𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑶𝑵𝑬

❛ I punched Chloe Malton. ❜

❦

Malia trudges down the street alone.

Usually, Steve Harrington would be by her side, waffling on and on about his day or how the movie he watched didn't end how he wanted it to, either way, Malia missed his stupid rambling.

Lately, he's distanced himself from his supposed best friend to hang around with Nancy Wheeler, the town's rich smart girl. Malia has nothing against the girl, and she's happy that Steve is finally willing to get into a somewhat committed relationship, but Nancy hates Malia with a passion.

Apparently, she has a scar on the underneath of her chin that Malia had caused in Kindergarten by tripping her over and she went flying, making her chin to crack on the edge of the table. Despite Malia's lack of memories from that time, she is 100% sure she wouldn't purposely trip over the Nancy Wheeler. She had no reason to.

"Where's Harrington?" Her jaw clenches when she hears her brother's car slow down beside her, "Has that douchebag ditched you again?" He shouts, wheeling down his window further, "Malia! Why are you al—"

She blatantly ignores him, pulling her headphones over her ears and flicking on her cassette player, draining out his annoyed calls. She can see his car lights on the road next to her and she knows that he isn't going to give up until he's got a solids answer on why she's alone.

She whips round, causing him to harshly put his foot on the breaks and causing a screeching nose to rattle along the street. She glares at him through the wind screen, watching as his expression changes to a guilty smile.

"Why are you alone?" He repeats while she stops her music, pulling her earphones down so they rest on her neck.

"Because Steven was busy." She snaps.

His jaw falls open and his eyebrows furrow, "With a girl, I'm presuming. . ." Her notices how her face drops slightly and he nods to himself. He was right, "Get in, M. You're gonna freeze."

He reaches across the passenger seat, flicking the door open and motioning for her to get in. She pauses for a moment, rolling her eyes before trudging around the car and sliding into the seat, the same pissed off look across her face.

"Holy shit, you really are angry." He whistles.

"I don't know why." She chuckles, "I shouldn't be, really. I mean, what was I expecting. Steve is literally the most popular boy in Hawkins. He's obviously gonna get a fucking girlfriend. I. . ." She trails off, shaking her head at her stupidness.

She was being petty. She knew that and hated it. It was very unlike Malia Garcia to act so jealous over a boy, let alone Steve Harrington.

"You just weren't expecting it to be Nancy Wheeler." Thomas finishes for her, nodding his head in understanding, "To be honest, I don't think anyone did. They don't suit each other. . . like, at all."

She snorts, "They've only been dating a few weeks."

He sends her a look, a single eyebrow raised in her direction, "A few horrific weeks." He sings, "Plus, why are you, Malia Garcia, walking home alone in the rain during the middle of the night when you could be having fun and going to Jessie's party tonight?"

"Because, Thomas Garcia, I got fired."

His face drops and his head snaps to her in alarm. He coughs in surprise, "Wh— What? What for? What did you do now, Malia?"

"Rich of you to think I did something wrong," She pouts jokingly, staring out of the window while raindrops hit the glass.

"Malia." He warns, his tone more stern and threatening this time.

She rolls her eyes, sliding down slightly in the car seat, "Fine. I did do something." She snaps, "But, I'd rather not say. . ."

"No, no, no." He shakes his head firmly, "I got you that job so you would stop breaking the law, so, please, tell me you didn't commit another crime."

"Well, not necessarily." She smirks at the memory, "Put she did threaten to press charges."

"Press charges? She? Oh my God." He sighs heavily, in clear disapproval of his sister, "Malia, what the fuck did you do?"

"I punched Chloe Malton."

"Chloe Malton?" He purses his lips, trying to remember who that is and why his sister would have any reason to punch her, "The cheerleader Chloe Malton? As in the daughter of the man who owns that place?"

Malia winces, screwing her fave up in realisation. At the time, she hadn't thought punching Chloe would get her sacked. But, now, it makes slightly more sense as why her boss was so pissed off.

"Why'd you punch her?" He questions, only now noticing the redness of her twin sister's knuckles, "Shit. How many times did you punch her?"

"Not many." She shrugs, "And I punched her because she was being a bitch."

"That's a horrific reason." He takes a deep breath, "Mum's gonna hate you."

"I know, I know." Malia grumbles, "No need to remind me."

❦

After her hour long fight with her Mum, Malia was banished roughly to her bedroom with nothing but her cassette to keep her occupied.

The two females in the house never get along due to the fact both of them having very low anger tolerance. Anything can set either them off, and nothing can make them stop. Thomas tries his hardest to keep them arguing, but his efforts are always useless.

Malia lays on her back on her bed, staring up at her patterned ceiling, her eyes trailing each of the outlines of the swirls and circles. Her headphones are covering her eyes, blasting music into them while she taps her finger on her bare stomach to the beat.

