chapter four

glimpse of us

☆

    AFTER THE EXCRUTIATINGLY painful punishment Alex and Deena had to endure, the school day had finally ended, freeing the teenage girls from the potent grip society had on them.

Alexandra could not express the hate she had for Hawkins High, it was well and truly a joke. If you wasn't a cheerleader, a jock or dating either, you were a freak . . . a weirdo—or just plainly invisible. That's what confused Alexandra, she didn't understand how she, Deena and Juno were friends, how the dynamic worked.

Juno Copper was the girl that everyone wanted to be. She was pretty, popular, loved by most, hated by others, she was captain of the cheer team, duh, and she had a new boy toy on her arm every week—that's the kind of girl that the people of Hawkins wanted ( minus the new boy on her arm, if they even caught a whiff of that she'd be deemed a slut, stupid, I know ), she's the kind of girl they'd accept. Luckily, she lived all the way down in Pittsburgh, otherwise the popularity hungry teen girls and horny teenage boys looking for a bang to boast about ( gross ) would've sunk their claws into her and tore her to pieces already.

Then there was Deena Ritchie, I wouldn't go as far as to say she was 'The Freak' of Hawkins, no, that place was specially saved for Eddie Munson, who, by no fault of his own, dragged Deena down to the depths of the bottomless pit with him. Just because she was in band, hung out with Eddie on occasion and lived in the trailer park it deemed her to be a freak . . . a weirdo. If you weren't what others wanted or expected then you were nothing to them, dirt on the bottom of their squeaky clean shoes. She didn't mind it though, it was relaxing in a sense, she didn't want to live like Juno, the constant attention on her, no, it freaked her out.

But Alex? Alexandra Henderson was just . . . there. Some people payed attention to her—mainly passing judgement or nasty looks, she had her moments in the spotlight when Tommy H and Carol would cook something nasty up to say, but it didn't bother her anymore, it did at first, she would admit, but there were bigger problems going on in her life. Such as lizard like things being held in her brother's room. Which she needed to get back to as soon as possible.

    She rocked on her heals as she waited in her usual spot outside for Deena, a cigarette held nimbly between her pointer and middle finger. A sigh left her mouth as she leant against the bicycle rack, her free hand moving up to pick at the ends of her hair.

A sudden screech of tires rumbling against the ground caused Alexandra to turn her head, a hand shot up, resting just above her eyebrows as she attempted to block out the blaring sun, squinting her eyes at the sight before her. Deena Ritchie was sprinting in her direction hurriedly, jacket flailing behind her as she ran away from what Alex recognised to be Billy's car, ( which had now recently welcomed a weird looking stain on the window shield  . . . ).

By the time the Ritchie teen had reached Alex, she hadn't the chance to even open her mouth and question her friend when Deena grasped her wrist in her hand and dragged her away, running in the opposite direction of the parking lot and heading to the back of the school as the Camaro seemed to have them in sight.

Alex was not made out for this, no matter how many times she'd run from monsters, she still never had the energy for it. Must be the smoking . . . and the drugs . . . maybe the excessive amount of alcohol consumption didn't help either. Her feet were running at a faster pace than her mind as they sprinted through the ( sometimes ) secluded woods at the back of the high school.

Upon reaching their usual spot in the woods, the picnic table, Alex thought they'd stop, but nooo . . . Deena was running like she was training for the fuckin' Olympics.

"Hi Eddie! Bye Eddie!" The Ritchie teen shouted tersely at the very picnic table where the Munson boy seemed to be dealing with a client, the brown head of wild hair shot up at the sound of his name and he turned, watching as they whizzed past.

Finally, just far enough into the woods, Deena came to an abrupt stop and leant against a tree, letting out a relieved breath of air. Alex, on the other hand, placed her hands on her knees as she tried to control her breathing . . . goddamn unhealthy son of a bitch. She lifted the hand with the cigarette that she still held because those things aren't cheap y'know! and brought it to her mouth while her free hand nursed her chest, Deena rolled her eyes at the dramatics.

"Remind me, why were we running?" Alex asked finally, her too, leaning against a tree, opposite the Ritchie.

