It started at a party.
Halloween night of 1984 to be exact. My boyfriend, Ricky, dropped a bomb on me. I had only been dating him for two months, so we wern't serious. But that night was when I found out our whole relationship was a lie.
I wasn't the party type, nor was I the type to dress up on Halloween. I went to the bathroom for just a quick minute, and when I came out, I saw Ricky sucking face with Heather Holloway. I gasped and ran out to the side of the house and Ricky followed.
"Reid, stop!" he yelled.
I didn't. Ricky then grabbed my wrist to hold me back, I jolted. "Ah, what?!" I yelled back.
He stared at me blankly. "Will you let me explain?"
"Explain what? Why you were making out with Heather while you thought I wasn't in the room? I already know why, because you're a cheating prick!" I jabbed. If I'm being honest, I knew in the back of my mind that this would happen. Ricky and Heather used to have a thing too, but I stupidly hoped that he'd forget about her. I leaned my back against the house, crossing my arms over my chest as I wait for his next excuse.
"Look, she was really drunk, she came onto me."
I raised my eyebrows in shock. "Really? Because it sure looked like you had your arms around her, pulling her in."
"No-"
"Just be honest with me here, did you ever stop seeing her?" I asked.
It was a full five seconds before he said anything else. "...No."
"I fucking knew it." I say, beginning to walk away. He tries to grab me again, but this time I flinch quickly enough. "No, we're done. You can go back to Heather now, I don't want you."
Ricky scoffs, and heads back inside. I sigh as I walk to the porch and take a seat on the bench in front of the window. The only source of light coming from the glass behind me, looking into the party taking place on the other side. I began to dread going back to school on Monday, and I wondered what would happen the next time I saw him. Would he try to apologize? Or would he be holding hands with Heather to rub it in my face?
Why should I care anyway, I thought. It's not like we were anything serious. And he wasn't my first boyfriend, so I was no stranger to heartbreak. But what did I do to deserve this? I thought I was a pretty good girlfriend so far. Maybe Ricky was just stupid. Or maybe he found something in Heather that he didn't find in me.
With so many thoughts going through my head, I didn't even realize someone had been sitting in the chair adjacent from me. I was startled when the someone suddenly said, "Wow. That sounded pretty intense."
I looked up from my trance to see the one and only Steve Harrington, the second to last person I wanted to talk to. I rolled my eyes. "What's it to you?"
He seemed taken aback by my tone. "Nothing, I just couldn't help but listen to you both yelling." He responded. "Wanna talk about it?"
"Not with you."
"You got cheated on." He stated.
"...Yes." I said awkwardly.
Steve sighed. "And how long have you two been together?" He asked.
"I don't know, two months?"
"Did you and him ever...?"
"Oh god no!" I said immediately knowing what he was talking about. "Not that it's any of your business anyway." It got quiet suddenly. I felt weird speaking on the subject any further. I looked down and the empty beer can at my feet and crushed it with my foot. "Shouldn't you be in there with your girlfriend or something?"
He chuckled. "I actually came out here to get away from her."
"Why?"
"She uh... said she didn't love me. That our relationship is bullshit." He said.
"I win."
"I don't know if I should leave or not. I know someone will take her home." He said with disappointment. He looked at me sitting on the bench. I think he could tell I wasn't sure how to answer. "Look since you're a complete stranger, I have no shame in telling you my problems."
I held back a laugh. "I'm not a stranger."
Steve gave me a puzzled look. "What?"
I shook my head. "Nevermind." I realized that I'd finally had enough of this night, and started walking down the porch steps.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"Home?"
Steve stood up with me. "Uh, you're walking?"
I shrugged, "Yeah, why?"
He looked around suspiciously. "Well I don't know if you heard about the weird stuff that's going on in this town but-"
"I'm fine."
"Do you need a ride?" he asked.
"No."
The walk home wasn't too long. Luckily the party took place in my neighborhood, so I only had to walk a few blocks. When I got home I noticed that my mom was fast asleep. The house was quiet. It was just me and my mom. She works, but her family comes from money, so she never needed to worry about going broke. I'm not really that close with my mom, she's always either at work or going on dates with whichever man shes seeing that week. I was mostly raised by my grandparents. My father isn't in the picture, he died when I was five years old. Mom won't tell me why still. Her and I do get along, she just doesn't make time for me, which is okay. I like being alone.
I get to my room and fall right onto my bed, replaying the night over and over. I couldn't believe Steve didn't know who I was. Is he really that involved with himself that he doesn't notice when he comes across a person he's gone to school with for years? Sure we only had one interaction, but that interaction is what caused me to believe that Steve Harrington is the most conceited human alive.
*******
Back in my freshman year of highschool, my biology teacher gave all her students a project to complete. She handed us a list of topics to choose from and I was immediately drawn to 'Solar system diagram'. I quickly circled the three words and showed Ms. Gardner so that no one else could steal my idea.
I sat down in my assigned seat while everyone was still looking over their lists, and right away I started brainstorming how I could do this project. I considered making each planet out of clay, but it would take too long to dry, especially the bigger planets. Not to mention they'd be way too heavy to carry around.
I also considered styrofoam, but they didnt have that many varieties of sizes at the store. So it was back to the drawing board. Then it hit me, paper mache. All I had to do was blow different sizes of balloons, put the paper mache around them, leaving an opening so I could pop the balloons, paint, and I'm done.
Over the course of two weeks, I had carefully created all eight planets and glued them onto wires so they could be held up, and placed the planets accordingly. When it was finally time for the project to be turned in, I went to school excited to recieve my A plus. I walked down the science wing with the structure in both my arms. The whole peice was blocking my sight, so I didn't see the person who crashed into me at first until it was on the floor.
No worries, I can just glue it back into place.
Then the person lost their balance, and stepped on my Saturn. My heart dropped. "No!" I said.
I set the rest of my project aside on the floor, away from anymore chaos. I looked to see who it was that bumped into me. I was shocked to see Steve Harrington and his clones, Tommy and Carol. The idiot was wearing sunglasses inside. "Woah." He chuckled. Really, was that all he had to say? Not even an apology? He bent down to grab the smashed planet, and handed it to me. "You dropped this." He said, earning an eruption of laughter from his friends.
"No, you bumped into me and smashed it." I corrected.
They all went silent. "Not my fault. You could've moved out of my way." Steve shrugged.
"I couldn't see because the cardboard was blocking my view. You, on the other hand, could see. You're just an asshole who doesn't watch where he's going."
His two buddies laughed, the boy giving Steve a slap on the shoulder. "Dude, you gonna let her talk to you like that?" Tommy instigated.
Steve took a step closer to me and bent down so that his face was leveled with mine. "Whatever, nerd."
After that, they walked past me. I ran to my classroom and luckily I had glue in my backpack. There was no way I could fix the planet Steve ruined, but at least it would still be in the correct order.
That was the only other encounter I had with Steve Harrington, and I was hoping it would be my last. Unfortunately tonight had other plans. I mean, Steve telling me all his business with his love life, as if I would care? And then him calling me a stranger. Who does he think he is?