Archive of Our Own ^beta

It had been only three months ago that you were practically kicked out of your home. The punishment your parents deemed to see fit was to take you away from your sunny California home and relocate you to Hawkins, Indiana. Where you were to live with your Aunt Claudia and cousin Dustin. The two would hopefully “humble” you down enough to behave and become a respectful member of society. 

Which was completely bullshit in your opinion. 

The long bus ride into town only cemented your fear of living here. It wasn’t your first time around Hawkins, having come there to visit early on when your cousin was born. But the dull and seemingly stuck in the past town was not ideal for you. There would be no thriving here, no living, just going day by day molding in with the rest of backwards idiots that lived there. 

At least this would be the way until you saved up enough to move out on your own and leave. Something you were terrified of considering you’ve spent the majority of your life in your father’s care. Where money wasn’t a problem and you could practically get away with anything. 

Well, almost anything. 

Filing out one by one off the bus, you were happy to set foot on the ground again. Letting the evening sun shine an orange glow over your skin and warm you up from the drastically different weather.

You barely grabbed your luggage from the driver when the loud sound of feminine voice called out your name. Cringing at the attention, you quickly stepped away from the bus to look for the person causing the noise. 

“Over here sweetie!” Yelled your Aunt Claudia as she rushed over to you. A forced smile tugged at your lips as she pulled you into a tight hug. Despite the fact that you were imposing in her life, she seemed excited to see you. Making you feel worse about the situation. “My gosh you’ve grown so much. You’re taller than me now!”

“Yeah, well it’s been a couple of years now since you’ve last seen me.” 

It was sort of unfortunate to have the only other family live so far away growing up. Your Dad and Aunt weren’t as close growing up, despite the latter efforts of Claudia later on. He couldn't bother giving back the love she seemed to seep. 

“We’ll have plenty of time to catch up now.” 

Her arm wrapped around you tightly, causing you to huff out a bit of air as she tugged you close.  “Have you eaten?”  she asked, leading you over to her car. She gripped one of your bags in her hands so that she could keep an arm around you.  

“Had a bag of chips on the bus ride from the airport.” 

Her eyes widened, staring at you in shock before she tutted. “That simply won’t do. It’s good that I thought ahead. Gotta big roasted chicken dinner waiting for you back home.” 

Home

Though her words were meant to be comforting, they only reminded you that Hawkins really would be your new home. Putting a heavy ache in your chest. “Home it is.” you mumbled.

It wasn’t until after dinner that you managed to finally settle in. Your Aunt had been kind enough to practically set up your room for you. Going as far to make your bed up and put away the clothes that had been sent before your arrival. The act of kindness being one of the few things that’s helped ease the ache in your chest since arriving. 

You were debating on where to hang up your poster of The Bangles when a harsh knock came at your door. The clock showed the late hour, making you frown a bit before you set the poster down and walked to the door.

“You’re here!” Dustin cheered, barreling inside the room before you even reached the door knob. He did a quick look around, admiring some of the additions you added to the design before he rushed to wrap his arms around you. 

“I’m here.” You confirmed with a small laugh. It was kind of nice to see your baby cousin again. Having been the only other young family member in the Henderson clan. But that happiness faded when you felt your hand touch his wet jacket. “Ugh, and you smell like sweat!” The whiff of the outside seeped off his clothing, making you push him away as you patted at your clothes. 

“Oops, sorry about that. Just got back from Mike’s.” 

It finally gave you both a chance to give each other a once over. Dustin was still the same. Only having grown a few inches more since the last you saw him. Missing the front of his teeth as usual. But looking at his wide eyes, you could only assume that you looked more different than he remembered. 

“You look..different.” He said bluntly, moving over to plop down on your desk chair. His hands reached out to play with one of your pens as he watched you resume back to hanging up the poster.

“Is that good or bad?”

“It’s both?” 

Glancing over your shoulder, you gave him a look before pinning the material down against the wall. “Well it’s been four years, Dustin. I think it’d be weird if I didn’t look any different.” You stepped back to make sure it was a good angle before sitting down at the edge of your bed, to look over at him again.

“Yeah, but you used to dress cooler.” 

“What’s wrong with how I’m dressed now?” Scanning over your outfit, you tugged at the end of your blouse. Back at home, you and all your friends were widely known for having great taste in clothes. 

“You look like one of those girls that are on Knight Rider or Brooke Shields.” He frowned, chucking the pen behind him. “It’s not how you used to dress.”

