chapter three

mother dustin

☆

AFTER SUCCESSFULLY ESCAPING their questioning mother, the two Henderson siblings ran to Dustin's room, scrambling around as the thing from the trash was making too much noise.

"I told you to keep quiet," Dustin hissed at the trap where the sluggish looking thing was being kept. "All you had to do was stay still for one minute," he continued his complaints. "One minute."

Alexandra closed the door behind them, crossing her arms over the chest of the yellow sweatshirt. Since coming back from the party she had somewhat sobered up, bring her to her senses, kinda.

As Dustin placed the trap on the bed he glanced back at his sister. "Was that Steve you was with?" He asked, nearing the glass confinement his turtle was placed in. "Sorry, Yertle," he murmured down to the turtle as he lifted him out of the space. "Temporary eviction, buddy." He turned back to Alex. "Was it?"

She simply nodded in answer before taking a step towards Dustin as she watched him tip the trap upwards, letting whatever the hell they had caught tumble into Yertle's cage.

The two bent down, peering through the glass as the sluggish thing made a chittering noise. "So, what is it?" She asked, seeing as Dustin made himself out to be all-knowing, she assumed he'd know. "Demogorgon sperm?"

He shot her an annoyed, pointed glance—merely encouraging her to guess again. "Demobabies?" She asked before her face contorted into one of deeper confusion. "Wait. If it's a little Demo-baby, does that mean you're like . . . it's adoptive mother or something. Or it's carer, since you well, picked it off the street basically."

"Alex!" Dustin shot her a look. "No, I'm not it's mom. Can you just—shut up!" He paused, taking a breath as he stared down at the small creature in Yertle's home before glancing back at his sister who sent him a look of irritation. "Why were you with Steve, anyway?"

"He drove me home. Are we done with this conversation now? There are more important things to think about, like that," she pointed at the turtle's glass cage, a weird expression pulling at her lips, "thing sitting in Yurtle's cage. What in the holy fuck balls is that?"

"I don't know, Ginger, okay! Now shut up and help me," Dustin snapped hastily, exhaling deeply as he stared back down at the lizard-like thing in the glass cage.

Alexandra rubbed her fingers over the skin at her temple, "You're giving me a headache, man."

Dustin rolled his eyes, huffing as he slowly turned to his sister. "You know what? Sit down and be quiet."

"Okay, mom." She in turn rolled her eyes.

"Jesus," Dustin muttered before sauntering out of his room, earning a strong series of protest to leave Alex's lips.

"You can't just leave me in here with that thing! What if it attacks me?" Alexandra rushed out, coming to a stand from the bed.

"Then I'll be put out of my misery," he grumbled under his breath in answer before disappearing down the hall, only to return a minute later, a glass of water in hand. He thrusted it out to his sister, soon followed by some pills. "Sober up, you can't help me if you're hanging."

"Aww," Alex teased, clicking her tongue, standing she threw the pills back before ruffling Dustin's hair. "Thanks Dusty." Dustin slapped her hand away with a grumble and a groan, returning to the cage where the creature was as it drew his attention when an eerie chittering sound reverberated through the youngest Henderson's bedroom.

"What are you, little guy?" The  Henderson boy sighed, bending down as he got a better look into the cage. "What were you doing in my trash?"

"You don't think it's like an . . . alien do you?" Alex asked a seemingly dumb ( in Dustin's eyes, anyway ) question eliciting in an eyeroll from her brother. "I'm serious, with all the shit going on what if an alien just decided to visit and went 'oh, the Henderson trash can seems like a pretty good place to hide!'"

Dustin slowly turned to his sister before a sudden flashlight was shined on her face; the red-head blinked at the uncomfortable light and shoved the light away. "Are you high again, Alex? I swear to God, stop asking stupid shit."

"I'll stop asking stupid shit when stupid shit stops happening," she retorted nimbly.

Dustin opened his mouth to snap back but closed it and shrugged a shoulder. "Fair," he murmured before turning back to the slimy creature in the cage. He paused for a second, looking down at it and a small smile etched onto his face, "You hungry?"

