CHAPTER EIGHTY-EIGHT
ASSEMBLY

Kimmy couldn't lie and say that she didn't have a negative opinion of Aaron's parents, because she did.

Her mind was made up, she didn't like them.

And it wasn't because of their obvious distaste for her that neither the two of them did a good job of hiding.

The fact that her boyfriend's parents obviously didn't like her at all was not a good feeling, it stressed her out beyond belief.

Clearly, as long as the two were dating then the adults would have a problem with her, although she assumed they'd have a problem with her even if they broke up anyway. So either way she wasn't going to be viewed very positively in their eyes.

It wasn't like she would break up with Aaron anyway, even if it would make the two adults happy.

If Aaron's parents didn't like her then that was something she would just have to deal with.

It was something she could deal with. She didn't really care if they didn't like her because she didn't like them either.

Not because of their distaste for her, but because of their quite evident distaste for Aaron.

Kimmy knew that Steve was the favourite child, that much was so obvious she would have had to have been blind not to notice. But it didn't excuse the extreme difference in how the two brothers were treated.

Kimmy didn't need Aaron parents to like her, in fact if they were anything like what she had seen, she didn't want them to like her.

The morning after Aaron's parents had left, Kimmy and Aaron had stopped on their way to school so the girl could try some sort of slushy that Max had been raving to her about.

While Kimmy was in the store, Aaron decided to wait outside, waiting not so patiently as he sat on a bench across the street as he worried about how much time the small detour would take. As if him not going into the store would somehow mean they'd get to school any faster.

There was a man sat at the opposite side of the bench from the blond, however Aaron hardly even noticed his presence, the boy constantly switching his attention between his watch as well as the store Kimmy was in.

After some time, the blond grew tired of waiting for the girl, who had most likely only been in the store for a few minutes, however with how stressed Aaron had made himself, it felt much longer.

Aaron sat up slightly and took off his backpack, dropping it to the floor so he could sit back comfortably.

The second the bag hit the floor, the boy felt his shoes get wet. Scrunching his eyes closed in defeat, he let out a breath and looked down only to confirm the suspicion in which he'd hoped he'd been mistaken.

There was a puddle. His shoe was now soaked and so was the straps as well as the bottom of his bag. It was only a small puddle of water, so small that Aaron hadn't even noticed it when he sat down, but he seemed to have dropped the bag on such an angle that the water had splashed up.

"Oh, my fucking god." The boy groaned in frustration, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back. The day had hardly started and he already wanted it to be over.

"No need to curse." Came the croaky, disapproving voice of the older man also sat on the bench.

Aaron raised his brows in surprise and turned to look to the man with a taken aback expression. "What?"

The man looked to him blankly before speaking up in the same croaky voice once more. "There is no need to curse. Especially not at your age."

The blond stared back at the man with a gobsmacked expression, not sure what he was expected to say in response.

"I'm not trying to be rude or anything." Aaron eventually spoke up in a wary tone, trying to talk himself out of trouble with a total stranger when he hadn't actually done anything wrong.

The man seemed to shake his head at him once more, as if to say he wasn't impressed.

Aaron didn't know why he cared what some random man thought about him, but he did. Perhaps it was because the blond actually hadn't done anything to the man before he spoke to the younger boy. Aaron had no issue with an argument if he knew it was for good reason, however he knew bickering with some random old man on a park bench would not be ideal.

The boy didn't have to say anything else to the man, and looking back he probably shouldn't have. But he was too far gone in his thoughts and had convinced himself the man hated him over a simple comment that hadn't even been directed towards him.

"Uh- are you waiting for someone?" The blond asked hesitantly, hoping he could get the man to talk to him and hold an awkward yet semi-decent conversation to pass the time.

There was a few lingering moments where the man didn't reply, causing Aaron to momentarily raise his brows at the man who wasn't as much as looking at him and turn his attention away.

It wasn't that Aaron was even interested in the answer he expected to receive, he just wanted to perhaps not make the man as well as himself feel anymore awkward than he already did.

