CHAPTER ONE : hawkins high's newest new girl

( the vanishing of will byers / the weirdo on maple street, part i )

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november 7, 1983

"DO YOU THINK I could come to school with you?"

There's an immediate clatter from the bathroom before Eddie pops his head out into the hallway, brows furrowed, his toothbrush hanging loosely from his mouth. "What?" he asks, his voice garbled through the foamy toothpaste threatening to spill onto the carpeted floor.

"I wanna go to school," Allison mumbles, shrugging her shoulders as she digs her white plastic spoon into her white plastic bowl.

The shaggy-haired boy dips back into the bathroom to spit into the sink and rinse out his mouth, promptly reappearing to take a seat at the barstool by her side. "You want to go to school?" Eddie incredulously repeats, his voice soft, acutely aware that his uncle is passed out on his fold-out chair in the corner of the room. Neither teenager feels like facing the wrath of a sleep-deprived Wayne on a Monday morning. The redhead nods sheepishly in response. "Most people actively avoid going to school, y'know?"

Allison frowns as she brings her gaze back to her cereal, quickly becoming mushy in the bowl from absorbing the milk. "Well, it's either that or spend another day with Wayne, and I think he's getting tired of me lounging—" Wayne snores loudly, effectively cutting Allison off mid-sentence. Eddie snickers into his palm as the girl clamps her mouth shut. "I don't think he likes me."

     The redhead has only been living with the Munsons for a week, and while she and Eddie have gotten along like a house on fire, Wayne has been slower to warm up to her. In his defence, he did arrive home from his job at the plant to find his nephew passed out on the sofa with a random girl in his bed, which never happens. And, then, the girl didn't leave the next morning. Eddie had explained the situation as concisely as possible — "Yeah, she just kinda turned up all scared and shit. Figured I shouldn't leave her out in the rain by herself." — and all Wayne could do was agree because he made damn sure to raise Eddie as a gentleman when the boy was surrendered to him as a preteen.

"He likes everyone," Eddie says. He sighs and gets to his feet. "Well, you've got ten minutes to get ready." Allison doesn't move, eyes darting around, confused. "I'm taking you to school. Go put real clothes on."

     Allison mumbles out an, "oh, okay," and jumps up, heading for the bedroom at the back of the trailer. Eddie had been kind enough to not only scour his wardrobe for clothes he'd grown out of or just didn't wear anymore, but also went door to door to ask if anyone else had clothes they would be willing to donate. He had passed it off as a charity thing, which it sort of was, he just didn't mention that the charity in question was a teenage girl he'd all but adopted. That would have raised some questions.

     By the time Allison has finished changing, Eddie's already sitting in his dingy van. She'd brushed her teeth before eating — something Eddie thought was extremely strange but, hey, must have been how it was done where she grew up — so she quietly exits the trailer and jumps into the passenger seat.

     The entire drive to Hawkins High is scored by Eddie's worried rambling. First, him making sure that Allison is actually okay with going to school — "'cause, if you just wanted to get out of the house, I could give you some money and you could go into town instead?" — then coaching her on exactly what to say to the lady at the reception desk when she confirms that she really does want to go, and ending with him telling her that he's going to drop her a block away from the main gates. "Just so people don't know you're with me," he clarifies. Allison doesn't entirely understand why that's such a bad thing but she gets out of the van without argument.

     She walks, head down, towards the entrance of the large red-brick building. Her auburn hair blows around in the breeze making her wince as it whips her in the eyes, stinging enough that she has to squeeze them shut and tuck the tendrils behind her ears. She makes it to the glass double doors and steps inside, remembering Eddie's directions to find her way to the front office.

     A middle-aged woman with short curly hair sits at a desk, tapping away at the keyboard of a bulky computer. Allison takes a deep breath and steps forward, running through Eddie's script in her head.

     "Hi, uh..."

     She trails off, heart racing, as the woman looks up at her through her circular glasses. The woman raises her eyebrows, waiting for the girl to continue. Allison shakes her head a little to clear it.

     "I'm Allison, I'm supposed to be transferring in today," she states, adding in a polite smile to punctuate the end of her sentence.

     The woman exhales through her nose. She clearly doesn't want to be here on a Monday morning. "Full name?" she deadpans.

     "Uh, Allison Floyd, sorry."

     The woman nods and starts typing something into the computer in front of her. "Allison Floyd..." the receptionist repeats under her breath. "I'm not seeing you anywhere."

     Allison frowns and looks up to meet the receptionist's eyes. "Oh, my mom said she sent the transfer forms over earlier, they should be there," she insists.

