Chapter Ten: Disconcerting Photographs

(Holly Jolly, Pt. 3)

***

It was lunch time, and no sign of Barb.

Rowan gripped the edge of her tray anxiously as she sat at the table with Eddie and the rest of the Hellfire Club that mostly consisted of a couple weedy freshmen and his band. She scanned the cafeteria for what felt like the millionth time, hoping she could pick out Barb's red hair, round face and glasses from the sea of students.

But nothing.

Looking to Eddie, who was grinning at a joke Gareth said, she asked, "Hey, have you seen Barb today?"

Eddie looked at her, brows scrunched up, and Rowan cursed inwardly at the fact they were in different grades; as a senior, Eddie wouldn't have noticed Barb, a sophomore, much, and especially since unlike them, Barb was comfortably in the middle between outcast and popular—not popular enough to be considered among the likes of Harrington and Carol, but not as much of an outcast to be picked on and need to go under Eddie's wing. That middle ground made it even harder than the differing grades already did.

"Barbara Holland. She's Nancy Wheeler's friend," Rowan elaborated. "Tall, red hair, glasses, curvy. Dresses preppy."

A light sparked in Eddie's eyes. "Yeah, I think I do. She's also your Chemistry partner, right?"

Rowan nodded. "Yes! Yeah, she is! Have you seen her?"

Eddie shook his head, curls flying. "Nope."

Rowan slumped, and Eddie frowned, heart twisting at seeing the defeated look on his friend's face. Looking at his bandmates, he asked, "Hey, did any of you see Nancy Wheeler's friend around?"

As one, the three other members of Corroded Coffin shook their heads. 

"Nope."

"Haven't seen her today."

"No, I haven't seen Wheeler's friend since I think yesterday."

Eddie looked at Rowan. "Sorry, Graveswood. None of us have seen her today."

"Okay. Thanks, though," she muttered, and that made Eddie's frown deepened.

He nudged her with his arm, smiling. "Hey, don't look so glum. I'm sure she's fine. She's probably sick or something."

"Yeah. Probably has some nasty stomach bug or cold," Gareth added, also going for a reassuring smile.

"Or probably sleeping off a hangover," Fred interjected. The fourth member of the band, Jeff, frowned and elbowed his friend, making the other boy splutter and shoot a glare at Jeff. 

Rowan frowned, confused.

"What? Since when does Barb drink?"

"Since she and Wheeler got invited to Harrington's party last night," Fred revealed. This time, Gareth was the one to elbow his friend. "Ow!"

"Oh," Rowan mumbled; that made more sense. However, another bout of confusion struck her. "Wait. How do you guys know? Since I don't hear any one chatting about it, I doubt it was a rager, and I highly doubt the losers were invited."

Fred and Jeff and the other Hellfire Club members spluttered indignantly, but Gareth, mercifully, answered.

"Tommy H conscripted Eddie to give him some weed for it," he revealed. "We had to put rehearsal on hold, since the prick wanted Eddie to sell right at Harringtons' place."

"It was a waste of time and weed," Eddie muttered, a glare on his face. "Tommy H barely had enough money to pay for a full bag, and the fact that he was paying for it instead of Harrington says a lot. Also, Rowan, I never got past the driveway, so I do not have a rare glimpse into what Casa Harrington looks like."

Rowan closed her mouth, as that had been exactly what she'd been about to ask.

"Don't worry, we asked Eddie too. Said the same thing," Jeff said, smiling in consolation. Rowan shrugged.

"Whatever. Not like I care what the asshole's place looks like. Probably generic rich people style and with too many bathrooms and fancy furniture that is hella uncomfortable to sit on and you can't really live in it because it will end up ruining the good leather."

Corroded Coffin erupted into laughter at her snarky takedown of the near-mythical Harrington house. Rowan smirked, proud of it herself.

