.𖥔 ݁ ˖꩜ 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 ꩜ ˖𖥔 .

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ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : 【 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬 6 】

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 the Halloween party was naturally very awkward. However, beyond the expected hangovers and half-assed-ness of the whole day, tensions were high between Steve and Nancy. Molly had her first two periods with Steve and desperately encouraged and eventually pestered him to talk to Nancy.

"You didn't even pick her up this morning! For god sake, what has got you so frightened of this woman?", she exclaimed, exasperated at his constant grumblings of excuses.

"Because I don't want her to dump me, okay?!", he shouted back before sighing, "Nancy's... just the best girlfriend I've ever had. I'm not ready to... not be with her anymore. I really do love her and I wanna make it work."

Molly sighed, knowing as well as Steve that the relationship was as good as over, before telling him, "Look. I don't want to lie, Steve. I don't see how this works out, but the longer you avoid each other, the more the relationship dies. So if you really believe in working things out instead of just hiding away, clinging to this idea that you still have each other, you will talk to her."

He sighed and thought for a moment, "After gym?"

Molly rolled her eyes and huffed, "Okay, fine but not a minute later."

"Oh yeah, and good luck with this," he told her, finally remembered he had a life outside him and his (soon to be ex) girlfriend.

"Thanks. We'll see if I need it."

˖𖥔 .

In the school gym, a plethora of the senior boys were getting warmed up for basketball. Steve and his team were getting completely pummelled by Billy, who was getting nothing but blind support from his flock of fans.

Meanwhile, Molly got changed and headed to the gym. She was in a tank top and short shorts, both of which came from lost and found (specifically that time she slept there after running away from the Soviets but nobody needed to know that).

The moment she walked in, all their eyes were on her. She expected this. She was 'invading their sacred land', for the basketball court was 'no girls land', she'd probably get her pretty little hands hurt.

And if anyone was actually interested in technical matters beyond sexism, she turned to the coach and said, "You recall our agreement?"

He cleared his throat and nodded before announcing, "Boys, we've got a new student joining our class. Molly Gordin," calling them to gather around.

Molly had been fighting to get into any of the sport classes since she arrived at Hawkins. Finally, after a very long and persuasive discussion with the coach of the basketball team, he conceded and let her join the team, making her the first female player in the school's history.

She blocked out the rude and crude remarks and found her eyes wandering towards Billy Hargrove. Strangely, she felt like asking him what he thought. But why? Why should she give a single shit what he thinks? He's just an idiot boy who doesn't know how to leave her alone. Why on earth should his opinion have any impact on her at all? She couldn't tell. But she felt it.

Meanwhile, Billy couldn't believe what he was seeing. Beyond the jaw dropping sight of Molly in a tank top and short shorts, he was surprised at the thought that she'd want to play basketball. Sure, she could certainly tear her arm away from a guy (he was still reeling from that), but you have to be tough for basketball. Not just quick with your head, not just tough with words. You have to be able to hold your own. This little lady really thinks she could take him on the court.

"Need a practice round, Gordin?", he looked down at her.

She looked him up and down and replied, "Do you?", before strutting towards the court.

She ignored the idiotic chorus of 'Ohhh's the rest of the boys provided. 'Practice round', ha! She had been watching the boys practice since before Billy even set foot in Hawkins. If anything he was the one who'd need a practice round. She had every prime movement, strategy and gait memorised. Now all she had to do was execute.

Steve followed along after her, "Okay, so last quick rundown of the rules-"

She cut him off, "Shut up. I studied. I've got this."

˖𖥔 .
↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

Molly started off the round a bit rough, timing shots wrong and missing a couple of catches. The comments and jeers from the other boys didn't help much either.

"What's the matter, girlie? Ball too heavy for you?"

"Take a load off, hot stuff. Join the cheer squad."

The worst one came from Billy, "Looks like you're not tough enough for the court, Gordin."

After that, she saw red. It was like the cut-throat assassin within her had been awakened. This idiotic, privileged little American shit had the gaul to tell her she wasn't tough enough? She survived winters colder than he could ever imagine. She had destroyed more lives than he could ever think of. And this boy had the audacity to say to her face that she wasn't tough enough for his stupid American sport of throwing balls into circles. No more sweet little Molly Gordin from Hawkins. She was going to show them Manya Novikova, born in Leningrad, bred in a frozen prison camp in the ninth circle of hell and sent to America to test her patience. And it had been tested alright.

