─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
march 21st, 1986
davis' residence - hawkins
high
matilda joane davis had anger issues, especially as a kid. she would have outbursts, was always furious and resentful, argued with adults and children her age and was overall a bully. she was a short-tempered, immature girl.
but she always had a reason for this. her brain was wired differently from others, meaning her fuse was much shorter. additionally, she had lost her mother, rosalita garcia-davis, the day before her seventh birthday. since then, she had been in and out of psychiatrist offices.
matilda was undoubtedly troubled. she had spent most of her middle school year terrorising her peers and making fun of them for nothing. however, the events of the past few years had changed her, she was evolving into a better person.
she now had an extended family. people she could depend on, people who would risk their own lives for her, people who would protect her at any costs even though she could defend herself.
you see, not only was her brain connected differently but it was modified due to experiments from when she was a toddler. more specifically, project MKUltra. matilda was mildly pyrokinetic and she had hints of psychic persuasion in her.
the drawbacks of those abilities were: the multiple scars she had, the nosebleed she got, her hair shifting to crimson colour and the extreme fatigue. so, since the battle of starcourt mall, matilda hadn't used her powers to an extreme extent - just to be sure.
she wanted to be a normal fourteen, nearly fifteen, year old.
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
"have they replied?" a voice bellowed from downstairs. that was her step-dad/adoptive father. he was now the chief of police, so tilly sees him less. but his salary is better and they're saving up to move up to a better house on loch nora.
he's been quieter lately. but no one blames him, his best friend since high school passed, and the other moved 2,000 miles away to california. again, he's had to put up with calvin powell and phil callahan.
with water droplets trickling down her face, matilda joane davis' head shot up from the water in her bathroom sink. she was in a hurry as her ride was apparently arriving in less than one minute.
"no dad, i sent it three days ago!" the girl called back. with her eyes sealed, she blindly searched around the room for her towel. once she had retrieved it, she instantly brought it to her wet face and smothered herself.
suddenly, there was a deafening beep coming from outside the house.
"shit!" the girl cursed.
"they're here!" daniel davis called out in a taunting manner.
"i know!" matilda yelled in the same sarcastic tone. she groaned in aggravation before she grabbed her new minolta x-700 camera and gently positioned it around her neck, beside the necklace that will gifted to her in '83.
she swiftly slipped her fire logo and gun charm bracelet on and departed out her bedroom door.
her bedroom had glossy photos and a few shares of polaroids scattered around. she hung them up after the battle of starcourt mall so that she could always see the people she treasured.
there were many of her and daniel, her and slater and young pictures of her and will. there were a couple of pictures of her with each member of the party and the babysitters club. she even had a photo up of joyce byers and jim hopper holding her as a baby.
there was another of her as a baby. but this one was her, will byers and sarah hopper in separate cots. they were all born within a few weeks of each other, which made the joyce byers, rosalita garcia and james hopper extremely happy.
tilly didn't really have much memory of sarah, as she and her family moved to new york when she was 2. in addition, the girl sadly passed at 7 years old.
carefully, she made her way down the stairs - not wanting to damage the camera in any way. steve harrington and her father teamed up to purchase it for her at christmas and it was the most valuable thing she owned.
that same steve harrington was outside, slamming his car horn and signalling to the girl she should leave the house now.
"i'll see you later dad." tilly explained as she made it to the door.
"majo!" daniel called out.
when tilly turned, she saw he was holding her red converses. the girl sighed and chuckled.
"what would i do without you?" she smiled as she caught the items.
"we'll never know." daniel shrugged.
"bye, love you!" tilly made sure to constantly tell people she loved them, as she soon realised she never knew when they would be gone.
"love you too."
with her shoes in her hands and white socks protecting her feet, tilly ran over to steve's brown bmw. before she could even enter, the boy leaned out of the passenger's window.
"come on! we don't have all day." he clamoured.
"i'm here, cool your jets." tilly scoffed. she flung the back door open and slid inside. after she shut the door, she leaned forward to her two older friends.
"morning!"
"took your time." robin buckley joked, throwing her back a granola bar.
"late as always." steve harrington added as he started up the car.
"i forgot today was your day." the girl shrugged while pulling on her shoes. he and daniel took turns from monday to friday to drop her off and pick her up from school.
"excuse me, what do you think you're doing?" steve glanced back for a brief second.
"putting my shoes on, what does it look like?"
"not in the car you're not."
"what, you want me to get out the moving car and do it?" tilly fired back.
since steve remained silent, she decided to continue dressing. she wasn't the only one getting ready: robin sat in the passenger's seat with mascara in her hands and the car mirror open.
"you look great."
"thanks till, so do you." robin nodded.
"you haven't even looked back at me."
"can see you through the mirror."
not even seconds later, steve took it upon himself to begin droning on about his girl toys. "so there's heidi tomorrow night, but the problem with heidi is that she's going out of state for college. do i wanna start another relationship that has no point other than sеx?"
at that point, steve was talking to himself. as much as tilly loved seeing steve make a fool out of himself, his love life was enough to put her to sleep, permanently.
