Marigold Lonsdale was still fuming with pint up energy from her unpleasant conversation with her sister, that her mind had been elsewhere during her afternoon classes. Her eyes had been glued to the sky outside; cloudless and bright blue. Even though there was a bitter chill in the air, she almost wished she was standing in the dry glass from summertime than cooped up in her American History class, which felt like it would last ten years. While her teacher droned on, her teeth had bitten into the tip of her pencil as her thoughts ran away from her.

She could not believe Daisy had thrown the running away to Memphis thing in her face like that, almost like it hadn't been hard enough to flee town and risk her life to find Duncan. Marigold knew her tale of adventure and living on the road for so long seemed just like that; a teenager's dream of escape. But her time away from Hawkins had been anything but a dream. Her entire year had been full of looking over her shoulder, hiding in plain sight and trying her hardest to wrap her head around the idea that her cousin wasn't dead and he had powers. Her life had been uprooted from everything she had known all because of the strangeness that circled around one dead baby boy many years ago. As much as Marigold wanted to fit back into the normal life she had once found too boring, she was not sure she could. And she was not about to let her darling little sister make her feel like total rubbish for leaving Hawkins to save their own blood and flesh.

With her mind reeling like a terrible whirlpool, when the final bell for the day echoed through the halls of Hawkins High, she barely noticed that she had chewed her pencil so badly blood had dotted her bottom lip from her teeth marks. Students around her packed up all their belongings and beelined towards the crowded corridors to find friends. Marigold, lonely and fuelled with bottled up anger and resentment, wandered through the corridors like a ghost. She knew her peers were watching her, they always were, but nobody made an attempted to speak with her. Marigold Lonsdale; the most popular girl in school without any friends whatsoever.

Attempting to keep her face blank, her facade in tack, Marigold found herself at her locker, piling away her textbooks and dying a little inside from everything around her. She hated this stupid town. She hated how the world here felt like a cage. She hated how her life had become some horror novel that she could not escape from. Most of all, she hated that she had wanted to return to Hawkins.

"You're bleeding, Baby."

Ass coated in tight jeans, eyes dripping with an overwhelming sex appeal and smoke lingering on his body, Billy Hargrove pulled Marigold from the depths of her mind with his musky voice. She barely had time to open her mouth, let alone think of a response, before the new boy in town was reaching forward and rubbing his thumb against her bottom lip. Marigold, who was always in control, almost forgot how to breathe.

Billy Hargrove let his lips curve up into a smirk, slowly and deliberately letting his touch linger for a second too long, before pulling away his thumb and showing Marigold the blood stained to his skin now. He watched the blonde blink wordlessly, something hidden in her light eyes. He almost enjoyed watching her fluster for a moment, before realising he liked her much better when she ruled their little world.

"Do you make it a habit to touch girls without permission, Bobby?" Marigold asked with a hint of a smirk, her facade snapping back in place so quickly. Marigold ran a finger across her lips, smudging the blood further. She however, did not back away from him but matched his intense gaze with her own.

He continued to smile down at her. "You know my name. Why not use it?"

Marigold tilted her head. "You didn't answer my question."

"You didn't answer mine."

While students circled around them, they both stood there frozen at Marigold's locker. The world outside kept on spinning and spinning, everyone moving on, but the pair stayed put. Billy Hargrove; brooding and beaten. Marigold Lonsdale; lonely and scared. Quite a pair of broken teenagers.

Once the silence had lingered on far too long, Billy finally pushed off the lockers and jerked his head towards the parking lot where his trusty car awaited. "Wanna' ride?"

Marigold, despite her better judgement found herself slamming her locker door closed and offering him a tiny smile in reply. Deep within her soul, she knew this boy was nothing but trouble. But right now, with her own boredom and self-pity, she knew she may have found the perfect remedy to kill her thoughts. Billy Hargrove would indeed make her forget all about her own troubles. Even if that was only for a blissful twenty minutes.

***

The car was full with static, the radio flickering with how far Daisy Lonsdale and Steve Harrington had driven from town. Town buildings and houses had faded into long stretches of land and trees but they did not stop. Right now, Steve wanted to be as far away from Hawkins as possible. Far away from the likes of Nancy Wheeler.

Daisy had kept her mouth tightly shut that afternoon, only wanting to be a support system for Steve, who had most likely just broken up with Nancy, but she still found herself wanting to ask questions. Deep down, maybe for a very selfish reason, she wanted to know what had happened. But instead of asking her questions out loud, she pulled her boots to the dashboard and pulled out her sketchbook to doodle away while the hum of the car made her feel a little sleepy.

Steve hadn't said a single word during their drive, just curled his hands around the steering wheel and stared out the windscreen. His jawline was set like rock and his eyes bled with pain, but still he kept on driving without looking back. His day had been shit; his fight and murky breakup with Nancy. And now he was sitting next to the girl he had betrayed once upon a time, but gotten back with a little luck.

