friday, december 18th

"Give it up for Hawkins High drama club!"

The whole room bursted into applause along with some whistles and a few 'go Tammy!'s. The cast formed the usual line, holding eachother's hands and walking to the edge of the stage.

They bowed and the crowd applaufed, it went on and on and on. Beth smiled, holding tightly to the ones beside her.

She had a better feeling about everything now. Her and Robin had survived the week without any other problems. Turns out that Josh had some sense in his head, and hopefully he has kept all the information to himself.

Still, the days had been exhausting. Both the girls had to look constantly where they went together; they couldn't appear as a pair anywhere public. It was hard, and sad, and Beth was absolutely done with school. She was more than happy about Christmas break starting on monday.

The real show was over, now there was only one more thing to do before they were free of school.

The real party.

—

The school gymnasium was almost full with drama students and their parents. The air was thick. Beth walked away from her mom and dad who were talking with Ms. Grace.

Now, she was really glad that Tammy had thrown that other party. This one could barely be called a party. The music was just on the background, everyone was just invested in their conversations: well, mostly the parents. Every teenager in the place was either secretly drunk, or bored out of this world. And Beth belonged in the last group.

She was really uncomfortable. She had decided to wear her mother's old dress tonight, and oh man was that a mistake. The dress was really cute, a dark blue knee-length dress with a flowy hem. Beth just didn't feel like... herself in it. It was too tight, she would've much rather wore a pair of pants. She was sick of the cheap soda they had to drink, the boring music and the polite chitchatting everyone was doing.

As she walked to the side of the gym, she spotted a familiar face standing nearby the wall.

Her girlfriend.

"Hey, Robin. Enjoying yourself?" The girl asked, catching Robin's attention.

"Never better." Robin ironically said. "Why on earth did they have to invite parents to this? It's not such a big deal."

"For them it is."

"Yeah. My parent's have a never ending social battery, so they'll keep talking until midnight."

"What? I thought this was going to be like an hour -thing?" Beth groaned and looked at the clock.

"Nope. Apparently it's gonna last.. well, as long as it will."

"Great."

Robin crossed her arms, leaning to the wall. "At least you're here."

Beth quirked her eyebrow.

"Have I told you how gorgeous you look in that dress?" Robin said, a smirk playing on her lips.

Beth couldn't help but chuckle. "Are you saying pick-up lines right now?"

"Maybe." The other girl shrugged. "But you do look gorgeous."

"Thank you. As well as you."

"Well, thank you."

The girls laughed softly at their ridiculous conversation. Beth looked around; no one seemed to be in earshot.

She had an idea. Something to brighten up both of their miserable nights.

"Don't you want some fresh air? What do you say? Should we, like, meet at the toilets?"

Robin smirked. "Are you saying what I think you are?" She got a nod as an answer. "Okay. The ones by the chemistry wing? Five minutes."

With that the girl left, passing Beth by her shoulder. This sudden burst of confidence was already making her mind go wild.

Beth gently put her half-full drink down on the table and made her way out as non-suspiciously as possible.

As soon as she walked out, she saw a blonde girl standing outside the door: staring at her shoes, looking very lost.

The girl lifted her head up and Beth regocnised her.

"Cassie?" What are you doing here?" She asked, keeping her voice stable.

They hadn't spoken to each other after Halloween. The stupid fight, leading to the part where they actually separated and found new friendgroups.

Beth hasn't had the time to think about that, he past few weeks being more eventful than her whole time in high school. She was way too busy with work, the play, and her crush on Robin- which turned out to be a relationship.

Yet now, Cassie was standing in front of her.

"Hey! Beth! Do- do you have a minute?" The girl asked.

"Yeah I, guess?" Do I? Robin did say five minutes, though.. yeah.

"Great." Cassie smiled. Neither of them could deny the awkwardness of the situation.

"So, yeah." Cassie continued. "I just wanted to talk to you. I know we haven't been.. in good relations lately."

Beth just nodded, wondering where the girl was going with this.

"It was a great show!"

"Oh! Uhm, thank you." Beth gave her a small smile.