After that, Molly swept the court. Not even Billy could believe what he was seeing. She was so light on her feet yet her movements were so precise. It was almost frightening, he'd never seen a real person move like that. It was mesmerizing to witness but terrifying to be on the opposing side of such skill. He was almost attracted to her strength. He was definitely attracted to the way she looked. Especially those shorts... Hold on, anyway.
She made the rest of the boys on his team look like little kids.

After making her, what was it, fifth shot in the basket in a row, Molly turned around to see Billy's astonished expression and said, "Tough enough for you?"

He huffed. Two can play at that game. He was going easy on her but if she wanted to play like a big kid, so could he.

The game then devolved into a heated battle between Billy and Molly over who could win within the last fifteen minutes of the period. Molly was so focused on winning, she didn't even bat an eye when Steve went out to speak with Nancy. As important as her friends' wellbeing was, in that moment the only thing that mattered was making that stupid Hargrove eat his words. She didn't realise it, but Molly found herself enjoying the game much more than she let herself believe.

They were neck and neck and Molly's team was one point ahead but Billy got to it in the nick of time and scored just as coach whistled for the game to end, "Draw! Take a shower, boys."

Molly presumed 'boys' applied to her and packed up her bag to shower as well.

Just before she left, she heard Billy call out to her, "Hey Gordin. That draw is horseshit. We'll have a rematch sometime. We'll see who the real winner is."

She smirked and nodded before heading off to the girls' showers, "Sure, little boy."

˖𖥔 .

After basketball, things started turning strange. Molly couldn't find Steve for the rest of the day so she decided to try and find Nancy or even Jonathan to figure out what was going on but by forth period, those two had also disappeared. It was very unlike Nancy to skip. Molly felt bad about not keeping a better eye on her friend. Things seemingly kept going from bad to worse for Nancy every day and until Halloween, Molly had been none the wiser. She decided she would investigate that night.

Molly finally caught up with Steve after school. As they neared his car, she asked him about what had happened between him and Nancy during basketball.

"Nice of you to finally care," he scoffed.

"What are you talking about? When didn't I care?", she asked.

"How about when it happened? Where were you? Off having your little ball game with the hot new guy," he exclaimed.

"Steve, I'm sorry but you know it was important to me, I can't break my focus on something physical like that-", she tried explaining.

"Shhhhhush, just shut up, shut up, I don't care," he shushed her.

"Okay, well would you just tell me what happened?", she pleaded.

"We're done. We broke up," he blurted out, biting his lip.

"Oh god," Molly sighed before pulling him into a hug, "I'm so sorry, Steve."

"She couldn't even tell me she loved me," he murmured.

"Oh, Steve. Let's go home," she told him, pulling him into the car, not wanting to have to deal with any more shitty teenagers for the day.

As they pulled out, she noticed Billy looking at the two of them, yet something felt off with him. Before, his staring felt curious and confused, yet now Billy's gaze held contempt. He was angry. But what could he be angry with Molly for? She didn't even win the game, and he seemed pleasant enough when he playfully challenged her to a rematch. That day, Molly discovered a real danger within Billy. For the first time, beyond the idiotic teen male pride, she saw the malice in his eyes. Her mind was suddenly sparked by the fear of what Billy could be capable of.

From that day on, Molly was sure to keep an eye on Billy.

From the moment the basketball game ended, Billy could think of nothing but the enigma of Molly. She went against everything he thought of girls, of anyone, before. Her intelligence, her strong will, her pride, and now, more than anything, her strength. Sure, they came head to head, but he was giving it his all. The last time he had to give his all with anyone was with kids twice his age and size. And this girl somehow had him matched. Who else knows how strong she is? Wait... she mustn't have been kidding when she said she had that Thomas boy in a headlock. God, she was magic. Sure he thought she was cute before, a little stuck-up but interesting enough. Now, he could hardly keep his thoughts from her. Make no mistake, Billy wasn't wandering around the halls in a lovestruck daze. He knew how to keep his feelings on the inside. But god if she wasn't in his head.

What was frustrating him, beyond the idiocracy of Steve Harrington's entire existence was the fact that all the girls were throwing themselves at Billy... except the one girl he wanted. Yet, the fact that she refused to throw herself at him only drew him to her more.

He got into shit that evening for not picking up Max from school. It was the damn brat's fault anyway, she didn't even show up.

