Chapter Text
September 1st, 1996, Sunday
It’s cold. Nancy figures she shouldn't be so surprised that it’s cold in Maine. But as she’s standing on the front lawn under the clock tower at 7 am on a Sunday this level of cold in what’s still technically Summer is just unacceptable. 7:05 am actually, at least the last she checked. Jonathan Byers is five minutes late. She doesn’t know Jonathan Byers. No one does, he’s new to Montgomery Academy this year. All Nancy really knows about the guy is that he’s a junior transfer student from New York. Checking her watch again, maybe the old clock tower is off she hopes, as she moves around to create warmth, she notes that he’s also not very punctual. It’s been another five minutes now, she’s about to give up on him, maybe find his dorm room and tell him how rude it is that he couldn’t be bothered to show up. Doesn’t he know how inconvenienced she is waiting for him? That it's rude to leave people out in the cold? That she, as class president, certainly has better things to do with her Sunday morning. But then she hears a voice from behind her
“Sorry, sorry I got lost” Jonathan calls out while jogging up to meet her.
He’s pushing his long brown hair into place as he slows down his pace. He’s taller than her but shorter than she expected, lanky and slender in the way teenage boys often are. He's wearing a short-sleeved band shirt, a flannel tied at his waist, and dark jeans. She’ll have to remind him that the school policy is to wear uniforms outside of dormitories. He's not exactly classically handsome, more like pretty she thinks to herself, especially considering his cheekbones and jawline. But he’s not her type, she thinks and mentally scolds herself for considering his attractiveness.
"It's fine. The campus can be overwhelming at first. That's why we have the tour" she responds finally with just a hint of irritation in her voice.
She catches him raising his eyebrows slightly at that. As if she doesn’t have the right to be irritated by his tardiness. Up close she notices that he looks like he hasn’t slept in a week. 'Typical' she thinks 'Jonathan Byers is just another rich party boy.'
“Late Night” she jokingly asks in an attempt to break the tension between them.
“Uh no.” He answers softly “No. I just got lost” he follows with a shrug.
“Right. Yea.” Nancy responds.
He doesn’t say anything back just waits. He seems to realize that she’s in uniform but it doesn’t look like he feels remotely guilty for leaving her in the cold in a skirt. Rather, it looks like he’s studying her attempting to fit her into someplace. It’s annoying. Jonathan Byers is annoying Nancy notes. Rather than stand under the clock tower until sundown, she moves to extend her hand.
“Nancy Wheeler” she introduces
“Yea. Uh, I figured. It’s on the itinerary” He says lifting up the paper “Uh Jonathan Byers” he stammers out shaking her hand.
“Right. So should we go?” Nancy asks
“Yea,” Jonathan responds.
She hands him a small copy of the campus map and they begin their walking tour. She's grateful to start actually moving and hopes that she’ll warm up soon. Maybe when she finishes she can convince Robin to go into town and get good coffee. She was so eager to start that she forgot to mention they were under the Creel Bell Tower named after Victor Creel, the same Creel that his housing assignment is named after. She doesn’t envy him for having to live in Creel House. The building is old and drafty with a weird musty smell. Robin also swears it’s haunted. By all accounts, Nancy and Robin were fortunate in their room assignment. They had a preferred room because of Nancy’s status as class president. Holloway house wasn’t so much a house as it was a tower building with a lone dormitory. On the positive side, they didn’t share the bathroom with anyone but they did have to climb all those stairs. She gets so lost in thought that she also forgets to announce that they’ve passed the dining room. She turns to look at him but Jonathan seems intently focused on the map, making marks on the paper. Despite his lack of punctuality, Jonathan Byers appears serious. She attempts to restart the conversation if only so she doesn’t have to deal with the silence.
“You're from Montauk right?” she asks even though she knows the answer
“Long Island. Yea” he replies. He’s short with his responses Nancy notes
“Any siblings?” She presses on.
