rue, the kind

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IT WON'T BE THAT BAD — they'll love you!" The boy in a bowl-cut exclaimed, a bright smile on his face.

The first day of school was around the corner, and Will Byers had most of the summer hanging out with his mom's, boyfriend's, daughter, Rue Newby.

And today, he was — to Rue's disappointment — going to introduce her to all his friends. The Byers' boy couldn't stop smiling when he was telling the party about the mystery girl, how fun she was.

"I don't know," she sighed, her thumbs chasing each other on her lap.

The whole car ride, she's been having second thoughts about meeting his friends. She did not have a good history with people. They've always found some reason to dislike her, and Rue believed them, even if their excuses were rude or straight-up lies.

It was her surprise when the Byers had taken a liking to her. The only people she's known that's liked her and brought her in with open arms were her parents.

Sometimes she'll wonder if the Byers were only kind because of pity. Pity, of the past about Rue, Bob Newby had probably already told them. But she'd push those thoughts away and tucked them in the pit she already had most of her thoughts buried in.

"Having you as my friend is enough — I wouldn't want to — " she tried to say before she felt a finger being pressed to her lips, stopping her from saying more.

"Hush," Will hummed, shaking his head, "We're here, there's no going back now." He grinned.

Will and Rue had become very close in only a matter of minutes after they met. Maybe it was because they were both quiet and shy and small. Or maybe, it was the similar nerdy interests the two had that they could talk about for hours. They were already like siblings.

Will's mother turned around to face the two and saw the worry in the girl's eyes. "Sweetie, you'll be fine. They're nice boys," Joyce reassured with a kind smile, making her feel slightly better.

The girl looked out the window, spotting a big two-story house. It had a large green front yard. It was rich-looking, which worried her more than before, because as far as she knew, rich kids were snobby and assholes.

Before Rue had the chance to say anything, Will grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the car, the girl having to grab his bag since he almost left it.

"Okay, thanks for the ride, mom!" he yelled, slamming the door.

Only two steps away from the car, Joyce rolled down the window and just as she opened her mouth Will started to talk again.

"Yes, you'll pick us up at seven, no leaving the house alone, I know," he raced, already remembering what his mother was about to say.

"Have fun on your date, Ms. Byers!" Rue waved as Will started to pull her closer to the big house. "You'll love it! He worked extra hard this week!" she finished, remembering how her dad kept changing the restaurant until he found the perfect one for his perfect girl. It took all night, they both sat by the phone book, Rue flipping each page over and over, calling out the names of the restaurants while her dad picked the one he thought Joyce would love most.

But Hawkins was a small town, it wasn't like Portland. There were barely any fancy restaurants to choose from. In the end, Bob had chosen to take Joyce out for the whole weekend, and after a lot of planning and double — triple checking with Joyce that her boys would be safe and Rue could stay with Will and Jonathan at the Byers home, they were leaving tonight.

Joyce waved at the two with a laugh before taking off, knowing her son is going to be just fine with the young Newby.

The two stood before the front door. Will knocked on it impatiently, his other hand still around her wrist. Rue was gripping onto Will's bag full of papers and crayons for him to use later.

"Calm down," she muttered when he started to bang on the door harder when no one answered.

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"No! come 'ere!" Will pulled on her arm when she was about to turn around.

Rue opened her mouth to protest, "Will, listen — "

But he shook his head, "No, you listen to me!"

"Why are you yelling?!" she whisper-yelled at him. Rue could feel herself shaking with small nerves when she heard shuffling from behind the door to the basement.

She was nervous. Rue wanted to make a good impression on the people Will felt as if they were family. But from her past, she was never good at first impressions. When she first met the Byers, she had tripped over the carpet and hit her knee on the coffee table, making a fool of herself.

"They don't bite," He chuckled, opening the door and walking down the stairs. However, Rue didn't follow. She stayed glued to her spot, trying to think of what she should say first. Hi, I'm Rue. No, that's boring.

"Guys, I want you to meet someone," She heard Will say before there was a loud groan coming from him. "Damn it!"

There was mumbling, new voices speaking. "Where is she? Is she here?"

"Yes, she's here! She just doesn't want to come down," Rue paled slightly, Will was yelling at her, "Newby! Get down here!"

She huffed, taking a big breath to calm herself down. "Okay — okay, fine!" Rue hurried down the steps, not wanting to anger Will more. She stood next to him on the last stair step.

Rue's eyes skipped around the room, staring between the three boys who stood near them.

"Guys, let me introduce you to Ruth Newby," he nodded towards the girl who stood awkwardly next to him, still clutching onto the bag. "She's super kind, she loves music, carries a Walkman with her all the time, loves video games and going to the arcade, and bike riding and science and she plays baseball and — "

" — Hi," she said, stopping him from his bashful rant as her cheeks grew red. She waved warmly towards them as they all stood quietly, just staring at her. Rue took the time to notice how taller all of Will's friends were, compared to him. Also, how much neater the basement was than how she imagined.

"Ruth?" the freckled one asked, his lips curling into a grin.

Rue sucked in a breath, softly nodding her head. "Yeah, Rue for short," She told him, furrowing her eyebrows at the way he smiled.

"Well, I'm Dustin," The boy with a white, blue and red hat smiled, sticking his hand out for her to shake, which she gladly took. "That's Lucas," he nodded towards the darker-skinned boy who smiled and waved, "and that's Mike."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," she smiled, looking at all of them. "I've heard so many great things about you from Will, you guys seem like great friends to have."

"Oh, oh — uh thanks," Lucas spoke up, baffled by her kind words.

Rue shuffled in her spot, looking around the room. Her eyes landed on a board game on a small table, not too far ahead. "You guys play dungeons and dragons, too?" she beamed. "Back in Portland people would call me a nerd for liking it."

Lucas and Dustin gawked at each other in shock. She knew what their favourite game was and wasn't making fun of them for it. It was like a miracle. Then they both looked at Will, who gave them a look that said: 'I know! She's great.'

"Do you wanna play one round with us?" Dustin asked her excitedly.

"Oh, I — "

"She would love to," Will cut her off, "Come on, Rue. I'll be fun," he pulled her to the table and sat her down next to him, the other three boys soon following.

Her green eyes were bright with joy as she warmly smiled at the friend group. She fixed her hair from its high ponytail and scratched her lightly freckled nose as Mike was setting the game up with the help of Lucas, while Dustin was telling Rue all about Hawkins.

"Your dad owns the Radio Shop, right?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "he used to live in Hawkins when he was younger. I think he's friends with the science teacher at the school? I don't know yet."

"Bob Newby, right?" Mike asked.

"Yep."

"He founded Hawkins Middle AV Club!"

Rue blinked, "I — I didn't know that," mumbled. "I haven't seen him for a while until . . ."

"Let's start!" Lucas said, quickly changing the conversation when he saw the joy leave Rue's eyes.

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first chapter yay!

this is for science:

the best party member

is ______ .