monday, december 14th

The weekend felt like a miracle.

Beth wasn't in Hawkins, no, not mentally. She was in some type of wonderland, back on the cloud nine, in the happiest place she had ever been to. It was exactly like the feeling after their very first day together -but stronger. So much stronger. Unfortunately they couldn't see eachother for the rest of the weekend due to the amount of schoolwork they both had; they spent a good while talking on the phone like a newlywed couple.

Their waiting was finished the second they spotted eachother on the cafeteria. They still behaved completely normal. No one knew about the moment they had shared, and though they would've wanted to, they weren't going to tell anyone. Not yet, at least.

Lunch was as normal as always: everyone talked and laughed, going trough friday's events, already excited for the next show. Beth and Robin sat next to eachother, chatting about the same monday-things like they had done for weeks now. The only difference was their intertwined hands under the table; making little butterflies fly in Beth's stomach.

Every second with her was truly magical.

—

The bell rang, and Beth walked trough the halls to the eastern wing-

crossing ways with a familiar face.

"Josh!" She wawed. "Hey!"

As soon as Josh regocnised Beth, his face dropped. He muttered something to himself before approaching the girl. He seemed mad about something.

The boy's odd behavior was clear as day. "Are you okay?" Beth asked with only good intentions.

Josh breathed heavily in and out. "No. Not really."

Beth smiled, giving the boy the sympathy he seemed to need. "Wha-"

"So you stood me up, huh? On friday?" He interrupted.

He was clearly upset.

"What?" Beth simply asked, until she realised.

The party. Right. She never danced with Josh. She left him standing there, and went upstairs; and then Robin, and then.. yeah. Shit. She had totally forgotten about the guy.

The second-hand regrets washed over her, and she automatically started apologizing. "I'm so sorry, Josh. I-I was a bit drunk. I don't know if you noticed, but, yeah. I fell asleep upstairs, and then-"

Josh cut her off. "Quit the bullshit. Those are excuses, aren't they?" He nodded more to himself than to Beth and crossed his arms.

"What? No! Josh-"

"How could I be this stupid?" He groaned.

Beth furrowed her brows, even more confused.

"What?"

"You couldn't dance with me, but oh, with Robin Buckley it was fine. And- and- Beth, I don't think that's how best friends dance. I should've guessed it. Of course you're a fucking queer."

Oh.

Oh no.

So that's what this was about. Josh had seen them. And he put the things together, and somehow guessed -and now he knows. And of course he's mad.

Beth wasn't thinking clearly. She thought about the chance of telling Josh that she and Robin were really just friends. But would that be any use, really?

Josh looked at the terrified girl in front of him, but he was definitely not finished.

"You know, Beth. You know, that it's not normal, right? You're not normal." His voice was filled with such frustration and anger, it made Beth shiver.

"Josh, just stop-" The girl said, her own anger growing with every word she heard.

"You're a fucking freak! I could tell everyone about this, you know? Your little secret would be out in a few minutes. You get that?"

Beth felt a hinch of fear. But it wasn't fear for herself. Fear for Robin.

Gathering her remaining courage she took a step ahead, which made Josh drop his angry face for a second.

"I don't give a shit what you say about me."

She took in a deep breath.

"But leave her out of this. Don't include her."

And she left, not giving Josh a chance to say anything more. Beth held tightly to her back, passed a few girls who were visibly confused at her anger, and walked to the girls' bathroom.

She locked herself in one of the stalls and took a deep breath. Oh my god.

Once Beth managed to calm herself down from the first shock, a very unpleasant feeling in her throat appeared and her eyes were burning. Before she even knew it, tears were flooding down her face and she muffled her cries to a piece of paper. Luckily there was no one else on the toilets.

She took her time, speculating everything that could happen. What happened to Josh? He was always so sweet and kind, Beth had really liked him. Did he actually have a thing for Beth? Did he really like her? That could be the reason he reacted like he did.