"Because I threw my sandwich at Billy Hargrove's car, and now I have no food," she shrugged, a smile proudly twitching at her lips. "I'm hungry but I do not regret it."

Alex blinked. "Deenaaaa," she groaned all of a sudden in annoyance. "My car is at the other side of the damn school. I can't walk all the way back there and be on time to get Dustin, I think my legs are broken . . . " her hand reached up to her chest, "Or I'm having a heart attack. Oh fuck, I'm having a heart attack."

"You're not having a heart attack," Deena rolled her eyes and pushed her body off of the tree, moving towards Alex before she began pushing her back in the direction of the school. "That's just called being an unhealthy, lazy shit."

"Choke," Alex grumbled, shoving Deena's hands off of her as she began to walk on her own. The two chatted on the walk back to the school parking lot and Alexandra debated on whether or not to tell Deena about the odd looking thing she and Dustin found in their trash can the night before.

On one hand, it could merely just be a lizard, like she hoped for, but she knew it wasn't. She knew that everything with the Upside Down was coming back to resurface, she wasn't ( that ) stupid, she had heard Dustin talking about it, talking to Will in the middle of night when she'd sit in her window and smoke. She noticed how the young Byers boy would be on edge sometimes when he came over for dinner, how whenever Joyce wasn't looking he'd tense up all of a sudden.

She had a feeling, a strong feeling that it wasn't over just yet . . . it was like a never ending story, just continuing and continuing and Deena had been apart of that so she deserved to know.

By the time Alex and Deena had gotten to the car and driven over to the middle school to pick up Dustin, Alexandra had explained it all, from finding it in the trash to it not liking the heat of the light, every little detail she had picked up from the previous night she recited back to Deena.

Alex huffed and leant her head against the window of the car, finger tapping against the steering wheel incessantly. Deena shot her a disgruntled look, "Can you not?"

Alex merely ignored her words and glanced over at her. "Time is it?" She asked.

Deena looked down at the watch on her wrist, "Nearly four."

Alex made a noise of annoyance and complaint and pushed open her car door, Deena soon following after. "Pick me up," Alex mocked Dustin in a seemingly high pitched tone. "I won't be late out again, promise Alex. God! He's such a bullshitter!"

Deena snorted in amusement, "All those little shits make me happy I don't have a brother, when I babysat Erica, Lucas would just be talking and talking and talking—and I'm like, Jesus, do you ever stop?"

"I don't think those boys can stop," Alex grumbled as they reached the double doors to the school, the redhead grasped the handle in her palm and pulled it open. "They can talk for fucking America."

"That they can," Deena nodded in agreement as they wandered down the middle school hallways when suddenly an abrupt commotion caused the pairs ears to perk up, they shared a look before heading in the direction of the clatter.

As they rounded the school, they came to a stop, eyebrows raised as they stared at the sight before them. There stood, or rather, laid, the boys and a redheaded girl. The unknown girl was pressed underneath Dustin as he tried to scramble to his feet, Lucas besides them on the floor, flimsily trying to push himself up, but losing his footing. Mike and Will exchanged looks as they peered down at the three, the Wheeler boy let out a sigh, rubbing his hand across his forehead in exasperation.

Alex leant against the wall, clicking her tongue in annoyance whilst Deena crossed her arms over her chest, an exasperated sigh leaving her mouth.

"What in the fuck did we just walk into?" Alexandra asked, startling the boys and the mystery girl who jumped at the sound of her voice, Dustin screamed in his usual high pitched tone and looked up at his sister in shock.

"Alex! Hi, uh . . . we were just . . . " Will trailed off, spluttering on his words, thinking of an excuse so that they could get away and attempt to find Dart.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" Deena asked with a raised brow.

"Dustin . . . " Lucas gritted his teeth as he finally came to a stand. "Get rid of them," his voice was hushed.

Alex narrowed her eyes at the five and pushed herself up from the wall, pointing an accusatory finger in the groups direction, "What did you do? What did you do?"

"We lost Dart," Dustin muttered to his sister earning a series of mumbles and complaints from his friends—mainly Mike.

