*🔥2🔥*

🔥CHAPTER 2🔥

*-*Meliah's POV*-*

Hawkins High was buzzing, a single, obnoxious name on everyone’s lips: Billy. He’d imprinted himself on the school in a single morning, a human wildfire. Walking to my locker, I caught the whispered reviews—so hot, dangerous, did you see his car?—and it took everything in me not to roll my eyes straight out of my head. Some comments were better left as thoughts. Voicing them almost made me sick all over my locker door.

"Hey, Liah!" Tina’s cheerful voice cut through the gossip. I turned with a genuine smile. Tina was the party queen of Hawkins, but beneath the glitter and neon, she had a heart that was surprisingly kind.

"Hey, Tina. What's up?" I asked, eyeing the stack of fluorescent flyers in her hands.

She peeled one off and handed it to me with a hopeful grin. "My annual Halloween bash. You have to come this year. No excuses!" She shoved one into Steve's chest as he materialized beside me, then disappeared into the throng with a wave.

Steve leaned against the locker next to mine, the flyer dangling from his fingers. "So," he started, cautious. "I wanted to ask what had you ready to murder someone this morning. But I wasn't sure if I should poke the bear."

I slammed my locker shut a little harder than necessary. "The new human tornado almost ran me over. And when I called him on it, he responded with a menu of sexual innuendos." My voice was flat with disgust.

Steve just nodded, wisely choosing not to fan the flames. He knew my moods. We walked in silence for a bit before he ducked into the hallway near Nancy’s class. Through the open door, I saw them by her locker, a picture of coupledom. But Nancy's gaze, sharp and longing, was fixed down the hall on Jonathan Byers. She didn't even bother to hide it from me. Steve, blinded by what he thought was love, saw none of it. All I could do was stand by, a silent sentinel, ready to be the friend he’d need when the facade inevitably cracked.

The rest of the day bled away without further drama, save for the low hum of anxiety in my veins. Hawkins Lab would be calling. I’d missed my mandatory monthly check-up. They couldn’t wrap their scientific minds around it—why was I, who’d been trapped in that silent, rainbow-lit hell for three whole months, seemingly fine? No nightmares, no episodes, no… echoes. Will Byers, who was there for only a week, was having a much harder time. I was their anomaly, their unanswered question, and they didn’t like loose ends.

The walk home was supposed to be my decompression. But the universe, and a certain blue Camaro, had other plans. The roar of its engine assaulted my peace before I saw it, a streak of blue metal screaming past me, kicking up gravel and leaves in its wake. This time, I didn't stifle my reaction. He was too far gone to see it, but I thrust my middle finger into the space where his car had been, a silent, furious curse against the twilight.

The empty apartment welcomed me with its usual quiet. I made a bland dinner, ate it standing at the counter, and then dove into my homework, attacking equations and essays with a focus that bordered on aggression. Routine was my anchor. My life after The Return was a study in meticulous control—a stark contrast to the chaos that had come before. Waking up alone in Hawkins General hadn’t been a surprise. It had been an expectation.

Finally, I fell onto my bed, body weary but mind racing. And there, against the dark of my closed eyelids, was the one thing I couldn’t control: his smirk. That arrogant, knowing curve of his lips, the glint in his eye that saw a challenge where there should have been remorse. It was stuck in my head, an intrusive, irritating loop. It made the quiet feel agitated, the solitude feel watched. With a frustrated groan, I pulled the pillow over my face, but it was no use. Sleep, when it finally came, was thin and restless, haunted by the screech of tires and the ghost of a smile that felt like a promise of more trouble to come.

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