Chapter Text
“Henderson, I’d like for you to be my tutor.”
He choked on the water he was drinking, face getting red from the lack of air in his lungs.
Once he could breath again, he stretched his back and looked at her, wiping the remains of water from his lips.
“What the fuck Stacey?” he said a bit more aggressively than he meant to. She flinched a bit, but that quickly shifted into a more protective stand, her hands tied behind her back, standing brave and tall.
“I said, I want you to be my tutor.” she repeated her words from earlier.
He looked quite puzzled, his brown eyes searching her face, searching for a clue that would indicate why the obnoxious kid from when they were young wanted him to tutor her-and why exactly him.
“As you know, good grades in extremely hard classes matter to Ivy's, and the hardest class around this abomination of highschool, is Mr Johnson's class. And i suck at physics.”
“I’m still baffled here, why me?”
It was like his brain had stopped working or something. Too many new elements at once, she thought.
“Well, dummy, you are the best I could get.” she said as sweetly as she could, yet he still looked unconvinced. Damn him and his suspicious brain.
He started shaking his head negatively.
“Look, Stacey, I don't think-”
“Henderson, this situation could help both of us. I get the best grade possible and my college application goes from plain and boring to shining gold and you, well you could always use the money. Plus I’m also certain you aren’t the type to settle for community college if you could afford the big league.”
And as he ran his hand through his curly hair and let out a tired breath, she knew she had him.
-
“So, tell me. What’s your relationship with physics ?”
And so it began, Stacey’s trip through the world of the infamous scientist and fathers of physics, who only get praised because an apple just happened to fall on their heads-
“Can you please not say that? You are diminishing the importance of their work and your own struggle.” he would always say, kinda annoyed.
“You know most of your fellas over there stole the importance right out of their wives hands, right?” she would bite back, gaining a smug smile as he would growl at her words.
The first two months were pretty hard, considering she had no idea what was going on. She could swear he seemed almost stressed out most of the time. Sometimes, the thought of him caring whether she understood what he was teaching her crossed her mind, but it went as fast as it came. Why would he care after all, he did his job just fine, even if there weren’t any whiteboards in the library.
“How am I supposed to help you if we don’t have anything to write on.” he would go on and on every single time.
Stacey always made sure that her curls were neatly styled and that the outfits she put on did not scream i like you. She tried her best to sound friendly all the time, even if that wasn’t her strongest suit. Sue her if a girl likes being a little mean and judgmental. Everyone is flawed anyway.
The first step was to get friendly with him, and that wouldn’t be difficult or so she thought, cause Dustin seemed to have changed from his past little seal laugh to a more closed off adult. At least he wasn’t a ghost walking around like Wheeler.
Everytime she tried to bring up something that had happened at school, a gossip or a rumor, he would shut her off with the most uninterested tight lipped smile he could muster and moved on with his day. She was thinking about starting to follow the school’s basketball team’s championship progress. Maybe he would be into talking about his friend.
So, yes, everything was, in a way, running smoothly. Until that afternoon.
It was early November, and the weather was starting to get a little chilly. Their tutoring time was usually around 6:00 pm, three times a week. And nothing would have disrupted that if it weren’t for the schools, which were almost nonexistent. So, in order not to gradually freeze to death as the cold got stronger and fiercer, they changed the time to four in the afternoon.
And even that little change in their schedules wasn’t that big of a deal. She might have been a little tired, yawning once or twice while the forces of Newton were being explained, but that was it.
What disturbed their little moments of peace, and maybe any sense of familiarity that was starting to grow between them, were those four heads that decided to pop around that day.
She could feel being watched since the moment they entered the library but had decided not to make a big deal out of it.
“So, when the box is being pushed, the force being used on it returns to the one that’s pushing.” he said, pointing to the yellow box that was sketched on top of their textbook. She happened to forget her books at the back of her dads car before he left for a job trip to Indianapolis, which had led up to both of them leaning over his book.
There is a high chance of happening again, unintentionally of course.
She nodded at his words as they formed into a train passing through her head.
“Well, that's pretty much all you need to know about the third. Personally, i believe it is the easier one to comprehend-”
“Sure”, she said, cutting him off while twirling a curl in her finder, “I mean, it's the only one you can tell apart.”
“Come on, you can’t be serious!”, he exclaimed, “ They are completely different.”
“They aren’t, and I still don’t get why we need to have two, when in truth it is just being repeated.”, Stacey then looked over him, her attention back to the object of her desires (not that it ever left), “But, I'll try my best to pretend they aren’t identical, for your sake.”
“My sake?” Dustin chuckled.
“Sure. I mean, what would I do without you?” she said, giving him her sweetest smile.
The faint sound of hushed talking was what broke their trance, their heads whipping towards the sound of it.
As quickly they came, they left. Yet she could swear it was his friends' heads that were seemingly spying on them. All she needed was to see his reaction, a conformation that was easily given up by him.
“Shit.”
She felt her stomach turning.
“Stacey, I'm so sorry but we have to wrap it up early today. Something…came up.” He said as he started collecting his notes and textbooks without looking at her, the last bit coming more harsher than the rest of his apology.
Stacey bit her lip, restraining herself from saying something she’d definitely regret afterwards. “It’s okay, I’m sure you didn’t mean for it to happen.”
He had reached the library’s door when he turned one more time to face her.
“See you on Monday.”
