HAWKINS, INDIANA — 1983.

THE FOOTBALL STADIUM WAS FAR TOO crowded by the time Theresa arrived.

Lucas came with her, only by demand of their mother. It was clear neither of the Sinclair siblings wanted to be there.

"Can we make this quick?" Lucas grumbled, following alongside Tess.

She rolled her eyes. "It's not like you have anything better to do anyway."

"You don't know that!" he countered, throwing up his hands.

Theresa whipped her head over, shooting him a look. "Okay, well I really don't give a shit. Just shut up and find something to do."

Lucas briefly stared at her with contempt, then rolled his eyes and walked away to a group of kids around his age. Tess was looking around for Sidney, knowing she was probably huddled in a group crying or something.

Her intuition was correct, as Theresa spotted her standing with four other girls who all seemed to be consoling Sidney. Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, Tess walked over.

Sidney raised her head as Theresa approached, an alarmed expression suddenly appearing on her face.

"Sidney," Theresa smiled. "So sorry to interrupt, but do you mind if we talk for a sec?"

The other girls eyed Tess warily, then looked at Sidney. She clutched a wad of tissues in her hands, stumbling over her words.

"Uh– I-I can't right now. The memorial is about to start," Sidney replied at once.

Theresa folded her hands in front of her, drawing in a deep breath. She pulled her lips in, almost laughing.

"I'll find you right after then. Oh, and– by the way– I know how hard this must be for you. You know, since it was all your fault anyway."

Sidney's mouth fell open, unable to reply as Tess turned and started to walk away. But as she did, Theresa heard someone mutter from behind her, "Such a bitch."

She very clearly knew it was Sidney's voice. Theresa spun on her heel as fast as she could, taking a step toward Sidney while bringing a hand around to slap her across the face.

The girls surrounding them gasped, everyone turning to see what was happening.

Tess reached out and shoved Sidney with enough force to knock her to the ground.

"Tess!" someone exclaimed, grabbing her from behind. She recognized the voice as Steve's, trying to wrestle out of his grip but to no avail. Theresa was not done with Sidney yet, which she made very clear. She finally gave up fighting, Steve refusing to let her go.

"Hey, what's going on here?"

The principal of Hawkins High School ran over, as well as Priya's parents. Lucas had arrived too, frowning as he tried to see over the crowd of people. Theresa pushed Steve's arms away with an extra spike of aggression, letting him know how pissed she was with him. Brushing herself off, she cleared her throat and offered a quick smile to the principal.

"Nothing, Mr. Matthews. I think I'm gonna head home now."

Theresa glanced back at Sidney who was being helped up by what Tess could only assume were her new 'friends', glaring ever so slightly. She turned back around to face Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, clasping her hands together.

"I hope the two of you can find some comfort and peace in a difficult time like this. I'm sorry I can't stay."

With those strangely genuine words, Theresa walked off of the football field. Steve stood there for a moment, feeling awkward. With a small grimace, he decided to follow after her.

"Tess!" He called out her name just as she reached her car, the girl only rolling her eyes and ignoring him.

She reached for the door handle when Steve called her name again. "Tess, please. Just wait a second."

Lucas stood by the passenger door on the other side of Theresa's car, frowning.

Tess closed her eyes for a second, exhaling. "Get in the car, Lucas. This won't take but a second."

He clearly wanted to protest, but did as she said. Once the door was shut, Theresa took a few steps toward Steve with her arms crossed.

"You'd better start talking," she said when Steve failed to speak.

"I'm sorry, again," he blurted, weakly throwing his hands up. Theresa began to roll her eyes, but he continued, "I-I'm sorry for the way I hurt you, and I'm sorry that I fucked things up between us. All I want is... for things to go back to the way they were. I want to help you, Tess. I'm just– I'm really fucking sorry."

Steve wiped his hands on his jeans while Theresa stared at him, a quizzical expression on her face. She seemed torn, unable to decide what she wanted to say.

He had made her feel like an idiot. And that was a feeling Tess hated more than anything else.

But Steve was truly and genuinely apologetic, and he had made it obvious at this point. Theresa was starting to feel a little guilty, but then reminded herself that this was because he had screwed up, not the other way around.

She drew in an unsteady breath, her eyes trailing to the ground.

"I'll talk to you later, Steve. I should probably get home before Sidney and her posse of bitches come after me."

