Rewind: A Stranger Things Apply Fic *CLOSED*

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓣𝔀𝓸

-𝐅𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟐𝟕, 𝟏𝟗𝟓𝟗-

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-𝐇𝐚𝐰𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥-

"Listen, Ellie, I'd love to skip class, but I'm missing assignments in Mrs. Rick's," Donna admitted. "Plus, didn't Mr. Barrett threaten you with detention if he caught you sluffing?"

"Who said he was gonna catch me?" Ellie laughed. "Please, Donna? I brought the nice cigarettes, y'know, the ones that cost close to 40 cents?"

"I'll hang out with you after school, ok? Then, we can smoke as many cigarettes as we want."

"Fine," Ellie sighed, rolling her eyes. "Just know, I get more than half."

"Fine by me," Donna smiled. "See ya, Ellie."

"Bye, Donna." The two waved before heading off to their first hours.

"Hey, stranger," Joyce greeted, bumping up against Donna.

"Oh, hey Joyce!" Donna chirped, a warm feeling bubbling in her chest. "Did you finish the homework last night?"

Almost embarrassed, Joyce mumbled, "I only got half-way through. Listen, I tried, I really did, but..."

Donna chuckled, "No, no, it's completely fine. Mr. Jones probably isn't here, I'll just finish it during class."

Joyce's shoulders relaxed, a small smile on her face. "Yeah, yeah, you're probably right. We'll just finish it then."

The two walked to class together, talking and laughing about their day before. Joyce kept going on and on about some annoying kid in her history class while Donna smiled and listened. A light blush dusted her cheeks, but she quickly hid it. Didn't need anyone finding anything out.

"And then, he asks me for a pencil! In the middle of the test!"

"You're joking, right?"

"No!"

Donna chuckled, her eyes landing in the classroom. Mr. Jones, in fact, wasn't there, and an elderly substitute took his place. Joyce and Donna quickly entered the room, looking at their seats instead of the lady.

She cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention. "And what are your names?"

"Dionne Jenkins."

"Joyce Horowitz."

The woman glanced down at her paper, checking off something. She nodded to the two, letting them to their seats. Mia looked up from her homework, her face set in stone.

"I can't believe Jones isn't here again," she groaned.

"Pfft, really?" Joyce mocked. "Just means we get extra time to do homework!"

"Well, yeah, but all the substitutes suck," Mia brought up.

"Not all of them," Donna defended. "Remember Mr. Lancaster? He was pretty good!"

"No, he was pretty nice. His teaching style sucked. I learned nothing."

Donna shrugged, "Different things click for different people."

"Yeah, well, not everyone can be as smart as you," Mia playfully teased. Donna smiled, serotonin creating a warm feeling in her chest.

"Unfortunately," Joyce laughed.