𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝𝐲 ⟿ s. harrington

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞

JUST DEALING WITH MY TRAUMA !

☀︎

A MONTH HAD PASSED SINCE ELEVEN HAD CLOSED THE GATE. The chilly autumn air was soon replaced with a cold winter and the Snowball Dance had just as quickly arrived. The middle schoolers of Hawkins had been the most excited as they had all prepped for a night of fun. It was something completely normal and it meant that everything was back to how it used to be— only a few things changed since Halloween.

Alex Henderson had told herself that everything had been perfectly fine in her world. But just as any traumatic event would, it left a scar. Nightmares had still followed and the fear of the Mind Flayer lurking around had been consistently present. It was as if she had been stuck in her own nightmare while everyone else had seemed back to normal.

Now with the Snowball tonight, she had another distraction. Dustin made sure she knew that he didn't want or need her help. All he needed was Steve Harrington and as far as he was concerned, it was not fair if Alex got to keep him all to herself.

But there was always one person in the party that would take Alex over anyone else and that's exactly where Alex had ended up.

In Steve Harrington's car, Alex had went to let herself out when they had pulled up to Max's house, but he had just as quickly called her back. Dropping her hand from the handle, she looked to him in question.

"Just don't..." he hesitated as he adjusted himself in his seat. "Max'll kick his ass if he talks to you, right?"

"Oh, definitely," Alex reassured with a laugh. Taking his hand in hers, she made sure he had met her eyes. "Don't worry about me. Just go help Dustin and I'll help Max and we'll meet at the middle school. Her mom's dropping us off there as soon as we're done."

Steve had let out a deep sigh as he gave in and nodded along. It wasn't that he didn't trust Alex, it was the fact that he couldn't trust Billy. Whether he had fed her lies as he had done before or if he hurt her all over again. "All right, all right, get out of here."

Leaning over quickly, she had kissed his cheek before he could react and got out of the car. Rolling down the window, Steve had called out another goodbye as she had waved him off. He couldn't bring himself to pull away until he had seen she was perfectly fine inside the house.

When Alex had made it to the front step, she had rang the doorbell before turning back to Steve and giving him a quick thumbs up and smile. She had seemed at ease to him, but inside, she had a pit in her stomach and her fingers crossed that Max would make it to the door before her step brother.

But Alex Henderson didn't always have the best luck. Opening the door, Billy had stood there with a cigarette dangling from his lips as he looked her up and down. Soon his eyes had traveled back to Steve's car, taking notice that she was being watched carefully.