EVELYN had planned to meet Jonathan after A.V club the following day. Mr Clarke had enlisted Evie as a supervisor for their meet ups - she was clever and had been suggested by teacher's from the High School as a committed and knowledgable candidate. Eve often volunteered for events in both the Middle School and High School, so she hadn't minded when she was nominated without her knowledge. Since then, she had helped donate the money for a lot of the equipment and today's emergency-after-school-meeting had been called to welcome the new radio Mr Clarke and Eve had tracked down with the four most enthusiastic- and only - members of the club. Eve had been helping Mr Clarke out for many months, as sometimes he wanted to use his lunch break actually for his lunch, and so Evie became a blessing. Plus, the boys loved her and knew her from the Arcade.
Eve was carting the radio from her car. She rested the contraption against her hips from the weight of it, sticking her stomach out as if she'd have more strength. She made small noises as she lugged it towards the school, each step wobbling as she battled with herself not to drop it.
"Holy shit!" Evelyn threw her head over her right shoulder, exhaling the air she'd been storing in her cheeks. She adjusted her arms.
"Henderson!" Evie chimes breathlessly. Dustin Henderson had caught Evelyn just as she reached the steps. One foot finally lifting to the concrete slab, heaving the radio a little higher, but when his voice hit her ears she had stopped.
"Is that a radio tower?" He was shutting the door of maroon BMW Eve didn't recognise, but she was smiling nonetheless, even with the vain showing in her forehead.
"A small one." Eve huffed out, "Should help us reach a little further though, with the right modifications." Dustin's mouth hangs open, his arms out and his eyes scanning the metal in her grip.
"We gotta get this inside!" Eve made a small noise as she tried to hurry. As she was about to turn, she realises she's neglected whoever dropped Dustin off and felt immediately guilty. So with all the strength left in her, Evie bends down a little so she can make eye-contact with the parent who was sat expectantly at the steering wheel, but on seeing Steve Harrington - of all people - she scoffed in surprise. Eve pushed the machine onto one hip again, lifting one of her shaking arms to wave. Evelyn hadn't spoken to Steve Harrington for almost a year but it felt weird if she didn't say anything at all because she recognised him and presumed he'd recognise her too. So with a confused but soft and amused smile, Evelyn said and sort of asked,
"Hello Steve?"
Evelyn and Steve were never friends, and with his social status at Hawkins High School, there was never a reason for Evelyn to speak to him again once he ended their interactions. Eve had tutored him for physics, having been asked to do so by their teacher and to help Steve so he could get the grades he needed for university. They'd been friendly with each other; Steve was surprisingly nice - and she no longer dreaded meeting up with him, having met him on a weekly basis. She almost looked forward to it. But then he started dating Nancy Wheeler, and never turned up to a session again. She barely got a smile out of him when she would walk past him to her seat in their English class, he was suddenly oblivious to everyone else's existence. It was like they'd never met. Eve hadn't minded though, she just continued to study for herself, and she had more than enough fun sitting next to her friend Robin in English, anyway.
Steve did in fact recognise Evelyn, but there was a pause while he figured out from where. He'd been distracted at first by the bright smile that had spread across her face when she saw Dustin. It mirrored Steve's whenever Dustin was around. But any interaction that could have happened, as Steve Harrington lifted his hand and waved back to the girl stood outside the Middle School doors, was destroyed by Dustin Henderson waving his arms in front of Evelyn's face. "Come on! What're you doing? We gotta get this thing plugged in!"
"I'm coming!" Eve turns away from Steve with an apologetic grin and balances the machine back on both arms, heaving the box up the next three steps. She was thankful there weren't more.
"Wait till Mike sees this!"
Hours later, having tested the radio a total of forty-two times, Evelyn was at home with her head on the dinner table, refusing to celebrate Halloween.
"Evie? Dare I even ask what's wrong?" It was her uncle, throwing himself dramatically into the chair at the head of the table, placing his cheek against the wood, like Evie was, and pouting in her direction. With a great sigh, Evelyn sits up a little, ceasing her irritable groaning and placing her chin on her hands.
"I'm supposed to be at the Byers' house in less than an hour and I only just realised my hair isn't long enough to put into buns and now how am I going to pull off this costume if the hair is wrong. It's iconic. The hair is the whole point." She throws her arms out with a frown. Her uncle plays up to her and widens his eyes and with a fake tone of concern, he shouts to his wife.
"Linda! We've got an emergency!"
A small brunette woman rushes into the living area. She has an apron wrapped around her large waist and flour dusting hair. "We've got a young girl here who's Halloween costume is in dyer need of a Linda miracle." Linda's cheeks warm and an understanding hum clicks out of her mouth.
"Don't you say another word, sweet." And as promised, Evelyn makes it to the Byers house in record timing, her handmade outfit historically accurate and her hair perfect. She grins as the door opens. Dracula stands behind it, fake blood and white paint slapped on his face and Evelyn grins as Bob cheers at the sight of her outfit. Before she can thank him, she catches sight of Will and his Ghostbusters costume.
"Will!" Eve shouts, slapping her hands over her mouth in genuine surprise, "You look fantastic! This is amazing!" And with a big smile spreading across his cheeks, Evelyn shouts to Joyce who must have been in one of the other rooms because Eve couldn't see her. "Did you make this, Joyce?" And Evelyn couldn't keep her surprise back when she answered yes.
Jonathan and Will got into the front of the car and while complaining about Jonathan's lack of costume, Evelyn clambers into the back. "It's Halloween, Jonathan!" She is scolding, "Hall-o-ween!" But he seems indifferent at her concern as they drive to meet the rest of Will's friends.
"I wonder what she sees in him."
"Who?"
"Bob." Will only looks ahead and shrugs.
"At least he doesn't treat me different. I can't even go trick-or-treating on my own. It's lame." Evelyn immediately looks at her lap, twiddling with the plastic DIY blaster in her hands and frowns. Her stomach turns, knowing how Will's words were pulling on Jonathan's heart strings, too.
"Hey, listen." Jonathan says, as Evelyn begins clicking the handle of her door, ready to join the rest of the Ghostbusters. "If I let you go one your own, you promise to stay in the neighbourhood?" Evelyn's hand freezes on the metal, her body filling with a heavy fear. She creaks her head in Jonathan's direction with a glare she knows he can feel through the back of his seat.
"Yeah! Yeah, yeah. Totally!" Will's surprise and relief has him bouncing in his seat and Eve holds back her resentment. He is just so happy. There was no way she could destroy that, it has been so long since she'd seen him like this. When Will gets out the car, however, and it grumbles back to life, Evelyn climbs over the seat into the front and crosses her arms.
"That's not what we agreed." Jonathan looks at her quickly, a sternness in his voice.
"He's right, Eve. He needs to be a kid again, he needs to not feel like he's incapable. He just wants to hang out with his friends again." Evelyn's mouth hangs open, ready to argue back but she slaps her lips together and sighs.
"Fine." She huffs, because as worried as she was, he is right. "I know he does. But Joyce is going to kills us." And it was then, as her defeated eyes take in her surroundings as a distraction, she realises where they are now headed. "We're actually going?" She starts squealing, utterly dumbfounded.
"Yeah." Jonathan says, "I think so."
"I can't believe this." Eve adds, looking around as if others were with them. "I can't believe this. I need Bob's camera, why did we give it to Will? I need this on film. Jonathan Byers is going to a party."
"You wanted too!" He says, exasperated.
"Yes but I didn't think it would actually happen!" And they pulled into Tina's drive, a girl neither of them actually knew.
- Author's note -
Uh oh.