chapter seven
nepotism, baby!
🖤
SEE, THIS IS PERHAPS THE ONLY TIME where nepotism won't save Ruby.
Which is astounding, really. Normally a quick reminder of her dad makes people drop issues. Or, back in her grandpa's hay-day, she would walk these hallways like a god. An untouchable creature, because no one knew the protocol with Ruby. Whether she was the same level of respect as an experiment, whether she was off-limits because she's a Brenner.
She used to come here every month for a check-up, where her grandpa herself would carry it out. She only stopped coming because of what happened last year. To be honest, she doesn't think she would've been able to stop coming before her grandpa left. He would've filled her house with gas, or something, and forced her to come...
He used to be nice to her. He always gave her presents when she came for the check-ups. Fifty dollars, a gift card to a restaurant in town. Last year she realised most of these presents were picked out for him, and that he only found her interesting because she was his project.
Her grandpa has no power here anymore, though. Which sucks, because that's the only way Ruby had any control.
Nancy and Jonathan are directed into the same room, whereas Ruby is sent into one on her own. As the door closes behind her, her mind goes to Harrington — why is he on his own, but Nancy and Jonathan aren't? Why can't she be with him? He doesn't know anything about this, this isn't fair to leave him on his own—
"Ruby Mary Brenner," says a scientist, as he steps into the room. He's a short man with short grey hair, and he has a friendly face, but Ruby doesn't trust it. "I'm Dr Sam Owens, the new director of operations here. I know you've had a bit of a rocky past with this place, but I'm sure you can understand that we are really trying to improve things here."
"Oh, I bet," she says, with a glare.
"So, I understand that you are, uh, known as Subject X? I had a look at your files, and it really is fascinating — so interesting, how the basic instinct of flight or fight, kick-started your powers," he tells her. "I'm sure it has been helpful for you, this past year."
Ruby crosses her arms. "And your point?"
"Well, I have been told that you are trying to communicate with another subject," he says. "And I want you to be aware, that if you know anything about her whereabouts, you are standing directly in the face of justice."
"Justice?" she echoes.
"She needs to be stopped."
Ruby doesn't say anything. She can feel anger bubbling up inside of her.
"She is incredibly dangerous — do you know what she has done in the past? Individuals like herself cannot be left to their own devices. It is a matter of national security."
"What, but it was OK to kidnap a little girl in the first place?" says Ruby.
It takes him a second to reply. "Well, yes — but that is in the past and—"
"So why isn't what she's done in the past?" says Ruby.
He splutters, "Because—"
Ruby stands up. "Because men with their dicks out can do whatever they want, even if it means killing little girls. I'm the same as her, Doctor, only my grandpa's name got me out of here." She looks across at the door, squints, and it flies open, the lock ripping out of the wall. "Now, I'm going home, I'm getting Steve, and you're going to leave us alone."
"Ruby, lets be—"
"I am one phone call away from telling every newspaper about what happens here. Leave me and my friends alone."
On that note, Ruby walks out of the opened door. She raises her hand, and the bag that was confiscated appears in her fingertips. Maybe the nepotism powers are back, or at least giving her more arrogance than usual, because no one seems to be getting in her way as she searches for Harrington. She remembers the room they sent him in: 02, like the one in her mom's photo, when she was ten weeks pregnant and glowing. She wonders what her mom would think, if she saw her now...
She finally reaches the door. Her eyes narrow, blood trickles down her nose, and the door's sent off of its hinges.
Harrington's sat at the door, his eyes wide.
"Could you not have just, like, unlocked it, with the—" and Harrington makes a gesture to its head, referring to her powers.
Ruby shrugs. "They pissed me off."
Harrington pauses, but because he knows what she's like, he nods. "Well... Let me rescue you next time."
She knows she should be happy to hear that, but it annoys her. Why does he want to look after her so badly? It's like he doesn't listen, like he doesn't even watch the shit she does. She can fix things herself. She's just broken them out of a military-grade laboratory, has she not?
"Lets just go," says Ruby, with a grimace.
She thinks to go back for Nancy and Jonathan, but as she steps out of the room, she sees the two being carted off by the scientist she spoke to. Nancy looks back at her, and Ruby gives a look to say are you okay? and Nancy nods, saying she's fine.
"Did they talk to you?" says Ruby, as she makes the way back to the exit.
He nods. "Briefly," says Harrington. "They were asking if I knew anything."
Ruby feels the blood trickling from her nose, so she wipes it away. "And...?"
"Come on, Rubes," says Harrington, lowering his voice. He leans closer to her, and Ruby watches a little smirk appear across his face. She feels her stomach turn into knots. No one should look that hot. "My dad wouldn't be the consumerism king of Indiana without 'no comment.'"