"What do you mean you lost him? You took that thing to school with you? It's not bring your pet alien to school day, dickwad!" She slapped him upside the head.

"Wait. Wait. That thing you found in your trash? You named it Dart?" Deena questioned, face scrunched up.

Dustin's eyes widened as he now pointed a finger at his sister, "You told her?!"

"You told them, asswipe!" Alex retorted, pausing when her eyes finally landed on the redhead who was still situated on the floor for some reason. "You. I don't know you. Who are you?"

Max sent a shy, awkward wave in her direction, pulling herself up from the floor, "Uh, I'm Max."

Alex opened her mouth to introduce herself when Mike's agitated voice spoke faster than she could. "You guys can talk later! We gotta find him, c'mon!" Mike announced before shooting Max a look of burning hatred as he ran down the hall.

"Don't you hurt him! Don't you hurt him!" Dustin called after Mike's retreating figure.

Alex rolled her eyes as her brother shot off in another direction, Deena soon following after. Lucas and Will ran in another direction, leaving the two redheads. "C'mon," Alex moved her head to the left and Max followed after her.

From one side of the school, Dustin and Deena walked around cautiously, the latter listening to the young boy as he called out for the missing creature. "Dart?!" He hissed. "Dart, c'mon!"

    "I don't think it's gonna answer you, Dustin," Deena whisper-shouted in an obvious tone as she glanced down besides her at the Henderson boy, how was it she always had a Henderson by her side? Whether it be monster chasing with the two siblings or Thanksgiving dinners with Claudia.

    "He," Dustin corrected, Deena rolled her eyes and bit her tongue, holding back a comment. "And I know that, dumbass, but maybe if he hears me,  he'll know he's safe."

    Deena rose a brow, " . . . Sure, kid."

    The Henderson boy cautiously turned a corner, Deena in toll causing him to glance back at her momentarily, "Are you prepared for this? We don't know how fast he's growing, you need to be ready."

    Deena let out a scoff, "I crawled into a slimy tree with Nancy-fucking-Wheeler for Christ's sake, chasing some lizard around a middle school is nothing."

    "He's not a lizard, Ritchie-"

    "Alex said that it's a lizard-"

    "Alex is always wrong, I don't know why you listen to her," Dustin grumbled. "He's from the Upside Down, I'm thinking, oh, I dunno' baby Demogorgon."

    "Well slap my ass and call me Sally," she mumbled, turning to look down at him as he glanced up at her with a weirded expression on his face. "We're killing that thing, yeah?"

    "No!" Dustin halted, stopping in the hallway as he turned to face her fully. "W-We can't kill him, he trusts me, Deena."

    "Oh, well, because he trusts you I suppose it's fine," she remarked sarcastically, face falling into a deadpan. "It's a tiny, man-woman-child-flesh eating thing, and you wanna keep it alive because it . . . trusts you?"

    Dustin pursed his lips, nodding tersely, voice squeaking as he spoke, "Y-Yeah."

    "Unbelievable," Deena muttered, continuing her path along the corridoors, Dustin following after her trail.

    The two slowed as a confused Mr. Clarke rose a suspicious brow at the pair, Deena rolled her lips into her mouth and sent her old science teacher a brisk wave while Dustin lifted his pointer and middle finger, saluting him, the teacher doing the same in return.

    The pair shared a look as they watched the man walk out the doors before Dustin spoke into his walkie. "West is clear too. Will?"

    "South is clear," Will's voice was crackled through the speaker. "Lucas? Anything?"

    A brief silence loomed before Lucas' voice was heard, "Nothing here, man."

    On the other side of the school Alex and Max sauntered down the hallway, the older girl, sending the occasional glance down to the small red-head besides her, "What was your name again? Max?"

    The younger teen glanced up at her, "Uh, yeah, Max Mayfield."

    "So, how come you're hanging 'round my dork of a brother?" Alexandra asked, looking down at the girl. So this was who Dustin had been talking about all night on the phone with Lucas.

    "Because your dork of a brother is one of the only decent people in this shit-hole town-" Max mumbled in all honesty before Alex cut her off.

