frog enthusiast

Out of the bunch, you only ever really knew Nancy and Steve, mostly since you never felt like they belonged there with you, and you meant that in the most flattering way. Tommy H. was an asshole, simple as that, and Carol was basically a trash can with a mouth, just full of garbage. Steve was more of a special case. You didn’t like him, but you knew that wasn’t really his fault. It’s just that looking at him felt like looking at you, and every time you saw him you saw the same fucking image that haunted you daily when you’d wake up and look at yourself in the mirror. A loser who’s so fucking scared of being cast out that she’d rather be a miserable idiot with no opinions or thoughts of her own than to be herself.

Most likely ‘cause who you were scared the shit out of you.

Lastly, there was Nancy. Sweet, smart, good ol’ Nancy Wheeler. She wasn’t like you. You could tell from a mile away that she had a soul, unlike the bunch of you. Maybe that’s why you treated her the shittiest, hoping that at some point she’d have enough of your vicious digs against her and would tell you all to go fuck yourselves. Turns out, you didn’t even need to try that hard. The moment she left Steve for Jonathan everything started to crumble. It was soon after that that Steve got tired of Tommy’s shitty attitude and sent you all packing too, which you admit made you a bit jealous, but also happy for him if you were being quite honest.

Your happiness didn’t last though, since as soon as he left came Billy. He would flirt with you relentlessly, but you would shut it down every time. It didn’t discourage him, though. Quite the opposite if you were being honest, as it just made him try harder. Only after the mall fire did he finally stop. Since he was, y’know, dead. That year, Tommy and Carol graduated and that marked the definitive end to your little gang, but you wouldn’t let yourself be a nobody after all the hard work you put in to fit.

So, you made new friends, joined the Hawkins High cheerleading squad and started to hang out with the basketball team. Chrissy Cunningham became your new bestie, and you were once again at the top of Hawkins High food chain, officially untouchable.

None of them compared to her though.

Not thinking about her was hard. Being honest with yourself, there hasn’t been a day you haven’t thought about her since you both went separate ways. Robin had that effect on people. It was especially hard now, though, since you saw her every single fucking time the team had a game. Her and that stupid little red head she kept smiling to.

The both of you used to be thick as thieves once, in middle school, when you were still a huge fucking nerd and Robin was the outcast that completed your little duo. But then, by the end of middle school, you started to feel... different. Your feelings towards Robin started to change in ways that shouldn’t be possible, ways that weren’t natural. Girls didn’t feel this way about other girls. There was something wrong with you, you... you were broken. So, you freaked out, shut yourself off to her, and the moment the both of you started high school, you became a totally different person.

Yet, Robin had another version of the story.

“Hey,” someone waved their hand across your face. “earth to Y/N. What are you staring at?” Chrissy followed your gaze towards Robin, who made awkward conversation with Vickie Whatever-the-fuck-her-name-is, and you turned to look at her, realizing you were staring.

Clearing your throat, you responded. “Oh, um, it’s nothing.”

Now, one thing you knew is, Chrissy Cunningham, contrary to popular belief, isn’t stupid, so the moment she looked at you with a cocked brow you knew you were about to be called out unless you redirected the conversation right at that moment.

“So, um, are you coming to the party after the game?”

Apparently, that put her on edge, since she tensed beside you and avoided your gaze. “No, I–um, have to go home, y’know, get changed first,”

You thought about asking, but it truly was none of your business, lest it be she start questioning you about why the hell you were looking at Robin.

“God, I sure do hope they win something for once. It gets kinda embarrassing always cheering for the losing team,” you sigh rubbing your neck. 

Chrissy laughs in that all too charming way that reminds you of why half the basketball team trip over themselves to even get a word in with her. Big shiny smile and a cute tiny nose all scrunched up. Man, if you weren’t so hopelessly in love with someone else you’re sure you would’ve gotten a thing for her right away. “Don’t be mean, they’re… trying. I think.”

