Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Alice wasn’t quite sure what tipped her off in the first place. Maybe it was her knowing her ABC’s before she was officially taught. Maybe it was her lack of childish tantrums. Maybe it was the intense feeling of déjà vu she had.  Every. Single. Day. Either way, Alice now knew for a fact that this wasn’t her first life.

Maybe it wasn’t her second. Who knows? All she does know is that she was a full-grown adult once upon a time, with a job, a family, and two beloved cats. The memories were hazy, and she felt rather detached from them. A blessing for sure, she could only imagine the grief if she had strong emotions attached to those fuzzy memories.

…Or even any emotions at all.

See, Alice had a slight problem with emoting. Contrary to popular belief she wasn’t a cold and heartless bitch. She felt emotions, it was just hard for her to express said emotions, especially in public. An extreme introvert. That’s what she was. But in a world that praises the loud and rowdy, she was seen as weird, creepy—a freak some would say. It didn’t bother her what they thought. Not really. Not when she’d lived a life before and knew that everyone just had different strengths.

It also helped that her silence was a deterrent for bullies. Oh, they had tried at first. Seven-year-old Alice had been the quiet kid, she was an easy target. Yet, after a week of trying to get her to react to their taunts and her blank stares as replies, they gave up. It was no fun bullying a target that wouldn’t fight back. So now she was left to blend in the shadows with an occasional whisper about her oddness.

The bell rang. Students got up, stuffing their things back into their bags, rushing to get out of the stuffy classroom. Alice didn’t bother, she didn’t feel the need to rush to her next class. Science was her worst subject, she just found it very boring. The textbooks were dry and headache-inducing, and she struggled to memorize scientific terms and names, not to mention her lab partner…

Heaving a sigh, Alice leisurely made her way to her assigned seat. Plopping herself down on her seat just as the tardy bell rang, giving her seatmate no time to greet her.

“Alright class, today we’ll be talking about recessive genes and how…”

Alice let Mr. Hughes voice slowly fade into the background as she doodled on her notebook wishing she had access to earbuds so that way she could discreetly listen to music. She missed the two thousand century.

Alice was in the middle of shading her flower when a piece of paper was shoved under her nose. She stared at it for a moment before gently setting it aside and continuing her drawing. Five seconds later the end of a pencil poked her forearm. Across from her, she heard snickers as her deskmate continued to try and get her attention. Brow furrowed; she continued ignoring him.

You know what she said about not having to worry about bullies?

Yeah well, scratch that. Because Billy Hargrove made it his mission to bother the fuck out of her.

Alice is betting that someone (most likely Hagan) told Hargrove about her stoic ‘attitude’ and made a bet that he could get her to snap. Whether he was trying to make her yell, cry, or punch him was entirely up to debate. The only one he seemed to annoy more than her was the former King of Hawkins High School, Steve Harrington (yes, his title was capitalized). She would have felt bad for the former King if it didn’t mean that Hargrove’s distraction saved her from his pestering.

Just her luck that she’d gotten assigned as his lab partner for this school year.

A foot nudged her own. Just one more year and I graduate. Just one more year…Alice silently repeated her mantra as she silently slide over to the left, hoping Hargrove would get the hint. He did not. Instead, he loudly scootched his chair closer, the scraping noise had everyone looking in their direction. Alice cringed quickly burring her face in her arms. Mr. Hughes looked at Hargrove with a raised eyebrow, unimpressed with his interruption.

Hargrove simply flashed his pearly white teeth at the teacher with a slight shrug, “Sorry, just making myself comfortable.”

Mr. Hughes only sighed and continued his lecture.

Alice just wanted this day to be over.

This time when the bell rang, Alice was the first one on her feet and out the door. She hauled ass down the hallway to her next class which was her favorite, Art.  Her teacher, Mr. Frederick was a chill dude. Very hippie—and most definitely taught his class high.  He reminded her strongly of Bob Ross, only older and with longer hair. He was the best teacher in her opinion, though she could be a little biased considering art was her easiest class.

“Hello Alice, nice weather we’re having, eh?” Mr. Frederick greeted her with the usual twinkle in his eye.

It was storming outside. But he knew that was her favorite kind of weather, Mr. Frederick was nice like that.

Alice silently nodded her head in response the corner of her mouth quirking up in amusement. Grabbing her painting from the drying rack and setting it up on her aisle, she studied her progress. This week they were focusing on gouache painting and Alice had chosen to paint herself. Sort of. She was actually painting her past self—what she could remember at least. The progress was going well so far, her coloring and shading was nice…it’s just the background that was troubling her. She always struggled with that.

From the corner of her eye Alice spotted a head full of curls walk in five minutes late to class.

“Ah, nice of you to make it Munson!” Mr. Frederick exclaimed jovially.

Munson chuckled sheepishly, “Wouldn’t miss it for the world my good sir!” he cried out matching the art teacher’s tone before making a beeline to his aisle. Alice couldn’t help but observe Munson as he plunked down in front of her, taking out his art piece with a quiet hum.

She’d never spoken to him before. Never dared to attempt to. He…intimidated her. Not in the way most people would find him intimidating, the dark clothing and tattoos didn’t scare her. It was his boisterous attitude that made her stay away. The way he strutted around the school looking carefree despite being at the bottom of the social food chain was awe inspiring as it was stressful. Alice couldn’t decide which one scared her the most. And the speeches. Oh God, the speeches. Every time he stood up on his lunch table and started preaching to his choir, made her skin crawl and face flush with second-hand embarrassment. It was too much. He was too much.

Maybe if she was a braver person, more outgoing, they could have been friends. As it was, Alice preferred to stay away.

A pat on her shoulder made her blink out of her thoughts, Mr. Frederick liked to go around loudly complimenting every single piece, but with her he just gave an encouraging pat on the back. He understood her need to be in the shadows.

Glancing back at her painting she caught Munson’s eye, he had leaned dangerously back in his seat to catch a glimpse of her work. He gave her a crooked smile and two thumbs up before turning back to his own art.

Alice let out the breath she had been unconsciously holding. Today was turning out to be a troublesome day.

Once again, Alice found herself to be the last one out of the art class. She liked to milk every last minute of the class, sometimes it was because she got so into it that time would just fly by. Other times she just couldn’t stop stressing out about her last class of the day. Thankfully, this time was the former. Despite the unusual interaction with Munson, Alice soon lost herself in her art and was disappointed when the bell rang startling her out of the zone.

Quickly cleaning up, Alice raced to the girl’s locker rooms to change.

Gym was a special kind of torture for an introvert like her. The changing in public, the too-short shorts, the rowdy and hormone-driven teens, and the required participation of it all drained Alice like no other class. Not to mention—

“For a minute, I thought you wouldn’t make it, Crazy Sage.” Hargrove swaggered up to her with his lackeys giggling behind him.

As far as nicknames go, that wasn’t the worst thing to be called. Alice actually kind of liked it, it had a weirdly nice ring to it. Still, it was best not to react. Not bothering with a response (not that she would ever give him one), she turned and walked away as if she hadn’t heard him in the first place.

“Hey—!”

Coach Walker blew the whistle, silencing anything Hargrove had to say. “Alright, you know the drill! Five laps and then we play ball!”

A few student’s silently grumbled as they all started to run/jog/walk the perimeter of the school gym. Coach didn’t really care how they completed the laps, as long as they did them. Again, Alice missed having instant playable music.

Luckily, Hargrove left her alone for another more interesting target: Harrington. Poor guy was jogging along while trying to ignore Hargrove’s constant needling. She silently sent a prayer his way, but didn’t bother doing much else to interfere. Better him than her.

It didn’t take long before everyone was finished, and Coach had gathered them around to announce whatever torturous game he had in store for them.

“Settle down!” He boomed, the kids immediately quieted down, “Now, today we’ll be doing something a little different—”

“Dodgeball?” A student asked hopefully, earning a glare from Coach Walker for interrupting.

“Other than Dodgeball,” he gritted out, “We’ll be doing a bit of a teamwork activity with a dash of competition to really get that team spirit going.”

Alice felt dread pool in her stomach.

Turning around, Coach picked up the green bag that was oh-so-innocently placed on the bench. With an evil grin, he reached in and took out rope, tape, and a bag of skittles, “Alright kiddos, who wants to go first?”

Basically, Coach Walker wanted us to do potato sack races, but instead of potato sacks their arms and legs would be tied together while their torsos were taped together. The first five teams across the finish line would go on to the next round while the losers just got to watch. It was going to be a nightmare.

Oh, and they couldn’t pick their partner, Coach had that honor.

She hated his guts.

“Hagan you go with O’Brien…Hargrove with Smith…Perkins you’re with Willis…”

Alice ended up being paired with the one and only Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington. Her throat dried up and her hands got clammy at the thought of being in such proximity to another person, let alone the former top dog. She clenched her right hand as her left forearm was clamped tight to Harringtons' much more muscular one.

This should be illegal.

She should sue Coach Walker.

Next to her, Harrington was worryingly silent. Alice thought he would say something, anything, but no. He seemed to have adopted her selective muteness. Looking around at all the pairs, Alice would have laughed at the sight of eighteen students bound together looking like a crowd of B-movie kidnappees. As it was, Alice felt like puking.

“You okay?” Finally, Harrington appeared to have gotten his voice back.

“…” Alice opened her mouth to respond when Coach’s whistle pierced the air, “GO!”

As one, the student body surged forward only for most of them to stumble to the floor. They would have too if Harrington wasn’t such a tree, he held her up when she pitched forward using her fumble as a platform to start moving ahead. It was painfully slow going. Every time they almost lost their balance, they would freeze before starting once again. If other teams weren’t struggling as much, or even in some cases, worse (Perkins and Willis were doing hilariously bad). Alice would have called it quits.

“Okay, okay, almost there,” Harrington mumbled.

Alice looked up to see the finish line just seven feet away with team Hargrove even closer to the end than they were. Mercifully, Hargrove wasn’t going to be the first one to finish, then he would really get a big head. No, the first ones to cross the finish line were surprisingly Benny Moore and Gabriel Cliffe. Two “nerds” had finished first, Alice smirked at that.

They had one more step to go.

“One, two, three!” Harrington counted down and they both hopped at the same time. Except they slipped and hurled forward, Alice was sure they were going to break their noses and bleed all over the shiny gym floor. Then Harrington came in clutch and flipped them around last minute so they landed on their backs with a loud, “Oof!”

They laid there, side by side panting and in Alice’s case, trembling with adrenaline. Sweat lining her brow, she stared incredulously at the high ceiling. What was her life?  

Coach Walker peered down at them, blocking the bright lights enough that Alice could make out his maniac grin, “Good show, too bad you just missed the cut” He popped a skittle into his mouth, gesturing towards team Davis, “Good try though.”

