CHAPTER ONE:
BLUE CAMARO AND GREG THE CHEAT
WHEN DIANA WALKED INTO THE LIVING ROOM, she wasn't surprised to see her mother passed out on the couch with an empty wine bottle on the floor. It was a regular occurrence that had been happening for as long as she could remember, but it didn't stop the pang of sadness from rippling through her body.
Letting out a small sigh, Diana grabbed the throw blanket resting on the nearby recliner and gently placed it over her mother.
"Don't you have a date to get to?"
Diana looked up and saw her older sister standing against the door frame with her arms crossed over her chest. She stared at Diana with scrutiny, almost reprimanding her for doing something nice for their mother.
"I'm on my way out," Diana said, her eyes sweeping the room. "I was just looking for—"
"These?" Allison held out a set of keys, the metal jangling at the sudden movement. Her eyebrow was raised and her free hand moved to rest on her hip.
Diana gave her a sheepish smile as she walked forward. "Thanks," she mumbled, taking her keys and shoving them in her back pocket.
She moved to leave but before she could walk out of the front door, Allison called out to her.
"Have fun, okay?" The older girl called, offering the slightest of smiles.
Diana nodded and without another word, left the house.
When she arrived at the movie theatre, her eyes immediately scanned over the crowd of people huddled around the box office. She searched for a certain brown haired boy, but when she came up empty handed, her shoulders slumped in disappointment. A sigh escaped her lips as she stood in line, thinking that her boyfriend could just late and that she should buy the tickets without him.
Throughout the previews, Diana kept looking back at the theatre entrance in hopes that her boyfriend would walk through. It wasn't until the previews were over that she realized he wasn't showing up. Her body sank in her seat as the opening score to The Terminator played.
When the movie finished, she sluggishly made her way back to her car. She almost dodged all of the teenagers that went to Hawkins High, but was unsuccessful when Nancy Wheeler called her name.
Nancy and Diana were kind of friends. They had biology with Mr Ricks together and would usually be paired up for labs. They got along well, and since Nancy's boyfriend, Steve, was in the same social circle as Diana, they saw each other a fair amount.
As soon as Nancy's voice reached Diana's ears, she cringed. Not at Nancy, but at the conversation her lack of boyfriend would bring.
"Hey, Nance", greeted Diana as she turned around.
"Hey!" Nancy looked past her in search of Greg Morison. When she saw no one, her brows furrowed in concern. "Are you here alone?"
Diana gave her a nod. "Oh, uh—yeah." she stammered, struggling to think of an excuse for her absent boyfriend. "Greg wasn't feeling well so I told him to stay home. I still wanted to watch the movie though..."
Nancy could see right through her lie, but chose not to say anything and quickly changed the subject. The two girls caught up and when Diana left, Steve walked up to his girlfriend and placed a hand on her lower back. "You think she knows?" he asked, staring after Diana.
Nancy tilted her head. "Knows what?"
"That there's a rumour going around about Greg banging Nicole Pickens behind her back."
Her eyes widened and she looked appalled. "That's horrible!"
Steve nodded, his stare softening. "Yeah."
When Diana got home, she walked right into the middle of a screaming match between her mother and sister with her brother trying to reduce the tension between them.
Unfazed, she walked straight up the stairs and into her room. The slamming of the front door only caught the attention of her brother, and made a mental note to check up on her after later in the night.
In her room, Diana laid sprawled out on her bed. Her eyes traced the ceiling as an aching pain spread across her chest. She debated between calling Greg or waiting until school tomorrow to talk to him. She knew that the latter would only result in a fight and she didn't want to be a bother by starting an argument so late at night. Her impatience got the better of her and she found herself reaching for the phone on her bedside table.
Her hands shook as she held the phone to her ear. It rang twice before someone picked up.
"Hello. Morison residence."
"Hi, Mrs. Morison," Diana greeted, fiddling with the coiled wire. "I'm sorry for calling so late, but I was wondering if Greg was there?"
The woman on the other end paused and Diana could almost feel her confusion. "No, dear," she replied. "He said he was going out with you tonight."
Diana's eyes widened and she scrambled to think of a way to cover for her boyfriend. "Yeah, he did," she lied. "He just brought me home a few minutes ago and I was wondering if he got home okay."
"He hasn't gotten home yet, but when he does I'll be sure to have him call you."
"Okay, thank you."
Diana hung up and fell back onto her bed with a heavy sigh. Her lungs felt like they were collapsing from the weight of her guilt. She must have done something for her boyfriend to avoid her. Maybe she said something out of line or offended him by something she did. Her mind went over every interaction they had, picking though their conversations with a fine tooth comb. Whatever it was that angered him, she couldn't stop wondering— What did I do wrong?
THE NEXT MORNING WENT AS THEY USUALLY DID IN THE BLAKE HOUSEHOLD. Estella would make breakfast while sipping on a mimosa, James would make coffee, Diana would finish up last minute homework at the dining table, and Allison would be long gone, having left early to make it to her lecture on time.
Across the room, James leaned against the kitchen counter with a coffee cup in his hand. He studied his younger sister with an analytical stare, taking in her frown and puffy eyes.
"How was your date last night, Ana?" He asked with a tone of false innocence. Crossing the room, he sat at his usual seat across from her.
Diana paused and the grip on her pencil tightened. She knew what her brother was going to say and she didn't want to start their days off with an argument.
The walls of the house started to whisper. Nothing is wrong. Nothing is wrong.
Collecting her belongings, she shoved them into her school bag. "It was fine," she lied as her mother placed a plate of eggs in front of her.
