*+𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐓𝐨 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥+*

Chapter 1

A/N- I apologize for taking so long to finally update this, school started again and the homework just keeps coming in a flood, so I'm writing this on vacation during fall break. Hopefully, anyone reading this enjoys the first chapter of this 'book.'

Charlie weaved through the myriad of high schoolers which congested the endless school halls. Eventually, she reached a pair of doors at the end of a hallway, looking around before slipping out the door.

Behind the school was a large garden with greenhouses, plants from all over the world and fruits and vegetables for the school lunches. If it wasn't obvious already, this was a private school, with a principal that loved plants who was surprisingly kind, sort of a friend to the students.

She wandered for a few minutes, eventually spotting the bench that stood beneath a large wisteria tree, sweeping her hands over the bench to rid it of any dirt or fallen leaves and petals. She sat down, placing her airpods in, grabbing her phone from her pocket, eventually choosing her playlist on Spotify and setting it to shuffle play.

She heard the bell ring, yet stayed where she was, eyes closed, singing. This wasn't new to her, she ditched often, yet surprisingly kept her grades at an A, so the teachers quit caring after awhile. She usually ditched because she had a class with a teacher she hated, or she was just mentally or physically drained. In this case, it was a bit of both. At this moment, the class she was meant to go to was Home Economics, which the teacher was a pain in the ass, and she was too tired to deal with his bullshit.

She heard yelling off in the distance, standing up slowly as she groaned in annoyance. She followed the noise, finding the source soon. She moved silently, so they didn't notice her until she cleared her throat, glaring, all enough to make them stop. She never spoke much, and she got into fights often, so that had lead to the other students fearing her, meaning she had no friends, and no significant other, which she couldn't care less about.

She walked off again, accidentally running into another student. The garden had a surprising amount of students ditching today in it. She didn't bother to see who it was, merely moving to the side swiftly and walking off.

She reached her bench again, sitting down only for the bell to ring. She cursed under her breath, running a hand through her hair, standing up again, throwing her backpack onto a shoulder.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

A few hours later, Charlie unlocked the front door to her home, greeting her technical 'parents.' She wasn't their biological daughter, merely a girl they had adopted her last year, which had surprised her. She had believed she would be in foster care until she was 18, an adult. Nobody wanted a 15 year old, especially one like her, she was everything a parent would hate, except for Steve and Nancy Harrington. They knew her past like their own, and immediately accepted her, understanding.

She offered them a small smile as she walked past, hunched slightly from her full backpack and the other textbooks and papers she carried in her left hand. They gave her worried glances as she walked off, down a hallway and upstairs to her room.

She dropped her bag and books on the floor by the door, throwing herself onto her bed, sighing softly. She slowly rolled over, looking around her room. She had a larger room, band posters and photos covering the wall. In the middle of one of the walls, beneath a window, was a desk, an antique with the upper area with drawers in it (I forgot the proper name). Covering this desk were knick knacks here an there, and photos, all of her, her and her mother, her father, and one singular one with her and the Harringtons. And as a finishing touch, on her ceiling she had three flags, a bisexual flag, an asexual flag, and a polyamory/polyamorous flag.

She slowly stood, yawning as she grabbed her backpack once again, dragging it over to her bed, grabbing her laptop off of her desk. She grabbed her homework, hunching over as she did everything, her eyes slowly closing.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

A few hours later Charlie was woken up by a poke on her shoulder. She looked up slowly, joints popping as she twisted, eyes opening. She was greeted by the face of Keslyr Harrington, the biological child of Steve and Nancy.

" Dinners ready, head downstairs. " She nodded in response, standing up and walking out, going down the stairs slowly, still tired. She sat at her seat, looking at the food a moment before slowly beginning to eat. It was a simple meatloaf with some asparagus, brussel sprouts, and pasta.

" So... how was school today?... " She looked up from her food once she heard Nancy speaking. She was usually the one to start a conversation, no matter how awkward.

" Just fine. Had to stop a fight between two students while skipping class... got a load of homework... " She paused, yawning softly, resuming afterwards. " There's a new student... he's odd, seems very distant and his eyes are bloodshot, but he could just be high. He also seemed to be looking for someone or something?... "

" Wouldn't surprise me if he was on something, you are in high school after all... And as for the looking for someone thing, he's a guy, and a teen, he's probably just horny. " Steve spoke, a grin on his face, speaking from experience. She slowly nodded, agreeing, another thought still in her mind, a doubt.

Almost as soon as she was adopted by them, they told her about the Upsidedown, Vecna, all of that. Those weren't events they wanted to hide from her and Keslyr, who had been hearing the stories since they were little. Even the others in the group had told her about everything, the loss, the bravery, the devistation, how it effected them, every single detail. This made her paranoid at times, even when she knew, or thought, they had defeated Vecna.

She soon finished eating, small talk continuing between the four of them. She had ran upstairs, grabbing the electric guitar in the far corner of her room. Every night, right after dinner, she would preform for them a bit, she could play multiple instruments and sing, and she found happiness in the fact that she could make them feel joy with her playing. Even though she was introverted and usually quiet, she was the opposite at home sometimes, especially with something she wanted to do when she was older.

She sat down after getting set up, choosing a random song and playing, singing along. Tonight was her choice of music, so it ended up being Hayloft II by Mother Mother, a song both her and Keslyr liked.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

She ended up performing for 30 minutes, eventually heading back upstairs to put all her stuff away, and curl up in her bed. As time passed, she lied awake, finding herself unable to sleep as a multitude of thoughts spun around in her head like a tornado around a town. She rolled around, closing her eyes once more, only for them to shoot open again.

Along with the lack of sleep, she had an awful feeling, she knew something bad was going to happen, and that it would happen soon, yet she didn't know what it was just yet.

A/N- I understand this is a relatively short chapter but it is the first chapter, I'm on vacation, and have homework to do even though it's fall break, so... hope you enjoyed.

WC- 1290