we're the gladiators

Everyone in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana knew of the Harrington family. Mr. Harrington was an extremely successful, hot-shot business executive, while Mrs. Harrington had busted her ass and worked her way up through the ranks in the same company. Of course, it probably helped that her husband was the head honcho, but that was besides the point. Their son Steve was one of the most popular kids at Hawkins High. Every pre-teen and teenager at both the middle and high schools had at least heard of "King Steve". Most guys wanted to be him, and most girls wanted to date him. And then there was Charlotte. The forgotten Harrington. She and her twin brother were polar opposites and almost every sense of the word. While Steve often relished constantly being in the spotlight, Charlotte, Charlie to her small group of friends, preferred to live her life under the radar. She wasn't athletic, she didn't like attending parties, and her only real goal was to keep her grades so that she could skip town after graduation.

Needless to say, there were very few people at Hawkins High that she associated herself with. Truthfully, some of the only people she talked to in town were a group of middle schoolers led by Nancy Wheeler's younger brother who spent a decent chunk of their free-time at the Palace Arcade where she worked. Of course, she had started talking to, and hanging out with, Margaret Henderson a bit more since she often showed up to drag her younger cousin Dustin out of the arcade because he was late for dinner, and she also didn't mind Jonathan Byer either, but that was honestly the extent of the people she associated with in town. Jonathan and Margaret were both a lot like her though, often keeping to themselves, so that made a lot of sense. They weren't loudmouths like Tommy H and Carol, and they certainly weren't like her brother in the slightest.

The only person Charlotte disliked more than her brother's group of friends was Billy Hargrove. Also one of the only people in town she and her brother both seemed to have a strong dislike for. Despite being new to town, he had successfully managed to piss her off. Maybe she was just holding a grudge because he almost ran her over when he peeled into the school parking lot on his first day, but Charlotte honestly didn't think it was possible she'd ever meet anyone else in her life as obnoxious as Billy. It also didn't help that he had tried hitting on her at Tammy's Halloween party that she so had not wanted to go to in the first place, but Margaret and Jonathan had bugged her enough about it to convince her to attend much to her dismay. That was why she sure as hell had no idea why Mr. Daniels asked her and Billy to stay after class for a couple of minutes. "I'll catch you later." She told Margaret before approaching her chemistry teacher's desk.

---

Steve was still trying to process what had happened at Tammy's party. He figured it would be good for him and Nancy to attend and let loose for a bit. He knew that she had been having a rough go since everything happened with Barb disappearing, and he was almost certain that the one thing that she needed was to act like a normal teenager and have a couple of drinks on the biggest party holiday of the year. He hadn't expected Nancy to let loose as much as she had, and he certainly didn't expect the evening to transpire the way that it had after he attempted to cut her off from having any more drinks. Bullshit...you're bullshit. His girlfriend's, well he supposed ex-girlfriend now, words played over and over in his head since Halloween. He knew that he had tried to act like everything was normal after everything that had happened, but he figured that was for the best. Barb wasn't coming back, and he'd certainly seem some shit that he never expected to witness outside of movies and television shows, but that didn't mean that he shouldn't enjoy his senior year and the fact that Nancy had forgiven him and that they were back together. But he'd thought that Nancy loved him, and that was all that truly mattered to him.

In an insane turn of events, apparently none of that was real though. Nancy had been pretending to love him the entire time. Steve had tried his hardest to be a better person for her, to be the perfect boyfriend, but none of it was enough. While he was head over heels for her, she didn't feel even half of what he felt for her. He supposed that was what hurt the most. If she didn't want to be with him anymore, she should have been honest with him. Why had she told him that she loved him if she really didn't? None of it really made any sense, and he hated that he was moping around like a sad puppy dog because of her, but he was honestly still at a loss over everything that had transpired. And to top it all off, Billy Hargrove was trying to take his spot as king of the school. This definitely wasn't how he foresaw the start of his senior year panning out in the slightest.

To make matters worse, he was so going to be late for English. His grades had never been the greatest, Charlotte was always a stronger student than he was, but he figured if he had even the smallest shot at getting into even a community college at this point, the last thing he needed was to show up late to class. And of course, he wasn't paying attention to where he was going as he rushed down the hall and smacked right into someone. That someone being Margaret Henderson, causing her books and other belongings to fall out of her hands. "Crap, sorry, Henderson." He said as he bent down to help her gather her things.

Billy actually fucking hated Hawkins, Indiana. The town was a total dud, they were nowhere near any body of water worth seeing. That meant there was no way for him to surf. It got pretty fucking cold, not exactly something he liked. And oh yeah his asshole of a father and his stepmom were gone even more now than when they were back in California, which meant he was in charge of Max more than he wanted to be. Truthfully, he was fine that she'd been spending her time at the arcade and if she wanted to make friends well as long as her and her friends didn't get in his way or on his nerves then whatever. The only reason he was ever so harsh on her was because he knew the moment something happened involving her he was the one who'd end up being beaten until the problem was fixed. His dad was an asshole, and he may have beaten Billy's mom but apparently he'd never lay his hands on his new wife or on Maxine.

He hadn't wanted to stay after class and talk about his grade. But he knew that he had too, and when Mr. Daniels also asked Charlotte Harrington to stay behind he knew what was coming. There was no way Charlotte was also struggling with her grade. He'd heard about her, and he knew she was doing well in most if not all of her classes. That only meant one thing for him, Mr. Daniels was going to have her tutor him and help him get his grade up. Billy supposed that there were worse people he could have to spend his time with. And who knew maybe he'd be able to seduce Charlotte into bed with him unlike he'd been able to do at that stupid Halloween party.