"I could eat, yeah-"

"Not you!" Dustin waved a hand as he made his way over to his bed and rummaged through the bag where all his candy and sweets from his trick or treating adventure resided. He pulled out a nougat packet, earning a gag from Alex as she saw the treat in hand. "Nougat," Dustin declared as he lifted the lid of the tank off, dropping a few pieces in the centre. "Go on, eat."

Alex watched with a mild look of disgust on her face as the creature ventured toward the nougat before it let out a shriek. "Yeah . . . I don't think that's a lizard, Dustin."

"No shit," Dustin mumbled.

"I mean, it looks like literal dog shit, like, bottom of your shoe . . . dog shit."

"Okay!" He threw his hands up in exasperation. "Can you get out my room now? Jesus! If anything happens or it gets murdery overnight, I'll shout you, okay?"

"God, what crawled up your ass and died?" Alex mumbled under her breath though Dustin heard, shooting her an irritated look—the older sibling shot her hands up in mock surrender. "Okay—okay, I'm leaving. Chill."

☆

Alexandra glared over at the yellow sweatshirt that sat in the passenger seat of her car, crumpled into a ball that would ensure it'd wrinkle, she didn't care enough to fold it for him. Its presence alone irked her all because it reminded her of he-who-shall-not-be-named. It was like he was getting in her head again, worming his way into her life after all these months, and for what?

Because Carol and Tommy H ditched his ass? What, did he think that because they dropped him he could come running back to Alex and everything would be right as rain again?

She didn't like it. She didn't like how it made her feel, she didn't like how the car ride home from the party felt normal . . . like old times. It wasn't like how it used to be, they weren't friends, not anymore. He fucked her over, listened as people spread and did nasty stuff to her. A friend wouldn't do that.

So, she was going to give him the sweatshirt back, get the assignment done and go back to ignoring him. That was her game plan. But of course, living in Hawkins, her game plan went tits up.

She had to spend a whole hour near him. It would've been better if it was a lesson where she could just ignore him and focus on something else, like the back of Tammy Thompson's head perhaps, but no. She and Deena were stuck cleaning the bottom of the gritty bleachers in the gym—watching as the boys' basketball team practised.

Yay.

Deena wasn't exactly thrilled either as it meant, unfortunately for her, she was in the same breathing space as the one and only Billy Hargrove.

Double yay.

And to make her day a whole lot better they were playing shirts and skins. Of course, Billy volunteered to be skins. The two teenage girls watched as Steve called his team aside, muttering incoherently to them. Alex huffed and went back to cleaning the bottom of the bleachers as the team scattered themselves around the court.

Don't get caught skipping, kids. Otherwise you may be stuck scraping dirty, chewed gum that once had been in the mouth of your peers. Gross.

The sound of a whistle echoed through the gym, and the game began. Alex and Deena shared a look as the boys scrambled around the room, feet squeaking across the floor. "Wanna make a bet?" The latter asked, raising her eyebrows as her lips uptugged.

"Go on then," Alex shrugged, reaching into her jacket pocket she pulled out five dollars. "Erm," she clicked her tongue, fishing around her pockets for more. "That's all I got on me but I will throw in . . . " she paused, pulling an object out of her jacket before raising her eyebrows. "A lighter . . . with no gas."

"Okay, shove your lighter," Deena rolled her eyes and fumbled around in her own pockets, adding more money to the pile as she discreetly looked up, ensuring that the coach wasn't watching them. "Twelve dollars and seventy-two cents. Bingo. My money's on Harrington."

Alex gave her a sideways glance, a look of disbelief splayed across her face, "Harrington, seriously? That boy wouldn't win a fight with a fly, let alone a basketball game. My money's on skins."

"You're just saying that 'cause you hate him, Alex."

"Yeah. And?"

Deena rolled her eyes, "Whatever." She murmured, slapping her hand in Alex's as they shook on it. "You're on."

So, instead of doing what they were supposed to be doing, they ignored the task ( or punishment ) that had been handed to them and watched as they played.

