HAWKINS, INDIANA — 1983.

     CONTRARY TO WHAT MOST TEND TO think, Theresa Sinclair had not always been a raging bitch.

It all started when her little brother Lucas came along.

Tess was not the only child anymore, and that was what slowly began to mold her into a virago of a teenage girl. Kind of like how psychopaths start torturing animals during childhood- Tess terrorized the other little girls on the playground.

Only, she was not feared in a way that turned her into a social pariah, she was feared with respect.

To Theresa, there was nothing more powerful than being fearfully respected. People knew their place when it came to her.

Truth is, though, Tess had no idea how to make friends. She was admittedly terrible at being nice to- well- anyone, so she had not exactly ever had people lined up to go shopping with her. Mostly just to do her bidding.

And sometimes... Theresa felt lonely. Oh, but don't you think she would ever tell anyone that. No; Tess was a perfect model of the hierarchy of the social class. At least, she had convinced everyone she was.

But if one were to really dig deep down beneath that icy cold heart of hers, they might just melt it.

That 'one' goes by the name of Steve Harrington.

That's right, Steve 'The Hair' Harrington. Has had it bad for Tess since middle school when she accidentally mistook him for another boy at the school dance and kissed him on the cheek. Then immediately looked at him in horror, shrieked about being disgusted, and ran away.

Steve never seemed to recall that last part when Carol and Tommy H. brought it up, though.

He and Theresa were considered a part of the same social clique, but he was not sure he had ever had more than three conversations with her. See, Steve was scared- no, mortified- of Tess. And who wouldn't be? She was a complete vicious piranha.

But heads began to turn as Theresa Sinclair entered through the doors of Hawkins High School on one particular day, befuddled and slightly fearful.

She was crying.

Steve stood at his locker, hands in pockets as he, Tommy H. and Carol argued over who was the 'most virgin' (it had been voted to be Steve). He paused mid-sentence, forgetting why he was defending himself as Tess and two of her friends walked by, her in the middle sniffling with tissues.

Once she passed by, he exchanged a wide-eyed look with Tommy and Carol.

"Did you guys just see what I saw?"

"Tess Sinclair crying? Yeah, I think so. Maybe she just had something in her eye..." Tommy turned, squinting as he tried to get a good look at her from down the hall.

Carol arched an eyebrow. "Maybe someone finally gave her what she deserves. A punch in the face."

Steve glared at the back of Carol's head, placing his hands on his hips.

"Should we go check on her?" he asked aloud, though he was pretty much talking to himself.

Tommy snorted. "Steve, oh Steve. You never learn, do you?" He placed a hand on Steve's shoulder. "Theresa Sinclair will never give you a chance."

Steve shrugged off Tommy, eyeing down Tess. "Oh yeah? Watch and learn, dipshit."

Pushing past Tommy and Carol, Steve started down the hallway, ignoring his unusually sweaty palms. Where is this nervousness coming from? You're Steve Harrington, he reminded himself, you can get any girl you want.

"Tess," Steve did not realize he was standing in front of her and her two friends, Sidney and Priya.

She looked up through red-ringed eyes, holding a wadded tissue close to her. Tess eyed him with an unreadable expression, not replying.

Steve drew in a breath, then continued, "Are you- alright? I- I noticed you looked a little... upset."

Tess inhaled sharply and Steve was already wincing as he could hear her telling him off now, but she didn't.

"Upset is an understatement, but... yeah. My little brother's friend is missing."

Tess glanced between Sidney and Priya, silently shooing them away. They got the gesture and walked off at once, whilst Theresa eyed Steve analytically.

Steve Harrington... how come she had never screwed him before?

She folded her hands in front of her, licking her lips.

"You know, we've never really talked before, have we?"

Steve raised his hands. "I-I'm sorry, I can go-"

"No, I'm not mad," Tess replied with a hint of a smile playing across her lips. "That's kind of unfortunate, actually."

Theresa glanced up behind Steve just then, her eye catching Nancy Wheeler and her friend Barb passing by and very intently avoiding eye contact. She almost laughed out loud at the sudden idea she got in her head.

