Legendary | s. harrington (18+)

chapter three

EVELYN had planned to meet Jonathan after A.V club the following day. Mr Clarke had enlisted Evie as a supervisor for their meet ups - she was clever and had been suggested by teacher's from the High School as a committed and knowledgable candidate. Eve often volunteered for events in both the Middle School and High School, so she hadn't minded when she was nominated without her knowledge. Since then, she had helped donate the money for a lot of the equipment and today's emergency-after-school-meeting had been called to welcome the new radio Mr Clarke and Eve had tracked down with the four most enthusiastic- and only - members of the club. Eve had been helping Mr Clarke out for many months, as sometimes he wanted to use his lunch break actually for his lunch, and so Evie became a blessing. Plus, the boys loved her and knew her from the Arcade.

Eve was carting the radio from her car. She rested the contraption against her hips from the weight of it, sticking her stomach out as if she'd have more strength. She made small noises as she lugged it towards the school, each step wobbling as she battled with herself not to drop it.

"Holy shit!" Evelyn threw her head over her right shoulder, exhaling the air she'd been storing in her cheeks. She adjusted her arms.

"Henderson!" Evie chimes breathlessly. Dustin Henderson had caught Evelyn just as she reached the steps. One foot finally lifting to the concrete slab, heaving the radio a little higher, but when his voice hit her ears she had stopped.

"Is that a radio tower?" He was shutting the door of maroon BMW Eve didn't recognise, but she was smiling nonetheless, even with the vain showing in her forehead.

"A small one." Eve huffed out, "Should help us reach a little further though, with the right modifications." Dustin's mouth hangs open, his arms out and his eyes scanning the metal in her grip.

"We gotta get this inside!" Eve made a small noise as she tried to hurry. As she was about to turn, she realises she's neglected whoever dropped Dustin off and felt immediately guilty. So with all the strength left in her, Evie bends down a little so she can make eye-contact with the parent who was sat expectantly at the steering wheel, but on seeing Steve Harrington - of all people - she scoffed in surprise. Eve pushed the machine onto one hip again, lifting one of her shaking arms to wave. Evelyn hadn't spoken to Steve Harrington for almost a year but it felt weird if she didn't say anything at all because she recognised him and presumed he'd recognise her too. So with a confused but soft and amused smile, Evelyn said and sort of asked,

"Hello Steve?"

Evelyn and Steve were never friends, and with his social status at Hawkins High School, there was never a reason for Evelyn to speak to him again once he ended their interactions. Eve had tutored him for physics, having been asked to do so by their teacher and to help Steve so he could get the grades he needed for university. They'd been friendly with each other; Steve was surprisingly nice - and she no longer dreaded meeting up with him, having met him on a weekly basis. She almost looked forward to it. But then he started dating Nancy Wheeler, and never turned up to a session again. She barely got a smile out of him when she would walk past him to her seat in their English class, he was suddenly oblivious to everyone else's existence. It was like they'd never met. Eve hadn't minded though, she just continued to study for herself, and she had more than enough fun sitting next to her friend Robin in English, anyway.

Steve did in fact recognise Evelyn, but there was a pause while he figured out from where. He'd been distracted at first by the bright smile that had spread across her face when she saw Dustin. It mirrored Steve's whenever Dustin was around. But any interaction that could have happened, as Steve Harrington lifted his hand and waved back to the girl stood outside the Middle School doors, was destroyed by Dustin Henderson waving his arms in front of Evelyn's face. "Come on! What're you doing? We gotta get this thing plugged in!"