Chapter Text
Kathy Martín’s life never turned out quite the way she expected. No matter the amount of planning she made, all her tightly formulated plans always seemed to slip right through her fingertips. Kathy thought that she’d spend the rest of her life in San Francisco, probably get into the city’s University, get a house near the Embaracado, or maybe even Haight street if she was feeling adventurous, which she seldom was. And there, in the city by the bay, the only home she had ever known, she would happily live out the rest of her life.
But, of course, things had not turned out like Kathy had planned. Forced to move from her home with, all of Kathy’s plans had been thrown out the window and run over by a car. Now she was stuck living in the middle of nowhere, or more accurately, Hawkins, Indiana. Though it might as well be nowhere.
Taking a deep breath, Kathy stared up at her ceiling. She’d already been stuck in Hawkins for two weeks and she had yet to accumulate into her new life. No friends, no social life to speak of, just her home, school, and back again. Closing her eyes, Kathy tried to picture the faces of her friends, the familiar sights and sounds of her old life.
“Kathy,” her mother shouted at her downstairs, “if you don’t come down right now -”
Opening her eyes, Kathy flung herself off her bed. “I’m coming!” Kathy yelled, as she quickly tried to gather herself. Kathy caught her reflection in the mirror, her raven black hair was neatly curled and pinned out of her face. Kathy frowned, her chocolate brown eyes raking over her warm brown skin.
“Kathy! Ahora!”
Sighing, Kathy picked up her book bag and hastily made her way down the stairs. Her mother waited impatiently by the door. Kathy’s mother looked tired, her last few shifts at the hospital had been night shifts, taking a clear toll on her. Her wavy hair was frayed and her nurse scrubs were wrinkled and worn.
“I made you some lunch, and dinner will be waiting for you in the fridge,” Kathy’s mother managed to muster a warm smile at her.
“You didn’t have to Mamá, I could have taken care of it,” Kathy reached for the brown paper bag.
“Are you the mother or am I?” Kathy’s mom ushered her towards the door. “Now go, or you’re going to be late. Don’t forget you offered to take the neighbors kid to school again.”
How could I forget? Kathy thought. She’d offered to take her neighbors kid, Lucas, to school for some extra money until she could find a job of her own. Kathy’s mom was already wearing herself down taking as many shifts as she could.
Kathy pulled out the keys to her car and made her way out the door. Haphazardly, Kathy opened the door to her yellow jeep, throwing her bag in the backseat, Kathy closed the door.
“Have a good day at school!” Her mom yelled back at her as Kathy pulled out of the driveway. Rounding the corner, Kathy pulled up to the Sinclair household. Lucas was impatiently waiting on the curb, his eyes snapping to meet Kathy’s.
“You’re late,” he said matter of factly.
“Am not,” Kathy snapped back, though her tone shifted as she glanced at the clock. “Five minutes isn’t that big of a deal.”
Lucas gave her a droll look as he put his seat belt on. “It is when you have big party business to talk about.”
Kathy pulled away from the curb and made her way to school. Kathy turned to look over at Lucas, a smirk forming on her face. “You ever going to tell me what this party thing is?”
Flustered, Lucas sat up straighter in his seat. “No, party members only,” Lucas said resolutely.
“Fine, fine,” Kathy muttered. Turning on the radio, Kathy and Lucas drove the rest of the way to school in silence, only the sound of the latest Duran Duran song humming in the background. The drive itself to your respective schools was quick, you found yourself pulling into the entrance of the middle school in fifteen minutes. Lucas’ friends were already waiting for him by the bike racks.
“Thanks,” Lucas mumbled as he exited the car, his face brightening at the sight of his friends walking towards him.
“Hi, Kathy,” an eager voice called out to, one that you had come to know as Dustin Henderson.
“Hi, Dustin,” you laughed back as his smile only grew from her acknowledgement. The other two friends, Will and Mike, laughed at Dustin’s expense.
“I’ll be right here at 3:15. Don’t be late, Lucas,” Kathy grinned as she pulled away from the school before Lucas could bite back a remark.
Driving the short distance to the high school, Kathy anxiously drummed her fingers along her steering wheel as she tried to find a parking space. Kathy was going to be so totally late.
After what seemed like ages, Kathy was finally able to find a space. Parking her car, and reaching towards her backseat to grab her backpack, Kathy hastily got out of her car and ran towards the school.
Racing down the halls, Kathy accidentally bumped into someone, causing her to drop her bag in the process.
“Shit,” she mumbled as she tried to pick up her fallen books and place them back in the bag.
“What a freak!”
“You okay?”
Kathy's eyes found Steve Harrington’s first, his expression a cross between concerned and arrogant, the latter winning out on his face. Tammy Tompson’s on the other hand was vicious, a look that Kathy had learned was a permanent fixture on his face.
Without saying a word, Kathy picked herself up off the floor and made her way to her photo class. The class was already in full motion besides the fact that the bell hadn’t rang yet. Throwing her bag on a nearby chair, Kathy got to work. Pulling out her undeveloped film canister, Kathy made her way to the darkroom.
All of the spaces were filled already, all except for one. Kathy set down her canister, and got to work measuring out the developer.
“Morning, Jonathan,” Kathy said brightly as she set to work developing her film.
Even in the dark room, Kathy could still see Jonathan jump at the greeting.
