Chapter Text
It wasn’t the first time Robin sat alone in a bus. In fact, she’d probably be more surprised to sit with well, anyone. She had her walkman turned on with a new tape playing, one she got from Steve a few weeks prior.
robin’s mix
was written on top of it with a permanent blue marker, the one they use to write signs with in Family Video.
She got talked into this whole summer camp slash whatever fairly accidentally. Steve was rambling about it at least six months in advance.
“Come on! There’s going to be a lot of people! It’ll be so much fun! Plus, two weeks of no work!”
She eventually gave in after Steve had offered to pay for the whole thing, since Robin’s money situation hasn’t gotten any better.
So, now she’s here. Sitting alone in an old rusty school bus, two rows from the back, her head on the window, music playing a little too loud, with a book tightly in her hand; she was watching the last few kids saying goodbye to their parents.
She would have laughed. Or cried. Her mother was at work all time for the sake of paying the bills, even though it still wasn’t enough. Her father was on another “work” duty, even though Robin and her mother both know that that’s not true at all. So they didn’t really say goodbye. That’s just how it was.
She had her sport duffel bag under her legs that were now cramped in a weird way. She spotted one last kid getting into the bus and she felt the engine on. Great. Three and a half hours of bus ride, how exciting.
She wouldn’t even bother to tear her look away from the window or her book for the rest of the way, but she had to inspect what was going on in the front of the bus.
She saw Nancy Wheeler storming in last-minute, completely ignoring anybody who would offer her a seat. She had a big dark purple duffel bag slumped around her shoulders, a lilac sweater and black jeans on and although her hair was slightly ruffled from her run, she still looked perfect.
Nancy must’ve realized that the options for her to sit were decreasing as she passed most of them, so she stopped walking entirely for a full minute. She looked around, all pursed lips and no emotion shown on her face, before she took a full step and sat right next to Robin.
No.
No. This can’t be. She was supposed to be alone until Steve arrived, completely free of any unwanted conversations. Luckily, or maybe not really, no girls sat next to Robin, because of the rumors. Everybody knew them. There wasn’t any way she could escape them, really.
So the fact that the Nancy Wheeler sat right next to a rumored queer, was borderline shocking to everybody. Some people turned around with a weird expression, some started whispering stuff. Classic.
And of course, Nancy isn’t completely rumor free either. Since freshman year, and her relationship with Steve, she couldn’t escape the Nancy the slut Wheeler ordeal. Still, she was the most wanted girl in Hawkins. And Robin understands that, unsurprisingly. Nancy is perfect in every aspect that other girls aren’t, and she’s got everything. Beautiful hair, body, eyes, and knowledge, which is something Robin finds the most attractive, somehow.
She’s painfully aware of how embarrassing her crush on Nancy is, that’s why she hasn’t even told Steve. Well, because of that and the fact that he used to date Nancy. And it’s also not the first time she was crushing on someone she had no chance with. She was actually getting used to it. She wasn’t even friends with Nancy, they didn’t even talk, aside from the few projects they did together in English that proved that they were actually a very good team.
But now, Nancy was talking to her. She had to awkwardly take off her headphones and press the volume down button hastily a few times, before a mumbled Huh? made its way out of her mouth.
“I was asking if you mind, that I chose to sit here” Nancy said truthfully, although with a slight hint of annoyance in her voice. She meant it. Just say and I’ll sit somewhere else, was displayed in her deep blue eyes.
“No, I- it’s fine” Robin stammered.
“Okay, good,” Nancy said as she dug out a book from her bag.
Robin put her headphones back on, since she sensed that their conversation was over, when she caught a glimpse of the book Nancy was now reading. “Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit” Robin read. She didn’t know about this book. Never really heard of it before. But she was intrigued to say the least, because she had no idea what a perfect, prissy girl like Nancy reads.
About halfway into the ride, Robin’s legs started to cramp horribly and what wasn’t helping the situation at all, was the fact that Nancy was now asleep, splayed weirdly in the seat. Her hand was letting go of the book slowly, and Robin dreaded that. It would fall either on the floor and create a loud thud, or it would fall somehow on the duffel bags and it’d be okay.
Either way, she didn’t want to risk it and so she slowly took the book out of Nancy’s hand, so she wouldn’t wake her up. Once she had it in her hand, she inspected it closely. She read the back, and to her shock, the book Nancy Wheeler owned, the one that Robin now held, was queer. Totally gay. Lesbian. All of that and more.
Robin must’ve moved somehow, because Nancy dropped her head gently and laid it on Robin’s shoulder. If Robin wanted to scream after finding out that Nancy reads homosexual literature, now she wanted to scream even more.
The rest of the way was a blur, mainly because roughly five minutes after her internal conflict, she dozed off as well. It was nearing seven pm, and even though the summer sun wasn’t setting at all yet, Robin felt an unexpected wave of exhaustion.
Robin woke up after Nancy did. She was blinking away the confusion, and when she sat back and straightened herself, Nancy spoke.
“We should be there in 5 minutes, or so”
There wasn’t any hint of venom in her voice. If anything, she was smiling at the other girl, probably because Robin’s hair was a mess from the sleep and her cheeks must’ve been beet red. Robin was a full-body blusher.
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
“It seemed like you needed it. Also, I tried moving you differently, but you wouldn’t budge” Nancy said with a chuckle.
“Right” Robin huffed.
When she looked out of the window, she saw the driveway to the camp with a huge wooden sign in the front, the one that read
“Camp New Beginnings”