CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
love is a battlefield
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TRIGGER WARNING:
mentions of suicide and blades will be included. read at your own discretion.
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BY NOW, IT SHOULD BE OLD NEWS THAT NOVA DELAROUZ HAD NO LIMITS WITH HER INDISCRIMINATE WRATHS.
You know all about Valerie's point of view on the fake suicide letter situation. Now, you'll have some insight on the mind that belongs to Nova Delarouz.
The day that Nova made fun of Valerie's father passing away, had been a pretty phenomenal day for Nova. She had thought, that after years and years of envying Valerie for her ranking at Hawkins, it would finally be her time for the spotlight to shine on her. The main source of Nova's jealousy, came from how Valerie got the title of 'Hawkins' It Girl', which placed Valerie alongside Steve Harrington. It was an understatement saying that Nova was obsessed with Steve. Having to watch Valerie be so careless of the privileges she had, was so aggravating to Nova. So much, that the girl decided enough was enough. She had her mind set on stealing Valerie's title. She didn't care who she had to hurt in the process, or what actions she had to take, she was going to get Valerie out of the picture.
Once Valerie confronted Nova about the sickening jokes she had made in class, Nova knew she was on thin ice. If one inferior rumor spread about Nova, everything that Nova worked so hard for, would be thrown out of the window. So, she took things to the next level. As soon as she got home, she wrote down a fake suicide note, which consisted of multiple insincere apologies, along with sentences that contained improvised guilt. The next morning, she stopped by school extra early, lying to multiple teachers, saying that she had tutoring lessons. She made her way to Valerie's locker, sliding the note through one of the tiny holes on the locker. She hid in one of the bathroom stalls for about twenty minutes, in order to convince the teachers that she actually was at tutoring. Afterwards, she drove back to her house, until it was finally showtime. Nova already had her entire plan set out. So, once she heard a car door slam, she picked up the blade, feigning her tears and dejected facial expressions. Once Nova heard the sound of someone running up the stairs, she placed the blade right above her wrist, the chillness of the blade making her shiver. By the time Valerie rushed into the room, Nova was already flooded with improvised tears. "Oh, my God." Valerie shuddered in horror. "Nova, please, put it down. I am so fucking sorry, Nova. Please." Valerie implored. "Why should I? I ruin everything, Valerie. I shouldn't have joked about your father, you were right. I'm sorry." Nova 'sympathized'. Nova very lightly pressed the blade on top of her wrist, making a motion with her hand, which led to Valerie believing that this was it. In that moment, Valerie believed that Nova's blood was on her hands. She could've stopped it, if only she kept her mouth shut, or arrived earlier. Except, the resolution of this situation, resulted in Nova dropping the blade, and running straight into Valerie's arms. In that exact moment, obviously it was the most relieving thing Valerie had ever experienced. But.. once Valerie found out that it was all an act, that the tears Nova shed—and the blade above her wrist was all planned, it sent her into a spiral of misery and melancholy.
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In the ten minutes that Robin had joined in on the adventure of translating, they had gotten way more done than the time spent attempting to translate with Steve. Men nowadays.
They had been listening to the tape repeatedly, which Valerie had to admit, it began to give her an agonizing migraine. Well.. to be completely honest, she couldn't tell if the migraine had to do with the tape, or the alcohol. Oh well!
Robin had been pacing back-and-forth across the room, listening to every word of the recording. Valerie was examining her notes, and occasionally, she would look up at the whiteboard to see if she could spell out some of the words. "Wait, that last part, just one more time." Robin pointed to the tape. "Okay."Dustin rewinded the tape, looking up at Robin. The tape played for a short period of time, before Robin spoke up. "Okay, that word! Um, it's pronounced.. 'dly-nna-ya'." Robin announced, Dustin repeating the word. "Which is spelled. ." Robin pointed to the whiteboard, signaling for Dustin to trade spots with her. He looked for the letter D on the whiteboard, pointing to the letter. "The chair!" Both Dustin and Valerie said in unison. "Yeah, the chair-looking thing!" Dustin nodded. "Yeah, okay." Robin nodded. They continued that same process for awhile. Until, finally.. they translated an entire sentence!
Both Valerie and Robin rushed to the tiny window, which connected the back room to the front counter. Robin quickly slid the window open, catching Steve's attention. "We've got our first sentence." Robin announced. "Yup, and we figured it out without your help." Valerie added, Robin laughing at her comment. "Woah, seriously?" Steve ignored Valerie's comment. "Yeah." Robin nodded. "The week is long." Both Robin and Valerie said in a Russian accent. "Well, that's thrilling." Steve replied, no enthusiasm in his voice whatsoever. "Whatever. You're just mad we figured it out without you." Valerie shrugged. Steve hummed sarcastically in response, Valerie mocking him before Robin shut the window.
