𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐘 𝐓𝐎𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 | 𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐲

chapter four | 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭

YET AGAIN, when the sun came up and morning arrived polly felt like shit. the little alarm clock on her bedside table beeped causing her to groan out of annoyance and reluctantly roll out of bed, slightly stumbling due to her tired legs. she'd have to get up eventually so why not now? she needed to look her best to see robin again anyways.

she felt weird thinking like this, she knew it would be seen wrong in the eyes on many people and she knew she could never speak her thoughts out loud. she felt dirty.

she didn't think she could ever set foot in a church again, not that polly thought god had liked her before. it always felt like something was always out to get her, lurking in the shadows ready to pounce and rip her life to shreds bit by bit whenever she became truly happy. eventually she just stopped trying, the days began to blend together and she no longer got excited for big events and stopped making plans to hang out with people. this was her way of hiding from whatever hated her enough to ruin her joy. she always just assumed it was god punishing her for something, something she wasn't too sure of. maybe this was why?

she pulled out her favourite summer dress from her wardrobe, the white material slightly creased. sliding it on she attempted to flatten out the crinkles, stepping forward to her full length mirror again to see if she missed any spots. the dress sat just above her knees, the perfect length and it wasn't too poofy compared to other dresses she had seen. it was just how she liked it.

after attaching her usual silver hoops to her ears and tightening the knots on her everyday bracelets, polly placed herself down on the chair in front of her wooden vanity. she smeared all kinds of different products on her face, from foundation and concealer, to mascara and eyeshadow. she finished the look off with some cherry lipgloss and some rosy liner and brushed out her messy bed head, some of the waves in her brunette hair bouncing back to their normal form even after she ran a comb through them.

after pulling on her socks she tiptoed out of her room to grab her converse, unsure whether or not her father or eleven was home. when she was met with the sight of joyce byers perched on her dining table and jim passed out, shirtless on the sofa, a confused frown spread across her lips.

"joyce?"

"oh! hey honey, you headed out?"

"yeah..? uh what- what's going on?"

joyce paused for a moment, as if she was attempting to think of the right words to say, "your dads just had a late night." polly nodded not really believing her, "he- uh called, asked me to drop him off home, poor fella."

"uh-huh.." the teen nodded staring down at her fathers sweaty, beat up face.

she sighed patting her knees and standing up, "where you headed sweetie? i can give you a ride if you'd like?" the older woman smiled at her.

"oh, no thanks i'll be alright. i'm gonna walk to steve's house, he'll give me a ride from there" polly explained.

"steve.. harrington?" joyce questioned, "nancy's ex boyfriend? your going out with him for the day?" her eyebrows furrowed.