Invisible- Stranger Things Fanfiction

Chapter Ten: The Other Monsters

   I had to spend the rest of the day in bed because Steve told me I had to rest. Of course, everyone came upstairs at some point to talk to me. Dustin, Steve and Will came up the most; Nancy came up too, but I hadn't seen her since before she and Steve broke up, so she wasn't as concerned as Dustin and the others. He obviously liked me, and I obviously liked him, but nothing was going to happen so early on in this renaissance of our friendship. I'm a loner, not an idiot.
   By the time the sun was about an hour from setting, I decided I wanted to do something.
   "Lets go out," I said suddenly, sitting up in bed.
   "What?" Dustin had been sitting at the end of the bed, listening to music with me. 
   I got out from under the covers (Steve had tucked me in) and ran to my closet for my sneakers. "Calm down, Henderson. I didn't mean out out. Damn, do I really repulse you that much?"
   "What? No-no, I just- I didn't-"
   "I'm kidding, moron," I laughed, grabbing his hand and pulling him up. I grabbed my wallet off my nightstand and opened my window.
   "What the hell are you doing?" Dustin asked nervously.
   I looked back at him like he was a complete idiot. Which, at the present moment, he was. "Steve probably isn't going to let me out of this house until the end of the summer... of 1989. This is our only way out."
   Dustin ran to the window, looking down at my front yard. "That's too big of a drop. Especially for someone who's injured!"
   "Oh, don't be such a wuss." I put my leg over the windowsill, but Dustin grabbed me by the waist and pulled me back. "What the hell, Henderson?"
   "No."
   I looked at him with complete disbelief. "No?"
   "No," he repeated. "I'm not letting you go out there-"
   "Letting me?" This little bitch. "You're not letting me? You're not the boss of me, Dustin. I figured you'd want to go with me to make sure that freaking Displacer didn't come back to finish me off, but I guess I'm going alone."
   "Mon-"
   "I'm going, Dustin," I said finally. "With or without you."
   Dustin groaned. "Fine." He sat on the windowsill, bracing himself for the jump down. "But I'm going first."
   He jumped out of the window, screaming like hell, flailing about as he fell to the ground. He tried to stop himself, but still ended up skidding across my front lawn.
   "Hoy shit," I heard him mutter, standing up and brushing himself off. "Okay, Mon, now just jump to me. I'll catch you!"
   I didn't listen to Dustin, jumping out of the window, having fun as I flew through the air much more gracefully than Dustin had. When Steve and I were younger, we always fantasized about what it would feel like to fly, and this was ... nothing like what I thought, but still fun. I kept my legs slightly bent and got ready to stop myself as my feet hit the ground, gravity deciding to be a bitch and pushing me back, making me land on my ass.
   Dustin rushed over to me, helping me up. "That wasn't letting me catch you."
   "I know. That, my dear friend, was fun."

   Dustin and I walked into town, over to the park where I used to hang out with the guys when we were little. There were a few other teenagers there, but I didn't pay much attention to any of them.
   "So, how's your arm?" Dustin asked.
   "Well, it's a little... totally destroyed," I laughed.
Dustin looked at me in shock. "What was that? A laugh that didn't come from using profanity? You feelin' okay, Harrington?" He put his palm to my forehead, making me slap it away.
   "Oh, shut up," I laughed, "dipshit."
Dustin laughed. "Aaand she's back."

When we reached the swing set, Dustin and I took swings next to each other. I kicked my feet slowly, my beat-up sneakers dragging the mulch, as Dustin actually put effort into it, flying through the air on his swing.
"Come on, Harrington, don't you have any fun?" he criticized. "Ya know, fun that doesn't involve kicking someone's ass?"
I gaped at him. "Of course I have fun!" I exclaimed.
"Oh yeah?" he smirked. "I bet I'm still a better swinger than you."
"Is that a challenge?" I kicked off the ground, flinging my swing into the air. At first I was gripping the chains holding the swing up, but as I went higher, I let my arms go out to the sides, as if I were flapping my wings. Dustin and I were about the same height at this point, but he was trying to go higher. My stomach did somersaults as I went up and down, up and down, over and over, but it was too fun to stop.
"Give up yet, Henderson?" I asked with a laugh, closing my eyes and feeling the Indiana summer wind whip through my hair.
   Dustin's swing went slightly lopsided as he swung up, causing him to flail about like a fish flying out of the ocean. "Hell no," he replied once he regained control, swinging as high as you can probably go without flipping over.
   "Oh, yeah?" I questioned, getting a good idea. "Well, I'm adventurous, so..." Without even considering the consequences, as I reached the highest point of my swinging ability, I let go of the chains of the swing and launched myself off of the swing.
   For what felt like a full minute, I was flying. I felt the world beneath me, wind rushing all around me. Dustin screamed my name as I spread my arms like wings once more, laughing at how great this felt. For a split second, I was free.
   And after that split second, I was falling to the ground faster than a bullet shooting from a gun. I knew what was about to happen as I stared at the mulch that was approaching me faster than I could handle, then closed my eyes as if that would make the fall hurt less.
