𓆩♡𓆪

  KATHLEEN MARTEL WILL DO anything to push her kid's problems onto other people.

   After Starcourt Mall burnt to the ground along with Brooke's slither of a proper family, neither one of her parents even bothered to call around to the houses the siblings might've been at. It only became a problem, mostly to Kathleen because Shawn always has some work bullshit, when Brooke wouldn't listen to anything the woman would say. Threats of therapy or the psych ward were thrown at Brooke when she would have panic attacks when the lights flickered or when her anger got the best of her and she'd lash out at her sorry excuse of a mother.

   Brooke knew it was just because Kathleen didn't want to deal with it so, instead of being sent to the looney bin, Brooke promised Kathleen she'd talk to the school counselor.

  That's why her fingers are currently bleeding and the heels of her sneakers are digging into the blue carpet and Ms. Kelly is quietly and patiently waiting for Brooke to say anything. Pink comforting walls surround Brooke with plants in the corner that Brooke gives praise for her being able to keep alive.

   Another minute of silence goes by and there's the faded sound of the clock ticking. Ms. Kelly looks over her desk and right at Brooke's destroyed fingers. "Brooke, your fingers......," The counselor trails off, eyebrows raised. The teen's fingers stop fiddling with each other and she takes in a sharp inhale, "New necklace?" Brooke points at the grandfather clock around Ms. Kelly's neck.

   Manicured nails fall to the necklace, "I wear this everyday. Let's talk about you. That's why you're here, right?"

   "Wrong. We both know I'm here so my mom doesn't send me to be in the looney bin," Brooke shrugs, pressing her lips together. Once a week—once a week she's stuck in this room. She doesn't hate Ms. Kelly, in fact, the woman is really nice. The older woman sighs and crosses her legs, "Have you been looking at colleges like we discussed?"

   Brooke scoffs. The idea of college has simply been that—an idea. It's already spring and she hasn't even applied to the community college. "No, not in the budget," Brooke simply says. "Brooke, you're smart. You could get a scholarship. We've discussed this," Ms. Kelly leans forwards slightly but when she gets no response from Brooke except a side eye so she continues, "How's Danny?"

   That eases Brooke. The mention of Danny usually does. "He's a teenager so, a dick," Brooke notices the lack of expression when she curses, she must be used to it, "But, he's better. Just misses his best friend."

  Letters and so many calls have been exchanged between the Byers and whatever household the kids resided in that day. Jonathan has a new friend, Argyle, he keeps saying him and Brooke would get along swimmingly. He's also a stoner now which Brooke does appreciate. El says she's okay but Brooke never believes her, same with Will and Joyce.

     Ms. Kelly sits back in her seat, "Should I ask how your parents are or......?"

   Brooke rolls her head to the side, the headache she had been ignoring even worse at the mention of both her parents, "We both know the answer. Shit."

  Ms. Kelly can never get enough information out of Brooke to fully determine what's going on in her head. Brooke keeps her at arms length, they're not best friends, her own best friends barely know what goes on up there.

   Brooke pushes the chair slightly out, "I'm gonna go," She gives the counselor a tight lipped smile and doesn't even let her decline it before she's out the door and jogging towards the cafeteria to find Eddie and the rest of her friends.

    Everywhere she has been going for the past eight months she has had more eyes on her than when she dumped a carton of milk on Carol in 7th grade. The stupid sympathy looks she gets makes her sick to her stomach. In the beginning of school it was the worst. People would come up to her locker and start talking about Hopper or Casey as if they were best friends with them, as if they were there when Casey bled out or when Hopper exploded in front of Joyce's eyes. Of course, all they thought was that it was a terrible fire. The only person on fire is Brooke.

Feelings of grief have taken the air out of her lungs like smoke and she hasn't stop inhaling it for eight fucking months.

  Many, many curse words were slung at the teens and they just learned that Brooke Martel will forever be stuck in the second stage of grief—anger. All the other stages were minute compared to the rage that filled her when she looked down at her hands sometimes or when one of Hopper's cop friends would try to talk on the streets, especially the new sheriff, Powell.

   Her thoughts had carried her all the way to the cafeteria to see her cousin and Eddie Munson having some weird argument. Whatever it was, it made Eddie stick his tongue out, laugh and then walk across the lunch table, saying something Brooke couldn't hear until he shouts, ".....Killing the kids!" And scares the shit out of poor Beatrice.

  Brooke looks around with a low chuckle and makes eye contact with Paisley and Robin. She sends them a thumbs up and continues to walk over to Eddie after his dramatics are over. The first person to spot her is Stella who sits right next to Eddie. Brooke has no idea what's going in between the two of them. In Eddie's words, they have wonderful sex to Metallica and she's smoking hot.

