- ͙۪۪̥˚•❛ 𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙤𝙤𝙣𝙨 ❜•˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»-———-　　-———-««
✧. ┊    friday 11th november 1983 - will's funeral
I decided to go for Jonathan's sake and it turned out to be a good idea. I watched as everyone threw in yellow roses but I was quickly dragged away. Jonathan and I sat on a small wall in front of a spiky fence.

"This is where we know for sure it's been, right?" He nodded. "So, that's Steve's house?" I pointed.

"And that's the woods where they found Will's bike and... that's my house. Of course you saw it in the school but it may have been a hallucination." He shrugged.

"Yeah, probably was. It's all so close." I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's all within a mile or something. Whatever this thing is, it's... it's not traveling far." He stared at me with serious eyes.

"You want to go out there." I raised my eyebrows.

"We might not find anything, though." He turned back to the paper.

"I found something. If- If we do see... it- then what?" I stammered. He sighed and turned back to look at me. "Oh my god, you want to kill it, don't you?" I smiled. Jonathan got up and I followed after him. He opened his dad's car and started trying to unlock the glove compartment, he was failing, of course. "Here, give me that, I'll do it." I held my hand out and he passed me the knife. I sat down and unlocked it. "The gun?" I asked.

He nodded, "And bullets." I grabbed the gun and bullets, loading it then shoving it in my inside pocket of my coat. I closed the glove compartment and got out, slamming the door shut.

"Here." I faced away from the others and snuck it to him.

"Will you ever tell your parents?" He questioned.

"God no. If they found out, expect me to be moving in with my abuela- er, grandma." I crossed my arms.
✧. ┊   3pm
I had grabbed my old baseball bat from the attic and started practicing hitting with my dad's boxing bag. "Fuck!" I screamed, obviously not being able to hit properly. I swung it and turned around, nearly hitting Steve. "Oh, sorry!" I laughed awkwardly, holding it by my side.

"What are you doing?" He asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"I'm bored so..." I looked down at the bat then back up at him.

"I hope it's not meant for me." He chuckled, walking up to me.

"If it was, you'd be lucky." I winked.

"So, Nancy has no news about Barbara." He shrugged. I widened my eyes.

"You went to see Nancy?!" I shouted. God, I knew he had something for her.

"No no no! We bumped into each other and I asked. Sorry- Should have explained." He leant against my car, panicking.

"Right..." I sighed.

"Hey, listen; why don't we, uh, why don't we catch a movie tonight, you know? Just you and me." He got off the car and placed his hands on my waist, smiling. "All The Right Moves is still playing. It's our movie. Carol thinks I kind of look like him." He pointed at his face as he turned it left and right. He started singing with my bat. I laughed and shook my head.

"I can't. Not today. My parents don't want me out late. You know they're usually laid back but this news has them rioting." I felt bad for lying but some things had to be kept secret.

"Yeah- Sure... Sure, yeah, yeah. Maybe another day?" He shrugged. I nodded and kissed him on the cheek. "I should go..." He looked down and went to walk away when I grabbed his arm.

"Excuse me, you're missing something." I rolled my eyes. He chuckled and planted a kiss on my lips.

"I love you." He whispered. He... loves me? We've never said that before so- Why now? Awful timing!!

"Mhm. See you tomorrow." I nodded. He furrowed his eyebrows slightly and walked off. "Teresa, you idiot." I tightened my grip on the bat and hit the boxing bag with it.
✧. ┊   3:30pm
I met up with Jonathan, who was practicing using the gun and failing miserably. He sighed and put the gun down. "You're supposed to hit the cans, right?" I laughed, skipping up to him. I dropped my bag on the floor and picked up the gun.

"No, actually, you see the spaces in between the cans? I'm aiming for those." He smiled.

"Right..." I held the gun up and aimed it directly in the centre of the can.

"You ever shot a gun before?" He asked. I nodded.

"Of course. That's how I knew how to reload one." I closed one of my eyes and focused.

"I haven't shot one since I was ten. My dad took me hunting on my birthday. He made me kill a rabbit." He sighed.

"God, your dad is a pain in the ass. At the funeral, he kept asking who I was to you." I rolled my eyes.

"What did you say?" He questioned.

"I said I was a friend- Assuming we are friends, right?" I looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah." He nodded. I turned back forward and shot the gun, hitting the can.

"That's how you do it, Byers!" I smiled, giving him a high five.

