alina's sacrifice

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

"When do people make these decisions?" Dustin moaned as they stepped inside the school. His face was bright red as he gazed around at the other students in Hawkins Middle, none of whom were wearing costumes. As they turned from grabbing their books out of their lockers, they let out laughs at the sight of the boys in their beige uniforms, hefty packs strapped to their shoulders. Then they turned to whisper to their friends, who in turn looked at them, and suddenly it was like the entire student body was looking at Dustin, Lucas, Mike, and Will.

Alina, who was walking beside them, had to suffer some of the attention, but soon the eyes of the student body moved away from her and back onto her friends. Continuously, she found herself clenching and unclenching her fists, every laugh rattling into her bones. The walks to her locker usually weren't bad—it was navigating to class she had trouble with—but today, with everyone's eyes on them, it was a struggle to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Just breathe, Alina. It's not a big deal. They're looking at them, not you.

She turned to look at Lucas, who was staring down at his shoes, embarrassment etched onto his face. A twinge of pity went through her for all of her friends just as Will spoke miserably.

"Everyone dressed up last year."

"It's a conspiracy," said Dustin, his face tomato red now, "I'm telling you."

Alina looked around and had to agree. "I don't understand," she said, surveying the crowd. "I thought everyone here loved Halloween. They're still going to go trick-or-treating, right?"

"I don't know," shrugged Mike, before speaking to his fellow Ghostbusters. "Just be cool."

That was when a voice rang out across the hallway. "Who you gonna call? The nerds!"

It was Daniel's voice. Of course it was his. Alina noticed him leaning against a locker, snickering at the sight of her friends, and couldn't help but raise her middle finger in his direction, which made his mouth drop open. She wouldn't stand up for herself, but she'd always, always stand up for her friends. No matter what. And the sight of his face gave Alina an idea.

"I'll be right back," she told the party. "Don't go anywhere."

Dustin and Lucas stopped at their lockers and nodded, while Mike and Will went a little further to their own. Alina saluted, then began to make her way to the girl's bathroom with a sigh. Well, what she was going to do might decrease the bullying, at least a little bit, even if it would decrease her own coolness factor. But Alina didn't care. She barely had one in the first place.

Just as she was opening the bathroom door, she spotted a red cape billowing out behind a student, and turned away from the door to find Gabriel Burton dressed like Superman, complete with the cape and boots. He was even wearing tights.

Moving away from the bathroom door, Alina sidled up to Gabe, who was making his way to class. Tapping his shoulder, she grinned. "I thought you didn't celebrate Halloween."

Gabe whirled, relaxing when he saw it was her. "Oh," he said. "Well, I don't, but I wanted to make a good first impression on my classmates, because I thought everyone here would be dressing up, but it turns out I'm actually a loser, because no one did. So, so much for first impressions." He turned awkwardly at the sound of a chuckle from another student, who was pointing right at him, hand over their mouth.

"You're not alone," said Alina. "My friends, Will, Lucas, Mike and Dustin all dressed up today, too. And," she let out a sigh, "I'm going to change into my own costume. I don't want them to feel so alone, and maybe if there are other people dressed up, they won't be teased so much."

"You're a good friend, Alina," said Gabe. "I don't have any friends yet. I used to have friends back in Chicago, but then I realized that none of them really liked me and they were just keeping me around because I did their homework for them." He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "So, I guess moving here was a good fresh start."

"Hey." Alina was aware that this was the least Alina thing she could ever do, but she did it anyway. Ripped the bandage off and just said it. "You can be our friend. You seem really cool, Gabe."

"Oh." Gabe halted for a moment. "Oh. Uh, okay. Thanks, Alina. I'll, uh, see you around!"

"See you, Gabe." Alina raised a hand goodbye, then shook her head, turning back to go change. She was a complete idiot and she wasn't sure if Mike would want Gabe to be their friend, but it wasn't like she was inviting him into the party. All she was doing was being a good person, because Gabe did seem really cool. In his own way.

Alina pulled on her skeleton costume and stared into the mirror as she painted her face white, filling in the gaps with black paint. As she was slowly transforming into a skeleton, the same thing that had happened the day she met Gabe happened. Her surroundings flickered, and for just a moment, Alina Fairgrieves disappeared, a new Hawkins Middle forming around her, spores floating through the thick air. She looked around wildly seconds before flickering back, a horrifying fact dawning on her as to where she'd gone.

The Upside Down.

Alina stowed her face paint back in her bag and shook her head. It was just a remnant of the dream she'd had last night, that was all it was. Never mind the fact that the first time it happened was before she'd had it. Alina didn't think of that. Instead, she headed back to meet Dustin and Lucas, who were indeed still at their lockers. They were early today, and although they'd already gotten their books, they didn't want to leave her behind.

Then she realized they weren't waiting for her. No, they were staring at the redheaded girl skateboarding down the hallway, maneuvering herself expertly through the crowd of students. Max had a bored look on her face, and her fists were clenched, as if she expected a member of faculty to come and stop her, but Alina knew they wouldn't. They never did anything about the twelve-year-olds smoking cigarettes or the time a group of grade eights had thrown lit matches over the fence, burning part of the field. And they wouldn't do anything about Max, either.

