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CHAPTER FOUR ; PATHETIC DECEPTION
also known as;
( holly, jolly ; part one )

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BY THE TIME STELLA COLLINS ARRIVED HOME, THE SUN WAS BEGINNING TO RISE. There was a thick coat of fear that hung over Hawkins, one that drained the hope and faith from the community. The search for Will had failed, and they had covered almost the entire town. Some adults had chosen to continue looking, but she had been sent home.

A sigh left her chapped lips when she stepped through threshold of her home, knowing full well she wouldn't get any sleep before school began. She wanted nothing more than to crawl into her bed and wake up to her normal life, but for some reason everything had been flipped on its head in a matter of two days.

"Stella, is that you?" The soft voice of her mother inquired as the teenager walked into the kitchen, seeing the older woman at the counter with a cup of coffee in her hands. Patty Collins had always been an early riser, especially when her job at the local health centre required that she be constantly on call no matter what time of day. "I thought you came home last night."

"I volunteered to stay out a little longer, just in case we found anything," Stella sighed, dropping her bag on the ground and trudging over to the top cupboard, grabbing a glass and moving to the sink to pour herself some water. Her mother was staring at her, expecting an answer. The teen shook her head sadly. "Nothing."

"I'm sorry, honey," Patty frowned, watching as her exhausted daughter shuffled around the small space with a frown on her face. "You look tired, do you think you can go into school today?"

"Yeah, I'll probably coax the nurse into letting me take a nap during first period, but I think I'll be fine," Stella muttered, staring at the bottom of her glass, too tired to process the words flooding out her mouth. She paused, her eyes flickering up to the sympathetic face that belonged to her mother. Patty had always been a beautiful woman, she and Stella shared the same facial structure and dark hair, though the younger girl had her father's eyes and ears. "Mom?"

"Yeah?" Her mother nodded, reaching over and placing her hand on top of Stella's.

In that moment, Stella wanted to tell her everything. She wanted to run her down on the whole situation regarding Eleven, how the boys wanted to go out after dark to look for Will, how all she wanted was for everything to go back to the way it was. She had such an honest relationship with her parents, so it felt like her whole world was suffocating her and she couldn't do anything about it. She had made a promise to Mike that she wouldn't say anything, and she had to honour that.

"It's just," Stella sighed, chewing the inside of her cheek and deciding how to word the next sentence she would say. "Have you ever been in a situation where you could do one thing and everything goes wrong, or you could do another, completely different thing but everything still goes wrong?"

"What?" Patty furrowed her eyebrows, pure confusion washing over her features. Stella grimaced slightly at how she had asked the question, realising she had dug herself into a little bit of a hole. "Stella, are you in trouble?"

"No, no!" Stella blurted out, raising her hand to dismiss the inquiry. But the answer probably should've been yes. "Absolutely not! I-I'm just thinking about...my math midterm!"

"Your math...midterm?" Patty repeated, observing her daughter looking as if she was in extreme pain as she forced out the lie. The middle-aged woman knew her daughter like the back of her hand, especially the fact that when it came to deception, she was extremely unskilled. "What about your math midterm?"

Stella tried her best to remain calm, though her poker face wasn't convincing at all. "Yeah, um, there's two papers and I was wondering if it would be a good idea if I do one with the possibility of failing...or do both and had a fifty-fifty chance of passing both, one, or neither."

Good cover-up? Debatable.

Patty quirked an eyebrow as Stella plastered a pained smile on her face, her left eye twitching a little. Patty's hands tightened around her mug, and she cleared her throat, leaning forward. "Well...maybe you should focus on doing one, and if you have time, do the other one? I don't see how any of this is relevant, your midterms are in January."

"I know, just thinking ahead," Stella responded uneasily, before averting her eyes and straightening her posture. "I'm gonna take a hot shower and then head off to school, might as well get there early."

"Okay," Patty's voice trailed off, watching as her daughter brushed past her and walked towards the hallway. "I'll see you tonight?"