“One. Uh, no two. Sorry” He answers. She raises an eyebrow curious as to how exactly someone forgets a sibling
“My mom” he begins “She uh just got remarried so I have a step-sister now too.”
“Right yea. Makes sense. So you have a sister? And?” She grills him further. How can it be this difficult to open someone up?
“Uh yea, my sister Elle and my brother Will” he responds with notable annoyance this time
Still, Nancy isn't one to be deterred. If he would just answer her questions they could continue on the tour and she could tell him all the boring facts about Montgomery like it's founders, the dumb traditions, and why the mascot is a rabbit.
"And your parents" she starts again "what do they do?"
“My mom is in telemarketing and my Stepdad is a sheriff,” He says and she picks up on the smallest touch of pride that his family is normal. She decides that he must be on scholarship as there’s no way his family could afford the tuition. Her own family barely does and that’s only because it’s discounted on account of her high marks. Still, she presses on in her questioning.
“And what brings you to Montgomery?” she asks.
He might be on scholarship but she'd still be surprised if he chose to come here. No one chooses to go to Montgomery. Well no one except her. He seems stumped for a moment. No, maybe confused. Jonathan has a very hard face to read, she thinks.
“I uh wanted to go here” he explains “It’s one of the best schools in the country” he continues in a tone like she doesn’t already know that.
“Yea but why?” she presses again.
She's genuinely curious now. If Jonathan isn't being punished he must have a really good reason for dropping everything and going to rural Maine for private school.
“Well, it’s a funnel school right?” He asks “Into like Ivy League colleges and stuff?”
“Yea. So you want to go to an Ivy” She asks. That’s understandable, pretty much everyone at Montgomery is going to an Ivy.
“No. I want to go to the Rhode Island School of Design. I’m a photographer” He says again with the smallest hint of pride.
“Art School?” it comes out harsher than she means it to, but she wouldn’t have thought of him as an artist. A musician maybe.
“Yea. Art School” he snides “Why what do you want to do” it’s Jonathan’s turn to grill her.
“I’m going to get into one of the Ivies probably Harvard or Yale” She responds monotonously. She’s had her answer locked into that question since she was six. She continues walking along but doesn’t feel him beside her anymore. He’s standing still under the Gateway arch. Looking at her like he remembered something important. It’s unsettling, she thinks. Just as she’s about to tell him they need to keep going to finish the tour on time he opens his mouth again.
“And then what?” he asks quietly but seriously.
“Excuse me?” she exclaims taken aback.
“After… After you get into Harvard or Yale? Then What?” he elaborates.
Nancy looks at him incredulously, at a loss for words.
“What do you do with the rest of your life?” He presses again with a tone of genuine curiosity.
Nancy can feel her cheeks heating up. People don’t push her on her answers. Ever. She tells them and they respond with that’s nice, I'm sure you’ll do great things. Who is this guy to push her?
“God. I don’t know” she answers feeling herself get increasingly flustered.
“You don’t know” he repeats slowly mulling over each word.
“Yes. Ok? I don’t know. I’m sixteen, am I supposed to know?” She accidentally shouts at him and Jonathan scoffs. He actually scoffs and now she’s pissed, where does he get off questioning her life choices?
“And I guess you just have it all figured out then? Graduate from here, go to art school, and then what?” She can hear the condescending tone in her voice but can't seem to stop herself. “How exactly do you plan to make money with an art degree?”
“Money isn’t everything,” he says resolutely and attempts to move past her to continue their tour.
“Yeah. Right. That’s why you’re on scholarship.” it’s out of her mouth before she can stop herself. He’s stopped dead in his tracks and she’s cursing herself for her own impulsive anger. Like she has any real room to judge him for not being able to afford the exorbitant tuition costs. She opens her mouth to try at an apology but he turns around and looks her dead in the eye. It feels like an eternity passes under his gaze. She feels squirmy and uncomfortable. She's trying to figure out exactly what he’s looking at. She attempts to speak again but he cuts her off before she gets the chance.