Steve started to reply, "Yeah, I guess it is-"

"Hey, you take the same Chemistry class as me, right? Third period?"

He stumbled on his words so Steve nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets in an attempt to keep even a shred of suaveness.

"You sit on two seats up on the left row from me," he blurted, immediately smacking himself internally.

Tess opened her mouth, then laughed a little. "Do I?"

Steve nodded, mentally banging his head on a wall.

"Who sits next to you?"

He opened his mouth to reply, then realized he did not remember. All he focused on in that class was the back of Theresa's head.

"Eric Salyers... I think? I- I don't know for sure-"

"Oh, I was just asking to make sure it was someone I could kick out of their seat," Tess replied with a quick grin, grabbing her books from her locker as the bell rang.

"See you in third period, Harrington. It is Harrington, right?"

"The one and only."

Tess laughed once more, giving Steve one last look before catching up with her friends.

Tommy and Carol approached him, both completely baffled by what they had just witnessed.

"No... way," Carol shook her head in disbelief.

Steve turned and faced the two of them, holding out his arms.

"What'd I tell you, huh? Steve never misses."

"Isn't this the seventh or eighth time you've attempted to talk to her?"

"No one asked you, Tommy."

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     STEVE HAD NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY to see Eric Salyer's seat be replaced.

Theresa slid into the desk, already facing Steve.

"Tell me, Harrington," she spoke, "are you worth cheating off of?"

"Oh yeah," he coolly replied, "I've got a solid C plus in this class."

Tess rested her chin on her knuckles. "Look at you, Einstein. So... I guess you wouldn't be interested in a tutor?"

"What- I mean- you? Y-You tutor?"

She gave a nod. "Occasionally. I don't exactly go offering my help to just anyone, though. Usually I just pick... special cases."

Steve was sweating, but he began to smirk. "So... I'm special, is what you're saying?"

Theresa opened her textbook with a shrug, facing forward.

"Your place or mine, Harrington?"

Steve scratched the back of his head, feeling his heart skip a beat.

"Uh, mine? Is seven okay?"

Theresa turned her head. "I'll show up when I show up. Where do you live?"

"Oh- uh..." Steve ripped out a sheet of paper from his notebook and stole a pencil from a nearby desk, hastily scribbling down an address.

He folded it and passed it to Tess, who took it without even glancing in his direction. Somehow that turned him on a lot.

"So I guess I'll see you then?"

Theresa looked up at the board as she wrote down her notes, waiting a moment before replying.

"You're not gonna pass this class by staring at me the whole time, you know."

Steve poked his tongue in his cheek, tapping the stolen pencil on his desk.

"Touché."

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     THINGS WERE SEEMINGLY GOING quite well for Steve Harrington.

Every other guy at Hawkins High was sending him looks of envy as the word began to get around that he had caught the attention of Theresa Sinclair.

Tess really had no plans to go anywhere with him. She had just figured it was about time to find another plaything. And maybe he wouldn't be as much of a bore as Rudy Daniels.

Once the last bell for school let out, Theresa headed to the elementary school to pick up her little sister Erica, then headed home. If there was one thing Erica had inherited from her big sister, it was the attitude. They were like two peas in a pod.

"Mom," Theresa walked into the kitchen, "I'm tutoring someone tonight. I'll be back before nine-"

"Hold on just a minute now," Mrs. Sinclair stopped her. "Are you forgetting something?"

Tess furrowed her eyebrows, giving her mom a look. "What?"

"There's a curfew now. Be back by eight, no later."

Theresa opened her mouth to protest, but only swallowed it down and rolled her eyes before walking away.

"And don't roll your eyes at me like that again."

Tess made a mocking face as she went upstairs, grabbing her books and car keys before heading back down.

"Eight o'clock!" Mrs. Sinclair called before Tess slammed the garage door, throwing the stack of books in her car and getting in.

Theresa arrived at the address Steve had given her at a quarter until seven, not wasting any time. She gathered her things and went up to the front door, pressing the doorbell once.

