MY TEARS RICOCHET 𛲕 STRANGER THINGS

16. Outnumbered

CHAPTER 16: Outnumbered

I don't know what I'm supposed to do
Haunted by the ghost of you
— The Night We Met, Lord Huron

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

November 18th, 1983: Hawkins High, Auditorium

DAPHNE DIDN'T KNOW WHY SHE HAD COME. Maybe she was grieving for all the times Meera and Fern had shown up to watch her terrible plays, making snarky comments but always cheering for her in the end. Or maybe she was mourning for a version of herself that had been obliterated in the midst of all the chaos.

Meera wasn't speaking to her anymore. For the first month after Fern had disappeared, Meera had begged Daphne to come out to the city with her to look for Fern. She couldn't understand why Daphne had done such a 180 — from going out to Mirkwood every night searching for her, to completely giving up on ever finding her.

Of course, Daphne knew why she wasn't looking for Fern anymore. She was dead; they were never going to find her. And she couldn't bring herself to follow Meera out to the city to chase fake leads and give more people false hope. But from Meera's perspective, she could more than understand why the girl was angry at her. In Meera's eyes, she had just given up.

The cheerleader sat in the very back row of the auditorium, her hands folded across her lap as she watched. Her understudy — a freshman called Mia — did a perfectly fine job playing Emily. Part of Daphne wished it was her up there, basking in the applause of the audience. But another part of her knew she had enough roles to play without taking on any more.

Daphne jumped as someone slid into the seat next to her. She'd been on high alert ever since that ill-fated night, and every little noise sent her back into panic mode. Steve had warned her that her constant state of hypervigilance might be a sign of PTSD from all that had happened, but Daphne had brushed him off.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," the girl beside her chuckled, looking over at Daphne before doing a double take. "Wait, Daphne? What are you doing here? Didn't you tell Mr Hauser you were sick?"

Daphne squeezed her eyes shut in frustration as she recognised the band geek who had rescued her after Steve's party. "Look, please don't tell Mr Hauser I was here."

"Oh God, no, I would never. I didn't mean to say that in a rude way, I'm sorry if it came out like, accusatory, or something. I'm not very good at reading social cues or, like, using the right tone or anything... It's something I'm working on, but sometimes things just come out all wrong, and I'm sorry if I—"

"It's fine," said Daphne, stifling a laugh. "I didn't think you were rude, I just... I don't want Mr Hauser to find out I was here."

"Well, don't worry, I won't tell him," replied Raven earnestly. "I'm in the marching band, and you wouldn't believe the number of times I've skipped rehearsal. Sometimes it's just really boring, you know? And Miss Genovese doesn't like me very much, anyway, so... Anyway, my point is, your secrets safe with me. I'm hardly the shining example of commitment." She did a little gesture of jazz hands, causing Daphne to smile slightly.

"Thanks, Raven," said Daphne gratefully.

Raven snorted, drawing Daphne's attention back to her. "Sorry, it's just... we've been in classes together for almost a decade and, not to rub it in, but I've come to your aid on two separate occasions. And you still don't know my name."