“Thanks for the tour. I think I can figure the rest out for myself. Sorry for wasting your time.” He says quickly walking away from her.
She’s far too flustered to call after him. If Jonathan Byers doesn’t want the rest of the campus tour that’s fine by her. He can get lost on his way to classes for all she cares. What right does he have to judge her anyway? She checks her watch again, 7:30 am the tour was supposed to go until 9 am. ‘Twenty minutes’ she makes a mental note to tell Robin later. At least she gets some of her morning back now, she thinks before making the trek back to her own room.
When she finally trudges all the stairs back to her dorm room she finds Robin awake with Steve asleep, pushed halfway out of the bed. Which she finds only a little odd considering that he was fully in when she had left. She doesn’t quite understand Robin and Steve’s relationship, she only knows that they’re both from Chicago, both only children, their parents are both in insurance and they started Montgomery at the same time. Steve was a Sophomore and Robin a Freshman. But judging, by the way, Robin stares at Vickie Albright during band, Nancy guesses that whatever relationship she and Steve have is platonic capital P. She, unfortunately, can't say the same, in a bid to win the class presidency she used Steve’s popularity to catapult her own Sophomore year. Truth be told, the whole thing had ended in a disaster she doesn't quite remember now referred to as the ‘Bullshit Incident’ amongst their little trio.
“That was quick” Robin chirps, peering up from her magazine.
“Twenty minutes. He didn’t want the full tour” Nancy complains as she sits back on her own bed
“How come?” Robin inquires further.
“Probably figures he’ll be kicked out within the month” Steve groans half-awake.
“He’d beat Hargrove’s record” Steve mumbles and Robin laughs.
“Be nice” Nancy chides Steve “He is your roommate after all.”
“Ugh don’t remind me” Steve moans again.
“Why didn’t he want to tour?” Robin asks again.
“I don’t know. It was weird. I asked the usual questions. Then he got all huffy about how I want to go to Harvard and said he could figure out campus himself and apologized for inconveniencing me” Nancy rants. She knows she's leaving out parts in her recollection but Robin doesn't need to know.
“Weird.” Robin says at the same time Steve responds with “Great, my new roommate is a weirdo.”
“Yea I guess.” Nancy shrugs noncommittally.
It was weird. Jonathan Byers had been weird. That she hadn’t expected, when she set out earlier that morning she had expected the normal bullshit rich asshole. One of the best schools in the country and yet it’s a breeding ground of debauchery for rich kids with too much time on their hands. Year after year, Nancy tours them around, and then she, Robin, and Steve make bets on how long they’ll stick it out. Hargrove had been one of the worst, the unsavory boy had been here a little over a month before crashing his car into the Dean’s quarters. The occasional party in the woods behind the school could be overlooked if the donation was right. But defamation of property? There was no coming back from that in Dean Owens book and Hargrove was expelled the next morning.
“I give him six weeks” Robin breaks the silence
“A month” Steve shoots back as they both look at her.
“I don’t know” Nancy hesitates “Might only be five” she jokes
She’s lying. But Robin and Steve don’t notice. Why would they, they rarely do. No one ever notices when Nancy lies. Not her parents, not her teachers, and certainly not her friends. ‘Jonathan noticed’ the voice in the back of her notes. She tries to ignore that truth, to ignore the way he had looked at her like he could see through to her core. Jonathan Byers, she thinks human lie detector. It's not like she doesn't want to go to Harvard, but it's what's expected. She’s top of her class at Montgomery, she’ll continue her education at an Ivy, probably major in political science or pre-law so she appears serious. Then she’ll marry a man who’s done all the same things, buy a colonial house, and have two children. If Nancy thinks about it any longer than five minutes she’ll scream. No matter how hard she tried to picture it, any adherence to those plans made her feel like her education was a joke.
