chapter eight
final grrrl!

🖤

IT WAS A SHITTY NIGHT IN THE LIFE of Ruby Brenner; she got home around three and went straight upstairs to remove her makeup, running herself a bath. It always makes her feel better, surrounding herself with warm water, letting herself float, weightless, her problems slipping away... But the problems always come back, and as she drained the bath, she had two things on her mind. Two boys, in fact.

Steve Harrington and Billy Hargrove.

She tries to replay what happened in the gym earlier, Harrington punching Billy in her defence. She thinks about what Billy said to her, how much of an asshole he was, and really, how much of an asshole she was to Harrington. She thinks about what he said, how he didn't like who she was anymore. That stung, she has to admit. But she thinks about her dream of being Snowflake Queen... She stops being the girl from the lab when she achieves those things...

But maybe there's some truth in his words. Sometimes Ruby does dream of a life where she doesn't worry about what everyone thinks about her. She loves the idea of being the hottest, the most popular, the girl with the cutest boyfriend, but she knows that'll all go away when she goes to college next year. Part of her wishes she could let go of this desire to remain on top, but she doesn't know if she can. She almost feels like she's in too deep, now.

Ruby washes her face, and applies her cream. She watches her face in the mirror, how with every year she inherits more of her mother's features. Rosemary Brenner was a gorgeous girl, and Ruby prides herself on having her face, but it makes her sad sometimes. What would her mom say, if she was here today? Would she comfort her about Billy? Or would Ruby even be in this situation, because surely if her mom's alive, Ruby was never an experiment? Would her parents be together still? Would her sister live with them, too?

Her heart pangs at the thought of her little sister. She never knew she had one until last year. She was a lab experiment, too, but she was stolen from them. That's when her mom went crazy, and ended up dead. Ruby tries not to think about her little sister, because it upsets her too much. She doesn't even know if she's alive now.

Ruby looks at herself in the mirror, and asks herself, Would Mom be proud of me? She considers everything, and thinks truthfully. She reflects upon how she's handled Billy, how she spoke to Dad earlier. Most importantly she thinks about Steve Harrington, her best friend for years, that she discarded because he wasn't cool anymore, and her bullies for friends didn't like him anymore. She thinks about that, and she knows her mom wouldn't approve.

Ruby sighs. What is she supposed to do, though? Give up popularity for him? Be normal? What's the point in that? Part of her wishes she could talk to Harrington about it, but she knows he won't be interested... She understands, honestly. She doesn't know if she'd forgive herself.

She remembers his request earlier, how he wanted to talk. She checks the time. It's only 5PM. They normally met around this time; it was enough time to have dinner before rushing out, but not too late that the true intentions seemed obvious. Ruby doubts he'd even be there, but what if he is...?

Ruby sighs, and throws on the first outfit she can find, jeans and a hoodie. She doesn't even know what she would say to Harrington right now, but she wishes she could have the chance to say something, anything. She feels bad about earlier. Maybe he was right... Maybe she has been a shitty person lately. Lord knows she's spent too much time worrying about Snowflake Queen.

So Ruby picks up her car keys, and starts the drive to 'the library.' It's a peaceful one, a long stretch of road overlooking the lake. The place is near the lab, but the drive's a different route, so Ruby doesn't feel uncomfortable going there. She turns the junction out of her street, and sincerely hopes Steve's going to be there.

Maybe they can talk things through, and they can make up. She runs through every little thing that's happened between them these last couple of days — him exposing mutual crushes, them kissing, him saving her from supposed drowning, him punching her ex-boyfriend, him wanting to help her when she was upset earlier... She doesn't know what she's done to deserve someone like Steve in her life. She doesn't think she deserves him, in this moment. She's been a bitch to him all year, and yet he's still be nice to her. He's looked out for her, regardless. There's no one like Steve Harrington.

She arrives at the library, the old junkyard. There's an old school bus that they tried to kit out a couple of summers ago. She knows they left some pot here. Maybe she should use it... does it go off though? Oh, God, what if old weed makes the paranoia worse? She doesn't need that.

Ruby sits in her car. No one else is here. She checks her car's clock: 5:23PM. Maybe he's still coming, but he's late. That's totally reasonable.

5:30. No show.

5:40. No show.

5:50. No show...

... 8PM.

Nope.

Ruby feels a tear roll down her check. Her stomach is sinking to the depths of the upside down. This is so fucking pathetic of her. Of course he wouldn't show up. She's a bitch. You saw what he said earlier. He doesn't like her anymore. She's become just as awful as Carol and Tommy!

No, no! Why is she defining her worth by Steve's thoughts? Stupid fucking Harrington has nothing to do with her. He's just jealous. She's popular, she's got friends, she's cool. He couldn't have thrown a Halloween party like she did. He's jealous of her, that's all! And that's got nothing to do with Ruby. Some people are just jealous. Fuck them.

Ruby wipes her cheeks, realising she cried a lot more than she thought. She takes a deep breath, in, out, to calm down. But then the weirdest thing happens.

The car goes cold. She knows it isn't the car itself, because she's had the heating on this whole time. But she feels frozen...