Beside her, Harrington groaned and Alice narrowed her eyes at Coach who happily walked away so that he could observe the rest of the show, not even bothering to help them out of the predicament he’d thrown them into the first place.

Lifting her head slightly, she watched the other teams fumble before turning to her partner who was laying still next to her. Reaching out with her right hand, Alice started ripping up the tape. Jerked out of his daze, Harrington hurried to help. Once they were free they both sat next to each other in compatible silence, backs against the matted wall as they gazed out at the field of chaos.

Alice smirked as Perkins started yelling at her partner and Hagan tried not to faceplant, it was entertaining. Ok. She could see why Coach would do this.

Her smirk fell from her face, still not fun though.

Chapter Text

Alice stumbled into her Spanish class looking a bit rumpled. She was not a morning person; she had a nasty habit of staying up late despite knowing she had to get up early the next day. But it felt impossible trying to sleep at a decent hour. Even if she laid down in bed with all the lights off, her brain would not shut up. It had gotten so bad that Alice ended up going to the local pharmacy for some sleeping pills. They helped a bit.

Alice still hated mornings though.

Hoodie bulled up over her head, Alice squinted past the irritating fluorescent lights to see what was written on the board. Mr. Rodriguez liked to throw up a question on the board and have everyone write down their answers before calling out roll call. Once called, they had to tell him what they wrote in Spanish. Today’s question was: Dime, cuáles son tus vacaciones favoritas?

Taking out her notebook, Alice got to work trying to write out a legible answer. For the most part, Spanish was easy for her—the perks of having a past life, but some of the grammar threw her off. Alice liked to think she was a pretty good speaker, writing on the other hand? Forget it.

“Hargrove?”

 “Sí, señor?” Hargrove replied in perfect Spanish.

Alice rolled her eyes.

Maybe it was stupid and petty of her, but Alice hated the fact that Hargrove of all people sometimes spoke better Spanish than she did. Maybe if she had someone to practice her Spanish on, she’d be less rusty. Unfortunately, the only other fluent speaker was sitting three seats in front of her, and Alice would rather slit her own throat than ask Hargrove for help.

Then it was her turn.

Taking a deep breath and trying to calm her jackhammering heart, Alice opened her mouth to answer, “A-Ah, diría que mi fiesta favorita es Halloween, principalmente por los dulces.”

Mr. Rodriguez smiled at her “Muy bien!Tu pronunciación está mejorando!”

Alice preened, proud of herself. At least until she caught Hargrove’s eye, who sent her a smirk mouthing the words ‘Show off’ before turning back around. Alice felt herself deflate, cheeks heating in embarrassment and anger as she turned away from the asshole. Like he could talk! Every time Mr. Rodriguez praised Hargrove he would puff up like a peacock!

Sliding lower on her chair, Alice sulked. This morning was turning out to be spectacular.

Thankfully, Hargrove wasn’t in her next class. Math was a guilty pleasure for her, she didn’t need a Cali fuckboy ruining it for her. As a bonus, he wasn’t in her English class either.

Alice found that she was great at Algebra, it was straightforward in her opinion; follow the formula and find the answer. Simple. Other people didn’t think so. Alice still remembers the first day of school when Munson walked into class, saw the chalkboard full of equations, and said, “Nope.” Walking right on out. Mrs. Hale didn’t even get a chance to call him back he was gone so fast.

Thinking about the dumbfounded look on everyone’s faces still made her grin today. To this day, Munson hasn’t been back. Although she knew for a fact he stopped by after school to pick up his homework. Whether he turned them in or not was the question. Alice would bet all her jolly ranchers that was a solid no.

“Hey, are you going to Tina’s Halloween Party?”

Alice’s ears perked up.

“Duh! I got my costume ready for tonight!”

There was some more giggling.

“I heard Hargrove is going to be there~”

The other girl sighed dreamily, “I knoowww, I’m planning on ‘accidentally’ bumping into him—”

Alice tuned them out after that. Hearing people gossip nonstop about Hargrove was getting old really fast.

For a split second, Alice wondered what it would be like to go to a party and have fun, but she quickly squashed the thought. It would do her no good dreaming of the ‘what ifs’. Besides, high school parties were overrated.

The bell rang for lunch and everyone scrambled out of their seats while Mrs. Jones yelled at the top of her lungs, “Remember, your thesis on the Cold War is due tomorrow!”

Alice navigated her way to her locker, using her elbows and ducking in-between people. At one point, she got shoulder checked so hard she almost fell.

“Sorry!” A voice yelped.

Alice looked up with a scowl that faltered when she realized it was just a marching band kid. Feeling a bit bad that she’d assumed the worst, Alice nodded her understanding with a softly spoken, “S’okay,” That was drowned out by the rowdy teens around them. The girl didn’t stick around long, pushing her way toward the music room.

Alice blinked at the chaotic energy the girl executed, shaking her head she turned around to once again make her way to her locker. Only to find her path blocked once again by the Drug Lord himself.

He was fiddling with the lock cursing at every failed attempt at getting in.

“Shit. Shit. Shit! Stupid fucking thing!”

Alice hovered, unsure if she should approach and inform him, he was at her locker not his. It was an easy mistake to make. The lockers where so old that some of the numbers had rubbed off from years of use. Her locker number was 343, faded it looked like his which was 242. Alice only knew this because on the first day of school, she too had gotten it wrong. It wasn’t until Munson had awkwardly tapped her on the shoulder and asked what she was doing that she’d realized her mistake. It was a mortifying affair.

Still, she never thought Munson would make the same blunder. He always seemed to know which locker was his. Not to mention, they were on complete opposite sides of the hallway.

“Son of a—”

Mustering up the courage, Alice tapped him on the shoulder like he had three years ago.

Munson spun with a nervous grin on his face, his faux smile dropped when he realized it was just her.

“Oh—hey! Uh…”

“Sage.”

He snapped his fingers, “Yeah, right! Sage!” He leaned back casually to rest on her locker, “What can I do ya for?”

Alice stared silently, watching the man squirm with every pacing second that she continued to not answer him.

It was strange. The mistaken locker, the shifty eyes, and just the general vibe he gave off. It was almost like—

“That’s my locker,” Alice finally told him, she pointed across the hallway, “Yours is over there.”

He blinked rapidly, head swiveling back and forth to confirm that yes, he was indeed at the wrong locker.

“Ah!” He gasped dramatically, “Would you look at that! I’m so sorry m’lady, I will correct this at once!”

Then he marched over, unlocked it with no problem, took out his lunch box (that most definitely contained contraband), and a comically large black marker. Slamming the door closed, he uncapped the marker with his teeth and with a flourish, scribbled on the faded numbers.

“There!” He crowed satisfied, twirling the marker around, “Problem solved!”

Alice snorted, wondering if she was that stupid to not have thought of this solution herself. Years of her anxiously checking and double checking to make sure she had the right locker all solved with a permanent marker. How ridiculous.

She was about to turn around and get back to business when Munson approached her again. He motioned for her to step aside, and she did. Watching curiously as he filled in her faded numbers too.

Stepping back after he was done, Munson flashed her a dimpled grin, “Guess we’ll call  this even.”

Alice watched in befuddlement as he cheerily made his way out of the building, all signs of his previous anxiety gone. What a weirdo.

Shaking her head in exasperation, Alice finally opened her locker, reaching in to take out her packed lunch while shoving her textbooks in. That done, she slammed the door closed, pausing as she noticed a piece of paper on the floor by her feet.

Realizing it must have fallen out when she’d opened the locker, Alice reached down to pick it up. Unfolding it, it read:

Hellfire Club

Every Friday

4 pm

Music Theatre practice room

Oh.

Oh.

Munson must have slipped this into the locker, not realizing it wasn’t his, realized it, and panicked because he couldn’t get it back. It made sense. Would explain his jumpiness.

Alice grinned, a little amused at the thought of Eddie Munson panicking because of something as silly as this. Scanning the hallway for any signs of life (Alice didn’t want a rumor going around that she’d slipped Munson a note), she quickly strode over and jammed the paper through the little slits of his locker.

There.

No harm no foul.

Twisting around, Alice made her way to the library.

X

School went on in the same fashion of, sleep, eat, class, homework, with the occasional human interaction. Hargrove progressively got more annoying, like a powder keg about to explode. Alice wanted to be nowhere near when that happened, so she’d taken to avoiding him more than she already did. Any sign of golden curls and she was out, unfortunately, she still had to deal with his shit during science.

Other than that, though, things were going pretty normal…or so she thought.

Of course, once she got into a rhythm and life was becoming comfortably dull, it happened: Billy Hargrove missed class. Usually, Alice wouldn’t give a damn, and it was relieving not having the Tyrant sit next to her during the two days of his absence. The thing was, Hargrove had never missed a day of class. Ever. He was never late. He always turned in his work. He got good grades. If he didn’t look how he did, and if he wasn’t such an asshole, Alice thought he would have been given more grief over his ‘nerd-like’ tendencies. So, there was something going on.

 Sure, they were barely three months into school, and it’s not like she’d known Hargrove for long (or at all). That doesn’t make it less strange.  

Then, on the third day, Hargrove showed up late with a slight limp in his step. He slid into his seat, crossed his arms, and laid his head down. Not once did he look at anyone else, he clearly wanted to avoid everyone—going by the way he’d angled his body.

Alice felt bad.

Yet she didn’t try reaching out. What was she supposed to say? ‘Hey man, are you okay?’ Was she supposed to pat her bully on the back and whisper condolences? That was ridiculous. She didn’t owe him anything.

Yet, Alice found her eyes following Hargrove as he stood up and left at the end of the period.

During gym, he acted fine, but she could tell by the tension in his shoulders he was one wrong word away from snapping. Alice shivered, anxiety rising; it was like the calm before the storm. She bounced her leg impatiently waiting for the final bell to ring, she couldn’t stand being here any longer.

As a result, when the bell did finally ring, Alice rushed to change out of her gym clothes. Bursting through the bright blue doors she fumbled to unlock her bike. Swinging her leg over, she pushed off and paddled away, the cold autumn wind whipping past her. A part of her wondered what she was so afraid of. Why she could pick out oncoming violence by the twitch of a finger from a guy she didn’t know until the start of the school year. Alice had a feeling she wouldn’t like the answer.

Pushing away those thoughts, Alice waved at Mrs. Johnson who was watering her roses. Mrs. Johnson cheerily waved back; she was the only neighbor who wasn’t a stuck-up snob.

Alice’s parents are rich.

She must have done something right in her past life to end up with a golden spoon in this one. The story goes something like this: Rich couple looking to adopt a poor orphan, not out of the goodness of their hearts, but for image reasons. They wanted to look good in the eyes of their friends and what better way than to help someone less fortunate?

Alice was a charity case.

