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Steve is asleep, curled up on a pillow because she slid out of bed. She needs to plan everything possible. That means every move had to be calculated from now until Hargrove was officially burnt out. He grabs a notebook and turns to a blank page, writing the word “timeline” in pretty cursive letters. What did she know all? She knew Hargrove came Monday, everyone couldn’t take their eyes off him. By Sunday he would beat Steve into oblivion.
She knew Steve hadn’t had the best week, Nancy Wheeler had broke his heart and ran off with Byers of all people. Wednesday had been a rough day then, Thursday had been no better. Tommy and Billy had essentially rubbed it in his face, she was pissed at Tommy for that. How did this resentment build up so fast? To kill Steve?
Apparently Hargrove was a shitty babysitter because he went looking for his sister, she can’t remember her name. He attacked a kid before turning on Steve. How does that even happen? He didn’t ask for questions? What a psycho.
He looks pained, a line of sweat by his hairline. That was her boy, one of her best friends who had held her hand through kindergarten and the time Tommy dumped her. Hargrove was going to pay like no tomorrow.
“Carrie?” It sounded pained and broken, Steve hadn’t even opened his eyes. She kneeled back on the bed, running her fingers in his hair.
“Hey sleepy head.”
“You’re real.” He finally cracks a swollen eye open.
“Yeah, not just in your nightmares.” She jokes, but he doesn’t chuckle, he looks scared.
“Yeah.”
“Hey, you’re okay.” She promises him.
“Okay.”
“I promise.” He doesn’t look like he believes her.
“Can I have more medicine?” He asks, looking up at her.
“Of course.” She gets up and is shocked when he gets up too. He reaches for her and she agrees with no issue.
“What time is it?” He asks as he somewhat stumbles down the stairs.
“About one thirty. You’ve been out awhile.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, sit, sit on the couch. I’ll make you lunch too.” She deposits Steve on the couch before going to get him something to eat.
“Do I have chocolate? Does chocolate make headaches go away?”
“No, headaches stop with the drugs.” She calls back, grabbing his unfinished juice cup from the fridge, and bringing it back to him with two pain pills.
“Thank you.” He has a dopey smile as he looks up at her.
“Of course.” She kisses his head, his eyes shut.
“What are you doing?” He asks as she walks back towards the kitchen.
“Making you lunch!” She calls back from the kitchen as she picks up the phone, dialing the police department.
“Hello?” A woman answers.
“Hello, I’d like to speak to chief Hopper.” She leans against the wall.
“May I ask who is calling and what the concern is?” The woman asks.
“My name is Carol and it is in regards to Steve Harrington.” It’s quiet for a moment on the other side and she’s going to raise hell if she hung up on her.
“Transferring.” The woman says and Carol takes a deep breath.
“Hello?” It’s gruff.
“I have a bone to pick with you.”
“Why are all teenagers the same!” She looks around, confused for a moment.
“You let Steve Harrington come home this hurt! Alone I might add!”
“Who is this?” He sounds tired.
“Carol Perkins. I’m at the Harrington house.”
“Is he okay?”
“Oh. Now you’re concerned?”
“Jesus H Christ. Yes. I’m concerned.”
“He’s fine now that I’m here, why isn’t Hargrove in jail? I saw him first thing this morning.”
“You saw Hargrove?”
“Yes! Why isn’t he in a jail cell!”
“Carol?” Steve calls from the other room.
“It’s okay Steve!” She calls back.
“Is he okay?” She hears over the phone.
“Yeah, I think so. I need to press charges.”
“Miss Perkins, it’s not that easy.”
“What do you mean? He beat the living daylights out of Steve! There’s no complications!”
“There is Carol, he technically swung first.”
“So! He was going to kill a child apparently!”
“You aren’t going to let this go, are you?”
“No! I am not! So either you get here to help file charges or I swear to god I’ll ruin you. My dad paid for your last campaign! We’re the reason you got elected sheriff, I will make sure it never happens again.” He sighs heavily, she knows he’d had to have a different sheriff while he’s still chief of police.
“Okay, I’m coming over.”
“Thank you.” She smiles, pleased, to herself.
