Andy Hopper had enough to deal with. She hated her mom's new boyfriend, she was still grieving the death of her sister, and she hadn't seen her dad in years. The last thing she needed was to be packed up and shipped off to the small town of Hawkins...
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THE EARLY MORNING SUN SHONE THROUGH THE GAP IN THE PALE CURTAINS, casting a soft glow across the bedroom. Andy slowly opened her sensitive eyes that watered at the sudden brightness. Instantly, she felt the warmth of Steve's body beside her. Her head rested on his bare chest and his arm wrapped securely around her waist, pulling her close. His hair was a mess of darkness on the pillow, pointing in all different directions and poofier than Andy had ever seen it before. Steve wasn't the prettiest of sleepers. The messy hair, mouth wide open and limbs all over the bed, but Andy looked at him adoringly nonetheless.
He looked peaceful and Andy didn't want to wake him. She wished more than anything for them both to wake up together in each other's arms. Last night was perfect. Andy had never felt more loved, pleasured or content in her entire existence, but she had already done wrong by the spending the night away from home. She hadn't been able to get in contact with her dad and if he had been home and seen she wasn't there well, she'd be in for it.
Andy slipped out of Steve's embrace and quickly but quietly changed back into her clothes from the day before. She folded up the items Steve had let her borrow and placed them on his desk chair. She gave him one last doting look before sneaking out his room. She tip-toed down the hallway, not to wake Steve or his parents. A clock on the wall told her it was 6:32 am. Hopefully, they didn't wake this early for work, she couldn't cope with another awkward encounter.
She made it out successfully and embarked on the walk home. It wasn't long before she arrived back at the trailer. Andy opened the door, not knowing the storm that was about to take place on the other side. Hopper sat in his armchair facing the door. A cigarette bopped in his clenched jaw. "Where have you been?"
He wasn't shouting yet, but his anger was evident in his tone and expression.
"I stayed at a friend's." Andy responded, trying to shuffle past him, but Hopper spun in his chair blocking her path. "I stayed up all night, Andy. All night!" He shouted causing her to cringe. "Whose house was it?"
There was no way she could tell him the truth. If Hopper knew where Andy had stayed, with who and what she had done, he would become a level of angry that was uncontrollable and unstoppable. Her dad had a way of becoming as destructive as a tornado in his rage. He would hurtle around, damaging and hurting anything in his path.
"Nancy Wheeler's." She lied. She did her best not to shift uncomfortably under her dad's furious gaze and give away her deception.
"You didn't think to call?"
Andy knew she was in the wrong. She knew she should have come home or even tried harder to contact him, but she couldn't come to terms with the yelling, hypocrisy, and resentment that her dad was spilling onto her. She didn't want to be in Hawkins, she didn't want to fall for some boy, she didn't want to be living with her father. These were all things out of her control, forced upon her.