     For someone who'd been locked in a lab for her entire life, Allison found that she was pretty damn good at lying. She knows because the woman doesn't stop to question anything. Instead, she reaches into a drawer in her desk, pulls out a form, and hands it over to the teenager. Well, either she's a brilliant liar or this school just has no care in the world for security.

     "Yeah, sorry, hon. Here, just fill this out for me and we'll get the rest sorted out later on."

     Allison takes a seat in an armchair made out of some itchy fabric, placing the form on the wooden coffee table in front of it. She sits in that front office for around ten minutes, bullshitting just about every detail she adds onto the form. Middle name? She'd heard some girl talking about a 'Lesley Gore' on her walk in, so Lesley. It sounds nice enough. Date of birth? After counting back on her fingers, she determines that she must have been born in 1967, so she scribbles down November 3, 1967. She jots a few more details onto the little lines, like her residential address ( the only piece of truth on the entire sheet ) and leaves the office after the reception lady gives her a copy of her class schedule. She hurries out so fast, she doesn't even have time to stop before slamming right into someone else. An involuntary oof! escapes her.

     "Sorry!" the other girl exclaims. "I wasn't looking where I was going!"

     "No, that was my fault. I, uh—" Allison fumbles for a reason. She holds up the schedule, the paper flapping in the air with the movement. "I was just trying to figure out where my class is."

     The girl, a friendly looking brunette, peers at the paper in Allison's hands. Algebra with Mr Smithy. "It's on the way to my class, I could walk you there if you'd like?" the girl offers.

     Allison lets out a sigh of relief. "That'd be amazing, actually, thank you. I'm Allison, by the way."

     The girl introduces herself as Nancy before she starts walking away towards a block of lockers. Allison quickly follows suit, not wanting to stand around in the middle of the crowded hallway like a lost puppy.

     "So, did he call?"

     The sudden voice makes Allison jump as a much taller figure appears over her shoulder. Nancy's eyes widen as she looks around at the other students in the corridor, all of whom remain fixated on their own conversations. The brunette breathes a sigh of relief as she turns to her friend. "Keep your voice down," she hisses.

     "Did he?" the friend repeats, a cheeky grin plastered on her face.

     "Did who?" Allison asks. She quickly becomes aware of the way Nancy and her friend have started looking at her. "Sorry, I'm intruding," she apologises awkwardly, averting her eyes to look the floor.

     But Nancy, thankfully, laughs softly "His name is Steve," she starts, pausing as a grin spreads over her face. "And I told you, Barb, it's not like that. Okay, I mean, yes, he likes me, but not like that." The three girls arrive at Nancy's locker and she begins to put her combination into the lock. "We just made out a couple times."

What the hell is making out?

     Barb leans against the locker next to Nancy's. "We just made out a couple times," she repeats dreamily. "Nance, seriously, you're gonna be so cool now. It's ridiculous."

     "No, I'm not!" Nancy protests.

     Barb ignores her. "You better still hang out with me, that's all I'm saying. If you become friends with Tommy H or Carol—"

     Allison doesn't bother asking who Tommy H or Carol are. Judging by the disdain in Barb's voice, she can tell that they're not exactly nice people.

     Nancy opens up her locker and glances at her friend. "Oh, that's gross. And I'm telling you this was just a one-time—" she trails off, watching as Barb raises her eyebrows in an accusatory manner. "Two-time thing." She catches sight of a piece of paper folded neatly in the locker and picks it up.

     "You were saying?" Barb asks, a smirk growing on her lips.

     The brunette grabs her things from her locker quickly and shuts it. "I should, uh." She holds the note up to finish her sentence for her before scampering away. Allison and Barb both chuckle at Nancy's eagerness before turning to each other. Allison's brows suddenly furrow.

     "Ah, damn. She was meant to show me where my class is," Allison mutters, pulling out her schedule once again to start comparing it against the numbers on doors around her. Barb reaches out to snatch it from her.

     "Oh, that's my class, too." She pauses and hands the paper back to the shorter redhead. "I'm Barbara — Barb — by the way."

     "I'm Allison."

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november 8, 1983

     All in all, Allison's first day of school could have gone so much worse. Of course, it wasn't great when she discovered, right at the start of Mr Smithy's algebra class, that she barely knew basic addition and was laughed at when she was asked a question with a 'very straightforward' answer, but she got through it without too much hassle. The second she had told Eddie about the experience, he went off on a rant about how much of a pain in the ass Smithy was, which was entertaining, to say the least.

What Allison was beginning to understand was that while high school was definitely not fun, it is significantly better than sitting around in the messy Munson trailer while Wayne snores away on his little bed. And miles better than the white tiled floors and plain walls of her bedroom in the Lab.

