"I swear, if I'm dying tonight because of you, I'm gonna haunt your ass so hard, Harrington!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah! I'm gonna go full Poltergeist and shit!"
"Then bring it, Graveswood."
"Challenge accepted."
***
In which after years of suppressing their...
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Chapter Eighty-Five: Study (Not) Date
(pre-Suzie, Do You Copy?, Pt. 4)
The clang of her locker opening resounded in Rowan's ears, harmonising with the roar of sound that was the hallways of Hawkins High in-between classes—clanging lockers, chattering students, shoes squeaking on the floor, the bang of couples all but having sex on the lockers (and by couples, Rowan meant Tommy H and Carol)—and providing background noise for Joan Jett and AC/DC thundering in her ears.
It had been a couple of weeks since Rowan and Alistair got back, and everything was normal, like they hadn't left. Hawkins High was still a cesspool of societal and individual death and full of assholes like Tommy H and Carol and Hargrove sneering at her and calling her "freak" and teachers who either hated her purely because of her music tastes or clothing or just didn't care, but Rowan felt like she had changed. While she prided herself on having better control during the past couple of years, training with her family had helped immensely, on mellowing out the crackling, always-frantic energy inside her, and while her brother still hesitated around the cemetery and hospital, that he would probably always have nightmares, he seemed less frightened of the ghosts now—that talking to the much nicer ghosts in the manor and around Lynn had helped with that. Whatever it was, Rowan knew she'd changed from the person she was since all the Upside Down shit started... and she found she liked it.
As Rowan grabbed her Bio textbook, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning, the dark-haired teen saw Steve standing there. He smiled. "Hey."
"Hey," Rowan returned, pulling her headphones down and pausing her Walkman. "What's up?"
As she watched, Steve's confidence dropped and he rubbed his neck as he asked, "You're good at Chemistry, right?"
"A little," Rowan answered honestly. Chemistry wasn't her best class, but it wasn't her worst—and it wasn't going to be the same without Barb, that even though she had a new lab partner, the seat would always be vacant of Barb's presence. "Why?"
"Well, I was thinking maybe we could, uh... study together for our tests coming up?" Steve explained, looking almost nervous and... shy. Which was weird. Steve Harrington, shy? And especially around her? The Rowan Graveswood of a couple years ago would be cackling herself to death.
"Oh," the Rowan Graveswood of now murmured. She frowned. "Wait. Didn't you fail Chem a couple years back?"
"It was a C minus, but... yeah," Steve muttered, so quiet she almost didn't catch it—or the bitterness coating it. "Guess I want to try to avoid failing it this year. Not like it would matter, anyway. I only have a few months left."
"Hey, that doesn't mean you can't turn it around," Rowan pointed out.
"You think so?" Steve asked, eyebrow raised in skepticism.
