There's No Place Like Hawkins//Stranger Things. SH

SIXTY SIX

Cat shook her head. "No, I'm meeting Eddie there. Barb's driving me." At the odd look on her parents' faces she added, "She got her licence a few weeks ago. We'll be okay."

"And is Barb driving you home after?" James asked.

Cat walked over to the window, seeing a car pull up outside. "Um, Eddie's gonna drop me off." She began walking to the door, not wanting to leave her friend hanging outside for too long.

"Catherine, are we ever going to meet this boyfriend of yours?" Her mother asked. She wouldn't usually ask such a question but the thought had been bugging her for a while. "You've been dating this... Eddie for almost two months now and you've yet to introduce him to us."

Cat gulped as she pulled the front door open, looking over her shoulder at her mom. "Oh, uh... You'll meet him soon. I promise." She sent her family one last smile before disappearing out of the house, making her way to Barb's car.

***

Cat linked her arms with both Nancy and Barb's as they made their way into the school hall. Sure they'd been to many school dances back in middle school, but this was high school. It was different, and Cat could feel her nerves shooting through every vein in her body. "I'll see you two later, yeah?" She said to her best friends, locking eyes with Eddie across the hall.

"Yeah, we'll see you around Cat." Nancy smiled, watching as the girl let go of their arms and skipped across the hall to her date.

"Well, well, well." Eddie smiled as he threw his arm around Cat's shoulder. "Don't you clean up well Henderson."

Cat chuckled, leaning into his side. "I could say the same for you, Munson." She laughed, placing a kiss on his cheek. "I don't think I've ever seen you in a suit."

"First and last time." Eddie joked, leading her to the table filled with drinks. "What's your poison for tonight?" He asked, looking from the array of beverages to Cat.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I'd say punch, but then again someone's probably hijacked it with alcohol." Her eyes surveyed the room, looking around at all her dressed up peers. Her gaze landed on Steve Harrington and she unknowingly tensed up slightly. He was with some girl Cat had never been bothered to speak to- no doubt a popular- with his hands round her waist.

The pair were childhood friends, meeting at age five when Cat was pushed off the climbing frame by some older boys. But since starting Hawkins High, the pair had barely hung out. Steve would always be with the popular kids- in particular Carol Perkins and Tommy Hagan who Cat despised with a passion-, and Cat would be left to hang out with the older siblings of her brother's friends. She didn't mind this, Jonathan and Nancy (and of course Barbara) were lovely people and had Cat had quickly become closer friends with them. But it hurt to see that Steve Harrington was slowly drifting away from her.

"On second thoughts," Cat spoke again, turning her gaze back to Eddie as Steve begun snogging his date. "I'll brave the punch." She reached forward, pouring herself a cup. She grimaced as she downed the beverage, the alcohol prominent in the drink. "Yep, that's been spiked." She laughed, gagging slightly from the taste. Cat spared one last look to Steve and the girl he was with, irritated with how happy he looked. Against her better judgement, she poured herself another drink, turning her back on Steve Harrington and his date. If he couldn't even look at her at the school dance then he wasn't worth her time, Cat decided in that moment. She was done with Steve Harrington.

***

Cat shot up in bed, slamming her hand down on her alarm clock to turn it off. She groaned, running her hand across her face. She hadn't had a dream like that in a while, nowadays they tended to be nightmares from the events of the past few years- Hawkins in danger, someone she loves dying and the Upside Down tearing apart her town. But dreaming of an old memory, that hadn't occurred in a very long time. Before she could wake up properly, the phone on her chest on drawers began to ring. Cat sighed, climbing out of her bed and crossing the room to the phone. "Hello?" She spoke into the receiver.