Maybe the key to becoming the new 'king' of Hawkins High wasn't through Steve Harrington but through his sister. Surely Charlotte knew things, or would even be willing to help him take Steve down. Maybe that was a stretch, but maybe it wasn't. The only way he was going to know was to try. "Looks like you're stuck with me now Harrington," Billy said with a smirk as he looked over to her shortly after Mr. Daniels had in fact brought up her being his tutor, like Billy thought. And he wasn't in the slightest ashamed of it. He honestly, felt like he had a pretty good excuse for needing a tutor. After all, he had just moved to town not that long ago and they were actually a little ahead of where he'd been back in California so he needed a little extra help getting caught up.

---

Margaret wouldn't say that she hated Hawkins, Indiana. She was after all, still trying to adjust to it as it was entirely different from her hometown in Maine. For starters she still hardly knew anyone her own age. Since she'd moved in with her aunt and cousin she spent most of her time with her cousin Dustin, and spending time with Dustin meant his friends. Which they were all great kids, but they were kids. And it was weird how protective Dustin had become of her, really how all of them had. But she would also protect those kids, which she'd come to realize meant keeping them safe from monsters, and helping with their totally insane plans to kill said monsters. So she honestly couldn't express how happy it made her when they'd all started hanging out at the arcade again rather than playing D&D. It was also a good thing because that's how she'd met Charlotte, probably the only real friend she had her own age other than Jonathan. And honestly, Margaret was fine with that because she kind of wanted to keep her head down while she was here. The last thing she wanted was for everyone to find out her parents had died and start looking at her weird like they had before she'd left Maine. People could think whatever they wanted about her and why she was there suddenly, but that was typical new girl stuff. She didn't however want them to pity her or try and console her.

"Good luck," Margaret said hoping that everything turned out okay with Charlotte when class ended. Mr. Daniels had asked both her and Billy Hargrove to stay after, which it was probably nothing big, but Margaret had easily put together that Charlotte didn't like Billy in the slightest.

It was time for Margaret to head off to English, which she realized only after getting stuck at her locker longer than she'd intended just trying to open the damn thing, that she was going to be late to class. Not exactly her best moment, but everyone had off days right? Then someone walked right into her knocking all her books out of her arms. "It's fine Steve," she said starting to pick her things up. "I was already going to be late to class anyway so what's another minute? Mr. Williams likes me anyway so I'm sure he'll let it slide," she said stuff her books into her bag and pulling the strap over her shoulder. "I'll let you go first though, just so you can't nearly knock me over again," she laughed before she semi motioned for him to walk into class before her.

Charlotte couldn't believe what she was hearing. Daniels wanted her to tutor Billy Hargrove? Had the man completely lost his mind? Of course, it didn't surprise her that Billy was struggling with his grades. He was new, and it was pretty damn apparent that he couldn't care less about anything outside of being crowned the new "keg king" and relishing in all of the girls who were fawning over him nearly as much as, if not more than, they fawned over her own brother. That clearly wasn't a problem for Charlotte. In fact, Mr. Daniels had told her on more than one occasion that she was one of his best students, and she was honored that he wanted to entrust her with helping out a fellow student, but did it really have to be Billy Hargrove out of all of the students at Hawkins High School?

"Of course, Mr. Daniels. I'd be happy to help." She forced herself to smile at her Chemistry teacher. Her hands were tied, there was no way she could say no to Daniels. She needed one more letter of recommendation so that she could submit her completed college applications. If she wanted to submit to her top three schools for early acceptance, then she would need to have them in by the end of the month. She didn't want to piss off any of her teachers and risk having them write a shitty recommendation letter for her, or worse not writing one for her at all, and she knew that her Chemistry teacher would probably write her a phenomenal one given she was one of his best students, so she couldn't quite say no to him. "Fantastic! I'll let you two work out when works best for the both of you." Mr. Daniels said before dismissing the two.

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes in response to Billy's words, instead keeping up the facade that she was more than happy and willing to work with him until they were both out in the hallway and out of hearing range from their Chemistry teacher. "I'm not doing this out of the goodness of my heart, Hargrove. You're the last person in this school that I want to help, but I need a good letter of recommendation from Daniels, so don't fuck this up for me. I have to work after school, so meet me at the Palace Arcade at four." The arcade wasn't really all that crowded during the week, and she knew that if she flirted a little bit with Keith, that he wouldn't mind her multitasking while she was on the clock.

---

Steve knew that Margaret was good friends with his sister and Jonathan. Why either of them willing hung out with Byers of all people was beyond him, but he wasn't going to take the time to figure that out, because Nancy also hung out with him too and he really didn't want to think about Nancy right now. He'd spoken to Margaret on a few different occasions, but they didn't really travel the same circles, so outside of some brief small-talk at the house, he didn't know all that much about her other than she was Dustin's older cousin. He didn't have a problem with her though, they simply hadn't talked all that much for him to formulate much of an opinion about her. "At least Williams likes one of us." He said as he handed her a few papers and books that had fallen out of her bag when he knocked into her. "I'm pretty sure he has a grudge against me or something."

Of course, it probably didn't help that he'd had Mr. Williams last year for English too, and that he'd been late pretty frequently because he was too busy making out with Nancy in the bathroom, but that was besides the point. He still had time to turn things around, right? It wasn't like he'd be spending time with Nancy anymore anyway, so maybe he could somehow convince his English teacher not to despise him with a fiery passion? Steve kind of figured that anything was possible after everything he'd witnessed last year. If inter-dimensional monsters existed, then surely he could convince Williams to like him, right?