"Not today." The man replied simply after some silence, the sound of his voice causing Aaron to turn and face him once more. "Shouldn't you be headed to school, it's not very bright to fall into the habit of-"

"Yeah, I am." Aaron spoke with a tired sigh, telling the man more than he probably cared to hear. "But I'm probably going to be late. I'm waiting on my girlfriend because she just needed to get some sort of slushy that her friend told her about. But she's taking a million years in there so we will most likely miss first period. I mean-"

Aaron trailed off once he realised the look on the man's face - he didn't care. It was probably the best thing too, because the blond knew he was beginning to ramble.

Aaron couldn't find it within himself to be offended anyway, because he caught sight of the brunette leaving the store with her slushy in hand.

The boy reached down and reluctantly picked up his backpack that now had the straps of it soaked in dirty water. Aaron had to stop himself from audibly gagging, instead holding it away from him as he held it from the top to insure he would not have to touch the two straps that were supposed to go over his shoulders.

"Uh... bye." The blond awkwardly muttered to the older man. "That's... uh- that's her. So, I'll be going-"

As Aaron went to turn away, the sound of the man still sat on the bench laughing to himself could be heard, causing the blond to do a double take and turn back around to fully face him.

"What?" Aaron asked with a puzzled expression, his brows scrunched in curiosity and self consciousness.

"You sure that you looking at the right girl?" The man asked in an almost mocking tone, still laughing to himself as he spoke. "Looks like she's got a fella of her own."

Aaron snapped around to face the store once more, his brows furrowed as he watched the interaction the man had been referring to with a twisted feeling in his stomach.

That boy was there again, the one who had been bothering her. Noah.

The brunette was clearly trying to get away from him but he kept following her, this desperate look on his face that had the girl rolling her eyes.

Clearly, the girl hadn't spotted Aaron just yet. Seeing as when she'd entered the store he'd been right outside it rather than across the street.

Kimmy seemed to turn to face him, saying something that Aaron couldn't quite hear from how far away he was as she shook her head. It seemed they had now spiralled into an argument.

Aaron went to make his way over, but halted his steps almost unwillingly due to the surprise of what happened next.

The boy seemed to grab her harshly, gripping onto her arm tightly while he said something to her, spilling her drink she had just bought in the process.

The girl tried to tug her arm out of his hold but failed to do so. So, with her free hand, she slapped him across the face. Hard.

The second she did so, the boy let go of her arm to hold his cheekbone, Kimmy lingered for a moment to say something else before walking away.

Walking away in the complete opposite direction of where Aaron was, seeing as she couldn't actually see him.

Aaron couldn't stop the rush of pride that flushed through him at the sight of the embarrassed boy left stood outside the store himself.

"Did you see that?" The blond asked the old man who was still sat on the bench, his voice filled with nothing but pride. "That's my girlfriend. I swear to god, she's going out with me."

Without waiting for a response the boy ran off after her, calling her name to get her attention.

When he finally did catch up to her, he was relieved to see that she didn't seem to have let the boy bother her. The girl turning to face him with a smile as she spoke to him.

"I thought you left?" She told him in an almost perplexed tone. "I couldn't see you."

"No, I just went to sit on the bench across the street." Aaron told her with a shrug.

Kimmy simply hummed in response, moving to stand next to him as they went to continue their walk to school. "Guess who was-"

"Noah." Aaron told her before she'd even finished her sentence, a slightly bitter look on his face at the mention of him. "I know, I saw him."

"Oh, you did?" The girl asked him in a surprised tone. "He wouldn't leave, kept bugging me. I ended up losing my slushy to him, I waited in a long line for that and everything! I didn't even get to try it! And, I'll probably look like a lunatic for hitting him across the face."

Aaron snickered in response, shaking his head at her. "At least he'll stop bothering you now? He had it coming for him."

"I guess." Kimmy shrugged, sounding slightly dazed as she pulled the sleeve to her sweater up. Letting out a sigh, she frowned as she looked to her arm.

"You know I wouldn't have done that," she began looking almost self conscious, like she felt the need to explain herself to him. "But he kept pushing down on my... my, uh- my... scars. And it was starting to hurt and he wouldn't let go. I just panicked."

Aaron frowned at her, moving to pull the sleeve of her sweater down and grabbing her hand to stop her pulling the sleeve back up to look at her arm again.

"It's okay. Just... don't look at it." He told her in the most reassuring voice he could muster. "And don't feel bad about slapping him, you should have broke his nose-"

"Aaron! I should not have." The girl laughed at him, nudging his shoulder with hers. "Maybe if he bugs me again."

