Adventures In Babysitting | Steve Harrington

: Chapter One: We All Wear Masks :

: chapter one: we all wear masks, every day of our lives. what makes halloween any different? :

The first thing she noticed was the heat, or more so the lack thereof. Her patterned woolen jumper felt large around her body. Her sleeves were pulled over her hands in an attempt to keep them warm, her fingertips were still tinted pink, bitten by the cold Autumn temperatures. Winter would hit in less than a day, the chills that nipped at Diana's skin and ached within her bones were signifiers of that. Or maybe her nights of babysitting and studying had left her exhausted. Her body felt weak, her eyes felt heavy and the sheer act of hiding it all was fueling her fatigue. Diana sat straight in her uncomfortable wooden chair, legs crossed, shoulders tense, listening to the echoes of the cheerful voices of Hawkins high school's corridors. The cheerful voices, of course, came from the oblivious students, the ones who hadn't saw what she had. Oh to be one of them again, she thought. Mrs. Deetz, Hawkins high school guidance counselor sat across the small, cluttered desk from Diana, reviewing her file. Diana knew there was nothing bad in there, nothing the school board would know about at least, but still she couldn't help the overwhelming feeling of being in trouble from rising within her.

"Diana, I have to say I'm very impressed in the way you've turned your grades around." Mrs. Deetz commended, as Diana let a stiff smile find its way to her face. She uttered a small thank you, her fingers intertwining nervously. "You hit a bit of a bump there last year and I can admit I was very worried for you, you're such a bright girl."

Mrs. Deetz never failed to remind Diana of the 'bit of a bump' she'd had, as she constantly referred to it as. Every meeting Diana had with the guidance counselor, Mrs. Deetz in her own very unsubtle way had tried to find out the reason for the period of months last year where Diana's grades and work had taken a nosedive. Diana was in no rush to fill the aging woman in. How was she supposed to explain she was having PTSD from fighting an interdimensional, Venus flytrap looking demogorgan?

"I'm very proud of your progress, I'm sure you'll have no problem getting into your first choice college. Do you feel proud of your work, Diana? It's an impeccable turnaround." Diana tried not to cringe at that question. Was she proud of her work? Was she proud of how she turned her grades around? Shameful might be a more suiting word, she thought. In that moment, the pills she had been popping since the start of the year started to burn a hole in her backpack that lay beside her feet. The pills that provided such a rush and surge of energy she found she had no problem studying and overworking herself to make everyone proud. She felt like an Olympic winning athlete on steroids. She knew it was wrong and against the rules but she needed to feel like she had accomplished something. She needed something in her life to be normal again, after all that had happened.

"Oh, of course. You get out what you put in." The words stung Diana's tongue as they fell from her lips. Mrs. Deetz shot her a wholesome smile, Diana almost frowned at her obliviousness. She wanted to tell her to stop being proud of her, she wanted to scream it at the top of her lungs. She didn't do that though. She sat there, tense, a liar. No one is proud of a liar. She could never fathom her family finding out. What kind of role model would she be for Lucas and Erica then?