~**Hawkins, Indiana- 1983**~

Juliet couldn't remember a time when she had actual friends. She peered at the group of band kinds who often stuck around her to avoid any harsh bullying from Tommy H. and his dumb crowd of friends. Not that she counted this little ragtag group of strange individuals her friends. She wasn't exactly kind. She just hated it when someone got picked on. It didn't matter who it was, all she could think about was how bad her brother got bullied. Juliet tilted her head upwards at the thought. Perhaps that's why she often came to the rescue to unfortunate victims such as the band geeks. Or the DnD club. She sighed irritably before stalking away from the group of band geeks in hopes they'd get the hint and leave her to her privacy.

She had hoped the library would be a better place to study during her free period, but there was no such luck. The math nerds hung out in the middle of the room, eyes peering hopefully at the Queen of Hawkins. Rolling her eyes again, she stormed out and decided that sitting in the bed of her truck would have to do.

As she approached the old worn down truck, she could hear the faint crackling of her walkie, along with the distinct voice of her brother calling a code yellow. She snatched the walkie and perched on the tail gate of her truck, pressing the button down. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?" She wondered irritably.

"You're supposed to say over when you're finished speaking, Julie. Over." Dustin retorted in an echoing irritated tone.

She sighed irritably and tapped the radio on her head. "What do you want, Dustin. Over."

She could almost feel the smug grin on his dumb little face. "Can you drop me off at Mike's house tomorrow? He planned a campaign for us. Over."

"How long is this campaign going to be? Over." She sighed.

There was a moment of silence before Dustin spoke again. "Two days. Over."

Juliet pondered the pros and cons of that situation. She could have the house to herself all weekend, ensuring endless hours of sleep. The cons would be that she'd have to pick her brother up late Sunday night, since their mother couldn't drive well at night. "What's in it for me? Over." Juliet chirped, fishing a lollipop from her jacket.

"I'll do the dishes for a week. Over." Dustin shot back.

Juliet hummed in thought, plucking the wrapper from the candy and popping it into her mouth, fingers aimlessly playing with the wrapper, folding it around. "Throw in the laundry and you've got yourself a deal. Let me know your decision when I pick you up today. Over and out." Juliet shoved the antenna back into the radio and leapt off of her tail gate to put it back in the truck, but she stopped in her tracks as Steve Harrington peered at her from the side of the truck, teasing glint in his eye.

"You use a walkie often?" Steve asked, grinning from ear to ear as Juliet's brows angled downwards, eyes lighting up with that fire he would often dream about.

"Yeah, because my brother does. If you've got an issue with me keeping in touch with my little brother, I suggest you air them now, so I have a reason to kick your ass." Juliet retorted, shoving past him and shunting the walkie into it's respective spot.

"You didn't have a reason before?" Steve chuckled, eyes trailing down her hips as she leaned into the truck for her gym clothes.

"I've always got a reason to kick your ass, Harrington." Juliet retorted. "Now get out of my face, I've got to get to gym. And I am not going to run that stupid mile again for being late."

"It's just a mile," Steve retorted as he followed after her, lips still tugged into a smug grin. "Is that too much for you?"

Juliet whirled around on him. "Unlike you, I don't like running. I prefer weightlifting." Juliet retorted bitterly. "Everyone's got their weaknesses."

"Not me," Steve shrugged. "I can do just about anything."

Juliet's brows quirked up. "Last time I checked, you couldn't stay in a pull up for longer than five minutes."

Steve felt a flush crawl up his neck. "Well, no one's got your ridiculous upper body strength."

Juliet rolled her eyes before turning on her heel again. Steve's eyes unwillingly trailed over her shoulders and back. It was true that Juliet Henderson's body wasn't like most girls in school. She worked hard to keep strong. That was something Steve could respect. Even if she really could kick the shit out of him if she wanted to.

Steve ambled after her, eyes still trained on her figure.

~*****~

Juliet wiped at her face irritably as her gym coach kept barking orders for her to work harder. All her lesson had been today surrounded gymnastics. All that flipping and tumbling really made her dizzy. She sipped at her water slowly, back leaning against the bleachers in an attempt to quell the burning nausea.