    "Language," the eldest Henderson sibling sang teasingly earning Max's lips to twitch every so slightly at the playful tone. Alexandra may look a little rough around the edges, she may even look like she'd totally rip your throat out with her teeth, but there was something about her that made Max feel sane for two goddamn seconds.

    Alex didn't mind kids, scratch that, she still hated anyone that was younger than herself, but her brother's friends, they were okay, it was like a small, yet large, dysfunctional family. The constant bickering made her want to rip their eyeballs from their sockets, but yet, if any one of them found themselves in some sort of danger, she'd be there within a heartbeat.

    And if Max was gonna find herself stuck in the life that the rest of them had been warped into, she needed someone to look out for her. Alex was that person.

   "-Lucas is okay too. I don't think Mike likes me very much."

    Alexandra rolled her eyes and nudged Max's shoulder with her arm. "Mike hardly likes anyone, he's a little prick . . . .  I once interrupted their little D&D sessions or whatever they're called and pfttt," she pulled a face, scoffing. "The shit that boy gave me. He's a little dramatic, I'm sure he'll get over himself soon enough."

    A small chuckle left Max's lips, "I hope so. I don't think I can watch him roll his eyes anymore."

    Alexandra nodded in agreement. "I get you. What's that saying old people say-"

    Max clapped her hands and clicked her fingers as though the words were on the tip of her tongue before she blurted out, "If you keep rolling your eyes they'll get stuck that way!"

    "Ah, yes!" Alexandra grinned widely. "God, can you imagine if that happened to Mike? It'd just make him more annoying if anything."

     "I don't think he'd ever stop talking." A smile perched on Max's lips.

    "God forbid," Alex groaned dramatically and pushed the doors for the boys' locker room open. She turned to the smaller redhead besides her and sent her a stern look, teasing demeanour now gone. "If you see anything, you tell me. Shout, scream, sing—I don't fuckin' care, just don't try go after that thing alone, alright?"

    Max rose a brow at the sudden seriousness but sent her a hesitant nod, "Yeah, okay."

    Alex nodded in a form of relief. "Be careful," she muttered before moving around the lockers, rummaging around her pockets for a small light or something—but came to no avail, only finding a lighter with barely any gas left in it.

    She rolled her eyes. "You'll do." Her finger rolled against the metal, a small flame danced from the green lighter she gripped tightly in hand, Dart, as her brother incessantly called it, was scared of heat or light ( she wasn't completely sure as she was in the clouds when she and Dustin had found him )—hence the reasoning behind why she held a lighter, it provided her both heat and light; it was a win win situation!

If she saw it she was simply going to burn the fucker alive, simple as that.

Her head swivelled, glancing behind her she found Max stood, skateboard still in hand with a sheepish smile on her face. "I, uh, I didn't find anything," the younger redhead told the Henderson in a hushed tone.

Alex nodded and released her grip on the lighter, ignoring the pang her thumb felt at the hot metal. "Neither." Alexandra matched her tone, keeping her voice down, sure to not alert any unwanted attention from the baby flesh eating spawn of Satan.

Alex looked down at the girl besides her who began ruffling through the open lockers. "You know you don't need to help them, right?" She asked, Max's head snapped up in her direction.

The younger girl let out a small sigh and shuffled on her feet, turning to face her. "I know, but . . . they're kinda the only friends I have," she paused, a bitter look coaxing her face. "I'd rather run around looking for freakish lizard things than be alone all the time, known as the freak from California."

"You're from California?" Alex asked, suddenly side-tracked. "Weird . . . some guy in my grade just moved from California too."

"Billy?" Max question, though she knew the answer. "Yeah, he's my brother—step brother."

"Oh . . . ew," Alex pulled a face at not only her stupidity but at the revelation. "Well that sucks."

   Max nodded in agreement. "Yeah, he's an asshole."

   "Well at least you have those losers now, as annoying as they seem . . . they're alright, I guess," Alex shrugged, words mumbled as though it physically hurt her to say.

