Worlds Apart

Fresh bruises littered my cheek and jaw. I grimaced at my own reflection, feeling around for my concealer. As I caked it on, I listened carefully to the activity just outside the door. It was quiet for now, but I didn’t want to waste time. Don coming after me was one thing, but if he went after Dustin…

I did the best I could with what I had, which just lessened the darkening and at least disguised the shape of a hand. Not perfect, but it would do. When I heard Don start complaining about breakfast, I finished up and hurried out.

Dustin’s eyes flashed to mine gratefully when I came into the kitchen. He was sitting next to mom, across from Don, looking painfully uneasy. Mom - Mews on her lap - was oblivious to the discomfort around her. At least she seemed to be enjoying the morning.

Don didn’t look up at me as I passed him, but when I paused to kiss Dustin on the top of the head, he called out,

“Some of us would like to eat this morning, Allison.”

“Make it yourself,” I mumbled into Dustin’s hair; he grinned up at me and I gave him a quick wink. As I scrambled the eggs and started on the toast, Dustin turned to look up at me. I raised a brow in question as I went back to the stove.

“Mike made us a new campaign.”

“Yeah?” I asked, smiling at him over my shoulder as I tended to the eggs. “What’s this one about?”

“Probably gotta find the Demogorgon,” he said excitedly. “Last time, we got so close. Lucas thinks I’m wrong but I can just feel it! And Will even said -”

“Enough with this nerdy bullshit,” Don cut in, glaring at Dustin over the paper. My little brother snapped his mouth shut and I felt my blood boil. “I want a quiet goddamn breakfast for once, and the more you distract her, the longer it’s gonna take this imbecile to make it!”

“He’s not hurting anything,” I defended, spooning eggs onto the plates and turning around. Don’s cold eyes were narrowed up at me, not even blinking as I sat his plate in front of him. “I got the food cooked. Just leave him be.”

“I thought we talked about respect,” he hinted, eyes flicking down to my neck. I pressed my lips together and nodded, turning away and giving Dustin his food. My little brother had his eyes fixed on his lap. As I sat the rest of the plates down and took the seat beside him, I nudged his leg with mine.

“Tell me tonight, okay?”

He nodded solemnly, but I saw a small smile creep onto his face. We ate in silence, which I preferred over any conversation that might be brought up with our stepdad. Once we’d finished, I got up and collected the plates as Dustin scampered to grab his backpack.

As I dumped the plates in the sink and passed by Don to do the same, his hand came out and hooked onto my wrist. I didn’t turn to look at him, but didn’t pull away.

“I expect the both of you home right after school. And you’ll have dinner ready by the time I get home.”

I tried to tug my arm away as I argued,

“I’ve got a project for history. I said I would meet my partner after school -”

“Tough shit. I want your ass back in this house as soon as school’s over.”

I turned away and tried to pull free again without replying. Don’s hand tightened around my wrist and he hauled me back, making me stumble back into the table. He turned my arm and made me face him as he growled,

“Am I making myself clear?”

“Yes sir,” I whispered; he gave a curt nod and dropped his hold. The second he did, a hand fisted in my sweater and tugged me back. Dustin was staring up at me with wide eyes, my backpack in his other hand.

We both hurried through the living room - Dustin giving mom a quick hug goodbye - and went to wait on the porch outside. We were quiet for several moments before I felt Dustin turn to look up at me.

“Are you okay?”

I blinked in surprise, turning and staring down at him. He had a frown on his face, looking worried as I thought about my answer.

“He didn’t hurt me,” I lied, offering a smile. Dustin’s expression didn’t change. “It’s alright. Really.”

Will pulled up to the front of the house, but Dustin still didn’t look away, didn’t even move even when I got up. I held my hand out to him and he asked again,

“But are you alright?”

My heart twisted just a bit, seeing how concerned he was. My anger at Don only grew. I hated my little brother seeing something like that, being talked to like that. So I reached down and took his hand, pulling him to his feet.

“I’m fine, kiddo. I promise. And I’ll be even better if you’re not late for school.”

He rolled his eyes, but pulled me into a tight hug. I hugged him back and ruffled his hair as we pulled apart. Forehead kisses from your sister weren’t acceptable in public. As Dustin and Will rode off, I finally let myself slump back onto the stoop, shoulders hunching in.

Don’s next business trip couldn’t come soon enough.

It was just Barb and I again that morning, and I had a feeling it would be that way while Nancy “hung out” with Steve. The second I shut the door, her concerned gaze was on me. I raised my brows as I slowly buckled myself in.

“Is Don back already?” My eyes flicked to the car in the driveway, and I nodded quietly. “Are you okay?”