"Yeah ha, that's probably a good idea." Steve laughed as he handed her the last of her things. He figured it was pretty obvious that his mind was elsewhere right now, and he'd feel pretty terrible if he accidentally hit into Margaret again and knocked all of her things all over the hallway again. Truthfully, Steve knew that he was a bit of a mess right now, and he had been since Tammy's party the other night, but he wasn't going to delve into all of that right now. Maybe English class was the distraction that he needed. "I guess I should probably go in then..."

Billy’s smirk never left his face as he walked out of the classroom. “Don’t worry sweetheart, I didn’t think you were. And believe me there are a million things I would rather do than spend my time being tutored for my chemistry grade. But considering I would actually like to pass so I can leave this hellhole of a town after I graduate I apparently need help,” he said wanting to make it clear that he had more than one thing he wanted to get out of this, but one of those things was a better grade. She wasn’t the only person after all who wanted to leave town after they were done with high school.

Sure Billy wanted to be king of the school while he was there, and he was all for making Steve Harrington’s life hell. He may not know the guy but he knew people just like Steve and Billy saw this as his chance to prove that Steve and guys like him were nothing. It also gave him something to do to pass the time. “You’re going to tutor me at an arcade?” He asked her raising an eyebrow. That seemed a little insane to him as arcades were typically filled with screaming children or people like Max and those local nerd kids. But he saw no point in complaining because he was sure Charlotte wasn’t going to change her mind.

“It’s a date then,” he said before heading off to his next class. At least he had an excuse for being late so no one would dock him for it. And thankfully Chemistry was the only subject he was falling behind in so he wasn’t going to need to be tutored for everything else as well.

---

“It’s probably because you’re always late, and he feels like you’re not putting forth your best efforts,” Margaret said shrugging her shoulders. “Not to sound harsh or anything, but if you want him to go a bit easier on you try not acting like an idiot. I mean nice hair and popularity can only get you so far in life,” she said mostly speaking from personal experiences. Margaret was a completely different person here in Hawkins than she’d been in Maine, but losing her parents, having to uproot her life, and wanting to have at least one person her own age to talk to had changed her perspective on a lot of things. Like how unimportant high school popularity truly was, and how important friendship was.

“Sorry we’re late Mr. Williams.” She said as they walked into class getting the look from him. “It’s my fault. I couldn’t get my locket open and Steve here stopped to help. But I promise it won’t happen again,”

Mr. Williams sighed and motioned for the pair to take their seats. “I’ll let it slide this time, however don’t make it a habit of turning up late. And perhaps you can teach Mr. Harrington the meaning of punctuality. Now take your seats so we can get started.”

Margaret nodded her head and took hear seat, which of course, was right behind Steve. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was about Steve that was so intriguing to her, but there was something. The way she supposed she saw it was that there was no way that ‘King Steve’ could really be as bad as her cousin and his friends had made him out to be. She just didn’t get it, probably because while she did hardly know him because they did run in entirely different circles, but she’d talked to him on briefly on occasion when she was at their house for Charlotte, and he just didn’t seem to give off the vibe everyone said he did to her.

Charlotte had so many other things that she would rather be doing with her free time, but she knew that if she wanted Mr. Daniels to write her a phenomenal letter of recommendation then she was going to have to suck it up and tutor Billy a couple of times. She doubted that he was completely a lost cause, and figured it wouldn't take her too long to catch him up to speed. He just seemed like someone who didn't put in any effort, and that if he applied himself a bit more then he would likely be a lot more successful than he currently was. Which hopefully meant that she wouldn't have to tutor him for long.

"Is there a problem with that?" She questioned. She knew that an arcade wasn't exactly an ideal tutoring location, but she had to work after school, and she wanted to get this started as soon as possible. The sooner she started tutoring him, the sooner she wouldn't have to do it anymore. She hoped anyway. "Because Daniels is a hard-ass, and I doubt he'll be all that thrilled if you're giving me a hard time about the location of our tutoring session."

She rolled her eyes in response to his later words. Ugh. He was so infuriatingly pompous. "It's not a date!" She called after him before making her way to her locker so that she could grab her things for her next class. In fact, it was the farthest thing from a date. If she wasn't looking for Daniels to write her a letter of recommendation, she definitely wouldn't have agreed to even give Billy Hargrove a minute of her time.

---

"Ouch, Henderson. Tell me what you really think about me." Steve teased. He wasn't actually hurt by her words, he knew that she was probably right. In fact, he was honestly thinking the same exact thing. He hadn't really ever put much effort into school, that was Charlotte's thing. But clearly Charlotte was going to get much further than he was given she was almost finished with her college applications and was planning to send them off to a bunch of Ivy league schools within the next couple of weeks. Contrary to popular belief, he did listen on the few occasions that their parents were actually home for dinner and weren't out of town at a business conference or something of the like.

For a while, he started to accept the fact that he likely wouldn't get into any of the colleges that he was hoping to apply to. He figured it was fine if he stuck around Hawkins for a year to get his act together because Nancy was a year younger than him and wouldn't be going off to college for at least another year, but obviously that didn't really matter anymore. There wasn't much reason for him to stick around town after the summer. He wasn't setting his sight on any Ivy league schools like Charlotte was, but maybe if he put in a little bit more effort like Margaret was suggesting, he'd at least be able to go to a community college in the fall, get his associate's degree and his dad could get him a job working for his company. Of course, that was the best case scenario at this point, and he knew that, but it was better than ending up in a dead-end job and getting stuck in Hawkins for the rest of his life.

