Work Text:
monday
‘Assigned pairings’ is probably the worst two words in the English language, and possibly every other language.
Appariements attribués. Emparejamientos asignados. Accoppiamenti assegnati. Yup, they suck in every other language Robin knows, too.
Usually she’d partner up with Milton. He’d do most of the work, and she’d do the presentation. Milton was the swot, she was the mouth. It worked pretty well. Really well, actually, as they usually managed an A. Robin had expected the same routine for this History assignment, but then Mrs Click had come back from summer vacation with a whole new system, and Robin had been paired with Nancy Wheeler. She didn’t know all that much about the girl, but that was purposeful. She ran the newspaper, reminded every teacher of forgotten assignments, was generally the biggest suck up to exist, and judging by the way the newspaper kids cowered around her, definitely a control freak.
It wasn’t like she disliked Nancy, but she didn’t exactly give off ‘friendly and co-operative’ vibes.
Everyone switched their seats around, a few groans and grumbles here and there from other people no longer paired with their friends. Robin took a seat next to Nancy. Nancy didn’t even look up from her notepad.
“So, uh… how do you wanna do this?” Robin asked. “We could meet up, or… FaceTime or something.”
“FaceTime is fine.” Nancy responded, still not looking her way.
Robin cringed. “Well, not FaceTime FaceTime. I have an android, so… I mean, I had an iPhone but it went down the toilet and my parents have this whole thing about responsibility and taking care of your possessions, so my dad gave me his old Samsung until I could prove, and afford, a new phone.” Robin, stop talking. “I have a job, at the movie theatre. I’ve got a couple hundred saved so far, so it shouldn’t be long.”
“…Okay.” The girl responded. Robin practically melted into her seat. It had been one second and already Robin had made things a massive inconvenience. “So… no FaceTime?”
“Yeah, no, I guess not. Uh… zoom?-”
“-Look, if you want an A I can give it to you, okay? I don’t mind.” Nancy’s eyes had gone from purposefully ignoring the girl sitting next to her to staring knives at her. Robin suddenly understood why the newspaper nerds cowered.
“An A?”
“I don’t mind, in fact, I’d prefer it.” Nancy stated.
“So, you don’t want to work with me?” Robin scowled, wondering why she was suddenly so offended.
“You clearly don’t, either. Your eyes practically went into your skull when you heard my name. Just take the good grade and the free vacation, call it my apology for doing whatever it is I did to piss you off.” Nancy slammed her book shut and marched out the classroom, leaving Robin feeling like she was sitting in the aftermath of some kind of war-zone or storm. Storm Nancy. It had a ring to it.
Jesus, maybe Nancy did have a point about Robin disliking her.
But a free A, it was all too enticing. Robin already had a shit ton of homework this week and to be honest, she’d rather not think about History. She had to face facts. Nancy didn’t want anything to do with her, and she didn’t want anything to do with Nancy. And if the Chief Editor of the Weekly Streak truly didn’t mind doing the assignment on her own, then what was the harm in letting her?
————
Nancy Wheeler - 2:15am
- I feel like I was harsh earlier today.
- It’s Nancy, by the way.
- I stalked your account a little.
- Just wanted to know who I was working with.
- Sorry for going off on you. I kind of assumed you were one of the popular kids who’d just use me or whatever, and was just pretending to be nice until you eventually asked me to do everything.
- But you're in band, so I guess that wasn’t the case.
- You probably don’t want to work with me anymore, but I wouldn’t mind it if you did.
tuesday
Robin woke up to the notifications on her phone and spent a good ten minutes staring at them, before realising it was making her late.
It was… unexpected, to say the least. Robin’s thumbs hovered over the keyboard, before flicking the sleep button. She’d be at school in half an hour anyways, she could respond to the onslaught of messages there. Nancy had already waited five hours, apparently, so what’s a few more?
She found Nancy in English class first period, once again with her head down and furiously scribbling something. But unlike yesterday, the scribbling stopped once Robin got close.
“You didn’t respond to me last night.” Nancy said.
“I was asleep, it was two am.” Robin replied.
“Oh… right.” Nancy shook her head. “Whatever. Do you want to do the assignment or not? Because we’re running out of time.”
“We have until the end of the week!”
“And I’ve already wasted one of those five days.” Nancy said.
Despite the almost endearing DMs she had gotten last night, Robin was beginning to remember why the offer of Nancy doing everything herself had been on the table in the first place.