She didn’t care. Anywhere was better than the System. It helped that Alice was more mature than most children, hell, even most adults. All Suzan and Gregory Sage had to do was send her a large sum of money every month to pay for groceries and whatever else she needed. In turn, Alice would get perfect grades and keep her record clean so that Suzan and Gregory could boast all they wanted about their ‘amazing daughter’. It was a win-win.

Sure, Alice would have loved being adopted by a loving family, but that isn’t what she ended up with, so she’d work with what she got. It wasn’t bad. In some ways, it was better, she didn’t have someone hovering over her shoulder or anyone to question her adult mannerisms. Alice was an independent girl, and she liked it that way.

Besides, it wasn’t like she was alone.

“I’m home,” Alice mumbled as she stepped into the doorway, bending down to take off her shoes.

A black ball of fur barreled into her legs with a ‘mhirrp’. Alice smiled, “Harvey,” she picked up the adorable fluff ball, “Did you miss me you lil’ shit?”

Harvey let out a meow of protest, Alice's smile turned to a grin. “Come on, let's go feed you.”

Harvey was off like a shot, skidding on the wooden floors in his rush to get to his bowl. Alice shook her head in amusement, her cat loved food…a little too much in her opinion. More than once she had to hide his kibbles somewhere he wouldn’t find them otherwise he’d break the bag and eat the whole thing in one sitting. Stupid fat cat, she thought fondly.

Alice quickly forgot her previous anxiety.

Until later that day when she ran out of milk.

Alice groaned, slamming the refrigerator door closed with a huff, “How am I supposed to eat my Oreos now?” She whined to her cat who just blinked his large eyes at her. Alice sighed and looked forlornly at the open packet of cookies on the counter. She could just wait until tomorrow to pick up some milk…

“Ok, fine. I’m going to the store.”

She’ll be quick, just a gallon of milk. In and out, no problem.

Slipping on her shoes, Alice carefully slipped out making sure Harvey didn’t run past her. The little shit loved running out and making her chase him, she knows he does it on purpose too because one time she just didn’t bother chasing him. Realizing this, Harvey stopped on the driveway looking back in confusion as if to ask why she wasn’t coming.  After a while, he slinked back into the house, clearly upset his fun had been ruined.

Closing the door behind her, Alice hopped back on her bike and quickly made her way to the local store. She needed to be quick, the sun was setting, and she’d rather not bike at night. The terrifying thought that she’d be kidnapped like Will Byers spurred her to go faster.

It wasn’t until she was biking back did something out of the ordinary happen.

Milk jug secured in her basket and breaths coming out in puffs, Alice almost didn’t see it.

Almost.

It looked like a large dog, at first. It scurried onto the road crossing her path so suddenly that she’d braked hard enough to send the top half of her body flying forward.

There was a chitter.

Alice felt the hairs on her body stand up.

It lunged.

Alice wasn’t a screamer. She was the type to freeze up in fear, limbs locking into place and mouth shut tight.

This was different.

The creature had her arm in its mouth. It was excruciating, Alice could vaguely hear shrieking in the background. It was her. She was shrieking.

It felt like months, maybe years before her body kicked into high gear and she used all the strength in her legs to kick the creature off of her with the unfortunate effect of it taking a chuck of her flesh with it.

Frantically searching for a weapon—any weapon, Alice grabbed onto the jug of milk. With her uninjured arm, she swung with all her might. The jug exploded upon contact sending milk splattering everywhere as the creature shrieked in pain.

Not stopping to check on the damage, Alice ran.

She didn’t bother with her bike—she could always get a new one.

The sound of her feet thudding against the asphalt and the blood rushing in her ears didn’t stop her from knowing, instinctively, that she was being chased.

Lungs burning and pace faltering, Alice couldn’t believe this was how she died. Mauled to death by a fucked-up dog. How pathetic.

Then a blue Camaro came careening around the corner.

Chapter Text

The car almost hit her.

Almost.

Honestly, Alice was in so much pain she sort of wished the car had smacked into her and ended the pain once and for all. A morbid thought, but she couldn’t bring herself to care when she felt like her arm was attached to her shoulder by a sliver of skin.

Blood dribbled down her arm in rivets, splattering against the road.

“What the fuck?”

Alice looked up to find Billy Hargrove staring at her in horror while looking like he’d just come out of the cover of a porn magazine advertising ‘bad boys’. She clamped her mouth shut in fear of letting out a hysterical giggle. Of freaking course, Hargrove had to show up dressed to the nines while she looked like walking ground beef.

“What the fuck?”

Hargrove’s voice reached a hysterical pitch as he stumbled away looking like he was seconds away from getting back in his car and driving the fuck away. Which. Fair. If she saw someone running down the street all bloody and looking like an extra in a horror movie, she too would drive far far away.

Unfortunately for them both, Hargrove was her lifeline. She needed him.

“W-wait!”

Alice stepped forward only to freeze when that seemed to freak Hargrove out even more. Clenching her jaw she felt a flash of irritation, she didn’t have time for this. The demon dog was coming and—

Wait.

Alice whirled around to scan the road behind her.

Where the fuck was the dog?

“I don’t know what kind of freaky shit is going on—”

Alice shushed him, ears straining to hear anything. It was quiet…a little too quiet.

“Get in the car Hargrove.”

Hargrove’s eyebrows shot up in surprise before his expression settled back into his usual furious scowl, “Don’t fucking tell me what to do freak.”

Alice felt woozy, her senses seemed to be dialed to eleven and her arm was going numb which was probably a bad thing, but she really couldn’t care at the moment because her instincts were screaming at her to runrunrunrun.

Hargrove took a menacing step forward, “Alright, this is too fucking weird—”

Chitter.

Alice’s mouth went dry, and her heart felt like it was going to burst from her chest—and not in a good way. Voice deceptively calm, Alice repeated her earlier command.

“Get in the car.”

Hargrove sneered.

In the darkness behind him, there was another chitter.

Alice lunged for the passenger seat…it was locked. She clawed at the handle, cursing as she eyed the woods around them.

Another chitter.

Something inside her snapped. Voice cracking and tears gathering in her eyes Alice shrieked, “Open the goddamned door Hargrove or I’m gonna fucking kill you!”

Hargrove, who had finally gotten in the car, revved his engine. For one heart-stopping moment, Alice thought he was going to leave her. Leave her alone in the dark, bleeding with who knows what out there.

She could see it in his face. The hesitation. He wanted to leave, to forget about the crazy bitch that had stumbled across his path and go about his life. But Alice also saw the moment he gave in. Hargrove eyed the blood still drip-drip dripping off her arm and with a snarl, reached over to unlock the car door.

With a sob of relief, Alice slid into the passenger seat slamming the door behind her. The car shot forward and she felt her whole body shake with tremors as the adrenaline slowly ebbed away.

Hargrove refused to look at her. That was fine. She didn’t want him looking at the mess of a human being she’d become in the short time she’d thought he was going to drive away.

For a few moments, there was a tense silence. Alice vehemently held back any more sobs, tears, and snot silently streaming out. She was an ugly crier.

This was officially the worst night ever.

After a while, the car jerked to a stop. Alice looked up through her bangs to see the bright sign for the Hawkins Hospital.

“Get out.”

She turned her head slightly to glance at Hargrove. He was still tense, white knuckle gripping the steering wheel and eyes burning straight ahead. Suddenly, Alice realized who exactly she was with. The attack had clouded her judgment and made her latch on to the worst possible person she could have asked for help with.

She scrambled to get out. As soon as she stumbled onto the pavement the Camaro sped off with the engine growling as if to say; “Fuck Off Bitch.”

Alice wobbly made her way to the emergency room. Just as she made it to the front desk, Alice passed out. The last thing she remembered seeing was the horrified face of the receptionist.

X

One would think that after dying once, the possibility of death was laughable.

Nope.

Alice spent a week hiding out in her room. At night, she left her lamp on because every shadow or lump of dirty laundry looked like a demon dog, and during the day she drifted from room to room making sure every window and door was locked and secured. She even raided her parent’s room and found a pocketknife which she now kept under her pillow.

Safe to say, Alice was thoroughly traumatized.

But while she wasn’t agonizing on what the fuck that creature that looked-like-a-dog-but-wasn’t-a-dog was. She was bemoaning the fact she had to go back to school eventually and face Billy Hargrove who attended half of her classes. Billy Hargrove who had witnessed her most vulnerable moment. Billy Hargrove who was a grade-A asshole. Billy Hargrove who was, no doubt, spreading rumors about her hysterics right about now.

Fuck.

Alice smacked a pillow with her good arm in frustration.

Harvey lovingly bumped his head against her leg, and without a pause, Alice reached down to stroke his fuzzy little head while she stewed in her thoughts.

Maybe she should move somewhere else. Start fresh. Lord knows her parents could afford to live literally anywhere else. Or maybe she could convince her parents that homeschooling was the way to go.

Alice snorted at the thought. She knew that if she were homeschooled, she’d never get anything done.

With a huff, she turned the TV on making sure to raise the volume until it drowned out her swirling thoughts. Ignoring the looming doom of Monday crawling closer and closer with every second she sat there.

This was totally fine.

X

It was not fine.

It was so not ‘fine’.

Trying not to squirm in her chair, Alice vehemently ignored Hargrove’s thousand-yard stare.

The school day started out better than she had anticipated. No one stared at her, no one whispered about her hysterics, and Hargrove seemed resolute in avoiding everyone—including his lackies.

Instead, the hot topic of the high school masses was the supposed fight between Harrington and Hargrove. Apparently, sometime between now and when Alice got chewed on by a demon, Hargrove and Harrington went at it. People whispered that the fight was over a girl, others thought Harrington tried to reclaim his throne. Alice didn’t know what to think. On the one hand, she was relieved that she wasn’t the topic of discussion, on the other…

The other was wondering why—if everyone was to be believed—if Hargrove won the fight, then why? Why was he sporting the nastiest split lip and bruises so deep and purple that they looked black?

Granted, Harrington didn’t look much better. But Hargrove should have been crowing from the rooftops that he’d beaten the former King in a fight, and if it was the other way around…then why wasn’t Harrington looking smug?

It just. Didn’t make sense.

Nothing about that night made sense.

With a soft exhale, Alice made her way to the library, needing to get away from the hustle and bustle of the cafeteria. That’s where she found herself sitting across from Hargrove.

Once again, Alice tried to immerse herself in the romantic writings of Jane Austen. She raised the book higher to block out the jock’s stock still form.

That’s how Alice spent the rest of lunch hour, ignoring Hargrove as he silently judged her taste in books…at least that’s what she told herself is what he was doing. Otherwise—what the every loving fuck? What was his problem?!

After the bell rang signaling the end of the lunch period, Hargrove stood up abruptly with a screech of his chair causing her to flinch back. Then he just…walked away. No ‘bye’ or ‘see you later freak’, just a silent walk-off. Alice rubbed her temples to ward off a headache, what a day.

