User:CraftTech/Sandbox

This was not the way the night was supposed to go, it had all started perfectly well, one moment they had been at Will’s place, laughing and eating junk food, enjoying the cozy sensation inside the house and the next, half of them were cramped inside Scott's car, tension inside, and they were speeding up the street as rain poured over the hood of the car.

Houses and trees flashed past them, Eleven was serious and tense but the look in her eyes was haunting, hurt, almost as if she was trying to figure out what was happening and how it had happened; because despite the fact that Lucas and Anne had said that everything would be alright, everyone knew that everything wasn’t simply going to be alright, and less of all in Hawkins.

And then the proof that this nightmare was just beginning appeared in front of the car.

“Stop!” Dustin cried, he had pushed himself into the space between the two front seats, his left hand over Scott's shoulder and the other pointing forward. “Stop!”

“I’m stopping!” Scott barked, but the tone that he usually used when barking at them was gone, panic had replaced it.

The car screeched into a holt, the kids in the back grunted loudly, Lucas hitting his face against the head rest of the passenger seat; Dustin’s hand was still pointing forward and even with the pouring rain and the poor visibility, they could all see what he was pointing.

“No” whispered Eleven hurt in her voice, Marty turned to look at her, but she was already reaching for the door handle, “No” she frowned and before she could open her door, a gust of wind and rain rushed into the car.

Everyone turned to the passenger seat, the young woman sitting on it was already shoving the door open all the way, rain hitting her face and the wind scrambling with her hair as she stepped out of the car; she tripped over her own feet and crashed on her knees before she pushed herself up to her feet.

“Wait!” Scott cried, he reached out to grab her arm, to pull her back into the car despite the fact that she was already soaked in water. “Evelyn!”

He didn’t think it twice, he turned his body to his own door and threw it open with force, the hinges hissing but the sound was muffled by the rain falling over the hood, “Evelyn!” he was crying after her again, this time the wind blowing away most of the force in his voice.

The kids in the back watched as Evelyn rushed towards the object just ahead of them, her raven hair was already sticking to her face and her neck, her jeans and her sweater soaked in water, Scott skidded on the slippery road, his feet almost giving up on him and throwing him to the ground but he pushed himself from the hood of the car and regained his balance before he started to run behind the young woman.

Scott reached Evelyn just as she came to a stop, water rolling down her face and her fingers, her lower lip already trembling with the cold wind and the horror traveling through her veins.

“No” she whispered as she looked down at the object on the road.

It was a bike, discarded on the road like roadkill, like it was infectious; but mostly as if it had been left there for her to find.

“Oh god no” she whispered again, her left hand shooting up to cover her mouth as she scanned the bike, but she didn’t have to, she already knew who it belonged to.

Eleven tore her eyes away from the blurry scene of Scott and Evelyn and shoved her own door open, her heart was racing, her mind was flying and she was trying her best to figure out how she could have prevented this, she had promised herself that she would do all she could to forever protect her friends and now here they were, because she had failed.

“EL!” said Marty, the wind hitting his face and the rain making him squint before Marty, Dustin and Lucas were scrambling out of the car behind their friend.

Scoot pushed his hands through his hair and looked around the road, his heart was racing, his mind was going miles per minute, he couldn’t understand how this had happened.

Eleven didn’t wait for the others, she couldn’t, her mind was telling her to run towards the tree line at the other side of the road, she dashed furiously towards it, Marty, Dustin and Lucas catching up with her as she disappeared into the small patch of woods.

“Eleven!” cried Marty, but she couldn’t stop, she wouldn’t, she had made a promise and she had to keep it, because promises were something that you didn’t break.

Eleven came to a sudden stop, water rolling down her face, she was heaving but she wasn’t cold, at least not from the rain; her eyes were casted down when Marty almost ran into her and for a second, her mind went completely blank.

“No” she whispered again.

She had failed her friend.

“Oh shit” whispered Dustin as he followed Eleven’s sight.

A red and black backpack lay on the floor, already soaked and gathering mud, discarded but oh so perfectly set that it was obvious that someone had left it there on purpose, and that was even scarier that if it had fallen from its owner.

Lucas reached out and picked up the backpack, they all recognized it immediately and the words of Nancy and Lucas that everything would be fine, finally shattered as realization hit everyone; nothing about this was fine.

Nothing about a bike in the middle of the road and a backpack perfectly placed in the woods, was fine.

“What’s this?” asked Dustin, his leaned forward and his fingers traced a piece of cloth that had been tied to the top handle of the backpack.

“We need to go” Eleven said, she was looking deep into the woods, the sensation that someone had been there not so long ago was hitting her hard.

“I agree” said Dustin.

The kids hurried back out into the road, this time they found Scott had already set the bike against the car and had closed the doors.

“Look what we found” said Lucas, Evelyn was looking down the street, turning to look at them over her shoulder and hurrying towards them when she noticed Scott had something in his hands.

“Where did you find this?” he asked, his eyes up to Lucas.

“In the woods” answered Marty, they were all soaked and dripping water and scared.

“Oh god!” gasped Evelyn, her hands shooting towards the backpack and ripping it away from Steve and holding it up to her “No, no, no, please”

“Oh shit” whispered Steve, his left hand over his hip and the other over his hair as he looked around the street.

“We also found this” said Dustin, who had taken the cloth off the backpack as they had been making their way out of the woods.

Evelyn’s eyes snapped to the cloth and a screamed tore out of her throat, a scream that made her whole body tremble, she staggered back and dropped the backpack as everyone looked at her and Dustin instinctively dropped the cloth.

Evelyn covered her mouth with both hands but they did little to muffle the screams still slipping out of her as he body trembled, Scott stepped towards her, his hands landing over her shoulders and he turned her to face him, to tear her eyes away from the cloth on the floor.

“Evelyn” he spoke, steady but soft “Evelyn, look at me”

She couldn’t.

“Evie” he whispered, and there was a tone in his voice that made Dustin raise his eyebrows “Evie, look at me”

She slowly turned to look at him, and he could see her eyes were red from the tears that were being washed away by the rain.

“We are going to find him, ok?” he asked, bending his knees a little to be at her eye level, “Ok? Trust me, ok?”

He was just really hoping this wasn’t like Will’s disappearance, or Barb’s or that creature that Dustin had decided to house just a year ago.

“No” she shook her head as she uncovered her mouth “You don’t understand”

“We’ll find him,” he said again, and Eleven could hear the anguish in his tone.

Evelyn looked at him and the way her eyes had changed hurt Eleven, because the light in them was gone, the cheerful spark had been replaced by horror and dread and she wanted to take that away from her, because Evelyn was her friend and so had been Evelyn’s brother, and she had failed both of them.

“He took him” whispered Evelyn, “He took him, Scott”

“What?” whispered Scott, utterly confused “Who took him?”

“He found us, and he took him” her lower lip was trembling, but her voice was steady. “He took him, he took Noah”

“Who took him?” asked Scott, “Evie, please, talk to me”

She gave him a hurt smile that last a couple of seconds before her voice returned “Now he’s going to take me too”

HAWKINS, INDIANA 1975 (Five Months Earlier)

The night was clear, with the start shining bright like diamonds, the cool breeze was filtering through the only slightly open window and into the silent car as it drove down the highway; the headlights illuminating the road ahead but the view had lost most of its meaning after becoming unchanging almost three hours ago.

A pair of dark eyes glanced at the review mirror, focusing on the sleeping figure on the backseat, the young boy had laid down across the seat, his knees partially bent, he was already too tall to fit perfectly across it; he had a light blanket over his body, his left arm hiding under it but the right one still visible to his sister.

The young woman looked at him for a few seconds, his face almost completely covered by the shadows, but she could still make out the delicate curves of his curly hair; she looked away after a moment, she sometimes got dizzy if she looked inside the car for too long, she focused onto the road ahead, no longer wondering how long it would take for them to get to their new destination.

“The school knows you guys will be there tomorrow” there was a pause “Your old school sent your reports and everything, last week”

The voice was rough, but it broke into the silence so delicately that it didn’t startle Evelyn, it took the young woman a second to look away from the road and focused on the man driving the car.

“Sounds good, dad” she nodded, a soft smile gracing her face.

“This is gonna work out, you know?” he continued, his eyes looking out to the road, the headlights illuminating him a lot better than they had illuminated Noah when Evelyn had glanced to look at him.

Evelyn looked at him for a moment, her eyes scanning his face, he looked tired but there was a light in his eyes that she couldn’t dare to break with her questioning thoughts; but then again, it was hard to believe that this would work out, still she tried her best to keep a positive attitude, this was after all, going to be a team work and no one could falter.

Not when the stakes were so high.

“I’ll drive you guys to school and I’ll give you some lunch money, I promise I’ll make something nice to eat… he was rambling, wanting to reassure her that he had everything under control.

“Dad” she whispered, her hand reached out and she set it over his shoulder, his words instantly stopped, he tensed but she gave him a soft shrugged “It’s ok, don’t worry, ok?”

He glanced at her, she was the only one with dark eyes and they were always so warm and bright and reassuring, and he had no idea how he would have ever managed if he hadn’t had Evelyn to help him, to support him through all of this madness.

“I’m sorry you guys have to wake up early tomorrow, I didn’t think it would take this long” he sighed, Evelyn pulled her hand away from him and dropped it over her lap.

“Hey,” she shrugged “Every adventure has its tripping stones,” she smiled, and a dimple formed on her cheek “This will be fun,” she nodded “New house, new room, new clothes” he chuckled and so did her, and even with the cool air filtering into the car, the inside felt warm as they laughed, because this is what they did, they survived, they moved forward.

That’s what teams did.

___________//____________

This was probably not the way to start school, to start a new life at a new town, but in her defense, Evelyn had not intended on taking so long at the middle school with her brother; her backpack was bouncing against her back, her raven hair dancing around her as she dashed down the empty hallway, her heart was racing and her cheeks were flushed.

She took a turn, her feet skidded but she was able to maintain her balance and started to slow down as the door to the principal’s office came into view; she stopped in front of it and hunched forward, she set her hands over her knees and took a few deep breaths before she pushed herself up, her right hand took the door handle and she pushed it open.

The air conditioner hit her face, but she was still warmed up from the run, her eyes darted towards the front desk, the secretary was already looking at her, an eyebrow raised from over her glasses; Evelyn offered her a smile and walked up to her.

“Hey, good morning” she said, her voice coming in a small pant.

“Good morning” said the woman as she looked at Evelyn “May I help you?”

“Yes” she nodded, her hand reaching into the pocket of her jacket, she pulled out an ID card and placed it over the desk, sliding it towards the woman “I’m Evelyn Tyler, I’m supposed to be starting here today”

The woman looked at Evelyn for a few more seconds before she looked down at the ID and took it, she examined it and then turned to the file she had over the desk, she opened the file and read a few notes that the principal had given her that morning, and well enough, the name of the young woman standing in front of her.

“Seems like you are” she said, she pushed the ID back to Evelyn.

“I’m sorry I’m late, I had to stop by the middle school first” she explained, she leaned over the desk and offered the woman a smile.

“Don’t worry about it” said the woman, “I’ll give you an excuse and your schedule and you’ll be good to go”

“Thank you” nodded Evelyn, she took her ID and pushed it back into her jacket, she had gotten used to this, but Noah wasn’t that comfortable doing this kind of thing, and that had been why Evelyn had gone with him to the middle school first.

“Here you go, Ms. Tyler” said the secretary, her glasses her slipped down her nose, but at least her tone had changed into a softer one, she pushed two pieces of paper towards Evelyn “Your schedule and your tardy pass”

“Thanks” Evelyn took both papers, she looked down at the schedule, memorizing the class number before she folded the paper and slipped it inside her jeans. “Thank you, have a good day”

“You too” said the woman “Welcome to Hawkins!” she called after Evelyn as she the young woman was already reaching the door.

Evelyn had been in enough schools to figure her way around this one, her eyes darting to the doors of the rooms to get the numbers, she took a turn and headed towards her classroom; she held the tardy pass in her left hand as she knocked on the door with her right one.

“Here we go” she thought as she took a step back and waited for the door to open up.

The voices that had been echoing inside the classroom slowly died down and Evelyn tightened her jaw as she waited for the door to open up for her; she held her breath, worried that no one would answer because she was already ten minutes late.

But her doubts were eased a few seconds later when the door swung open.

The elderly man looked at her for a moment, before Evelyn extended the tardy pass towards him.

“Good morning” she said, he took the pass and looked down at it.

“Oh” he exclaimed and looked up at her “You’re the new girl”

“Yeah,” she nodded, “I’m sorry I’m late, I had to go by the middle school first”

“Don’t worry about it” the man waved away her worried thoughts and stepped away from the door “Come on in, you arrived just in time for our buddy system”

“What?” whispered Evelyn, but the man had turned away from the door and was already talking to the classroom.

“Classroom” said the man, “This is… he looked down at the pass “Evelyn Tyler” he continued as he looked up at them. “She’ll be joining us this year and that ends the discussion about groups of three this year”

A few girls groaned and rolled their eyes as Evelyn walked into the room, she looked around, her eyes jumping to a few faces before she turned to look at the teacher.

“I’m Mr. Grove, by the way” he shrugged “Welcome to chemistry”

“Nice to meet you” said Evelyn.

“Ok” he turned to his desk and grabbed a piece of paper and looked down at it “Let’s continue with the seat arrangement now that the discussion is over” he looked over the paper towards a few girls and then looked down at it again.

Evelyn stood next to the man as he started to call out names, pairs, the people started to get up, a few groaning and rolling eyes and a few others excited and smiling, she shifted her weight from one leg to the other and looked down at her entwined hands just before her name was called out.

“Evelyn Tyler, you got Scott Harrington”

Evelyn glanced at the teacher, because who the hell was Scott Harrington?

“It’s him over there” said Grove, he pointed towards one of the long desks, a young man lazily raised his hand and gave her a soft wave, she raised an eyebrow and missed the way a girl with red hair shot her daggers.

“Alright” whispered Evelyn, she took a deep breath and started to walk towards Scott, the young man pushed out one of the high chairs for her, Evelyn shrugged her backpack off and set it over the table before she sat down next to the her partner.

“Like I said before, this pairs cannot be undone, if you fight, if you decide you hate each other, work it out, I don’t care and don’t come crying and asking me to change you up” he clapped his hands together, Evelyn pressing her lips into a thin line to avoid the chuckle bubbling in her chest “Now lets get started, shall we?”

“Hey” his voice was soft, just a whisper to avoid being heard by the teacher, he had his elbow propped over the desk and his chin resting on his hand.

Evelyn turned to look at him “Hi” she nodded at him “I’m Evelyn Tyler” she said, feeling like an idiot because the teacher had already introduced her.

“Scott Harrington” he nodded back at her “Nice to meet you partner”

“Nice to meet you too” she said, he gave her a short smile before he turned back to look at the board, he narrowed his eyes and Evelyn raised an eyebrow, a question popping in her mind. “Hey Harrington” he turned to look at her, his fingers tapping the side of his face. “Are you good at chemistry?”

He looked at her for a moment scanning her face, and noticing a very faint scar just above her eyebrow, a scar almost obscured by her raven hair, hair so dark that he was sure he had never seen anyone with that same color, he

“Not really” he finally answered. “What about you?”

“Well, we are screwed” she answered, with a shrug and a soft smile, her dimples showing softly, his lips twitched and he smiled back at her gently.

“Well, shit this will be fun” he chuckled, Evelyn snorted a laugh and her right hand shot up and she covered her mouth, pressing her lips tight as the teacher turned to look at her.

Grove raised an eyebrow at Evelyn but shot Scott a warning glare, he knew guys like Steve, guys who though they could charm their way through everything and everyone, he was just hoping that the new girl wasn’t dumb enough to fall for something so basic and stupid.

Evelyn grabbed her backpack and pulled out a notebook, she had survived pretty shitty things before, in her lives before Hawkins, Indiana, so she was pretty sure she could survive not knowing anything about chemistry and being partnered up with someone just as clueless on the topic as her.

Certainly being paired up with someone who looked just as confused as her in chemistry had not been the way Evelyn had wished to start her day, or her school year as a matter of fact; but at least he seemed willing to put in an effort, and that had to count for something, right?

Right.

“Um, ok” Scott said as they walked out of the classroom “That was enlightening”

Evelyn looked at him, her eyebrows up “That was a mess, is what you mean”

Because the confused expression on Scott's face, that had lasted throughout the whole period, was still very present in her mind.

“This is a nightmare,” he whispered, he had barely managed to pass Chem 1 last year, how was he supposed to do this again? “I had Chem 1 with Grove last year, and at least for now we can mask our ignorance of the subject with the report for the end of the month,” he shrugged and passed a hand through his hair “We could met at the library”

He was trying.

“Sure,” Evelyn nodded “Sounds good.”

“Great, Thursday after school?”

“Yeah,” she agreed, the bell announcing the next period echoed through the school, Scott turned to look down the hallway “I'll see you later, then,” her voice snapped him back to her.

“Ok,” he nodded, she gave him a short smile and turned in her heels, starting to make her way down the hallway.

Scott watched her walk away, her dark hair contrasting against her light sweater, last time they had had a new student, it had been that prick Billy, and now that Scott thought about it, he hadn't seen the blonde menace since school had started last week.

“That's probably not a good thing,” he told himself before he started to move down the hall and to his next class.

__________//__________

The cool breeze of the morning had disappeared when Evelyn had left school on her bike, and now as she made her way down the street and to the middle school, she could rejoice in the warmth that had taken over the town; the sun was high and warm, the wind blowing gently as the young woman took a swift turn, her hair dancing behind her like a dark wave.

That morning she had made it her mission to learn the way to the middle school, remembering landmarks to avoid getting lost. The school building came into view, but her eyes zoomed onto the lonely figure sitting on the sidewalk, a dark bike standing next to him.

“Hey Big Man!” she called out a few feet before she reached him; the young man rolled his eyes at the nickname but there was a small smile over his lips.

“Hi,” he answered as he pushed himself up to his feet.

She stopped next to him, one of her legs dropping from the pedal to hold herself up. “How was school?”

“Same as always” he shrugged, taking the handles of his bike.

“Wow,” Evelyn mocked “Negative Noah is back in town, I was starting to miss him.”

“Yeah,” he said “He had to come back to keep Enthusiastic Evelyn from soaring too close to the sun, you know how she gets,” he smirked at her.

“You're such an ass,” she smiled, “Fine, at least tell me which class you liked the best.”

Noah grunted and got on his bike quickly, starting to pedal as fast as he could to avoid school questions.

“Hey!” barked Evelyn, she heard him laugh before she was pedaling down the street after him. “Don't ignore me!” she laughed as she reached her brother.

“History,” he answered finally “How about yours?”

“Portuguese was fun,” Evelyn said, she pushed her hair away from her face with her left hand. “Do you have homework?” she asked, both of them riding side by side.

“I have to catch up with the work we missed from last week, but it's not that hard” he explained, his curls dancing with the wind. “Why?”

“I have an art project, and I need your help,” she shrugged, Noah turned to look at her “My handwriting sucks, and I need to make some fliers.”

“Your teachers asked you to do fliers?”

“They are not for school, smartass,” she snorted “They are fliers to look for a job.”

“You're looking for a job?”

They rolled down the street, wind blowing past them, houses rushing by, and Evelyn couldn't help but smile, because lately it seemed that Noah was only fully relaxed when they went riding on their bikes; but then again, moving around so much would make any kid, tense.

“Babysitting,” she explained.

“We don't need the money, Lyn,” he glanced at her.

“I know” she shrugged before dropping her hands from the handles of the bike, a trick Noah had not yet managed to perfect. “But it's to burn some time, and anyway, that way we won't have to ask dad for money,”

“Yeah, but you have zero, ZERO, experience taking care of kids, Evelyn,” Noah pointed out, his grown up voice loud and clear.

“What are you talking about? I've been taking care of you since forever, that has to count for something,” she gasped.

“No, Evelyn,” he said, his voice making emphasis on her name, “I'VE been taking care of YOU since forever.”

She laughed loudly, her body jerking forward and forcing her to grab the handles of the bike, he smiled at the sound of her laugh; all his laugh he had found that sound incredibly protective, Evelyn's laugh and their father's jokes, that's what home was to him, what it always would be, no matter where they went.

Thursday afternoon had arrived with a threat of rain, an appointment at the library and Scott running late; he had been called to a last minute meeting with the basketball team and had not counted on it to run that long.

He paced rapidly into the library, trying his best not to be loud, Mrs. King had always been very stern about the noise; his eyes jumped from table to table, earning a surprised look but sweet smile from Alice as he walked by her side, he shot her a quick smile before his eyes were drawn to the black haired girl who sat at the corner of the room and next to one of the windows; he winced internally as he approached her and saw all the books spread in front of her.

He pulled out a chair and sat down in front of her, trying not to pant from the sprinting he had done the get there; Evelyn looked up at him.

“Harrington, hey,” she said softly.

“Sorry I'm late,” he explained “I had a meeting with the basketball team.”

“Don't worry,” she shrugged, she tapped her pen over her notebook twice before she set it down “You're in the basketball team? That's cool.”

“Thanks,” he said, remembering that Lucas had said the same thing, but had used the word tubular instead of cool. “How did you find the library, anyway?”

Evelyn quirked an eyebrow at him “Well, first of all, it's a pretty big building” she smirked before she leaned forward, her voice dropping a bit more “And second,” her eyes drifted over his shoulder and then back to him “The redhead that glances at you during Chem, who is also glancing right now, walked all the way here with me.”

“What? No she doesn't,” Scott gasped with a frown on his face, a second before he looked over his shoulder and towards Alice, but the girl had already looked away, his head snapped back to Evelyn.

“Really?” asked the raven haired girl, a smile drawing over her pale face “Then how did you know I was talking about Alice and not Hannah, who’s standing just by the shelves? Huh?” she pointed towards the shelves with her chin, her eyes still over him.

“Great, you played yourself, dumbass,” Scott thought, mentally barking at himself for not remembering that Hannah, with her short red hair, also had Chemistry with them; Scott looked at her for a few moments, flushing and her smile getting wider before he shook his head, his hair flopping around, and changing the subject.

“Anyway, what have you found so far?” he cleared his throat, but her smile was still there, decorating her delicate face.

“Other than Alice's crush on you,” she explained with a matter of fact voice, Scott gave her a deadpan stare but his blush was still there “This.”

Evelyn looked down at her notebook and turned it around before she pushed it towards him, Scott looked at her for a moment before his eyes were casted down to the notebook with the scribbled notes and ink stains.

Scott looked down at her notes, reading rapidly, at least they already had a subject to work on for the rest of the year, a subject that Grove would approve; and just like that, the pair started scanning through the books, taking notes and sharing occasional comments and after two hours, they finally decided to call it a day.

As Evelyn pushed her things into her bag, Scott noticed a colorful piece of paper sticking from under one of the textbooks they had been reading. The young man shifted his weight from one leg to the other and reached for the paper, he pulled it out just as Evelyn glanced up at him.

“Give me that!” she gasped trying to keep her voice down despite the surprise that Scott was reading her unfinished flier.

Scott's eyebrows shot up and an amused smile spread over his face.

“Babysitting?” he asked, handing the paper back to the young woman.

“Yes,” she answered, a light blush on her face as she took the paper from his hands, “This is just a draft my brother made for me, he's good at art,” she folded the colorful piece into a square and pushed it inside her jacket.

“You have a brother?” he asked as she swung her backpack over her shoulder.

She moved around the table and then both of them started to walk side by side and towards the door.

“Yeah, Noah,” she answered “He's in middle school”

“Nice” he nodded, he opened the door for her and they walked out, a cold and harsh wind greeting them outside the building; ruffling Evelyn's hair like a dark cloud.

“Well, when you have them ready, let me know,” he continued as they walked down the stairs “I have a few friends who have younger brothers, their moms might want your help,” he shrugged casually.

“Thank you,” she smiled, her dimples showing and Steve smiled back at her.

“As long as the kid you babysit doesn't have an alien for a pet,” he thought as the first drops of water started to fall.

“Shit,” whispered Evelyn, she glanced up, the dark clouds taking over the sky.

“You have a bike?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she nodded, hugging herself “I should hurry, I don't want…"

“I'll drive you,” Scott said without missing a beat “Leave your bike at school, I'll drive you home”

“You don't have to do that.”

“No,” he agreed “But it's the least I can do after being late half an hour, and letting you work alone, and come on, what kind of asshole would let you ride under the rain?” he looked at her, his eyes big and his eyebrow up.

“Thanks” she said as they made their way to the main building where Steve had left his car, the rain drops already falling harder and faster.

“Don't worry about it, partner”

__________//__________

Evelyn rushed across the driveway and towards her porch, her jacket over her head and her backpack hugged against her chest, the water was pouring down, washing down the streets angrily and with the wind blowing hard against the trees and the bushes, swaying their leaves harshly as Evelyn jogged up the stairs; the young woman huffed, grabbing the hem of her jacket with her left hand and yanking it away from her head, strands of hair rolling down towards her face.

The young woman shook the jacket twice, drops of water jumping off the item before she hanged the jacket over her arm and fished for her house keys inside her backpack; she pulled the keychain out and turned to the door, the doorknob resisted a bit against the keys but the finally she was able to push the door open and step into the warmth of her new home.

And then it happened.

The questions started as soon as she pushed the door open, she of course should have known they would, the rain outside was falling hard but at least she wasn't soaked in water.

“Who was that?”

She rolled her eyes and closed the door, she stepped towards the coat rack, but her mind rapidly reminding her that it was probably not a good idea to set the wet jacket on the coat rack with the rest of the dry items there.

“Where's your bike?” the questions continued as she deiced it would be best to leave it at the kitchen to dry for the night “Why are you late?”

“Jesus!” she groaned as she entered the living room, her eyes instantly snapping towards Noah, who was sitting over the sofa, the curtain behind him partially drawn; “You sound like dad, Noah.”

“Well, you sound like you are ignoring my questions, Evelyn,” his arms were crossed over his chest, his eyes were sharp, his voice stern and she felt an urge to burst into laughter.

“Where you spying on me through the window?” she asked, pointing at the window curtains that were partially drawn, Noah’s eyebrow shot up and his jaw tensed.

“I was waiting for you,” he explained.

“Oh my god” she smiled, trying her best not to laugh in his face, “Remember that I told you I had a Chemistry project with a partner?” she made her way towards one of the single armchairs, she set her backpack next to the chair and dropped her jacket over the backpack, she glanced at her brother when she didn’t hear an answer from him, she rolled her eyes and continued through his silence. “That’s my Chemistry partner, Scott Harrington,” she sat down, her back against one of the arm rests of the beige armchair and draping her legs over the other arm rest; she turned her eyes to her brother “I left my bike at school because it was raining and he offered to drive me home, are you happy now?”

“Mostly,” he said.

“You know, Noah,” she said, imitating his arm posture “With this new found attitude, maybe you should be the one applying for the babysitting job,” she chuckled, throwing her head back, her raven hair rolling behind her and shaking as she laughed at her own joke.

Noah rolled his clear eyes at her as he unfolded his arms and relaxed at the thought that at least Evelyn was back home and she was unharmed; the thing was, that after getting used to running around and hiding, the family had fallen into certain patterns that were safe, that were what they knew. Mostly it consisted on school, home for the kids, sometimes Noah had ventured far enough as to attend a few art classes in the community buildings, and Evelyn had gotten a few jobs here and there, but that had been mostly it.

School, Home, Work for their dad, but always just the three of them.

And now, people were driving Evelyn home, and this was abnormal in every single way, it made Noah nervous, because after all they had been through, he had to look out after her as she looked out after him and dad.

They were a team.

And these new things, he didn’t like them, he didn’t like them despite the relaxed posture and tone of his sister.

So Noah Tyler made his mind then and there as the rain raged outside and Evelyn got up to leave her things in the kitchen, he decided that he didn’t like this, that he didn’t like him, he decided that Scott Harrington, Chemistry partner, driver of the blue car, was in fact suspicious.

After moving as often as they did, Evelyn had learned to compartmentalize, she had learned the depressing art of never getting attached and never caring too much; it hadn’t been easy, and there had been places where pain and hurt had seeped through harder than others, she had gotten her heart broken, her reputation shattered, her nose fractured, but she had put herself back together, in the silence of her room, sometimes with tears running down her cheeks, make up washing down as well, there had been blood the time of the fractured nose, and her hair had been wild, and she had looked at herself in the mirror and she had put herself together when the sun came up the next day.

That being said, she had learned to see pain coming before it hit her, that way she could avoid it, that way she could be prepared, she could shield herself from it, but sometimes pain and hurt masked themselves in the little things, in the daily things that happened all around them, and that Saturday afternoon, Evelyn didn’t see the pain coming.

She was walking down the street, Noah by her side, each with a decent stack of colorful papers under their arms and a pair of rolls of tape, the wind was swaying deliciously, playing with Noah’s curls and dancing with Evelyn’s hair like a dark wave.

“So,” she started, Noah instantly knowing that the questions were about to start coming his way “What do you think about Hawkins, Indiana?”

“Not much,” he shrugged “It’s quiet, its nice, its temporary.”

Evelyn glanced at him, her heart clenching in her chest “But it’s better than Texas.”

“Not as hot,” Noah agreed “Let’s not do Texas again any time soon.”

“Agreed,” Evelyn huffed “Dad seemed to like it though.”

“He liked your art teacher, is what you mean,” Noah snorted, he stopped in front of a light post and Evelyn pressed one of the fliers against its surface as Noah tore a piece of tape.

“He could like someone here,” she pointed out, watching as Noah secured the flier to the light post.

“What? Are you gonna play matchmaker?” he glanced at her, a smirk over his lips.

“Going out on a date never hurt anyone,” she shrugged as they started to walk again, of course that wasn’t entirely sure and she knew that better than anyone.

“He’s not gonna do that,” said Noah “You know that.”

“Well, dreaming is free,” she said back. “We could walk all the way up to the end of this street and then walk back home by the other side of the street, more chances of people seeing our fliers.”

“I really hope someone calls you, because I did not just make all these fliers for you to not get a job,” Noah sighed.

“We could have added that at the bottom of the fliers,” she rolled her eyes, Noah smiled as they kept on walking towards the next post.

And it was then that it happened.

The laughter.

The laughter that drifted up with the wind, elongating it, distorting it but it was still laughter, in several different tones, in several different voices; Noah set down his stack of papers, grabbing one flier and then pressed his left foot over the stack to keep it from flying away and turned his attention to the post.

The young man held the paper with his left hand and pulled a piece of tape with his right one, tearing it with his teeth and starting to secure the flier as the laughter approached; Evelyn looked up the street, her eyes focusing on the figures that were hurrying down the street.

Five bikes were racing down, laughter and excited cries approaching Evelyn and Noah, close behind came a girl with wildfire for hair, rolling down on a skateboard, her body moving fluidly with the curves of the street and taking advantage of the slope they were going down to gain speed and reach the other kids on the bikes.

They looked happy, they looked excited.

They looked like kids.

Evelyn watched them, unable to tear her eyes away from them as the laughing group zoomed past them, a name being called amongst them, Dustin, but she couldn’t hear the answer as they left Noah and Evelyn behind.

“Ready to go?” his voice snapped her back to reality, her turned her head to Noah, his eyes focused on her, the stack of papers in his hands and it hit her then and there.

Noah hadn’t even glanced at the group, he hadn’t cared about their laughs or their presence, a presence he hadn’t even noticed, his clear eyes were staring up at her, an eyebrow quirked and she felt her heart being squeezed by an icy hand.

Evelyn had learned how to deal with the heartbreaks and the high school drama, but Noah had also learned, he had learned to deal with the fact that he would never be part of the laughing crowd, that he would never be one of those kids rolling down in his bike, excited and happy.

And Evelyn learned that day as she looked at her brother, that Noah was very much aware of the fact that he wasn’t going to laugh like that but worse of all, that he was very aware that he would never have friends.

“Are you alright?” Noah asked, he was frowning, he took a step towards her.

“I’m sorry,” she blurt out.

“Sorry about what?” he asked, “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine,” she nodded “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you first question,” she lied, when she really had meant “I’m sorry this is the way things are.”

___________//____________

Billy draped his arm around Veronica’s shoulders, pulling her closer to himself as they walked out of the theater, it had been a lousy movie, he had to admit to that at least, but he’d already been spinning Veronica into his web and he wasn’t about to let her walk away because he had refused to go to one movie with her; the young woman pressed herself closer to him and Billy smiled to himself, he could almost taste the victory.

He lead the way towards his car as the night breeze got colder, the young woman shivering under his arm, Billy rubbed his hand up and down her arm as he turned to look at her.

“I think we still have time to go for something to eat” he said, she turned to look at him, her eyes no longer showed the innocence she had been pretending to have when Billy had asked her out the first time.

“Sounds great” she smiled, she wasn’t going to give Billy anything that night, but she sure wasn’t going to restrain herself for long.

Billy had arrived to Hawkins not even a year ago and he had shaken everything he had touched, he was dashing, with a smile that could light up a city, he had been nice and respectful every single time they had seen each other and Veronica wasn’t going to lie, she liked that the other girls envied that she was the one walking under Billy’s arm.

He smiled at her as they reached his car, he pulled his arm away from her and fished the keys out of his jacket, he opened her door and held it like that as she stepped inside, Billy closed the door and walked around the hood and towards his own, he pulled it open and got inside.

The drive to the diner was short, filled mostly by Veronica’s talk about the movie and a few questions directed to Billy about what he had thought about the film; Billy smiled and answered, even if he could care less about what she thought of the movie, as he pulled over in the parking lot of the diner, her small hand reached out and landed over his lap, his eyes darting towards her as he killed the engine.

“You know,” she started, and it was that same tone in her voice that she had used not long ago just before she had started kissing him in the far end of the library. “Maybe we could go out again on Friday”

“You think you could get out of your house for a few hours?” he asked, his voice dropping to that tone that girls seemed to love so much, his clear eyes staring at her.

The young woman smiled “I think I can manage” she shrugged and gave Billy a soft squeeze.

“I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble” he explained, he didn’t care if she got in trouble, he just didn’t want to be the one who got in trouble, the last thing he needed was to anger his father.

“You won’t” she said quickly, shaking her head, her blond hair swaying around her “I’ll ask Alice or Jess to cover for me” she gave Billy a smile and raised one of her eyebrows “What do you say?”

“I’ll pick you up where and when you tell me” he smiled back at her.

Her hand over his lap, squeezed a bit harder and then she leaned forward, her eyes closing and Billy leaned to meet her halfway, her lips were soft and delicate but she sure knew what she was doing with them; she gripped his leg harder as she leaned forward a bit more, Billy’s hand reaching behind her head.

Tap, tap.

The knock on the window made Veronica push herself away from Billy, even pulling her hand away from his leg, the young man tensed his jaw and turned to look at his window, Tommy H. and Carol were at the other side.

Billy rolled his eyes before he reached for the door handle, Veronica already pushing her door open; Tommy and Carol got on his nerves more times than he was about to admit, but the look of betrayal on Scott's face when he had seen Carol and Tommy with Billy was enough for Billy to accept their presence around him.

“Hey” said Tommy.

“Hey” said Billy.

“Hi guys” smiled Veronica, she walked around the hood and towards Carol and Tommy, noticing that Carol was holding a piece of paper in her hands “What’s that?”

Carol looked up at her and shrugged as she handed the paper to Veronica, Billy closed the door of his car and started to make his way to the diner, Tommy following closely and Veronica and Carol falling behind to talk in hushed voices.

At least Carol could keep Veronica company, because he sure wasn’t sure he could handle more talking from the girl, he wondered how she managed to talk so much and not get tired, he shrugged and pushed the door open, wanting to just hold it for Veronica but held it for Tommy and Carol, he couldn’t allow Veronica to see him get annoyed by them.

“Yeah, she’s in my Chem class” said Veronica “Can I keep this flier? Maybe Alice’s mom wants it” she turned to Billy “Thank you” and winked at him, he raised an eyebrow at her with yet another fake smile on his face.

“Yeah sure keep it” Carol said.

Billy let go of the door and took a deep breath, this was probably going to be the longest two hours of his life.

“This girl better be worth all this fucking shit” he growled in his mind “She better not have this princess act on Friday” because despite the fact that she probably looked amazing without her clothes on, she wasn’t the only girl in school and Billy was sure as hell not going to keep trying his best to get her into his bed.

___________//____________

The hallway was crowded, people coming and going, laughing, arguing and chattering as they walked towards their last class of the day, it had been a long enough Tuesday and apparently everyone was just as eager to be done with the day as Evelyn was; the young woman was looking down at her backpack, making sure she had her books and her jacket so she wouldn’t have to go back to the locker when class was over, she shifted her weight from one leg to the other, when the door of her locker was pushed closed.

“Evelyn!” her name and the sound of the locker closing startled her.

“For god's sake!” she gasped, jumping to her left and turned to her right, her hands clutching the backpack and a frown over her face. “What the hell, Harrington?”

“Sorry” he shrugged, and he looked everything but sorry. “I was looking for you at lunch”

“Why?” she asked, her right eyebrow going up.

“Guess who has really good news?” he smiled down at her, she looked at him for a moment, even if he was making an obvious thumb movement to point at himself on the chest.

“Um, you?”

“Yes” he said, he stepped closer to the locker wall to allow a group of students to walk past them.

“Did you become an expert in Chemistry during the weekend?” she asked, he rolled his eyes at her, but his cheerful attitude was still untouched.

“Of course not, but still good news”

“I’m all ears” she shrugged, she turned to her backpack, pulling the zipper up “But I can’t be late for Calculus again”

“Sure, I’ll walk you” he said, he started to move and Evelyn followed him “Wait, how many times have you been late? Blake only gets annoyed after like the fourth time”

“There’s your answer” she said, she walked around a group of girls, and towards the door of her classroom.

“Right” he shrugged “Anyway, I got us a Chemistry tutor”

Evelyn turned to look at him, coming to a stop in front of the open door of her next class, an intrigued look over her face as she looked up at him.

“You got us a tutor? How?”

“She’s… he hesitated for a moment “She’s a friend” he explained. “She already said she would help us once a week”

“Really?” she asked, she shifted her weight from one leg to the other “That sounds great, thanks for talking to her”

“Don’t worry about it,” he nodded at her, Evelyn’s eyes darting up to his hair as it bopped gently with his head movement. “She’ll meet us on Thursday at the library, deal?”

“Deal”

“Ok well, I’ll see you tomorrow in class” and with that he turned around, taking a step back to avoid crashing into a petite girl with thick glasses, she walked past him and Scott started to move.

“Shit, Harrington! Wait!”

Scott turned on his heels without stopping, a swift movement he had learned in basketball, his eyes landed over Evelyn, the young woman glanced at the open door and then she hurried towards him, a few colorful papers in her hand.

“Here, the finished fliers” she explained, and Scott noticed a soft blush spreading over her face “Maybe you could give them to a few of your friends”

Scott looked down at the fliers and took them from her hands, he looked at them and then looked up at her.

“Count on it, partner”

And with that, Evelyn turned around and dashed towards her class just as Mr. Blake was about to close the door, Steve watched as the young woman squirmed into the room, shooting Blake an apologetic smile as Blake rolled his eyes at her; Scott snorted a soft laugh and looked down at the fliers, he turned on the ball of his feet and started to move towards his class, his eyes scanning the handmade fliers that Evelyn’s brother had made.

___________//____________

Billy was leaning against the lockers, his eyes trained over Veronica, the young woman was talking and shifting her backpack over her shoulders, her eyes over the content of the locker; Billy glanced up from Veronica and towards a petite young woman with glasses, she glanced at Billy and Billy raised an inviting eyebrow at her, the young woman looked at him for a second, slowing her pace, and a blush spreading over her face.

She was pretty, not gorgeous like Veronica, but she sure was an eye candy.

The young woman snapped her eyes away from Billy and continued down the hallway when Billy’s attention was slammed away from Veronica and towards something else.

“Shit, Harrington! Wait!”

Billy looked over Veronica’s head, and his eyes zoomed at the end of the hallway where Scott Harrington was turning around before he was quickly joined by a girl with raven hair that Billy could swear he had never in his life seen before.

The young woman was talking to Scott and Billy’s eyebrows shot up, her hair was dark as the night, and her skin was pale but she was pretty, pretty in a way that Veronica wasn’t, pretty in a way that just about no other girl was.

Billy watched from the distance as the raven girl handed Scott a couple of colorful papers and then started to walk away, Billy cocked his head to the left before he spoke.

“Who is that?”

“Who?” asked Veronica, she looked up at Billy.

“The girl with the raven hair” he said, his eyes still over the young woman as she reached the door of her classroom, Veronica turned to follow his sight and got a look of Evelyn as the young woman squirmed into her classroom.

“Oh, that’s Evelyn” Billy turned to look at her, and raised an eyebrow at her “She’s new, babe” she explained with a soft chuckle, Billy wishing she wasn’t giving him pet names. “She’s in my Chem class” she closed her locker, she hooked her arm around Billy’s and they started to walk. “Remember the flier Carol gave us at the diner?”

“No” he answered, he could barely remember most of the conversation that had been held at the diner.

Veronica chuckled and shook her head, she squeezed his arm as they reached their Calculus class, the only class they had together.

“Apparently she’s looking for a babysitting job” she shrugged “There are a few fliers hanging around town,” they walked into the classroom. “I kept the one Carol gave me so that I could give it to Alice, but maybe Scott already gave her one”

“Why would Harrington have one?” he asked, even if his mind was starting to put together that the colorful papers Evelyn had been handing Steve were the same as the one Carol had given Veronica.

“Oh, they got paired up in Chemistry” shrugged Veronica, pulling her arm away from Billy’s. “Why do you care anyway?” she looked at him as she set her things over her desk.

Billy looked at her, and an urge to roll his eyes invaded him, but still he held himself back and went for the most obvious thing he could think about.

“My dad would be interested in a babysitter for Max” he explained “Could give me free time” he gave her a smirk, Veronica smiled back but still a blush crept over her face.

“I can give you the flier then”

“Sounds great, babe” he winked and turned to head to his desk, Veronica liked to sit at the front of the desk and he wasn’t about to start doing that just because he wanted to do Veronica.

He sat down but his mind was off to something else, he could still remember very vividly the way Max had sided with Scott and those shitheads not even a year ago, and he wasn’t about to start giving Scott a break at anything.

And now Billy could take away from Scott something else, he had already taken Carol and Tommy from him, he could very well take his new friend too. Take away the raven girl that Scott had befriended, take away the pretty raven girl.

The raven girl that was pretty in ways not many girls were, the raven girl who was pretty in a dangerous way that Billy was not about to miss.

Evelyn walked towards the library with her jacket hugged against her chest and her backpack hanging behind her, her raven hair draped over her shoulder in a braid with a few lose strands framing her pale face, the wind was blowing gently but at least there was no sign that rain would be coming; then again the climate on this town seemed just plain unpredictable.

The young woman climbed up the short stairs, her right hand reached towards the handle of the crystal door, when it swung open, the young woman yelped in surprise and staggered back to avoid being hit on the face with the door; dropping her jacket as she reached to grab herself from the handrail of the stairs, falling down the stairs was probably even worse than the hit to her face.

A young blond woman emerged from the library, her eyes darting towards Evelyn as she stepped away from the door, but the door was still open and closely after the young blond woman, a tall and well-built young man walked out; the door closed behind him but his eyes were over Evelyn.

“Shit, did I hit you with the door?” he asked.

“Um, no” answered Evelyn, her hand was still gripping at the handrail of the stairs. “Don’t worry about it”

“Sure?” he asked, his eyebrow shot up, his clear eyes over her darker ones.

“Yeah” she shrugged, and finally she peeled her hand off the handrail “You just scared me a bit”

“Well, I’m sorry either way” he continued, his eyes following hers as she looked down at her jacket, the item lay just a few inches away from the young blond woman.

“Sure” Evelyn said, she took a step forward but the young man moved first, he bent down and picked up the jacket, he gave it a soft shake and then extended it to her. “Thank you”

She took the jacket and glanced at the young blond, she remembered her from her Chemistry class and her Social Studies, but she couldn’t remember her name, as for the blonde man, she had no idea who he was, she’d never even see him around the hallways.

The blond girl glanced at the man, he gave Evelyn a small smile and she felt a heat spreading through her chest, she tightened her jaw and glanced at Evelyn, raising an eyebrow instantly, not really sure what was so captivating about the pale girl with the dark hair.

“I’m Billy Hargrove” said the blond man, extending his hand out to Evelyn.

“Evelyn Tyler” she said back, she shook his hand, he gave her a soft squeeze and then pulled his hand away from hers. “Nice to meet you”

“Nice to see you Evelyn, but we’ll be on our way then” she decided to said, there was a bitter undertone in her voice “Have a good day, Evelyn”

“You too” said Evelyn, she shot the blond girl a smile, feeling a bit ashamed that she had no idea what the girl’s name was.

She stepped towards the library door, once more reaching for the handle but Billy turned slightly towards the door and grabbed the handle, pulling it open for Evelyn.

“Have a good day” he said, holding the door open, Evelyn glanced at the girl and then shot Billy a weak smile.

“Thank you”

And with that she disappeared into the library, leaving Billy to close the door and Veronica with an angry blush spreading over her face, she knew Billy was attractive, almost every girl in the school looked at him and giggled, but this was the first time since they had started hanging out that he had looked at another girl that way.

Evelyn walked towards the table she had used last time with Scott, forgetting almost instantly about her encounter with the blond pair outside; she noticed a slender petite girl at the table, her hair perfectly clipped back and with a pair of books in front of her.

The raven girl slowed down and pressed her lips into a thin line, hugging her jacket harder against her chest as she approached the table, she looked down at the young woman and before she could open her mouth, the young woman looked up at her and spoke first.

“Evelyn?”

Evelyn looked at her, taken aback before she found her voice.

“Yeah, Evelyn Tyler” she agreed “I’m sorry” she shook her head “I don’t know your name” more like she didn’t even know who the girl was.

“I’m Anne Wheeler” she explained, a smile over her delicate face “I’m Scott's friend”

“Oh” whispered Evelyn “You’re the tutor, right?”

“Yes” Nancy’s eyes seemed to shine and Evelyn instantly thought that she looked incredibly nice. “Sit down”

“Right” she shook her head, she pulled out a chair and shrugged her backpack off before she sat down in front of Anne. “I’m guessing Harrington is late, again?”

“I’m here, I’m here” a voice drifted towards them as loud as it dared.

“SHHHHH!” the angered sound coming from the front desk, Anne looked over Evelyn’s head and Evelyn glanced over her shoulder to look at Mrs. King, glaring at the group as Scott hunched his shoulders and approached the girls.

Scott pulled out a chair next to Evelyn and sat down as Evelyn turned to look at Nancy once more.

“Thanks for helping us” she started as Scott set his backpack over the table and pulled out his notebooks. “We were just lucky enough to be paired up, not knowing shit about chemistry”

Anne chuckled softly and shrugged “It’s fine, I don’t mind” she looked at Scott “And Scott's a friend, so anything I can do to help” she looked down at her notebook before her head snapped back up to Evelyn “Oh, sorry, nice to meet you” and extended her hand out to Evelyn “Welcome to Hawkins”

“Nice to meet you too” Evelyn said, she shook her hand and Scott glanced at them by the rear of his eyes. “Thank you”

“Ok” Anne said as Evelyn opened up her notebook “Let’s see what you guys have so far and we’ll go from there”

“You’re a blessing, Anne” Scott sighed as he looked down that the notes he had taken the day before at class, notes that he no longer understood; this was going to be a long year, and if he could get all the help he could to ace this class, then he was going to do just that, at least everything else seemed to be working out in his life.

