𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐏𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬 ➤ 𝑹. 𝑩𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒚

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

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"𝙄'𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙞𝙩"

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(𝟏𝟑 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞)

𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟐𝐧𝐝, 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲

𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒, 𝐒𝐀𝐃𝐋𝐘, had consequences. In this specific case, said consequence for skipping Sunday's class was Aminah receiving a less-than-enthused call from Mr. Sullivan regarding Valerie's lack of attendance. Robin had skipped the class too, enthralled in the mystery of Hawkins and evil Russians, but Valerie very much doubted she'd earned the same punishment. So, after a scalding lecture from both parents and the promise of further penalties if the behaviour continued, Valerie dragged herself to the supplementary Monday afternoon class organised by the devil himself.  

Her eyes were trained on the analogue clock hung above the chalk board, which Mr. Sullivan was scribbling on furiously, explaining something about specific camera settings. Aperture? Shutter speed? She wasn't totally sure, her mind distracted by the endless worries racing through her mind. 

The teens hadn't yet been able to explore what laid inside the storage unit at Star Court Mall, with Dustin only just arriving home, and on strict orders to spend time with his mother, and Valerie's parents watching her every movement, free time didn't come easily. 

A loud bang disrupted her thoughts as a dishevelled-looking blonde girl burst into the room, her feet barely coming to a halt as she almost slipped on the slick floorboards. Valerie was tempted to laugh but thought better of it when she caught the expression on her teacher's face. Yeah, maybe it'd be best to stay quiet today.

Robin's eyes quickly scanned the room as she collected herself, and after a moment she darted forward in Valerie's direction, taking a seat right beside her. Mr. Sullivan gave the girls a stern glare before resuming his lesson — not that anyone was actually listening.

"Nice outfit," Valerie teased, noting Robin's chosen clothing combination which consisted of a vertically striped shirt thrown haphazardly over her Scoops Ahoy uniform, unbuttoned and poorly attempting to conceal it, finished off with her usual converse.

Robin rolled her eyes, "Oh, shove it."

"I'm serious. The clashing stripes are really making a statement — are you having an internal crisis of some sort?"

Pure hatred. That was the only thing that Valerie could pinpoint as Robin shot her a piercing glare, her lips drawn into a tight scowl as she roughly slammed her notebook onto the desk eliciting a few jumps of surprise from surrounding students,  the few that had decided to join to earn Mr. Sullivan's favour in an attempt to increase their chances of a better grade. 

"Can you keep your insults to a minimum today? It's exhausting," she sniped, averting her gaze from Valerie to look up at the blackboard. Valerie whistled lowly, a smirk on her lips as she leaned forward to rest her head in her palm, "Well, someone's in a spectacular mood today. I'm going to check 'yes' on the internal crisis."

Robin ignored her and instead chose to listen to Mr. Sullivan's sleep-inducing lecture — Valerie knew that because she was furiously writing in her book, peering up at the board every couple of minutes to copy his notes.