guess who decided to finally write a season three fic three years later
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"Gooooood morning, Indianapolis! It has just gone nine AM, it's June 8th and it's looking like it's going to be a beautiful day with temperatures..."
From within the nest of blankets and pillows on the bed, Samantha Wheeler huffs into the pillow beneath her head, blindly reaching out to try and hit the button that would cease the DJs irritating voice.
There was no reason to be that happy so early in the morning.
When silence fills the room once more, she lets out a sigh, reaching out a hand again but this time in search of her boyfriend, brow furrowing when all she's met with is empty bedsheets.
She pushes herself up and takes a blearly look around the room, seeing that Jonathan's camera and satchel are both gone meaning that he'd left for work early.
On the bedside table, next to his alarm clock, is a note and after rubbing at her tired eyes, Samantha grabs it.
Had to pick up Nancy before work. I'll make it up to you tonight at Frenchie's before you go to the arcade. I'll pick you up at the pool
Jonathan
Shaking her head, Samantha tosses the note back onto the table before getting up, "Guess he forgot that he was supposed to be taking me to work this morning."
She really didn't want to be mad at him but ever since he and Nancy had gotten jobs for the Hawkins Post, it seemed like he'd forgotten about her. There was the odd occasion when he would forget about dates or forget to pick her up when he said he would but like she said, she couldn't be mad at him. She just couldn't. She knew how important the job was to him, how good it was going to look on his college applications next year.
Grabbing her pants, she quickly pulls them on when there's a loud knock on the door.
Shit. Joyce doesn't really like her being here overnight and normally, she would never go against the woman like that but it had felt like ages since she had seen Jonathan with them both working so much.
There's another knock at the door and she freezes.
"Samantha?" she relaxes slightly when it's Will who's stood out there, "Samantha, mom's wondering if you want some breakfast?"
Oh god. Joyce knew she was here.
"Samantha?"
After hastily pulling on her shirt, she pulls the door open a crack, seeing Will standing there with raised eyebrows, "I'm not here, alright?"
"Mom already knows that you're here," he says as he steps into his brother's room, frowning as she heads for the window, "She saw your bike outside."
Shit. She had meant to pull it around the side out the house when she'd arrived last night so that didn't happen but it was raining and she was a little too excited to see Jonathan when she climbed in the window.
"I'm not here," she repeats in a hiss, one leg already through the window, "Alright?"
He holds his hands up, "Alright."
That was good enough for her and with that, she gives him a wave and makes her escape, pulling on her sneakers as soon as her feet hit the ground before grabbing her bike.
She really couldn't wait until she could afford her own car. Her parents had limited her to using either of their cars to two days a week and so she was saving up for her own and until she got that car, she was either biking it or getting rides from Jonathan or Nancy if she was able to borrow her mom's car.
But cars were expensive and for her to even come close to getting one, it meant that she'd had to find a second job so she was now working at the community pool during the day and at night, she'd make her way to the Palace Arcade.
Though if she was being honest, she wasn't sure how much longer she'd have a job at the arcade. Ever since the new Starcourt Mall opened, most of the people who used the arcade had started going there - it had newer games and a lot more. Plus, if you got bored, there was plenty to do.
Looking down at her watch, she notices that it's coming up for ten past nine which means that she only has twenty minutes to get home, change into her uniform and get to the pool. It didn't open till ten but the manager liked them to be there a little bit before so they could get set up.
"Shit," she whispers and as fast as she can, she pedals back to her house where she haphazardly drops her bike on the front lawn before darting into the house and up the stairs, calling good morning to her parents.
If the weather is going to be as good as the radio said it was going to be, Samantha knows that she's going to be busy today.
Once she's changed into her red polo and white shorts, she grabs her cap and heads downstairs and into the kitchen, where her mom and dad are having breakfast.
"I thought you had the day off?" her mom asks as she steps in.
"They need me to cover," she shrugs, "Can I have one of the cars?"
"Sorry kiddo," her dad ruffles her hair as he squeezes by, "Not one of your days. But, if you're ready now, I can drop you off on my way to the hospital."
Samantha releases a breath of relief. It had already started getting hot when she was riding home and she hadn't really fancied walking to the pool.
