Growing Pains // Stranger Things

Chapter 2 - First Day

There was a major problem when it came to Emma and Oliver's first day at Hawkins High, and it had nothing to do with bullies making fun of their last name 'Doe' ("You know that's the last name they give to the corpses they can't identify, right?"), but with their classes. 

Once they got their timetables from the principal and noticed they had different classes- none together- they began to freak out. 

"Sir, why don't we have our classes together? W-We're supposed to do everything together!" Emma had questioned with a shaking voice, pressing her side into Oliver's as she felt like the principal was trying to split them apart again, just like the doctors used to do when they were naughty. 

"I thought it would be good for the both of you to expand your social circles!" The principal had said happily, as if there was nothing wrong. Well, to him there was nothing wrong. They were two homeschooled students whose 'guardian/s' had decided they should finally get out into the world. He was just helping them along on the path to 'getting out'. In his eyes anyway. 

"We don't need anyone else!" Oliver exclaimed, resisting the urge to shove his timetable back into the principal's face. The darker skinned man frowned at them, touching his silver moustache. 

"Why don't you just give it a go for this week, and if you're still unhappy then we can talk about changing your timetables, okay?" He tries to reassure them, frowning when he watches Oliver's face become even sourer. 

Oliver half wishes that they weren't being forced to go to school, even wondering if being in the lab was as bad as this. At least they were together when they were being tested on. 

Emma placed a gentle hand on her brother's quivering bicep, sending him an unsure grin, light blue eyes trying to articulate that things would be okay- even if she wasn't totally sure about that herself. Seeing her brother unnerved scared her slightly, not of him, but of what might happen. 

So the twins part, Oliver entering his class with a brooding disposition that challenged people to approach him, while Emma walked in curious and excited to learn and make friends, polar opposites. 

Oliver sat silently throughout his class, even if he wasn't entirely sure what was going on, writing down what was on the board and what he deemed important enough. He was sat next to a shy girl named Dorothy, and she let him peak at her notes for whatever reason- whether she pitied him and wanted to help, or she was scared of him. 

Emma, however, bought a lot of attention to herself by asking what the other students deemed as 'stupid' questions. They snickered at her and joked at her expense, but she eventually got into the habit of ignoring them, lost in all the knowledge the teacher was gifting her. She learnt about how the government works, like all the different jobs people had, who was in charge of laws, etc. She also spent some one-on-one time with her very patient teacher learning basic maths- which she got the hang of quite quickly. It made sense to her, and she wondered if it was because she'd spent so much time around some of the 'smartest scientists' during her time at the lab. 

Some of the terms that the students used confused Emma. Nancy told her it was 'slang'. Emma had walked past someone that was said 'hot bod' to someone else and she stewed for ten minutes on what it might mean before going to ask Nancy. Steve had laughed when she repeated the two words, as her voice was small and unsure and her tongue wrapped around the two words uncomfortable, the syllables not sounding quite right. 

Oliver, on the other hand, had avoided all unnecessary contact with the other students and especially the teachers. He felt that they were all looking down on him- and maybe that was true. 

Emma and Oliver had met together briefly during lunch, but while Emma wanted to spend time with their 'friends' Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve during the free period with her brother, Oliver wanted to go off and do something by themselves. 

Beforehand, Emma wouldn't have argued and just gone along with her brother, but that was before she had positive relationships with anyone else. She just wanted everyone she cared about to get along and spend time together so that she could be happy and not feel torn between something that was already so great, and something that had the potential of being just as great. 

While Emma was thinking through what she would do, Oliver had taken it as a rejection and spat out an aggressive 'never mind' before turning and stomping away. Emma called out to him and ran after him, tears already threatening her waterline at even the thought of having a 'fight' with her brother. 

She didn't realise that in the future, her own brother would use this weakness against her in order to get what he so desired.

-----------------------------------------------

A/N: Ominous ending, but don't worry about all that. I'm probably going to do a bit of a timeskip between chapters until I get to season 2, but I'll include some of the important things. 

This was a bit of a shorter chapter, so I apologise for that. I usually aim to make each chapter at least one thousand words, but I fell short this time by about 200. 

ANYWAY, I hope you enjoy and are looking forward to more, please leave feedback! ♡