“If we’re doing this together, you can’t steamroll me, okay? I know you’re smarter than me, you don’t need to prove it every second.” Robin said, refusing to be the doormat to a 5”3 girl she could probably beat in a fight (although, she did actually have a bit of muscle. It wouldn’t be an easy one.)
“Okay,” Nancy agreed. “As long as you don’t ask stupid questions and waste time.”
“Got it.” Robin nodded firmly.
“And no small talk.”
“Understood.”
“And no using analogies.”
“Why not?”
“Rule one, no stupid questions!” Nancy huffed. “Just, follow my lead, okay?” she demanded as she once again got up and walked away without truly ending the conversation.
Rule one. No stupid questions. Rule two. No time wasting. Rule three. No small talk. Rule four. No analogies.
This week would be interesting, at least.
wednesday
Nancy Wheeler - 3:20am
- I was thinking about which topic to choose for our project.
Robin Buckley - 6:30am
- do you only message past midnight or something? are u a gremlin and this is one of ur rules?
Nancy Wheeler - 6:32am
- No.
Robin Buckley - 6:32am
- how are u awake rn. have u even slept?
Nancy Wheeler - 6:33am
- You never answered my question.
Robin Buckley - 6:34am
- u never asked one?
- can we meet up after school? i don’t have any free periods today so there’s not really any time to study at school.
Nancy Wheeler - 6:35am
- 42 Maple Street.
Robin took that as a yes.
—————
Nancy’s house was nothing like her own. Two stories. China crockery that almost definitely never left the glass cabinet it rested in. Two living rooms. She wasn’t rich rich like Steve, but she definitely came from the kind of family who called themselves ‘comfortable’.
A man snoozed in an armchair in what the Wheelers probably called the ‘den’. There was a small child by his feet, glued to her iPad. She tore her eyes away for just a moment to glare at Robin before returning to whichever addictive game she’d downloaded probably without her parents’ knowledge.
“Upstairs, first door on the left.” a voice snuck up behind Robin. She spun around to find a gangly kid drinking milk straight out the carton.
“Sorry?”
“Nancy’s room. Upstairs, first door on the left. Don’t touch anything without asking and take your shoes off before sitting on the bed.” The kid replied.
“Oh! Thanks.” Robin gave him a grin, internalising even more rules. Robin headed upstairs and thanked this house for not having a spiral staircase like Dash’s did. She wasn’t going to fall down the stairs in front of Nancy’s family, that would violate the ‘time-wasting’ rule.
“You’re late.” Nancy stated. Robin checked her phone. Two minutes late.
“I don’t have a car, and I didn’t realise your street was uphill. It’s a workout, okay?” Robin flicked off her beaten down sneakers and then hesitated as she realised she actually hadn’t had any indication she was allowed on the bed.
Nancy shifted the study supplies to the side, and Robin breathed a sigh of relief.
“Any ideas?”
“Oh, tons.” Robin exaggerated. “Uh, how about the miners strike in 1985? I have some good movies on it-”
“-I’m not tap dancing.”
“Billy Elliot reference!” Robin laughed in surprise. “That was one of the movies I was going to suggest. I didn’t peg you as a theatre kid.”
“I’m not. It’s a very famous musical, Robin.” Nancy sighed. “Anyways, I heard Candace and Harry were doing the strike.”
“Harry played Billy in middle school, that checks out.” Robin replied. “Isn’t it weird that every historical event has basically been whittled down to just a movie? You can’t think of the Titanic without thinking of Jack and Rose.”
“Do you think any of the presentations will pass the Bechdel test?” Nancy responded, which actually got a genuine laugh out of Robin.
“How about the election of 1949? Very famous, but also very unknown by most teenagers.” Robin suggested.
“Nope.”
“Or… the Chinese Civil War? Or the Cold War? God, there’s so many wars to choose from.” Nancy squinted as Robin continued listing ideas, figuring something out in her head. “The Thalidomide epidemic, Bay of Pigs, Cola Wars-”
“-You’re listing events from We Didn’t Start the Fire…” Nancy said.
“You asked for ideas! Billy Joel has tons of them!” Robin giggled.
“This isn’t funny!” Nancy stood up, pacing around her room in frustration. “I changed my mind. I’m doing this myself.”
“Nancy, come on! It wasn’t even really a joke, that song has tons of historical events we could actually choose from.” Robin argued. “Plus, you haven’t thought of a single idea yet. At least I’m doing something.”