Thankfully, art class ended up being peaceful. Even Munson, who was normally very loud, managed to stray still and concentrate on his work. It made her think back to the last interaction he’d had with the senior. Alice hoped he got his paper back, she would ask him about it if she could get over her anxiety at starting a conversation.

A sudden curse had Alice looking up to see Munson flailing about, paintbrush clenched between his teeth as he tried to fix whatever he’d messed up. Muttering under his breath, he brushed his long curls back with his paint-smudged hand leaving behind a blob of white paint in his hair.

On second thought, Alice decided it was best she just kept her mouth shut.

Any calm she’d gained after art was swiftly and brutally killed the second she’d stepped into the gym.

“Dodgeball.” Coach said happily. Not knowing he was signing her death warrant as he did.

Fuck me, Alice thought in horror.

“Hargrove, Harrington, Sage, you three will be sitting on the bench. I will not have any serious injuries on my court.” Coach pointed towards the benches.

Alice didn’t know which was worse, dodgeball or sitting the whole class out with two of the most lusted-after boys. She eyed the other girls who glared at the side of her head with such venom that Alice was surprised she didn’t combust. Definitely should have just skipped the class altogether.

Stomping up the stairs, Alice made sure to sit as far away from the two royals as she could. It was a clear dismissal for the other two. Unfortunately for her, Harrington didn’t seem to get the memo.

“How’d your arm end up like that?” Harrington asked, settling down next to her.

Alice wanted to scream.

“Accident.” Was her short reply.

A few seats over, Hargrove snorted.

Alice shot him a glare, which he ignored.

“Oh,” Harrington fidgeted for a second, “You want me to sign it?”

Alice stared, “Huh?”

Harrington gestured to her wrapped arm, “I noticed no one signed your cast, so I thought I’d offer.”

Alice felt her soul leave her body. Steve Harrington wanted to sign her cast.

“Oh um, I-I don’t—” She shakily responded, brain firing on all cylinders and yet nothing coherent came out of her mouth.

Out of nowhere, Harrington reached into his hair and took out a sharpie. Scooting closer, he softly asked, “Can I?”

What.

“S-sure.” Was her eloquent response.

With a grin, he gently grabbed her arm and started scribbling his name. Alice held her breath, not wanting to accidentally breathe too heavily in the presence of royalty.

What was happening?

What—what kind of teen romance—?!

Alice wanted to throw up, heavily aware of all the eyes on her.

“There.” Harrington sat back admiring his work, “Now it doesn’t look so plain.”

Alice preferred plain. She wanted to be boring. She wanted to blend in. Not—not—

“T-thanks,” she croaked out before hastily standing up and moving as far away as she could from the situation, leaving behind a very confused and hurt Harrington. Goosebumps raising along her body as the eyes followed her. Judging her.

It was too much.

Alice spent the rest of the class looking at her scruffy shoes, nails scratching gently along her bandaged arm. The words Steve Harrington branded on her arm.

Chapter Text

Ok, she might have overreacted.

While there were a few glares and stares from the local high school populace, no one ever did or said anything to her. At least not to her face, and that’s a win in her eyes. Seemed like Harrington had fallen farther than she thought.

Speaking of Harrington…he’d taken to isolating himself even more. Ever since the rumored nasty breakup with Nancy Wheeler and the subsequent fight with Hargrove, he’d become more and more of a ghost in the hallways of Hawkins High.

It was equally unnerving as it was upsetting. Maybe it was because of how nice he’d treated her, maybe it was because he looked like a kicked puppy when she did manage to spot him in the hallways. Hell, maybe it was because she’d caught him eating alone in his car.

Or maybe she just didn’t like the fact that Harrington was encroaching on her territory with his wallflower-ing. Yeah, that must be it, Alice thought to herself convincingly as she approached the maroon Beemer, the dude is stealing all my thunder with his skulking around.

Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the passenger side window.

Harrington startled, jerking his head up he looked at her with wide eyes.

With her usual resting bitch-face, Alice gestured for him to open the door. He did so with slight hesitation, reaching over to unlock the door.

“Yeah?”

Alice didn’t respond, instead she plopped herself down on the passenger seat and took out the turkey sub she’d packed for lunch the night before, she took a large bite.

“Um, hello?”

Alice swallowed, not looking at the poor confused guy she finally said, “You looked lonely, so I thought I’d join you.”

There was a pause with only the sound of her chewing and the rustle of her paper bag as she took out a small bag of oreos. Still not looking at Harrington (in fear of what she’d find there), Alice offered the bag up.

“You want some?”

“…Sure.”

Harrington took the bag and they both ate in silence. That’s how they spent the rest of the lunch period, quietly eating and wondering what the fuck was going on.

Once the bell rang, Alice packed up her things and left without a goodbye. She probably should have said something. Anything. But really, what could she say? Alice didn’t know how to make friends and was no good at comforting people (just look at the whole fiasco with the Byers). Which is why she thought it would be best if she never did that again. For all she knew, Harrington hated every minute of that awkward interaction.

So, imagine her surprise when the day after, Harrington actively sought her out in the library. The library was a no-food zone, but she’d managed to butter up the librarian enough that she didn’t mind it when Alice occasionally ate her lunch there.

“Hey,” he said as he sat himself down across from her.

Now it was her turn to look at him in confusion, “Hi?”

Harrington took out his lunch, a PB&J sandwich with a bag of chips. Nudging the chip bag closer to her, he gestured to her to have some. Feeling like she’d stepped into another dimension, Alice did so.

Once again, they sat together and quietly had their respective lunches.

 X

Her little rendezvous with Harrington lasted about a week before either of them made a move to speak. Unsurprisingly, it was Harrington who made the move to strike up a conversation.

“Does Hargrove bother you?”

Alice stopped mid-chew, not expecting the sudden foray into conversation, “Huh?”

Harrington sighed and put his beagle down, “Does he bother you?”

Alice gazed back blankly.

Harrington continued, “I noticed during gym that he likes to push you around and I was wondering if…” He trailed off seeming unsure on how to continue.

Swallowing her mouth full, Alice replied, “No.”

He gave her a look and she quickly amended, “Yes, but its just some light teasing. Nothing I can’t handle.”

Harrington gave her another look.

Alice rolled her eyes, “Stop it. I don’t need you picking another fight with Hargrove. Besides,” Alice packed her bags as the bell rang, “He’s mellowed out a bit.”

With that, she made her way to her next class. What she’d told Harrington wasn’t exactly true. Hargrove hadn’t ‘mellowed out’, he’d just taken those harsh words and turned them into intense staring. It was unnerving how hard he glowered in her direction, on top of that, he no longer bothered Harrington which gave him even more time to glare a hole into her body.

This time, when gym class rolled around, Alice noticed Harrington eyeing Hargrove who was glancing—ah nope. He was marching straight towards her.  

“Sage!” He barked at her.

If Harrington was like a puppy, then Hargrove was more like a stray tabby.

Alice blinked in response to his hissing.

Hargrove sneered, “Didn’t you hear Coach Walker,” he bared his teeth in a mockery of a grin, “We’re partners.”

She scanned around to confirm that, yep, everyone had paired off. Harrington caught her eye; he was glancing back and forth between her and Hargrove and looking like he might launch himself at the guy, completely ignoring Tammy Thompson who clung onto his arm with a beam.

Alice grimaced, what’s with Coach’s obsession with paring off his poor students? She needed to have a few words with that man. Especially since it hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since she’d completely taken off her cast.

Alice glanced down at her arm, slightly above the elbow and down to the tips of her fingers, she no longer had smooth skin sprinkled with peach fuzz. Instead, her arm was covered in silvery-white scars that honestly looked ugly and gross in her opinion. Most of the scars were long—as if someone had dragged a grill fork repeatedly along her arm. Scars are cool, she tried to reassure herself, and they’ll fade eventually. Alice was glad no one at the hospital had questioned her injuries too much, apparently, bear attacks were all the rage now.

Hargrove grabbed her hand, startling Alice out of her thoughts so badly that she jumped away from him. The Cali-boy just rolled his eyes at her response and once again reached out for her hand.

“Coach also said we haveta’ hold hands dumbass.”

Alice glared at Coach Walker who was busy yelling at the Hagan-Gomez group. Yeah, she was going to have some words alright.

With a sigh, she reached out to clasp hands with the golden boy who snickered at her misery, “Don’t get too excited now,” he teased.

Alice didn’t get to retort because suddenly Coach was blowing his whistle and yelling, “Let the fighting commence!”

Wait. What?

Alice looked at the man in horror as the pairs of teens launched themselves at each other with a war cry. What the fuck?!

She was yanked forward as Hargrove launched himself onto Hagan, swinging wide with an open palm attempting to smack the freckled teen upside the head. Only to be blocked by Gomez who shot a smug smirk his way, “Nice try, Hargrove.”

What had she missed??

Alice knew she was prone to drift off but to miss the whole premise of this so-called activity?!

From the corner of her eye, she saw Hagan’s hand draw dangerously close to her head. With a yelp, she ducked only for it to have been useless as Hargrove used his forearm to block the attack.

 “That’s cheating!” Hagan cried as Hargrove jerked her behind him.

Alice needed an explanation, now. She had no fucking clue on what the actual hell was going on.

“What are we doing?” She hissed at Hargrove while dodging another blow from Hagan.

Hargrove explained with a grunt and Alice was slapped in the face with the most absurd-sounding game to have ever been created. It went something like this:

Two people—partners had to hold hands and defend themselves against other partners, attacks could only be non-lethal smacks. No punches or kicks allowed, and no dodging. Only one partner could be on the offensive, the other was purely defensive. So, if both offensive partners attacked each other, it was up to the person in charge of defense to block the attacker. However, that doesn’t mean that the person throwing hands couldn’t also attack the defender.

Hagan once again went for her head, but this time Alice blocked it with her arm (thankfully, not the scarred one, that one was, unfortunately, being held hostage by Hargrove).

Hargrove grinned savagely, “Now you get it!”

No. She did not.

What sort of Mr. Miyagi shit was this, Coach?!?!

On top of all that, because partners had to hold hands, they only had one arm each for blocking and smacking. She’ll say it again, what the fuck.

“Alright kiddos, when I blow my whistle, you have five seconds to find a new pair to fight!”

Oh no.

“Ready? Go!” He blew the whistle.

Hargrove was off like a shot, eyes tunneling and honed on the one person he’d been ignoring for a week. Harrington.

Alice prayed to any listening gods that they all came out of this alive.

Tammy, who was still beaming, stopped smiling as soon as she caught sight of them heading over. Her face paled and she swung her head over to Harrington clearly trying to encourage the senior to run in the opposite direction. Tragically, they reached the pair first.

Hargrove’s grin turned feral, “Well, well, well, look what we have here.”

Alice sent the Harrington-Thompson pair an apologetic look. This was going to be rough.

