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CHAPTER FOUR: conceal the eternal void _______________________________ "PAIN UNLOCKS A SECRET DOORWAY IN THE MIND, ONE THAT LEADS TO BOTH PEAK PERFORMANCE, AND BEAUTIFUL SILENCE."
-DAVID GOGGINS ____________________________ Valerie became pretty familiar with the quote, "Lie your way through life". She practically lived by that quote! And obviously, she was doing a fabulous job going along with the act.
If Hollywood could pick its next big movie star, it would by no doubt, be Valerie. She had been acting like her life was perfectly set-out for her. Like she had been living in a world with nothing but pearls and champagne! Truth was, her world was nothing close to that. I mean.. why do you think maladaptive daydreaming became an everyday struggle for Valerie?
It was only a matter of time before the truth came out about Valerie'sperfectly un-perfect life. But as of right now, that was the least of her concerns. She was making her way to a suicide mission, fighting face to face with inter-dimensional creatures. The worst part was, she was accompanied by Steve Harrington. Most girls would commit murder to be in Valerie's position.. It was saddening to see everyone fall right at Steve's feet. Anything Steve demanded, practically everyone at Hawkins High obeyed. Now she was fighting alongside him. Oh, and, I take back what I said about the worst part being that Valerie was accompanied by Steve. The worst part was, it wasn't all that bad.
Valerie, Steve, Selina, and Dustin had been walking across the train tracks, tossing raw meat as bait for Dart, for the past 30 minutes. Dustin began to explain why he kept Dart, in attempt to spark up a conversation—instead of the awkward silence between the four.
"Alright, so let me get this straight." Steve began, tossing the bait as they continued to walk. "You kept something you knew was probably dangerous—in order to impress a girl who.. you just met." Dustin sighed, not having any idea Dart was dangerous until after he developed a bond with him. "Alright, that's grossly oversimplifying things." Dustin replied, in defense of his actions. "I mean.. why would some girl like some nasty slug anyway?" He was clearly unsatisfied with Dustin's tactics to get a girl. "Because not all girls are about diamonds and makeup." Valerie replied to Steve. Obviously, Steve was unaware that not all women are the same. "Well, would you be impressed if a guy tried to seduce you with a slug?" To be fair, she would most definitely not be impressed by a slug. "And by slug, you mean inter-dimensional slug? Because if not, we're not on the same page." Dustin added. "Yeah. Some girls are actually into that kind of stuff." Selina spoke. To be totally honest, she was more on Steve's side. But.. she had a soft spot for the boy. She couldn't help but at least try and defend him, even though the thought of a slug grossed her out. "Well, even if she thought it was cool, which she didn't. I just . ." Steve paused, trying to grasp onto the right words. "I don't know. I just feel like you're trying way too hard." Steve began to feel bad for the boy, considering he put in all this effort, just for her not to show any sort of interest in him. "Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, alright?" Dustin replied, envious of how easy it was for Steve to get a girl. "It's not about the hair, man." Steve shook his head. "Well.. then what is it about? Please, enlighten us on how Steve Harrington manages to get anyone he wants!" Valerie said playfully, softly pressing her hands together and skipping along the train tracks. "The key with girls is just.. just acting like you don't care." Steve shrugged. "Even if you do..?" Dustin's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Yeah, exactly. It drives them nuts." Selina couldn't help but scoff at Steve's remark. "Who's them?" Selina and Valerie were both unimpressed with Steve's strategy with girls. "Yeah, okay, this conversation doesn't concern you." Steve replied to Selina. Valerie and Selina rolled their eyes in unison at Steve. "Okay.. but what do I do after that?" Dustin asked, ignoring the small feud between the three. "You just wait. Until.. uh," Steve paused, snapping his fingers as he was trying to find the right words. "Until you feel it." Steve added. All that waiting for an explanation that didn't even make sense. "Feel what?" Dustin wasn't the only one confused by Steve's words. Valerie and Selina looked at each other, trying