___________//____________

The living room was filled by a friendly discussion between Noah and their father, Derek, about the TV show they were currently watching, both of them were sitting side by side on the sofa, with the night outside already claiming the town and Evelyn wouldn’t have had it any other way. It was a small family tradition that both Noah and Derek would discuss TV shows, but sometimes they just got a bit carried away.

This was one of those nights.

Evelyn was sitting on the floor, her back against her father’s legs and her eyes over the screen, she wasn’t sure she liked this show that much, but she wasn’t about to have both Derek and Noah turn against her for the time being.

“What? No dad, what are you talking about?!” and Noah sounded so offended that Evelyn had to make an effort not to laugh as he kept rambling, his words coming out so fast that she wasn’t even sure how their dad was understanding anything that was coming out of his mouth.

The young woman stretched her legs, setting her hands over her lap just as the phone in the kitchen started to ring.

The discussion between father and son came to a sudden stop, everyone turning to look at the kitchen as the phone kept on ringing.

“Who is that?” Derek sounded alarmed, all the red flags in his system being set off. “No one has our new phone number yet”

Noah chuckled “Everyone in Riverdale has our phone, dad” he snorted just before he gave Evelyn a soft nudge with his foot, the young woman snorted a laugh and pushed herself up to her feet

“What?” asked Derek, turning to look at his son, his heart still racing.

“Evelyn made like a thousand fliers for her babysitting job” explained Noah “So, everyone actually does have our number”

Evelyn didn’t hear her father’s answer, she walked into the kitchen without turning on the lights and reached for the phone, she could hear the voices of Noah and Derek but she tuned them out as she picked up the phone and pressed the receiver against her ear.

“Tyler residence, how may I help you?” she said, she shifted her weight from one leg to the other, popping her hip to the left and looking down at her socks, dark brown with red squares.

There was a short pause “Hello, could I please speak to Evelyn Tyler?” the voice said, a male voice, Evelyn took a strand of her dark hair as she answered, her eyes still over her socks.

“This is her”

“Oh, perfect” there was a soft chuckled “Um, I found one of your fliers during the weekend”

Evelyn’s heart skipped a beat and a smile spread over her face as her eyes jumped towards the phone base, with her free hand she reached to touch the phone and the wheel of numbers.

“And I was wondering if you are still available” the voice continued “I need a babysitter for Wednesday afternoon”

“Yes!” she said excitedly, her mind instantly going to the words her brother had spoken the day they had been putting up the fliers. “Yes, yes, I’m available on Wednesday” she gave her strand of hair a soft pull and then she let it go. “If you could give me your address and number, and an hour, we could meet on Monday before setting anything for Wednesday”

“Sounds perfect” said the man.

“Great” she smiled “Oh, and of course if you could give me your name”

Evelyn reached for the pen that sat next to the phone, she took a step towards the counter and then proceeded to trap the phone between her shoulder and her ear and reached for the notepad, she leaned forward and started writing as the man at the other side of the phone started giving her the details she needed to meet up on Monday.

“Ok, thank you” Evelyn nodded, her eyes over the name and the address, one of her eyebrows raised “Well, I’ll see you on Monday, and thank you so much for calling me”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll see you on Monday”

Evelyn smiled and pulled the phone away from her ear, setting it down and ending the call before she turned on the ball of her feels excitedly, she clapped her hands in front of her chest and started to walk back to the living room, the voices had died down and they were seemingly enjoying a light conversation as they watched the TV.

“Who was that?” asked Derek, he tore his eyes away from the TV and looked up at his daughter as she made her way towards the sofa, she gave Noah a tap on the shoulder and the young man rolled his eyes and moved closer to his father to allow Evelyn to sit down.

“It was someone looking for a babysitter for Wednesday” she explained happily, she sat down and pulled her legs up to her chest, leaning her body towards her brother’s and pressed her cheek against the top of his head, his soft and blond curls tickled her face as she looked at the TV screen.

“You better get more than just one job” Noah said, he adjusted his body towards hers.

“I will” Evelyn smiled “Positive vibes, Noah, remember”

“Leave the number and address of the family” Derek said, he turned to look at her, this wasn’t the first time Evelyn got a job, but it was the first time she got one as a babysitter. “I wanna know where you are, you know what?” he turned his body to get a better look at Evelyn, his eldest daughter turned her head to him, setting her chin over Noah’s head. “I’ll drive you there, ok? Sounds good to me”

“Can I talk now?” asked Evelyn, an amused expression over her face, because it was just something that Derek did when he was nervous, rant. “You don’t have to drive me, dad, the contact info is written on the notepad, you don’t have to drive me there”

“I’d feel better if I did” he explained.

“Just say yes” said Noah “And get off my head” he swatted a hand towards Evelyn, but the girl moved her face and head away from him just in time to avoid being hit by his fingers.

“Fine, Dad, I’ll go with you”

“Thank you” he smiled as he looked at her “It’s just… he made a short pause, his eyes darted to Noah for a moment and then turned back to Evelyn. “With everything that’s happened, I wanna know where you are going to be working at”

“I know dad, I’m sorry” she gave him a smile “Everything will be fine”

“Everything will be fine” Derek agreed.

“Good vibes, remember?” Noah snorted with amusement “Now, could you guys please let me enjoy this before going to bed?”

Evelyn rolled her eyes but resumed her position of pressing her cheek against the top of his head, Derek watched her for a moment, the way her dark hair dropped over Noah’s shoulders, a few strands mixing with Noah’s lighter hair and he smiled softly; they were his family, they were all he had left and they were all he would ever need.

Derek had made himself a promise years ago, he had vouched that he would protect and care for Evelyn and Noah no matter how much it took; he had gone through hell and back and he would do it one more time and again one more time, he would do it forever.

The darkness that was out there hunting them was probably as devoid of color and light as Evelyn’s hair, and Derek had always hated himself for coming up with that comparison, Evelyn would never be anything but cheerful and positive and strong, even when he felt like crumbling down; so yes, the darkness that the Tyler’s were trying to escape was just as dark as Evelyn’s hair, but the light that held them together, the love that had saved them so many times before, was as pure as Evelyn’s pale skin.

“You can’t protect them forever!” he had screamed at Derek, anger and poison filled every word. “They are her children!” his eyes were bulging out and Derek could have sworn he’d never seen anyone that upset in his life. “I will find you, and you’ll never see them again”

Derek shook his head softly, Evelyn glancing at him by the rear of her eyes, he turned his head to the TV and watched the screen without really paying attention; those words were always very present in his mind, but he knew they could do this, with each passing year it became easier, and now they were in the middle of nowhere and this was going to work.

They were in Riverdale, Michigan, and no one cared about a town where nothing ever really happened.

But this was Riverdale, Michigan, and nothing every really was what it appeared to be.

He was shocked, amazed, and quite frankly offended, his eyes were wide and his mouth gapped as he looked up at his mother, she was looking at herself in the mirror, getting a pair of beautiful pair of earrings on as she tried her best to ignore this conversation, they had already discussed this, there was no point in continuing this subject.

“You can’t be serious, Mom”

She sighed, dropping her hands from her ears and down over the surface of her sink, she looked at herself for a moment on the mirror and then turned to look at her son, he was staring at her with shock written all over his face, he was frowning, and she really had no idea why he was putting so much of a fight over this.

“I am serious” she explained, she shifted her body to face him “And I don’t have time for this, it’s been discussed and its happening”

“Mom, a babysitter?” he sounded offended “I can’t believe you got a babysitter, I can do this, I can be alone in the house”

“Really?” she asked, she narrowed her eyes “Fine, maybe you can, but your sister can’t, so the babysitter will look after her and you’ll make sure the babysitter does her job right, sounds good for you?”

“Mom” he whined.

“Lucas” she sighed, a bit of exasperation in her voice “This is happening, whether you like it or not, so please, just please”

He looked at his mother and sighed, dropping his shoulders, he couldn’t believe this, but his mother was already all dressed up and looking beautiful and ready to go out, that at least for now he could drop the subject and bring it up on another time if his parents got any funny ideas about getting the babysitter once more.

“Fine, Mom” he nodded, turning on his heels and walking towards the door of the room.

“Lucas” He stopped and turned to look at her “It’s not that I don’t think you can stay alone, I just rather have someone looking after your sister, that’s not your job, baby”

“I understand mom” he nodded, and a small smile spread over his face before turned around and this time he did walk out of his parents’ room.

___________//____________

The night had turned a bit chilly, wind was blowing against the windows, ruffling the leaves on the trees and the bushes around the neighborhood, the threats of rain had been left behind, at least for now, but the cool winds that always came with rain remained over the sky; the car pulled over in front of the driveway as smoothly as could be.

“Ok, you call me as soon as you are ready to come back home” said Derek, he turned to look at his daughter, there was concern in his eyes. “Are we clear?”

“Yes, dad” nodded Evelyn, “Don’t worry about it” she smiled at him “Thanks for the ride”

She leaned forward and gave her dad a kiss on the cheek and then rapidly turned to the door, she grabbed the handle and pushed it open, the cool wind playing with her hair as she stepped out of the car, closing the door behind her.

Derek watched as his daughter adjusted her backpack over her shoulder and walked up the driveway, this wasn’t the first time she had worked at one of the towns they had lived in, but this was the first time she had worked at night, and despite the fact that the house she would be working at was close enough, Derek couldn’t help but feel nervous.

Evelyn climbed the front steps of the house and reached for the doorbell, she pressed it and took a step back, there was a tingling sensation in her stomach, the anticipation and the nervousness that she often felt when trying new things, and right now, being a babysitter was something she had never done, and the last thing she wanted was to mess it up.

The door swung open and a man appeared at the other side of the door, he was dressed nicely and had a smile over his face.

“Mr. Sinclair?” she asked, a smile over her face.

“Evelyn Tyler” he cheered, obviously in a great mood. “We were waiting for you, please come in” he moved away from the door and Evelyn glanced over her shoulder and back at the car where her father was, she smiled, hoping he could see her and then walked inside the house.

The house was warm, light colors in the decoration and there was an incredible smell of food filling up Evelyn’s lungs as she followed Mr. Sinclair down the hallway and towards the living room where Mrs. Sinclair and the two children she had to look after where waiting for her.

“Dear, this is Evelyn Tyler” said Mr. Sinclair, he glanced at Evelyn and then at his wife, the woman pushed herself up to her feet.

“You’re early” smiled the woman “I like that”

Evelyn extended her hand and shook hands with Mrs. Sinclair, she gave her a short smile, not really sure how the formalities about this worked.

“Yes, I wanted to call but….

“Don’t worry about it” said Mrs. Sinclair “This is Erica and Lucas”

“Hi” smiled Evelyn as she turned her attention to them “Nice to meet you”

“Nice to meet you too” smiled Erica.

“Yeah, whatever” Lucas rolled his eyes, he couldn’t believe this, his friends didn’t get babysitters and now here he was, having to tolerate this for the whole night, he sighed, if he had survived the Mind Flayer, he sure could survive this atrocity his parents had thought about.

“We left the phone number of where we will be, in case you need anything or in case of emergency” explained Mrs. Sinclair “Please don’t hesitate to call in case of anything, alright?”

“Of course, Mrs. Sinclair” she turned to look at her “Don’t worry about anything, everything will be fine, I promise”

“Great” Mr. Sinclair jumped in, “We should get going” he turned to his wife, “Ready?”

“Of course” she smiled, it was obvious that they were both excited to have a night out, and Evelyn couldn’t help but smile as both parents said goodbye to their kids and then headed out to the door, Erica walking behind them happily, while Lucas remained in the living room brooding and crossing his arms over his chest.

___________//____________

The night had moved smoothly, Erica and Evelyn where currently sitting on the floor of the living room, Erica’s schoolwork had been finished almost half an hour ago and right now they were currently drawing with some of Erica’s crayons and color pencils, both of them glancing every now and then at the TV that Lucas had turned on, he had been watching a show a few minutes ago, but had now left to the kitchen and hadn’t returned.

Evelyn lowered her pencil and turned to the door of the living room, she narrowed her eyes and pushed herself up to her feet, a small grunt slipped from her lips and just as she was about to go check on Lucas and make sure that he hadn’t burned the kitchen down, the young boy stormed into the living room, fuming, jaw tense and shoulders stiff.

“Are you ok?” asked Evelyn, a frown over her face, Erica stopped what she was doing and looked up at Evelyn and Lucas.

“I’m fine” he growled, he walked around her and headed towards the sofa, he dropped over it and drilled his eyes over the TV.

Evelyn looked at him for a moment, standing next to the door of the living room, Erica glanced at her brother and shrugged, she knew perfectly well what was going on.

“Why are you still upset?” she asked as she turned down to her drawing “You knew this was going to happen, it happens every day”

“What are you talking about?” asked Evelyn, she looked down at Erica and shifted her weight from one leg to the other.

“Shut up” barked Lucas, he leaned forward “You don’t know anything”

Erica rolled her eyes and changed her red color pencil for a green one, she shrugged without stopping to color.

“I know enough” she continued, not really caring if Lucas got upset with her, he always got like this at around this hour. “This happens all the time, just give up, Lucas”

“Give up on what?”

“Would you stop?” barked Lucas, his eyes shooting daggers at his sister “Just shut up,” he pressed the base of his palms over his eyes and grunted internally, Erica wasn’t lying, it was true that this happened every time he tried, which was just about every night, but still that didn’t make it easier, it hurt him and it made him angry.

“Hey!” barked Evelyn “Tone it down, don’t talk to your sister like that”

Lucas pressed harder before he pulled his hands away from his face and glared up at Evelyn.

“Its ok” she Erica, not really bothered at all. “He always gets like this because he can’t talk to his girlfriend, Max, on the phone”

Evelyn turned to Erica “Why not?”

Erica sighed, almost as if she was already tired of this subject, she looked at Evelyn and shrugged “Because her brother won’t put her on the phone, because he hates Lucas”

Evelyn looked at Erica for a moment before she turned to Lucas, the frown on her face was gone and had been replaced by concern.

“You wanna call her?” asked Evelyn, Lucas frowned at her. “Well? Do you?”

“Yes, obviously, its what I’ve been trying to do for the last ten minutes” he barked, but there wasn’t much anger in his voice anymore.

“Ok” she nodded “Give me the name of a girl in your classroom”

“What for?” asked Lucas, Evelyn rolled her eyes.

“Just give me a name”

“Rosie Matthews” said Erica, Evelyn looked at her over her shoulder and winked.

“Thanks” she turned to Lucas, “You, follow me”

And with the Evelyn turned on the ball of her feet and started to walk towards the kitchen, Lucas turned to look at his sister, Erica looked ready to hurl her pencil case at him.

“Go, idiot” she growled, “I swear, sometimes I wonder if your brain works”

Lucas rolled his eyes and pushed himself up to his feet, hurrying after Evelyn, he found the young woman in the kitchen, standing next to the phone, her hip popped to the right and pressed against the counter as she waited for him to join her.

“Glad you could join me” she looked at him, she turned to the receiver and took the phone “Now, let’s hear her number”

Lucas told her number by number, his eyes drilling into her but his heart was racing, he shifted his weight from one leg to the other as she mouthed softly to him.

“It’s ringing” she smiled and looked down at her shoes, it was just something she always did when she was talking on the phone. “Hello?” she turned to look at Lucas. “Hi, this is Rosie Matthews”

Lucas’s heart was racing so fast he was sure that Evelyn could hear it, this was the first time that he hadn’t gotten the phone slammed down on him.

“I need to talk to Max, we are on the same class” Lucas noticed the way her voice dropped, trying to make it sound less adult-y. “Yes, of course I’ll wait”

Evelyn smiled and winked at Lucas before she looked down at her shoes once more, she had been left on hold as the guy at the other side of the line went to look for the girl, by the tone in his voice, she was sure that it was young, but she could be wrong.

“Hello?” said the soft voice of a girl.

“Max?” said Evelyn, she turned to Lucas. “Someone wants to talk to you” and with that she handed the phone back to Lucas, the young boy took the phone and pressed it to his ear, Evelyn gave him a thumbs up and walked out of the kitchen.

Lucas watched her go, a soft smile forming over his face as he started talking to Max, this was the first time they were able to talk on the phone for the past two weeks.

Evelyn walked into the living room, Erica was watching the show that was playing on the TV but she remained sitting on the floor and next to the coffee table with her colors and drawings, as Evelyn walked towards the sofa, Erica glanced at her.

“How did it go?” asked Erica.

“He’s talking to her” smiled Evelyn, she shrugged and sat down on the sofa.

Erica looked at her and sighed, she dropped her shoulders and turned to look at Evelyn completely, “Thank you for helping him”

“Don’t worry about it” Evelyn looked at her “So, why doesn’t the brother like Lucas? He seems like a nice kid, you know, once you’ve put past all the brooding and angst about having a babysitter in his house”

Erica chuckled and shrugged “He’s never liked Lucas, or any of Lucas’ friends” she explained “But he really likes her, and I’m sure he’ll get in a better mood after this”

“I sure hope so” smiled Evelyn.

The last thing Evelyn would have ever guessed was that Max’s brother, not only hated Lucas, but had also beaten Scott up and that if they all thought that this was the last they would hear about Billy, they were in for a big surprise.

The sun was up, high and burning, accompanied by a pleasant soft breeze, ruffling the leaves of the trees and dancing against the bushes as Noah made his way up the street, his light and soft curls bouncing over his head as he pedaled through the route he knew would take him home; that had always been the routine.

His backpack drummed against his back rhythmically, today, like every other Thursday, Noah had had to make his way back home all on his own, Evelyn had to stay at the library with Steve Harrington, chemistry partner, driver of a blue car, member of the basketball team, and suspicious guy that Noah didn’t like.

Still, he had had no intention in staying for an unknown amount of hours, inside a library, not when he could go home, rest for some time, read for a while, and do his homework; Hawkins was so far a nice place, maybe not the best town they had ever lived in, but Noah found it comforting, not much noise, not much people, and no one really cared much about the new kids in town, and he liked it that way.

He knew the strain his father and his sister carried, he could see it sometimes very clearly on their eyes, on the way Derek’s voice sometimes felt a bit more high pitched than it usually was, or the way Evelyn’s lips left side of her lips twitched just oh so slightly when she smiled. They tried to cover it up, to try and keep most of the bad things away from him, but he could tell because that’s what a life of anonymity gave you; Derek, Evelyn and Noah were used to observing other people, and that’s how Noah knew when things got complicated.

At least for now it seemed like everything was going accordingly.

The young boy took a curve and pedaled faster, he liked the way the wind felt against his face, brushing his curls back as the trees from the woods rushed past him; he had already memorized the way home, they had been there for two and a half weeks, but it had only taken him three days to figure out how to make it from school to home.

Noah tore his eyes away from the road and glanced at the woods, trees from different sizes and colors invaded his vision, but something else entirely was what made him frown and press the brakes of his bike swiftly but rapidly.

His foot landed on the asphalt without problem, holding himself up as he turned his attention to the woods, he narrowed his eyes before he swung his other leg over the bike and stepped off it, holding it by the handles before he lazily approached the woods.

He had seen the change of color in almost an instant flash, but that had been enough, he dragged the bike with him towards the sidewalk, he pulled the bike over the edge and walked towards the woods, he had advanced a few steps back the road, he had advanced a bit from the change of color, but his curiosity had remained intact.

“Being nosy like that, I can get you in trouble” Evelyn had told him once, he knew she hadn’t been all that serious, but he also knew she was right.

His feet crunched a few leaves as he stepped from the sidewalk and over the woods’ ground, his bike next to him rolling over more leaves and sticks as they went a bit further inside and then came to a stop.

There it was color change, in the exact same spot that he had seen it, because he was like that, he could remember things that people dismissed as unimportant.

But the change of color wasn’t a dead tree, or a discarded piece of clothing, no, not at all; the color pallet that didn’t match the greens and browns, was in fact a person.

Noah stood there, with a gentle branch pressing against his backpack as he held his bike, his eyes over the stranger in the woods, their eyes over each other but silence ruling the space between them, Noah cocked his eyes slightly to the left, the curls on both their heads swaying with the wind before the first words slipping into the forest.

“Hi” he didn’t need to hear the voice to know it was a girl.

It took Noah a few long seconds to answer back, his eyes scanning the woods behind the girl before he turned back to looking at her, and yet even as they stood there, as he had walked in on her just standing in the woods by herself, he knew there wasn’t anything to be afraid off.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, he shifted his weight from one leg to the other.

“Waiting” she answered.

“Huh” Noah nodded, she looked at him piercingly, almost as if there was something she wanted to get from him, some kind of information about who this guy was.

The girl took a step forward, slowly but there was no worry in her body posture, even if this unknown kid had just walked out of nowhere, she could tell there was nothing to fear from him, she could just tell.

“I’m… and there was a split second of hesitation that Noah perceived without problem before she continued “I’m El”

Noah nodded at her “I’m Noah Tyler”

“What are you doing here?” she asked his question back to him.

“I saw you” he explained “I saw you from the road” he shrugged “I was curious to see what was hiding behind the trees”

As Noah looked at the girl, who looked around his age, a question popped into her mind, she narrowed her eyes, she opened her mouth to ask but another voice broke into the staring contest between Noah and El.

“Hi!” the voice was cheerful and soon after it, the body of a tall and slender boy emerged from the woods, he came to an immediate stop when his eyes landed over Noah. “Who are you?”

“Noah Tyler” he answered, but this time he didn’t ask the boy for a name, he wasn’t interested in any of that, as a matter of fact he wasn’t good with social interactions, and he could hear other footsteps approaching El and the boy with the dark hair, so Noah voiced the only word he cared about at the moment. “Goodbye”

“Goodbye” said the girl, the boy looked at her and then glanced at Noah, but Noah had turned his back to them, his blond curls bouncing as he walked back the way he had come through, leaving behind the girl who had stood alone in the woods, the girl with the curly hair, the girl that Noah felt meant no harm.

And without giving El or her companion much thought, Noah got on his bike once more and started to pedal towards his house, maybe he could get some rest, read a bit and eat something before he got started with his homework.

___________//____________

The wind had started to blow a bit harder when Evelyn and Scott walked out of the library, her raven hair was pulled back into a braid but a few strands of hair swayed around and above her face, but even as the wind grew harder, there were still no signs of upcoming rain and Steve was pleased about that.

“We are not doing as poorly as I thought we would” Scott shrugged as they walked down the steps of the library.

“Ouch” Evelyn chuckled as she turned to look at him, her textbook up to her chest hugged by one of her arms “You had that little faith in us?”

“I had my doubts” Scott confessed “But so far, so good”

“And Anne's help has been heaven sent” Evelyn shrugged, the petite young woman had helped them a couple of times and had even clarified a few things to Evelyn, so to say that they would be doing this well without Anne's help, would be a lie.

“Hey, so how’s the babysitting thing doing?” asked Scott, he pushed his hands inside the pockets of his jacket as he walked Evelyn towards her bike.

“I’d had one job, I think they are going to call me again” she smiled, “I’m hoping someone else calls, so fingers crossed, you know?”

“I gave Anne a flier too” he added “She has a younger brother and maybe you could help out”

Of course he left behind the part about the monsters and the fact that a friend of Marty's had been abducted into another dimension and all that, it might have scared Evelyn away from the job and at the end of the day, all those things had been left behind, Will was back and the aliens were gone, there was nothing to fear.

Then again this was Hawkins, Indiana, which meant things could change quickly.

“Thank you” Evelyn glanced at him, Scott had turned out to be a really nice guy, which meant that for the time they would be here, she wouldn’t have to stand a prick and stuck up member of the basketball team.

“Of course” he nodded glancing at her “That’s what partners are for, am I right?” he smirked at his own joke, Evelyn rolled her eyes and looked away, Scott looked at her for a few more seconds before he turned back to looking straight forward. “Oh, hey, I know we are just halfway through the week, but do you have plans for Friday night?”

Evelyn quirked an eyebrow and turned to look at him, her dark eyes scanning his face for a moment before she shook her head “No, not really, especially considering you are practically the only person I know in this town”

“There’s this party, to celebrate the birthday of one of the guys in the team, maybe you’d like to come with the rest of us” he explained “Anne and Joseph will be there”

“Who’s Joseph?” asked Evelyn, her bike coming into view.

“Anne's boyfriend” Scott said, “He also has a younger brother, so I’ll give him a flier next time I see him at school”

“Ow, Harrington” Evelyn mocked “That’s so nice of you” Scott rolled his eyes with a smile still over his face as they came to a stop in front of her bike. “Yeah, I’ll think about it” she turned to look at him.

“Sure, let me know what you decided and we’ll see” he nodded as he looked at her, she was just a bit shorter than he was.

“Ok” she agreed, she turned slightly to her bike before turning back to him “You should invite Alice too”

Steve let out a noise between a chuckle and a snort and shook his head as Evelyn’s smile grew, she shrugged as he shook his head.

“She likes you Harrington, and she’s pretty and smart, and she wouldn’t say no”

“She’s already going” he shrugged casually. “One of her friends is the sister of the birthday boy”

“Even better” she turned to her bike, pulling out of her jacket the key of the lock on the chain of her bike, she knelt down.

“Yeah” he shrugged, he wasn’t indifferent to Alice, she was nice and smart and sweet, but he wasn’t sure he wanted a relationship at the moment, and the last thing he wanted was to string along a nice girl and then break her heart; he knew what a broken heart felt like and he didn’t want to put anyone through all that. “We’ll see about that”

Evelyn looked up at him, a thick strand of hair had come lose from her braid and was now framing her face, her eyes were big as she looked at him and as the wind swayed her hair, she seemed softer than she usually did, like a porcelain doll dressed with a big dark green jacket and hair too dark for her skin but that made a contrast that most wouldn’t think could work, but it did.

He gave her a short smile as she looked up at him briefly, he was nice, that Evelyn had already determined, but she could see in the way his eyes shined that he wasn’t the kind of nice that was just a cover for the monster beneath, she’d known the look on those kinds of eyes before; after all, it had been a monster hiding behind kind eyes, the one who had made sure her life had been as painful as it could be just less than a year ago, it had been lying eyes that Scott did not have, the ones that had earned her a broken nose.

Scott was nice, Scott was the kind of friend she wouldn’t mind making while they were here.

___________//____________

The pouring rain had stopped just half an hour ago, the streets were soaked, the tree leaves heavy with the remains of the unabsorbed water, the smell of wet grass rose throughout the neighborhood as the silver car came to a stop in front of the driveway of the light blue house.

The driver’s door was shoved open and a man stepped out, his right hand landed softly over the hood as he looked up and down the street, there was a discarded soccer ball at the front yard of a house, and in the distance a dog was barking softly; his name was Simon and he drummed his fingers over the hood as he turned to look at the light blue house.

Simon stepped away from the car and closed the door, he walked around the hood and pushed his hands into the pockets of his pants as he made his way towards the small path that lead up to the stairs of the porch.

The wind was blowing softly but it was cold, but Simon didn’t mind, he had other things to worry about and as far as there was no more rain, he was fine with the cold wind.

He climbed up the stairs and even before his hand wrapped around the door knob of the house, he already knew there was no one inside, still he turned the knob but the door was locked; Simon narrowed his eyes and stepped towards the door, he held the knob harder but turned to his side and pressed his shoulder against the door.

Simon pulled the door up towards the frame, turning the knob as far as it would go and then he shoved the door with his shoulder as hard as he could, the wood hissed under the strain but it didn’t give away, he groaned but repeated his action two more times until something snapped and the door swung open for him.

Simon stumbled inside, he let go of the doorknob and looked around the receiver before he started to walk.

He could smell the dust that had gathered in the house and over a few of the furniture items that had been discarded, the sense of déjà vu that he had gotten after doing this the first three times was already gone, he could almost tell by heart what furniture items had been left behind. He raised his eyebrows and made his way further into the house, his lips pressed into a thin line and annoyance building rapidly inside his body.

He had no care for the items that had been discarded in the kitchen or the living room, instead he took a detour towards the stairs, this was one of the few houses that had two stories, his hand landed over the handrail and he made his way up, his hand dragging up the dust as he walked up.

The dust had gathered in the house, and it had dulled, almost taken over the smell of the house, but Simon could still feel it, stronger as he reached the second floor, the same smell he had gotten in the other houses he had found.

The room he walked in first belonged to the girl, he walked up towards the window seat, it had taken him time to detect this habit, but now that he knew it, it was easy, he walked towards it and reached down, grabbing the cushion and pulling it away, the marks where there and he tensed his jaw.

The marks of the weeks they had been there stared back at him, it had taken him too long to find this place, and now they were gone, and they were gone by at least two weeks, and Simon felt like he was failing.

“You have to get them back” Louisa had said “You have to find my babies” and she had looked at him with her clear eyes big and teary and there had been no moment in his life where he would have said no.

“I will find them” he had said, and that had been how he had started this quest, this quest that he thought would only take weeks, maybe months, but here he was, almost seven years later and still he was steps behind.

“How did you get so smart, Derek?” Simon thought as he turned on his heels and walked out of the room, Evelyn had always been the one to leave the least amount of things, he wasn’t sure if she took everything with herself or if she discarded the things along the way.

He made his way towards the next door and looked inside, this room was smaller than Evelyn’s but then again Evelyn was older than Noah; he walked inside and made his way towards the closet, pulling it open with a forceful yank and looked inside but there was nothing.

A few years back he had found a clipping of a newspaper inside Noah’s closet, discarded next to a few un-matching socks, the clipping had given him a road to follow to try and find the kids, but he had been there too late, like usual.

That had been the only time he had found anything, he turned away and made his way towards the stairs, he knew there was no use in searching Derek’s room, Derek had always been a bit neurotic, and there had never been anything he’d leave behind that could give away their new home.

A soft drizzle had started to fall when he emerged from the house, he rolled his eyes, all he had encountered in this town, even in this state, had been never ending rain.

“Hey there” the thin voice echoed into his brain as he closed the door behind himself, he froze for a split second before he turned to the direction of the voice.

Slightly to the left stood a pretty middle age woman, she had her hands inside the pockets of her jeans, her eyes over him, she gave him a short smile as he walked down the porch stairs.

“Hey” he said back, his most charming smile spreading over his face, and her posture seemed to change and relax as he smiled at her.

“Are you looking for the Marin’s?” she asked, her eyes drifted towards the house but then she turned to look at him.

“Yeah, I am” he nodded “Marin, going for more common names, huh, Derek?” he shrugged “I’m their uncle” he explained “From their mother’s side,”

“Oh” and her face seemed to drop, he quirked an eyebrow “We thought they didn’t have any more family” she explained “Being a widow and all”

“A widow?” he chuckled in his mind “Would you look at that” he tried his best not to roll his eyes at the lie he had just heard. “Yeah, that was a tragedy” but still he was good at reacting fast, his face changed and she seemed to buy into his act. “I’ve been trying to contact them for a while, after what happened to my sister, they are all the family I have left”

“They didn’t talk much to anyone in particular” she shrugged, but he could see the pity in her eyes, and he needed that to get what he wanted from her.

“Would you happen to know where they might have gone?”

“No” she shook her head, “They left almost two months ago, really late in the afternoon” her eyes narrowed and for a moment her eyes drifted towards the car before they zoomed back to him, shining as an idea popped into her mind. “Maybe Mara’s boyfriend knows something”

“Mara” he whispered in his mind, the sound of it was very Evelyn like, “Mara Marin” he pressed his lips into a thin line to avoid the laugh. “Oh, a boyfriend?” he faked surprise.

“Yes” she nodded, and Simon had to love nosy neighbors “His name is Carl Florek, he lives a few houses down, he might know something”

“Thank you,” he smiled at her “Thank you so much for your help”

She smiled wider at him “He’s probably at school right now, but maybe you’d like a cup of coffee while you wait for the bus to get here”

“Oh, no” he shook his head “I wouldn’t want to bother you”

“You are not bother at all” she shrugged with a smile, her eyes scanning his face, Simon smiled back at her “I insist”

“When you put it like that” he chuckled “I’m Simon Connors,” he extended his hand towards her.

“Ruby Lewis” she took his hand and shook it.

Maybe Evelyn counted her days in town and left nothing behind, maybe Noah had once forgotten about the piece of newspaper he had left in his closet, maybe Derek was still months ahead of him, but Simon had Ruby Lewis who had offered him coffee and who was willingly going to tell him all she had seen about Derek, and Noah and Evelyn and then he would be one step closer to finally reuniting with Evelyn and Noah.

And then, then they could be a family again, a happy family again.

Of course, he’d have to take care of Derek first.

Evelyn turned the light in the living room off, she had drawn the curtains and had left her backpack with her notebooks for the next day at the small dining room, the shadows swarmed the first floor of the house, just like night had taken over the town a few hours ago; the young woman turned her back to the living room and walked towards the stairs.

She reached forward mindlessly and her right hand landed over the handrail lazily, she dragged her hand up as she went to the second floor, the wind was hitting the windows of the house but the sound had never really bothered the young woman.

The raven hair girl made her way towards the first room, she had gotten the bigger room on their last house, which meant that this time it was Noah’s turn, her left hand landed over the door frame and she leaned in slightly, knocking on the door with her right hand; Noah was laying over his bed on his stomach, looking down at a comic book that she was sure he hadn’t had earlier that week.

The young boy looked up at her, his head was propped over his hand, his elbow pressed over the bed “Hey”

“Hi” she smiled before she walked further into the room. “Some reading before going to bed?”

“Yeah” he shrugged, his eyebrow going up as he looked at his sister “You going to bed already?”

“Um, yeah, I just have to talk to dad for a moment” she explained, Noah narrowed his eyes at her “Nothing bad, relax”

“Right” he tore his eyes away from her and looked down at his comic once more, he bobbed his head for a moment before he added casually. “I met a girl today”

Evelyn’s eyebrows shot up with surprise and Noah was sure there was a smirk over her face “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing” Noah shrugged, he turned the page “I was riding back home and I saw her in the woods” he looked up at her.

“In the woods?” Evelyn crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her weight from one leg to the other “What was she doing there?”

“She was waiting for someone” he said, his cheek pushing forward against his hand “I don’t know, it was just something I forgot to tell you about”

“What was her name?”

“El” he said “I didn’t ask her last name, I just wanted to know what she was doing just standing there” he sighed and looked down at his comic “Anyway,” he looked back up at her from under his lashes “Have a good night, Lyn”

“Good night Big Man” she smiled at him “I love you”

“I love you too” he mumbled, but there was a soft smile over his face, she winked at him and turned on the ball of her feet and made her way out of the room.

Derek was sitting over his bed, a few notebooks spread before him, his eyebrows knitted together in concentration, but at least for now the tension in his shoulders was gone.

“Hey Dad” she called as she walked in, her arms still crossed over her chest.

Derek looked up at her, his clear eyes landing instantly over her darker ones, and a smile spread over his lips “Hey kid”

“What are you doing?” she asked, she strolled inside, she knew perfectly well what he was doing, but small talk never hurt anyone.

“I’m just going over a few concepts” he shrugged, “You going to bed already?”

“Yeah” she shrugged, she looked down at her dad’s bed and walked towards it, she pouted softly and then slowly sat down over the edge of the bed. “Um, I wanted to talk to you about something else, Dad”

“What’s up?” he asked, an eyebrow going up.

Evelyn pushed herself further onto the bed, “So, there’s this party on Friday”

“Oh” he whispered.

“And I was wondering if I could go” she finished, she looked at him for a few moments.

Derek looked at her for a moment “Who invited you?”

“Anne Wheeler” she lied, she knew Derek would be a bit more reluctant to agree if she mentioned that Scott had been the one inviting her “I told you about her,” she continued “She’s the girl that’s been helping me with my chemistry project”

“Right” he nodded, he remembered Evelyn telling her about the tutor girl, he just couldn’t remember her name.

Derek looked at her, she was glancing down at her nails of her hand she had pressed over the bed, he wanted to say that he wasn’t sure about the party, but the thing was, this wasn’t the first party Evelyn would attend, and he also knew that she deserved to have fun, she really did, after all she had been doing, she deserved it.

“Um, yeah, I guess you could” he nodded, Evelyn looked up at him and smiled “Just let me know where this party is going to take place at”

“Yeah, of course” she nodded, she knew the protocol. “I’ll give you the address before Friday”

“Ok, you do that, kid” he nodded.

“Thanks Dad”

“Of course” he smiled at her.

“Anyway, have a goodnight Dad” she pushed herself up from the bed, her dark hair swaying around her like a dark wave “I love you”

“I love you too, Evie” he called as she skipped happily towards the door of the room. “Have a good night”

“You too!” she sang as she walked down the small hallway and towards her room at the end of the hall.

___________//____________

Evelyn made her way down the hallway, it was crowded with people talking and laughing, books being held against chests, backpacks dangling from shoulders, the anticipation of the fact that only a couple more hours were left before school ended, was buzzing through the hallways and its students. The young woman had her textbook against her chest, and she was avoiding colliding against the other students as she made a beeline around the people standing on her way.

She reached her locker and with her free hand she quickly turned the lock until she could pull the door open, the young woman shoved her textbook inside and sighed, rolling her shoulders when a voice spoke behind her.

“Evelyn Tyler?”

The direct call took her by surprise, the raven girl tensed for a moment before she turned her body slightly to the left to find a young man leaning against the locker wall, just a few inches separating them; his clear eyes were over hers, one of his hands was pushed inside the pocket of his jeans and there was a soft smirk over his lips.

She had seen him before.

“Yes” she answered, narrowing her eyes as she looked at him “We’ve met before, right?”

“Yeah” he nodded “We met at the library the other day” he shrugged and pushed himself away from the lockers. “Billy Hargrove”

“Oh” she nodded, she remembered his face, but his name had vanished from her mind. “Right” she shrugged “You were looking for me?”

“I was” he smiled, he wasn’t taller than Scott, but he sure gave the impression that he was, but Evelyn was sure it had to do with the fact that Scott was slim and Billy was not. “This is yours, right?” he continued, the hand he had inside the pocket of his jeans was pulled out and between his fingers he had a colorful flier, she looked down at it for a moment before she looked up at him.

“Yes” she answered casually “I made those”

“Yeah, a friend gave me this one” he looked down at the paper “Look, the thing is, my Dad is interested in finding someone who could look after my step sister a few times a week”

Evelyn’s interest was instantly captured, she shifted her weight from one leg to another and looked at Billy as he continued.

“I know your phone is here” he pointed at the number over the flier “But I thought I’d talk to you here at school before calling, wasn’t sure if you’d be available, you know?” he shrugged.

“I’m available” she nodded without hesitation, she wasn’t about to reject a job because she didn’t want to look too eager, she really didn’t care about that.

“Really?” his eyes shined as he smiled at her, and he looked better today than the day at the library, that Evelyn was going to accept.

“Yep” she shrugged “I was actually hoping someone else would call”

“And here I am” he smirked and shifted his weight from one leg to the other.

“And here you are, Billy Hargrove” she smiled back at him, her dark hair completely opposite to his light locks of hair.

He chuckled softly “So it’s ok if my Dad calls you? He won’t be bothering you?”

“No problem at all” she shook her head, and Billy couldn’t help but think that he’d never seen hair as dark as hers.

“You are heaven sent” he smiled, and he smiled because so far Billy had no idea how much havoc Evelyn and the people around her would have to deal with, because of Billy.

Evelyn rolled her eyes at his remark but the smile was there, and god Veronica had been amazing last Friday night, she had looked amazing with and without her clothes on, but now that he had had a taste of that, he wanted to move on to new things.

And what better for a new thing, than the new girl in town.

The music echoed through the house, sound bouncing off the walls as a few people walked up and down the place, girls chatting as they made their way towards the bathroom, heads leaning towards each other as they whispered the newest secrets of the night, boy walking down the stairs of the porch, chuckling and shoving each other around.

Billy was loosely holding a beer by the neck of the bottle, he scanned the faces of the other young people in the house, he really had no interest in being here but Veronica had insisted and he was willing to indulge her with a few hours of this poor excuse of a party, if it meant taking her home for a few more hours.

After all, he already had a plan of what he wanted out of Veronica after that night.

“A few more days and you can send her off” he shrugged in his mind, he took a turn and entered the kitchen.

He knew girls like Veronica pretty well, she was smart and charming and pretty, she had a way around the school’s social networks that he knew she would try to use to make his life miserable once he broke up with her, but to be honest, he didn’t really care, because Veronica didn’t know him at all, just who he had pretended to be when he was with her, she had no idea how good Billy was at talking himself out of a problem and that he had too had his way around with people; especially girls, but still, he would know pretty well how to do damage control once he was done with Veronica.

Billy took a gulp of his beer and leaned against the wall by his shoulder and his eyes turned to the door of the kitchen, he was there mostly for the free drinks and to get out of the house for a while, he had had no intention in spending his night with his father barking at him or around Max for that was worth, he could still remember VIVIDLY how she had injected him with whatever the hell that had been, in front of her imbecile little friends and that prick Harrington; at least he had given Harrington a very well deserved beating, forcing him to walk around town for months, parading his bruises and mangled up face. From his place against the wall, Billy had a pretty good view of the people walking in and out of the living room, a few girls glanced at him, soft smiles and blushes and inviting eyes, that Billy answered with a smirk and a nod, once he was done with Veronica, he could rejoice with all those girls shooting him glances and smiles.

He saw Carol walking out of the living room, the young woman was probably the most talkative girl that Billy had ever met, he had learned to tune her out almost instantly, but he had also learned the Carol was the go to person if one wanted a rumor to be spread; she had been the one to tell Billy all about Steve and Nancy and that missing, now dead girl, Barb.

His eyes followed Carol for a moment, she had a beer in her hands and was probably looking for Tommy, he had no idea what they saw in each other, but that wasn’t really his problem, or something he was going to think about; and just as he watched her nod and start to talk, like usual, to the group of girls, something drew his attention towards the end of the hallway.

“Well, well, well” he sang softly in his mind, narrowing his eyes for a moment.

He smiled and raised an eyebrow, his mind forgetting about Carol as soon as his eyes left her, he raised his beer and chugged what was left of the bitter liquid and then pushed himself away from the wall, his mind already moving on to better things.

___________//____________

When you moved from place to place as much as the Tylers did, it was hard to find people willing to invite you to a party, people invited everyone to parties, but no one wanted to go to a party all by themselves, so Evelyn could count with both hands the amount of parties she had attended; Evelyn walked down the hallway next to Nancy.

“You know the birthday guy?” asked Evelyn, she turned slightly to allow a girl to walk past her.

“Um, not that much” shrugged Nancy, “He’s not my friend if that’s what you mean” she glanced at Evelyn “I’ve only talk to him once or twice”

“Oh, ok” Evelyn nodded, Nancy walked a few steps ahead of Evelyn, leading the way towards the bathroom.

“But he seems nice” Nancy added, to be honest she wasn’t much into parties, but Steve had invited them and she hadn’t seen why not, after all that they had gone through, going to a party seemed like a good idea and anyway, Jonathan and her had agreed if they got bored or things got a bit chaotic, they would simply leave. “Hey, sorry, I forgot to ask” Nancy turned to look at Evelyn before she came to a stop, Evelyn stopped next to her and turned to look at the petite girl “How is the babysitting job doing?”

“Oh” Evelyn smiled, she liked to have something to do other than go to school and back to the house and she had enjoyed taking care of the Sinclair siblings, after Lucas had talked to Max his attitude had changed completely. “I’ve only had one job, but it was good, the kids were nice, and I think they will be calling me again” she shrugged “At least that’s what I’m hoping for, you know?”

“Hey, positive vibes” Nancy smiled “Parents talk, before you know it, other moms will be calling for your services” Evelyn chuckled “I gave my mom your flier, in case she ever needs one for my brother”

Of course Nancy was hoping that if Mike ever needed a babysitter, the job wouldn’t end in Mike dragging Evelyn to the woods looking for demogorgons with the rest of the gang.

“Thank you” Evelyn smiled at her, Nancy was nice, the kind of girl she would have liked to be real friends with, but she knew that her stay in Hawkins wouldn’t be long, just like the rest of the other towns they had been at.

“Of course” Nancy nodded, with her heels, Nancy was almost as tall as Evelyn was with her flats. “You wanna go in first?”

Nancy signaled the bathroom door that had just been opened and a cute girl walked out, she was blond and Evelyn recalled her from one of her classes, but not enough to even remember her name, the girl on the other hand narrowed her eyes as she looked at Evelyn and Nancy before she walked away from them, her stride firm and her hair bouncing perfectly around her.

“No, it’s fine, you go” Evelyn shrugged, Nancy didn’t say anything and stepped into the bathroom, closing the door and leaving Evelyn out in the hallway.

The raven girl looked around, her fingers drumming against the beer can as she watched the people walk past her, so far Hawkins had been fine, it wasn’t the best place they had lived at but it surely did beat that place back in Ohio, with her free hand she pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear, she tapped her right foot against the floor to the rhythm of Cruel Summer blasting through the house.

Evelyn looked at herself in the mirror once she had peed and washed her hands, outside Nancy was waiting for her, her lashes looked longer when she wore a bit of makeup, she wasn’t very into buying makeup but she had a few things around the house, her eyes stared back at her and slowly her sight drifted to the scar she had over her eyebrow, it was almost invisible, but not when you knew exactly where to look; the lie about how she’d gotten it was already so well-rehearsed that it almost felt like the truth.

Almost.

She stared for a few seconds before she turned to look at the door, her right hand reached for it and she pulled it open, she walked out and another girl walked in as Nancy smiled at her.

“Let’s go”

And just like that, they started to walk back down the route they had taken to get there, walking around the bodies of the other students.

“How long have you and Jonathan been together?” asked Evelyn “If you don’t mind me asking, of course”

“Not at all” Nancy shook her head, “We’ve been together almost a year,” she glanced at her.

“That’s nice” Evelyn smiled “He seems nice”

Jonathan hadn’t talked much to Evelyn since they had met that night, but he did look nice, and the way Nancy and he looked at each other was the way they were meant to look at each other, it was sweet and lovely and right.

“He is” smiled Nancy “How about you? Did you have a boyfriend back home?”

“No” Evelyn answered casually “I did go out with this guy a few times, but that was it”

Nancy nodded, she kind of understood even if she hadn’t been in that situation before “How about your friends? Was it hard?”

“To what?” asked Evelyn a small frown over her face.

“To leave, it must have been hard to leave all your friends behind” Nancy’s eyes were big and her eyes clear “Having to start all over again”

“It’s not hard when you don’t have friends” Evelyn said in her mind, but instead she answered “It was, but I have to make the best of it”

“Yeah, of course” Nancy was nice, the kind of girl that anyone would be lucky to have as a friend “Anything I can do to help, let me know”

“Thank you” smiled Evelyn, she looked down at her now empty beer can “Oh, hey, I’m gonna go get something else to drink”

“I’ll go with you” shrugged Nancy, they were already on their way to the living room.

“No don’t worry” Evelyn shook her head “I’ll get it, I’ll meet you and Jonathan at the living room”

“Sure?”