"You looked really happy. You know -on the stage, I mean." Cassie said.

"I am happy." The other girl said, a slight sarcastic tone on her voice.

"That's good to hear. Yeah. I'm glad."

The girls both just stood there, nodding and smiling. Was Cassie trying to apologize for her actions, or what was the reason for her sudden kindness?

"Was that.. all?" Beth asked and repressed a grunt about her awkward sentence.

Cassie shook her head. "Uhm, not exactly. I swear I didn't come here just to chat awkwardly."

Beth laughed a bit.

"What I really wanted to say is.. I'm sorry. We treated you like shit. And for what? A party? That might've been the dumbest thing I've ever done."

Cassie admitted. "So, yeah, I'm sorry."

Beth nodded. Her guess was right: Cassie apologized.

"Apology accepted." The girl smiled, earning another smile back.

Cassie let the breath out that she had been holding in. "Good. That's -that's great. I would've came to you sooner, but Amy didn't want me to."

"What? Then... why now?"

"I guess I just finally decided to something by myself." Cassie shrugged. Beth got a feeling that the girl had much more on her mind but didn't say it.

"I'm glad you did."

"Me too. God, I felt dumb standing here. They wouldn't let me in, you know!" She said, pointing at the guy in the entrance.

Beth laughed. "What? No way."

"Yeah. 'Only members allowed'." Cassie mimicked the guy. "You have your fancy parties, only for the Hawkins' High elite." She wiggled her eyebrows, making the other girl chuckle.

"I doubt that were the elite."

The girls laughed quietly. It was funny how easily they could talk like nothing had ever happened.

"Uhm, that's all. I better get going" Cassie said. "My mom is waiting."

"Yeah, okay. It was nice to see you."

"You too."

Cassie passed the girl and Beth watched her turn around the corner. What an odd thing to happen. How long had she been waiting here, just to get to talk with her?

Beth checked the time again, and suddenly remembered the actual point right now: Robin.

"Shit" she mumbled to herself and started running, wondering how on earth she had forgotten about their little deal.

Beth ran trough the empty halls, her footsteps echoing with the sound of her breathing.

She finally got to the right toilets, and shuffled in. She made sure that the door closed as quietly as possible, and took a deep breath.

"Robin?" She hissed.

One of the stalls opened and Robin stepped out.

"Took you long enough." She questioned.

Beth sighed. "Had a slowdown on the way. I'll explain later." She walked towards the girl. "Now I just really wanna kiss you."

"Oh?" Robin smirked again, raising a familiar feeling in Beth's stomach.

Beth pressed her lips against Robin's, pushing her to the wall. When they broke apart for air she breathed out: "You have no idea how much I've been wanting to do that."

Robin just kissed her back as an answer, sweet and passionate, her hand's landing on Beth's back.

They were pressed against eachother, tender kisses slowly turning to bolder ones. Robin's hands moved down, resting on Beth's hips while hers were busy working their way under her shirt.

They breathed eachother, pressed against the wall, kissing one another over and over again, hands roaming anywhere possible.

Robin gently broke the moment to move her hair out of the way, and their intentions to continue were interrupted by a loud clang.

"What was that?" Robin asked, looking at the door.

"I don't know." Beth said, her hands sliding out and back to Robin's face.

Another loud noice made both of the girls flinch.

"Hello? Is someone here? You know you're not allowed in this part of the school!" A man's voice yelled, barely audible trough the walls. It was the janitor.

"Shit!" Beth hissed. "Hide, hide, hide!"

Robin laughed, rushing to the stall she had waited for the girl in.

"Don't laugh!" Beth said, putting a hand over the girl's mouth. "He'll hear us."

Robin just laughed under her hand, making Beth irritated. "Seriously." She said, listening to any sound of noice.

They heard the janitor's heavy steps: followed by the sound of the cleaning cart. He passed the toilets.

"Woah." Beth breathed, dropping her hand from Robin's mouth. She laughed out of relief, smiling at the other girl.

"Close call." Robin laughed.

"This just made my night way more interesting."

"Maybe tonight is not so bad after all?"

"Yeah."