced at Barb.

“Yeah. Just uh… Barb came by to tell me she can’t take me tomorrow.”

“Oh, well uh,” he cleared his throat and Barb wiggled her eyebrows at me. “I could come get you. If you need a ride.”

My eyes widened and I turned to stare at her in disbelief. Going by her grin, I figured this had been her plan. Since when did she turn into my personal matchmaker?!

She nudged me to answer again; I took a deep breath and managed to say,

“Y-Yeah. That’d be great, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” he said quickly. Barb dissolved into giggles and sat up to grab something off my desk. “I’ll be there about ten till.”

“Yeah, sounds great,” I agreed as Barb laid back down. She had my polariod in one hand. She scooted closer to me and held it up, taking a picture of the two of us. I grinned and playfully shoved her aside.

“Great,” he said with another smile in his voice. “But I get to pick the music. I’m not listening to your mixtapes.”

“I take offense to that,” I laughed; the smile on my face couldn’t be helped.

“Take it up with me tomorrow then,” he teased, and I shook my head. “Good night, Allison.”

“‘Night Jonathan,” I said, and as soon as I heard the dial tone again I let out a squeal and covered my face. “I can’t believe I did that!”

“Oh he so likes you!” She laughed, shaking out the picture to get it to develop. I watched as the two of us came into view.

“What’s that about?” I asked, watching as she flipped it over and wrote something. She passed it to me and said smartly,

“A memento of your bravest act.”

Giving her a look, I read her words:

11/3/83 - The day she took a chance, and succeeded.

I grinned at my best friend; I couldn’t have put it better myself.