And you scoffed at him for wanting to go to art school. At least he’s passionate about it The voice perks up again. Nancy wasn’t sure what she was passionate about, but it wasn’t politics, wifery, or motherhood. She likes to research, she likes English, and she thrives in debate. Above all she loves writing, but you couldn’t make a career from diary entries. Not one that would warrant all the begging she had done to convince her parents that she needed to go to Montgomery. The truth was she needed to get out of Hawkins, Indiana. The town was like a whirlpool; anything that was bright and hopeful would get sucked in and suffocate. Nancy had seen it happen to her own mother and at age fourteen she had decided it wasn’t going to happen to her too. So she packed her bags and left. And now she lies to herself that it didn’t hurt to leave Barb, that she doesn’t miss her little brother, and that she doesn’t feel like she isn’t really living her life.
“Earth to Nance” Robin practically shouts, breaking her out of her thoughts.
“Yea” she responds perking back up.
“We’re getting waffles. Want to come?” Steve informs her
“Sure” Nancy answers.
She gets up and resolves to ignore the gnawing feeling in her gut that she’s sure waffles won’t cure. She also decides to ignore the Jonathan problem. Maybe Robin and Steve are right and he’ll be gone in a month. Deep down she knows it’s not true, but what’s another lie? After all, it’s not as if she’s going to be friends with Jonathan Byers.
Thursday 09/05/96
Jonathan slumps into his bed after dinner, desperately pulling off his tie. Students were expected to wear uniforms everywhere except their dorm and except for weekends he learned on his first day. It had been three days since school started and so far, everything he thought about Montgomery Academy had been true: The classes were intense, the campus was ostentatiously big and the student body was mostly rude rich kids. They were also nosy. It seemed as though everyone wanted to know where Jonathan was from, how many siblings did he have, what his parents did, and what had he done to be sent here. The last question was especially confusing for him, it seemed like everyone who attended the school thought of it as a punishment instead of an opportunity.
Well, everyone except Nancy Wheeler he supposed. He'd learned in the last few days that she was ambitious as he remembered from their limited days at elementary school in Hawkins. Before his dad had walked out and his mom moved them as far away as possible. Not that he was ever really friends with Nancy but he had vague memories of seeing her name under his in all the library books he checked out, her hand raised high to answer the teacher's questions, her then long brown hair tied in a bow. The teachers at Hawkins had insisted that Jonathan’s reading was advanced for his age so he had always figured that Nancy must have been smart as well. Her appearance and reputation at Montgomery had proved his age-old suspicions true. He had practically fallen out of his chair at breakfast when his itinerary letter had her name under the notes for his tour.
It seemed too serendipitous, that the universe would reunite him with his first schoolyard crush nearly a decade later. And when he approached her on the lawn he knew it was too good to be true, Nancy had only grown more beautiful in their time apart. Shorter curly hair now, but the same fair skin and bright big blue eyes. He had tried not to look too long at her pale legs in that stupid uniform skirt, reminding himself that she must’ve been cold. He knew right then and there it was definitely too good to be true, the universe wouldn’t be that nice to him. And their limited interaction proved him right, the Nancy Wheeler he remembered had been a sweet girl but based on their reintroduction that’s no longer the case. It would’ve been nice to at least have an acquaintance at Montgomery but now he feels too awkward to even mention to Nancy that it wasn’t the first time they met so he’s keeping it to himself and avoiding her.
Jonathan’s next grievance was that his dorm seemed perpetually drafty. Creepy Creel House his roommate had called it. According to the talkative girl in his Advanced Latin class the guy the hall was named after abducted a bunch of people in the 60s and performed psychological experiments on them in like Ohio or something. Jonathan was sure that it was just some silly school rumor but she seemed insistent on it. She went so far as to offer her copy of some tabloid that had covered the story leaving him no choice but to nod along with her tale in hopes of ending the conversation. Either way, he wasn’t sure why the school couldn’t fix a draft in a building that cost thousands of dollars. At the very least, his roommate was nice enough, permanently stoned, but nice enough. Argyle (“like the sweater?” “Yea man, how’d you know?”) is from Southern California, he’s an only child, his dad owns some massive Pizza empire, and he was caught with a six-foot bong in the back of one of the delivery vans which led to his parents sending him to Montgomery the year before.
