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CHAPTER TEN
โ€” the freak and the weirdo โ€”




















nancy always sat with barb during lunch. that was something that would never change... the brunette scanned the cafeteria. not once did her eyes stop when she saw barb. that was because she wasn't there...

from not so far, however, she saw steve's table. he was sitting with tommy, carol, and amelia, which was not really a surprise. after last night, the three have been consistent with keeping her in their circleโ€”as everyone wants her in theirs.

"no, i swear. look at this. it's totally frostbite." carol told tommy as she put her elbow on the table. there was a darkโ€“red smudge on her skin.

"that's so cool." amelia chuckled as she took a closer look at it. "those colors..."

"oh, thanks man. it's a heated pool." tommy said with a muffled mouth, full of food.

"well, if it's not frostbite, then what is it?" carol argued to the two boys. amelia wanted to make a guess for herself, but her thinking stopped when she saw nancy approach them and later sit her lunch tray next to steve's.

"ugh, i don't care what it is, it's disgusting! get it off the table. we're eating here." steve grumbled. carol put her arm down.

"hey tommy," nancy called for. "when you left... did you see barb?" she asked. although she didn't want to, amelia's eyes shot up to the question. if someone saw her instinctive impression, she looked as if she was the one that was asked the question. for obvious reasons, she couldn't answer it.

"what?" tommy muttered.

"barbara. she's not here today." nancy sighed. amelia furrowed her brows as she looked down at her own lunch tray. last night with jonathan, they did see her just disappear. not leave.

"i seriously have no idea who you're talking about." tommy joked.

amelia rolled her eyes softly and chuckled, "come on, man, don't be an ass." she threw a clean napkin towards him to wipe his mouth, and leaned her back on her chair. "did you see her leave or not?" amelia asked for nancy. the brunette appreciated the small act of support. nancy also shortly asked herself if maybe her distress was noticeable, which is why amelia asked...

tommy sighed and grabbed the napkin amelia gave him. "no." he answered flatly. "she was gone when we left." nancy slowly nodded. her eyes shuffled down to the table. amelia's brows twitched in a wrinkle as she thought of the same worry nancy was feeling.

"probably couldn't stand listening to all that moaning last night." carol snarked. tommy laughed too as his girlfriend began moaning exaggeratedlyโ€”apparently like how nancy did. "oh, steve!"

amelia immediately grew uncomfortable. she shrunk in her seat, sliding down. she started to feel the same embarrassment nancy was. amelia's dark eyes traveled to steve's, where they met in a very quick, averted glance.

carol and tommy continued mocking steve and nancy. steve turned to nancy and saw her look illโ€“fitting. he started laughing a little bit at carol and tommy, but had to stop it. "okay, chill." steve said with a small, calming smile.

but the two kept on going. amelia cleared her throat quietly and brought herself back to the table, sitting up straight and resting her elbows on the flat surface. "yeah, you guys should quit it. people are looking."

"seriously, amelia!" tommy exclaimed. "you probably heard it the best considering that you were in the living room."

amelia sat quietly for a full second, just looking at tommy blankly. she didn't know what to respond with. luckily, not a beat after that second, steve reacted with, "you stayed!?"

the noirette's eyes traveled to his. he looked concerned, a little bit surprised, and an even smaller bit... grossed out...

amelia immediately thought that he was grossed out by her, which made her want to shrink in her seat again for the second time in this conversationโ€”why am i even part of this conversation? she thought with her eyes slowly going wide.

she started to stammer while thinking of a good way to confirm she did stay. "uโ€“um? well... eh hehโ€“"

"sorry, lia." steve rubbed the back of his neck, resting his elbows on the table. "pulled like a.. fifthโ€“wheeler on ya." he chuckled nervously, trying to make a joke out of it.

no one laughed at his coined phrase. amelia would've if she got the reference.

"it's fine, steve." she lied. it wasn't entirely at first, but luckily jonathan somehow came up, where in which she was entertained and not alone.

amelia's eyes shifted to nancy, who was looking at the entrance of the cafeteria. with that one look and one read of her eyes, amelia smiled a little as a name appeared in her head.

she turned around and saw jonathan byers, standing awkwardly outside the cafeteria. the noirette waved and smiled at him, grabbing the table's attention.

his body stuttered, but jonathan waved back, too. he put his hand back down and continued with his journey to wherever he was going.

seeing jonathan put a nice grin on amelia's face. it also washed off the awkward and tense mood she was feeling due to the table talking about the sex.

"hey, amelia." carol called. the noirette nodded shortly at her, still smiling. "yeah?"

"how do you know.. the freak?"

carol pronounced the freak as if freak is a bad thing. amelia's eyes twitched in a furrow and her head irked to the side.

freak. that's a new word.