-
She was such a fool. How could she be so stupid, thinking she was making progress with him. She was more at a length arm than ever.
Walking back home had never felt so embarrassing, with her hands wrapped around her chest.
She couldn’t tell if it was in a protective way or a supporting one.
-
“Didn’t have you for a Jackson girl.”
The old radioshack, now turned into a vinyl store, wasn’t exactly busting with life on a Sunday evening, yet the redhead's voice had her jumping. A hand flew to her chest, feeling her heart beating loudly.
“Christ, you scared the shit out of me!” she replied breathlessly.
Max smiled apologetically, an expression that had rarely come across her face the few years she had known her.
“As I was saying, Jackson?” she commented again, now pointing at the vinyl she was holding.
Her hands gripped the album a little tighter.
“My dad was a fan of the whole family, kinda passed it down to me.”
Max nodded and turned her attention to the other albums that were at the nearby stand. Stacey continued browsing, hoping to avoid any other interaction with the girl who stood two steps away from her. She definitely was the topic of this weekend's oughting, as one of her girlfriends had spotted them at the movies late Saturday.
The two of them were alone in the store apart from the cashier, so Max didn’t think to hush her voice when she said:
“You know, we didn’t mean to pry the other time. Friday, I mean.”
Stacey took a deep breath, feeling those blue icy eyes staring at her.
“It’s okay. Really, it’s fine.” she said, not really looking at her.
“For being considered a genius, he can be so dumb from time to time.” she exhaled.
“What do you mean?” Stacey asked innocently, wanting to fish out more information.
“Well, its not like he would suddenly be busy all the fucking time without hiding something. Anyway, it doesn’t really matter.” Max said, finally deciding on a gray folder, an album from «The Church».
“Yeah, it really doesn’t”
-
She leaves a note to his locker Monday morning, neat handwriting reading that she was feeling sick and won’t make it for their lesson.
She avoids him as much as she can, him and their pack.
She skips their next tutoring sessions as well.
-
Stacey didn’t expect to see him sitting at their middle school's bleachers on a sunny Sunday morning, though she shouldn't be that surprised. Hawkings, after all, wasn’t that big of a town.
The chances are significantly higher when Steve Harrington off all people is the newest baseball coach, and her younger brothers are his favourite pair.
She sits uncomfortably besides her parents. Her friend Katie had a hair appointment, leaving her all alone. She wished she could leave, but she had promised the little ones she would come and watch them.
With the corner of her eye, she spots him walking over her. Her grip tightens at the metallic blue bleacher as anger fills her whole. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself.
“Hi Stacey, didn’t expect you to be here.” he greets her happily, his eyes almost disappearing as he smiles.
“Came for my brothers.” she answers dryly.
Dustin seems to be getting the hint, but it doesn’t stop him as he steps up and sits besides her. “Haven’t seen you all week. Missed all of our lessons too”
She tries to stay neutral, she really does. Yet here he is, poking her. And poison slips out of her tongue like a second nature.
“Looking for more cash, Henderson? I never thought you were strapped but I also didn’t have you as a beggar.”
He looks hurt. Good, she thinks. Yet a small part of her is whispering in the back of her head that this is wrong.
“Stacey…”
“Am I embarrassing? You tutoring me is something to be embarrassed about? Please Henderson, if I'm such a mess, let me know. I wouldn’t want you to be dragged from the throne of outcast or whatever stupid hierchich you nerds have!”
She can feel eyes on her. The mid-game break has already started, with the kids sitting at the bench getting their well deserted rest as the coach breaks down their errors.
It doesn’t matter. She didn’t matter herself, why would making a scene matter now?
“Henderson, get your business elsewhere man. We got kids here.”
She doesn’t need to be told twice, as she is already spreening towards the exit. She isn’t intimidated by Steve’s coach persona, though it is a good one. Stacey wants out of there as fast as possible.
“Hey, please calm down okay? Just plea-” Dustin tries to catch her as she goes.
“Fuck off.”
She is shouting now, louder than before.
“Stacey, Stacey wait. Wait goddamn it!”
He reaches and finally grabs her hand, finally preventing her from walking any farther. She keeps on tagging away from him but that turns unsuccessful as his grip only tightens with every movement. If Stacey keeps this up, her pale arm is definitely going to bruise.
She kinda wants to, just to see what happens.
“I told you to fuck off.” a horn cuts her scream. They have reached the end of the sidewalk, a breeze hits her face every time a vehicle passes by them fast.
“I know, I know and I will, just. Just listen to me.”
The plea in his voice is a nice change, a change she can get behind. He owns her an explanation.
She nods and he frees her hand. Stacey immediately misses the contact of their skin.
“I’m an asshole. I don’t know why I didn't tell them and it was really, really shitty, what I did. I guess I just wanted to avoid any questions.”
A challenging eyebrow is raised.
“Is that so? Cause what i think happened, is that you and your friends were playing a joke.”
There was no need to say that she wasn’t their favourite person in the world.
He shakes his head.
“We would never do something like that, I would never do something like that.”
“And why would I believe you?”
Whatever she expects, well, she would have never predicted he had the audacity to chuckle and say: “Cause we are not you, Stacey.”
If any other girl was in her shoes, she would be mad. She would feel offended and she would definitely spiral. But, if there is one thing Stacey is proud of, it is that she is very self aware.
“Touché” she says. And she fucking smiles.