“I promise I won’t get lost” chuckled Evelyn, and Nancy joined in before she nodded and walked away, Evelyn was nice, she was shy but it felt natural to talk to her, nothing forced or tense, and Nancy liked that.

Evelyn looked down at her empty can, she turned to her left and made her way to the stairs that sat just a few steps away from her, she had seen a trash bag there and the least she could do was put the can inside the bag and not leave it around the first surface she saw.

She bent over and set the can inside the black bag, part of her wondering who had thought of putting a bag out there for the trash, the young woman pushed herself up straight, she rolled her shoulders and spin around on the ball of her feet just to crash against someone else.

“Fuck!” she gasped, taking a step back.

Her head snapped up towards the person she had bumped into, her hair bouncing around her face like a black wave, her dark eyes big with surprise and her lips partially parted.

“Wow there,” he chuckled looking at her with a raised eyebrow “You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine” she shook her head, her eyes narrowing slightly before a smirk spread over her lips and her head cocked lightly. “Really?” she snorted, she shifted her weight from one leg to the other “Should I be surprised that you’re here?”

“Maybe its fate, Evelyn” he shrugged, his clear eyes intense and Evelyn wondered if there had ever been a moment in their brief meetings in which his eyes had not looked that intense.

“Maybe you’re following me, Billy” she shrugged, crossing her over her chest.

Billy chuckled loudly and shook his head, Evelyn looking at him with an amused expression over her face, her eyes seemed to shine with the dim lightbulb of the hallway, and Billy knew without a doubt that this girl would be a much better and prettier toy than Veronica would ever dream of being.

“Nice to see you here” he said finally. “I didn’t know you knew Mark”

“I don’t” Evelyn smiled “I barely even recalled his name” she looked around the hallway and then turned to look at him. “I came with a few friends who know him, are you close friends with him?”

“We are part of the basketball team” he explained, pushing his hands into the pockets of his jacket “He’s nice, we don’t hang out”

“Oh!” her eye light up “You are in the basketball team too?”

Billy looked at her and raised an eyebrow at her, “Yeah, I am” he said slowly “You know someone in the team?”

“Yeah, my chemistry partner” she explained “Steve Harrington”

Billy nodded “We are not really friends, but yeah I know him” Evelyn nodded in agreement “We just don’t hang out with the same people”

“Yeah, I get it” Evelyn shrugged “So, you came here alone?”

“With a few friends” he explained vaguely, shrugging the comment away and leaving Veronica out of his mind completely.

“Right” Evelyn whispered.

Billy didn’t strike her as the kind of guy that would simply hang out with a bunch of other guys, in fact he looked like the kind of guy that had more than just one girl, she could see it in the way he held himself, the way his eyes shined, because she had met other guys like Billy before.

“You want to get something to drink?” Billy asked with a shrug, his eyes never leaving her face as they spoke.

“Sure” she agreed, after all she had had all the intention on going to get something else to drink. “Lead the way, big guy”

Billy chuckled but raised a playful eyebrow at her before he turned around and started to make his way towards the kitchen, Evelyn following close behind.

Evelyn entered the kitchen just a few steps behind Billy, she looked around the room, there was a guy trying to talk his way with a girl, but she seemed more amused than she seemed interested, and not far from the fridge, where a few boys chuckling and drinking down beer.

Billy walked towards the fridge, not giving the guys a look and pulled the door open, he looked inside and when he turned around to look at Evelyn, he had two beer cans in his hands, he walked up to her as she stood next to the kitchen island and with a smile he handed her the beer.

“Thanks” she said, she set the beer over the kitchen island and then pressed her hands over the surface, she grunted softly and pushed herself up, twisting her body slightly and sitting over the cold surface of the island.

Billy watched as she pushed herself up, her hair flopping and her long legs pushing her up, her light green shirt and her pale skin made her hair look even darker than it was, she sat down and before she could catch him staring at her, Billy’s eyes snapped up to her face; he had learned how to handle women a long time ago.

“Ok” Billy shifted his weight from one leg to the other as he opened his beer. “So, how does it feel to be the new kid in town?”

“Kids” she said, she looked down at her beer and opened it, her hair framing her face “I have a brother” she looked up at him and with her free hand, Evelyn pushed the strands of hair behind her ears, clearing her face.

“Younger?” he took a sip from his beer.

“Yep, Noah” she shrugged “But so far its been fine, you know? Not much to say”

“I know what you mean” he leaned forward and pressed his forearm over the surface, his eyes over her. “I was the new guy not long ago” her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Almost a year in this place”

“So technically, I just stole your place” she smiled, raising her beer to her lips.

“Yeah you did” he smiled at her. “But it looks like an upgrade”

“Really?” she chuckled “I’m sure not everyone would agree to that” she raised both eyebrows.

“Doesn’t really matter if they don’t agree” Billy’s voice lowered “I believe it”

“Is that so?” she chuckled.

He shrugged and Evelyn shook her head amused, she wasn’t sure if she should be surprised or not with what Billy was saying, she’d heard this tone before, once before it had been used on her, but she’d heard it several times, maybe not the same words but the intentions were there; the thing was, she was at a party, she wasn’t going to stay in this town for long, so there was no harm done if she just followed his lead for a while, right?

Right.

The thing was, Evelyn didn’t really know Billy the way Steve, Nancy, Dustin, Lucas and the rest did, Evelyn didn’t know how long she would be at Hawkins, and all that gave Billy, somewhat of the upper hand.

“You know,” started Billy, his eyes over hers, and there was a knowing smirk over her lips that Billy found delicious, because maybe she knew part of the game he was playing and if that was the case, he was all in for that, it made him want to play it with her even more, he pushed himself to stand straight. “Evelyn, maybe we…

“Hey, there”

And the voice broke into the sentence before Billy could finish it, both Billy and Evelyn’s heads snapping towards the source of the voice.

Notes:

If you guys have any songs that you likefrom the time that match, please let me know

Also, Billy charming his way into Evelyn's life just sounds like SOO MUCH trouble.

Let me know what you think :D Chapter 11: Make The Best Out Of It

Summary:

An invitation is made during the party. Notes:

I'm leaving the song video lyrics here, its for the part when they are in the car, becuase I love this song and wanted you to see the lyrics, also because this song is a bit important in the future

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irljBY9J5ig (See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Veronica smiled at herself as she watched from her place on the sofa, she was holding a plastic cup that had some alcohol inside, next to her Lisa was talking nonstop about Nicholas, promising herself and Veronica that she wouldn’t fall into Nicholas’ tricks again, but the thing was, Veronica had heard this so many times before that she could recite the whole monologue by memory.

At the other end of the living room, next to the doorway that lead to the living room, Steve was leaning against the wall with his shoulder, a beer bottle in his left hand and a smirk on his lips as he looked at Alice, their lips were moving and Alice was smiling and Steve hadn’t stopped looking at her since she had walked up to him and Veronica could see happiness bursting from Alice’s body.

“So, you also made the team this year” Steve smiled at Alice, it was true that he wasn’t looking for a relationship, but Alice was sweet and smart and she had a way of talking that just lured him in.

“Well, you know” she shrugged a soft blush over her cheeks that she was hoping he couldn’t see “I try my best”

“That’s amazing, congratulations” he nodded, he took a sip from his beer “I’ve actually never been to any of the volleyball games”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed” she pointed out, her brain mentally slapping itself at the comment. “Could you be more obvious?!”

“Is that so?” smiled Steve, Alice’s red hair was framing her face delicately, the soft curls touching her skin but the contrast of the soft color of her hair and her pale skin was gentle and smooth and delicate.

“I’ve seen some of your friends” she tried to save herself “But never you” she shifted her weight from one leg to the other. “You don’t like volleyball?”

“I don’t know much about it” he explained, and maybe it was the way she was smiling or the way her pretty clear eyes were staring at him, or maybe that part of him that actually knew that he liked Alice, that betrayed his tongue “I never really knew anyone who could explain to me the dynamics of the game”

“But, here I am now” she smiled, he smiled back at her.

“Here you are” his voice dropped, and he took a step closer to her.

“Well, maybe you could go to the game in two weeks” she shrugged, she looked down at his jacket, it was the usual jean one he took to school, a bit too big for him but it just looked right when he wore it, she reached gently and her delicate fingers held one of the buttons for a moment.

Steve looked down at her hand, the way she was holding the button with her thumb and her index, the lights in the room making her eyelashes cast webbed shadows over her cheeks.

“God, Evelyn is right” he whispered in his mind, because how many times had Evelyn not said that he obviously did like her, or found her attractive.

“Are you inviting me to the game?” he asked, his eyes still over her fingers, she looked up at him and he remained looking down for a few seconds before he looked up at her.

“Yes” she answered, “I am”

Steve smiled at her, “I’ll be there”

“I’ll look out for you” she smiled, her heart was racing, she had been crushing on Steve for a while, and there had always been some chemistry between them, and now, having Steve smile at her like that, it was just making her night perfect.

“Sounds like a plan, then”

“Hey Harrington” a voice called in, cutting into their conversation, Alice looked up as a young man walked into the living room and his hand landed roughly over Steve’s shoulder, Steve jolted and turned to look at the guy.

“Nick, hey” he said, his voice had changed almost completely from his tone with Alice.

“Byers was looking for you, like ten minutes ago” Nicholas answered the unasked question, “He’s by the stairs”

And with that, the tall young man made his way towards the other end of the living room, just where he knew he’d find Lisa, and tonight he was tipsy enough to endure a bit of her nagging just before she gave into his charms.

“Right” Steve whispered, he followed Nicholas with his sight as the young man made his way towards the sofa where Veronica and Lisa where sitting at; he watched as Veronica turned her body away from Lisa and Nicholas and then his eyes drifted back towards Alice. “Give me a second, ok?”

Alice nodded, Steve gave her a soft smile, the kind that made eyes shine and her heart skipped a beat, and with that he turned on his heels and stepped out of the living room and into the small hallway; he turned to his right and at the end, at the base of the staircase Nancy and Jonathan where talking with Ruth.

Steve narrowed his eyes for a moment and started to walk towards the trio, he pushed his free hand inside the pocket of his jeans and held the beer bottle loosely with his other hand, the music was changed rhythm and he had the impression that the lights seemed a bit dimmer, but he wasn’t sure if it was just his perception.

“Byers” called Steve, Jonathan looked up at him instantly, and Steve was sure he could see relief over Jonathan’s face, the first time he saw just expression on Jonathan that was directed to Steve. “You were looking for me?”

“Hey Steve” said Ruth, Steve glanced at her and gave her a nod.

“Yeah,” Jonathan, who was sitting down over the lowest step of the stairs, pushed himself up, a soft grunt slipping from his lips as he did so. “Anyway, um, Nancy and I might be heading out in a few minutes,” he shrugged “And since we all got here together, I just wanted to let you know” he pushed his hands inside the pockets of his jeans, he wasn’t interested in this kind of environments, but Nancy liked them from time to time and her friends had insisted, and now here he was at a party full of people who used to mock him.

Then again Steve used to be a class A bastard with him, but now they considered each other friends.

“Oh” Steve whispered, he had predicted that Nancy and Jonathan would want to leave earlier, he had had no plan to deal with it, but now here he was, and the worst part was that they had all arrived there on Steve’s car. “I think I’m going to stay a while longer”

“That’s fine” Jonathan shrugged “We’ll walk to Nance’s house, we just thought it’d be a good idea to tell you, and we are going to tell Evelyn too, in case she wants to come”

“You guys are not walking to Nancy’s house” Steve frowned “Something could happen” and as Jonathan started to argue, Steve pulled his hand out of his pocket and pushed it inside the pocket of his jacket, he fished for his keys and without listening to a word of Jonathan’s rant, he pulled out the keys of his car. “You guys can take my car”

“Steve, no, its fine”

“What? No” Steve groaned “You are taking the car, there is no arguing, Byers, I’ll find someone to drive me home, you guys are not walking”

“Fine” Jonathan rolled his eyes, after all they had been through and Steve was worried about them walking a few blocks up to Nancy’s house, he took the keys from Steve’s hand and Steve rolled his eyes at Jonathan.

“Fine, I’ll see you guys on Monday” he turned to the girls, Nancy and Ruth sitting next to each other and talking animatedly. “See you girls later”

Nancy looked up at them “Have fun” she shrugged, she had guessed even before Jonathan insisted on them telling Steve, that Steve wouldn’t be leaving with them.

“I will” smiled Steve as he turned on the ball of his feet and started to march towards the living room doorway.

Alice was leaning against the doorway of the living room, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes over him, he raised his beer and took the last sip as he reached her, she smiled and he smiled.

“Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, just giving Byers the keys to my car” he shrugged, “Everything is fine, don’t worry”

“Excuse me” a new voice said, Steve turned to the pair of girls trying to squeeze past him and into the living room, he took a step back, tearing his eyes away from Alice and looked down the hallway in the direction of the kitchen.

He heard laughs behind him, the girls walking past him into the living room and at the far end, in the kitchen, just barely in his view, he saw the blond head of Billy Hargrove; he was leaning over the kitchen island, smiling and Steve felt terrible for Veronica, he didn’t like the girl, but she seemed really interested in Billy and here he was, charming his way into the life of another girl.

Steve slightly turned his head towards Alice, she was talking about her car, and he was feeling terrible about Veronica just as the girl over the kitchen island moved and the wave of pitch black hair came into view and Steve’s eyes grew in size.

“Maybe I can drive you back hom…

“Oh fuck no” he frowned, he was looking right over Alice.

“What?” she whispered, she frowned and looked up at him, his eyes staring right over her shoulder, the young woman hesitated for a split second before she glanced over her shoulder.

But Steve was already moving.

“Steve?” she asked, turning on the ball of her feet as Steve walked past her, he pushed his way between a young man and woman, shattering into their flirty bubble with no care in the world.

Alice took a few steps behind him, wondering what he was doing, a frown over her face.

“Steve” she called out again, he wasn’t even listening now, and she didn’t know it, but Steve had forgotten about her.

This was not the way the night was supposed to turn out to be, they had all gotten there together, Nancy had left Evelyn at the bathroom and had regrouped with Steve at the living room for a few minutes before wondering off to look for Jonathan, and in just half an hour, Billy had decided to string along Evelyn with his lies.

Steve wouldn’t have had a care in this world if it had turned out that Billy was trying to charm any other girl in the party, but Evelyn was nice and smart and funny, not to mention that she was new and the last thing he wanted for her was to fall prey of the monster in disguise that Billy actually was.

He could remember vividly the way Max had told him that Billy would lose his mind if he found out that Max was with them, he could remember the way he had held himself when he had allowed himself inside the house and of course his skin crawled when he remembered the fight they had had, there was no way Evelyn, his chemistry partner, was going to fall in the hands of such a character.

“Hey, there” he called as he walked into the kitchen, his voice high and strong, interrupting into their conversation, like he didn’t care at all.

He didn’t.

Billy tightened his jaw, recognizing the annoying tone of Steve’s voice almost instantly, his eyes darkened and he looked at the young man.

“Harrington” he said.

“Hey!” smiled Evelyn, and Steve could tell she was a bit tipsy, the way her eyes looked a bit glossy and her cheeks were tainted with a soft blush.

“Yeah, don’t get your panties in a bunch” hissed Steve at Billy “Hey” he looked at Evelyn just as Alice reached the kitchen door, her frown deepening as she watched Steve talking to Evelyn and Billy. “I was looking for you”

“Here I am” she smiled, her legs swinging as he set his empty bottle next to her.

“Nancy and Byers are going for something to eat, wanna join us?” of course he had no idea if anyone was going for food, but right now, he really didn’t care about anything.

“Oh” and he saw her eyes light up “Yes, I’m starving”

“Great, we are leaving now, so” he shrugged, he turned his body, giving her the space to get of the island; his eyes drifted over Evelyn and towards Billy, the blond was looking at him, his left eyebrow raised with amusement and Steve tightened his jaw.

Billy wasn’t going to lie, Evelyn was beautiful, her dark hair and pale skin made her look like an exotic porcelain doll, and at the beginning of the evening he had had all the intention of just pissing Byers, Nancy and Steve off by talking to Evelyn, but now, now that he had actually talked to her, there was no way he wasn’t going to take that girl home one of those cool nights.

“Let’s go then” Evelyn turned to look at him, she pushed her hair behind her shoulders before she glanced at Billy “Got to go, but I’ll see you around Billy”

“Don’t doubt that” he smiled as he looked at her, a smile that could light up Hawkins all by itself.

Evelyn raised an eyebrow at him and Billy gave her a small and inviting shrug, the more he could show Steve that he was in fact here to ruin everything in his life, the better; Steve had humiliated him, and Billy couldn’t allow that.

“Come on” Steve hissed, Evelyn shrugged and started to walk, Steve shot Billy a glare and then followed after Evelyn, and as he entered the hallway one more time, he remembered Alice.

But Alice had already walked away, having taken in the picture of Billy leaning in towards Evelyn, and Steve walking right up to them, she had felt a heat in her chest, watching the scene unfold in front of her, hearing Steve mention that he was already leaving and just like he had forgotten about their conversation, Alice had turned around and had walked away just a few seconds before Steve was ushering Evelyn out of the kitchen.

Steve glanced around the hallway, but Alice was gone, he tightened his jaw and shook his head once, he had probably come across as rude and most likely an asshole, but Billy Hargrove was the last person he wanted around any of his friends.

“I’ll call her tomorrow” he sighed in his mind, he should probably go look for her now, but Jonathan had the keys to his car and he wasn’t really looking forward to finding out that Jonathan and Nancy had already left.

Evelyn made her way towards the front door, walking around a few groups of people while Steve followed behind her, the young woman grabbed he doorknob and pulled it open, out in the porch a few guys turned to look at her as she walked out.

Steve walked out from behind her, his eyes scanning every person outside, focusing over a tall young man walking next to a petite young woman, they were holding hands and making their way down the driveway.

“Byers!” Steve called out loudly, taking a step towards the stairs of the porch.

Jonathan stopped in his tracks and turned around, Nancy doing the same, surprise over her face as she saw Steve and Evelyn walking down the stairs of the porch.

“I thought they had said they wouldn’t be coming” Nancy whispered to Jonathan.

“He said he wasn’t” shrugged Jonathan, he looked at Nancy for a moment “We didn’t ask Evelyn, I thought she would stay longer with him”

Nancy and Jonathan looked at each other for a few seconds before Nancy shrugged and turned to look at Steve and Evelyn, the tall young woman was walking behind Steve happily, her dark hair swaying with the cool wind.

___________//____________

The group of four walking down the sidewalk sent alarms down he’s entire body, they were laughing and talking rapidly, voices over voices, two of them softer than the other voices, but at the end of the day, that didn’t really matter.

The approaching voices made his scurry away, his long legs taking him faster towards the bushes he had just left, he had no intention in staying there for a long time, just enough for the threat to pass and then he would be out and about towards his destination.

The hard cement of the sidewalk was replaced by the soft grass and he allowed himself to slow down, he wasn’t afraid, that was something he didn’t know existed, but he knew about survival and he wasn’t going to put all that on the line because he had felt no fear when facing the group of four that was walking a few steps behind him.

The wind ruffled the bushes, and tickled his skin, but there was something that came with the wind that he certainly had not been expecting: that smell.

He’d been here for a few days, feeding on small critters and animals, coming and going from the place they had claimed for their own, but from all he had eaten and touched and smelled and seen, this had no comparison; he came to a stop, crouching to hid behind the long and tall blades of grass, his dark eyes scanning the group, the smell was most definitely coming from them.

He stared as the group came to a stop, the smell was sweet, intense but sweet, he took a step forward as he watched, the smell was pushing its way into his system and he knew exactly what he had to do.

And as the group of four stepped into the car, he turned around and started to rush to get to his destiny.

___________//____________

It hadn’t taken much to convince Jonathan and Nancy to get something to eat with Evelyn and Steve, and shortly after leaving the party they had ended up at their usual dinner, eating fries and shakes and Nancy and Steve had asked for burgers; the place had been almost empty, with just a couple of teens at the other side of the dinner, but the group had been into their small talk, and sizzling energy and the soft giggles from two tipsy girls as they whispered to each other, both of them sitting at the same side of the booth.

And this was just how Evelyn had always pictured having friends felt like, it was just a shame that in no time she’d have to leave in the middle of the night again.

“Just make the best out of it” she had always told herself, and she had managed fine like that, she could get close to people, just not attached.

Never attached.

Two hours after leaving the party, Steve was driving up the street after dropping of Nancy at her house, he was the designated driver and he had insisted on driving everyone back home and now only Evelyn remained in the car, sitting in the passenger’s seat, her right foot propped over the seat and her elbow pressed over her knee; outside a soft rain had started to fall as they drove ahead.

“So,” she turned to look at him, she had been wanting to ask but hadn’t been sure if she should go for it with Nancy and Johnathan in the car. “Did you talk to Alice?”

Steve turned to look at her briefly, for a few minutes when they had been dropping Nancy off, the only sound in the car had been the radio. “Um, yeah something like that” he nodded, finding no need to mention that he had left Alice behind to stop Evelyn from doing falling into Billy’s web of lies.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Evelyn chuckled, she lowered her leg and turned her body slightly to face Steve as he drove down the street.

“I saw her” he explained “We talked, and she invited me to watch her play on the first volleyball game of the school year”

Evelyn gasped with joy “You go tiger” she smiled.

Steve snorted out a laugh and turned to look at her, she had pushed herself slightly away from the backrest to face him, he quirked an eyebrow at her.

“Yeah, we’ll see how that goes” he answered, a soft smile over his face “She’s nice and all, but I’m not really looking for a relationship”

“Hey” she shrugged “You never know what can happen, am I right?” she glanced at the windshield, the rain was falling harder.

“Yeah” he agreed, it was true, he wasn’t looking for a relationship, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t give it a try with Alice; he glanced at Evelyn, she had pulled her hair into a braid when they had been at the dinner, a strand of dark hair tickled the side of her face “Um, I was meaning to talk to you about something”

“What’s up?” she asked as she turned to look at him, she liked rainy nights, they were quiet and there was a smell in the air that she loved, and she felt like rainy nights could cleanse anything and everything. “Did something… and the song in the radio changed, making Evelyn gasp. “Wait!” she smiled, her head snapping towards the radio “I love this song!” her hand shot towards the volume dialer and she turned it rapidly, the melody echoing into the car loudly, and Steve recognized the song instantly. “Hold your thoughts” she smiled and started to move her head with the rhythm of the song, her hands over her lap started to drum the melody and she closed her eyes for a moment.

He looked at her, he had held his tongue back for two hours, he could wait for a three minute song to be over to tell her that Billy was the worst thing to ever happen to Hawkins.

“We’re talking away, I don’t know what I’m to say, I’ll say it anyway. Today’s another day to find you, shying away, I’ll be coming for your love, ok?” she sang without missing a beat, she opened her eyes, they were glossy and the street lights shined over them as the light licked her face and scared the shadows away. “You don’t like it?” she asked rapidly.

“I do” he chuckled.

“Sing with me!” she bopped her head, the free strand of hair flying around her face “Take on me, take on me! Take me on, take on me! I’ll be gone, in a day or two!”

Steve laughed as he shook his head, her voice so coordinated with the times of the song that he was sure this had to be her favorite song.

“Come on!” she laughed, she was tipsy and happy and this was a new place and she had to make the best of it before they left, she reached forward and her right hand landed over his arm, he turned to look at her, the car slowing down as she squeezed his hand. “Come on! I know you know it, Harrington!”

And the chorus was starting up again and Steve looked at her, her dark eyes seemed brighter and she had that soft tipsy blush on her face and her hair was flopping around as she moved her head to the rhythm of the song and…

“Why not?” he heard a voice in his head say and he opened his mouth.

“Take on me, take on me!” he sang as she did, his eyes returning to road, and he took a curve softly “Take me on, take on me! I’ll be gone in a day or two!”

And he wasn’t sure how or when, but they were singing loudly in the car, above the voices of A-Ha, and she squeezed his arm a bit harder as she laughed and he smiled as the melody played with not words; both of them waiting for the exact moment the lyrics would start again.

She pulled her hand away from his arm and Steve glanced at her by the rear of his eyes, his hands drumming over the steering wheel at the beat of the song, his palms landing softly over the steering wheel, the music flowing through the car like it hadn’t done back at the party; Evelyn next to him was clapping away, intoxicated with alcohol and chocolate milkshake and the feeling of making new friends and the sizzling night and perfect song, and under the streetlights they were passing, she looked exotic and delicate and different.

She mimicked a microphone up to her lips and closed her eyes “Oh, things that you say, is it a life or just to play my worries away! You’re all the things I’ve got to remember, you’re shying away, I’ll be coming for you anyway!” she took a deep breath and extended her hand out to Steve “Hit it Harrington!” she laughed, and it was a bit too high pitched for a normal laugh, but Steve didn’t mind at all.

And without being asked again, because he too was tipsy and her energy had rubbed on to him and he’d learned to not really care much about what people thought tanks to Nancy.

“Take on me!” and she sang next to him, but her hand extended to his “Take me on! Take on me! I’ll be gone, in a day or two!”

The last words of the song were lost to their mismatched voices as the song died away in the radio, the last melodies and beats echoing in the car, mixing with Evelyn’s high pitched laugh and Steve’s softer one and then slowly it was replaced with another song and before they knew it, Steve was pulling over in front of her drive way; the lyrics still fresh in the car.

Evelyn doubled over and laughed, when you were used to not having anything, simple things could make your day, or your night in this case.

“I knew you knew the song” she said as she sat back up, her hair flying behind her like a dark wave, her cheeks were blushed from the loud singing and the laughing.

“Hey, I never said I didn’t know it” he chuckled, “You just assumed it, Tyler”

“I’m not assuming anything about you again, Harrington” she smiled, she looked over Steve’s shoulder, her house was standing there with just one small light on for her to find her way around the house before heading to her room, she turned to Steve “As much as I loved singing with you, this is my stop”

“Just when I was having fun” he mocked.

“Hey, I’m here every day” she shrugged and turned her attention to her purse, which lay next to her feet, she grabbed it and yanked it up to her chest before she turned to the door, the young woman pushed it open and the cool wind rushed inside the car.

Steve watched as Evelyn stepped out, her small purse was open and he could hear her keys dangling inside, she closed the door and walked around the hood, she walked towards his window and he rolled it down all the way.

“Thanks for the ride” she shrugged, “And the invitation”

“Anytime partner” he smiled up at her. “Have a good night”

“Drive safely please” she smiled down at him.

“Come on” he faked insult “I just rocked that song, I’ll be fine”

She shook her head with a soft smile “But just in case, you know” she took a step back and looked at him “Be careful”

“I will” he nodded at her.

“Have a good night, Steve” she said softer, her eyes over his.

“You too, Evie” he said, the first time he’d ever call her something that wasn’t her full name, last name or partner.

Evelyn smiled at that and gave him a nod, she held the strap of her hand bag with both hands and turned around quickly on her heels, and with that she jogged up the driveway towards her house, Steve leaned a bit forward, sitting in his car as he watched Evelyn pulled her keys out of her purse and then open the door.

The young woman stopped and turned sideways for a moment, she looked down at the car and waved at him, he looked at her and smiled softly even if she couldn’t see him and waved back; and with that, Steve watched as Evelyn walked inside the house and then he drove away.

Notes:

So Steve got an invitation and he wasnt able to warn Evelyn about Billy, because Billy is here to do try his best and ruin everything, also she thinks he's nice and has no idea he hates Lucas

Let me know what you think please and leave song suggestions if you have any!!!

Also, last borring chapter i promise!!! Chapter 12: Car Rides

Summary:

Noah might be making a friend, or someone is trying to be friends with Dustin. Chapter Text

This was just an inconvenient, even so a bit more than that, this was all just down right annoying, during the weekend his the chain of his bike had been ruined and only today his father would go and try to fix it, which only meant that Noah was now sitting on the steps of the middle school building. It wasn’t that he couldn’t just walk all the way home, it was that walking home was almost a forty-five minute walk, and Evelyn had insisted that he was by no reason to walk alone back home.

He knew that nothing wrong would happen if he walked back home, nothing bad had happened to them in a long time, but Evelyn had insisted on going to pick him up, that they could ride together on her bike and giving her peace of mind was more important to him than getting home early; she was his sister after all.

So here he was, sitting on the steps of the school watching as a couple of cars drove by and the wind ruffled the leaves on the trees, his back pack lay by his feet as his mind drifted away to this new place they had to call home.

He wasn’t sure what to expect, he never really made an idea of what their new place would be like, but there was one thing he could see here that he hadn’t seen on the last town they had lived in; Evelyn seemed to have peace in her soul and that was such a relief that just by that he was willing to say that Hawkins wasn’t that bad after all.

Evelyn had told a lie to Derek when they had been living on the other town, she had lied when she had walked down to have breakfast and they had seen her swollen nose and the scratch on her neck, she had said she had had an accident, that it was nothing; but Noah had known better.

Noah had heard the things that were said about his sister, he had seen her return late the night of the broken nose, he had seen the blood dried on her face and her shirt, he had seen the way her hair was ruffled and tangled and the way she had cleaned her face rapidly, he had hated that town for what they had done to Evelyn, he had never told Derek, no one had, but he had hated everyone there.

“Hey” a voice spoke from behind him, startling Noah out of his thoughts.

The blond curly boy frowned and looked over his shoulder, someone was standing behind him, he narrowed his eyes and looked up to the face of a boy he had a few classes with.

“Hi” he said back, he couldn’t remember his name.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, his hands were holding the straps of his backpack “I thought everyone had left”

“I’m waiting to be picked up” he explained, he turned to face forward once more “What are you doing here?”

“I forgot something, had to come back and get it” the boy sighed, “Which was fucked up because I was almost home when I realized I had left it here” the boy walked around Noah and then slowly sat down next to him.

Noah glanced at him, the boy was looking straight forward, and a question bubbled in his chest, but of course he wasn’t going to ask, it could be considered rude.

“Right” whispered Noah instead, the boy looked at Noah but Noah looked away.

“You’re the new kid”

“Yes” Noah nodded.

“Cool” he smiled “I think we have a few classes together”

“Three” Noah corrected “We have three classes together” he looked down at his watch and wondered how long Evelyn was going to take to get there.

“I’m Dustin Henderson, by the way”

“Noah Tyler”

“Nice to meet you” Dustin smiled, he didn’t know what it felt like to be the new kid in town, but he did know what it felt like to be alone, not because his friends had ever done that to him, but because other kids at school were cruel and before he had toughened up, he had indeed felt alone; so he figured that maybe this kid could use a friendly face, after all he had always seen him by himself.

“Your mom picking you up?”

“My sister” Noah said, it had been a while since he had stopped cringing at the thought of his real mother.

“Oh, you have a sister?”

“Yeah, she’s in high school” he explained, he looked at Dustin, he seemed nice, he seemed curious, like the girl in the woods, Elle, had been. “My bike is broke and it’s a long walk back home”

“Ugh tell me about it” Dustin shook his head “My bike has been broken once or twice, but a friend of mine comes and picks me up,” he shrugged “I mean if I let him know beforehand, he’s also in high school”

“You don’t have brothers?”

“Nope, just me” Dustin smiled, “I’ll keep you company while she gets here”

“You don’t have to do that” Noah pointed out, narrowing his eyes a bit as he looked at the boy.

“Oh, I know” Dustin shrugged, “But I want to, I mean, you’d rather just sit here alone? If you don’t want to talk we can sit in silence until the older Tyler shows up”

“Evelyn” Noah whispered “Her name is Evelyn”

“Ok then,” Dustin said “We can wait for Evelyn in silence”

Noah looked at him with narrowed eyes, yes he seemed curious, maybe not in the way Elle had but curious nevertheless, and as he agreed to just wait with Noah, the young blond boy felt a bit guilty for talking to him with the intent of getting rid of Dustin.

“I didn’t mean to be rude” Noah finally said, “I’m just not used to talking that much”

“I can tell” Dustin agreed “I’ve never seen you with anyone else”

“I don’t have friends” Noah said casually, and the way he said it made Dustin feel bad, it was so blunt, almost as if he was talking about the weather.

“I guess its hard to make friends when you move from another place” he whispered, “You must miss your old friends”

Noah looked at him for a second “Not really” because you cant miss what you never had.

“Oh” Dustin whispered and for a few seconds they sat in silence, Dustin trying to figure out what to make out of all of this. “Where did you move from?”

“Maine” answered Noah, that had always been the plan, travel far to the next place they would live in, it had always worked.

“That’s far away” Dustin pointed out.

“We wanted a fresh start” Noah shrugged, he had gone over the story they would tell with Evelyn on their first week, this time it was a bit more tragic than it had been in the past, but Noah had liked it, because it sounded like most of his dreams had for a while. “My mom died, and we wanted to start over at a new place”

“Shit” Dustin winced “Sorry about your loss, Noah”

“Thanks” Noah said, and looked away.

For a while he had wondered about the whereabouts of his mother and his uncle, what they were doing, what they did, and part of that had also been wondering if any of them had died and it had been late one night, as he looked at the ceiling of his room, that he had found himself wishing that his mother and his uncle were dead.

“They can’t hurt us if they are gone” he had whispered into the darkness, and Noah was right, they couldn’t hurt them if they were dead, but Noah was almost sure that they were still alive.

A cold wind ruffled Noah’s and Dustin’s curly hair, sending a shiver through Dustin’s body, he propped his elbow over his knee and watched as a red car drove by, when Noah spoke again.

“It’s gonna rain”

Dustin turned to look at him, his lips gapped, Noah was looking out at the street but turned to look at the other young man when he felt him looking at him.

“I think its gonna rain later” he explained with a shrug.

“I hope not” Dustin sighed “It’s been raining quiet a lot lately and I’m sick of it, you know?”

Noah snorted a laugh, probably the first time he had laughed with someone who wasn’t his father or sister in a very long time, he shook his head and his curls tickled his forehead.

“Well, this is certainly an upgrade from where I come from” Noah explained “It rained almost every day, so, I’m ok with this”

“Oh man, no” Dustin shook his head “I want some sunny days, maybe we could go to the lake and all that, but with this rain? With this rain I can barely make it home without thinking that I’m going to be washed away”

Noah chuckled but shrugged, the climate here had been acting up the last few days, but he was sure it had to do with the station, and he wasn’t going to argue with Dustin, it certainly would be nice to have several sunny days in a row.

“Let’s just hope for the best” Dustin shrugged, he turned back to the street, in front of them the trees branches and leaves were swaying a bit faster, even so, the day hadn’t lost its shiny and bright colors.

After all the had happened with Will, Eleven and the Demogorgon it had come a time in which Dustin had actually wondered if things would ever go back to normal, and now, with Will getting better with each passing day and with Eleven with them, Dustin had realized that this was their new normal and he had been glad to see that they had started to adapt to this new life and so far it had turned out really well.

The two boys sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the trees sway and the bushes ruffle against the wind when a car took a turn and road down the street and towards the school, Dustin turned to look at it first, a smile spreading over his face as the car came to a stop.

With his arm resting over the window frame of the driver’s seat, Steve glanced at the stairs of the middle school, his eyebrow shooting up as he saw Dustin there sitting with the other boy that Steve simply assumed it was Noah.

“Dustin?” he called loudly, Dustin pushed himself up to his feet.

“Steve” he smiled and walked a few steps down before another body appeared into view, sitting over the over door frame and waving at the two boys.

“Noah!” Evelyn called, a smile over her face and her hair drifting with the wind like a dark cloud.

“Evelyn?” Noah asked, the only of the four with a frown over his face, Dustin glanced back at Noah as the blond boy pushed himself up to his feet.

And so this was Steve Harrington, Chemistry partner, who drove a blue car, who was also suspicious.

“That’s your sister?” asked Dustin as he looked at Noah.

“Yeah” Noah answered, but he was looking at Steve.

“That’s the friend I was telling you about” explained Dustin, “Guess your ride is here”

“Dustin, what the fuck are you doing here?” asked Steve as the boys started to walk towards them, and Evelyn pushed herself back inside the car.

“I had to come back for some books I left at my locker” explained the boy, he stopped in front of the high schooler.

“Right,” Steve rolled his eyes “Get in the car, I’ll give you a ride”

“Aren’t you the best” Dustin joked he turned to the door and walked towards it as Noah reached the car behind him.

Dustin pulled open the door and climbed inside, Noah hesitated for a moment and then climbed inside, his sister was looking at him over her shoulder, a smile over her face.

“Hey, Big Man” she said once Noah had closed the door behind herself. “This is Steve Harrington, my chemistry partner”

“Hey, Evelyn” he answered, and it wasn’t the tone but more the way he looked at her that told Evelyn that he was a bit upset. “Hello Steve”

“Nice to meet you, Noah”

Noah didn’t answer back, Steve looked at him through the review mirror, but Noah had turned his eyes towards his sister.

“Where’s your bike?” Noah asked, his tone flat and almost unchanging.

“I left it at school, so dad is going to have to drive us tomorrow” she shrugged “It’s gonna rain so we wouldn’t have made it home before the rain”

Dustin looked at her rapidly, remembering that Noah too had mentioned that rain would be coming that day.

“I’m Dustin Henderson” said Dustin, he smiled at Evelyn, Evelyn turned her body to look at him better, since he was sitting directly behind her.

“Dustin hey” she smiled, “I’m Evelyn Tyler, nice to meet you”

“Nice to meet you too” smiled Dustin at her, and with that, Steve started to drive down the road once more, heading towards the Tyler residence first before heading off to drop Dustin as his place.

“You have no taste in music, Steve” Evelyn sighed, she leaned forward and changed the radio dial, Steve snorted a laugh as he took a curve.

“Are you kidding?” he glanced at her, “I don’t remember you complaining about Take on Me”

“Yeah, well I was the one who encouraged you, so you get no credit for that, Harrington” she shrugged and leaned back to her seat, she bopped her head softly to the rhythm of the music.

“Oh, wow” Steve faked insult, Dustin glanced at him, Steve turning his head slightly to look at Evelyn, the young woman glanced at him, her eyebrow up expectantly “So, that’s the way it is now?”

“That’s the way it is now” she shrugged, her lips twitching into the growing smile.

“Fuck, Tyler” he shook his head as he turned to the road. “I didn’t know that side of you”

Evelyn chuckled and shook her head, her laugh echoing in the car as Steve turned his eyes towards the review mirror to check on the boys, and just as he looked at it, he found that a pair of eyes were already staring back at him through the mirror. Noah’s eyes were clear but steady and firm, he glared at Steve through the mirror for a few seconds before Noah finally tore his eyes away from him and towards the window, Steve raised an eyebrow and up the road, the Tyler house come into view.

The car rolled towards the driveway, slowing down as they finally arrived to Steve’s first stop of the day, Noah held his backpack tighter against his chest as the car finally stopped, without much thought he turned to the door and pushed it open.

“Thanks for the ride, Steve” he said, his voice flat, he looked back at Dustin “Thank you for waiting with me, have a good day, Dustin” and Steve raised an eyebrow at the sound of Noah putting intonation into his voice when he talked to Dustin, but remaining flat and firm when he talked to Steve.

“Don’t worry about it,” Dustin smiled as Noah climbed off the car and closed the door behind himself.

Steve glanced at him as the young boy walked up the driveway before he turned to look at Evelyn who was grabbing her backpack and pulling out her house keys.

“Is it me, or your brother doesn’t like me that much?”

Dustin chuckled loudly as Evelyn turned to look at him, a strand of hair falling right between her eyes.

“He doesn’t like you” said both Evelyn and Dustin at the same time.

“I knew it” he shook his head and gave the steering wheel a soft tap with the pad of his right palm.

“In your defense, he doesn’t really like a lot of people” she shrugged, because it wasn’t really a lie, she turned to look at Dustin “Thanks for waiting with him” she smiled and turned to Steve “Thanks for the ride Harrington, I’ll see you tomorrow”

“See you tomorrow, Tyler”

“Have a safe drive” and with that she pushed the door open and stepped out of the car, the wind ruffled her hair and the young woman found herself trotting up the driveway and towards the door of the house, where Noah was currently waiting, finding his shoes incredibly interesting.

Steve watched them for a moment before Dustin snapped him back to the car.

“I’ll just sit on the front now”

Steve turned to look at him as Dustin climbed through the space between the two front seats, Steve managing to cover his face with his forearm before Dustin’s foot could hit him on the face.

“Sorry” said Dustin as he finally sat down.

“For fucks sakes” Steve shook his head and turned to the wheel, starting to move the car as the Tylers walked inside their house.

“She seems nice” Dustin said as they drove up the road.

“She is” Steve shrugged, “You should have told me you didn’t have your bike, Dustin” Steve continued, he set his forearm over the window frame and leaned his head against his hand, “I would have picked you up, you know that, right?”

“Yeah, I know” Dustin shrugged “I just asked you to pick me up so many times last week that I didn’t want to bother you”

Steve glanced at him, a frown over his face but Dustin was looking straight forward, the wind filtering into the car caressing his curls.

“You’re not bothering me” Steve shrugged “Not more than usual, I mean” Dustin chuckled and shook his head “No but seriously” Dustin turned to look at Steve “Let me know next time, I’ll pick you up”

Dustin looked at him, since everything that had happened with the Demodog, and all that stuff just almost a year ago, Dustin and Steve had become friends and Dustin would never really tell anyone but the thing was, he thought of Steve like the brother he never had, and what Dustin would never know, was that Steve thought of Dustin as the younger brother he never knew he wanted.

“Thanks” Dustin said, Steve had turned to look straight forward but nodded in agreement, and just like that, it was settled.

Chapter 13: What is Happening

Summary:

Lucas leaves something behind, Dustin and Mike run into trouble, and arguments arrive Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Wednesday afternoon had turned out to be just what Dustin had feared it would, heavy and dark clouds had gathered over the town, the cold wind was shuffling the leaves of the trees and ruffling the bushes as it blew across Hawkins, Indiana; and still, with all the threat of heavy rain and a growing cold night, Evelyn hurried up the driveway of the Sinclair house.

The young woman rang the doorbell, glancing over her shoulder at the car that she had managed to make Derek borrow her, she had driven him up to the hospital, all the way he had assured her that he would take the bus back to the house during the morning.

The door swung open and Mrs. Sinclair came into view, she smiled widely at Evelyn and she smiled back at her.

“Evelyn, hi, please come in”

“Thank you” Evelyn nodded and stepped into the house, the warmth embracing her deliciously as Mrs. Sinclair closed the door behind them.

“I’m sorry for calling you at the last minute” Mrs. Sinclair began as she lead the young woman towards the living room “But my husband and I were invited to this dinner and it’s important for our job” she shrugged “Also, Erica is staying a friend’s house but Lucas has a friend here, they are working on a school project”

“Don’t worry about it” Evelyn agreed “I’ll take care of it”

“We can talk about the fee when I get back, yes? I know you didn’t expect to take care of two kids tonight” she shook her head.

“Don’t worry about the fee, it’s still the same, no Erica but another boy” Evelyn smiled at Mrs. Sinclair, the woman looked at her and smiled gratefully at Evelyn.

“The phone number of where we are is in the kitchen” she nodded, Evelyn nodded back and shrugged her jacket off as Mrs. Sinclair went off to look for Lucas and get her husband so they could get going.

Lucas walked into the living room with a few items in his hands, he looked tired and a bit frustrated, but still he smiled kindly at Evelyn when he saw her.

“Hey, Evelyn”

“Hey,” she smiled back at him “Need some help with that?”

“Sure”

Evelyn walked up to him and took a few of the things from his hands as a second boy walked into the room, he was a bit shorter than Lucas but his hair was longer, he looked up at Evelyn and she turned to look at him.

“Hi” she said, “I’m Evelyn Tyler”

“Hi” he nodded a bit shyly “I’m Will Byers”

Evelyn looked at him for a moment and a soft smile appeared on her face “By any chance you have a brother?”

“Yes” Will answered “Jonathan”

“I know him” she reached towards Will and took a pencil case from his hands “He’s nice”

Will smiled at her softly and nodded before Evelyn turned to the coffee table “You guys wanna work here or at the dinner table?”

“Here” said both Lucas and Will at the same time.

“Ok, then” she chuckled and settled the things over the coffee table before she knelt down, both boys following after as Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair headed out of the house and to their business dinner.

Will frowned as he moved away some of the papers and his notebooks, his eyes jumping from paper to paper as he searched for something, he reached over and pushed away some of the color pencils and then looked up at Lucas.

“Lucas, where’s the science textbook?”

“What?” Lucas looked up at him, he had been writing down the information of the white cardboard.

“Where’s the science textbook?” Will asked once more.

“What are you talking about?” Lucas frowned “You had it”

“No, I didn’t” Will shook his head and narrowed his eyes “You said you were bringing it”

“No, I didn’t” Lucas set down the pen.

“Yes you did” Will sighed “I didn’t bring mine, I left it at the locker”

Lucas looked at Will, Evelyn glancing from one boy to the other, her eyebrow going up as she set down the notebook she had been using to dictate to Lucas what he intended to write on the cardboard.

“So is mine” Lucas said “This is a joke, right?” he added after a few seconds.

“No!” Will sighed “This is not a joke”

“Ok, ok, what’s going on?” Evelyn raised her eyebrow “All this talk about textbooks, is this textbook necessary?”

“Yes” answered both boys at the same time, turning to look at her.

“Do we need it right now?”

“Kind of” answered Lucas, Evelyn raised an eyebrow at him and glanced at Will.

“Will?” she asked.

“Yes, we do” he answered with a soft nod “I didn’t copy some of the information because well, it was already in the textbook”

“Right” sighed Evelyn, she looked down at her arm and pulled the sleeve of her shirt up and looked down at her watch, it showed her the time was twenty past six. “Ok, um” she looked up at the boys “Let’s go get it then”

“School is closed” said Lucas, Evelyn raised an eyebrow at him once more.

“Someone from maintenance is surely there” she shrugged and pushed herself up “But, let’s hurry before they leave so we can get that textbook and finish this thing”

Will shot Lucas an annoyed look and pushed himself up to his feet, Lucas rolled his eyes and followed after Will and Evelyn, the sooner they got that textbook the sooner they could get this project over with.

___________//____________

Noah pedaled down the street, the cold wind dancing against his light curls, he’s sister had left the house with their father, both of them would be at work but only Evelyn would be returning later that night, and although he knew the rules perfectly well, he also knew how to break them from time to time, perfectly well; a ride around the town wouldn’t hurt anyone, and anyway he was just been going to the market to get some chocolate bars, so there really wasn’t much harm done.

Now that he had what he wanted stuffed inside a small plastic bag inside his jacket, Noah was riding down a road, he had learned the names of the nearby streets and this one wasn’t that far from the school, sure, he had wondered away a bit farther than he had anticipated, but from here back to his place it would only take him fifteen minutes tops, if he didn’t speed up.

The young boy was lost in thought, he had realized that riding his bike gave him some peace, some new world that only belonged to him; he took a curve and as he thought on about going to buy some comics, two other boys took the curve just a few feet away from him, of course Noah didn’t notice until the pair was already next to him and a voice was calling his name.

“Noah!”

Not a lot of people knew his name around town, in fact, he was sure that only a handful knew it, so his name being called out snapped him out of his thoughts with a jolt, his hand pulled on the handles of the bike making him lose control of the bike for a split second as he turned to look at the two boys who had magically appeared next to him.

