Weird Town || reader insert

Chapter 2

"God—I'm so stressed," I sighed as I opened my locker.

"Well, then," a body slammed into the locker neck to me.

"Tommy," I glared at the guy, "thought we were done with you."

"We're as done with each other as we were involved with each other before," he replied.

"What does that even mean, you idiot?" I rolled my eyes, "what do you want?"

"I want to know if you're going to the party tonight," he replied.

I sighed as I slammed the locker shut and turned to him, "no. You want to know if Steven McFlippety Floppety Flop is going to be there. He is. So. Deal. Excuse me."

With that, I turned and headed towards the councillor's office where the woman was waiting for me.

"Ah. You've been turning everything around except your punctuality," she peered over at me with narrowed eyes, and I just smiled.

"I got caught up," I told her as I sat down, "now. I have a list of companies that my Father has suggested, and I just need the extra push to get me into internship programmes—"

°🚲°
The Halloween party_

I arrived at the house to see the party was in full swing.

Honestly, it's been so long since I've been to a party that I'm already exhausted just looking at this mess, but I need a stress reliever so... I'll stay for ten minutes and then head on out.

"Hey, y/n, long time," one of the girls I used to drink with last year greeted me as I entered the building.

"Yeah, good to see you too," I nodded to her before noticing some chaos a little further into the party, "I'll catch you later, yeah? Just going to grab a drink."

"Sure," she nodded, "I'd... avoid the punch bowl. I mean, we all know it's not punch but I don't trust what's in there because Tommy H was mixing so..."

"Thanks for the warning, I'll just stick with a beer," I replied.

"Good idea," she agreed before we both said a quick bye and I moved on further into the building, snagging a bottle of beer and uncapping it off the edge of a table as I passed until I exited out into the back to find that Billy was going crazy with some of the other guys around a keg.

"Fucking idiots," I rolled my eyes as I glanced away, the fools starting to cheer and chant his name as he walked through the garden towards the space.

"Well, if it isn't the girl with the nice bike," Billy stopped when he noticed me and I just rolled my eyes and turned, heading back in the building as I heard someone shouting 'we have a new keg king now, Harrington' which could've only meant that Nancy and Steven McFloppy were here. Thank god because I don't remember these guys being literal idiots. Guess a while away from people can give you a new perspective on some things...

Glancing around the inner part of the house, I spotted them by the drinks and moved over just as Nancy was downing what I could only assume to be the mystery mix in the punch bowl.

"Whoa now, Nance," I stopped on the other side of the counter to them, "trust me, you don't want to be drinking that stuff."

"Or at least not that quickly," Steve added, watching her with a clear look of concern, "you need to take it easy, Nance."

"We're just being stupid teenagers for the night," Nancy shot back, glancing between us, "wasn't that the deal?"

She was quick to dip and refill her cup and I just shared a look with Steve before looking back at her, "sure. Ok. But maybe slow on the mystery mix or you might not remember the rest of the night."

"Whatever," was all I got in response before she absolutely just downed the contents and disappeared into the dancing crowd. I looked back over to Steve again.

"What's her issue?" I asked.

"I have no idea," he shook his head with a frown as we watched the crowd, "you know her better than me. Get her or leave her?"

I looked back towards the dancing crowd and sighed, "give her some space for like five minutes and then go pull her back before she does something she's definitely going to regret in the morning."

"Sure, ok," he nodded, "I'll do that."

"In the meantime," I glanced over him, "driving?"

"Of course," he nodded.

"Sucks to be you because you better not be thinking of drinking and driving with Nance in your car," I told him as I spotted some cans of coke and grabbed one before tossing it at him, "like I'm fully serious about that. You crash and she gets hurt, and I'll kick your knees in, I swear to god."

"Alright, I got it," he popped the can and took a drink of it before raising a brow at me, "and how exactly are you getting home?"

"I'll walk just as I walked here," I answered, "won't kill me to get some exercise in around here considering the fact I seem to just be riding my bike everywhere lately."

He eyed me in silence for a moment as I finished off the last of my beer and reached for a second one, slamming the edge of the cap off the counter and taking a drink before it could foam up on me, "I'll drive you. Nancy wouldn't ever let me live it down if you walked and then just disappeared."

I just stared for a moment before shaking my head.

"Barb wasn't your fault, leave it," I told him as Nance came through and grabbed another cup of the mix, swaying as she walked and then returned to the dance floor again. I looked at Steve, then to her and back to him, "yeah, you should probably go watch her now. She's not much of a drinker so three might be going over."

"Got it," he nodded before turning and hurrying after her. I just sighed as I watched the two dance for a moment before glancing around.

Barb would've been so disappointed to see her like this. It sucks but it's understandable. Nancy has been in a bit of a spiral since Barb... disappeared... and I'm sure she got the whole 'we have sold the house and hired a P.I. to find Barbara' speech the exact same way that I did from Barb's parents so that is probably digging deeper if the conversation we had at lunch was any indication.

Turning, I moved over to the stairs and found myself a seat about halfway up as I continued to drink my beer, fully planning to leave once I finished it. It wasn't too long after that I spotted Jonathan in the crowd talking to one of the upperclassmen. Good for him I guess. Expanding his social horizons.

I can't see Steve or Nance now but I'm pretty sure that they're probably together anyway so I'm just going to head on home now that I've finished my drink. Turning, I headed out of the building and started my way home.

Pretty sure I had only been walking for about five minutes when a car stopped next to me, it was Steve but... no... Nancy..?

"Where's Nance?" I asked, leaning to look through the window once he'd rolled it down.

"Apparently we're bullshit," Steve replied, he looked annoyed, frustrated, and hurt, "get in the car, I'll take you home."

"Uh—no. You're going back for Nancy," I told him.

"I'm good on that front, y/n," he shot back, "I saw Byers on my way out, he'll take her back. Get in the car, I'm wasting fuel."

I glanced back towards the direction of the house and sighed. He's not wrong, I saw him there and he'd definitely not leave her behind...

"Fine," I walked around to the other side of the car and dropped myself into the passenger seat before he started driving again. Ten minutes of agonising silence later, the car was parked on the drive, and we were looking at my house in front of us.

"You... want to talk about it?" I asked awkwardly, glancing over to him, "I have ice cream."

He just let out a low huff before climbing out of the car. Guess that's a yes then.

Climbing out, I followed him up to the door and stepped past him to unlock it.

This is going to be a long night...