HAWKINS, INDIANA — 1984.

     THERESA WAS IN DENIAL.

She did not know what to do with her feelings other than bottle them up, because she had never met someone that cared about her the way Steve Harrington did.

But what she did know was that she felt terrible. For the way she had been treating Steve when all he was doing was trying to do was help her. He did not deserve any of it.

She tried not to think about it as the last bell rang to let them out of school, Tess heading for her car without even finding Jonathan first. She was just ready to pick up Erica and Lucas and go home.

Theresa picked up Erica from the elementary school first, because Lucas was taking too long to come to her car. When she circled back around to pick him up, Tess frowned when she saw that he was not out there waiting.

"What is this little dipshit doing?" she muttered to herself, rolling her eyes.

They sat in the parking lot for what felt like forever, Theresa beginning to grow concerned. She wondered if he might have taken the bus home, although that was odd. She checked her watch, bouncing her knee irritably.

Finally, Tess unbuckled her seatbelt and looked over at Erica, saying, "Wait here. I'm going to look for that dumbass."

Erica nodded, keeping her head immersed in whatever she was coloring.

Theresa got out of the car and started toward the middle school building, pushing open the doors to the entrance.

"Will!"

She heard numerous shouts for Will's name, immediately creasing her brow and hurrying around the corner. As she turned it she collided with someone, stepping back to see Dustin standing there.

"Dustin? What's going on? Where's Will?"

Dustin was about to reply when Lucas suddenly burst through the back door frantically.

"The field!" he said with fear in his voice, Tess not wasting a second. She tore off in a sprint right behind Lucas, following him out to see Will standing in the middle of the field.

"I just found him like this!" Mike explained, trying to shake Will to get him out of whatever trance it seemed like he was in.

Theresa ran up to the boy, peering down in his face to see his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Her mouth fell open with horror, kneeling down in front of him.

"Will, wake up!" Tess shook him by the shoulders, her hands trembling. "Will! Will, wake up. Please wake up, come on Will."

His eyelids moved rapidly, but Will would not budge. Theresa was fully panicking, having no idea what to do. If he was having a seizure, she only had a small idea of what she was supposed to do. Tess looked at her watch, checking the time. It had been almost a minute, and that was just since she had gotten out there.

"How long has he been like this?" she asked, the kids failing to answer.

"How long!" she snapped, not letting go of Will.

"W-We don't know," Mike stammered, "I-I just found him!"

Theresa was running out of options. She was about to tell them to find a phone to call an ambulance when Will let out a sudden gasp, his eyes shooting wide open.

"Holy shit," Tess exclaimed, standing up and pulling Will into her arms. She placed a hand over his head, taking a moment to try and catch her breath.

She let go of Will when it was clear he was alright, stepping away from him.

"I'm about to take you home, alright? Are you okay?"

Will was still shaken up, but he managed to nod his head. Theresa placed an arm around him, looking at the others. She briefly narrowed her eyes as she saw a girl that looked vaguely familiar, standing there with Lucas, Mike and Dustin.

"...Who's this?" Tess questioned to them, nodding to the girl.

"I'm Max," she introduced. "You probably know my brother–"

"Billy," Theresa said aloud with realization, suddenly remembering where she had seen her before. Getting out of Billy's car on the first day he arrived.

Max nodded, glancing down.

At that moment, they all turned as they heard someone yell for Will's name, seeing none other than Joyce Byers running frantically toward them.

"Will!" she exclaimed, the boy moving from beside Tess to his mother's arms.

"Ms. Byers, thank God," Theresa exhaled. "I was just about to bring Will home. H-He just had some kind of episode, I-I don't know exactly for how long or why but I came out here and found him."

Joyce nodded, clinging onto Will like it was the last thing she'd do. Theresa drew her lips in, feeling awkward and unsure of what to do.

"Thank you," Joyce said to Tess, who nodded curtly.

"Y-Yeah, of course."

She turned with Will still in her arms, leading him back to the school. Theresa could feel the anxious pain in her stomach, watching them walk away.

