"take that, fuckers!"
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pippa ventane never wanted to associate herself with any of the people she underwent the traumatic events in november of 1983 ever again, and yet, one year later, she's roped into a torturous lizard hunt with...
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November has never been a good month for Pippa, and this one, coming up on the first anniversary of witnessing a girl with an admittedly sick buzzcut make kids float and break bones and bearing witness to the existence of alternate dimensions only due to Steve Harrington's sudden need to do good, made this November no exception to this fact.
The first day of the month fell on a Thursday, which meant P.E. first thing. While their teacher overlooked a bunch of sweaty douchebags using what should have been a block for the entire class use it for basketball practice, he didn't have much of an eye for anything else, so while Eddie ditched after roll call but before they'd even hit the locker rooms, Pippa and Jeff had at least changed before they'd snuck out the back door to hide in the alley.
October had ended like it always had, only with a side of Steve Harrington's softer, more human side. Pippa determined that this month would be a walk in the park, despite shitty anniversaries and her mother's month-long mood.
When Nancy Wheeler stormed by them ten minutes after the bell signalling second period, she left the gym door propped her, keeping her and Jeff hidden when she returned barely a minute later with Steve in tow, judging by the voice.
Hearing the beginning of what she was sure would turn into a fight, based on tone and what context she had from her brief conversation with Steve the night before, was not ideal and not how Pippa wanted to start her morning.
"They got into it last night," Pippa tells Jeff when he passed her lighter back once he'd lit his second cigarette.
Jeff looks at her strangely, "How d'you even know that?"
"He spilled punch on her, she yelled." Pippa shrugged, "We talked for a bit just before I left, and he actually didn't suck."
"Weird."
"Right." Pippa nodded, grinning once Jeff began to laugh at her, "Stop laughing. It was really weird, Jeff. I'm so serious."
They shuffled further out of view when their voices rose, and Pippa winced at Steve's loud comment about their apparent involvement in Barbara Holland's death.
Pippa had only found herself involved in two incidents involving the Upside Down, but the government officials she had been, uh, strongly encouraged to sit down with, who had made her sign several non-disclosure agreements, had struck a fear in her that hadn't even allowed her to speak about the events she'd witnessed even in the dead of night while she was alone in the comfort of her bedroom.
Thankfully Jeff hadn't seemed to lock onto that fact as Steve continued his rant, "I mean, pretty much everything is just bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. Oh, yeah, also, you don't love me."
"Jesus," Jeff's voice was muffled around the cigarette.
Pippa snorted quietly at the look on his face and plucked the cigarette from his mouth. She brought it to her lips and inhaled, smoke crawling down her throat and making a temporary home in her lungs before she exhaled shakily. She glanced at the parking lot, waiting for an unmarked vehicle to take them away.
