𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝟐

DAPHNE'S ROOM was always her safe space in the mad house. She could lock her door and spend the entire day there, writing away whatever came to mind. It was the only productive thing she did besides working out. Turns out, Daphne discovered that working out, exercising and staying healthy was another really good way to distract herself from something. She wasn't a maniac like her brother though, who could keep on exercising for hours on end. 

But as she sat in her room today, surrounded by multiple Queen and Bryan Adams posters, her book open and her pen in hand, nothing came to mind. She opened the page she was writing in during her first class earlier today and tried to continue that chain of thoughts. Frustrated with how she couldn't write anything, Daphne got up to work out. Before she could start though, she heard the familiar voice of her step-mother; Susan, asking Billy if he could drive Max to the arcade.

Billy wouldn't ever deny a request from Susan regarding Max in his right mind, knowing the consequences better than Daphne so she figured she would go to with the two to the arcade and then just skate to someplace else from there. "I'll tag along."

Susan smiled, thinking that the red-head wanted to spend some time with Max, it made her happy for her daughter who constantly wished and tried to have a bond with her, "Lemme just get my skateboard." Then everything made sense to the step-mother and she decided to follow Daphne to have a small conversation with her, "Daphne? I just wanted to ask if you would consider spending a little time with Maxine?" 

Daphne, who had her skateboard in her hands, turned to look at Susan with a stoic expression on her face. She had nothing against Max and Susan, to be honest, but she couldn't deny the hurt she felt when her father first introduced them. It felt like her biological mother was being replaced and Daphne didn't want that to happen, she couldn't let that happen even if the woman had abandoned them.

There is a fine line between love and hate, and Daphne was somewhere in between when it came to her mother.

Daphne couldn't say no to the woman, though, her father was bound to know if something like that happened. So she plastered a fake smile on her face, "Sure, I'd love to." It annoyed her, really. That she'd have to spend some time with her step-sister in a crappy arcade when she could be somewhere else, doing what she initially intended to do. With her book and pencil in a small bag along with her walkman, and her skateboard hugged to her chest, Daphne left the house and sat in the the passenger seat as always.

Billy sped the car the entire way, prompting Max to tell him to slow down a bit, "That's why you should've just skated there!" Billy yelled, "Well, it's not my fault you were sitting idle and my mom just happened to see you!" Max retaliated.

They were nearing the arcade as the two kept on arguing and Daphne just ignored them as she always did. Max got out of the car as soon as it stopped and continued yelling, "You can't always blame me! I just asked if you have any quarters!" 

"I can blame whoever the hell I want to blame, you hear that?! I ain't giving you a single penny!"

"Shut up, you dipshits! The argument's getting boring and pathetic at this point!" Daphne finally snapped as she left the car as well, slamming the door when Billy started driving again. Max showed the finger to Billy's car.

"Thanks."

"For what?" Daphne was actually confused, "For stepping in before it got worse," The red-head realized that the young girl was thinking she yelled at Billy to defend her, but that wasn't the case at all, "Listen, I don't want you thinking that I defended you against Billy or something, you guys were practically yelling in my ear and it got annoying." Daphne's cold eyes stared into Max's, making sure that she got that fact straight in her head, "Now let's go in, I have to accompany you for a while."

Daphne sighed as she stepped into the noisy arcade, "God, what kinda game is even worth standing in this place for more than 10 minutes." She mentioned after spending 15 minutes in there, "Look, I know you don't wanna be stuck with me so just go, I'll tell my mom that you were with me for some time and come up with another lie for when you get home."

The red-head could feel the sadness radiating off the young girl. Daphne deep down felt a little sympathy towards the girl, so with a clenched jaw, she took out some quarters from her jeans pocket and shoved it in Max's hand and said, "You owe me, little shit!"  before leaving without looking back.

Max had a small smile on her face as she though, 'Maybe it's not hopeless after all.'

Meanwhile, Daphne got on her skateboard and skated around the neighborhood until she came across a community park where she sat down on a bench. It was a peaceful place. Probably the only part of Hawkins she liked so far. The High School wasn't anything special as well. It was just average, just like its students. 

A minuscule smile formed on Daphne's face as she started writing in her book once again, her hand working restlessly. She couldn't stop, not when there were hundreds of thoughts pouring into her mind. It brought her joy and comfort.

"Hey, Daphne, right?" 

Daphne was so invested in what she was doing that she didn't hear the voice calling out to her, "Daphne?" A hand shook her shoulder and an annoyed sigh left her mouth as it took every ounce of self-control to not snap at the person.

"What?"

The annoyance was clear as day when she spoke. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you, I'm Steve, I sit behind you in Biology, remember?"

Steve introduced himself again when he saw slight confusion on her face, "Oh, so why did you come up to me?"

The boy was taken aback by the question while the girl was genuinely curious, "Just to start-up a small conversation, you know, cause, you're new and all, and probably have no friends yet." Daphne raised one of her sharp eyebrows at the boy's slight ramble, "So you think that I'm friendless? Hey, I'll let you in on something; I don't want friends. Gee, maybe that's why I'm friendless."

The red-head let out a satisfied smirk when she saw Steve's cool demeanor falter, she loved messing with people like this, getting them all flustered. 

"Uhm, well then, I-I guess, I'll leave you to it..." The boy was confused as to why he was so freaking nervous when it came to talking to her. She was beautiful, and Steve didn't know if it was wrong to think so of another girl when he had Nancy. Trying to shake the thought out of his head, Steve left.

Daphne was still amused by the short encounter with Steve as she let out a slight chuckle. 

Shortly after that, Daphne noticed it getting dark and packed up her things, and skated her way home.

She slightly looked forward to tomorrow for some reason.

─── ❝ 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬 ❞ ───

Hello! My exams are over finally and as promised here is the new chapter! What are your guesses  and predictions for Daphne?

How do you think she'll be with other characters? Comment and tell me!

𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫! 𝐕𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭!

Next update: 28-04-2021