Chapter One
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Go Hawkins Tigers!

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MARCH 26th, 1986
HAWKINS, INDIANA
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Dear El,
Thank you for sending me your last letter! We still miss your here in Hawkins, especially me and Dusty, but I am so proud of you and am so happy to hear that you are making friends in California. The diorama your making sounds lovely, I wish I could see it.
To answer your question, me and Steve are doing great. More than great, actually. He has been acting a bit.... strange around me lately but he's the best boyfriend a girl could ever ask for. Dustin's doing good too. He's still the same old Dusty, which is what I love about him.
Mike misses you like crazy and talks about you non-stop, though I'm sure you already know that. How's Jonathan doing? He hasn't been writing back my letters which is starting to worry me.
I'm so sorry I can't come visit you during Spring break. I would love to come but Steve said he had planned something special for us that I can't miss.
Oh and Dusty says hi by the way. He is sitting write next to me as I write this letter and has been begging me to write that.
We miss you!
Love,
Liv♡

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             Olivia looked at the mirror and straightened out her green and orange cheerleading uniform, something she certainly never thought she'd be wearing. She was always very insecure about the way she looked and never considered herself beautiful. Back in the fall when her senior year started, she quickly bonded with Chrissy Cunningham over their boring history class, and just like that they became close friends. With her bright and bubbly personality, Chrissy was easily one of the sweetest people Olivia knew and was grateful to have met her.

            And before Olivia knew it, she was trying out for the Hawkins High cheerleading team after Chrissy insisted that she try out. Olivia's senior year was quite busy, with cheerleading practice taking up most of her free time. It still baffled her— just three years ago Olivia was a really shy and quiet girl and was convinced she was invisible, but now she was co-captain of the cheerleading team with Chrissy Cunningham and she was dating Steve Harrington. It was crazy how her life turned around.

            She pulled her hair into a pony tail with a green scrunchie and turned around to Steve, who was grabbing his Family Video uniform that was hanging in their closet. Since Steve practically lived with the Henderson's now and stayed in Olivia's room, most of his clothes were hanging up in Olivia's closet. So it was now their closet, and the thought made her smile. "Steve, how do I look?" She asked, spinning around in her skirt.

            "You look beautiful," Steve said with pure admiration while putting on his vest. He walked over to her and leaned in for a kiss. "I can't believe my girlfriend is a cheerleader."

            "Steve!" Olivia swatted his shoulder and her cheeks were painted a deep shade of pink.

            "Do you have to go right now?" Steve pouted and wrapped his arms around her waist.

            "Yes, I do," Olivia groaned, not wanting to leave either. "Chrissy will be mad at me if I'm late for the pep rally and you made me late last time! And you have to pick up Robin anyway."

            "What's wrong with wanting to spend romantic time with my girlfriend?" Steve said charmingly, and leaned in to kiss her.

            Olivia giggled before being interrupted by Dustin, who suddenly barged into the room.

            "Liv, it's time to—" He paused when he noticed Steve. "Ew, Steve! That's my sister dude!" Dustin groaned, covering his eyes with his hands.

            Olivia rolled her eyes at the curly haired boy. Whenever her and Steve were alone together and Dustin would come barging in, he always automatically assumed the couple would be having sex. It made Steve and Olivia both turn a deep shade of crimson red.

            "Dusty!" Olivia scolded him. "Nothing happened! Why do you always assume that?" She hid her face in Steve's shoulder to hide her blush.

            "Besides, I thought you were one who wanted me and Liv together in the first place?" Steve reminded Dustin as Olivia nodded in agreement.

            "Yes, and I'm truly happy for you guys, but that doesn't mean I don't like seeing you guys all lovey dovey. It's gross," Dustin wrinkled his nose. "Well as I was saying- Liv, we're going to be late for school."

            "Says the one who was having his girlfriend change his Spanish grade," Olivia reminded him in a disappointed tone. Dustin waved his arms in the air in defeat. She grabbed the rest of her things she needed for the day.

            "Oh honey! You look so beautiful!" Claudia gushed at her daughter once the trio made their way to the living room. Their kitten Marie meowed as if she agreed, making everyone laugh. Claudia was extremely proud of her daughter for how much she had grown and for how beautiful she was, both inside and outside.

            "Right, Mrs. Henderson? I've been telling her that all along," Steve nodded with a soft smile, making Olivia's cheeks go pink.

            After Olivia hugged her mom goodbye and they made their way to their cars outside, Olivia stopped her brother when she noticed what he was wearing.

            "What?" Dustin asked innocently.

            "What are you wearing?" Olivia narrowed her eyes at him. On top of the Hellfire Club t-shirt that he wore almost daily, he was wearing a lightweight layer made out of t-shirt material that had colorful shapes all over it.

            "What? It's cool!" Dustin argued.

            "No it's not man," Steve sided with Olivia.

            Dustin shot a glare at the couple and headed out the door. He crossed his arms and sighed as he leaned against Olivia's car, waiting to leave. He was genuinely happy for his sister that she found happiness, and Steve was the only guy he approved Olivia dating. However, ever since they first got together, he found it annoying how lovey dovey they were all the time. With a heavy sigh, he spoke up. "So, are you two just going to stare at each other like you just exchanged your wedding vows, or can we leave?"

            "Shut up Dustin!" The couple chorused in unison.

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            Olivia hated Pep Rally's more than anything, so it was sort of ironic that she was a cheerleader. Nonetheless, she still loved cheering for her school. Olivia waved at Robin who was standing in the front row of the sea of band students. Even after they lost their jobs at Scoops Ahoy last summer, their friendship remained close. She supposed with going through the shared trauma that they went through, they would be friends for life. When Robin came out to her a few months after the events of everything that went down, Olivia was a bit surprised at first but she was nothing but supportive and loving which Robin was extremely grateful for.

