Holly Jolly
All day Barb's and Y/N's warnings have been going round Nancy's head. She knew that there had been a danger of her getting hurt; but that had been the point. Going to that party was meant to be something exciting and different. But now both her friends are missing and the best case scenario is that they're just icing her out. Not to mention Steve.
Instant waves of guilt washed over her, they'd warned her he wasn't worth it and somehow they were the ones paying the price for her fun.
What if they're missing like Will?
She'd already told her mom that 'nothing happened' at the party, she had insisted on it actually. That had cut off her options to go to her quite a bit.
The thought of Steve had helped a bit. Whilst his friends were gross, he had taken her seriously, he had listened. Even if he didn't really understand.
But also, he had called her paranoid. Two people were missing and the last time they had been seen was at his house.
But, argued the other voice in her head, he had stood up for her to Jonathan about the pictures. He had looked really guilty, and they were creepy pictures. The starring lady. But that one photo of Barb felt like it was burning a hole in Nancy's pocket.
What if Jonathan knew what happened?
Nancy couldn't decide how to feel about the camera right now. Not with the sound of shattered glass still echoing in her ears. She knew how much that camera had cost to Jonathan. But being broke isn't an excuse for being a creep.
She had to get answers, she had to understand. And Steve's approach wasn't cutting it. This was something she had to do alone.
Nancy pactically ran to Steve's house; to the stupid side road where she had made Barb and Y/N park. The Golf still sits there, waiting for her to return.
The fear is starting to set in now.
"Barb?"
"Y/N?"
There's nobody here. The trees are cracking in the wind and sound like footsteps. Maybe they never left?
That's when a low growl comes from behind her.
Whatever it is, it is a horrible thing. Pale translucent skin stretched over its head without a face. A man? An animal?
Heart pounding, Nancy begins to run. Almost immediately she trips. Hands stinging with pain she pushes herself onto her feet. Her pulse pounds in her ears and her skin prickles with sweat. Tears start to run down her cheeks as she finds her footing and sprints home.
Admitting defeat, Nancy decides there's nowhere else to turn. She has to tell her mom. Who hugs her and reassures her it will all be okay.
Why did dhe think her mom would understand?
Nevertheless, she tries to believe that everything will be okay. She begins to calm down. Until Mike gets home, similarly in tears.
Will is dead.
Does that mean Barb and Y/N are too?
- - - -
Despite spending the whole night awake staring at her ceiling like it held all the answers, Nancy still made it to school. Although pretty much instantly wished she hadn't.
After a lot of deliberation she had decided to tell Steve she was serious Barb and Y/N were actually missing. And at least this time when Steve listened he seemed to understand the level of concern she was at. But for all the wrong reasons.
"Okay just when you talk to the cops don't mention the beers. It's just gonna get us both in trouble and barb is got nothing to do with it," he had exclaimed.
Well that had been a waste of valuable time. Nancy didn't even know *why* she had asked Steve. Yesterday he had tried to help and although it didn't really achieve anything it did at least momentarily calm her down. Now she was just pissed.
Later in the day, the cops had proved to be an even bigger waste of time. They seemed more interested in her and Steve's relationship. Just like everyone else. Nancy sighed, she had started this as a way to make her life more exciting. She was supposed to be the nerd girl and she wanted to prove to everyone else that she could be exciting. She could do anything she wanted. Including date the King of the whole school. She hadn't expected the rest of the world to view the relationship as more important than her.
She also hadn't expected to actually really like Steve. Sure, he was sometimes distant and didn't always understand. But it always felt like he would at least try to. And that's what made this morning's outburst so disappointing.
That's when she began to examine the photograph she had been trying to ignore all day. Barb was staring into the pool, and Y/N into the sky as their hand skated in the water.
Surely Jonathan had seen something?
- - - -
The next thing Nancy knew, she was walking in the woods looking for a monster with a boy she had previously assumed weird at best. They had blown up the photo and seen that *thing*. Faceless but somehow staring. And now they were wondering the woods with a gun.
And yet somehow being with Jonathan felt right. He was remarkably calm despite everything. His brother was missing and his mom was rightfully going out of her mind but somehow Nancy felt he was calmer than she was right now with the guilt eating her up.
"What was I saying?" She found herself asking, "That night when you took my picture."
"I shouldn't have taken that," Byers admits, and Nancy finds herself smiling, "I'm sorry."
"What was I saying?" She insists.
"It was like the whole night you'd been pretending, but in that moment you were able to be yourself."
"That's such bullshit," Nancy says. But in her head she's not so sure. Both Barb and Y/N had been worrying about Nancy not being herself anymore. That she wasn't being honest with herself. She felt more like herself here, in the woods, with Jonathan Byers of all people, solving a mystery.