Every Rose Has Its Thorns (Harrington x OC)

~Chapter 1: The Vanishing of Will Byers~

Word count: 1753

November 7, 1983

Rose Byers wakes up in yet another boy's house at four am. She sighs and climbs out of the bed, walking over to the boy's window to leave. Opening the window, she quietly summons a vine from a tree with her powers.

She had no idea who this boy was, nor could she care less. All he wanted to do was sleep with her, but all she wanted was something permanent.

Much like one of her best friends' boyfriend, she has the royalty title at Hawkins High. Although it's nice to have the title, she didn't care about hanging out with the "king" and his posse of assholes, even if they used to be friends.

She hops on her bike and starts biking back to her adoptive home. Once she's back, she drops her bike out front and goes to climb through her window, opting to study for a test she has later today.

A few hours later, Joyce opens the door to see her on the bed, in her pajamas, surrounded by flashcards.

"Rose honey, how long have you been up?" she asks. "Did you have another nightmare?"

"Yeah, couldn't sleep after I got up." she lies.

Rose feels bad for lying to Joyce, but she can't bring herself to tell her the truth either.

"Alright." she says. "Well remember that you can always talk to me."

Rose smiles as Joyce closes the door behind her.

She looks down at her wrist, running her finger over the 013 written on her wrist, a constant reminder of Papa's betrayal.

"So who was last night's victim?"

She looks up, covering her wrist with her sleeve, and glares at her brother.

"Jesus Jon, do you knock?" she whisper-shouts.

"Happy birthday." he says, throwing a gift on her bed as he closes the door. "Where were you Ro?"

"Why does it matter?" she says. "You and Joy- mom both had late shifts and Will was over at Mike's."

"It matters because even though it's not blood, you're still my sister." he says, gesturing to the gift. "Come on, open it."

Rose smiles and shakes her head, taking the gift and turning to face Jonathan. She opens the box and inside is a necklace, a small purple glass flame.

"I love it, thank you Jon." she says, giving him a little hug.

He smiles and backs away, taking a picture of her smile with his camera. She slightly nudges him and gets up.

"Alright, out." she laughs. "I need to get dressed."

"Like anyone will care what you look like." he rolls his eyes but complies anyways. "'Queen of Hawkins High.' Miss blonde hair, green eyes."

She also rolls her eyes then goes to the closet to grab an outfit for the day. After she's dressed, she heads out to the kitchen where Jonathan and Joyce are.

"Will's not up yet?" she asks, grabbing some food.

"Can you get him?" Joyce asks. "I'm going to be late for work."

She nods and heads to Will's room, knocking on the door.

"Will, come on, time to get up." she says, opening his door at the same time.

Jonathan comes in after her, looking just as confused as she is.

"Will?" she asks as she looks around the room. "He's not in his room!"