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ABERRATION
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IT SOUNDED ODD, but for Irina lunch time was the worst time of the school day. She had to sit alone - not that it was any different to how she had to sit in class - but the students were all free roaming.
Irina had brought her own lunch again so she sat at the end of one of the tables, eating her sandwich and sipping on her water. The rest of the table was empty, but it was just the start of lunch so there was no doubt that someone would snag the other end it the table soon.
In fact, it couldn't have been worse people to sit at the other end of the table. Tommy and his posse slowly approached her table and sat down. Irina could already hear his and Carol snickering about something but she just chose to ignore it. However, this deemed to be much harder when Carol slid across the table so she was directly in front of Irina.
"Is there something you need, Carol?" Irina smiled through gritted teeth.
"Yeah. You off this table. It's ours." Carol smiled that fake smile at Irina. She knew exactly what she was doing. Irina wanted to move, but she didn't want Carol to think she was moving because she asked her to.
"Finders keepers." Irina shrugged. After she said that, she felt Tommy slide over to them too so now Carol was in front and Tommy was besides her. She peeked over to see which posse members hadn't come to torment her. It was Steve. He was the only one that stayed away.
"How about now?" Tommy asked and pushed Irina's water bottle over, spilling it all down her hoodie and jeans and all over the table. Irina jumped slightly at the coldness on her warm leg and she pursed her lips together as people began to stare and laugh.
"Dude!" Steve snapped. "Not cool." He added. Irina just looked at him and sighed, pushing her chair back so she could stand up.
"Congratulations." Irina huffed. "Have fun eating lunch off a wet table." She added before walking out of the canteen, ignoring all the stares and snickers, to attempt to dry her clothes.
***
Tonight was also the night of Tina's party. Irina was seriously contemplating whether she should go. Especially since what happened earlier at school. Also, for one, she didn't have an outfit, and, two, she hated 99% of the people there. What good could possibly come out of it?
"Просто иди. Ты даже можете немного понаслаждаться (Just go. You might even enjoy yourself a little)." Svetlana persuaded.
"Сомневаюсь. Но я пойду. Просто чтобы убраться с дороги на Хэллоуин (I doubt it. But I'll go. Just to be out of your way on Halloween)." Irina rolled her eyes.
"Не будь таким (don't be like that)." Svetlana sighed. "Ирина, у нас была возможность перезапуститься. Иметь новую жизнь в другом месте. Вдали от этого места (Irina, we got an opportunity to restart. To have a new life elsewhere. Away from that place)." She said, referring to the lab, and Irina sighed. "Мы знали, что это будет нелегко, а это не так. Но вы должны извлечь из этого максимальную пользу. (We knew it wouldn't be easy, and it isn't. But you must make the most of it)." Svetlana added and Irina knew she was right.
"Я знаю, я знаю. И ты знаешь, как я благодарен за это. Для тебя. (I know, I know. And you know how grateful I am for that)." Irina told her with a sigh. "Я скоро вернусь. Буквально (I'll be back soon. Literally)." Irina said, walking out the door.
She knew Tina's address from the flier Nancy gave her. There were already loads of people out and about in costumes trick-or-treating. Irina scurried across the streets and down the sidewalks until she arrived. She knew when she had gotten to the right house because there were hundreds of drunk teens slumped about everywhere. She grimaced at the sight and pushed open the front door only to find it was even worse. Her face contorted into regret as she pushed through the crowd to try and find a space that wasn't so... well, crowded.
She ended up in the kitchen where there were just a few people that popped up to refill their drinks every so often. She'd never wanted to be in the company of Nancy Wheeler so much in her life. As if Nancy had heard her internal cries for help, she appeared. Although she seemed pretty drunk already. She didn't see Irina and went straight for another drink.
"Should you be having any more of that, Nancy?" She asked, catching the drunk girl's attention.
"H-hey, Irina! You m-made it!" She squealed through hiccups and slumped her arms around Irina, who gently grabbed Nancy's arms and placed them back at her side.
"I w-want another drink." She slurred.
"N-no, Nancy, I think you need to stop." Irina stuttered, not wanting Nancy to regret her actions, since it was so out of character for her.
