YOU BELONG WITH ME, steve harrington.

024.

NOVEMBER 2ND, 1984
📍hawkins high school
8:42 AM

josie quickly got out of her car, grabbing her bag and entering the school building. she hastily made her way towards her math classroom, opening the door.

"nice of you to join us, miss hopper," the teacher, mrs andrews said upon her arrival. "you're late."

"only by, like, four minutes! i'm sorry," josie responded, feeling all eyes on her. "traffic was bad.."

"and whose fault is that?" mrs andrews asked.

josie's eyebrows furrowed. "uh, the traffics?"

"wrong. it's yours," she stated firmly.

"how is it my fau-"

"take a seat, miss hopper!" the teacher interrupted. "you're lucky i'm not giving you a detention.. or two!. one, for your tardiness, and the second, for your disruption."

"my disruption?" the girl scoffed.

"do not give me that attitude," she spat. "i will give you a detention."

"i don't think my dad would like that very much," josie smirked. she knew from all the parent-teacher meetings that mrs andrews had a thing for her dad.

the teacher faltered for a moment. "sit down and shush."

"thank you," she smiled sweetly, rolling her eyes as she walked to her usual seat. "bitch."

- 🫶☁️💘 -

NOVEMBER 2ND, 1984
📍hawkins high school
9:13 AM

"okay, i want you to try and work out this equation," mrs andrew said, writing one on the chalkboard. "you have one minute, starting now."

the students put their heads down, beginning to calculate an answer. josie got one pretty quickly, but noticed several of her class members looking confused, one of them being steve who sat to her left.

"time up!" the teacher announced. "let's see whose been quiet... mr harrington, what did you get?"

"uh.." steve mumbled, looking down at his paper. "well, uh, if you multiply that by.. and then.. uh..."

"not paying enough attention to the class, mr harrington?"

"no i have, sorry, uh.." he stuttered, and josie watched as he desperately tried to come up with an answer.

she raised her hand up to her face, acting as if she was scratching her nose and whispered, "30,183."

"30,183?" steve repeated.

"that is correct, mr harrington," the teacher sneered. "i'm glad we got there eventually... now, let's see..."

steve turned to face josie. "thanks for that," he said quietly.

she smiled awkwardly. "don't worry about it."

- 🫶☁️💘 -

NOVEMBER 2ND, 1984
📍hawkins high school
11:12 PM

josie was searching the school for both jonathan or nancy, unable to find either. she hadn't seen them since yesterday lunch, when they left to go to radioshack for whatever reason.

she had a free period, and usually jonathan had one at this time too, as he tended to skip pe.

she checked the library, no sign of either of them, and was now on her way to the darkroom where she thought jonathan might be developing photos.

she opened the door cautiously, only for someone to hiss, "hey!"

"i'm sorry," she apologized, closing the door.

she sighed, thinking of any other place she hadn't checked. the only place she hadn't was the gymnasium, so she began making her way there.

she doubted the boy would be in there, as he rarely ever attended a pe lesson, but decided to ease her mind by crossing it off her list.

she pulled the door open, stepping inside and seeing the boys playing a game of basketball, the teams separated into shirts and skins. immediately, she grimaced at the heavy smell of sweat in the air.

glancing around the room, she saw steve and billy in a feud in the middle of the court, a basketball bouncing in between them, but paid no mind to it.

"miss hopper!" the pe teacher, mr russell exclaimed, approaching her. "come to stare at some boys instead of studying, huh?"

"oh, no, i.. i was just looking for someone, but he's not here, so i'll be going.." she said awkwardly, heading back towards the door. "it stinks in here, by the way."

"hey, josie! you looking for that little boyfriend of yours?" billy called after her. "because, rumor has it, he skipped yesterday with some chick and hasn't been seen since..."

josie rolled her eyes, putting up her middle finger as she exited the hall.

billy sighed. "i love it when they play hard to get."

"or maybe, she's just not interested," steve spat from beside him.

billy turned to look at him curiously. "i see what's going on here, harrington.. you have a thing for her too."

steve didn't confirm or deny billy's claims, instead choosing to stare at him blankly.

"well, may the best guy win the prize.."

"'the prize'? what is she, a goddamn object?" steve hissed in anger. he didn't care how close he and josie were, he would always defend her. especially against creeps like billy hargrove.

billy scoffed, taking a step closer to him. "don't fucking talk to me like that, harrington."

"don't fucking talk about josie like that, hargrove," steve responded, before barging past him to go get a drink from his water bottle.

- 🫶☁️💘 -

NOVEMBER 2ND, 1984
📍hopper cabin
15:39 PM

eleven heard a car outside, and jumped up to look out the window, noticing josie pulling in. she quickly used her mind to gather up the files and put them back in the box, before putting it back under the floorboards.

josie did the usual knock at the door, and el came and opened it for her.

"hey there," josie smiled, stepping inside. she noticed the house looked tidier than it did before she left for school. "glad to see you cleaned up."

she saw a floorboard sticking up, and quickly moved it back into place, hoping eleven hadn't seen what was underneath - all her dad's files about hawkins lab and terry ives, who was eleven's biological mother.

clearing her throat awkwardly, she turned to ask the younger girl, "you hungry?"

- 🫶☁️💘 -

this is such a boring filler chapter ugh
mainly bc i didn't know where to
put josie in this episode but yeah 😜

WORD COUNT - 1011.