it's always gonna be her <3

eight

karen tells nancy she can talk to her about everything.
joyce tries to tell jonathan will is talking to her through the lights.
the boys plan to go back to mirkwood after school.
***

hawkins high

dylan runs up next to nancy as she walks to one of her classes,"hey nance."

the girl jumps a little before realizing who it was,"oh hey."

"are you okay?" dylan asks noticing the way nancy hugs her books to her chest and doesn't make eye contact.

"yeah, yeah totally," she sighs before finally looking at dylan,"i just feel like everyone's looking at me,"dylan looked around not seeing anyone looking at the girl,"you don't think steve told anyone, do you? about you know what we did the other night?"

"what that you slept together?" nancy lightly smacked her arm and dylan laughed a little,"hey!"

"sorry, just keep you're voice down," nancy said with a small smile.

dylan smiled seeing nancy's reaction,"don't worry, he wouldn't tell anyone. i only know because we tell each other everything. also, when he actually likes a girl he doesn't go around flaunting their sex lives and he actually likes you."

nancy blushed but still had another question,"well what about tommy and carol?"

"you're being paranoid wheeler," dylan joked.

nancy looked away from dylan again,"sorry."

"no, it's cute," once dylan said it she froze, and so did nancy. she didn't know why she said it, it just slipped out. she looked up to see nancy already looking at her,"i'm- i'm sorry i don't know-"

"no it's okay, don't apologize," nancy said as they both started walking again. a small smile formed on nancy's face that dylan didn't catch.

"yeah, you're right. you know, we're friends we can say stuff like that," dylan said to try and make herself feel better for slipping up,"we are friends right?"

nancy looked at her with a forced smile,"of course we're friends."

dylan smiled at her before they parted ways and nancy walked into her class. as soon as she walked in the smile faded.

friends.

they were friends.

nancy didn't mind it. she loved being friends with dylan. but since they started studying together and hanging out more because she was dating steve, she started to feel different around dylan.

she wouldn't call it a crush but she also wouldn't deny that she thought the older girl was attractive, and more than just the smile.

once nancy stopped thinking about their interaction in the hallway, she noticed barb wasn't in her seat. nancy realized she hadn't seen barb at all or even heard from her.

"hey ally, have you seen barb?"

the girl gave her a look,"shouldn't you know?"

nancy couldn't help but worry the rest of the day.

~  (italics = dylan's thoughts)

after dylan parted ways with nancy she didn't go to her class, instead she went behind the school and lit a cigarette.

jesus i'm so stupid.

she thought as she took a puff.

dylan would be lying if she said she hadn't had a small crush on nancy when they were kids and up until her sophomore year.

the two never really considered themselves "friends" as kids. they would talk to each other and say hi but only in school or when they saw each other in the grocery store.

but once dylan became a sophomore she gave up on the crush. she followed steve's path and just let the girls come to her, which they did.

soph has been her only real relationship. soph has been the only one that's liked dylan for more than her looks and popularity, which dylan loved.

but saying nancy was cute in the hallway made her think.

did she still have feelings for her?

no that's stupid. i'm with soph. everything's great, i've never been happier.

then why do i get all giddy when nancy smiles at me?

shut up dylan.

dylan wasn't going to read into her thoughts. she wasn't going to get rid of something amazing and good for her, her relationship with soph, because of some stupid childhood crush.

and that's what she was gonna leave it as.

a stupid childhood crush.

***
sorry for the long wait. i've been super busy.
but i hope you guys liked this chapter.
i thought it would be good to look into each of their thoughts and a little bit of dylan's backstory.
lmk what you guys think :))