𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑 𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐁, stranger things

ZERO, the return of annalise wheeler

CHAPTER ZERO,
the return of annalise wheeler

NEWS OF THE ELDEST of the Wheeler children's return spread like wildfire throughout Hawkins. The minute Annalise had driven past the old and grey Welcome to Hawkins sign on the edge of town, she had already been made aware of the rumours that were floating around about her and her department eight months ago. People speculated. People gossiped. That was the norm in Hawkins, or any small town really, so Annalise really didn't mind that Mr. Johnson down the street had heard from his neighbour that she was serving a sentence in prison for selling drugs. Although, Annalise's mother seemed to be unhappy with what people had to say about her daughter.

People had talked when she had left too.

She wasn't there to hear it, of course, but she knew. She knew that everyone was wondering where the beloved eldest daughter of the Wheeler family had gone. No matter how many times Karen Wheeler told the gossipers and the whisperers that Annalise was simply visiting her grandparents in Florida, the rumours still spread and with each passing day, got more and more absurd.

Unfortunately, Annalise hadn't been doing time in a federal prison. She wished it had been that interesting. If it were, she'd actually have something to tell Dylan when she returned home. The reality to where she had been was far less dramatic than people had speculated. Karen Wheeler really had been telling the truth when she said Annalise was in Florida with her grandparents. She had spent eight months (eight. months.) playing Scrabble with her grandmother and helping her grandfather tend to hie garden. Eight months of boredom. Eight months of torture in the form of crossword puzzles and boring, beige-carpeted floors. Jail was probably less boring than spending over half a year in her grandparents' condo. When Annalise stepped out of her mother's car, Dylan immediately jumped to embrace her, screaming about how she had gone crazy without her with fat tears running down her pink cheeks. That was the biggest reaction she received from anyone.

Dylan and Annalise were sitting across from each other on Annalise's freshly made bed, Dylan fixing her eyeliner that had practically stained her face and Annalise waiting for her to get it over with. Waiting for the Wallace girl to tell her everything that went down in the last eight months. "Okay!" Dylan began once she was finished wiping her face clean, "You missed so much."

"Yeah. I know." Annalise rolled her eyes, "Why do you think I'm begging you to fill me in?"

Annalise had already been made aware of the major events like Will being found and her brother and his friends supposedly making a new friend, but that wasn't the stuff that interested her. She wanted to know about the latest hookups, the drama and the fights.

She was just a teenage girl after all.

Dylan cleared her throat, "Alright. I need you to promise that you're not going to freak out about this." Annalise raised a brow at that, "What did you do?" she was quick to assume that Dylan had done, yet another, stupid thing to antagonize the asshole popular kids at school, which obviously offended the blonde girl because her mouth fell open, "What the hell? Why do you assume that I did something?" Annalise gave her a look and Dylan groaned. "Okay! It's a fair assumption, but, really, I didn't do anything this time." she leaned forward, lowering her voice, "It was Nancy."

"What?" Annalise was unconvinced. Nancy? Her perfect baby sister? That Nancy? "What are you talking about?"

Dylan squealed, jumping to her feet and taking a step back from her best friend, "Nancy hooked up with Steve Harrington." she knew that once Annalise had processed the info, she'd also be jumping to her feet and she was right. The Wheeler girl nearly fell over with how quickly she stood up, "What?!" she shouted and Dylan winced, "They dated. Then broke up because Steve Harrington is an asshole." Annalise's jaw might as well have been on the floor, "But, now, they're dating again." Annalise blinked. Once, twice, three times. "You're joking." Dylan shook her head, "I wish I was." Annalise let out a loud, rumbling scream as she fell back on her bed, "This is the worst day of my life." Dylan fell back on the bed, now lying beside her best friend on her bed. "He painted on the theatre sign that she was a slut." Dylan's surprised by the fact that Annalise wasn't screaming and already out the door to beat the charisma out of Steve Harrington, but she just stayed there. When the blonde looks over, Annalise is blank-faced. Oh no.

The Wheeler girl blinks again. "And she's still with him?" Dylan nodded slowly, starting to feel a little afraid of Annalise and her indifference.

"I'm going to kill him."

"Yup."

"Actually. I'm going to."

"Yeah."

"I'm gonna pull his big ass hair out of his scalp."

Annalise sits up suddenly, startling Dylan, "He's a dead man." her best friend is holding back giggles at her dramatics, "Alright, calm down. I know you're the president of The Hair Hate Club or whatever, but you know your mother would kill you if you even so much as looked at somebody the wrong way."

"The what?"

"Huh?"

"The Hair Hate Club?" Dylan nodded, giggling now, "Yeah. You're the president. It's just a joke—" Annalise's hand jumped to smack Dylan's shoulder. "Oh my god." Dylan immediately knew that whatever was rattling around in Annalise's head at that moment couldn't have been good, but she didn't say anything, raising her brow in confusion. "That's it. A club." Annalise jumped up again. Jesus, she really did have a hard time staying still. "A club. For people that hate Steve Harrington."

"Are you serious?"

The brunette is grinning from ear to ear, falling to her knees in front of Dylan and grabbing her hand. "We can make his life a living hell. Just like we always wanted to." she sounded giddy, "The Hair Hate Club." Dylan wipes a hand over her face in a stressed motion, taking a second to herself to process what exactly her best friend was saying before sitting up fully. "We can't have a club with only two people, Annalise," she says it such a know-it-all tone that pisses Annalise off beyond words. "Says who?" Annalise grips her hand tighter, pressing her forehead against the back of Dylan's hand. "Just call me a genius, Dyl. I know you're thinking it. C'mon." Dylan laughs. "You're actually serious." she sounds shocked, but she really shouldn't be, because she was already very open about her hatred for Steve so, really, making a club dedicated to it wasn't super out of character. "Yes. Yes, I'm serious."

"Let's ruin his life."

THE HAIR HATE CLUB
⌦  𝙺𝙸𝚁𝙰𝚂𝙻𝚄𝚅𝚁 , 2024