{The Weirdo on Maple Street, Part III}

Barb and Alice were tense the whole ride over. Alice thought about her brother and Eleven, and Barb worried about Steve's intentions.

"Barbara, pull over," Nancy demanded.

"What?" Barb asked. They were still on the road leading to Steve's house.

"Pull over!" Nancy repeated.

"What are we doing here?" Alice asked, leaning forward from the back seat. "His house is three blocks away."

"We can't park in the driveway," Nancy said, as if that made all the sense in the world.

"Are you serious?" Barb huffed.

"Yeah," Nancy explained. "The neighbors might see."

Alice rolled her eyes. 

"Nance, you're being ridiculous."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"This is so stupid," Barb interrupted their childish bickering. "I'm just going to drop you two off."

"Calm down, Barb," Nancy said. "You promised that you'd go."

"Technically, I didn't promise," Alice piped up. "I was dragged here against my will."

"You two are both coming!" Nancy said. "We're going to have a great time."

Barb shook her head at Nancy's naivety.

"Steve just wants to get in your pants," she said sharply.

Nancy's face flushed.

"No, he doesn't!"

"Nance, seriously," Barb continued. "He invited you to his house. His parents aren't home. Come on, you are not this stupid!"

"Tommy H. and Carol are going to be there," Nancy pointed out.

"Tommy and Carol have been having sex since, like, seventh grade," Barb said with a scoff. "It'll probably just be, like, a big orgy."

Alice gagged.

"Gross," she said.

"Come on, Al," Nancy said. "You don't think Steve only invited me to sleep with me, right?"

Yikes.

"I mean," Alice began, "Steve is kind of known for being a horndog..."

"Ha!" Barb said.

"...But he really likes you, and he doesn't seem like the type to make you do anything you don't want to," she finished.

"Ha!" Nancy said, sticking her tongue out at Barb.

"Honestly, I have no idea what Steve is—what the hell?" Alice interrupted herself when she noticed a familiar car. "Why is Samuel here?"

Nancy and Barb continued their conversation while Nancy changed her top, and Alice pushed open the door of the car and slammed it.

"Hi, Al," Samuel said innocently when he saw her walking toward him. "I thought you weren't coming?"

"Don't 'Hi Al' me! Why are you here? No one actually invited you!"

"Yeah," Samuel said, putting his hands on his hips. "When you said you probably weren't going to come, I made other arrangements. Carol is in my history class. She said I could come if I brought beer."

He held up a six pack.

"You're ridiculous."

"No, I'm not, I'm a method actor."

"Are you seriously going to spend the whole night stalking Steve and Tommy to get inspiration for Streetcar?" Alice asked with a groan. "Because that's super lame, and you're going to embarrass me by proxy."

"No, I won't, because I'm a really good method actor."

Nancy and Barb walked over to Samuel's truck and greeted him, interrupting their argument.

"Let's go," Nancy said, walking towards the front door.

While Nancy rang the doorbell, Barb fidgeted and looked uncomfortable.

"Barb, chill," Nancy said.

"I'm chill!" Barb said, in a not-very-chill way.

The door swung open and revealed Steve Harrington. He grinned.

"Hello, ladies," he addressed Barb, Nancy, and Alice. He nodded at Samuel. "Hey, man. Come on in."

"Damn, Harrington," Alice said as they walked through his house. "This place is nice."

She noticed Samuel walking behind Steve, trying to mimic his gait. She rolled her eyes.

"Thanks," Steve said. "My dad's a dick, but at least he's rich."

It was Barb's turn for an eye roll.

Steve opened the back door that lead to a heated pool, and Tommy H. said, "Hey, party people!" as they filed into the backyard.

"Did you bring beer?" Carol demanded Samuel.

He nodded and held up a six pack.

"Stole this from my dad," Samuel bragged. "It's the good stuff."

"What do you mean, 'the good stuff'?" Alice asked, peering at the cans.

"I mean," Samuel said, "it's expensive. And foreign."

"It says here you bought it at the Big Buy," Barb quipped, pointing to the price tag sticker.

Tommy, Carol, and Steve didn't care how expensive or cheap the beer was. Beer was beer.

They all grabbed a can, and Samuel went to hand one to Alice.

"No thanks. I'll keep my brain cells." She lounged on a chair by the pool and pulled out her Walkman, ignoring Carol's squeals while Tommy tried to push her into the pool.

"Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran began to play on her headphones, and she bobbed her head to the beat.