“They’re the real suckers man. Now I just buy in bulk on break, come back here and get boatloads of cash from desperate rich kids” Argyle explained.
The students at Montgomery were apparently too scared of the dealer in town, so they’d buy from Argyle and Argyle would buy his personal supply here so as to not cut into his profits.
“It’s simple economics my dude. Supply and Demand” Argyle elaborates waving an unlit joint in front of Jonathan’s face insisting he takes it as the "first one was free". Jonathan was about to light up when Argyle stops him.
“Aw nah man not in here, Steve moans about the smell” Argyle warns him
Jonathan throws the joint into his nightstand for later. He hasn’t met his other roommate yet according to Argyle, Steve is a “busy dude”. This seemed true enough, in the week since his arrival Jonathan had only really seen hints that his other roommate exists. The only way he knows for sure Steve is real and not a figment of Argyle’s imagination is from the rumors the student body circulated. Steven Timothy Harrington Junior (“Seriously who names their kid that” “Harrington senior, my dude”) is from Chicago, also an only child, Harrington senior runs a massive insurance company and Steve had apparently set a mall on fire before he and his accomplice were sent to Montgomery. Jonathan isn’t sure if he believed that either, but the school seemed insistent on it.
As he turns over in his bed, a small part of Jonathan regrets his decision to come to Montgomery. Not that he was really concerned with fitting in but the idea of finding any friends amongst the elite of the school is daunting. And everyone, from the nerds to his stoner roommate was elite. Not him though, he’s Jonathan Byers from small-town New York. He has two siblings and a hope that his biological father is rotting in a ditch. His mom had worked two jobs until she recently married his step-father who has a glamorous job in law enforcement. Most offensive to the other students, Jonathan wanted to go to Montgomery. He wasn’t being punished for arson or underage drinking. Truthfully, outside of some minor fistfights, he hadn’t done much wrong in his life. He had worked hard to get in, finally earned a scholarship, and was excited at the idea that his education here would help his chances at college. Even if it is just art school as Nancy had so rudely put it.
Jonathan is also starting to regret his decision to write off Nancy so quickly. As much as he hates to admit it, she’s probably the only other person who was close to being normal here. Nancy Wheeler from Hawkins, Indiana, he vaguely remembered her having a little brother Will’s age, he seemed to remember her dad being a lawyer, only because Mr.Wheeler had helped with his mom’s divorce, and as far as he knew Nancy wants to be here too. He didn’t know for sure. Maybe she had done something to be sent here and just reformed her image. He remembered her screaming at bullies on the playground in kindergarten after one, Tommy H. maybe? had insulted her friend. He laughed at the mental image of five-year-old Nancy telling off a boy twice her size and calling him a Neanderthal.
“What’s so funny?” Argyle questions from across the room
“Uh nothing just a memory” He stutters out
“Memory is a funny thing man” Argyle answers back.
Jonathan blinks a bit mulling over Argyle’s words. He turns on his side again. Maybe he would give Nancy another chance. They have English, math, chem and debate together surely he could find an opportunity to apologize for getting off on the wrong foot. Maybe he could confess to their shared Hawkins history, he didn’t expect her to remember him but that would at least give them something to build a friendship on. Then maybe they could talk about real shit like music, books, if she actually had committed a crime or if she was really just that ambitious. He thinks he knows the answer to the last question. He remembers her being ambitious, and if her extracurriculars are anything to go off of she still is. But he’d rather deal with Nancy Wheeler’s ambition than another pompous rich douchebag who looks down on him when he tells them where he’s from. It isn’t like he’s going to admit to having a crush on her when he was eight, or that he still finds her incredibly attractive, no just a nice, simple friendship. One that he could use to calm his mother’s nerves when she called and write Will funny anecdotes about. After all, there were worse people he could make friends with he decides as he drifts off to sleep.