Of course, as always, Alex was right. Steve's team were doing shit, shittier than usual, it seemed. Billy was up Steve's ass, bothering him, tension thick as Steve and his team appeared to be struggling.

Just as the Henderson opened her mouth to gloat, Billy snatched the ball from Steve's grasp and tripped him, the Harrington falling on his ass in the middle of the court. Alex pursed her lips, hiding a satisfied smile—what? He pissed her off.

"Whoo!" Billy howled as he dunked the ball through the hoop, winking in the two girls' direction. "That's what I'm talking about! Whoo!"

Deena rolled her eyes, "God, he's disgusting."

"Tell me about it," Alex grumbled under her breath, eyes discreetly widening as she noticed Steve lift himself up from the ground before making his way toward them. "Oh, God. The Hell does he want?"

"Oooh! Maybe he wants to confess his undying love." Alex shot her an unimpressed look. "Or, no, no. Hold on, I got it. Ah!" She suddenly clicked her fingers enthusiastically. "He's coming to tell you that you were a shitty best friend and Tommy and Carol were much better company, that's why he dropped your ass."

    "You make me question why we're friends every goddamn day," Alex grumbled, keeping her head down while Steve continued his way over before suddenly he shuffled his body between the two, slumping down onto the bleachers—purposely sitting in the middle of them.

    Alexandra pursed her lips, not acknowledging him as she went back to scraping old gum from the seats, shoving his foot away with force as it was in her way. Deena looked around awkwardly, meeting Steve's eyes she gave a strained smile before asking the obvious question, "You need something, Harrington?"

    Steve shook his head, hair flailing about with the movement, some stuck to his forehead due to the small drops of sweat that glistened on his face from practise, "Needed a break. That Billy guy is seriously pissing me off, I mean, c'mon man, you know?"

    Deena nodded boredly, "Yeah, totally understand what you're saying."

    He narrowed his eyes at the sarcastic tone and flashed her his middle finger before his attention steered to the only reason he made his way over there in the first place. "So, what are you ladies doing in here, anyway?" He asked, his question directed at Alex.

    The Henderson teen didn't bother to lift her head in his direction meaning she failed to notice the nervous exterior the boy carried, how his foot would incessantly tap against the floor as he awaited an answer or how he fiddled with the hem of the grey gym shirt he wore, lifting it up to his face to remove some of the sweat as a distraction from her non-verbal self.

    She inwardly sighed, she was confused. Why the hell was he talking to her again all of a sudden? Was he bored or lonely because he and Nancy broke up and Tommy H and Carol dropped him? She figured he didn't have anyone anymore so he tried to go back to her, like she was some sort of backup in his life. She didn't want to be a backup, she didn't want anything to do with him, if he tried with her last year maybe, just maybe, she'd talk to him.

    But it'd been too long and she simply didn't want to be near him anymore, it was like he was a bad omen.

    When she realised that Deena wasn't gonna swoop in and save her from an excruciating conversation she lifted her head, squinting up at him. "We got caught skipping fifth. . . "

    "And third, fourth too," Deena added absentmindedly, continuing to scrape the bottom of the bleachers.

    "So this," Alexandra lifted the metal scraper, "is our punishment."

    Steve chose to ignore the wry answer and his lips upturned in amusement as a laugh fell from his mouth, "Well shit, Alexandra Henderson got caught. Never thought I'd see the day."

    "Well, apparently today is that day . . . " she trailed off, bitter smile sitting on her lips.

    Steve cleared his throat, noticing her apprehensive state, he knew she didn't want to talk to him and he couldn't help but feel a pang of hurt hit his chest—but he deserved it, he knew that.

    "So, uh, what time do you wanna', you know, meet up so we can get this project started," he rubbed his hands along his knees, trying not to touch his hair—he just couldn't mess up the messy look he had going on.

    "Don't know, don't care. You decide," she sighed, looking back down to the floor as she went back to scraping gum.

    "Uh, y-yeah, okay. Six sound good to you?"

    "Six is fine," she nodded, rolling her lips into her mouth.