"Can we talk? About anything." Steve blurted out. "Come on, you never stop talking."

Daisy glanced up from her sketchbook. "I'm not gonna' play this game again."

"What game?"

Daisy dropped her boots from the dashboard, eyes pinned to Steve. "The one where you beg me to take your mind off things and I bring up every other topic of conversation I can think of, when you jump in after a few minutes and talk about what you really wanna' talk about."

Steve frowned. "We don't play that game."

"Yes, we do." Daisy said. "So, let's just skip to the ending where you finally tell me what's up."

When the older boy stayed silent, Daisy let out a tiny huff and flopped back against the seat. Another few minutes went by and they didn't speak. It was torture waiting in the silence; cold and distant, almost like they weren't friends anymore. Daisy found herself wishing things were so different between them. She wished they were both the same kids that sat in her basement and watched horror movies. She wished she could turn time and relive the days where everything wasn't so strange.

Suddenly, the sound of brakes screeching against gravel and dirt filled the quiet car and Daisy was pushed forward, her seat belt digging into her chest. She was already mumbling out a curse as Steve pulled on the handbrake and cut the engine. He flung open his door and marched into the corn field they had stopped at. Wordlessly, Daisy watched as Steve screamed into the air as he threw out his arms. "Fuck!"

Daisy waited in the car for a very long moment, not quite sure what to do. It was painful watching Steve Harrington finally break. She realised that just maybe, he really did love Nancy Wheeler and that was almost like a knife to her heart too, because just a little bit, she wanted him to love her like that.

When Daisy couldn't stand the silence any longer, she pushed open her own door and weaved through the ankle deep grass to meet him. Without thinking, she curled her hand into his own as they watched the setting sun fan out across the sky.

"What happens now, Daisy?" Steve asked quietly.

"I don't know," Daisy replied. "But if you really love her, really want to be with her, maybe it's worth trying to speak with her again. Flowers always help, you know? Girls love that cheesy shit."

Steve didn't look away from the sunset. "You don't love that cheesy shit."

Daisy found herself slipping her hand away from his own. "I don't know, maybe all that cheesy romance and puppy dog love is liked for a reason? Maybe it's just...nice to have somebody want you and shower you with silly things like flowers." When Steve finally noticed her hand missing from his own, he glanced across at her with soft eyes.

Wind circled around them and he watched Daisy's blonde locks rip against her cheeks. He leaned forward, curling some hair behind her ear and gave her his all too familiar smile. The very one that she found herself loving a little more each day. "I'll buy you flowers." Steve said.

"Cut it out, Harrington."

He knocked his shoulder against her own playfully. "I mean it. Do you want roses or sunflowers? Or like carnations...wait, you totally want daisies, don't you? Daisy Lonsdale secretly wanting boys to buy her bunches of daisies. I like that."

Daisy couldn't stop the smile for creeping onto her face. "I'll punch you, you know I will."

Steve pouted. "You wouldn't kick your favourite boy when he's already down."

"Who mentioned anything about you being my favourite boy?" Daisy questioned.

The two teenager slowly moved back towards the car waiting to take them back to town where a lot of more crazy was about to fall upon them. "Come on, we both know I'm your favourite." Steve slung his arm around Daisy, guiding her.

Daisy rolled her eyes. "Woah, that ego of yours has a mind of its own, huh?"

A laugh sounded on the afternoon breeze, Steve throwing back his head as he chuckled. As they both piled back into his car, he realised something as Daisy grabbed at her sketchbook once again, trying to hide the tiny smile painted on her lips from him. He realised, that maybe many things would be much easier, much simpler if the world had aligned earlier and he had picked Daisy Lonsdale instead.

***

The sky was slowly turning orange from the setting sun when Dottie Fields finally left Hawkins High, her study group letting out later than she had hoped for today. Her backpack was stuffed full with textbooks and now melted candy bars and was making her back ache, but she didn't have time to stop off at her truck as she stalked towards the middle school. She had promised Daisy and Marigold that she would try to speak with the kids today, hoping they might know something about the monster lurking around her house again.

As wind brushed dead leaves across the cracked pavement, Dottie let her eyes scan the empty parking lot she moved through. She always hated being one of the last kids at school because it felt so eerie being stuck here after hours. Pushing away her troubled thoughts, she hiked her bag a little higher and made her way towards Hawkins Middle School. She knew her little brother and his friends had AV club after school today, making it the perfect time to attack them with questions.

Hawkins Middle was almost empty today, younger students already long gone. Dottie moved through the hallways with the sense of nostalgia floating in her head; it hadn't been all that long ago since she used to walk these corridors with Daisy and Mari. Weirdly enough, her time in middle school felt like a life time ago where things were normal and nice.