She snorts — which, grossly, lets out the final splatter of blood, so she wipes it away before Harrington notices. The end is in sight, thank God, as they turn the corner and the windows ahead display the parking lot. Ruby does start to think how they're meant to get home, considering they don't have a car here, but at this rate, she'd be happy to walk.
Harrington goes quiet for a moment. He opens the exit doors for Ruby, before going, "Uh, maybe if you're free later—"
But Ruby's focused on one of the cars outside, and the man next to it. Her anger, which was starting to dissipate, returns in full swing.
"For fuck's sakes."
Her dad looks up before she can hide. (She isn't sure where she would hide, exactly, but still. She would've hidden.) He was talking to Joyce Byers, who's here for some reason, but the second he sees her, he starts towards them.
Harrington looks over, and instinctively — like he used to — he puts a hand on Ruby's arm, as if to hold her back. She feels comforted by it, quite honestly, but it makes her uncomfortable too. So she steps forwards, and meets her dad halfway.
"What are you doing here?" says her dad, in his Sheriff's uniform.
"School trip," says Ruby, with a sneer. "We learned lots. Like... how to kill babies."
Behind her, she hears Harrington mutter, "The fuck?"
Hopper looks back at Harrington, and then at his daughter. He doesn't look impressed, but when does he? "I'm serious, Ruby," he says.
"They took us out of school—"
"What?"
Ruby, wanting to annoy her dad, shrugs. "Yeah, but it's been a pretty shitty day, so I don't mind."
"Why did they take you out of school?" he continues, because he doesn't believe her. He never does, when they speak. (And they speak about once every six months.) Technically she isn't lying. She's had a pretty shitty day. "What have you been doing?"
"Oh, it's always what have I been doing, when actually, it was Nancy and Jonathan, and they thought me and Harrington were involved," says Ruby. "Which we are not. So we left."
Hopper frowns. "They... let you leave?"
Ruby looks back at Harrington, who's confused now. She gives him a look, hoping he'll play along. "Oh, yeah, they just let us go," she says. She may not see her dad often, but she's still got the lying skills of a sheriff's daughter.
"Yeah," says Harrington, unconvincingly. So much for consumerism king of Indiana.
See, here's the thing: her dad was never there when she used her powers last year. The kids think she's cool, and Harrington finds it confusing, but her dad doesn't know. Which Ruby likes. The passive aggressive side of her (correction: all of her) doesn't think he deserves to know. Did he not notice her mom going crazy, all those years ago? It's his own fault he doesn't know.
Her dad frowns still, but it's not as if he's going to think she's got powers, is he? That would be fucking weird of him, if anything.
"OK... Well... I'll drive you home."
Ruby begins, "Oh, we're—"
"Thank you, sir," says Harrington, already setting off to her dad's car.
Ruby looks at him, astounded. Lazy piece of shit. Is a two mile walk through the woods that difficult for him?
Hopper, seemingly surprised, too, looks back at Ruby. She rolls her eyes, and walks towards his car, trying to catch up to Harrington.
The two get into the car before her dad returns, since he makes a detour to say bye to Joyce. Ruby turns back to Harrington, and tells him, "He doesn't know about—" and she pauses, to gesture the same way Harrington did earlier, in reference to her powers.
Harrington looks at her oddly. "I... figured?"
"Just don't say—"
"Did he not notice when you were a toddler and—"
The car door opens, so the two shut up. Ruby turns back around in the passenger seat to face the front. Her dad switches on the car.
"The Byers come here for check-ups, because of last year," her dad explains.
Ruby frowns. "I... figured?"
Hopper pauses for a minute. The dynamic between them is weird — as it would be, after years of no communication and an abundance of psychological problems. Sometimes he tries too hard, other times he gives in and is clearly sick of Ruby's antagonisation.
So he's quiet for a few minutes. If Ruby felt sympathy towards him, she might feel bad right now. He's trying, she knows that... She just doesn't want him to. He should've tried when her mom was sick.
Hopper clears his throat. "So, uh, are you two...?"
Ruby and Harrington both begin to protest.
"Absolutely not—"
"Ugh, as if!"
Hopper looks across at Ruby, and raises an eyebrow.
"I've got a boyfriend," she says, and then she corrects herself: "Had a boyfriend."
Her dad points towards Harrington.
"Not him—"
"It was this guy called Billy Hargrove," Harrington chimes in.
"Hey!" says Ruby.
Hopper frowns. "Who the hell is that?"
"This complete joke of a guy," says Harrington, before Ruby can intervene. "He's horrible. He's just moved from California and he thinks he's better than everyone because of it. He speeds all of the time too. You should really keep an eye on him, I bet you could make bank over his speeding tickets—"
"Oh my God, shut up!" Ruby snaps, turning to the back seat to glare at Harrington. "It doesn't matter, because I broke up with him earlier."
