Chapter Text
1976
There was a new boy at school.
It didn’t escape anyone’s eye. Nobody moved to Hawkins. Stevie had known all of her classmates for all her life, seen most of them wet their pants and cry for their mommies at some point. Not this boy. Rumors spread fast, though, and Stevie always heard them. His name was Eddie Munson, he had just moved in with his uncle at Forest Hills. Jessica from her swim team said Eddie’s mom was dead and his dad was in jail.
Beyond all, the thing was - everyone was talking about the new boy. Nobody was talking to him. He was a year above her, but they had the same lunch, and Eddie had spent it hunched into himself. Stevie knew what that felt like. She had never been shy, but people talked about her all the time. Even Tommy, who was her friend, told everyone she let him put his hands under her shirt. She considered Eddie carefully - she was going to be his friend.
After finishing up her lunch, she walked up to him. “Hi. You’re Eddie, right?”
He eyed her, a little distrustful. She put on her best smile. “I am,” he said. “Why?”
“I’m Stephanie, but everyone calls me Stevie,” she said, reaching out her hand like her dad had taught her. Eddie seemed to be amused by that, but he didn’t make fun of her. Instead, he shook her hand.
“Pleasure to meet you, m’lady.”
***
It surprised everyone, but Stevie and Eddie clicked pretty fast. She was popular enough to get some bullies off Eddie’s back, and Eddie was the smartest boy Stevie knew. He brought thick books to school and read them during breaks - books about dragons, and small people, and other worlds.
“I wonder how people can come up with that stuff,” Stevie told him one day, as they laid on the schoolyard. It was still pretty early in fall, and they could sit outside on warmer days like this. “Like, their brains have to be working so differently. I could never write a book, let alone a whole new world.”
“I think I could,” Eddie mused, tangling his fingers into the grass. “I want to, at least. It’s just - you can write anything you want, no limits. No Mrs. Conan to say this wasn’t what we were supposed to write.”
“You just don’t like the homework questions she gives,” Stevie said, rolling her eyes. “She’s a pretty good teacher, actually. You’re lucky you weren’t here for your third grade, Mr. Jensen was the worst. He always gave me more homework because I have a hard time writing. Like, so what if I write a ‘d’ instead of ‘b’ sometimes? They shouldn’t have made them so similar!”
Eddie shrugged. “Still, I don’t like her. She always looks at me like I’m about to give her trailer park cooties.” He gave up on torturing the grass and laid down next to Stevie. They were shoulder to shoulder now, her hair grazing his neck. She thought about asking him to scoot away but she liked the way she could feel his warmth through their clothes.
“I can tell her I got lice. She keeps touching my hair without asking me, she would totally freak out!”
“She’s just jealous, her hair looks like a rat’s nest,” Eddie said. “Also, don’t be silly, do you want everyone to think you have lice?”
She hadn’t thought of that. Eddie really was so much smarter than her. Actually, she was starting to realize that a lot of people were smarter than her, but Eddie was the only one who didn’t make her feel bad about it. When he was talking about something she didn’t know about, he always explained without mocking her. Stevie’s dad said she should read more to know more, but reading always gave her headaches.
She sighed. “I’m sorry she looks at you like that. You’re like, smarter than all the fifth graders combined. Who cares where you live?”
“Mrs. Conan, apparently,” Eddie snorted. They both knew a lot more people gave Eddie trouble about that, but Stevie kept quiet.
“What’s it like?” she asked, curious. She had never been to the trailer park.
“You can come over, if you want,” Eddie said. Suddenly, he looked shy. “I mean, I know it’s smaller than your house, and I don’t have a lot of movies or anything. Forget it, you don’t have to -”
“I want to,” she interrupted. “It’s boring at my house. I can come over tomorrow.”
Eddie’s trailer was very different from her house. It was much smaller, it looked very lived in. There was a hole in one of their couch cushions - a cigarette burn, Eddie had told her - and they had a lot of knick knacks laying around. Stevie’s mom would find it cluttered, but Stevie liked it. It didn’t look like it was copied from a magazine, unlike her house.
The two started spending most afternoons at Eddie’s. They usually had homework to do, but Eddie helped her with English and Stevie had a knack for geometry of all things, so it was easier for both of them. Eddie showed her a lot of unusual music, though she wasn’t sure if she liked it. Mostly, she enjoyed seeing him get so excited over it.
