Jamie Edwards likes running, especially from her problems. Maybe that's why she finds herself on the cheer team a year after Will returned. Or why she made new friends when Eleven disappeared. And yet she doesn't seem to find herself running from th...
DEJA VU | I. "I ONCE MADE A THIRD GRADER CRY" (' THE NEW GIRL ')
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JAMES WAS NOT A NAME FOR A GIRL.
Jamie knew that and so did most of the world. It's why she received looks when her name was called on the roll or why people looked at her parents weird when they found out what Jamie was short for. James was a terrible name for a girl and the worst part about it was that it wasn't supposed to be Jamie's name at all.
Jamie was a twin. Or she had been a twin. Her brother had been three minutes older than her and ten minutes after taking his first breath, he also took his last. After sharing a womb for nine months, they only shared the world together for seven minutes. James and Simone. That was what her parents were going to name them, after their favorite artists, James Taylor and Nina Simone. Instead, the burden of the names fell to Jamie.
James Simone Edwards was what her birth certificate read.
Jamie adopted the nickname in kindergarten after most of her grade bullied her into hating her own name. The tribute to her older brother.
It was Will Byers who made her like the name.
"I think it's cool," he told her, "You're like the only girl named James."
Jamie smiled at him and Will returned the gesture. Will and Jamie had been the first of the party to be friends. And then Mike introduced himself to Will and then Lucas joined and then Dustin moved to town and their party was officially formed.
Or so they thought.
Eleven came along with little to say and so much power and that was when their party was officially completed. Jamie liked having another girl in the group and even though El was different, she and Jamie got along better than the other girls at school who still mocked Jamie for her name.
But then El was gone and they were going into eighth grade, the last year to get things right before high school.
"I'm thinking of joining the cheer team."
The boys were quiet at Jamie's soft admission before they all started laughing. Jamie's shoulders sagged as she looked at them and it was Dustin who realized she wasn't joking, that she was indeed serious.
"Why the hell would you want to do that?"
Jamie shrugs, "I don't know, we're going to be going to high school soon and maybe we all need to find our niche."
"We have our niche," Mike states, "This. The party. That's our niche."
"I can still be a part of the party and try something new," Jamie states. She points at Lucas, "Remember when he tried out for the basketball team and got cut?"
