california dreamin'

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

There were only twenty-four hours before Alina Fairgrieves-Byers would board an early-morning flight and return to Hawkins, Indiana, and she was determined for them to pass by as quickly as possible. Perhaps, if she willed it hard enough, minutes would fall away like grains of sand in an hourglass, one after another after another. Perhaps, if she crossed her fingers, this entire day—the last day of school before spring break—would blur together, as days that were not full of teasing often did. Perhaps, if she just prayed, she would blink, and it would be time to leave Lenora Hills, California.

It had been one-hundred and eighty-five days (not that Alina was counting—El kept track) since Alina had been back in her hometown, and in her humble opinion, that was far too long. Sure, Hawkins, Indiana may have had a majorly white population, one that a Black girl would always stand out in; barely any options for entertainment after the destruction of Starcourt Mall; a constant smell of manure and car exhaust; and many locations in which Alina had experienced the worst events of her fifteen years of life, but it was still home. Not because of the houses she'd resided in here—both of which were their own harrowing memories attached—but because of the people.

Gabriel Burton. Nicole Burton. Dustin Henderson. Mike Wheeler. Max Mayfield. Steve Harrington. Nancy Wheeler. Robin Buckley.

Lucas Sinclair.

Alina hadn't seen her boyfriend in one hundred and eighty-five days, which was completely unacceptable. Sure, they exchanged frequent letters—though hers were always significantly longer than his (not due to him loving her less. Lucas had just never been the writer Alina was)—and sent each other the occasional package in the mail, but there was a difference between reading words on a page and seeing the face of your loved one in-person. If not for the pictures plastered all over her walls and the home videos she had saved on her camera, she might have forgotten the intricacies of his appearance.

Which simply couldn't do.

Fortunately, there wasn't much longer to wait. In twenty-four hours, three separated couples would be reunited—while Alina was heading off to Hawkins, both Gabe and Mike were coming south to California to visit their own partners. Of course, no one here but her and Jonathan knew that Gabe and Will were a thing, but that didn't matter. Even if Gabe arrived under the guise of 'visiting his friends', he'd still have seven whole days with his boyfriend before his return flight took off.

If only that twenty-four-hour waiting period hurried the hell up, though.

Alina spun in circles on her desk chair. It was early, but she was already ready for school; in fact, all the members of the Byers household were. Last night, she'd put in a hair mask, and the effects were clear in her curly black hair. The hair that escaped the section she'd pinned back with a clip was soft and springy, bouncing over her shoulders. She liked running her hands through it, marvelling at how healthy it had gotten since she'd started to really treat it.

Accompanying her hair was today's outfit—a jean jacket over one of Lucas's old shirts. She'd worn it today for luck, even though a hundred washings had replaced his customary scent with laundry detergent. Hopefully, it would help her through the long day ahead.

She continued to spin, occasionally tapping the toe of her red sneaker against the floor to keep up the momentum. The room she shared with her brother blurred before her, the posters on the yellow walls becoming nothing more than streaks of white. It was electrifying, even though it was quick to make her dizzy. Her stomach swooped and dipped.

"Okay, can you stop that?"

The brother in question—Will Byers, cleric, artist, and sentimental goof—suddenly halted the strokes of his paintbrush. For the last twenty minutes, he'd been going at it, hands darting across the massive canvas before him, and yet, he wouldn't even let her see what he was painting. Even though this was their shared room, he'd taken complete control and banished her to the other side. Thus, the chair-spinning.

"Stop what?" Alina asked.

"The spinning," Will replied. "I'm not even the one doing it and it's making me nauseous."

"Isn't that a you problem?"

"Oh, my God."

Alina ground to a halt and flashed him a cheeky grin. "Sorry."

A low meowing emanated at her feet, and Will stepped away from his canvas. "See? Even Skywalker is annoyed," he said, bending down to pick up the white cat that had just slunk into the room. He scratched him on the head, right where he liked it, and Skywalker purred, nudging Will's hand.

"I think he just wants pets," Alina said. "Or food. Did Jonathan feed him?"

