The Hawkins Boys

Chapter Three - Peta

Three o'clock, Saturday afternoon couldn't have come quick enough.

Robin Buckley was my chance at finding out what this club of Steve Harrington's was and I had to make the right impression. I spent the entire morning sitting in my room, every piece of clothing I owned thrown on my floor. I'd never seen so many pastels in my life, it was unfortunate to have to pair anything I owned with the horrid green Family Video vest that was now my new uniform.

I didn't ditch the pearls, they were always appropriate. Plus, I wanted to win Robin's approval, but that didn't mean hiding that I had good taste.

It shouldn't have been such a big deal, shit I was making it a big deal but I knew I had one chance at befriending Robin. It was how it worked with girls, if the two of us didn't hit it off from our first meeting and if we didn't click, all we could ever be is friendly and not friends.

If my diabolical plan was to ever come to fruition, I needed Robin to like me, we had to have things in common, we had to have inside jokes and I had to be someone she confided in, someone she trusted.

I showed up early, but not so early that Robin would begin to suspect why I was overly eager to start working at Family Video. I knew I couldn't have just waltzed in, flashed a smile and started to braid her hair like we were besties but I still had to make a good impression. It wasn't that I was totally incapable of making friends, more so keeping them. Even in high school, I'd tread the thin line between honest and harsh and if it weren't for my father and his business with my "friends" own fathers, I doubted any of them would have even given me a second thought. Money actually did buy friends - another useless lesson from my father.

After the Starcourt shitstorm, I'd become a social pariah overnight. Not that I totally minded, it just meant I could finally embrace being a cynical bitch.

I had a plan, readying myself to set it in motion the moment I stepped foot into Family Video. But Robin was not awaiting me with a friendly smile behind the counter, ready to show me the ropes. She was behind the counter and she did give me a smile when I entered but it was quick to disappear as she glanced down at the green vest I wore, realising I wasn't a customer.

She rolled her eyes, throwing her hands up dramatically, 'What happened to Peter?'

I made my way toward her, having to sidestep a customer on their way out, the store was busier than it had been the day before and I was tempted to turn and leave with the chaos of it all. Customers filled the aisles, small children tugged on their parent's sleeves, waving videos at them they wanted, and a group of girls I was sure I went to Hawkins High with argued over who was hotter Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf or Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club.

The phone rang and Robin muttered something under her breath about Keith's hiring methods before she answered. I joined her behind the counter to be faced with a growing line of customers, video cases in hand.

I looked to Robin for help who snapped her fingers at me like a dog before hanging up the phone.

'Showtime!'

I bit back any nasty remarks I had and figured that she was slightly right, it was showtime, and I had a convincing performance to put on. Before I could even greet the first customer though, Robin shoved me aside and jerked her thumb over her shoulder not even looking at me.

'You can rewind.' I looked to where a stack of videos sat next to a black rectangular machine, its cover hinged open.

'It's a video rewinder.' Robin said.

'I figured as much.' I replied making no effort to mask my annoyance at her bossiness. I did as I was told and it took me several tries to figure out how to work the thing. It was a great distraction as I tried to piece together how to fix the issue of befriending Robin Buckley.