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˚⋆ ┊ ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING ┊ ⋆˚
☆⋅⋆ ─ act i. don't you want me, baby?

CHAPTER TWO - the harrington curse
( episode one ; madmax )

❀

⠀ ⠀ SIDNEY HARRINGTON HATED HIGH SCHOOL almost as much as the students in it. It wasn't the classes she minded. In fact, the Harrington girl had always managed to excel academically in almost any field.

The dominoes that fell after Will Byers went missing somehow lost Sidney almost all of her friends. Since they lost Barb, Nancy and Peyton hardly spoke to each other, let alone the youngest member of the quartet. Of course, she saw Nancy every now and then. She was in a rather serious relationship with her brother after all. But something was wrong.

Something that Steve was either too stupid or unobservant to see.

"Hey!" Sidney recognized her brother's voice and still continued on her path down the hall, "Sid, hey!" he called again, jogging after her until, finally, she turned, head thrown backward in exaggerated exasperation.

"Whaaat?" she groaned rather dramatically, earning a chuckle from her older brother.

"Well, you're in a good mood," retorted the Harrington boy, arms folding across his chest as he watched his sister stand straight, eyes narrowed to look him up and down. There was no denying she knew him rather a lot better than anyone else in his life. And the face he had right now? All it said was I'm being nice 'cause I want you to do something for me...

"I'm not doing your math homework," assumed the brunette.

Steve scoffed, "I wasn't gonna ask you to!" he denied unconvincingly, voice far too high pitched for anyone to find his claim believable, "Okay, fine," admitted the elder Harrington, rolling his eyes simply at the fact of getting caught. Sidney shook her head, not entirely disbelieving as this behaviour was rather on brand for Steve.

"We can study," she emphasized, a rather gracious offer considering the idea of tutoring Steve had a comparable amount of desire with slamming her hand in a car door.

"That's so much effort," whined Steve, his half-assed attempt at sympathy backfiring rather spectacularly when his sister simply pouted mockingly, imitating his childish tone.

"Ohhh, poor baby," continuing down the hall until the pair found themselves exiting the school into the parking lot, Steve suddenly began backing in the opposite direction, earning a confused glance from his sister.

"Can you tell Mom I'm not gonna be home for dinner?"

Sidney frowned, "Why?"

"I'm going with Nance to have dinner with, uh, the Hollands," he explained, although he didn't seem too happy about the fact. Sidney had been to visit Barb's parents a few times with Nancy and Steve. She'd been missing for almost a year now. But the Hollands never gave up hope. Steve and Nancy, though? There was something in the way they acted in the Holland's home that made Sidney think they had. That they knew something she didn't. Barb's parents were too stricken with grief and worry but Sidney had always been able to tell when her brother was lying.

"Right... you know they're gonna be out of town this weekend, right?" questioned Sidney.

Steve rolled his eyes. He was all too used to their parents abandoning them almost every weekend for the majority of the year, "Yeah, I know,"

Falling silent, Sidney's eyes peered over her brother's shoulder to scan the busy parking lot. Spotting her friend leaned against his car, cigarette between his fingertips, brows raised as he watched the siblings.

"Okay... I gotta go," signed the brunette, attempting to back away from her brother, "I'm clockin' Wheeler and if I don't leave in the next ten seconds I'm gonna lose my ride,"

Steve nodded, "Yeah..." he trailed off, hands in his pockets before, suddenly, his eyes widened, "Oh!" Sidney groaned, head thrown back dramatically as she complained.

"Duuuude! Jacob's gonna leave without me, man!" Steve didn't seem to care, arms folded across his chest as he continued without another thought.

"You going to this party?"

Sidney shook her head, "Didn't get an invite," confused, Steve's frown was all the confirmation Sidney needed that her brother didn't understand their difference in social status.

"What?" he questioned, digging into his pocket to pull out a crumpled piece of orange paper, "here, I got, like, five,"

"You got, like, five?" repeated Sidney, mocking tone not matching her semi-appreciative smile

"Tina really wants me there," Steve smirked. Sidney's eyes narrowed at that. Although she knew it didn't matter to him what Tina wanted, the idea of him looking so smug about the thoughts of a girl other than his girlfriend rubbed her the wrong way.