The sun had set, and the visitors in Starcourt had gone home for the day. To say the least, Valerie was pretty exhausted from her day. Translating Russian may've been somewhat fun, but it contained actually having to use your brain, which was too much work in Valerie's opinion. However.. it was completely worth it. After hours and hours of bickering, translating, and wanting to throw the tape into the wall, they had finally translated a good amount of the tape!
"The week is long, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west." Everyone read in unison. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Valerie sighed. "I don't know. Maybe the translation is wrong." Dustin spoke. "It's not. We made sure of that." Robin replied. "Well, how come it doesn't make any sense, like, whatsoever..?" Steve asked. "Fuck my life." Valerie whined, slouching back into one of the chairs. "Nope. Come on. Get up." Steve shook his head at Valerie. She rolled her eyes at Steve's demand, lazily standing up from the chair.
"This shit is creepy." Valerie spoke, looking around the entire mall. The Starcourt Mall was usually jam-packed, and the lines went by so slow. Seeing the entire mall empty, the only source of light coming from the signs in the store, was pretty insane to Valerie. "Tell me about it." Robin laughed. Selina would've loved to stroll around here. Valerie thought about the blonde, her mood immediately shifting in a negative way as she remembered everything that had happened with Nova. Her discomfort became apparent, which captured Robin's attention. "Hey, you okay?" Robin asked, which made Steve turn his head. "Uh, yeah. Sorry." Valerie smiled at Robin. Steve didn't believe her, but he didn't want to cause a scene, so he let it slide. Steve began closing the shop for the night, turning off the lights and tidying up the place.
"I mean, it just.. it just can't be right." Steve announced, referring to their translation of the tape. "It's right." Robin confirmed. "Honestly, I think it's great news." Dustin shrugged. "How is this great news? I mean.. so much for being American heroes. It's total nonsense." Steve scoffed. "It's not nonsense." Dustin argued. "It's too specific. It's obviously a code." Dustin added. "That's what I was thinking." Valerie spoke. "What do you mean, 'a code' ?" Steve asked. "Like, a super secret spy code." Dustin replied. "That's a total stretch." Steve shook his head. "Well, even if it was, it still makes sense." Valerie added. "Oh, come on. Please don't tell me you two are buying into this." Steve looked between Valerie and Robin. "Listen, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission. What'd you think they were gonna say, 'fire the warhead at noon' ?" Robin began. "Exactly." Dustin pointed to Robin. "And, our translation is correct, I know that for sure. So, 'the silver cat feeds' . . Why would anyone talk like that unless they were trying to mask the true meaning of their message?" Robin questioned. "Exactly." Dustin nodded. "And, why would anyone wanna mask the true meaning of their message, unless the message was somehow.. sensitive?" Robin added. "Exactly!" Dustin looked at Steve, pointing to Robin. Steve just mimicked Dustin, continuing to walk with the three. "So.. I guess that confirms your suspicion." Robin shrugged. "Evil Russians." Dustin nodded. "I can't believe I'm about to agree with this strange child, but.. yeah. Totally, evil Russians." Robin laughed. "This is tripping me out." Valerie shook her head, laughing at the entire situation. "Wait.. so, how do we crack it?" Dustin asked. "Well, I guess we translate the rest, and hopefully a pattern emerges." Robin shrugged. "A pattern. Right, like, maybe.. 'silver cat' is a meeting place." Dustin suggested. "Or a person." Robin added. "Or a weapon." Dustin shrugged. "It's probably gonna take a super genius to crack it, but.." Robin paused, looking at both Valerie and Dustin. "Where's Steve?" Robin asked, making Valerie immediately whip her head behind them. She caught sight of Steve struggling to get the coins out of his pocket, multiple coins falling to the ground. "Hey, Steve." Robin called out to Steve. "What are you doing?" Valerie questioned, walking towards Steve. "Uh, it's a quarter. I need—do you have a quarter?" Steve looked to Valerie. Valerie's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, reaching into her back pocket for any spare change. Valerie tossed a quarter to him, which Steve struggled to grip onto. "You sure you're tall enough for that ride?" Robin teased. Steve immediately entered the quarter into the slot, the horse beginning to move back-and-forth, along with the sound of its customary music. They all watched in confusion as Steve inspected the horse closely. "You need help getting up, little Stevie?" Robin taunted Steve with her sarcasm, making both Valerie and Dustin laugh. "Would you three just shut up and listen?" Steve shushed them. Dustin's face fell in realization, his eyes widening in shock. "Holy shit." Dustin cursed. "The music." Dustin pointed to the horse. Valerie and Robin both looked at Dustin, confusion displayed on their faces. "The music!" Dustin repeated, dropping down onto his knees and reaching inside of his backpack. Robin and Valerie shared a look, shrugging in reply to Dustin and Steve. Dustin pulled out the tape, playing it for the hundredth time. The realization struck Valerie as soon as the recording began to play. The music coming from the small ride, was the exact same as the music playing in the background of the recording. "I don't understand." Robin shook her head in confusion. "It's the exact same song on the recording." Dustin announced. "Maybe they have horses like this in Russia." Robin shrugged. "Indiana Flyer? I don't.. I don't think so." Steve shook his head. "This code, it didn't come from Russia. It came from here." Steve announced.