As the conversation drifted into more everyday topics, as Rowan felt herself relax in the familiarity of trash talking the popular crowd, engaging in exciting conversations about the upcoming gig Eddie scored for his band at a place called The Hideout and talking about music—and making Rowan remember how she had to go to the record store downtown to buy that new Rolling Stones album today—and when she smiled and nodded along while they drifted into conversations about the new D&D campaign that Eddie was DMing, with Eddie holding a secretive smile while his club talked about the twists and turns he could have planned and other nerdy things, she tried to tell herself that what Eddie and his friends said was exactly like she'd reasoned with herself for Barb not being at school, that maybe the reason she was so hyper-aware was because Will had disappeared only a few days ago; the fact that Barb and Nancy had been at a party at Harrington's made sense if Barb was nursing a hangover.

And yet, Rowan still couldn't shake the nauseating feeling that it was all wrong, that none of it was true.

That she knew exactly what happened to Barb, but she denied it.

After all, it was a dream. Her dreams couldn't be real.

Right?

***

By the time school ended, it became very clear to Rowan that Barb had not been at school all day—in fact, when she talked to her fellow students about it, they all said more or less the same thing.

They hadn't seen Barb since yesterday.

The nausea, the feeling of wrongness, had curdled as the hours ticked by until school had ended, and throughout the whole day, her mind had sung a refrain of, There's a reasonable explanation there's a reasonable explanation there's a reasonable explanation, when that nausea screamed at her that there wasn't.

That she could not keep denying, could not keep hiding from the truth she so desperately wanted to cast as a falsity,  could not keep pretending.

But she would try her damnedst to do so, and entertain all possibilities before that possibility.

After all, she was stubborn as hell, especially when it came to ignoring her abnormalities.

Now, Rowan was heading outside, to wait for Robin and Eddie to finish up with their respective activities—Robin with band, Eddie to convince Mrs. O'Donnell to lift the grade she'd given him for an assignment (read: beg and end up failing)—so that they could all go to the record store together via Eddie's van.

When she exited the school, a glare settled on her face at what she was seeing.

You got to be kidding me.

Harrington, Tommy H, Carol and another girl were surrounding Jonathan, like a pack of wolves upon a sheep. Rowan's fists clenched, anger bubbling inside her since clearly, the pricks did not take what she said yesterday to heart at all.

Marching forward, she opened her mouth to defend Jonathan—or finally do what she'd fantasied for years and finally punch Harrington—when a familiar voice asked, "Hey, what's going on?"

Instantly, Harrington's head snapped from where he had been watching Rowan advance upon them like a wrathful hurricane, the dark-haired girl mirroring him to watch as Nancy Wheeler approached, her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Well, here's the starring lady herself," Tommy H said with a smirk, and the fire of Rowan's anger was dimmed by confusion. What?

Harrington turned to her, his expression dark. "Still think freaks like Byers deserve to be defended, Graveswood?"

"Uh, I have no clue what you are talking about, Harrington," Rowan said, crossing her arms.

Carol gave a shrill laugh that made Rowan want to gouge out her ears. "And here I thought all you freaks and creeps talked whenever you did freaky and creepy stuff."

Rowan scowled. "And here I thought bitches were supposed to have more bark than bite, but I guess you lack either, Carol."

Carol's face twisted in fury, and she spat, "Watch it Graveswood, or I'll make that face of yours even less appealing to guys."

"Says the one who's been boning the same dickhead since seventh grade," Rowan retorted, blue eyes glowering at Carol as her face purpled, daring her to make good on her threat, just so that she could show the Queen Bitch that when it came to a fight, Rowan was not bluffing.

Nancy, however, diffused any possible fights when she said, "Seriously, what's going on?"

Turning from Rowan, Carol said, "This creep was spying on us last night."

She glared at Jonathan, then spat at Rowan, "Like Steve said, are you still gonna defend him, Graveswood?"