"i mean, i don't know. does that make sense to you guys? guys, are you listening?" steve furrowed his eyebrows.
"nope."
"uh, yes."
"what did i just say?" steve asked the two.
"something about sеx with linda." robin guessed, her eyes glued to the car mirror.
"no, it was tiffany." tilly corrected her.
"no, i'm talking about heidi." steve sighed in disappointment.
"cut us some slack, please." robin groaned.
"well-"
"your love life is one of labyrinthine complexity." robin snapped, "it is 7:00 in the morning, we have the stupid pep rally, and i woke up looking like a corpse."
"you're worried about a basketball pep rally?" steve scoffed, "expect us to believe that?"
"yeah? so?"
"so we all know what this is about." steve exposed her, "okay i'm not buying that bullshit this is about vickie."
vickie was a kind, gorgeous redhead who was a member of hawkins high marching band, alongside robin. robin was in complete awe of her but struggled to form a straightforward sentence when around her.
robin had clarified her sexuality to tilly on the first day she met vickie. it was in a car ride home from school and robin sat in the backseat with the younger girl. at the same time, steve drove and blasted out 'object of my desire' by star point.
tilly was the kind of girl who wouldn't judge someone for being different, which is ironic as she was hawkins middle school's favourite bully. however, times have changed and tilly developed into a mature young girl. so as robin explained how much she 'loved girls, girls, girls' - tilly listened with her full concentration (slightly relating).
despite this, tilly was a bit confused but entirely unbothered.
"absolutely not." robin was swift to deny.
"yes it is. you know what else i think?"
"i really don't care what you think-"
"i think you gotta stop pretending to be someone else when you're around her." steve advised, "you just gotta be yourself."
tilly nearly gagged at steve's inspirational advice.
"you're literally quoting me to me." robin scoffed, "you do realise that."
"well,maybe you need to listen to yourself." steve shrugged, "you ever think about that, smartypants?"
tilly beamed, her favourite thing about carpooling with steve and robin was their immature arguments.
"i listened to you, now look at me. boom. back in business." steve finished.
"yet you're struggling to find a stable relationship?" tilly questioned, adding her own opinion.
"i will crash this car if it means you're left injured." steve said.
tilly sat in the back in complete shock while robin rolled her eyes at the two's verbal brutality.
"you need help, harrington. serious help." tilly shook her head, "you and i both know you'd rather die before letting this car be damaged."
"you know me so well." he said, sarcastically.
"back to me please? steve... it's not the same thing. okay?"
"well-"
"mhm, you ask out a girl and she says no. big deal. nothing happens." robin started, "maybe your ego's a little bruised and tilda throws a few snarky comments. i ask out the wrong girl, and bam, i'm a town pariah."
"i'd buy that, except vickie is definitely not the wrong girl." steve reassured her.
"we just don't know that, do we?" robin sighed as she brought out her breath mint spray.
"she returned fast times paused at 53 minutes, 5 seconds." steve reminded her, "you know who pauses fast times at 53 minutes, 5 seconds? people who like boobies, robin."
"ew! gross." robin scowled.
"boobies!"
"don't say boobies!"
"boobies." tilly sneered, she was in the back, chuckling too much at this.
"not a big deal, okay? i like boobies! you like boobies... and i'm pretty sure matilda jo likes boobies too." steve muttered that last part, "vickie likes boobies, definitely. it's boobies."
"tilda's fourteen." robin gave him a look.
"and? babies like boobies." steve shrugged.
"that's their source of food, you barf bag." tilly rolled her eyes from the back.
"barf bag? really?"
"yeah."
"that's a new one."
"girls are great." tilly leaned forward, now ignoring the older boy. "and i'm pretty sure vickie thinks that too."
"she likes boobies." steve mouthed to robin, referring to tilly.
"oh, for sure." his best friend finally agreed.
"steve, can we have some music on, please?" tilly requested.
"you want 'the chain', again?" steve groaned out, clearly irritated by the song she played on repeat when in his car.
"no.. i've changed. i want 'don't stop me now', actually." tilly grinned as she began to sing, "i'm burning through the sky in 200-"
"the song isn't even playing yet."
"i just think that song's quite related to me." the girl shrugged, "'burning through the sky'. get it because i-"
"we got it!" the two elder teens cut her off, making her slump back into her seat in disappointment.
⎯ ❃ neens speaks!
hey guys!! it's been a whole year since i've written this book and i'm honestly so happy to be back. this chapter is a present to you guys as i finished my exams today!!
ALSO i just posted the introduction chapter to my steve harrington/max mayfield fanfic, so check that out if you want to <3 (1980s horror film)
hope you guys enjoyed it and let me know any ideas you have because i wanna hear all
don't forget to vote&comment!