Steve laughed softly, clasping his hands together. He had not gotten definitive forgiveness, but Steve felt like he had turned the tables from bad to okay. Theresa got in her car, Steve turning to walk back toward the football field.

The whole way there, he smiled to himself like an idiot.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"I COULDN'T GET SIDNEY TO TELL ME anything."

Jonathan looked up at Tess as she paced in front of him with a knowledgeable expression, furrowing his eyebrows.

"You mean... you slapped her before she could tell you anything?"

Theresa stopped, turning to him with a scoff. But she was unable to defend herself, as that was basically what had happened. Tess allowed pride to rule her decisions, once again.

"In my defense," Theresa raised a finger, "she called me a bitch."

Jonathan tilted his head. "Well..."

Theresa's eyes went wide, her mouth falling open. She was more so in shock by the nerve of Jonathan, but she was not angered by it.

"Let's try and focus here, Byers. What do we do now?"

She took a seat beside Jonathan on his bed, the boy clearing his throat as he wrung his hands and shifted himself to face her.

"Alright, first thing's first. We need to go to the hardware store."

Theresa nodded, then raised a finger. She grabbed her bag from beside her and rummaged through it for a moment, withdrawing a pen and notebook. With a click of the pen, she scribbled down the words 'hardware store' on the paper.

"Continue."

Jonathan began naming off items that he thought they might need, which Tess was beginning to find rather worrisome. Nonetheless she wrote everything down, reading over the list once he was done.

She chewed her pen for a moment. "Gasoline? What do we need gas for?"

Jonathan was standing up, pulling on his coat. He glanced down at her, raising his shoulders.

"In case we have to attack it with fire."

Theresa pursed her lips, not responding. Five minutes later, the two were off to downtown Hawkins in Theresa's car. She had not slept well the night before, tossing and turning while thinking over what Steve had said. It was eating away at her, creating a deep conflict within herself whilst wrestling with whether or not she should finally accept his apology.

There would be time for that later.

Because for the moment, Tess was buying monster traps with Jonathan Byers. She picked up a case of bullets, turning the box in her hand. Approaching Jonathan, Tess asked, "Do you have a gun?"

Jonathan turned, startled. "Y-Yeah, why?"

She held up the bullets before dropping the case in her basket.

"I'm a firm believer that anything can die if you shoot it enough times."

She walked off again, Jonathan laughing a bit to himself. The last person he would have ever expected to be doing anything remotely close to this with would be Theresa Sinclair.

As they were getting ready to check out, Tess noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She reached over, picking up a large hunk of metal for Jonathan to see.

"Do you think we could use a bear trap?"

His eyes slightly widened, but then Jonathan only shrugged.

Tess nodded, heaving the trap onto the checkout counter. The clerk looked between the two as Theresa unloaded her basket with numerous hazardous items, unsure of how to respond.

The clerk finally said something.

"What are you kids doin' with all this?"

Halfway rolling her eyes, Theresa responded, "Kid's birthday party."

The clerk did not find her sarcastic comment amusing. They purchased all of their items and brought them out to Theresa's car, piling everything into the trunk. Once it was all loaded up, Tess shut the trunk with a heavy exhale.

"I hope that's everything," she remarked, placing her hands on her hips.

Jonathan smiled slightly. "I think it's safe to say we've got enough to supply a small army."

Theresa laughed, about to reply when a horn honked. The both of them turned as someone called Tess' name, the boy in the passenger side of the car.

"Hey Tess, can't wait to see your new movie."

Her face contorted with confusion, recognizing the boy but having no idea what he was talking about.

Jonathan frowned as well. "What was that about?"

Theresa quickly connected the puzzle pieces. The movie theater was only a few buildings away, so she started down the sidewalk toward it. Jonathan followed, trying to keep up with her.

She crossed the street as she looked up at the marquee, feeling her heart drop to her stomach. Theresa slowly brought her hands to her mouth, struggling to maintain her composure. She suddenly felt sick.

Up on the marquee, spray painted in messy red letters, were the words: THERESA "HAWKINS' RESIDENT BITCH" SINCLAIR.

Tess became instantly aware of how many people were staring at her, and for once in her life Theresa did not want the attention she was receiving. Jonathan stood behind her, unsure of what to do.

Drawing in a breath, Tess suddenly heard a teenage boy laugh along with the shake of a spray paint can. She turned her head quickly, looking down the alleyway next to the theater. A group of teenagers were all standing around, snickering amongst themselves.