Dating? No one has any idea.

   Brooke is familiar with the boys around her sporting Hellfire shirts, of course she's most familiar with her own brother, Mike and Dustin. Brooke sends a smile at Stella who doesn't return it. "Munson," Brooke's voice calls out for the town drug dealer, "Pain pills, bud."

  Eddie rolls his eyes and gets up from the bench, "Why do you need my shit?" He walks over to Brooke and grabs her by the shoulders, "Advil exists, Brookie." Brooke returns the action and grabs him by his denim vest, "Pills." Eddie sighs, most of the time money is money and if a 13 year old kid wants to smoke weed, he'll sell them the weed but, Brooke is his friend, Brooke doesn't need an addiction added to the other shit in her life.

   The bag of pills is between their two bodies. "I just need two," Brooke whispers and opens her hand for the xanax. Eddie sighs even louder, "Get Advil, Martel. Better for you." He places the pills in her hand with a defeated look on his face. Brooke smiles brightly like he just placed candy in her hands, "This is what you get for roping my boys into your nerd circle—"

   "Nerd circle—"

   "Gareth," Brooke and Eddie both call out his name with a glare and he shuts up quickly. "This isn't a—nerd circle. This is our life. We've put our blood, sweat and tears into this—"

   "That's great. Keep Danny away from your drugs and you can keep your nerd circle," Brooke flicks Eddie in the forehead and walks away and towards the two girls.

  "You're gonna overdose on those things, Brooke," Paisley rolls her eyes as she shoves the shitty school burger into her mouth. "My cousin got addicted to cocaine and now he always hears things. I don't think xanax can do that," Robin blurts out casually. Brooke pauses at the statement and slowly sits down in her seat.

   The pills slide from her hand and onto her tongue. White stains her tongue before the pills roughly go down her throat, chocolate milk is the chaser.

   "These headaches are killer and Advil does basically nothing," Brooke says, stealing a fry from Robin's plate. "Have the nightmares gotten worse? You were like, tossing and turning last night," Paisley moves back and forth in the seat to mimic her best friend.

   Nightmares are something Brooke has dealt with many times in life but the past month or so they've just gotten worse. The image of Hopper dying conjured up by the small details she could pull from Joyce haunted her. After the first nightmare about Casey, Brooke burned the clothes she had on that day. They all did. Paisley, Robin and Steve all burned their Scoops uniforms right next to Brooke's clothes. 

She did have a nightmare last night, one about Steve dying in the same way Casey did but she shakes her head no, "Nah, I was just sharing a bed with someone who takes all the blanket." Flashing images of bloody hands and a cold Steve makes her frown and chew on the fry rather aggressively.

    Robin smiles, "Okay, so it's not just me?" Paisley lets out a dramatic, offended gasp and throws a fry at both girls.

   
STEVE AND BROOKE STAND outside the gym doors, excited teens flood in before the game starts. Brooke's back hits the wall, "Let's just go in. This headache isn't gonna go away." Raging pain won't subside above Brooke's eyebrows. They had been standing outside of the gym in hopes that it would go away but it hasn't. Steve sighs and steps in front of Brooke, "Wanna go home?"

   "No, no. We need to support Lucas and Robin," Brooke says with a forced smile. Steve nods, knowing his girlfriend won't change her mind when it comes to their friends. He wraps an arm around Brooke and they walk into the gym, immediately hit with the instruments being even louder and the crowd being even louder. The basketball team rushes in, orange and green shows her classmate's school spirit. The cheerleaders start their chant and the couple spots Paisley.

    "Oh, you look so happy to be here," Paisley's tone dripping with sarcasm. "I have to support my boy somehow," Brooke says, referring to Lucas of course. As Steve's hand wraps around Brooke's, she feels like everyone has stopped to stare at them. Many, many people were surprised when the couple were seen out in public. Steve's old friends talked their shit, Brooke's friends talked their shit. Some people expected it. Some people hated it because they either wanted Steve or think Brooke is corrupting him, it's not like either one of them care, it's just inconvenient.

    "Let's hope my lessons helped him," Steve uses his free hand to shoot a fake ball into a basket which Paisley cringes at.

   The team practices as the cheerleaders get more hype up and Brooke can't help but wonder why none of the younger kids are here, her eyes scanning over the bleachers below them.

   Outside of the school more people rush through the doors. The loud noise of a beautiful engine catches the attention of nearby people. Penelope Bauman's tires screech as she makes it known that she has the better car, that she drives a Corvette.

  Penelope has grown to like most of the Hawkins crew. She loathed Murray when he forced her to stay in town, protecting them now that El is in California but—even after everything, the kids were.....welcoming of Penelope.