James was unconvinced. "Really?" he pressed, knowing full well how upset she was the night before. "Then why were you slamming doors and pacing in your room last night?"
Diana looked up from her plate and gave him a warning look.
"What?" One hand left his coffee cup to raise in defence. "I'm just asking."
Shaking her head, Diana finished her breakfast without another word and stood up, moving to put her plate in the sink.
James followed closely behind her. "Let me guess," he continued, "Greg stood you up. Again. That's, what, the third week in a row now?"
Grabbing her bag off the ground, Diana headed for the front door. Her attempts to leave the conversation were in vain as James blocked her path. With a sigh of annoyance, she told him the same excuse she used on Nancy Wheeler. "He wasn't feeling well."
"Oh, he wasn't feeling well?" James repeated, his voice dripping in false concern. "What about last week? Or the week before that, huh?"
Diana's lips pursed and she pushed past him. "It's none of your business," she said as she opened the door.
"None of my business?" her brother scoffed, coming up behind her to shut the door before it could fully open. His sister squirmed under his scrutinizing gaze. "Of course it's my business, Diana! Face it. Greg's a piece of shit and you're better off without him."
James hated Greg Morison the moment he stepped into their house. From the way he walked to the way he talked, he hated everything about the teenage boy. He thought Greg was an arrogant tool who care for nobody but himself. Although he was able to tolerate the teenager for the first few weeks of his and Diana's relationship, it wasn't until Diana started to change for him that his hatred intensified.
Before Greg, Diana was a firecracker. She never let anyone walk over her, determined to never be like her mother. She knew what she wanted and who she was, and defended it with every fibre of her being. Disrespect was never tolerated. Her laughter was contagious and her life was lived with a smile.
But after Greg, she started to become miserable. The once lively girl with bright eyes started to dim. She still smiled, but it never reached her eyes. Her laughter was often fake and she moved with such caution, every move was calculated. She grew to care about what other people think of her and she would place their opinions on a pedestal.
James watched as Diana gave up who she was—everything that really made her her—just to please Greg. First, it started out with her interests. He claimed that her taste in music wasn't good and her love for comics was too nerdy. Then, he started participating in all of her decisions, taking away her freedom. Finally, he took away her happiness.
The worst part about it was that Diana thought she was happy. She thought that by making Greg happy, she'd be happy too. So she'd go out of her way to make a guy who didn't really care for her, even if it meant sacrificing her own well-being.
James watched as she became everything she swore she'd never become and he absolutely hated it.
Diana struggled to open the door under her brother's weight. When she finally met his stare, a flash of desperation was seen in her eyes.
The older Blake sighed, his stare softening as his arm lowered. "I'm just looking out for you," he said.
Diana stared at him with narrow eyes. "It is none of your business." she said coldly. She pushed her brother out of the way and exited the house, thundering down the front steps.
As she drove to school with a cigarette in hand, her brother's words played on a content repeat in her mind. Greg's a piece of shit and you're better off without him. Greg's a piece of shit and you're better off without him. Greg's a piece of shit and you're better off without him. How would James know that? She knew that Greg had his moments, and his temper would rise, and he'd say things he didn't mean, but it wasn't all bad.
James didn't know what he was talking about.
When she pulled into the high school's busy parking lot, her eyes landed on a sight that made her already bad mood worse. In her unofficially assigned parking spot sat a shiny blue Camaro that she had never seen before.
"You've got to be kidding me," she groaned, pulling into the spot next to it. She killed her engine and got out of the car, walking over to where Vicki, Tina, and Carol were standing.
When they saw her coming, they stopped their conversation and turned to her with excitement.
"Diana, you need to see the new guy," Carol said, smacking her gum. "He is gorgeous."
Tina nodded. "Think Rob Lowe," she said with a dreamy look in her eye.
Beside her, Vicki nodded and added her own comment about the new guy's good looks.
Truthfully, Diana couldn't care less about what he looked like. All she cared about was her parking spot. "He needs to move his car before I egg it," she grumbled, throwing the rest of her cigarette at the ground and stepping on it. Her arms crossed over her chest as they started walking towards the school.
Carol let out a laugh, leading the group to where Tommy was standing. "Oh don't have a cow, Ana!"
Greg Morison was among the group of guys Tommy was standing with. He was laughing loudly at something the others had said and when he saw Diana, he gave her a charming smile and slung his arm around her shoulders. She shrugged it off and left in the direction of her locker.
"Hey!" Greg called, walking after her. "What's your damage?"
Diana opened her locker and grabbed her books. "Where were you last night?" she deflected, refusing to look at him. "I called your house, but your mom said you weren't home. We had a date, remember?"
Greg clicked his tongue. "Oh that? I was with Tommy and Brad," he lied, knowing full well he was actually with a redheaded chick who went by the name of Nicole Pickens. "It was just this one time."
"Three times now, actually," Diana corrected. She shut her locker and started walking towards her first period class.
Greg called after her, but she never turned around. When he got tired of chasing her, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the side of the busy hallway. "Look, it sucks I didn't make it to the movies," he started, "but I was busy. Maybe if you weren't so needy all the fucking time I wouldn't have the urge to bail. I'm sorry you got upset, but it's in the past now. Quit making a big deal outta it. Let's just forget about it, yeah?"
Diana paused, her hard resolve melting away with every passing second. The way he was looking at her reminded her of the way her parents looked at her—like she had some fault that she needed to cover up. At least in this case, she knew what her fault was.
Giving him a weak nod, she replied, "Yeah."
Greg leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek before leaving her alone with her thoughts. She watched as he disappeared into the sea of students with one question on her mind: Am I really that needy?