    "Great. Cool, cool, cool," he nodded his head repeatedly, internally punching himself. What the hell had happened to him, he was Steve Harrington for christ's sake, he was a womanizer, he could talk to girls, he could sit and chat out of his ass but they'd still be engaged in what he was saying. With Alex it was like talking to a brick wall, a very pretty brick wall, but a brick wall nonetheless.

    "You remember where I live, don't you?" He attempted to joke, trying his very best to lighten the mood. "'Cause its been a while."

    Deena winced at the look Alex gave her and bit her lip, hiding an amused smile.

    "Yep."

    "Y-yeah, okay. Great!" Steve nodded awkwardly, rising to his feet, he turned, flashing them his beloved smile and rose a hand in a gawky wave. "See ya'."

    When Steve went back to the game, Alex turned to Deena who spluttered out a laugh, "God, that was awkward."

    Alex leant forward, head landing on the bleachers.

    "Kill me, please."

☆

Way back when, Steve used to like basketball. He remembered when he first signed up for the team and Alex used to make fun of him all day long—joking about how he was gonna' become one of those preppy jock assholes and would forget she existed.

Back then he never thought there'd be any truth to her words, but now? Now, he realised her words had become real. It made him resent the sport in a way, what if he hadn't signed up? Then he wouldn't have met Tommy H and he wouldn't be in this situation, he'd be happy. He would be enjoying his youth hanging with his best friend.

So, thankfully for Steve practise had ended, but that didn't mean he got to escape the irritating grasp that Billy Hargrove seemed to have clung onto him. He was everywhere, always ready to make some sort of comment, always ready to make a joke out of his life—it didn't hurt Steve, no, he just found it annoying, he was sick of listening to Billy Hargrove's voice, so sick in fact he wished that the Demogorgon he, Alexandra, Nancy and Jonathon fought last year would come back and rip into Billy's throat.

Now, that's a thought.

The warm water falling down from the faucet clung to his face as he wiped his hands down his skin, attempting to ignore Billy as he started speaking to him, again.

Steve simply ignored him, pretending he didn't hear a single word that left his mouth as he left the showers and made his way into the locker room, towel hanging low at his waist as a much smaller towel was swung around his neck, he lifted a hand using it to dry his hair.

"Don't sweat it, man," Billy continued, following him into the changing rooms, unfortunately for Steve, his locker had been placed right besides his own. "Win some, ya' lose some."

"Hm," Steve made a noise of acknowledgement, still ruffling his hair with his towel, seemingly trying to get out of a very unwanted conversation with Billy.

"So, that Alex chick, you and her bang or something? 'Cause I gotta' say man, she does not like you." There was a mocking tone to Billy's voice as a laugh boomed from his chest.

"What? Me and Alex? No," Steve shook his head. "We're just- we used to friends. Nothing happened between us."

Billy rose his brows, actual surprise evident on his face. "Well shit. Really? Coulda' sworn you two fucked or something," he shrugged, smirk plastering on his lips. "But then again . . . she does seem uptight, ought' to need loosening up, don't you think?"

Steve's face formed into a glare at the suggestive tone in Billy's voice, "Nah, I don't. Listen, man, leave Alex and Deena alone. Stop bothering them, 'specially Deena, she doesn't like you, dude, leave it."

Billy squinted his eyes slightly, "Bothering them? Aw, they talkin' about me, Harrington?"

Steve scoffed, "Don't flatter yourself. I have eyes, man. Like I said, leave it."

Billy lifted a shoulder carelessly, "You know, I don't think I want to. Nah. If you're jealous Harrington there's plenty of bitches in the sea. Pretty boy like you've got nothin' to worry about." He clapped a hand on Steve's back and sauntered out of the locker room, cocky exterior stronger than ever.

Steve rolled his eyes and slammed his locker shut. He had more important things to be doing, like his hair, not getting pissed off by Billy 'Asshole' Hargrove's words.

AUTHOR'S NOTE !
ALSO i have a thing with murdery oc's *cough jordanna cough* and i kinda wanna make alex supernatural, but like if i did not a vampire cos everyones oc is a vampire and i already have my fave little vamp sooooo

anyone got any thoughts??