"Alright, everyone get your things and go to my car," Tess announced, turning to the other four.

They all made faces of confusion. "What, why?" Dustin returned, Tess sharply glaring at him.

"Because I'm taking you guys home. Let's go."

"We don't need you to babysit us!" Mike exclaimed, Theresa turning her head to him.

She stared at the Wheeler boy, trying not to let her disdain for his sister affect how she saw him. But he was making it pretty damn hard.

"I guess I didn't make myself clear. I'm not asking any of you, I'm telling you. Take your asses to the car!"

She raised her voice in the slightest, and that was enough for them. They did not give any disagreements, but they did mumble to themselves as they walked back into the building.

Once they all had their things they walked out of the front door, trudging to Theresa's car. She stopped at the steps, turning back to see Max hanging around at the entrance still.

"What are you doing?" Tess questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Max looked up at her, starting to shake her head. "Oh, I–"

"Come on," Theresa cut her off, gesturing with her head.

The girl hesitated, rubbing her arm. "A-Are you sure? I was just gonna skate home–"

"Are you kidding?" Tess interjected once more. "Just come on. I don't bite."

Max finally followed, a smile forming on her face as she dropped her head. Theresa seemed so cool, and Max began to wonder if this was the girl that Billy had been so worked up about. She fit the description.

Lucas, Dustin, Mike and Max all squeezed in the backseat while Erica had the front to herself, which caused some complaints from the boys but ended in Theresa telling them to shut up.

She first dropped off Mike, and then Dustin. Max gave her directions to her house next, which seemed a bit further away than Tess would have thought.

"You really live all the way out here?" Theresa asked, pulling into a driveway.

"Yeah," Max shortly responded, gathering her things. "Thanks for the ride. Bye Lucas."

"Bye," he replied, watching her leave. Tess saw the whole thing unfold from her rearview mirror, and as soon as Max got out of the car she turned around with a wide grin on her face.

"Oh my God!"

Lucas' eyes widened. "What?"

Theresa started to laugh. "You totally have a crush on her!"

His face immediately contorted with disgust. "I do not! Gross!"

She continued to smile, shaking her head.

"You definitely do."

Lucas sighed, crossing his arms with a sour expression. But Tess knew it was true, just by the way Lucas was looking at her.

They returned home, finally, just after it had grown dark. Dinner was already waiting on them, Theresa having to explain to her mother what happened.

"That poor boy." Mrs. Sinclair shook her head with a sigh, "I just feel awful for him."

Theresa did too, but she was now more worried than anything. She thought that after the events of last year, everything was supposed to go back to normal. But now, it seemed like something had shifted. There was a difference in the air, something was off.

She could feel it. And she had seen it twice with Will.

That dreadful feeling was returning. The one that Theresa had managed to get rid of for about two days, the two days that she was more focused on Steve than anything else. When she did not have him to distract her, her mind was filled with tormenting thoughts and vividly horrific memories.

So, Theresa decided to call Steve.

She laid on her bed after dinner, picking up the phone to dial his house. She waited, wondering for a brief second if this was stupid. He probably did not want to talk to her after their rather awkward conversation earlier that day.

But, Steve picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hi."

Steve paused. "...Hi? This is Tess, right?"

"Wow, you don't even recognize my voice?" she teased. "I'm offended."

He laughed on the other end of the line. "Apologies. So... any particular reason why you decided to call?"

Theresa hesitated, draping an arm over her stomach. "What if I said... that I was just bored?" she replied.

"Then I'd say you're full of shit," he replied without hesitation.

She scoffed, smiling to herself. "I am not! I don't have anything better to do."

"You're lying, but it's okay," Steve continued. "It's kinda cute, actually–"

"I'm about to hang up," she warned, knowing she wasn't but still startling Steve slightly.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Now tell me why you really called me."

There were a million reasons Theresa could have given, but none that would have been great to discuss over the phone. Tess did not know where to even begin telling him all the things she really felt.

"Fine," she sighed. "You know we have to present our project in two days, right?"

He was silent for a moment. "Shit."

