1983 || Stranger Things

sɪx | sɪʙʟɪɴɢ ʙᴏɴᴅɪɴɢ ᴛɪᴍᴇ

      When Jonathan got home from school that day, the first thing he did was tell his foster sister how Steve Harrington had broken his camera. That she was right, he shouldn't have taken the pictures.

      "Nancy helped you? That doesn't surprise me." Julie muttered, leaning against the headboard of her bed with her knees tucked in as Jonathan laid on his back horizontally across the bed. Chester was laying next to Julie, his large head on her stomach as she stroked his fur.

      Jonathan shrugged, tossing one of Julie's few stuffed animals into the air. "What surprises me is that she took some of the pictures with her. The ones of Barbra." he explained.

      "Huh. She mentioned something about Barb when I saw her today." Julie trailed off, shaking the thought away.

      "Enough about that. Steve actually shoved your hand in your locker?" Jonathan asked, stopping his tossing to carefully take Julie's bandaged hand in her own.

      "Ow!" Julie yelped, pulling her hand back, making Chester lift his head up. "Yeah, he did. Said it was an 'accident', which it was probably was." Julie concluded with a shrug.

      "Jules, you could report him for this. On top of everything else he's done lately..."

      "I'm not gonna report him and add more shit to Hopper's plate while he's busy looking for Will. Besides, I told him off, and I hope you did too." she said, looking pointedly at Jonathan.

      Jonathan shook his head, still laying down. "No, I didn't. He called me a pervert, which I was, but still."

      "I mean, I was gonna say." Julie said with a light chuckle, and Jonathan chuckled too.

      "Oh, hey. I did you a favor. I went to all your teachers and picked up the stuff you missed today. You're welcome." Jonathan recalled, sitting up and tossing a bundle of papers onto Julie's lap.

      "Thanks." Julie said, and Jonathan nodded, standing up and exiting her small room with Chester at his heels.

      Julie stood up and knelt down, pulling her record player from underneath her bed. She went to one of her bottom dresser drawers that housed all her records, and selected some jazz music to calm her down. Once she dropped the needle, Julie flopped onto her bed and started catching up on everything she missed, all because of Steve.

•••

      Julie had walked to the post office later that evening to mail her forgotten letter to her sister. She felt bad about not updating Max on any of the happenings in Hawkins, but she decided it was best. She didn't want to make it seem real by writing it.

      She had arranged for Jonathan to pick her up, and like clockwork, he did. The duo drove towards their house in the dark, taking the backroads. What they hadn't expected was to almost hit a terrified Joyce, who was running blindly in the middle of the road.

      Jonathan had slowed the car quickly, and Joyce shrieked once she noticed the car. Julie scurried out of the car and to Joyce's side first, Jonathan close behind.

      "Joyce, what happened?" Julie asked, wrapping her arms around the woman as Joyce whimpered.

      "It's okay." Jonathan muttered, engulfing both of his women in his strong arms.

      They didn't know what happened, but it was safe to say that it was something that would change the lives of every Hawkins resident forever.