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February 1985
FRANKIE WALSH GRIPPED ONTO A SMALL HEART SHAPED PAPER as she made her way through the crowded halls of Hawkins High. Her tennis shoes skid against the scratched glossy tile and her heart was beating a mile a minute. Chester and her had prepared for this moment for the past week and she couldn't believe he had convinced her to do this.
She was going to ask Steve to the Sadie Hawkins dance.
The brunette felt like pins were running down her back and she was beginning to hyperventilate as she neared closer to the north hallways. It's just a question, she reminded herself but not even the incessant ramblings in her head were helping her cause.
She was scared.
If you would have asked Frankie Walsh if she thought she'd be asking King Steve to a high school dance a few months ago, she would have laughed in your face. Actually, Chester would laugh in your face and Frankie would just stand there confused and a little flushed. But this wasn't a few months ago where Steve Harrington had no idea who Franny Walsh was, this was now where Steve Harrington and Franny Walsh spent most afternoons together when Keith had work and sometimes took Dustin to his friends house and even talked on the phone until the two of them fell asleep.
Things had changed and Frankie was scared.
She had never felt this strongly about another person before, especially for someone as handsome and popular as Steve. It was different, having to be aware of what other people said about you and how they acted towards you for no reason. Being friends with Steve opened up a floodgate that Frankie Walsh was not prepared for, and now that she wanted to ask him out, to become more than friends with Steve, she wasn't sure if she could handle that. The pressure to be as perfect as someone who could date someone like Steve Harrington was too much. The pressure to be someone like Nancy Wheeler, a pretty girl who was smart and kind and knew exactly what she was going to do with her life, a girl who was the complete opposite of her scared the ever living fuck out of Frankie.
Not to mention, what if Steve didn't like her back?
Maybe she could deal with the comments and the stares and even the societal pressure put onto her from 1985 America just to be with Steve, but what if he didn't even like her to begin with? Frankie wasn't really one to daydream, but maybe she had thought up this idea of her and Steve in her head. It wasn't a far out idea to think that she had just imagined the way he looked at her and the way he made her feel. There was no way he could develop feelings for someone so quickly after his breakup with Nancy, he didn't seem the type. And even if Chester had told her time and time again that 'that douchenozzle' had it bad for her, she just couldn't come to terms that he could like her. Guys like Steve Harrington don't fall for girls like Franny Walsh.
