MY TEARS RICOCHET 𛲕 STRANGER THINGS

23. The Lucky One

CHAPTER 23: The Lucky One

And they tell you that you're lucky
But you're so confused
'Cos you don't feel pretty, you just feel used
— The Lucky One, Taylor Swift

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"IT'S NOT ALWAYS EASY BEING A TEENAGER," Mrs Kelley told her. "Especially a teenage girl. Do you find that any of your classmates are giving you a hard time?"

"What, do you mean more than usual?"

"I suppose I do," she answered. "Is there anything that you'd like to share with me?"

Daphne hesitated, then lied again. "No, nothing that I can think of."

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September 12th, 1984: Hawkins High

A few days had passed, and Daphne had seen more of Billy Hargrove than she would have cared to. He seemed to be turned on by her blatant disinterest, joining them at their lunch table, sitting near her in classes and flirting with her in the hallway.

She didn't know why he was so adamant about getting her to like him when half the girls in the school were practically throwing themselves at him. There was no shortage of pretty girls for Billy to pick from, but for some reason, he was dedicated to picking up her.

Daphne knew it was a case of wanting what you can't have and she was quite certain that Billy Hargrove wasn't used to not getting what he wanted. It wasn't that she didn't want him, either. She had been hooking up with a lot more guys than she usually would ever since her breakup with Steve, mainly as a distraction technique.

However, she was a lot more cautious around them than she ever had been in the past, and Billy set off all kinds of alarm signals in her brain. The last thing she wanted was another Ethan situation, so she wanted to get to know Billy more before she decided whether she could trust him or not.

Billy wasn't the only guy that hadn't gotten the memo recently. Ever since Adam, the jock that Daphne had turned down last year, had told the whole school that Daphne was a slut, she had been getting boatloads of slimy jocks approaching her constantly. They wouldn't take no for an answer, insisting that Daphne was just playing hard to get. They didn't believe that Adam was lying about her — because why would they take the word of a slut over a jock?

On Thursday morning, Daphne was late for Econ. She hadn't been sleeping well for a while now, so there were many days when she overslept and missed her alarm. She was rummaging through her locker, cursing under her breath as she tried and failed to find her Econ homework when she felt a thump against the locker beside her.

She frowned, closing her locker slightly to see who was there. Her gaze hardened as she recognised who it was. Adam. The man that had spread rumours of her promiscuity around the school, causing Ethan to assault her and Steve to dump her. Boy, did Daphne have a bone to pick with him.

"So," he said casually, as though Daphne wasn't glaring at him with murder in her eyes. "At first, I was lying about you being a slut to embarrass you. But now... now I hear you really are a slut. So I thought I would revisit my previous offer. You, me, drive-in movie theatre. How does that sound?"