July 1st, 1985

The Byers Residence

I woke up the next morning in my bedroom alone, the right side of my bed empty and cold, just like so many nights before now.

I couldn't tell what it meant. I thought we had fixed this? But maybe there was more that we should have talked about?

Maybe there is no fixing this? You can't unbreak something, and this relationship is far from perfect.

~~~

Steve awkwardly sat on my bed while I stood in front of him. Once we had entered the room his whole demeanor changed.

He sat on the edge of my bed, hands laced tightly together while he stared down at his lap, obviously avoiding my gaze. "Steve?" I carefully placed my hands on his shoulders comfortingly but he remained silent. "What's been going on with you?" I questioned him lightly, trying to show him that I wasn't upset anymore.

"Nothings been going on?" He mumbled out, quickly unlacing his hands to place them on my waist, staring up at me with a confused gaze cast over his hazel eyes.

"Steve, seriously. I'm not mad or upset, promise. But you've been acting differently all summer." I just wanted to know why he had started acting so different around me, he'd been acting weird since graduation.

"It's hard to explain..." He looked back down at his lap. "Does it have to do with what you and Robin talk about?" I questioned softly, placing a hand under his chin so that his eyes could reach mine again.

"I've noticed you two whispering around me... You know you can talk to me, right? There shouldn't be secrets between us." God that came out more needy and jealous than I wanted it to.

"I'm a failure, Nell."

"What?" The look in Steve's eyes broke my heart, I'd never seen him look so sad yet sincere all at the same time.

"I'm a failure. That's the big secret." He pulled his hands away from my waist before rubbing them over his face exhaustively. "You're not a failure, Steve. You're working so hard to provide for yourself, it doesn't mean you failed at anything."

"I'm a liar and failure, Nell. I didn't choose to work at Scoops, my own father wouldn't even hire me." He finally dropped the truth, something that he had been holding back all summer for some reason, but that didn't make sense to me.

"Steve-" I tried to reassure him that he was neither of those things but he was quick to cut me off. "I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you to be disappointed in me."

"So you lied about not wanting to work with your dad? Steve, I could never be disappointed in you." I told him honestly with a kind smile, placing my hand softly on his cheek.

"I couldn't even get into community college, I'm an idiot."

"You are not an idiot, Steve Harrington. Sure you're my idiot but I'm proud of you, no matter where you work or what college you go to, I'm proud of you for being you."

~~~

I was pulled out of my thoughts of last night's talk by the phone ringing off of its hook.

Quickly getting out of bed, I made my way down the hall and to the phone.

"Whatever it is, it's too early," I stated plainly into the end of the phone, holding it against my ear with my shoulder.

"Good morning to you too. Rude." Will spoke from the other line with a small chuckle. "Did you need to check-in so early? It's like six in the morning."

"Eight actually, and mom said to check in with you as soon as I got up." I quirked a brow at his words before looking down the hall at mom's room. "When did you talk to mom?"

"Last night, she was at Mr. Clarke's." He informed me as if it was nothing crazy. "Clarke as in your teacher, Mr. Clarke? Why was she at Mr. Clarke's?"

Will let out a groan from the other side of the phone, "I don't know, what does it matter?"

"It's weird, plus she never came home last night." Mom would usually be up by now, but instead, her door was still closed, meaning she never made it back last night.

"What's Mr. Clarke's number? I'm gonna check on them." I quickly grabbed a notepad and scribbled down the number as Will told it to me.

"Are you coming home tonight or are you staying with the Wheelers again?" I questioned him, leaning against the wall as I traced the number in my hand.

"I'll be home for dinner but I'm gonna spend the day here if that's okay?" He asked, "Of course, just try and call the house before you leave."

With a quick, "Love you." My little brother quickly hung up the phone, leaving me with the dial tone before I even got the chance to reply.

Scoffing lightly at the boy's action I quickly shook it off and dialed Mr. Clarke's number into the receiver.

"Hello?" Mr. Clarke answered from the other line with a confused tone. "Hi, sorry to bug you Mr. Clarke it's Eleanor Byers, I was just wondering if Joyce was still with you?"

"Oh, good morning Nell, I'll go get her for you." "No, it's fine. I just-"

I could hear the phone hit the table as Mr. Clarke placed the phone down.

"Dammit," I muttered to myself as I heard the phone get picked up again.

"Morning, honey. Sorry, you must have been worried sick. I meant to call." Mom spoke quickly from the other line with an overly sweet tone masking her tired voice.

"Just a bit, not worried more confused. Why are you at Mr. Clarke's? I thought you and Hop were... You know." I dragged out the sentence awkwardly not wanting to say the word dating in the same sentence as my mom and Hopper.

"Hop and I, no... No. And Clarke is just helping me with a little project." She answered quickly, her tone now bashful and embarrassed. "A project?"

"I'll explain later... You know what, you should go out today. I won't be home for a bit." She changed the subject as if I wouldn't notice.

"I have to watch Erica later." I reminded her, rolling my eyes slightly at her behavior. "Well, take some time for yourself first. Go to the mall. Ohhh, I hear they have a Jazzercise now."

I laughed lightly at that. "You want me to take a jazzercise lesson? Who do you think I am?" I questioned her with a smirk.

