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CHAPTER THREE ; WHAT'S YOUR DAMAGE?
also known as;
( the weirdo on maple street ; part two )

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"Jesus, what's got you in such a hurry?" Gary Collins exclaimed, practically diving out of the way as his daughter came barrelling past. His hand protectively flew to protect the coffee in his mug, droplets rolling down the side of the porcelain as he regained his balance. Stella threw an apology over her shoulder as she ran into the kitchen, opening the fridge and pulling out a water bottle. Gary watched her for a moment, before sighing and stepping over to the counter, putting his drink down. "Slow down, Star! You've got time! Also, try and get a ride today, please. I don't want you being all careless anymore, especially with the Byers kid missing."

"Thanks, Dad, but I'll be fine," Stella responded quickly, not bothering to grab any food before she rushed to the front door, picking up her skates. "I need the exercise, and I have to stop by the Wheelers first anyway."

Gary forced a smile on his face, nodding once. "Okay then, have a good day sweetheart."

"Love you!" She called as she stepped outside, shutting the door behind her. As the morning breeze flew through her baby hairs, her eyes immediately set themselves upon the Wheeler house next door. A loud exhale escaped her pink lips, before she broke into a quick run across the pavement in her thick socks, dodging puddles on the ground.

Her feet took her to the front of the large home in a matter of moments, and soon she was uncomfortably shifting from foot to foot and knocking on the wooden door. She still had a good amount of time to get to school, but for now she needed to fulfil her promise in checking up on Mike.

"Stella?" The voice of Mrs Wheeler caught Stella's attention, causing her to spin around and smile politely. The poised woman's eyebrows knitted together curiously, taking in the girl before her. She was wearing something relatively normal for once, a white cropped turtleneck and a pair of denim overalls that were rolled up at the bottom. Her dark hair was parted into two messy french braids that she had done herself, but her wide smile was still perfectly in place.

"Morning, Mrs Wheeler," she responded, her eyes bright. She wasn't feeling too bright, but she always appeared to be happy, no matter how she felt on the inside. "Is Mike here? I just wanted to check up on him to see how he was doing."

Mrs Wheeler smiled politely, opening her mouth to reply but being cut off by the small dark haired boy appearing at her side. "Oh, well, here he is to tell you himself. I'll leave you two alone."

After thanking him and watching her walk off, Stella looked down at Mike with wide eyes. "Is everything okay? Is she going to talk to your mother?"

"No," Mike shook his head, which made Stella's eyebrows furrow in confusion. Mike huffed, crossing his arms, clearly frustrated. "She's in danger, Star. I can't scare her even more."

Stella sighed deeply, running a hand down her face in exasperation. "Mike, we need to call Chief Hopper, if she's in danger then we can't make it our problem. What if she's a criminal or something? I know you want to keep her safe, but what if her being in your basement puts you in danger too?"

Mike was silent for a moment, before he decided to defend both himself and Eleven. "I don't care, I wanna help her. You can't tell anyone about this, please?"

Stella pursed her lips, wanting to shake her head and tell him no. But she couldn't. She had never really been a brave person, not even when she was a kid. Sure, she talked back to a few people and sometimes stood her ground, but that wasn't too intense. This was an actual child who was in danger and needed help, but the little voice inside her was saying that to keep everyone else safe, they had to dob her in. Sure, call her a coward, but she would rather go to sleep soundly in her bed rather than worry about some random showing up and refusing to cooperate. "Fine, I'm giving you a few days to sort this out, but if you can't help her by then, we're taking her to Hopper, got it?"

Mike sighed. "Got it."

Stella reached over to ruffle his hair, before checking her red Swatch and suspiring in displeasure. "Alright, well I've got to gap it to get to school on time, I'll see you later."

"Stella, do you want me to give you a lift?" She heard Mrs Wheeler call from the kitchen. "I'm taking Nancy now!"

Stella and Mike exchanged a look, before the teenager grinned. "That would be great, thank you!"

