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𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗜𝗚𝗔𝗡

chapter one:
serenity goes to school with
her children now, which is
really weird

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SERENITY COULD NOT be more glad that it was the last day of school before spring break.

Honestly, as a senior who had committed to college, school felt like an absolute drag. Don't get her wrong, she still did her assignments and kept up with her grades, but she was just exhausted. Plus, with a week off from school, she could finally hang out with Steve at Family Video — his new job, since Scoops obviously got destroyed with Starcourt — without worrying about her homework.

After a horrible night of sleep filled with more nightmares, Serenity had dragged herself out of bed and got ready. She had on a purple floral short, tucked into a pair of jeans and paired with her white Converse. The two front sections of her hair were twisted and tied to the back of her head with a purple hair tie to match her shirt.

She was exhausted, but she could fake it till she made it, like she always did. Serenity let out a deep breath and grabbed her backpack, but not before putting the bottle of Tylenol she had on her nightstand in it.

Serenity descended down the steps of her house and wandered into the kitchen. Her older brother, Spencer, was already in there, leisurely drinking his morning cup of coffee while reading the newspaper. She walked over to the fridge and grabbed her lunch she had packed the night before and her water bottle.

"Morning, Spence," Serenity said.

"Morning, Ser," Spencer replied, taking a sip of his coffee. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah." She didn't. "You?"

"Fine. Hey, by the way, I'm working late tonight, so I won't be here when you get home."

"That's fine, Steve and I are going to Lucas' basketball game," Serenity told him, putting her lunch and water bottle in her backpack.

A knock them came from the front door.

Spencer smirked a little. "Speaking of Steve."

Serenity shook her head and slung her backpack over her shoulder as she walked towards the front door. "You're ridiculous."

"Have a good day at school, love you."

"Love you, too." Serenity opened up the door, and even through all the shit she had been facing the past couple of days, she never failed to smile at the sight of Steve Harrington. "Hey."

"Hey, you," Steve voiced, leaning down and kissing her in greeting, which sent butterflies rushing throughout her stomach. "Ready to go? We have to pick up Robin."

"Yep, all good." Serenity shut the door behind her and walked next to Steve to his car, which was in her driveway. "Work today?"

"Unfortunately." Steve unlocked his car, and he got in the drivers seat while Serenity got in the passenger seat. "The basketball game's at seven, so I was thinking I could pick you up at five? We can go to the diner before."

"Chocolate milkshakes and fries?" Serenity asked, her heart fluttering at the thought. "Count me in."

Steve let out a laugh as he turned on his car. "I knew you would be."

As he reversed out of her driveway, Serenity reached over and turned on the radio. Instantly, Faithfully by Journey started to play. Steve immediately reached over and laced his fingers with Serenity's, and she felt her face get warm as she looked out the window, feeling the breeze through her hair and the sunlight on her skin.

They sat in comfortable silence with the music playing until they reached Robin's house. Robin stumbled out of her house, gripping her instrument case and her marching band outfit. She seemed utterly stressed as she threw everything in the backseat of Steve's car before settling herself down.

"Graceful," Steve commented.

Serenity turned and gave Robin a small smile. "Hey, Rob. Everything okay?"

"I woke up looking like a total corpse, and we have this stupid pep rally," Robin stated. She pulled out a tube of mascara and a compact mirror. "Don't talk to me, I need to focus."

Serenity laughed for a second before facing forwards and turning to Steve with a raised eyebrow. "You heard her."

Steve exhaled. "Robin—"

"Don't talk to me," Robin repeated. She started to put on her mascara. "Drive, keep the car steady."

He rolled his eyes before driving away from Robin's house towards the school. Serenity kept her gaze out the window, completely oblivious to the way Steve glanced at her every so often. Something seemed . . . off with her recently, and although he knew her better than she knew herself, he couldn't figure out what was going on.

Okay, Serenity hadn't told Steve about her nightmares, her headaches, or her nosebleeds like she said she would. She was just hoping that they would go away so she wouldn't have to worry him anymore.