    Something most people like her aren't used to.

    Penelope was and forever will be...the affair child. The child her and Murray's dad had when he fucked the secretary who just so happen to work in Hawkins Lab. The child that was raised by a mother who only cared because her dad would send very, very full checks once a month.

    There's 22 years between Penelope and Murray. 22. It never bothered him. He never once hated his sister. It wasn't his fault his dad wasn't faithful.

     It wasn't her fault her mom was paid to have her child experimented on. That's why Murray knew something was happening in Hawkins.

     The first time Penelope used her powers, she exploded the head of one of the assistants. She didn't mean too but she was fighting and fighting and no one knew what powers their experiments had given the young girl. They figured it out once someone's brain matter was all over them and the walls.

    From that day forward, Penelope will never be as scared as she was that day. Of herself—of the people in this lab and what they did to her. She also hated her mother from that day forward.

    So, that meant that she understood Brooke, Steve and Stella. The hatred of their parents. She could understand Paisley to a point—her mother is dead in her eyes but obviously, Paisley's situation is worse and she knows that.

   She's a bitch not heartless, as much as she would love to just not care about anything.

     With that, the Hawkins High stands in front of her and her 1985 black Corvette. The cliques gather around different corners of the school, some eyeballing her always clean, always pristine vehicle while others don't even know what car it is.

   She turns it off, heels clicking against the cement when she swings her legs over. Penelope doesn't look like she belongs in Hawkins. After she turned 18 and ran away from her mother two years ago, LA was in her sights. She made it there with the help of Murray, of course. Penelope Bauman looks like she could buy Hawkins High and make it into a mall that wouldn't be run by Russians.

    Black sunglasses slide down her nose even though it's dusk and there's no need for the accessory. The screaming of teenagers makes her cringe. "These kids are so lucky I don't wanna pop 'em like pimples," Penelope mutters to herself before clicking into the high school and past the stares of horny teenage boys.

   Brooke spots someone in an all black outfit, expensive looking heels and fucking sunglasses indoors. Immediately knowing who the only person in Hawkins would be dressed like that, Brooke cuffs her hands around her mouth, "Penelope!" She shouts.

   Steve whips his head around from his conversation with Paisley, "Penelope?!"

   The blonde, older girl smiles solely at Paisley and Brooke before people clear the way for her to walk up the bleachers. "So, how bad is your team before I invest too much energy into this?" Penelope asks. Paisley tilts her head thinking about it, "I would say we're so-so."

     "Oh, please. Jason used to bust his ass in his driveway missing that damn hoop. But, they made it to the championships, so," Brooke throws her hands up. Steve doesn't say a word, he just side eyes Penelope with his hand still wrapped around Brooke's as the principal announces the start of the national anthem.

   They all rise as their principal continues his announcement, "Singing for us tonight, we have a very special guest. All the way from Nashville, our very own Tammy Thompson!" The crowd erupts into claps but there's a slow turn between Steve, Robin and Paisley as the blonde walks out.

   Paisley's jaw is dropped as she looks towards Robin who mouths, Oh my God at her and Steve. She can't believe it, the girl with no talent made it to Nashville. Tammy basks in all the attention, waving her hands around excitedly. Her hands grip around the mic and Brooke lets out an annoyed sigh and crosses her arms. Penelope snickers, "That outfit is horrendous," She says as she leans over to whisper to Brooke. The brunette chuckles and wordlessly nods in agreement.

    Tammy Thompson starts her dreadful singing and the microphone feedback rings throughout the thick walls of the gym. Most people hide their cringed expression but Brooke stands there, arms crossed with a scrunched nose.

   "She is a Muppet," Paisley whispers, leaning over to Steve. "Kermit has better vocals," He whispers back and they both erupt into quiet giggles. The microphone continues to ring as Tammy tries her best to sing for all too long.

    And finally, after a minute or two, the noise stops.

   "Good God, I hate America," Brooke says and blows a raspberry.

THE GAME HAS BEEN going on for a while. Brooke is using the small things from watching Steve and Casey play basketball to actually try and comprehend the game. She was always more into soccer anyway.

    It feels weird for Brooke to be standing here, watching the team play without Casey on the court. The sounds of the cheering fade out and suddenly Brooke is back in the mall, blood on her hands as she screams for her friend. There's flames from the mall falling apart around her. It hasn't gotten this bad in a while. She walks past his locker full of flowers and cheesy teddy bears perfectly fine, she drives past his house that is now abandoned since his family left Hawkins perfectly fine, why is a stupid game bothering her?

   She clasps her hands together in an attempt to trick herself into stabilizing her emotions. There's a distant noise of a whistle as Lucas is called onto the court. Paisley and Steve cheer the boy on, both turning towards Brooke only to see the drowned out look in her brown eyes.