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Despite Nancy and Stella being close in age, they had never really clicked like it was expected of them. They were relatively close as preteens, since they would dress up for Mike's campaigns and help out for other events in the neighbourhood, but since they both hit puberty, they drifted and found their own friend groups. They could barely make conversation on the ride into school, as Stella was in the back, busy rummaging through her bag to find her math book, while Nancy fixed her already perfect hair in the front seat.

"Okay girls, we're here," Mrs Wheeler smiled, stopping the station wagon and glancing over at them. Nancy muttered a thank you, before stepping out of the car and waving at Barbara Holland, who stood awkwardly by the front entrance.

"Thanks for driving me, Mrs Wheeler," said Stella gratefully as she opened the door and stepped out, slinging her bag over her shoulders and picking up her skates. Mrs Wheeler waved her hand as if to say 'no problem', before driving off and leaving the teenager by herself. Stella sighed as she looked at all her schoolmates surrounding her, before she bent down and tugged her skates on, tying them up tightly and securely. "Another day, let's do this."

Nancy was long gone as Stella drew near the entrance, probably looking for her boyfriend or revising with Barbara. The sophomore had been complaining on the drive that she had a big chemistry test first period, and that she needed to pass it as if it were to be a monumental point in her career. Stella hated chemistry; correction, she hated any subject that wasn't art. She had gotten used to some things in science, as the boys were heavily invested in it, but other than that, she despised how hard it was. She was barely getting by in school, but in her mind, if she was passing one subject, she was doing just fine.

As she reached the entrance of the school, she saw a hunched figure go in before her. From his shaggy blond locks to his downturned lips, she knew exactly who it was. Her face fell as she saw him enter the building, feeling her heart drop a little at the realisation of what he must be going through.

Stella pushed the door open with her hands flat, skating over to him slowly and gradually coming to a halt at his left side. "Hey, Jonathan."

Jonathan Byers tensed up a little bit at the sudden company, before his eyes shifted over to her and he cleared his throat. "Hi, Estella."

Stella forced a smile, glancing up at the poster he was pinning up. Two photos of Will sat underneath the capitalised words HAVE YOU SEEN ME?, along with a description of his character below. She still couldn't manage to comprehend the idea of the poor, innocent child being all on his own, especially at such a random time. "This whole thing, it really sucks. If you need any help or your mom needs someone to take over her shifts or put up posters, I'm always gonna be here."

"Thanks," he muttered, scratching the back of his head. The two hadn't had many interactions over the years, but they had a mutual respect for each other and their vastly different personalities. While Stella was slightly more non-conforming and kooky, Jonathan kept to himself and stuck to the one thing he knew, photography. Other than that, she knew he cared for Will more than he did himself, which was one thing she admired.

Stella nodded once, before her eyes trailed behind him to where, of all people, Nancy Wheeler, was walking towards them, her popular friends watching her with disapproving expressions. The Junior girl's smile dropped when she saw Steve Harrington shaking his head, clearly not wanting his girlfriend to be involved with the Byers boy. The shy girl shuffled her books in her arms awkwardly, plastering a smile on her thin lips. "Hey."

Jonathan whipped around at the sound of her voice, furrowing his eyebrows. "Um, hey?"

"I just wanted to say, you know, um, I'm sorry, about everything. Everyone's thinking about you," her voice was wavering, her eyes shifting from the poster to the boy. "I'm sure he's fine. He's a smart kid."

Stella watched the interaction, taking in how Jonathan watched Nancy ever so carefully, like he was studying the movement of her features as she spoke, as if he didn't want to miss anything. A soft, knowing smile teased her lips, but she felt it might have been a little inappropriate to address anything during such a trying time. 

The bell suddenly rung, which made Nancy tense a little bit. She, unlike Stella, was adamant on getting to all her classes on time, no matter which little kid had gone missing. "I have to go. Chemistry test. Good luck, Jonathan."

"Uh, thanks," Jonathan muttered, watching as the nice girl turned and shuffled back to the group of onlookers she called her friends, three of which were staring at both Stella and the Byers boy in disgust. 

