Trial By Hellfire

Chapter 5 - Junior Year

The next week flew by faster than I thought and hoped it would. I spent time catching up with Dustin, Mike, and Lucas. I was sad to not see Will but Mike planned to visit him and El during Spring break in a couple months. I also got back into playing Dungeons & Dragons with the boys. I never thought I'd be saying this but, I really missed it. My friends in California were never into the nerdy things like the boys and I were, so I really only ever got into them when I was here in Hawkins, and it was nice to finally feel like myself again.

The first day of school Steve drove me. My parents had finally decided on a house and were preparing to close on it, so soon I would be moving out of Steve's house and into my own. My parents also talked about getting an apartment in the city since the house was a lot less expensive than they had planned.

"So an apartment in the city AND a house in Hawkins?" Steve asked somewhat shocked.

"Yeah, I guess it just gonna be easier for my parents so I'll have the house to myself most of the time."

"You know what that's means!" Steve said glancing in my direction.

"Parties!!" We both exclaimed.

"And we all know Harringtons throw the BEST parties!" Steve said while throwing finger guns into the air, causing me to roll my eyes.

We picked up Robin and made our way over to the school.

"Oooh!! Someone looks nice today!" I said as Robin finished getting ready.

"Well, there's this girl Vicky that I've liked for a while and one of my first classes is with her so I don't wanna look bad, you know?"

"Robin, calm down! You look great!"

"Really?" She asked shyly.

"Yes!! If I was into girls I'd snatch you up for myself!"

Robin and I laughed. After we hung out a couple times Robin trusted me with her secret, which I was glad she did.

After a few minutes of listening to the radio Steve pulled up in front of the school. Robin got out of the car and Steve grabbed my hand before I could get out.

"Hey. You're gonna be okay."

"I know. I have Robin with me. I'll be fine."

"I'll see you guys after school, okay?"

"Okay, okay!"

I watched as Steve pulled away. Well, so much for having an escape plan.

Robin and I headed inside and she went with me to the principle's office to grab my schedule and my books, and to help me find my locker.

"Oh! Yours is literally right next to mine!"

"Thank god!" I breathed a sigh of relief. At least I was guaranteed to see someone familiar often enough to keep me sane. Robin and I parted ways as I made my way to my first class, math.

"Great, my least favorite subject." I sighed under my breath. I wasn't terrible at math but it wasn't my best subject either.

After several periods it was finally lunch time. I met Robin over by our lockers.

"So? How do you like Hawkins High so far??" She seemed very eager for my answer.

"It's........fine. I just keep getting the same comments from all of my teachers. 'Let's hope you're nothing like your older cousin Miss Harrington.'" I said, mocking the monotone voices of my teachers. Robin laughed.

"Have they not seen your GPA and entrance exams? You're nothing like Steve!" We both laughed and made our way into the cafeteria. After grabbing our food and started looking for a place to sit.