"YOU SMELL LIKE SHIT."
Virginia Sinclair loved to annoy her little brother. It was a favorite pastime of hers, but she put more effort into it than her actual job.
She worked at a bakery in the small area labeled downtown Hawkins, and was still dressed for the job in white collared dress and red apron, while she teased her sweaty younger brother.
Lucas, who had just appeared in the kitchen after mowing the neighbor's lawn, sent his older sister a strong glare. "Shut up."
Grinning, Ginny stood from her spot at the kitchen table to follow Lucas into the other room. "Mom said you have to take a shower before you can go to the arcade," she told him, quoting their mother- who had left for her book club an hour or so ago. "Said Dad wouldn't be home in time to tell you, but she'll beat your ass if she smells you leaving like that."
"I said shut up!" Lucas cried, dumping his handful of quarters onto his desk. "Jesus, you're annoying..."
Ginny scoffed. "I was going to give you the rest of my tips from work last night, but if I'm so annoying..." She leaned against the doorway, arms crossed and a hint of a smile on her face.
Lucas peered over his shoulder. He narrowed his eyes. "How much?"
"Six dollars. Give or take."
He held out his palm quickly, but Ginny took a step back. "Not so fast... What's in it for me?"
"You just said you were gonna give it to me anyway!"
"That was before you called me annoying, you little shit," she teased, crossing her arms over her apron again.
Lucas sighed impatiently. "Fine, what do you want?"
Ginny hummed, picking at the dark blue nail polish on her nails for a moment. "Hm... I'll think of something. Just swear that you'll do whatever I say."
"This seems manipulative."
"Oh, come on, Lucas." Ginny grinned, and dug into the pocket of her apron to retrieve the coins. They jingled in her hand inticingly. "You know you want 'em... Just think of how many rounds of Dig Dug this'll buy you-"
"Fine! I swear, as long as it's nothing that costs me more money than what's in your hand, my reputation, or anything involving shit," Lucas clarified.
Ginny smiled. "Deal."
They exchanged a handshake before she planted the coins into Lucas' hand. "Pleasure doing business with you. Now take a shower."
"Whatever..." Lucas muttered, slipping past her into the hall to retrieve a towel for his shower.
Just as pulled one from the closet, the door to Erica's room opened across the hall. "You smell like shit," the youngest Sinclar sibling said. Ginny laughed.
"Gahh!" Lucas shouted, throwing his hands up and marching past both his sisters, back into his room.
Erica looked at Ginny. "What're his panties in a twist for?"
The eldest daughter shrugged, and went to reply with a snarky remark, but was cut off by Lucas's walkie talkie sounding.
"Lucas, you copy? I've got four quarters, what's your haul?"
It was Dustin, one of Lucas' best friends. Arguably Ginny's second favorite of her brother's friends; Will was always the quietest and most polite, so he took the top spot. Mike and Dustin were little assholes, just like her brother, but she loved them anyway.
"Take your puny haul and multiply it by eleven!" Lucas smirked into his little radio.
Dustin was appalled. "How?!"
"While you were scrounging around like a homeless bum, I mowed Old Man Humphrey's lawn," Lucas explained. Erica and Ginny watched from the doorway with nearly identical unimpressed looks.
"Old Man Humphrey's got that kinda cash?"
"Well, Ginny gave me six dollars, too, but I had to sell my soul for that."
"Damn right, you did..." muttered his older sister. "Dustin, make sure he shares with the rest of you- especially Will!"
Lucas turned around to glare at her again. "How come Will is always your favorite?"
"Yeah, how come you only like Will?"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Don't you guys have another dweeb to call?"
Already back on task, Lucas nodded. "Right. Dustin, call Mike."
"You call Mike."
"I have to go take a shower from doing real work, like a man. Over and out," Lucas argued, causing his sisters to burst into laughter from the hall. He turned over his shoulder again. "Shut up!"
｡･:*:･ﾟ★ ｡･:*:･ﾟ
"TINA'S HAVING A PARTY TOMORROW NIGHT. WE SHOULD GO."
Iris Hawthorne, resident girl-next-door and Ginny's red-headed best friend, leaned against her car, a lit cigarette between her red-nailed finger tips.
Ginny laughed, accidentally inhaling the smoke from her cigarette too quickly and sending herself into a small coughing fit. "You're kidding, right?"
"Absolutely not. Why would I joke about a sick Halloween party at Tina's?" Iris countered, looking confused.
Shaking her curly-haired head, Ginny waved away some of the smoke from her own cigarette. "No, I meant- you're joking if you think my parents would ever let me go to a party, especially one at Tina's on Halloween."
"What's so bad about Tina's on Halloween?"