"Thank you," she beams as her dad, kissing her mom's cheek as she snags a piece of toast from the table, "See you later, mom."
~~|~~
The pool wasn't even open yet and there was already a sizable crowd at the gates and so Samantha gets her dad to drop her off at the side entrance that's normally just for taking out the garbage but most of the staff use it too.
David lets out a low whistle as they drive by, "Looks like you're in for a busy day, kid."
Samantha sighs, clicking the button that releases her seatbelt as she reaches into the back to grab her bag, "Do I have to go?"
"Come on, you like it here." her dad says and she sighs.
She does like it here; there's never dull moments, Mike and his friends sometimes appear to make her day go by a little faster, the rest of the people who work here are nice enough and the hours are pretty good too.
"Do you need me to get you when you finish?"
She pushes the door open, "No, Jonathan's going to pick me up. Thanks for offering though!"
"Alright, have a good day. Save some lives!" David calls as she closes the door once she's out and she laughs.
Making her way into the building, she turns left to go into the staff area so she can put her things in her locker and put on some sunblock.
"Morning," one of the other lifeguards, Heather greets her as she punches in.
"Morning," Samantha smiles in return, moving to stand in front of the rota to see where she'd be posted that day.
"I think you're on the kiosk," Heather stands beside her, "I'm on front desk."
"Great," she mutters and the brunette laughs. Everyone knew that on days like this, kiosk was the fucking worst.
"Hey," she looks at Heather when she speaks, "We're on the same shift so how about we switch halfway through?"
Samantha can't help but smile again. Heather was definitely one of the nicest people here. Even though Samantha had only been here a couple of weeks, Heather was the only one who seeemed to be making an effort to welcome her.
"That'd be great Heather, thanks."
"No problem," she heads for the front desk, "Just come find me after your break."
She heads in the direction of the kiosk where she's going to spend the next few hours and as she nears, she lets out a sigh at the sight of the familiar blonde lifeguard who also works here, sitting in her chair.
Billy Hargrove.
Now, in no way would Samantha say that she and Billy are friends. After what happened last year with him pulverising Steve Harrington's face in and what he tried to do to Lucas, she didn't really give him a second glance.
That was until her first day here.
She hadn't been given any training on how to use the register and hadn't been told that when the weather was as hot as it had been on that day, the register sticks and of course, it had done just that as the queue had gotten longer and more irritable and when the man three from the front started getting impatient and Samantha looked as if she was going to start crying, Billy had swooped in and saved the day; telling the man that if he was going to have an attitude like that, then to get the hell out of his pool.
After that, the two of them had a somewhat civil relationship with one another.
"Wheeler," Billy greets, tossing one of the cold cans of soda up into the air.
"Billy," she nods, "What are you doing here? Don't you have gates to open? Kids to watch? Women to flirt with?"
"Still got five minutes, sweetheart." he shrugs.
Her nose wrinkles, "Please don't call me that."
He grins, "Don't pretend you don't like it."
She rounds the kiosk, "Come on, get out of my chair."
Surprisingly, he does as she asks, grabbing one of the cold cans of soda she sets out - just one of the many things available for purchase- and starts tossing it up into the air.
"You going to Lisa's party tonight?" it's Billy's turn to lean against the desk, arms crossed as he watches her - she's always so meticulous about this stuff.
Lisa's party was tonight? She thought it was last night. She and Nancy were going to stop by but when her mom had her doing errands instead, she'd just gone to Jonathan's instead.
"Wheeler," Billy snaps her from her thoughts.
"I thought the party was last night," she says casually, straightening one of the available floaties.
He scoffs, "No. Come on, Wheeler. When has Lisa ever thrown a party on a Thursday night? You have been given false information."
"No," she shakes her head, finally answering his original question as their manager calls for Billy to go ahead and open up the gate, "I won't be going. I've got to work. Besides, I never really have fun at these things."
"Suit yourself." Billy says as he heads towards the gates and Samantha hears a couple of little kids cheer, "You don't know what you're missing but feel free to change your mind."
Sighing, Samantha puts on her best smile, greeting the throngs of people who stream through the door. Here they go.