"You have a girlfriend," argued Sidney, head tilted with a false smile plastered on her lips.

"Not like that," defended Steve, although Sidney only raised her brows, eyes now directed to the creased invitation.

"Come and get "sheet-faced"?" she read aloud, although trying to keep her disbelieving facade she couldn't help but smirk at the pun. Her brother, of course, was quick to notice her amusement.

"Heheh... yeah..." he sighed, rather dramatically, staring off for a moment as though distracted by the joke before quickly snapping back to his energetic self, "Anyway you should come!"

Sidney scoffed, "So I can drive your drunk ass home?" brows raised, the younger Harrington's arms wound tightly to fold over her chest. But Steve only grinned, nodding rather happily with no intent to disguise his intentions.

"Uh-huh,"

"I'll think about it," replied the Harrington girl with narrowed eyes, once again attempting to walk away only to have her path once again blocked by her brother.

"Sweet!" he smiled, "alright, see you at home!" fist extended toward his baby sister, Steve's brow only raised and his smirk only widened upon noticing her exasperated expression.

"Get that away from me,"

"Come on!"

"No,"

"Come onnnn," Steve once again sang. Realistically, Sidney only had one option here. Her brother could be rather relentless when trying to get his way, even about the smallest of things. Knuckles bumping against his, Sidney's eyes rolled with all the dramatics of the little actress she was.

"I hate you," she joked, brushing past her brother toward the ever-impatient Wheeler boy.

"Love you!" called Steve, brotherly affection going a long way in making the youngest Harrington compelled to let him know she didn't truly hate him.

"Yeah, you too, dingus,"

❀

⠀ ⠀ THANKFUL TO LIVE SO CLOSE TO THE WHEELERS, Sidney waved goodbye to their eldest, Jacob shooting her a short salute before speeding away. Quick to notice her father's car was no longer in the driveway, the Harrington girl soon shrugged, hoping he'd simply put it in the garage. Keys in hand, Sidney unlocked the door, stepping into the rather dark home with a deep sigh. Fearing the worst, she flicked on the downstairs lights, backpack thrown to the ground as she wandered into the kitchen.

"I'm home!" she called, rather hopefully, "Mom?" she frowned, crossing the room to grab herself something from the fridge, "Hello? Anybody-" suddenly frozen in place, she stared, knowingly, at a folded note in the centre of the kitchen island, ironically held in place by one of Sidney's old spelling bee trophies.

Sidney & Steve,

Your mother and I have been called away early, and won't be back until Monday at the latest. There are meals in the freezer, and takeout money on the counter (don't spend it all at once).

Take care of each other (that means you, Steve!)

Love,
Mom and Dad.

Sidney's wry chuckle echoed throughout the empty house. In all honesty, Sidney didn't care. She'd gotten far too used to being disappointed by her parents. It wasn't in any way out of character behaviour for them to just leave, in the middle of the day, without saying goodbye. Sidney and Steve had spent rather a lot of their childhood bouncing between the houses of their friends and family. And once Steve turned fifteen, dear old Mom and Dad were more than confident to leave their children all alone in their gigantic home to take care of one another for days, even weeks, at a time.

There was no use in feeling let down.

Especially when Sidney would bet her life on it happening again.

"Great," muttered the teen, carelessly tossing the note onto the counter for her brother to find. She doubted Steve would have much to say either when he got home. Hell, it had almost become tradition for him to throw some kind of party, or at the very least invite Tommy H and Carol and whoever else (when they were friends that is) on unsupervised weekends.

But, in the meantime, all the lonely Harrington girl could do was stick her meal for one in the microwave, and her feet up on the couch, and prepare for yet another night of solitude.

HI !!

our first completely new chapter omg

sorry it's not that long, again i'm just trying to flesh out sidney's character a little so i can add her into my already written chapters a little easier n then once i get to the stuff i haven't written yet it'll be.

they way ive accidentally made them chad and mindy coded-

ALSO i think it honestly will help w not just sid, but steve and peyton's story to have a more mature harrington sister arc cause i can go into more depth on STEVE's character too from his sister's POV and show the difference in family dynamics

ANYWAY more coming super soon!

ty for reading and voting
and commenting it really does make my day!

<3