𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗻.

thirty four.

THE CRAWL

edited.
2596 words.

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"Breakfast!"

"Noooo." Charlie groaned into her pillow. "Five more minutes."

"Dude, I thought you were setting an alarm." Jonathan mumbled. "We're so late."

"I thought you were!" Will shot back.

"Whatever." Charlie sat up, running a hand through her hair. "I call dibs on the bathroom."

Seeing the look in Will's eyes change she quickly jumped up, racing him to the door and slamming it in his face.

"Charlie! I have to pee!"

"I don't care!" She shot back, turning to face the mirror.

It had been a year and a half since everything had happened. Shortly after the Upside Down began to bleed into Hawkins, the military arrived and began to quarantine the town. It wasn't long before the cracks in the earth were patched by metal plates and life began to go back to normal.

Except life never quite went back to normal for Charlie. Her best friend was still in a coma and right after everything happened Dustin told her he needed space, whatever that meant. Not to mention Joyce had sold their house before moving to California which meant they had been forced to take up residence in the Wheeler house.

It wasn't all bad though. Whenever Charlie needed some space or quiet she knew she could bike over to Steve's house and stay there for a few days.

Now her days mostly consisted of school, then going to the squawk to see her friends, and finally coming home where she usually spent an hour or two playing with Holly before doing homework.

Holly'd grown up quite a bit and had taken a liking to Charlie, or more specifically her hair. With brown hair cascading past her hips now, her head was like Holly's personal hair salon. She loved to braid and style it whenever the girl would allow.

"Charlie!"

"Fine!" The girl yanked open the bathroom door, spitting her toothpaste into the sink as she did. "There's other bathrooms you know?"

"They're taken." Will squeezed past her. "Thanks!"

She hummed a response, grabbing her clothes and checking to make sure the basement door was shut. She quickly pulled on her jeans and a blue sweater of Nancy's. She'd basically been wearing exclusively Nancy and Robin's clothes as she hadn't ever exactly gotten the chance to pack and move.

Making her way up the stairs, she found the breakfast table already full and food being passed around. She took her regular seat beside Mike, Will plopping down on the other side of her moments later.

Per usual, the Byer's side of the table was loud as Will and Jonathan argued over whose fault it was the alarm wasn't set. Meanwhile, the Wheeler side was calm, Mike talking to his mom about something as Nancy loaded eggs onto Holly's plate.

Breakfast was fast-paced per usual, the kids quickly gathering their jackets and bags before filing out of the house one by one to get to school.

Charlie grabbed her bike, waiting for Holly as Mike and Will biked ahead. Once the girl was settled onto her bike the two hurried to catch up to the others.

"The morning squawk, Mike! We're gonna miss it!"

Rolling his eyes, Mike switched on the radio attached to the front of his bike, Robin's voice filling the air along with her signature song.