"Well, them losers are better than—"

Max's words were cut off as a disgruntled yell sounded out from behind herself and Alex. The two spun, faces scrunched up in scowls as they faced Mike who held a mop in hand.

The Wheeler boy's face dropped at the sight of them and he lowered the wooden sick. "What the hell are you doing?" Max asked, raising a brow.

"What are you two doing?" Mike retorted, looking between the two. "Why're you in here?"

"Oh, you know, shopping, what the fuck do you think we're doing, Wheeler?" Alex rolled her eyes, sarcasm dripping from her tongue. "We're looking for Dart."

"This is the boys room," Mike shot back, an obvious tone to his words.

"Yeah, so?" Max asked, lifting a shoulder.

"So, you should go home," Mike rose his voice a little, his words were harsh, eyes seeming to burn into Max's skull. Alex rolled her own eyes at his attitude and took a small step forward, in front of Max.

"Mike, what the hell's wrong with you? Did Dart crawl up your ass or something?" Alex asked, matching his tone; as childish as it was. Yes, he was a kid, but he was being harsh to Max for no reason—and Alex may not be the nicest person to walk the earth, but when she was a bitch there was some reasoning behind it, only she couldn't fathom why Mike was acting like this towards Max.

The boy merely rolled his eyes and threw the mop to the ground before storming out of the boys locker room. Alex glanced back at Max and pulled a face, the smaller redhead reciprocated her actions. "Seriously, what is up his ass?" Max mumbled, huffing before she chased after Mike.

Alexandra internally groaned and rubbed a hand across her forehead in exasperation, "Why am I always babysittin'? Every goddamn time."

As much as she didn't want to, she followed after the children, leading her into the gym. She didn't particularly want to be present for Max and Mike's 'fight', but if they happened to run into Dart then she needed to be there so she could squish it ( or him as Dustin ever so irritatingly demanded ) and get rid of it for good.

"Why do you hate me so much?" Max asked, skateboard in hand as she trailed after the brunette boy.

"I don't hate you," Mike shrugged, not sparing her a glance back as he continued to walk away. "How can I hate you? I don't know you."

"Yeah, but you don't want me in your party," Max pointed out.

"Correct," Mike answered simply.

"Why not?" Max demanded an answer. She didn't get it. Everyone else was so welcoming but Mike. Lucas and Dustin seemed to welcome her with open arms, Will may have been a little quieter, but he was still kind to her. Kindness was something that felt foreign to the Mayfield girl, it wasn't something she received from others a lot, but when she did, she cherished it.

Alexandra pushed the doors open and sighed as she watched the two go back and forth, she leant against the bleachers tiredly, crossing her arms over her chest as Mike spun around suddenly, voice raised as he spoke, "Because you're annoying. Also, we don't need another party member. I'm our paladin, Will's our cleric, Dustin's our bard, Lucas is our ranger and El is our mage!"

At the sound of her name Alex's ears perked up. Eleven. Contrast to popular belief, El was the only child that Alex never once held a bad bone to. Yes, she didn't like anyone younger than herself, but Eleven was different. It could've been because El could literally kill her with one twist of her neck, or it was because she seemed so fragile when they had met and Alex didn't want to scare her.

"El? Who's El?" Max's face scrunched up in confusion at the unfamiliar name.

"Someone. No one," Mike dismissed, poorly.

Alex wanted to clap sarcastically at his poor choice of words, but deemed it best if she stayed in place and silent before Mike decided to spin his bad mood onto her. It wasn't that she cared what this kid thought, no, it was that the thought of his voice made her want to tear her eyeballs from the sockets.

"Someone or no one?"

Alex blocked out the remains of the conversation, picking at her nails and when she looked up she noticed Max skating around Mike in a circle, now a playful look etched onto her face. "This is cute and all but can we go back to finding that deadly lizard thing before it eats somebody," Alex called out, gaining their attention.

"Or worse," Mike added, pointedly looking at Max so she'd stop messing around.

Alex pulled a face as she pushed herself up from the bleachers and started making her way over to them. "What's worse than being eaten?"