“Sorry” Dustin shrugged “Didn’t mean to scare you”

“Hi, Dustin” Noah said, at Dustin’s other side Noah saw a boy with dark hair and he recognized him immediately. “You’re the boy from the woods”

“You’re the boy from the woods” Mike frowned as he looked at him.

“You guys know each other?” asked Dustin, glancing from Noah to Mike, as the trio slowed down its pedaling.

“He’s the guy I told you that I saw at the woods talking to El”

“Oh,” Dustin turned to Noah “You’ve met El too then”

“Just in passing” Noah answered, and Mike wasn’t sure he liked the kid any more than he had done when he had met him in the woods.

“Well, anyway, this is Mike Wheeler” Dustin continued, if he noticed the tension in Mike, he didn’t mention it “And Mike, this is Noah Tyler”

“Nice to meet you” said Noah, but Mike was sure he didn’t mean it.

“What are you doing out here?” asked Dustin.

“I was just coming from the store” he explained “And went for a ride”

“Sounds nice, you have any plans for now?” asked Dustin, Mike watched him for a moment before he caught movement by the rear of his eyes, he was used to the sounds of cars and people, but as he glanced over his shoulder to look behind himself he felt his heart skip a beat.

“Oh shit” whispered Mike.

“What?” Dustin turned to him.

“We have problems” said Mike, he looked at Dustin “Tommy H’s car is behind us”

“Fuck” hissed Dustin, he looked over his shoulder and sure enough Tommy’s car was there, ridding behind them but the thing was, it was going to slow to be just driving by.

“And that’s a problem why?” asked Noah, Mike turned to look at him.

“He and his friends tried to run over one of our friends not so long ago” Mike explained, the truth was they probably hadn’t been trying to run Lucas over, but they had had all the intention of bumping his bike with the car which would have obviously ended with Lucas injured pretty badly.

“Who the fuck would do that?” asked Noah.

“Psychos” hissed Dustin “Let’s go faster”

And almost as if their minds had been read, the car honked twice and accelerated, Dustin gripped his bike harder and tensed his jaw before Mike screamed.

“GO!” and he was dashing down the street, his legs pumping as fast as they could, Noah and Dustin zooming next to him, zigzagging as the car rode down the road behind them, Mike turned his bike, aiming it towards a few houses that had no fence dividing them and would make for an escape route, because they had fought against Demogorgons and Demodogs, but evil wasn’t always disguised as monsters, sometimes evil rode a car down the road chasing boys in bikes.

The houses zoomed past them, Mike was pedaling as fast as his legs could take him, the grass crunching under the weight of the bike as the cold air hit his face, behind him he could hear Dustin and Noah, and down the road, just alongside the houses if he dared to look, he would have seen Tommy H’s car, and inside was not only the owner but three other imbeciles that found their fun in terrorizing young kids.

He was panting now as he rode around a small picnic table on a backyard, not only because he was going as fast as he could but because he knew that the fenceless houses were about to be over and they would have to emerge into the street before being able to once more escape through the houses a block from there; he grip the handle harder, he was sweating and behind him, Noah and Dustin weren’t fending much better.

“What the fuck is this?!” cried Noah, and by the sound of his voice Mike could tell that he was the one immediately behind him.

“School is not that far!” Mike cried, and he hoped, he really did that Noah had listened so he could deliver the message to Dustin “We can hide there, there might even be a teacher there!”

How on earth was it that people enjoyed the pain of others? And Mike knew, because he had seen it in Billy’s eyes once, that this chase wouldn’t stop until one of them was hurt, because they had humiliated Billy, they had squashed his ego, they had maimed his manhood, and now this was his revenge, he would get back at them through the only way he knew.

Terrorizing them.

Mike’s bike jumped off the sidewalk and onto the street, he grunted with the land but didn’t stop, stopping would make the difference between getting hit by a car or making it to the school, behind him Noah skidded a bit but not enough to fall behind and Dustin was trying his best not to look back; the air was hurting his face now, but he could hear the tires of the car.

“He’s coming!” cried Noah, “This is what I get for leaving the house” he thought, he had broken the rules and now he was being chased by a lunatic with a car.

At least it wasn’t a blue car.

“Go, go, go!” Mike cried “We are almost there, we can go through the back!”

“Hey Wheeler!” his name was being called and he cringed inside as his name was followed by Tommy H’s laugh. “We just want to talk!”

“Fuck you Tommy!” cried Dustin.

“Almost there, almost there, almost there!” Mike’s mind cried, and the school came into view but it looked so far yet so close. “Please!” he cried and he pulled at the handle and the bike jumped forward and over the sidewalk and he was pedaling through the grass of the school, he took a violent turn, his stomach turning at the thought that he could fall and he saw the doors of the back of the school.

Mike wasn’t sure if he thought about it before he did it, or his body just reacted before anything else, but one second he was pedaling, the other he was jumping off the bike, he landed on his feet and started to run towards the doors of the school; he heard a crash behind him and a curse, and as he shoved the open doors of the school, another body hit his and they crashed onto the floor.

“Fuck!” Dustin was panting next to Mike and Noah, both of them laying over the floor. “We got to go, get up!” he grabbed Mike’s arm and gave him a yank, the fact that they were inside the school didn’t mean that Tommy H and his friends couldn’t come in looking for them.

___________//____________

Steve drove lazily up the street, he had been with David and Scott taking some beers and passing time for a few hours, but as the day started to get darker, he had decided to head back home, he was looking out the window, his arm resting over the frame when he heard that stupid and familiar laugh.

Tommy H.

He rolled his eyes, ever since Barb had gone missing, since he had made a fool of himself with Nancy and Jonathan, and since all that Demogorgon shit had happened, Steve had found that just the sound of Tommy’s or Carol’s voice, could make him cringe and he was certain that his intelligence drooped a few points as well.

He knew that Tommy and his friends didn’t like him because they were now friends with Billy and frankly, Steve could care less, but the thing was, the last thing he has expected to see was the scene the unraveled itself before him.

He took a turn and saw three bikes riding down the street like the devil was after them and he recognized Mike’s dark hair almost instantly, and then the car zoomed past him and Tommy’s laugh followed and he knew this was wrong.

“Hey Wheeler!” Tommy was laughing “We just want to talk!”

“Fuck you Tommy!” that had to be Dustin, Steve would have bet his life on it.

“What the fuck is this shit?” he frowned, he pulled his arm away from the frame and before he knew it he was shifting gears and his car was rolling rapidly down the street and behind Tommy H’s car as they chased Mike and Dustin and their friend.

___________//____________

Evelyn stood behind Will and Lucas as Will turned the lock of his locker, the school had been deserted but the back door had been unlocked, and Evelyn wasn’t going to admit it there with the kids, but she had found it strange; she looked down the hallway as Will pulled open his locker, he shuffled a few things and Lucas peaked inside.

The young woman frowned and turned her body towards the hallway, she was sure she had heard something, but she wasn’t quite sure what it had been, she narrowed her eyes and took a step towards the hallway, Lucas turned to look at her.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, Will stopped what he was doing, the textbook in his hand and looked at Evelyn.

“Did you hear that?” she asked.

“What?” asked Will, and he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand straight.

“I don’t know” she whispered, she frown and started to walk towards the hallway, that was the way they had come through “Stay behind me” she said, her right arm extending gently to give some cover as she started to advance towards the hallway.

Lucas looked at Will, suddenly the school felt too lonely, looked too dark, seemed very suspicious, and both their hearts started to race as they walked slowly behind Evelyn and down the hallway towards the curve.

“Maybe we should leave” whispered Will.

“Shh” Evelyn said softly, she quicken her pace and reached the curve, and just as she was about to make the turn and peak at the other side, something emerged from the hallway.

Evelyn crashed face first against the figure that was hurrying down the hallway, her arm only quick enough to shield her face as she yelped loudly; and her yelp was accompanied by the gasp of someone else.

“Shit!” the gasp came.

Evelyn staggered back, her heart threatening to burst from her chest until her eyes focused on the figure “Steve?!” shock spread through her “What the fuck!?” she barked, her arm swinging and hitting Steve on the shoulder “What the fuck is wrong with you!?”

“Evie?!” his eyes widened “What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?!” she asked, her body relaxing and Will and Lucas coming into view.

“Wheeler, Lucas” he sounded relieved “What the hell are you doing here?”

“We came for a textbook” explained Will, he wave the textbook for Steve to see “What are you doing here?”

“I was following Dustin and Mike, Tommy H and some motherfuckers were chasing them down the street”

“What?” Evelyn hissed “Where are they?”

“I don’t know” Steve shrugged “I saw them running in here but I didn’t see where they went, and I came looking for them and found you guys instead” he looked around the hallway “This place looks like shit after dark”

“Yeah, don’t mention it” Evelyn looked around, her brain screaming at her that the door had been unlocked. “Ok, you know what, lets go find Dustin and we…

And Steve was shoved forward with force, the teen stumbled forward and Evelyn barely had time to reach and grab his shoulders as he fell face first towards her, one of his hands hitting the locker next to him and the other almost swatting away the textbook from Will’s hand.

“What the fuck?!” the cry came out more with hints of panic than surprise, as Evelyn pushed Steve up and away from her, he scrambled away from her, trying to recover a bit of the dignity lost in the semi fall and turned around.

“Dustin!” Lucas exclaimed “What the fuck is happening?!”

“What are you doing here?” asked Mike, as he looked at Lucas and Will, before he glanced at Steve and Evelyn, both teens standing next to each other.

“We came for a textbook” explained Evelyn “And Steve was looking for you guys” she explained as she looked at Mike, and then another head caught her attention “Oh, fuck no” she took a step forward “What are YOU doing here?”

Noah looked up at his sister, his cheeks were flushed and he was panting “I got caught up in a car chase, thanks for asking” and he turned to look at Steve, narrowing his eyes slightly, under this poor lighting Steve now looked even more suspicious.

“You know what? I don’t care” Evelyn shook her head “I am leaving with all of you,” she signaled around the group “I don’t know who the shit Tommy H is, but I want to see him try and stop me from leaving with all of you,” she glanced at Lucas and Will “We are leaving, now, all of us”

“Evelyn, maybe we could give them a few minutes to leave” Steve shrugged “There were like four of them in that car, and we have a preschool here”

“Hey” barked Lucas.

“No, I am not staying here any longer, this place is giving me the creeps” Evelyn hissed.

“Don’t be paranoid, I really don’t feel like getting in a fight with Tommy H and those fuckers…

“What? What you talking about? You don’t have to fight anyone, Harrington, why is everyone suddenly so dramatic?”

“I’m being realistic, Evelyn” Steve rolled his eyes.

“If you two could just shut up” started Dustin.

“Because if you think they wont try to fight us… Steve was going at it.

“No one is fighting anyone, Harrington, cut it out already with your macho…

“Evelyn, stop!” barked Noah, but no one was listening to them.

“Macho? What? I am trying to help! And why are you mad at me now? I haven’t done…

“Guys!” Mike rolled his eyes annoyance flowing through him, but he had to admit that this place was creeping him out.

“You know what? You stay here, I am taking my children and I am leaving, you do whatever you want, but this place is starting to…

And then a screeching sound echoed in the hallway, breaking right into Evelyn’s and Steve’s argument; the teens fell silent as all the group turned to look down the hallway and to a partially opened door.

“That was close just ten seconds ago” whispered Mike.

“No shit, Columbus” Noah whispered.

“What fuck is going on here?”

Notes:

Evelyn deciding to fight anyone who stops her from leaving with the kids, is what i am here for

Also, shit is about to get real, real ulgy here

Also #TommyHYouNeedToGetPunched Chapter 14: Critters in the Dark

Summary:

Arguments arrise, someone investigates the opened room and not all critters stay in the dark. Notes:

Gif fest again, I'm sorry I get carried away (See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

“What the fuck is going on here?” Steve asked, he took a few steps forward, stepping around the kids until he was standing in front of the group and looking at the door that no long ago had been completely closed.

Steve had seen Tommy H’s car drive around the school as he had been pulling over to go check on Dustin and Mike and Noah, but he couldn’t be sure that they had driven away or that they hadn’t walked into the school as well, because if he knew something for sure about Tommy H was that if the guy could hurt Dustin and his friends, to make Billy Hargrove happy, then you could bet that he was going to do it without hesitation; at the end of the day, Tommy’s will was almost nonexistent.

“I think it’s time to go” Evelyn spoke, Steve glanced at her, the light that had been streaming into the hallway through the windows had diminished incredibly, the group now only relying on the lights coming from the streetlights next to the school.

“I agree” he said, Evelyn turned to look at him.

“Yeah, let’s just get out of here before Freddy Krueger pops out of fucking nowhere” said Dustin, Evelyn cracked a soft smile and turned to look at Dustin over her shoulder, Steve looking at her for a few seconds before he turned around completely and looked at the kids.

“Ok” Evelyn nodded, she was on edge, she had been on edge since they had arrived to the school and she had knocked on the door for a few times before she had tried the knob and the door had simply slipped open for them; that had been the first red flag, and it should have been the last one. “Let’s go” she turned around and made her way towards the locker “Let’s close this, and then get out of here” Noah walked behind her, followed by Lucas.

“You better be ready to leave your bikes here” said Steve as he turned to look at Dustin and Mike, “I don’t know if that motherfucker is out there, and I am not gonna risk it, so I’m driving you both back home”

“At least let us hide them” Mike shrugged “I don’t want my bike to get stolen”

“Oh, so you’d rather get punched by Tommy and his friends?” Steve asked, an eyebrow shooting up as he looked at Mike, crossing his arms over his chest.

Mike rolled his eyes at Steve, and shook his head as Dustin frowned and looked at Steve.

“Why are you being so dramatic? No one is getting punched” Mike said, annoyance in his voice.

“Really? Are you sure about that?” asked Steve, Dustin opened his mouth “Because I cannot take on all four of them, and sure as fuck neither can all of you”

“Could you just…

“Where’s Will?” Evelyn’s voice broke right into Dustin’s sentence, Steve was the first one to glance at Evelyn, Mike looking around Steve before he realized that no one had seen Will walk away.

“I… Steve glanced over his shoulder but sure enough, Will wasn’t there anymore, he turned to look at Evelyn, but the young woman wasn’t looking at him anymore, her eyes were scanning the hallway from where they all had come from before she turned to look at the door that had opened up all by itself.

“Will?” she called out, but her voice only bounced around the walls, and no answer ever came.

“Will?” Dustin called harder as he stepped towards Evelyn.

“Stay here” said Evelyn, and this time her eyes did snap towards Steve “Don’t lose any of them” she turned back to the door “Stay here, and I mean it Noah” she said and then she started to move.

“Will?” Evelyn called once more, her voice echoing through the hallway.

“We should go looking for him” explained Mike, he started to move but before he could get away from the group, Steve’s hand landed over his shoulder, grabbing him tight, Mike turned around to look at him, his eyes narrowed and shooting daggers.

“Don’t look at me like that, you’re not making the rules here, idiot” Steve hissed “So, you heard her, stay here” Mike opened his mouth to argue. “No,” Steve pulled Mike back towards them “No arguing, from any of you”

Steve looked away from them and turned to Evelyn, just catching a glimpse of the young woman as she walked inside the room with the open door.

Evelyn peaked into the room as Steve was grabbing Mike, the light from the streetlights was barely illuminating the classroom, but there was enough to show Will’s silhouette, his body casting a shadow that became distorted with the desks around him; and it all looked normal, it all seemed to be in its place, everything seemed to be alright.

Except that it didn’t feel like that.

Evelyn’s eyes darted around the room before she focused once more over Will, everything seemed alright but still she was getting goose bumps, her stomach contracted as she made her way inside the room. The young woman curled her fingers around the hem of her long sleeve, tugging it down as she walked down the row of desks and towards Will.

“Will, sweetie, are you ok?” her voice was low and gentle.

His back was towards her, and the fact that he wasn’t answering nor moving to look at her, only made her stomach contract harder and she felt her throat running dry as she approached the young boy, he was standing there perfectly still and everything was wrong with this picture.

“Will?” she whispered and her voice seemed to shake as it slipped out of her lips. “It’s time to go, Will, come on”

She scanned the young boy and saw his fingers twitching gently, she frowned and looked up at his head and reached towards him, her right hand stretching forward to touch his shoulder and just as her fingers were about to grace his shoulder, the young boy started to move as slowly and gently as he could do it.

Will turned around slowly, his hands were shaking and he was trying so hard not to pant, the sound of Evelyn’s voice was like heaven but he also was wishing that she hadn’t walked in; his eyes met hers as soon as he turned around completely, he saw worry in her eyes and he felt his lower lip tremble as they looked at each other, and as he saw worry in her eyes, she saw panic in his.

Her eyes grew in size and her lips gapped as she looked at Will, and for an agonizing moment, it felt like they had been standing there for hours, both of them paralyzed and then Evelyn reacted.

___________//____________

Noah watched as his sister disappeared inside the room and he hated that he had helped her make those fliers for babysitting jobs, he hated that he had gone out for a ride and chocolate bars, he hated that they were here in this dark and scary looking hallway; he heard his sister’s voice just before it was cut short by Mike’s and Steve’s resuming their bickering, Noah turned to look at them with a frown.

“We should go with her” said, Steve glance at him.

“We are staying here” he said “I don’t want all of you running around wild in this hallway”

“Something bad could have happened” Noah frowned as he looked at Steve.

“Look, its probably Tommy or one of his friends trying to scare us” Steve explained, but not even he believed that story.

“Really?” hissed Noah, he took a step towards Steve “Did you see or hear any of them creeping up the hallway? Because I sure as fuck didn’t?”

“Did you see or hear Will walking away?” Steve snapped back “Because I’m sure as fuck none of us did”

Noah glared at him, anger bubbling inside him, because none of this should be happening, he curled his fingers into fists, the arguments already rushing up his throat, he opened his lips and then a scream echoed through the hallway.

Steve and the kids froze in place as the scream tore through the hall, it was high pitched and they couldn’t hear it but there was a hint of pain and horror in the shriek; Lucas felt the hair on the back of his neck stand straight, Mike’s body tensing painfully as Dustin’s eyes grew in size and Noah lost all the color in his face, and Steve reacted first.

“EVIE!” he cried and before he knew it he was dashing down the hallway and towards the door that had opened up to them.

Steve was reaching the door, his hand curling around the doorframe before he pushed himself in, the four boys left behind were already chasing after him; Steve looked at the scene inside the classroom, Will was shoving away an organizer at the back of the room, things were spilling out of it and the boy seemed frantic, but what called his attention right as the boys reached him, was Evelyn.

Steve skidded inside the classroom, his left leg slipping under him, he crashed sideways against one of the desks, but he threw the item away from him as he raced towards Evelyn, who now lay on the floor.

“EVIE!” cried Noah, he dashed after Steve, the older boy already cropping to his knees next to the young woman.

“What happened?!” cried Dustin, Lucas was rushing around a few desks to reach Will.

“What happened to her?!” Mike gasped, he was standing behind Steve and Noah.

Will turned to look at them, his eyes were huge, his face looked pale and his chest was rising and falling rapidly as he looked at his friends, Lucas had stopped short just a few steps away from Will, confusion written over his face.

“I don’t know” Will whispered.

“What happened to her!?” Steve barked, he looked up from Evelyn’s face, her eyes were close and her lips gapped, her dark hair sprawled around her, and if it hadn’t been for the scream and the fact that they were inside a school after dark, it would have seemed that she was sleeping. “Will, answer me?!”

“THAT!” Will cried as he pointed to the floor and he jumped forward towards Lucas before anyone had time to even think what he was even doing.

___________//____________

Will and Evelyn looked at each other, the darkness of the room couldn’t hide the panic in Will’s eyes, he looked up at Evelyn, her hair was framing her face and her lips were gapped but despite the darkness in the room, she hadn’t been able to understand what was happening until his eyes left hers for a split second and focused on his chest; Evelyn followed his sight and her eyes grew rapidly.

The darkness made it hard to see if you weren’t looking for anything special, but with Will’s guide, Evelyn focused on the fountain of the boy’s fear; over his chest lay something big, not big like a rat, but big like a crab.

Her lips gapped and Will felt his heart beating madly in his chest, panic threatening to break through the cool exterior he was trying to maintain, he was ready to speak, but Evelyn reacted first.

She didn’t even think it, she didn’t hesitate, and a few seconds after her eyes focused on the critter over Will’s chest, her hand shot out to him, Will gasped soundlessly and Evelyn yanked the animal or thing away from Will, her fingers closing around it as hard as she could.

It felt disgusting under her grip, it felt harsh, rough and she could tell it didn’t have scales, but rather it had something that felt like hairs made out of wire; she looked down at her hand as she pulled the thing away from Will and noticed it had six long and thing legs, too long to be normal, she held it tight but still the thing moved.

It twisted its body, its legs contracting for a split second before its head came into view, it was small but protected by four long stingers, its front two legs reached towards her and she gasped and just as she threw her arm, ready to get rid of the animal, its legs wrapped around her wrist and it pulled its body away from Evelyn’s hand and dug it’s stingers right below the inner part of her elbow.

It smelled familiar, the thing holding his body smelled familiar, it was that sweet smell from the other night that he had been out of the shelter of their new found home, and it moved something in him, the intensity of the smell washed over him like a powerful tide wave and he moved around to not only free himself from the steady grip, but also to get some taste, because it was sweet and intense and he needed to have it.

Evelyn and Will watched with horror and strange fascination as the thing drove all its four stingers into Evelyn’s jacket but it went through the fabric of the jacket and the shirt so easily and rapidly that Evelyn only realized that they were also going into her skin when the pain shot up her arm and spread around.

It felt like lava, like something thick was spreading through her elbow and down her arm, like it was pushing its way through the spaces between her bones and her muscles, like it was expanding her skin and trying to melt it from the inside all at the same time.

And Evelyn screamed in pain.

___________//____________

Everything about this was wrong, from the chase by Tommy H to the fact that Evelyn was now lying on the floor, having been bit by a critter that was big, but not like a rat, but like a crab and that had stingers that made skin feel like it was coming apart from the bone and the muscle.

“Oh my god, is she dead?” Dustin asked, he was looking over Steve’s shoulder.

“No!” barked Noah, he pressed his hand over his sister’s forehead.

“Could you all just shut up!” cried Steve, there had been enough screaming after Will had launched forward, pushed Lucas away and a desk to then jump with all his might over the thing that had bitten Evelyn. “Shut the fuck up all of you!” he cried out again.

“Why is she not waking up?” asked Mike.

“What if she’s infected with poison and she can’t wake up?” asked Dustin as he looked at Mike.

“HEY!” Steve snapped, he turned to look at Mike and Dustin over his shoulder “Are you two fucking deaf? Shut the fuck up! I’m trying to think, and no she’s not dead, would you stop saying that? Her fucking brother is here, god dammit!”

She could hear the bickering, but she only knew that was what it was because of the tones in the voices, the words where elongated and distorted and she couldn’t understand them but she didn’t know it that was because there was currently a ringing going on in her ears; her eyelids flutter open, they felt heavy and puffy, but the shapes came into view shapeless and the colors mixed in together.

“What if there are more of those things here?!” Lucas looked around.

“Enough!” Steve was barking “Get a grip all of you! This is the fucking last time I tell you to shut up! Can you follow instructions or are you all that fucking dense?”

A groan escaped her lips and the bickering came to a stop, everyone turned to look at Evelyn, her eyes had closed back down but her mind was starting to replay what had happened, and the cool floor on which she was lying was somehow helping with the throbbing of her head.

“Evie?” Noah asked, his hand softly landed over her forehead “Can you hear me?”

She groaned again and Steve felt relieve wash over his body, she took to take a deep breath and then she opened her eyes, this time the shapes came as they were and the first face she saw belonged to the other responsible adult in the room.

“Fuck” whispered Steve “Fuck, thank god” he closed his eyes for a moment.

“Are you ok?” asked Noah, she turned to look at him, her cheek pressed against the floor.

“Yeah” she croaked and her throat ached and felt like sandpaper.

“You gave us a scare, Tyler” Steve said, trying his best to lighten the mood.

“I tried my best” she answered back, slowly turning to look at Steve, he gave her a soft smile that she returned as she watched a few strands of his hair drop over his forehead. “Where’s Will?” she asked, and her sort of joking tone changed to a serious one.

“I’m here” he said, and his head popped up from behind Noah, he looked alright, the color had returned to his face and his eyes didn’t look petrified by fear as they had before.

“Are you ok?” she asked, she pressed her palms flat over the floor and pushed herself up, she grunted loudly and Steve’s hands shot out to her, his fingers curled around her shoulders and he helped her sit down, she hunched forward and sat down, Steve’s hands lingering a bit longer over her shoulders before he finally pulled them away.

“I’m fine” Will finally answered, “Are YOU ok?” he asked, he had a frown over his face as he looked at her, and he felt awfully guilty.

“I’m fine” she nodded, her eyes closed as her head hung over her chest, her dark hair falling around her like a dark curtain, she opened her eyes and looked at Will “I’m fine, I really am, what happened to that thing?”

“The spider?” asked Mike, Evelyn nodded “Will killed it” he answered.

Evelyn looked at Will in the eyes, and a soft and pure smile spread over her face “My hero” she said kindly and Will smiled at her and felt a soft blush creep over his cheeks.

“Can you walk?” Steve asked.

“Yes” she answered, she reached to grab Steve and he took her hand, the kids around her spread and the older boy helped Evelyn to her feet, he passed his arm around her waist and she slumped against him for a moment, her hair tickling his neck. “I’m fine” she nodded “Just give me a second and we’ll head back to your house” she said as she looked at Lucas.

“We should go to the hospital” said Dustin.

“We are not going to the hospital” Evelyn shook her head, mostly because her dad was there “I’m fine, it was just the shock but I’m fine” she lied, forgetting to mention the way her skin had felt like it was dissolving from her arm.

“What? You cant go back to work” Noah said.

“I can and I am” she looked at her brother “And you are going home, I cant take you to the Sinclair house, you hear me?”

“Evelyn…

“No” she shook her head and pushed herself partially away from Steve but his arm remained around her waist “Don’t argue with me, this is the way things are going to be done, you hear me? I am not joking, Noah”

Noah looked at her and she looked back at him, their eyes holding more secrets and trust than anyone ever had shared, and his whole body was telling him to argue, but he didn’t, because she was asking him with her eyes to just do what she was telling him, because she needed him to be on her side.

“Ok” he agreed.

“I’ll drive you to the Sinclair house” said Steve.

“No you’re not” she shook her head and turned to look at Steve, Steve looked at her with a frown. “I can’t leave my dad’s car here, Harrington”

“You cant drive, Evelyn” he pointed out.

“I’m not leaving the car here” she explained.

“I can drive your car, Steve” said Dustin, Steve’s head snapped towards Dustin.

“Oh, no, I am not doing that again with any of you guys” he turned to Evelyn “And you are not driving anywhere, Tyler”

“Harrington” she rolled her eyes.

“Fine” he shrugged, “We’ll take your car” she opened her mouth to argue “The kids can cram in the back, they can leave their bikes inside my car, I’ll pick it up tomorrow, but you are not driving anywhere, Evelyn”

“You’re impossible, Harrington”

“I am” he agreed “You’re welcome” Evelyn rolled her eyes but her lips twitched into a smile and Steve took it as a good sign.

“I still have to drive from the Sinclair’s to my house” she said casually.

“I’ll drive you home too” he said. “I’ll wait for you until the Sinclairs arrive, you call them, tell them I’m there to help and then I’ll drive you home”

“Do you have an answer for everything?” Mike asked, and he sounded annoyed.

“I do” Steve looked at him. “So, let’s get going”

“My house isn’t that close to yours, Steve” Evelyn whispered as they started to walk towards the door, Noah just a few steps in front of his sister, Steve turned to look at her, the dim lights from outside gave her face a delicate and porcelain like look to her.

“That’s not a problem” he shrugged “You can lend me your bike and I’ll ride it home”

“Steve” she whispered, she didn’t like the idea of leaving his car full of bikes out here, even if this was the middle school building.

“Why are you so keen on arguing with everything I say today, Tyler?” he snorted softly, Lucas glanced over his shoulder to look at them as they walked out of the room.

“It’s just one of my many gifts” she shrugged, leaning her forearm over his shoulder.

“And you say I’m the one who’s impossible” he smiled, Evelyn shook her head, but there was a soft smile over her lips, this whole night had taken a dramatic twist, but at least nothing serious had happened; they had the textbook, Tommy H hadn’t been able to hurt anyone, Will was alright, the spider was dead and they were going home.

And the night had been saved.

But what about the other nights to come?

Notes:

Also, Will being her hero is everything in here, everyone is bickering again and Steve just assinged himself as babysitter of everyone in that classroom.


 * 1) HarringtonBestBabysitterEver


 * 1) FearlessEvelyn

Chapter 15: Shadows Come Alive
 * 1) HeroWill

Summary:

Billy makes a decision, petty anger arrives, and shadows seem to come alive Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Steve was leaning against a random locker, a textbook held on one hand as he talked to Nancy and Jonathan, the older Wheeler sibling had given him a ride home after Mike had told her that Steve had dropped him off at the house the night before; of course Mike had “forgotten” to mention the car chase from Tommy H to the fainting of Evelyn Tyler, and by what Steve had been talking to Nancy and Jonathan, Will had also decided not to mention anything about the night before.

“Hey Byers, I’ll see you in class ok?” Steve said, Jonathan looked up at him “I have to go by my locker to get some things, so I’ll see you in class”

“Sure, sounds fine” Jonathan nodded, it had been a total turn of events, when Jonathan realized that he was becoming friends with Steve, but he wasn’t against it, in fact, he had come to realize that all of them had grown so much from the people they used to be, and these new personas were able to step up, accept flaws and mistakes and make a friendship; something that probably wouldn’t have ever happened if none of the events that started two years ago had taken place.

Steve nodded at Jonathan and pushed himself away from the locker before he started to walk down the hallway, he did in fact had to go to his locker, but he was also hoping to run into Evelyn and asked her how she was doing after the events of the night before.

He glanced around the hallway as he walked through the growing crowd of people in the school, and before he could turn to focus on his path to his locker, he saw a wave of raven hair emerge from a curve and enter the chaos that was the main hallway during the morning.

Steve turned to his side and hurried down the hallway as Evelyn made her own way towards her locker, he pushed a pair of boys away and before Evelyn could be swallowed by the crowd before she took the turn to lead her to the hallway with her locker.

“Evie!” he called out.

Evelyn came to a sudden stop and glanced over her shoulder, a few nearby students glanced at Steve for a few seconds before they returned to their conversations; Evelyn turned around completely and smiled as he approached her.

“Hey there Partner” her hands were holding the straps of her bag.

“Hey, how are you?” he looked at her, a strand of his hair flopping down over his forehead.

“I’m good, how about you?” Steve narrowed his eyes at her, and slowly his eyebrow went up. “Don’t look at me like that” she rolled her eyes “I’m fine, Harrington”

He glanced by the rear of his eyes to his left and then turned back to Evelyn “I’m talking about last night, Tyler, you know that”

Evelyn shifted her weight from one leg to the other “I know what you mean” she shrugged “And my answer is still the same, I’m good, Steve”

“And your arm?” his eyes dropped to her arm and then he looked up at her again. “Does it hurt?”

“No” she shook her head, her dark hair tickled her face and part of her neck, “Look” she looked down at her arm, she took the sleeve of her jacket and pulled it up to show Steve the bite mark.

Steve stepped a bit closer to her and looked down at her arm, the bite marks that the night before had looked a bit swollen now seemed to be mosquito bites, almost completely gone unless you knew where to look.

He looked up at her “Did it hurt last night?”

“No” she shook her head and looked up at him “Only when I was bit, but that was it, you know? Nothing to worry about, I told you that”

Steve seemed to doubt her answer, staring at her before she sighed, and shrugged, a small smirk had been drawn over her face.

“Trust me Harrington, I’ve never lied to you” she said “At least not yet” she should have added, because it was only a matter of time before she was forced to lie to Steve and Nancy and Jonathan, it just was the way things worked when you moved around so much.

When you escaped around so much.

“Ok, fine” he shrugged, finally giving in “But you’ll let me know if it does hurt, I mean, a spider as big as a fucking crab bit you, Evelyn”

“I know that” she chuckled “I was there” he raised an eyebrow at her “Fine, yes!” she laughed louder “I’ll let you know, ok?”

“Sounds perfect”

She shook her head once more and glanced over her shoulder towards the route to head to her locker and then turned to Steve.

“I have to go get some things from my locker” she shrugged “But don’t worry about me”

“Hey,” he popped his hip to the left “You’re my chemistry partner, of course I worry”

She looked at him for a moment, unsure if he was joking or not, but with nothing to tell her that he was in fact mocking her, she offered him a smile.

“Thank you”

“Of course” he nodded “I’ll walk you to your locker and then you can walk to me to mine”

“Follow me then!” she chuckled and turned around completely and started to walk down the hallway and towards her locker, Steve walking next to her.

___________//____________

This couldn’t possibly be happening, there was no way he was putting up with this, that he was even tolerating this, but then again here he was, leaning against his closed locker, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes casted down over the blond girl as she looked up at him, her eyebrows furrowed together, her eyes blazing in all the wrong ways and finally she had stopped talking.

Slowly his own eyebrow started to go up as he looked at her, she tightened her jaw and cocked her head to the left.

“Are you even listening to me?”

“Of course I am” he sighed, he was already done with all of this.

“Do you have anything to say?” she hissed.

“Do you have anything else to say?” he asked back, she narrowed her eyes with anger.

“I’m serious, Billy!” she groaned.

“So am I, Veronica” he shrugged, he uncrossed his arms and pushed his hands inside the pockets of his jacket.

“This is bullshit, Billy” she barked “I saw you, Alice and Lisa saw you, what the fuck is all this about, huh?”

“Saw me what?” he asked, he frowned and looked at Veronica, so far she had been fine, she had been fun, but from a few days back she had been acting a bit possessive and Billy was not going to have any of this. “Turn around and look at Harrington screaming down the hallway? Are you sure Alice even saw me turn around? I’m pretty sure she can’t see anything that isn’t that dipshit”

“Leave her alone! This isn’t about Alice!” she hissed with anger. “This is about you and how this has become a fucking pattern, do you think she’s pretty or what the fuck?”

“Of course I think she’s pretty” he agreed, and Veronica looked like he had hit her across the face, her eyes huge and her lips gapped as he looked at him “But that’s not really what you are asking me, is it?” she pressed her lips into a thin line “What you’re really asking, is if I cheated on you with her, am I right?”

She looked at him for a moment, this was the one side of Billy that she had only seen once and never with her, his eyes were steady but dark and his demeanor had changed completely, he wasn’t the relaxed guy with that flirty smile, he was staring down at her in his meaning business posture.

“Yes” she answered, her voice steady and firm. “Did you?”

“No” he answered back, not missing a beat, because at the end of the day that was the truth, he hadn’t messed around with Evelyn, he’d thought about it at the party, but Harrington had showed up, but other than that, the thought had never been acted on upon. “She’s just a friend” she was more of someone he just knew but that wasn’t really the issue here.

“A friend?” Veronica barked, she had seen the way Billy had looked at Evelyn the first day at the library and then again in the hallway, so when Alice had told her that Steve had left her to talk to Evelyn and Billy at the kitchen, she had seen red, and now, now Billy had been glancing at Evelyn once more down the hallway and she was done with this. “She can’t be your friend! Not when you are looking at her like that!”

Billy’s eyebrow shot up in surprise, he had gone out with possessive girls, it kind of gave him a thrill, but this, this primetime show that Veronica was giving him, this was too much. “She can’t be my friend? Really, Veronica?” his sentence came out in a laughed out bark. “Wow” he nodded and pushed himself away from the locker he had been leaning against.

“I wouldn’t talk to someone you wouldn’t like me talking to” she hissed, but he could tell that the barging part was about to begin.

“I am not going to ask you that” he chuckled, he had already made his mind “You are old enough to know what you want to do, and who you want to talk to, so I’ll make this easy for you Veronica, you talk to whomever you want, I’ll do the same”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” she frowned, her heart was racing with anger.

“It means I’m not going to worry about this bullshit anymore, Veronica” he shrugged as he looked down at her “You can go ahead and do your own shit, because I’m done with this”

He walked past her, her lips gapped with surprise and her heart hammering in her chest painfully, she took a deep breath as she felt the sting of tears but she was sure they were more out of anger than any other thing.

“You can’t break up with me Billy Hargrove!” she cried as she turned around, she was panting, her blond hair flew around her.

“I just did, sweetheart!” he called back to her, not even turning around to look at Veronica.

“That fucking bitch” she hissed, as her anger for Billy merged with her anger and jealousy towards Evelyn Tyler.

Because that bitch had already started to ruin Alice’s self-teem and all the progress she had made with Steve since he had broken up with Nancy, because that bitch had now ruined her magazine cover relationship with Billy Hargrove, because who did that bitch think she was?

___________//____________

Evelyn walked down the empty hallway, her notebooks pressed up to her chest and her book bag dangling from her shoulder, she had free period for her last period and to be honest, she wasn’t all that interested in staying in the classroom until the end of the period that had just started; the young woman made her way towards her locker, she would gather her things and probably find a quiet place to draw or work at while the last bell rang.

She reached her hallway and her fingers rapidly started working on the lock as part of her brain wondered how the hallways managed to look so empty when the school was full of students, Evelyn glanced down the hallway and sighed, it didn’t really matter, she didn’t know a lot of people in school so even if the hallways were packed, she’d probably also be alone.

The young woman pulled open the locker and looked inside, her hand instantly reaching to grab the notebook she used to draw on and then closed the door, she pressed the notebook to her chest with the other one she already had and turned on her heels, walking down the silent hallway with the echo of her shoes following her.

And just as she was reaching the curve to enter the main hallway, something echoed at the end of the hall she was walking in, Evelyn stopped and glanced over her shoulder, the hall was empty but maybe someone was coming from the other intersecting hall at the end of that one.

“Just another bored student” she shrugged before she turned around and kept walking her way.

She took the curve when another sound echoed to her ears, it felt like a screech, like something sharp was being dragged over the tiles of the floor, a shudder rushed up Evelyn’s spine and made the young woman come to a stop; she frowned and took a step back, glancing back down the hallway she had just exited and a thought popped into her mind instantly.

“Did it look so dark before?” she raised an eyebrow as she kept looking down the hallway, her notebooks pressed to her chest and the lights dimmer than when she had walked to her locker.

She opened her mouth, the words forming in her throat but nothing came out as she stared down the hall, the screeching sound had vanished but there was something at the very end of the hall, she could see the elongated shadow from the curve at the end of it, but she was too far to tell who the person at the other side was.

Evelyn kept looking down the hallway, her eyes narrowed and set over the shadow at the very end, she took another step backwards and the shadows moved, slightly coming further out into the corridor and she almost expected a teacher to come out into view, but nothing came, just the long and thin shadow.

“Let’s get going” she thought, but it seemed like her mind had disconnected from her body. “Get back to class before you get in trouble”

But her legs made no effort to move as her eyes traced the shadow on the floor, almost with certain fascination at how different it looked.

“Evelyn”

The shadow grew and the sound of something clicking on the tiles of the floor echoed towards her, the sound bouncing against the walls as she watched with her hands holding her books and her mind telling her to leave.

“Evelyn, go”

The shadow became bigger and somehow bulkier at the bottom, and Evelyn took another step back as she held her breath with a strange anticipation as the figure with the shadow was about to come into full view.

“Evelyn!” the bark was loud and clear but her legs didn’t move. “Evelyn!”

And just as the clicking sounds seemed to grow louder and closer, Evelyn felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand, she felt her skin itch and crawl.

“Evelyn!”

Her lungs seemed to contract inside her chest as she narrowed her eyes, not noticing that it was getting harder to breath, and something about the way her voice and her name sounded seemed off.

“Evelyn, Evelyn, Evelyn, EvelynEvelynEvelynEvelynEvelyn”

And the hand of the owner of the shadow reached towards the curve of the wall, finally to come into the darkened corridor.

“EvelynEvelynEvelynEvelynEvelynEvelynEvelynEvelynEvelynEvelyn!”

“Evelyn?”

The hand landed on her shoulder just as the voice broke into her thoughts and a soft cry slipped out of her throat and she stumbled back and away of the person touching her.

“Fuck! Sorry!” he said, pulling his hand back to his chest.

“Shit!” she gasped, she hadn’t even noticed she was panting, but her chest was rising and falling rapidly and her lungs burned. “Fuck, you scared the living days out of me”

“Yeah, sorry about that” he looked at her and then looked over her shoulder “You ok?”

“I’m fine” she nodded, and turned to glance of her shoulder, but there was no shadow, and the lights in the hallway seemed just as bright as they had when she had been at her locker, she frowned and turned to the young man. “I just thought I saw something”

“Like what?” he looked back at her.

“Nothing to worry about” she shrugged, she shifted her weight from one leg to the other “What are you doing outside?”

“Our teacher had to leave” he explained with a casual tone “Without any time to get a sub, so we have free period”

“Oh” she nodded, a smile drew over her lips “I’m in free period too”

“You have any plans in mind?” he smirked as he looked at her, pushing his hands inside the pockets of his jeans.

“I was just hoping to find a quiet place to draw, or something, what are your plans?”

“Didn’t have any” he answered “I was just walking around, burning some time” he took a soft step closer to her “But if you are looking for a quiet place, I think I know one”

“Really?” she smiled up at him “Care to share?”

“Only if you let me see some of your drawings” he bargained with her, she smirked and raised an eyebrow.

“Lead the way then, Billy”

Billy laughed and turned on his heels with a nod and started to walk, Evelyn smiled and just before she followed after him, she glanced over her shoulder and back to the corridor, the shadow was gone but just as she turned to follow Billy, the lights above flickered twice and a whispered scratched the air as gently as a feather in the wind.

“Evelyn”

Notes:

So Veronica is a petty girl that might be obssessed with not losing, so yeah she should just be best friends with Carol and Tommy H

Also, the weird things are about to start and information about the Tyler's past is also coming :D

Thank you for reading and let me know what you think!!!

<3 <3 <3 love to al!!! Chapter 16: That's That

Summary:

Billy and Evelyn bond and information is gathered Notes:

I don't know why one of the gifs came out double, so let's pretend that the copy isn't there :3 sorry about it but I hope you enjoy this chapter (See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Billy narrowed his eyes and looked around the area, a few students where jogging around the track, the PE teacher had his chronometer in his hand and his eyes casted down over it and a petite girl was holding a notebook as she stood next to him, writing down the times the coach was dictating her; Billy raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

“What about the coach’s assistant?” Billy asked as he turned to look at Evelyn, “You could draw her, what do you think?”

Evelyn looked up from her notebook and at Billy for a second, she narrowed her eyes and turned to look out and towards the field, the coach and the assistant were walking slowly towards the starting line “Um, ok sure, I could give her a try”

She turned down to her notebook and started to move to her pencil across the paper, glancing up rapidly a few times, her hand not stopping as it sketched over the paper; her hair pushed behind her shoulders and her skin grateful that the sun was hiding behind darkening clouds.

Billy glanced at her, her eyebrows furrowed together in concentration as her hand decorated the notebook, and as she glanced up to look at the girl, Billy had the impression that she had forgotten that he was also sitting there on the bleachers with her.

He leaned back, pressing his hand behind himself and watched her, his eyes scanning her before her noticed as her pencil came to a stop, she looked down at the notebook, turning it slightly before she looked up at Billy.

“Done” she pushed the book towards Billy’s lap, the young man looked down at the item and took it in his hands before he picked it up.

He was certainly impressed, when he had asked Evelyn if she wanted to join on finding a place to hang out, he hadn’t expected her to actually have any kind of talent, but now as he looked at the sketch she had done about the assistant, he was more than impressed, he had been proven wrong.

“Wow” he finally said and looked at her “I’m impressed”

She raised an eyebrow at him with a smirk on her face “You thought I was bullshitting you about drawing?”

“I had my doubts” he confessed, handing the notebook back to her.

“Well, now you know” she shrugged, she took the notebook and looked down at the drawing, a strand of her dark hair slipping from her shoulder.

“So, were where you from?” Billy asked after a few seconds, Evelyn looked up at him from over the notebook. “Before you came to Hawkins”

“Oh” she nodded, she lowered the notebook “We came from Maine” she smiled at him.

“Nice,” Billy said “What do you think about Hawkins? Do you like it better than you did Maine?”

“I haven’t been here that long, but this place is nice” she agreed, because she wasn’t about to confess that Maine wasn’t the last place they had lived in, nor that they were being chased by a mad man with a scarred arm. “What about you? So you like Hawkins?”

“It’s different, but its not bad” he shrugged, she looked at him and raised an eyebrow “It just took a bit of time to get used to it, that’s all”

“I get it” she shrugged, she pulled her legs up and sat Indian style, her notebook between her legs and her hands over it.

“You’ve made any friends already?” he asked, already knowing full well that she was friends with Steve, but hey, at the end of the day this was all a game and he was here to enjoy it.

“A few” she answered “Steve, you said you knew him, umm Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers, I’ve talked to a few others, but I’ve been hanging out with them more, you know?”

“I know them” he nodded “Yeah, I get you” he crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes, his lips twitched into a soft smile.

“What?” she raised an eyebrow at him, he chuckled but shrugged.

“Nothing,” he leaned a bit forward, he had forgotten how good he was at this game “Do you miss your old town?”

She knew the answer to this, not because she felt it, but because she had rehearsed it so many times before, said it so many times before “A little bit” she answered “Moving is always a bit hard, but I’ll get used to this place” she smiled “And then we’ll leave, like it always happens, and it will be fine”

“I’m sure you’ll fit right in, once you get used to it” he cleared his throat and turned to look at the field, the group had changed activity, the petite girl was now sitting down close to the coach but the notebook was still out and she was still writing down on it.

“Fingers crossed” she chuckled, and he smiled as he turned to look at her.

“So, by your answers I’m guessing that you didn’t have a boyfriend, back home” he raised an amused eyebrow.

“How did you guess that?” she asked.

“You seem indifferent when you talk about Maine” he explained “I might be wrong, but why don’t you tell me”

“You’re not wrong” she answered, that was the truth, at least partially. There hadn’t been any boyfriend when she had left, but there had been a boyfriend on her last town; it had just ended terribly wrong, with tears and blood and a silent promise from Noah to never tell Derek about what had happened. “There was no one especial” she shrugged, “What about you? Any girls in your life?”

“No, not in a while” and by a while, he meant just a few hours ago, Evelyn pressed her lips into a thin line, because that couldn’t be right, Billy had that vibe around him that almost screamed that he had not just one girl around. “Why are you looking at me like that?” he smirked.

“I’m not looking at you in any way” she smiled “I just assumed that … but before she could finish her sentence, thunder struck above them, Evelyn jolted, surprised by the noise that broke into the field and her head snapped up to the sky.

“I think we should go” said Billy, he reached over and grabbed the textbook that Evelyn hadn’t pushed into her bag and then pushed himself up to his feet.

“Agreed” Evelyn grabbed her notebook to her chest and uncurled her legs, and just as she was about to stand up, the rain started to fall. “Oh fuck no!” she laughed, she snatched her book bag as Billy grabbed his jacket.

Evelyn hugged her things up to her chest, Billy handed her the textbook and swung his jean jacket above them and covered their heads just before they both started hurrying down the stairs to get off the bleachers and dash towards the building; the water above them falling harder as Evelyn held her books tighter to her chest and Billy held the jacket lower over their heads and for a moment it felt like a normal rainy day.