"jonathan?" amelia supposed.

carol nodded, looking ready for whatever answer amelia was gonna spit out. she knew it would be juicyโ€”something that she could spin and spread around school.

"well, uh, my parents know his." amelia nodded. "we've known each other since we were kids. i've visited here quite often, here... in hawkinsโ€”but i only stuck around with the byers, not so much.." her eyes shifted to the table. "i don't know hawkins very well, only the byersโ€”terrible." amelia spoke abruptly. "what's happening to them is terrible. i feel terrible." she paused before saying, "not only because of what happened to will, but also to the fact that i'm just living with them. i feel so... intrusive and uncomfortable."

"oh." carol quirked. she sat up and rested her for arms on the table as well as bring herself closer to amelia. "that is terrible, but let's not tint the mood. you should tell us more about you, like... where are your parents?"

amelia blinked down to her tray. she grabbed her fork and started to fiddle with her food. "working abroad." she spit out.

she was getting every single answer from nancy practically. nancy was assuming things in her head, and was literally giving amelia something to read off of.

"aโ€“at australia or something, i don't know." amelia stopped messing with her fork and slid her hands under her sitting thoughts. "they don't really keep me up with those kind of things. they're pretty major business people. you know? the ones that like, travel a lot." she let out an uneasy chuckle. "anyways, they cut ties in new york and thought i'd get a taste of um.." she couldn't find the word. "um..." the goddamn fucking wordโ€”shit! fuck words!!

"suburbia?" nancy chimed.

"suburbia!" amelia agreed even though that wasn't the word. truth was, amelia wasn't even finding a word. she didn't know much words.

the noirette laughed with scoffed at herself, slapping her head in a playful manner. "yeah," she continued chuckling. "that's the word."

she knew exactly what carol was thinking. something about her story wasn't being bought and carol wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"yeah, but i'm only staying in hawkins for a while." she shook her head softly in a flutter. "till the end of the year, most likelyโ€“"

"why're you leaving?" steve immediately badgered himself in.

carol and tommy glanced at each other with a hidden smirk. amelia blinked while thinking of another lie. all she's done is spell liesโ€”lies that almost everyone is falling for. not carol so much.

"i said most likely." amelia assured. she shook her head in a flutter. "i could leave by the end of the semester, the end of the year..." she started to look a little faint when she said, "or there's a chance i won't leave hawkins. maybe i'll stay and live here..." she looked away from steve. "for the rest of my life."

that's if she ever gets found.

she started to think that maybe el was the one playing smart by staying hidden...
but what would be the whole point of being free if you can't feel free.

there was a short pause. nancy chewed on her lip, also thinking. she wondered how amelia just came up and suddenly became everyone's best friend. it made her a bit intrigued... and for the not so pure reasons when compared to the act she's about to commit.

"you said that you didn't feel as welcomed as you should at jonathan's house, right?" she asked amelia.

tommy scoffed, "please. i wouldn't feel all that comfortable either."

"shut up." steve blurted quickly.

amelia bit the inside of her lower lip as she remained looking at her lunch tray. she read what nancy was thinking and immediately grew tense because of it.

"i was wondering if maybe you'd like to stay at my place." nancy invited.

amelia's brows shot up. she was surprised... surprised by how nancy was driven to find barb.

"really?" the noirette wasn't sure.

"yeah," nancy nodded cooly. because all of a sudden she wasn't tense and now she's cool. "i'm sure my parents won't mind." she spoke with a cool shrug. "we're good friends with the byers, my mom would be thinking of it as a kind gesture if you stay."

amelia laughed because it was needed. "uh, yeah," she nodded as well. "totally! thanks." she wore a faint smile. her head was nodding as if she was listening to a tune jonathan showed her. she likes his music more than she liked the music playing at steve's house.

"radical." amelia hummed.

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when the lunch bell rang, everyone but nancy took their time to get to their next class. the departure was awkward since nancy made the sharpest turn to rush out of the cafeteria. it got tommy and carol mocking her walking for the next minute until they split up with steve and amelia.

steve and amelia actually share this next class together. it's athletic period aka gym... for a mysterious reason, amelia calls it athletic period instead of gym. when steve asked why she calls it that, she said "that's how they call it in new york."

she meant the labs.

together, they left the main school building and walked silently to the gym's locker room. steve slid his hands into his pockets and cleared his throat. he would frequently glance at the quiet girl, trying to think of something to say to her that would start conversation.

he cleared his throat unintentionally again, making her look up to him.

"you need a cough drop or something?" she joked but didn't sound like she was joking. it only made steve laugh while he declined the offer.