That day, Billy never looked at Molly nor Steve the same way again.

For Molly, he felt a strange mix of admiration and wariness.

But for Steve, he felt nothing but boiling, green, envy.

˖𖥔 .

That night, Molly snuck out and headed over to the Byers' house. Yes, it was a bit of a walk but nothing she wasn't used to. When she arrived, she quickly realised something had happened with Will, as Joyce had a similar disposition to when Will first went missing last year.

"Good evening, Joyce," Molly greeted her.

"Molly, Hi, come on in. Sorry, things are a little hectic right now," she explained as she led Molly inside and pulled up a chair for her at the table.

"Really? If you don't mind me asking, what happened?", Molly asked, sitting down.

"Well, today at school, Will had another episode. It was a really bad one and I took him home and I got him to try and explain what happened to him but he's not even really sure himself but I'm going to figure it out," she started shaking in her seat.

Molly grabbed her clamped hands, "Oh my goodness, that's terrible! How is Will doing now?"

"Well, I'm gonna try calling Hopper in the morning. I'm thinking if we work together, we could figure this out faster," she explained, starting to calm down.

"That sounds like a good idea. I really wish the best of luck to you," Molly consoled her.

"Yes, thank you so much," she sighed, "Oh, sorry I forgot to ask, what brings you here this time of night?"

"Oh yes, I wanted to talk to Jonathan. It's no big deal, there's just a lot of drama going on between Steve and Nancy at the moment and I feel like he could provide a unique perspective," she explained, not entirely lying but carefully leaving out the fact that her son skipped school.

"Ah, I see," Joyce nodded.

"And truly, if you need any extra help for anything at all, even just to talk, I'm happily here for you," Molly told her with a smile.

"Thanks so much, sweetie," Joyce smiled back, "I'll go get Jonathan for you."

About a minute later, Jonathan emerged from his bedroom, surprised to see Molly at such an hour. Molly stood up and headed towards Jonathan's bedroom.

The moment the door was closed, she began interrogating, "Where did you and Nancy go this afternoon?"

"Good to see you too, what the hell are you doing at my house at eight pm?", Jonathan asked.

"I want to know what the hell is going on with you and Nancy," hearing herself, Molly corrected her words, "Not the fact that you both have crushes on each other, that's obvious. I mean, why are you skipping school? Because I know it's not to make out with each other. Neither of you nerds would skip school unless it was important. And especially the day Will had the worst episode he's ever had. Things have been getting to Nancy and if you're planning something, I'm not going to be kept out of the circle because you're my friends and I can't let you leap into danger without at least knowing," she ranted, slipping in and out of her American accent.

Jonathan stared at her wide-eyed for a moment before sighing, "We... we wanna see what's going on at the lab. We've got a feeling they're still spying on us and Nancy doesn't wanna pretend Barb just disappeared. If there's any dirt we can find on them, we wanna get it on tape so we can get that place shut down."

Molly sighed, "Just a few questions. What do you mean when you say you think they're still spying on you?"

"We spotted a few people in the park acting weirdly who could be listening to our conversations. We can't go out in public and talk about this stuff," he explained.

Molly nodded, "And what do you plan to do if you get caught?"

"Uhh...", Jonathan paused, "Run, I guess."

Molly sighed, "I can't stop you from doing this. Frankly, I don't really want to. I think you're doing a good thing. These people deserve to be challenged. But I don't want you to get hurt so...", she leaned her head over and pointed at a nerve in her neck, beckoning Jonathan to look closely, "Three ounces of pressure to the vagus nerve. Completely immobilizes your opponent."

Jonathan looked at her in shock.

"Don't worry, it won't kill them. Just...", Molly pondered how to put it into less threatening terms, "make them go sleepy night-night. Also, if anything happens, if you are in any kind of danger, no matter who you think is tracking you, contact me right away. It doesn't matter how, just tell me as quickly as possible and I will be there to protect you."

"Th... Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Jonathan said, still rather shocked at what just happened in front of him.

"Okay, thanks for telling me. Best of luck to you and Nancy, I won't tell Steve, I hope Will doesn't die or kill anyone and have a good evening," she said as she headed to the door.

She sighed as she headed back towards Steve's house. Sometimes she couldn't believe how reckless her friends were. She only hoped they wouldn't get themselves killed. And if they did, Molly still had a few more battles to fight.