Californication

66. Donations

You hopped back into the BMW with your new friends, only getting out when you pulled up outside Hawkins High.

You stepped out onto the pavement, mingling into the crowd of other donors as you and Robin continued chatting.

You had grown to like Robin in the short time you'd known her and you were glad it was hers house you were staying at tonight.

You preferred her to any of the other Hawkin's gang. Although, to be fair, you did quite like Steve and Dustin.

"Alright, you take these boxes Y/n."

Steve dumped about three boxes on your shoulders, you could barely see.

Great.

You awkwardly walked towards the building with the others who had equally as many boxes, careful not to trip or bump into anyone.

The car park was busier than you thought possible. Cars drove in and out, delivering help to those who were impacted by 'the earthquake.'

You thought it was good that you were putting an effort into helping these, and you were glad you were becoming closer to the rest of 'The Party' in the process.

You followed Steve, Robin and Dustin through the entrance, stumbling after them trying to keep your balance.

The hallways of the school were no different to yours back in Lenora Hills. The lockers were the same, the walls were similar and so were the floors. The only obvious difference was the mood.

Back in California it was almost always sunny and bright, here it felt gloomy and depressing. I mean, that might've been because of the tragedies but still, you wouldn't want to have to live here permanently.

You turned the corner, walking into a room that must've been the sports hall. It was hard to tell considering how the room had obviously changed a lot due to recent events.

Donation boxes were scattered around the edge whilst volunteers, mostly students, sorted through them. Groups of people lay around the middle, needing a place to stay that hadn't been ruined by the earthquake. It wasn't just homeless people though, there were injured ones too.

It looked awful, the amount of suffering Hawkins was going through was truly heartbreaking. You couldn't help but feel guilty all over again.

You carried the boxes as you walked, glancing at the board that held what looked like millions of missing notes and caution signs.

There was a man who was hanging around the board, putting up posters of a teenaged boy with long curly hair. Dustin stared at a picture of the boy longingly, then snuck off to talk to the man.

You, Robin and Steve continued towards the woman at the donation stand. Robin spoke to her whilst you looked back to Dustin.

"...but can we do anything else to help?"

You heard the end of Robin's conversation and realised that you were going to be in for a lot of work, maybe going with Eleven would've been the better option...