"But I want m-more!" Nancy protested.
"She's right, Nance. That's enough." Steve Harrington's voice interrupted, siding with Irina.
"But aren't we just being stupid teenagers for the night, wasn't that the deal?" Nancy scowled at him. They must've had some sort of an argument. She went to dip her cup back in the bowl when Steve grabbed it to try and stop her.
"Get off!" She protested.
"No, you've had enough, okay?" Steve told her as they squabbled for the cup.
"Screw you!" She growled.
"I'm serious! You've had enough. Put it down." Steve said, calmly. They proceeded to tug the cup when it slipped and spilt all over Nancy's shirt, staining it. Steve's eyes widened and so did Irina's.
"What the hell?" She hissed and dropped the cup. "This is all your fault. If you hadn't opened your stupid mouth Steve wouldn't have either." Nancy glared to Irina.
"Hey, Nance, don't say that." Steve scolded.
"Just shut your goddamn mouth like you always do and stop ruining my night, got it?" Nancy slurred and stormed off. Irina bit the inside of her cheek and raised her eyebrows.
"Hey." Steve said, catching her attention. "Don't listen to her. You did the right thing. You were just looking out for her." Steve gave her a friendly, but sympathetic, smile, knowing everyone was watching, hoping they would follow his lead and not taunt Irina about the incident. He already felt terrible about what had happened at school that day. Even though it happened all too often.
"It is okay. She is drunk, there's no hard feelings." Irina said. "But you should probably go and talk to her." She advised and Steve nodded, rubbing her shoulder before taking off in the same direction Nancy went.
"Черт возьми, она сука, когда пьяна (damn she's a bitch when she's drunk)." Irina whispered to herself when Steve was out of earshot. She looked around at all the teens, some still staring at her while other eyes followed Steve and Nancy. Irina just gave them all a lovely little sarcastic smile that dropped as quickly as it appeared and made her way to the door. When she was out on the porch, she ran into Jonathan Byers.
"Hey, Irina. Didn't know this was your scene." He chuckled.
"Didn't know that this was your scene either." She snickered.
"It's not, trust me." He scoffed.
"Me either." She chuckled, and so did Jonathan. Neither of them wanted to be there.
"That is why I am leaving." She sighed.
"Right. Well, see you at school." He smiled.
"Yes, see you at school." Irina returned the gesture before leaving the residence. It was dark now and she knew Hopper would have her head if he knew she was walking home alone on Halloween when there were stupid teens going around scaring people. But she wasn't exactly bothered. He might not know that she could take care of herself, but she certainly could. So with that, she let out a cold sigh into the night air and started down the sidewalk.
***
Steve rushed out of the house, running a hand through his hair after his talk with Nancy. It was bullshit. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. Everything was just bullshit. And to top his night off, he now had to walk home. He couldn't drive, he'd been drinking. And it's not like his parents were gonna pick him up from a party full of rowdy teens. His ride wasn't ready to leave yet, but Steve was desperate, so his conclusion to the problem was walking home.
He sped walked out the house and onto the sidewalk in the cold night. His thoughts were racing. Nancy hadn't been the same since Barb. And he couldn't blame her for that. Barb was her best friend. But they needed to move forwards and not let it consume their lives. Especially if she didn't even love him. That was apparently bullshit too.
In truth, Nancy just didn't cut the chase anymore. She didn't love him, and he wasn't sure whether he loved her either. He was normally happy with her, but he wasn't sure he loved her. His mind was getting the two mixed up. And it confused Steve. Then there was the comment she had made about Irina. And in front of her face too.
Something about that made his blood boil. He hated the way her face would stay unbothered, but her eyes would just show that little bit more hurt than they did before. It just made him almost... angry, that so many people do the same thing to her. And usually they weren't drunk. What made it worse? The fact that Steve would either just ignore it, or did nothing about it.
He felt so guilty when he was a bystander. His conscience was telling him to do something, but he'd cared too much about his reputation as King Steve. However, seeing her smile yesterday when Tommy and Carol had left after he was teasing her accent had actually given Steve butterflies. She had a beautiful smile. He just wished he could see it more.