midnight scars

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

*warning, this chapter contains both homophobia (brief) and racism.*

 Alina listened to the yelling of the other kids attending Hawkins Middle as she crouched down on the field, searching for rocks. They were meant for Lucas's wrist rocket, and apparently needed to be a very specific size, as each time Alina offered up a rock, either Dustin or Lucas would turn it down, saying it was too big or too heavy. With dirt crusted underneath her nails and smeared across her face after she'd tried to wipe sweat away, with a plan to brave the woods and try and find a missing boy after school instead of doing normal activities like playing Dungeons and Dragons and biking, she should've been miserable, the weight of such a heavy task on her young shoulders. But, strangely, out in the field, collecting rocks with the boys, she found herself having a good time.

"Hey." Lucas knelt down beside her, picking up another rock and beginning to inspect it. After testing it in his hand, he wrinkled his nose and threw it into the bushes, where it clinked against the growing pile of rocks inside. "Everything okay today?"

Alina knew he was talking about her embarrassing meltdown yesterday, and she felt her cheeks heat up. "Yeah." She determinately avoided looking into his eyes. "I'm okay, Lucas, really. I... this is going to sound stupid," she began, "but I continued that notebook I showed you. I decided to write everything down about El and keep it in there. Kind of... kind of like a memoir, if she ever leaves. Anyway, that made me feel better."

"Alina." Lucas and Alina went for the same rock, their knuckles knocking together. Alina didn't expect the brush against her skin and jerked her hand away, feeling like the nerve endings of her entire arm were sparking with electricity. Lucas cleared his throat. "Alina," he said again. "It's not weird. It's—it's kind of cool, actually. I still can't trust the weirdo, and I don't think she'll be any help with finding Will, but... but you gotta admit she's kind of, sort of... maybe cool. Don't... don't tell Mike I said that."

A genuine laugh escaped Alina, and she smiled at him. "Don't worry," she teased. "I won't tell him." And when Lucas slumped, relieved, grinned wider. "If you at least consider letting me into the party."

Lucas scoffed. "Alina, Mike will come around. Don't worry about it. Sometimes... sometimes he can be an asshole, but he's also a really good friend. And you... you seem like you're cool, too. He can't deny you a spot forever, not when you're working so hard to get it. I think he does appreciate it, though, even if he pretends not to. That you're helping us."

"Thanks, Lucas," said Alina, her voice soft. The pair eventually veered away from each other, and soon the four preteens were collecting rocks in silence, with the occasional comment on rock size, for a while until Dustin finally spoke up, making conversation.

"So, do you think Eleven was born with her powers, like the X-Men, or do you think she acquired them, like... like Green Lantern?"

"Well," said Alina, "I'm still trying to get my hands on the file. I think it'd have the answer to your question in it, because I'm honestly not sure. I've never heard of anyone being born with the abilities El has."

"Well, she's not a superhero," scoffed Lucas, picking up another rock. "She's a weirdo."

"Why does that matter?" asked Mike, leaping to Eleven's defence as always. "The X-Men are weirdos."

Lucas rolled his eyes at Mike. "If you love her so much," he snipped, "why don't you marry her?"

"What are you talking about?"

Alina grimaced, picking up another rock before hurling it into the bushes. "Mike, seriously?" she asked, flabbergasted he'd thought none of them would notice how he'd been with Eleven.

"What?" Mike's eyes darted from Lucas to Alina, completely and utterly confused as to what they were implying. Alina thought that he was either oblivious or just very, very stupid. Or perhaps both.

Lucas snorted. "You look at her all like..." he stepped towards Mike and spoke in a girlish, pitched voice. "Hi El! El! El! El! I love you so much!" he hugged a grumpy-looking Mike before continuing his impersonation by getting down on one knee. "Would you marry me?"

"Shut up, Lucas!"

"Oh, oh!"

Alina couldn't help it. She began laughing again, but this time she wasn't the only one, Dustin chortling as well. She, like everyone else, had caught onto Mike's somewhat-obsession with Eleven. He was the nicest to her, not his best friends, which he'd had for ages, and leagues nicer to her than he was to Alina, even though they were both new. Alina, like Lucas apparently, had begun to suspect that Mike's feelings towards Eleven were growing from more than feelings of friendship, although they'd only known each other for two days.

"Well what about you and Alina?" Mike spit out, quickly coming up with a clapback.

"What about me and Alina?" Lucas asked coolly, his teasing face morphed into a grimace.

Mike laughed. "Really? You look at Alina all like 'Oh my gosh, Alina. You're so cool because you like comics and D&D just like all of us! And you're a girl, and I've never seen a girl before, because I'm not c—"

Alina's cheeks went hot as Mike continued rattling off terrible impersonations. She didn't like where this conversation, which had started teasingly, was going. She clenched her fists, digging her nails into the soft skin of her palm. Sure, Lucas had been nice to her, but so had Dustin and Eleven! Sure, he had asked her about her feelings, but that was what people did! He didn't... he wasn't just being nice to her because she was a girl who liked the same things as him, right? He couldn't... the thought was so unbelievable Alina forced it down.

Finally, Lucas had had enough. He stepped forward with his own hands curled into fists. Alina half-expected laser beams to shoot out of his eyes at the way he was glaring. "Shut up, Mike."

"Yeah, shut up, Mike."

And any laughter remaining ceased, the group's faces sobering as they turned to meet the eyes of Troy Walsh and James Dante. The same two boys who Alina had watched tease Dustin, Lucas, and Mike many times before.

"What are you losers doing back here?" Troy sneered, before his eyes met Alina's. "And with Fairgrieves the Freak?"