Finally, Steve pulled up to the high school. Crowds of people were bustling about, no doubt heading to the gym for the pep rally. He stopped his car at the bottom of the hill, to which Robin immediately grabbed her band stuff and called to one of her friends to wait up. Serenity unbuckled her seatbelt and reached down, grabbing her backpack.

Steve turned to her. "Have a good day."

Serenity sighed. "Are there ever any good days at high school?"

"True." Steve's eyes trailed across her face, and he squeezed her hand. "You sure you're okay?"

Serenity slightly faltered for a second, but she quickly regained her composure. "I'm fine. Really."

She wasn't.

"Okay," Steve agreed. "I'll see you later."

Serenity leaned over the center console and kissed him for a moment before pulling away, only inches from his face. "I love you."

Steve closed the distance between them for a quick second kiss. "I love you more."

She squeezed his hand. "Impossible."

Serenity then let go of him and got out of the car, putting her backpack over her shoulder. She started to head towards the gym, feeling a little cornered in the crowds of people.

The gym was decorated in white, green, and yellow, the colors of the high school. Students were already meeting up with their friends, evidently excited about the pep rally. Serenity spotted Mike and Dustin standing together on one of the bleachers, but she decided not to go to them. Ever since she started high school with them — which was so weird, by the way — she vowed to give them their space. They would come to her if they needed to.

Serenity took a spot in the bleachers next to a nice girl in her first period class named Anne. Anne was nice enough, but they weren't close or anything. In a different world, Serenity probably would've stood with Jonathan in the bleachers, and maybe Nancy, but times had changed. Jonathan was all the way in California and Nancy was with her newspaper club. She gave a smile in greeting to Anne, who waved before focusing her attention back to the court.

The band started up, and at once, the cheerleaders of the school started to perform their routine. Chrissy Cunningham, no doubt, was front and center. As head cheerleader and one of Hawkins High's resident sweethearts — the other being Serenity — all eyes were on her. The crowd cheered for them, including Anne, but Serenity just clapped politely. Finally, their routine ended when the song did. The cheerleaders waved their pom-poms before taking their spots on the gym floor.

"And let's hear it for your Tigers!" the announcer exclaimed.

At once, ripping through a Hawkins High School banner, came the basketball team, led by none other than Jason Carver himself. The crowd went crazy again, but Serenity's smile only widened and she clapped more enthusiastically when her eyes set on Lucas. He had joined the basketball team this year, putting his love into sports that Serenity always knew he had.

"Good morning, Hawkins High!" Jason greeted into the microphone. The crowd cheered and applauded for him. Jason then took the microphone off of the stand it was on and walked forwards. "First off . . . hey. First off, I'd like to thank each and every one of you. Without your support, we wouldn't be here. Give yourselves a big hand."

Serenity clapped a little while the crowd went crazy.

"And, of course, of course, I have to give a special shout-out to the best and the prettiest fans of all time, the Tiger Cheer Squad!"

Another round of applause.

Jason looked right at one person, who was a member of the cheer squad. "Chrissy . . ." He rapped his knuckles on his chest, right where his heart was. "Chrissy, I love you, babe."

In response, Chrissy blew him a kiss. Jason grinned at her. The captain of the basketball team and the captain of the cheer team — those two were utterly cliché, but they seemed to work.

"You know . . . I think I can speak for all of us when I say it's been a tough year for Hawkins," Jason continued.

Serenity chewed the inside of her cheek nervously. Tough year was an understatement for sure. After everything that had happened over the past couple years, especially the summer, Hawkins had been left shattered. And frankly, so had Serenity. Her nightmares hadn't gotten better, and neither had her headaches or nosebleeds. They actually seemed to be getting worse, which probably wasn't a good thing.

