March 24th, 1984

Dear Diary,

Not to be dramatic, but whoever invented Saturday detention can fuck off straight to Hell.

Here is a list of things I'd rather do than spend my day of freedom at Hawkins High:

- get a bikini wax

- drink drain cleaner

- eat lime green jello

Hearing something from outside her door, Mal closes her journal, stepping outside her room to see her father outside the room next to her's. A half empty bottle is in his hand, and Mal is about to sneak away before he notices her — no such luck.

"Why are you up so early?" her father grumbles.

"Going shopping with the Heathers," Mal lies without skipping a beat. "There are major spring sales in the city so we're going early to get the best selection."

Her father nods and turns his attention back to the door. She takes that as her cue to disappear back into her room.

Also it's March 24th, so there's that. I guess I'd take detention over watching Dad mope around the house today.

Her best friend Ronnie Liu, also a victim of Saturday detention, would be there soon to drive them both to their sentence. Mal quickly busies herself with doing her makeup. She mixes two foundations together (finding her actual skin tone was difficult, especially in a town as monochromatic as Hawkins), carefully curls her lashes then applies precisely two layers of mascara, and finishes with a coat of cherry lip gloss.

On her way out the door, she looks out the window to see that her neighbor, Steve Harrington, was also up at this ungodly hour, probably for swim practice. Still, he stands in front of a mirror, carefully styling his hair. Mal cares about her appearance, how she presents herself to the world, and Steve is right there with her — but, of course, boys don't get as much shit for that sort of thing. The same people who think Mal is shallow, think Steve is hot for putting in the effort to look good. As long as those people still voted for Mal as Prom Queen, she didn't care what they whispered behind her back.

When Steve turns away from the mirror, his gaze catches Mal's. Their eyes briefly meet, but Mal brushes it off.

At least Jared will be there, too.

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As Mal looks around the room, she sees that her boyfriend Jared is very much not there. She counts six other people: Nancy Wheeler, Eddie Munson, Jonathan Byers, Robin Buckley, Steve and Ronnie.

Definitely no Jared, Mal notes bitterly as Mr. Michaels goes through a spiel about following the rules and respecting authority and reflecting on who we want to be in life. Mal can't help but roll her eyes.

All bullshit. They're seventeen fucking years old. The only thing they need to reflect on is how to survive these next eight hours of mind-numbing boredom.

Mr. Michaels finishes by promising punishment for anyone who tries any funny business, or doesn't complete the 1000 word essay they'd been assigned. From his wicked smile, Mal is sure that he's just waiting for an opportunity to hand out more detentions.

Mr. Michaels leaves the room, and Mal waits until she hears the door to his office across the hall fully close before she moves from her seat to the windowsill. She pulls out a bottle of nail polish from her bag. As she paints her nails a blood red, Mal can hear Eddie strum a melody on his desk, Robin anxiously tap her pencil, and Nancy scribble something on the lined paper Mr. Michaels handed out. Steve has already pushed his desk closer to Nancy's, while Jonathan lurks in the background, staring down at the floor and occasionally to Nancy. By Mal's guess, Ronnie was probably reading the newest Stephen King novel.

"Okay, Liu, you're up." Mal gestures at Ronnie to join her on the windowsill, before pulling out a bottle of deep blue — Ronnie's signature color, per Mal's suggestion. Ronnie sighs as she moves to sit across from Mal, still holding her book in one hand while Mal paints the other.

"Hey, prom queen," Eddie suddenly says, tilting back in his chair, an unlit cigarette in his mouth. "You think you could do me next?"

Mal smirks, eyes not leaving the task in front of her. "You're gonna have to be more specific about what I can do for you, Munson."

Eddie wiggles his fingers, decorated with chipped black paint, in Mal's direction. "These bad boys need a touch up."

"That seems like a you problem," Mal declares. She finally meets Eddie's gaze. "But give me a smoke and maybe I'll reconsider." Eddie gives an annoyingly cheerful grin and he walks over to her. He lights the cigarette in his mouth before putting it between Mal's lips.

While Mal inhales deeply, she thinks about how much she loves this — probably more than she should, given her current relationship status. But, something about the back and forth, the push and pull, of flirting with someone who's interested in her (because, duh, most people were).... she would never think of passing up the opportunity to play the game.