Rowan blinked, shock muting all her other emotions. She turned to Jonathan, who was hunched in himself, avoiding eye contact with everyone, her mind trying to wrangle free an explanation. 

She heard something rustling, and it was only then that Rowan noticed Carol was holding a stack of photos. She handed one to Nancy, saying, "He was probably gonna save this one for later."

Nancy took it, and Rowan watched her facial expressions shift from confusion to shock to anger. Looking over, Rowan's mouth hung open as she stared at the photo's contents.

In the photo was Nancy, obviously in a bedroom Rowan assumed was Steve's, in the middle of taking off her shirt. However, her shock, her want for an explanation, was quickly smothered by her anger as she glared at Jonathan. No way was she defending this, not when it was so creepy and odd—and, if she was being honest, completely out of character for Jonathan and had her still wanting an explanation.

But Rational Rowan was on break. Furious Rowan had taken over, and it took all her self-control from either screaming at Jonathan, punching him, or dropkicking him into Lover's Lake via her powers.

"See, you can tell he knows it was wrong," Harrington began, walking closer to Jonathan, and Rowan saw more photos tightly rolled up in his hands, hands that Rowan could see were slightly trembling with rage. "But that's the thing about perverts. It's hardwired into them."

He rested a hand on Jonathan's jacket collar, gripping it. He side-eyed Rowan, as if expecting her to jump in and either push Harrington off or punch him.

But Rowan was just standing there, arms crossed, glaring at Jonathan with enough intensity one could be mistaken she was trying to make his head explode, not lifting a single finger to stop whatever Harrington was about to do.

Because, just this once, she completely agreed with Harrington and what he was about to do, and would not lift a finger to help the older Byers at all.

Harrington turned back to Jonathan, releasing his grip to fix up the collar and dusting off his shoulders, before he said, "You know, they just can't help themselves."

He then ripped up the photos, throwing the pieces on the ground.

"So we just have to take away his toy."

That garnered a reaction from Rowan, as she glanced over to where Harrington had walked over to the trunk of the car, grabbing a camera she assumed was Jonathan's. She frowned, and her frown was matched by Nancy, who said, "Steve."

Jonathan, however, had a much more terrified reaction, his eyes bugging wide and he pleaded, "No, no, no, please, not the camera."

He made to get it, but Tommy H stopped him, smirking and looking like he was having too much fun in revelling in Jonathan's misery.

'No, no, wait, wait, Tommy," Harrington spoke up, and Rowan's frown deepened, suspicion etched in every line of her face at how Harrington had gone from icy anger to something resembling niceness. "It's okay."

He stretched out his hand, as if to give Jonathan back the camera. "Here you go, man."

Jonathan made to grab it, but then Harrington purposefully dropped it, saying "Oops" without even a hint of remorse.

Jonathan's face shattered the moment the camera did and as Tommy H and Carol laughed, Rowan knew that as angry as she was, that had been too far.

"Okay, I think he got it with the photos, Harrington," Rowan said. "The camera was low, even for you."

Harrington looked at her, glaring suspiciously. "So you are still gonna defend him, huh, Graveswood?"

Rowan scoffed. "Hell no. What he did was wrong and insanely creepy, and there's no way in hell I'm ever justifying that. I just think destroying a very expensive camera is crossing its own line."

Harrington's face twisted, and he ran a hand through his hair, muttering, "You know what? I'm not even gonna bother arguing with you."

He turned to march away, adding, "And just so you know, I was doing you a favour, too. You're an irritating freak, but not even you deserve being spied on."

"Thanks for the favour," Rowan said with zero gratitude. "I can handle creeps perfectly by myself. No need for your oh-so great protection, Harrington."

Harrington's jaw clenched, but he jerked his head away, muttering to Tommy H and Carol, "Let's go. Game's about to start."

As they walked away, Rowan turned back to to the remaining two people. Jonathan had begun carefully picking up the pieces of his camera while Nancy was kneeling down to pick up the fragments of the photographs. She then frowned when she saw something on one.