Stevie still hadn’t met Eddie’s uncle, though. He never made it back home before her babysitter Josephine picked her up in time for dinner. “He doesn’t wanna leave me alone at night, so he has to work day shifts instead,” Eddie had said. Stevie thought that in some ways, she and Eddie were more similar than they first looked like. Both were left alone so their parents could work. Though, Eddie got to see his uncle every morning and night. Stevie tried not to be jealous of him for that. Besides, she wasn’t stupid enough to miss the fact that her parents made more money than Mr. Munson, so it probably made sense they only came home every few months. Her mom always told her not to ask that many questions, anyway.
***
One day, out of the blue, Anna Maria Harrington called the house.
“Mom?” Stevie said, trying not to tear up. It had been months since they had last talked.
“Hello, Stefania,” she said, calling Stevie with her Italian name stubbornly. “I don’t have much time, but I just spoke to some of your teachers on the phone. I want you to stay away from whoever that Eddie Munson is, okay baby? Those are not the kind of people you should be spending time with.”
She frowned, trying to push back tears. This was why she was calling Stevie. Of course she hadn’t missed her daughter. “Why? He’s not a bad person!”
“Because I’m telling you to. I know what’s best for you, you don’t need to ask questions, just be a good girl. If I hear that you’re not listening to me, I’ll have the school send the boy away.”
“Mom,” she protested weakly.
“Don’t throw a tantrum, for God’s sake. You have plenty of other friends, good boys. You’ll forget about him in no time. I’ll talk to you later, I have a meeting now. Be good for your babysitters.”
Click. She had hung up. Josephine took the receiver from her and ignored the tear tracks on her face.
The next day, going to school was torturous for Stevie. She had tried to feign illness, but Josephine had no tolerance for her. She had been physically dragged out of bed and forced into a random dress. They didn’t have time for breakfast, so by the time they loaded onto Josephine’s little Honda, Stevie was hungry and on the verge of tears again.
Oblivious, Eddie found her right before first period and started to ramble about something. Stevie had no idea what he was even saying - she was trying to figure out how to tell him the news.
“Hey,” Eddie finally said, cutting himself off. He frowned in concern, a hand wrapping around Stevie’s elbow. “Are you okay? You look…”
“We can’t be friends anymore,” Stevie blurted out.
Eddie pulled his hand away. “What? Why?”
“We just can’t,” she said. She could feel her eyes watering again. She took a breath - it was undignified to cry in public, her mother had taught her.
As if he could feel their distress, Carol descended on them, clearly eavesdropping. “God, Stevie, did you finally realize what a loser he is? Better late than never.” She grabbed her elbow, right where Eddie was touching a moment ago. “Let’s go to class,” she said, tugging Stevie away. She let her - what else was she supposed to do? He couldn’t let Eddie know her mother was making her and risk the woman’s wrath.
Before Stevie was pulled into the classroom, she looked back at Eddie. He was rooted right where she had left him. He looked betrayed.
Angry.
***
1983
“You’re already failing English. How the hell are you already failing English? It’s September!”
“I don’t know, Carol. How are you failing Home Ec?” Stevie snapped. She knew better than showing her emotions, but Carol always could manage to ruffle her feathers. Stevie had been struggling with English for as long as she could remember - the mirrored letters and book induced headaches had never gone away - but this was the first time she was getting grades this low.
“Okay, no need to be a bitch,” Carol said, rolling her eyes. “It doesn’t matter, we can find you a tutor. I heard Wheeler is looking to make a quick buck that way.”
“Isn’t she a year below us?” Tommy asked.
“Yeah, but she’s in our English class. She sits in front of you, are you going blind?”
“Okay, either way,” Stevie interrupted, “you guys know my parents won’t pay for it. I can’t cut out that much from my allowance.”
“Just string along some idiot when the three of us go out, tell him it’s a double date. He’ll pay for everything. Boom, you're saving money.”
“Seriously?” She gave Carol a condescending look. “I’m not a prostitute. I’ll just have to figure something out.”
She still hadn’t figured anything out by the time her first tutoring session with Wheeler had rolled around, but she pushed that to the back of her mind. Nancy was settling in the corner of the library where they had chosen to meet up, setting notes and books on the desk.
“Hey,” Stevie said, sitting down across from her. “Thanks for doing this.”
Wheeler raised her eyebrows, all no-nonsense. “I mean, you are paying me.”