For a moment it almost felt like a normal school day.

But almost, almost doesn’t really count when it comes to Evelyn Tyler.

Or when it comes to Hawkins, Indiana.

___________//____________

There was no way to begin to explain that Thursday afternoon, and just like there was no way to begin to explain it, there was no way to ever compare this day, because what had started like a pretty regular day, had escalated quickly into a complete horrific disaster.

And right now as he sat in his living room sofa with his best friend next to him, all he could think about was one simple thing.

“I should have never opened the door”

But the thing was, not opening the door wouldn’t have stopped all of this from happening, it probably would have delayed it, but there would have been no way of stopping the events that were currently unfolding in the house.

“I should have never opened the door”

Everything had been fine, his parents had left to a dinner party and he had been left alone in the house with Frank, they had ordered pizza and had a few beers out, but then the doorbell had rang and Carl had left to open it.

“Um, good afternoon” he said, his eyes over the man at the other side of the door.

“Are you Carl Florek?” he had asked, his eyes over him.

“Who’s asking?”

“Simon Connors”

“No man, you have the wrong house” he had continued, because there was something about the way this guy didn’t look away from him that was getting on his nerves.

Simon looked over Carl’s shoulder for a moment and then turned to look at the young man once more, he had seen the parents leave the house and he also knew there was another teenage boy inside, but that being said, he knew he could handle the situation.

“I need to talk to Carl Florek” Simon explained “Would you know where I could find him?”

“Look man,” Carl started “I don’t know where you can find him, but I think it’s time for you to leave, alright?” he had gripped the door harder. “So, good afternoon” and with that he had swung the door close and that should have been the end of it.

But just as he swung the door close, Simon had slammed his hand up and thrown it flat towards the upcoming closing door, he stepped forward and Carl looked at him with wide eyes before taking a step back; Simon raised an eyebrow at the teen.

“I’m going to ask you again, are you Carl Florek?” he stepped into the house.

“Yes” he answered without hesitation this time “I am”

“Good, then why did you lie the first time I asked?” Simon continued, he swung the door close behind himself and looked at Carl.

“Because I don’t know who the fuck you are” Carl explained, and there was anger in his voice but Simon didn’t seem to notice, Simon cocked his head to the left. “You need to get the fuck out of my house before I call the cops” he glanced over his shoulder “Frank, get the cops…

“I really hope you don’t do that” Simon cut right into the sentence, Carl turned his head towards him and he felt every fiber in his body freeze.

“Carl, what the fuck is going on?” asked the second teenager, that Simon knew would be there.

Frank stepped out into the receiver, hoping to figure out what was Carl talking about and who he was talking too, out there he saw his friend standing with his back towards him and a man standing right in the way of the door, a man that Frank had never in his life seen before.

“Carl, what the fuck are you doing?” asked Frank, he stepped towards him but Simon moved to the side, facilitating to Frank, the view of the gun he was holding in his hand.

“I think we should all just calm down” Simon explained, “Why don’t we take a seat in the living room?”

“Look, man” Carl started.

“Shut the fuck up, Carl” Frank hissed, but there wasn’t much anger in his voice more than there was a high pitch note that Simon associated with fear.

And that had been the way that Carl Florek and Frank Paretta had ended up sitting in the living room staring at a man holding a gun loosely in his hand; the man looked calm enough for all that was happening, and that was what was scaring Frank the most.

“I just want to know a few things, and I’ll be gone” Simon explained, he shrugged and looked down at the gun “Sounds good?” Frank nodded first but Carl followed, “Good, I’ll put it away, but just remember that I still have it” he placed the gun in the pocket of his long coat, he looked up at them and something in his eyes had darkened, and he didn’t have to say it for Frank to know that the guy would kill them if they tried something stupid. “Ok, let’s begin,” he turned to Frank “Who are you?”

“Frank Paretta, sir” he answered.

“Oh, ok” Simon nodded, he looked around and then sat on the edge of the coffee table in front of the sofa, “Well, Frank, I’m Simon Connors” he turned to Carl “But you are the one I was looking for” he leaned over his knees. “I came to talk about Mara Marin”

Frank’s head snapped towards Carl.

“Do you know her?” asked Simon, his eyes over Carl.

“I don’t know what you want to know about her but ….

“Yes, he knows her” Frank blurt out, Carl glared at him, Frank turned to look at his friend “You think I’m about to get killed because of you?”

“I like you” said Simon, he had turned to look at Frank “Did you know her?”

“Yes” Frank answered, and he was sure he was going to regret everything that was about to come out of his mouth, even if it all was true. “She went to school with us”

“Someone told me that you” he turned to Carl “Used to be her boyfriend, I’m looking for her, and I’d like to know if she told you where they would be moving”

“She didn’t tell me anything about moving” explained Carl “We broke up two months before she left, look man” he was trying his best to keep his voice steady “We broke up in an ugly way, after that she didn’t really talk to anyone and then she was gone” he shrugged “Just like that”

“Just like that” whispered Simon, he narrowed his eyes “That doesn’t sound like Mara at all”

“How do you know Mara?” Carl asked back, and Frank silently prayed that they didn’t get hit because of this.

“She’s my niece” explained Simon.

“That cant be possible” Carl shook his head rapidly “She was clear about it, she had no family left that weren’t her brother and her father, that’s how she bonded with Clary, but there was no one else, she said it several times”

“Well, she lied” Simon shrugged “She lied about a lot of things, kid” he looked down at his hands and then turned to Frank. “What about you? Did you hear anything about her?”

“No” Frank shook his head “She wasn’t my friend, I just knew her because Carl started to date her and because Clary used to be her friend, but that’s that”

“She used to hang out with her and when she left in the middle of the night, no one wondered why?” asked Simon, he frowned. “Who does that work?”

“She wasn’t our friend after we broke up, that’s how it works” said Carl. “But seeing you with that gun, it explains why she turned out to be a crazy bitch”

“Oh my god” whispered Frank, because the last thing he wanted was for Carl to get them both killed right here.

“She never mentioned anything about going anywhere, but no, no one missed her because after we broke up, she had a fight, a fist fight with a couple of other girls at school” Carl explained “No one wanted to be around that crazy bitch, no one wanted to know about her, and then she left and that was the best thing she could have done”

Simon looked at Carl, he had seen the fighter in Evelyn once, he had the scars to prove it, it had happened almost by accident, the only time he had arrived to the house just before they had left; Derek’s look of shock had been worth everything, the boxes around the house had been ready but Simon had interrupted them, he had fought Derek out of the way, sending him crashing onto the living room and just as he was about to make his way to the kitchen, where he had heard Noah, Evelyn had stepped right out from the kitchen and in front of him, and before he knew it, the pot of boiling water had been thrown at him.

Simon barely had time to cover his face with his right arm, he had felt the agonizing pain of his skin boiling up and hissing, he had screamed with pain, doubled over and Evelyn had hit him on the side of the head with the hot pot, he had crashed on the floor, Evelyn and Noah rushing out of the house as Derek had taken the gun away from him and had hit him on the head with it.

Simon had woken up a few hours later, but the trio had left.

So of course he knew that Evelyn could take on a group of teen girls, but he also knew that she wouldn’t do it unprovoked.

“What exactly happened for her to fight them?” he asked, more out of curiosity.

“She was a crazy bitch” Frank answered “She slept around with the wrong dude, and she got punched because of it”

There was something in his voice that sounded untruthful.

“Were you the wrong dude?” Simon asked as he turned to Carl.

“No” he answered too quickly, almost as if he had been expecting the question.

“Right” he narrowed his eyes.

“Look, man please” whispered Frank in a pleading voice “We don’t know anything about her, they just got here one day from Indiana and then they were gone”

And the words froze Simon in place.

“Indiana?” he asked, because that had not been the place where they had come from.

“Yes” Carl answered “She was from Indiana, some fucking small town, I don’t know”

Simon nodded “Well, thank you for your time gentlemen” he pushed himself up to his feet “But I’d like it if we could keep this between the three of us” he shrugged “I wouldn’t like to have to come back here and kill you while you sleep”

And with that he turned around and made his way towards the door, maybe the Indiana thing was nothing but a lie, but it was worth looking it up, after all he was here to reunite families, to bring the children back to their mother, to make sure Derek could never get them away from her again.

This had already taken too long, it was time for Evelyn and Noah to come home.

It was time to get rid of Derek.

But at the end of the day, no one really knows how many things can go wrong.

Notes:

Why has no one told this girl that Billy is actually a hazzard for her health? Also, who will find out about the real story behind that fist fight???

You guys think that maybe Billy and Evelyn will become friends or will someone shut that tragedy down before it even happens???

Let me know what you think :D Love to all!!! <3 <3 Chapter 17: The Rainy Day

Summary:

Billy makes small talk, the kids talk, a few personal things are shared. Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The pair rushed into the building as fast as they could, a couple of other students racing behind them, the water and the loud thunders had chased everyone away from the fields and towards the closest doors of the main building; water was rolling down Evelyn’s back, and Billy’s right arm was dripping water as he stepped from under the jacket, his side of the jacket falling against Evelyn.

“Oh fuck the PE class must be soaked” chuckled Evelyn as she pulled the jacket of her head and turned to look at Billy, the young man passed a hand through his hair and ruffled it before turning to look at her.

“Just another perk of living in Hawkins” Billy shrugged, he rolled his shoulders and turned to glance at the open door of the school, the wind was blowing hard, rushing through the trees, dancing with its leaves as the water poured down and the thunders illuminated the skies.

Evelyn laughed and turned to look down at the books she had pressed against her chest, if it hadn’t been for Billy’s jacket, they would all probably be soaked, she opened her book bag and pushed her books inside as Billy turned his attention to his watch.

“Oh shit” he hissed, Evelyn frowned and looked at him. “I’m late”

“What?” Evelyn asked.

“I’m going to be late for basketball practice” he explained, “But I’d love to continue this conversation sometime soon”

Evelyn smiled and nodded “Sure, I’d like that too”

“I’ll see you later then” he winked at her and then hurried down the hallway, Evelyn raised an amused eyebrow and followed him with his sight as Billy jogged down the hallway and towards his locker, he had to get his bag and get changed before entering the gym.

She shrugged and glanced down to close her backpack when her eyes were drawn towards the jacket that she had draped over her arm: Billy’s jacket.

“Hargrove!” she called out, her head turning rapidly towards the hallway, Billy almost already reaching the end of the hallway, Evelyn took a few steps down the hallway “Hargrove!” she called out harder this time. “Your jacket!” he took a turn and before he disappeared she cried out after him once more “Billy! Billy!” and when he didn’t reappear down the hallway Evelyn sighed and rolled her eyes. “I guess not then” she shrugged, she closed her book bag and then started to walk down the hallway, she would head to the bathroom, wait awhile to see if the rain would cease and then head out home.

___________//____________

The group walked out of the cafeteria, the sky had darkened but there was still no signs of rain and Dustin hoped that the rain would wait until it was late until the rain finally poured down, or at least until they were all back in their houses; he was thinking about the fact that he’d have to ride on Lucas’ bike, until Steve retuned his that afternoon, when Will broke into his thoughts.

“Maybe we could sit with him tomorrow”

Everyone turned to look at him “What are you talking about?” asked Mike, a frown over his face.

Will turned to him “That maybe we should sit with the new kid tomorrow” Will shrugged “He’s been sitting alone since he got here, and we already talked to him”

“And his sister is Lucas’ babysitter” Dustin pointed out.

“She is not my babysitter” Lucas groaned “She’s Erica’s”

Dustin and Max glanced at each other, both of them suppressing a laugh, Max looked down at her feet and shrugged.

“Well, if you guys think he’s alright, yeah, why not”

“No” Mike snapped “We don’t know anything about him, and he has been an asshole both times I talked to him”

“No he hasn’t” Dustin frowned and looked at Mike “I was there”

“He’s the guy I told you was talking to Eleven in the woods” Mike turned to Dustin “He was just there asking questions and he was a dick when we were at the school”

“That’s just the way he talks” Dustin shrugged, “I don’t think he has anything personal on you, Mike”

“You know,” Lucas turned to Mike “You didn’t want to hang out with Max either last year” Mike blushed but shrugged, trying to seem dismissive.

“This is different” Mike said, trying to step away from the line of conversation in which they brought in Max, because they were right, but Max had ended up being really nice and she had taken along with Eleven pretty good, there was just something about Noah that he distrusted.

“I don’t think its different” Dustin shrugged, he had a pretty good idea of why Mike was against hanging out with Noah, but he would bring that up later, when it was just the two of them. “And no harm can come from hanging out with him”

“Fine” Mike barked “Whatever”

And with that he walked a bit faster and ahead of the group, Lucas and Dustin looked at each other and shrugged, no one noticing as Will fell behind, walking last in the group.

There was a buzzing in his ears, he tensed his jaw tightly, the sound was rising and intensifying, but he didn’t want to say a word, he was sure it would pass; they walked past an empty hallway and Will glanced at it, and the buzzing in his ears seemed to rise and then crunch, and compact into his brain, transforming and shaping itself into something, Will narrowed his eyes, glancing down the darkening hallway and just as the noise took shape, a hand landed over his shoulder.

“Will?” Will’s head snapped to his side, Max was now walking next to him, her light hand over his shoulder “Are you ok?”

“Yeah” he smiled at her “I was just thinking” he shrugged “About how lonely Noah must feel, being alone every day”

“We can sit with him tomorrow” she shrugged, slipping her hand away from his shoulder.

“Yeah, I guess that sounds good”

She nodded and turned to look straight ahead, Mike still walking ahead of them, but the thing was that Will felt bad that Noah sat alone every day, but Noah had been sitting alone at lunch for years now, and sitting with people would be the novelty in his life.

And as he talked to Max, and they walked away from the hallway, Will didn’t hear the way the buzzing turned into a soft and whispered sound.

A name.

“Evelyn”

___________//____________

Derek’s eyes snapped away from the notebook he was taking notes on, a light frown over his face before he turned his body towards the entrance of the dining room, the remains of the ring of the doorbell, echoing through the house; he raised an eyebrow and dropped his pen over the notebook, he hesitated for a moment when a second ring spread into the house, its intensity barely drowned by the rain raging outside.

Since before Derek had been able to escape with Noah and Evelyn, he had become cautious about certain things, one of those things had been the doorbell, after all he knew the ways in which Simon worked; and here, on this new town, there was no reason for the doorbell to be ringing, after all, no one in the house had friends that close.

But that could have been debated.

He pushed himself up to his feet and made his way down the hallway and towards the foyer to get the door, he reached for the doorknob just before the third ring could be produced and he pulled the door open.

A gust of really cold wind rushed into the house, ruffling Derek’s hair and making him shiver, the rain had restarted when the sun had been replaced with the darkness of the night; he narrowed his eyes and started at the person standing under his porch, slightly hunched, hands inside the pockets of the jacket and drops of water falling from the hair.

“Hello” said Derek, his body shielding the entrance of the house, “Can I help you?”

“Good evening, sir” nodded the teenager at the other side of the door. “My name is Steve Harrington, I’m looking for Evelyn” Derek seemed to narrow his eyes and Steve added quickly “I’m doing a project with her”

“Right” Derek nodded, he hadn’t heard of this guy but still, he wasn’t about to let the boy stand there with the wind blowing in all rain and wait for Evelyn “Come in, I’ll call her down”

“Thank you, Sir” Steve nodded and Derek stepped away from the door, Steve walked inside and Derek closed the door.

“I’m Derek Tyler, by the way” and he hadn’t used his real name in such a long time that it felt like just another fake name in the list he had used before, Derek stretched his hand out to the kid, Steve nodded and shook hands with Derek before the man added “Go ahead you can wait in the living room” he signaled towards the living room, Steve looked at him for a moment and nodded, walking slowly towards the living room as Derek turned to head up to the stairs.

Derek heard the boy walk towards the living room as he made his way up the stairs, the lights from Noah’s and Evelyn’s rooms washed into the hallway as he walked towards his daughter’s room; he peaked inside and found her sitting over the bed, her legs pulled up to her chest but her eyes were focused over a magazine that sat next to her feet.

“Evie” he said.

“Hm?” she asked, it took her a few seconds before she looked up from the glossy pages of the magazine and looked up at her father.

“There’s someone here to see you” Derek answered.

“What?” she frowned “What do you mean there’s someone here to see me?”

“A friend of yours” Derek shrugged “A boy” he said, with a bit of a stern tone in his voice.

Evelyn’s eyebrow shot up for a moment before she remembered a conversation earlier that day “Oh, is it Steve?”

“Yeah, Steve Harrington”

She glanced at her watch before swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and standing up “He’s early, though” she shrugged but walked towards the door, her father raised an eyebrow “He’s here to return Noah’s bike” she walked out of the room “Noah, your bike is here”

“Thank god” barked Noah a few seconds later, and then the boy emerged from his room. “I thought he would never come”

“He’s here early, dude” Evelyn rolled her eyes and made her way towards the stairs.

“Highly doubt that”

Derek glanced at them but followed behind both of them, Evelyn already reaching the first floor, she headed towards the living room when Derek placed his hand over Noah’s shoulder.

“You’ve met this boy, right?” asked Derek when Noah turned to look at him.

“I’ve seen him a few times, he gave us a ride home last week” Noah shrugged, Derek cocked his head to the left, he knew his son, and he could see all over his face that there was something else.

“And?”

“And he’s Evelyn’s friend, but I don’t like him, don’t tell her that”

Derek pressed his lips into a thin line, trying his best not to raise his eyebrows in amusement, “Yeah, that’s not going to be a problem” he said, because he was sure Evelyn already knew that Noah disliked Steve.

“Harrington, hey” said Evelyn as she walked into the living room, she had changed into a pair of leggings and a long sleeved shirt when she had returned from school.

“Hey” he nodded, pushing himself up from his seat on the sofa of the living room. “I brought your brother’s bike”

“Thanks for that” she nodded and crossed her arms over her chest “I kind of thought you’d be here later”

“I was” he gave her a short smile, there was something about his posture that seemed tense.

“Is everything ok?” she asked, frowning and stepping towards the sofa, she sat down and Steve hesitated before he sat down too.

“Yeah, I’m just tired” he shrugged, he glanced at the window behind them and for a moment watched the rain outside.

Evelyn looked at him, he did look tired but it seemed to be more than just the fact that he had had basketball practice earlier that day.

“Ok” she whispered, she was really bad at this “Um, are you sure?” she leaned a bit forward.

Steve kept looking out the window before the words slipped out of his lips “My dad’s being an asshole, that’s all, I just wanted to get out of the house for a while” he turned to look at her, she seemed a bit closer to him, they looked at each other and Evelyn leaned back.

“I’m sorry to hear that” she shifted her body to face him better on the sofa. “You can stay here for a while” she shrugged, he snorted and gave her a soft smile.

“Thanks, Partner”

“I don’t know if you want to, but do you want to talk about it?” she bit the inside of her cheek, she wasn’t really sure how to deal with these things, not because she had a lack of empathy, but because at the end of the day, she had never really been in a situation where she should be asking this, after all, the last few “friends” she had had, had ended up ganging up on her and fighting her after school; but Steve looked like he hadn’t since she had met him.

“No, its fine” he shook his head “He’s just an ass all the time, but they’ve been away for a while, they came back today and I guess I had forgotten how much of a dipshit he is”

Evelyn looked at him, under this light, his hair seemed lighter even if it was still a bit wet from all the rain that was pouring over Hawkins that night; she gave him a short but soft smile.

“What about your mom?” she asked, her hands dropping over her lap.

“She usually goes along with what he says” Steve said, and there was that detached tone in his voice that Evelyn guessed had been hurtful for a while, but that had probably been a long time ago; silence ruled over them for a moment before he frowned slightly. “Where’s your mom?”

She knew the answer to this, not only because she had practiced it for a while, but because it was something she had wished every now and then.

“She died” she answered, Steve’s jaw tightened up.

“Sorry to hear that”

“It’s ok, it was a long time ago, Noah was really small”

How easy it seemed for the lies to come out of her mouth now, maybe after a lifetime of lies, they just came easy, even if Evelyn wished that wasn’t the case, because maybe for once, she felt like they deserved to be able to talk with the truth; then again she was sure not a lot of mother’s screamed the words that Delaine had screamed at Evelyn the last time they had seen each other.

“I’ll kill you!” her voice was strained, the veins of her neck seemed to be ready to pop as she tried to fight with the closed window “I’ll kill you Evelyn! You can’t take him away from me, you bitch!” she was banging the window, spit and tears rolling down her face “Evelyn please! Please baby open the door for mommy!” and their eyes had met then, and that had been the first time that Evelyn had seen the mouth of madness staring at her from Delaine’s eyes; Evelyn had stepped back, sure that she didn’t want to be around any of that, and then Delaine’s eyes had hardened and she had started to bang the window again. “I will find you! And I will kill you and your fucking father, you piece of shit!”

And Evelyn had been tugged by Derek by her arm and that had been the last time she had seen her mother, not the last time she had seen Simon, though.

“So, it’s always been the three of you?”

“Yeah” she smiled “We make it work”

“I’m sure you do” he smiled back at her “Your dad seems nice, at least he doesn’t shoot daggers out of his eyes every time I talk”

Evelyn laughed loudly, shaking her head, her dark hair seemed like a dark wave as it swayed and Steve chuckled next to her.

“Hey, he’ll come around” Evelyn laughed as she looked at Steve “Just a few more pickups from school, and he’ll like you”

“I highly doubt that” he shrugged with a smile, and at least he now looked more like Steve Harrington, who knew shit about Chemistry; and Evelyn had to suppress a chuckle at the fact that both her brother and Steve had just used the same sentence.

“You want some tea? A soda? I think we have beer” she glanced towards the kitchen door.

“Right, like I need your dad to see me drinking beer right now” he shook his head “I’ll end up being hated by everyone in this house”

“You’ll still have me, right?” she giggled and turned to look at him, he raised his eyebrows in amusement “A soda, then?”

“A soda, then” he nodded.

“A soda on the way” she pushed herself up from the sofa and made her way towards the living room, Derek and Noah had already retrieved the bike from the porch and had taken it to the garage.

Notes:

First serious conversation between Steve and Evelyn (even if Evelyn just lied a lot) but I like to think that their friendship is coming out pretty well, (What do you guys think?) and yes, Evelyn's mom, might be insane

Also, did Billy just leave his jacket or did he just leave her a problem?

Will, why will? Why you hearing things now baby

And last qick question, do you guys picture Derek in a certain way? Specific way? And/or Simon Chapter 18: An Encounter in the Woods

Summary:

Noah has an encounter in the woods, and Derek talks to Evelyn about something he found around the house. Notes:

Gif fest, sorry about that (See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Sunday arrived with a bright and sunny afternoon, faded grey clouds still lingered over Hawkins, but at least the town seemed to have been washed from the monochromatic pallet of greys, and had regained the colors that had recently hide behind a curtain of rain; at least Noah had the certainty that if they had survive almost a month in this town, they could survive the few more months that they could be spending there.

“Ok, I’ll be back by five, worst case scenario, I’ll be back by six thirty,” Evelyn said as she swung her backpack over her shoulder, Noah looked at her, his eyebrow raised.

“Sounds good” he shrugged, they were both talking in his room, Noah sitting on the floor as he got his shoes on and Evelyn glancing at him from her place near the door. “Did dad say when he was coming back?”

“I think his shift ends at four, I think” she narrowed her eyes, her nose wrinkled as she tried to put her thoughts in order. “He’ll be home by five or four thirty” she bit her lower lip “Something like that, I don’t know” she sighed.

“Fine” Noah looked down at his shoes and tied up his tennis. “I’m going for a ride, I’ll be back before you do”

Evelyn looked at him for a moment, his soft curls dropping over his forehead “Be careful, ok?”

Noah looked up at her “You be careful too, Lin” there was something in his voice, “And stay away from spiders, will you?”

Evelyn chuckled and shook her head “I’ll try my best, Big Man” and with that she turned on her heels and walked out of the room “Have fun!”

“You too!” he called out after her.

Noah heard her close the door and then he pushed himself up to his feet, he stepped towards the bed and grabbed the jacket that he had pulled out from the closet, the day was nice and even if Evelyn had to leave, he wasn’t going to stay inside the house; yes, he would rather go riding on the bike with his sister, but since she had work, he would go for a ride alone, at least he knew that while he was alone, he wouldn’t be chased around by an imbecile who owned a car.

And ten minutes after Evelyn had left, Noah was ridding up the street, his jacket stuffed into his backpack, with a notebook and a case of color pencils and the wind ruffling his hair; after spending so many years alone, Noah had mastered the art of making solitude his friend, and so today, he expected to keep that friend company.

The young boy dragged his bike up over the sidewalk, he looked at the woods in front of him, the branches and leaves swaying with the wind, their soft sounds filling Noah’s ears as he pulled the bike towards the edge of the tree line; a tree line that in a few months, would mark that finding place for his backpack in a rainy night.

He pulled the bike into the woods, just enough to lean it against one of the trees and that it wouldn’t be seen from the street or the sidewalk; he looked around, there had always been something about the wilderness that called out to him, the trio had lived near a few areas that were surrounded by trees, almost woods, at one of this places he had learned how to draw and he had found a hobby at collecting different leaves from the trees and bushes.

Sometimes flowers for Evelyn.

He glanced over his shoulder and then made his way deeper into the woods, he would look for a nice place to sit at and draw, maybe he wasn’t that good at faces and bodies like Evelyn was, but he was really good at nature.

Noah was leaning against a tree, his color pencils and a few snacks were laying over his jacket, his notebook over his lap and his hand moving almost by itself as he narrowed his eyes; that was why he didn’t hear the approaching footfalls.

“Oh shit” he voice snapped Noah out of his trance, he looked up from his book and from his left side, a figure walked out, Noah’s eyebrow went up.

“Dustin” he said.

“Hey!” Dustin smiled at him, there was a smudge of mud over one of the knees of his jeans. “What are you doing here?” he walked up towards Noah.

“Drawing” he answered simply, he looked down at his notebook and then back up at Dustin “What are you doing here?”

But before Dustin could answer two other boys walked out from behind him, two boys he knew followed by a redheaded girl that he had seen around school.

“We were just hanging around” explained Dustin, he glanced at Lucas and Will “You remember Lucas and Will, right?”

“Of course I do” Noah answered, he glanced at the girl “I’ve seen you too”

“We have a class together” the girl nodded “I’m Max, by the way”

Noah looked at her for a moment, “I’m Noah Tyler” he glanced back at Dustin and then shrugged “It seemed like a nice day to leave the house”

“Yeah, that’s true” Will nodded, he frowned for a moment and walked around Dustin and towards Noah “How’s your sister doing?”

Noah looked up at Will “She’s fine”

“I’m talking about the bite” Will shrugged, he looked down at his feet.

“She’s fine,” Noah said again “It was nothing”

“Right” Will whispered, Lucas and Dustin glanced at each other for a brief moment, Max looking around the nice small clearing that Noah had found to sit down and sketch.

Noah looked at Will, then turned his eyes to the other three people there and wondered what kind of response he would get if he told them that he wanted to be alone, he bit his inner cheek and the last two members of this strange group that had decided to hold Noah company, walked into the clearing.

“What are you guys doing?” asked a male voice “I thought we were going to the fort?”

“We’re talking” Dustin answered.

“I thought we would … oh” Mike finished his sentence as Noah came into view “The new kid”

Noah’s eyes snapped towards Mike “Noah” he hissed, because he was somehow certain that the guy knew his name.

“The boy from the woods” her voice was soft, just like it had been when they had first met, Noah’s eyes traveled from Mike to the other girl.

“Elle” he said, she looked down at the pencils and then back at him.

“Yes” she nodded.

“Right” Mike glanced at Eleven and then added “Well, we should keep going”

“Sounds good” Max looked at him and then looked at Lucas, her eyes signaling Noah for a moment, Lucas looked at her.

He had barely talked to the kid since the incident at the middle school, but he knew that Evelyn was incredibly nice and sweet and she had been helping Max and Lucas talk through the phone, and maybe Will was right, maybe they shouldn’t just let the kid be alone all the time.

“You want to come with us?” Lucas asked.

Mike almost broke his neck as he turned to look at Lucas, disbelieve written all over his face and his eyes huge.

“No, I’m fine” Noah answered, he looked down at his book.

“Come on, it’ll be fun” Dustin shrugged, he kicked a rock away “You could sketch something there,” he glanced at the drawing “There’s a pretty neat dying tree near the fort”

“What are you doing?” Mike mouthed at Lucas, Lucas looked at him and shrugged, Mike tensed his jaw as he looked at him.

“There’s a group of bushes” Eleven started, Noah looked up at her “Foxgloves and wolfsbane, maybe you’d like to draw them too”

“Yeah, we’ll show you around the woods” Dustin smiled, he pushed his hands inside the pockets of his jeans. “It will be fun”

Noah looked around the group, his eyes lingered over Mike for a moment, he could tell he didn’t like him, he could see it right now, bright and clear.

“I don’t want to bother anyone” he finally said, his pencil moving again.

“You’re not bothering anyone” Will said, and Noah had to refrain himself from raising an eyebrow and glancing at Mike, because the kid seemed miles away from wanting to even talk to Noah; not that Noah was making an effort to talk to any of them either.

“Ok, say what” Max started “Why don’t you come with us, hang out for a few hours and if you hate us, then you can go home and you wont have to talk to us ever again”

“Just to try” Eleven offered him a kind smile next to Max, he looked at both girls.

“Fine” he finally agreed, he looked down at his things and started to gather them up, Max shot Eleven a smile that the girl returned. “I’ll give it a try”

“Let’s hope he hates us” Mike whispered to no one really, but Eleven glanced at him, watching the side of his face as he looked down at his shoes, his hands inside the pockets of his jacket.

“Let’s hope he doesn’t” she thought as she turned to look at Noah.

The young man pushed himself up to his feet and swung the backpack over his shoulder before the group started to move, Mike entirely convinced that he had to lead the way, Dustin walked next to him, because somehow, he was sure he was the only one who really understood why Mike was so focused on hating the new kid.

Noah walked silently at the back of the group, holding his backpack and making sure to be the last one, he wasn’t as good as Evelyn was at social interactions, he wasn’t good with small talk, he wasn’t good with not coming off as rude.

“What did you draw?” Max asked, her long red hair was tied back in a braid.

“The trees” he answered “The way the tree tops look from down here” he shrugged “Rocks”

“Tree tops, huh?” Max nodded “Sounds nice, are you in the art class at school?”

“No” he answered quickly, he looked at her and Max thought that she hadn’t seen a kid hold himself the way Noah did, he looked their age, but he felt like he was a hundred years old. “Max, is that short for Maxine?”

“Yeah” she nodded, a smirk over her lips “How did you know that?”

“I’m guessing no one would name you Maximiliana” he shrugged, a pleased snort left Max as they followed the boys towards the fort, he glanced at Eleven “And are you just Elle? Or is it a short for Ellen? Or Eleanor?”

Max turned to Eleven, it had taken her a few days to comprehend everything about Eleven, but she had seen some weird stuff when she had arrived, she just hadn’t realized that El sounded like the short for something else.

“Eleanor” Eleven whispered, she liked the sound of that name, she shrugged and looked at Noah. “It’s just El”

“Right” Noah nodded “Elle from the woods” he turned to look at straight forward, missing the soft smile over Eleven’s lips, Max, however, did not miss it.

Because maybe it was the fact that both girls were more observant, that they assessed the situation before they jumped to action, maybe they had mastered the art of analyzing others while the rest of the people around them were in a hurry to make impressions, but be what it may, it seemed the only Max and Eleven could see the aged eyes on Noah Tyler, it seemed that only they could seem to notice the way he didn’t hold himself like the rest of the kids around Hawkins, for now, only Max and Eleven were, even if it wasn’t that conscious, aware that Noah Tyler behind his serious remarks and unwillingness to socialize, had so much more to offer.

___________//____________

Evelyn was sitting over her bed, the bright day had brought a chilly night, but she liked those kinds of nights, she’d rather have rain after dark than get soaked on her way back from school; the young woman had a book over her lap and her left foot was moving gently, when Derek walked in.

“Hey, sweetie” he called out as he walked into the room, she looked up at him instantly, which told him that she was probably not really into the book she was reading, after all, getting Evelyn to put a book down had proven to be difficult even when she had been a kid.

“Hey dad” she smiled, he was holding the laundry basket in his hands.

“Noah wants to show you some drawings he did today” Derek said, he walked towards the bed and set the laundry basket over it “They are pretty good,” he looked down at the basket.

“I’ll finish this page, and I’ll go check them out” she put the book down over her lap “He seemed a bit different today, didn’t he?”

Derek looked up at her, glad that he hadn’t been the only one to notice, but then again, his daughter was pretty good at reading the young boy.

“He did, that walk around the woods seemed to help”

“I agree” she nodded, she looked down at the book, taking the bookmark and closing it before she scooted towards the basket. “Thanks for bringing the laundry up”

“No worries” he handed her her clothing items and then as Evelyn set them down on the bed, he said “I wanted to ask you about something, though”

“What is it?” she asked, she turned to look at him.

“What’s this?” and with that he pulled out a jean jacket from the basket, Evelyn looked at it “This is not yours”

And it took her a few seconds to recognize the item that her father was holding up for her to see “Oh, right, no that’s not mine” she shook her head “It’s from a friend”

“A friend?” Derek asked, his eyebrow up.

“I know what that eyebrow means, Derek” she chuckled and reached for the jacket, he pulled away from her before she could grab it.

“It’s a boy’s jacket” he pointed out.

“I know” she shrugged, a smile curving over her lips. "I can see it too, you know?"

“And you have it, why?”

“Dad” she groaned with amusement “He forgot it at school and I took it, I’m giving it back tomorrow, I just had forgotten about it”

“Is this friend” he started and Evelyn raised both eyebrows with amusement and surprise at the tone in which he said friend, “Steve Harrington?”

Evelyn laughed but shook her head “No dad, it’s not Steve, it’s this guy from school, Billy Hargrove” she shrugged, she reached for the jacket and Derek handed it to her “I’ll give it back tomorrow, don’t worry”

“Do you like this boy?” he asked, he looked down at the basket and picked it up.

“No, he’s just nice” she answered and rolled her eyes, he looked at her, because of course Evelyn didn’t really know the real Billy, the young man had made his best effort to show Evelyn his most charming face, and while she thought Billy was nice, she was yet to discover that he was the idiot who tried his best to not let Lucas talk to Max. “Don’t look at me like that, I’d tell you if he was my boyfriend, I told you about Carl, didn’t I?”

“And will you tell me about Billy Hargrove?” he chuckled, taking a step back in case Evelyn threw the socks at him.

“No!” she laughed “Leave me alone!” she grabbed the socks and hurled them at her dad playfully, Derek laughed and dodged the item “There’s nothing going on with him! There’s nothing to talk about”

“Does he know that?” Derek asked, “Because he gave you his jacket”

“He didn’t give me anything, dad” Evelyn said, huffing at him “He forgot it”

“Are you sure about that?” Derek walked to the door, he stopped and turned to look at his daughter “Be careful, ok? Please? Guys can be a bunch of assholes”

“I know dad” she smiled at him, because she knew first handed what he was talking about, she knew very well about that.

“OK, but let me know if anything happens, you know what I mean, I just want you to be safe” he added, and Evelyn knew what he meant, to let him know if the guy tried anything funny, anything that Evelyn was not comfortable with.

“I am safe” she smiled.

And she was, at least for the time being.

Notes:

I tried to try and show a vibe of why Mike doesn't like Noah, but it will be more evident in a couple of chapters, I dont know if its shows well here, let me know if you think it does :D

Also, Noah being a grumpy 80 year old man, is everything.

Derek talking about boys with Evie <3 <3 also he has no idea what kind of asshole Billy is. Chapter 19: Just a Monday Morning

Summary:

Veronica wont listen to reason, and Billy comes up with a plan Notes:

It's small but its important :D Let me know what you think!!!

Love to all :3 Chapter Text

Alice was leaning against her locker over her left shoulder, her books pressed against her chest and a soft frown over her face as she looked at Veronica, next to her Lisa seemed just as concerned about their blond friend as Alice was; this kind of rant was just not something they had seen very often in Veronica.

“You know,” Veronica sighed, and Alice was sure she had been crying. “Everything was fine just a fucking week ago”

Lisa glanced at Alice by the rear of her eyes, she had been amused that Veronica had been going out with Billy, but that being said, she had known Billy was bad news almost the second the handsome menace walked into the school, it was just the way the air around him buzzed.

“I thought that with the weekend, he’d end up calling me” she shrugged “Or come over to my house, he knew my parents were going to be out in that stupid birthday” she tensed her jaw and looked down at her feet “But no, he just vanished”

“Ok, but its only been three days, Nica, he could still come around” Alice shrugged, and Lisa felt her eyebrow jump up as she turned to look at Alice, yes she was currently in and on and off relationship with Nicholas, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t see the fact that Billy had already discarded Veronica and had gone in search for some new toy. “He could try and talk to you here at school”

“Have Carol or Tommy said anything?” Lisa asked, seeing that Veronica had first period with both of them, and Tommy seemed to never get enough of worshiping Billy.

“No” Veronica sighed heavily and there was a note in the tone of her voice that told Alice that she was probably a few words away from crying. “I just don’t understand, you know?” she turned to look at Lisa “I don’t know what went wrong,”

“Maybe nothing went wrong, maybe you did nothing wrong, Nica” Lisa shrugged, Veronica liked to brag about the fact that she was very straightforward, so Lisa wasn’t about to sugarcoat everything to her either. “Maybe it’s just the way he is, maybe this has nothing to do with you at all”

Veronica looked at Lisa for a moment, she narrowed her eyes “You don’t know him like I do, Lis” she said, and Lisa had to abstain herself from rolling her eyes.

“Veronica,” she sighed “What is that supposed to mean? You can’t say you just know him better when we are here having this conversation about HIM just walking out on you”

“Maybe he just needs some space” Alice shrugged.

“Yeah, he needs some space, to get a new girl in bed” Lisa barked in her mind “You can’t seriously believe that” Lisa turned to Alice.

“What else is it then?” Alice asked, her eyebrow up “One day his her boyfriend and then he leaves, what’s that about?”

Lisa narrowed her eyes and turned to Veronica “Did he ever say he was your boyfriend?”

Alice’s eyes widened and Veronica looked like a deer caught in headlights, her eyes grew in size and her lips gapped as she looked at her friend.

“He didn’t have to” Veronica frowned with anger “He knew we were”

“Are you sure about that?” Lisa asked, her eyebrow going up “Because I’m sure he never said it because he didn’t think you guys were going anywhere serious”

“I can’t believe you are being a bitch right now” Veronica snapped “I need you, my boyfriend just broke up with me out of the blue and all you can do is blame it on me?” Veronica sounded beyond the word offended, “How many times have I not helped you when you break up with Nicholas?”

“This is different” Lisa shrugged “Because Nicholas does say he’s my boyfriend, Billy never said anything like that”

“You are unbelievable” Veronica shook her head “This is not my fault, this is that bitch’s fault”

“What?” Lisa asked, confused.

“The new girl, this is all her fucking fault” Veronica hissed, her eyes narrowed but they had tears already showing and leaning towards Lisa.

Alice looked at her two friends and for a moment, she was glad that the boy who liked Evelyn was Billy and not Steve, because if Billy had his eyes on her, then she was already going to be his.

“Evelyn?” Lisa asked “What does she have to do with anything?”

“She’s trying to get with Billy” Veronica explained with anger “That bitch messed his brain up!” she threw her arms up “But you know what? No, I’m not going to sit here and take this shit, I am not” a few tears streamed down her face but she cleaned them away rapidly, she didn't have time to waste on more tears than she already had.

“What?” Lisa asked, she shook head “What are you talking about?”

“That whore is going to pay for this” and with that she pushed past both Alice and Lisa and marched away from them, down the hallway and towards her next class; Lisa turned to look at her, Alice did the same, until she had disappeared.

“I cannot believe this bullshit” Lisa groaned.

“Really?” Alice shrugged “Maybe she’s right”

“No, Ali” Lisa turned to her friend “Have you met Billy? He didn’t break up with Veronica because some girl forced him to do it, he broke up with her because he wants to fuck someone else”

And with that Lisa walked away, she had to get to her next class and it was just too early in the morning of a Monday to be dealing with this kind of nonsense.

“Yeah, well” Alice shrugged “She can keep Billy”

And with that she went off to English class, one of the three classes that she shared with Steve, and lately he had been sitting next to her, and Alice counted that as a win, he had been showing interest in her and she had been interested in him for a while now.

But if Lisa was hoping that Veronica’s paranoia would disappear throughout the day, she was in for a big surprise.

And so was Veronica as she walked down the hall and her peripheral vision caught the wave of pitch black hair that belonged to the woman who had dared to take her man away.

Evelyn walked down the hallway, her book bag dangling over her shoulder, the weather had been pretty nice so far, but it was still early in the morning, and if she had learned something from Hawkins, it was that the weather could change without warning.

She took a curve and an itching sensation spread up her arm, she hissed and looked down at her arm, grabbing the sleeve of her shirt with her free hand and pulling it up, she couldn’t see anything but still she scratched her arm rapidly, just around the area of the back of her elbow.

“Maybe its that stupid spider bit” she sighed in her mind as she forced herself to stop scratching and she pulled down the sleeve “If this keeps on, I’ll have to tell dad” she shook her head, pushing away the thoughts of that possibility and looked up and down the corridor.

Billy was looking inside his locker, gathering his notebooks and shoving in his backpack, he wasn’t eager about a new week at school, but he wasn’t looking forward to have his father scream at him for failing classes; he narrowed his eyes and grabbed the door of his locker, slamming it close before a soft voice crept up on him.

“Hey there” he felt his body jolt slightly before he looked over his shoulder, Evelyn had made her way towards him, and was now standing just a few feet away from him.

“Hey” he turned around completely.

“How are you?” she asked.

“Better now” he smirked, Evelyn rolled her eyes amused at him. “How about you?”

“Pretty good,” she shook her head “I was actually looking for you Billy”

“Is that so?” his eyebrows shot up.

“It is” she smiled, she looked down at the jacket she had draped over her arm, she had pulled it out from her bag when she had seen Billy down the corridor. “I came to return something that belongs to you”

“You have something that belongs to me?”

“Yeah” she chuckled and looked up at him “You kind of left it with me the other day” she shrugged “On Friday” she grabbed the jacket and extended her arm out to Billy “This”

Billy looked at her before he looked down at the jacket, he narrowed his eyes for a moment but Evelyn continued.

“You left it because you thought you were late to practice”

“I was late” he chuckled, he reached for the jacket and took it “Thank you”

“Don’t worry about that” she nodded “Its also washed and all that”

He looked down at the fabric, and he could already tell that it smelled from a different laundry detergent that they used at his house, he raised an eyebrow and looked at her with a smirk.

“You washed my jacket?” he asked amused.

“No” she shook her head “Its not like that, I left it in the kitchen for it to dry, my dad must have grabbed it and thrown it in the washer” she shrugged.

“Really?” he tried to look offended “That means you didn’t think about me this weekend?”

Evelyn laughed loudly and raised an eyebrow “Was I supposed to?”

“I don’t know” he shrugged “But I would have liked it”

“Right” she shook her head “Well, sorry to disappoint”

“You don’t look sorry at all” he smirked, she chuckled.

“That’s the way it is” she explained “Anyway, I have to go to class, see you around”

“If you feel like ditching, I’m up for it”

“I’m not ditching and I wasn’t ditching on Friday” she took a few steps back as she talked to him “Unlike you”

“I’d rather ditch and see your drawings than go to that tedious class” he explained and started to walk after her, she looked at him and pouted softly.

“I’ll show you some more another time” she explained, she shifted her body to the side when he spoke rapidly.

“What about on Friday?”

She stopped and looked at him, her wavy hair bouncing around her “I’m not ditching again”

“After school” he shrugged, he raised an inviting eyebrow.

“What are you doing?” she asked, she crossed her arms over her chest “Are you asking me out on a date, Billy Hargrove?”

“Is that a no, Evelyn Tyler?”

She looked at him, his clear eyes shining under the lights of the hallway, his blond hair combed back and he had that side smile as he looked back at her, waiting for her to answer as they stood in the middle of the almost deserted hallway.

“No” she finally answered, he raised an eyebrow “I mean” she shook her head, her eyes closed for those split seconds and her hair swayed around her pale porcelain skin. “I mean, that could be fun”

“So it’s a yes” he smiled and started to walk towards her.

“It’s a yes” she nodded with a soft smile “Wait, isn’t it a bit early in the week to be asking people out on dates?”

“I could ask you again on Wednesday or Thursday, which one you like better?” he asked, and she couldn’t help but smile softly and a light blush spread over her face

“Monday sounds good” she shrugged “You don’t have to ask on Wednesday or Thursday” he nodded at her “Eight sounds good for you?”

“Eight sounds perfect” he agreed “You just tell me where, and I’ll pick you up”

“It’s a date then, Billy Hargrove” she laughed and turned around rapidly and gracefully, Billy scanned her from head to toes, and smirked, she was nice to talk to, but he wasn’t about to deny that he thought she was gorgeous.

“It’s a date then, Evelyn Tyler!” he called out after her.

Evelyn laughed, her high pitch laugh echoing in the hallway, and Billy found himself smiling at that, even if Veronica had gone livid with the words as she pressed herself against the curve of the wall.

“Don’t fuck with me, bitch” she thought before she pushed herself away from the wall and hurried away.

The thing was, Evelyn had dealt with Simon and Delaine Connors before, so how bad could Veronica Lark really be?

Chapter 20: The Calm Before the Storm

Notes:

Brace yourselves for the gif fest, I am sorry in advance :S (See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Evelyn sighed as she looked down at her worksheet, her raven hair falling around her like a curtain, the equations and numbers were staring back at her from her not even half done worksheet, the young woman tapped the end of her pen over the paper before she finally set the pen down and groaned softly, closing her eyes for a few seconds.

“Ready to call it quits?” he whispered softly, Evelyn smirked before she opened her eyes and glanced at him, part of her hair hiding her face.

“God yes” she smiled at him, his head was dropped forward, in an attempt to seem like he was actually doing some work and not just faking it, but he smiled at her and shrugged.

“Fuck, I hate this class” he whispered again, shaking his head softly before he looked away from her and down to the worksheet.

“That makes two of us,” she whispered back, she pushed her hair behind her ears, soft whispers were spreading through the class, people helping others with the work they had to do for a worksheet that they could hand in before the end of Friday, that week. “I’m going to finish this thing at home, honestly, I am done with all this chemistry thing for a day” she pushed the paper a few inches away from her.

“Agreed” Steve nodded, and with that he pushed his paper and his pen away from himself. “So,” he turned to look at her “You’ve been here for almost a month, how have you liked it so far?”

Evelyn looked at him for a moment and then shrugged “You know, it’s pretty quiet around here, I like it, it’s calm”

Calm was certainly not the word that Steve would use to describe Hawkins, especially after all that had gone down with Will and Eleven and Dustin’s pet from hell, and all that Jazz, but before all that, Hawkins had been by all means, calm and a bit boring.

“What about your brother?” he asked, he leaned over her table.