"Yeah but my dad is a massive douche. I'm sure my mom and him loved each other at some point but clearly I wasn't around for that part." He laughed.

"I don't think my mom and dad ever loved each other- or me." I sighed, holding the gun up again.

"They must've married for some reason." He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Well, my mom was pretty, my dad was popular. His family had money, he had a good job. So they bought a nice house at the end if the cul-de-sac... had me and decided they didn't love me so they wouldn't have any other kids. Maybe that's why I'm so incapable of love and being nice." I shot the gun again, hitting the can.

"I don't think you're incapable of love or being nice. We became friends because you were nice and you probably just haven't met the one yet." He shrugged.

"No, I think I have. I'm just... toxic, I guess." I put the gun down, smiling.

"Only you would be proud of that Teresa." He laughed.

"Call me T..." I said, sitting down.
✧. ┊  5pm
"You never said what I was saying." I nudged Jonathan. He looked at me confused. "Yesterday, in the pictures. You said I was saying something and that's why you took them." I looked down as we continued walking through the forest.

"Oh, uh. I don't know. I guess... I saw this girl, you know, being who her parents raised her to be but inside the girl she actually is was screaming to get out. And you were trapped in a relationship you can't get out of it because it's good for your families and your reputation.. But you wanna escape because you're young and shouldn't be pinned down." He explained.

"What bullshit!" I laughed.

"What?" Jonathan stammered.

"I am not trapped in any relationship. I be who I want to be, Jonathan. You just don't like Steve so you're making shit up." I scoffed, walking off.

"You know what? Forget it. I just thought it was a good picture." He shrugged, catching up to me.

"You just don't like me and that's why you think it's okay to assume things about my life. I told you my parents didn't love me, I never said they didn't like me! They didn't raise me to be their product, they raised me to be who I want to be." I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Look, it was stupid, okay?! I don't like people, yeah, everyone knows that. Steve and your friends are in the vast majority and so were you until recently but because you realised you're letting your guard down, you're sucking yourself back into it." He rolled his eyes and walked in the other direction.

"God! I was starting to think you were okay. You know, everyone calls you 'Jonathan Byers, the pretentious creep' but I was staring to think you were just Jonathan, someone who's deeply misunderstood but no! They were all right!" I yelled.

"Oh yeah? I was thinking; no, she's not 'Teresa Ortiz, be nice or she'll bully you until your last day' but actually she's 'Teresa Ortiz, the girl who just needs some love'. But everyone else was right too. You're the plain old suburban girl who thinks she's rebelling by dating some boring one time jock who now works sales, and they live out a perfectly boring little life at the end of a cul-de-sac. Exactly like their parents, who they thought were so depressing, but now, hey, they get it. And to top it off, they don't even love their husband. You and Steve are the definition of the basic American parents. The pretty girl and the rich boy." He scoffed and stormed off. I stood there, in shock, feeling tears form in my eyes. I quickly wiped them away and followed after him.
✧. ┊  8pm
We walked in silence for three hours. I suddenly stopped when I heard some distant whimpering. Jonathan turned around also "What, are you tired?" He rolled his eyes.

"Shut up." I held my hand up. "Did you not hear that?" I asked. I heard it again and started following where it came from.

"God, Teresa. You're not hearing anything." He scoffed, following me.

"Just shut up for a minute!" I shouted. I got closer to the whimpering and covered my mouth when I saw what it was. "Oh, god." I sat down in front of the wounded deer and shook my head. "It's been hit by a car." I moved my hand forward and stroked it gently. "We can't just leave it." I whispered to him. I picked up the gun and stood up, aiming it at the poor deer.

"I'll do it." He insisted, standing up and holding his hand out.

"Are you sure?" I asked. He nodded and I handed him the gun. He pointed it at the deer and I closed my eyes. I opened them after not hearing a gun shot and noticed he was hesitating. The deer was suddenly dragged away and we both stumbled backwards.

"What was that?" I gasped. Jonathan shone his light on where the deer was and looked around. I did the same, extremely confused.

"Do you see anymore blood?" He asked. I shook my head. I followed where the deer disappeared to and noticed something weird about one of the trees. It had an entrance at the bottom with weird liquid dripping from it. I dropped my bat and bag, getting closer.

"Jonathan?" I called out. There was no response. I looked around but he was nowhere to be seen. I shrugged it off and climbed inside. It felt weird, like I was climbing through some sort of gone off jelly.