Aaron simply snickered at her response, only hoping that the boy wouldn't bother her anymore.

"What happened to your bag?" Kimmy asked him with an amused expression.

The blond's amused expression dropped and was replaced with one of irritation. "Dropped it in a puddle."

Kimmy began laughing hysterically at him, laughing so hard that she was practically snorting.

"It's not that funny-"

"It is." The girl insisted with a firm nod, still laughing as she did so.

"Whatever." He muttered with an eyeroll, doing his best to hide the amused look on his face at her reaction.

The two ended making first period, due to them walking much faster than they should have been at Aaron's request.

...

As it turned out, that very morning the two didn't have to go to first period anyway due to the school assembly that was only ever held once a month or so. Aaron didn't know how this had slipped his mind, Lucas had told him about it the day before. He supposed he was just tired.

The blond boy absolutely hated the school assembly's. They consisted of everyone crammed into the gym as they were forced to listen to the principle spew bullshit.

Aaron was squished in between Mike and Kimmy, reluctantly clapping along as he wished time would move faster.

On one side of him, Dustin and Mike were bickering about some nonsense, and on the other Kimmy and Max were talking between them.

That was one of the main reasons Aaron didn't like the assembly's. Mike and Dustin had each other and Kimmy and Max had each other. However Aaron's best friend was never stood with the group during the assembly's, rather he was forced to stand with his teammates on the gym floor.

Although the assembly's were usually the only time the six were guaranteed to see each other, so Aaron would just bite the bullet and go along with it.

Dustin and Mike had that club they were part of, the one Aaron could never remember the name of. Lucas had his basketball, Aaron had his hockey - that he was allowed to return to in the next week, Max seemed set on isolating herself from everyone since her brothers passing, besides maybe Kimmy. And for the brunette, well, she didn't have a club she was apart of. But she was currently living with Aaron and her closest friend was only really speaking to her, so she didn't see much of Dustin and Mike either.

It wasn't like anyone held any resentment to each other, it seemed that they were just slowly drifting apart. And that was fine. Aaron had come to realise that was what would happen in the long run and he'd have to accept it, as much as he maybe didn't want to.

"Settle an argument, will you." Mike asked Aaron in an irked tone, gesturing to the boy with curly hair stood next to him with a roll of his eyes.

The blond was actually somewhat relieved to hear Mike's voice, the boy now sick of pretending to enjoy watching the school band and cheer team prance around the gym.

"Alright." Aaron hesitantly nodded, knowing that said argument could have begun from anything.

"Who's got the better girlfriend?" Dustin spoke up with a calm yet intrigued look. "Me or Mike?"

Aaron raised his brows in surprise, not having expected that question to fall past his friend's lips in the slightest.

"What?" Aaron laughed with furrowed brows, stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets. "I don't even know Suzie-"

"See?" Mike told Dustin smugly, grinning to the two boys he was stood in between.

"Okay, I get that, it's just that Suzie's like, a certified genius." Dustin shrugged with a slightly irritated expression, as if to say he thought Aaron's answer wasn't good enough. Also known as - he thought Suzie was the better girlfriend by a mile.

"You do realise El saved the world twice, right?" Mike scoffed at the boy, glancing to Dustin with a bored look as if to say he was over the conversation.

Dustin seemed to be a loss at what to say, spluttering over his words for something to throw back at the boy with dark hair. Mike must have taken this as a win, because he glanced away from him with an amused expression he made no effort to hide.

"And yet you still have a C in Spanish." Dustin retorted in a voice much cockier than Aaron thought he should have been, seeing as his argument really made no sense what so ever.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Aaron asked the smaller boy with a puzzled look, fearing he'd fallen behind in the conversation already.

"Look, all I'm saying is that Suzie could easily have helped me bring my grades up if I needed it - which I don't." The curly haired boy did his best to explain his previous words to the two boys who shared a look of confusion. "El might have saved the world, but she couldn't do that-"

"Oh, whatever." Mike rolled his eyes at him. "You don't need to be good at Spanish when you have superpowers."

"So who's best?" Dustin asked Aaron with an eager look, completely disregarding Mike's point. "You know enough about Suzie now, who's got the better girlfriend?"