When Dottie finally found the AV room, the tiny dark place where five boys usually could be found was empty. "Damnit, the one time they're not being total dorks." Dottie mumbled, twisting on her tennis shoes and peering back down the corridor. That's when she heard a voice calling out, a boy she knew all too well. Mike Wheeler.

Dottie followed the noise, shoes slapping against the flooring until she found the group of boys circled together in the middle of an empty corridor. Her little brother, Micky, saw her first. "Dottie! What the hell are you doing here?"

"Looking for you lot," Dottie replied. She gave the boys a little smile in greeting and they each pretended like they were not in the middle of a monster hunt. "You boys aren't in trouble, are you?"

Dustin shook his head sternly. "Nope. Business as usual."

"Yeah, okay, sure." Dottie didn't believe them and found her eyes dropping to the new party member that was tagging along for the ride. "You're new." Dottie pointed at the redhead. "I'm Dottie. Micky's sister."

Maxine Mayfield offered a grin, her cheeks flushed red from all the running around she had been in the middle of just before, chasing a tiny little monster named D'Artagnan. "I'm Max."

Dottie turned back to the bunch of kids she had found herself in trouble with last year, but before she could even start her little speech about the monster that had attacked Butterball, Dustin's walkie-talkie was chirping with Will Byers's voice. Everyone started up at Dottie, who was already shaking her head. They took off in a sprint, each kid moving faster than lightning. Dottie breathed in deeply, already regretting her entire afternoon and followed behind them. When the group piled into the bathroom, they found no little Will to greet them.

"Shit. Where the hell is it?" Lucas Sinclair demanded, slamming open bathroom stall doors.

Mike Wheeler crouched down to scan the bathroom floor. "It honestly couldn't get that far."

Dustin was awkwardly readjusting his cap. "We can't hurt him, okay?"

Dottie, who was slightly out of breath, stared at them all. "He? What the hell are you guys talking about? What are you all looking for exactly? Is this some weird Dungeons and Dragons thing? Because I'll leave, I just have one tiny little question to ask."

"It's not a Dungeons and Dragons thing," Mike sternly told her. "It's an Upside Down thing."

Newbie Max turned to them all with huge eyes. "What's the Upside Down?"

Dottie ignored her, eyes pinned to Mike. "No. Fiddlesticks, tell me that's not true. We don't need another repeat of last year..." Dottie paused, mouth suddenly dry. "Wait, are you chasing something? Right now? Because something possibly Upside Down related attacked Butterball last night and he barely lived but this thing wasn't like last time. It was different, it was—"

A scream from outside filtered through the cold bathroom and Dottie's words were cut short. "What was that?" Max whispered.

Mike stared at them all. "Where's Will?"

Dottie was the first to move, pushing by Dustin and Micky, running towards the exit as her backpack slammed against her sweaty back. She hated running. But her legs pumped faster than the others, racing towards the back doors in the corridor that reached the school's football field. Afternoon sunlight hit her like a brick but as soon as she saw Will standing alone on the grass, fear and adrenaline kicked in.

When she reached Will, she threw off her heavy backpack and shook the boy. She was having flashbacks of the night Will Byers had gone missing and how she could have saved him from a world of pain, only if she had dragged his skinny body into her truck and drove him home that night so long ago.

"Will, hey," Dottie was screaming. "Open your eyes. Come on, wake up."

Mike Wheeler was suddenly beside her, the others catching up. "He's having an episode."

Dottie frowned. "A what?"

"It happens now, ever since the Upside Down," Mike explained further. "He sometimes just...gets caught in his mind or whatever. We don't know what happens. But it's getting worse. Much worse."

Terror filled Dottie's heart. "How do you wake him up?"

Mike shrugged. "We usually can't."

Dottie stared back at the little boy and watched as his eyes rolled back into his head and his shoulders started to shake a little bit with movement. Behind the group of kids, Joyce Byers was running towards them from the parking lot, her voice quiet on the wind as she called out her son's name again and again. When she reached Dottie, she gently pushed her aside and took her son in her arms and tried her best to shake him awake. Wind ripped around the group, Dottie almost in tears as poor little Will Byers jolted around in his body.

It last only a few moments longer, Joyce screaming her heart out, voice thick with emotion. When the wind finally died down, each kid staring at Will, his eyes snatched open. He didn't speak, maybe he couldn't, just blinked helplessly like he was truly stuck inside his mind. Joyce pulled him to her chest and combed at his hair. Then she grabbed his school bag without a word to everyone around her, leaving them behind to watch her zoom away from them in her ugly green car. They stood on the step of Hawkins Middle like lost souls.

Once the car was out of sight, Dottie spun around with hands on her hips and stared at the lot of them. "One of you better start talking, right now."