Maybe not the best move to insult the smartest girl in school. “You told me not to steamroll you!” Nancy shouted. “I was letting you decide! I already picked the topic I wanted before we were even paired up!”
Robin was caught off guard. It was kind of… sweet? “Oh. Well… thanks. But we can do your topic. I’m more of a literature person, history isn’t really my thing.”
“The tornado outbreak from April 25th to the 27th, 1994. That’s the topic.” Nancy decided.
Robin chuckled. “You know, back on Monday I called you Storm Nancy, in my head. Maybe it was a sign.”
Nancy furrowed her brow, and then smiled. “Meteorologists don’t name tornadoes, there’s too many of them. Just hurricanes.”
“Well, maybe the meteorologists are just lazy. Is it a… particularly infamous outbreak or something? I mean, why this one?” Robin asked.
“Not really. But that’s good. It means no one else will copy us.” Nancy said. “To be honest, I only know it because my mom survived it, when she was seven. Her house was destroyed.”
“Your mom is Helen Hunt? Shit- sorry, that was definitely the wrong response to that. Forget I said that. That sound like a really scary thing to go through” Robin winced. What the fuck was wrong with her?
“It’s okay. I’ve noticed the similarities, too. I think my life would be way more exciting if my mom was a renowned Storm Chaser, but I guess I’ll have to settle for housewife.”
Robin took a deep breath, wondering how on earth she got away with whatever that was. “Still, I can’t imagine what it must be like. To go through something that traumatic as a kid.”
“…Yeah.”
Nancy seemed to be less anxious now that the topic was chosen, and Robin felt herself relaxing more and more as the study session went on (which mainly consisted of Nancy info dumping, but that was fine by Robin. The less Googling, the better). It almost meant she got the opportunity to take a closer look at Nancy’s bedroom, now that the fear of being kicked out wasn’t as strong. It was very pink, but a pastel pink that fit Nancy. Now that she thought of it, Nancy mostly dressed in pastel colours. It suited her.
Her room seemed to be something Nancy would probably describe as an ‘organised mess’. There was no proper bookshelf, which Robin thought blasphemous, especially for an aspiring journalist. But there were books. Scattered around the place as if Nancy had been reading them at that spot and then left them there, which Robin also thought completely insane.
She also noted that most of them were on the school’s curriculum, and most of them had a bookmarks placed around the 40% mark. Something told Robin that Nancy maybe was the perfect academic she made herself out to be, and that her search history would be full of book summaries.
The rest of the room consisted of jewellery, cat ornaments, and whatever else Nancy owned. There were pictures pinned up on a noticeboard by Nancy’s desk, if Robin squinted she could just about make out the people. Younger Nancy, the gangly boy and the small girl from downstairs (the girl was mostly a baby in the pictures), her dad and a woman who was probably her mother. Below the noticeboard there were more photos, stuffed down the side of the desk and turned away from view. They were ripped at the edges, like they’d been pulled from the board with some force. Robin couldn’t help but wonder who was in them.
thursday
Despite Robin’s assumptions at the beginning of the week, studying with Nancy was fairly calm. They both took on separate parts of the topic as a way to prevent arguments (Nancy handled the facts and timelines, Robin handled interviews with the victims and loved ones). It had gotten to the point where both of the girls were now wearing headphones and listening to their own music. Except Robin couldn’t study and listen to music at the same time, so she instead just put her earbuds in to feel less awkward.
It meant she could still hear Nancy softly singing to herself, even if Nancy wasn’t aware of it.
She was a decent singer, but something told Robin it was reserved for Nancy’s ears only. She was quiet, and maybe still a little self-conscious. The song was familiar, and suddenly it dawned on Robin.
“Fun Home!” she exclaimed, causing Nancy to jump a little. “You’re singing Fun Home! Telephone Wire!”
“So?” Nancy muttered.
“So, Billy Elliot is a very famous musical, I’ll give you that. But Fun Home? You have to be at least a casual theatre kid.” Robin explained.
“So I like the song. So what?”
Robin shrugged. “I don’t know. Just, you have a nice voice. Why aren’t you in theatre?”
“I’m just not, okay? Let it go.” Nancy snapped.
“Okay! Sorry.” Robin replied, not entirely sure what she was apologising for, but clearly she’d upset the girl. Nancy had grown on her, a lot, but she was still confusing as hell.