"It's supposed to be a lot of fun and good for you. Just try it, please." "Fine, whatever. I'll go drink some wheatgrass too while I'm at it."

~~~

God, I feel ridiculous.

I thought a jacket covering the ridiculous pink leotard I was wearing would give me some sense of comfort and pride but the bright yellow legging I paired with it easily ruined that sense of hope.

I stood awkwardly on the escalator as it moved painfully slow to the second floor.

If I was standing in a room full of people dressed like me, I wouldn't feel so weird. But I wasn't, instead, I'm in a crowded mall getting weird looks from strangers and teens I go to school with.

Quickly making my way towards the Jazzercise studio, I quickly came to a halt as I spotted two very familiar figures.

"What are you pervs doing?" I questioned as I came to a stop behind Dustin and Steve, the two hid behind a decorative tree as they spied on a group in the middle of a jazzercise lesson.

"Ew, you even brought binoculars? You two are sick." I faked a grossed-out expression as the two quickly jumped out of their hiding spot to face me.

"What are you doing here?" Steve asked as he awkwardly leaned against the railing of the second floor.

"Apparently, I need jazzercise lessons. Hey, eyes up Dustin." I lightly slapped the rim of Dustin's hat while Steve hurriedly zipped my jacket.

"What are you wearing." Dustin laughed loudly as he continued to scan his eyes over my ridiculous outfit. "Nuh-uh, answer my question first. What were you two doing?" I questioned again, tightly crossing my arms over my chest.

"We thought we were following a Russ-" "We were doing nothing." Steve jabbed Dustin in the side before he could finish, I could assume what his next word was.

"You were following a Russian?" I whispered the word, tilting my head to the side out of confusion. "Is that what you and Robin have been whispering about?" I asked the two of them but Steve quickly blew it off, walking past me and towards the escalator.

Dustin looked up at me in confusion before the two of us quickly followed after him. "What's up with you two?" He asked as we pushed past a few people that stood on the escalator.

"No clue. It's been like this all summer." I informed the boy I hadn't seen for the first half of the summer as we followed Steve into Scoops Ahoy.

"You're not gonna believe who Dustin thought was a Russian." Steve called out to Robin as she hurriedly made her way out of the backroom of the empty ice cream shop.

"You did too." Dustin scoffed as she pushed past the two boys, muttering a code under her breathe as she quickly exited the shop and hurried towards the center of the mall.

"What's she saying?" I asked Dustin but Steve quickly stopped him from answering. "It's nothing." Steve answered for the boy again before the three of us quickly followed after Robin.

"When blue meets yellow... In the west..." She spoke to herself, eyes trained on the large clock that loomed over the mall and its patrons.

"Robin, what are you doing?" Steve questioned her as we came to a stop in front of her.

"I cracked it." She stated with a pleased grin before jumping down from her place on the garden display.

"Cracked what?" Dustin asked as she walked towards the three of us. "I cracked the code."

Her words seemed to intrigue the two boys' interests but I was still lost on what exactly they were talking about. "What code?"

"It's nothing, Nellie." Steve told me softly, placing a gentle hand on my cheek. "No, no it's obviously not nothing." I shook my head, pushing his hand away from me.

"Just tell me, please. I'm sick of these secrets." I looked up at him with wide, begging eyes but he remained silent.

"Steve, I thought we fixed this..." I muttered but he continued to stay quiet, looking down at the ground. "Fine. I see how it is."

And that was that.

He didn't try to stop me as I left, even though I could hear Dustin and Robin push for him to stop me from leaving, for him to just tell me the truth.

But I guess I was right, there was no fixing what was already so broken.

~~~

The day remained gloomy. Hawkins, Indiana's stormy weather seemed to reflect how I felt on the inside.

I was ready for this day to be over, especially after the major fail that was my babysitting duty today.

Of course, I couldn't take Erica to the pool because of the raging storm outside, but I sadly couldn't find an excuse for why I couldn't take her to the mall for ice cream.

So instead we had a day inside, I don't remember playing dolls being so boring, but then again I didn't have many dolls to play with and Erica didn't seem to enjoy my arts and crafts ideas.

Running up the dirt path to my home while the rain continued to pour down around me, I spotted two bikes thrown against the ground at the end of the driveway and two figures lurking at the front door of the house.

"Will! Will, I'm sorry man, alright." One of the figures slammed their fist against the wooden door while the other moved to peer through the living room window.

"Please, can you just come outside and we can talk?" They continued to call out to my little brother.

"What did you guys do?" I yelled out over the rain, dropping the jacket I had been using to shield myself from the hard drops of water.

"I didn't mean it, I was just being an asshole. I swear!" Mike quickly answered me while Lucas joined the two of us at the front of the house.

"Get inside..." I groaned out as I unlocked the door. "I'll go find him." I had a pretty good idea where my little brother was, but in this kind of weather, I seriously hoped he wasn't out in the woods.

"We'll come with you." Lucas stated quickly stepping up to me as I unlocked the front door for them. "No, you guys shouldn't even be out here. Now, inside."

Leaving the two boys in the house, I quickly made my way around the house and into the woods that surrounded our backyard.

I knew the way to Will's fort like the back of my hand, so it wasn't that hard to find it even in the blinding rain.

But what I didn't expect to find was Will crying over his destroyed Castle Byers fort with a baseball bat held tightly in his hands.

"Will! What happened?" I yelled out to him, hurriedly running towards him, throwing my jacket over his shoulders to protect him from the rain that fell around us.

Suddenly, Will took in a deep breath. His crying coming to an immediate halt and his eyes widening with fear as he looked out at something that didn't exist.

Raising a hand to grip the back of his neck, Will slowly turned to face me before finally speaking.

"He's back."