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THREE. NOVEMBER 13TH, 1983
⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

Hospitals always freaked Jude out. Luckily, she'd only found herself there four times before tonight.

The first time was when Quinton was born. She was so young at the time that her memories of it were a bit fuzzy, but she remembers enough. It's a good memory, since it was the day her best friend came into the world, but she can still recall the feeling of dread she got when she walked down those cold, eerily lit hallways.

The second time was when she and Steve had been making bets on who could climb higher on the colossus maple tree that grew in her backyard. Jude got scared and didn't go past the first few branches, but Steve just had to be a show off. And then he got too cocky, fell, and broke his arm. Jude felt bad and went with him to the hospital to get a cast put on. She especially didn't like that trip because in the emergency room, there had been an old man a few seats away from them that threw up blood all over himself.

The third time was when her grandpa died. She was about thirteen at the time, and he had a heart attack? She wasn't totally sure. All she knew was that he was close to death, so her dad made everyone go say goodbye to him. He rattled off a whole speech to Quinton about how he was the future of the Monroe legacy, and how he was certain he would grow up to be great. But when he spoke to Jude, the only thing he said was how sad he was that he would never see her in a wedding dress.

Then he stopped breathing, monitors started wailing, and they were all dragged out of the room by nurses. She would never ever admit it out loud, but she didn't feel a drop of sadness when they told them he had passed.

Finally, there's the fourth and most recent time she was at the hospital before now. That had been the worst by far, and it wasn't even that long ago. Honestly, the wounds from that were so fresh that she had considered not even coming at all, but she really wanted to be there for Quinton.

Even though a few days earlier his body had supposedly been dredged up from the quarry, it turned out Will Byers actually was still alive, and he had been recovered. When Quinton called home from the hospital, their dad was supposedly stuck in some meeting he simply couldn't leave, and their mom was out doing her "book club", which meant despite her hesitance, Jude was the only one that could be there.

They had gotten a private waiting room close to the room Will was in, which was nice because it meant Jude didn't have to worry about some old man vomiting up blood again. But it also sucked because she was in such close proximity with everyone in there--specifically, Steve Harrington.

She didn't even know why he was here. Okay, Quinton told her he had been going out with Mike's older sister Nancy, who was also there with her brother and their parents, but he wasn't even sitting by her. He was sitting by Mr. Wheeler, and since Jude had gotten there, he made sure not to glance in her direction even once.

It didn't take long for Quinton to pass out on Jude's shoulder. She wasn't sure what he had been up to the last few days, but whatever it was had clearly exhausted him as well as his friends. Until now, Jude and Quinton didn't keep secrets from each other. But she supposed her incident, for lack of a better word, was to blame. There was an ache in her chest as she traced the edges of his peaceful expression with her eyes.

"I feel like I haven't seen you at school for a few weeks, Jude." Someone spoke up out of nowhere, and Jude's head snapped to the side to look at Nancy.

For the first time in the last hour, Steve glanced in her direction.

"Oh. Yeah, I've been sick." Jude replied in a quiet voice, which wasn't a complete lie. "I'm going back next week, though."

Nancy nodded slowly, and flashed a tight lipped smile at Jude. It was obvious she wasn't convinced, but she wasn't going to press the topic any further.

Steve coughed, and Jude quickly turned her attention to him. Apparently she had been avoiding looking at him, too, or else she would have noticed the shiner adorning one of his eyes sooner. "Woah, what happened?" She asked him, and the longer she looked at him, the more she noticed--most notably, the bruising on his knuckles. "Did you get in a fight?"

Nancy made a sound that was somewhere between a scoff and a laugh, and Steve cleared his throat. "Umm, yeah. Got my ass kicked, but... I kind of deserved it." He laughed nervously, then reached up to rub the back of his neck.

"You totally deserved it," Nancy giggled, and Steve gave her what looked like an apologetic smile. The energy between the two of them was so strange, Jude couldn't figure out what was going on. She decided not to ask, though.

As the room once again fell quiet, Jude's gaze drifted over to Steve. Still, she couldn't figure out why he had shown up. Even if he was dating Nancy, it wasn't like it was Nancy in the hospital or even Nancy's brother in the hospital. It was Nancy's brother's friend. And the Steve she knew would have probably been too busy drinking beer with his friends or making out with some random cheerleader to come.

There was something different about him, though. It was something so tiny, so minuscule that it was almost impossible to pick up, but something there was different than before. And more than that, it was something familiar.

Maybe, by some miracle of God, Steve Harrington was starting to change.

And Jude hated the sour taste in her mouth when she realized he was changing for someone that wasn't her.

Her eyelids fluttered closed, and she felt herself begin to relax. And as she drifted off to sleep, the site of his dark eyes finally locking onto her own lingered in her mind.

