__________
-UNKEPT-
PROMISES
Dinner at the Alma residence is never quiet. Marco, Valentina's brother, always pestered her about something stupid. Her parents talked about the recent drama in the neighborhood, same old, same old. Tonight they were having spaghetti, something that Christina could make since she never really grew up knowing how to cook.
"Hey Ma, guess what I saw today?" Marco excitedly asked. He never found it hard for himself to make conversation, especially when it came to ratting out his sister.
"I saw Valentina almost get run over by Steve! It was priceless, but she ended up walking off like a scaredy-cat." That little shit. Her parents spit out their wine.
"She what? Hija, how many times have we told you to look both ways?" Christina reminded her. Maybe now was a good time to ask them about the basketball game.
"Sorry!" she glared at Marco then kicked his leg, while he smiled innocently. "Off-topic. Two things. One, could one of you drop me off at my school tonight to see the basketball game? And two, could one of you drop me off at Family Video tomorrow so I can rent-out a few movies?"
A mixture of responses were heard.
"You know what, never mind, forget about it, it's fine." She always hated when her family overreacted.
"No! No! No! I'll take you. I'm assuming the game's going to start soon, so go start getting ready, I'll pick up your plate for you," Armando Alma spoke for the first time in a while.
"Thanks dad!" Heading to her room, she was contemplating on whether she should change or keep her outfit the same. Deciding on the latter, she found an outfit and retouched her hair.
Looking in the mirror, giving herself her own pep talk. "Just breathe and you'll be fine. Walk in the gym and find a place to sit. Walk in and find Steve. Who am I kidding, he's going with Heidi. No! Brenda, shit, uh she really is a fluke," rolling her eyes, then exiting her room. "Dad, I'm ready!"
Giving her mom a hug and ruffling her brother's hair, she was ready to go, "Love you hija!"
"Bye Ma!" Valentina responded.
Driving to the school, her dad scolded her, "Vale, take all the time you need when you're at the school, okay? Make sure to enjoy yourself and make friends! It's your last year, make the best of it. Yeah?"
Valentina nodded. Seeing as they still had a few minutes until they arrived at the school, she debated to tell him about what had happened on the way home from school.
"Hey Dad?" Armando hummed in response.
"I don't know if Mom told you earlier or anything at all, but I saw grandma again, you know in my visions. Except after seeing her, it was the same person or creature with cloudy eyes that I saw a few days ago."
Glancing at his daughter for a second, "Again? This is happening too much and I don't like it. I think you should go see one of those doctor therapists."
She laughed before answering, "They're just called therapists dad. And I've already started seeing the one at school. But it's not a good idea to go see another one just yet, I'll just wait a few more days, and I'll be fine, okay?"
Pulling up to the school Armando was now weary of letting her go to the event. "Okay! Hija, just be careful and enjoy yourself."
Waving at her dad, heading to the gym, where the cheers were getting easier to hear. Arriving at the door where the ticket collector was, the worker smacked on her gum, sounding enthusiastic, "Ticket please."
"Oh. Ticket? I didn't know I needed a ticket. Could you just let me in?" Awaiting for an answer, Valentina felt as if she got in trouble for not doing what she was supposed to do.
Squinting her eyes, tilting her head, "Ticket, please."
"I'll be back, you'll see!" Groaning and walking away, Valentina needed to figure out how to get in or at least find a way home. Though it was impossible considering her dad was going to pick her up at least two hours later, like he promised he would. And she also didn't have any money for the payphone.
Too lost in her thoughts, a voice was calling her for the past few seconds. "Valentina? Are you okay? I really do need to go inside, I was running late, but saw you here, and knew I shouldn't leave you outside."
Mumbling talking had filled her ears causing her to try and find the owner of the voice. Robin.
"Sorry! Uh, y-yeah I'm fine, I just need a ticket to get inside since that stupid girl in the front wouldn't let me in without one." In situations like this, she always did wonder how stubborn people could even exist in the world. Although, she shouldn't be saying anything considering that'd make her a hypocrite.
Before Robin could respond, another voice interrupted. "The hell are you still doing out here? I thought you were in a rush? That's why I dropped you off in the front."
Turning around to find Steve with his hands on his hips looking like a mom, where he then pointed to Valentina.
"And you! You're Valentina. The one from this morning. What the hell are you doing outside? The game's going to start!" Well. Who knew the Steve Harrington could be such a babysitter. This was the first time that he had paid attention to her, other than their first encounter this morning.
Suddenly finding interest in a rock on the floor, starting to kick it around. "The person who was in the front wouldn't let me since I don't have a ticket and don't blame Robin for anything. It's all on me, she saw me standing here, when she should be inside. Right Robs?"
Watching their awkward conversation and facial expressions, until she snapped out of it until she heard her nickname?
"Right, well I'll leave you two, to whatever this is." Now the two were alone and Valentina wasn't as excited as her freshman self would be. Since this morning's 'fight,' she was too scared that Steve would scold her, again.
"So is it true then? Because I have an extra one. Brenda decided to ditch me for a girls night with her friends or something like that. What do you say, Alma? It could be my apology gift for this morning," Steve offered, putting his hands in his pockets.
He was in fact lying, but he wouldn't tell anyone that. He had to go to Brenda's house to pick her up after he dropped off Robin, which was only a few minutes away, but decided to park his car, when he saw Robin and Valentina talking about her situation. Without letting any of them see, he had gone to the payphone, telling Brenda that he had a family emergency.
It's not everyday that her crush talks to her, let alone offer her something. She had a tendency to roll her eyes. So that's exactly what she did. "I guess Harrington, what would be the harm, right?"
Smiling to himself, Steve and Valentina started to walk towards the gymnasium. "Tickets, please," the girl from earlier requested.