Aaron rolled his eyes, not feeling comfortable in the slightest at judging whose girlfriend was best or whatever it was the two were arguing about.

"Hm... I don't know." The blond trailed off with a look of faux thought on his face, holding back a grin as he decided he'd much rather tease the two boys. "If I'm being honest I think Kimmy's better than both of 'em. Sorry-"

"That's not fair." Dustin shut down his answer with a shake of his head instantly. "You can't pick your own girlfriend."

"I'm pretty sure I can." Aaron told him with a lazy shrug, throwing his arm over her shoulders to prove his point.

"No," Dustin shook his head once more. "You can't be the judge and then pick-"

"I don't want to be the judge." The blond groaned with yet another roll of his eyes. "No offence, but I don't care which one of you has the better girlfriend. Just leave it as a tie-"

However it seemed as if that was near impossible to do so. Seeing as the two boys turned away from him at hearing that and began bickering between themselves once more.

"And, let's hear it for your tigers!" The announcers voice startled Aaron to the point he jumped, removing his arm from around Kimmy's shoulders to clap for the basketball team.

Aaron didn't actually care about the basketball team, but he'd be supportive nonetheless seeing as Lucas was now apart of the team.

Just as he'd seen at the start of the year, Mike and Dustin were much more reluctant to clap for the boy than Aaron and Kimmy were. He also watched as Max didn't clap at all, in fact she'd taken it upon herself to cross her arms over her chest. Although the blond payed no mind, he just hoped the boy stood with his team didn't notice.

However Aaron soon scoffed as he watched the captain of the team take it upon himself to walk up to the microphone stand and take it off, addressing his peers as if he was some motivational speaker or something. Jason - that what his name was.

Aaron didn't like him. Not for any particular reason, he was just annoying. It was like he thought he was better than everyone else or something of that sort.

He addressed everyone watching every single assembly. Honestly it sometimes embarrassed Aaron at how self absorbed he seemed to come across as.

"Good morning Hawkins High!" The older boy yelled much more enthusiastically than Aaron thought was needed. "First off, I'd like to thank each and every one of you. Without your support, we wouldn't be here."

Aaron leaned over to Kimmy and snickered whispering to her. "I wish-"

Kimmy smacked his stomach lightly with an amused expression, trying to get him to be quiet as to not draw attention to themselves that could get the two in trouble. Although Aaron could see the way her lips pulled up as she held back a laugh.

"And of course, I have to give a special shout-out to the best and prettiest fans of all time. The Tiger Cheer Squad." Jason began again, a dramatically sincere look on his face as he addressed the girls. "And Chrissy... Chrissy, I love you, babe."

"Oh, my god, what is he doing?" Aaron mumbled to himself in a whine, hardly able to continue watching the older boy embarrass himself in front of the entire school.

Much to Aaron's surprise, Kimmy snorted loudly at his reaction to the scene unfolding in front of him. Covering her face with her hands as she tried her best to suppress her laughs.

Aaron turned to look at the brunette as did some others who were stood near her, the girl could not get her laughs to stop. It was clear in the ways her shoulders were still shaking and her hands was still covering her face.

"I think I speak for us all when I say it's been a rough year for Hawkins. So much loss." Jason spoke again, suddenly a somber way about him unlike a few moments ago. "It's in dark days like this, we need something to believe in. So, last night, when we were down by ten points at half, to Christian Academy, I looked at my team and I told them to think of Jack. To think of Melissa, and Heather and Billy. Of our heroic chief police; Jim Hopper."

Aaron pursed his lips at the boys speech, feeling slightly bad he'd been making fun of him to the girl next to him when he was about to begin about such a sensitive topic.

"What did they die for?" Jason continued, suddenly sounding almost angry in a way. "For us to lose to some... some crap school? For us to return home with our heads hung low in defeat? No. We won that game for them, that's exactly what we did! We embarrassed those candy-asses in their own house, and tonight we're gonna bring home the championship trophy!"

Aaron rolled his eyes once more, not surprised in the slightest that he'd used an issue that had hurt so much people in the town to talk about his basketball games.

...

At lunch that day, Kimmy and Aaron were sat with Lucas. This wasn't necessarily out of the ordinary, Lucas often sat with Kimmy and Aaron for lunch.