    "Brooke, hey, what's up?" Steve asks softly. He reaches his hand out for hers and gently separates them. Steve's fingers slide under Brooke's leather bracelet straps, rubbing softly at her skin. "Hey, hey, come back to Earth," Steve's other hand holds Brooke's face that slowly looks up at him and his big brown eyes. It's like Brooke just sped through a tunnel as Steve's touch finally registers. She feels embarrassed all the sudden, like she just lost scary points for having an episode and Steve comforting her.

   "I'm—Hi, the game. How is it?" Brooke leans into Steve's touch slightly and looks over his shoulder at the chaotic game. Jason makes a basket as the timer goes down. Somewhat satisfied with Brooke's small recovery, Steve keeps his hand in her hands and begins to do call outs to the game, feeling like he's back on the team. Her cheeks are red as her anxiety convinces her everyone just saw the affectionate act and her small breakdown. Brooke closes her eyes for a second, takes a deep breath and opens them.

That did clearly nothing, Brooke thinks, scowling to herself. She gives up and tries to divert her attention back to the game.

   It's a pretty even game, both teams usually only a point away from the other. Then, Jason calls a time out and Brooke has enough energy in her to do a dramatic eye roll. The Tigers gather around in a circle.

  "What do you think they're discussing?" Penelope leans over as if it would help her listen. "Can't you just, like, explode one of the opposing team's legs or something?" Brooke whispers. Paisley scoffs, "Can we not traumatize the other kids? And traumatize Lucas more? I'm sure they can win this fairly with all their limbs."

   "And no one wants to clean up that blood," Steve states calmly, more into the game than the actual conversation. All three girls stare at him with a blank expression and turn back to the game.

   Their team meeting is over and Jason makes a risky shot. They hold their breath as the ball bounces off the rim. But, Lucas catches the ball, spinning on his heel as the timer gets down to two seconds.

    Steve's hand is practically crushing Brooke's the more suspense builds up. Lucas shoots the shot at the last literal second. The buzzer buzzes as everyone stands up. It bounces and circles the rim and then........flies down the basket.

  Brooke knows what that means, it means Lucas just won the school the championships. The group of teens and the rest of the school jump up and down in excitement, shouting loudly for the Sinclair boy.

  The crowd roars. "Holy shit! Holy shit!" Paisley curses, grabbing onto Steve with matching big smiles.

   Eventually, people begin to leave the school.

"Penelope, you wanna come back to Steve's house with us?" Brooke asks as they reach Steve's car. Her heels click, "Uh—"

   "Actually, Robin and I aren't gonna go back to your place," Paisley smiles, swinging an arm over Robin who still has half her uniform on. "Wait, why aren't we going back to Steve's?" Robin asks, completely oblivious. Paisley and Brooke glance at each other and then back at Robin.

  The blonde smiles, still oblivious, "What?"

  "I'm just gonna go back to my apartment. Offer me a drink tomorrow though and I might accept. Only the best for the best though!" Penelope shouts, strutting away from the younger teens.

   "Are you sleeping over?" Steve asks as he hugs Brooke closer to him. "Yeah, I mean, it's not like I wanna go home," Brooke goes on her tippy toes to place a kiss on Steve's nose. "Gross. Can we go to your house?" Robin now asks. Paisley lets out an airy chuckle, "Jesus, yes. You two kids be good, okay?" Paisley drags Robin away.

   Once they're out of view Steve brings Brooke closer to him, "Where'd you go back there?" Brooke hides her face, looking down at the concrete, "A lot of thinking."

   "Yeah? I could tell when even Jason's annoying voice didn't cause a snarky remark," Steve rubs her shoulders, the butterflies have never gone away, no matter how long they have actually been together or not. Her back hits the car when she steps back. She hates feeling like a burden so she doesn't explain any further. Brooke steps away from Steve, faking a small smile as she looks up at him.

   "Can we just go back to your place, please?" Brooke asks. "Yeah, yeah—Brooke, your nose," Steve stares at the dark blood dripping from her nose rapidly. She tilts her head in confusion but Steve realizes his mistake as soon as she touches the blood and looks at it in the dark.

  "Shit, get me a napkin! Steve—"

  "Alright, alright," Steve rushes to open the car door and rummage through his glove compartment to find a napkin. He hands it to her, "Don't tilt your head back—No, no!"

  "The fuck am I supposed to do?" Brooke curses, eyes still on the stars above them. Steve sighs loudly and forces Brooke to look down at the floor, the blood dripping onto the white top of her sneaker.

    Her world begins to spin but Steve holds her up, tissue to her nose.

——
:)