Nudging her elbow and wagling your brows, you reply, “You just say that ‘cause your loverboy is there,” a smirk on your lips.

The intention was to make her laugh, but at the mention of Jason, all she seemed to do was tense, a forced chuckle falling from her mouth. Once again you got the urge to ask, to see if she was okay. You noticed something seemed amiss a few weeks ago, but decided to brush it off. Now you’re kinda wondering if you should say something, but even if you did, you doubt Chrissy would actually tell you anything.

This was the nature of your relationship with her. To everyone else, you were best friends. You’d have sleepovers, go shopping together, gossip about guys, and whatever else girlfriends would do, but in reality, you probably knew about Chrissy just as much as everyone else did. There was no place between you for deep conversations or actual intimate talks. Not that anyone knew though. That was you, your life a carefully arranged act.

The game was thrilling, or that’s what you would say if you actually cared about sports, although you do have to admit it was more exciting than the previous one, with freshman Lucas Sinclair scoring and bringing the victory to the team, not a single second left to spare. The moment the game was over, you walked as quickly as possible to where you agreed to meet your supplier, but to no one’s surprise, he was late, so there you stood in a deserted hallway waiting for him to show up.

Man, Hawkings High was kinda creepy when there was no one around.

A few minutes later, you heard your supplier's annoying voice announce his presence.

“Aww, if it isn’t my favorite prissy princess,” Eddie Munson greeted teasingly, a big smile on his face as he saw you.

“Yeah, yeah, you got my stuff?”

“I missed you too, honey,” he said sarcastically. You raised your eyebrow and stuck your hand out, and at seeing your deadpan expression, he rolled his eyes and put his arms up. “Alright, alright. Yeah, I got your weed. Gee, I might get diabetes if you keep being this sweet,” he muttered.

Now, maybe calling him just your supplier was kinda mean. Against your better judgment, you couldn’t help but like the weirdo. You don’t really know how he went from being your dealer to your… friend, but you couldn’t be more glad it happened. You and him started to hang out occasionally since you lived in the same trailer park, and by the time you realized, occasionally turned into once a month, then once a week, then twice a week, to the point you’d always hang out if he wasn’t busy with his band or his D&D club. Hell, you would even go to his concerts sometimes, and help him plan his campaigns. Of course, you would never be publicly seen hanging out, and less of all dream of actually admitting that you care about him, but he– the way he was so unapologetically himself and didn’t give a fuck about what anyone thought… you admired it. It reminded you of her.

Everything seems to remind you of her nowadays.

“So, how did the campaign end?”

As he looks for your weed in his little metal box, his brown eyes seem to light up. “Ah, so you do care!”

His enthusiasm was adorable, but you tried to play off your interest anyway. “Pfft, you wish. I’m just interested in what you did with the amazing world I built,”

The look he gives you is skeptical as he hands you your weed. “Sure,” he draws out, “As much as I’d love to tell you, my fair maiden, I gotta meet another client so I’m in a bit of a rush,”

“Someone’s busy,” you remark handing him his money.

“All in the day of a devil’s work,” he says, arms open theatrically as he walks away from you. Before turning around completely, he shouts. “Ey, if you get shit-faced tonight save some for me, alright angel?”

“First of all, I won’t. Second of all, don’t call me angel if you want to keep your dick, Munson,” you shouted after him with a small smile on your face. He laughed and once again, you were alone.

Shaking your head, an amused chuckle left your lips. He acted all tough but at the end of the day he was just a nerd. A cute nerd, even, if you said so yourself. You were about to exit the building when a strong pain in your head made you dizzy, and you had to lean against the lockers in order not to lose your balance. Feeling a warm liquid drip down your nose, you lifted your hand up only to find blood

“Hey, you alright there?”

Fuck. Oh fuck. Shit. You knew that fucking voice, of course you knew that fucking voice, you’ve been hearing it in your dreams since middle school, fuck! Having a mild crisis, you questioned what to do, but before you could decide on anything she spoke again.