When I stepped out, it looked exactly like the other forest, except it had weird webs and vines all around. My flashlight started playing up but I shook it off. I ventured further through the forest, keeping quiet in case that weird monster decided to show itself. My flashlight flickered faster and there was a sudden snarl. I turned around and saw it. It's face had opened up and it was eating the deer we had found. I slowly stepped backwards, not wanting to make a noise to alert it. However, fate had other plans for me and made me step on a twig. The monster roared, causing me to scream and I run. I accidentally dropped my light but there was no time to get it back. "JONATHAN!!" I screamed.

"TERESA!!" I heard. It was only echoey and faint. I continued running, not turning back. I kept hearing Jonathan scream my name.

"Jonathan!! Jonathan!!" I screamed back. "Jonathan, I'm right here!!" I shouted, doing circles around the forest.

"Teresa!!" It kept echoing so I don't know where it was coming from. I just need to find that tunnel so I can leave. I started following his voice when I saw the monster again. My heart dropped and I ran in the other direction, screaming. I hid behind a tree and covered my mouth. "T, follow my voice!" His voice echoed again. I heard the monster walk past and I quickly ran to the tunnel, climbing through. I stuck my hand out and felt Jonathan grab it, helping me. Tears started streaming down my face as Jonathan wrapped his arms around me. "I got you." He sighed. I nodded and held him tight.
✧. ┊  10pm
We got to mine and we snuck through the window so we didn't alert my parents. I left him in my room whilst I went to get a shower, almost immediately. When I came back into my room, Jonathan laid out a bed on my floor. "Is it okay if I sleep here tonight?" He asked. I nodded and got into bed, turning the light off.
✧. ┊  saturday 12th november 1983 - 9am
I woke up and rubbed my eyes. I checked the time and my eyes widened. "Shit." I got out of bed and stepped around Jonathan, grabbing some clothes.

"Woah, you okay?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm supposed to meet Steve in 30 minutes- Hey, stupid idea, but do you think we could catch this monster at your house? We'll need bear traps, large nails, gasoline, chains- all sorts." I asked. He nodded.

"I think I know what to make with that." He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Sneak out the window." I told him, running to the bathroom to get changed. I slipped on my shoes and went downstairs, immediately leaving. I got in my car and drove off.

I got outside the cinema and looked around for Steve, however he was nowhere to be seen. I looked up at the sign, which read: 'Starring Jonathan The Creep Byers'. I heard someone laughing and looked down the alley way. I saw him, Carol, Tommy and Nicole. "Hey!" I waved. Steve looked at me with worried eyes.

"You okay?" He asked. I nodded.

"Yeah- What's up with the sign?" I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"He's a creep. You know that." Tommy laughed.

"Steve!" I heard Jonathan shout from behind me.

"What's up, Creep?" He grinned. I looked between them both, puzzled.

"Clean the goddamn sign! I've done nothing to you." Jonathan shouted angrily.

"So taking pictures of my girlfriend is you not doing anything to me? What about last night when I went to check up on her and I found you in her room, snooping around!!" Steve lightly grabbed my arm and dragged me to him, putting his arm around my shoulder.

"No- You're getting it all wrong! Jonathan didn't want to stay at his alone last night so he stayed at me." I scoffed, removing his arm from around my shoulder.

"Oh, so you're a slut?" Tommy asked. I shook my head.

"No! No! Nothing happened. He slept on the floor." I rolled my eyes.

"There's no way a girl and a boy sleeping in the same room could be innocent. You fucking cheated on me, T." Steve looked at me in shock.

"No I didn't. Jonathan and I are JUST friends. Right, Jonathan?" I questioned. He hesitantly nodded, making everything ten times worse.

"Go to hell, T." He stepped back.

"Come on, Teresa. Let's just leave." Jonathan said, grabbing my arm and pulling me backwards.

"You know what, Byers? I'm actually kind of impressed. I always took you for a queer, but I guess you're just a little screw up like your father." Steve teased, pushing him every time he got the chance. "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that house is full of screw-ups. You know. I guess I shouldn't really be surprised. A bunch of screw-ups in your family." He laughed. Jonathan stopped walking.

"Steve, shut up!" I shouted.

"I mean, your mom... I'm not even surprised what happened to your brother. I'm sorry I have to be the one to tell you, but the Byers, their family, it's a disgrace to the entire-" Steve was interrupted by the sudden punch Jonathan gave him. I stepped back in shock. Steve tackled him and it caused an actual fight.