            Olivia gave Robin a thumbs up when she noticed Robin was standing next to Vickie, who Robin had been crushing on. Olivia had been trying to encourage Robin to talk to Vickie, and while Robin found it endearing that Olivia was supportive and trying to help her, it was sometimes annoying.

            Scanning through the crowd of students, Olivia waved at Dustin, Mike, and Max. Dustin and Mike both smiled at her, but Max only half waved, which made Olivia frown. The two used to be so close, but Max slowly drifted away from her after Billy died. Olivia understood why she was being distant, after all she knew all too well what it felt like to deal with loss. She was still hurting from the loss of Hopper. But still, she wished Max could open up to her so that she could help her and be a friend that she could lean on.

            After Olivia and Chrissy finished their cheer routine that they had spent hours of rehearsals on, they cheered loudly as the Hawkins basketball team entered the gym. She waved at Lucas with a beaming smile, proud to see him on the team. He worked so hard to get on the team, and was so proud of him when he made it.

            "Good morning Hawkins High!" Jason Carver spoke through the microphone with a proud grin on his face. Olivia was never particularly fond of Jason, there was something off about him that she didn't like. But because he was Chrissy's boyfriend, she tried her best to hide her dislike for the boy. He made Chrissy happy, and that's all that mattered to Olivia. The girls sat down on the gym floor with the others as Jason began his speech. She only half listened, not really caring what Jason had to say and only clapped along with the crowd.

            After the crowd went into another round of applause, Jason waited until the applause died down to speak up again. "And of course, I had to give a shout-out to the best and the prettiest babes of all time— the Tiger's Cheer Squad!" He paused and shifted his focus from the crowd to Chrissy and put his hand over his heart. "Chrissy, I love you babe." Chrissy blew an air kiss to Jason and Olivia mentally cringed at the awkwardness.

            The crowed gushed, and Jason's face suddenly grew more serious. "You know, I think I can speak for all of us when I say it's been a tough year for Hawkins. So much loss. Sometimes I wonder, how much loss can a community take? In dark days like this, we need something to believe in. So last night, when we were down by 10 points at half to Christian Academy, I looked at my team. And I said: think of Jack, think of Melissa, think of Heather, think of Billy, think about our heroic chief police, Jim Hopper."

            Lucas shifted his eyes towards Olivia at the mention of Hopper, and she drifted her eyes downwards. Chrissy put a comforting hand over Olivia's and she whispered if she was okay. Olivia nodded unconvincingly. "Think about every one of our friends who perished in that fire," Jason continued his speech. "What did they die for? For us to lose to some crap school? For us to return with our heads hung low in defeat? No! Let's win this game. Let's win this game for them. And that's exactly what we did!" The students went into another round of applause. Olivia rolled her eyes at Jason's words. All he cared about was wining.

            "We embarrassed those candy asses in their own house, and now tonight, tonight, we're going to bring home the championship trophy!" Jason finished his speech, pumping his fist in the air.

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            Olivia walked through the hallway of Hawkins High, walking next to Dustin as he pleaded to her to join Hellfire Club. Olivia still couldn't believe that her little brother was a freshman in high school now. He had been growing up so fast right before her very own eyes. She was glad that he didn't seem to get wrapped in the pressures of high school, that he hasn't changed and was still the same old Dusty that she loved so much.

            "Please Liv?" Dustin begged. "Lucas can't make it because of the game tonight, and Eddie is making us find another player."

            Eddie Munson.

            Olivia didn't know him well and only had a few interactions with him when she would pick Dustin up from Hellfire Club meetings. The entire town saw Eddie as a freak, but when Olivia first met him, she had come to learn that he was actually quite kind. He was so accepting of Dustin and welcomed him with open arms when no one else did, which Olivia will forever be grateful for. She was glad that Dustin had someone to watch over him in times that she couldn't.

            "I can't," Olivia sighed, feeling bad that she couldn't help him. "Look, you know I would join if it were any other night, but I have to be at the game to cheer."

            Dustin groaned. "Seriously? You can't miss one game?"

            "I'm sorry Dusty," Olivia apologized genuinely. "Why don't you ask Erica? You know she would say yes if you asked her."

            "I'm not sure Eddie would be so keen to having an 11-year-old in our club," Dustin pointed out.

            "But Erica is a genius when it comes to Dungeons and Dragons. At least just think about it," Olivia shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I have to go find Chrissy. I haven't seen her since the pep rally. I'll see you later okay?"

            Dustin nodded with sigh and started walking in the other direction to his next period. Olivia began searching everywhere around the school for her friend and her worries begun to increase. It wasn't like Chrissy at all to disappear somewhere. After about fifteen minutes of frantically searching, she finally found her coming out of one of the bathrooms, but she looked scared and shaken up.

            Chrissy relaxed a little when she noticed Olivia, and she immediately pulled the Henderson girl into a hug. Olivia furrowed her eyebrows in concern but hugged her back. "Chrissy, w-what's wrong? Are you okay?" Olivia quivered.

            "Y-you wouldn't b-believe me if I told you," Chrissy sniffed, wiping her tears away with her sleeve.

            "Is it about your mom?" Olivia asked gently. She knew Chrissy had a bad life at home, but didn't know everything. Olivia had even offered her to stay at her house, but Chrissy declined the offer, saying she didn't want to be a burden.

            "C-can we just not talk about it?"

            Olivia nodded, but she knew Chrissy was lying. She knew there was something she was hiding from her. Olivia wanted to help her more than anything, but didn't know how.

            A terrible feeling twisted in Olivia's stomach, similar to the feeling that night three years ago when Will went missing.