What was going to happen? Would he tell everyone?

Finally; Beth wiped her cheek, took a deep breath and figured out something rational she should do. She had to tell Robin.

She quickly got her jacket and scarf from her locker and rushed outside -planning to get to the school's phone and call Robin.

It was freezing. The ground was icy, and the wind

felt like someone was pinching her face. Jesus, why couldn't they have another phone inside the school? She stumbled to the booth, almost slipping.

She took the phone with shaking hands, barely managing to put the right number in.

The girl held the speaker to her ear, nervously listening to the ringing. Finally someone picked up and she regocnised Robin's mother's voice greeting her.

"Hi. I, uh- It's Beth. Is Robin home? Could you put her on?"

On the other end of the line Robin's mother called her daughter to the phone, and Beth relaxed a little when she heard the girl's voice.

"Beth? Are you okay?" The other girl asked, fear audible in her voice. "Where are you calling from? Is everything okay?"

Robin's concern for her made Beth smile just a little. "I'm.. well- uh. Can I come by? I have something important to talk about."

"Are you sure you're good? Why can't you say it?"

Beth lowered her voice when two random guys passed her by, giving her a questioning look. "I'm calling from school." She said to the phone. "Can I just come over?"

"Uh, sure. See you soon!" Robin said and Beth hung up the call without a goodbye. The tears from before were coming back, strangling her and making her blink twice as fast. She put the phone back in the booth, fixed her scarf and walked away.

It would have been way more reasonable to take the bus, but maybe walking was good for Beth. After all, her manic thoughts kept her company and the fifteen-minute walk was over in a moment, leading Beth nervously pacing on Robin's front porch, waiting for someone to let her in.

Beth expected Robin's mother to open the door, since she was the one who answered the phone.

But she was greeted by the girl herself.

"Robin." Beth sighed, her voice still sore from the crying.

"Beth? Wha-" She was cut off by a tight hug, muffling the rest of her sentence.

"I'm sorry." Beth spoke into Robin's shoulder.

"What? Beth, you're freaking me out! What's going on." Robin said her voice raising in fear.

"I- uhm. I can explain. Can we go to your room?"

"Sure. My mum just left to her night shift, there's no one home."

Beth nodded, feeling too weak to speak. Robin held her shoulder comfortingly, guiding the girl to her room.

And Beth explained everything. The tears came back once more: soon she was sobbing in Robin's arms, the other girl holding her tight with the very same feeling.

They cried together, holding onto eachother like they were dying.

"I'm sorry I got you into this." Beth cried, climging to Robin's arms.

"No! Don't be sorry. You're not the one who should be sorry." Robin immediately disagreed.

"But Josh, and if he-"

Robin put her other hand to Beth's cheeck, looking deeply in her eye.

"Listen. I-I don't care. Eh. Of course I care. It's, a big deal." She breathed out.

"But, that's not the point. The point is, that I don't want to lose you. Okay?" She said, her voice trembling.

Beth leaned onto Robin's hand, shaking ever so slightly from the tears she had cried.

"I've never felt like this. Never. I can't lose you. You're the best person in my life." She wiped Beth's tears with her hand, desperate to see the girl smile again.

"I'm serious."

Beth laughed a bit, pressing a soft kiss to Robin's lips. "Robin."

"Yeah."

"We can't let him take us down. Let's not let them take us down, okay?" She nodded, and the other girl nodded back.

"Do you want to make this like- like... official?"

"Official?" Robin asked, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Yeah. Would you be my girlfriend?"

Robin's mouth opened, she was trying to say something, anything, but couldn't get any words out.

"Ye-yes! God yes!" She stuttered with a wide grin.

Beth laughed, relieved, the pain slowly washing away. They could do this. Together. It didn't have to be the end, like it had felt like twenty minutes ago.

They would be fine.

"So.. girlfriends?"

"Girlfriends."