SKATER GIRL , STRANGER THINGS

eleven

It took Flora less time than what she thought to give Eddie the tattoo, walking around his club's room and asking questions as she went.

"So you do Dungeons and Dragons?" Flora wondered, looking down at the complex board and guidebook.

"That's Hellfire." Eddie confirmed proudly, lounging in his Dungeon Master chair. He took a blunt from his pocket, lighting it. "Do you mind?"

Flora shook her head. "Not at all. Might need one with everything going on right now."

"You know where to find me."

As Flora looked around the room, her eyes lit up. "Munson, I know these kids that would love you. They're absolute D&D nerds".

"Well one day they might just be in this room." Eddie shrugged.

Flora sat in one of the chairs, bored. "I'm feeling impulsive."

"Bad idea." Eddie said within a second, "Elaborate."

"Give me a tattoo, or if you've got the equipment, a piercing." Flora grinned.

Eddie sat up, now serious. "Good idea. Come on, Emery." Eddie finished his blunt, grabbing his equipment and marker, dragging Flora to her signature abandoned classroom.

"What do you want?" He asked, marker twisting between his ringed fingers.

"That nose one. Like a bull."

"That's called a septum, idiot." Eddie acknowledged, moving around the room to prepare the equipment. "You should be glad I've got gloves." Eddie mentioned as he sat in front of Flora, preparing the piercing.

"On three, Munson." She announced, counting. Before she got to three, Eddie had already poked the needle through and began to pull the metal through Flora's nose.

"Fuck that hurt." Flora rubbed at her nose, glaring at Eddie.

"So do you also want a tattoo?" He offered, grinning slyly.

"Do it somewhere discreet." Flora sighed, designs running through her head.

"Will do." Eddie confirmed as he waited for any specifics.

"You can do a smiley face on my hip." Flora decided finally, staring at Eddie, who had a smirk on his face.

"I kinda need an exposed area, Emery." Flora lifted the bottom of her shirt, pulling down the edge of her pants.

As Flora stood and Eddie sat on the sofa, she heard a snort from Eddie. "What?" She asked, only getting a shake of the head in return.

"Nice belly button piercing." Eddie ended up saying, getting a slow "Thanks, Munson," from Flora.

As soon as it was done, Flora said goodbye to Eddie with a flip of the bird, heading from the basement into the halls of Hawkins High and bumping into two people she didn't expect: Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers.

"Oh hey Nance, Jonathan. Sorry about Will." Flora muttered as the pair looked at Flora in surprise.

"Flora how did you get a piercing in the past four hours?" Nancy questioned, confused.

"Magic." Flora giggled, not naming the boy who did it.

"Okay, but we've got something to show you. Come on!" With that, Nancy was dragging Flora and following Jonathan to the school's darkroom, explaining everything Jonathan had said on the way there.

Once the three was in the darkroom, Nancy and Flora had no clue what was going on. "And you’re..." Nancy mumbled, hoping Jonathan would explain what exactly he was doing.

"Brightening. Enlarging." Jonathan stated as he pressed a multitude of buttons and switches, staring through a microscope at the will-be-developed image.

Nancy hummed as Flora spoke. "Did your mom say anything else?" 

Jonathan grunted, prompting Nancy to try and talk to him.  "Like, um, where it might have gone to, or..."

Jonathan slightly shook his head. "No, just that it came out of the wall."

The machine that Jonathan was using then beeped, Nancy and Flora staring in confusion as Jonathan sighed and took the image, putting it into a solution which helped develop the image.

Jonathan moved the solution around the basin as Nancy spoke again. "How long does this take?"

Jonathan shrugged. "Not long."

Nancy was trying to make small talk. "Have you been..." She paused, unsure of how to word it, "doing this a while?"

Jonathan's brows scrunched. "What?"

As if it were obvious, Flora scoffed. "Photography."

"Yeah. I guess I’d rather observe people than, you know..." As Jonathan trailed off, Nancy finished his sentence.

"Talk to them." She had finished with a knowing smile, Flora wincing at the atmosphere in the small darkroom.

"I know. It’s weird." Jonathan shrugged helplessly, Nancy denying his claim.

"No!"

Jonathan began to stammer. "No, it is. It’s just, sometimes...people don’t really say what they’re really thinking. But you capture the right moment...it says more."

Nancy looked up at Jonathan, curious. "What was I saying?"

Jonathan didn't know what she meant. "What?"

"When you took my picture." Nancy explained, Jonathan wincing as she mentioned that picture.

"I shouldn’t have taken that." Jonathan acknowledged, causing a scoff from Flora.

"At least you're aware of it."

"I’m, uh... I’m sorry. It’s just..." Jonathan couldn't continue as Nancy hit the people beside her, the image developing.

"That’s it." Nancy pointed to the thing, which both she and Flora recognised as the thing near Steve's house. "That’s what we saw."

Jonathan gasped, coming to a realisation. "My mom... I thought she was crazy ’cause she said... that’s not Will’s body. That he’s alive."

"And if he’s alive..." Flora and Nancy chorused, thinking two separate things. Nancy was obviously thinking about her lost best friend, whereas Flora thought about the kids- the ones who were closest to Will.

With how the kids reacted to finding the body, Flora only wished it was true that Will Byers was in fact alive and not waiting for a funeral.

Jonathan gasped. "Then Barbara."

As they were done with the darkroom, the three made their way to to entrance of Hawkins High. Before the three split ways, Jonathan sighed. "See you guys at the funeral."

"See you tomorrow, bye."Nancy muttered awkwardly while Flora simply waved, making her way back home.

Once she was back, she decided to take a shower to calm her piercing, tattoo, and stress. As she washed her hair, Flora loudly sang along to all her favourite songs, dancing slightly whilst trying not to slip and fall to her untimely death.

Once Flora got out of the shower, she chose to wear a short tee and lowly rising pj pants, moving over to dry and straighten her hair in the mirror. It was a strenuous achievement, her hair being quite knotted whilst wet.

Prepared to get the first look and admiration of her tattoo, Flora grinned.
As she looked down at her hip through her full length mirror, Flora's eyes widened.

There, clearly on her hip besides the smiley face, were the initials E.M.