"You did admit that I have nice hair." He pointed out to Margaret, smirking slightly before following her into the classroom. He was glad that she did most of the talking, knowing that the outcome probably wouldn't have been as good for either of them if he tried to explain why they were late. "Sorry, Mr. Williams. It won't happen again." He was going to try to turn over a new leaf, he had officially decided.

"There's not a problem with that at all sweetheart," Billy called after Charlotte as she started to walk away and towards her locker. "It's definitely a date," he called back just to mess with her. Honestly, Charlotte had a lot of fire to her something Billy liked. It was fun to mess around with people like her, they weren't total duds, which honestly Billy found most of the women in this town to be total duds. He found this town to be a total dud really. Maybe everything would be better for him if he just gave the place a chance, but he was honestly so pissed off about the whole situation it was like he couldn't find it in himself to want to give the town a chance.

Billy realized only after he'd called after Charlotte that his locker was pretty close to hers, and that's where he needed to go. "I cross my heart that I'll be on my best behavior during our tutoring sessions," he told Charlotte as he approached his own locker. "I don't want to be stuck being tutored all semester and I'm sure you don't want to be stuck tutoring me that long either. Plus you're not the only one here who wants to get out of his hellhole once we graduate," He told her as he opened his locker, put the books he had away and then grabbed the ones he needed out.

He needed her help to get caught up on chemistry so he could pass, graduate, and leave town. And she needed Mr. Daniels to write her a fancy letter of recommendation to send off her college applications. So in a way they were helping each other get exactly what they needed. A way to escape Hawkins, Indiana after graduation.

---

"Everyone in Hawkins, Indiana thinks you have nice hair, but that's all it is. Hair," Margaret whispered to Steve when they were in their seats and Mr. Williams had turned his back to them. "And I barely know you Harrington, so I don't think it would be fair of me to judge your character. It would after all, not be based on you but the things I've heard about you," she added before she leaned back into her seat ready to start the next book. Honestly, English was one of her favorite classes here at Hawkins High. Mr. Williams was a much better teacher than the one she'd had back in Maine. Not that she wasn't still a good student before she'd moved to Hawkins, but she was a much different student here than she had been in Maine.

Everything was so much different for her here. She only really had two friends her own age, she didn't have a boyfriend, hardly anyone knew her or anything about her, and she spent most of her time at an arcade, or babysitting her cousin Dustin and his friends which always seemed to end in a game of D&D with her being the gamemaster. Apparently even Mike thought she was good at coming up with quests for them to go on. All of that was totally different from Maine. Back there she'd been popular, her time was consumed with her friends and her boyfriend, and she never would've stepped foot into an arcade, babysat a bunch of middle schoolers, or let anyone rope her into playing a nerdy game like Dungeons and Dragons.

It was all about perspective though. She figured she had two options after her parents died and she was taken in by the only family she had, she could sulk and let herself be consumed with anger about all the things she had to change, or she could suck it up and try to make the most of this. And the latter option seemed like the better option. After all, who wanted to really be consumed by anger? She missed her life back in Maine every day, all her friends, the good times they shared and she wished she could be with them still. She missed Patrick at times too, even though he'd broken her heart before she left. But Margaret knew she had to face the reality of her situation, that she had to move to Hawkins, Indiana and nothing was going to be the same ever again.

"Okay everyone I'm going to take a chance and let you all pick your own partners for this project I have planned out. Groups of two only. And after you've gotten your partner I want one person from each group to come to my desk, you'll tell me who your partner is, and I'll give you the assignment," Mr. Williams said as he sat down at his desk and waited for the class to pair off.

God, he was so infuriating. Charlotte hated that he got under her skin so easily. Try as she may, there was just something about Billy Hargrove that prevented her from keeping her cool around him. She'd always thought her brother was a bit of an asshat, but Billy wasn't just stealing Steve's title of king of the school. Everything about him irritated her to no end. From his stupid hair, to his stupid car, don't-give-a-fuck attitude, and obnoxious taste in music. It all bothered her. And now she was being forced to hang out with him just so that she could make sure she got into her top choice colleges.

To make matters worse, she couldn't evade him just yet because their lockers were relatively close to each other. Charlotte had noticed this on his first day, mainly because Billy made his presence known wherever he was and for no other reasons outside of that one. "Cross your heart? What are you? A preteen girl?" She knew that she had already made her distaste over tutoring him known, but she'd continue to remind him that there was plenty she would rather be doing than helping him pick up his grades in Chemistry. Hell, she'd go on a date with Tommy H if it meant she didn't have to tutor him and she could still get Daniels to write her that letter of recommendation, but she knew that this, unfortunately, was her only option at the moment so she supposed she'd have to suck it up and deal for the time being. "If you're so serious about bringing your grade up in Chemistry, prove it to me after school, Hargrove."

---

"What things have you heard about me?" Steve whispered back as he tilted his head back to look at her. Huh, he never realized that she sat behind him in English. Maybe he really did need to pay attention more in school, and less on things that apparently didn't matter if he wanted to make something of his life. After all, Margaret had been in town for almost a year now, and he knew next to nothing about her outside of the fact that she was Dustin Henderson's cousin and friends with his sister. "Henderson? What things have you heard about me?" He repeated but to no avail. He supposed he'd have to ask her after class. He knew that she was relatively new, although that douchebag Hargrove had taken her spot as the new kid given he was the last to move to Hawkins, and that she hung out with her sister and Byers so he could only imagine what the pair of them had said about him.