"You okay?" A meek voice asked. Juliet peered upwards, squinting in the sun. She knew the girl in front of her. Robin Buckley, a trumpet player from band. "I thought you might want an ice pack."

Juliet sat forward and accepted it, pressing it against the front of her neck, heaving out a sigh. "Thanks. All that damn tumbling she's making us do is making me feel like puking."

Robin chuckled as she slowly sat besides her. Robin peered over at Juliet nervously, fingers fidgeting. "Yeah, it's like she wants us to totally blow chunks all over the mats." She muttered. "I wouldn't have thought you were that prone to nausea." Before Juliet could ask what she means, Robin just smiles down at her lap. "You always look so cool doing all this shit. I mean, don't get me wrong, band camp is pretty hard, but we only throw up because of the heat."

Juliet hummed, repeating her earlier words. "Everyone's got their weaknesses." She murmured, rubbing the ice pack over the back of her neck.

"S-So, I want to ask you something--" Robin began. Juliet sighed heavily.

"Not to be rude, Robin," Juliet hummed as she handed the ice pack back to her. "But I should probably get back out there before old ironsides wants me to get back up on the horizontal bar."

"Isn't that mostly for men?" Robin asked meekly.

Juliet shrugged. "I don't think she knows much about gymnastics." Juliet hummed as she ambled back to her gym coach, neck burning at the lecture of getting nauseated so quickly. Robin just stared after her, lips tugging into a frown. Her eye flickered to the group of girls across the gymnasium, snickering and pointing at her. Heaving out a sigh, she got back up to return to participating in the class.

~*****~

Juliet sat in the parking lot of Hawkins Middle School, thumbing through a book she'd bought earlier that week. Her brows quirked up when the bell rang loudly, signaling the end of school. Shoving her bag onto the ground, she peered at the entrance to the school as kids filed out eagerly, bounding towards bikes or the busses. Dustin came into view with his three friends, Mike, Will, and Lucas. The four boys eagerly ran towards her truck, all brandishing wide smiles.

"I'll take the deal!" Dustin suddenly exclaimed as he pried open the passenger deal. "But can you take me over today?"

Juliet sighed through her nose and shoved a dollar bill into her book to mark her spot. "Sure, but you gotta clean the litter box, too, for the short notice on when you're going." She explained as the boys tumbled into the truck.

Dustin's face dropped. "Take the deal, Dustin!" Mike suddenly exclaimed from the backseat.

"Yeah, come on!" Lucas and Will began chirping.

Dustin reluctantly agreed and sulked in his seat. "How about this," Juliet hummed. "Do all the shit I offered, and I'll also buy Slurpees on the way to Mike's."

The four boys lit up, wide smiles and eyes shining. "Dude, your sister is awesome!" Mike exclaimed.

Dustin just smiled, his upper teeth still missing, but Juliet thought he was cute anyway. "I know."

Juliet ruffled her brother's hair fondly and pulled out of the school parking lot.

Once she'd dropped off the boys-- with snacks and Slurpees in tow-- she returned home to shower and get to work. The record store in town was usually slow and suffering from the recent impact of cassette tapes. Juliet had a Walkman but did often prefer the old vinyl when her Walkman would crap out. And it did so often.

She peered up when the door chimed, brows furrowing in irritation as Steve Harrington ambled up to the counter. "What, Harrington?" Juliet asked, bored tone in her voice.

Steve couldn't help but smile. "That's not good customer service. C'mon, you can do better than that."

Juliet forced a smile. "What can I do for you, sir." Had he not valued his life, Steve probably would've kept teasing her.

"Looking for something that'll help me score this girl." Steve mentioned casually. "Got any suggestions."

"You want me to pick out a record that'll help you?" Juliet wondered. "No way. I have more respect for not only myself, but the girls who are so blinded by your ridiculous hair."

Steve reached up and patted at his hair. "Hey, it's my best feature."

Juliet rolled her eyes. "Sure. I won't help you to get laid, but I can give you a suggestion to strike up a conversation at least." Juliet retorted as she ambled from behind the counter. "And just your luck, we still have some left." Juliet plucked the vinyl for Bella Donna by Stevie Nicks. "Most girls like Edge of Seventeen."