Hargrove lunged and poor Tammy tried her best to block it but the stray tabby that had latched on to her, wasn’t holding back, and with a loud smack! Hargrove landed a hit on Harrington's rapidly reddening arm. Tammy gasped, clutching her arm in fear. It too was going to sport a red welt for the rest of the day.

Alice gripped Hargrove’s hand tighter, hand grinding the blond’s knuckles together. Hargrove glared down at her, but Alice just glared back.

His aggression was unnecessary. Especially when he knew that Thompson had no chance of truly blocking him, he was just going to hurt her.

Hargrove raised an eyebrow, challenging her. Alice just gripped his hand tighter, which made him wince, and with a reluctant nod and exaggerated sigh of defeat, he turned back to the opposing pair.

He swung again, but this time, he held back, and Tammy was able to successfully block him without a problem. Both girls breathed a sigh of relief and with that, the game continued.

What a crazy-ass week.

Chapter Text

Her so-called “friendship” with Harrington was complicated—in that, they weren’t really friends and more like mutual parasites. A symbiosis of sorts. Alice would provide companionship during lunch hours and occasionally share her lunch. Harrington would ward off Hargrove’s insistent pestering when they sat together and occasionally give her hair tips (not that she really needed them). It was a win-win situation for all those involved except—

A large shadow fell over her lounging position on the bleachers, where she was re-reading her second favorite Nancy Drew book ‘The Hidden Staircase’. Without looking away from the inked pages, she said, “Can I help you?”  

A harsh scoff and the book being ripped out of her grasp was the response. Alice sat up with a cry, “Hey!”

Hargrove, looking as dashing as ever with his sunglasses, flipped carelessly through the pages, “You still read this crap?”

Alice clicked her tongue in irritation, “It’s a good read.”

“When we were ten maybe,” He jeered.

Alice rolled her eyes so hard they almost popped out of their sockets but didn’t bother responding to Hargrove’s mocking remarks.

Seeing that he wasn’t getting anything else out of her with his scorn for her reading material, Hargrove tossed the book onto her lap and crossed his arms. He stood up straight and towered over her laying form, clearly trying to intimidate her.

“You and Harrington, huh?”

Now, don’t get her wrong, Hargrove certainly was intimidating at the best of times but after that physical education class where he actually listened to her. Alice had gotten a bit more insight into the mind of one William Hargrove thus rendering his usual acts of peacock-ness slightly less threatening.

Alice held her palm up in the universal sign for ‘stop’, “Okay buddy I’m gonna stop you right there before you start another pissing contest,” she stood up to match his height (as much as she could anyways), “There is nothing and I mean nothing going on between me and Harrington. That man is like a brother to me—” (Lies) “and I’d rather cut my own hair—” (That’s a little much) “than ever date that man!” (No-no, she totally would bag that male-wife if she could).

Hargrove’s face was stone cold, he didn’t even so much as twitch before whirling around and stalking off leaving Alice to feel baffled and a bit miffed. What did I do to deserve this shit?

“Wow.”

Alice was startled so badly that she almost lost her footing on the bench. Turning around, she saw the band kid that ran her over weeks ago (she never forgot a face except that of her m—). The band girl whistled long and low, “You are my hero.” She drawled, eyes scanning her up and down, “Though claiming Harrington is, like, your brother? That was a bit much.”

Alice’s nose flared with the strength of her sigh as she plopped back down, “Maybe it was,” she admitted, “But I’d rather take Harrington over Hargrove any day.”

The freckled girl nodded thoughtfully, “Hm, yeah I totally would choose the former King to Hargrove.” She spat out his name like a curse causing Alice to wonder exactly what the Cali-boy do or say to her that would warrant such disgust.

“I’m Robin, by the way.”

Alice felt the corner of her lips twitch, “Alice.”

They kept each other company in comfortable silence, Alice unwilling to socialize and Robin was too busy reviewing her sheets of music, mumbling to herself, and occasionally tapping out a rhythm with her feet. Her thoughts drifted back to Hargrove and his earlier fit. It was crazy how much Hargrove cared about what Harrington got up to, his obsession was alarming.

Then again...

Alice looked down at her book with a frown, its none of my business. Mind made up, she resolved to keep more distance between her and the Hawkins Kings. Better to be a shadow drifting through the halls than stuck between two opposing forces.

X

Mr. Fredrick clapped his hands in delight, “Children, children! I have wonderful news!”

Everyone stopped and looked up from their sketchbooks to see their art teacher giddily waving his arms around.

“Since Christmas is coming up and you all have made incredible progress in your art styles,” He shot every single one of his students a smile, “I have decided to assign a project for the remainder of the year—not the school year mind you!”

Students burst into murmurs, some in anticipation and others in dread.

“You will be split up into groups or duos—whichever you prefer—and by winter break I want you to turn in some sort of representation of what the Holidays mean to you! Now, the way you express your opinions could be through a painting, a sculpture, paper mâché…”

Mr. Fredrick’s voice faded into the background as Alice struggled not to panic. A group project?! She frantically scanned the room for anyone who would be willing to pair up with her but found it to be hopeless. Most of the kids had made friends throughout the year and it was immediately obvious by the side eyes and giggles on who was teaming up with whom.

“Any questions?”

Mr. Fredrick looked around the room and seeing no one raise their hand he ushered them along, “Well then, get going!”

Alice felt a bead of sweat go down her back as she watched everyone around her team up. Stiffly she turned towards the closest person only to find them already talking in excited tones with a girl she vaguely recalled was named Jessica.

Just like that, in a blink of an eye, Alice was left all to her lonesome. Mr. Fredrick was too busy talking to one of the groups that had formed so she would be getting no sympathy from him.

I hope an assassin takes me out right now, was her only thought as she sank into her seat resolving to just turn something in by herself.

“Hey uh,”

Alice felt her heart drop as she slowly looked up into the eyes of the local drug dealer. Hastily adverting her eyes Alice wondered why the universe saw it fit to make her suffer.

“So, I noticed you don’t have a partner and, hey, would you look at that!” Munson dramatically swerved his head this way and that, “I don’t have a partner either, so let’s team up!”

And Alice…Alice couldn’t say no, no matter how much she wanted to. With a curt nod as a response, Munson loudly dragged over a chair and brought out a sketchbook.

“Ok, I was thinking we could tell each other what we’re good at and then we could go from there.”

Alice hesitated for a moment, before reopening her book and turning it sideways so that they could both comfortably peer into the pages. Munson oohed and aahed, “Wow you’re pretty good at character designs!”

“Y-yeah, I like drawing um cartoons more than anything else.” Alice tried her best not to blush under the intense scrutiny of Eddie Munson. Accepting praise was hard for her and Alice considered her lack of confidence in her skills one of her greatest faults.

Quickly snatching her sketchbook back, she flipped through the pages, “I-I also really like drawing geometric designs.” She stopped at a particular page where she was the most proud of her design.

Munson’s eyes widened and he whistled appreciatively, “You did this all in pen?”

Alice nodded, “Yeah, I sometimes like sketching in black ink, it’s messy but in a cool way.”

Munson broke out into a grin, “Man, these would make some wicked tattoo designs!” He looked back up at her, “You ever think of becoming a tattoo artist?”

Alice winced, she had (back when—). But the thought of being that close to someone for hours on end made her break out in hives. Not to mention the folks that would like tattooing in much more—ahem—personal areas.

“I have but—”

“I could be your first customer.”

Alice gapped; this wasn’t how she’d thought the conversation would go. In her head, she thought that Munson would take advantage of her quiet nature and take charge of every aspect of the project while she obligingly stumbled along helping where she could. Not—not whatever this was.

“Uh, I don’t have the equipment?” Was her reply after a moment of panic.

“Oh no problem,” Munson waved his hand back and forth as if swatting away a fly, “I got the stuff back home, you can drop by…” He trailed off muttering to himself, trying to figure out what day of the week he was free.

Alice bit her tongue in frustration, she wanted to yell out a ‘no thank you!’ and run like the hounds of hell were after her (again), but figured it would be rude to rebuff someone who was just trying to be nice.

Her growing circle of guys that talked/bothered her daily was getting out of hand. What is this, a reverse harem anime?!  Ouran High School??  She hoped not.

“Saturday!”

Munson’s shout startled her so badly that she reflexively chucked the pen she was holding straight at the metalhead’s face. Luckily, it missed any vital parts, unluckily Munson was now clutching his face and looking at her like she’d killed his dog.

“What was that for!” He wailed pathetically.

Alice leaned forward and snatched her pen back, hissing, “That, was for startling me. Do you not have an indoor voice?”

Now it was Munson’s turn to look gobsmacked before his expression turned into one of utter glee.

“Oh-ho-ho!” He cackled, “So you do have some backbone after all!!”

Alice gasped, offended at the thought of her being a doormat. Sure, she wasn’t confrontational. Sure, she didn’t speak her opinions very often, and sure, she struggled to communicate. But when it came down to it, she knew when to put her foot down. She knew how to draw boundaries, and she certainly knew when and how to cut off toxic people in her life (thEn Why…ShE...DiEd).

Huffing, Alice crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, glowering at the grinning boy in front of her, “I’ll have you know that I’ve been handling Hargrove since he showed his ugly mug in town!”

Munson snorted, “Oh yeah, sure.” He nodded unconvincingly, “You’ve been handling it.”

Alice narrowed her eyes, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

The King of Freaks shrugged casually, placing an elbow on the table while leaning forward and cupping his chin in a practiced casual ease.

“I’m just saying…from where I was standing it looked like you were letting Hargrove walk aaaaallll over you.”

Alice gazed at him stoically, but internally she was flushed with humiliation. She could see from an outsider’s point of view how it looked like she was just taking Hargrove’s abuse silently. But! Wasn’t there a whole thing that ignoring a bully would make them go away? Not that she’d been completely ignoring Hargrove. No. She was just…just trying to—

Okay.

So maybe Alice wasn’t the best at rebuffing Hargrove’s aggressive poking. Perhaps she was a bit of a people pleaser, yet she’d like to think that when it really, truly mattered, she wasn’t a pushover. When it mattered.

“Hell,” Munson continued his smackdown, “I even offered you a sanctuary and you turned me down.”

Alice’s brain record scratched.

What?

“What?”

“I was trying to be nice and bring you in but nooooooo—”

“What are you talking about?!” She snapped.

Munson paused to scan her face, probably looking to make sure she wasn’t bullshitting him. When he saw that she, indeed, had no fucking clue what he was talking about Munson slumped back in his seat and cursed.

“Oh, Jesus H. Christ.”

Alice mentally urged him to get on with it. She needed this misunderstanding cleared up, like yesterday.

“I knew it. I fucking knew it. I should have written more down on the note!” He groaned in dismay.

Tired of being out of the loop, Alice opened her mouth to ask once again, what incarnation was going on when Munson bulldozed over her attempted questioning.