“I’ll see you soon.” The phone hangs up. She walks over to make a simple sandwich, bringing it to him.
“Who were you talking to?”
“Hopper, he’s coming to discuss putting Hargrove in jail.”
“We can’t.”
“What do you mean can’t?”
“I can’t. I don’t know what I can tell.”
“What do you mean?” She sits next to him.
“Just, Max didn’t get in trouble. I don’t want to piss him off more.”
“What if he hurts her anyway?” If the psycho was ready to kill Steve over something like that without any more information, what would he do if she ever fought back.
“I told you. She took care of him.”
“What if she didn’t! He’s crazy!” Steve looked around.
“I can’t tell you.”
“The hell do you mean you can’t tell me?”
“I mean, maybe we wait for Hopper.”
“We don’t keep secrets.”
“We have to.”
“What does that mean!”
“It means we wait.” She is fuming, but decides not to open her mouth in fear of upsetting him more. Instead she slides her hand into his.
“We can wait.” He looks at her, as if tears were pricking the corners of his eyes. She leans her head against his shoulder as they wait. When she feels his head gingerly leave again her skull she smiles. Thankfully it’s rather quick when she hears a knock on the door.
“Who is it?” Steve asks like he’d forgotten Hopper was coming.
“I think Hopper.” She smiles softly as she opens the door.
“Harrington?” Hopper asks, pushing Carol to the side.
“Excuse me!” Carol nearly screams.
“I need to see if he’s okay.”
“As if you cared earlier!” She accuses as he enters the living room.
“Hop.” Steve looks dopey again.
“Are you okay? Carol called.”
“Carol called because you left him alone! You didn’t charge Hargrove with murder!” She fumes.
“First off Perkins, no one is dead.”
“Fine nearly dead!”
“We can’t charge him.” Hopper says in a calm tone, sitting down in Steve’s dad’s la z boy recliner.
“Then explain why.” Carol sits down with more of a huff.
“I can’t explain entirely.”
“Why not!”
“We just can’t!”
“Why!”
“NDAs! We signed NDAs.” Steve eventually yells.
“Why would you tell her that!”
“She can’t know the NDAs exist even?”
“I don’t think so!”
“Why not!”
“You’re on drugs, be quiet!” Hopper shushes Steve. The doorbell rings again.
“Who the hell is that?” She asks out loud as Hopper and Steve keep bickering. When she opens it she’s met with a gaggle of children.
“Who are you?” She looks at them as the one kid says it at her.
“Who am I? Who are you guys?” She shoots back.
“We’re here to check on our friend.” Kid with a ball cap says.
“You’ll have to come back later. Chief Hopper is here.”
“We have eyes.” The kid who must be Mike says.
“Yeah! We know, we need to see them. Now.” A kid wearing a bandana says.
“Why would I let you see them?”
“Move.” The girl shoves past her and it enrages Carol some.
“Hey! No! No, this is not what is going to happen!” After slamming the door, she chases after them.
“Steve!” Curly hair yells.
“Are you okay?”
“Why is Hopper here?”
“Is it worse than we thought?”
“Is your brain mush?”
“Too loud!” Steve finally yells. She stands over Steve, protecting him from the kids.
“Someone better tell me what the hell is going on right now.” She says staring at all of them.
“I told you Carrie, baby Byers had a seizure.”
“He did?” Curly asks, Steve looks like he could kill him.
“So, he didn’t?” She asks as she watches a hand being slapped over curly’s mouth.
“He did.” Black haired kid says.
“Then, Billy came looking for me. I’m the reason he’s hurt.” The girl comes forward.
“It isn’t, Max.” She learns the girl’s name.
“Don’t blame yourself.” Steve says to her.
“Who is Lucas?” She asks.
“Me.” She watches bandana kid raise his hand.
“Let me get this straight, Hargrove went looking for you and tried to attack him?”
“Yeah. We lied to him.”
“Why’d you lie?” She asks Steve.
“The rabid dogs.” She knows she’s being lied to, that being said she doesn’t care enough because Steve looks stressed.
“And you drugged him?” The girl has a proud smile when she asks.
“Yeah, he was going to kill Steve.” She looks at the kids in the room, then to Steve. She still sees Steve like he’s little, like he isn’t protective of these kids. That’s wrong though.