   But I didn't feel the mulch when I hit the ground. Or what I thought was the ground.
   "Holy shit," I heard from under me.
   I opened my eyes to see that I was in top of the Henderson kid. Apparently, Dustin tried to catch me, but from what I could piece together, I came at him too fast and knocked both of us to the ground.
   "Holy shit," I repeated, jumping to my feet and holding out my hand to help him up.  "Sorry, Dustin. Are you okay?"
   "That- that was an apology," he said with an astounded look on his face as he sat up.
   I rolled my eyes. "Shut up and take my hand."
   Dustin grabbed my hand, holding it even after he stood up. "Are you okay?" he asked.
   "I didn't just get tackled by best friend's little sister, so I'd say I'm pretty good."
   Dustin laughed. "You don't have a little sister."
   "Steve does. He's your best friend, right?"
   "No, that's you," Dustin corrected.
   I rolled my eyes again, letting go of his hand and sitting on a bench near the pond. "We may be stuck in Hawkins, but this place can be pretty damn beautiful sometimes," I said, marveling at how pretty a polluted lake could be. There were little ducks swimming around, quacking at each other to get the hell out of the way.
   "Stuck in Hawkins?" Dustin asked, sitting next to me.
   "Yeah." I watched the ducks circle around in the lake. "My parents lived here, their parents lived here. It's a vicious cycle, Henderson, and I don't plan on continuing it."
Dustin inched closer to me. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I obviously can't do anything now because of the Displacer, but... I had a plan.
"My parents are gone for a little bit, and it's summertime, so there's no school holding me back. If I hadn't been sucked into this monster shit, I wouldn't have had a reason to stay."
Dustin looked me in the eyes, worry evident in his eyes. "You were going to leave."
"Yeah. I was. I had a bag all packed and about a thousand dollars saved up."
"Holy shit, how did you get a thousand bucks?" Dustin asked incredulously.
I laughed at his surprise. "It was a mix of saving money from my grandma, my birthday, Christmas, and my leaf-taking jobs over the past few years."
"Years? You've had this plan for years?"
"Well, yeah." I laughed a little, realizing how long my hatred for this place has festered. "I loved Hawkins when I was a little girl, but everything changed after..."
Dustin looked away from me. "Oh."
"It's not your fault," I insisted, seeing the sad look on his face. Why was he such a puppy?
He tried to fake a smile, but it wasn't fooling me. "It kind of is, but I'll go along with your delusions."
I rolled my eyes, shoving him across the bench. "Shut up. It isn't your fault."
"I mean, I think-"
"Well, well. Toothless has a girlfriend."
Dustin and I both turned around to see the school bully (and my deranged cousin), Troy Harrington, standing behind us, his backup man James standing with him.
   "Well, well. Troy has a bitch," I shot back, gesturing toward James.
   Troy raised his eyebrow. "Who the hell are you?"
   I felt myself stop breathing. Troy's dad and my dad were brothers, but they never got along. When I disappeared off of everyone's radar in sixth grade, Troy was one step ahead of everyone else: he already barely knew who I was. If he found out now, he'd blow my whole cover; everyone would know who I was because of his torment.
   "Hey, little bitch, I'm talking to you," Troy said. "Who the hell... are you?"
   Dustin's eyes turned dark as he glared at my cousin. "First off, she's not a bitch. Second off-"
No, Dustin, please don't.
   "She's Monica Harrington."
Shit.
   Troy's face turned sinisterly happy. "Monica Harrington?"
   I groaned, mentally kicking myself for not explaining to Dustin my relation to Troy. It wasn't his fault, he couldn't have known- the majority of people don't even know Troy's last name.
   James walked closer to me. "You're Monica Harrington?" he asked. "Troy, don't you have a cousin named Mon-"
   "She is my cousin, James!" Troy feigned surprise, coming closer as well.
   I stepped closer to them, but pushed Dustin back. I knew what they were capable of doing to him. "Yeah, so what?"
   "So what?" Troy repeated. "Where've you been all this time, cuz?"
   "Right here," I replied. "Not that you'd actually have noticed, you oblivious prick."
   Troy wasn't phased by my insult, but was taken aback by the way I wasn't cowering before him like some little mouse. "It's a pity nobody's noticed you, Nikki," he said quietly, getting close enough to whisper in my ear. "Don't worry, though. That's gonna change very soon."
   "Yeah, I'll be known as the girl who kicked her own cousin's ass." I pushed him away from me, causing him to lose his footing and fall flat on his ass.
   James looked at me infuriated. "You think you can do that and get away with it?"
   I made a fake pouty face at him. "Oh, are you sad because I hurt your boyfriend?"
   "He's not my boyfriend," James whined.
   Troy had gotten up and was now stalking closer to me. Only when he got to me, he didn't stop.
He was gunning for Dustin.
   I tried to get in front of my friend, but I was too late; Troy had already gotten to him.
   "Hey, Toothless," he said in a falsely friendly tone. "This your new girlfriend?"
   Dustin scoffed, already annoyed with this son of a bitch. "Of course not."