"Hopefully, but if you don't it's cause I'll be looking for Will," Stella smiled at her mother, before turning and disappearing further into the house. "Later, mom."

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"Star!" Lucas' voice chimed as Stella skated down the path, her headphones over her ears and a song by Stealers Wheel blaring. "Star!"

Stella's eyebrows furrowed at the faint sound, turning her head and seeing the three boys on the bikes, trailing after her. She pulled her plugs down and flashed them a fatigued smile, before looking back at where she was skating. "Morning, guys. Any luck with Eleven?"

"She has superpowers!" Dustin exclaimed, causing Stella to nearly tumble to the ground in shock. She leaned forward and stopped where she was, turning to the kids.

"What?" She wheezed, clearly not believing him. "Dustin, this is serious!"

"I'm being serious!" The curly-haired boy retorted, pulling the brake on his bike so he slowed down. "She's like Yoda! She made the door slam and lock when Lucas was being an asshole!"

"I wasn't being an asshole!" Lucas argued, to which Stella sighed, growing irritated with their constant arguing. Along with the fact that she hadn't gotten any sleep, she was plagued with worry and guilt. She had turned into a giant mess over the last couple of days, and dealing with stubborn children wasn't on the top of her list for the day.

"Look, you guys can explain all this to me later," she sighed, running a hand through her damp hair. The boys all looked at each other briefly, each of them surprised by her mundane reaction to their incredible news. The statement had clearly flown over her head, seeing as she was sleep deprived and in utter shambles. "Are you going out tonight to look for Will?"

"Yeah, we're gonna go through Mirkwood after school," Mike asked, his hands twisting the handles of his bike, clearly on edge. "El's meeting us by the powerlines at three-fifteen, wanna come?"

"Someone needs to keep you guys under control," Stella responded, chuckling dryly. "I'll meet you after school, okay?"

"Don't be late, and don't bring Kevin," Lucas muttered, causing Stella to give him a weird look. He shrugged, lifting his foot up to his pedal. "Last time he hung out with us he ate all the Pringles and left early."

"Got it, no Kevin," the teen smiled, before glancing back at the other two boys. "Can't tell him that, though."

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Stella was having a pretty shit day. There were so many contributing factors that were pushing her closer and closer to the edge, one of them being the piece of paper that was slammed onto her desk. A loud sigh left the girl's being as she stared down at yet another bright red 'D', wishing the ground would just swallow her up then and there.

Her eyes trailed over to Leilani's paper, seeing a cheerful 'A' stamped on the front. Leilani was incredibly smart, she was one of the most talented kids in school. Stella loved her with all her heart, but of course she was envious. Leilani was unproblematic and pure, she remained calm in stressful situations and had more than enough love for everyone. She was beautiful and kind, which was absolutely unfair to people like Stella who felt she didn't have any qualities at all.

"Are you kidding me?" The irritated voice of Steve Harrington grumbled from three rows across. Stella turned her head and watched as the popular boy tossed his paper to the side, sliding further down into his seat with a frown on his face.

"Maybe if you changed your attitude, you'd pass my class," Mr. Porter retorted, clearly not in the mood for the boy's complaining. Some members of the class snickered, which caused Steve to roll his eyes in annoyance. "I'd like to see you and Miss Collins after class to discuss your grades."

"Fuck," Stella groaned, burying her head in her hands. English had never been her strongest subject, but this was the third 'D' she had received that semester, which wasn't going to make her report a pretty sight. She didn't know what she was to tell her parents, she hated the disappointed looks they gave her when she would constantly come home and tell them about her failures.

"I'm sure it's nothing, it'll just be some advice on studying or something," Leilani assured her, reaching over and touching her shoulder. "I can always help you, you know."

"Thanks, Lani," Stella murmured, her voice appearing slightly muffled from the barrier her hands made. "I don't get how they're supposed to mark essays, doesn't everyone have a style of writing? Aren't they technically taking away my freedom to do what I want? I tell you, school's just a giant prison that everyone pretends is some kind of heaven on earth. It's bullshit."