Stevie tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, feeling silly. She wasn’t sure how to talk to Nancy. They had never had any contact, but Carol and Tommy weren’t shy about their mockery of Barb. Obviously Nancy didn’t like Stevie in proxy. “Anyway,” Nancy said, flipping through some notes. “Is there some specific topic you wanna focus on, or should we work our way backwards?”
It turned out that Wheeler was as good of a tutor as she was a student - though Stevie’s struggle frustrated her, she never snapped and found different ways to explain concepts. At the end of the hour, Stevie was mentally drained but less confused about the material.
“Same time next week?” Nancy asked, quickly gathering her books.
“Uh, I can’t,” Stevie said abashedly. “I need to find a job before setting up another session.”
Wheeler looked up at her, her eyes sharp. For a second, Stevie thought she was going to ask why.
“Are you any good with kids?”
***
I need to pass English. I need tutoring. I need this job.
It was a mantra she had to hold on to, if she didn’t want to have a meltdown. Having to babysit 5 kids at once was a nightmare. Stevie thought they were old enough to take care of themselves - her last nanny was fired before her twelfth birthday, she had been practically alone ever since. The kids seemed to agree as well. They mostly just ignored her and any attempts she made to control them. She wasn’t even sure why she had been hired, until Mrs. Wheeler explained that Will Byers had gone missing while biking home one night and turned up next morning with a broken leg. Ms. Byers was too busy to helicopter-parent like she needed to and unable to afford childcare on her own. His friends’ parents had decided to help her out and hire someone to take care of all the group, relieving Ms. Byers from the burden of a full fee.
Stevie honestly didn’t mind it that much: she got paid well enough to justify the amount of kids, and she didn’t have to change any diapers or anything. Will and El - Chief’s adopted daughter - were sweet kids and Lucas was pretty harmless, but Dustin was loud and bossy and Mike seemed to hate her with a burning rage for some reason. Either way, there were worse jobs in the world. She mostly hung out in an armchair in the corner of Wheeler’s armpit-smelling basement and flipped through a magazine as the kids played some game, made them snacks and gave them rides home. That Friday night was no different. She checked her watch - it was almost 9.
“All right, pack it up, we got curfews. Who am I driving home?”
The kids groaned. Mike glared at her for interrupting their game, but he knew better than to mouth off after the last time Stevie had verbally eviscerated him.
“Me and El are staying over,” Will said. “My mom and Hopper are hanging out tonight.” Stevie raised her eyebrows. She wasn’t too sure that Will was fully informed of what those two were doing, but she wasn’t about to scandalize kids with the concept of their parents having sex. At least they’re getting some, she sullenly thought. Her own love life had been lackluster as of late.
After making sure Lucas walked to the next door safe, Stevie herded Dustin into her Beemer. He was grumbling about how they could still make it back for his curfew even if they left at 9:15 - not that Stevie listened. She had never actually met Ms. Henderson, but she didn’t intend to deliver her kid past curfew and get on her bad side.
Dustin threw his backpack to the backseat before settling into the passenger’s seat. Stevie honestly wasn’t sure at what age kids were supposed to start sitting at the front, but 12 seemed old enough. Plus, she didn’t think she could make Dustin move anyway.
They idly chatted as Stevie drove. He was an easygoing kid, but they had no shared interests so their conversations usually rotated around whatever song was on the radio and school. She also indulged him when he went on rants about DnD, though she mostly had no idea what he was talking about. Tonight was a DnD-ramble night, apparently. The kids had started a new campaign, whatever that meant, and Dustin had a new character. “Actually, hold on, let me show you the miniature,” he was saying, “it took so much time to paint but it was worth it.”
“You do realize I have to watch the road, right?”
“There are literally no other cars, we’re in the woods. It’ll just take a second.”
“Fine, whatever.” Dustin unbuckled his belt and twisted in his seat to reach his backpack in the backseat.
Multiple things happened, then.
A large, dark shadow jumped in front of the car out of nowhere. Stevie hit the brakes, the beemer screeching. Dustin yelped and his shoulder crashed violently into Stevie’s held out arm. She hadn’t even realized she had done that.
They panted in silence for a second, shellshocked. Dustin’s seatbelt was still off. He could have flown out the windshield if it weren’t for her quick reflexes. Fuck, he could have died . Dustin seemed to come to the same realization if his trembling hands wrapping around her arm were any indication.