"So much loss," Jason voiced. "And sometimes I wonder, How much loss can one community take? In dark days like this, we need something to believe in. So, last night, when we were down by ten points at half to Christian Academy, I looked at my team, and I said, Think of Jack. Think of Melissa. Think of Heather. Think of Billy. Think about our heroic police chief, Jim Hopper. Think about every one of our friends who perished in that fire. What did they die for? For us to lose to some ⁠ — some crap school? No!"

The crowd echoed a No! Serenity, however, just kept looking around in thought. None of them knew the extent to what this all was. If they did, she was sure that Jason wouldn't be comparing all these people dying to something as stupid as basketball. She couldn't exactly blame him for doing so, because all he knew was that there had just been a fire, but Serenity found this whole thing ridiculous. Hopper was worth so much more than a basketball game.

"For us to return home with our heads hung low in defeat? No! No. Let's win this game. Let's win this game for them. And that's exactly what we did! We embarrassed those candy-asses in their own house, and now tonight, tonight, we're gonna bring home the championship trophy! Let's go!"

The crowd cheered extremely loud for that, and the basketball team skipped forwards to take their seats. Serenity sighed, and then, the relentless pounding in her head came back. She rubbed her hand against her temple, trying to trick herself into thinking it would do something, even though it wouldn't. Maybe it had been triggered because of the loud crowd. Whatever it was, she didn't know.

"Everything okay, Serenity?" Anne asked, sounding a bit concerned.

"Hmm?" Serenity hummed in response, dropping her hand. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit of a headache, that's all."

Maybe it had been triggered because of the loud crowd. Whatever it was, she didn't know. All she did know was that there was a bottle of Tylenol waiting for her in her backpack for when she took her seat in first period.

❯ ────── ｢ ✾ ｣ ────── ❮

"WORKING HARD TO get my fill, everybody wants a thrill . . ."

Serenity slightly nodded along to her favorite song as she went up to her locker. It was lunch time now, but Serenity had taken her time getting to her locker. Lunch was pretty long, anyways. She put in her combination and opened up the door, switching her books and taking her lunch out.

Mike then walked up to her, looking positively panicked. "Renny."

Serenity pulled down her headphones to rest around her neck. "Hey, Mike. What's up?"

"I need a favor from you. A huge favor."

She sighed and crossed her arms. "What?"

"I need you to play D&D tonight," Mike revealed, making Serenity raise an eyebrow. "It's Eddie's last campaign."

Eddie Munson — known as the school freak, but Serenity didn't mind him much. He led the Hellfire Club, the D&D club Mike, Dustin, and Lucas were in.

"And you need me to fill because Lucas won't be there," Serenity guessed, placing the pieces together.

"Yes, exactly," Mike said.

"Hm." Serenity shut her locker. "No."

"No?" Mike rushed after her. "Renny, you have at least some understanding of D&D. We need you."

"Even if I wanted to, I can't," Serenity revealed. "I promised Lucas that I would go to his basketball game." She gave a pointed look to the boy. "And you should be, too."

"But—"

"The last campaign, I know, I heard. But D&D campaigns can wait. You should know that well, because you made Will wait all last summer."

Mike stared at her. "Renny, come on."

"Listen, Mike," Serenity stated. "You know D&D can be flexible, you've been playing it your entire life. Who says Eddie can't just move it to tomorrow? But basketball championship games can't be moved, not when they've been scheduled since the beginning of the school year."

Mike sighed, running a hand across his face.

"You should be there for Lucas. He wants you guys there really bad." Serenity placed her hand on his cheek for a second, and Mike instinctively leaned into it — even if he was older now, she was still Renny. "But the decision's all yours. Love you."

"Love you, too," Mike mumbled.

Serenity gave him a small smile before heading off in the direction of the lunch room, where Anne would be waiting for her, no doubt with another tale of how some guy in one of her classes was totally in love with her. She lifted her headphones back up and pressed play on her Walkman again, and the voices of people around her faded away.

"Paying anything to roll the dice just one more time . . ."

⊹⊱••••••⊰⊹

now obviously I had to cut out that whole convo between robin and steve about vickie because serenity doesn't know but best believe they're spilling all the tea at work