SCREAM

romeo & juliet

Jane Hopper lay across her bed, half-heartily flipping through a copy of Pride and Prejudice. Dressed in only a long blue nightshirt that stopped just above her knees. Her chestnut brown hair-which had grown quite long over the past few years-was pulled into a messy braid down her back. She hated the school's curriculum. She couldn't understand how Elizabeth Bennet managed to succumb to Mr. Darcy's lazy attempts at wooing her despite his only reason for showing interest in her being based upon the pre-conceived notion that women aren't capable of being both intelligent and witty. Hence, he is drawn towards the bright young Elizabeth.

Jane pauses her reading to glance longingly at the latest issue of Wonder Women that Max left at her house last time she slept over. Shaking herself out of her thoughts, a loud rumble of thunder pulls her attention to the window-which is slightly ajar. She sighs and turns back to her book when a scraping sound causes her eyes to glance back towards the window. Her brow furrows in confusion. A faint clattering can be heard outside, and then there is a shatter-like sound similar to that of glass breaking.

She stands, and moves hesitantly towards the window. Ever since the loss of her powers, she has found herself to be much more jumpy at the smallest of things. She bends down to glance out the window, poking her head out into the night, suddenly, a hand grabs her shoulder. She lets out a scream in surprise. "It's just me!" A voice she recognizes yells. Realizing who it is she lets out a slight breath of relief. "Mike! What the- what are you doing here?!"

He grins sheepishly, his raven curls-which were slightly moist due to the rang-falling into his eyes. His hair clung to his face, looking all wind-swept and un-kept. His hair had grown quite long over the years, now about an inch past his shoulders. "Sorry, don't hate me." He whispers as he climbs through her bedroom window. "Oh my god." She whispers to herself in disbelief. She gasps slightly as he swings his leg into the room. He gives her a quick once-over as he leans against the window frame. "What do you sleep in that?" He eyes her nightshirt skeptically.  "Yes, I sleep in this." She raises her voice slightly. She glances to the door to ensure that no one heard the ruckus. "You got- Joyce is in the other room. You can't be in here."

"Okay, I'll just stay a sec." He replies dismissively, standing fully in the room. He's in a dark red hoodie and wearing his classic black jeans. Beneath the jacket, the edge of his Hellfire Club t-shirt is visible. "No! You can't be-" Jane tries to argue when she's cut off by the sound of rapid knocking. She gasps and straightens. "You gotta go! Go, go, go." She rushes to the door, quickly stopping Joyce from fully opening it.

"Jane? What's going on in there?" Joyce pokes her head in slightly, Jane blocking her view of the bedroom with her body. "Nothing- nothing! I'm fine!" She says slightly flustered, fixing her hair. Joyce pushes the door fully open and glances around the room. "Are you sure? I heard a noise-" 

"No, no, I was- uh, I was just dancing! Yeah, Max gave me this new mixtape and I just got really into it." She rambled. Joyce raised a brow, her worry lines crinkling, "Okay." She said, somewhat doubtfully. "Just- try to keep it down in there. And don't play your music too loud." She added. 

"Yes of course! I'm sorry!" Joyce smiles softly, "Alright well, I'm going to bed, my flight leaves tomorrow morning." Jane's eyes widen. "Right! Yes, that's tomorrow." Joyce nodded slightly, "I left money with Jonathan; he'll look after you and Will while I'm gone. I'll be staying at The Hilton. You can call Nancy if you need anything and I'll be back late Sunday evening." Jane nodded quickly, desperate to get her to leave. "Yes, yes. Okay, thank you for reminding me." She pauses, "Goodnight Joyce, love you." Jane quickly hugs her, Joyce returns the embrace. "Love you too hon, goodnight."

Jane watches her move away before closing the door quietly, holding her chest she lets out a breath. "Whew, that was close." She whispers. She opens her eyes and surveys the room, her brow furrowing in confusion. She moves back towards the room. A stuffed animal pokes its head out from the side of the bed. "Oh! Close call." Mike says, poorly imitating a cartoon voice.

"Mike-" She pinches the bridge of her nose. "What're you doing here?" Mike stood, placing the stuffed animal back on the bed as he talked. "Well, it occurred to me that... I've never snuck through your bedroom window." He moved towards her bookshelf as he talked. "Shh, shh." Jane hissed, "Great, And now that it's out of your system-" She gestured to the window hastily.  "Y'know I was home watching TV. The, uh- The Exorcist was on. Got me thinking of you." He wiggled his hands nervously as he talked. He began fiddling with one of her CDs- Kate Bush.