"Uh—"

Mike's words got cut off as he and Alexandra watched Max fall off of her skateboard. "Jesus Christ on a bicycle," Alex muttered, finally reaching the pair as she held out a hand to Max, Mike doing the same. "You good?"

"Yeah. Yeah. I think so," Max gritted out, taking their hands.

"What happened?" The Wheeler boy asked, face pulling together.

"I don't know," Max mumbled, holding onto her side. "It's just like a magnet or something pulling on my board. I know that sounds crazy."

Mike and Alex met eyes for a second, something shared between them before the Henderson teen grabbed the skateboard off from the floor and handed it to the girl. Mike on the other hand, his eyes were blank yet his mind was reeling as he slowly shot off in another direction, leaving the gym.

Max and Alex looked back as they heard the snap of the doors bang against the door frame. "Uh, should we go after him?" Max asked, gesturing towards the doors.

Alexandra let out a sigh. "Probably. Don't want him to get eaten or anything, trying to explain that to his parents would suck," she huffed out her cheeks in exaggeration.

At the other end of the school Deena and Dustin continued to patrol the halls, the latter calling out to the missing creature with a soft tone to his voice that made Deena want to scream.

"You know if Alex finds that thing—" Dustin sent her a look and the Ritchie teen rolled her eyes. "Dart." She corrected. "She'll kill it. So, if she kills it, I can kill it."

Dustin sent her a deadpanned look at her words. "You're not killing him, Deena. Alex isn't killing him. No one's killing him."

Deena ignored his words and continued. "We're killing it," she clarified with a sharp nod of her head.

"It's like talking to a goddamn wall," Dustin mumbled under his breath to himself. "We're splitting up," he declared, turning the older teen around until she was back to him. "You go that way and I'll go this way, okay?"

Deena rolled her eyes but nodded nonetheless, she gathered he was fed up of her. "Okay, but if you see him scream like really, really, really—"

"Really loud. Got it!" Dustin called out, cutting her words off in reply before running down the hall. Dustin rounded a corner, head snapping in all directions during his search; he'll be damned if he let them kill Dart, he trusted him.

"Guys . . . I found him." Will's voice was hushed through the crackle of the walkie.

Dustin's ears perked up and his face lit up in complete joy. "Where?" He rushed out in answer before clearing his throat, trying to conceal his excitement. "Where?" He asked again in a, what he deemed, 'smooth' voice.

"In the bathroom by Mr. Salerno's."

"Copy that."

Dustin's pace picked up as he began running. His breathing was harsh as he sped up, Mr. Salerno's room was at the other end of the school and if he wanted to get there before anyone else he'd have to hurry.

He pushed the bathroom door open with much force it clashed against the wall, a loud sound echoing. Dustin winced and his hands fumbled against the door as he tried to close it calmly, without alerting anymore unwanted attention.

He pushed all the stalls open, looking in them quickly, revealing that they were all indeed empty before he reached the last one. A bright smile pulled at his face as he looked down at Dart on the grimy bathroom floor. "Hey buddy," he chuckle, crouching down. "Come here, y'know I won't hurt you." He cupped his hands and held them low to the ground, allowing the creature to jump into his palms.

Dart chittered up at him and Dustin's smile only grew. "It's okay. It's just me," he whispered, slowly rising to full stance. "You're okay."

The Henderson boy's head snapped up as he heard the loud calls and shouts of his friends nearby. A grimace accompanied his face as he pulled his hat off his head and rested Dart on his curls. "Stay low. Keep quiet," he instructed at a whisper and moved out from the stall just as Alex, Deena, Lucas, Max and Mike ran in.

"Where's Dart?" Mike questioned.

"I don't know," Dustin rushed out at a mere mumble. "Not here," he cleared his throat.

Alexandra narrowed her eyes at her brother. "Where is he then?"

Dustin lifted a shoulder. "I dunno, maybe Will has him."

At the mention of his name Deena's face scrunched up, "Where is Byers anyway?"

"Shit!" Alex cursed and was the first to rush out of the bathroom, the group running after her, calling out his name worriedly. "Will!"

