Invisible String || S. H.

8: summer of '84

Mollie (pov)

~ August 1984 ~

The summer came and went by in what felt like a blink of an eye. Sure it was fun having a summer job at the pool, but it was always stressful. Lifeguarding in a community that's full of people with model-like features and perfectly un-scared bodies and I am the latter. Sure everyone was nice to my face but I could still hear the comments when they thought my back was turned.

It hurt the most when people would ask about the scar on my shoulder; the reminder of how my childhood went on in secret. I've only told one person who's not family about how it happened and it was Jonathan. He's kept the secret ever since.

It was the last day of summer vacation and next Monday, school starts. My junior year. Everyone thought it'd be a good idea to have a small camping trip; and by trip I mean just in Steve's backyard. Just me, Nancy, Steve and Jonathan. Well, Jonathan bailed at the last minute for some unknown reason. I tried to convince him to stick with the plan and so that I wasn't third wheeling. But, no, he made the excuse of needing to watch Will that night. Sure, Will's been doing fine ever since he came back from another dimension but that didn't mean Jonathan had to watch him like a hawk.

I filled my backpack of my essentials, grabbed my tent and headed over to Nancy's as the midway point to Steve's. She and I talked about how this school year we have to get better grades to get us into the same college if we stick to the plan we made back in February. Emerson College was a great school but it's way too far from home for me. Plus, I don't have the heart to tell her that I was looking at Indiana Central University.

"Nance, I love the college talk but I can't focus on that right now. When can we just live in the moment?"

"Hmm, sounds like you've been hanging out with Steve. He's been saying the same thing," she said.

"Well, he did come over to the pool a lot this summer. I'm sure you can convince him to take it seriously since he's starting his senior year."

"Yeah, you're right. Also, thanks for not ditching like Jonathan did. Did he tell you why he didn't want to do this?"

"He said he had to work late. I'm not third wheeling with you and Steve, am I?"

"No, you're not. Honestly," she said reassuringly.

I nodded. I needed to hear it come from her and not just from the voice in my head telling me the opposite.

We made it to Steve's and set up the tents in his backyard while he gathered the snacks and set up the fire pit. Everything went smoothly for the night; long comfortable silences, 'spooky' ghost stories and Steve trying to find the Big Dipper in the sky and failing. I had to show him where the North Star is, find the brightest star below it and boom Big Dipper. I stayed in my own tent and Nancy and Steve in the other one together.

The night felt longer than the day considering I kept waking up from my monthly recurring nightmare. I think it was around five in the morning when I just gave up on sleep and sat in my tent waiting for one of them to wake up, Nancy mostly, so I could talk about it. But that's a ludicrous hope from either of them. I crept out of the tent a while later into the cold summer air and sat in the closest chair burying myself in my thoughts.

To my surprise, Steve woke up before Nancy. I checked my watch, it was half past seven now.

"Morning, Molls. You sleep okay," he asked.

"Yeah, slept like a log," I said half convincingly.

"Oh, good. Want to go inside and get breakfast ready with me?"

"Sure, this should be fun. Steve Harrington trying to figure out a stove."

"Ha-ha, funny. I will tell you what I can make a mean omelet."