She started toward them, her vision blurred to red. As she walked toward them, the first one she saw was Steve. That stalled Tess for a moment, confusing her. He turned to her with a look full of contempt, and scorn.

"Well, if it isn't the queen bee herself," Carol sneered, Tess ignoring her as she faced Steve.

Without warning, Theresa shoved Steve as hard as she could. The amount of strength she had came as a surprise to Steve, but he brushed her off.

"What the fuck is your problem?" Tess spat, her voice trembling.

Steve glared down at her. "What's my problem? What's your problem? I apologized to you again and again and again, and it clearly means nothing to you. You know what, Tess– fuck you."

She eyed him with wild confusion. "What are you talking about? We were fine last night–"

"Yeah, before you decided to go screw around with Byers again. Oh, look, there he is," Steve gestured behind Tess as Jonathan walked up. "Isn't that funny?"

Theresa wanted to laugh. "Are you serious right now? How fucking dumb can you be, Steve? I mean, honestly, I know you needed a tutor but I didn't think you were this stupid."

For the first time, Tess noticed Sidney standing there beside Carol, doing a double take. She poked her tongue in her cheek, turning on Sidney.

"Oh, don't tell me Carol's your new best friend now," Tess cynically laughed, crossing her arms. "What is it you guys have in common? Wanting to be me?"

Sidney looked as if she wanted to say something, but did not have the guts to do so. She still had a bruise across her face from the night before. But Carol on the other hand felt the need to speak up.

"Don't worry, Tess, soon enough everyone is gonna know how big of a bitch you really are. I mean– using Priya as an excuse to dump Steve, when in reality you're screwing Jonathan Byers?"

Theresa lunged. She grabbed a handful of Carol's jacket, dragging her onto the ground as everyone else moved out of the way. Her hand wrapped around Carol's hair, forcing the girl facedown and shoving her in the gravel. Tess leaned down, shaking Carol like a ragdoll.

"What did I tell you, huh?" Theresa spat in Carol's ear through gritted teeth. "If I heard my name come out of your mouth one more time, you were gonna eat shit. Right?"

When Tess did not get an answer, she pushed Carol's face deeper into the ground.

"Right?" she repeated.

Steve reached down just then to try and get Tess off of Carol, but as he did, Jonathan stepped in.

"Don't touch her," he said, pushing Steve out of the way. Steve scoffed, blinking in surprise. Theresa stood up, brushing herself off. This time, Steve had turned on Jonathan.

"You know what, Byers, I'm actually kind of impressed," Steve said to him. "I always took you for a queer but I guess you're just a little screw up like your father."

Steve pushed Jonathan, who only turned to walk away. Theresa followed, trying to ignore Steve.

"Oh, yeah yeah yeah," Steve continued, "that house is full of screw ups." He pushed Jonathan again. "You know, I guess I shouldn't really be surprised, a bunch of screw ups in your family. I mean– your mom? I'm not even surprised what happened to your brother. I'm sorry I have to be the one to tell you, but the Byers, their family is a disgrace to the entire–"

Steve's repartee was cut off when Jonathan's fist connected with his face, Theresa gasping. She brought her hands to her mouth, watching Steve take a moment to recover. He then turned, running at Jonathan and throwing him to the ground.

It was unclear who was winning, but Tess did not say a word. The only way she would try to intervene was if it seemed like they might kill each other. Jonathan finally got the upper hand, throwing punch after punch at Steve. He toppled over him, hitting Steve repeatedly until Theresa heard sirens.

"Shit." She rushed over, grabbing Jonathan. He blindly pushed her away, Tess stumbling a bit. The cops were there now, hopping out of the vehicle and running over.

Steve managed to squirm out from underneath Jonathan as the deputy apprehended him, climbing to his feet and running off. Jonathan was pinned to the car, and then handcuffed.

Theresa placed her hands on either side of her face, closing her eyes.

God, she was about to be grounded.

notes.
i'm backkkk!! this chapter has by far been the most chaotic, sorry it took me a million years to update but ya girl was struggling for some reason

when i say theresa & steve are THE most on-again-off-again couple, i mean it. but don't worry, season 3 will definitely be their healthiest season!

AND MISS THERESA CLEARED TWO BITCHES IN ONE CHAPTER, DON'T PLAY WITH HER EVERRR

what do y'all think about tess and jonathan's friendship?