"Steve! Get off him!" I shouted.

"Get off of him, seriously!" Carol shouted.

"Kick his ass, man!" Tommy chuckled.

"Get off! Stop!" She continued shouting.

"Just get off each other!!" I yelled. It didn't seem like they were stopping any time soon.

"Get in there Tommy, he's going to hurt himself!" Carol demanded. He did as she said and got in the middle of them.

"Get out of here!" Steve said, lightly pushing him away. They continued fighting.

"Jonathan! You're going to hurt him! Stop!" I screamed. Sirens started wailing and I covered my face in annoyance. "Jonathan! Get off him!" I went over to Jonathan and went to pull him off when he accidentally elbowed my in the lip. "Fuck." I groaned. Carol came over and grabbed my arm.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, fuck that hurt." I laughed.

"He's had enough, man. I said he's had enough!" Tommy shouted, also trying to get Jonathan off him. The police pulled up and got out of the car.

"Kids! All right!" He shouted. Carol took hold of my hand and dragged me away. I turned around and saw Jonathan get arrested whilst Tommy and Steve were behind us.
✧. ┊  10:45am
We pulled up at Fair Mart. Carol and Tommy went inside to get us something cold to put on our injuries, giving Steve and I time to talk. "So... you didn't cheat?" He asked.

"Of course not. I love you." I replied, grabbing his hand.

"You didn't say that yesterday." He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yeah because it scared me. Jonathan and I are just friends, okay? He's helping me find Barb for Nancy. I feel bad for her. She's lost her best friend." I squeezed his hand tight whilst he nodded.

"I guess I should apologise to Jonathan, right?" He laughed awkwardly. I nodded. The two came out and passed us the cans. I put one on my lip.

"Don't worry, the creep will need more than aspirin when I'm done with him." Tommy grinned.

"Yeah, if he ever gets out. The cops should just lock him up forever. Did you see the look on his face?" Carol laughed. In that moment, Steve and I looked at each other, realising we need new friends. I gave him a look practically saying 'You do it.' He gave me a slight nod.

"He probably had the same look when he killed his brother, right?" Tommy gave Steve a pat on the arm.

"Oh, God, I just got an image of him making that face while he and T were screwing." She chuckled.

"Carol, for once in your life, shut your damn mouth!" Steve shouted. "What?" She asked confused.

"Hey, what's your problem, man? You jealous that your girlfriend got with the creep?" Tommy scoffed.

"I didn't 'get' with him! God." I rolled my eyes.

"You're both assholes! That's my problem." Steve got off the car.

"Are you serious?" Tommy questioned.

"Yeah, I'm serious! You shouldn't have done that." Their bickering became murmurs when Carol crossed her arms and started speaking to me.

"Don't say you're gonna have a freak out on us too?" She asked. I shook my head.

"You've been my friend since forever, I could never." I smiled.

"I should have put that spray paint down your throat." Steve looked down at Tommy, shaking his head.

"What the hell, Steve?" Carol looked at him, extremely confused.

"You know, neither of you ever asked for T's side of the story, like ever. She's always had to deal with the only part of the story being yours. No one should go through that." Steve looked at me. Tommy pushed him.

"Hey! I don't know what's gotten into you man, but T is one of our best friends. Sure, we make jokes but we always listen." He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Get out of my face." Steve pushed him back.

"Or what?" Tommy shouted, grabbing his jacket and pinning him against the car. He pushed him off and opened the door.

"Let's get you home, T." Steve said getting in. Tommy and Carol looked at me.

"Sorry... I'll call you later." I smiled warmly to them and got in the car.
✧. ┊  12pm
Steve dropped me off at the Byers house. I waved him goodbye and ran inside.

"Jonathan?" I shouted.

"In here!" He shouted back. I ran into Will's room to see Hopper, Ms Byers, Nancy and Jonathan.

"Oh-" I said in shock.

"What happened to you, kid?" Hopper asked.

"Oh, you know... Tried to split apart a fight and got caught in the crossfire. Don't worry though! I'm not mad. It's a battle scar." I smiled. Jonathan also smiled. Nancy started talking into a walkie talkie whilst Jonathan pulled me out the room.

"The boys have gone missing so Nancy asked for us to help. Don't think it's some weird thing or anything. Also, sorry for elbowing you." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it!" I grinned.