"Do you?" Steve asked as he peered down at the vinyl. All he could saw was that Stevie Nicks was kinda hot. He didn't care much for her music.

Juliet snorted loudly. "No, I like Chaka Khan." She mentioned before trailing back to the counter. "Is that all?"

Steve peered around and plucked up the last Vinyl for Chaka Khan's Epiphany. He gave Juliet a broad grin as her brow raised. She shrugged after a moment and rung him up. "Hey, I'm having a party soon. Would you wanna stop by?" Steve mentioned.

Juliet scoffed. "As if." Juliet retorted. "I'd rather be anywhere else than in the immediate vicinity of Couch Humper and his girlfriend Missus Crabs."

Steve snorted loudly, his chest burning from the laughter trying to edge it's way up. "What, no jab at me?" He asked impishly, leaning against the counter.

Juliet hummed. "No, you're already embarrassing enough as is." Juliet retorted plainly. "Have a good day." She forced out, teeth gritting.

Steve just smiled before taking his purchases and stepping out of the store. He peered back into the store, watching as the usually angry looking girl chewed on a Twizzler with a scowl on her face.

~*****~

Monday mornings were always the worst for Juliet. Picking up Dustin so late at night was going to seriously kill her. She gave a great yawn as she pried open her locker. A grimace worked itself onto her face at the photos inside her locker. Giggles echoed out from the end of the hall, and she peered downwards at Tommy H. and Carol, his longtime girlfriend. Juliet rolled her eyes as she plucked the polaroid of her undressing for gym class. It wasn't uncommon for Carol to take pictures to try and get a reaction out of Juliet, but her response was new. Steve peered at Juliet with a smirk as she slammed her locker shut and snagged the photo between her teeth. His brows slammed upwards as she swiped her shirt off, oblivious to the shocked gazes around her.

Steve's gaze trailed down her toned body, arousal pooling in his gut as she tied her hair up and grabbed her bag from the ground and tied her jacket around her waist. A flush crawled up his neck as Juliet sauntered towards them, hand slapping the polaroid into Carol's chest with a smirk. "You should've gotten a better angle. And a different victim." Juliet commented before peering up and down Carol's body. "Or maybe you were just jealous since your body is so... weird looking."

A chorus of giggles laughter echoed through the halls as Carol discretely covered her front with her bag. "Miss Henderson!" Juliet rolled her eyes as she peered over at the teacher approaching them. "What is the meaning of this?!"

Juliet shrugged. "Trying something new. Didn't work out, did it?" Juliet asked, smirk remaining on her face as Carol stormed off.

"In my office, now!"

"Yeah, yeah, keep your skirt on," Juliet hummed as she trailed after the teacher with her shirt hanging from her fingers. Steve swallowed lightly as he continued to watch her. Oh yeah, he was totally into her. He hummed to himself. She'd be the next girl, he thought to himself. Later that night, Juliet sat in her room after an earful from her mother about the call to home, doing her homework when she heard Dustin come home. She stepped out of her room, scratching at her midriff as he approached his room. "You good, bud?" Juliet asked as he didn't even lift his gaze to her. Goosebumps crawled up her skin when she'd heard him stifle a sob. Without hesitating, Juliet wrapped her brother into a tight hug. "Hey, relax, buddy, what's going on?"

"It's Will--" Dustin sobbed, burying himself into her arms. "He's missing!"

Juliet rubbed at his back reassuringly. "Well, what's being done? Is there anything we can do?" Juliet asked softly.

Dustin shrugged, wiping at his eyes. "The police have a search party out. But they don't know Will... Mike and Lucas want to go out there, but Mom will never let me go."

Juliet's nose scrunched up, but before she could answer, Dustin's window rattled against someone knocking on it. She whipped it upwards and peered down at Lucas with a glare. "Didn't I tell you to use the door?"

"No time," Lucas exclaimed as he slid inwards. "We're going to look for Will!"

"Wait, now?" Dustin asked. "Like right now? But what about Mom?"

Juliet ruffled his hair. "Don't worry about mom. I'll handle her. Besides, you said it yourself. No one knows Will like you guys." Juliet hummed. "So? Go find your friend."

Dustin stared at his older sister with an anxious look before grabbing his bag and crawling out the window with Lucas.