"Alexandra?" Joyce halted as she nearly bashed into the redhead, steadying her by her shoulders. Under any other circumstance Alex would've cringed at the use of her full name. "Where's Will? What're you doing here?"

Deena wandered off by the doors, something catching her sight before her eyes widened. "The field! He's out by the field!"

The seven rushed outside and onto the field without any second thoughts and Mike immediately went to the Byers' side, shaking him. "Will!?" He turned to face the rest of them, concern and horror etched on his face. "I think he's having another episode!"

Mrs. Byers ran straight to her son and placed her hands on his shoulders, gently shaking him though her voice trembled with fear as she called out his name, "Will? Will! Will! Sweetie, wake up! It's mom! Will? Will, wake up! Can you hear me? It's mom! It's me!"

Time seemed to slow as everyone watched on anxiously, minutes morphed into hours as everyone held their breath as if the most single movement would effect Will.

A tense air had lifted and everyone's eyes widened as Will's eyes continued to roll to the back of his head, his body trembled within himself, skin paling just ever so slightly before a single gasp escaped his mouth.

☆

After the day Alex had to deal with the last thing she wanted to be doing was going to Steve Harrington's house to do a project, but soon enough six had rolled around and she was already running late.

The slam of her car door being knocked shut echoed behind her as she stepped into the street. Wisps of fog laced around her, pulling her in and almost concealing her body from sight, she sighed as she saw the large familiar house in front of her. A huff fell from her lips as she noted his dad's car wasn't in the drive—like always.

The Henderson teen hesitantly made her way over to the door, an unsure expression etched onto her face. She hadn't been here in a while and it brought up memories, memories that Alex would rather push to the back of her mind, lock up in a box, throw away the key and forget about. It was almost bittersweet being back here, remembering all the good times the two shared back when they were friends.

Her knuckles rasped against the wood of the door and she waited a moment, quickly growing bored as she stood. But before she could even think to make a run for it, the door burst open and there stood Steve Harrington in all his glory, Alexandra could roll her eyes at how he always seemed unfazed when it came to her, how he just chose to ignore the demise of a nine year long friendship.

"Hey Alex," he breathed out, trying his very best not to appear nervous; because that's exactly what he was. Nervous. Alexandra Henderson always seemed to stir up certain emotions that he didn't like. Nerves. Fear. Mainly anger.

"Hi." Her tone was blunt, startling Steve just the littlest bit. With Alexandra there was two moods, well two moods reserved for him—she'd tolerate him or she'd be in an irritated mood. Right now Steve couldn't decipher which of the two she was feeling, but to play it safe he was gonna say she was in a shitty mood.

He gestured for her to walk in, stepping aside as he held the door open widely. The only recognition of any thanks she sent him was a tight lipped smile.

As she stepped into the foyer it seemed like tons and tons of memories rushed at her, flooding her body with warmth that she did not quite want to welcome. "You want anything to drink?" Steve asked, breaking her from her thoughts.

"Uh—sure," she mumbled. Steve's brows furrowed in light concern, she seemed out of it. No matter how much Alex deemed she didn't like him, it didn't mean he just stopped caring for her all of a sudden.

He nodded and turned to her hesitantly, "You . . . you okay?" He asked in confusion.

Her head snapped in his direction and she cleared her throat. "Fine."

Steve flimsily nodded in answer and spun on his heals, walking backwards as he spoke to her, "You can, uh, head upstairs."

Great, they were going to his bedroom. Just great. Alex muttered an, "okay," under her breath and headed up the stairs, fingers brushing against the wooden hand railing as her footsteps sent an echo travelling across the large house.

Upon coming to his closed bedroom door she was reluctant to step in. This house made her stomach whirl, bringing up a burning sensation in her gut. The reminder of how it used to be, how they used to be made her sick, she felt ill. A ring clad hand grudgingly reached out to the door and pushed it open.

God, it had been a while since she had been in his room and yet it all looked exactly the same. Her eyes involuntarily rolled at the same poster held up on his wall; a blonde woman clad in a very provocative bikini. It wasn't her intention to be nosy, no, she wanted to come in, get some of the project done and leave, but instead she found herself trailing around his room, picking up things in inspection.