They all watched as the horse began to slow down, the music only audible from the recording. "If her context didn't confirm the whole 'evil Russians' plot.. then this definitely does." Valerie spoke. She wasn't thrilled with the idea that evil Russians may've been invading her town. But, at least it wasn't the Upside Down threatening her and her friends this time, right?
Since Selina was long gone for the day, Steve was giving both Valerie and Dustin a ride home. The four of them made their way to the parking lot, saying their goodbyes. "Hey, Robin." Valerie walked towards Robin. "Thanks for your help. Y'know, for the flask and all." Valerie laughed. "It'll be full to the rim again tomorrow." Robin responded. "Good. We're gonna need it while being stuck in the same room as those two." Valerie nudged her head towards Steve and Dustin, who were bickering about God knows what. They both laughed as the two boys continued to annoy each other. "Will your friend join us tomorrow?" Robin asked. "Depends. I'll talk to her first thing in the morning, and.. I guess we'll go from there." Valerie sighed. Robin nodded at Valerie's response, turning her head back to Dustin and Steve. "He cares for you, y'know." Robin nudged her head towards Dustin and Steve's direction. "Who, Steve?" Valerie asked. "Mhm. I saw him looking at you earlier when I asked if you were okay." Robin replied. "He might be a total douchebag, but at least he's one who really looks out for you." Robin shrugged. Valerie laughed at Robin's comment, looking back to Steve. Valerie didn't necessarily know the point in time that really drew Steve and Valerie together to become friends. Obviously, it was when the whole demo-dog situation was taking place. But she wondered the exact moment in time that truly brought them together. I mean.. come on! Valerie Revora and Steve Harrington coincidentally being brought together? The irony was too apparent. "I'll see you tomorrow." Valerie waved goodbye to Robin, which Robin returned the gesture.
The music playing was the only sound that fulfilled the entire car ride, until they finally arrived at Dustin's house. "Here we are." Dustin announced. "We'll pick back up tomorrow?" Dustin asked, both Valerie and Steve nodding in agreement. "Thanks for the ride." Dustin nudged his head to Steve. "Don't mention it." Steve called out to Dustin as he walked inside of his house.
The same, repetitive process of listening to music occurred as they drove away from Dustin's house. Well.. that was until Steve spoke up. "Hey. Are you okay?" Steve asked. "Why wouldn't I be?" Valerie shrugged. "So, you're just gonna pretend it didn't happen?" Steve questioned, referring to the Nova situation. "I'm not pretending it didn't happen. I just don't understand why we have to talk about it right now." Valerie shrugged. "Maybe.. because you two had a past. And she's back now." Steve looked to Valerie. "Yeah, well, it's only temporary." Valerie replied. "That doesn't change what happened today." Steve responded. Valerie didn't say another word, she just looked out the window. Valerie didn't necessarily like opening up to people. She didn't want to be a burden that people carried around, especially considering the times they lived in. Everyone had stress of their own, so why add onto that?
The rest of the car ride was silent, which made the tension grow thicker by the minute. Luckily, the suffocating tension was put to an end as Valerie's house came in sight. "Is this it?" Steve asked. He had never seen, or visited Valerie's house before. "Yeah." Valerie nodded, gathering her belongings. "Thank you." Valerie added, as she got out of Steve's car. Steve nodded in response, watching the blonde as she walked towards her house. He made sure that she had gotten inside of her house safely, before driving away.
Valerie had a lot on her mind. On top of the entire Nova situation, was a potential threat to Hawkins. But.. it's not like the Russians intended on hurting them. Well, from the information they had gathered, that's what Valerie was theorizing. Plus, she still didn't know what was so impactful about Nova's words, that made Selina immediately leave the entire mall and not return. Valerie had a lot to figure out, and a lot to take care of. Was she looking forward to solving all of these conflicts? Nope, not one bit. But, it's not like she had a majority of choices!