𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐑

𝟏. 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐰𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡

"𝙄'𝙢 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙙.
𝘼𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙠 '𝙣' 𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙡.
𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙨𝙤 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝,
𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙞𝙣'𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝."

⬻ 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘳 - 𝘖𝘻𝘻𝘺 𝘖𝘴𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦 ⤖

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝟏𝟒𝐭𝐡, 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟔

"Hold still," you groan, sandwiching Robin's head between the palms of your hands. You both showed up impossibly late to the pep rally that morning but you still stopped to rescue her from trying to use someone's tuba as a mirror to fix her uniform behind the bleachers. Now you were struggling—loudly—to adjust her chinstrap as students pushed past you on the way to their seats.

You liked pep rallies. Or, at least you liked pretending to. There was something about them that made you feel like maybe there was the teeniest, tiniest chance that you could belong with these people. That maybe this year, everyone would decide that you didn't deserve to be ignored or whispered about in the hallways.

No one ever cared about cliques when you were packed into the stands like sardines, all cheering for the same team. But high school sports could only ever unite people so much, and by the time everyone filed out of the bleachers at the end of the hour that hope was gone and you were right back to being the freak.

Robin instinctively ducked her head before catching herself and trying her best to hold still as she told the rest of her story. "—and you've seen fast times, right? because dingus insisted that it was because she likes boobies!"

You finally clipped the strap into place and stood back to adjust the feathery plume sprouting out of her helmet. Shooting Robin a strange look, she huffed and blew a stray feather out of her face. "I know! And those are his words, not mine."

"All of the fun conversations happen when I'm not in the car," you whined, taking your backpack out of her outstretched hand. "Why can't Steve ever drive me to school?"

Robin pretended to think about it as you walked her over to the band section. "Oh, gee, I dunno. Maybe because you live in the Richie Rich neighborhood on the complete other side of town?"

Right. Even though you knew Steve would go out of his way to pick you up if you only asked, the two of them ran late enough as it was without the added ten-minute detour. "Besides," she added, stopping behind the school mascot and turning to face you directly. "Why can't Andy just drive you?"

Both of you glanced over at your brother, Andy Donovan. He was running a hand through the mess of curly brown hair that he almost always kept hidden under his stupid HHS cap. One of the new junior varsity cheerleaders was leaning up against the wall beside him, dumbly digging the toe of her white sneaker into the waxy wooden floor and nodding at whatever nonsense was coming out of his mouth.

You hated Andy just as much as you hated the group of basketball meatheads he hung out with. Ever since the events of last summer, you've had this image about you that seemed to clash with the 'effortlessly perfect' vibe that he was trying way too hard to pull off. So up until right now, you weren't allowed to go to any of his games or even stand too close to the entrance of the gym.

You were a bad omen. A curse. And curses didn't belong anywhere near the Hawkins Tigers. Especially not when they were so close to winning the state championship title.