There's a pause, before her dad goes, "... Did you break up because of the speeding?"
"What?" she goes, just as Harrington says, "She should've sooner, really."
"So why did you break up?" her dad says.
Ruby feels like the world is caving in on her. Because, Billy called me a slut, and then the guy in the back seat punched him, but then Billy accused me on cheating on him with the guy in the back seat, which I technically did but not in the way that Billy thinks...
Suddenly, the awfulness of all of that makes its way into her stomach, which twists and turns. She feels plagued with anxiety, and she crosses her arms for some kind of comfort, slouching down in the car seat. She knows earlier she wanted to talk to her dad about it, but the thought of Harrington overhearing makes her uncomfortable. They're not friends anymore, she'd rather keep things to herself.
"He was a joke," says Ruby, borrowing Harrington's words for a lack of any better.
There's silence after that. Sometimes Ruby has her own way too easily, with people that wouldn't normally allow it, and she doesn't know if she's that much of a bitch, or if it's her powers doing something psychological. She feels shitty about everything, now that it's quiet and she can think. She forgot about earlier, but now she's returning to the scene of the crime, it feels weird.
She doesn't want to go back. Not today, at least. She keeps on thinking about the looks she's going to get; everyone's going to hate her, she knows it. She's lost her shot at popularity. No Snowflake Queen, no Spring Fling. She's fucked it. She can kiss her facade of a normal life goodbye...
Her dad pulls up to the school, but by that point Ruby can feel the tears gathering in her eyes. There's a lump at the back of her throat, and she has to focus to stop herself from bursting into tears. She hears her dad ask her to hang out sometime soon, but she ignores him, letting herself out of the car. She stares at the concrete ground, willing the tears to suck themselves back into her eyes.
"Uh..." She hears Harrington trail off, as her dad's car drives away. Part of her thought Harrington would walk back into school without her, but instead, she looks up, and he's waiting for her. "We've got English together, right? May as well walk together."
Like that's gonna help the rumours that she's a cheater, a dirty whore with no popularity—
"I'm not going in there," Ruby announces.
Harrington raises an eyebrow. "... Why not?"
Because everyone's going to laugh at me.
"It's been a shit day," says Ruby. "I just wanna go home."
Sometimes, Ruby thinks about how close the two of them were. When they were in elementary school, Ruby's aunt and Harrington's mom would joke how one day, Ruby and Harrington would wind up together. Ruby would always stick her tongue out at that idea, because boys were gross. But she loved how she could always depend upon him. He was always there for her. He'd look out for her when they started going to parties; he'd refuse going anywhere with a girl in case Ruby got into trouble. One look and they'd know what the other was thinking, feeling. She misses that.
She's looking at him helplessly now, trying not to cry, but knowing if she doesn't leave soon, she will break. He's frowning, as if he's trying to read her the way he used to. Eventually, he moves, digging out his car keys.
"OK... Let's go home."
"You can't come with me," says Ruby. "Everyone will see that you're with me, and they'll think I was cheating."
Harrington looks annoyed. "Where?"
"Where what?"
"Where are these people you're so obsessed over?" says Harrington, throwing his arms up. They're next to the main entrance, which no windows overlook. It's class, too, so the entire campus is empty.
But Ruby shakes her head. "You don't know, what if someone's—?"
"Does it ever occur to you, that your life would be so much more fulfilling, if you weren't so worried about being popular?" says Harrington.
"You were like this, too!" says Ruby, glaring.
Harrington rolls his eyes. "Uh, yeah, and then I almost died last year and realised I was wasting my life hanging out with Carol and Tommy... and you."
Ruby feels her heart sink. She wishes it wouldn't, but it does.
"I wanted you to come with me, to ditch those assholes too," he says. "I still want you to. But... I don't like the person you are anymore."
"I don't need you," she snaps.
"Oh, because Carol's gonna choose you over Billy, if given the option?"
Ruby has to stop for a second, knowing that if she gets too angry, her powers will react, too. She takes a deep breath, in, out, before she says to him: "Fuck you."
She turns around after that, grabbing her car keys from her bag. She doesn't need Steve fucking Harrington to help her out. Maybe this isn't ideal right now, but she'll figure it out. She'll stay on top. She always stays on top. She was born to reign supreme; whether it be the US government as a lab rat, or this high school, Ruby Brenner was born to be the best. Some punk called Billy won't stop her from achieving what she deserves, what she's bred to be. It's called nepotism, baby.
ok guys so i LOVE writing this!! pls tell me what you think!! i know not many ppl read this but it's such a place of joy for me, tell me all your thoughts <3