“Remember that time you found me at your locker?”

Alice hesitantly nodded.

“Yeah well, I put that Hellfire note there cuz I thought—I mean, I figured that,” He struggled to get the words out, face flushing with embarrassment, “Ithoughtyoucouldjoinmyclub.” He finally rushed out.

Huh?

Munson backpedaled and continued his tirade, but Alice was no longer listening. Instead, she was going back to that day and examining things with a new perspective. Ok, so. Munson wasn’t lost that time; he was just panicking because he felt embarrassed at having extended a helping hand to her. Why? Because she was a girl and his club was full of guys? Or because he wasn’t used to being so nice? Whatever the case, she’d caught him trying to fix his mistake and ended up misinterpreting his actions.

Now, Alice felt bad for placing the note back into his locker. She should have just kept it and confronted him later. She winced, yeah I can see why he thinks I’m a wimp now.  

Alice sighed and interrupted Munson’s ridiculous over-explanation, “I’m sorry.”

He looked at her wide-eyed and earnest, completely different from his earlier suave.

“I’m sorry I didn’t realize you were just trying to be my friend. I should have talked to you about it instead of avoiding you altogether.” Alice took a deep breath, be cool you’re the adult here, “Let’s start over.” Sticking out her hand, she managed a small grin.

“Hi, I’m Alice.”

Munson’s lips twitched into a grin, dimples on display. Reaching out to grasp her hand, he winked, “Hi Alice, I’m Eddie.”

Chapter Text

Alice took a deep breath, raised her hand to knock only to hesitate and take another deep breath. She’d been going through this cycle for…she checked her watch—for far too long. Long enough that she’d imagine the neighbors watching her from behind their curtains and asking themselves just what the fuck she thought she was doing. This thought just made her more anxious and in the end, she clenched her eyes shut in frustration, held her breath, and just knocked.

The door immediately opened with a whoosh and Munson stood there in all his metal glory, grinning widely as he casually commented, “Man, I thought you’d never knock!”

Alice felt her face redden, “Oh um I—”

Munson waved her explanation off, “Nah no worries, c’mon in!”

Once again taking a deep breath, Alice walked into the home. Crossing the threshold, she was immediately hit with the smell of smoke, mold, and a smell that was uniquely Munson. It wasn’t completely a pleasant smell and yet Alice felt her tense shoulders relax a smidge at the familiar smells. It had been a while since she’d stepped into a place like this.

“Uh sorry about the mess,” Munson surged passed her to pick up a discarded tee on the couch and a pair of boots thrown haphazardly on the floor. He looked suddenly shy, previous cockiness nowhere to be seen. “I swear it’s not usually this messy.” He continued.

Alice mustered a small awkward smile, “No worries.”

And it really wasn’t. How could she judge his own personal space? A space that she was a guest in, it made her cringe to think of saying anything rude. Ah, the people pleaser in me is wide awake and howling, she wryly thought to herself.

“Right, right.” Munson looked around the room as if desperately searching for something to say.

Luckily for the both of them, Alice managed to grasp something despite her buffering brain, “So, are the supplies in your room or…?”

“Oh right!”

The metalhead scrambled to his room, the sound of things crashing onto the floor as he looked for the stuff. Alice idly gazed at the impressive collection of mugs while she waited for him to come back. It would probably take him a minute, she’d only caught a glimpse, but she’s sure that his room was a chaotic mess. Not that she’d blame him, of course. Her room was a mess most days. She tried to tidy up every weekend or so but there was only so much she could do before it went back to the same organized mess. Obviously though, she kept the rest of her house in tip-top shape, wouldn’t want to disappoint the parents.

“So!”

Munson’s reemergence snapped Alice out of her inner monologue.

“I was thinking we could make a paper mâché Christmas dragon! Because, I mean, who doesn’t like dragons right? Or, or! We could make like, a medusa head to represent the monstrosity gift giving has become and sculpt it out of clay! Aw but I don’t think I have that much sculpting clay laying around and buying more is gonna cost me…” His rambling drifted off as he set down the box of his supplies.

Alice inched closer to peer in and was pleasantly surprised at the massive amount of art supplies. She was amused to note that Munson probably used some, if not all of his drug money to stock his ever-growing collection.

“I can buy more clay if we need it.”

Munson looked at her in surprise, “A-are you sure?”

Alice placed her bag on the couch, “Yeah, I don’t mind using money for this. Besides,” Alice sheepishly shrugged her shoulders, “S’not like I can’t afford it.”

“Ah.”

The physically older teen hummed thoughtfully, eyes narrowing as he scanned her up and down, “Yeah, I forget you’re a Richy-rich.”

Alice looked down at her own clothing, a washed-out brown t-shirt tucked into a pair of high waisted jeans fraying at the ends and rips on the knees—she didn’t buy them that way, they’d just been used and washed for so long that they tore. To top her whole aesthetic, she had a pair of high-tops so lovingly worn. All in all, she didn’t look or act like someone with money to spare.

Honestly, she wasn’t big into shopping. Or going out at all, for that matter. This led to Alice hardly ever buying new things, and even when she did, she preferred to take her patronage to used and hand-me-down stores where there significantly less people—teens her age (in the physical sense).  

Wanting to steer the conversation away from her abundance of liquid assets, Alice sat on the edge of the couch (still too nervous to fully relax) and started pulling out her sketch book.

“I like the Medusa idea but how about we…”

They spent the rest of the afternoon discussing ideas, with the occasional abrupt question about Alice’s personal life (“What kind of music do you like?”) and her sometimes responding in kind (“Isn’t carrying around drugs on school grounds a bit risky?”). It was actually quite pleasant, and it wasn’t long before Alice finally felt her muscles fully relax and her leg bouncing slow down to a minimum (but she’d always be anxious. Always). Before long, Alice looked up to find that the sun was setting and her back ached from being hunched over the table for far too long.

Deeming it time to go, she started packing up her things. Across from her, Munson stretched like a cat, cracking his back as he did so.

“Welp,” With a satisfied sigh he pushed himself up, rounding the table he extended his hand out to her, “Your chariot awaits milady!”

Alice blinked at the hand in front of her uncomprehendingly for a split second. Then, as if someone had slapped the back of her head with some sense, she grabbed his hand almost too aggressively.

The metalhead took it in a stride though and happily dragged her to her feet. Alice barley had anytime to snatch her bag before he was escorting her out of his dojo.

“Sorry, I would totally drive you home but I uh, I got a deal in like, ten minutes.” He explained apologetically.

“Don’t worry about it.” Alice reassured, “I have to stop by Melvins’ anyway.”

No, she didn’t. But if it made Munson feel less guilty about letting her bike home, she would lie her butt off. She knew she would feel better about it at least.

It worked, Munson’s worried expression smoothed, and he gave her a small smile, “Oh, cool.”

Picking up her bike, Alice sent him one last wave before riding off hoping against all hope that this time, she wouldn’t run into any hellish creatures.

Not ten meters away from the trailer park, a blue Camaro zoomed past her. Knowing very well who the owner of the car was, Alice felt oddly touched that Munson tried to shield her from meeting the blond bimbo in denim—even after accusing her of being unconfrontational.

Feeling better about her interaction with her local drug dealer than before, Alice made it home with no problems.

X

“Jesus H Christ, this is your house?!”

Munson exclaimed immediately upon entering. As the question was clearly rhetoric in nature, Alice ignored him and instead focused on the blur of hairball that chirped in greeting, weaving in and out of her legs.

Scooping up her precious, Alice showed him off proudly to her fellow classmate, “This is Harvey.” she said, extending her arms in a Simba moment.

Munson faltered, then quickly stretched out his arms to receive the package Alice was so happily offering.

“Aw, aren’t you just the cutest thing!” He cooed while cuddled Harvey close.  

Alice grinned.

“You know I’m actually allergic.” Munson said off handedly, still snuggling the very pliant feline.

Alice’s smile froze, “O-oh, sorry I should have asked.” She reached out to take Harvey back, but Munson clutched the cat protectively against his chest and took a step back.

“Nuh-uh, you’ll have to pry this baby from my cold dead hands!”

She still felt uncertain, his allergies could be stronger than either of them feared. Seeing her hesitation, Munson relaxed a bit, “They’re not bad. Just sneezing and sniffles, promise. I wouldn’t have picked him up otherwise.” he assured her.

Alice eyed the smug face of her cat who seemed perfectly content being held by someone other than her. Shocker.

“Fine.”

Spinning around, Alice led them to the living room where Munson proceeded to ooh and aah over everything.

“Is that a katana?!” He asked.

She glanced towards the Japanese sword displayed right under the portrait of the man it used to belong to.

“Oh yeah, my parents were given that by a friend—Sato-san.” Alice pointed towards the picture, “That’s him.”

Munson took that information in and then whirled around to point dramatically at the full suit of armor posed by the doorway, still holding Harvy up like a baby with one arm.

“And that? Did another friend give them that??”

Alice shook her head, “No, they bought that at an auction.”

“Oh of course.” He muttered crossly, “An auction, duh.”

 Alice shifted nervously, “Um, do you want something to drink?”

Cheered at the thought of refreshments, Munson plopped himself down on the pink loveseat. He looked at home and Alice envied that, even if it was a front, at least he could hide his nerves a lot better than she ever could.

“You wouldn’t happen to have any beer, would ya?”

Alice scrunched up her nose in distaste, “No. I don’t drink…there’s wine in the basement though.” Then she quickly added, “Sorry, I’m not used to having people over.”

“Its fine, I’ll take a coke if you got one.”

With a sharp nod, she quickly made her way towards the kitchen. Alice chuckled when she heard the pitter patter of paws against the tiled floor as Harvey followed her to his food bowl located in the kitchen.

Giving a small scoop of kibbles to Harvey, Alice grabbed a can of coke from the refrigerator along with a sprite. After a moments’ thought, she also grabbed two cups and filled them both with fancy ice. Making her way back to the living room Alice hyped herself up for the oncoming conversation. She might have gotten into the groove of things the day before, but this was a whole new day. Anything could happen.

‘Anything’ turned out to be Munson endlessly chattering while they worked. He talked about everything and anything, from his latest D&D club meeting to why the human categorization of things was, well, stupid.

“—which is why tomato is a fruit even though it looks and tastes nothing like a fruit! And don’t even get me started on mammals because let me tell you! A coconut could be considered one according to—”

Honestly, Alice didn’t have to contribute much to the conversation besides hum and grunt at the right moments. It was nice. Very relaxing.

 “Shit!”

The sudden cry made her jump, pen tip sliding across the page and ruining her drawing. Scowling, Alice looked up and gave the older teen a ‘wtf’ look.

The look was wasted however, because Munson was too busy panicking, “I forgot about your tattooing!”

“Huh?” Was her eloquent reply.