“Oh, uh, morning, Kathy,” he said shyly.
Kathy had met Jonathan on her first day of school. While everyone else had been too busy to help Kathy learn her way around, Jonathan had, albeit reluctantly, showed Kathy the ropes. Since then, Kathy had grown rather fond of him, going out of her way to say hi to him whenever she saw him.
Shaking up her film tank, Kathy’s tongue poked out in concentration.
“I, uh, listened to that album you told me about.”
Kathy’s face lit up brightly, as she set down her film tank. “Did you? How did you like it?”
Jonathan’s face lit up as he looked down at his own film tank. “It was really good,” he smiled, “I think The Sound is one of my favorite bands now.”
“No way, really? Not only did I introduce Jonathan Byers to a band, but I actually got him to like them too?”
Jonathan shook his head trying to hold in his laughter. “Yeah, well, miracles happen right?”
Jonathan and Kathy both made their way over to apply fixer and then soak their film canisters. Kathy leaned against the table, smiling as she looked at Jonathan.
“You know, INXS is pretty good too,” you smiled as Jonathan scoffed at you.
“That top 40’s band?”
“Oh, what? You won’t listen to anything on the radio? Too good for it?”
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he leaned against the table next to you. “I’m not too good for it, it just isn’t meaningful.”
Kathy let out a loud laugh that got the attention of a few nearby students. “Pretentious, Byers,” you laughed. Jonathan gave you a mock look of anger.
“I think Bananarama has just as much to say as Bowie.”
“Oh, God,” Jonathan let out a laugh, “Please tell me you’re joking.”
Kathy smiled brightly shrugging, “Eh, maybe.”
Kathy walked over to her submerged film canister and opened it to hang her film.
“Kathy?” Jonathan called, but she ignored him.
“You are joking right? Hey!”
The rest of class passed by quickly, Kathy and Jonathan chatting away the hour. Kathy wished she had more classes with him, but photo was the only class they shared. Kathy could see herself becoming good friends with him. Jonathan was a rare mixture of complete sincerity and kindness. Kathy would have thought he had a big group of friends, but he seemed to stick to himself. Through the past two weeks Kathy had thought about having lunch with him, or maybe even hanging out to do homework, but each time she worked up the courage to ask, something had come up. So, Kathy decided to just not ask. Leaving her just as alone as him.
By the time school finally ended, Kathy trudged her way over to her car. One hand on her door handle, Kathy turned around the call of her name.
Kathy turned to see Lucas and his friends running over to her.
“Hey, Kathy!” Dustin smirked at her.
Suppressing an eyeroll, Kathy tried her best to match Dustin’s energy. “Hi, Dustin.”
“Man, leave her alone already, you look pathetic,” Lucas grumbled.
“Me? Pathetic? At least I don’t need a babysitter!” Dustin bit back.
“She’s not my babysitter!” Lucas yelled, “She just drives me around.”
“Oh, cause that’s better,” Dustin quipped.
“Guys, come on,” Will tried to plead.
“Just let them go at it,” Mike said exhaustedly.
“Will?”
The group turned to look over at Jonathan who stood awkwardly near her car.
A grumbled chorus of hellos greeted Jonathan as he looked over at Kathy. Kathy felt like an idiot. She should have put together the resemblance two shared. From the looks of it, Jonathan seemed to be having a similar epiphany.
“Do you two know each other?” Dustin asked.
“Of course they know each other, idiot, they go to the same school.” Lucas, smacked Dustin on the arm, the latter agitated with the other.
“Lucas, you ready?” Kathy asked, one hand still on the door, she was ready to call it a day.
“We’re actually going to go over to Will’s house. It’s his turn to host the campaign tonight.” Lucas said, his eyes meeting Kathy’s for the first time.
“Oh,” was all Kathy managed to say.
“You can come if you want,” Dustin said.
His comment was met by a resounding smack on his arm and a chorus of “What the hell are you thinking?”
“Nah, I’m good.” Kathy replied. “Just, uh, going to head home and catch up on all of my homework.”
Kathy felt like a complete loser. She had no social life to speak of, and not even a group of middle schoolers wanted her around.
“You have Mr. Conners right?”
Kathy looked up to see Jonathan trying his best to meet her gaze.
“Yeah, I have him fourth,” Kathy replied curiously.
“Do you, uh, do you want to work on the paper together tonight? You know, while they’re campaigning?”
To say Kathy was surprised would be an understatement. She never thought Jonathan Byers would be the one to try and invite her to do anything.
“Are you sure?” Kathy asked, hoping that he wasn’t just asking out of pity.
“Yeah, only if you want to.”
Kathy smiled brightly at Jonathan, his own smile growing. Kathy made a note of how much nicer her smile looked when it wasn’t obstructed by the darkroom.
“Okay, great! So I’ll follow you then?”
Jonathan bashfully nodded his head, and the group split up. Jonathan took Will and Mike and Kathy taking Dustin and Lucas.
As Kathy followed Jonathan to his house she couldn’t help but feel a sense of happiness that she hadn’t felt since she had moved. Kathy briefly pondered making new plans, ones that would be more full proof then the last.
If Kathy had known better, she wouldn’t have bothered to make any plans at all. But Kathy didn’t know any better, and her plans were about to be obliterated.