Despite her extremely loud music, a cracking noise causes her to lift her head slightly and glance around the room, her eyes landing on a boy halfway through her window.

She recognises him straight away by his ugly coloured polo shirt and perfectly styled brown hair. Steve Harrington.

"Steven, why are you climbing through my window at three in the morning?" She grumbles, throwing her cassette on her desk carelessly.

"Because. . ." He struggles, but finally manages to squeeze through the tiny gap in her window, "Because. . . I miss you." He stands up straight, dusting off his dirty clothes while he takes deep breaths.

"Awh. How sweet!" She jokes, "I'm sure Nancy would love to know you're here."

He squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, already fed up of her constant whining about Nancy. He understood why she was so infuriated; he had hardly been spending time with the girl that made him the happiest and he felt guilty.

"Mal, I'm sorry, okay?" He runs his hands through his long hair, trying to tidy it up after his climbing activity, "I just— I just miss us."

She smirks over at him, teasing him for his soppiness and he clenches his jaw, rolling his eyes in annoyance. She chuckles at his reaction before shuffling around her bed, allowing him to lay down beside her.

"I got fired today." She speaks up when he's finally comfortable, his arms crossed behind his head while they both stare up at the ceiling.

He raises an eyebrow, turning his head to her and looking at the side of her face in confusion, "You owe me 20 dollars."

"Uh," She purses her lips, "No. You bet I would get fired for smoking and, you were wrong."

"So, tell me, Malia, what exactly did you do to get fired from a shop that no one goes in except poor elderly people?" He manoeuvres slightly so he's on his side and resting his head on his hand.

"You know that girl at school who's a cheerleading and barely ever attends any lessons other than gym?"

"The blonde one?" He smiles, "The one we used to joke about because she looks like E.T?"

She points at him, nodding, chuckling along with him at the slightly rude memory, "Yep. Her name's Chloe Malton and she doesn't look like E.T anymore, more like a prettier version of Madonna."

He screws his face and opens his mouth to argue but she shushes him, pushing her hand against his face and shoving him onto his back again.

"I punched her, but, let's not talk about that and move the topic to something more interesting." She bites her lip, "Why exactly are you here?"

He runs his hands over his face, letting out an aspirated sigh. Truth is, he feels horrible for basically ignoring his best friend because the girl he's dating doesn't like her. Malia had been by his side for literally his whole life, and he was pretty sure she was the only person who'd ever seen him cry.

"To apologise," He grumbles, pulling his brands from his face and hanging his head to the side to meet her eyes, "And to watch a movie because my parents removed the T.V from my room."

She chuckles gently, rolling her eyes, "Well, Steven, mine's been removed too, so. . ."

"Shiiitttt." He sits up slowly, glancing over his shoulder at her, eyebrows raised, "What about Thomas? He got one?"

Malia squeezes her eyes shut, knowing exactly what he wants her to do. She slides off her bed, nodding before stepping out of her room and trudging down the pitch black hallway to her twin brother's bedroom.

Steve watches her carefully, his head peering round the door frame while she knocks gently on the door.

It swings open, revealing a messy haired and very tired Thomas.

"What do you want, M?" He grumbles, rubbing his eyes.

She raises a finger to her lips quickly, "Shut up," She hisses, "I need your T.V."

He stares at her through the dark for a moment, his mouth slightly agape while he takes in the words she just said.

"My T.V?" He screws his face up before popping his head into the corridor, glancing down at his sister's room, noticing the guilty smirk and pleading eyes of Steve Harrington in the dim light. Thomas groans quietly, hanging his head before slipping back into his bedroom.

A smirk works it's way onto Malia's face and she glances over at her best friend, sending him a thumbs up which causes him to fist pump the air happily.

A few minutes later, and the brunette girl is wheeling her brother's T.V into the bedroom. Steve slowly closes the door behind her, trying his hardest to shut it as quietly as possible.

"What movie?" Malia asks, sitting on the end of her bed.

Steve purses his lips and saunters over to her DVD shelf, his finger skimming the many boxes, "Jaws?" He glances over his shoulder at her, watching as her face contorts in disagreement, "No? Okay. . . What about Alien? It's literally one of your favourite movies."

Despite him being right, she continues to shake her head causing him to roll his eyes before turning back to the shelf.

"Robin Hood?" He raises an eyebrow, "The animated version. Even though we watched it literally last week."

She smiles brightly over at him, nodding enthusiastically, "It's really good movie."

He throws his head back, pulling the DVD out of it's slot on the shelf before kneeling down in front of the player.

"I know it is, but when you see it every other day, it's starts to get worse."

She pats the spot beside her on the bed, beckoning him over, a wide smirk across her lips, "Oh, shut up. You know you love it."

_______________

please this will get so much better some actual shit happens