   Troy smirked, laughing in a short breath through his nose. "You're right. How stupid of me. She'd never go for someone like you."
   I talked Troy on the shoulder, causing him to turn around. "Hey, cousin?"
   "What the hell do you want?"
   I smiled, then gave him the best right hook I could. (Thank God  I had a brother on the wrestling team.) "Leave him alone, you bastard."
   Troy looked dazed for a second from my strong punch, then shook his head and turned to me. "You know what? Maybe you would go for Toothless. You're both freaks: Toothless... and the Invisible Slut."
   Before I could tell what was happening, Troy had been pulled backwards and was on the ground, getting his ass kicked by the one and only...
Dustin Henderson.
   "She's not. A slut!" Dustin said, dealing each sentence fragment with a kick to Troy's stomach. The bully was curling up into an armadillo position, groaning like the little baby he was.
   James was standing by, watching his friend get pummeled by the nerdiest of the Hawkins AV Club. When he realized who was beating Troy up, he thought he had a chance. "You're dead, Toothless."
   As he reached out his hand to grab Dustin, I grabbed his wrist before he reached the boy behind me. "I don't think so, asshole."
   Now, let me back up for a second. Remember how I've seen The Karate Kid a billion times? Well, after the movie came out, I worked on mastering some of the moves. Steve, bless my big brother's heart, was my test subject; he let me practice all of the moves on him until I had gotten them down pat. (The poor dude got his ass kicked- by the end of it, he had a cracked rib and a broken ring finger.)
   My favorite move- the Crane Kick- was the last one I mastered. And the one that cracked Steve's rib. It was risky and extremely difficult to pull off, but this was the absolute best time to do it. I had to scare these jackasses badly enough that they'd never bother Dustin again.
   Still holding James's wrist in a death grip, i decided to let go slowly, maintaining eye contact with him, which completely creeped him out. (Keeping his attention off of Dustin and Troy was my main goal, so this was good.) I lifted my arms, followed by my right leg and, with as much force as I could muster, kicked off the ground, launching my left leg at James, sending him flying backwards. He hit the ground with a groan and a loud thud, attracting Dustin's attention.
   Unfortunately, this gave Troy the advantage. Seeing as he has no soul, he didn't care that I had just whooped his friend's ass, thus giving him time to get up and charge at the distracted Dustin. This time, though, I was quick enough to get in front of Dustin, creating a barrier between the two boys. They were both much taller than I was, but it was effective nonetheless.
   "Are you gonna try to be all tough again, Troy? Because unless you went to be next on my ass-kicking list, I wouldn't recommend that."
   Troy glared down at me, but I glared right back at him, trying to burn a whole through his skull with my gaze. He started to prepare to attack again, lifting his hand shakily, but quickly lowered it, seeing how badly I had beaten his friend. (And hearing how badly I'd hurt him. Seriously, this James was a huge, blubbering wuss.)
   "This isn't over, you little bitch," Troy said, backing away from me only slightly.
   I stepped forward, standing at my full height. "I think it is, Troy. If you ever so much as utter a word to me or Dustin ever again, I will personally flatten your ass. And believe me, cousins or not, I will enjoy flattening your sorry ass."
   Troy gave a defeated groan of frustration, walking over to James, pulling him off the ground, and stalking out of the park.
   As they trudged off, Dustin turned to me, wide-eyed and awe-struck. "You...you..."
"I what, Dustin?" I asked expectantly.
"You totally flipped your shit on them!" Dustin jumped excitedly, running his hands through his hair. "Mon, seriously- holy shit, that was amazing- you're amazing. Oh my gosh, that was badass."
I smirked at him. "Calm down, Henderson. You do realize this gives the entire party license to make fun of you for having a girlfriend that's tougher than you are?"
Dustin froze. "Girlfriend?"
"Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later," I said simply.
"So... what you're telling me is- I mean, honestly, not just as a joke- I, Dustin, King of Nerds, have a girlfriend?"
Laughing, I answered him. "If you keep freaking out over it like this, I might change my mind-"
"No, no, I'm sorry, I'll stop," he insisted. "So, that makes me your..."
"Boyfriend, yes."
Dustin once again jumped excitedly. "Yes!" he exclaimed.
And then it happened.
Obviously acting upon impulse, Dustin grabbed my face and kissed me hard. And what do you know? This time, the dipshit actually got my lips. I kissed him back after getting over the initial shock, feeling his smile through the kiss, making me laugh because of how happy the invisible girl could make the nerdy boy.
Dustin stopped kissing me to look back at me. "I've never done this before."
"Kissing? You've kissed me a shit ton over the past few days-"
"No," he laughed. "I mean, I've never... had a- a girlfriend before. To be perfectly honest, I've never had a girl not hate me before."
I kissed his cheek before grabbing his hand, starting back towards my house because if I wasn't home soon, Steve would kill me and my boyfriend before we had gone on our first date.
"Well then," I replied, swinging our hands back and forth as we walked, "I'm glad to be the one to change that."
"You've already changed so much in all of our lives, Mon," Dustin said quietly.
"In... a good way?"
He smiled, putting his arm around me. "In the best way."