"That's a new one," Alina murmured.

James chuckled. "Probably looking for their missing friend," he suggested. "Oh, wait, but the freak doesn't have any!" he reached out and shoved Alina back. She stumbled but managed to keep upright, glaring. If looks could kill, Troy and James would be dead by the stink eye she was sending them right now. "It makes sense, though," James continued, "For the freak to be in the Freakshow."

"Well anyway," said Troy, with a sneer, "good luck finding your friend. You're not going to have much luck when he's probably buried six feet under already."

At this, both Troy and James laughed, high fiving each other, and Dustin scowled. "That's not funny," he snapped. "It's serious. He's in danger."

"I hate to break it to you, Toothless, but he's not in danger. He's dead. That's what my dad says. He said he was probably killed by some other queer." Troy's words were ugly, and the fact that they were followed by laughter again made Alina's blood boil. She didn't know Will very well, but the first step to making friends was to stick up for them. Which is why, for the first time, she finally spoke up.

"This isn't funny." The words snapped right out of her. "If he's really d... if he's really gone, then why are you making jokes about it? You guys need to get your heads out of your asses and realize that Will is a person too. And he's a way better one than you. So how about you just shut your mouths, and leave us alone or I swear I will kick your teeth in."

Alina was surprised at the fury of her own words. A faint trickle of blood ran down her palms from where her nails had cut into it, and the nasty glare was still plastered to her face, but sticking up for Will gave her a surge of pride, that she'd done something right. Something for others, even if they wouldn't do the same in return.

"Come on," said Mike, tugging her sleeve and pulling her back. "Just ignore them. They aren't worth it."

Even though Troy had an unpleasant scowl on his face directed at Alina, and she desperately wanted to make him bleed for his words against Will, she nodded, and began to follow Mike away from the bullies. It all seemed fine, like they really were going to leave them alone, until the double attack occurred. Troy stuck his foot out, tripping Mike, and James shoved Alina, hard.

Unlike last time, this blow in particular made her lose her balance, and Alina toppled, slamming her head into the rocky ground. Her bruised side had almost healed, but it still stung as her body contacted the dirt and grass. She could hear Mike cry out in pain as his chin contacted one of the rocks, opening up a gash.

"Hey," Troy and James looked like they were about to leave when Troy noticed something. "Nice stripes, tiger."

Alina's eyes widened, realizing they were talking to her. Her shirt had come up slightly in her tumble, revealing some of the white scars that still remained after Linda's tyranny. Troy chuckled, nudging James. "Get it? Tiger? Because she's from the jun—ow!"

Just like Alina, Troy went sprawling, crashing onto the ground. Alina looked over to see Dustin and Lucas panting, their arms still slightly outstretched from the force of the push.

And despite everything, a smile grew on her face as Troy and James walked away, swearing to themselves and giving the group dirty looks.

Lucas pulled Alina off the ground and helped her brush grass off of her jeans, while Dustin aided Mike. "You two alright?" Lucas asked, wincing as Mike held his chin. Alina could see speckles of blood on his hands.

"Yeah," said Mike, glaring at Troy and James's retreating bodies.

Dustin sighed before bending down and picking up the rock Mike had fallen on. There was still some fresh blood coating it. "Hey," he said, patting Mike's shoulder. "How about this one?"

A grin spread onto Mike's face. "Yeah. Yeah, this is it."

Lucas took the rock with a grin of his own. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, this is the monster killer!" he held it up for all of them to admire. Alina nodded, but a blush still spread on her cheeks. She couldn't believe Troy and James had seen her scars, Dustin, Lucas and Mike had seen them. With a glance around the playground, Alina tucked her shirt in, making sure it wasn't possible to come up.

The group, satisfied by their little victory, continued to collect rocks with more enthusiasm, before the bell rang, the noise echoing through the playground.

Just as Alina began to follow Lucas and Dustin inside, her pockets leaden with rocks, Mike pulled her outside. "Hey," he said.

"Your chin okay?" Alina asked. The blood flow from Mike's cut had stopped, but Alina wasn't sure if it would scar or anything. She hadn't seen anything, but she'd heard the crack as his chin connected with the rock, and knew it had been a rough blow.

"Yeah." Mike's hands went to the cut automatically. "Anyway... I just wanted to say that what you said back there was really cool. To Troy and James? About Will? I just—you didn't have to do that, and... and it was really nice of you."

"Was Will... did they call them that to his face?"

Mike seemed to know what she was talking about, and his face darkened in anger. "All the time. You know—you know that they come up with nicknames for all of us. Well, they called Will either that or fairy boy. They're assholes," he added.

"Oh, believe me, I know." Alina let out a half-chuckle and rubbed her side, which had begun to ache. "Fairgrieves the Freak and T—and Tiger are new."

"I'm sorry," said Mike. "One day they'll get what they deserve. I'm sure of it. But thank you. Thanks for being there. For Will. And the rest of us." He smiled at her. "Keep saying things like that and I might find a spot for you in the party."

Alina's smile widened, and she began to walk away, following Dustin and Lucas inside. "Might!" Mike called to her. "I said I might!"

"Yeah, sure," Alina called back, before heading inside, happiness filling her yet again.

Nobody had asked her about her scars.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: hey! i hope you enjoyed this chapter! troy and james are so >:( i hate them.

if you're enjoying this book, it'd mean the world to me if you nominated it! @strangerthingsclub 's awards are open for 2020, so if you want to you can go nominate acatalepsy! that's all, i hope you have a nice day!

'till next time!