“Oh man! I was looking forward to rocking some of your designs!” He pouted and slumped all 5’10” of him slumping forward to drape dramatically across the coffee table.

“Oh.” Alice struggled to comprehend why he seemed so bummed out about it; she wasn’t even officially a tattoo artist. For all they knew, she’d suck ass. Even so, she tried to find the words to comfort him.

“There’s always next time?” She suggested.  

Springing up like a daisy (or a dandelion), he asked, “Really?”

“Well, yeah, we gotta finish the project, right? We can fit a tiny tattoo session in-between.”

Munson beamed, “Great! We can meet up next Saturday again, unless…” He drifted off, looking hopefully at her, “…do you want to join our club? Officially. I mean.”

Alice winced; she had no interest in D&D she tried it once—maybe (she could remember a long time ago), but she felt bad just flat out rejecting his offer.

“I-I’m not—?”

Munson sighed softly, “You don’t have to join if you don’t want to.”

“No I—” Alice sighed, she was frustrated with herself and the way words refused to come out right. Taking a deep breath, she tried again, “I’m not really into high fantasy, but I’d be willing to hang out and be friends if-if that’s what you want?”

Munson’s eyes gleamed and he flashed his dimples, “Sure!”

And that kids, is how I met your fa—just kidding!  

Alice silently laughed at her (literally) inside joke. Looks like she did end up making a friend after all.

Chapter Text

Since their weekend powwow, Munson has attached himself to her side like a leech. As soon as she arrived at school on Monday morning, he jumped out of his van and ran to her all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. He tried talking to her, but as it was still too early in the morning, Alice merely grunted and side-eyed the rambling senior as a greeting. Surprisingly, Munson was quick to catch on and silently followed her into the building, practically vibrating in place with his need to fill the silence but nonetheless kept quiet.

Well, for about five minutes.

“You’re sitting with us, right?”

 Alice glanced at him, luckily not having to respond because he plowed forward.

“No. Let me rephrase that. You’re sitting with us. No if, ands, or buts. Heh,” He chuckled to himself, “Butts.”

Alice couldn’t bring herself to argue. Normally, she’d at least have some energy to at least not appear rude, but she’d foolishly stayed up. All. Night.

She just couldn’t—

She couldn’t sleep.

“Hey,”

Alice startled out of her daze, eyes snapping back towards the metal head who was looking at her with a concerned look on his face.

“Are you okay?”

She felt bad, a day into their friendship and she’s already being difficult. Alice forced herself to respond, if only for his benefit, “Yeah,” she croaked, “Didn’t sleep well.”

Munson nodded in understanding, “Oh yeah, I have trouble sleeping too.” He scanned around them, checking to see if anyone was paying attention to them. They weren’t.

Leaning in, he whispered, “I got some edibles. No charge~” He took a step back and laughed, “At least not the first time. I gotta make money somehow!”

Alice smiled weakly, appreciating the offer.

“Thanks.”

They parted ways after that, Munson managing to wrangle out a promise from her to meet up with him before lunch so that he could introduce her to his ‘little sheep-ies’.  

Watching him leave, Alice wondered if it was worth it. All the social interaction she’d been doing was catching up to her and she needed a break. Not now though. Later. After she made good impressions on her only friends’ friends.

Friends.

Alice still couldn’t believe she was friends with Eddie Munson. Out of all people, honestly, she thought she wouldn’t find companionship until much later in this life. Until the people around her grew older and more understanding. Until she no longer felt weird about being too mature for her “age”.

Shaking her head in disbelief, Alice turned around to walk back towards her first class. They had walked past the door earlier, but she’d been too tired to realize it at the time. The shrill sound of the bell ringing caused her to pick up the pace, she was going to be late.

Alice walked through the door right as the tardy bell rang. Highly aware of all the eyes on her late entrance, she swiftly walked over to her seat. In her hurry, she failed to realize Tommy Hagan’s attempt to humiliate her.  Eyes fixated on her desk; Alice didn’t see Hagan’s pristine Nike shoe stick out from underneath her.

She fell.

The adrenaline of falling face forward woke her groggy mind and she had just enough time to correct her fall. Unfortunately, she also overcorrected and ended up sprawled over someone’s lap.

The silence was deafening.

Opening her eyes (when had she closed them?) Alice looked up to see the very pissed off face of Billy Hargrove. She should have immediately tried to get up, moved away and tried to forget the whole incident. Instead, she froze, like deer in the headlights. For about .5 seconds, but that was .5 seconds too long. Scrambling up, Alice tried to regain her footing. This was made much harder though when Hargrove apparently thought she wasn’t fast enough and proceeded to shove her away from him. She stumbled along and managed to sit down on her own chair with a thud. There was a moment of stunned silence.

Hagan’s loud laughing broke that silence.

“HahaHaHAHAHAHA!” He cackled like a hyena, “Did you see the look on her face?!”

Slowly, everyone stirred from their shock and tittered along with him, whispering to each other, and pointing.

Alice’s face turned beet red, it was beyond humiliating.

Hargrove’s lip curled up into a snarl, “Shut the fuck up.” He snapped.

The silence descended again, but this time there was a tinge of tension in the air. Hagan stopped, brow furrowing in confusion at his leader’s ire, “Why?”

“It’s too fucking early in the morning for this shit.” Was Hargroves dismissive reply.

“Aw did someone wake up on the wrong side of bed today?” It was said teasingly in response, but Alice could tell there was an undercurrent of malice in his tone. Hagan was needlessly cruel in a way Harrington and Hargrove were simply not. Even to his own crowd, he liked to pick and prod at any weakness, enjoying the agony he inflicted. Hargrove knew it too, which is why he made himself seem uncaring in the face of his followers.

Or so Alice liked to think.

It was all fun and games analyzing the power struggles of the popular until you were the one underneath their gaze.

“Yeah, tired from fucking your mom all night.” Hargrove sleazily snarked. His followers laughed and order was restored, just in time for Mr. Rodriguez to make his appearance.

Where the fuck was he when I was being eaten alive by the pack of hyenas?! Alice silently fumed.

“Disculpame,” he gasped, “I had a quick family emergency I needed to solve.”

Through clenched teeth, she let out a sigh and tried to shove her resentment back. It wasn’t Mr. Rodriguez’s fault he was late, besides. Alice eyed the other students that were not in the popular clique but still did nothing to stop the bullying. It’s not like no one else couldn’t have done something. Alas, the empire was built on the backs of slaves.

Alice kept her head down the rest of the morning, determined to fade into the background.

X

“…and this is Gareth.”

Munson—Eddie as they were friends now—was happily introducing her to his friends who gave her polite nods as he called them out one by one. They sat in the cafeteria which was buzzing with laughter and conversations all around them. Irritating. Alice hadn’t set foot in the cafeteria since she was a freshman, determined to make friends only to find out that high schoolers sucked just as much, if not more, than middle schoolers. She’d started packing her lunches after that and ignored this whole section of the school building.

Jeff piped up after introductions were over, “I thought you’d said ‘No Girls Allowed’”

Alice felt her lip twitch upwards, next to her, Eddie scrambled to correct this, “Nonono, that was when—” He glanced at her then backtracked, “I mean,” he cleared his throat awkwardly, “I said that back in middle school, man. Totally doesn’t apply here.”

Gareth snickered while both Jeff and Gale smirked, Alice herself was sporting a small grin as she imagined a kiddy Eddie declaring to his best buds that girls had cooties and weren’t allowed in their group.

“Anywho~” He shot them all one last glare before returning to his grandiose way of speaking. “I was thinking, to celebrate this memorable moment we could do a One-Shot…homebrewed, of course.”

The crew broke out into approving murmurs, all at once turning to look at Alice in glee. While she hadn’t exclusively said she wouldn’t play the game. She still thought she’d have more time to prepare herself mentally for a game that required hours on end of on-the-spot thinking.

“So, newbie, you got a character yet?” They asked.

Alice winced, “Uh actually, I’m not sure if I—”

Munson cut her off firmly, “Naw, that she does not, my friends. Worry not though! I, Eddie Munson shall endeavor to help the Lady out!”

She squirmed, not feeling too good about the fact she’d been roped unwillingly into the game. She still wasn’t all too sure she’d like playing, Alice vaguely remembered D&D being mentioned as a real-life roleplaying game. And she didn’t like the idea of trying to act like a fool in front of people passionate about it. What would they think of her when she inevitably froze up and ruined their emersion? Alice shuddered at the thought.

But not trying when they’d so cordially accepted her into their group, felt way more disrespectful.

“How do I build a character?”

Munson’s face lit up as he launched into a long-winded explanation with the occasional interruption from the others to fill in the blanks or to clarify a few key things. All in all, by the end of the lunch period, Alice’s head was spinning with the number of things she needed to keep track of. On top of that, she now had a date for her first game, and she wasn’t feeling too confident so far. Then again, she wasn’t even on the starting line in terms of ‘game mastery’.

“Don’t sweat it newbie,” Gale patted her comfortingly as they made their way out of the cafeteria, “You’ll be slaying goblins like the rest of us in no time!”

X

Physical Education went on as usual. The guys were competitive as hell and the girls cheered and giggled on the sidelines during whichever game Coach thought of in his scheming little mind. The usual.

Coach blew his whistle and the shriek echoed annoyingly across the gym.

“That’s another foul Hargrove! Any more and you’ll be sitting on the bench for the rest of class!”

Alice watched with keen eyes as a shirtless Hargrove (seriously, was that guy allergic to shirts??) growled and stomped away from one of the guys from the opposing team. Surprisingly, it wasn’t Harrington who attracted his ire, just another poor sap who was just trying to play the game. In fact, it looked like he was actively avoiding the former king.

A few girls next to her sighed and stared hungrily at the sight of Hargrove’s titties.

Alice was staring too, but for completely different reasons. Something felt off about him, more than usual. Like that day so many weeks ago when she had observed Hargrove’s growing short fuse right up until he and Harrington beat each other up, Alice sensed a growing rage in the boy. Yet, unlike the episode before, he seemed more…controlled?

She watched as he shoulder-checked Tommy Hagan.

No. Not controlled. He felt more leashed, like someone had wrapped a chain around a rabid dog’s neck to stop it from hurting others. It got the job done, but it left the rabid dog with nothing to do except to stew in rage.

Alice observed Hargrove some more as he circled the court menacingly, and it was during his second prowl that they locked eyes.

There was a moment when an inexplicable emotion flashed across his face, then, to her astonishment, Hargrove’s face blanked. It was as if a wall came up between him and the outside world.

He kept the mask on for the rest of the day.

X

As she left school grounds, she took note of the red pickup truck Hargrove climbed into.

Chapter Text

There was something to be said about the human need for social interaction. A baby’s need for positive physical affection is imperative for their development, and the same could be said about fully grown adults…not that Alice was technically fully grown. If she recalled correctly, the human brain didn’t finish developing until the age of 25.