"Community punch bowl? Drunk Tommy Hagan in a toga? Tina?" Ginny listed. She raised her eyebrows. "My parents will find nothing wrong with that scene..."
Iris rolled her eyes at her best friend's sarcasm. "I never said you had to tell your parents where you're going." The bell rang, signaling the students should start heading to their classes, and the red-head sighed. She dropped her cigarette and smushed it into the gravel with the toe of her shoe.
Ginny did the same, leaning down to check her hair and lip gloss in the side-mirror of Iris' car. "My parents have a way of knowing everything I do," she muttered, fluffing up a few of her curls. She shared a glance with Iris. "Also known as Lucas-the-Little-Shit."
"Well, he'll be with his friends, won't he? Just tell him to shut his trap." Iris shrugged.
"Oh, Iris... I wish it were that simple," Ginny said, shaking her head ruefully. They started off towards the school. "Besides, I have to work tonight, and there's an early admissions application due tomorrow morning for the university I'm looking at. I'm going to be too exhausted to deal with Carol and Tommy's bullshit tomorrow night..."
Iris sighed heavily. "All I'm saying is... Community punchbowl," she sing-songed, wiggling her eyebrows.
Ginny laughed, shaking her head still. "Why don't you make Lily go?"
Lily was the third in Ginny's trio, a pretty dark-haired girl with striking blue eyes. Iris frowned a bit, looking around. "Speaking of, where is that bitch?"
"Who are you calling bitch, bitch?" came the sultry voice of Lily Martin. She approached them from behind, smiling at them both.
"Where were you?" Iris asked, curling a red hair behind her ear.
Lily smirked to herself, shrugging, and adjusting the collar of her shirt. "No where..." she murmured, just as Ginny caught a flash of purple skin on her neck.
"Holy shit, Lily!" she exclaimed, immediately being shushed by the other dark-haired girl as they walked towards the school's entrance.
Iris frowned. "What is it?"
Ginny ignored her, peering excitedly at their third friend. "Who's the lucky guy?"
Lily didn't look at either of them as her smirk grew wider. "You wouldn't know him."
The curly-haired girl gasped and opened her mouth to reply, when loud rock music suddenly flooded the parking lot as a sleek Chevrolet Camaro glided into a space nearby. Every head turned to the gorgeous car, including that of Nancy Wheeler and Steve Harrington, just across the way from Ginny, Iris, and Lily.
"Jeez, that is one hot car..." mumured Ginny, her dark eyes running all over its body. She was a sucker for a nice car. She was shocked to see a California license plate on the back end.
"That is one hot guy," Iris added, her jaw dropped slightly as the boy driving it stepped out. Ginny followed her gaze and made startling eye contact with a tall, ruggedly handsome guy in a denim jacket and leather boots.
He smoked a cigarette, the waves of smoke pushing past his lips looking frighteningly similar to the waves in his messily chopped mullet.
On the passenger side of his awesome car stepped out a younger girl with bright red hair and sneakers so green they almost hurt Ginny's eyes. She ignored the strange looks everyone gave the two new kids, dropping her skateboard on the ground and zipping off in the direction opposite of the older stud.
"Oh. My. God." Iris nearly fell apart at the seams. "Who the hell is that? We've never had anyone so hot grace the Hawkins High parking lot before!" She bounced up and down, books pressed tight to her chest, as they followed after the hot guy.
"Ouch, Hawthorne," came the voice of Steve Harrington behind them. "I'm right here."
"We're well aware," Iris shot back at the cocky senior. Steve scoffed, his arm wrapping around his girlfriend.
Ginny smiled at Nancy next to him. "Hey, Nancy."
"Hey," said the sweet girl, her freckles rippling with her smile. "Do you guys have any idea who that was?"
Ginny shook her head, eyes still following the tall, denim clad stranger as they trailed a good ways behind him across the school yard. "No clue, but his car is wicked cool... Might give you a run for your money, Harrington."
Steve tried to give a nonchalant laugh, but it came off as more uneasy than anything. "Nah... I have better hair. I don't have anything to worry about."
The curly haired girl grinned, eyes sparkling as she looked up at him. "Maybe not. Also... denim on denim? Yuck."
The group laughed at that, as they made their way into the school. Ginny wasn't really good friends with Steve or Nancy, but they were mutuals, she'd say. Accquaintances.
Nancy was Mike's older sister, and Mike was Lucas' friend, so the girls had been forced to get to know each other for the last thirteen years of their lives, whether they liked it or not.
And lately, wherever there was Nancy, there was Steve also.
So, they were sorta friends, she'd say. Not the type of friends to share a bed with at a sleepover, but the type of friends you'd feel comfortable choosing to be your lab partner all year when your best friends weren't in your class.