to figure out what he meant. "It's like before it's gonna storm, you know? You can't see it, but you can feel it. Like this, uh.. electricity, you know?" Steve kept looking back at Dustin to ensure that he was paying attention. "Oh, like, in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere—" Steve soon cut him off once he realized Dustin clearly didn't understand what he was analogizing to. "No, no, no, no, no. Like a.. like a sexual electricity." Steve clarified for Dustin. "Oh." Dustin nodded, a bit thrown off by what he said. "Sexual electricity Seriously, Steve? You couldn't have chosen a different word?" Valerie rolled her eyes at him. Sexual electricity was a bit much for a 13 year old boy. "Ignore her." Steve spoke. Valerie rolled her eyes (yet again) and flipped him off. She had enough of Steve. "Anyways. You feel that, and then you make your move." Steve said confidently. "So that's when you kiss her?" Dustin asked, looking up at Steve. Steve put a hand up at Dustin, not expecting for him to be so.. oblivious? "No, whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down, Romeo!" Dustin looked at Valerie and Selina, seeing what they had to say about this. They just shrugged, slightly nodding their heads. "Sorry." Dustin spoke, a little embarrassed at himself. "Sure, okay, some girls.. yeah, they want you to be aggressive. You know, strong, hot and heavy, like a.. like a lion." Steve added, Dustin finally grabbing the concept of what he was explaining. "But others, you gotta be slow, you gotta be stealthy, like a.. like a ninja." A lion and a ninja? Both terrible similes in Valerie's opinion. "What type is Nancy?" Dustin asked out of curiosity. He took a second to think about it before speaking. "Nancy's different. She's different than the other girls." He spoke, looking down at the ground. "Yeah. She seems pretty special, I guess." Dustin nodded in agreement with Steve. "Yeah. Yeah, she is." Steve looked back up at Dustin. Valerie could hear the genuineness and admiration in his voice. She looked to Selina, who had also felt the same way as Valerie. Selina looked to Steve, and back to Valerie, giving a sympathetic look to signal to Valerie that she felt kinda bad. Dustin quickly broke the awkward silence between the four. "But this girl's special too, you know. It's just, like, something about her." Dustin spoke, looking down at the ground as he thought about the mystery girl. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, hey." Steve said, stopping in his tracks and putting a hand up towards Dustin. "What?" Dustin asked out of confusion. "You're not falling in love with this girl, are you?" Steve asked. "Uh, no. No!" Dustin shook his head. "Okay, good. Don't." Steve warned Dustin, all of them continuing down the tracks again. "I won't." Dustin reassured him. "So what if he was? It's not like you can control who you fall in love with. It just happens." Selina spoke up. "Yeah, well, she's only gonna break his heart. And he is way too young for that shit." Steve said in defense of himself. "You don't know that she'll break his heart." Valerie shrugged, lifting an eyebrow. "Whatever. Point is, you gotta be slow with girls. Got it?" Steve asked, his gaze on Dustin. "Got it." Dustin nodded. Steve took a minute to examine the boy. He saw his innocence and pureness. "Fabergé." Steve muttered randomly. Dustin, Valerie, and Selina all shared a look. "What?" Dustin's eyes were now on Steve. "It's Fabergé Organics." Steve pointed to his hair. Valerie's head whipped towards Selina, who was staring right back at her with wide eyes. Steve's main feature that caught everyone's attention, was his hair. And now? He just shared the secret to his perfectly styled hair as if it was nothing! "Use the shampoo and conditioner, and when your hair's damp—it's not wet, okay? When it's damp, you do four puffs of the Farrah Fawcett spray." Steve explained step by step. "Farrah Fawcett spray?" All three of them teased. "Yeah, Farah Fawcett." He put his arms up on each side, disabling all three of them from walking forward. "If any one of you tells anyone I told y'all that, your ass is grass. Got it?" Steve told the three strictly. "Okay, mom." Dustin nodded. "It's not funny." Steve shook his head. "It's pretty funny." Valerie replied, trying to contain her laughter. While Dustin, Valerie, and Selina tried not to tick Steve off even more, they all began to grow tired of walking. But it wasn't too much longer before they arrived at their destination.
