Jamie picked at her food and hadn't taken a bite. With the focus being on Jonathan, she was able to slump down in her chair with out Joyce reminding her of her manners during the family dinner. The sheer thought of Steve betraying her made her sick to her stomach. The sounds of everyone at the dinner table allowed her to lose herself in her thoughts before El nudged her foot from the opposite side of the table. Jamie's head shot up and noticed everyone staring at her.
"I said how was school for you? Geez, you've been real quiet today", Joyce said with a semi concerned tone and an awkward chuckle.
"Realll quiet", Owens echoed causing Jamie to look at him a certain way as everyone else paid him no attention.
"Um, it was great", Jamie said more as a question than a statement.
Joyce and Hopper both looked at her plate and compared it to everyone else's. They both gave each other the same look as they were thinking the same thing. Hopper decided to ask the mutual question, but then changed his mind as he opened his mouth.
"So, anything special happened at school?", he asked innocently.
"Yeah", Owens said as he chewed his food and then swallowed. "Anything special happened at school?"
Jamie looked at everyone at the table. Her eyes fell on El last who wondered why she wasn't acting like herself. Jamie thought for a second and then sat upright in her chair.
Had Owens told her parents about the whole dibacle with Steve? That she'd used her powers in a public setting and left him there to possibly die. She could care less, because it's not like he cared, anyways. Or maybe Owens was trying to get Jamie to confess to her parents about the phone call Owens received shortly after school let out.
"Well, I finished all my detentions which I don't know how I got in the first place", she said.
Owens chuckled sarcastically under his breath earning a subtle glance from Hopper and Joyce. Owens and Jamie locked eyes quickly before Jamie immediately diverted her eyes elsewhere.
"Okay", Hopper said slowly before leaning back in his chair and looking at her plate once again. "Have you talked to Ste- one second, I'll get that", he stopped as the phone rang and slid back in his chair.
"Babe, sit down. I'll get it", Joyce said, scooting her chair back from the table.
Hopper continued to get up as Joyce came around the table and gave his shoulder a squeeze. Hopper winced and grabbed her hand as she flashed a smile and slid past him, bumping him in the head with her baby bump.
"Sit down", she said nicely, but with more authority in her voice.
Hopper sat down and rubbed his shoulder as Joyce made her way to the phone.
"Hello, this is Joyce?", she greeted quietly as a familiar voice spoke to her from the other end.
Jamie watched as Joyce's face ran through a range of emotions. When Joyce locked eyes with her, Jamie loudly dropped her fork on to her plate. Everyone at the table, especially Owens, looked over at Jamie.
"Who was it, babe?", Hopper asked as Joyce made her way back to the table.
"It was the school calling", she said as she side eyed Jamie.
"What'd they say?", he asked.
"Well, apparently little miss Jam-"
"I got expelled", Jamie blurted out simultaneously as Hopper looked over and noticed something strange on his other daughter.
"Is that a hickey?!"
Jamie and El both looked at each other simultaneously with wide eyes as El's hand immediately flew to her neck. With a quick look of their parent's expression, they both attempted to slip away from the kitchen table before both felt a firm grasp on thier shoulder from both parents.
"Stay here and clear the table. Both of you", Joyce said in a tone that they would only expect from Hopper who needed to save his energy. With both parents having a firm grip on the girls' shoulder, Will, Owens, and Jonathan got up fron the table and dispersed throughout the house.
With everyone now clear from the kitchen, parents included, Jamie and El grabbed everyone's plates and headed for the sink.
"What happened with you?", El whispered as she ran dish water.
"Got expelled for throwing Steve into the side of the building. I guess I'm a 'threat to the student body' now", she said as she mocked Principal Newman's voice in air quotations.
"Jamie, what the heck?", El whispered as she looked back at her parents. "Did Owens know or something? He was acting strange."
"The school called him eariler", she responded as she set the dirty in the sink. "He said he'd pass the message along but I guess they wanted to be sure of that."
"But you threw him into the wall? You could've killed him or something!"
