𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐒 • Robin Buckley

II: DAY TRIP

Claudia felt beyond bad for Robin. She began to regret taking off her bracelet, but who could blame her? Robin was the one who left her in the dirt.

She rooted through her drawer, finally finding the bracelet hidden under photographs and other things. None of the photos had Robin in them, she had a special album for those. They started it at the start of middle school, and obviously never got to finish it, but Claudia never had the heart to throw it away.

She placed the bracelet on her dresser before going to bed. It was early, super early, but she was tired out. She definitely was not made for working.

Claudia couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned all night, thinking about Robin. Was Robin seriously the one mad at her? After Claudia tried her best to become Robin's friend again, and all Robin did was blow her off, she was mad?

Eventually, she managed to fall into a restless slumber, having nightmares. They were a frequent occurrence, something Claudia had dealt with for practically her entire life. She couldn't remember the last time she had a good, normal dream.

Claudia woke up the next morning excited for her plans. She was going out with all of her friends, including her Daniel, her boyfriend. She got ready, taking the bracelet from her dresser and using it to tie her hair back. She didn't want it on her wrist, she still wanted to show off the bracelet Daniel had gotten her.

They went to the mall, which was the new hotspot for pretty much everyone in Hawkins. Claudia enjoyed the mall. There were so many new foods in there that she hadn't tried, and she of course spent a ton of time in multiple clothes stores, which annoyed Daniel.

"God, you're so incompetent," Daniel said, when he found Claudia at the back of a store.

"What?" She asked, confused.

"You got lost again!"

"Lost? Again? Daniel I haven't been lost since I was, like, eight."

Daniel rolled his eyes, ignoring her and storming out. She quickly followed, apologising, like some sort of sad puppy. Everyone except Claudia knew what he was doing. He was trying to embarrass her so that she'd leave the store and go where he wanted. Their friends didn't like it, but they wouldn't say anything. He was the biggest out of all of them, and could (and would) easily kick any of their asses, even all of the guys, most of which were on some sort of sports team.

It was a hot day, even hotter inside the packed mall. Everyone wanted ice cream. Claudia tried to convince them to go anywhere but Scoops for it, but they refused. She didn't have a valid reason not to go there, she wouldn't tell them about Robin. The only person she'd told was Daniel, who didn't care.

"Come on, Claudia," her friend, Delilah, said, "It'll be fun. You can say hi to your coworkers."

"My coworkers are Steve Harrington and Robin Buckley."

"Well, I don't know who Robin is, but Steve's nice now. He's not the douche he used to be. I think Nancy leaving him turned him nicer."

"Whatever, can we just hurry up?"

"Fine."

When they walked in, Steve was the one at the counter. Claudia let out a sigh of relief as she waited in line. When they finally made it to the front, Claudia and Steve greeted each other, causing Daniel to put a protective arm around Claudia's shoulders.

"Don't worry, man," Steve said, jokingly, "Not here to steal your girl. Hey, Robin, can you take over?" He called out to Robin, who came through the door. Claudia gave him a pleasing look, but he just smirked.

Robin took their order, avoiding eye contact with Claudia until she actually needed to speak to her. However, instead of letting Claudia choose her own flavour, Daniel jumped in. "She'll have strawberry."

"I think she can choose her own flavour. What do you want?" Robin said.

"It's fine. Strawberry's fine," Claudia said, quietly. This wasn't the Claudia Robin was friends with. She was like some sort of deer in head lights around Daniel. Her voice, the expression she wore on her face, even the way she carried herself. Robin had noticed this as soon as the two got together at the end of Freshman year, and it was obvious that nothing had changed.

"Cool," Robin said, handing her a strawberry ice cream. She knew that Claudia had never liked strawberry flavoured anything, and her favourite ice cream had always been cookie dough. She was such a different person now, and it was hard to accept even thought they hadn't spoke in years.

Robin really did feel bad for shutting her out, but it was the only thing her young, confused brain could do at that time. She regretted it more than anything.

As Claudia and her friends finished eating and we're around to head out, Robin called out. "Hey, um, Claudia, could you stay a second? We need to talk. It's about work," she lied.

Claudia was about to go in to talk to her, when Daniel harshly dragged her back, leaving a pain lingering on her shoulder. "She can talk about work when she's in work. Right now, she's having fun with her actual friends. You know, the ones who aren't gonna leave her when they realise that they're a raging-"

Claudia quickly covered Daniel's mouth. "I think she gets it. Sorry, Robin. I'll see you tomorrow."

Claudia and Daniel walked away. "Why'd you stop me?" Daniel asked

"Because I knew what you were gonna say, and you're wrong."

"Whatever. I don't want you around that queer outside of work. You hear me? Work buddies only."

"Yeah, loud and clear, but I can assure you she's not into girls."

"Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it."

Daniel had a weird thing about Robin. When Claudia had told him what happened with Robin, he instantly jumped to the conclusion that she was a lesbian, and couldn't come to terms with it. Claudia never understood why he thought that, but knew better than to argue. Little did she know, Daniel, for once in his life, wasn't wrong.