Valerie Archer hated doctors. She hated doctors and hospitals and the dentist, and she most definitely hated Hawkins lab.
It made the girl feel exposed and vulnerable; because she was, both mentally and physically exposed and she loathed every bit of it. From the poking and prodding to the itchy paper gowns and sticky wires, it all sucked.
"Can you hear what they're saying?" Will questioned, his left hand intertwined with Valerie's ring-clad hand. "You ask that every time and the answer never changes." Valerie chuckled lightly, her voice never rising above a whisper. "Yeah, I know." Will sighed.
"What did you talk to Dr. Owens about?" She questioned, keeping her eyes glued to the wall across from her. "You know, the usual. Halloween candy, dreams, episodes." Will shrugged, before looking up at the girl sitting beside him. "You?"
"Oh, the same as you. Movies, nightmares, nose bleeds." Valerie explained shortly, greatly downplaying the topics of discussion from thirty minutes beforehand. A comfortable silence fell over the two kids as their conversation came to a lull.
"Will," Valerie spoke up, breaking the short period of silence. "Yeah, Val?" He hummed. "You know we can talk, right? Joyce and Johnathan, even the boys, they might not get it but I get it." She spoke, holding tightly onto his hand. "Yeah, I know. And you can talk to me too if you want."
Valerie finally let her eyes fall on the skinny boy sitting beside her. The girl didn't have a younger sibling, thus she had never understood the compulsion others felt to protect one, but if she had to guess the feeling she currently felt was similar to that.
"Thanks, Will." Valerie smiled before letting her head fall to the side, resting it on top of Will's as they waited eagerly for their parents to exit Rachel's office. The sound of the door creaking open caused both kids to jump up in anticipation.
"All done?" Valerie questioned, giving Will a look that warned him not to immediately question the adults on their conversation like he had done many times before. "Yep. Alrighty, you ready?" Joyce forced a smile onto her face. Will nodded as the woman wrapped her arm around the boy's shoulders.
"Mom?" Valerie questioned, eyeing the woman's white coat. "Sorry, honey, I've got a few things to finish up." Rachel apologized, causing Valerie's eyes to roll as she folded her hands over her chest. "Come on, kiddo. You can catch a ride with me." Hopper offered.
"Fine, whatever." Valerie scoffed. "Hey, see you tonight?" The man questioned. "Yeah, I shouldn't be too late. I'll page if anything changes." Rachel nodded, slipping her hands into her pockets.
"I'm gonna be late for practice," Valerie complained, pulling at the man's arm. "Yeah, yeah, alright. Let's go brat."
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"Oh, girls just wanna have fun." Valerie sang lowly, twisting her waist in different directions as she examined the way her pink and green collar pullover fell on her thin body. The girl huffed, untucking the fabric only to tuck it right back into her denim jeans the same way it was previously tucked.
"Valerie!" A voice called out, causing her to groan in annoyance. "You can't rush perfection-" The girl was cut off as she let out a screech caused by her opening the bathroom door only to be met by a short figure hidden under a thin white sheet.
"Oh my god, El." The girl clutched her chest. "It's not nice to sneak up on someone." Valerie chuckled, her heart returning to a normal speed. "Ghost." El deadpanned. "Yeah, we can see that." Hopper frowned as he plated the french toast he had just finished cooking.
"Halloween."
"Sure is." He sang, handing a mug of coffee to Valerie, who mumbled a thanks before sitting in her spot at the small wooden dining table. "But right now, it's breakfast, okay? Come on, let's eat."
"They wouldn't see me." Eleven tried. "Who wouldn't see you?" Valerie questioned, slightly interested. "The bad man." She explained. "What are you talking about?" Hopper sat at the table next to Valerie. "Trick or treat."
Valerie and Hopper exchanged a look before Hopper returned his gaze to El. "You want to go trick-or-treating? You know the rules." He spoke. Eleven tried to argue, but Hopper quickly cut the girl off. "Yeah, so you know the answer."
Valerie watched as the two went back and forth, Hopper pushing the girl back towards her seat. "You go out there, ghost or not, it's a risk. We don't take risks, alright? They're stupid, and?"
"We're not stupid." El barked. "Exactly. Now, you take that off, sit down and eat. Your food's getting cold. That goes for you too, eat." Hopper ordered Valerie, who was debating if she should argue with the man or not.
"All right, look." He gave in after a moment of El sulking and Valerie staring a hole into him. "How about I get off early tonight, and I buy us a bunch of candy, and we can sit around and get fat, and we watch a scary movie together." Hopper offered. "How's that for a compromise?"
"Compromise?"
