CHAPTER ONE
NEIGHBOR? NEIGHBOR.

JUNE 16th, 1984

As Joey placed a bowl of tortilla chips on the coffee table, she heard a thud and a grunt coming from the kitchen on the other side of the house. Her head whipped towards the sound and shouted, "Everything okay?"

"Just great! Just like Boy George after he came out of rehab!" Aunt Wen shouted back in an effort to regain her footing. She entered the living room with two cans of Coke and placed them next to the chips.

"Don't Cry!" Joey snickered. Aunt Wen gave her a wacky smile and placed her hands on her hips.

"Alright, all set for your date night?" Aunt Wen wiggled her eyebrows and Joey rolled her eyes and hit her playfully on the shoulder. Aunt Wen frowned and grabbed it as if to take it out of the way.

"I would be but something's missing..." Joey shifted nervously on her spot and acted like she was in deep thought.

"That is?"

"Your absence!" Aunt Wen let out an audible and fake gasp, clutching her heart.

"You really hate me this much? I knew you having a boyfriend would change everything! I- I should've locked you away!" Joey started to push her aunt away and towards the front door. "I should've locked you away in a tall tall tower and made you grow out your hair!"

"Alright Mother Gothel, time to go!" Aunt Wen rolled her eyes and stalked towards the door slowly, giving Joey an extra hard time trying to push her. Once they were under the doorway, Aunt Wen extended her arms and stopped herself from being pushed further. She spun around and faced her niece.

"Before I go, promise me one thing?"

"What?" Joey stood impatiently and crossed her arms while tapping her foot.

"Don't, under any circumstances, do the Kermit The Frog impression," Aunt Wen deadpanned. Joey scoffed and crossed her arms.

"Fine, I won't." Aunt Wen gave her the side eye that led Joey to say, "Honest!"

"Alright, I'll be off," Aunt Wen snatched her purse from the hook by the door and left. After a minute, a knock resonated throughout the house.

"Aunt Wen, I told you I'll be fine!" When Joey opened the door, she was met with her date, Steve Harrington. Trying to recover from her fumble, Joey started to stutter. "O-Oh, hi. Sorry, I thought my aunt was still hanging around the door."

Steve made a show of looking behind his back as he turned back to the girl and smiled. He shrugged with his hands in his jacket pocket. "I don't see her loitering anywhere."

Joey snapped out of her trance and cleared her throat. "Right, right, come in."

Steve stepped inside the house and took off his light, jean jacket and folded it nervously in his hands.

"We have coat hooks, you don't have to fold it," Joey chuckled. Steve looked down at his handiwork and gave a laugh. He unfolded it and hung it in the coat hook.

"Alright, so we have Willy Wonka, Grease, The Outsiders..." Joey led Steve into the living room where she sat on the sofa to hold up several VCR cases. Steve sat down next to her and reached for a tortilla chip.

"Why the greaser movies?"

"You consider Willy Wonka as a greaser?" Joey raised her eyebrows. "Ballsy move, Harrington."

Steve laughed and reached his arm over the sofa ledge to pull the brunette closer to his side. Joey tried to contain the blush that shot up on her cheeks but being as pale as she was, she looked like she had lost air for a little too long.

"So," Joey cleared her throat and pushed the VCRs on Steve's lap. She raised her eyebrows questioningly and Steve sighed playfully, choosing the Willy Wonka tape.

---

The telephone bell rang annoyingly as Joey ran down the stairs, pulling out her ponytail from under her collar of her pale yellow cardigan. "The phone isn't going to answer itself!"

"That would be impressive!" Aunt Wen shouted back from downstairs. The phone continued to ring until Aunt Wen demanded, "Joey, can you get that?"

"I have to get ready for school!" Joey complained, placing books into her backpack. Aunt Wen audibly groaned and stomped towards the phone.

"Oscar," Aunt Wen bit. Joey cracked a smile and retorted with a "Felix!"

"Yeah?" Aunt Wen picked the phone up and held it in between her ear and her shoulder.

"Wendy, hey." A familiar voice wafted through the receiver and startled Wendy. She knew the voice from somewhere, she just couldn't figure out who it was.

"... Yeah?" Wendy drawled, breaking a piece of a Pop Tart off and taking a bite of it. Joey stood in front of her aunt, ready for school with a smile on her face. Aunt Wen eyed her niece's feet and pointed out that she had no shoes on. Joey then rushed back upstairs to finish getting ready.

"It's Neil." Aunt Wen's mind turned as she racked her brain for that name.

"Oh, yeah, Neil..."

