ू ₒ ु ─── » » » ↳ episode one ↴
↳ THIS WAS ONE OF the many reasons Melanie hated school. She hated how Angela always bullied El. Angela had no reason to bully her, she didn't even know anything about El, at all. As a matter of a fact, Angela didn't know anything about El or the Byers. They were just known as freaks to Angela and her little group.
The school bell rang. El hurried out of the classroom, leaving Melanie and Will behind. El wanted to avoid seeing anybody at this point. "El, it wasn't that bad," Will said, attempting to reassure her.
"Friends don't lie," El stammered. "Come on, yours was better than anybody else's." Melanie struggled to catch up. "We're not lying," the Byers boy aimed to convince her.
The girl did not answer. "El," the Byers children slightly called out in sync. "Come on," Will spoke, once again to get her attention.
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Melanie saw El walking toward the center, where all the students hung out. She pushed past everyone, aiming to catch up. Before she knew it, Angela had put her leg in front on purpose so she could trip in front of everyone.
"Oh my God," Angela bent down, laughing sarcastically. "I am so sorry. I hope Mr. Fibbly's okay." she chuckled along with her friends.
Once they were walking away, Melanie ran to El. "El, you okay?" instead of responding, she went to her knees.
Jake pushed El's project to the boy next to him, known as Tommy. Rather than returning it, he stepped on it. Melanie and El's faces dropped.
Melanie stood up, watching as they walked away. "Angela." the bullied turned around. "What the hell is wrong with you?" the blonde chuckled. "What?"
Melanie started breathing heavily. "Why are you constantly bullying her for no reason," the bullies stayed quiet. "Is it because daddy won't get you what you want?" the silence was filled with "ooh's" and laughter.
"What?!" the blonde exclaimed. Melanie stepped closer to them. "We don't always get what we want, Angela. You're going to have to learn and accept that someday," the blondie was receiving stares from everyone even from her group.
Angela did nothing but swallow in response. Before anything else could be said, a familiar voice was heard. "Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!" the female teacher said, walking to the scene.
"Hey, what's going on here?" the teacher had finally pushed through everyone. "What's going on? Jane? Melanie?" the teacher walked up to the two.
"Jane," the teacher, known as Mrs. Gracey, put a hand on Jane's shoulder. "Did someone do this?" she waited for a response. "I tripped," Jane finally spoke.
Jane and Melanie looked at Angela and her group, and Mrs. Gracey did the same. Jane looked down. "It was just an accident,"
Both Melanie and Mrs. Gracey knew it was a lie, it was obvious. The female teacher let out a sigh and approached Angela, who was standing by her friends. "All right, Angela. You come with me,"
Everyone once again let out "oohs" as Mrs. Gracey finished talking. Angela and her group had confused faces to pretend like they did nothing. "What? Why?" she asked, making an effort to act innocent.
"Let's go," Mrs. Gracey clenched her teeth. "I didn't do anything," the blonde turned to look at Melanie and Jane. "Tell her, Jane. Tell her, Melanie. Tell her!" she got no response from either of them.
The blonde grunted as the teacher clasped onto her arm. Melanie laughed as she was being taken away, she turned to El. Her eyes were filling with tears, she bent down to her project as Melanie did the same.
"Shit. El. El," a boy's voice spoke. Melanie turned her head to see her brother, Will. "Shit," he went down to help the two of them. "El.."
El picked up the pieces of her project, along with Melanie. "I'm sorry," Melanie furrowed her eyebrows. "You have nothing to be sorry about?"
The Byers boy said nothing in response. "It's gonna be okay." Will's gaze shifted to Melanie. "Right, Melanie?" Melanie nodded her head. "Yeah.." she convinced.
"It.. It's not that bad," Will stuttered. El held the figure of Hopper in her hands. Melanie picked up another piece. "We'll all fix it together, okay, El?"
"Okay? Shit." Will cursed again. Melanie stared at him as she picked up pieces. El was on the verge of crying. Melanie looked at El's hand, which the figure was still in. El squeezed it tightly.
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The Byers and El had arrived back home. Neither of them wanted to talk about what happened at school. It was the same every day, Angela would bully El but never get away with it. It's why they call her a snitch.
Melanie went to her room and slammed the door shut. She tossed her backpack onto the floor and sat on her bed. Melanie put her hand under her pillows, searching through them.
She felt an object of what seemed to be a book and pulled it out. Melanie opened it and began writing about today.
Melanie's diary was a safe place for her to talk about anything she wanted. It couldn't judge her or force her to do anything she didn't want to do.
✧──────✧
Melanie was enjoying her silence for hours until that was soonly interrupted by the ring of a phone. Luckily, someone had picked it up, but that didn't last long.
"Melanie! It's for you!" the Byers mom shouted, loud enough for everyone to hear. Melanie groaned and stood up. She opened her door and walked to the kitchen, seeing her mom cooking.
"Who is it?" she asked. "Don't know, maybe it's one of your friends!" Joyce grinned as she continued to cut the vegetables. Melanie had forgotten she lied about having friends.
Melanie grabbed the phone and lifted it to her ear. "Hello? This is Melanie speaking," she could hear breathing through the phone. "Hello?"
"Uh— It's.. Angela," Melanie stood there, unsure of what to do. "What do you want, now?" Angela sighed. "I just want to.. apologize."
Melanie scoffed. "Apologize? I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." she snapped. "Look—" the girl began, before getting cut off. "Also, I'm sure you don't mean it at all. You've hated my step-sister ever since we moved here,"
Angela furrowed her eyebrows, knowing Melanie couldn't notice. "What? Jane's your step-sister?" Melanie mumbled something to herself. "Don't act like you didn't know,"
The blonde was in disbelief. "Whatever, I don't need your fucking apology," Melanie hung up the phone and pushed down the antenna.
Before Melanie could walk off, she heard a voice. "Melanie, could you please get your brothers and El?" Joyce pleaded, kindly. Melanie nodded. "Sure."
Melanie walked to Will's room. "Will!" she shouted, but there was no response. She turned around and approached El's door. "El?"
Rather than getting a response, the door opened revealing the Byers boy. "Will? What are you—" she looked behind him to see El with her project.
Melanie's face went serious. "Oh, well, uh, Mom wants us to go eat." El stood up and approached the door, she was now standing behind Will. "Okay," she smiled.
The Byers and El all went to the kitchen, seeing the plates set up. "Where's Jonathan?" Joyce wondered. Melanie shrugged. "I don't know, he's not in his room."
"So, you guys excited for tomorrow? Mike's finally visiting," Joyce recalled. Melanie's eyes slowly widened. "Right.. uh.."
"Yeah! Super excited," Will answered. Melanie sighed, with relief. "And El can finally get to see her boyfriend," Melanie teased, receiving a laugh from everyone.
"Hey!" El nudged Melanie in the arm. "I mean, he is your boyfriend, is he not?" she chuckled. "Don't make fun of only me, do Will,"
Will set down his drink. "Wait, no that's not fair! She bullies me all the time!" Melanie licked her lips, scratching the back of her neck. "I don't know what you're talking about,"
The Byers boy scoffed. "Liar!" Melanie began teasing Will as Joyce and El watched. They were all having fun, it was a normal family dinner.