a helping hand | ronance

TWO

STEVE STAYED WITH robin the whole day, trying to help her out. he cooked her lunch while she sat on the kitchen counter in silence. he tried to make her laugh, which worked a couple times. he tried distracting her by looking through videos of pretty girls with her.

he even stayed the night with her to make sure she was alright. robin had fallen asleep pretty quickly, and steve took it upon himself to climb into bed next to her and fall fast asleep.

steve and robin always slept in the same bed. they were best friends, so it wasn't weird or anything like that. steve had no feelings for her, and robin was gay. they liked to be close to one another- it gave each of them feel protected by one another.

robin had school the next day, and steve stayed out of her way as she got ready. she'd occasionally come back to him to ask if she looked alright, and he'd always reassure her that she did. his favorite part was the small smile she'd give him each time.

he drove her to school that morning, the car ride not feeling normal due to the lack of conversation. usually, steve would go on about a million girls he'd either crush on or want to fuck. but today, robin had turned up the radio loudly.

that's something steve had acknowledged about robin only two weeks into their friendship. whenever robin would turn up the radio louder than normal, it meant she didn't want to talk. steve was always looking out for things like that- things that she did to make herself comfortable.

the last thing steve harrington ever wanted to do was make robin uncomfortable.

-

"i'll pick you up, okay? if you get uncomfortable or overwhelmed at all, call me. i'll drop whatever i'm doing to come get you early. text me if you need anything. do you want me to pick you up for lunch? forget it, i'm picking you up for lunch regardless"

"thanks," robin managed to say even though her throat felt closed up due to her nerves for school today.

"see you later, rob. love you"

"love you," robin replied, walking away from his car and to the school building.

robin's firsy class was english, her favorite. she dragged her shoes through the hall, staring at her phone screen. she was happy for once that nobody ever notices her.

she made her way to english, slipping in the desk that she shared with nancy wheeler. she never talked to her, though she wasn't a big fan of her. nancy wheeler always seemed like a priss. she never said a word to robin, too busy setting up pages for notes or fixing the line of colored pens on her desk.

robin didn't feel well that morning. her stomach felt like it was doing cartwheels. she quickly got her things out for the day, putting them on her desk. as she awaited the start of class, her leg bounced up and down. she felt like she could feel nancy's eyes on her at some point, but if they were, it was brief.

about halfway through class, robin began growing more nauseous by the second. eventually, she began to realize forcing it down wouldn't work forever. she quickly raised her hand, a hand slightly covering for mouth.

"yes, miss buckley?" the teacher asked, clearly irritated to have robin interrupting his class.

"can i use the restroom?" she asked, her words running together s bit as she struggled to continue holding her uneasy feeling longer.

"yes, you may," was all the teacher that teacher could say before robin quickly shot up, trying her best to hurry to the restroom before she ended up spilling her guts all over the hallway floor.

luckily for robin, the bathroom was right dowm the hall, so she didn't have to walk for long. she threw open the bathroom door, lucky to see nobody in the small room. she rushed to a stall, barely locking the door before dropping onto her knees in front of the toilet. she ended up losing all of the breakfast she had eaten that morning.

"robin?" a small voice peeped out a few minutes later. robin knew the voice immediately; it belonged to nancy wheeler.

the same nancy wheeler that robin was sure had no clue of her existence.

robin was about to respond when she felt another wave of nausea hit her, causing her to vomit once again into the toilet.

"are you okay?" she heard nancy say again, knocking on her stall door.

after a few minutes of silence, robin finally felt like she was done puking. she turned around to see nancy's shoes still in front of her stall door. robin groaned silentl6, picking herself off the floor as she flushed the toilet. she took a deep breath before opening the stall door.

"i'm fine," she said, giving a smile.

nancy only furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "are you sure? i heard you throwing up"

"yeah, no biggie," robin said, trying to fake a convincing laugh.

"you need to go to the nurse!"

"i'm fine, wheeler. i feel better now"

nancy only stared at her, before slowly nodding and going into a stall herself. robin fixed her appearance slightly and washed her hands before leaving the bathroom. she walked to a nearby water fountain, bringing her lips to the running water and drinking some.

she returned to class and tried to focus on the lesson being taught, but she struggled to do so. instead, she spent the whole time thinking about everything. her pregnancy, her throwing up, and steve's offers.

she tried to get herself to be happy about the pregnancy, but she just couldn't. she was fixated on the thought that she wouldn't be a good mother, due to the lack of good parental figures she had. every time she thought about her unborn child, she thought of that night again and again.

she hated that her kid would forever remind her of that man and what he did to her.