"He fucking deserves to die", she responded under her breath as she threw a knife in the sink without a care and turned around to leave the kitchen.
She immediately bumped into her parents whom she didn't know were standing behind her and had overheard everything.
"How did you get throwing him into the side of the building from 'accidentally' breaking his nose?!", Hopper asked in reference to their last conversation.
Principal Newman must've figured she could reach Joyce around dinner time, and so she did. Joyce immediately filled Hopper in on everything that Principal Newman told her, as well as him filling her in on his and Jamie's conversation.
Great.
Joyce raised an eyebrow when Hopper mentioned a broken nose, so he filled her in on more details from the party. Tears started to form in Jamie's eyes out of anger, and she bit her bottom lip while clenching her fist.
She debated if she should tell them the information that she pieced together at school which ultimately led to Steve being slung like a ragdoll, but that would only lead to Hopper trying to take care of things his way.
"I said, do I make myself clear?", Joyce repeated causing Jamie to snap out of it. She looked over at El who slowly nodded her head and headed towards the bedroom with tears in her eyes.
"Now, you", she continued, but now directing her questions to Jamie. "Obviously, that was the school that called, so what's your side of the story?", Joyce asked with her hands on her hips and in the same tone that Jamie believed is what moved El to tears.
Jamie looked to her father for help, but he only returned the same glare that Joyce gave.
"I... I got angry and just lost it", Jamie said quietly and avoiding eye contact.
"Because he cheated on you? Honey, I know your father hasn't been there and Diane probably didn't teach you anything useful about boys, but let me be the one to tell you that the only man you should ever be crying over and letting stress you out is this man right here", Joyce replied and nodded her head towards Hopper. "Do you understand that?"
"That's not the reason why", Jamie whispered under her breath along with a sigh.
"Im sorry, what was that?", Joyce asked.
"Yes, ma'am. I understand", Jamie said quickly looking up and then busying herself with the dishes.
"I guess you gotta get homeschooled too then", Joyce said along with a deep exhale to no one in particular. Seemingly satisfied as Jamie finished the dishes, Joyce retreated to the living room as Hopper moved from the table to the counter next to Jamie.
"Hey", he said quietly. "What's up? What really happened."
Jamie took a deep breath causing a tear to fall from her left eye, hidden from her father's view. She was still angry, so she waited a moment before speaking because she could already sense the shakiness of her voice.
Hopper waited patiently as he watched her wash the same cup for nearly a minute. Jamie looked over at him and noticed that he was still watching.
"I told you", she responded quietly. "I just got upset... that's all", she finished with an obvious sniffle.
"Hey, hey. Don't cry", he said passing her a paper towel to wipe her eyes. "Tell me what's wrong."
"Steve is the reason you got shot because I found out that he told some people where you lived who I think are connected to David and he said that David isn't dead and I belive him because after I threw him into the wall I was getting weird text messages and then I noticed someone following me at school and I think they want to hurt me to get to you and I almost freaked out but Jonathan saw me and picked me up then the school called Owens and told him that I was getting expelled because I'm a threat to the other students", she said quickly in one breath, and then finally took a giant gulp of air at the end.
Hopper sat there with his head tilted to the side as he tried to follow along. Jamie anxiously studied his face before he pushed off from the counter.
"Someone... came to the school? Who? What did they look like?"
"They were in a truck and they had on a baseball cap and dark glasses and they were tall like you. Then I didn't see him anymore, but Owens told me to go inside and wait for him but then I saw the man blocking the entrance."
"Was this before or after the incident with Steve?"
"After."
"Do you think he saw what you did to Steve?"
Jamie thought to herself for a second, and then nodded her head.
"I'll handle it", he said quietly after a brief silence as he started to make his way to the bedroom.
"Daddy", Jamie called out with a sniffle after a brief hesitation.
Hopper hesistated to turn around. He noticed something in her voice that he hasn't heard in years, and it sent chills down his spine.
Pure, genuine fear.