"Mom did. Jonathan's a little busy for that right now."

Will said this at a pointed look through the half-opened door, aiming towards Jonathan's room. Alina sighed, getting to her feet. Her vision temporarily blurred—head rush—but when it cleared again, she crossed over to kiss her cat on the forehead.

"He's not subtle at all. I can smell skunk from here."

Indeed, the faint scent of marijuana was currently curling the hairs in Alina's nostrils. She wrinkled her nose. Ever since Jonathan had taken up pot with his friend, Argyle, the whole house was beginning to stink. It was a miracle Joyce hadn't put two-and-two together yet.

"He's probably trying to wave it out the window again," Will said, and Alina laughed. She might not take drugs, but she still knew that wasn't exactly a perfect method for ridding your room of the marijuana stink. "God."

"Well, at least you've got Mom, huh, Sky?" Alina cooed to her cat, kissing him again. "Otherwise you might starve whenever it's Jonathan's turn to give you food."

Skywalker let out another meow and began to squirm in Will's arms, wanting an out. Will set him down, and he pranced through the door almost snootily, tail aloft. Will shook his head fondly at the sight.

"Is your project ready?" he asked, changing the subject. "You might have to go today, you know."

"I know that," Alina responded. "And it's ready, okay? I actually did finish this one on time."

She reached across her desk to retrieve the poster she'd made on Ruby Bridges, the first African American child to attend a segregated school in the United States. While most of her classmates would be doing this assignment—which was to create a visual aid of an important historical figure you considered your hero—on people everyone knew about, such as Albert Einstein or Julius Caesar, Alina wanted to do someone not everyone knew about. And when she'd read the story of Ruby Bridges, she knew that she had to share it.

"Oh, sweet," Will said.

"You sound surprised."

"You handed in the last history project three weeks late."

"I had a lot going on, okay?"

It wasn't exactly a lie. Maybe Alina wasn't swamped with schoolwork—even though her teachers gave out far more than they did in middle school—but she had been occupied with the time-consuming task of resisting the urge to knock Angela and her stupid boyfriend on their asses.

Alina had never thought she'd face a bully worse than Troy Walsh and James Dante, but that was before she met Angela. With her sickeningly sweet tone that oozed condescension, Angela had made it her goal to make El's life a living hell from day one—and, when Alina had intervened, extended it to her. She seemed to find genuine pleasure in grilling Alina on her past—specifically about everything that had happened with her father—then pretending to be remorseful when she hit too close to home. At least Troy and James had just been normal assholes.

Other than Angela, though, Alina had just been processing her most recent bout of trauma. What had gone down last summer had shaken her to her core even eight months later, and, more often than not, she woke in a cold sweat after horrifying nightmares. It made it hard to focus on anything, especially school. It just seemed so... unimportant.

She had helped save the world, after all. Multiple times.

"Al," Will said, stepping forward. During these eight months, he'd gone through a major growth spurt, and, although Alina still had a little bit of height over him, he was beginning to catch up. It was surreal, given that most of the time when Alina saw him, she still saw that twelve-year-old boy that had been trapped in the Upside Down. "I know it's hard, but you've got to focus on your schoolwork, okay? You don't want to start getting bad grades now and up not getting into college."

Alina blew out a frustrated exhale through her nose. "Okay, Mom. Thank you for the insight. It's not like Mrs. Gracey hasn't told me that a thousand times already."

Will's face fell. "I'm just trying to help. I'm worried about you, Alina."

Alina softened a little bit. "I know."

Before either of them could say anything more, a series of honks sounded outside. The siblings exchanged a look, then jumped into action, slinging their bags over their shoulders and gathering their projects in their arms. Their ride was here.

Because Jonathan's car was still broken, they'd been relying on the generosity of Argyle to get them to and from school every day. Granted, it was in the back of a Surfer Boy Pizza van, but at this point, beggars really couldn't be choosers.