"C-O-M-promise. Compromise." Valerie spelled out before taking a bite of the food on her plate. "How about that's your word of the day? Yeah? It's something that's kinda in-between. It's like halfway happy." Hopper explained.
"By 5-1-5?" Eleven questioned. "5:15. Yeah, sure." Hopper nodded. "Val?" Valerie looked up. "Uh, I promised I'd spend tonight with Charlie, but uh, I'll make it up to you." Valerie frowned, feeling bad for putting a party above El.
El turned her attention back to Hopper. "Promise." She questioned. "Yes. I promise." The man swore. "Halfway happy." Eleven shrugged before beginning to eat her french toast, Hopper ruffling the girl's short locks of curled hair making her chuckle.
It didn't take long for the group to finish up breakfast, and soon Valerie was back in the passenger side of Hopper's beige station wagon. "Hey, did you uh, did you get any sleep last night?" Hopper questioned as he lit a cigarette.
"Yeah," Valerie spoke a little too eagerly. "I mean, I got some." She backtracked, clearing her throat. "How much is some?" The man raised a brow. "Like a few hours, or something. Maybe one or two." Valerie picked at her nails.
"So, barely one?" Hopper figured. "Yeah." The girl mumbled. "You can't keep running on empty, kid. Sooner or later something's gonna give." Hopper scolded Valerie, who just brushed the man's words off as the car came to a stop. "Don't worry, Chief. I'll sleep when I die."
Before Hopper had the chance to lecture the girl any further, she scurried out of the car and across the parking lot towards Charlie's designated parking spot. "Hey, what was all that about?" The boy questioned as he glanced back at Hopper's car, which was pulling out of the high school.
"Oh, uh, nothing. mom had to go in early so Hopper dropped me off." Valerie shrugged, sliding into the passenger side of Charlie's car before bumming a cigarette from his console. Charlie nodded, watching the girl light the cigarette in her hand before he spoke. "I stopped by last night, but you weren't home."
"Yeah, sorry. I forgot to tell you Mom and I were spending the night at Hopper's." Valerie inhaled a draw of smoke. "Why?" Charlie chuckled. "Don't know, I guess they're getting pretty serious," Valerie answered, only being partly honest.
"Wait, Rachel and Hopper are seeing each other?" Charlie's face contorted, causing a sweet laugh to leave Valerie's lips. "Yes, a fact which you've known for months." Valerie snickered.
"Rachel and Hopper? No. She's so, and he's so-" Charlie shook his head in disbelief. "Why didn't I know this?" He cringed. "You did. We've had this exact conversation, Char." Valerie let out a steady stream of smoke before putting the cigarette out against the bottom of the cupholder.
The dark-haired girl watched as her boyfriend tried to recall their previous conversation, his forehead creasing and his lips creating a tight line. Valerie grasped onto Charlie's jaw with one hand, pulling his head to the side before she connected their lips.
"You stopped by last night?" She questioned, keeping her thumb against the back of his neck and her hand on his cheek. "I wanted to make sure you were okay. I know how much you hate check-ups." Valerie broke into a grin, placing a gentle kiss against Charlie's lips.
"You never cease to amaze me, scaredy boy." The girl beamed as she pulled away, sitting back in her seat. "I know, it's horrible! I've become domestic." Charlie groaned, running a hand through his curly locks which had grown out greatly since a year ago.
It couldn't be closer to the truth. While no one, especially not the Archer girls, expected the pair's relationship to last more than the first weeks the two had never been happier.
Maybe it was purely love at first sight, or maybe the shared trauma of last year, but for the first time in the girl's life she had moved past chasing a feeling and started pursuing a lasting partnership.
Valerie let out a smooth laugh that made Charlie's stomach flutter before she spotted a certain blonde passing his car. "There's the new girl. Phoebe." Valerie perked up.
"What's your deal with her?" Charlie questioned as he dug through his bag for a pack of gum. "Charlie, I've been slumming it with Nancy for the past year. I need some new female synergy asap."
"Fair point." Charlie shrugged before Valerie's lips pecked his. "Happy Halloween, Love you." Valerie breathed out, not waiting for a reply as she rushed out of the car after the blonde.
"Hey, Phoebe! wait up." Valerie called out. "Hey. It's Valerie, right?" Phoebe questioned once Valerie caught up with her even though they both knew she had no doubt that was her name. "Good memory." The girl smiled. "Nancy is coming over to mine after school to get ready. You should join us "
"That's really sweet, but I'm not sure that I'm going tonight." Valerie spun back around to face Phoebe. "What? No, you have to come. I love Nancy but if she plans Charlie and I's wedding one more time I'm going to take a pair of crafting scissors to my carotid."