———————————-Flashback——————————
11 year old Jamie quickly ran to her secret hiding spot in the crawl space under the stairs. She managed to grab the corded landline on her way and was able to hide the telephone line in time as she heard footsteps rapidly coming down the stairs above her. She quickly dialed a phone number and held her breath as the footsteps slowly approached the crawl space.
It was 9pm in Hawkins, and Hopper was asleep on the couch in his trailer when the telephone rang loudly. He grumbled and buried his face under the pillow. After a few rings, he realized the caller wasn't giving up and dragged himself over to the phone.
"Look, Flo", he groaned in a raspy voice. "When I said call me if you need me, I didn't actually mean it."
After no response, Hopper looked at the phone as if he could see through it and held it back to his ear.
"Flo? Hello?"
Jamie held her breath as she watched the shadow of the two feet stand in front of the crawlspace. She heard her father speaking from the other end as soon as David walked down the hall to look for her. Tears started to fall down her cheeks as she swore she could smell the alcohol on his breath through the crack under the makeshift door.
"Look, whoever this is I don't have time for prank calls", Hopper mumbled into the phone as he rested his arm against the wall and leaned his forehead against it. He started to move the phone away from his ear until he heard the sound of a little girl's voice.
His little girl.
"Daddy", Jamie whispered with a shaky voice.
Too afraid to sniff, she wiped the snot on the inside of her collar as she listened closely to David's footsteps.
Hopper's heart stopped as he listened to his daughter's heavy breathing. It's been almost 9 months since he last heard her voice in the background while on the phone with Diane, begging her to let him talk to her. He stood there in utter shock and almost forgot to respond.
"Jamie, Im here. Wh-... what's wrong? Are you okay?!"
"I'm scared", she whispered barely audible as her blurry eyes watched David's feet walk back and forth past the crawl space. She slowly slid towards the back wall of the tight space as she saw his shadow grow closer towards the ground.
"Where are you? Where's your mom?", he responded quickly.
Jamie took long, quiet breaths to keep her breathing as quiet as possible. She placed the phone face down on her leg to muffle the sound of her father's voice.
On the other side, David held his ear against the door of the crawlspace and focused on a plain wall as he listened.
Hopper's ear started to turn red as he pressed the phone harder against it, struggling to hear something. Anything.
Jamie covered her mouth with her hand as she listened to David run his fingernails along the makeshift door. She set the phone down quietly and felt around in the darkness for the knife that she kept hidden there.
As David stuck his fingernails in the crack of the door, he went to open it just as he heard Diane's keys unlocking the front door. He quickly retreated to the front door to greet his fiancé.
Hopper heard Jamie sigh in relief and sighed himself while wiping his face on his hand. He hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath as well, and took his daughter's sigh as a good thing.
"Jamie...", he whispered.
Jamie lifted the phone to her ear but didn't say anything. She cried silently as she listened to her mom's conversation and laid down as her head pounded from the adrenaline.
Hopper heard her sniffle, and choked on his words as he wrapped the cord around his finger.
"Jamie", he repeated as he fought back tears.
"Yes...", she responded with a stuffy nose.
"Are you safe?"
Jamie sat there in the darkness as she continued to listen to their conversation that started to continue upstairs. She brung her knees to her chest, and rested her head on Sarah's old teddy bear.
"Yes", she finally responded once she heard their bedroom door slam shut.
Hopper opened his mouth to speak, but Jamie beat him to it.
"Dad."
"Yes?"
"Can you stay until I fall asleep?"
"Of course I will. Of course", he said as he took a breath, grabbed the phone, and went back to the couch.
Hopper and Jamie both made themselves comfortable as the set the phone close by their ear so that they could hear each other in case they needed each other.
"Love you, kid", he whispered.
He sat waiting for a response, and after a few moments he only heard the deep breathing of a sleeping child.
———————————————————————————
"Im scared", Jamie whispered under her breath as her fingertips dripped with dish water.
"It's okay", he told her as he walked over and wrapped his arms around her. He turned and rocked slightly while planting a kiss on the top of her head.
"I'm here. You have nothing to be afraid of."