Samuel downed half a beer, then pulled out a booklet from his jacket pocket. He poked Alice's shoulder to get her attention.

"What do you want?" she said, speaking loudly over her music.

"Dude, no need to shout," he said. He held up the book. "Help me study my lines for Streetcar?"

"Nah, I'm good."

Samuel narrowed his eyes. "Come on, really?"

Alice took off her headphones and rested them around her neck. "Listen, just say 'STELLLAAAAA' as loudly as possible. That's all you need to know to play Stanley."

Samuel flipped through his script, muttering, "You're no help."

He sat on a lounge chair opposite Alice and began silently mouthing his lines to himself, stealing glances at Tommy H. and trying to puff out his chest in a similar way.

Alice put her headphones back on, humming the Duran Duran song while Steve chugged a beer.

Tommy and Carol cheered. When he finished, he threw the can on the ground and got comfortable on one of the chairs.

"Is that supposed to impress me?" Nancy teased.

"You're not?" Steve said with a smirk.

"Wow," Alice deadpanned. "You know how to put liquids in your body. You deserve an award!"

"Al!" Nancy hissed.

"What? You can tease him and I can't?" Alice said. She turned to Steve. "You are a cliché, you do realize that?"

Steve snorted.

"You're a cliché," Steve said. "What, with your 'I don't care what anyone thinks of me' attitude, and your comic books, and drama club. And graphic tees."

"Nance, tell Steve to go fuck himself because I'm unique. Also, my shirts are awesome." Alice gave Steve a sickly sweet grin, and he rolled his eyes and smirked.

"Meow!" Tommy cackled. "Alley Cat's bringing the claws out tonight."

"Don't call me Alley Cat," Alice said, readjusting her headphones and closing her eyes. "It's Alice or Al. Nothing else."

"I'm sorry about Alice," Nancy said to Steve. "She's just mad because she didn't do well on our chemistry test...but, she is right." Nancy's eyes glinted. "You are kind of a cliché."

"So are you! What, with your grades and your band practice."

"I'm so not in band," Nancy said.

"Okay, party girl," Steve said, running a hand through his hair. "Why don't you just show us how it's done, then?"

He handed Nancy a beer can and a pocket knife. She looked a little unsure, but was determined to prove herself. She began to poke the can when Steve interrupted and said, "You gotta make a little hole right—"

"I got it," Nancy said.

"Yeah, she's smart, you douche!" Tommy said with an obnoxious laugh.

Nancy began shotgunning the beer, and everyone—except Alice and Barb—began to chant, "Chug, chug, chug!" Even Samuel had abandoned practicing his lines to cheer.

Nancy drank the whole beer, and threw the can down. She raised her arms in victory, and Steve, Tommy, Carol, and Samuel cheered.

"Barb, Alice, Sam, you wanna try?" Nancy asked, holding out cans to them.

"What? No, no I don't want to." Barb said, face flushing.

"I'll give it a whirl," Samuel said.

The party animals whooped and hollered as he chugged a beer too.

"STELLLLAAAAA!" He shouted deliriously.

"Barb?" Nancy asked, offering another can.

"No thanks."

"Come on," Tommy, Carol, Steve, and Samuel begged Barb.

"Nance, I don't want to!"

"Nance, she said no," Alice said, pulling her headphones off again.

"It's fun," Nancy said. "Just give it a shot."

Barb relented.

"Okay."

She took a can and the knife, but the knife slipped and she cut her hand.

"Gnarly!" Tommy said with a grin.

"Barb!" Alice said, standing quickly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Barb said, voice shaking.

"Barb, you're bleeding," Nancy said, guilt etching her features.

"I'm fine, where's your bathroom?" Barb asked Steve.

"Oh, it's, uh, down past the kitchen, to the left."

"Okay, thanks," Barb said, walking into the house.

"Barb, wait!" Alice called, following her in. "I'll help you."

The two girls made it to the guest bathroom, and Alice pulled the first aid kit from the top shelf of the cabinet.

"Damn, three bottles of calamine lotion, but no band-aids?" Alice muttered. "Rich people, so illogical."

"I'm really fine," Barb reassured. "I just need something to stop the bleeding."

She pulled a blue washcloth from the linen closet, loosely wrapping her thumb.

"No, you have to wrap it tighter—" Alice grabbed the washcloth and held it tightly to Barb's hand.

"Ow!" Barb yelled.

"Oh, shit, sorry," Alice stammered. "Did I hold it too tight?"

"No," Barb said shakily. "My hand felt really hot for a second. Must have been static electricity."