That is to say, she hadn’t realized how much she’d craved physical touch and positive attention until Eddie came along and gleefully kicked her blessedly unsocial life out the door. He was a (unsurprisingly) touchy person—at least with those he considers in his circle. A pat on the back, a nudge of the shoulder, an arm draped casually over another’s shoulder, and occasionally, he’d cling to the strongest members of their crew like a limp gremlin.

Alice could honestly say she loved being a part of something again. The Hellfire squad even knew when to back off when she was feeling overstimulated, keeping their bickering in low whispers and giving her space to just…drift. Though she suspected that was due to Eddie’s subtle nudging. It was nice. More than nice, it was great.

She finally felt like she belonged, no longer did she feel other. She didn’t feel like an old soul just going through the motions and wishing she was someone else, now she looked forward to her days and Alice felt like her actual physical age.

Which is why, Alice felt like she’d just ruined her blooming friendships with Eddie Munson.

It started out like this:

She decided to take a stroll in the woods. A stupid decision in hindsight, but she’d felt particularly giddy and adventurous that afternoon after successfully completing her first D&D campaign and thought it would be a good idea to sketch out some drawings of nature. Her house bordered the forest, so she just picked a direction and started walking.

Alice wasn’t completely stupid however, she did make sure to take pepper spray and a small switchblade tucked in her pants pocket. So, with a sketchbook in one hand and a case of pencils in the other, she looked for a nice place to draw and take in the nice weather. You know, before it got too cold and rainy.

Halfway through a nice sketch of a squirrel and his big nuts (ha!), Alice thought she had heard a cry in the distance. Pausing mid-stroke, she cocked her head to listen but after a few seconds of hearing nothing else, Alice continued with her sketch.

Then it happened again.

A shout.

It sounded angry this time.

Suddenly aware of the fact she was a young girl alone in the woods, Alice quickly packed up her belongings and sprang up to make her way home.

…

As soon as she figured out which way she came from.

What the frick-frack patty-wack made her think this was a good idea?? Oh right. It was that blasted shot of dopamine she’d gotten earlier from her successful social interactions with her friends (even now the thought of having friends brought out a surge of happiness).

Turning a full circle, she tried to find any sort of marker indicating she’d come from that direction. Luckily, she ended up spotting a tree that looked relatively familiar due to the odd angle it sat in. Letting out a sigh of relief, Alice stepped forward to start the trek home.

But then she heard the rustling.

She froze.

Muscles tensing, heart thundering, and ears straining to figure out which direction the noise had come from. All while having vivid flashbacks to the last time she’d been attacked by the wildlife surrounding Hawkins. Not to mention, the noise could very well be a hunter who might mistake her for a deer or some other large prey animal and shoot her. Although, upon further thought, wasn’t she too close to civilization for a hunter to be anywhere near the area? Surely, she hadn’t traveled that far?

The thought gave her the strength to move and she all but sprinted out of the clearing.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, so freaking stupid. She cursed herself repeatedly for the decision landing her in this predicament. Jesus Christ, if she survived this Alice swore to herself that she’d never ever step foot in the woods again.

Ah, she’d really let her paranoia drop since meeting her friends…not that it was a bad thing but damn if she didn’t need a little bit of it to survive this wretched town.

A twig snapping behind her had Alice break out into a run. Screw trying to be stealthy, she was not getting mauled again.

Yet, despite her increase in pace, the thing was catching up to her. Now there was no mistaking the sound of heavy feet chasing after her. Breaths coming in short with the combination of her panic and full-on sprinting Alice did her best to keep her eyes trained forward and on the terrain, no way was she looking back and tripping over a branch or rock like in one of those horror movies. Granted, she’d already done the white-girl thing and went into the woods alone.

She was proud to say that she didn’t trip. Her subsequent tumble had nothing to do with her and everything to do with her chaser tackling her to the ground.

She cried out in shock and wasted no time elbowing the bastard that had his hands on her, because it was, indeed, a human who’d been chasing her.

She kicked and yelled bloody murder, it was a wild fight for her life and at one point, she had a piece of flesh between her teeth. The man yelped and flung her a good ways away which she took advantage of by scrambling up to her feet and bolting.

Or well, she would have if her attacker hadn’t shouted, “MOTHERFUCKER!”

Alice froze.

Not because she felt bad or anything like that, but because she’d recognized that voice. Cautiously, she moved back towards where she left the piece of shit and sure enough, there was Billy Motherfuckin’ Hargrove cursing up a storm and stomping around like a mad bull.

“Hargrove?”

She couldn’t help it, his name slipping past her lips like a prayer to Satan.

His wild head of curls swung around, and his nostrils flared in anger, “What the fuck is wrong with you, huh?!”

Okay, now she was getting angry.

“What’s wrong with me?! What the hell  is wrong with you?!!”

  His retort only served to infuriate her more, “YOU BIT ME!”

“ONLY BECAUSE YOU ATTACKED ME OUT OF NOWHERE!!”

“I THOUGHT YOU SAW—” He cut himself off, seeming to realize he was about to say something incriminating.

“SAW WHAT?”

He stayed silent.

Alice wanted to scream, this time with frustration. She couldn’t believe this asshole, he attacked her because, what, he thought she saw him do a drug deal? That’s the only explanation she could think of. Unless…she thought back to the shout and she felt her blood freeze in fear, her mind going to the worst scenario. Did-did she almost catch Hargrove burying a body?!

She took a stumbling step back which was the wrong thing to do because it attracted Hargrove’s attention, his cold eyes pinning her in place. They stood there for a couple of seconds, both observing one another. It was then that she noticed his rough state, sure they had just had a rough tumble in the foliage (not in a sexy way), and Alice managed to get in a few hits and even a bite (she tried not to gag at the taste of blood in her mouth). But none of this explained why Hargrove looked like he’d gone through the meat grinder—an exaggeration perhaps, and yet…

She very much doubted that she’d done that much damage.

He could be a killer, or he could have been in a fight.

To the death.

Hmm, maybe not.

Then again…

With a heavy sigh containing both life’s soul-crushing weariness, Alice jerked her chin towards her home, “C’mon, I’ll batch us both up.”

Hoping that she wouldn’t regret her decision, she started her long walk home.

It took a while, but eventually, she heard the tall tell signs of Hargrove’s footsteps following her.

So yeah, that’s when it all went downhill.  

X

“Sooooo,”

Alice fidgeted in place, heart pounding and armpits admittedly sweatier than usual.

“Do you wanna tell the gang what you were doing with Billy Hargrove this morning?” Eddie questioned, his usual happy-go-luck smile gone and hands clasped in front of his like a disapproving principal.

“W-well,” she started, “he offered me a ride—”

“And you said yes?!” Gareth cried out in betrayal.

“I—”

“She broke rule number one!” Jeff stood up dramatically from the table and pointed at her accusingly.

Alice felt her face turn red, “No, I—”

“We should kick her out.” Gale somberly stated.

“LET ME SPEAK!”

They all went silent, even Eddie, who had been quietly observing the chaos quirked an eyebrow.

Alice took a deep breath, “Right, okay. Billy and I came to an agreement over the weekend.”

“Traitor!” Gareth shouted and they all dissolved into another shouting match.

Eddie raised his hand, and they all went quiet.

“What kind of agreement?”

She thought back to her and Hargrove’s conversation.

X

“You want to what?”

“Stay over.”

Hargrove stretched lazily on her couch, Harvey, the traitor, perched on his newly bandaged stomach. Hargrove didn’t seem to mind but, as she’d learned while administering first aid to the asshole, the guy had an alarmingly high pain tolerance. Reaching over to scoop up the cat in case Harvey was aggravating his wounds, Alice continued, “Yeah, I heard you I just don’t understand why you want a sleepover?”

Hargrove scowled (as usual) and snapped, “It’s not a sleepover, I’m not a fucking fag. I need a place to crash ‘till I heal up.”

“Uh-huh, what about your posse?”

“My what?’

“You know, you’re thing one and thing two?”

Hargrove sunk in further into the blush cushions, “Carol’s outta town and Tommy says his parents don’t like having me over, thinks I’m not good enough or whatever.” 

She carefully avoided pointing out that he knew what she was talking about when she’d said, ‘thing one and thing two’.

“Well, what do I get out of it?”

This got Hargrove to finally sit up with a pained grunt, “I’ll get the others to leave you alone for a week.”

“A month.”

“Two weeks.”

“A year.”

“Three weeks.”

“Two years.”

Hargrove bared his teeth, “Fine. A month.”

Alice smirked, “Pleasure doing business with you Mr. Hargrove.”

Hargrove shuttered, “Don’t call me that.”

She shrugged, “William.”

He glared, “Not that either.”

With a roll of her eyes and a smirk she settled on, “Shithead.”

X

“…and that’s how we ended up here.”

The group all looked at each other in disbelief.

“That…explains nothing,” Jeff complained.

“Never mind that! How do we know Hargrove will keep his so-called promise?” Gale protested.  

Gareth chimed in, “Not only that, but he only promised to leave Alice alone, he didn’t mention the rest of us!”

There were cries of agreement and Alice winced. Right, she hadn’t even thought of that, she’d been so baffled by the whole circumstances that she hadn’t even thought of anyone else outside the situation. An oversight that might cost her friendship group.

“Look, I’m sorry I didn’t think of that before but it's not like I’m friends with the guy! I just helped him out and now he’s helping me out!”

“And that’s the problem.”

Eddie finally spoke up, crossing his arms he leaned back into his throne, “We don’t even know what exactly you helped him out with. How do we know it isn’t anything against the code?”

That’s right.

The code. It’s a set of rules Eddie created for his group, a doctrine of sorts that keeps the group safe from outsiders while also acknowledging that they weren’t the only outcasts in the school. It seemed like a great idea at the time, and it still was to a certain extent but…

“Why can’t I help Hargrove?”

They all shouted at her causing Eddie to stand up, they all looked at him for the verdict.

“Hargrove is our greatest foe. As much as the general populace might want to believe, we do not make deals with the devil. You broke one of our most sacred rules, ‘don’t mingle with the enemy’ and now,” He circled around to her, “you must be banished.”

There were no words spoken.

No one stood up to defend her and no one looked her in the eye. After all the campaigns, the laughs, the hangouts, the freaking snacks she brought them. After all of that, one mistake and she was hung out to dry.

Alice felt something she hadn’t felt in a while: loneliness.

Standing abruptly, her chair screeching as it was pushed back against the cold tiled floors, Alice walked towards the door, only pausing once her hand was on the doorknob.

“You know,” she turned around to look at Munson who looked back at her coldly, “You complain that they treat you like shit and that they villainized what they don’t understand, but really, you’re guilty of the exact same thing. It takes two to start a war, Munson.”

With that, she turned around and left.

The end of one journey.