Trying to think back on how you used to dress, you couldn’t help but scoff at the memory. You were always hiding away in oversized sweaters, pants that did nothing for your figure, and converse. Now you have style. It was something that was important to you. Not because it gave you attention from others, but because it made you feel better about yourself. 

“Well, I hate to break it to you. But times have changed and so have I.” 

Crossing your arms you watched as he twirled on the desk chair, making a small pout as he nodded his head. “I was hoping you wouldn’t.” He mumbled, sounding a lot younger now.

“Look,” you started, getting up so you could crouch to his level. “I may look different and like different things..but you’re still my favorite cousin. Okay?”

“I’m your only cousin.”

“Exactly! So you don’t have anything to worry about.” You smirked, watching his confused face grow more twisted. “Now get the hell out of my chair because it’s late and I have to bike over to the stupid school tomorrow.”

“Your dad didn’t send your car?”

“No, the asshole is making me work for it.” He had made his way to the door, stopping to raise a brow at the comment. You waved your hand about it. “In the meantime I’m stuck biking around like a total loser.”

Dustin shrugged his shoulders, pulling the door open before he looked back at you. “Don’t worry, just shape up and you’ll be cruising around in no time. Maybe even give me a lift now and then?” 

His optimism pulled an amusing huff from your lips. “You sound so sure of that.” You muttered, playing with the hem of your shirt. 

He gave you one last sympathetic glance before making his exit. But not without some parting words. 

“Well one of us has to. Otherwise, you’re screwed.”

 Luckily, the next morning your meeting at the school wasn’t as bad as you thought it’d be. Yes, you were sort of forced to start seeing the school’s guidance counselor; Ms. Kelley. But she seemed to understand that you weren’t exactly as thrilled about it and stated that you would be taking things slow and that everything was confidential. 

Despite the fact that your incident took place over the summer, the sudden move was told to your old school and quickly told to your newest school. Meaning, even though you barely caused any trouble before, the staff at Hawkins would have a reason to watch over you now.

Glancing at your wrist, you checked the time, noting that pretty soon kids would start to arrive in bigger clusters. A very unusual feeling of anxiety built up in your stomach. For years you had a steady place in the food chain at your old school. Having grown up with most of the “cool” or “popular” kids made it easy for you to slip in their crowd. 

Especially with your ex being the leader of it all. But all that was gone. Now you had to calculate and figure out your place here with kids that seemed behind on just about everything. 

Ignoring the pain in your gut, you made your way down the row of lockers, trying to find yours when you noticed him. The first tell sign of the boy was his insane hair. It was possibly the biggest head of hair you’ve seen on a guy but he seemed to pull it off. The second was how preppy he seemed to dress, a usual sign of a popular kid.

Slowly you made your way over, looking as he frowned down at the locker. Trying to force a paper between the slots on the front. Even from the side he was noticeably cute, with pouty lips and long lashes. This really wasn't a bad way to meet someone your age. 

“Wow, my first day here and I already have someone putting notes in my locker.” 

The boy jumped a bit, not having realized you were beside him. “Shit.” He chuckled, looking at you with wide eyes. “You’re new.” 

“Yup,” you nodded, pointing at the metal door behind him. “And I’m trying to put my stuff away if you don’t mind moving.” 

For a second his gaze scanned over your body, possibly trying to see if he recognized you or not. “This is your locker?” He frowned, checking the number again. 

Waving the slip of paper given to you from the secretary, you allowed him to take a peek at some of the details. “According to the school it’s mine.” 

Chuckling again he stepped aside, extending his arm out so that you could move forward. While opening up the locker you took a quick glance at hum again and noticed he was focusing on another paper. 

“Having trouble there?” You inquired, raising a brow up at him. 

“Yeah, the relic at the front desk wrote out the number on here and I swear this shit is chicken scratch.” He grumbled, making you chuckle before you peeked over to look at it. The writing was terrible but you could see the problem right away.

“That would be because you’re mixing up that zero for one. I believe you’re looking the next one over.” 

Pointing to the one next to yours, you used your nails to tap lightly against the metal before finishing to put away things in your locker. This time he managed to successfully slip the note in before he looked over at you again.

“Do I have something on my face?” You mused, slapping the door shut. Leaning against the locker, you mimicked his pose while staring back.

“You’re new.”

