TECHNICOLOR - stranger things.

o. THE BEGINNING

o. wendy's new hair!

wendy carmichael walked amongst the crowds of people, she was careful not to bump into anyone even though she could hardly contain her excitement. she was feeling all sorts of emotions—happiness, excitement, even a new sense of relief was beginning to wash over her.

the seventeen year old entered scoops ahoy, where she found herself spending a lot of time since the summer started. her eyes glanced towards the counter, seeing steve standing with his back turned towards her. gleefully, wendy walked up to the counter and pressed down on the bell.

steve turned around with a sigh, but his face lit up like a christmas tree once he saw his girlfriend standing in front of him.
"wendy hey!" he smiled and leaned against the counter.

wendy only smiled as she waited for him to notice her change in appearance. steve furrowed his eyebrows and scanned his eyes over his girlfriend. once he noticed the change, he gasped.
"babe, you dyed your hair!" he stared at her hair and wendy nodded, a big smile on her face.

"do you like it?" she asked, noticing that robin—steve's co-worker, was walking towards them. steve harrington nodded in response to his girlfriend's question.

"nice hair, wendy." robin complimented, raising an eyebrow towards the eldest carmichael.
"thanks robin!" wendy grinned.

"oh hey, are you doing anything later?" steve asked, grabbing a hold of wendy's hand. the seventeen year old shrugged and glanced down at her watch.
"i'm probably going to stop by the pool and get a swim in. susie is hanging out with mike, lucas, and some of the other kids today. something about dustin." wendy answered, glancing up at steve.

"henderson? when does he come back?" steve intertwined his fingers with wendy's. his girlfriend could only shrug in response, she slipped her hand out of his and let it fall back to her side.

"anyways, i have to go. i just wanted to stop by and show you my hair." she smiled softly. steve was slightly hurt that she wasn't going to stay around longer, but he knew that she had things to do for college.
"oh okay. good luck." he called out as she started to walk away.
"bye steve!" she turned around and waved before leaving out of the ice cream shop.

"i love you." steve mumbled under his breath.

for the past six months, steve had managed to fall in love with wendy carmichael. however, he wasn't sure if she was also in love with him, so he held back the three little words that he wanted to tell her so desperately bad in fear that she didn't love him back.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"mom, do we have anymore tape?" wendy called out from her room. she had started packing for college the second after she received her acceptance letter—to say that she was glad to leave hawkins was an understatement. besides her family and her boyfriend, hawkins meant nothing to her.

"look in your room winifred!" lori carmichael yelled back, knowing that her daughter didn't look thoroughly. wendy sighed and walked over to her dresser. she opened several drawers, not finding tape anywhere. wendy kneeled down and without a second thought, she opened her bottom right drawer. as she pulled the drawer open, memories flooded back to her. her hands picked up the red, orange, and black striped shirt. instantly, memories of the brisk november night came rushing back—the demogorgans, the kids, billy. wendy touched her face with her hand, feeling where billy had slapped her.

"did you find it?" lori's words startled wendy. the seventeen year old scrambled to stuff the shirt back into the drawer.
"n-no. it's fine, i'll just look later. actually, i think i'm going to go to the pool." wendy stood to her feet, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"o...okay. stay safe, wen." the carmichael matriarch furrowed her eyebrows as she walked out of her daughter's room.

once her mom left out of her room, wendy shut her door and caught a glimpse of herself in her mirror. wendy carmichael stared at herself, turning her head to the side as she looked at her cheek—she was okay, billy was out of her life and she knew that steve would never do something like that to her. wendy's eyebrows stitched together as she huffed out in annoyance. she realized that she barely liked her new hair. maybe blonde wasn't meant for her.

"god my hair looks like shit." she sighed as she turned to pick out a swimsuit from her closet.

—
welcome back to wendy's world!
i'm honestly so excited to write this story,
i can't wait for y'all to see her dynamics
with different characters over the course
of this story. i will say, however, that the
first few chapters will be filled with
plenty of carmington content,
so enjoy it while it lasts.