Sheesh, what was with that question today? I gave a quick nod and made sure my hair covered my (thankfully) disguised bruise.

“He wasn’t happy I didn’t get home until ten thirty, but -”

“What? Why were you out so late?”

My best friend and I cruised to school and I told her about my successful mission of getting my assignment. Which, thankfully, diverted the conversation from Don.

“So you actually went and hung out with Jonathan Byers?” she asked, sounding surprised. I nodded and smiled to myself.

“He’s really not so bad. But I mean, mostly I just babysat Will and Dustin.”

“At least he’s letting you help with the project,” she pointed out as we made our way to the building. I shrugged and nodded in agreement as we got our books from our lockers.

“For now,” I sighed, and paused as we spotted Nancy and Steve. He dipped down and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. “Huh. Think she’s still gonna say they’re just ‘hanging out’?”

Barb and I caught up to Nancy and made sure to tease her mercilessly before we went our separate ways. When we met back up in history, we were all excited to see Project Work Day on the chalkboard. Which meant that I’d get another chance to get myself onto Jonathan’s good side.

Nancy, Barb, Steve, and Steve’s partner - some jock named Adam - pushed their desks together. I hesitated, glancing back at Jonathan. He hadn’t even looked my direction yet. The others urged me to join them, so I slid my desk to theirs and then got up.

“Just be nice to him, okay?” I prefaced, then made my way across the disjointed classroom. Jonathan glanced up when I paused in front of him.

“Wanna come work with us? I doubt a lot will get done, but I can at least show you the outline I did.” Jonathan let out a heavy sigh; I raised a brow at him. “You’re not getting rid of me. So either I drag a desk over here and it’ll be you and me, or you can come sit with us and be mildly social.”

He gave me a dry look, but to my satisfaction he grabbed his book and shuffled over to our group. I pulled a desk over for him and we both settled down. The group was quiet for a few minutes as the guys eyed one another.

“So, this is what I planned out last night,” I said pointedly, tugging the paper out of my bag and passing it to him. The others finally broke their tense silence and got to work too.

Jonathan skimmed the page and then nodded, setting it down.

“Okay. This’ll work.”

“So you’re saying my work was satisfactory?”

His dark eyes flicked up to me, narrowed in annoyance, but I caught the hint of a smile playing on his lips.

“Sure. Except the part where you left a six year gap in the timeline.”

“What?” I asked in surprise, leaning over to him as he tapped the paper. I was acutely aware of how close we were. Our arms pressed to one another and our foreheads brushed briefly as I leaned closer.

“See? You stopped in 1776 and don’t pick up until -“

“Wow, never had a girl that close to you before, huh Byers?” Adam laughed; Steve joined in. Jonathan immediately pulled away from me, face lighting up.

“Awe come on, you we’re almost to second base!” Steve chided. “I bet if you ask nicely, you can get a kiss from someone besides your mom!”

I kicked him under the table.

“Knock it off!”

“It’s funny Ally,” Adam laughed. “Look! He’s all red. He doesn’t even know what to do with a girl.”

Jonathan scooped up his book and made to stand. I caught his arm and tugged him back down. He gave me a quick, darting glance, like he was ready to take off at any second.

“Hey, cmon. They’re idiots. Don’t -”

When he went to stand again, Barb added,

“Don’t pay them any attention, really. We usually just ignore them.”

I gave my best friend a thankful smile; Nancy did her due diligence and distracted the assholes across from us as Jonathan slowly relaxed into his seat again.

“So what can we put here?” I prompted, tapping the timeline where he’d caught my error. His eyes studied mine for a few more moments, but when he saw my unwavering persistence, he sighed and opened his book.

We worked quietly together, ignoring the group around us. As uncomfortable as he was, he actually began to talk more to me. I did my own part and made sure not to put myself into his space again, and the class went pretty smoothly.

“Okay, then I’ll do the first two years, you do the next two,” I told Jonathan as we gathered our things. He nodded in agreement as we followed the crowd out of the classroom. “Alright then. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Hey, Allison?” I glanced at Jonathan in surprise; it was the first time I’d heard him say my name since elementary. “I was gonna see if you, uh, would want to come to my house after school? To work on our project,” he added quickly.

Of course this is the one day I can’t…

“I’ve gotta get home right after school,” I sighed. “Family stuff.”

“Oh yeah, it’s fine. I just thought I’d ask,” he said quickly, shrugging and stuffing his hands in his pockets.

My heart sank a bit seeing the hurt of rejection flit over his face. I was sure he didn’t ask a lot of people to come over, and now I was being a jerk.

“What about tomorrow, though?” I offered with a smile. Jonathan’s eyes went to mine; he saw the genuine question on my face and perked up.

