HEART FLAYER | b. hargrove

CHAPTER 001.

October 30th, 1984

'Seconds... minutes...'

'Hours... days... weeks...'

"Arwen!"

'Months... years... decades!'

"ARWEN MAE! Get your ass out of bed!"

A gasp wracked through her lungs and she jolted upwards in her sweat-soaked bed. Arwen's eyes frantically glanced around, still partially glazed over by sleep that was all too short and full of nightmares. 

Nightmares? No, it was memories again. But was there really a difference? 

"I'm up, I'm up!" She replied breathlessly to Hopper, who'd been shouting at her from the other side of her bedroom door. 

"Do not make you and your sister late for your first day, for the love of God!" Hopper replied in a tone that was a mix of pleading and irritation.

Arwen rolled her eyes and peeled the blankets off of herself. She left her room to head to the bathroom for a quick shower, giving a tired wave to her little sister eating Eggos at the kitchen table as she walked by. Eleven looked concerned, knowing that bad dreams plagued her adoptive elder sister, but knew that asking was useless. She refused to ever speak about them.

The seventeen-year-old finished up her shower and brushing her teeth. She did some makeup and got dressed back in her bedroom, deciding to wear a t-shirt, ripped mom jeans, and a flannel for her first day of high school. 

Her stomach twisted into a bundle of nerves and nausea at the thought, but some excitement fluttered around there somewhere. It was kind of sad that her first opportunity to go to normal public high school was also her senior year - A.K.A her last. However, she was grateful to experience it for one year at least. Better than nothing, she supposed. 

Deciding she looked appropriate enough, Arwen exited her room with her backpack slung over one shoulder and ruffled her sister's hair affectionately. 

"Good morning, Waffle Monster," she greeted with a lopsided grin. "Excited for middle school?"

Eleven beamed up at her, nodding and causing her curls to bounce.

"Excited to see Mike."

Arwen rolled her eyes and laughed a bit. "There's more to life than Mike, El, but I'm glad to see you starting a normal life anyway."

The two girls and Hopper ventured outside and climbed into his truck, pulling out of the driveway of his run-down cabin and heading towards the middle and high school. 

To this day, Arwen has no idea how Hopper managed to talk Dr. Owens into pulling the strings to get herself and Eleven adopted and safe enough to go to school so soon after the events of last year. But he did it just a mere few weeks ago and she was thankful for it. Even if he did probably threaten the poor doctor.

No more Hawkins Lab. No more Dr. Brenner. No more experiments. No more -

"Arwen! For God's sake!"

Hopper's voice pulled her out of her reverie and she looked at him with wide eyes.

"Jesus! What?!"

"We're here," He stated as if it was obvious, gesturing out the window. She looked to see the high school that was absolutely teeming with kids around her age. Normal, happy, untraumatized kids. Well, for the most part, probably. 

"Have a good first day and - "

"- Don't use my powers and lay low." Arwen finished for him, having heard the speech a thousand times before today. She smirked and grabbed her bag off of the floor of the truck and opened the door. "I got it, Hop. I'll be fine. Have a good day, too, El." 

She pinched her sister's cheek and hopped out of the vehicle, waving to it as it went to go drop Eleven off at the middle school next door. As she turned and faced the building that she would spend eight hours a day in for the next seven months, her jaw clenched. 

'Well... now what the hell do I do?' she questioned in her mind, looking around. 'Do I walk inside? Go fuck myself? Where's the manual on this bullshit?'

"Arwen?!" 

A familiar voice caused her to turn around and she was greeted by the wonderful sight of two people she became very close with during the chaos of last year: Steve Harrington and Nancy Wheeler. 

"Oh thank God," she breathed out in relief and grinned, giving them both hugs that they returned as they stared at her in confusion. "I've never been more glad to see you two."

"What're you doing here?" Nancy asked, looking around with wide eyes as if wondering if the girl should still be in hiding or not.

"Well, I wanted it to be a surprise so... surprise!" Arwen gave some awkward jazz hands. "I'm just your average shitty high schooler now."

"That's fantastic!" Steve beamed, then furrowed his brows after he thought for a second. "Or horrible actually... because this place sucks."

Arwen laughed, patting him on the shoulder. 

"Well, I guess I'll see for myself, won't I?" She replied with a playful smirk.

The sound of a roaring engine broke their conversation and the three of their heads turned to see a sleek, blue Camaro pull into the lot. It screeched to a stop in a parking space a little ways away and out popped a young girl with fiery red hair. She hopped on a skateboard and rode her way quickly over towards the middle school, not looking back at the car or the driver who was exiting it. The driver in question being an extremely attractive guy wearing all denim with tanned skin and a blonde, curly mullet of hair atop his head. He glanced over in their direction and threw his cigarette down onto the asphalt. 

Arwen quirked her brow as she caught his eye. He threw back a quick, flirtatious wink before he turned to head towards the entrance of the school. 

"Who's that fucking Muppet?" Arwen asked her friends. 

Steve shrugged after snorting at her comment. "No idea."

"Looks like you're not the only new kid..." Nancy said with a reassuring smile. "Come on, let's get you to the office to get your schedule."