"Attention faculty and students," the receptionist's voice came over the loudspeaker, but Stella chose to ignore it as Jonathan sighed, stepping away from the notice board. The hallways were beginning to empty,  leaving the two strange kids alone.  "At eight p.m tonight there will be an assembly on the football field in support of Will Byers and his family. All are encouraged to attend."

"Do you want me to help you look?" Stella inquired, holding her backpack straps and ignoring the fact that she had a class to go to. "I don't mind skipping if you need the extra pair of hands and eyes."

Jonathan pursed his lips, before shaking his head once. "I'll be fine. Just -- if you hear anything -- about Will --- tell me, please."

"Of course," Stella responded quickly, watching as he nodded at her and turned on his heel, stalking out the doors and leaving the building hastily, clearly determined in finding his brother. Stella sighed softly, before turning to the poster and staring at Will's small, guiltless face, wishing, like many others in Hawkins, that he was safe and sound. 

 The dark haired girl closed her eyes for a moment, before huffing and spinning around, skating down the halls to reach her first class. 

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As Stella left the school building towards the end of the day, she ran into one of the people she least wanted to see. Unlike the last time they had spoken, where she had quite literally ran into him, she had stopped before anything could happen. Leilani and Kevin stood at her side, muttering about homework when they halted before Tommy H., Carol and Steve Harrington. 

"Well, well, well," Steve looked across the trio with a distasteful expression. "Looks like we got Lady Harm-alade and her little friends. What's up, weirdos?"

"What's your damage?" Stella muttered, crossing her arms and staring over at the boy. In her skates, they pair were practically the same height, which made her job of glaring at him easier. She could remember exactly when she began disliking the boy, after he had hurt her for the first time. Shortly after, kids around them were starting to realise that however much money you had determined how cool you were. 

"My damage?" Steve's thin eyebrows knitted together as he took a step forward, a slither of a smirk coating his face. His girlfriend was nowhere to be seen, which meant he could feel free to remind everyone else who was the leader at Hawkins High. Kevin and Leilani, along with the freckled Tommy and Carol, watched in both interest and concern as the former friends gave each other a hard time. "Oh, nothing. I'm just wondering why you aren't off with psycho Byers looking for that pathetic kid."

"Watch your fucking mouth, Harrington," Stella's protective, motherly nature instantly kicked in once the Byers boys were involved, her eyes narrowing into slits. The usually carefree, slightly idiotic girl's expression suddenly changed from a soft to stone exterior, clearly not in the mood for amusement. "Insult me all you want, but don't you dare bring Will or Jonathan into this. I'm sure your girlfriend wouldn't want to hear such horrible things coming out of her precious, angelic boyfriend's mouth?"

Steve's eye twitched as he stared at her, not sure how to rebut her argument. His friends watched him expectantly, though his mouth opened and closed like a blubbering fish. "Don't talk to me like that, Collins."

"You know something?" Stella took a step forward, though Leilani reached for her arm to stop any further movement. Steve pursed his lips and cleared his throat, as if daring her to continue. "You're the human equivalent to a participation award. I'm envious of people who haven't met you. I hope you have fun partying, or whatever it is you do, while everyone else in this town searches for a sweet and kind boy who is missing, in case you cared."

"Stella, let's go," Leilani insisted, pulling the irritated teenager away from the somewhat stunned popular group. "Our search party's meeting by the police station in an hour."

"You're safe this time, wasteoid," Steve grumbled as the mismatched trio left the building, rolling his eyes as Stella flipped him off for the third time that week. 

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i live for bitchy stella ngl

also!!! my good dudes steve n stells are gonna have some major development as the book continues so do not worry your beautiful minds everything's gonna be okay

also i took some sleep drops but they aren't helping sigh

hope you all enjoyed this chapter, i honestly REALLy just wanna get to season 2 cause that's when papa steve really gets into gear 

(btw sorry for making him a dick lmao that's just how he was at the beginning of season 1)