“What the hell? What was that?”
“I don’t know,” she said. The shadow really hadn’t seemed like any animal she knew of. It was on two legs, but too skinny to be a bear. She was probably just confused, she decided - she had barely seen the thing. “It must have been a deer or something.”
After the near car crash, Dustin’s attitude towards her changed noticeably. While he was still as bossy as ever, the condensation had disappeared. He also started to talk to her beyond small talk during car rides, chattering about his classes and books. Stevie was just glad that at least one of the kids she babysat had taken to her finally - it wasn’t like she needed them to like her, she was getting paid either way, but it certainly made things easier.
His new appreciation of Stevie went unnoticed until a random Saturday night. Stevie had so many better things to do. Carol had given her a funny look and Tommy had just laughed in her face when she had told them she wasn’t going out partying with them. Honestly, wasting time with a bucket of popcorn and a rom-com at home would have been preferable to this, but her parents had been sending money less and less often so she needed to work.
Mike seemed to have the same feelings about her presence there. He’d been snippy with everyone lately, Stevie thought it was puberty starting to kick in. He was outright vindictive toward her, though. Stevie had tough skin but it didn’t mean she enjoyed being verbally torn down.
“Mike, oh my god, shut the fuck up!” Dustin interrupted whatever Mike was saying to her. “She’s literally just doing her job and sitting there, so stop being an ass and go back to the game!”
A shocked silence reverberated in the basement. Mike looked away, chastised. “Sorry, Stevie. I didn’t mean to be an asshole.”
“It’s… whatever. Just talk to someone if you’re going through something, dude. Don’t take it out of people.”
Mike gave her a look as if she had suddenly grown another head, but nodded nonetheless.
***
October brought a swift friendship with none other than Nancy Wheeler.
Stevie’s parents had come back and they couldn’t be in the same room without having a fight. Around the same time, Tommy and Carol had broken up again, and both were ranting at Stevie about the other at any given opportunity. Needless to say, Stevie needed a fucking break.
It was unorthodox to think of tutoring sessions as breaks, but that’s what they were. Just for one hour, she could spend her energy solely on her future. Being with Wheeler wasn’t so bad either. It had taken the majority of a month, but she had stopped being so professionally detached towards Stevie. Stevie wouldn’t call them friends, but they were definitely friendly.
Wheeler had been upset lately, though. She kept scowling when she thought Stevie wasn’t looking at her, and Holland was brooding a lot too. Stevie thought maybe they were fighting, though she couldn’t fathom what about. She had never had a friendship like theirs, maybe except -
Either way, when asked if she wanted to talk, Wheeler seemed relieved. “Barb and I have been fighting a lot lately,” she said, confirming Stevie’s suspicions.
“Why?”
“She’s been… angry at me. I don’t know why, she just keeps lashing out, saying things like I’m leaving her behind and that I’ll forget her if we can’t get into the same college.”
“She’s probably scared,” Stevie said.
“I mean, yeah, but it’s not like we would suddenly stop being friends if we ended up in different cities,” Nancy huffed, gathering her books with fast hands. “And even if we did, it would suck, but it’s not the end of the world! People grow apart sometimes, it’s natural.”
Stevie chewed the inside of her cheek. If anyone cared about her as much as Barb seemingly cared about Nancy, she wouldn’t just willingly let them go. It probably wasn’t the thing Nancy wanted to hear right now, though.
“It sounds like she has more to lose than you do.”
Nancy frowned. “What does that mean?”
Stevie wasn’t going to say it outright, especially not in public, but there was no disguising the way Barb looked at Nancy. Stevie had no interest in using that to taunt Barb or Nancy, or, well, anyone really; but there was no use spooking Wheeler. She ended up simply shrugging.
“If you need to hang out with someone who isn’t angry at you, you know where to find me.”
In the following weeks, Nancy took Stevie up on her offer more often than Stevie expected. They hung out in the afternoons where neither of them had work or extracurriculars, and Stevie ate lunch with her and Holland whenever Tommy and Carol were being too unbearable. Barb did not like Stevie, and she wasn’t shy about it either. Her jealousy seemed to flare up even more, though Wheeler remained uncharacteristically oblivious. Stevie didn’t mind that much - there had always been people who disliked her, she could live with it. Being around Nancy made it worth her while, anyway. Stevie had always thought she was a priss who had no life nor personality, but Nancy had turned out to be the smartest, the most ambitious person ever. She had bigger dreams than any of Stevie’s other friends - she was gonna go to a big city and become a reporter. She also had a dry sense of humor and a cute smile that made Stevie want to squish her face, for some reason.