The second she arrives at school the next morning, she immediately goes looking for Nancy and Barb, and when she finds them, they're already deep in conversation. Barb's flipping through colourful little note cards in her palm and reading out questions while Nancy spits out the answers just as quickly. Revising for some test, no doubt.

"When alpha particles go through gold foil, they become..." Barb begins, flipping the card to the opposing side to read the answer and await Nancy's response.

Nancy thinks for a second. "Unoccupied space."

Barb nods and goes to the next card. "A molecule that can—"

Before she can finish the question, a boy stalks past her and snatches the cards from her hands. Nancy cries out in protest. Two more people appear, the other boy in the group playing around with Barb's hair and ear, while the girl pokes at Allison's shoulder and exposed forearm. Allison pulls her arm away, protectively laying a hand over her shoulder.

"I don't know, I think you've studied enough, Nance," the first boy comments, flipping through the flash cards as his two friends come to his side and lean against the wall.

Nancy sighs and mutters out the boy's name. "Steve..."

Allison leans toward Barb. "This is Steve?" she asks.

Barb nods. "And Tommy H, and Carol. Charming, right?" she says.

"I'm telling you, you know, you got this. Don't worry," Steve says, blowing out a sigh as he taps the stack of cards against the palm of his hand. He inhales sharply. "Now, on to more important matters. My dad has left town on a conference and my mom's gone with him, 'cause, you know, she doesn't trust him."

"Good call," Tommy interjects with a smirk. Carol scoffs and rolls her eyes at him.

I don't get it.

Steve ignores his friends. "So, are you in?" he asks.

Nancy furrows her eyebrows. "In for what?" she questions. She glances over at Allison and Barb, both of whom shrug their shoulders.

"No parents? Big house?" Carol prompts.

"A party?" Nancy realises.

Carol smiles and raises her brows. "Ding, ding, ding!" she laughs.

Nancy looks around at the group, an uncomfortable smile appearing on her face. "It's Tuesday," she protests. Carol and Tommy burst out into giggles.

"It's Tuesday, oh my, God—" Tommy jeers, lightly shoving the taller boy next to him.

Steve rolls his eyes and smiles at the girls. "Come on. It'll be low-key. It'll be just us. Your friends can come too — Bree and whats-her-name."

"Allison," Allison says.

"It's Barb," Barb corrects.

Steve doesn't pay any attention to the pair of redheads. "What do you say? Are you in or are you out?"

Before any of the girls can answer, Carol lets out an "Oh, God... look," prompting the group to turn around and look towards the entrance of the school. A boy, around their age, stands at a bulletin board, pinning a sheet of paper to it. He looks exhausted, not just his face but his entire figure. His shoulders are slumped forward, he's almost sinking into the floor, his feet shuffle instead of step when he walks.

"Oh, god. That's depressing," Steve mutters, face screwing up at the sight.

"Should we say something?" Nancy asks.

Carol smirks. "I don't think he speaks."

"How much you wanna bet he killed him?" Tommy questions, looking over to Carol and then to Steve for validation. Neither of them give it to him. Nancy shakes her head and walks away from the group and towards the other boy.

Allison turns towards the boys and Carol once again. "Killed who?"

Carol lets out an ugly guffaw at the girl's unawareness. "God, you don't know?" she asks.

Allison shrugs, breaking eye contact with the girl to look back at Nancy and the boy. "No?"

"His brother just went missing the other day," Steve explains. He doesn't sound like he's making fun of her. Steve knows everyone at Hawkins High, and he knows he's never seen her before, which means she must be new in town and therefore would have no idea what's been going on.

Allison's face falls, her eyes squinting as she returns her gaze to the group in front of her. "And you're making fun of him for that?" she asks. Before any of the three have a chance to reply, Allison turns on her heel and begins to walk away.

"So, you gonna come to the party or?" Steve calls out after her.

The fact that that's what's on his mind right now is astounding, even to her. Allison stops in her tracks, considering her options. She could stand her ground, not start hanging out with the assholes making fun of a guy and his possibly-dead brother. Or, she could go to her first-ever real-life party. She weighs each option carefully, before finally turning back to them. "Yeah, I'll come."

She hopes she won't regret that.

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a/n:
need it on the record that i did the bulk of the rewriting/editing in weather so cold that i couldn't actually feel my fingers so the fact that i could type at all is an achievement all on it's own.

i normally like to ramble a bit more in these but y'know, i wrote these chapters two years ago, i can't remember what was on my mind then. all i'm thinking about right now is 'bedtime' bc it's 6am and i'm TRYING to stay up to clown for reputation tv again (i've given up, i'll wake up to the news or lack thereof)

thank u for reading!!

published: august 13, 2022
re-published: july 14, 2024
word count: 2.8k