Rolling your eyes you let out a small laugh. “I thought we established that?” 

“Sorry, it’s just, we don’t usually get anyone new. Especially around the middle of the year.” 

You adjusted the strap to your bag, giving him a shrug. “Must make me really special then.” 

The boy seemed to find that funny before he nodded his head slightly. “I’m Steve, by the way. Steve Harrington.” 

For some reason the name throws you off a bit. It reminded you of one of the glam and rich characters from one of those day time soaps some girls at your old school would watch. “Quite a name.” You smirked before giving him yours.

It was weird to hear your name from him, even made your heartbeat a bit faster. 

Glancing down at your paper, you read over the name for your next class. Ignoring the way you had become slightly flustered over a simple name exchange. “If we’re done with the niceties, I’ll head over to Miss Click’s class now.” 

Spinning on your heel, you didn’t really pay him any mind as you made your way down the hall. It wasn’t until he grabbed at your elbow gently that you stopped walking. 

“Miss Click's that way.” He smiled, pointing in the other direction. 

Cocking your chin out, you nodded your head and moved towards that direction. Again, the mysterious Steve was at your side again. “I would assume the girl you’re leaving that note for wouldn’t like to see you following me around.”

“I’m not following you around.” He objected, nose scrunching lightly before his hazel eyes were back to you. “I’m just showing the new girl to her first class. Some might say that’s a pretty decent thing to do.” 

Your eyes rolled again, but the small charm that lingered on his teasing tone was kind of getting to you. “Well, I suppose it’s alright you helped me out since you needed my assistance with finding the right locker.” 

“Exactly!” He grinned, “it’s the least that I could do.” 

A couple of students passing by gawked as the two of you walked by them. Making you wonder if being new really was such an oddity to this place. “Sorry about the stares.” Steve coughed, cutting into your thoughts. He kept his gaze forward, acting as if people weren’t looking. “They kind of do that from time to time.” 

“You’re telling me people openly stare at you?” The two of you slowed down as you walked towards a short hall. Giving you enough time to steal another look at him again.

“When you’re King of the school it tends to happen.” He said as a matter of fact. Like that sort of reception or reply was remotely normal. 

Crossing your arms across your chest, you couldn’t help but let out a small scoff. It almost sounded like he was proud about that. “And you’re so humble about it.” 

He raised his hands up defensively, giving a small sly grin. “I didn’t ask to be King, the people just pick who they want to love. Happens to be me.” 

It’s hard to disguise your unimpressed face. A second ago, Steve really seemed like a pretty cool guy, a bit of a flirt, but still cool. Now, in front of other people, you could see this shell start to form on him. You’ve seen it on people before. 

Hell, you’ve dated someone like that before. 

Still. It didn’t stop the slight disappointment that started to form in your mind. “Alright your highness, thanks for the walk.” You waved, not wanting to hear him continue to talk about himself. 

“See you around, newbie!” He yelled, not noticing you shake your head as you entered the classroom. 

Eventually the day finished. You had to mostly skip out on lunch to confer with a couple of teachers on work you might need to rush on to catch up. But it wasn’t anything too hard. Soon enough the final bell rang and you ran out of your last classroom.

Students buzzed by, making plans to hang out, or discussing projects as you walked down the hall. Some eyes followed you, watching as they tried to figure out what kind of person their school’s newest student would be like. If you were being honest, you weren’t so sure yourself. 

There was no plan on what you were going to do here, but you knew for sure you were going to try and stay out of trouble. It was just going to be hard considering you had no idea who amongst the sea of people were considered good or bad news.

“Can I just say that I absolutely love your outfit?”

A girl with bright blue eyes and brown eyes gushed as she approached you. She was a little on the shorter side but her eyes were wide and gleaming as she took in your appearance. “Where did you get that look?”

Smiling a bit, you glanced down at everything before back to her. “The pants are Guess, the top is from Benetton and the shoes are Reebok.” Her eyes lit up even more, seeming to know some of the brands you listed off. 

“You seriously have quite some taste.” She smirked, extending an arm out. “I’m Carol.” Giving her hand a quick shake, you give her your name back. Seeing out of the corner of your eye a boy across the walkway looking at you curiously. It wasn’t like you weren’t used to boys staring. But in this case, he seemed almost wary of you.

“You’re new right?” Carol asked, drawing your attention back to her. 

“That seems to be the consensus.” 