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NOVEMBER 1ST, 1984
⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

When Jude finally wakes up, it's with a pounding headache. And her mother banging on the door does not do much to aid the pain.

"Judy! Are you decent? Is there a boy in there?" She calls out, and her shrill voice feels like a knife to Jude's skull.

The blonde groans and covers her head with one of her pillows. "No, there's no boy, mom! Who do you think I am?" She shouts back, though it's completely muffled by the pillow. She cringes, though, as she is made aware of how scratchy and sore her throat is.

She hears the door fly open, but makes no effort to look. She remains hidden, wondering if she stays there long enough, her mom will leave eventually. But then she feels the mattress shift, and her mother's fingers grazing her back.

"You're late for school, you know." She speaks to her in a surprisingly gentle voice. "It's okay. I took Quinn myself and called your school to tell them you'll be late."

Jude gives her a thumbs up, and she laughs.

"Well... Did you at least have fun?" She asks, and rakes her fingers through Jude's tangled hair.

Jude hums in response. "Yeah, I guess." She huffs, finally moving the pillow out of the way. Because yes, aside from Billy Hargrove harassing her, she had a pretty good night. Especially when Girls Just Wanna Have Fun came on, and she, Roxy and Sena all screamed the lyrics at the top of their lungs.

Oh. That explains the sore throat.

With a slight groan, she finally pushes herself up and props herself on her elbows. Her eyes dart over to her alarm clock, which informs her that it's currently 9 in the morning. Which means she already missed first period for sure and would probably miss her second and third as well. She's no longer totally adverse to going to parties, but she vows to never go to one on a school night again.

"That's it?" Lillian asks, and for a second Jude had almost forgotten she was there. "You just guess it was fun?"

Jude hates it when she does this. When she pretends like she's actually interested in her life, and like they're friends or something.

As a little girl, that kind of relationship was all that Jude wanted. She saw it in TV shows and she read about it in books, and she wanted so badly to be close to her mother. But for the most part, Lillian sort of just... ignored her. She never asked Jude about her day when she got home from school, she never helped her with her homework, never asked her about boys... So, as she's gotten older, Jude's been forced to accept that they just don't have that bond she once longed for, and they never will.

She hates when she acts like they do, and like she's actually a good mother.

With a roll of her eyes, Jude doesn't even bother to respond. She peels her comforter off of her and when she swings her legs over the side of her bed, she feels a stab to her skull. She hisses, reaching up to press the heel of her palm to her temple.

"You can talk to me, Jude. I don't know why you're always so secretive around me." Her mom says, and she doesn't even bother trying to hide the annoyance in her tone.

Jude still ignores her, and though it takes some silent coaching from herself, she finally steps off of the bed. Thankfully, it doesn't go as badly as she thought it would.

Her mother lets out a sigh that Jude's pretty sure was intentionally loud, and stands up as well. "Fine. If you don't want to talk to me, I don't care. You can talk to Ms. Kelley instead if that's what you want. Not your own mother."

There's a soft clink as she sets a glass of water Jude wasn't aware she had on the bedside table, then stomps out of the room. Jude watches as she leaves and slams the door behind her, the sound causing another pain in headache.

For a moment, she feels guilty. Maybe her mom was just trying to make an effort to strengthen their relationship, and maybe she shouldn't have brushed her off like that. Her gaze drifts over to the glass of water, and she's honestly a bit surprised Lillian actually made the effort to get out a glass, fill it up and bring it up to her. That thought makes her feel even more guilty.

But, Ms. Kelley's words invade those guilty feelings.

You need to show yourself grace, give yourself a break.

She said that to her almost a year ago at this point, but Jude still catches herself taking all the blame time and time again. She wonders if she'll ever be able to stop.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

The hallways have all been deserted by the time Jude makes it to school.

The only time she's seen the building so empty have been when she's stayed late to study, or when she stopped in during the prior summer to continue her meetings with Ms. Kelley. Unlike right now, though, those times were outside of school hours. It's an entirely different wrong feeling in her stomach to be here during school hours.

She's supposed to be in her literature class right now, but there's only ten minutes left until it's time for lunch, so she decided it's not even worth it to go. Instead, she starts to walk in the direction of the library.

Along the way, though, she sees something that causes her to come to a dead stop. Because the doors that lead to the outdoor track open up, and of course out of all the hundreds of students at their school, it's Steve Harrington who comes through the doors.

And it takes less than a second for his eyes to find Jude, whose green eyes are widened like she's a deer and he's a set of headlights.

On instinct, she turns on her heels to face the other direction. It's such a quick and somewhat childish reaction, and she curses under her breath for doing it. She considers just continuing on her way and acting like nothing happened to begin with, but that seems even more stupid. But, if she just turns around and addresses him now, he's going to think she's weird for turning around in the first place!

And then,

"Jude!"

he solves her oh-so horrible dilemma.