When Mr. Williams began to explain the agenda for today's class, he was quick to scan the room for who he would partner up with on the project. He could work with Tina or Tammy, but he knew that neither of them were the sharpest tools in the shed so to speak. And then his eyes landed on Margaret. She seemed to have her act together, she was friends with his sister after all so that pretty much said it all, and if he wanted to bring up his grades and prove to Williams that he was trying to get his act together, well, she was probably his best option. "What do you say, Henderson? Partners?"

"I've already said I'll be there, at four o'clock on the dot, at the arcade where you work," Billy said making sure to repeat all the information to her so she knew that he was in fact listening. "You won't be disappointed," he said before he started to head down the hall towards his next class note from Mr. Daniels in hand to get him out of any trouble for being a few minutes late to class. There were a lot of different ways that this could go for him, he could be tutored by Charlotte Harrington and learn nothing about her brother that could help him become the new king. He could learn a lot about Steve Harrington, enough to overthrow him and make sure everyone knew the truth about Steve, whatever that truth may be. Or Billy could just spend his time being tutored by Charlotte and not think about Steve at all. He could just go into it deciding not to try and use this to his own personal gain. Though that didn't sound fun at all.

Either way, Billy was going to be tutored, bring his grade up, and with or without the help of Charlotte Harrington he going to overthrow the king of Hawkins high. Billy wasn't even sure what it actually was about Steve that he disliked so much but there was something. He didn't know why it was so important to overthrow Steve and become the new king, but it was. And Billy had no plans to rest until he accomplished his goals. For the time being though he had to make it through the rest of his day, which consisted of math, lunch, english, history, then gym then he'd be on his way to the arcade to start his Chemistry lessons.

---

"Lord don't get yourself in twist about what people think of you Harrington," Margaret said before she stood up and made her way to Mr. William's desk to get the assignment. She was sure it was odd for Mr. Williams to hear her tell him she was going to partner with Steve Harrington, but Steve had asked her and she wasn't going to deny the poor boy an actual chance at showing Mr. Williams that could apply himself as much as the next person. And she had a feeling Mr. Williams was happy Steve wasn't partnering with Tammy or Tina probably two of his worst students. Once she'd gotten the assignment she returned to her desk and handed Steve his copy so he would know what was happening.

"I'll be your partner but just so you know there will be rules. First though we're supposed to pick one of the books from this list. We have to read it and then break down the elements. And Mr. Williams would like a two page paper explaining why we broke the book down the way we did. I'm pretty sure we're doing this as a partner project to see how two people can interpret the same book in different ways. Given there's no way we're going to read the same book and feel the same way about it. So this will be fun," She said looking over the list of books they could read. "We could read Of Mice and Men. Unless you have something else in mind. I mean this is a pretty good list, lots of good choices. A good amount of classics,"

Charlotte knew what he said, that didn't mean that she had to believe him. Of course, it wasn't like she really knew him or anything, but she knew enough given how he showed off at school, and who he hung around with. Grades didn't necessarily seem like his top priority, though she supposed they were at least somewhat important to him if he planned on getting out of Hawkins anytime soon. He didn't seem all that taken by their small town, and she really didn't blame him in the slightest. The most exciting thing that had happened in this town was when Will Byers and Barbara Holland both went missing the year prior. Otherwise, it was just your typical small town with its typical small town problems. Petty suburban mothers sharing the latest town gossip with each other over coffee at one of their houses during the week while their husbands worked dead-end jobs to put food on the table. Charlotte didn't want to end up like one of them, or worse, like her own mother. Mrs. Harrington was only as successful as she was because of her husband, caught in what seemed to Charlotte to be a loveless marriage. She was almost certain that her dad had been cheating with his secretary for a number of years now.

Charlotte wanted none of that. She wanted to make a name for herself, and get out of Hawkins the second she graduated. She wanted to get as far away as she possibly could, attend Harvard or maybe Dartmouth, and prove that she wasn't like every small-town girl. But, she had a couple more months until graduation, and she needed to get accepted into her top choice schools before any of that actually happened. If she wanted that to happen, she needed to get Daniels to write her a banging letter of recommendation. That meant she needed to suck it up and tutor Billy Hargrove for the time being. Challenge accepted. First, she needed to get through the rest of the school day.

---

Not caring about what other people thought about him? That was easier said than done for Steve. He supposed that if Margaret wouldn't tell him now, he'd just have to ask her until she did. Since they were working together on this project, they would likely be spending some time together outside of school, so he figured he'd have plenty of different opportunities to get it out of her. For a moment, his sister crossed his mind. He doubted that Charlotte would be all that thrilled that he was hanging out with her friend, but it wasn't like he was asking her out or anything. Margaret seemed like she had her shit together, Steve definitely didn't have his shit together. It was the balanced partnership everyone should look for when working on a group project for school. Charlotte was just going to have to deal with the fact that he was borrowing her friend for the time being.

"Um yeah, whatever book you want to choose is fine by me." Truthfully, Steve didn't really recognize any of the books on the list but he wasn't about to tell her that. Man, maybe he should have paid attention a little bit more the last three years of high school instead of worrying about things that were starting to seemingly no longer matter to him. "Yeah, fun, of course..." This wasn't exactly his idea of fun, but he wasn't about to tell Margaret that either. He could definitely see why she and his sister got along as well as they did already. "So, what were you saying about rules?"

