Word count: 813
"Joyce, I'm heading to school!" Rose yells before heading outside to her bike.
Jonathan gives her a look as she's grabbing her bike.
"What Jonathan?" she asks harshly.
"Oh, no more nicknames?" he asks. "No 'mom?' Listen, I know this is hard Ro but-"
"But what?" she snaps. "Anyone I get close to gets hurt!"
He stays silent as climbs on her bike.
"Bye Jonathan." she says before he grabs the handle.
"Look Rose." he says softly. "I can read you better than anyone. Maybe don't run away until mom is better, yeah?"
"We'll see how I feel after school." she shrugs before prying his hand off the handle.
On her way to school, her walkie goes off in her bag. She huffs and pulls over to the side of the road, right where Will disappeared, and takes it out.
"Michael Wheeler, I am not in the mood right now." she says. "Especially not after what you pulled last night."
"I know, I'm sorry but we need you to come over." he says.
"Mike, not in the mood." she says, about to put away the machine.
"Will's alive."
TIME SKIP
She throws her bike off to the side next to the others and walks over to the door, which was already opened, before heading to the basement.
"Wheeler, if I find out you are fucking with me." she says, throwing herself on the couch and crossing her arms.
"I'm not, I swear." he says before looking at El. "Go on."
The girl closes her eyes, holding a radio in her hands, before a small whimper sound is emitted from the speaker.
"Holy shit..." she says, standing up and walking over to her.
"We need to get her to a bigger radio, like Mr. Clarke's Heathkit ham shack." Mike says.
"And we kinda need your help disguising her." Lucas says.
"Alright, you two go find her clothes and a wig." she says, helping El up. "Mike and I will do makeup."
TIME SKIP
"Pretty." Mike says when El walks out of the room wearing the pink dress and blonde wig. "Good. You look pretty good."
Rose smirks and shakes her head from her spot on the wall before looking down at her watch which covers her number.
"Alright, I need to get going to make it to school in time for lunch." she says, standing completely up.
"Wait, you're not coming with us?" Dustin asks.
"Guys, I'm a Junior in high school." she laughs. "That would be a bit weird, no?"
"We'll keep you updated." Mike says before she goes downstairs to her bike.
She gets to school a bit too early and is told to get to class.
She walks into her chemistry class and the teacher glares at her, though they're doing nothing.
"And why are you late Miss Byers?" she asks.
"Helping Jo- my mom with my missing brother, sorry." she says snarkily, taking her seat beside Steve.
"You alright Byers?" he whispers. "You're never late."
"I'm fine Harrington." she says, taking out her notes. "Give me your notes."
"Rose." he says, making her eyes widen since she had never heard him say it. "Quit the bullshit, why were you late?"
"I'll tell you after class." she says. "Now give me your notes."
He huffs but complies, handing over his notebook.
She copies everything down before the bell rings and she quickly rushes out of class to her locker.
"Byers!" Steve calls after her.
"Outside." she calls back.
Once she gets outside, she slides down against the wall as Steve joins her.
"Rose, what happened?" he asks softly.
She creates some fake tears, knowing that with knowing the truth she wouldn't be able to sell in without them, and leans against his chest.
"They pulled Will's body out of the quarry last night." she says. "He's gone Steve."
"I'm so sorry Rosie." he says, pulling her into a hug. "How do you feel? How can you even come to school right now?"
"I don't know, I just kinda feel numb." she answers, wiping the tears away. "Thanks for being here Steve."
"Of course." he says.
A few more periods in school pass before Rose's head starts pounding so she runs to the bathroom, locking the door behind her.
El
She runs out of the bathroom and runs out of the school, heading to the middle school. As soon as she gets there, she sees the party. Carrying Eleven on a cart.
Fuck.
"Give me her." she says, pulling up in front of them.
They put her in front of Rose so she could wrap her arms around her while biking.
"Meet at Mike's?" Dustin asks.
"Meet at Mike's!" she yells back before pedaling off ahead of them.
As soon as she's out of sight, she wraps El's waist in vines so she wouldn't fall off.
~End of Chapter 4~
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Every Rose Has Its Thorns (Harrington x OC)
FanficThirteen ran. She ran as fast as she could away from these... things. Even after five years in this god forsaken place, she had no name for these creatures. Creatures with no defining features other than that they have no defining features, whose...
