The night before her last day of junior year, Alice Henderson wrote a will.

Most 17-year-olds don't worry so much about mortality, but Alice had seen bad omens in the form of rabbits every night since December. Alice had extraordinary bad luck and didn't like her chances.

It was quite possible she was mad and the rabbits were dreams and meant nothing. But in case they weren't, she wanted her affairs in order.

"Who should I leave my bike too?" she asked her kitten, Tews. The cat simply stared at her before yawning and rolling over on her bedspread.

"You're right," Alice said. "I should be buried with it."

She made a note of that before turning to look at her piggy bank, Monty.

Monty the Pork Chop sat on her bookshelf next to a stack of scripts from drama club. Inside him was enough money for Alice to travel anywhere in the world or go to the most expensive college in the country, courtesy of her birth mom.

Alice stood from her desk and flipped Monty upside-down, shaking a few hundreds out. She tucked the money in her backpack and returned Monty to the shelf, making a note in her will that Monty (and his contents) were for Dustin's college fund.

Someone knocked at her bedroom door, causing Alice to slyly slide her sketchbook over the will and causally say, "Come in!"

"It's us," Maria said, followed by Robin and Quincy.

"If it isn't the almost graduate!" Alice said to the latter, beaming. "Congrats, Quincy!"

"I haven't made it out just yet," Quincy said. "I still have a calculus final. I'm so close, I can almost taste it."

"Almost as much as I can taste the stupid sprinkles I'll be slinging all summer," Robin said with a huff.

"A job at Scoops Ahoy won't be that bad," Maria said. "My neighbor Willie just started working there. He says it's fun."

"Fun for now," Robin said darkly. "But when school lets out it's going to be a nightmare of screaming kids and melted milkshakes."

"You'll have Steve and Willie to gripe with," Alice pointed out. "And as many free samples as you can imagine."

Robin groaned and put her head in her hands.

"No offense, Al," she said, "but a full summer with Steve Harrington is my idea of hell."

"He's not that bad," Alice protested.

Robin looked up and glared at her.

"Okay, okay," Alice said. "I know he's an idiot—"

"He's the biggest dingus I have the displeasure of knowing!"

"—but he means well," Alice finished. 

"Why don't you like him?" Quincy said. "When he sits with us at lunch, you two get along."

"That's because we're in a group setting," Robin quipped. "If he acts stupid while you're all around, I can restrain myself from strangling him. But when we're alone..."

"You can't strangle Steve!" Alice said, throwing her hands in the air. "Come on, Robin."

Robin sighed overdramatically.

"Okay, fine," she said. She looked downward. "Sorry. I'm just cranky. Don't forget about me while you guys go on your awesome trip."

"Robin, it's just a week," Maria said, patting her hand. "And we're staying at Quincy's grandma's house."

"At her lakeside cabin!" Robin complained. "And I'll be serving ice cream dressed like Popeye with Willie Cooper and Steve The Hair Harrington. Whoopee."

Willie was also a rising senior like Maria, Alice, and Robin, but he was only one year older than Dustin. He was a child genius that skipped all of middle school and missed formative years of social conditioning. He was dorky and awkward, but incredibly kind. Willie was also Maria's next door neighbor, so the two were fairly good friends.

"We'll make sure to take lots of pictures on our trip," Quincy said. "It'll be like you were there."

"And we'll be back in time to take you to the Fun Fair," Maria added. "I heard the fireworks display is going to be epic this year."

"Awesome!" Alice said with a smile. However, the smile didn't reach her eyes. She wondered if the rabbits were going to get more specific with their warnings. Perhaps they'd warn her to stay as far from dangerous firecrackers as possible...would the Fun Fair festivities be her downfall?

"Oh shoot," Quincy said, glancing at his watch. "We've got to go if we don't want to miss the movie."

"I can't believe Starcourt's multiplex has so many screens!" Robin said. "We're living in a new age."

"It's not that impressive," Quincy said. "The one in Muncie has 16 screens."

"16?!" Alice said. "Damn. Who needs to play that many movies at once?!"

"I hope The Goonies isn't packed," Maria said. "It's a new release so we might have shitty seats."

"Well, let's get going!" Alice said. She stood and grabbed her backpack. "I've already filled this bad boy with lots of king size candy."

"Al, what would we do without you," Robin said, throwing an arm around her. "You keep us sane."

Alice grinned.

"I am amazing, aren't I?" she said cheekily.

The teens laughed and shuffled out, calling goodbye to Dustin—who was packing for camp—and Mrs. Henderson.

🍭 🍭 🍭 

"Let's play Hypotheticals," Alice said from the backseat of Quincy's Ford Galaxie.

Hypotheticals was a game Alice made up when the friends were in middle school. It was exactly what it sounded like: they took turns asking each other ridiculous hypothetical questions.

"I'll start," Maria asked. "What would you wish for if you had just one wish?"

"A million dollars," Quincy said without missing a beat. "No question."

"A dog," Alice said. "Or another cat. Or two cats."

Robin sighed, looking out the window.

"I don't want to answer."

Quincy furrowed his brow and glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. 

"What?" Quincy asked. "Why not?"

"The question is too hard!" she grumbled. "There's too many options."

"What's the first thing that comes to your head?" Maria asked. "It doesn't have to be big."

Robin muttered something the group couldn't hear.

"Say that again," Quincy asked, turning the radio down.

"I'd wish for...new sneakers," she said, gesturing to her doodled, beat-up shoes. "Mine are trashed."

"My turn to ask next," Alice said. "If you...if you only had a month left to live, what would you do?"

She knew asking the question so outright was risky, but it was her roundabout way of trying to make sense of the rabbits and omens.

Maria didn't answer. Instead, she eyed Alice curiously.

Quincy scratched his chin at a red light.

"I think I'd go to Alaska and see the Northern Lights," he said. "And then spend time with my family and you guys and shit."

"I'd take a risk," Robin said quietly. "I'd...do something I'm otherwise scared to do."

Maria was still looking at Alice suspiciously.

"I'd do something similar," Maria said.

Alice nodded.

"Those are all great," she said. Alice smirked. "Unfortunately, the correct answer was spend all your money on candy and read comics all day every day until your last day."

Quincy and Robin laughed. Maria did not.

When they made it into the mall, Quincy and Robin fell in line for tickets.

"Al and I will get drinks," Maria said, practically dragging the girl in question to the concession stand.

"Ouch!" Alice said. "Watch my wrist!"

Maria ignored her, pulling her behind a potted ficus.

"Is something wrong with you?" Maria said, voice lowered.

Alice squinted, confused.

"What?" she asked.

Maria sighed.

"Alice," she said, "I know you've been a little off since last winter. And your question during Hypotheticals...is your infection back?"

"My what?" Alice asked with a frown.

"The infection?" Maria prompted. "The one that put you in a coma two years ago?"

Alice kicked herself. She forgot her own cover story. Things would be easier if she could just tell Maria the truth about her powers...

But too many people knew already. Besides, why shake things up? The last thing Alice wanted to do was bring that up now. She wanted to enjoy a fun night with her friends.

"I'm just a little tired is all," she lied. "And genuinely curious how you'd spend your last weeks of mortal existence. Let's get those sodas."

Maria tried to protest, but Alice was already gone.

Maria sighed, biting her lip in concern. Something was wrong with Alice Henderson, and she planned to figure out what.

{Posted December 12th, 2019}

{Edited July 12, 2020; Republished January 27, 2025}

A/N [from 2025] New uploading schedule is Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Updates 3 days a week for Season 3.