“He’s adapting, but his making friends with Dustin and Lucas, and Will, so that’s always good” she gave him a soft smile but it seemed somehow a sad one.

“Oh” Steve nodded “So, he might be dressing up with them this year?” he asked, Evelyn raised an eyebrow at him “For Halloween, I mean” he added “They dressed up last year of The Ghostbusters, maybe they’ll ask Noah to join them this year”

“They dressed up as The Ghostbusters?” Evelyn cooed “That’s so cute” and her smile grew.

“I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t say they looked cute if Lucas ever tells you they dressed up like that last year” Steve said, trying his best not to laugh and get the teacher to bark at him, Evelyn pressed her lips into a thin line just in time to stop her chuckle from bursting from her, instead a sound between a cough and a groan came from her and Steve had to look down at his worksheet to avoid laughing.

“Yeah” she whispered, her voice tainted with the remains of what could have been a laugh “You’re probably right about that” she glanced at the teacher, making sure that he wasn’t looking at them, and then turned to Steve “What are you dressing up as?”

“Me?” he frowned at her “I’m not dressing up, what are you talking about?”

“What?” she narrowed her eyes “What do you mean nothing? I heard a few girls in my history class talking about some Halloween dance, aren’t you going?”

“Oh yeah” he agreed “I forgot they were doing that this year” he shrugged “I might go,” he pouted softly “But I’m not dressing up”

“Why not?” she smiled and leaned towards him “It could be fun, don’t you think?”

“Fun?” he smiled back at her “You think it could be fun?” he raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t you?” she cocked her head to the left “You could pull off a pretty neat Han Solo costume” both of his eyebrows shot up in amusement “You already the hair for it”

And Steve chocked on his own laugh as he tore his eyes away from Evelyn and looked down at his worksheet, the teacher glancing up at them and shaking his head before retuning his attention to the papers he had to grade, a group of girls looked at him, Alice included and she watched him for a few seconds, the way he pressed his lips into a thin line and closing his eyes as he tried to swallow that laugh that had been born in his chest.

“Oh my fucking god” he whispered, his chest ached from pressing down his urge to laugh, he glanced back at her, his head between his shoulder “Are you fucking kidding me, Tyler?”

“No” she smiled at him, Alice watching the way they were leaning into each other “Why would I?” she frowned “You have great hair, you’d be a pretty cool Han Solo, I can guarantee you that”

“Fuck, you’re the worst” he smiled and shook his head “I am not dressing up as nothing” she rolled her eyes playfully “I don’t even know if I’m going, I haven’t even thought about it, but I am most certainly, not dressing up”

“What if your date wants to dress up?” she asked, she pouted and narrowed her eyes.

“I don’t have a date” he pointed out “So, there’s not going to be any problem”

“You don’t have a date because you keep trying to ignore what I tell you” she lowered her voice ever more “I saw you at the party Harrington, I’ve seen you in the hallways, man” he raised an eyebrow at her. “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about,” Alice looked away from the pair, Billy was interested in Evelyn, but she couldn’t help but feel her stomach tighten as she watched the way Evelyn smirked at Steve. “Come on, Steve” she sighed “This is the perfect chance for you to ask her out, I mean, she likes you and you are obviously not indifferent to her charms,” she glanced towards the table where Alice and another girl were sitting at, she looked at the red head for a moment before she turned to Steve. “She’s not gonna say no”

“Stop” he shook his head, a soft smile on his face told her that he wasn’t upset with what she was telling him, “I might take you on your advice, but I am not dressing up, Tyler”

“Fine, don’t” she shrugged with a wicked smile over her face, her raven hair flopping around her shoulders as she shrugged at him. “But I am telling you, you are missing a great opportunity, you would look amazing as Han Solo”

Steve looked at her, and his soft smile grew a bit, her porcelain skin looking paler as her raven hair cascaded around her face “Thank you” he nodded at her “I’ll keep it in mind” he narrowed his eyes at her for a moment “What are you dressing up as?”

“I don’t know” she shrugged, “I’ll figure it out and let you know, Han Solo”

He shook his head and looked down at his paper, his smile remaining over his face before he glanced at Evelyn by the rear of his eyes, she was nice and despite the intense dark color of her hair, she seemed to shine a bit brighter than the rest of the students in Hawkins, and that was refreshing.

___________//____________

Will could remember the argument very vividly, almost as if he had just walked away from it, maybe it was the fact that the argument had bothered him a bit more than he had initially thought, or maybe it was that he should have said something when the argument was taking place because he knew what it felt like to be treated like a zoo animal; and it was like that, how Will made his way down the hallway and towards Jonathan’s room.

It had started at lunch, and it had been his fault, because he had had the idea.

Max, Lucas and himself had found Noah sitting alone at the back of the cafeteria, he had a book opened over the desk and was munching on a sandwich, the group of three had approached him without hesitation after Will had suggested that maybe Noah would like some company while he eat, after all they had had fun at the fort during the weekend and now at least Noah seemed willing to say hi around the corridors.

“Hey” Lucas said, he looked down at Noah, the young man stopped eating and looked up from the book and at Lucas.

“Hello” he nodded at them, he glanced at Max and Will and then turned back to Lucas.

“How are you?” asked Max, she had pulled her long red hair back into a messy braid that rolled over her shoulder.

“Good,” he answered, “What about you guys?” he wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but he knew that it was courtesy to ask back.

“Pretty good” Lucas shrugged “Mind if we sit down?” he looked away from Noah and glancing at the seats across from the young new boy.

“No, go ahead” Noah had said and just like that the three of the sat in front of Noah, who closed the book and finished taking the last bite of his lunch.

The conversation between the four of the flowed pretty well, and by the time the bell had rang to alert the students that they should start heading to their next class, Noah had to admit that he had had a good time talking with them, it had been a different kind of lunch, he hadn’t been able to read, but it had been nice having someone to talk about; this was just something he hadn’t realized he had never really experienced before.

The group had walked out of the cafeteria together, Noah listening to the conversation that was flowing between the three friends, and he couldn’t help but wonder if this was the way that all friends acted, and he couldn’t help himself but feel fascinated about the way that they talked to each other, almost being able to finish each other sentences and for a brief moment, just before the argument had started, Noah felt like there was something huge he had been robbed from.

Dustin and Mike intercepted the group as they took a turn on the hallway, the pair of friends had gone out of the building to take some things to Eleven, and had barely made it back to the school in time to head to their next class.

“Hey” said Dustin as they walked up towards the group.

“Hi” Max nodded at him “How did it go?”

“It was fine” Mike shrugged at her “But we almost didn’t make it back” he was looking down into his bag “What did you guys do?”

“We had lunch with Noah” Will shrugged and that’s how it had started.

“What?” Mike asked and when he looked up, he noticed Noah. “Oh, the new guy”

Noah narrowed his eyes “Yeah, weird kid from the woods” he snapped at him, and that feeling that he had been robbed from something, that feeling vanished as soon as Mike had opened his mouth.

The group stopped moving, Dustin and Will turning to look at Noah as Lucas and Max looked at Mike, who frowned and tensed his jaw.

“Rude much” he snapped back.

“Are you sure you aren’t talking about yourself?” hissed Noah, he took a step forward and glared at Mike.

“Me?” Mike sounded shocked “What the hell are you talking about?” he was angry now, he had walked into the building feeling happy and pleased and now this kid had ruined his mood in less than ten seconds. “I just got here and you’re being an asshole”

“Wow” Noah shook his head softly “You certainly know how to the blame around, don’t you?”

“Blame about what?” Mike took a step forward and Dustin shifted his body so that he would be able to push them apart if any of them took another step forward.

“About being a dipshit” Noah growled at him, pointing at Mike.

“I’m the one being a dipshit?” Mike hissed “I got here and in less than a minute you had already called me weird with that superiority tone you always use, so yes, I do think you’re rude and an asshole to everyone who talks to you, so why don’t you do us a favor, and back the fuck off”

Noah looked at him, and there was anger blazing behind his eyes but Noah knew better, he wasn’t about to get in a fight with this irrelevant kid.

“Did you just forget that you called me the new kid?” Noah asked, he took a step back, “I’m the one who’s rude? This isn’t the first time we talk, but you’ve made no attempt to even try and remember my name, not even the first letter of it, because obviously you are so full of yourself to even bother learning my name, so don’t act so surprised that people are rude to you, MIKE” Noah shook his head “I might be weird, and rude, but at least I don’t go out of my way to be a massive imbecile like you”

And with that he turned on his heels and walked around Will and away from the group, shock and tension falling over all of them as they watched Noah walk away.

Dustin’s mouth was gapped out, his eyes wide, he watched as Noah joined the crowd of students and then slowly turned to look at his friend.

“What the fuck was that about?” he asked.

“I told you” Mike snapped as he turned to look at Dustin “I told you he was weird and rude and an asshole, and no one wanted to believe me” he frowned and tensed his jaw. “Do you guys believe me now?”

Lucas looked at Mike with shock, he had never seen his friend act like this, he had seen him reluctant to make new friends, it had happened with Max, but to be this rude to someone else, this was just not the way Mike usually acted; but the thing was, Lucas couldn’t see it the way Mike did.

“No” Lucas snapped, Mike looked at him.

“What do you mean no? Didn’t you just see what happened?”

“I did” Lucas frowned “And you had a lot to do with that, he was fine when we sat to have lunch with him, and yeah you’re right about him being rude with you when he called you weird, but really Mike? You couldn’t even be bothered to learn his name?” he glanced at Dustin for some help. “What was that shit about?” he turned back to Mike “His sister was willing to fight Tommy H when he chased you with his car, and you couldn’t bother to learn his name? I’m sure even Steve knows his name by now”

“He’s right about that Mike, he did spend a whole day with us, even Eleven knows his name” pointed out Dustin, and Lucas noticed the way Mike tensed his shoulder and tightened his jaw.

“Maybe next time you could try and be a little nicer to him” Will shrugged.

“No!” Mike barked, but he sounded like a bratty child “He’s weird and an asshole, and why are you all suddenly taking his side? I’m your friend here”

“This isn’t about sides” Max stepped in “This is about the fact that just maybe, he’s having a hard time starting over in a place he knows no one”

“He likes to be alone, Mike” Will said “Nothing wrong with that, and you know what, I thought maybe we’d understand a lot better what it feels like to be pointed at by others” a blush spread over Will’s face “It happened to me after I came back, and honestly it feels horrible”

“Fine, you guys do whatever you want, I don’t like him and that’s that” Mike shrugged dramatically “You don’t have to agree with me, he just gives me a wrong vibe and I don’t any of you to agree with me” he snapped.

“Come on, Mike don’t be like that” Dustin sighed, this was just turning ridiculous, it was a fight over nothing that could have been avoided oh so easily.

“I just get a bad vibe from him!”

“Well, Eleven doesn’t” Lucas stepped in, Noah’s sister was nice to him, she helped him talk to Max, she had been willing to fight Tommy H that day at the school and to be honest, he was finding all this ordeal ridiculous; he did also notice the way Mike seemed to lose the color on his face at the mention of Eleven “She has mind powers and she thinks he’s fine, so I think maybe you could just calm down”

“You should all just back off!” barked Mike, he took a step back and the discussion had ended with Lucas saying with anger.

“Is this about Eleven?”

But Mike hadn’t answered, instead he turned around on the ball of his feet and he had marched away as fast as he could from them, Lucas had rolled his eyes and had taken Max’s hand and had started walking again, Dustin had glanced at Will and with a shrug he had followed after the pair.

And now Will was walking inside his brother’s room with a few doubts.

“John” Will spoke softly.

Jonathan was sitting over the edge of his bed and glanced over his shoulder towards his brother, and he could tell instantly that something was bothering him.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure” Jonathan nodded, Will walked further into the room, walking towards the bed with his mind running circles, he had felt guilty about the way Mike had made Noah feel, they had asked to join him for lunch and then they had walked him right into an insult battle with Mike and then Mike had looked so offended with them, and Will, Will just didn’t know how to feel about all of this.

Will sat down next to Jonathan and looked down at his hands before he turned to look at his older brother.

“You know Evelyn Tyler, right?”

“Yeah” Johnathan nodded “I have a few classes with her and Nance is friends with her” Will pushed down the sigh about that comment, the fact that Nancy and Evelyn where friends and Mike and Noah had just been barking at each other in the middle of the hallway.

“Do you think she’s nice?”

Jonathan looked at Will for a few seconds, the few months after the last confrontation with the Upside Down world, they had all walked on eggshells around Will, and for a moment they had all forgotten how strong he was, but now as Jonathan looked down at his brother, he realized that this kind soul had not been tainted by the horrors of that other world.

“Um, yes” he answered “She’s funny and respectful, I don’t know her that much but Nancy and Steve like her” he narrowed his eyes “Why?”

“Do you know her brother?”

“No” Johnathan shook his head.

“Do you think she’s weird?” he frowned.

“What? No” he shook his head “She’s just new, I don’t know her” he narrowed his eyes “Why are you asking me this?”

“Something happened at school today, and I think it was my fault” he explained with a shrug.

“What happened?”

“Mike and Noah, Evelyn’s brother, had a fight,” he explained “Mike thinks Noah is weird and that he has a weird vibe and that we shouldn’t hang out with him, you know?” he shrugged, but there was a frown over his face. “And, I don’t know, I just felt really bad because I was the one who asked Noah to join us for lunch”

“Why would Mike say that?”

“I don’t know” Will shook his head “But he was really upset and I don’t want anyone to feel bad because of me” he looked at his brother, not mentioning that Noah’s sister had helped him when a huge spider had crawled up over him, and all he had given her in return had been to introduce Noah to an insult party from Mike.

“But that wasn’t your fault, Will” Johnathan set his hand over his shoulder, “You didn’t know Mike was going to act like that, and you were not the one who insulted Noah”

“I know” Will nodded “But it was my idea to hang out with him, and they both sounded so angry, I just… he let his voice trail off.

“You did nothing wrong, Will” Johnathan said, he gave his shoulder a squeeze. “Look, that Mike doesn’t like Noah doesn’t mean you can’t hang out with either of them, people can’t tell you who you can or can’t like, so if you want to be friends with Noah, Mike is going to have to grow up and deal with it because you are all allowed to have other friends”

“I just don’t want Mike to feel like we don’t have his back” Will sighed and looked down at his lap.

“I think Mike knows you have his back, but having your friends back doesn’t mean you have to allow him to be rude or disrespectful to others” Johnathan said, “Friends have to tell their friends when they’ve fucked up, and if he doesn’t like it, then he’ll have to come around some time because you’re not here just to tell Mike what he wants to hear” Will nodded but said nothing. “Do you think Noah is weird?” Johnathan asked after a few seconds in silence.

“No” Will answered as he looked up at his brother.

“Then there’s your answer” Jonathan pulled his hand away from Will, but turned his body to face his brother’s body better. “And who knows” he shrugged “Maybe they can get along a bit better later on, just give it time, but don’t do things just because others tell you too, do what you think is best, Will”

“Thank you” Will smiled, because even if he had already known that that was the truth, it was always better to hear someone else’s advice, and there was really no one Will trusted more than Jonathan, he knew that no matter what, John would always speak to him truthfully and that was something that Will appreciated deeply.

And maybe Johnathan was right, maybe eventually Mike and Noah would be able to be civil around each other, and when that happened then maybe things would be easier for everyone, but Will hadn’t realized that nothing was ever easy in Hawkins, Indiana and they were all about to find out that things were a lot more complicated with the Tylers than they thought.

So maybe the feud between Mike and Noah wouldn’t be that important, and maybe the day that Evelyn found out that the guy she was going out with was also the guy she resented for treating Lucas like a monster, wouldn’t be so dramatic, because no one could even start to imagine how things were about to spiral out of control in Hawkins, Indiana.

Notes:

So, Jonathan is beautiful, the fight between the boys might have been petty, but their like 12 - 13 so, yeah they are a bit dramatic

Also, let me know what you think, like you guys think Evelyn might find out before, after, or during her date with Billy, that Billy is in fact an ass?

And Steve and his crush? Anddd Evie and Steve's friendship? I'd like to hear what you think :3

Let me know what you think and everything else!!!

Love to all <3 <3 <3 Chapter 21: Friday Night

Summary:

Derek has a few thoughts, Evelyn gets ready for her date and Noah walks out into the road. Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Derek sat over his bed, his legs stretched over it and crossed at the ankles, he had a book opened over his lap but he hadn’t turned the page in the last ten minutes, the door of his room was ajar and the sound of music playing in Evelyn’s room had distracted his mind, it had pulled him away from the book, and had sent his mind to a different topic.

When all of this had started, there would be things that would be harder than others to understand, isolation was something difficult to grasp for a child, having to be able to start again and again and again was tiring, it consumed a lot more energy than anyone could imagine, but he had seen his kids learning to master an art that they should have never even know about and it was nights like this that made things even harder, because it made him feel like he had betrayed his children, like he had robbed them of something.

Like he had robbed them of their life.

Evelyn was finishing getting ready to go out with Billy Hargrove, this wasn’t the first time she asked him for permission to go on a date, and this wasn’t the first time he got this feeling in his chest; she was going out with Billy Hargrove at eight, but nothing was going to blossom out of that, just like nothing had blossomed out of her dates with Carl, he had been her boyfriend, but Evelyn had always known that the end of them was near.

Escaping with his children had forced them to surrender ever having any kind of relationship, and it was in nights like this that he hated having to force his children to fake in order to just feel normal for once.

Tonight Derek was once again coming to terms that this was a curse that he had set over his children, but he wasn’t the only one who would be finding out things tonight.

The kid had not been what Derek had been expecting when he opened the door, he hadn’t been expecting him to be that tall and built, but just like Carl had had made small talk with Derek as they both waited for Evelyn to get downstairs, he was cocky, Derek could tell by the look in his eyes, but he didn’t get from Billy the same nasty sensation he had gotten from Carl; and at the end, Derek had kissed the forehead of his daughter and had watched he walking down the driveway towards the car, her head turned to Billy and even with the poor lighting of the street he could tell she was smiling.

And he hated himself for having robbed her from ever making a real relationship out of this.

“I’m so sorry” he whispered to himself, as Billy opened up the door for her and she stepped into the car; he waited until the car was rolling up the street before he walked back into the house.

Derek made his way towards the kitchen, they had already eaten but he was craving some chips while he watched some TV, he was certainly not in the mood to read anymore. The man pulled open a cupboard and looked inside, noticing that Evelyn and Noah had already eaten half of the chips that he had bought the Friday before that one.

He took one of the remaining bags and pulled it out, he closed the cupboard and turned around to head back to the living room, only to come face to face with his son.

“Jesus Christ!” Derek gasped, taking a step back and tightening his grip on the chips.

“Sorry” Noah shrugged as he looked up at his father.

“I didn’t hear you come down” Derek explained, “What’s going on?” he noticed that his son had his shoes on and a jacket, he raised an eyebrow at him.

“I was wondering if I could go out for a ride” he answered casually “I won’t be long, just to the store and back”

“Noah” Derek sighed, he shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “It’s already dark”

“I know” Noah shrugged “I’m just going to the store, buy something and come back, I won’t be out for more than forty minutes, tops, dad”

He looked at Noah, the youngest of the Tylers and yet sometimes it felt like he had lived a hundred more lives than any of them had, but despite that, Noah, even if he understood the dangers that Simon and Delaine represented, was also the only member of the family that didn’t really know the whole truth as to why they had escaped from their hometown.

And Derek could still remember how much it had taken for them to finally get a window of opportunity in which Delaine left Noah out of her sight, because Derek knew perfectly well that the woman would have killed them on the spot if she had seen them trying anything; but Noah, despite Delaine’s anger and jealousy, had always preferred to be with Evelyn than any other member of the family, and so Evelyn had waited and then she had ran and she had been such a warrior that night, that Derek had never doubted that Evelyn would fight Delaine to the death if Derek died before he could face her.

“Forty minutes” Derek nodded, he looked down at his watch and then up at him “You take longer than forty minutes, I am out looking for you in that car, Noah”

“I know that” Noah chuckled, he shook his head “Just trust me, dad”

“Fine” Derek rolled his eyes, Noah nodded and turned around on the ball of his feet, he walked towards the door of the kitchen but stopped and looked over his shoulder at his father

"You want me to buy you something?”

“No, I’m fine, thank you”

“Your loss then” Noah said cheerfully and made his way towards the door of the house.

___________//____________

Noah walked out of the store with a small plastic bag, Evelyn had given him a bit of money that she had made from her babysitting jobs, she had called it his share for helping her make the signs and adding the cash that his father had given him for the week, Noah had saved enough to be able to treat himself to something sugary to eat.

He pulled up his bike and started to walk up the street, the night was windy and cool but the sky was clear, there erratic rain patterns had decided to give the small town a break and Noah wanted to enjoy that, he glanced down at his watch, he had made it to the store in less than ten minutes, so he still had half an hour to enjoy before his father’s anxiety got the best of him and ended up calling his name as he drove up and down the streets.

Noah shuddered at the thought.

Hawkins wasn’t that bad, Noah had to agree to that, it was the smallest of the towns they had lived in and that made it easier for Noah to ask his father for permission to go out, he wasn’t going to test his luck with that, but there was no harm done with going out every now and then.

He didn’t have friends, so there was no risk of him asking to go out that much.

He walked under a light post, looking inside his bag, while holding the bike with one hand, when he heard his name being called out.

Noah frowned and turned to look over his shoulder as a single figure walked up to him.

She was wearing a knee high dark blue coat, her short and wavy hair flopped around her as she walked, her eyes over him and there was a gentle smile over her face, her hands inside the pockets of her coat and Noah sighed before he turned around completely to look at her.

“Elle” he nodded at her.

“How are you?” she asked, walking into the light circle created by the lamppost they were standing under.

“Fine” he answered, having a slight bitter sensation as he remembered the confrontation with Mike Wheeler that week at school. “You?”

“I’m good” she nodded at him, she glanced at his bike and then up at him “Where are you going?”

“Back home” he explained, his answers always so short and precise that he understood why people thought he was rude.

“Oh” she nodded “I hadn’t seen you since the weekend” she added, and there was tone in her voice that made him narrow his eyes slightly.

“I saw your friends at school” he answered, and then he realized he had never seen her at school “Why weren’t you at school?”

“I haven’t started yet” she explained, and she looked down at her shoes for a moment.

“Oh” he nodded “You’re homeschooled” he said, mostly to himself than to her, she looked up at him.

“Something like that”

“Well, it was nice seeing you” he shrugged “But I have to go”

“Hope to see you again” she smiled at him, Noah looked at her for a moment before he answered with a soft nod and prepared to turn around.

“El, what are you doing?” the male voice reached them and Noah had to make an attempt not to roll his eyes.

Eleven looked over her shoulder as Mike walked up to them, Dustin walking a few steps behind him, holding the bag that they had gone out to buy, she shrugged at Mike and turned to Noah.

“I was just saying hi”

Noah’s eyes drifted towards Mike, his eyebrow already going up, Mike tensed his jaw as he walked up to Eleven and stopped next to her, Dustin walked up to them too, squinting as he walked into the light.

“Noah, hey”

“Dustin” Noah nodded at him, Dustin wasn’t his friend but he was the one he had talked the most to of that small group, he turned to Eleven “Have a good night”

“You too” Eleven answered back, she shifted her feet and spoke again rapidly “You want to join us? We are hanging out at Mike’s place”

“No” Noah answered rapidly, Dustin looked at Eleven and then at Mike, no one had mentioned the confrontation they had had at school again, mostly because this was the first time they had crossed paths with Noah since that day.

“We are playing games, we are going to eat pizza” Eleven shrugged.

“I rather not” he explained “My father is waiting for me” his eyes drifted to Mike “And I don’t want to bother anyone”

“But you wouldn’t” Eleven shook her head.

“El” Mike whispered, she turned to look at him, not sure why it was that Mike was so resistant about making friends.

“Mike” she whispered back at him.

“Have fun at your gathering” Noah rolled his eyes and shoved his small plastic bag inside his jacket, wishing that he didn’t have to talk to any of them ever again because seriously, he was tired of looking at Mike and his narrowed eyes like he was wishing he could throw daggers at Noah just by staring at him.

“See you at school” Dustin called, he didn’t dislike Noah at all, but he really didn’t want to have another confrontation between Mike and Noah in the middle of the street this time.

And Noah was the one who slipped this time.

“Let’s hope not” he answered, and this time Mike and Eleven did turn to look at him.

“Yeah, you know what?” Mike took a step forward “Let’s hope not”

Noah glared at him “I didn’t mean that for Dustin” Noah snapped “But I am defiantly looking forward to not crossing paths with you again, Wheeler”

“That makes two of us,” Mike spat back, and Noah would realize this was just a petty fight if he ever looked back at it, but the fact was that this fight would be nothing compared to what he would come face to face in just a few minutes. “And if seeing my face bothers you so much, why don’t you just get out of here already?!”

“Mike!” Eleven sounded alarmed as she turned to look at Mike, she had never seen him act like this, act like a bully.

“Oh fuck off” Noah rolled his eyes, he dropped his bike and turned to Mike “Grow up will you? I haven’t done anything to you, whereas I’ve been chased by a fucker in a car because I was with you, and my sister got bit by some disgusting critter because your friend wandered away and none of you noticed, so trust me Wheeler, that the best thing that could happen to me, is never crossing paths again with you, fucker”

“Ok hey!” barked Dustin “This isn’t the place to do this!” he frowned “Let’s just drop it and we can all go on our ways and leave it at this”

“Listen to your friend!” Noah barked pointing at Dustin but his eyes over Mike. “I’m leaving and do us both a fucking favor and don’t talk to me again!” he huffed and tore his eyes from Mike and towards Eleven. “I’m sorry”

Her lips were gapped and her eyes huge as she looked at him, she was confused and shocked and to be honest, a little bit angry, Noah was looking at her with his eyelashes casting shadows over his face, as well as one of his curls, his eyes darker than she remembered but there was something about the way he was looking at her that made her feel sad; he looked tired, almost exhausted.

“I…

“See you around Dustin” Noah said as he looked from Eleven to Dustin “You too, Elle” and with that he turned around and grabbed the handle of his bike, pulling it up and deciding to cut his trip and make it up the street on the bike.

“What was that?” he heard Eleven ask the boys, but he was already stepping down the sidewalk and onto the street.

“What the hell, Dustin?!” Mike was angry, he felt like this kid had just walked into town ready to get all his friends on his side, even getting Eleven on his side. “Why didn’t you back me up?”

“What was I supposed to say?” Dustin sighed, he was already over this silly feud. “Let’s just drop it and head back to your house before the others get there”

“Why are you acting like this?” Eleven asked, and Dustin wished that he could tell her, but he was sure not even Mike was prepared to do that.

“You are my friend, Dustin!” Mike went on, but he sounded hurt “You should be on my side”

“He’s not on your side because you’re a dick!” Noah snapped back, Mike’s head turned to him so fast that something cracked in his neck, he took a few menacing steps forward.

“Fuck off! Get the hell out of here already!” he took a deep breath “You feel all brave by screaming from the other side of the fucking road! Wow, would you look at that!”

Noah turned around to look back at Mike, his bike bumping against the street, he let go with one hand and pointed at him.

“You’re just trying to show off because…

But the lights that precipitated towards Noah blinded him and he squinted as he turned to the road, the sentence dying in his lips.

And as Billy wrapped an arm around Evelyn’s shoulders and pulled her closer to him in the booth they were sharing at the dinner, Dustin gasped loudly and Mike held his breath as they watched the car speed up towards Noah Tyler, who was standing in the middle of the road, with his plastic bag in his jacket and fifteen minutes left to spare before his father decided to go out looking for him.

Because tonight was a night of realization, and right now, Noah realized that the car wasn’t going to stop.

He dropped his bike and covered his face with both hands as the screech of the breaks echoed through the street, the driver trying to avoid an unstoppable collision with the kid.

And “NO!” was the only scream that made it out into the night.

Notes:

How do you guys think Derek looks like? Like does certain actor come to mind? Let me know this and any other though you have :D

Also, that fight literally just turned deadly. Chapter 22: Chocolate and Beer

Summary:

Its date time. Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Billy looked up at Evelyn, the young woman was looking down at her French fry basket, her slender fingers reached in and she took one of them, she picked it up and turned to look at Billy before she took a bite off the fry; they had arrived about ten minutes ago, and so far everything had been going pretty well.

“You want to see something nasty?” she asked, Billy’s eyebrow shot up instantly, certainly not what he was expecting anyone to say on the first date, there was a smirk over her face and Billy glanced down at her French fry and then his eyes drifted towards her milkshake, before he looked back at her.

“If you dip that thing inside your milkshake, I am leaving you here, Tyler” Billy said, trying to hold back to the chuckle in his throat.

“Come on,” she shrugged “You can’t tell me you haven’t tried it” she looked down at her fry.

“Ok, you got me there” he agreed “But like you said, it’s nasty”

Evelyn laughed and eat the piece of fry she was holding between her fingers “You know what? You have no idea what you’re missing out,” she turned to her fries “But since I am by no means, looking forward to walking back home, I’ll spare you the envy of having to watch me eat that godly combination”

“Oh wow” Billy chuckled “Thanks for sparing me the agony of having to watch that”

Evelyn laughed and looked down at her fries, Billy watched her for a few seconds, her dark raven hair flowing around her as she pouted oh so gently and picked one of the fries, almost as if she was leaving the best looking fries for last.

“So,” she looked up at Billy, he had taken off is jean jacket as had she, and now they lay next to him, in his side of the booth. “Why did your family move to Hawkins?”

“My dad asked for a transfer” Billy explained, he shrugged and took a fry from his own basket “I think it was more like a way to start fresh, since he had recently gotten remarried”

“Oh” she nodded “Ok,” she didn’t have to ask to know that there was something deeper going on there, it wasn’t about the tone in his voice but rather the way his eyes had darkened as he spoke of his family. “Is he a doctor? Your dad, I mean”

“No” Billy chuckled and shook his head “He’s a police officer” he took a bite off his fry “What about you? Why did you guys choose this lovely town?”

“You say like that, and it makes you look bitter Billy Hargrove, that is not a nice look on you” Evelyn explained, she wrapped her hand around her chocolate milkshake and took a long sip from it. “My dad applied for a job at the hospital” Evelyn explained “And he got it,” she played with the straw for a moment “He’s a technician there”

“Does he like it there?” asked Billy.

“I think he does, I mean he hasn’t been there for more than a month, so I think it’s still too early to say” she hadn’t asked her father if he had liked his new job, but even if he was in fact liking it, that wouldn’t last, they would be here a few months, eight tops and then they would leave, probably during night fall and they would just be a vague memory in the people of Hawkins, Indiana.

“What about your mom?” asked Billy, he looked down at his fries and took one.

“She’s dead” Evelyn answered, Billy’s head snapped up, his eyes big as he looked at her.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked”

“Its fine, you didn’t know” she shrugged “And it was a long time ago” she smiled and cocked her head to the left. “Noah was really small, so” she shrugged “He doesn’t really remember her” and part of it was true, there were things that Noah was too small to remember, and truth be told, this lie was just something Evelyn was hoping would be true, that Delaine was dead instead of a crazy woman stalking them and threatening to kill them.

“Wow, that must have been tough” he whispered, he swallowed hard.

“It has its ups and downs” Evelyn explained “But we make it work”

“I’m glad to hear that” he nodded at her.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Evelyn asked, because she knew that talking about dead parents always made people uncomfortable.

“Sure” Billy smirked and leaned back on his seat, his light eyes piercing into her darker ones, she was pretty in a different way, not exactly in the bubbly way that Eleonore had been or the smart way Veronica had been, she was pretty in a more genuine way, he just wasn’t sure how to name it.

“What is up with you and the blond girl from the student council?” asked Evelyn, she leaned over the table and looked at her half eaten milkshake, dragging the glass closer to her before she turned to look at him again.

“Veronica” he explained “Nothing is going on with her” he shrugged, but decided that maybe half truths were better than none. “Not anymore at least, why are you asking about her?”

“Because I don’t want to be caught in the middle of something that’s already going on between you and her” Evelyn explained, “So, it’s better if we get that out of the way already, don’t you think?”

“I agree” he nodded, and it wasn’t a lie, he didn’t have anything with Veronica anymore, yes, he had broken up with her less than a week ago but it still counted, at least for him it did. “We did have something going on, it’s over now”

Evelyn looked at him for a moment, his eyes never leaving hers, and there was this magnetic thing around him, the way his eyes pierced into hers and the way his lips curved into a smile made her see why he could go around being so cocky and flirty with everyone; he knew his charms perfectly well.

“Ok, then” she nodded at him “That’s all”

“Oh, that’s all?” Billy asked “You want me to drive you home already? Shit, I thought you’d want to stay at least until midnight”

“Oh well, sorry to disappoint” she laughed loudly.

“You disappoint?” Billy leaned over the table and raised an eyebrow “I don’t think that’s possible, Tyler”

Evelyn couldn’t help but smile, she knew this was just what he liked to do, charm girls with his smile and beautiful eyes, but what harm could it do to let him think he could play with her too? She wouldn’t stay here long enough for all of this to end in disaster.

At least that was what she thought.

“Is that so?” she raised an eyebrow slowly at him.

He shrugged “We still have the rest of the night to find that out, don’t you think?” she laughed and shook her head “You know? You were supposed to show me drawings tonight”

“Oh shit, the first disappointment of the evening, because I didn’t bring any” she mocked, Billy smiled, Billy laughed and shrugged.

“You know how you can make it up?” she raised an eyebrow at his question. “You could sit here with me”

Evelyn looked at him for a moment, amusement in her eyes, but even if she knew that this was just the thing boys like Billy liked to do, she wasn’t having a bad time, she’d never had a bad time with Billy and with a shrug and a nod, she pushed herself up to her feet and walked over to Billy’s side of the booth.

And as she sat down and Billy passed his arm around her, Evelyn laughed and the door of the dinner was pushed open and another couple walked in, and a car precipitated down the street and directly towards Noah as Dustin, Mike and Eleven watched.

___________//____________

Billy held the door open for Evelyn, the cool wind streamed into the dinner as the young woman walked out, a couple of eyes watching them leave from one of the far end booths, Evelyn walked out and turned around to look at him, Billy walking out to meet her.

“What’s the plan now?” she asked, she was holding her jacket in her hands, her dark hair contrasting against her pale blue blouse.

“Are you in a rush to head back home?” Billy asked, he fished for the car keys in his jacket.

“Not at all” she smiled.

“Great” Billy smiled, he dangled the keys as they walked towards the car. “Because I know this nice place I’d like to show you”

He walked up to her door and pushed the key inside, he turned it and opened the door for her before he walked around the hood to head to his door; he climbed into the car, not noticing that not far from where he had parked, Carol had parked her car as well.

“Ok, then” Evelyn turned to look at him, after setting her jacket on the backseat “Some music for the ride?”

“All yours” Billy smiled, he turned the wheel as Evelyn leaned forward and turned on the radio, and the car rolled out of the parking lot as Evelyn searched for her favorite radio station and Billy rolled down his window.

So far, everything had been going great.

At least for the eldest Tyler, that is.

Evelyn rolled down her window, the air filtering in and ruffling her hair, she felt a small chill but it wasn’t enough to make her want to turn around and grab her jacket, she reached out and pushed her arm out of the window, waving it up and down gently with the movement of the car; Billy glanced at her by the rear of his eyes, she had her head against the headrest and her eyes were closed but there was a peaceful look over her face, he turned back to the road, slowing down a bit.

“Where are we going?” she spoke, finally opening her eyes and turned her head to look at him.

Billy glanced back at her, her arm was still out but she was barely moving it “It’s a place a found shortly after I moved here” he explained, turning back to the road “It has a nice view” he shrugged “Thought you might like it, maybe even you’d like to sketch it someday”

“Huh” she nodded and turned to look out her window “If I like it, I could take you up on that offer” she wasn’t as good as her brother was when it came to sketch nature, but she could always give it a try, if not, she could bring Noah there. “I’d have to see how it looks during the day, as well”

“We can drive up here anytime you’d like” Billy smiled, his eyes over the road, they were almost there.

“Sounds like a plan” she laughed, she closed her eyes for a few more seconds.

“Instead of plan, we could call it a second date” Billy shrugged, he had that smug smile over his face that had half the girls in school melting at his feet.

Evelyn laughed, the sound mixing with the soft music playing in the radio and the sound the wind made as it rushed into the car, but still Billy heard it, the way it sounded a bit more high pitched than most girls he had gone out with, and it wasn’t a nice sounding laugh, but it was a genuine one.

“Yeah, we’ll see how this one ends first, Hargrove”

“It’s gonna end just like it started” Billy shrugged, he slowed down the car as the spot he wanted to show her came into view. “Great”

Evelyn glanced at him as Billy pulled over, there was no doubt that he was good looking, but outside of school he seemed more relaxed, a lot more approachable.

“We are here” he said, he turned to look at her, Evelyn raised an eyebrow but turned to look out her window, she stuck he head out and looked around the hilltop that Billy had taken her too, and to be honest, he had been right, she liked it right away.

The dirt road they had used to get there told her that it was a frequented spot, but that didn’t take away the fact that from here, the view of Hawkins was breath taking.

“Wow” she whispered, she reached for the handle and pushed the door open, she stepped out and closed the door behind herself, Billy reached to the radio and turned the volume louder before he stepped out of the car and closed the door behind himself.

“You like it?” he asked, he walked around the hood of the car and towards Evelyn, she was standing with her back to him and her eyes were casted out to the view of the small town.

“Are you kidding me?” she asked, she turned around rapidly, spinning on the ball of her feet, her tennis shoes ripping out blades of grass and her dark hair flying around her as she turned to look at Billy. “This place is amazing”

“I know right?” he smiled, he walked up to her, she turned to the view, the music filtering out to them and she was glad that there was no one else out there to disturb the nice view and company that they were having at the moment.

He walked up to her side, he shifted his weight from one leg to the other.

“I see why you like it here” she said, because in all the places where she had ever lived, she had made it her mission to find small places that she could all her own, spaces to claim for a few hours a day and recharge her energies, a place where she could separate herself from her troubles and maybe this was how Billy had found this beautiful place. “Have you come here during the day?” she asked.

“I have” he answered, nodding even if she wasn’t looking at him.

“Is it prettier?” this time she turned to look at him.

“I wouldn’t say prettier, the night has certain appeal to it you know?” he turned to look at her. “But it is worth coming during the day too”

“I’m sure it is” she nodded.

Silence fell between them, but just like the rest of the evening, it wasn’t uncomfortable, it didn’t feel like they were trying to find something to say, fighting to find something to take the edge off them, instead, it was a shared silence, like they had decided to remain in silence together, sharing it as a form of communication.

And then the music changed and Evelyn turned to look over her shoulder and at the car.

“I love this song” she smiled, she turned her body completely and walked happily towards the black Camaro.

Evelyn hurried towards the car, Billy turned to look at her, she leaned inside the car, holding the windowsill with her left hand and reaching towards the radio with her right one, she turned the dial as Billy stole a glance at the way her black skirt rolled up her thighs as the volume of the music grew and a smirk drew over his lips before she pushed herself out of the car.

“Seriously?” Billy quirked an eyebrow at her, if he’d have to guess the kind of music that Evelyn liked, this song wouldn’t even have crossed his mind.

“You don’t like it?” she laughed, she made a twirl and her laugh grew harder.

“Never really cared about it” he confessed.

“You have no idea what you are missing out, first the fries and now this gem?” she shook her head and swayed her hips, stopping a few feet away from Billy.

“But here you are now, aren’t you?” Billy asked, and he started walking towards her “To teach me better, right?” he looked down at her.

“Are you a fast learner?” she joked, skipping around him and turning to look at the view.

“Depends on the teacher” he explained, he watched her for a moment but made his way towards the car and leaned against it, his arms crossed over his chest, a smile over his face.

Evelyn chuckled at his answer and looked over her shoulder and towards him, he raised an eyebrow and the lights from the car casted shadows over half of his body, but she was sure that Billy Hargrove was the only person who could look this good even when half of his face was submerged in shadows.

“Will you try your best?” she asked, turning around to look at him.

“I will” he smirked.

She walked up to him, crossing her arms over her chest as she reached him and he looked down at her, she wasn’t like most of the girls he used to date, but that wasn’t a bad thing, a toy was a toy and so far, Evelyn was probably the rarest and most valuable one he had come across.

He might have to fight a little bit more to get from her what he wanted, but that was something he was willing to do.

“As much as I love the view and the company” she smiled “I think we should get going, we can drive around if you want”

“Are you bored?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Not at all” she shook her head “But I think it’s going to rain”

“What?” he asked, dumbfounded by her answer.

“Can’t you feel it?” she chuckled, she uncrossed her arms and turned her palms up to the sky “The way the air feels electrified and heavy?” she narrowed her eyes and then looked up at the sky, he watched her closely, her pale neck tensed up, her lips gapped “That smell just before the water comes crashing down?”

She looked back at him, Billy looked at her and she dropped her arms to the sides of her body, and slowly Billy reached out to her with his right hand and touched her chin, his thumb rising up and touching her upper lip; he looked down at her lips for a few seconds before he looked up and their eyes met.

Evelyn stepped closer to him and her hand gently went up and she wrapped her fingers around his wrist, her thumb caressing his skin before he pushed himself away from the car and leaned forward towards her, he pressed his forehead against hers, his hand slipping from her mouth to cup the side of her face.

She looked up at him and he looked down at her, the shapes of their faces merging as they looked at each other, her eyes dropped down to his lips and then back to his eyes, and gently she reached up and her lips graced against his.

Billy closed his eyes and pulled her closer to him, his other hand finding a spot over her hip as Evelyn allowed him to pull him up to his chest, their lips locked against each other softly for a brief moment before he pressed harder and she allowed him to; the young woman opened her mouth and Billy slipped in, his grip on her hip tightening for a moment, her hand still wrapped around his wrist.

Her taste of chocolate mixed up with his own taste of beer and Coca-Cola and her face was soft to his touch and her body adjusted to his as he pulled her closer to him, chest against chest, with the view of the city behind them.

Evelyn slowly stepped back and away from the kiss and opened her eyes, Billy’s hand still over her face when he opened his eyes and looked at her, just a few inches separating them; she smiled softly at him, leaning her head against his hand.

He smiled, his eyes shining under the lights that the car was casting and he leaned back in, this time she met him halfway and the soft test drive was gone, she released his wrist and threw her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to him and she felt the way his lips tugged into a smile and his hands snaked around her waist and they held to each other tightly as the air got heavier and the rain started to fall.

Evelyn pushed herself away from Billy, the water falling hard over them, she laughed and looked up, the water rolling down her face and her neck and Billy had to abstain himself from reaching forward and kissing and licking her pale neck.

“Get me out of here, Hargrove!” she chuckled as she turned to look at him, his arms still around her waist.

“Get in the car, Pretty” he laughed, he leaned forward and kissed the side of her head before he let go of her and opened the door of the car, Evelyn scrambled inside and Billy ran around the hood of the car to get to his own door.

Evelyn turned down the volume as Billy climbed in and in no time, he had backed the car and they were driving down the road they had come through.

It took them another two hours to get back to the Tyler residence, they stopped to buy some beers and cigarettes for Billy and a soda and a chocolate bar for Evelyn, and like they had in the hilltop, they made out in the parking lot of the store, sitting inside his car, as the rain fell harder over the roof of the car, his hand spread through her hair and her hands holding the edges of his jacket as they kissed, beer and chocolate mixing together.

It was a good night, at least for Evelyn and Billy.

With just a soft drizzle falling over Hawkins, Billy drove Evelyn back home, she was laughing loudly in the car, one of his childhood stories that never failed to make anyone laugh, he took a curve and he house appeared at the end of the block.

“I had a really good time” Evelyn said as she stepped out of the car, Billy was already outside, leaning on his side over the car and looking at her.

“So did I” he looked down at her, “Do I get to see you again?” he asked, she raised an eyebrow at him “Outside of school, I mean”

“Yeah” she nodded “I would like that”

“Great” he licked his lower lips softly “That means this date went well enough for another one?”

“It did” she shrugged “At least I think it did, I haven’t heard anything from you”

“It went great” he nodded, “Except that song”

Evelyn laughed and shook her head, after all that had gone down with Carl, she had forgotten how good dates could be, and here in Hawkins where she got to be someone else entirely, she liked the way this was going, it was a game for Billy and it was a closed road for Evelyn, but that made it better, because even if he didn’t know it, they were on the same page.

“Have a good night, Hargrove” she pushed herself to him and pressed a chaste kiss over his lips.

“You too, Pretty” he whispered against her lips, his hand reaching to cup her face and he pressed his lips a bit harder over hers.

His hand slipped from her face and to her hand, he gave her a squeeze that she returned and then she turned around and walked away from him, her hand slipping gently away from his as she made her way towards her house.

Billy turned around to watch her leave, he had had a good time, there was no doubt about that, and it hadn’t just been the fact that she was a great kisser, or that her lips were soft and tasted slightly of that lipstick she wore, but to be honest he had had a much better time than he thought he would; Evelyn glanced over her shoulder as she pushed her keys into the house, and Billy waved at her as soon as their eyes met, she flashed him a smile and pushed the door open.

This date had started off as an idea to take away every single friend Steve could ever dream of making, the guy had humiliated him, had aided his sister in trying to emasculate him, but now as he watched her walk into the house, he realized that he wouldn’t be bothered if he held on to this toy a bit longer than he had with others, maybe he would keep her around like he had done with Veronica.

He’d have to wait and see how things went next week.

Evelyn closed the door behind herself and entered the dark house, she narrowed her eyes and slowly made her way towards the stairs, she knew there was a light switch there; she turned on the lights and glanced to the living room, there was a bag of chips but nothing else, she frowned slightly and turned to the stairs and called out.

“Dad?” Derek usually stayed up until she came back from dates.

But there was no answer.

Notes:

So, she not only went out with Billy, but also kissed the guy several times and she still doesn't know that this is the same asshole that doesn't want Max and Lucas to communicate.... so, let's see how she'll find out because I live for drama, guys

BTW lets pretend the hand on her last gif, is actually his, sorry about that.


 * D

Thanks for reading!!! Let me know what you think, and if you think Evelyn should find out through Billy himself that he has a sister named Max or maybe Steve will "let it slip" when he finds out Evelyn went out with his enemy. Chapter 23: The Darkness

Summary:

That revealing Friday night continues. Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“NO!” Eleven screamed.

He didn’t hear the scream, his face and head covered behind his arms as he closed his eyes but still he could see the bright lights from the headlights growing, his whole body tensed up and his knees buckled, he doubled over slightly, the bike discarded between himself and the car, and that probably would only make the impact against the car much worse; and in his mind, the whole thing was taking hours, but the car was a second away from hitting the bike and subsequently slamming into the young man.

He expected it to hurt tremendously, to be blinded by the pain of the bike breaking against him before he rolled up the hood of the car, but to expect pain and to actually experience it were two very different things; he had never been punched unless it had been playfully by Evelyn, he had seen the bruises in his father and his sister, but they had never been on him, and now he was here about to be run down by a car because he wouldn’t listen to his father and stay home.

And Noah held his breath, and the impact came.

The sound echoed loudly down the street, the screeching of the tires against the pavement, marking it with their black rubber, the sound of the metal of the car denting was overpowered by the honking of the car, breaths were held and this was all wrong.

