ᵇᵉˢᵗ ᶠʳⁱᵉⁿᵈ ⁻ ᵉᵈᵈⁱᵉ ᵐᵘⁿˢᵒⁿ

ᵗʳᵃⁿᶜᵉ

why did waking up have to be such a challenge? ezra groaned as he rolled over in his bed and smashed the alarm clock that was screeching loudly as a way to ruin his precious beauty sleep. not that he needed it. ezra groaned and made his way out of bed, carelessly throwing on some clothes that he'd found in his closet: a black tank top under his hellfire club t-shirt with a black jacket over the shirt, denim jeans held up by a disgusting brown belt that ezra hated but wore anyways because he clearly enjoyed doing things that he hated.

no, the real truth was that it was the only belt he had that didn't remind him of his father – if he could even call him that anymore. as he sat down on his bed to tie up his black shoes, he looked in the mirror away from him and debated doing something with his hair. running his fingers through his hair in an attempt to fix it, he left the room after grabbing his bookbag and stopped for a moment as he saw his mother sprawled out on the couch asleep with cans of beer surrounding her. he truly didn't know how to feel about his mother's new love for drinking any and everything alcoholic and wondered how she managed to work two jobs hungover.

"finally! i thought i'd be waiting here forever for you," emerson grumbled as she hopped off of the counter beside the kitchen sink. on her way to her brother, she grabbed his keys off the counter and tossed them to ezra, who caught them and rolled his eyes.

ezra walked out the door, not waiting to see if she was coming or not. it was routine at this point and ezra knew that emerson couldn't complain unless she wanted to walk to school. usually in a small town like hawkins, walking to school wasn't uncommon if you lived close to the school but they lived in the trailer park off of kerley, which was about as far away from the school as it could get.

ezra opened the door to his car which was a pretty shade of blue, which is the only reason he couldn't truly hate it. emerson ran outside and got into the passenger side of the car, making ezra roll his eyes at his sister's enthusiasm. as he settled into the driver's seat he put a random tape into the radio and smiled sadly as the song, rock you like a hurricane by scorpions, played. Shaking his head, he turned the music up and started the car, pulling out of the trailer park. deciding that ignoring the look his sister shot him as he silently mouthed along to the song was the best decision at the moment. 

soon the two siblings arrived at school, emerson hopped out of the car and made her way over to the buses where she waited for a redheaded girl that ezra had seen around before: max mayfield. ezra sighed and turned the engine off in the car, resting his head against the steering wheel. he knew of the younger girl but could never bring himself to speak to her, considering max wasn't even aware that he knew billy. but maybe talking to her would bring closure somehow? how are you supposed to have closure when your boyfriend died in a fire but nobody knew he was your boyfriend?

ezra grumbled to himself and got out of his car, retrieving his bag from the backseat where he'd thrown it as soon as he got into the car. they had a stupid pep rally today to boost the morale of the hawkins high students and encourage the basketball team. knowing jason carver, he'd take any and everything and make it about himself, as he usually did. 

ezra pulled himself out of his head and cursed softly as he realized that the only way to the gym was past mrs. kelly, his self-proclaimed therapist. steeling himself with the blankest look he could muster, he made his way towards her, noting the way she looked when she saw him.

"ezra, could we talk today? before school ends?" mrs. kelly asked, keeping her voice light as she stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. ezra glanced down at it and she caught the memo, moving her hand away to grasp it with the other awkwardly.

"sure," ezra replied as he started walking again, feeling her eyes on his back as he walked away. it was clear that she wanted to say more but he'd walked away without giving her the chance to.