As Mal exhales and Eddie tilts his head, waiting, she decides: "Sorry, Munson. No deal."

The smile instantly falls from Eddie's face. "Seriously? This is prime merchandise!"

"I'll have some, if we're sharing," Robin suddenly interjects. She gets up and plucks the cigarette from Eddie's hand before herself taking a drag. Mal pretends not to notice the way Ronnie blushes when Robin gets close. "You're right," she says to Eddie. "This is prime merchandise."

Out of nowhere, Jonathan appears next to Robin. He silently takes the cigarette. "Not bad." He nods.

"You all owe me 5 bucks," Eddie declares, grabbing the blunt for himself, but Robin just snatches it back. Defeated, Eddie sighs and leans against the nearest desk as the group continues to share his prime merchandise.

"Can we all just stop smoking weed and do what we were asked?" Nancy interrupts. She and Steve are the only ones still at their desk, though Steve looks half asleep.

"Loosen up, princess," Mal scoffs, an edge in her voice. By now, she's long done painting Ronnie's nails. Ronnie dangles the cigarette, now stained with a blue streak of polish, between her fingers, and Mal grabs it. "Anyways, I thought you'd be used to this, now that you're fucking Harrington."

Nancy blushes. Steve whips his head around.

"Jesus, Mal."

"What," Mal laughs, exhaling smoke. "I thought everyone knew."

"Just like everyone knows that you and Jared Smith were caught fucking under the bleachers during yesterday's safe sex assembly. I hope you used protection." Steve's voice is dripping with sarcasm, and Mal is actually impressed by how sharp his tongue is.

"I'm on the pill, but thanks for asking." Mal winks and takes another drag of the communal cigarette before handing it to Robin, who squished in next to Ronnie on the windowsill. "Besides, there are worse reasons to get detention. Much less fun reasons."

Of course, making out with her hot quarterback boyfriend was very fun. Of course, they were both caught and only Mal suffered the consequences. (She should be used to it by now. Just another thing she brushes off.)

"Well, it should come as no surprise that I got detention for this." Eddie lifts the cigarette. "How about we make this interesting? Whoever has the best reason to be in this Hellhole on a Saturday gets to finish this."

An unspoken agreement passes between the group.

"I got detention for driving into the principal's car," Robin answers.

Eddie bursts out laughing, and even Jonathan cracks a smile.

"On purpose?" Steve wonders. Robin just shrugs. "So much for driver's ed."

"I, um, I got detention for cutting class," Jonathan explains. "It's Will's birthday weekend and I wanted to get him something special. Instead, his brother is gone."

"Hey, I'm sure he'll be happy to see you at dinner," Nancy assures.

A younger sibling to come home to — it's an idea that stings Mal a little too deeply.

"I set off the fire alarm," Ronnie admits, looking around the room.

"The one that got us out of that History test?" Robin wonders. Ronnie nods. Robin wraps her arms dramatically around Ronnie's shoulder. "My hero!"

Ronnie blushes, and Mal is quick to change the subject.

She turns towards Nancy and Steve.

"And then there were two."

"We skipped class to make out in the supply closet," Steve says.

Nancy blushes, again. "Steve!"

"What? I want the merchandise."

Mal raises an eyebrow at Nancy, impressed. "I guess we aren't so different, Wheeler."

"She's nothing like you," Steve insists.

"Got something to prove, Harrington?"

Before Steve can answer Mal's question, Mr. Michaels walks into the room. Everyone scrambles to their seats, and Eddie stomps out the cigarette — not going unnoticed by Mr. Michaels.

"I don't know about you kids," he starts, that wicked grin returning to his face. "But smoking pot on school property is more than enough funny business to warrant more punishment. I'd say five more Saturdays worth of punishment."

And, for some reason — maybe the warm feeling in her chest, or the fact that she's a bit high right now, or the memory of Steve blushing when she challenged him —  Mal could not bring herself to care. 

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Author's Note:

Chapter 1 is finally here!! 

Hopefully more updates coming soon, but in the meantime thank you so much for reading <3