The One || Steve Harrington

Holly, Jolly

Georgia forced herself to wake up that morning. She wanted to skip more than anything. The comforting warmth and safety of her bed made it un-leavable. Her limbs felt like weights pulling her down.

Maybe she should skip. She could pick up a child-sitting gig for the Collins over on Loch Nora, which paid enough for a new hair dryer. She didn't particularly feel like dealing with Steve and Nancy today, which definitely wasn't something she was proud of.

They wouldn't catch on to her avoiding them if she pretended to be sick.

"Georgia!" Hopper's familiar voice shouted. "You're running late! And I know you don't have a study hall for first period."

Georgia groaned. Since when was he home?

She was dressed and out of her room at lightning speed.

"When did you come home?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

Hopper grabbed his badge and keys from the table before disappearing into his room and emerging with a bottle of mace, which he passed to her.

"Not until early this morning," he said. He had bags under his eyes like he didn't sleep. "I want you to carry this around in your bag when you work and go to school. I don't care if it's not allowed on school grounds. You carry it and use it if you have to."

Georgia took the spray from him. At least he got her the pink bottle.

"Okay?" she said, drawing out the word. "Did you find anything last night? About Will?"

Hopper ran a hand over his face, exhausted.

He nodded. "A trail to the lab." From his face, he knew how improbable those words sounded.

There was an entire forest separating the Byers from the lab. It went on for miles and miles. How could Will have made it there all by himself?

"The lab?" she repeated in disbelief. "Will ran all the way to the lab? That's like three miles, and he's got short legs. Was he being chased or-"

Hopper grabbed her hand, which moved as she spoke.

"We don't know yet," he sighed. "We're going to investigate. I just, I want you to go to school, finish babysitting, and come straight home. No dilly-dallying or stopping for dinner...I left money on the counter. You can order pizza."

Georgia nodded. "Be safe," she said.

Hopper nodded before turning toward the door. "Love you," he said.

"You too," Georgia whispered. The sound of the door closing echoed in the cabin.

Georgia had no reason not to go to school now.

****

Georgia didn't bother looking for Nancy, but she did look for Barb, who normally met her at her locker or somewhere in the hall. Instead, Steve stood, leaning against it.

"Good morning," he grinned, looking as good as he always did. "You're looking like a wonderful ray of sunshine."

Georgia quite literally did not do her hair today. She looked terrible. And she wouldn't admit it, but she was just slightly hungover. If she ate, she was pretty sure she'd throw up.

Georgia paused in front of her locker, waiting for him to move out of the way.

"Hi, Steve," she greeted. "Whatcha doing here?" If Georgia was running late, Nancy would've been here ages ago, which meant Steve should have been whooing her at Nancy's locker.

Steve's expression dropped ever so slightly. "I, I know Nancy kind of ushered you to leave...I went downstairs to apologize, and you were already gone. I wanted to make sure you knew that I didn't invite you and Nancy there with, you know, the intention of you being a buffer until more could happen. I really missed hanging out with you; I feel like it's been a while since we've hung out. Far too long, actually...So long that my mom's even asking." Steve was rambling. That was obvious. And he was clearly nervous. "And, you know, I miss that."