Unfortunately, neither Steve nor Nancy was in her biology class, and she was stuck with someone less than ideal for her lab partner.
Her ex... fling, Roger Davidson, sat right next to her and annoyed her to no ends. He was pretty-faced and dark-haired, chisel-jawed and the like. But ultimately, he was an asshole and a manipulator. He likes to blame Ginny for all the problems in his life— like getting shoved onto the bench after he got carded in a basketball game.
Somehow, it was always Ginny's fault. But Mrs. Ratch made them stick with the same partner all year, unless they got the okay from someone else to switch.
Ginny wasn't going to give Roger the satisfaction, though. Usually, she'd delegate half of their tasks to him, to which he ignored, and she ended up having to do anyway.
Whatever, she thought, when he ignored her asking him to gather some copper strips for their experiment. I just have to pass this class.
Ginny couldn't stand him, nor the sight of the hickies covering his neck that particular morning. His shirt was low collared, as if Roger wanted to shove them in her face.
Asshole.
And so, she was extra grateful when the dismissal bell rang and she was off to work immediately following school.
Lucas usually rode his bike and Erica took the bus, so Ginny always caught a ride with Lily, who worked in the department store next door to Delilah's Delights, the small, aromatic bakery Ginny worked at. It wasn't the best job in the world, but Ginny loved baking and she loved Delilah, the sweet old woman who owned the shop, so she felt it was perfect for her.
The afternoon before a holiday was always busy, so Ginny was expecting lots of people to be there. Around four, they were already sold out of caramel apples, and the Halloween shortbread cookies were gone soon after. That left many customers for Ginny to disappoint, but she didn't really mind. As much as she enoyed baking, she had a busy night if she wanted to finish her application essay before morning, and she wouldn't really mind if she had to close the bakery early due to lack of product.
With permission from Delilah, Ginny was doing just that when a messy haired boy ran up to the door, looking slightly winded.
Steve Harrington had just run down the block to make it inside before the shop closed, and before Nancy yelled at him for being late to the Hollands for their dinner.
Ginny, who was ducked behind the counter when he entered, lifted her head and called, "How can I help you?" She peered up and grinned upon seeing the familiar guy from her class.
"Ah, hey, Sinclair," Steve greeted, leaning on the counter. "Look, I know you're about to close, but I really, really need a dozen double chocolate chunk cookies- to go, please."
Lifting two fingers in a cheerful salute, Ginny said, "Coming right up."
As she pulled out a box and reached into the display for the cookies, Steve drummed his fingers on the counter, checking his watch. He was supposed to pick up Nancy in fifteen minutes, and the Wheeler's house was all the way across town—
"Got a hot date tonight, Harrington?"
His eyes flicked up to the girl behind the counter, his eyebrows raised in surprise at the sudden question. Ginny stared at him expectantly; she smiled her pretty, pearly smile. "Hm?"
"Uh... Yeah, a date with Barb Holland's parents and Nancy," he said with an awkard laugh tacked onto the end.
Ginny raised an eyebrow, focusing her gaze on the cookies as she put them into the box again. "Oh, yeah? That's sweet of you. I know Nancy and Barb were close..." She bit the inside of her cheek. "Are they still looking for her?"
Steve scratched the back of his neck, running a hand over his hair. "I'm not sure, to be honest... It's just been so long." He avoided her gaze and looked at the counter.
"Well, they found Will Byers, so I just thought..." Ginny shook her head and closed the cookie box, tucking the flap into its little slot. She tied the pink bow with the tag labeled "Delilah's Delights" around the box before sliding it across the counter to him.
"Here you go, Harrington. I threw in a few extra snickerdoodles," she said with a soft smile. "They're Mr. Holland's favorite."
Steve returned the look with shining eyes. "Thanks, Gin."
Ginny tilted her head; no one called her that. She smiled again. "No problem."
Steve grabbed the box and began to leave the store, when suddenly, he stopped and turned back to Ginny. "Hey, uh... I heard you and Hawthorne talking about Tina's Halloween party. You going?"
Caught off guard slightly, Ginny fumbled for a response for just a moment. "Um... No, I wasn't planning on it... I don't think I could get past my parents."
Steve clicked his tongue. "Bummer.... You should try to come, though. It'll be fun."
Ginny studied him as he slipped out the door, leaving the bell to jingle behind him. Why was Steve Harrington inviting her to a party?
Surely he was just being nice... Or maybe he knew Ginny was a loyal acquaintance and would be on his side if things with Billy Hargrove, the new kid with the cool car, got handsy.
Either way, as she closed up the shop, Ginny wondered how she might write an college applications essay and throw together a decent Halloween costume in one night.
a/n:
ginny and erica canonically team up to mess with lucas, fyi. the sinclairs are the dream team guys