she quickly put on her shoes, then they headed out the door.
"thanks." she said, quietly, once the door was closed.
"yeah, no worries." he replied, trying to act like he didn't care.
they both got into steve's car and he began driving them to school.
"does it hurt?" steve asked, after a few minutes of silence.
"not at all." she lied.
"yeah, okay, good." he replied, still trying to act unbothered.
this made alice chuckle, but she tried not to show it.
they arrived at hawkins middle school.
"have a good day, dipshit." steve said, as she got out the car at the middle school.
"yeah you too asshat." she smiled, before walking into the building.
she walked through the corridors, towards her locker, with her head held high.
she was like royalty at hawkins middle, thanks to her brother.
"hey alice!" somebody yelled, as she approached her locker.
she turned around to see: mike, lucas, will and dustin.
"hi!" she smiled, a little frustrated.
"can we finally convince you to come over this weekend?" mike asked her.
they'd spent the whole school year so far trying to get her to play d&d with them, but she still had no clue what that was.
"well, i don't know.." she trailed off.
"you can just watch if you want, we're very entertaining." dustin smiled.
"okay fine." she sighed, she couldn't say no to that smile.
"okay, so sunday. you know what, we'll just write it all down for you." mike rambled.
"alright." she smiled.
she put some of her belongings away into her locker, but kept her books for first and second period in her school bag.
the school day was boring
her last period was science, with mr clark. she was very happy about that. it was her favourite.
"how are you today alice?" mr clarke asked as she entered the room, a little early.
"i'm okay." she replied.
he then noticed a faint handprint on her cheek, but tried to ignore it as other students came into the classroom.
"good afternoon alice!" stacey albright smiled, taking a seat next to the girl.
"afternoon stace, can i call you that?" alice asked, sarcastically.
"uh, sure." stacey replied.
alice didn't really hate anyone, but she the closest she got to hatred was stacey. the girl was so concerned with popularity and only spoke to alice because of her brother.
mr clarke began talking about refraction and she scribbled down notes to the best of her ability. she was tired.
that was completely her own fault though.
"can anybody tell me why we see all these colours when light is refracted?" mr clarke asked, after having shown them a quick demonstration with the lights off.
alice raised her hand.
mr clarke seemed surprised by this. "yes, alice."
"well, all the colours that make up white light are refracted by slightly different amounts so when the light leaves the glass we can see them all. it's how rainbows and things are formed." she explained, having already accidentally learned lots about refraction.
"yes, precisely." mr clarke smiled, incredibly proud of the girl who almost never answered questions willingly.
mike, dustin, lucas and will all looked at her with shocked expressions, they knew she wasn't dumb, but they'd kind of assumed she was like most of the popular people: not smart.
but she was smart, especially when it came to english. besides, she spent most of her nights studying in her bedroom or reading something from her endless rows of books she kept on wonky shelves.
once the class was finally over, she packed up her belongings and began to leave.
mike walked up beside her and handed her a folded up piece of paper.
"that's all the details for sunday, top secret, don't let anyone else see it." he said, with a very serious expression.
"see you on sunday." alice smiled, kind of, then left.
she got everything out of her locker and went outside to wait for steve.
she read: 'the importance of being earnest' by oscar wilde while she waited.
steve arrived in his car fifteen minutes later, despite it being like a two minute drive from the high school.
she put her book away and got into the car.
"you look like a nerd when you do that." steve said, once she'd sat down.
"do what?" alice questioned.
"read." he replied. "i only read for english class."
"i didn't know you could read." she smirked.
he rolled his eyes and began driving them home. he pressed play on the car stereo and obnoxious music started playing, while alice stared out the window.
word count: 1135
'i was too scared to jump in'
chapter one
Start from the beginning
