Billy's gone.
Ruby Buckley's world ended with him.
But Hawkins isn't done with her yet.
When strange deaths begin again, Ruby is pulled into the heart of the storm. Between shadowy nightmares, the town's newest outcast, and someone she was never s...
( songs for the chapter) good old- fashioned lover boy // queen this charming man // the smiths
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The final bell rang, and the school exhaled.
Spring break had arrived like a warm front, sweeping through Hawkins High with the taste of freedom on its breath.
Backpacks slammed shut. Sneakers pounded the linoleum. Doors flew open with too much force.
Ruby moved through it all like someone underwater, present, but not entirely here.
Steve was already waiting for her.
He leaned against the hood of his BMW like he was born to, sunglasses on, hair catching the gold of midafternoon .
Ruby couldn't help but smile.
Of course he was waiting.
Robin had already gone to her shift at Family Video, and Steve, ever the reliable one, had offered to pick Ruby up on his break.
"Hey there, Harrington!" she called, voice bright despite the exhaustion in her bones. "Looking good."
Steve looked up, grinning in that boyish way that always made her chest ache a little. "Flattery before three p.m.? You must want something."
Ruby laughed, stepping into his hug. "Yeah, a ride home."
"Lucky for you, that's my specialty," he said, half-joking, half-serious, opening the passenger door with a mock bow. "Your chariot awaits."
She curtsied dramatically. "You spoil me."
He rolled his eyes but smiled, closing the door behind her.
Once the car started and they pulled out of the lot, the silence felt easy, comfortable. The kind of silence that belonged to people who didn't need to fill it.
"So," Steve said, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "How was school, kid?"
Ruby shot him a look. "You've gotta stop calling me that. Makes you sound ancient."
"Ancient? I'm nineteen, not ninety."
"Two years older than me. So, old enough to start complaining about your back, probably."
He snorted, shaking his head. "You've been spending way too much time with Robin."
"We live together. I literally have no choice." Ruby smiled faintly, looking out the window. "And school was fine. Just... school."
She didn't tell him about Chrissy. Or Eddie. Or the way her stomach still knotted when she thought about what Chrissy had said, the voice, the banging, the fear.
She didn't want to see the look Steve would give her if he knew. That mix of worry and protectiveness that would make her feel like a child that needed to get looked after again.
