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November 7, 1983
NOVEMBER WAS IN FULL BLOOM in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana. The colorful October leaves had ceased falling to the earth, their hues of red and orange transitioning into a dull brown, and while unpleasant to look at, served as blankets for children as they frolicked around the town's playgrounds. Empty pumpkin cans left the shelves of Melvald's in exchange for Christmas lights and gift wrapping. The third chemistry test of the year was taunting the sophomores of Hawkins High, forcing them to abandon parties to study periodic tables and energy formulas. Eurydice Reid was neck-deep in planning her annual Thanksgiving dinner, ignoring her husband's pleas to let herself breathe.
Though nobody knew it yet, the quiet, humble town of Hawkins, Indiana was soon going to ascend to a pedestal it had never been perceived to reach: the national spotlight.
Perched on a desk chair, bathed in the sunlight streaming through the window of Robin Buckley's bedroom, Amara hastily scribbled down notes about the Plum Pudding model onto her notebook, her earth-colored eyes flicking between it and her textbook. Next to her, Robin was copying her best friend's work, not attempting to hide her inability to understand the subject. It was their routine: every day after school Amara would go home with Robin to complete their homework together and help each other out with the subjects they struggled with. Their sessions were currently being dominated by the upcoming chemistry test. Little did they both know, in a few short hours their routine was about to change drastically.
"How the hell do you understand this?" Robin asked for what seemed like the millionth time in the year that they had been friends when it came to the subjects Amara thrived in. The defective girl shrugged her shoulders, flipping back to the beginning of her notebook to review her notes on the movement of electrons.
"It's how my brain's wired, Rob," Amara answered, not looking up from her textbook.
"But you're so much better than me!"
"You're better than me in English. Case closed."
"It's been almost two hours!" Robin gave up the game and tossed her textbook onto the carpeted floor; it landed adjacent to a plethora of sheets with poorly drawn triangles from geometry. The movement caused Amara to finally lift her head from her notes and face her friend. "Can we please do something else?" Robin pleaded.
Amara glanced at her textbook one last time before snapping it shut, forming a plan in her brain. "If you agree to pass the test with at least an eighty, we can talk about your hopeless crush on Tammy Thompson," she proposed.
Robin's eyes lit up. "Deal." She pried the textbook from Amara's hands and dumped it onto the floor next to hers. Amara fake pouted, but nevertheless stood up from her chair and plopped onto the bed with Robin.
Amara Reid and Robin Buckley were no strangers to the world. While brought into it with the promise of hope and prosperity, it was just an American dream that very few managed to achieve. Homelessness was becoming an issue as leaders discussed everything under the sun except providing people with the resources they needed, veterans were being abandoned on the streets of the country they once fought for, the demand for racial justice was being ignored as people instead chose to concern themselves with Soviet Russia... and the LGBTQ+ community and individuals with neurological disorders were still denied basic human rights.