“The song reminds me of my dad.” Nancy said. “I mean, he’s not dead. Or gay… as far as I know. But, I get what it’s like. To feel like you’re screaming at him but not being heard. Especially when it comes to… you know.”
“Being gay?” Robin replied. Did it surprise her that Nancy was a lesbian? Robin couldn’t tell. On one hand, she’d never really thought about it and unfortunately operated on the assumption that everyone at school was straight until proven otherwise. On the other, Nancy made sense. She didn’t know why, but she did. “Does he not accept you?” she asked.
Nancy laughed bitterly. “He doesn’t even acknowledge it. I came out when I was fourteen. My mom said she was happy for me. To be honest, I think she was just secretly glad I wasn’t going to get pregnant in high school like she did. But my dad… he just, like, grunted. And then said he needed a drink. Since then it just doesn’t exist to him. Any mention of me being a lesbian, or just gay shit in general, it makes him completely shut down.”
“That really sucks. I mean, my dad isn’t exactly waving flags at Chicago Pride but he still awkwardly asks me if I have a girlfriend every time I see him.” Robin chuckled. “Is that why you won’t do theatre? Because you’re afraid of looking… gay?”
“What? No!” Nancy laughed. “I’m not even in the closet.”
“I didn’t know you were!” Robin replied.
“I’m sorry I didn’t send out letters to everyone in the school informing them of my lesbianism! You didn’t know because until four days ago you didn’t know anything about me!”
“Well, yeah, but you hear even a murmur of someone being gay at school and all of a sudden the assholes are spreading it around like wildfire. I just thought your name would come up, that’s all.” Robin shrugged.
“I guess… I guess maybe I am in the closet. Not on purpose, there’s just no one to tell. It’s easy to avoid gossip when you don’t have any friends to spread it.” Nancy mumbled, trying her best to play that sentence off casually, but she dug her pencil into the paper slightly too hard, and the lead ended up snapping.
Robin suddenly felt bad. Sure, to most people Nancy was an annoying know-it-all who was too above it all to ever need friends. It just sucked that no one had taken the time to wonder if that was actually true. Robin included herself in that statement. If she hadn’t have been forced to work with Nancy, she’d still be rolling her eyes every time the girl stuck her hand up in class.
Was she a shitty person?
“Am I shitty person?” Robin blurted out. “I feel like I’ve been treating you like shit this entire time.”
“You haven’t. You’re really nice, actually.”
“Okay. Good. I’m glad. Y-you’re nice, too. And smart, and funny, and cool.” Robin cringed.
Nancy nodded, dusting off the newly sharpened pencil and returning to her notes, before stopping once more. “I don’t- I don’t know how to ask you if you want to be my friend without sounding like a five year old.”
“You’re my friend, Nancy. For sure.”
—————
“I have a question.” Robin spoke up. “The other day you said you assumed I was a popular kid trying to take advantage of you.”
“That’s usually how it goes with these group projects.”
“Yeah, but, me. ‘Robin Buckley’ and ‘popular’ have never gone in the same sentence before. I can’t even conceptualise what made you think I was popular.”
“I don’t know! You’re like… cool. You dress cool and wear cool jewellery. And you know loads of shit that even the teachers don’t know and you have a Walkman with actual cassette tapes instead of just using Spotify and it makes you look all… like… stylish or something.” Nancy rambled in one breath.
Robin felt her face heat up and hoped to god it didn’t show up on her pale cheeks. “Your definition of cool and stylish is disturbing. But I appreciate it.”
The moment was interrupted by a knock on the door. “Dinner’s almost ready, do you want me to make a plate for your friend?” a woman asked through the other side of the door. Nancy looked at Robin expectantly.
On one hand, maybe Robin was overstepping. On the other, she couldn’t deal with another microwave meal alone on the couch. “I could eat.”
Nancy called out to her mom, and then looked back at Robin. She had the same level of curiosity that had been on her face during study time. “Don’t you need to call your mom or something?”
“She works nights, so she’s never there for dinner anyways.” Robin shrugged the sentence off as easily as Nancy did with her ‘I have no friends’ confession.
Nancy nodded. “That sucks.”
“Yeah, it sucks.” Robin kissed her teeth. It felt good to say it out loud to something that wasn’t an inanimate object in her house. “So, uh, the presentation is tomorrow. With Milton I did most of the talking so-”
“-You can do the talking.” Nancy said, quickly.