The young boy felt the bike being pushed up against him slightly before the sound of the metal being dented pierced into his ears and Noah hid his head between his shoulders and his whole body tensed up, his fingernails creating half-moons on the palms of his hands as curled his hands into fists.

The bike was pushed a roughly against his legs, but the blinding and explosive pain never came, his bones didn’t break and his body wasn’t lifted off the ground to then be slammed down over the hood of the car, his skin didn’t tear at the cuts made by broken glass.

“Oh god, oh god, oh god!” the words rushed into him violently.

The words came elongated and distorted, the screams mixing with the remaining echoes of the sounds created by the car, its screeching tires and its dented metal.

The shapeless sounds bringing his body to action, his arms dropped from covering his head and his knees wobbled as the tension that was holding him up and in place dissolved from his body and Noah crashed to the floor, the pain that shot up his knees was unnoticeable but the electric feeling that came with it forced his eyes opened and gapped his lips as he let out a breath he had been holding and his eyes landed at the sidewalk.

“Oh shit” Dustin was mumbling, his eyes huge, and his legs felt like they had been cemented to the sidewalk as he looked at Noah.

But Noah couldn’t look at Dustin, his mind forgetting completely about him and Mike.

She was standing at the edge of the sidewalk, her eyes huge but unlike Mike’s and Dustin’s, there was no shock in them, instead her eyes were full of concentration and determination, and slowly, rolling down from her nose, a drop of crimson blood and her hand stretched forward, her fingers tense and directed towards Noah.

And their eyes were locked onto each other.

Behind Noah, the car had skidded towards the other side of the street, the driver slamming the breaks as far as he could, but he had seen that the collision was something certain, something that couldn’t be avoided, and then he had felt something crashing against his side of the car, and the vehicle had spun away from the kid and he had lost control of the car for a split second that felt like an eternity and then he had bumped against the sidewalk and the chaos had ended; his scream slowly fading from the car and being replaced with the heavy panting.

He sat inside the car and turned to look out the window, his heart was beating like a sledgehammer, the boy was kneeling on the floor, right where he had been when Jason had turned to look at the road and realized that he was about to run over him; what the hell had happened?

Jason turned slowly to open the door, his hand shaking, and as he pressed his foot over the street, a voice broke into him, almost as hard as his car would have broken Noah’s body.

“Get out of here asshole!”

Noah and Eleven didn’t hear Dustin screaming at the driver.

Mike took a few steps forward, his legs shaking as he started to make his way towards Eleven, his mind screaming at him to go check on the body that almost got run over by a speeding car; but as soon as Mike walked past Eleven, Noah’s adrenaline shot up his body like a tide wave.

The young man scrambled to his feet, even with his legs feeling like rubber, he staggered to his side and doubled his knees, his hand feeling for the handle of his bike, his eyes not leaving the trio standing across from him.

“What the fuck was that?” Noah asked, and his voice was shaking and trembling and it had taken a high pitched note that could be compared to Evelyn’s strident laugh. “I don’t understand”

“Dude,” Mike took another step forward but Noah took a trembling step back, Mike stopped and raised his hands to show him that he meant no harm “You were almost hit by a car, ok? Just come here, and get out of the road, we can talk about it when you are at this side of the street”

“Wha – why didn’t it hit me? I – what – it’s – no” he tripped over his own words, he pointed at the group with a shaking hand “What – what the fuck hit me? The street – you” his voice was turning hysteric. “Why is she bleeding? What the – why – what the fuck was that?!”

Eleven and Mike looked at each other with worried expressions over their faces, Noah’s voice was erratic, mumbling words as he tried to make complete sentences.

“Noah” Dustin started, he took a few steps towards Eleven and Mike.

“Stop moving!” Noah screamed, he felt the handle of this bike and tugged it up “Don’t get near me, I don’t understand” Noah whispered, his eyes were huge, and his heart was aching and he felt lightheaded. “What the fuck, what the fuck” he started mumbling as he lifted his bike up.

He frowned and stole a quick glance over his shoulder, the car was gone, but the marks of its tires were all over the street, the direction it had taken had been to abrupt and Noah knew it should have been impossible, mostly because he had indeed felt something push against him, slightly, but still something had pushed against him and it hadn’t been the car.

“What the – shit” Noah whispered, his mind was racing wildly and he had no control over his thoughts and emotions, and if he had been able of rational thoughts, he would have realized that this was the way his father felt almost every time they were racing through the dark highways.

His head snapped towards the group and he found that they had walked closer to him, a soft yelp escaped his lips and he threw his body back, he stumbled and crashed back to the street, landing on his butt, Dustin made an attempt to reach out to him.

“BACK OFF!” he heard his voice crying out, but he didn’t know when he had made that thought, he pointed at Dustin “Back off! Stay away from me!”

“Listen to me” Mike frowned “Let’s just talk ok?”

“I think the fuck not!” Noah barked, but his voice was dripping with fear and shock and with agility and the help of the adrenaline shooting up his body, Noah pushed himself up to his feet, hailing up his bike and he took a few more steps back.

“Noah” Dustin whispered “Please” he pleaded.

“No!” he pointed at them, “Fuck off, get away from me! I just – I need – my dad – I... the car – oh god what happened?” he frowned and looked at his feet “I have to go” he whispered mostly to himself “I just – ok” and Dustin had this horrible feeling that Noah was starting to lose contact with what was happening, like his mind was detaching from his ability to speak and now only random words were spilling out and it was starting to scare Dustin; he didn’t know that Eleven and Mike were also starting to get scared, and not just because they had almost seen a boy get run over by a car.

Noah frowned harder and turned his body, his hands shaking as he turned his bike and started to walk up the street, Eleven took a step forward but Mike’s hand wrapped around her wrist.

“Don’t” he whispered to her, she turned to look at him, the blood dripping down her nose was starting to dry, he looked at her “Not now”

And Mike, Dustin and Eleven watched as Noah walked up the street with his bike, his steps were quick but shaky and they didn’t know it but he was mumbling as he walked away, and he might had sounded and looked crazy, but at least he hadn’t been severely wounded by Jason and his car.

___________//____________

Evelyn frowned and turned away from the stairs, stepping further towards the entrance of the living room, but it was obvious that no one was there, just as it was obvious that there was no one in the kitchen or at the living room, they would have heard her calling out for Derek but since no answer came, she assumed no one was done with her in the first floor.

“Ok” she nodded, she turned around and headed towards the stairs, she would check her dad’s room and Noah’s before heading to her own, make sure that everyone was there.

She turned off the lights and started to climb up the stairs, she looked down at her handbag, shoving in her house keys as she went up, she closed the bag and looked up and she felt her heart skip a beat just as it tried to burst out of her chest.

“What the fuck?!” she hissed, her hand shooting up to grab the handrail and avoid stumbling back and down the stairs.

“Careful” he whispered.

“What are you doing?” Evelyn gasped softly, she frowned in the darkness “You almost gave me a heart attack, why are you standing there in the darkness?”

“I was coming from the kitchen” he explained “I was just walking back into my room when I heard you trying to wake up the whole house” he shook his head “Dad was too tired to wait up”

“Right” she whispered and started to move once more.

“Yeah” he said, he watched her walking up the stairs, but his mind wasn’t in Evelyn and her recent date, he had been thinking about asking her how her date had gone, but after what happened a few hours ago, he had been unable to think about anything else.

“Noah?” she asked, her hand shot out and fell over his shoulder, the boy jolted back to reality and squirmed away from his sister’s touch.

“What?” he barked.

“Are you listening to me?” she frowned as she looked down at him, he was at the top of the stairs and she was just a step below him, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing” he snapped “Leave me alone”

“Did something happen while I was gone?”

“I almost got hit by a car” he thought without much care “Nothing happen, just go to your room and stop screaming like a Banshee, you’re gonna wake up dad,” he frowned “Keep it to yourself, for fucks sakes!”

And it weren’t precisely the words that slipped out of his mouth that startled Evelyn, but rather the tone of anger that he imprinted into his sentence, the young woman was taken aback but she frowned deeper and reacted quickly.

“HEY!” she snapped, and she stepped towards, Noah took a step back as she reached the top of the stairs. “You don’t get to talk to me like that, young man” she pointed at him, his eyes over hers, and for a moment he wished she could feel how fast his heart was racing, and something swelled in his chest and he wanted to cry, he looked at her, Evelyn who had always been there for him but something in him pulled back and he wasn’t able to tell her, to tell her how scared he had been, to tell her what had happened with the car and instead he pressed his lips into a thin line. “I was just asking you a question, Noah” she dropped her hand “Just go to your room, we’ll talk tomorrow” she shook her head, and Noah felt the urge to cry bubbling even harder because she had been so happy to go on a date and she had just come back and he had been an asshole to his sister.

“I’m sorry” he whispered, casting his eyes down, forcing himself to avoid spilling tears because he didn’t want her to ask what was wrong, because he had no idea how to explain what had happened.

Evelyn looked at him and shook her head, a sigh slipping out of her lips as Noah turned to head down the hallway and towards his room, Evelyn closed her eyes for a split second and then stepped towards her brother, her hand reaching to his arm, she wrapped her fingers around it and gave him a soft pull back towards her.

Noah allowed her to pull and he turned partially to her, and then Evelyn wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled his body towards hers in a side hug, her right hand slipping up and ruffling his curls as she held him against her.

“We’ll talk tomorrow ok?” she whispered “I love you, baby”

“I love you too” he whispered, not daring to raise his voice, and he hugged her partially and closed his eyes, she leaned down and kissed the top of his head.

“Good to bed” she whispered against his hair and let go of him, and with a nod, Noah walked away from her and towards his room.

Evelyn watched as her brother walked away, standing in the middle of the dark hallway of their new house, a frown over her face as unconsciously she raised her fingers and they feathered over her lips, she could tell something was up with Noah, she of course had no idea what and in the kind of attitude that he was at the moment there was no way she would find out.

She took a deep breath and made a mental note to talk to him tomorrow about whatever had happened while she was gone, and with that she turned on her heels and made her way towards her room, her index and her thumb tugging slightly at her lower lip.

___________//____________

Noah lay over his bed, his eyes locked over the glow in the dark stars that Evelyn had so excitedly given to him on one of his birthdays, he would never get tired of them, but with the light of the day swarming his room, they looked like light green stars; he liked them anyway.

He had gone up to his room as soon as they had had lunch, claiming that he wanted to take a quick nap before he started his homework, but mostly trying to avoid having to talk to his sister about the way he had treated her the night before.

His mind was spinning, the events from the night before were playing in his mind on repeat, everything from Elle calling out to him and to the moment he had rushed away from the group, whatever had happened that night had to be impossible, the driver had had to skid away from him before the car could hit him.

“But I felt the push” he whispered to himself “And it wasn’t coming from the side,” he continued, because the push he had felt, he had felt it right to his chest, and he had felt the bike push up against his leg as the car pushed it just a second before the car was pushed away from him.

“What do you mean pushed away from?” he frowned “No one pushed the car away” he shook his head but more questions came “Why was she bleeding? Why where her eyes so dark and her veins so popped?” he cleared his throat “I’m just imaging it”

“Are you?” the voice in his head whispered “Are you sure you just imagined everything?”

“Yes” he answered to himself.

“Then I guess there’s only one way to find out”

And without really thinking about what he was doing, Noah sat down and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, pushing himself up and heading towards the door of his room. He opened the door and walked out, he could hear his dad talking on the phone in his room, obviously with someone from work, Noah made his way to Evelyn’s room.

He knocked.

“Come in!” her voice sang a few seconds later, Noah pushed the door that was already ajar and stepped inside.

The young woman was sitting over her bed, one of her legs pulled up to her chest as she looked down at the book that she was reading, it lay open over the bed, she glanced up at him and raised an eyebrow.

“I thought you were napping” she said.

“I need you to give me a ride”

Her eyebrow went higher “Where are you going? Did you ask dad to take you?”

“I want you to take me” he explained “But no, I haven’t asked dad for permission”

She looked at him, he looked tense, she closed her book and narrowed her eyes at him, he had been acting strange and maybe if she drove him to where he wanted to go, she could finally talk to him and find out what had happened that had him acting like this.

“Ok” she nodded “Where are you going?”

“I need to talk to someone” he shrugged, trying to appear casual, but he was failing. "It's important"

“Does this someone have a name?” she asked, she pulled her other leg up to her chest.

“Dustin”

“Oh” she nodded “The nice kid from the other day”

“Yeah” Noah nodded “Can you drive me to his house?”

“Do you have his address?”

“No” Noah whispered and looked down at his feet and he looked, for a split second, like a younger version of himself.

“Can you call him to ask for the address?”

“I don’t have his phone number either” Noah looked up at her.

“And how exactly am I supposed to drive you there if we know nothing about where he lives?” she asked, she frowned.

“That’s why I need your help”

“I thought you needed my help driving you to Dustin’s place” she pointed out.

“Not really, I could use my bike” he explained “But I don’t know where he lives and you know someone who does know his address”

“What?” she shook her head for a moment “Who?”

“Steve Harrington”

Notes:

Crisis averted, Eleven here to save the day (and Noah's life bc what are you doing in the middle of the street my man?)

Pure Evelyn and Noah relationship

Also, Noah might hate Steve (this kid doesn't really like anyone) but he found a use for him

I hope you guys like it!!! Chapter 24: Visits

Summary:

Some heart to heart and some advice is being followed. Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The car rolled up the street quickly, the dark clouds that had formed during the late morning were slowly starting to fade away, and the hope of a sunny afternoon was starting to grow with each second as the car slowed down at the driveway of the designated house.

Evelyn pushed herself over her knees, both of them digging into the cushion of the sofa, her right hand pulled the curtain to the side partially as a third honk echoed down the neighborhood, she smiled and pushed herself away from the window, quickly turning around and jumping off the sofa, skipping towards the stairs.

The young woman grabbed the handrail of the leaned over it, looking up the flight of stairs.

“NOAH!” she cried out, “NOAH! It’s time to go!”

She kept looking up, waiting to see the figure of her brother coming towards the stairs, she shifted her weight from one leg to the other.

“Finally!” she heard her brother huffing, his footsteps a bit harder than usual and she wondered when the dramatics had gotten so on point with this kid. “Dad, we are leaving” she didn’t hear him say, Derek looked up from his place on the small desk he had in the room.

“Be careful” he said, Noah nodded “And take care of your sister”

“Always” Noah smiled at him, Derek smiled back at him.

“Have fun with your friend”

“Yeah” Noah agreed, “See you later” and with that he pushed himself away from the door.

“NOAH!” Evelyn’s voice rose up from the stairs.

“I’m on my way!” Noah barked back, he wasn’t sure he wanted to do this, he could still remember the way the car had drove up to him, how the bike had been pushed up towards his legs but then nothing had happened and he had been in the middle of the street staring at a trio of kids his age that looked terrified.

And he had just known, he had known that something had happened that they weren’t telling him and he had felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand and he had felt this strange pull, this thing that he had seen something he shouldn’t have.

Sure, Mike had wanted to talk then, his eyes big and his face pale, but Noah couldn’t do it, his skin had felt electrified, his mind was racing so fast that he wasn’t even able to utter his thoughts into words, his heart felt like a sledgehammer, and then only one word echoed loudly into his mind.

RUN

But now, still with his mind confused and his thoughts hectic and disorganized, he wanted to know what had happened, because he had been unable to think of anything else since had had gotten home.

Noah walked down the stairs and came face to face with his sister.

“Great, did he give you the address?” Noah asked, Evelyn had agreed to call Steve to get Dustin’s address, but she had taken longer than he had expected, and he was a bit irritated to be honest.

“Um no” Evelyn shook her head and pushed herself away from the handrail, Noah frowned as he watched his sister swirl around, her sneakers rolling smoothly over the floor as her dark hair flowed around her.

“What do you mean no?” Noah frowned and hurried down the stairs after her. “Then why did it take you so long? Evelyn! Answer me” he wasn’t up to any games today with her.

“He didn’t give me the address” Evelyn explained, already reaching the door, with Noah stepping on her feet. “Better than that, he will give us a ride” she turned the door handle and pulled the door open.

“Oh fuck no” Noah groaned softly as he rolled his eyes, Evelyn walked out to the porch and Noah got a glimpse of Steve Harrington’s blue car and he couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes once more.

He closed the door behind himself and slowly followed Evelyn down the porch, the bright sun making her hair shine, Steve was leaning against the driver’s door, he had a pair of Ray-Ban black glasses on and his arms crossed over his chest; and Noah couldn’t stand this guy.

The thing was, Evelyn couldn’t see it, but Noah saw it clear as daylight, the cocky attitude, the way he held himself, the way the air buzzed around him; Noah had seen this type of guy before, he had seen it in Carl, and he hadn’t liked Carl, and he didn’t like Steve now either.

“Harrington” Evelyn smiled, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Tylers” he nodded at both of them.

“Thanks for coming” Evelyn shrugged, “You didn’t have too”

“Hey, I had nothing to do back home, so why not a small trip to Dustin’s house, we could grab something to eat later”

“Sounds good” Evelyn nodded.

“Sounds like a no to me” Noah said in his mind, but he wasn’t about to antagonize the guy that would drive them to Dustin’s place, just because he reminded Noah of the prick that had treated Evelyn like she was a disposable rag.

The car ride was mostly what Noah had hoped it would be, he sat at the back, looking out the window, the air filtering inside, music was playing softly but Noah wasn’t really paying attention to any of the songs that were being played and Evelyn and Steve were talking animatedly at the front; he glanced at them when the laughter of Evelyn pierced into him, she was looking at Steve as he tried not to laugh, gripping the steering wheel as hard as he could, he glanced at Evelyn from above the rim of his glasses.

And he wondered how Evelyn couldn’t see that this guy was trouble.

But the thing was, so far everyone they had met was trouble, and those people had no idea that the Tylers were also big time trouble.

The car slowed down finally, Steve had learned the way to Dustin’s house by memory after the second time he had brought Dustin back home, and after all they had gone through a year ago, he had felt himself becoming protective of the boy, going as far as to say that he saw in Dustin the brother he never had.

Steve pulled over behind the car that belonged to Dustin’s mother, he turned to look at Noah.

“We are here, man” Noah tore his eyes away from the window and turned to look at Steve “Want me to ask him to come out?”

“No” Noah answered, “Thank you” he shook his head, he didn’t like Steve but the guy had driven him all the way here, so he might as well be polite.

That and that he wasn’t really looking forward to have to face an angry Evelyn.

With that, Evelyn turned to look at the back of the car as Noah pushed the door open and stepped out, a car that he would be riding in several more times, even if he couldn’t even imagine it. The young boy walked up towards the door, his wavy hair swaying with the wind as Evelyn and Steve watched him.

Noah reached the doorbell and pressed it, he felt a heat in his stomach, the kind he got when he had to do things that made his nervous, and that was a sensation he didn’t get that often; he took a deep breath to calm himself down and stood his ground as the door of the house was pulled open and a middle aged woman appeared at the other side.

“Hello” she said, her eyebrows slightly pulled together.

“Good afternoon” Noah nodded at her. “My name is Noah Tyler, I’m looking for Dustin”

“Oh” the woman nodded as she looked at him for a moment, then her eyes drifted up and she saw Steve in the car, she smiled and waved at him, the young man who had become a blessing when it came to helping her around with Dustin, Steve waved back and the woman turned back to Noah. “Sure, of course, would you like to come in?”

He didn’t, but he nodded at her “Yes, please”

The woman moved away from the door, and despite not wanting to, Noah glanced over his shoulder and looked out to his sister, the young woman was looking at him, he saw her giving him a soft smile and with that he turned around and walked into the house.

“You think its gonna be a while?” Steve asked, he turned to look at Evelyn, his eyebrow up.

“I don’t think so” she shrugged, “I mean, it sounded urgent so I think it will be direct” she turned to look at him.

“Well, then let’s wait outside either way” Steve nodded and flashed her a smile before he turned to look at his door, he pushed it open and stepped out, he stretched his arms above his head before Evelyn decided to follow him and step out of the car.

She closed her door and walked around the hood towards Steve, he looked around the neighborhood, the wind ruffling his hair; when Evelyn had called asking for Dustin’s address, he had found the escape from his house, his parents were getting ready to go off on a business trip but the tension in the place was unbearable, and Steve had simply decided to head out and hang with Evelyn and Dustin, and out here, the atmosphere was so peaceful and fresh that he could already feel his back starting to loosen up.

“Are you ok?” Evelyn asked, she pressed her palm flat over the open driver’s door and she pushed it close.

“Yeah” he answered as he turned to look at her. “Just thinking”

He looked at Evelyn, and he wondered how her hair managed to look so bright and shiny despite the fact that it was possibly the darkest hair that Steve had ever seen, she cocked her head to the left and bit her inner cheek before she asked.

“You wanna talk about it?” He wasn’t sure, so he shrugged as an answer. “We don’t have to, if you don’t want to”

“I’m just looking forward for my parents to leave on their business trip” he explained with another shrug, hiding the way his eyes darkened behind his sunglasses.

She looked at him, the tension on his shoulders noticeable “Is he being a dick again?”

“Worse” Steve chuckled, but she could hear the slight bitterness in his voice.

“My mom was horrible too” she spoke, he frowned and she shrugged, her hands over her hips “She wasn’t really nice, you know?” he took a step back and leaned against the car. “She would scream a lot, curse at my dad when she thought we were asleep”

This was the first time she had ever talked about her mother with someone who wasn’t Derek or Noah.

“I’m sorry to hear that” Steve whispered, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I was kind of used to it, towards the end, you know?” she gave him a soft smile.

“You shouldn’t have” he said.

“I know” she agreed “But that’s the way it was with her,” she swallowed hard “She wasn’t nice at all, so I know how it feels to feel unwanted” she walked towards Steve and leaned against the car, their shoulders brushing. “Just wanted to let you know that you can talk about it if you want to, if not, then I’m always up to drive around town” she was looking down at her shoes.

Steve looked at her, the sun had blushed her face, mostly her nose and her cheeks, and from this angle he could see the scar on her eyebrow perfectly; noticing the way her soft features seemed to contradict so violently the way her hair was so dark, but somehow it worked just right with her.

She was pretty in a different kind of way, he agreed in his mind.

“Thank you” he said, she turned to look at him and gave him a smile.

“Of course” she nodded, and he smiled gently back at her, genuinely.

“Um, you know” he looked away from her, clearing his throat “On a lighter note” Evelyn chuckled, doubling over partially “I took your advice”

“Which one?” she smiled “Please tell me the Han Solo one”

“No” he laughed, “Can you imagine me dressed up as that? God”

“You would look amazing, Steve” she smiled “Trust me”

“Let’s just put a pin on that one, and we’ll come back later to that idea” he shook his head, his hair flopping over his head, a smile over his face “The Alice, one”

“No” she beamed up “How did it go!? Tell me everything”

“I talked to her after school on Friday” he explained with a casual shrug “We are going to the movies tonight”

Evelyn smiled “That’s great” she nodded “I told you, didn’t I?”

“Stop” he shook his head again.

“What are you guys watching?”

“I don’t know” he sighed “I told her to choose the movie”

“Well, if she doesn’t” Evelyn shrugged “You guys should watch Fright Night, looks kinda cool”

“I’ll keep it in mind” he nodded. “Wish me luck”

Evelyn laughed loudly and pushed herself away from the car “Gosh, Harrington! I honestly can’t believe you don’t think this is gonna work out!” he laughed as she took a few steps away from the car “You do believe it, don’t you?” he shrugged with a smirk. “You’re such an asshole” she shook her head “Wipe that smug look off your face!”

He laughed louder as she faked offense and took a few steps towards him. “I’m not saying anything,” he said through his laugh.

“I can even feel the way you’re looking at me with that grin on your face!” she accused him, she stepped forward and her hands shot out to the sides of his face and landed over his glasses, she pulled them up over his head and looked at him, her eyebrow raised.

“What smug look?” he smirked down at her, his eyebrow raised and trying his best not to allow his lips to stretch.

“Really?” she said back, holding the glasses just on his hair. “You’re the worse”

“Am I?” he shrugged “I did drive you here” he pointed out.

“You did not have to do that” she pointed out.

“Yeah, but I did because I’m nice like that” his smirk grew.

“Shut up” she smiled and rolled her eyes, and up this close, Steve could see that her scar had a soft curve, almost like an inverted C.

“What are you guys whispering about?” Dustin asked, Evelyn yelped loudly and staggered to the side as she tried to spin around, Steve grabbed her arm tightly out of reflex but she had already regained her footing, his glasses now in her power.

“Fuck you scared us” Steve barked as he turned to Dustin and Noah, the Tyler boy had his eyebrow up, unamused.

“You’re ready to go?” Evelyn asked her brother, Steve still holding her arm.

“No” Noah shook his head.

“We need you to drive us somewhere else” explained Dustin, he eyed Evelyn and then turned to Steve, and Steve narrowed his eyes as Dustin’s amused expression.

“You think I have all day for this?” he asked.

“He doesn’t” Evelyn shook his head “He has a date today” Steve’s head snapped to her and she turned to look at him, giving him her best smug look, he shook his head.

“Just get in the fucking car” Steve rolled his eyes, Dustin nodded happily and Steve turned to his door, only then releasing her arm before Evelyn could make her way around the hood and towards the passenger seat.

“Where are we going?” he asked as he closed his door and turned to the wheel.

“Hopper’s place” Dustin answered. “We got to talk to El”

Notes:

Evelyn and Steve talking about serious things is my jam

I hope you like it, let me know what you think!!!

Also, when is this woman gonna find out she went on a date with a lunatic? You guys think Steve, or Lucas should be the ones to spill the tea? Or you know, Billy lets her know by accident?

Let me know!!

love to all <3 <3 <3 Chapter 25: Drives, Discussions, Milkshakes and Mistakes

Summary:

The group gets to Eleven's house, Steve buys milkshakes. Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Dustin and Noah had sat on the back of the car in silence, Dustin couldn’t deny that he had been surprised when Noah had knocked on his door and had then stepped inside, the night before, the new boy had fled from them as fast as he could, almost as if they could infect him with some kind of disease, but Dustin couldn’t really blame him, after all he had almost been hit by a speeding car.

The night before had been wild and terrifying, and honestly it had never crossed his mind that Noah would try to talk to them this soon after the accident, or talk to them ever again for that matter, but here they were, walking up Eleven’s porch because Noah had looked at Dustin like he was insane when he told him that it had been her the one who had saved him; so no better person to explain the whole thing, than Eleven herself.

The ride up to the house had been rather silent in the backseat, but the music was drifting through the car just like the air as it ruffled into the car through the open windows of the front of the car; where Steve and Evelyn were talking animatedly, almost oblivious to the awkwardness between the two young boys on the back.

Despite Dustin being Eleven’s friend, Steve and Evelyn lead the way up to the door with Noah and Dustin right behind them, the new boy had his hands inside the pockets of his jeans and looked uncomfortable, his eyes straight forward but it almost seemed like wasn’t really looking at anything, like his body was moving but his mind was somewhere else.

And as Steve reached to ring the bell, Noah was finishing reliving the incident with the car.

Evelyn took a step back, after all she didn’t know this family and Steve apparently did, and pushed Steve sunglasses over her head, as footsteps echoed through the house and then the door was swinging open.

The sun hit Hopper right on the face as he pulled the door open, he squinted, holding the doorknob and then his eyes adjusted to the pair of tall figures standing at the other side of the door; with the sun behind them, they looked like completely black silhouettes.

It took him a few seconds to distinguish Steve Harrington.

“Harrington” Hopper said, his voice scruffy.

“Chief, hi” Steve nodded towards the man, “How are you?”

“On my way out” Hopper answered, he glanced at Evelyn and then turned to Steve. “To what do I owe this visit?”

“We came to see El” Dustin pushed his way between Evelyn and Steve, Hopper glanced down at him.

“Sure, of course” he nodded, he wasn’t exactly in the mood for visits, there had been a few problems down at the station, but he also knew that his issues had nothing to do with the couple of kids that were standing in front of him.

He stepped away from the door and allowed the group in, he looked at Noah and Evelyn, a pair he had never seen before in town, and then proceeded to close the door once the group was in the house.

“Chief, these are Evelyn and Noah Tyler” Steve said, turning to look at the man. “And this is Chief Jim Hopper”

“Nice to meet you” Evelyn spoke first, a soft smile over her face before she extended her hand out to the man, Hopper looked at her for a moment before he shook her hand.

“Nice to meet you too” he said “You must be the new family in town”

“We are” Evelyn nodded, “Already a month here”

“I hope you have found everything in order” Jim gave her a short smile, and Evelyn nodded, her dark raven hair swaying with her movements. “I have to go, but this is your house”

“Thanks Chief” Steve smiled at him.

“Take care of them” Jim said as he looked at Steve, Steve nodded at the man.

“Ok then” he turned to look at Dustin and Noah “She’s in her room”

And with that he pushed his hand inside the pocket of his uniform pants and pulled out the car keys, Evelyn and Steve watched as Jim walked towards the door and pulled it open, the sun swarming into the house before the door was closed and Jim walked down the porch and towards his car; for a while he had worried endlessly about Eleven, about anyone who came near her, and he still did, but Dustin and Steve were a pair that didn’t worry him, they had fought critters from other dimensions for their friends and he was grateful for that, so he knew there wasn’t going to be any kind of problem if he left his girl with them.

“Follow me” said Dustin, Steve frowned and glanced at them over his shoulder, Dustin’s voice sounding a bit stretched, not like his own, he looked up at Steve “Wait for us here” and he started to walk.

“Are you kidding me?” Steve spun around to look at Noah following after Dustin. “You think I’m here to drive you around?”

“It wont be long!” Dustin called, both of them already reaching to designated room.

“I cannot believe this” he groaned and turned around to look at Evelyn, the young woman shrugged, with a smirk displayed over her face.

“You heard the man” Evelyn said “It wont be long”

“Yeah, we’ll see about that” he rolled his eyes and walked towards the living room, when he had signed up for this, he hadn’t known they would be making so many different stops.

Dustin came to a stop in front of Eleven’s room, Noah walking up towards him, he glanced at the new boy for a moment, certainly what had led to this moment had been unfortunate, after all no one else should come to know about Eleven’s secret, but the thing was, the girl had stopped a car from ramming into Noah, and the boy had been shocked and distress and he had noticed something was wrong, and maybe Eleven wouldn’t mind sharing her secret with him, after all it seemed like Noah and her had hit it off really well since the beginning.

Dusting turned to the door and knocked on it, and without knowing it he held his breath and the door was pulled open.

Her eyes settled over Dustin’s instantly, hers always so big and expressive, he gave her a soft smile, that came out a bit strained and then glanced towards Noah by the rear of his eyes; Eleven’s eyes drifted towards Noah and she tensed up.

“Noah” she whispered.

“Elle” he nodded back at her, but his voice sounded harsher than it ever had with her.

“We came to talk to you” Dustin explained, Eleven didn’t turn to look back at him. “About what happened yesterday” this time she did turn to look at him.

“Come in” she nodded.

She walked back into the room and Dustin followed her, Noah hesitated for a moment and glanced back down to the hallway, he could hear his sister’s voice, he bit his inner cheek and turned to the room door, at least Evelyn was there in case something went wrong.

Dustin and Eleven were standing side by side when Noah walked in, the door halfway opened, and he started suddenly to regret all of this.

She shrugged “What do you want to know?”

“Everything” Noah frowned “What happened yesterday? Why didn’t the car hit me?” he glanced at Dustin and then back at her “And I’m hoping it’s not that comic book tale that Dustin just spat at me”

Dustin rolled his eyes and huffed, Eleven looked at Noah, she shifted her weight from one leg to the other.

“It’s not a tale” she answered.

“Seriously?” this time Noah rolled his eyes “I can’t believe you are in this too” he shook his head “You know what? All this shit was a mistake, you are obviously just going to mock me about what happened last night, and I am not here to do that,” he narrowed his eyes “I almost got hit by a fucking car, I don’t have time for this bullshit and lies”

“It’s not a lie” Dustin growled, but he understood it was something hard to believe, after all it had taken Lucas time to understand as well.

“Really?” Noah’s head snapped to him “You expect me to believe that? Wow, ok, how stupid do you think I am?”

“Dude, it’s not like that” Dustin groaned.

“I thought you would be above this” he turned to Eleven “I mean, did Wheeler put you guys up for this? Fuck, I feel like a dumbass for even trying”

“Please, just listen” Eleven whispered.

“I’m leaving” Noah rolled his eyes, he shook his head before he shot daggers at Dustin.

“Eleven just tell him!” Dustin snapped, turning to look at her.

A brief silence fell in the room, “What?” Noah snorted “Did you just – did you just call her Eleven?” he looked taken aback, probably because he had had too much of these people.

“That’s my name” she said, tearing her eyes from Dustin and focusing on Noah.

Noah’s face lost all it emotion as he looked at Eleven, he shrugged, raising his hands up to his chest “I’m done” he nodded, “Yeah, I’m just gonna go, ok? Great, it was nice talking to you both”

And with that he turned on his heels and reached for the doorknob, he was surprised, he hadn’t expected these guys to make up this bullshit story about what had happened the night before, his fingers graced the golden knob and the door was slammed closed and away from him.

Noah yelped and pulled his hand up back towards his chest, his eyes huge before he frowned and spun around on his heels rapidly, his curls flowing gracefully; and his eyes landed instantly over Eleven, over the way her soft eyes were staring back at him.

“It’s not a lie” she said again.

Noah glanced at Dustin for a moment, and Dustin had the impression that Noah was a sixty year old man trapped inside the body of a young boy, Noah’s clear eyes retuned to Eleven.

“Ok” Noah whispered, he cleared his throat, his heart was slamming in his chest because that soft push he had felt as the door was being closed, had been the same one he had felt when the car had missed hitting him. He hesitated for a moment, and then took a step forward “I’m listening”

“Thank you” Eleven smiled kindly at him and Noah couldn’t help but give her a small smile back.

___________//____________

Whatever it was that had been bugging Noah, had ended up pretty well, at least as far as good endings went with Noah’s sometimes terrible attitude; but twenty minutes after they had arrived, Noah, Dustin and Eleven had walked out of the room, and Noah’s shoulders didn’t look tense anymore, there was something in the way he looked that seemed different but the tension was gone.

The tension slowly replaced by shock and surprise and appreciation, Eleven had after all saved his life.

After introductions had been made between Evelyn and Elle, Dustin had kindly reminded Steve that he had offered to buy them milkshakes once all this adventure was over; Steve had been an inch away from smacking Dustin over the head, but had restrained himself from doing so.

And that had been how the group had ended up at the same dinner where Evelyn had had her date with Billy Hargrove, no less than 24 hours ago.

Evelyn turned the fry she had between her fingers, she glanced at Noah, who was sitting across from herself and Steve with Eleven and Dustin.

“You guys want to know something delicious?” she asked.

“No” Noah answered instantly, his eyes shooting up towards his sister’s, Dustin raised an eyebrow. “No one wants to see that”

“See what?” Dustin asked.

“Why do you have to be such a Negative Noah?” Evelyn rolled her eyes, Steve glanced from sibling to sibling.

“Because its nasty, Evelyn” Noah pointed out “We’ve both told you that”

“Yeah, no” she shook her head “You and dad, have no idea what you’re missing” she shrugged.

“I want to know” Eleven whispered, Evelyn’s head snapped towards her and a smile spread over her face.

“That’s my girl” she winked at Eleven and Eleven couldn’t help but smile softly at her, she knew Nancy, and Nancy was nice, she was quiet and delicate and nice, but that being said, Eleven hadn’t talked much to her, and now here was Evelyn with her pitch black hair and her strange sounding laugh, and Eleven couldn’t help but feel drawn to her. “Ok, so you take a fry” she moved the fry between her fingers “And you dip it in the milkshake” Evelyn demonstrated “And then you delight yourself with the taste” and she eat the fry.

“God, you’re the worst” Noah groaned and looked down at his milkshake.

“Wrong” Evelyn chuckled “You’re just trying to rain on my parade”

“Oh fuck” Steve laughed, Evelyn took her milkshake and turned to Steve, but his eyes were over Dustin “And you called me disgusting when I did that”

“I agree with Noah, that’s nasty” Dustin shuddered.

“Fuck off” Steve smirked and turned to Evelyn “I thought I was the only one who liked that”

“This must be your lucky day!” she laughed and pushed her fry basket towards Steve. “Don’t hold back, Harrington”

Noah shook his head and took a sip from his shake as Evelyn turned to Eleven.

“You wanna try?”

“Um” Eleven hesitated, it didn’t exactly look appealing, but Evelyn’s eyes had seemed delighted as she eat her fry. “I don’t know”

“You know what?” Evelyn shrugged “Try with my shake” she pushed her milkshake towards Eleven “Vanilla is always the best way to start”

Eleven looked at her for a moment “Don’t do it” said Noah, she glanced at him “It’s disgusting”

“It really is” Dustin agreed.

“Shut up” Evelyn said “Both of you” Eleven turned to look at her “You won’t know unless you try, and I mean, what if you like it, am I right?”

Steve was also looking at Eleven, this was the first time he was around her without Mike or Nancy or Will.

“Ok” Eleven agreed “You’re right” she took the glass from Evelyn and picked up one of her fries and dipped it into the ice cream.

“I seriously don’t know how people pay you to look after their kids” Noah mocked.

“This is nice” Eleven’s voice broke into Evelyn’s mid response to her brother.

“Yes!” Steve laughed loudly and without thought he reached out and held his palm out to Eleven, the young girl smiled and high fived him. “Welcome to the team”

“That’s our girl!” Evelyn laughed, she turned to Steve and raised her hand to him, without missing a beat he high fived her

“That’s our girl” Steve agreed as he shot Eleven a sweet smile.

Evelyn turned to the young girl sitting between Noah and Dustin “I knew there was a reason I liked you”

Eleven chuckled softly and picked up another fry, it was nice, she thought, to be out like this, because somehow, today felt different from other days, maybe it was because she was making new friends, or because the sun was out, or because fries with ice cream tasted like glory, or maybe because Eleven was starting to feel that things were finally falling into place and where about to get better.

But thinking that, that was a mistake.

Notes:

Dustin and Noah not so secretly being revolted by Steve and Evelyn's taste in food, is what I'm here for.

Let me know what you guys think!!

Also, were are Veronica and Alice? I mean, Carol was there when Billy and Evelyn left the dinner on Friday Chapter 26: Laughs

Summary:

Steve has a movie to watch, Noah misses something. Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The cool wind of the night had taken its time to settle over town after the warm and bright day that had taken over Hawkins that afternoon; the group had stayed for a while at the dinner after the milkshakes were over, and with just enough time to spare, Steve had driven Eleven back to her house, followed by Dustin and then finally dropping the Tylers at their place.

“Have fun!” Evelyn had smiled, leaning down a bit to look at him through the open window of the driver’s door.

“You too” he nodded back at her, even if he knew that she was just going to stay at home.

“Thanks for today, by the way” she said, her voice softening, because at the end of the day, Steve hadn’t been under any obligation to take them anywhere, and still he had.

“Of course” Steve said, a soft smile spreading over his face, Evelyn had called him to get Dustin’s address, but he wouldn’t have missed the chance of getting out of his house, and at the end of the day, he had had a good afternoon, so really he felt like he too should have said thank you to her.

“Drop her dead” Evelyn winked at him and pushed herself away from the car, she turned on the ball of her feet and hurried towards her house, Noah had already walked in the house, but had left the door open for his sister. “Don’t break her heart!” she laughed loudly, and she had heard Steve’s chuckle coming from the car.

And now Steve was making his way towards Alice’s house, with the streetlamps scaring away the shadows from the streets, he took a curve as the wind swayed into the car, ruffling his hair, with his elbow propped over the opened window, his hand pressed against the side of his face as he drove carefully towards Alice’s place.

Evelyn and Steve had waited for almost forty-five minutes at Hopper’s place for Dustin, Noah and Eleven to finish their talk, and now, with the car empty and his ears not really getting any of the songs on the radio, he couldn’t help but wonder what they had been talking at Eleven’s room.

He couldn’t help but wonder how Eleven and the other kids handled Eleven’s abilities and Will’s link to what had happened.

“How do they hide it?” he wondered, narrowing his eyes “Have they never told anyone?” he pulled his arm away from the window and placed his hand over the wheel as well “Has anyone ever found out? How does that work?”

But despite his spiking curiosity, Steve had to push the thoughts away from his mind as Alice’s house came into view and he had to pull over, there would be another time to think about this and right now was not that time.

Alice’s dad wasn’t home, he was away for a business trip, but Alice’s mother, Lenore had opened up the door for him, and she had been charming and sweet, a smile over her face as she talked to Steve while Alice came down the stairs; Steve understood perfectly from where Alice got her kindness and sweet attitude.

Steve closed the door of the passenger seat for Alice and walked around the hood of the car towards his door, Alice watched, with her heart beating like a sledgehammer, the way the lights of the car illuminated Steve as he walked around the hood, it made his hair look lighter, as doubled away from the hood and towards the door, he glanced at her and shot her a smile; her heart was going wild.

Steve pulled the door of his side open and stepped into the car, he closed the door and turned to look at Alice.

“Ok,” he smiled “Ready to go?”

“Of course” she smiled back at him, and thanked the dim lights for hiding her soft blush.

She couldn’t lie, she had been surprised when Steve had walked her to her locker on last period and then when they had walked out together towards the parking lot where her car was, her heart had been racing then too and when he had asked her if she wanted to go out with him, Alice had stared at him for a moment.

“Um” Steve had narrowed his eyes as he looked at her, shifting the weight of his body from one leg to the other, feeling a hot sensation starting to form in his stomach as he realized that maybe he was just making a fool of himself in front of Alice.

“Like going out to the movies?” she had finally asked back.

“Yeah, something like that” Steve had nodded “I mean, the movies and we can go get something to eat, you know?”

When had he gotten so rusty at this? He hated that feeling.

“Ok” she nodded, her red hair flopping around her shoulders as she looked at him, his eyebrows seemed to go up for a moment and Alice couldn’t help but smile and he took that as a good sign and had smiled back at her. “Yeah, I’d like that”

“Perfect” he nodded “I’ll pick you up,” she nodded back at him “Seven thirty, sound good?”

“Sounds great”

And that had been how they had ended up walking up to the movie theater, walking side by side, their shoulders brushing against each other and Steve listening to Alice talk about her art project.

“Wow” Steve said, his eyebrows going up “That sounds amazing” he turned to look at her as the ticket booth appeared in front of them.

“Thank you” she nodded at him “I can show it to you when it’s done, if you’d like to see it”

“I would” he nodded, “I really would”

“Then, I’ll let you know when it’s finished”

“I’ll be waiting”

She smiled at him and he smiled back, Alice was nice to be around, she was soft and sweet and they had a way of talking that always came out naturally between them; he looked at her for a moment before he turned to look at the posters of the movies that were playing.

His eyes drifted towards the poster of Fright Night, the movie Evelyn had recommended.

“Did you have any movie in mind?” he asked, he glanced at the poster a bit longer before he turned to look at Alice.

She had followed his sight and was now looking at the Fright Night poster, her eyebrows a bit furrowed before she turned back to him.

“You want to watch that one?” she asked, her ponytail swinging behind her as she had turned to look at him.

“Oh” he wasn’t really expecting that, and the movie was indeed drawing his attention, but he had also seen the way Alice had been frowning slightly at the poster. “No,” he shook his head “I want to know what you want to watch”

Alice bit her inner cheek as she looked at Steve “I was actually wondering if you’d like to see Back to the Future” she shrugged.

“OK” Steve nodded, “Yes, I do want to watch that one”

“You can say no if you don’t want too” she shrugged as she looked at him, the tension in her shoulders from the nervousness had disappeared in the car ride with Steve.

“I do want to” he smiled at her, she raised an eyebrow at him. “What?” he asked.

“Are you sure?” she asked, feeling a bit anxious that she was being annoying.

“Yeah, of course I am” he nodded.

“Ok, then” she nodded back at him, “Then Back to the Future it is”

“Back to the Future it is” he chuckled, and Alice smiled at him.

While Steve had been driving the group back to their houses, Lisa had been helping Alice decide what to wear, she had wanted to ask Veronica to join them, to help her out as well, since they both knew how much she had been wanting for Steve to ask her out, but Veronica was still feeling under the weather from Billy’s break up, and things were not about to get better for her.

And so, Lisa had been the only one helping Alice get ready and to be honest, Alice felt beautiful tonight.

___________//____________

The pizza place wasn’t full, a few people here and there, couples talking softly and intimately, but there was a booth at the corner near one of the windows that seemed to be immersed in a unique and exclusive bubble of giggles and laughter: Steve’s and Alice’s.

The young woman covered her mouth for a moment as she tried not to laugh loudly, she was sure the rest of the costumers were already tired of them but in her defense, she really couldn’t help it; Steve had pressed his lips into a thin line as he looked down at the check, trying to swallow down the chuckle threatening to burst from his chest.

“I’m sure these people can’t wait for us to leave” Alice whispered, she leaned over the table, Steve looked up at her, his cheeks blushed from laughing and he looked so good.

“I’m sure the waitress is a laugh away from kicking us out of here” he pointed out, and he glanced by the rear of his eyes towards the waitress by the counter looking at them.

“We should go” Alice giggled softly.

“Agreed, before they don’t let us back in here” he set the bill over the check and turned to grab both of their jackets, which he had laid over his side of the booth.

“Let’s get out of here” she smiled, she tore her eyes away from Steve and scooted out of the booth, Steve hurrying after her, she stood up and Steve turned to the waitress, he gave her an apologetic smile and turned to Alice, both of the jackets draped over his arm.

“We can find a better place next time” Steve joked, he shrugged and took Alice’s hand before leading the way out of the place, the young woman looked down at their laced hands and smile softly as Steve opened the door with his free hand and she stepped out without letting go of his hand.

The cool wind danced around with her hair as they made their way towards the car, Alice walking close to Steve, their shoulders brushing and their hands holding each other.

That had been the way Steve and Alice had left the pizza place, heading down to get some ice cream that Alice was craving before they had made their way towards her house, the radio shuffling songs that Steve mostly didn’t know but they were drowned by their talking; this had turned out to be a good night.

“Evelyn had been right” he thought, they pulled over at Alice’s place.

Steve walked towards her door as the young woman grabbed her jacket and he pulled the door open up for her, she stepped out and Steve gently took her hand before closing the door and they walked up towards her door.

“I had a great time” Steve started.

“So did I” she nodded, glancing at him by the rear of her eyes.

“Maybe we could do this again” he came to a stop just a few steps away from her door, she turned to look at him, her heart racing and her mind screaming with joy.

“I would really like that” she answered, shifting her weight from one leg to the other.

“Probably should find a better place to eat, though” Steve joked.

“I know a place” she shrugged, trying to look casual, and achieving it.

Steve raised his eyebrows amused “Sounds like a plan, then”

“Sounds like a second date” she whispered.

“That sounds pretty good” Steve smiled, after the Nancy thing, it had been hard for Steve to find a girl he was interested in, and now things seemed to be changing.

“Let me know when you are available” she joked, Steve chuckled.

“Friday sounds tempting” he pointed out.

