The age old story of two best friends falling in love...
... Only, one's a lab experiment with an entire Upside Down hunting her down, and the other won't leave her side, no matter how hard she tries.
steve harrington x fem oc / season 2 o...
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chapter one all about ruby
🖤
october, 1984
THISIS THE STORY OF THE WORST WEEK of Ruby Brenner's life.
Which is saying something. It really is. The girl was born in a fucking laboratory and still, this week takes the cake. Not any of the weeks in that lab, not the week her mom died, not the week that monster started following her around... This week. Halloween, 1984.
But, to explain it all, we need to go back.
It's the morning of the first day; the October air is cold and crisp as she sprays de-icing mist on her car, and she's already chucked her schoolbooks onto the passenger seat. She goes back inside, to drink the rest of coffee.
Sometimes, Ruby has to remindherselfthatthings could be worse. Things could be a lot worse. Things could be so catastrophically disastrous that she wouldn't even be having the privilege of this conversation. She could be like those other kids, wrapped up in the lab's walls their entire lives. But she wasn't; which is good for her, because aside from that stuff, her life's pretty sweet. Or, at least, until the lab stuff reappears, and then everything goes sour.
Take for example: last year. She was on the road to being Snowflake Queen. And then that stupid kid goes missing and Ruby feels the need to help (she just knows it's the lab's doing) and her friends think she's fucking Jonathan Byers in his car. Which, OK, no. Ruby's dad's on the police force, and as much as she hates his guts, if anyone saw his kid fooling around in a car? She'd be screwed. But anyway. They think she's hooking up with him, and just like that, her fiery grip on the student body loosens. She's almost reclaimed it now, but it slipped monstrously for a while, fumbling Snowflake Queen in the process.
But it's fine. There's this year to get it, and to get Spring Fling Queen. And then she'll leave high school as the coolest, hottest, most popular girl that's ever graced the halls. Forget Jackie in '53, it'll be all about Ruby Brenner from now on. Maybe it'll be inspirational. How she worked her way back to the top. She'd be inspired by her. She is inspired by herself. Do you see her curtain bangs? It's inspirational that she styles them every morning.
But, anyway. The real thing that's making her think, things could be worse, is this:
"They've cancelled the meeting tomorrow, so you don't have to be home alone."
Ruby could actually cry. She loves her auntie, sure, but she was counting on her being out of town tonight.
See, tonight is Halloween — and, the night of her Halloween party. She's been hiding party supplies under her bed since September, having driven to a party store in the city to get black solo cups. She's had mixtapes figured out all summer long — Tommy helped with that, which got her back in his good books — and the decorations? Carol has a good eye for them, having been on the prom committee since freshman year. (Again: back in her good books! It all works out for Ruby.) Everything's planned to perfection. Even her new boyfriend's gonna come, and he's the coolest guy in school, which is extra cool points for her. The party will be casual, sure, but it'll be the perfect, most amazing Halloween party Hawkins have ever seen. Even cooler than Jimmy F.'s in '72.
