chapter thirty six: the hellfire club
it had been a long summer. rebecca spent countless days trying to track down her father. she had nothing.
a few months after his disappearance, rebecca couldn't recognize herself. she felt alone. even with steve there, she just didn't feel like herself anymore.
she needed to find a way to move on with her life. she hated it, but she broke up with steve. she knew it wasn't right to drag him through the hardship she was going through.
she didn't feel like she could take him down with her, she loved him too much. after their breakup, she went back to her father's cabin, her former home.
she spent the rest of her summer fixing it back up. some days she would call el and they would talk for hours. she missed her. el was the only person she talked to.
brandy and michelle hadn't seen her since her father disappeared. they missed her but they didn't recognize her anymore.
they tried reaching out to her a couple of times but they weren't sure how to help her other than giving her space.
she didn't go to college either, she couldn't focus on school until she focused more on taking care of herself.
-
steve was driving robin to the school and he was ranting to her about rebecca.
"i get that she needed some time, okay? i'm all for that but i miss her, you know? i mean, i haven't heard from her in months. i don't even know if she went to college out of state or if she's on some lead chasing down her father. it's like do i really wanna start another relationship when i'm still in love with rebecca? i mean, i don't know. does that make sense to you?" steve asked her.
he looked over at robin who was doing her mascara. she was very focused on not messing it up.
"robin, are you listening?" steve asked her noticing she wasn't paying attention.
"uh, yes. i was listening." robin said.
"what did i just say?" steve asked her.
"something about moving on from rebecca." robin replied.
"no, i'm talking about how i can't move on because i still love her." steve said.
"cut me some slack, please." robin said.
"well-" steve went to say but robin cut him off.
"your love life is one labyrinthine complexity. and it is 7 in the morning, we have to go to this stupid pep rally, and i woke up looking like a total corpse." robin said.
"oh, you're worried about a basketball pep rally? you expect me to believe that?" steve asked her.
"yeah? so?" robin asked him.
"so we both know what this is about, okay? i'm not buying that bullshit. this is about vickie." steve said.
"absolutely not." robin replied back.
"yes, it is. and you know what else i think?" steve asked her.
"i really don't care what you think-" robin began but steve cut her off.
"i think you gotta stop pretending to be someone else when you're around her, okay? you just gotta be yourself." steve said.
"you're literally quoting me to me. you do realize that." robin told him.
"well, maybe you need to listen to yourself. you ever think about that, smarty pants. i listened to you, and boom, look. i'm trying to get over rebecca." steve said as robin rolled her eyes at his contradiction.
"it's not the same thing. okay?" robin told him.
"well..." steve began but robin cut him off.
"you ask out a girl and she says no. big deal. nothing happens. maybe your ego's a little bruised. but i ask out the wrong girl, and bam, i'm a town pariah." robin said.
"okay, yeah, i'd buy that, except vickie is definitely not the wrong girl." steve said.
"we just don't know that, do we?" robin said.
"she returned fast times paused at 53 minutes, 5 seconds. do you know who pauses fast times at 53 minutes, 5 seconds? people who like boobies, robin." steve said.
"ew! gross. don't say boobies." robin said to him.
"boobies. it's not a big deal, okay? i like boobies. you like boobies. vickie likes boobies. definitely. it's boobies." steve said.
-
rebecca was walking back home from the grocery store and she saw a note on her door.
attached to the note was a ticket to the high school football game. she looked at the note and saw it was from michelle.
i thought i would invite you to the big game. i remember how much fun we used to have watching the games - michelle.
rebecca decided to take michelle up on her offer. she was finally ready to show her face again.
she went back to hawkins high, a place that she never thought she'd go to again.
when she got there, she saw michelle smile and wave at her. she was in her cheerleading uniform with the rest of the girls.
rebecca was a year older than michelle and brandi. she saw brandy sitting in the stands and she went to sit with her.
"hopper, long time no see." brandi said as rebecca smiled.
"yeah, i figured i'd show my support. you know, school spirit and all." rebecca said.
"because you had so much when you were at this school." brandi joked making the two girls laugh.
"i missed you guys." rebecca said with a smile.
"we've missed you, too, becca." brandi said.
the two girls took a seat and the game started. rebecca saw that lucas was now playing on the basketball team. she was happy for him. he seemed happy.
"hey, i'm going to get some water." rebecca said before getting up from her seat.
she went over to the water fountain and she saw that someone was already there. the minute she saw their hair, she felt nerves grow through her body.
"rebecca." he said when he saw her.
"hey, steve." rebecca replied.
she noticed that steve was nervous, too. they didn't end on bad terms but it didn't mean that it wasn't awkward.
"i wasn't sure if you were still in town, uh, how are you doing?" steve asked her.
"i'm doing okay, uh, how are you doing? dustin was telling me that you've really been putting yourself out there again." rebecca said.
steve was cursing out dustin in his mind. he didn't want rebecca thinking he'd completely moved on from her.
"uh, that's a lie. i've just been working and taking some time for myself, you know." steve said as rebecca nodded.
"oh, yeah. that's good, uh, i've been doing the same thing." rebecca said.
"it's really good to see you, beck." steve said with a little smile.
"yeah, it's good to see, you too, steve." rebecca replied.