She looked back at you confused, not seeming to understand the sarcasm. “Yeah, I’m new.” you confirmed, holding back an eye roll. “I was a bit busy today since I’m still getting adjusted.”

“Right! Then tomorrow we should definitely meet up and get to know each other!” she gushed, flipping a curl with her hand. “I gotta meet up with my boyfriend Tommy, but maybe we can..” Her words die off from your focus the more you noticed the boy across the hall staring at you again His eyes were dark, giving his stare a piercing chill. 

“Uh Carol, right?” The girl nodded her head enthusiastically. “Let’s meet up by the front entrance tomorrow. I’ll answer any curious question you have then.” Getting her smile of approval, you waved goodbye to the girl before turning on your heel towards the boy.

He shifted nervously now to have your full attention, moving towards the back exit once Carol had walked way. But you weren’t going to let him get away that easily. 

“Hey creep!” you yelled out, catching up to stand at his side. He seemed to get embarrassed by your words. It wasn’t until you were gripping at his sleeve that he stopped to look back at you in the eyes.

“Look, sorry for staring. I didn’t mean to.”

You couldn’t help but laugh a bit, finding his reaction a bit amusing. “Really? Because the prolonged eye contact didn’t deter you from doing that?” A small shade of pink flushed on his cheeks before you waved it off. “Why were you staring?”

He huffed out a small breath before he shrugged a shoulder lightly. “Your last name. It’s Henderson right?” Nodding your head, you watched him collect his next question. “By any chance, are you related to Dustin Henderson?”

“Yeah, he’s my little cousin. I’m staying with him and my Aunt for a while. Why?” you crossed your arms, unsure how this random guy knew who your family was. 

“He’s friends with my little brother, Will.”

Mouthing an ‘o’ you nodded your head at him again. “Right, well I haven’t exactly met any of his little friends yet.” 

A noticeable look of disappointment washed over his face before he looked down at his feet. “My little brother hasn’t been seen since last night..” he said softly. “I’m just trying to cover all places that I could possibly find him.” 

“I’m sorry.” It was all you could think to say. The thought of someone your cousin’s age disappearing made your stomach twist up. It probably had to be nerve wrecking to be in his position. “I’ll be on the lookout? What’s he look like?”

He reached into his pocket to pull out a photo. It was a school year book copy and you couldn’t help but smile a bit at the fresh boy’s face. Doe eyes and smile wide as he posed for the picture. “His name is Will.” He cleared his throat, extending a hand out for you to shake, which you did. “I’m Jonathan by the way.” 

“I’ll be sure to have Dustin call if there’s anything. This town’s not so big, I’m sure he’ll come out soon enough. Probably just having a bad day?”

Jonathan seemed slightly skeptical of your answer. Possibly seeing it as too optimistic for whatever his mind was thinking this was. “Yeah, I hope so.” With a small nod to you, he adjusted the strap of his backpack and made his way to the exit. Bringing an end to your weird first day of school.

Your Aunt was quick to update you further on the case of Will Byers. Telling you all she knew about the bright boy. He was friends with your cousin the moment they all met up in grade school. Coming and going to each other’s houses for years now. She mentioned that while Will was shy, he was very much a happy enthusiastic boy. Making his sudden disappearance out of character. 

It all made you feel worse for Jonathan.

Despite the plaguing thoughts about the missing brother, you continued to attempt to settle in your new home when the house phone began to ring. The sound of the loud ringing echoed all the way into your room. It wasn’t until the sound of Aunt Claudia calling out your name that you found out it was for you. 

Unsure who would even be able to reach for you out here, you picked up the handle, bringing the receiver to the ear before your cousin’s panicked voice came through.

“Whoa, Dustin, why the hell are you yelling?”

“You need to come to the Wheeler house!”

“What’s wrong?” You asked, worried why of all people Dustin needed you to come. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine! We just need you to come see this..”

The sound of your Aunt humming from the living room as she picked up the place caught your attention. It wouldn’t be good if something happened to Dustin like his friend. “Dustin, I don’t have time to be playing your games. Besides, should you be out right now? You know your-”

“Will you just trust me and get the hell over here!?”

“Watch the tone, brat.” you hissed into the phone.

"Fine! Fine, I'm sorry. Please. I need you. Mom can’t know.”

Sighing, you looked back at your Aunt, figuring that looking out for Dustin was one of the things you could at least do while imposing yourself in her home.

“Fine, give me an address.”