“Okay! Talking it is! That’s good. I excel at talking.”
friday
Nancy was late, which was basically unheard of. But considering Robin had slept over at the Wheelers and Nancy had literally driven her to school, it meant she was somewhere in the building.
Robin squared off the pages of presentation, at least Nancy being late meant more time to practice. It was a fairly simple speech, and all Robin had to do was focus on not getting side-tracked. She had written an entire script, but then decided it was too robotic, so instead she stuck to a loose guide on how and what to talk about.
“Hey.” Nancy walked up to Robin, wringing her fingers round her handbag.
“Hey! I was wondering where you were. I amended the speech a bit. You’re now handling the section on how the tornado formed because I don’t think I sell the idea that I know how that shit works-”
“-I can’t do it.” Nancy shrugged.
That was… unexpected.
“What? What do you mean? We worked so hard.” Robin said.
Nancy’s leg shook up and down. “I just can’t! I’m not a singer, or a theatre kid, and I turned down valedictorian so I wouldn’t have to make a speech. Robin, I can’t do it. You said you were going to do the talking.”
“Most of it! I said most of it! Nancy it’s your project. And its only, like, twenty people and the vast majority of them are gonna be on TikTok under the table.” Robin said, doing her very best to assure the girl while simultaneously really needing her to talk at least a little.
“I threw up in the middle of a debate in the sixth grade.”
“I passed out during the audition for Our Town in the tenth grade! And then the next year I auditioned for Hamlet and got the part. You just gotta bounce back, okay? You know this subject well, I’ve heard you rant about it.” Robin gripped Nancy’s shoulders, pulling out every ‘pep talk’ stereotype she could think of.
“You really think I can do it?”
“Of course. And I’ll be here to fill in the gaps, and do the witness interviews.” Robin said.
Nancy sucked in a deep breath. “Okay. I can do it.”
And she did, for the most part. Robin caught on to a few shaky moments here and there, but they were quickly fixed by Robin glancing down at the paper and filling in a few missed words. The teenagers in front of them had their eyes fixed to the ground (or their phones, rather), and the only really attentive person in the class was Milton. He clapped and whooped way too loudly for a three day history presentation, and then it was over. It wasn’t a big deal, it never was, really. But as Robin looked at Nancy, who looked so incredibly proud of herself, it suddenly became the most important history presentation in the world.
saturday
Robin Buckley - 8:11am
- what r u doing today?
Nancy Wheeler - 8:13am
- Going to the library. Why?
Robin Buckley - 8:14am
- don’t get me wrong, the library is My idea of a fun time. but something tells me ur there to study
Nancy Wheeler - 8:15am
- And?
Robin Buckley - 8:15am
- and you deserve to have fun. you worked so hard
- pick somewhere you had fun at as a kid
Nancy Wheeler - 8:16am
- Seriously?
- Palace Arcade.
Robin Buckley - 8:16am
- Meet me there at 2.
By the time Robin cycled up to the small arcade just outside Main Street, Nancy was already waiting for her.
“You do know all these games are rigged, right?” Robin said, hopping off her bike.
“You asked where I had fun as a kid. Here we are.” Nancy replied. “And anyways, they’re only rigged if you don’t know how to unrig them.”
It turned out that Nancy, even at twelve years old, approached ‘having fun’ with the same level of intensity and seriousness as she did history projects. Most games were about timing, which after some guidance Robin started dominating at, with four years of marching band having basically implanted a metronome in her head at all times.
Robin’s suspicions that Nancy was secretly strong were confirmed during the throwing-based games, which Nancy won at on every try. She was powerful and could throw baseballs fast enough to grant her a few dozen tickets, but was still graceful and nimble enough to manoeuvre a claw machine with enough accuracy to get a stuffed animal out of it after only 3 quarters spent. Robin couldn’t help but watch in awe.
She also destroyed Robin at air hockey. Although, when Robin started finding her feet, Nancy claimed she was ‘bored’.
“So, exactly how many weekends did you spend here as a child?” Robin asked after purchasing a few sticky wall guys with the tickets she’d won.
“I mean, I was mostly just babysitting my brother and his friends.” Nancy shrugged. “No big deal.”
“Sureee.” Robin teased. She’d never exactly been in this situation before, but the glow of the purple LED lights, the expectant look on Nancy’s face, the buzzing feeling in Robin’s heart… was this… a moment? “I, uh, I really like you, Nancy.”
