𝕣𝕖𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕥 || 𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕧𝕖 𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕥𝕠𝕟

ONE

The bell to signal a customer had arrived sounded throughout the store, catching the attention of Joyce Byers, the cashier. Her head perked up and she smiled when she saw one of her favourite customers - Irina.

"Good morning, Irina. How are you today?" She asked as Irina picked up a ready-made sandwich and a bottle of water off the shelves.

"I am good, thank you, Joyce. What about you?" She replied and placed her items on the counter.

"I'm great, thank you. Would you like me to put this in a paper bag for you?" Joyce offered.

"Yes, please." Irina answered with a small smile and Joyce packed her lunch away.

"There you go, sweetheart. Have a good day." Joyce said, handing her the bag.

"You have a good day, too, Joyce. I will see you tomorrow." Irina smiled.

"Bye, now." Joyce responded as Irina departed the shop and carried on her journey to school, which, luckily for her, didn't take too long.

Outside the school's main doors, youths bustled and shoved one another carelessly to get to their lessons or see their friends. Irina slipped through the crowd pretty easily and managed to get to her locker without being barged past. She opened the small door and stuffed her bag inside, but not before getting her chemistry book out. That was her first lesson.
She kept her book close to her body and and weaved her way down the corridor. The crowds were quickly dispersing and Irina took her seat in chemistry to quickly be joined by the rest of the class. Nancy Wheeler took the seat besides Irina, while Jonathan Byers had the on diagonally in front. Nancy was her lab partner.

"Hey, Irina." Nancy greeted.

"Hello, Nancy." Irina replied.

"There's a new guy. Have you heard? Apparently he's super hot." Nancy gossiped.

"I bet he is." Irina grimaced. "But you have a boyfriend already, no?" She asked.

"Yeah, I do. I would never get with the new guy, he doesn't seem my type anyway. But, Steve, yeah we're a thing, you know. I just... I don't know how I... feel anymore. It's weird. I don't know why I told you that." Nancy chuckled, awkwardly.

"It is okay. I don't like your boyfriend anyway. He is an idiot." Irina said.

"Why?" Nancy asked.

"Well, maybe not so much Steve, I take that back. But his friends are Oсновные придурки (major dickheads)." Irina cursed.

"I don't know what that meant but you're probably right. His friends are assholes." Nancy chuckled.

"Tell me about it." Irina smiled a little. She didn't smile at school often, so when Nancy saw her crack a little smile, she smiled wider. It's like Irina's smile was contagious. It was a shame she didn't do it more.

When chemistry ended, Irina walked out of class behind Nancy and Jonathan. Tina was stood outside the door handing out fliers to her Halloween party. She handed one to Nancy and went to give one to Irina, but stopped herself and drew back, handing it to the person behind her instead. Irina rolled her eyes and carried on walking, speeding past Nancy and Jonathan, who had stopped because Nancy asked Tina for two more fliers. She handed one to Jonathan, who protested at first but eventually gave in to Nancy's nagging. Then she looked ahead of her and saw that Irina wasn't too far ahead, so she set off in a little jog to catch up with her.

"Irina! Wait up!" She called and Irina stopped in her tracks and waited for Nancy to get to her. Nancy held the flier out on front of her and Irina raised her eyebrows.

"No." She said, plainly.

"Oh, come on. It'll be fun. I promise." Nancy begged.

"Do not make promises you can't keep, Nancy Wheeler." Irina smirked.

"Please? Just drop by for a half hour. You can stay with me and we'll have a great time. I swear." Nancy persuaded. Irina took the flier and scrunched it up into a ball. Hurt flashed on Nancy's face as Irina eyed the trash can besides them, but, with a sigh, Irina opened her bag and tossed the screwed up paper inside. The hurt changed to happiness across Nancy's face and she placed her hands on Irina's shoulders.

"You won't regret it." She grinned and the pair were joined by none other than Steve Harrington. He wrapped his arms around Nancy's waist and lifted her off the floor. Nancy let out a squeal and demanded he put her down through her giggles. Irina couldn't stand the sight, so she quickly turned to walk away when Nancy called her name again.

"Irina!" She said and Irina sighed but turned anyway.

"I'll see you there." She told her. Irina gave her a little nod and scurried away down the corridor to her next class.

"What did she want?" Steve asked.

"I invited her to Tina's party." Nancy said.

"You invited the most anti-social girl in the school to a Halloween party full of drunk teenagers?" Steve taunted.

"She's not anti-social. She speaks to me. Maybe she just doesn't talk to you because all your friends are assholes to her." Nancy defended.

"Good point." Steve shrugged. He'd never thought of it that way before. In his defence, he'd never said a word to her. Good or bad. Trust me, he wanted to, but he had his own reasoning for not doing so. She made him nervous. She was stunning. Different. It was that simple. He didn't know how to approach her because he was so sure she hated him. And for good reason too. His friends were assholes and he didn't exactly do much about it.