Handing over the tickets, Valentina smirked. "Told you I would be back."
Ripping a piece of the tickets, smacking on her gum, the ticket girl gave Valentina a glare, but then saw Steve. "Interesting. Didn't know Steve Harrington went out with loners."
Losing her smirk, then being replaced with a frown. At this, Steve was too confused for his own good, but quickly retracted that feeling when it turned into slight anger. Gently grabbing Valentina's wrist, Steve started walking towards the bleachers.
Following Steve like a lost puppy, where she then caught Robin's gaze. Smiling and winking, at Valentina.
Helping Valentina up the stairs, Steve put one hand on her back, with his other holding one of hers. A thought then came to her mind. "Hey Steve? Does it bother you that the team is playing the tournament even after you've graduated?"
"No. No I haven't, but thank you for bringing that up." Her outspoken thoughts struck a nerve for Steve. He always thought that one day, he'd lead the team to the championships, but after Billy Hargrove joined, it was all about competition between the two teens. Not only that, but Steve also saw himself being on the team as an opportunity to get a girl. Turns out that his Operation Stealthy Ninja was a no-go.
Finding a spot on the bleachers, people started to turn their heads towards their direction, furrowing their eyebrows in confusion. Questioning as to why The Loner and the ex-King of Hawkins were together, out in public.
Giving everyone a glare, Valentina turned her head to find Steve giving her a look she couldn't decipher. Smiling at him with glints in her eyes. Both were now stuck in their own trances.
A whistle then broke the tension, making them turn their gazes to the basketball court.
It was now within the last minute of the basketball game. Hawkins was just a few points behind, but the coach called in Lucas Sinclair to substitute, seeing as one of the players got injured.
Steve was ecstatic when he realised that the kid he trained to be on the team, was finally off the bench. Cheers got louder as the clock counted down.
As seconds started to run down, it was as if life went into slow motion, the Sinclair boy scored the winning shot. Steve jumped up from his seat and gave Valentina a hug.
Valentina's eyes widened, where she stood there in shock, ignoring the fact that her school won. The blood in her body rushed to her head, making her cheeks become flushed. After a few moments passed, Steve let go of her. It was as if he forgot what happened a few seconds ago and smiled brightly at Valentina.
Everyone started to file out of the gymnasium, where Steve and Valentina were one of the last people out. Amongst the crowd, were happy and sad people, though there were only a few cars in the parking lot. Another opening of a door was heard and a group of people started filing out.
"Valentina, are you alright?" Steve questioned making her redirect her gaze.
Looking at him while smiling, she hummed, until after she responded, "Yeah, never better."
A honk from a car was then heard, catching both of their attention. Thinking it was just a teen picking up a few of their friends.
Armando slightly rolled down his window just in case he would be able to hear their conversation.
The two were brought into another trance. Two more honks were heard.
It was only at that moment, she realized that it was her dad, when she looked at the car. Her heart was beating fast, surely almost about to go into cardiac arrest. Face flushed white, from utter embarrassment. Dragging her feet to the car and looking back at Steve, where he held a small smile and waved.
Getting in the car, Valentina was met with a questioning look. Armando inhaled, "So? You have a boyfriend, eh?"
Immediately shaking her head, Valentina ejected the claim. "Steve? No way."
A light bulb went off in his head. "That was The Steve?"
When Steve was still attending school, Valentina would always bring some kind of new information home about him. Whether it was that he was having a good hair day or even how she would sometimes find Steve's eyes on her.
"Yeah it was. Now can we go home, I need to wake up early tomorrow." Valentina wanted to avoid the situation as quickly as possible. Thankfully, her dad disregarded it all and started his way to the main road.
Putting on her pyjamas, then getting underneath her covers, Valentina immediately fell into a sweet abyss. In her dreams was a family gathering, laughter and joy spread about. The young ones find themselves in a conversation about their favorite movie genre.
A girl with brunette hair was silent the whole time, until her cousin noticed. "Valentina, what's your favorite movie genre?"
At the time, Valentina had only seen a mixture of science-fiction, fantasy, and only one horror movie, but ever since that day, she swore to herself that she'd never watch something in close similarity to it. Years following, with growing up to love it.
A few moments passed, and she still hadn't answered. Her cousin decided to speak up. "Is it by any chance, Horror or Murder-Mystery. It seems as if you're quite good at hiding your emotions like the murderers in them. After all, you did kill Abuela, right?"
Valentina was now twitching in her sleep, going haywire and in shock. Her nightmare felt too real, it was just a memory set in a horror movie itself.
Her breathing hitched as she looked at her cousin in utter confusion. Within a blink of an eye, the monster was back. The creature stood in front of her, vines slithered around its body, with its venomous eyes set straight on her.
Standing up from the floor, Valentina slowly took steps back as the monster glided towards her with ease. It was breathing heavily and without blinking it titled its head.
Without seeing where she was going, the Alma girl was at a dead end, when she backed into a wall. She started to close her eyes, where they then filled with tears in fear of her own fate.
"Your time is almost at an end, sweet, sweet, Nieta. It's your fault, but don't worry it will all be over soon." She knew that voice. Re-opening her eyes, she found her grandma standing in front of her. Except it wasn't, with glossed eyes in slits, filled with anger and hatred, hunting for revenge, the creature was back.
"Try to stay very still. It will all be okay." Screaming for help, Valentina tried to find her own way out.
In the real world, she was streaming tears with muffled screams in her very own nightmare. It never became an occurrence, until a few days ago. Three days to be more exact.
Her chest heaving in pure panic. Memories flooding her brain as she tried to find something to hang onto. That was until she saw a familiar face in the realm of the monster.
"Valentina? Is that you?"
- yes...
valentina will be apart of
vecna's red soup
- this chapter was way longer than
i originally planned for it to be, but
it's okay!