“Tell me what I need to know to make it go away.” She decides.
“Really?” Steve asks.
“Are you scared of Hargrove?” She asks the girl, she seems uneasy.
“No.” She lies. Carol turns her head towards Hopper.
“Hargrove is insinuating Steve was doing something wrong. You don’t have to tell me anything, but tell me enough to stop the rumors.” She says to him, confident in her ability. Max steps forward.
“Will Byers got sick, we were playing before it happened. All of us were playing all day and I didn’t ask before I left.” She says it with a pointed look, like she’s trying to believe her own lie, “l was scared of what Billy would do to me.”
“Billy would hurt you?”
“No…” she’s lying again.
“Okay. So he attacked, you, Lucas, right?” She asks Lucas.
“Yeah.” Lucas says.
“He was going to kill Steve!” Black haired kid informs her.
“He wouldn’t stop beating him! Even after he was unconscious.” Curly tells her.
“You were unconscious?” She looks at Steve.
“I think I told you that.”
“He needs to learn not to run his mouth.” Carol decides looking at everyone.
“What do you mean?” Hopper asks.
“You can put him in jail for whatever reason. Max, is he mean to you?”
“Yeah, but he said he’d leave me alone now.”
“I don’t trust him. I’ll deal with it.” She’s met with odd stares as she gets up, the group whispering to each other and Max trailing her to the kitchen.
“What are you doing?” Max asks.
“Going nuclear.”
“You can’t tell him, he’s going to be even more mad.”
“I’m not telling him shit. I’m taking care of that.” The girl sits on the bar stool next Carol’s as Carol picks up the phone.
“What are you going to do?”
“Watch this.” She dials Ally’s number first.
“Hello?” Ally asks and Carol turns on the water works.
“Ally? You’ll never believe what happened?” She pretends to cry.
“What happened? Is everything okay?”
“No! You know the new kid? Hargrove? He beat Steve up!”
“I heard that. Did you hear why?” She knows Ally is at the edge of her seat.
“He was babysitting! I guess Hargrove isn’t good at it because his sister was playing with other kids. How was Steve supposed to know who Hargrove’s sister is?”
“Is that the only reason? I heard whispers.” She heaves her breath.
“Well, now you can hear screams because Billy went after the only black kid! They aren’t even thirteen Ally! I came to be with Steve today! He is so hurt chief Hopper got involved!”
“Oh my God. Is he okay?”
“Barely! He didn’t want to press charges because he’s worried about the little sister! Can you believe it? Trying to kill a kid because you can’t keep track of your kid sister!”
“He’s a monster!”
“An absolute lunatic! I just didn’t know who to call and tell.” She gives a fake sob.
“I can’t believe him! Tell Steve I’m sorry!”
“I will. He’s so hurt, Ally.”
“And after what happened with Nancy?”
“He’s so selfless. He almost got killed, what if Billy turned on his little sister like that! She’s small!” Max looks offended and impressed.
“A lunatic.” Ally repeats.
“Oh, what was that Stevie? Yeah I’ll get you another ice pack!” She answers a fake call.
“I’ll let you go Car. Take care of Steve.”
“Thanks for understanding, I just can’t believe.”
“Me either. Good night.”
“Night Ally.” She hangs up and smiles at Max, whose mouth is hanging open.
“What are you doing?” Carol smirks at the question.
“Rewriting the narrative.”
“You’re an evil genius.” Max tells her.
“And this is just the tip of the iceberg.” She calls five other girls, knowing the rumor mill will spread like wildfire. When it’s sufficient she walks back in with Max to the living room.
“She’s awesome.” Max says with some awe.
“What did you do?” Steve asks, she isn’t sure when Hopper left.
“Rewrote the story, obviously.” She flicks her hair over her shoulder.
“Here’s what she said.” Max begins telling the room.
“You didn’t need to do that.” Steve whispers to her.
“You’re one of my best friends. There isn’t much I wouldn’t do you for.” She glances at her nails, pretending to be uninterested as his head lands back on her shoulder.
“Thank you.” He whispers again, slowly closing his eyes. Yeah, Hargrove didn’t know who he was messing with.