"either way, we're not alone..."
In which Sophie Hargrove struggles to close off her heart, especially when she starts to let Steve Harrington in.
STRANGER THINGS
SEASON TWO - SEASON FIVE
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
***
(tw: mentions of abuse)
It would be nice to have friends who missed her back in California. It would have been nice to have friends if they weren't so scared of her brother. Some only pretended to like her to gain his attention, only making things worse for her when those fake friends would drop Sophie to sleep with him.
That's the thing about being a Hargrove -- don't expect anyone to truly love you back. It's their family curse. Their dad only loved their mother for a little while, and she fell out of love with him when he bruised her for the first time. And Billy didn't love anything or anyone. He closed off his heart the moment he could, and Sophie struggled to do the same.
The back of her neck tingled, demanding her attention. Though her eyes remained fixed on the chalkboard, she slowly reached for the section that hurt. The night before, her dad had gotten angry again. It was her fault, and she accepted that even if her brother didn't. Then Billy tried to fight back, but Neil threatened to break his arm if he tried anything, ordering him to take Max to the arcade instead. Like always, he obeyed, and it pained him to leave his sister with that monster.
He gripped the back of Sophie's neck, his fingers pressing into her skin to leave a mark. Beforehand, he used to yank her by the hair until his daughter made the smart decision to keep her hair down around him.
And it was all because she forgot to unpack a few boxes -- Neil slapped her for it.
The stinging in her cheek still lingered by morning, and she could still feel her dad's touch on her pale flesh. Sophie hated that house. Not the place itself -- the evil that dwelled inside of it. She had to face that every day and no one would know.
"Alright, for homework," Sophie's focus returned to the class, observing Ms Sullivan handing out vocabulary sheets, "I want you to use your dictionaries to find the meaning of these words. I expect these to be done by Friday." She continued down the aisle, eventually meeting Sophie at the end. "Do you have a French dictionary?"
"Um, no, miss." She stammered awkwardly.
The teacher nodded, her thin lips pressing together. "You can find a used copy in the library. But I would recommend you purchase one."
"I'll try." Ms Sullivan handed her the vocabulary sheet. "Thank you."
As she turned her back on the teenager, Sophie sighed in her chair. The bell rang as Ms Sullivan returned to the front desk. In an instant, almost every student rushed to pack away their things in an effort to escape class as soon as possible.
The teacher appeared almost nonchalant, settling down in her chair. "Okay, remember -- by Friday! No excuses!"
Sophie could see her pull open a drawer and remove a fashion magazine. Or at least she assumed it was a fashion magazine from the angle she was reading from. Then again, there were a lot of shirtless men on the front cover.