"oh, okay." she nodded and looked back down at the her feet walking on the grass. "i wouldn't know where to get you one anyway."

again, he laughed. amelia didn't know what at, but she just laughed, too.

he found something about her is so weird. like... really weird, but steve dug it. he liked it and made him want to stick with her to see some more of that peculiarity.

something bugged him thought. he could start a conversation with anyone with zero effort, but with this chick, it was different.

every time he'd look at her, he'd stutter. he'd think he'd mess up with his words the same way she does. well, at least she looks cute when she does. steve thinks he looks like a mess... that's what his father tells him.

maybe it's the way she looks confused and lost whenever he speaks. or maybe due to the lingering fact that she didn't want be here with him... okay, no, steve knows it's not that. she voluntarily sat with him at lunch, and is now walking by his side to gym.

"amelia." steve spit out. he just said her name to fight down the nerves his body was feeling.

"what's up?" amelia looked up to him.

he didn't know what was up. he didn't know what to say exactlyโ€”god! he was so fucking smooth last night! why not know! why isn't he smooth now!! oh maybe due to the fact she heard me having sexual intercourse last night, huh, steve!

"uh," looking up at her eyes made him feel more anxious. "there's a football game after school today and i wasโ€“"

"football?"

steve nodded intently. "yeah. football."

amelia blinked rapidly with her eyebrows in a knitโ€”and it wasn't from the sun hitting them. it was actually kind of cloudy.

"uh, steve." she called. even though he had her attention, she still called for his name as if she didn't have it. see, that's weird. that makes steve feel weird, too.

they both stopped walking.

"yeah."

amelia started to look nervous. steve was readying himself for her to spit out somethingโ€”anything. like literally anything. maybe something to reassure him of his feelings. maybe something to let him know that he isn't feeling weird. that he's just feeling fine and that this is all fine between them.

"promise me you won't laugh, okay?" she walked a step closer to him.

"yeah. i promise." steve affirmed.

there was a pause. a small pause.

a cloud drifted away from the sun, causing light to intrude both their eyes. it wasn't as cloudy anymore, so it made them both wrinkle their eyes and furrow their brows. amelia even held her hand up above her face to cover her eyes.

"uh," she shifted her eyes away from him nervously. "what's football?"

steve just stood there, soaking it in... both the sunlight and (again) weird question.

"what?"

amelia sheepishly looked around her and licked her lips. she was nervous.

"uh, what's football? i don't know what football is."

steve blinked at her... very blankly.

he didn't know what to say. he was frozen. and in that pause, he looked into her eyes and decided that she wasn't legit, causing him to burst out into laughter.

"you said weren't gonna laugh!" she fidgeted her body and looked around again. she kept on looking around as if people were eavesdropping, but no one was eavesdropping. not a single soul was around them. they were late to class, and everyone else was already in class.

steve continued laughing. he glanced away from her and wiped his slightly teary eyes. "oh my god." he smiled.

amelia gave up with him. she clicked her tongue, rolled her eyes, and walked away from him... she wasn't even going the right way.

"c'mon, lia!" he yelled after her as he ran after her. "that was a joke, right?" he asked, but amelia ignored and continued walking away from him.

steve grabbed her by her left wrist and caught up to her. she wore a small pout, making his smile slowly drop. "oh, holy shit, you're serious?"

amelia nodded slowly as she pushed her wrist back to her. she pulled down the sleeve from her work out jacket that she took from joyce's closet.

"well, do you know what a sport is?" steve asked.

amelia simply nodded. it made steve turn up a grin and giggle, "oh, of course she knows what a sport is."

"steve!" she shoved him, making him laugh more because of the hit.

"i'm kidding, i'm kidding." he chuckled. he decided to be a little serious now. "okay so football is a sport, right? and the point of it is where two teams tackle and chase each other for a ballโ€“"

"for a ball?" amelia repeated with furrowed brows.

steve nodded. "yeah. for a ball..." he sounded unsure again. "you do know what a ball is?"

amelia narrowed her eyes at him. "yeah."

"okay," he nodded, which made his hair jump. amelia looked at it before looking back at him. "so when one person from one team gets the ball, they have to run to their opponents' side. they get a point when they do that, which is called a touchdown."

amelia nodded slowly. "okay..." she needed a short second to process this, which made steve wanna chuckle so bad because she looked like she was.. actually processing this. "so people play this sport?" she asked.

"yes."

the two resumed walking to the gym.

"and we watch people play this sport?"

"yeah," steve nodded with a small smile plastered on his face. "and that's what i was saying. there's a football game today after school."

"here?"

"yes, here."

"oh." amelia blinked while thinking. steve didn't know what of, but he felt like he needed to add, "do you want to come?"

"to the game?" amelia asked.

steve sighed tiredly. "yes. to the football game."

"oh." amelia grinned at him. "okay. well, yeah! i'm down."

"cool."

the two walked quietly all the way to the gym. they were a few minutes late, but it was still changing time.

steve opened the door for her, and as she went in, he teased, "do you know what baseball is?"

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