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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TEN MINUTES.
That's how long it took for Andy to enrol as a full-time, permanent student at Hawkins High School. Ten short minutes to cement the biggest decision of her life.
Jim Hopper had welcomed his daughter back with open arms and was more than happy to have her live with him permanently. Andy's short stay with him had changed his perspective on everything and in fact his entire life. He was going to be a good dad to her and to whoever else needed him to be. A part of him when Andy was gone was hoping for her to come back, for that reason he left her bedroom exactly as it was, just in case. He was very thankful he had done that when she knocked on the trailer door two nights ago. The trailer itself did need a bit more sprucing up. Maybe Hopper hadn't quite yet got the knack of continually tidying and cleaning up. He was learning though. Fortunately, his daughter was back to help him.
Andy's mom wasn't best pleased when she found out Andy wanted to move to Hawkins, actually, she was devastated, but she understood and respected her daughter's decision. The only condition was Andy had to come visit every other month and Andy happily obliged because she knew she would still miss her mom and New York. The rest of her clothes and possession were still waiting to be shipped over but that only gave her an excuse to go shopping.
So, when Monday morning arrived two days later Andy was ready for her second surprise reunion. Wearing new clothes and perfectly made up, she practically skipped down the school corridor giddy with excitement and butterflies in her stomach. Andy didn't know what she expected from Steve Harrington upon her return. She didn't know what he had been doing or how he would react, but she certainly did not expect what had actually happened.
Andy turned the corner to where she knew Steve's locker was and froze. From that moment on the next few seconds felt like they happened in slow motion, like watching a scary movie or replaying a nightmare. Steve was there. His usual self, usual clothes, usual smile but his arm was wrapped around the shoulder of none other than Nancy Wheeler.
It could have been an innocent or friendly gesture, but when he turned her to place a kiss on her lips, it was confirmed to be much more than that. The action felt like a punch to Andy's gut. A lump rose in her throat, blocking all air and causing a gasp to breeze from her lips. Her hand flew up to her mouth to conceal the stinging pain of emotions and to stop any further noises escaping. Tears burned at her eyes flooded with disbelief.
He had moved on.
With one last fleeting glance, Nancy paraded away from her boyfriend and to class. Steve shut his locker door, taking the time to double-check it was closed properly and then turned to face the opposite direction to the way Nancy had walked, and then he saw her.
She was standing watching him, face riddled with heartbreak and betrayal. For a split second, he felt a burst of happiness at her being there, but then it dawned on him she had witnessed everything and immediately his stomach dropped.
Andy had no intention of hanging around to see what would happen next and turned on her heel to leave. She heard Steve yelling after her, but carried on walking, wiping away her tears with the sleeve of her jumper. Just as she was about to make it out the door Steve grabbed onto her wrist, spinning her round to look at him.
Shock filled Steve's face when Andy met it and her despair ignited a flame. "Let go of me, Steve." She demanded through gritted teeth, yanking her wrist out of his grasp.
"I-I don't understand." Steve stuttered, his bewilderment to the situation masking his words and ability to speak. "Why, why are you here?"
"Because I moved back." Andy answered, voice shaking with sadness. "I thought we had something special..." She breathed out, doing everything in her power to stop the tears spilling but failing as her bottom lip trembled. What she and Steve had was like nothing she had ever experienced or even seen before and now it felt like it had been thrown away like trash.
Andy knew that Steve had no obligations to stay loyal to her, their relationship was over, but getting into another one as soon as he had felt like the ultimate betrayal. How could he move on so quickly? Had their relationship meant nothing to him? And to now be with the girl who he had told her not to worry about, it was too much.
"We did have something special!" He exclaimed desperately. "We still do! But you weren't here, Andy. You had left me and gone to New York for good. What did you expect me to do?"
When Andy left, Steve had been truly devastated. The girl he wanted to be with was gone and any hope of them being together had gone with her. He didn't leave his room for days. It was the most miserable Christmas he had ever experienced. He missed her more than he could ever imagine. But eventually, he came to find it embarrassing, stupid even. Steve Harrington wasn't meant to feel that way. He was King Steve. Girls didn't break his heart, that was that and he needed to feel love again.
So, when Nancy Wheeler knocked on his door four days later, asking for forgiveness and to be with him, he said yes. He had liked Nancy before, he could do it again.
"I'd be gone for two weeks." Andy uttered coldly. She wasn't interested in hearing his excuses or explanations, they would only fall on deaf ears. He had done wrong and she wasn't going to forgive him.
Steve ran his fingers through his hair, mouth opening and closing with words trying to claw their way up his throat and out, but he didn't know what to say. There was nothing else to say. All actions had consequences and what had been done, was done. There was no going back. They had already broken each other's hearts, they couldn't break Nancy's too.
"I need to go." Andy mumbled, adjusting her bag strap on her shoulder and turning to leave. There was a whole school day to take place, but she couldn't stay. She needed to be out of the situation before she broke down completely.
"No, please." Steve begged, reaching out for her. "We can work this out."
Andy brushed his hand away from her and hissed. "No, we can't, Steve. It's done, alright? It's over."
His hand fell back to his side and he was stuck on his feet watching her leave. Andy turned on her heel and walked the other way, giving Steve one last glower before forcing herself to walk away entirely. Every step was followed by a tremble, a tightness in her chest that could only be caused by one thing - heartbreak.
