Andy Hopper had enough to deal with. She hated her mom's new boyfriend, she was still grieving the death of her sister, and she hadn't seen her dad in years. The last thing she needed was to be packed up and shipped off to the small town of Hawkins...
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ON THE OTHER SIDE OF TOWN, A BRUISED AND BLOODY STEVE HARRINGTON drove up a dirt path towards a brown trailer.
He was sorry.
Steve jumped out of his car and she ran up the steps to the trailer, pounding his fists against the door, but there was no answer. He groaned, slamming his head against the wooden frame in annoyance.
He needed to tell Andy Hopper the truth. That he was stupid, yes, but that he had accidentally fallen head over heels for her. The way she put him in his place, the way she was the funniest person he had ever met, and the way she had made him become a better version of his shallow self. He didn't care about Nancy in the way he was supposed to. It was his pride that was hurt, not his heart. He was embarrassed that she had ditched him for another guy and his ego made him act out of rage. He wished now more than anything that he hadn't done it.
Moving away from the door, he ran his hand through his long hair and began peering through every window of the trailer, to see if she was in fact there but ignoring him out of anger. But he couldn't see her anywhere. She was nowhere to be seen.
He'd have to try Jonathan Byers instead.
**
Andy stood with her arms high above her head, screwing in lightbulbs into the Christmas lights that hung all over the Byers' house. She had to stand on a chair to reach most of them and her arms had begun to feel numb and her fingers achy. Andy used to complain about hard work. It was only just over a week ago she had given up after half an hour of helping her dad redecorate. But that girl was gone. Now she would endure anything she had to make sure she kept the ones she cared about safe.
She couldn't believe how much she had come to care about the residents of Hawkin's in such a short space of time. They had entirely flipped her sheltered life upside down... Literally.
Andy worried about her dad and Joyce on their dangerous voyage. Whereabouts were they now? Had they even made it into Hawkin's lab safely? There was no way she could know, but it didn't stop her from fretting. She worried about the kids back at the school too. What if the bad men found them? Andy used her fear and worries to motivate her instead and continued to work.
Jonathan and Nancy had set the rest of the house up with the equipment they had bought from the hardware store earlier. The main piece was a large animal trap in the hallway between bedrooms, where a line of gasoline had been poured.
The trio stood in a circle going over their plan.
"Remember..." Jonathan began, passing out three knives. "Straight into Will's room and-" Nancy continued. "Don't step on the trap." Jonathan exhaled. Andy added "Wait for the yo-yo to move then-" and Jonathan held up the lighter letting its flame burn bright.
