❝who are you?❞
❝Lila Hargrove, pleasure to meet you. And you are?❞
-𝔭𝔯𝔢𝔶. Lila Hargrove, California to Hawkins, meets four boys and one girl who may be the answer to the upside down problem.
[stranger things 2-4]
[oc x will byers]
[1 in byers 1...
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❝And what has been done
cannot be undone.❞
-seven devils, florence + the machine
AFTER FAILING TO GET THE PROJECT THAT SAT COMFORTABLY ON HER BED FOR HOURS UPON HOURS, FLYNN AND LILA WERE HUMBLED BY MRS WALKER IN FRONT OF THEIR WHOLE CLASS. She'd ranted for at least five minutes about how they had a whole month to do the project yet they still couldn't do it. The pair barely escaped a detention from that — it was quite absurd, really. Getting a detention for retaliating (to what would fall as bullying under the school's definition) but not for a homework project they had constantly been reminded about day after day. Luckily she bit her tongue for the period of time.
If she thought that was bad, going home was soon to top it. The school bus ride was quiet and lonely. The majority of the school were staying for the basketball later, with the odd few that didn't on the ride. Lila didn't pay attention to anyone on bus. Next to her, the seat that would usually be filled with Flynn's talkative self was also at school. He'd been swayed over by Dustin Henderson. Dustin fucking Henderson. If Flynn could be persuaded that easily by him, who knew what else could sway him?
Topping that too, was the next morning. Lila dreaded the morning where she woke up again. Sleeping for a minimum of a day was something she planned to do during the spring break. Not being comatose, though.
Walking into the kitchen when Neil was already there was where her problems for the day started. Her approaching footsteps had been no secret to him when all she wanted was a bowl of cinnamon toast crunch. It was a surprise he was making his own breakfast too, considering he usually got her to do it for him.
Just as she almost passed him with no acknowledgement, his gruff voice called out for her. Her heart dropped slightly in her chest. He was unpredictable — there was no telling what he would do next. "Lila. Turn around." Slowly, she did, reluctantly meeting his face, littered with shaven stubs of hair. Out of all the things he could say, she never thought it would be this. Like, nowhere on her radar. "We are going to have a movie night tonight. Just the two of us. I've got the day off work."
". . .Okay?" With him, most of the time there was a correct answer. This. . she didn't know. Those months since July deemed useless learning his 'new' mannerisms to his speech.
"I want you —" his finger almost dug into her collarbone — "to go to the shop where you can buy a couple movies, then we'll watch some tonight. Eat and go."
Neil was off. If there was one thing in history he had never done, it was to bond with his kids. Now that there was one left, why? Lila immediately concluded that something had gone wrong in his head. Even if he were worried that something could happen to her (which he wasn't), why seven months after the incident would he suddenly care?