A few moments later the door swung open to reveal a smiling Steve. His smile quickly faded as he laid eyes on the stack of books in Tess' arms.

"You ready to study?"

"Y-Yeah. Absolutely. Come on in," he stepped aside to let her in.

Theresa walked inside, looking around and noting the absence of something. She looked at Steve.

"Your parents must not be home."

Steve nodded. "They went out."

Theresa pushed all of her books into Steve's arms, dusting her outfit off. "On a Wednesday night? To do what?"

He shrugged. "You know... rich people shit."

"Rich people shit," Tess echoed. "What makes you think I'm rich?"

Steve glanced back at her as she followed him upstairs, raising an eyebrow.

"Literally everything about you screams 'rich.'"

"That's flattering," Theresa replied, folding her arms as she entered Steve's room behind him.

He heaved the books onto his bed, putting his hands on his hips. "Jesus Christ, did you put bricks in those?"

Tess smiled briefly.

"Maybe if you carried your own books more often it wouldn't be this difficult for you," she replied, taking a seat on the edge of Steve's bed.

"Well... I can always carry yours," he replied, also sitting down to face her.

Tess abruptly laughed, turning her head to him. "What, you think I'm not capable of carrying my own books?"

"I-I didn't say that, I never said that-"

"Yeah, yeah. Alright," Tess picked up a book and opened it to a bookmarked chapter. "I'll start you off with a simple question. What is surface tension?"

Steve scratched his head. "Uhh, it's when... two objects are brought closer together by a- force?"

Theresa winced at his roughly worded answer, pursing her lips.

"Well you're not exactly wrong but... I'm looking for something else. A certain word."

Steve shifted as he pretended to think, while in actuality he had no idea and usually his dumbness was appealing to girls.

"Is it... atoms?"

Tess started to smile. "That is... not even close." Her smile dropped. "You know for this to work, you're actually gonna have to try."

Steve raised his hands in surrender.

"Alright, alright. Give me another question."

Theresa looked at him for a moment, then sighed and looked back down at her book.

"Okay. What is kinetic energy?"

"Oh, this one's easy- okay, it's... the energy of a body by virtue of its motion."

Tess raised her eyebrows, somewhat impressed.

"Word for word. How'd you know that one?"

Steve hesitated, breaking eye contact with her after a moment. He licked his lips with a brief smile.

"Want me to be honest?"

Tess shrugged.

"You answered the same question in class at the beginning of the year. I remember."

Theresa tilted her head, staring at Steve with an expression he could not read.

"And if you want me to be really honest, I... only know that because you were the one who answered."

She was a bit surprised by this, but completely unfazed nonetheless. A lot of guys had told her a lot crazier and weirder things.

Steve started to lean forward, like there was no force able to stop him, and suddenly the lights flickered out.

Theresa looked up, then down at Steve. "What happened?"

He swore under his breath, standing up at once.

"I'll be right back, just hang tight. It might be a neighborhood thing."

Steve opened the door to his room and walked out, leaving Tess alone with little to no light. She let out a huff, falling backwards onto the bed and looking up at the ceiling.

She closed her eyes for a moment, rubbing her temples.

When she opened her eyes again, Theresa let out a scream.

She shot up and backed away, feeling blindly for the exit and holding her chest simultaneously. Moments later, Steve came running back in there.

"Tess, Tess, what's wrong?" He grabbed her shoulders, looking up at the ceiling where Tess was looking. There was nothing there.

Theresa shook her head, for once at a loss of words.

"I... I need to go. I'll- see you at school."

She turned and hurried out of the house as fast a she could with that, leaving all of her books behind.

Theresa got in her car and sat there, observing her shaking hands hovering over the steering wheel.

She could not get that image out of her head, that... thing.

It was something horrific and grey, pushing its way through the ceiling like it was clay. Tess rubbed her temples again, forcing down a few deep breaths.

Whatever that was, or whoever... she did not want any part of it.

NOTES! ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
it's almost 4am so i already know there's hella typos... anyway give me some feedback and let me know what you thought! what do you think of tess so far?