“I’ll have to check my calendar”

Steve laughed louder this time but gave her hand a squeeze “I’ll be waiting for your answer then”

“Ok” she smiled, Steve nodded at her and leaned down, he had learned a thing or two of becoming a better human being with Nancy, and so, his lips graced her cheek and Alice closed her eyes for a split second as he kissed her gently and then pulled away; the ghost sensation of his lips lingering over her cheek.

“Have a good night, Alice” his voice soft and sweet and when she looked at him, his eyes were over her face, light and kind, and they were doing things to her heart.

“You too, Steve” she nodded at him.

She turned to her side and stepped towards the door, their hands slowly slipping away from each other, with her free hand she pulled her keys out of her hand bag and her hand let go of Steve.

“By the way,” she turned to look at him as he spoke, his hands inside the pockets of his jacket “You look beautiful tonight”

___________//____________

And as Steve walked Alice towards her front door, Noah was making his way back to his room, a glass of water in his hand and the dark halls of his house immersed in silence, his father had recently gone to bed and he knew that Evelyn had been asleep for at least two hours now, so when he heard footfalls down the hallway, he stopped in his tracks.

He frowned and turned to look at the place the sound was coming from, Evelyn’s room, he hesitated for a moment but then made his way towards her room, the door was cracked open and he could hear her moving inside.

Noah glanced inside, the curtains of her window were drawn, and the nightlight was streaming in softly, the footfalls had probably been Evelyn opening the curtains that he had seen her close earlier that night; Evelyn was sitting over the edge of her bed, the sleeve of her shirt pulled up above her elbow and she was scratching her arm rapidly and harshly, Noah frowned.

“She’s probably getting another of those skin allergies” he thought, Evelyn got those from time to time, and he made a mental note to talk to her about that, that she should tell their father about it, see what he could do to help her.

And so, Noah stepped away from the door and made his way back to his room, not noticing that Evelyn’s eyes were closed as she scratched her arm painfully.

But all movement came to stop abruptly, her nails pressed over her skin, and her eyes popped open, her head snapping towards the window and the cool wind that blew inside the room, when one simple sound slithered exclusively into her room.

“Evelyn” it called.

Notes:

So, we have an Alice YAAAAY (Let me know if you guys picture Veronica a ertain way becuase she will be making a few appearances, same goes for Lisa)

Also, Evelyn hearing creepy shit, again (why, my sweet child, why?)

Also, let me know what you guys think about everything, Evelyn's advice, ALice adn Steve, everything and anything you can think about i want to know!!!


 * D have a good night lovelies <3 <3 love to all!!!

Chapter 27: A Chant

Summary:

A fight, a scare, a drive. Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The new week had greeted the students with Halloween themed posters hanging on the hallways, letting everyone know about the upcoming costume dance at the end of October, some had even been set by the student council inside the classrooms, like the pumpkin poster that had been left inside the Chemistry classroom, hanged just a few inches away from Mr. Grove’s desk; but at the moment, Steve’s brain had forgotten completely about the poster, in fact much of his brain wasn’t even registering the words and symbols that Grove was writing down over the board.

It was Wednesday and like usual in Chemistry since the school year had started, Evelyn was sitting next to him, but today everything was different, the young woman was looking down at her notebook, her intensely dark hair had rolled over her shoulders and like a curtain, it was covering her face from almost everyone; Steve glanced at her by the rear of his eyes for the hundredth time since the class had started.

The young woman was holding the pen in her hand, over the notebook, but it wasn’t moving, she was just holding it there, her left hand was scratching just below her right elbow, she had been doing this on and off since she had sat down next to him, and he had seen her do it when they had been at Nancy’s locker and then again when they had been having lunch together; something was up.

“Tyler” he whispered, his eyes over his notebook, she didn’t hear him.

He pouted for a moment and scribbled down a small note on a piece of paper from an old quiz and slid it towards Evelyn; her head twitched towards the note and Steve pulled his fingers back towards his notebook, pretending to be taking notes.

The note returned to him, he looked down at it.

I’m fine. It read, he rolled his eyes and whispered again.

“Tyler” this time she didn’t turn to look at him, pushing her black hair curtain behind her ears.

“Harrington” she whispered back to him.

“Are you ok?” he asked, a concerned frown over his face.

“Of course I am” she nodded “What are you talking about?”

He glanced at her arm, her left hand was still over it, not scratching but it was still here, his eyes returned to her face.

“You’ve been scratching your arm all day” he whispered “You’ve barely taken notes because you’ve been scratching it, Tyler, are you sure you’re ok?”

“It’s just my skin allergy” she explained, shaking her head softly, her black hair waved with the movement, turning to look at him. “It’s just acting up”

“Well, it’s got to be serious then” he frowned “Are you sure it’s just allergies?”

“Yes, of course” she shook her head “What are you talking about?” and there was a tone in her voice that he had never heard before, but there was also something in the way she looked; for the first time since she had gotten to Hawkins, Evelyn looked paler than usual, with heavy bags under her eyes, like she hadn’t slept well the past few nights.

“That spider thing” Steve whispered, because somehow, that had been the first thing he had thought about when he had seen Evelyn scratching her arm, almost as if after everything that had happened with Will, and Eleven and the Upside Down world, there was no other explanation that the unbelievable.

“What spider?” she frowned back at him, the tired tone in her voice now sounded irritated.

“The thing from the middle school, Tyler” Steve said, he set his pen down, “The thing that bit you that day”

“Are you insane?” she shook her head, almost offended “That was like a month ago, my arm would have dropped from my body by now if it was that” she turned to her notebook “I’m fine”

“You don’t look fine” he said, because she in fact looked like she hadn’t slept at all.

“Then don’t look at me” she snapped, turning to look at him, she regretted instantly.

“Are you – are you kidding me right now?” Steve hissed at her, he looked taken aback by her answer, "That's what you're gonna go with?" he glanced at her hand, she had returned to scratching “You’re doing it right now!” he pointed at her arm, she stopped and pressed her lips into a thin line.

“Stop” she shook her head, her brain felt like it was spinning, her body was running on a bag of chips that she had had for lunch, and the air in the room was getting stuffy and hard to breath. “Just stop, I’m fine, I’ll be fine, this will be gone by the end of the week”

“Evelyn, maybe you should go to the doctor” he whispered, he leaned towards her “Maybe they can give you something”

She closed her eyes tight, gripping her arm and her pen, pressing her lips into a thin line, she couldn’t go to the hospital, there would be paper trail, hospitals were only for life threatening emergencies and if she went to the hospital they would have to move before the end of September and she couldn’t do that to her father.

“I’m fine” she whispered through gritted teeth.

She needed to be fine, she knew she was gonna be fine, she just needed to survive the next three periods and then she could go home and rest, wrap herself in her bed and sleep, she had overslept that morning but she felt tired and sleepy and she just wanted to go home.

“I’m worried, ok?” he said, he was frowning but he wasn’t angry.

She opened her eyes and turned to look at him “Don’t worry about me” she snapped, and the words came out louder than she had expected and the others turned to look at them. “Leave me alone”

“Ms. Tyler?” said Grove, but Evelyn hadn’t heard him.

“What?” Steve looked at her in disbelieve, after all he had shared about him with her and all she had told him about her family and he was just supposed to not worry about her. “Of course I worry about you, Evie” he said, the whole classroom was staring at them.

“Well, you shouldn’t!” she snapped, her head was spinning, her arm felt like it was on fire and her ears were ringing, she should have had something else to eat at lunch than just a bag of chips; she grabbed her notebook swiftly and pushed herself up, the chair behind her dropping loudly onto the floor. “Just leave me alone!” and she hurried towards the door.

“Ms. Tyler!” Grove barked.

“EVELYN!” Steve called out behind her, pushing himself up to his feet, but Evelyn was already racing out of the room; Alice glanced from Steve to Grove, one looked angry, the other confused.

Steve looked at the door, his lips gapped, his hands flat over the table, Grove turned to look at him, but Steve didn’t notice, his heart was racing and he knew there was something wrong with Evelyn, she wasn’t like this, he had known her for less than three months, but he knew she wasn’t like this, and now he was even more worried.

“What the fuck” his mind whispered.

___________//____________

Evelyn shoved the door of the bathroom open and staggered inside, gasping for air as she stumbled towards the sink, she head was spinning, her book bag rolled from her shoulder to her arm and she allowed it to drop to the floor as she grabbed the edges of the sink, dropping her head forward as she took in a deep breath.

She had been incredibly rude with Steve, incredibly childish as well, but he had been asking so many questions and the room had been so hot and so stuffy and the air had been stale and humid and her ears had started to ring; she gripped the sink harder and pressed her eyes tight shut as she tried to breathe through her mouth.

“Just breathe” she whispered, a drop of saliva rolling from her lower lip and onto the sink. “GO back there and apologize to Steve, and go home” she nodded at her own voice. “Just go home”

She pushed herself away from the sink and forced herself to open her eyes, she would go home and wait for her father to get back from work, she would show him her allergy and then they would decide what to do, Derek wouldn’t like it that she hadn’t told him before, but he would understand and then it would all be fine.

With a trembling hand she reached towards the water tap and turned it, the cool water rushed out and the young woman cupped her hands under it for a few seconds before she leaned down and splashed it over her face; the sensation was amazing.

Her skin sizzled with energy as the cool water touched it, her lungs seemed to relax as the last signs of the stuffed classroom air left her and she knew it was just a matter of minutes before she started to feel better.

Evelyn looked at her reflection, she looked tired and the dark bags under her eyes only made her skin look paler than it usually did, she cringed at the sick appearance she had that day, before her eyes drifted towards her arm and she frowned. The young woman grabbed the sleeve of her long sleeved shirt and pulled it up, she had been scratching her arm over the fabric, to avoid scratching the skin with her nails.

And the scene under the shirt, blew her mind.

Just below her elbow, her skin had turned an alarming deep pink color, she had peeled some skin off with the scratching and the irritated parts of her skin looked a scratch away from starting to bleed, just a small piece right over the elbow had already seemed to have bleed for a small amount.

“Fuck” she whispered with a frown, she’d never seen her skin like this before. “Oh no” she bit her lower lip as she looked at her arm, it looked tender and it felt on fire and she knew that if she kept scratching it, there would be blood and even more pain. “Fuck” she whispered again.

And then she heard it.

Someone was using the stall behind her, her eyes drifted towards the door as she covered back her arm, she didn’t want anyone seeing that on her, she cleared her throat hoping that the girl in the bathroom hadn’t heard her talking to herself.

“Evelyn” her name filled the bathroom like a tidal wave, Evelyn frowned for a moment.

“Nancy?” she called back, her eyes still over the mirror. “Is that you?”

There was no answer, except once more her name.

It didn’t sound like Nancy, Evelyn narrowed her eyes and turned around “Sharon?” that was probably the only other girl she had talked to for more than one class, she was nice and smart and they had gone to the bathroom together on several moments and…

And there were no pair of feet under the stall door, Evelyn’s eyes grew as she looked at the floor.

No feet.

“Evelyn”

She took a step back, her heart racing, her eyes wide and her lips gapped, there were no feet, but there was a shadow.

“Evelyn”

She staggered back until her back hit the sink, the shadow growing, almost as if someone was reaching for the door of the stall.

“Evelyn” something tapped the stall door, and she heard herself yelp softly. “EvelynEvelynEvelynEvelynEvelynEvelyn!” the tapping rose with the sound of her name, the letters scrambling into each other to create a horrid sounding chant as the taps turned into slams on the stall door and Evelyn cringed back into the sink of the bathroom.

“EVELYNEVELYNEVELYNEVELYN!” the door was rattling on its hinges and after seconds of horrifying numbness, Evelyn’s brain realized that it was just a matter of seconds before the door was slammed open, and she didn’t want to be there when that happened.

The young woman turned to her side, grabbing her book bag as quick as she could and just as she pushed herself up to her feet, the slamming stopped, she turned to the stall door, her heart was racing, her lungs were having trouble breathing and for a split moment the silence ruled the bathroom before the banging came back with such force that it rattled the whole structure of the stalls.

A scream ripped through Evelyn’s throat and she turned her body towards the door, running towards it as fast as she could, and as her hands were pulling the door open, the stall door slammed open behind her.

“EVELYN!” the voice screamed, distorted into a buzz that sounded everything, but human.

The young woman raced down the hallway, her backpack in her hands, her dark hair flowing behind her as she took a curve and made her way towards the main door and as far away from the bathroom as she could, her mind was screaming with shock, her lungs sucking in air as she skidded on a turn and crashed violently against another moving object.

“Woah!” the chuckle came out, hands reaching out to grab Evelyn’s shoulders and stop her from precipitating to the floor.

Evelyn yelped loudly, waving her arms and her backpack to get the hands away from her, throwing her body back with such force that one of her ankles bent painfully to one side as her cry echoed down the hallway.

“Don’t touch me!” she howled.

“Jesus Christ!” the voice gasped, the hands instantly leaving her body and she stumbled to the side instead of back and her shoulder hit the wall and her eyes were able to focus. “Evelyn what the fuck?”

His voice was shocked, his eyes a bit accusatory and her whole body felt relief as she saw him and she relaxed for a moment, dropping her backpack.

“Oh, god, Billy” her voice came out in a whimper; he frowned instantly.

“Are you ok?” he asked, he stepped towards her but Evelyn looked over her shoulder to the hallway she had been running through. “Why where you running like that?”

“There was someone in the bathroom” she whispered before she turned to look at him.

“What?” he asked, he stepped forward.

“There was someone in the bathroom” she whispered, she raised her shoulders as a shielding action.

“A guy?”

“I don’t know” she answered “They were hitting the bathroom door and screaming” she felt her lower lip tremble, she had to admit it, she had been terrified like she had only been of one person in her life before: Simon.

“Are you ok?” Billy asked, his right hand reached out to her gently, making sure she could see his hand reaching towards her shoulder. “I can go get a teacher if you …

“No” she shook her head, “No” she closed her eyes trying to avoid the tears, she didn’t want anyone to see her cry “I just want to go home” his heavy hand felt reassuring over her shoulder.

“Ok” he nodded, he looked over her head, a little unsettled that there had been a guy inside one of the bathrooms; he was an asshole, and a jerk there was no lie in that, he used girls for his benefit, but there had never been a moment in which he had forced any girl to do something they hadn’t been willing to do, and to think that there had been a guy in a bathroom waiting to do who knew what, that gave him the creeps. “Ok, come on I’ll take you home”

“No its fine” she shook her head and opened her eyes, Billy looked down at her. “I’m fine”

“I’m not gonna let you go like that home” he pointed out, she looked scared lifeless “Come on, I’ll drive you home”

“Billy, its fine”

“No, its not” he shook his head, she looked at him, her lips gapped and he looked down at her, despite the dark bags under her eyes, she looked pretty.

“Ok” she nodded, she rather have him drive her home than her having to ride her bike, she didn’t feel strong enough to do that, she felt like the energy in her body had been sucked out of it. “Ok, thank you”

His hand left her shoulder and Billy bent down to get her backpack, he picked it up and swung it over his shoulder, Evelyn gave her a sweet smile, but her eyes were still scared.

“Lets go” he said, he swung his arm over her shoulders and lead the way towards the main door, just a few feet away from them, as Evelyn pushed the door open, Billy glanced over his shoulder once more and then they walked out.

The pair made their way towards the parking lot, Billy’s arm over her shoulder felt reassuring, but still her heart was racing and she had her arm to worry about, her mind not wanting to think about what had happened at the bathroom.

At the parking lot, Evelyn realized they weren’t the only ones there, a guy and a girl were standing by another car, talking and by the way the girl had her hand over his thigh, Evelyn assumed they were dating, or something like it.

“Give me a second, ok?” Billy said, he looked down at her, almost as if waiting for her permission.

“Sure” she whispered, and he didn’t like the way she sounded that day, like the flame inside her was gone, they looked at each other for a moment before he pulled his arm away and walked towards the pair, leaving Evelyn to stand next to his car.

The girl glanced at Evelyn, and she seemed oddly familiar, yet Evelyn couldn’t set a name for her face, so Evelyn turned away, giving her back towards the trio before she pulled the sleeve of her shirt up to her elbow to look at her rash.

“What?” the whisper so soft that it was almost not there.

Her arm looked fine, no tender skin, no deep pink color, no skin about to rip, she blinked twice before she shoved the sleeve down.

“No, no” she shook her head “No”

This couldn’t be happening, she had seen the rash, it had looked bad and red and tender and painful, and this couldn’t be real; she pulled the sleeve back up again, and her arm looked fine.

“No” she whispered, it couldn’t be happening, could it? Had her mind played games with her in the bathroom because she hadn’t eaten anything all day? Had she also imagined the slamming of the stalls? Had she made it all up?

“No, no” she shook her head “It was real”

“Was it?” she thought, “How do you know it was real?”

“It felt so real” she whispered, but maybe it was because she had been sleeping so poorly, and because she had just eaten a bag of chips in the last twelve hours, maybe it had been her mind playing games, maybe there had been no rash, no stall slamming, no screaming in the bathroom.

But it hadn’t been screams, they had been chants, someone had been chanting her name, but why would someone chant her name? It had to be a mind game, no one would do that, she was just tired and hungry and sleepy and she had imagined everything.

“Right” she nodded, and her heart started to steady itself.

She had simply imagined everything, there was no other explanation, she had to rest and eat and then this would be in the past, problem solved.

But this was Hawkins, Indiana and nothing here was what it seemed, the only problem was, Evelyn Tyler didn’t know that.

“Ready to go?” Billy said, she turned to look at him over her shoulder.

“Yeah, lets go” she nodded, having cleared her mind of its own scare.

“Ok, then” he smiled, he opened her door and walked around the hood to get into his door, as Tommy H and Carol made their way back into the school.

Because as Evelyn had been sweet talking her mind out of going crazy, Billy had asked Tommy and Carol to tell a teacher that there was someone lurking in the girls’ bathroom, and Tommy H with his hunger to please and his urge to belong somewhere, had of course agreed to go to a teacher immediately.

And Tommy H would indeed tell a teacher to check the bathroom, but he was also very delicately going to drop the bomb of Evelyn and Billy leaving together just to annoy a certain someone, because as Evelyn tried to calm her mind and heart of the bathroom incident that had never happened (Right?), Tommy H was here to stir the pot in Steve’s growing worries about Evelyn.

As the door of the school closed behind Carol, the wind ruffled the tree branches and its leaves with soft touches and a buzzing voice that would have sounded like a soft chant.

“Evelyn, Evelyn, Evelyn”

Notes:

Tommy H just wanting drama and Billy trying to be nice

Let me know what you think :D Chapter 28: Rumors in the Hallways

Summary:

Johnathan tells his friends about the lurker, Steve is confronted by Tommy H and Carol stirs problems. Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The bell hadn’t finished ringing throughout the class and the hallways, but Steve was already on his feet, having stashed his books inside his backpack messily and rapidly, Alice pushed her chair back and turned to glance at Steve but the young man was hurrying towards the door, she followed him with her sight, he grabbed the doorknob and yanked it open with force, throwing it back so hard it bounced against the wall loudly and then he was out of the room and walking into the crowding hallway.

He narrowed his eyes and looked around before he started moving towards Evelyn’s locker, the young woman had left the classroom fifteen minutes ago, she had been acting incredibly strange all day and she had also been evidently upset with Steve when she had stormed out of the room, so there to say that Steve had been concerned, that was an understatement.

The young man came to a stop in front of the locker and looked around, but Evelyn was nowhere to be found, he glanced over his shoulder, maybe she was just late to get her things for the next period.

“Shit” he whispered.

“Are you ok?” the voice sneaked up from behind him and Steve couldn’t help but flinch at it before he turned around to look at Johnathan and Nancy.

“Yes” he answered, shaking his head slightly “Have you guys seen Tyler?”

“Um, no” Nancy shook her head “I thought she had class with you”

“I did” Steve agreed, he passed his hand through his hair “But she stormed out of the classroom, she’s been acting strange”

“What do you mean strange?” asked Johnathan, he frowned and shifted his weight from one leg to the other.

“I don’t know” Steve sighed, but lied, none of the members of the excursion to the middle school that night had told Nancy or Johnathan or anyone else anything about what had happened that night, and no one had ever talked again about the spider and Evelyn fainting. “She’s just irritated, we kind of argued and then she stormed out of the classroom”

Nancy frowned and bit her lower lip, she glanced at Johnathan and then turned to look at Steve “Maybe she went home,” she sighed “If you say she wasn’t feeling that great, then maybe she just skipped class, no need to worry”

“Yeah, probably” Steve narrowed his eyes and then looked around once more, before Johnathan spoke.

“Well, just in case you see her before Nancy or I do” Steve turned to look at Johnathan “Maybe you should tell her to be careful with the lurker”

“What?” said both Nancy and Steve at the same time.

“What are you talking about?” Steve asked.

“The lurker, didn’t your teachers tell you?” Johnathan raised an eyebrow, glancing from Steve and Nancy and then back to Steve.

“No” said Steve, “What are you talking about?”

“Someone told a teacher that there was someone in the girls’ bathroom” Johnathan explained “Said they were screaming and banging on the doors, no one saw him but apparently the girl was very scared, as expected” he shrugged “So, do tell her when you see Evelyn, everyone is out on the look for the lurker or whatever”

“Jesus Christ” whispered Steve “What the fuck?”

“I know” Johnathan sighed “I don’t know the details, but we should all be careful”

“Yeah” Nancy frowned.

“Of course, I’ll let her know if I see her” Steve nodded, he shook his head slightly, he had seen strange, unbelievable things happen in Hawkins, but he had never heard of someone lurking in the girls’ bathroom, and to be honest, that creeped him out a lot more than the alien that Dustin had adopted not that long ago. “You do the same”

“Of course” said both Nancy and Johnathan.

“Ok” Steve nodded, he glanced over Johnathan’s shoulder and then turned back to them “I have to go, but also, if you see her, let her know I want to talk to her”

“Sure” Nancy nodded at him with a soft smile, he gave her a nod, without the smile, and with that Steve walked around the couple and then walked away.

Steve sighed as he made his way through the crowd, he hadn’t seen Evelyn like that before, they didn’t know each other that much, she hadn’t been here for more than a couple of months, but still today had been something different, he had seen angry Evelyn, disappointed Evelyn, stressed out Evelyn, but this Evelyn had been something completely different.

“I can’t believe some random guy just walked into the school” one of the girls was saying.

“Can you believe how scary that would have been?” Steve heard a group of girls saying as he stopped by his locker, he opened his locker and as he looked inside.

“That girl must have been scared shitless” said a girl.

“It couldn’t have been that bad” said a guy she was with.

“Are you kidding me? What kind of creep goes into the bathroom? I would have run out screaming” the girl snapped at the guy.

“How do we know she didn’t make it up?” the guy went on, Steve rolled his eyes as he pulled out his notebook.

“Oh fuck you” the girl barked at him “Just because you want to act like an imbecile doesn’t mean that it wasn’t scary, so fuck off,” Steve closed the door of his locker, ready to head to his next class even if the bell hadn’t rung yet. “She’s new in school and now some creep sneaks up on her in the bathroom, fuck off, Mike”

Steve froze in place and turned to look at the small group of four that was talking next to him, he recognized one of the girls but the other one and the two boys he had no idea who they were.

“What did you just say?” Steve asked, he stepped towards her.

“There was someone lurking in the bathroom of the girls” explained Mike, “Didn’t your teacher tell you?”

“No” Steve turned to look at him “A friend did” he turned to the girl, Silvia, “You know who saw the guy in the bathroom?”

“Um yeah” Silvia nodded, she glanced at her friend.

“The new girl was in the bathroom when it happened” Silvia’s friend explained. “I think she told the teachers”

“No, Tommy told the teacher” Mike corrected.

“Tommy H?” Steve frowned, “Where’s Evelyn?” everyone looked at him with questioning eyes “The new girl, where is she?”

“I don’t know” Silvia shook her head “Haven’t seen her”

“Are you ok?” asked Mike, Steve turned to look over his shoulder, his eyes scanning the hallway, searching the faces that walked by as uncertainty washed over him, as every bad scenario played in his mind.

“Steve?” asked Silvia.

“Shit” barked Steve before he started to move again, he pushed away a group of guys, his eyes searching the crowd for the pitch black hair that belonged only to Evelyn. “Tyler?!” he found himself calling out loudly, heads turned to him. “Evelyn!” he shoved away a guy that grunted and when he turned to argue with Steve, the young man was already walking away, still searching for Evelyn. “Shit” he hissed, he came to a stop and looked around the hallway, at least he knew that Nancy was with Johnathan but Evelyn was still unaccounted for and after the way they had left things, he wanted to know if she was alright.

“Steve” a soft voice said next to him, a hand dropping over his shoulder, his head snapped towards the voice and the hand. “Is everything alright?”

He looked at Alice for a moment, almost as if he didn’t know who she was “Did you hear about the guy in the bathroom?”

“Yes” she nodded, there was a soft frown over her face “Veronica and Lisa just told me” she stepped closer to him “Are you ok?”

“Don’t go to the bathroom alone, Ali” he said, his hand went out to her arm and he gave her a squeeze “Ok?”

“Yeah, I think no one is going to the bathroom alone for a while” Alice shrugged.

“Sounds like a good idea” Steve nodded, he felt his shoulders tensing up.

“I know” she frowned slightly “Are you ok, Steve?”

“I’m just worried” he whispered, mostly to himself than to Alice, he looked over her shoulder and then turned his attention back to her “Have you seen Evelyn?”

“You mean after she stormed out of the class?” Alice asked, Steve nodded “No, not really,” Steve held back a groan “Is everything alright?”

“I don’t know” Steve answered “I need to talk to her about…

“Harrington” the voice was laced with mockery and Steve had to tighten his jaw as he turned to the left to find Tommy H, Calum and Carol staring back at him.

“You saw her” said Steve, he dropped his hand from Alice’s arm. “What happened?”

“I don’t know” Tommy H said with a smirk “I only know there was someone in the bathroom when she was there”

“What the fuck did she tell you?” barked Steve “And where is she?”

“How am I supposed to know?” Tommy H barked out a laugh “She ran off,”

“Ran off?” Steve snapped “You didn’t care to see if she was alright? If something had happened?”

“She’s not my problem, man” Tommy shrugged. “She wasn’t bleeding, so”

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Steve snapped, he took a step forward, Alice gripped Steve’s shoulder harder.

“Steve” she whispered.

“You think this is a joke?” Steve hissed “Someone could have gotten hurt, it could have been Carol in that fucking bathroom!” he pointed at Tommy with anger.

“Shut the fuck up” snapped Tommy, “Like you gave a shit”

“I would have, if I had seen Carol running out screaming there was a man in the bathroom” Steve barked, people were gathering around them.

“Or you know what?” Tommy tried to smirk but there was anger in his voice “Maybe she made it up, she seems a bit off wouldn’t you say?” he glanced at Calum.

“Agreed” Tommy smirked at the answer.

“A little to desperate for attention” Tommy added, Calum and Carol chuckled.

“She’s the one desperate for attention?” Steve hissed he took a step forward.

“Steve” Alice hissed again, but Steve didn’t care “Walk away”

“Are you sure you aren’t talking about yourself?” Steve snapped “You’re the one trying to run over kids in bikes just because Hargrove doesn’t like them” Steve took one last menacing step, Alice’s hand was grabbing at his arm, trying to pull him back. “If something happened to her, I swear to god motherfucker that I will make you regret it”

“Oh” Tommy chuckled bitterly “Should I be scared?”

“Yes, dipshit” he growled.

Tommy H glanced at Steve from head to toe “So you’ve taken a liking over the new girl” he smirked “Wouldn’t put it past you to befriend the weird pale bitch”

Alice’s grip on Steve’s shirt slipped as Steve threw himself forward, his hands shooting up and grabbing Tommy H by the chest of his shirt and slamming him against the lockers behind him, gasps echoes around them and Alice staggered forward as Carol’s head snapped towards Calum, her eyes begging for help.

“You better take that back” Steve spat to Tommy, by the angle he was holding Tommy, Steve towered over him slightly. “I hear you say something like that, I will fuck you up Tommy” he leaned closer to the young man who had once been his friend. “You better believe that, and you better fucking hope that nothing happened to Evelyn in that bathroom”

“Steve!” Alice grabbed Steve’s shirt and tugged at him “Steve let go of him!”

“Let him go!” Carol barked, she stepped forward.

“Why are you all out here? Why is no one heading to class!” the voice of a teacher echoed down the hallway, heads tuning towards the voice.

“And stay away from my kids, motherfucker” and with that Steve pushed Tommy harder into the lockers and finally let him go, he stepped away from him. “Stop messing with me” he pointed at him “And my friends”

“Stop!” barked Alice, he turned to look at her, she was frowning “What the hell is that about? Stop, get away from him, and go to class”

“Class?” Steve asked back, he shook his head “I need to go” he turned to the side to step away from Alice and the rest of the group that had gathered around them.

“What are you doing?” Alice pulled at him harder, forcing him to turn and look at her “Take a breath, go to class, Steve, I’m sure Evelyn is fine”

“I’ll ask for your notes later” Steve passed a hand over his hair “I have to go,”

“Where are you going?” she asked, he looked at her, she was frowning and the tone in her voice was stern, like he had never heard her before, he pressed his lips into a thin line.

“I have to make sure” he shook his head “I have to make sure Evelyn is fine”

“I’m sure she is, Steve” Alice looked at him.

“Yeah” Steve nodded “I have to make sure that’s true”

“You can’t just leave” Alice frowned, holding his shirt harder “Are you listening to yourself”

“I am” Steve nodded, “I’ll see you later, Alice” he wrapped his hands around her wrists and gave her a strained smile before he slowly pulled her hands away from his shirt. “Be careful”

And with that he turned on the ball of his feet and hurried away down the hallway and towards the main door of the building, Alice pressed her lips into a thin line and sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Why is it that every other argument we have is because of that pale weird bitch?” Veronica groaned, she was standing by the lockers, waiting for Alice, Lisa and Carol were there with her, Tommy had scurried to the bathroom before class and she wouldn’t see him until last period.

Lisa rolled her eyes, she knew where this was going, and quite frankly she was done with this subject, she understood that Veronica was still upset that Billy had been eyeing Evelyn, but to be honest, Billy eyed everything that moved and it was well known that once he got tired of a girl he went on to look for another, everyone had known that it was a matter time before Billy went after another girl.

“For fucks sakes” Lisa shook her head softly.

“I know” Carol sighed, because at the end of the day, Carol and Tommy H weren’t very different from one and the other, they did all they could to get attention and stir problems, she turned to look at Veronica. “I need to tell you something”

“What is it?” Veronica turned to Carol “Alice, can you please hurry up?”

Alice glanced at her and sighed, dropping her arms and the group started walking towards the class that they shared together, one of the few classes that Tommy H and Carol didn’t share.

“Are you ok?” Lisa asked, she dropped behind to walk next to Alice, Alice looked at her.

“Yeah, I’m fine” she sighed “I just have never seen him like that up close”

“Tommy instigated him” Lisa defended Steve, she didn’t care much about him but she knew that Alice liked him a lot. “He’s worried about his friend, you can talk to him tomorrow”

“You’re right” Alice nodded, she glanced at Lisa and gave her a sweet smile, Lisa winked back at her and smiled back.

“I need to talk to you about Billy” Carol lowered her voice “I know he’s Tommy’s friend, but you’re my friend” Veronica nodded with a small smile.

“What happened?”

“That pale weird bitch” Carol shook her head, Veronica tensed up instantly.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I saw her” Carol said as they started to reach the classroom “With Billy at the dinner on the weekend” Veronica pressed her lips into a thin line “They were on a date, Vero,” they stopped in front of the door of the classroom “I’m sorry”

Carol shrugged and turned to the doorknob, she turned it and pushed the door open, the teacher turned to look at them and raised an eyebrow but shook her head and allowed them into the room, Carol smiled at her and walked into the room, Lisa and Alice glanced at Veronica but walked past her, both of them sharing a look and making mental notes to ask Veronica what was wrong once they walked out of class.

“I’m sorry” Veronica heard Carol’s words loud and clear in her mind “No,” Veronica hissed as she turned to walk into the classroom, closing the door behind herself “But that bitch will be”

Notes:

I'm sorry that it has been so long!!! But here it is!!!

Also let me know what you think, Veronica being an obssessive ex and Alice worrying, but what really is she worrying about? Chapter 29: Worries, Rashes, Plans and Calls

Summary:

Steve leaves school, and an important phone call is made. Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Steve didn’t even need to glance around the front yard of the house to see if Evelyn’s bike was there, he had seen it at the front of the school when he had been driving away from the building, and that had only made him more anxious about the fact that Evelyn had seen someone in the bathroom and now no one could tell him where she was.

The young man pulled over in front of the house, he turned off the engine and soon he was pushing the door of the car open and he stepped out, Steve slammed the door of the car close and hurried around the hood of the car and towards the house.

He couldn’t really believe this, he had been freaked out when Johnathan had told them about the lurker, and he was relieved that Nancy was ok, but when he had heard the Evelyn had been the one to be in the presence of the lurker, to soon find out that no one knew where she was, Steve had known that he had to make sure that she was ok; since he had gone separate ways from Tommy H and his crew, and had befriended Nancy and Johnathan he had actually learned the meaning of having real friends, and now Evelyn was his friend and she had been in danger.

He skipped the last step of the stairs, lost his footing and ended up stumbling forward towards the door, he grabbed the frame of the door and frowned for a moment before he knocked loudly on the door and then pressed the doorbell with his free hand.

“Come on, come on” he whispered, “Please be home” he took a step back from the door and glanced towards the window, the window from the one Noah had watched Evelyn get out of Steve’s car for the first time just a few months ago. “Tyler, come on” he turned towards the door once more and knocked on it a lot harder than he had the first two times.

He pressed his hand over his mouth and just as his mind was about to run over the worst case scenario, the door swung open.

“What the hell?”

“TYLER!” Steve gasped, taken aback by the harsh way in which she had opened the door, she was frowning as she looked at him, her left hand holding the doorknob and her right hand blocking the entrance to the house by being pressed against the inner door frame.

“Harrington?” she asked, confused and surprised at the same time.

“You’re here!” he exclaimed, relief washing over him.

“I live here” she quirked an eyebrow as she looked at him, the hand over the doorframe dropped to her side. “What the hell is going on? Why are you slamming at my door like that?”

“Are you ok?” the reason why he was there hit him hard, after the shock of seeing Evelyn there had disappeared. “Can I come in?” he looked over her shoulder and then turned back to look at her, Evelyn was frowning when he turned to her, she didn’t know what had gotten into Steve, but still she nodded and moved away from the door to allow him inside.

Steve walked into the house and closed the door behind himself, Evelyn was at the end of the foyer with her arms crossed.

“What is going on?” she asked, her eyebrow was raised once more. “Come on, let’s go to the living room” she shook her head and her dark waves swayed around her as she lead the way towards the living room, Steve followed closely.

“Are you ok?” Steve asked, Evelyn glanced at him from over her shoulder but sat down over the sofa before she spoke

“Yeah, I just wasn’t feeling that great” she shrugged. “Did Grove say something about me leaving?”

“No” he shook his head, he walked towards the sofa and sat down, turning his body to face her easier. “I’m not talking about that” he shook his head, although part of him had been nagging him to talk to her about what had happened during class. “I’m not talking about you leaving the class” he shook his head “I mean, yes, I am, but not just about that”

“What is it?” she uncrossed her arms and her hands fell over her lap. “What’s going on?”

“I heard about the bathroom incident” he blurt out, realizing that they were both talking about completely different things.

“Oh” she whispered, and pressed her lips into a thin line.

“What happened? Are you ok?”

“I am” she nodded at him, she tried to smile but the screams of her name echoed loudly in her mind as she remembered the incident in the bathroom.

“What happened?”

“There was someone there” she answered rapidly “I didn’t see him” she shrugged “But they were hitting the door of one of the stalls and I just ran out of there”

“Jesus Christ” he frowned.

“I’m ok” she shrugged and offered him a soft smile. “But seriously? Why did you come all the way here, school is just about to go out”

“I just told you why I’m here” he said, frowning. “I wanted to know if you were ok”

Evelyn snorted out a soft laugh and raised her eyebrow at him, but Steve was looking at her with a straight face “Seriously? You didn’t have to do that”

“Of course I did” he shook his head, an offended tone in his voice.

“Steve” she sighed, her shoulders dropped “You didn’t have to do that, you know? I’m fine there was no need to worry, I told you at the classroom”

“There was a lot to worry” Steve pointed out “There was a creep in the bathrooms, Evelyn” and she was taken aback by the way he said her name. “No one had seen you, of course I was worried” she opened her mouth to answer back, but Steve was not done “And like I told you in the classroom, I worry, you’re my friend”

Evelyn looked at him for a moment, pressing her lips into a thin line as he looked back at her with a mix of confusion and something that she wasn’t sure if it was disappointment or anger, she bit her inner cheek and looked down at her hands, the fact that the people she had known on her last residence had ended up fist fighting with her, had made it easy for Evelyn to not care about them because they no longer cared about her, but the last thing she wanted was to hurt Steve, he was fun and nice and she had been nasty with him during class.

For a moment as they had been talking in the living room, there had been a tension rolling around them that she felt was her fault.

“I’m sorry” she finally spoke, looking up at Steve “I didn’t mean to be an asshole back at class” she played with her fingers, but her eyes remained over Steve.

“It’s fine” he shook his head “I just wanted to make sure that you were ok” he shrugged.

“You didn’t have to skip class for that, though” she chuckled.

“Of course I did” he rolled his eyes, but the tension that had been building up between them was starting to disappear and that had been worth the skipped class.

“Thank you, Harrington” she smiled at him “Really”

“Any time” he nodded at her, but a smile spread over his face. “And about what happened in class, you were just tense, I get it”

“Yeah” she looked down at her arm and remembered the way the rash had been there but then it hadn’t, she frowned and looked up at him. “I was stressed out, I thought I had a rash on my arm, that’s why I was in the bathroom”

“Do you?” Steve frowned, he glanced at her arm and then looked up at her.

“Um” she narrowed her eyes “I don’t know”

“What?” he asked.

“Just take a look” she shrugged, she grabbed the sleeve of her shirt and pulled it up all the way above her elbow and extended her arm out towards Steve.

The young man scooted closer to her, he glanced up at Evelyn before his hand gently took her wrist and he tugged at her arm to look down at it; her skin looked a bit roughed up, but from what he knew and what he could tell, it had more to do with the scratching she had been doing all day.

“I thought I saw a rash when it was in the bathroom” she explained “But I’m not sure now”

He looked up at her “I mean, it looks tender, but I think it’s more because of all the scratching, you know?”

He gave her wrist a soft squeeze and let go of her, she shrugged with a smile.

“I guess you’re right” she sighed “But I wanted to make sure”

“Here to help” he nodded at her.

She wondered if he would wonder what happened to them once they left like they usually did, or if by then something would have happened that would make him not care.

“You want to stay over for a while?” she asked with a shrug “Or you have to go home?”

“No, I don’t have to go home” he answered. “I thought you had work today”

“Cool” she nodded “Um, no, I have work at the Sinclair home on Saturday”

“Wanna go out and get something to eat?” he asked, he placed his arm over the backrest of the sofa and looked at her.

“You know what? I’m in the mood for something sugary” she chuckled.

“Sounds like a plan” he smiled.

“No, wait” she shook her head “Only if you let me pay” he raised an eyebrow “You didn’t let me pay my half last time, and I was a bitch to you at school, just indulge me, yes?”

“I’m not saying anything!” he laughed.

“Your fancy eyebrow movement is” she pointed out as she pushed herself up to her feet.

“What the fuck is that even supposed to mean?” Steve laughed as Evelyn went to grab her house keys, the living days had been scared out of her at the bathroom, and she had calmed down with Billy, but the young man had had to leave to pick up his sister and to be honest she wasn’t feeling all that great to spend the rest of the day alone in the house while Noah got back home, and Steve was the best company anyone could ask for.

“You know exactly what that means, Harrington” Evelyn said, she turned to look at him “Are we doing this or what?”

“On it!” he smiled, he turned to look at her and pushed himself up to his feet “Let’s get some food, I’m starving”

“When are you not?” she asked, leading the way towards the door.

___________//____________

The sun was setting over Hawkins as Steve drove Evelyn back to her house, music was playing softly as the car rolled up the street, the windows open and the wind ruffling Steve’s hair as he maneuvered the steering wheel with just one hand.

“So,” Evelyn started “When are you asking her out again?” she turned to glance at him.

“I don't know” Steve sighed, he drummed his fingers over the wheel and then turned to her “You know I don’t want anything serious” he turned to the road “I’ve told you this before”

“I know that” she nodded, she looked at him for a moment, the air ruffling his hair gave him a different look as the light of the sun got dimmer. “But you don’t really know her that well to say that she couldn’t change your mind” she turned to the road, Steve glanced at her by the rear of his eyes. “I’m not telling you to lead her on in an endless chase, but you could give it a try again, you said it was nice, that she was great, that you had fun”

“I did say all that” he nodded “I meant it too”

“Then what’s the problem?” Evelyn shrugged, she rolled her eyes at her own question “I mean, don’t say that its that you don’t want anything serious, why don’t you want anything serious?”

“I don’t know” Steve shrugged, since Nancy had broken up with him, he hadn’t really thought about dating anyone seriously, it was just something he wasn’t feeling he was ready for, he saw by the rear of his eyes as Evelyn turned to look at him. “I just don’t think I’m ready for any of that, at the present moment”

She looked at him, she would have been surprised if she had known Steve when Will had disappeared, he felt like a new person, like he had changed a lifetime and he liked the way he was now.

“I respect that” she finally said. “And you know, I think that if you don’t want anything too serious at the moment, maybe you should talk to her about that”

“What?” he asked, he frowned and gave her a quick glance.

“It’s obvious you guys hit it off pretty well” Evelyn explained, “Maybe she’s expecting you to ask her out again, after that date,” she shrugged “Maybe you could tell her you want to take things slow, see where it takes you”

“Would you expect a second date if I took you to the movies?” he asked, and he didn’t mean it in a bad way, he was just not really feeling in his element with all this, he was sure he had lost his edge for that after Nancy and the heartbreak.

“I don’t really expect anything from anyone” she shrugged, Steve’s head snapped to her, she turned to look at him and smiled “That came out sadder than I wanted it too” she shook her head “I think, she might want you to ask her out again, and if you do, I think the you should be straight forward with her”

“You’re right” Steve nodded, he took a curve and narrowed his eyes for a moment. “Did you have a boyfriend back home?”

Evelyn tensed for a moment, thinking about Carl wasn’t exactly the best thing, the first thing that usually came to mind was the beating she had taken, but she pushed that away from her mind, she had pushed away worst thoughts, she could do it now.

“No” she answered, “Not when I left I mean” she shrugged.

“I see” he nodded “Well, you know, I’ll take your advice” he agreed as he house came into view “I don’t want to hurt Alice”

“That’s the spirit, partner” she winked at him and Steve chuckled, he slowed down the car and pulled over. “This is my stop”

“Safe and sound” Steve nodded.

“Of course, I’m with you” she pointed out, she turned to the door and pushed it open “Thanks for the ride, Steve”

“Anytime” he nodded at her. “I’ll see you tomorrow”

“I’ll see you there” she stepped out and closed the door, she turned to him “Be careful”

“You too” he said, she waved and walked towards her porch, she walked up rapidly and pulled out the keys from her jeans and before he knew it, she was inside the house.

“Is that Harrington’s car?” her voice snapped him out of his thoughts, he was looking down at the radio, trying to get a good station.

“What?” he glanced at her partially.

“Is that Harrington’s car?” she asked again, he noticed she was pointing forward, he looked up, he had slowed down the car to search for a station as she applied some lipstick.

He followed her finger and narrowed his eyes for a moment “Yeah” he answered.

“That’s not Alice’s house” she said, he looked at her and then glanced at the house, he knew the house, of course he did, mostly because it had been brought up in a few conversations up that same road with his new best friend.

“No” he shook his head “That’s the new girl’s house”

Her head snapped so fast towards him that he was sure it had had to hurt her, he frowned and cocked his head slightly towards her, they were moving so slow that the car was practically pulled over next to the side walk.

“What?” he asked.

“Are you sure that’s Evelyn Tyler’s house?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure” he nodded “Why?”

“Oh my god” she smirked, she turned back to the house “This only gets better”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, he finally pulled over, both hands over the steering wheel.

“You know what this means, babe?” she asked, she shrugged and looked at him just as Steve started the car and drove away down the street.

“Not really” he said.

“You can tell Billy that he’s trying to snatch her from under his feet” explained Carol, she quirked an eyebrow “Let that motherfucker get a beating for pushing you against the lockers today”

Tommy looked at him girlfriend and an interested smile spread over his lips, “I like where this is going”

“I mean, who gives a shit if Billy roughens up Harrington?” she shrugged, turning to look at the house. “After everything he’s done, I think he’s just asking for it”

“I love you so fucking much” Tommy smiled, Carol turned to look at him and leaned towards him, planting a kiss over his lips.

“I love you too” she whispered against his lips “Now, let’s find a darker place to park”

___________//____________

He stepped inside the gas station, the sun was getting low, but he was running on adrenaline, on excitement, on anticipation; he could feel it tingling through his body as he made his way towards the payphone at the back of the place, there was a smile over his face that he hadn’t been able to get off, and he knew that it would be there for a long while to come.

He pushed the coin inside the slot and picked up the phone, dialing the number that he knew by heart and waiting for an answer; he shifted his weight from one leg to the other as the third ring echoed and then the phone was picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hey” he said, a smile over his face.

“Oh my god, hey” her voice was sweet and familiar and it screamed home to him, it only fueled his excitement further on. “How are you?”

“Good” he answered, “Everything is fine”

“I haven’t heard from you in a while” she whispered, “Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Never been better” his smile grew “I have good news”

There was a gasp at the other end of the line “What is it?” he heard a chair screech in the back, he glanced over his shoulder and then turned back to look at the dialing pad.

“Its good news” he said.

“Is this a joke?” she whispered, he could sense she was about to cry.

“No” he shook his head, even if she couldn’t see him “I’m on my way over there”

“Are you sure?”

“When have I given you false hope?” he asked.

“Never” she whispered.

“I found them” he smirked “I know where they are”

“Oh god” her voice broke “Oh god, thank you, thank you so much”

“I’m bringing them home,” he said as he pressed the phone harder in his hands “I’m bringing them where they belong”

“Be careful” she whispered.

“I will” he nodded “I have to go, I’ll call you when I can”

“Please” she smiled “Thank you, I love you”

“I love you too” he nodded.

There was a silence and as he pulled the phone away from his ear, she spoke again “Simon” he pressed the phone back to his ear.

“I’m here” he said, he heard the beeping sound that he should put in another coin or hang up.

“Bring him home to me” she said with so much tenderness in her voice that he could feel the love in her tone, but it lasted a few seconds before she added “And kill the bastard” she hissed into the phone, her voice had changed so severely that anyone else would have been shocked and surprised, but he wasn’t, he was used to it.

“I will” he agreed “Its long overdue”

“It is” she snapped “Kill the bastard” she made a pause and just before the call was cut short, she said with even more poison and anger “And make her watch”

He hung up the phone and walked out of the building, his mission hadn’t changed, nothing had been discussed that he didn’t know already, and now that he had a goal it was just a matter of time for him to get to Indiana.

Better yet, for him to find his way into Hawkins and back into their lives.