A scoff left her lips at the certificate from the swim team held up on a frame on the wall—no doubt his father made him hang that up. She averted her eyes, finding a picture frame of him and Nancy, but her eyes didn't focus on that, no, her eyes were strayed on the polaroid being held up by the picture frame. It was from New Years Eve 1982, just before the fall out.

Her face was glossy in the picture, a bright smile on her lips, Steve besides her with squinted eyes at the bright flash, hand holding out as he tried to grab the camera.

She remembered that day like it was yesterday, they were getting ready to go to Tina's New Year's party. Deena, Alex and Steve. The Ritchie teen was the one who took the picture, her own grin hidden behind the camera. She remembered teasing Steve on how moody he looked and he'd merely shoot her a middle finger in reply.

She cleared her throat and looked away as she heard the thumps of Steve's feet travelling up the stairs, she slumped her bag to the ground besides the brown leather arm chair in the corner of the room, underneath the poster of the woman, and took a seat just as the door burst open and Steve entered with two cans of soda.

Steve had only taken so long to grab the sodas purely because he had to give himself a little pep talk before coming upstairs. Alexandra scared the shit out of him sometimes, he remembered the widened eyes of others when she'd glare at them, but he never thought he'd be on the receiving end of it.

He wordlessly handed her the drink and made his way to his bed, sitting atop the navy blue bed sheets—it was then he realised how far away the two were ( literally, as well as emotionally ). "For fucks sake, Alex, I'm not gonna' bite, c'mon." He gestured for her to sit on the bed, his tone was slightly playful, trying to hide the nerves racking through his body.

The Henderson girl rolled her eyes and grabbed her bag from the floor and hesitantly made her way over to the bed. Steve watched as she opened her bag and threw a text book on the mattress. "Please tell me you know what we're doing because I can't remember for shit," Alex spoke, and it shocked Steve. This must've been the most she had said to him in ages, whilst she was sober anyway.

"Uh—" Steve paused, thinking for a moment. "I think . . . I think Miss. Click said something about the Nazis."

Alex stared at him blankly. "You think or you know?" She raised a brow.

"I, uh, I know?"

"Great. Well, we're fucked." She concluded with a sigh, rubbing a hand across her forehead.

"No, no," Steve shook his head. "We're fine. We'll, uh, figure it out." He lifted the text book and flickered through it, finding the chapter about Nazis. He dropped it to the bed with an, "Ah ha!"

Alexandra gave him a deadpanned look. "Wow," she said sarcastically. "Well done, Steve."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "At least I've done something," he shot back. "What have you done, huh? Nothing. Nada."

"Because we haven't even started anything yet, idiot," she pointed out with a scoff, glaring at him. "Do you have paper or anything?"

"You didn't bring any?" Steve's brows furrowed in confusion.

"Obviously not, Harrington," Alex rolled her eyes.

Steve let out an eccentric sigh and moved off of his bed, tripping slightly as he did so and tried to play it off—but Alex saw and did nothing but merely huff in amusement. The Harrington teen shuffled through his draws, slamming shut the ones that had no paper residing in them.

Not even a minute later Steve let out a victorious noise and walked back over to the bed, throwing his body down. "Here." He handed her a single sheet of paper and she looked up at him with a deflected sigh.

"We're gonna need more than one sheet, dipshit." She deadpanned.

"Oh, right, yeah. Of course," he managed out, brushing a hand through the locks of hair on his head, flimsily moving to the desk again before pulling out a wad of paper.

As he took a seat on the bed Alex looked at him expectantly. "What?" Steve questioned.

"Well, you know what we're doin', right? So, what's the project about?"

"The . . . Nazis."

Alex paused and ran a hand through her hair. "Yeah, you've said. But what exactly are we doing?"

"Um . . . " Steve's face pulled in thought. "Yeah, no, I can't remember."

Alexandra groaned and laid back on the bed, "Fucking brilliant."

AUTHOR'S NOTE !
ik there's only little of
steve in this chapter but
there's gonna be more of
him in the next one i promise!!
but it mainly focuses on
deena and her like home situ