𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬

i. math homework

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐧𝐞
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐁𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬
part one

"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐧?" Steve asked, holding the receiver to his ear and running his pen along the space below question ten of his homework. As usual, he'd left it too late, and so had Lily Andrews, who was on the other end of the phone.

"I got two hundred, give or take" Came Lily's voice.

Steve frowned, "I got three hundred and seven".

The line went silent. In the background, he could hear Cyndi Lauper playing. Lily had had the album on repeat since it's release in October. He'd listened to the songs against his own will so many times, he almost knew the entire album on repeat. Eventually, Lily sighed, "Um, so I just worked it out again and got four hundred this time".

"Three hundred and fifty?" Steve suggested.

Lily hummed quietly in approval, "Yeah, that'll do".

A slam came from across the landing. One of his parents, most likely his father, had slammed their bedroom door. They had been fighting for several days now, and Steve was eagerly anticipating his father's next conference away from Hawkins. He would get at least two days free from falling asleep and waking up to the sound of screaming.

"Was that your dad?" She asked, tentatively. Like him, Lily's relationship with her father was rather troubled. She also lived in fear of her father, and his constant comparing her to her older brother who, in Steve's opinion, was a total dick. He was lucky in that respect, he was an only child.

"It was that loud, huh?" Steve scoffed.

"Are they arguing again?"

"Mom found a note from another woman" He replied and, unlike when he spoke to Tommy H about his parents, he didn't feel embarrassed. He often joked about his father's affair with Tommy but, in reality, it bothered him more than he made out. Only Lily knew that.

Aside from Tommy H, Lily, Queen Bee of Hawkins High, was Steve's best friend. They'd first become friends in high school, but had known each other since middle school, once Tommy had started dating Lily's friend, Carol, back in seventh grade. It wasn't until their first day of Freshman year, that they'd met properly, but they'd become inseparable since. They liked to think they ruled the school, and in the eyes of most people, they did.

He heard Lily make a noise of disapproval, followed by, "Sometimes I wish I had a dad like Mr Wheeler. Mrs Wheeler totally wears the pants in that marriage".

"I wouldn't know. I've never met Nancy's parents".

"Oh yeah, I forgot you guys are still in the 'sneaking through each other's windows' stage of the relationship" She teased.

Like Steve, Lily also lived in one of the more prestigious neighbourhoods of Hawkins, but on the East side, rather than the West. Maple Street, where the Andrews family lived, was also home to the Wheelers. He'd been walking up Lily's drive when he'd first spoken to Nancy, the eldest of the three Wheeler siblings. She had been chasing her younger sister, Holly, down the street and Steve had stopped her from running out in front of a car.