“Can you, like, speak up, please? Unless you’re like mute, in which case like I totally understand but if you aren’t um, like, it’d be appreciated. You don’t have to, but you don’t seem okay. Although if you’re not okay and want to be alone I can totally leave you alone y’know, I hate it when people don’t understand that, but also if something is wrong you can tell me, they say it’s bad to bottle things up and–”

You feel a fond smile slowly creeping up to your lips and can’t help but snort. “You talk a lot,” more than you remember.

As you turn to look at Robin you can immediately see the change in demeanor. She’s still in her band uniform, which makes her look a bit ridiculous, but you gotta admit she makes it work all the same. “Oh, it’s you,” the way her tone changes slices through your heart like a knife, but fuck if you don’t deserve it. She’s annoyed, you can tell, arms crossed, dismissive look; you think she’s about to leave until she gets a good look at your face and her eyes seem to zero in on your nose, eyebrows furrowed.

“Is that blood? Are you okay? What happened?” she leaned forward, as if to move towards you, but thought better of it and stayed in her place, although the look of concern remained.

“Yeah, just a nosebleed, don’t worry. Probably from all the spinning around,” an awkward laugh escaped you and you rubbed your neck, wondering how you’d get out of this situation.

Robin wrung her hands together, conflicted, as if she wanted to question you more, but refrained herself from it. “Sure, just… be careful,”

Placing her hands in her pockets, she turned around to leave but before you could stop your stupid mouth, the words had already escaped you. “You still care?”

That stopped her in her tracks and when your eyes connected again you could see a thousand emotions crossing them at lightning speed. Confusion, surprise, hurt, disbelief, before finally settling in anger. Fuck, that was a mistake.

“Believe it or not, I wasn’t the one who willingly stopped hanging out with you,” she said sarcastically.

“It’s–it’s not like that. I–”

“Yeah, well, you never bothered to explain anyway, did you? Just, ditched the loser and got a fresh new batch of cool friends,”

“Robin, I–”

“Hey, Y/N!” Patrick McKinney interrupted your conversation, jogging down the hall to where you were, smiling at having found you. As he went to put his arm around your shoulders, he finally seemed to catch on to the palpable tesion in the air, and looked between you and Robin confused.

Shit, you forgot. To prevent people from getting suspicious, you accepted a date with Patrick, one of the jocks from the basketball team. Morally, you know what you did was wrong, but out of the bunch, Patrick seemed sweet, and you know that he wasn’t as pushy as some of the others. He was the perfect candidate, and he liked you, you just, didn’t quite like him, as more than a friend at least.

“I’ve looking for you everywhere, you ready to go?” he sounded unsure, words trailing off and eyes drifting from Robin to you.

You stood there troubled, not knowing what to do. In truth, you wanted to explain the situation to Robin but really, what was there to explain? You weren’t about to say ‘Hey, Robin! So glad to see you. I’m sorry for the misunderstanding, but I just had the hugest crush on you, y’know. Been in love since forever and couldn’t stand having to be with you without being able to kiss you or without imploding every single time you got close to me, and I would rather die than have to be there for when you got a boyfriend and came to talk to me about how much you loved him and how cute he was. But I’m cool now so everything’s okay, let’s be friends again! wanna have a sleepover?’.

As you pondered on what to do, Robin decided for you and sighed irritated. “Have fun with your lil’ boyfriend,” she muttered as she left, head downcast.

“You know her?” he questioned.

“Just– just an old friend. Let’s go,” ´Patrick looked hesitant, curious to know more, but he knew you, and the fact that you even gave him a chance at all was too big of an opportunity to fuck it up by being nosy, so he just smiled, trying to diffuse the tension by making idle chatter with you about the game.

Not that you really listened though, watching Robin leave from over your shoulder as you exited the school, headed to the party, and on your way out you could’ve sworn that you heard a clock ticking.

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Interlude I | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Interlude II

Robin’s route: Part 9 | Part 10