Leilani sent her a sympathetic smile as the bell rang over the top of them, signalling them that it was finally lunchtime. Stella huffed and reluctantly rose from her seat, watching as the rest of the students raced to get out the doors first and leave the hellhole known as Mr Porter's english classroom. "I'll wait for you outside, okay?"

Stella nodded as she rocked up to her teacher's desk, Steve trailed behind her with crossed arms. The pair didn't exchange any words or looks, neither of them wanting anything to do with each other. Mr Porter sighed as he sat down, staring over at them with a wrinkly frown. "I'm sure you both know why I've kept you back."

"Do enlighten us," Steve uttered, his essay folded up in his back pocket now, out of his sight.

"Both of you are clearly behind in my class, and frankly, I'm concerned for your future grades," the teacher responded, staring between them. "You both need to understand that if you fail your exams this year and next year, that's it. You need these qualifications to get into college. Either you can study and pass, or continue slacking and end up stacking boxes in the general store for the rest of your lives."

"Sir, I don't know what you're implying, but that's my job now," Stella replied easily, and Steve coughed out what sounded like a laugh. "Besides, last I checked art school didn't require excellent grades in junior english classes."

"You won't get into any school by failing everything but art, Miss Collins," Mr. Porter retorted, before his eyes flickered to Steve. "I'd stop smirking if I were you, Mr Harrington, from what I can see you aren't heading down a particularly positive path either. Maybe you should think about starting a study group."

"Absolutely not," Steve argued, his eyebrows furrowing together to make one. "There's no way I'm gonna be seen with...her."

"And there's no way I'd ever voluntarily speak to him," Stella retorted, not even bothering to look at the boy next to her. The two teens both scoffed, glaring at separate corners of the room like the stubborn assholes they both were. "Can't we talk about this tomorrow, or never again? I don't know about the king here, but I'd like to eat."

"There, for once we agree on something," Steve mumbled. Mr Porter sighed, looking between them again.

"Okay, fine," he began, lacing his hands together and putting them on top of the desk in front of him. "Let's come to an agreement. I'll let this one slide, but the next time either of you fail an assignment, you're both in here an hour after school two days a week to study, both of you, as well as the other problematic kids in my class. Are we clear?"

"Yeah," the two both replied in sync, their voices dull and clearly annoyed. Mr Porter sat up a little straighter and allowed a relieved expression to appear on his ageing face.

"Wonderful, both of you may go," he gestured them towards the door, sighing as they both darted for the doorway, eager to leave the negative atmosphere. The pair fell into step as the exited the classroom, seeing Leilani and Kevin waiting outside, the latter having appeared from his algebra class.

"Later, Miss United Skates," maffled Steve as the pair parted, generating a scoff from Stella.

"Later, bitch," she threw back, not bothering to see his confused expression as she rolled over to her friends, a stroppy expression on her face. Leilani opened her arms for her to fall into, allowing the girl to just be a cantankerous teenager for once. "I hate everything."

"At least you and Steve Harrington spoke to each other without the claws coming out," Kevin piped up, an innocent grin upon his face. Stella released a soft whine, burying her face in Leilani's shoulder and once again wishing she could sink into the ground and leave her problems behind. She was a gigantic ball of stress in that moment, wanting nothing more than a break. Kevin rested a hand on the girl's arm, snapping her out of her overdramatic death wishes. "C'mon, let's go eat."

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WEIRD SENTENCE TO END ON BUT OH WELL!!

also i'm kinda realising how badly this is written cause i'm churning out chapters really quickly but oH WELL

and THANK YOU FOR A THOUSAND READS WHAT THE FUCK ?????? I'M SO GRATEFUL FOR ALL Y'ALL WHO PUT IN THE EFFORT TO READ AND COMMENT DESPITE THIS BOOK BEING OUT FOR LITERALLY FOUR DAYS!!!

also her and steve are fuckin great i love them so much and i wanna delve deeper into their hatred towards each other but that's for a later date wOWza

tell me what you think about the chapter if you want, as well as what you wanna see next! see ya later my dudes xx