The two of them made their way out of their room, where they met El, who was carrying the diorama she'd made of Hopper. With the help of Alina, she'd managed to convince Mrs. Gracey to let her do him for the project, explaining everything that had happened with the supposed mall fire last year. Fortunately, their teacher had eventually agreed.

Alina liked living with El. The Byers household may have been more crowded than ever, now, with four children, one adult, and one cat all filling space, but the people within it managed to make it a home, regardless. After being separated from her friend for such a long time, it was nice for Alina to know that El was so close. Even if the magnet in her stomach had sputtered out.

"Hey," Alina greeted. "I like your diorama. It's very well-made."

El beamed. "Thank you."

In the pizza van, Argyle honked again, and they all hustled forward. Jonathan joined them, his clothes carrying the scent of marijuana with him, and reached out to ruffle their hair. When it got to Alina's turn, she ducked under his hand and swatted his arm.

"Careful, douchebag. I just did a mask."

"Oh, right," he responded. "Sorry."

"Bye, Mom!" Will called into the living room, where Joyce was hanging up from a call with one of her clients. In what was honestly a step up from the general store, Joyce now sold dictionaries from the comfort of her own home. Sure, it did lead to their house being completely full of them, but at least she didn't have an hour-long commute every day.

Joyce leaped to her feet. "Bye, kids! Be good! Have a great day!"

"Bye!" everyone chorused.

"Alina, are you packed?"

"Yes, Mom! I've been packed for days!"

"Good! Okay, bye!"

In single-file, the Byers kids—though one was technically a Hopper, while the other had a Fairgrieves tacked before the Byers name—headed into the California morning, which was as blistering hot as it always was. It was certainly a change from the inconsistent weather in Hawkins, and Alina still hadn't decided which one she preferred.

Well, at least Hawkins had snow.

Will slid open the back door of the van, and Alina and El clambered in. Once he'd followed and Jonathan had climbed into the passenger's seat, Argyle turned to face them, his curtain of black hair swinging over his shoulders.

"All right. Hold onto your butts, brochachos."

With a squeal of tires, he took off. As usual, Alina pressed herself into the corner, fully aware of the fact that she was not wearing a seatbelt. At least the corner gave her some semblance of safety, no matter how thin.

As the van rumbled across the slightly uneven streets, Alina leaned her head against the window. Lenora Hills was honestly beautiful—she loved the rocky mountains, the cracked deserts, and the palm trees. They provided a lovelier scenery than the fields and urban developments that had made up Hawkins.

Still, it was no contest. She'd prefer Hawkins all the way.

Fortunately, the ride to Lenora High wasn't long. When Joyce had picked out their home—with the help of Dr. Owens, who'd apparently been in on the plan to relocate them—she'd made sure it wasn't too far away from the school, given that there were now four children who needed to attend it. It was only about ten minutes before Argyle heaved the van into the parking lot, where it looked odd among all the regular cars.

They climbed out, thanking Argyle for the slightly precarious ride, and Alina, El, and Will all walked together to history. Alina kept her head down in the hallway, remembering the spitball attack Angela's boyfriend had gotten her with the last time she hadn't been paying attention.

It seemed to be her lucky day today, though. No one bothered her, and Alina took a seat in class with satisfaction, knowing that it was less than twenty-four hours before she would see Lucas again.

Just one more day.

She could totally do this.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

A/N: ALINAAAAAAA

oh my God, i missed her so much. she's still one of my favourite ocs, and writing her again felt like being welcomed back home. i wish she was real so i could wrap her up in a hug and never let go <333

(also, i am SO PROUD of sofia wylie for the school for good and evil movie, which looks absolutely amazing. those books were my childhood, and i know she'll rock it as agatha. i mean, look at her!!)

i hope you enjoyed this first chapter!! i know i said before i was planning on maybe doing 4k word chapters for this book, but i honestly just wanted to keep things consistent. plus, this way, we'll get a lot of solely alina-centric or solely gabe-centric chapters!!

and yes, gabe is returning in chapter two!! so get ready for him, his grandma, and nicole to make an appearance :)))

'till next time!