024 : E.M.

two

1986
(this scene will be
taking place at the
assembly, rather
than the championship
game.)

"She kind of sounds like a muppet, doesn't she?"

The familiar voice of Tammy Thompson echoed into the gym, singing the national anthem to the now quiet students. With her blonde hair being frizzed into a perm and bright blue eye shadow easily pointing out the blue in her eyes, Faye looked to Steve as he mumbled the words in her direction.

"Didn't both you and Robin have a thing for her?" She replied easily, not missing the eye roll she'd received immediately after. "If I remember correctly, you were head over heals in love—"

"I was not in love," He cut her off, "I've never been in... love."

She quirked a brow at that.

"So," she trailed off, weakly clapping as the singing ended, "You weren't actually in love with Nancy?" Faye almost laughed, earning a soft smack in return, "The name 'Steve Wheeler' just randomly appeared in your notebook?"

"You literally wrote that."

"I plead the fifth."

it grew quiet.

      And as he opened his mouth, about to retort to her comment, the sound of drums interrupted Steve before he could reply, leading for both of their attention to be grasped by the players in front of them.

     Some familiar, others not so much, Faye stared down at their smiling faces, seeing as the captain, who she remembered as Jason, gripped the microphone — eyeing the cheerleaders as he did so.

"Good morning Hawkins High!"

The cheers grew louder.

       "Remind me why people like him?" She mumbled to Steve, barely getting her voice audible over the loud applause, "Isn't he like, stereotypically rude?"

     
       "Do you think I could get Robin's attention to play over him?" He asked back immediately, nodding his head to the direction of the girl.

      Though, as they both looked her way, seeing if there was any chance to get her to look at them, Faye frowned, but then smiled, seeing as she was seemingly trying to talk to the girl next to her.

      "Is that who she was talking about in the car?" She questioned him, seeing him watch the two as well. "The one she has a crush on?"

      And once he heard that, the boy snapped his head in her direction, almost scoffing at her innocent look.

       "So you were listening to that?" He seemingly stated rather than questioned. And when she nodded, he again couldn't help but let out a dramatic sigh, "Didn't even help me out when we were taking about.."

       "..Boobs?" She finished for him, awkwardly flashing a smile to the few who had heard her, "They aren't really my thing, but good for you guys."

He rolled his eyes at that.

      And again, for the second time that morning, Steve was cut off by a speech, hearing as the once excited crowd grew solemn — taking Faye's attention quickly.

      "I think I can speak for all of us when I say it's been a tough year for Hawkins," Jason lowly said, his eyes focusing on the crowd in front of him, "So much loss. Sometimes I wonder how much loss can one community take." He paused momentarily. And Faye felt herself grow uncomfortable at his words, remembering the past few years easily.

She still got nightmares.

      "In dark days like this, we need something to believe in," He continued his words, now beginning to pace in front of the group, "So, last night, when we were down by ten points at half... I looked at my team," He gestured to them, still keeping his eyes focused on the students, "And I said, think of Jack... and Melissa. Think of Heather, think of Billy—"

Faye no longer listened to him.

Ridiculous.

      The words leaving his lips, the names of everyone who had died a gruesome death in the past two years. She couldn't believe, in this moment, he would refer to them when talking about basketball.

He wasn't there.

      Steve had also seemed to zone out in the middle of his speech, his eyes locating the younger redhead as her brother's name left Jason's lips.

Faye followed his eyes.

      Max, standing between a group of strangers, hadn't talked to either, nor any of her friends, since the accident — holding partial blame for herself watching as her brother died. Faye tried to convince her she couldn't do anything... that Faye, herself, wasn't even able to stop the creature from its attack.

Max didn't listen.

She wouldn't listen.

      And much to Faye's dismay, after thinking back to the horrid trauma, the girl felt the familiar liquid trail from her nose to the tip of her lip, not letting it have the opportunity to fall before being wiped away.

She looked to her sleeve.

    The blood that was now stained permanently onto her clothes. Faye trailed her thumb over it, knowing that it wouldn't help her by any means. She did it out of familiarity. Because just like her shirt, Faye was stained. Stained with memories, pain, torture she wasn't able to shake away. The girl would never be able to clean away her past, just like the blood on her sleeve.

"Faye?"

She had zoned out.

Though, she tried to play it off.

With her head snapping in his direction, her sleeve falling behind her, out of his sight. The girl was confused to still see the concerned look on his face, his hand barely grazing her chin as he tilted her head up.

     Steve had already noticed the pink pigment right under her nose.

He frowned.

"Still?"

She matched his expression.

"They never went away."

...
E.M.

(steve will be a senior in this story)