*Halloween*

"What're you wearing?" Frankie snorts, walking away from Steve Harrington's car and towards Will and his small group of friends.

Seeing as today is Halloween, she thought she should at least attempt to be Mike's friend. For Will's sake.

She had no trouble with Dustin and Lucas. In fact, they were usually quite nice.

The boys look towards her with a bit of embarrassment, all of them only now realizing that no one else wore costumes. Will blushes profusely at the girl, hoping to not look like a total loser.

"We're the ghostbusters, are you too stupid to tell?" Mike responds defensively, causing Frankie to flinch at his tone.

What the hell is a ghostbuster?

She quietly wonders.

"Oh–uh, yeah. I knew that, I was just kidding," she quietly mumbles, starting to feel nervous under Mike's harsh stare. "I think you guys look pretty cool," she adds.

Dustin smiles largely at the girl, revealing his new set of pearly whites. Even Lucas grins at her a little, brushing off Mike's glare.

"T-Thanks," Will responds, still flushed.

Frankie smiles at the boy, tucking her hands into her jacket pocket. She then turns on her heel and begins walking into the school building, leaving the boy's to watch her in awe.

"She seems pretty cool, I guess," Lucas comments, looking to Will.

Will is a bit dazed, still staring at the spot she was just in.

"Yeah, she seems like fun," Dustin agrees, grinning widely. Mike huffs and rolls his eyes a little, trying his best not to seem too annoyed. Will snaps out of his daze as the boy's begin to walk away from their bikes and towards the entrance of the school.

"I heard she's super weird though," Dustin mumbles, immediately scanning the hallway for Max once they get inside.

Will frowns at his words.

"She's not," he defends, "she's really nice."

Lucas nudges Dustin, giving him a 'dude-you-just-hurt-Will's-feelings' look. Dustin immediately backtracks on what he said and takes back his words, "yeah, sorry, Will. I'm sure she's lots of fun. The guys in our school are idiots anyway, I'd never believe anything they said."

"Yeah," Lucas agrees.

Will nods lightly and looks to Mike, waiting for some sign of approval. When Mike notices his stare, he fidgets uncomfortably.

"Yeah, she seems alright, I guess," he forces himself to say. Will grins softly.

Meanwhile, Frankie is opening up her own locker. As she does so, a paper falls out. Curiously, she picks it up and allows her eyes to scan it.

It's a crappy drawing of herself as a zombie. The name "FRANKENSTEIN" is written on the bottom. She frowns at the drawing and quickly crumples it before shoving it into the pocket of Steve's warm jacket.

After grabbing some books, she shuts her locker and hurries to class.

-

As school comes to an end, kids are fleeing out of the building and rushing home. Excitement for Halloween wanes in the air. The only child not so excited is Frankie.

All day, she'd been harassed left and right.

All she wants is to go home and rest, and not deal with anything. Of course, that can't happen because today is Halloween. She's supposed to open the gates tonight, which usually uses up a lot of energy.

Once that gate opens, all ghosts (who want to be alive) will return to a human form and be permitted to walk the earth again until November 2nd at 12am.

With a sigh, Frankie trudges out of the school and towards the parking lot.

Steve unfortunately isn't there yet, forcing her to wait around until he shows up. Would he even show up? Frankie hopes so. She wouldn't be surprised if he forgot though.

As she waits around, she recalls the events of her day.

Being pushed into the lockers.

Being called names all day long.

Getting her hair pulled while walking in the hall.

Not getting to spend lunch with Will because she had to make up a stupid test.

Crying in the girl's bathroom.

Being shoved into the lockers some more.

As she contemplates the events, her grip on her backpack straps becomes tighter. In the midst of it all, she fails to catch Billy Hargrove's glare towards her.

He waits for Max in the parking lot everyday, and after seeing Steve Harrington drop Frankie off a moth ago, he knows he doesn't like the girl already. In fact, he can't stand anyone affiliated with Steve Harrington.

A cigarette hangs from his lips as he glares at the clueless girl. He considers scaring her a little, but quickly dismisses the thought when he sees Steve's car pulling up to her.

"Nice to see you didn't forget about me," Frankie grumbles as she climbs into the car.

Steve gives her an apologetic look, noticing her upset expression. "Sorry kid, I had to stay and help my girlfriend Nancy with something," he explains, pulling out of the parking lot and onto the main road. He notices Billy, but makes nothing of it.

Frankie is silent, feeling drained from the day.

"How was your day?" Steve questions, glancing at the girl. As soon as the words leave his mouth, a sob leaves hers. She buries her face into her hands and lets out a continuous stream of tears.

Steve, driving down the road, turns to her with a look of shock.

He's never seen her cry before, and he's a little bit confused by what he should do. So he just listens to what she has to say. And oh boy, she's got a lot to say today.

"It was horrible, Steve! I hate school. I hate it so much. It's my absolute worst nightmare. Everyone hates me– even Will's friends!" She grumbles through tears. Steve frowns at her apologetically.

Still crying, she pulls off his jacket and hands it to him.

Steve takes his jacket, "middle-schoolers are assholes. I think your cool."

As he begins to put his jacket on, Frankie turns back to the window. Steve habitually puts one hand in his pocket, and keeps the other on the steering wheel. As he does so, his hand comes into contact with a paper.

Without Frankie noticing, he pulls the paper out and un-crumples it.

"FRANKENSTEIN", it reads.

He frowns and glances towards the unknowing girl. Quickly, he shoves the paper back into his pocket. "Want me to stay with you tonight?" he questions, causing her to look towards him tiredly.

"Not thanks. I have plans," she replies.

Steve reminds himself of the party he's supposed to attend with Nancy later anyway. Still, he's worried about Frankie.

A comfortable silence hangs over the two as trees pass them by.

Finally, Steve pulls up to the girl's house. Frankie takes her time pulling her stuff together and climbing out of the vehicle. Steve notices her reluctancy in leaving. Rather than saying something, he chooses to ignore it.

"Love you, Frankie," He says. Frankie smiles a little and waves her own hand.

"Love you, too."

As she shuts the car door, he drives away.

"Now can you open the gate?" Alex questions, appearing aside her.

"Yeah yeah," Frankie grumbles, walking into the house and going straight to the piano. Suddenly, an entire audience of spirits are surrounding her. She rolls her eyes at this.

"Finally!" One of them shouts, "we can be alive again!"

She takes a deep breath before beginning to play her piano solo.

As she does so, her eyes shut tightly, and a single drop of blood spills from her nostril.

All through out Hawkins, the lights flicker. Another Halloween of open gates, only this time would be different. Much different.

The gate would not shut on November 2nd.

|

(Oh Frankie, oh dear.)