But on that particular day, he was rilled up about something. Angry almost, even hurt.

And that something was to do with the other three members of the friend group who still attended Hawkins Highschool.

"Max won't come to the game tonight, I know she won't." Lucas began with a shake of his head. Both looking and sounding hurt as he spoke about her. "Says she doesn't care about shit like this and doesn't know why I do either."

"That's bullshit." Aaron was quick to say, shaking his head as he ate one half of his sandwich.

Technically it was Kimmy's sandwich, but she'd offered to share her lunch with him seeing as his had gotten all wet and ruined from the state his backpack had been in earlier.

"I know!" Lucas exclaimed, looking glad someone was on the same page as him. "I don't get why she's being like this. I mean, I know why, but I don't know why she keeps pushing me away."

Kimmy was reluctant to speak up, doing so in a quiet voice as if she wasn't a whole lot confident in her answer. "I think she just needs space. And I know she shouldn't be blanking you the way she is, but she didn't talk to me for a lot of the summer either. She'll come around eventually."

Lucas raised his brows and made an almost humming noise, as if to say he didn't really agree with her.

"It's not only that," the boy continued as he shook his head. "I don't think Mike and Dustin are coming tonight either."

"Why not?" Kimmy frowned.

"Can't miss Eddie's campaign apparently." Lucas scoffed in offence. "I don't ask them to come to all my games, I don't ask them to come to any. But they could at least try make it to championship couldn't they?"

"Yeah, they should." Aaron nodded in agreement, although his look of support soon washed clear from his face and was replaced with one of confusion. "Who's Eddie?"

"He's like the leader of their D&D club or whatever - The Hellfire Club." Lucas explained with a shrug, clearly trying to act much calmer than he truly felt. The boy then looked to the two he was sat with, looking almost anxious with what he was about to say next. "You guys will be there tonight, right?"

"Definitely." Kimmy told him with a reassuring smile, nodding her head at him as she spoke.

The girl watched as the worry drained from his face and she couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

He seemed to have enough on his plate to worry about without having to stress that no one would show up to watch him at his championship game. Lucas had seemed excited about it too, and Kimmy knew well that it felt like complete shit when someone looked down on something you were excited for.

"We'll be there." Aaron told his friend with a firm nod. "I can ask Steve if he wants to come too if you want?"

"Sure." Lucas shrugged, yet he looked thankful all the same. "I-"

The boy was cut off by the sound of yelling coming from another table somewhere in the cafeteria. Kimmy looking around with a startled expression trying to find the source.

When she did, her brows raised in both surprise as well as a look that clearly showed she wasn't all that impressed.

"Or a game where you toss balls into laundry baskets!" The boy continued to yell obnoxiously loud, cupping his hands around his mouth as he did so.

He was sat at the same table as Mike and Dustin and he also had the same shirt the two always wore. Well, he wasn't sat at the table, he was quite literally walking up and down it.

The boy had long thick curly hair and he appeared to be a little... out of place. From the way he was dressed to the way he seemingly acted. He also looked alot older than most of the other kids he was sat with, Kimmy would have been surprised if he wasn't a senior. If anything he looked like he'd been held back a year or two.

That must have been Eddie, Kimmy concluded to herself. But then again she didn't really know, she didn't know anyone else's name at that table besides Mike and Dustin.

"You want something, freak?" Jason yelled from his own table where he was sat with most of his teammates.

The boy said nothing for a moment, but there was a mocking look on his face. Abruptly, he pulled a bizzare looking face. As if trying to imitate a monster of some sort.

With that, the older boy spun around on his heel and walked back down the long table he was stood upon.

"What the hell was that?" Aaron blurted from next to her, his face scrunched up into a look of disapproval.

"That, was Eddie." Lucas spoke with a wide eyed expression, as if to say he too wasn't impressed.

"Jesus." Aaron mumbled. "That's who they're hanging out with instead of you?"

Lucas simply shrugged in response, glancing to the blond with a look of agreement.

...

Omg 20k reads?!?? TYSM!!!! All the support on this story is so appreciated!!

This isn't actually proofread sorry if they're mistakes lol.

Hope everyone has a great day and liked the chapter!!!

- AJ :)