PSYCHO 《 stranger things 》

-1.2 its complicated.

chapter twelve!

SINCE THE SNOWBALL DANCE, Cassie Hargrove had become the definition of an emotional rollercoaster. For a while after the dance, her and Dustin remained as they were; not just friends, but not a couple. Cassie was content with that, as was Dustin. It was perfect, or it least it felt that way. Then Cassie began to realize that she was spending almost all of her time with Dustin and the rest of the party. She spent nights at Hopper's with El, she paid regular visits to the Byer's, and even befriended Nancy Wheeler. Cassie was enjoying herself until Joyce began talking about how much everyone loved her.

Joyce went on and on about how much she appreciated Cassie, and how Will loved her like a sister. She talked about how nice it was for Eleven to have a girl friend her age. Joyce showered Cassie with love, and it scared her. She wasn't used to having people that felt like family in her life. Cassie told herself it was temporary. They would grow to hate her (she had a horrible attitude and was annoying), and they would leave her. So she did the only thing she could think of to save herself from that scenario and left first.

It started with Cassie cancelling plans with the others. Then she began to ignore them all together, even Dustin and El. The curly haired boy was confused as to what he had done wrong, and was determined to get things back to normal. After winter break, Cassie ignored the whole party, minus Max, for an entire month. She spent that month smoking outside with Frankie, skipping school, and going through friends too fast for anyone to keep up. Not even Steve was able to get her to say more than a few words to him, breaking the older boys heart.

Dustin knew that something was wrong. Cassie began falling asleep more in class, dark circles coating her under-eyes. He noticed that she skipped lunch every day, outside in the parking lot smoking with a different teenager each day. She looked sad behind the bright smile that she wore, and he hated that only the people she pushed away could tell.

El was just as concerned, or perhaps even more so. She checked on Cassie every day in the void. With each day, she grew more and more worried. El wanted her best friend back. Cassie missed her just as much. Cassie found herself missing El more than anyone, as if her heart longed for her brunette companion.

With El and Max being the only ones able to check in on Cassie, the rest of the party grew restless. Dustin realized he had had enough when Frankie approached him, complaining. Apparently she had ditched him too.

Together, the two boys sat down with Max to see if there was anything she knew that could be helpful in getting Cassie back. Max had been hesitant, not wanting to anger her sister. Ultimately, she decided that Cassie would eventually forgive her. The blonde girl obviously missed her friends just as much as they missed her. She was just scared.

And Max told them that.

After cornering Cassie and forcing her to speak to them, Frankie and Dustin were able to convince her to come back. Cassie apologized to everyone several times, feeling horrible for just ditching them all. She hated that she left them, and she hated the way that she probably made them feel. Everyone welcomed her back with open arms, being more worried about her than upset. Cassie felt her heart warm up to the idea of letting people in. She hated the fact that the feeling of the walls crumbling down felt so good.

From there, things looked up for Cassie in the party. There were no more disappearing acts from her, and she managed her time around them well. Dustin, who had always been secretly jealous of Frankie, found himself warming up to the boy and even hung out with him once or twice. Everything felt perfect for the longest time.

The next time that there was distance put between Cassie and the group, it was not by choice. Over spring break, Cassie had made plans with almost all of her friends. She felt quite comfortable calling the party that now. Friends. Something she'd never truly allowed herself to have. On the Monday that spring break began, Cassie had made plans to meet with El, who worried for the girl when she never showed up. Cassie had gotten into an argument with her dad, one of the worst she'd ever had. By the time she woke up the next day, she couldn't even remember what it was from. Susan and Max were out in town together, and Billy was god-knows-where. It was just her and her father.