It was at one of those lunches where she was sitting with Nancy and Barb that Eddie Munson went on one of his infamous tirades again.
Her relationship with Eddie was a sour one. After her mom had made Stevie stop being friends with him, Eddie had been justifiably confused. He had tried to make Stevie explain multiple times, but Stevie knew that if Eddie knew the reason, he wouldn’t agree to stay away. He wasn’t aware of how much influence Stevie’s family had. It would end badly for him. So she had kept her mouth shut, and Eddie had grown irritated, angry and then eventually hateful of her. It had crushed Stevie, at first. She had still cared for Eddie, still missed him. But as Eddie settled into his title as “The Freak” and grew more confident in his skin, his taunts had grown more and more cruel. They had piled onto Stevie’s hurt, had calloused into anger and hate.
She hated Eddie Munson. The feeling was mutual.
“And would you look at that? Queen Stevie slumming it with lowly peasants? What, you finally got the brains to become a nerd or did you misplace your crown?”
“I don’t need a crown to know that I’m better than you, Munson,” she said, not looking at Eddie where he was standing on top of the Hellfire table.
“Apparently you don’t need one to be delusional, either. We both know that I’ll leave Hawkins in the dust and you are going to end up the unhappy housewife of a rich asshole who doesn’t even bother to hide the fact he’s sleeping with his secretary. You know what they say, like mother like daughter, right Harrington?”
Fuck , that was mean. Eddie was vindictive but he hadn’t been that ruthless since she not-so-accidentally threw a volleyball ball at him during gym in her freshman year. She hadn’t even given him a reason this time. And nobody got under her skin like Eddie could, because he knew things about her nobody else did. He was the one she spent her lonely afternoons with, all those years ago. He was the one she told why her mom went on her father’s business trips. Her eyes watered before she could gather herself, finally looking away from her salad to Munson.
Something in his eyes flickered, but before he could say anything, Stevie faked a cruel laugh. “You’re gonna leave Hawkins in the dust, huh? With what money?”
“Enough.” Nancy’s clear voice cut through the intense energy crackling between them. “Leave us alone, Munson. We’re just trying to eat.”
Eddie seemed surprised that Nancy was speaking to him, but turned his attention to harassing some other jock. Only guys, of course. He was nothing but a gentleman to all cheerleaders except Stevie.
“Are you okay, Stevie?” Nancy asked, her voice unusually gentle.
“I’m fine. I’ll see you after the classes.” She gathered her stuff quickly and walked out before Nancy could respond. She could feel eyes on her back, but she didn’t look back.
It took till November for her parents to leave again and for Carol and Tommy to get back together. Nancy and Barb had declared an unspoken truce as well, and Stevie had gotten a B+ in her English essay. She decided that a small party was in order to celebrate it all.
Carol and Tommy were skeptical about Nancy and Barb spending the evening with them, but they still respected Stevie, thought she was taking a couple nerds under her wing or whatever. Since meeting Nancy, the high school hierarchy those two were so dedicated to made less and less sense to Stevie, but whatever helped keep them civil. Holland spent the night sulking in a corner, but Stevie did her best to ignore her. She didn’t understand buzzkills - if you didn’t want to be at a party, you simply could stay home. Nancy seemed to be having fun though, so that was a plus. Wheeler so rarely let loose, giving her this opportunity was the least Stevie could do after Nancy saved her grade.
“Hey, do you wanna stay over?” she whispered to Nancy when others weren’t looking. She had started seeing this guy who had just graduated from college and moved back to run his dad’s company, and she wanted someone to gossip with who wouldn’t get jealous like Carol would. Also she was kind of sick of Barb hovering all the time. Nancy chewed the inside of her cheek before nodding. Stevie grinned at her, excited. It had been a while since she had a pajama party. She knew some girls in cheer still had them, but she was Queen Stevie , who was too mature and cool for it. Allegedly.
Stevie and Nancy went upstairs a few hours later, once everyone else was gone. Well, she hadn’t seen Barb leave, but she assumed Nancy had walked her out when Stevie was busy making Nancy’s bed upstairs.
Come next day, she would regret not walking Barb to her car.