“I really like you, too.” Nancy replied. That could mean anything. Why hadn’t Robin been more specific?
Now or never. “Can I… can I kiss you?”
Nancy raised her eyebrows in surprise. That wasn’t a good sign. “Okay, then!”
Robin leaned down, gently pressing her lips on Nancy’s. No amount of arcade tickets could even remotely be worth this moment in time. The bells of the jackpots rang in Robin’s head. She felt like a winner.
For a second.
Nancy pushed away, gently, but still firm. She exhaled a sharp breath. “I don’t-” she looked at Robin with almost pity, or guilt. “I have to go. I’m sorry.”
Robin felt the sadly familiar feeling of falling for a straight girl. But Nancy wasn’t straight.
She just didn’t like Robin.
sunday
Robin Buckley - 00:43
- can we please talk?
- if you don’t like me please at least do me the decency of telling me
Nancy Wheeler - 03:01
- I do like you.
Robin Buckley - 03:26
- then why did you run off?
Robin stared at the now ‘read’ message from last night. Robin wasn’t exactly an expert on relationships but most people don’t run away in the middle of their first kiss if they like the person they’re kissing. She didn’t think Nancy was a liar, but what else would she be?
Robin wasn’t going to be ghosted, though. No way in hell.
She rang the doorbell to the Wheeler’s a couple of times before the gangly child (Mike, his name was) answered. He rolled his eyes and let her in, retreating back to his basement.
If she came in guns blazing Nancy would probably get defensive. She knocked gently on the door. “Nancy? Can we please talk?”
Nancy opened the door, she looked even more tired than Robin felt. “Sorry about yesterday.” she said, quiet as a mouse.
“You said you wanted to.”
“I did!” Nancy replied. Even now, she was still lying.
“Then why did you leave?” Robin asked, feeling a lump form in her throat and god, she really didn’t need to cry in front of Nancy Wheeler.
“It’s complicated.”
“Then explain it to me! Because I really am not good at figuring this stuff out so I’m sorry if I’m missing this big obvious sign that you hate me or something but you were my first kiss so-”
“-You weren’t mine.” Nancy cut her off.
“What?”
“You weren’t my first kiss.” Nancy repeated. She sat down at the foot of her bed, and Robin could at least tell it was one of those talks that required a ‘take a seat’ beforehand. She sat down beside Nancy. “She was my best friend since middle school. She ended up going to the catholic high school in the next town instead of Hawkins High but we still biked the entire one hour ride every day to see each other afterwards. We’d meet in the middle of our two schools and hang out for hours under this blossom tree by the highway. It was our spot. And then one day, at the end of freshman year, we kissed. And it was the first time either of us realised we liked each other, or girls in general, for that matter. It didn’t matter that we were far from each other, or closeted lesbians in a rural town. We just liked each other. It was simple.”
“What happened?”
“She… she died.” Nancy dug her fingernails into her knees. “About two and a half years ago. Last night, this past week…” she sighed. “I really like you, Robin. But you’re my first girlfriend since Barb, and to be honest, my first friend.”
Robin felt like a dick. “Jesus, Nancy. I can’t- that’s awful. I understand why you don’t wanna see me-”
“-What? No, I do! I really do! I regretted leaving as soon as I did it, I was just scared that if I liked you it meant I’d stopped liking her.” Nancy explained.
Robin took Nancy’s hand in her own. “It’ll never mean that. I’m not gonna replace her, ever. I know I didn’t know her but I’m sure she wouldn’t want you missing out on something you want for her sake, right?”
Nancy nodded decidedly. “Yeah. I think so.” she sighed in relief, leaning her head against Robin’s shoulder. The curls of her hair tickled Robin’s arm. “So, you still want to go out sometime soon? A proper date, not the arcade. Just, take it slow? One step at a time.”
“Y-yeah! Of course, one step at a time.” Robin felt the fuzziness of her heart return. She’d always imagined her first relationship to be perfect. She’d get out of Hawkins first, meet the perfect girl from some far away place, because no girl at Hawkins High was worth it. They’d kiss under the moonlight and love each other and run off into the sunset.
And then she’d met Nancy. Who seemingly hated her at first, who took her to arcades, who cared about grades way too much, who was confident and shy all at the same time, complicated and interesting in a way Robin hadn’t thought possible.
Robin didn’t want sunsets and moonlight anymore. She wanted Nancy.