As expected math, English, and history were boring to Billy. He did his work like expected of him but he honestly would’ve rather been with Charlotte figuring out Chemistry. He didn’t have problems in these other classes. They were all pretty basic and he wasn’t behind in them. Lunch was probably the only good thing in his day other than gym. Not that the food was good, but he got out of the classroom setting for at least a bit. And the best part was how much Tommy H and Carol loved to talk shit about people. Literally everyone. They were probably the best people he could get close to in order to get dirt on one Steve Harrington. And from what he’d heard so far he wasn’t even sure why the hell or how the hell someone like Steve had even become the king of this place.

Hawkins was clearly in need of a makeover. And Billy saw himself as the best person to give the school, and town just what it needed. By the time gym rolled around Billy was in best mood he’d been in all day. His day was almost over, he’d heard through the grapevine that Steve was having a rough time with his girlfriend having apparently dumped him, they were playing basketball, and after this he could go freshen up before meeting Charlotte for their ‘date’ as he was going to continue to call it. The day truly couldn’t have gotten much better at this point.

---

“Of Mice and Men it is then,” Margaret said writing the books title at the top of the page. “The rule I have are quite simple. One I am not partnering with you for popularity points, and I don’t want people digging into my life. So don’t tell Tommy H or Carol we’re going to be spending any time together. Two we will meet after school at my place because yours has too many distractions. And three no talking about Nancy or my ears might bleed,” she told him shrugging her shoulders.

Margaret took school very seriously, she wanted to make good grades so when graduated she could get into college. She didn’t exactly have huge plans after high school anymore considering her entire life had pretty much imploded on her, but she would still like to attend college and do something with her life. She was even willing to stick around Hawkins for a bit and just attend a community college while she figured things out. After all, now that she was there and had been for a little over a year now she’d come to realize that all the plans she’d had for her future had all revolved around a boy, one she wasn’t even with anymore. And Margaret Henderson was anything but a pathetic girl who was going to throw her life away after high school to try and get back together with some boy. She would just figure out something new, discover herself and figure out who she wanted to be.

She also wasn’t going to let a boy like Steve Harrington waltz into her life and distract her. She was willing to partner with him in English, and help him with his other classes if he asked her for help, but she wasn’t going to let him break her heart. That would not happen.

The next couple of classes seemed to go without a hitch. No unexpected requests from any of Charlotte's teachers, and no unwanted interactions with Billy. Thankfully, she only had Chemistry with him, and while they were in the same lunch period, they didn't exactly travel the same circles. It would be a cold day in hell if she ever started hanging out with the likes of Tommy H and Carol. The couple acted like they were better than everyone else at Hawkins, they were both bullies, constantly gossiping about everyone else at Hawkins High and putting their noses where they didn't belong. Which was probably also part of the reason why she had such a strong dislike for Billy. He hung around with Tommy H and Carol.

She could already imagine what rumors Carol and Tommy H might spread when they got word that she was tutoring Billy. They would come up with some insane story and spread it around school like wildfire. Not that Charlotte really cared what they thought about her, or what they chose to spread around about her. Her eyes were set on graduation, she wasn't going to let the likes of Tommy H and Carol bother her, she never had, and she certainly wasn't going to start now. Nevertheless, it seemed as though Billy hadn't mentioned anything to either of them at lunch, and before she knew it, the school day was coming to an end. Her shift didn't start at the arcade until 3, so she had a little bit of time to stop home and get changed before she headed over.

---

"You don't have to worry about me telling Tommy H or Carol anything. As for Nancy, I didn't plan on mentioning her at all. She and I are done." Steve knew that word had already spread around school about how he and Nancy had broken up. A lot of people had likely already witnessed the events at the Halloween party, and it was fairly apparent that they were both avoiding each other like the plague around school. Anyone with eyes could see that something was off between them given Steve had been making it very apparent that he and Nancy were an item in the school hallways prior to the events of Halloween night.

"Your place after school? Got it." He didn't really know what distractions there were at his place that there weren't at hers, but he wasn't about to argue with her either. She had agreed to work with him on the project when she easily could have told him to partner up with someone else. He knew that there were others in their English class who would probably be more helpful, but she was willing to give him a chance, so he definitely wasn't going to argue with her. "You won't regret this, Henderson. I promise."

Billy literally couldn't help himself when it came time for gym and he had something to taunt Steve Harrington about. He had to use the fact that he'd heard all about how Nancy had dumped him and clearly didn't love him to torment Steve. Because well Billy wanted to be the king of Hawkins High and that meant he had to dethrone the current king. "Face it Harrington, you're not going to be the king here for much longer," he said in the locker rooms as they were all cleaning up some after class and before they all left for the day. "I'd say by the end of the next week I'll be the New King of this school. And you'll just be forgotten," he said pulling his towel off his shoulder to dry his hair. It had been a phenomenal day for Billy. There was actually no way in hell that he wasn't going to have everything he needed to kick Steve Harrington to the side soon. Regardless of what it took, he was going to accomplish this goal.

"I mean it's not shocking that you can't even hold onto the title of king. You can't even hold on to your girl. I mean she dumped your ass, and for that Beyers kid? God that has just got to suck, but I mean at least she made a good decision for herself eventually," Billy laughed before he finally pulled on his shirt all ready to leave. "I'd love to stay and continue our little chat but well I have somewhere important to be after school," Billy said closing his locker and turning on his heels to head out to the parking lot. Thankfully he wouldn't have to run home and freshen up before meeting Charlotte. The school at least had a decent enough locker room for him to freshen up in.