She looked at Rowan, jerking her head to the photo. Rowan frowned, but came over to look at it.

It was Barb, sitting at the pool—a pool that Rowan recognised as the same one from her dream, albeit filled with water and not crawling with shrieking vines.

Rowan shivered, and Nancy looked like she wanted to ask questions, but Harrington's voice killed any conversation they could have had. Nancy instead put the fragments in her bag and stood up, giving Jonathan a strange look before following after Harrington.

Ignoring the shiver at recognising the pool, Rowan turned to Jonathan, helping him pick up the pieces of her camera. She winced for him; she knew how expensive this must have been, how much he must have saved to buy it. And while Harrington dropping it was a step too far, she couldn't help but admit the reasoning was fair. Destroy the camera, destroy any more creepy photos from ever happening. She would be lying if a vindictive part of her wanted to smash the pieces further, stomp them under her boot, maybe fry them into oblivion.

"Thanks," Jonathan's mumbled voice said, pulling Rowan out of her thoughts.

She gave him a glare. "For the record, I agreed with everything Harrington said and did except for this, and am still seething with rage. What you did was insanely wrong and creepy, and I'm honestly still deciding whether I should punch you or not for doing that. I'm only doing this because like I said, this was a step too far."

She shoved the pieces at Jonathan and added, "And because I know this is out of character for you, but if you do this again to Nance, or me, or Robin and Chrissy, I'll do more than rip up the photos. I'll make sure your body's never found."

Jonathan's face turned pale. He believed her; Rowan had a reputation for a reason, especially given who her aunt was. He had no doubt she could kill him and make his body disappear without a trace, yet make herself completely innocent.

"Got it," he said. "And I am sorry. I... I don't even know what I was thinking."

"Clearly, you weren't," Rowan muttered. She then frowned. "How come you even got these?"

"I was photographing the place where Will disappeared," Jonathan revealed, and Rowan's frown dropped. Oh. "I thought that... if I took my own photos, I could find something the police didn't. I heard a scream, and I ended up on Harrington's backyard. And then this... happened."

He gestured to the photos, to the remains of his camera.

"Like I said, I don't even know what I had been thinking. I should have just left when I saw it was just a party," Jonathan muttered.

"Yeah, maybe," she said. Standing, she added, "Look, I have to go.  And I'm sorry about the camera. And that my threat still stands."

Jonathan huffed out a nervous laugh. "I don't doubt it."

She gave him a final glare, then marched away, back to where Eddie and Robin must be now waiting for her, the last of her anger seeping out.

When the anger dissipated, her worries over Will and now Barb resurfaced, the niggling feeling over her dream, despite her steady stream of denial, what Alistair had told her that had planted that feeling and had it steadily reinforced all day. She hoped Alistair would be okay, that he or his friends or the girl wouldn't be attacked by these bad men.

She hoped, even if it was a shred of hope that could be very quickly dashed, that they did find some sign of Will being alive.

And that if they did, it would reaffirm he was still here, and not in the place full of rot and monsters.

***

And now Rowan knows Barb is definitely missing!

She's still trying to deny it, but she can't deny it forever, that something is wrong (Also, despite the context, I loved writing that scene with Eddie, Rowan and Corroded Coffin. Honestly the other members of Corroded Coffin don't get enough love)

And here is the most... memorable scenes from the show. Honestly, Rowan is very much in agreement with Steve here over what Jonathan did (even though she thinks the camera was a step too far) I do like Jonathan and I like his development, I just... think the photos were very odd and out of character? Especially since he regrets it later on. Definitely creepy and Rowan gave Jonathan the well-deserved angry talking to about it

And because of the photos, Rowan is starting to realise something is off about Barb's disappearance... and that her dreams may be real, even though she doesn't want to (mostly because she doesn't want to think about Will being in a horrible world)

Next chapter will be soon!

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!