Theresa began to laugh. "So I'm guessing you didn't know."

Steve huffed. "Nah, but I'm not really stressed about it. I mean, with you we're gonna have a perfect one hundred. Hell, Mr. Morris will probably throw in some bonus points just because you're you."

She shook her head, laughing again.

"Not how it works, but alright. Anyway, I need you to be at school tomorrow so we can actually work on this. Can you do that much?"

"Darn, I was planning on skipping tomorrow," Steve said with sarcasm, Tess rolling her eyes.

"Well that's just too bad, isn't it?"

Steve was pacing in his room as he talked on the phone with Theresa, not realizing how hard he was smiling as they talked for nearly half an hour longer. That was when Steve began to realize why she really called: for a distraction.

But he was not angry this time. Steve was slowly beginning to understand that Theresa, while she would not outwardly admit, actually liked him. Well, not just liked– she loved him. And even if she had been drunk, a part of Steve was telling him that what she said was true.

And if he had to wait a million lifetimes for her to soberly tell him that she did love him, then that's what he would do.

He would wait for her, however long it took.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

IN FIRST PERIOD THE NEXT DAY, STEVE found himself actually paying attention to Physics for the first time in his life.

"You're finally getting the hang of it," Theresa said with a smile, looking up at him as they worked over formulas that Steve previously had no clue how to do.

"Don't tell Mr. Morris, but I think you're a better teacher than him," Steve remarked quietly, Tess giggling softly.

She retorted, "I think you just choose not to pay attention."

Steve tilted his head. "That may also be true."

As they talked and laughed with each other, Billy was watching them from a few tables over. He had not said a word to Tess since the party, but mostly just because he had not figured out what he wanted to do. And of course he wanted to get even with Steve, but Billy knew he could do that on the basketball court.

It was Theresa Sinclair that Billy was going to get revenge on.

After class, Steve walked out with Theresa and continued alongside her down the hall. Tess noticed that Jonathan was not at school today, so she wondered if he might have stayed home with Will. She needed to call and check up on him.

"What are you doing this weekend?" Steve asked as he walked alongside Theresa, drawing her out of her thoughts.

She began to shake her head. "Nothing, that I know of... why?"

Steve shrugged as she stopped at her locker, leaning against them casually. "I think we should go to the movies. Maybe we could go see... I don't know, Back to the Future? Or maybe Teen Wolf?"

Theresa glanced at him with a brief smile, replying, "Aw, how did you know I love Michael J. Fox?"

Steve's smile faltered a little, but he only rolled his eyes.

"So... is that a yes?" he continued, hopeful.

She closed her locker, glancing at him.

"That's a maybe. Depends on how well we do on this project. And then... I'll consider it."

With one last smile, Theresa walked away. Steve was jumping up and down on the inside, his stomach doing cartwheels.

"Damn Harrington, don't tell me you're back together with 'Sinclair the Slut.'"

Steve whipped his head to the side, seeing Tommy walking by. Tommy laughed cynically and continued walking, Steve having to make sure he heard him right. He began to start toward him, grabbing Tommy by the jacket.

"What the hell did you just say?" Steve spat, forcing Tommy around to look at him.

Tommy chuckled again. "Get your hands off of me, dude. You don't wanna do this again."

Steve was shaking with anger, still in disbelief over what Tommy had just said. He finally let Tommy go, taking a step away as people in the hallway began to crowd around.

Steve was trying to walk away when Tommy added, "Tell me, Steve, do you even know how many dicks that mouth has touched–"

He turned in a split second, throwing a punch directly at Tommy's face.

notes.
went a little off script here, but surprise steve is about to beat tommy's ass 🤪

the craziest parallel is how we started off this book with theresa pretending to care about will going missing to now, her development is astounding

no but i am truly terrified for miss sinclair because of billy... she will eat his ass alive though

anyway back to steve, got me kickin my feet and gigglin at how he's defending his girl 😩 yes mr. harrington as you should

what do y'all think about theresa & max? (my opinion: they're going to be the cutest big sister/little sister duo ever)