"You seriously don't remember me?" The male voice laughed. Aunt Wen shrugged even though she knew he couldn't see her.

"Sorry, man. I meet, like, five Neil's a day." Aunt Wen lied as Joey started to walk down the stairs.

"Neil from 72'?" It suddenly clicked for Aunt Wen that the man behind the voice was Neil Hargrove, one of her many hookups back then.

"Oh wow, Neil," Aunt Wen said through her Pop Tart. "I wasn't expecting you to call me... at all."

"Yeah, sorry for the no notice." Neil said sheepishly.

"Oh, hey, no problem. What's up?" Joey stood impatiently by the door, waiting for her Aunt to get off the phone so that they could get going. Aunt Wen swatted her niece away with a wave of her hand and held up a finger to tell her she'd only be a minute.

"I got remarried."

"Oh! What happened with?- "

"She left. It doesn't matter because I'll be moving my family up there." Aunt Wen paused and tried to understand what he meant by that.

"Up where?"

"Up there."

"Up here?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Do you not want me to?" Aunt Wen laughed and cleared her throat, trying to cover up her uncomfortableness.

"No, it's not that. I- um, this is just such a surprise!"

"Yeah, I just wanted to give you a heads up in case you saw me around."

"Yeah..." Aunt Wen let out a nervous chuckle mixed with a laugh that sounded villainous and Joey gave her Aunt a weird look. Aunt Wen cleared her throat and asked, "So, where are you located?"

"A street called Cherry Lane." At that, Aunt Wen pallored and her breath caught in her throat. That was her street. That was the street that she and her niece lived on. There was no way that the main reason she left California would follow her right back where she was.

"Oh, wow. Well, see you soon, neighbor." Aunt Wen tried to smile through the phone but her face came off as pained. Joey quirked an eyebrow at this, wondering what the conversation was.

"Neighbor?"

"Neighbor."

"So we're neigh?- "

"Yup, bye bye," Aunt Wen hung the phone up and let out an exaggerated sigh. Joey approached her with raised brows and an excited demeanor.

"Who was that?"

"That?" Aunt Wen pointed to the phone then placed her hands on her hips. "That, my dear niece, was Neil."

"Neil?"

"Yup, Neil. The guy I had an affair with in '72? Neil!" Aunt Wen groaned when Joey still looked confused.

"Oh, wait! Neil, the affair from '72?" Aunt Wen got excited and nodded vigorously. "Yeah, I don't know him."

Aunt Wen gasped and placed a grand over her heart. "Evil!"

"Aunt Wen, I was five when that happened. You got me and left when I was six." Joey reminded her. Wendy nibbled her lip and nodded.

"You're right. Well, we're gonna have new neighbors!" Aunt Wen feigned excitement as she grabbed her purse.

"Yippee," Joey said blandly. They both left the house in a hurry and climbed into their 78' Ford Galaxy. Joey was driving; they both had a system where Joey would drop her Aunt off at her secretary job and then she would drive herself to school. Seeing as how Wendy decided to spend some time on the phone, Joey was afraid that she would be late.

Joey dropped her Aunt off at City Hall where she worked as a secretary for Mayor Kline. Once Wendy stepped foot onto the sidewalk, Joey peeled away and drove as fast as she could- without breaking any city street laws- to make it to school on time.

By the time she got to school, the first bell had rang and kids were piling into the school building. Joey tried to look calm as she frantically grabbed her backpack from the backseat and sling it over her shoulders. She fell into step with the other kids, marching towards Hawkins High School.

Feeling someone bump into her side, Joey turned to find Nancy Wheeler, her best friend, stick to her.

"Joey," Nancy giggled. "I heard you had your first date with Steve a few days ago."

"Oh," Joey blushed. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. If you don't like it, I'll break it off, I swear- "

"No!" Nancy shushed her friend. "Stop it. I think that this will be good for you and for Steve. It doesn't matter that I dated him, what, two years ago?"

"I just don't want you to resent me and then the whole school will divide and we will both sink into a dark dark empty hole of darkness and loneliness and sadness for all of eternity- " Joey caught her breath once Nancy stopped them and shook her.

"Stop that! I'm not going to resent you. Listen, was I a little hurt when Steve asked you out and you said yes? Sure. But that's normal! I don't hate you or Steve. It's honestly way behind me." Joey sighed and nodded, agreeing that she was being ridiculous. "Alright, now can we enjoy our last day of school together?"

"Sure," Joey smiled, letting Nancy lead the way into the school.

a/n
ty for reading kryptonite! i hope you guys liked the first chapter. what do you think of aunt wen's past? can you guys guess who she is?