... and that's when she feels nervousness crawling inside her stomach. It hits her: the monster's here. Somehow he's back, like she thought at Halloween. The wretched thing that took over her life is back from the dead...

Look. She knows in horror movies, you're not supposed to investigate, but final girls aren't normally genetically modified. Normally final girls don't sense when things are wrong. Normally final girls don't sit in salt baths to wander different dimensions. Normally final girls aren't born to kill their monster.

But this one is.

Come and get her! she thinks, as she slams her car door shut. Ruby places her fingers to her lips and whistles, hoping if a monster is out there, she can get it's attention, she can kill it, and then she can go home. Pretty simple.

"Come on!" she says aloud.

She hears a growl. Ruby balls her hands into fists, the warmth of her palms a stark contrast to the freezing air surrounding her. Her body slowly fights back against the coldness, and she knows that her body's ready to protect her.

Slowly, she watches a creature prowl towards her. But it doesn't look like her monster; it has the same face, but it's on all fours, resembling a slimy hound more than anything. It growls, though, and she knows it's watching her.

"You need to learn to leave me alone," she tells it, and she imagines the heat of a fire. She imagines the golden glow of the flames. She imagines the heat, the warmth that radiates when you place your palms near the flame—

The dog jumps at her, it's petal-like face opening to reveal its circles of teeth. Ruby screams, her hands rushing to cover her face — but before she can feel the teeth biting into her, there's an awful splat noise. Liquid hits her hands, her clothes, parts of her face. She lowers her hands, and sees the remains of the dog, exploded onto her. Gross.

She looks down at herself, at the blood splattered all over her. Her mind races back to last year, when the same happened. Her breathing starts to become erratic, and she rips the hoodie off herself, using the inside to wipe her skin. She runs to the old school bus, knowing she left clothes here last year. She's still struggling to breathe, and she places her hand on her heart as she clambers up the bus' stairs. It's OK, it's OK, it's OK. She's not going to have a panic attack right now.

Ruby tries to change as quickly as possible. She wants to go home and cry. This is so embarrassing. She came here to try and see Harrington, but because he hates her, she almost dies! She hates her life!

This is all Harrington's fault.

She races home, only slowing down when she reaches the road into Hawkins. She's trying not to cry, but the dirtiness of the blood is making her lip tremble the whole way. The second she parks her car, she runs upstairs, throws her clothes onto the floor, and jumps into the shower. She scrubs and scrubs and scrubs. And cries and cries and cries. She doesn't feel clean. She feels like the blood of the monster won't get off her skin, that it's seeped inside her instead. Like she's been tainted by it.

She does have a panic attack, in the end; just as she gets out of the shower, her breathing gets too much and she's out-of-action for five minutes. She kneels on the bathroom floor, wet and naked, until the anxiety passes. Her thighs have pools of tears on them, from her head hanging over them.

Ruby returns to her room, deciding that this day has been too eventful, that she wants to go to sleep now. She changes into her pyjamas and she's about to turn her light off when there's a light tap at the window. Ruby stifles a scream.

She spins to see what it is — she remembers the days Harrington would do this — but instead, it's Billy. Ugh.

But she knows if she isn't quick, her auntie will hear and think Ruby's up to no good. So Ruby rushes to open the window, to let him in.

"You're not staying," she whispers.

Billy brushes himself off, and tries to reach out to her. "I wanted to apologise for earlier," he tells her.

Oh, really?

"For what? For calling me a slut?" says Ruby, crossing her arms. "For saying I was easy? For being an asshole?"

Billy lowers his head, scratching the back of his neck. "You know I didn't mean it..." he says to her, and he moves closer to her, placing his hands on her hips. He moves his head, talking softly into her ear. "You just do something to me, and the idea of Harrington stealing my girl..."

She feels his breath down her neck as he speaks, and she shudders. She almost slips into old ways, but she shakes her head, stepping backwards.

"No," says Ruby. "I'm not forgiving you for calling me a slut."

"But I didn't mean it," he says.

"So why did you want to hit me when I said the same?" she asks him. "This isn't happening—"

"C'mon, baby, I can change," says Billy, and he tries to reach out for her again, but an invisible force (her Subject X powers) stop him. "There's no one else like you."

Ruby glances at the X branding on her wrist, which she turned into XO to seem less obvious. She thinks about the past two hours of her life.

"Yeah, that's like, the whole point," she says.

"Ruby, baby—"

"Get out of my house," says Ruby.

Billy looks at a loss for words. He looks a little upset, which shocks her. Did he actually like her? She didn't think he could have human feelings. She thought they had an unspoken agreement that the two were only dating for social status. (And he was hot, and had the best ass in town — but also, popularity.) She watches his face, how his expression quickly hides that hurt she noticed, and instead turns it into anger.

"Bitch," he says, as he climbs back out of the window.

Ruby rolls her eyes. Big whoop.

She locks her window after this, and decides that never again will a teenage boy tap at that window, demanding for her to listen to them.

I rewatched the last half of stranger things 2 this week and I've got some really fun ideas for Ruby!!! What are your guys' thoughts on Ruby and Billy? And Ruby and Steve?
I hope you enjoyed!!!!! Lmk what you thought💖💘💕💗💞