---

"I hope that I don't," Margaret said before packing up her things as the class ended. "Just meet me at my house after school so we can get started okay,"

As her day progressed Margaret found herself anticipating the end of the day when she would be meeting with Steve to work on their English project together. She truly didn't know what it was about him that seemed to be pulling her in. It could've been that she had a weird determination to figure out who Steve Harrington really was. Was he the idiot boy who just cared about his hair and what everyone else thought? Was he the boy that everyone in town seemed to think he was, a boy with a pretty face, pretty hair, simply destined to take over his fathers company one day? Or was he something more? Honestly, Margret knew very little about him. And the thing she did know she wasn't sure if they were true or not because she had never had them confirmed by Steve they were just things she'd heard people say about him. And she would kind of like to know the real Steve. The entire rest of her day seemed to be consumed with how things were going to go with Steve 'the hair' Harrington.

"Hey you okay? You've seemed a little out of it today,"

Margaret looked away from her locker and over to Jonathan Beyers, one of her only friends in town and nodded her head. "I am. Sorry I've been a little distracted today it's just been a weird day," she said as she finally closed it and zipped up her bag. "I'm pretty sure the kids all asked me if I would go with them to the arcade later but I just realized that I can't. Steve is supposed to be meeting me at the house after school to work on our English project, so I guess I'm going to have to disappoint them. But I'm sure they'll get over it right? Who am I kidding, they're gonna be pissed," she sighed before running her fingers through her hair. "I'll catch up with you later Beyers I've got some kids to go disappoint and a boy to meet for homework,"

Charlotte walked over to her friends just as Margaret mentioned that her brother was meeting up with her to work on a school project. "Woah wait, you're willingly working with my brother on that big project Williams assigned today? Are you feeling okay, Mags?" She asked, punctuating her words with a raised eyebrow. Margaret wasn't someone who cared about popularity or anything of the like so Charlotte knew that wasn't her reasoning behind agreeing to partner up with Steve. She did obviously know her brother well enough to know that he had probably only shown interest in working with Margaret because it was pretty much a guaranteed A. That was how Steve was. He used people for his own personal gain.

"You do realize that you're more than likely going to be working on the project by yourself, right? My brother hasn't paid attention in English class in years." There was a time when her brother cared less about popularity and his hair and more about the things that actually mattered in life, but that was back in middle school. He hadn't given a damn about school or his school work ever since he first stepped foot into Hawkins High their freshman year and started hanging out with Tommy H and Carol. "And I thought I was in for a treat having to tutor Billy Hargrove today." She was pretty sure she would rather be doing that than working with her brother on a school project. Not that she'd ever actually say that aloud, at least not around Billy anyway. She knew that she likely wouldn't hear the end of it if she did.

---

Gym class was usually Steve's favorite time of day, it was one of the few classes that he actually took seriously, but that wasn't the case today. Hargrove handed his ass to him in basketball and showed him up in front of the rest of their gym class, and to make matters even worse, Nancy showed up and tried talking to him. Apparently she didn't remember much of what she had said to him on Halloween. Steve knew that she'd been pretty drunk, but he honestly wasn't sure if he believed that she didn't remember it or not. Even worse, it was pretty damn apparent that she'd meant what she'd said, regardless of the amount of alcohol in her system. And that honestly made the whole thing hurt even more than it already had.

Of course, Billy had to throw a couple of jabs at him in the locker room at the end of class too which resulted in Tommy chiming in as well. "That must really suck, Harrington. You and the princess break up and the next day she's running off with the freak's brother?" Steve chose to act like he didn't care, and that it didn't bother him. "Yeah, you might want to do that. Wouldn't want you to be late if it's really that important." He, of course, had no idea that Billy was supposed to meet up with his sister after school.

Billy didn't even respond to Steve, it wasn't even worth it, he kept walking so he could stop at his locker to grab his things. He had about an hour to kill before he was supposed to meet Charlotte at the arcade for their study session so he figured that he would grab a bite to keep himself sustained then make his way there. This hour also gave him a little alone time to clear his mind and think about his next move. He did after all, plan to take Steve down quickly and he needed a game plan. Sure he had Tommy and Carol to give him dirt if he needed it, but he knew he needed more than that. Billy needed more than just this so called princess dumping Steve if he really wanted to dismantle everything.

Maybe Charlotte really could be of use, she was a Harrington as well, she likely knew her brother better than anyone else did, somehow Billy knew she had to be the key. There was no other way. On his way to his locker he'd overheard a small bit of a conversation, apparently Charlottes friend was working with Steve on a project. Maybe Billy could use that, he wasn't sure how yet, or if it was even important. But maybe he could use it. There had to be a story there, something. There had to be something that Billy could use to his advantage to take Steve down for good. Once he'd collected his things he quickly made his way to his car so he could truly be alone to think for a bit, until it was actually time for him to walk inside the arcade.

---

"I guess I'm just willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I mean I don't really know your brother aside from what people say about him. And I hate judging people based on everyone else's opinions," Margaret said truly not wanting to really believe the worst in people. Steve had never seemed like a bad guy in the times she'd briefly spoken to him. Honestly, to her it had always appeared that he was too worried about things that weren't important. His priorities simply weren't in the right places. "Wait, you're tutoring Billy Hargrove? God what is happening around this place today. You hate him. I guess we're both in for treats today then," she said actually beginning to wonder what the universe was saying. Charlotte tutoring Billy, Margaret partnering with Steve, and Jonathan likely hanging out with Nancy again. There must've been something in the water.

