𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐏𝐒𝐄 | 𝐬.𝐡.

𝟎𝟏. 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐌𝐞

  Lorelei barged through the doors of the High School, her bicycle being discarded on the floor in a haste. She winced at the sound of her sneakers squeaking against the floor - a sound that never failed to irritate her to no extent. 

  A smile came over her face when she located the gymnasium doors. Her hands pushed it open, and once more, Lorelei winced as a loud sound erupted all over the large area. The door hinge squeaked and a few heads turned in her direction, only to turn back once they saw that she was nothing interesting.

  "Steve Harrington." the Principal called out loudly over the microphone. 

  And then there was Steve. She didn't even know how to express her relationship with him anymore. They were friends - that was for sure. Lorelei was certain that they hadn't gone so much as two days without talking after everything that had happened with the upside-down. 

  But she didn't really know what to make of it. Ever since the Snowball, things had felt a bit off. She would notice his eyes straying on her for longer than he probably wished they would - longer than they should. And in return, Lorelei had to hide a blush every time that they touched in any way, or even when he would glance her way with those stupid brown eyes.

  But he was her friend above anything else. And besides, she was still certain that he was getting over Nancy; after all, that breakup had rocked him to his very core. Lorelei guessed it was hard to come back from that.

  Still, every time she would think of him as anything else, her mind would push it away. He was her friend. The guy that sang with her in the car whenever he gave her a ride to school, the person that she would vent to whenever she couldn't sleep at night, and the only person she felt like she could talk to about her troubles sleeping - no one else listened as much as he did.

  So yeah, they were friends. 

  That was settled.

  Lorelei's eyes widened at Principal Higgins' voice, and she made quick work of running over to the chairs and sitting on the first one she found. She sat down just in time to see a very jittery Steve walk up to the stage. He was dawning the traditional cap and gown, and Lorelei could only guess that he was very upset at the fact that the hat was hiding what he called his 'best feature.'

  Her gaze followed him as he walked over to Principal Higgins, who was waiting for him with an unimpressed look. Steve grabbed the diploma in his hand and used the other one to touch his graduation cap with a proud smile and his chest puffed out. 

  Before he walked out the stage, his eyes turned to the crowd, searching for something. When they landed on Lorelei, he smiled at her, and it seemed as though he breathed out a sigh of relief upon noticing that she had come after all. She smiled back, of course, her hands lifting in a minuscule wave at him before he scurried off the stage.

  The rest of the graduation ceremony went by slowly, with Lorelei clapping quite unenthusiastically every now and then. She didn't really know most of the people from Steve's class, and to be frank, most of the ones she did know sucked - or maybe she hadn't actually given them the chance to prove her otherwise. But either way, she didn't really care enough about them to give a damn that they were graduating.

  By the time the ceremony finished, Lorelei was almost falling asleep. Truthfully, the only thing that prevented her from sleeping was the fact that the chairs had to be the most uncomfortable she had ever sat on.