"Yeah, must've been," Alice said, unsure.

She helped Barb wrap her thumb, but felt something warm dripping onto her upper lip. Barb widened her eyes.

"Al, you have a nosebleed," she said.

Alice turned to look in the mirror and cursed.

"Damn! I thought I had outgrown those," she said, cheeks turning pink with embarrassment.

Alice frequently got nosebleeds as a kid. They always happened at the most inconvenient times—when Dustin fell off his bike and hurt his wrist, when she tripped on the playground, during dodgeball in gym class. If something bad or upsetting or painful was happening, Alice got a nosebleed as a result: a resolute "fuck you" from the universe.

The two girls heard giggling from the entryway of the house, and Barb went to see what was going on. Alice wiped her nose on her sleeve and followed.

They headed back to the main room just in time to see Tommy, Carol, Nancy, Steve, and Samuel all standing in a circle, dripping wet.

When Tommy noticed Alice, he widened his eyes.

"Is it true?" He asked, grinning maniacally.

"Is what true?" Alice asked, slightly concerned.

"Did you really used to live in an orphanage, like Annie?"

"Tommy, you dick!" Carol said, smacking his shoulder. "You're not supposed to ask stuff like that."

Alice's face burned. "Who told you that?"

"Samuel did," Tommy said, pointing to the boy in question, who looked mortified. "He said you lived in one in Indianapolis. Did you have to do chores all day and shit, like in the movies?"

"Tommy, shut up," Steve said, knitting his brows together.

"What? I'm curious!"

"Why the hell did you tell them that?" Alice asked Samuel, voice shaking. She couldn't even look him in the eyes, she was so furious.

"Sorry, Al," Samuel mumbled. "We were talking about you—all good things!—and, I don't know, it slipped out."

"Remind me to never tell you anything ever again," Alice snapped. She was mad, and mortified, and pissed that everyone—except Tommy—was giving her those sympathetic looks she always got when people found out she was adopted.

Nancy looked embarrassed, too—she was the one who had brought Alice up, talking about how they had met. She didn't know Samuel was going to blab her secrets to everyone.

"I, um, left my Walkman outside," Alice said, avoiding eye contact with the group. She shoved past Tommy and ignored his giggles as he and Carol ran upstairs.

She heard Barb and Nancy talking when she opened the back door and stepped into the crisp autumn air.

Her Walkman rested on the lounge chair she had been sitting in. She picked it up and put the headphones around her neck, but stopped when she thought she heard something in the woods. She turned towards the trees and saw a flash of behind a bush. The porch lights flickered ominously, and she could've sworn she heard a growl when—

Something grabbed her arm.

Alice squealed, but she relaxed when she saw it was just Barb.

"Well, Nance is going upstairs with Steve to do who knows what," Barb said, almost bitterly. "So, I'm going to wait until she's ready to go before I leave. Want to wait with me?"

Alice couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Really?" she said. "You're going to just sit here and wait while she and Steve to get it on?"

"Gross, Al!"

"What? That's what they're going to be doing!"

Barb sighed.

"I don't want Nancy to be stuck here or have to walk home."

Alice nodded.

"Very noble of you. I, however, am not so selfless. I'll see if I can get a ride with—ugh, Samuel."

Barb glowered.

"I can't believe he told Steve, Tommy, and Carol that you're adopted," Barb said. "Not that it's a big deal, but you know those three."

Alice shrugged, staring out at the trees again, trying to see the flash of light from before. "Whatever, it's fine. Tommy will be making Annie jokes until the end of time. At least I'm not a redhead—oh, sorry Barb."

Barb rolled her eyes.

"Just go home, Alice," she said, teasingly.

"Bye, Barb," Alice said, hugging her friend. "I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you," Barb said. She waved as Alice went back into Steve's house and met Samuel by the front door. Barb couldn't help but smile wryly when she saw Alice smack Samuel's shoulder.

Barb settled on the diving board of the Harrington's pool, watching the ripples in the water. Her thumb began bleeding, and a drop of blood fell, spreading out like red paint on a canvas. The lights flickered. Everything went dark.

Barb had vanished.

The porch lights flickered back on.

Jonathan Byers loaded film into his camera and looked up to see Barb gone. Just a second ago, she had been sitting on the diving board. He frowned, but shrugged off his concerns, turning to walk back through the woods.

A/N Another long one! And an interesting plot twist revealed...any guesses on Alice's family history now????

{Edited July 6, 2020; Reposted September 12, 2024}