"I really should get going though, I did tell him to meet me right after school plus I have to go break the news to Dustin and his friends that I can't hang out today. And I'm sure they'll be just as shocked that it's for Steve Harrington," she laughed. The thought that she was about to go disappoint a bunch on middle schoolers was not something she had ever thought would happen in her life. At least not in the manner in which it was happening. As it turns out she supposed her ex boyfriend Patrick was right, moving to Hawkins had changed her as a person in more ways than one. It was a good thing that they'd broken up before she moved here, even if at the time she'd been pretty torn up about it. He wasn't the one for her, and apparently she was meant to be in Hawkins, Indiana so she could figure out who she really was. After all, Margaret had learned more about herself over the last year than she'd thought possible.

Charlotte had no idea what was happening at this school. First she got paired up to tutor Billy Hargrove, and now she was finding out that Margaret had agreed to work with her brother on a school project? Hath hell frozen over? "I think I might have drawn the shortest straw to be honest." She told her friend. She would rather work with her brother on a school project than be forced to spend more than five minutes with Billy Hargrove in close proximity to her. The thought alone was already putting her in a sour mood. She couldn't imagine what kind of mood she would be in later on when she went home after work. "They'll probably show up at the arcade to vent to me about the ultimate betrayal you have bestowed upon them or some shit like that." She could just picture Dustin running inside, shouting at the top of his lungs already.

"I should probably head home and get changed for work. I told Hargrove to meet me there. If I have to be in his presence, at least I'll be getting paid for it." That was the way she was looking at it right now anyway. Once she got home, she found her work shirt, opting to leave her jeans and worn out pair of Converse on with it. She pulled her hair up into a half-up ponytail, and by the time she was finished, she had just enough time to get there a couple of minutes early to give Keith a heads up about her tutoring session with Billy. Of course, she had to do a bit of flirting, and batting her eyelashes at him to warm him up to the idea, but it seemed to do the trick because he was heading into the back room shortly after their conversation ended.

---

Steve tried not to let what Tommy and Billy said to him in the locker room bother him. They were both dicks anyway, why did he care what they had to say about his love life or the fact that Nancy and Jonathan were apparently hanging out now? It was all water under the bridge, he literally couldn't care less what she was doing or who she was hanging around with. He had better things to worry about like trying to bring up his grades and maybe get into college. Maybe that wasn't something he'd ever really cared about before now, but he was trying to convince himself that he was turning over a new leaf, and what better way to start doing so than by working with Margaret on their English project after school?

He didn't spend much more time in the locker room after Billy left, figuring that he didn't want to keep Margaret waiting too long for him. He wanted to make a good impression on her so that she realized that he was actually serious about working on the project with her. He didn't want her to think that he was going to slack off, or that he was only working with her so that she'd do most of the work. The last thing he needed right now was for her to tell Williams that he was slacking off, the guy already hated his guts to begin with, that would only make matters worse.

Billy had decided that he wanted to make a good impression on Charlotte for a few different reasons, which was why he refused to be late to their tutoring session. The last thing he wanted was for her to actually decide to not tutor him. That would ruin a lot of plans that he had. He also knew that he needed to get into her good graces so he could pry for useful information about her brother. Was it totally sketchy to use a tutoring session to try and dig for information about someone so he could take their spot as King of Hawkins High? Probably, but he didn't quite care. Billy was willing to do just about anything to get what he wanted.

"It's annoying is what it is. I mean Harrington is literally at my house right now with Maggie 'doing homework'. Really, are we supposed to believe that? What if they're like kissing or something," Dustin complained as he walked into the arcade with his friends, hopefully they could at least complain to Charlotte a little bit.

God, I'm going to be surrounded by fucking children. Billy thought to himself as he watched a group of middle schoolers hop off their bikes and run inside. The only thing that made being near them worth it was the bit of conversation he heard, though he was going to ignore it for the time being. He knew how to play the long game and just the right time to use information when he had it. So instead of thinking about whatever Steve Harrington might've been doing that clearly upset these kids he walked into the arcade and made his way to where he spotted Charlotte. "I told you I'd be here Sweetheart," he told her with a wink as he leaned against the counter and waited for her to give him further instructions. He did feel like he should at least try and let her lead the night.

---

As expected, the boys were pissed when she'd told them that she had to cancel on them and they'd have to ride their bikes to the arcade. And to try and get back on their good side she'd promised to have a movie night with them that weekend and gave them a couple bucks a piece to get quarters for their games. "You better keep your hands to yourself in there Harrington!" Dustin yelled at Steve when he saw him get out of his car. "And she's busy this weekend so she can't spend any time with you!" Mike yelled afterwards followed by a chorus of yea's from Lucas and Will before they all sped away to the arcade.

Margaret stood in the doorway to wait for them to leave and Steve to come inside and couldn't help but roll her eyes. "I'm sorry about them," she said moving out of the doorway so he could actually walk inside. "They're just pissy because they believe I've committed an ultimate betrayal against them all by agreeing to work on homework with you rather than go to the arcade with them." Margaret knew that what she'd just said sounded insane, but it was the truth of the reality she was living in. The boys were upset with her, they felt betrayed that she would agree to spend time with Steve Harrington rather than them. Of course, what they didn't seem to understand was that it was actually for homework. She and Steve weren't dating, that didn't even seem like it was in the realm of possibilities, and she wasn't ditching them for a new party. "I just have to make it up to them by having a movie night where I won't pick a single movie we watch. And I'll make sure the next campaign we do is extra adventurous," she sighed still actually baffled at the reality she lived in here in Hawkins.

"Anyway, enough about a bunch of middle school boys. We should get started on our homework. Follow me," She said leading Steve off to the dining room where she'd already put her backpack. "So have you ever read or heard of Of Mice and Men? And if not just so I know how much work we actually need to do, and where we should start what do you think the story is about?"