When she turns back around to face him, he's jogging towards her. It looks like he's actually been doing quite a bit of jogging, as he shines with a thin layer of sweat and there's a slight pink tint to his face. Despite the physical activity, though, his hair still looks great--which Jude finds herself envious of.

"Hey, Steve." She replies in a quiet voice, and she gives him that same polite smile she gives everyone.

The corner of his lip quirks up, like there's a smile forming that he's trying to resist. "Hey. Jude. Hey, Jude. You remember when I used to say that all the time?" The words sort of tumble out of his mouth, and he looks almost... nervous...?

"You and everyone else," she answers with a bit of amusement.

"Well, I did it before everyone else, so I'm the only one that counts." He tells her matter of factly.

Jude feels herself start to break into a real smile, but as soon as she realizes it, she panics. She and Steve are not friends anymore.

He must be able to read the panic on her face, as he quickly clears his throat and his smile drops. "Sorry. Um, can I ask you a kind of personal question?" He tilts his head at her.

If they were still friends, Jude would reply you just did!, but they're not, so she swallows the remark down. "Sure, I guess?"

He starts to rub the back of his neck. "So, uhh... Billy Hargrove says the two of you have been talking, and he seems to think you're super into him."

Jude pales. "What? He has?"

Steve nods. "Yeah, and he kind of said some weird stuff about you. And I just... You know, if none of it is true, I'll tell him to shut up. I've been looking for a reason to put that dickhead in his place, anyway."

The last bit he adds on the end makes Jude want to laugh, but she can't really bring herself to. He kind of said some weird stuff about you. She has a feeling she doesn't even want to know what a guy like Billy Hargrove is saying to the pigs he hangs out with. Just thinking about the possibilities has her stomach churning. "No. No, that's okay. I'll talk to him later..."

"You sure?" He asks, and there's a slight frown on his lips.

She hums in confirmation. "Yeah, you don't need to be going around getting in fights. And I think he'll be more inclined to listen to me than you... No offense." She smiles.

He gives her an understanding nod. "Okay, well if he tries anything, just let me know."

"For sure."

It feels like the conversation has maybe dwindled to an end, but neither of them make an effort to wrap it up. They just stand sort of awkwardly in front of each other--Jude pretending to find interest in a poster for the Sadie Hawkins dance and Steve rocking back and forth on his heels.

Just as Steve sucks in a breath to say something, Jude beats him to the punch. "Hey, are you alright? I mean, you looked pretty distressed when you left last night." She's not sure what possessed her to ask him about that, especially considering they weren't friends, but she asks anyway.

Maybe she just kind of misses talking to him like this.

"Oh, I forgot you saw that..." He chuckles uneasily. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just stuff with Nance. I think we're over."

He tries to act nonchalant as he says it, but it's obvious he's upset. Well, to be fair, Jude would be surprised if he wasn't upset. The couple had been together for almost a year, and just like that, they're done. It makes Jude frown.

"I'm so sorry, Steve. I mean I don't really know anything about your relationship, but it seemed like you really liked her." Just like the night before, she finds herself gingerly reaching out to graze his forearm.

He flinches, just like last night, but he doesn't jerk away this time. "Yeah, I did..." His voice trails off, and his gaze locks onto where her fingertips meet his bare skin. "Listen, Jude... I've gotta get back to the gym, but I just wanted to say..."

Jude gazes at him expectantly, her heart hammering against her ribcage. This is the most they've talked since the day she ended their friendship, and it feels so nice. She half hopes it doesn't end, while the other wants to get away from him before he does something that hurts her again.

His parted lips suddenly clamp shut, and he moves his arm away from her. "Never mind. I'll tell you some other time." He flashes her an unconvincing smile.

She gives him an equally unconvincing, tight-lipped smile in return. "Okay." Her hand comes to rest at her side.

"I'm serious, though, Jude." He tells her as he starts to back away. "If that douchebag tries anything, come find me. I'll make sure he doesn't bother you again."

A soft laugh escapes from her nose. "Thanks, Steve. I'll keep that in mind." She gives him a thumbs up, and then he disappears down the hallway.

It's quiet as Jude stands there, trying to process what just happened. She just talked to Steve. He offered to beat someone up for her. He confided in her about his breakup. And all of it was surprisingly... Pleasant.

Maybe, after three years apart, there's finally room for the two of them to be friends again. As she heads towards the library, she has to hold herself back from skipping giddily the whole way.

omg heyyyy... heheh... how is everyone doing....... i know i feel like the last few chapters not a lot has happened but we are picking up soon i promise!!!!!! but man i love stude... rn nothing is even rly happening on that front but idgaf i love them...

anywayssss i posted a graphics gallery so if you haven't yet you should go look at the pretty graphics made by me and my talented wonderful friendssss!! okay that's all i have to say rn bye bye!