Jane did a double take, surprised. She had only seen that film once, with Will and Max after they convinced her, well more dragged her to go see it.  She disliked it immensely. She was never one for scary movies. Will however, adored them with a passion. "It did?" "Yeah... It was edited for TV- y'know all the good stuff was cut out- and it got me thinking of us." He continued, gazing at her intesely. "How three years ago we we're going pretty hot and heavy, nice solid R-rating on our way to an NC-17." Jane bit her lip, hiding the growing smile on her face. She didn't quite understand everything he was saying but she liked the way he was saying it. While she had a better understanding of modern-slang; largely thanks to Max and Dustin, she was still growing accustomed to some phrases.

"And how, things have changed and... lately we're just sort of edited for television." Mike finished. She frowned slightly, realizing where he was going with the analogy. "Oh, so you just thought you'd climb through my window and we'd have a little raw footage?" Outraged at the audacity this boy had. However, Mike scoffed, "No, of course not, I wouldn't dream of breaking your underwear rule." He moved closer, instinctively Jane leaned back, sitting down on the bed as he stepped closer. "I just- I thought maybe we could do a little on-top-of-the-clothes stuff." He bent closer, looking down at her through his long lashes. She blushed due to the intensity of his gaze and nodded slightly. "O-okay." "Yeah?" "Yeah." She agreed, somewhat eagerly. He leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. She quickly returned the action, leaning into the kiss and grabbing his shirt, pulling him on top of her and onto the bed.

He pulled back slightly from the kiss to stare at her in wonder. "Hey," She whispered with a smile on her face. He leaned forward and kissed her again, more deeply this time. She wrapped her hands around his neck, tangling her fingers into the curls at the nape of his neck. He began to slide his hand up her thigh, underneath her shirt. She moved her hand to stop him, pushing it off gently. "Okay- okay, okay. Time's up pretty boy." She giggled. Pushing him off her, he sat up, resting on his knees at the foot of her bed. He grinned at her, way too pleased with himself. She ran a hand through his hair and he leaned into her touch, kissing her hand, not breaking eye-contact. "God, you see what you do to me?" He groaned. She laughed lowly. "You know what Joyce would do to you, if she found out about you sneaking around the house?" She pushed herself off the bed, moving closer to him. He shook his head, rolling his molten brown eyes. "Unfortunately, yes." He began to back towards the window. "Don't worry, I'm going." He winked at her.

"Okay." She whispered, covering her mouth slightly, to hide the adoring smile on her face. She was always biting back a grin at his antics. She pulled him down for one final kiss by the window. He ducked his head, and began to climb out the window. "Mike-" He glanced up at her. "Yeah?" She blushed slightly, glancing away before saying. "I- I appreciate the romantic gesture. Really." He nodded, "Hey, and about the sex-stuff, I'm not trying to rush you at all. I was only half serious." He admits. She laughs. "Okay." She rubs his shoulder affectionately. Leaning down, she kisses him again, letting this one linger for a moment longer than it should. Just before Mike fully ducks out of sight, Jane calls out, "Mike, would you settle for a PG-13 relationship?" She asks hesitantly, a hopeful smile on her face. "What's that?" A slight smirk playing on his lips as he replies. She bites her lip, grinning slightly, and lifts her shirt to show off the lacy white bra she was wearing. Mike chuckles, and glances down flustered. Covering his face to hide his laugh. "God, you're going to be the death of me." He mutters. Jane laughs at his reaction and quickly kisses his cheek. "Now get out of here." She urges. "My God. You're just a tease." He rolls his eyes, pointing at her accusingly, a joking smile on his face. Then he lowers himself out the window.

Jane smiles to herself, turning back towards her bed and covers her face to hide her flaming cheeks, ablaze from the night's appearance. She lets out a little squeal, jumping giddily, before calming herself down. She takes a breath to collect herself, shutting the window and moving towards her bed.

As she shut off the light and curled under her covers, she fondly thought back to all the memories of her and Mike together. Then, with a dumb grin still plastered on her face, she allowed herself to replay the events of Mike's spontaneous little visit and what had ensued following it. Boy, did she have a lot to tell Max about.