"Stop your staring," Alina snapped, causing Dustin and Lucas's heads to whip towards hers. "I told you this yesterday."

"Hey, Al, you dressed up!" Lucas looked her up and down, marvelling at her costume. "Why? Nobody else is."

"Well, first of all, I didn't want you four to be the only morons in school, so I dressed up so you wouldn't feel alone." Already, Alina could feel the stares on her back, and she closed her eyes. Breathe, Alina. Breathe in. Hold. Breathe out. "But also, you guys aren't the only ones to have dressed up. Gabe did, too."

"The new kid?" Lucas questioned. "I thought he didn't celebrate Halloween."

"He doesn't," said Alina. "He dressed up because he thought everyone else would be."

Meanwhile, Max had stopped at her locker, and Lucas and Dustin had swiveled their heads to look at her. Alina felt a surge of anger at their lack of attention. The least they could do was look at her while she was speaking.

That's right, Alina. They don't care about you anymore. They want to replace you with Max.

"We gonna do this?" Dustin asked Lucas.

"Do what?" Alina cut in, crossing her arms. Any feelings of forgiveness she'd had earlier today were gone, and she found herself irrationally angry again. "Talk to the damn girl, I hope?"

"Not right now," said Lucas. "We look like morons."

"I can confirm that," said Alina, and then dodged a blow from both Dustin and Lucas, who were glaring. "Hey, I thought our saying was 'friends don't lie.'"

"You look like a moron, too," Lucas murmured, and Alina stepped away from him. The headache she'd been having ever since reaching school suddenly faded, and she brought a hand to her forehead. She'd been having a lot of headaches lately. Perhaps she should go to the doctor.

"Hey, I did this for you, Sinclair. I can go wash this makeup off and change right now if you don't appreciate it."

"Well, anyway," Dustin said, already tired of their bickering, "maybe she likes Ghostbusters."

"Of course she likes Ghostbusters," said Lucas, "but that's not the point. The point is we're dressed up and she isn't."

"Well, I didn't bring regular clothes," said Dustin. "Did you?"

"No."

"Then we have no choice," said Dustin. "We gotta do this. It's now or never."

Lucas rolled his neck, taking deep breaths. "Right." Alina crossed her arms at the way he was psyching himself up. Had he done that for her, the first time they'd truly spoken at the park? Had he been this reluctant to talk to her? Or was what he had with Max completely different?

That day felt like a million years ago as she watched Lucas now. "I'll come with you," she said suddenly. "You guys look like you're about to enter a lion's den. I wouldn't miss this for the world. Plus," she added, cracking her knuckles, "I already know her. I can talk to her if you two scare her off."

Dustin rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said. "Let's engage."

But as he began to make his way towards her, Max slammed her locker door shut, tucking her binder under her arm and walking away, taking any chances of talking with her. Dustin let out a sigh.

"We could ask her after class," he suggested.

"Yup," said Lucas quickly, and the two moved past her to get to class. Alina waved goodbye and went to her own locker, taking out her books and waiting for the crowds to clear out. Just as she was about to leave, she noticed some paper sticking out of the gaps in Will's locker. Will had already gone to class, so he hadn't seen it, but Alina couldn't help but pull it out, remembering notes that had been left in his locker last year. This seemed to be one of those. It was written in black sharpie, much like the note Max had sent to the boys, but this wasn't in her handwriting. It was in a boy's sloppy scrawl, the ink slightly smeared from the sharpie pressing into it too far.

GO BACK TO CALIFORNIA WITH YOUR QUEER FRIENDS, ZOMBIE BOY.

If Alina had still had her abilities, she would've reduced this note to ashes by now. Instead, she did the next best thing. She crumpled it up and tucked it in the front pocket of her backpack. She had a lighter at home, and if she was going to completely get over her fear of fire, she might as well burn something other than her hands.

Still, she was practically seeing red. The thought of someone picking on Will—innocent Will, who sometimes slept with stuffed animals and swore her to secrecy, the Will who woke up screaming from nightmares every night, the Will who was one of her best friends in the entire world—to make themselves feel better was sick. And this probably wasn't the first note of the likes he'd gotten.

As Alina stood in the halls, watching them clear of people, a plan slowly formed in her head, and a sly smile came to her face. It was a plan that she couldn't do alone, so she'd have to insist some help, and she knew exactly who. Lucas, Mike and Dustin were all a given, as well as Jonathan and maybe even Nancy Wheeler and Steve Harrington, but also two new kids who'd just joined her class yesterday.

But as Alina got to class, sliding into her seat, a sudden realization struck her. She'd walked right past the wall her dad had leaned up against the day he died without flinching once.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: i just love the title of this chapter for some reason. completely overdramatic, just like alina sometimes lmaoo. honestly, i've been thinking more and more about her and i've realized she's my favourite oc i've ever made. which is saying a lot, considering how many i've made, on wattpad and off.

as usual, if you liked this chapter don't forget to comment and vote! i love you guys <3

'till next time!