"Honestly, I don't want to intrude-" Phoebe tried. "Phebs, I'm begging you. This is me begging. And Johnathan doesn't know it yet, but he's coming too so you won't be forced to third wheel when Charlie and I inevitably get to the lovey dove-y drunk stage."
Phoebe and Valerie held eye contact for a long period, Valerie humming hopefully. "Fine, but if it sucks just know that you're the girl who ruined my first Hawkins Halloween." Phoebe gave in.
"Hey, to be fair this is my first Hawkins Halloween as well." Valerie pointed out as she laced her slim arm into Phoebe's, the pair making their way into the building.
the two girls chatted all the way to class before finally separating as Valerie went to go sit at her seat in the middle of the class. The girl absently scribbled into her notebook instead of doing her classwork, fighting the tiredness that was quickly taking over her.
The girl closed her eyes for a single second, and by the time she had realized what she had done and quickly flung them back open her surroundings had changed completely. The classroom was now empty, but full of rotting vines and debris.
Valerie didn't dare move as she looked around at the once familiar environment that now made her skin crawl. She took a deep breath, squeezing her eyes closed tightly before the bell above her rang out, releasing a muffled clanging noise.
Only then did Valerie stand up, slowly stepping over the roots that had broken through the school's tiled floors. Her attention originally gravitated towards the door, but the sound of thunder switched her focus to the large window to the left of her.
The girl slowly made her way to the window, her breath shallow as her heartbeat thudded against her chest. Terror took over her as she looked out at a shadowy beast covering the horizon, the sky roaring with oranges and blues, painting a picture of aggression and despair.
A wave of emotions washed over the girl, each one worse than the previous. Her mouth tasted metallic and the smell of mildew attacked her nostrils in an utmost unpleasant manner that caused a wave of nausea.
Valerie felt a hand press against her shoulder, but instead of turning around to find the culprit, she shot up with a sharp exhale. "Hey, easy there tiger. It's just me." Steve spoke as he sat down on the edge of Valerie's desk, the girl glancing around before brushing a hand over her face.
"Sorry," Valerie mumbled sheepishly as Steve brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "Hey, don't worry, Val. I used to take the best naps in Lewitt's class. Listening to him makes watching paint dry sound entertaining."
Valerie let out a chuckle, nodding in agreement. "Don't you have practice?" Valerie questioned, glancing around the empty classroom as she stood. "Practice isn't for another ten minutes. I should skip it though."
"Steve 'the king' Harrington skipping practice? That's a good one." Valerie chuckled, narrowing her eyes questioningly at the boy. "Yeah, well the new dude is kind of a prick," Steve explained as he watched Valerie's eyes flicker over to the window to the left of them.
"What?" Steve questioned, curious as to what exactly Valerie was looking at. The boy didn't receive a reply however as she got stuck in her own thoughts, her gaze glued on the window. "Valerie?" Steve tugged on the girl's upper arm, causing her to jump which also caused him to jump.
Consequently, the notebooks held against her chest slipped through her arms, clashing with the floor in a pile of scattered books and papers. The girl quickly bent down to collect her stuff, her eyes darting out at the window to meet clear blue skies before they darted back down
"Val, you're starting to scare me." Steve let out a forced chuckle as he helped the girl collect her things. "No, I'm uh." Valerie brushed her bangs back as she stood back up, while Steve collected the last bit of loose papers. "I need a cigarette."
"Well, that's easy enough." Steve grinned before pulling Valerie out of the empty classroom and down the sparse halls of Hawkins High School. "Steve?" Valerie yelped, letting out a soft laugh. "I have practice, and so do you."
"I'm sure they can survive ten minutes without us." Steve let his eyes roll as he led Valerie towards where his car was parked outside the locker room's side entrance.
"Yeah, right. Charlie's going to kill you, and then me." Valerie snickered as she hopped on top of his trunk as Steve dug through his car for the pack of cigarettes Tommy had left in there. "I'm Steve Herrington and you have super powers. I'd like to see the scrawny bastard try."
Valerie let out the first genuine laugh that Steve had heard from her in months, or maybe ever for all he knew, before being handed a crinkled cigarette pack. "Last time I checked you were Zero to One, Herrington." Valerie teases as Steve joined her on top of his tail end.
"Hey, who's side are you on Archer?" Valerie didn't give the question much thought before immediately answering that she was on Charlie's side. Steve shot Valerie a sharp look before it was replaced with a look of temporary awe as Valerie lit her cigarette with a mere thought.
"So, what's so bad about the new guy that you're dodging practice?"
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