“Yeah, Yeah. Tomorrow’s good.” He took a step away, then paused to add, “I need to make sure you’re not messing up our project.”

I gasped at him, and to my surprise he actually gave a full-on smile. I narrowed my eyes at him and backed up towards my friends.

“I’ll see you tomorrow to make sure you know what you’re doing, Byers.”

He smirked and shook his head, turning away from us and heading for his next class. When I did the same, I came face-to-face with Nancy and Barb. They had identical devilish smiles on their faces.

“Were you just flirting?” Nancy teased; I felt my whole face light up.

“What?! No! I was just talking -“

“You so were!” Barb laughed; I shoved past my friends and tried to keep the blush off my face. I was not! I hardly knew Jonathan. Why would I flirt? I mean he was cute, but -

I cut off my own thoughts and blushed even harder.

“I mean he’s weird, but so are you,” Nancy offered. I glared at her. “Awe, you’re bright red!”

“Both of you just shut up!”

“Ally and Jonathan, sitting in a tree…” Barb giggled; I smacked her arm.

My friends were the most obnoxious people in this town. Even over Dustin and his friends combined. I shook my head at them and led the way to our next class, keeping ahead of them so I could hide the hint of a smile toying on my lips.

—

Dustin huffed and threw his pencil down, scowling at me over his notebook. I rolled my eyes and went to correct his sentence, but he covered the paper with his hands.

“Dustin, it’s not a real word.”

“Yeah it is. Lucas told it to me.”

“These are two different words combined in one,” I argued, getting up to stir the spaghetti. “It’s either monotonous or ominous. Not monominous. And in this case you want ‘monotonous’ -“

“Quit trying to write my essay for me!”

“You asked for my help!”

“Yeah, when I thought you were gonna actually be helpful,” he shot back. “Your word doesn’t even make sense.”

“Yes it does!” When he kept scowling at me, I put a hand on my hip and pointed to the living room with the stirring spoon. “Go get it.”

“What? No! I know I’m right -“

“Well I’m challenging you,” I cut in, shrugging. “And we agreed if there’s a challenge -“

“The other person has to prove their point. Yeah, yeah,” he huffed, getting up and slinking away. I went back to focusing on dinner as I heard him flipping through pages.

“Son of a bitch!”

“Dustin!”

He muttered something I couldn’t make out and came trudging back. A moment later I heard him writing something down.

“So? I take it I’m right?”

He was quiet for a few moments, then mumbled, “monominous sounded cooler.”

I giggled to myself and let him get back to his homework. By the time I had dinner ready, Don was just coming through the door. He passed by the kitchen and glanced at the table.

“Get that shit cleared off. This isn’t a damn school house.”

Barely avoiding a hearty eye-roll, I helped Dustin pick up his things. As I was putting my stuff in his bag, he knelt beside me.

“I don’t like him hurting you.”

I calmly finished zipping up his backpack and stood up with it, trying to hide the panic that surged through me. I hoped beyond hope he was only talking about this morning. If Dustin had seen anything last night…

“Me either, kiddo. It’s alright, I’ll play it safe tonight, okay?”

Dustin looked skeptical but knew we didn’t have time to press the subject. He scampered down to his room as I set the table. As much as I wanted to talk back, I didn’t want to upset my little brother. So when Don came back to the kitchen - mom and Mews in tow - I shut my mouth and kept it that way.

“See? It’s not so hard to keep in your place,” Don noted as I cleaned up our empty plates. I gave him a tight smile.

“No, sir.”

He made a noise of acceptance and then got up, shuffling mom and the cat to the living room for the night. By the time I was finished cleaning the dishes, I could hear him snoring on the couch.

At least I’ll have a peaceful night, I sighed in relief, heading for my room. Dustin was lying on his floor, holding his talkie up to get better reception as he talked to his friends. I gave him a smile before slipping into my room and falling back on the bed.

All my homework was done; all that was left was the history project. I really wished I could have gone to Jonathan’s. For school purposes, of course. Barb and Nancy were crazy. I wasn’t flirting. I mean, yeah, Jonathan was good-looking. And he actually seemed to have a good sense of humor. And he was nice, and loved his little brother. He was so sweet -

Okay, enough Ally. This is ridiculous. You’re just overthinking it. He’s your FRIEND. Of course you don’t LIKE him like him…

Okay, I needed a distraction. I went to my desk and tugged out my history book, skimming over the years I needed to cover in my report. Might as well do an outline, right? I cringed to myself, realizing that homework was what I did to relax. I was such a nerd.

But as I started doing my outline, I realized that some of my topics were gonna cross over with Jonathan’s. And if we both covered the same things, we’d look disjointed. It would be better to get on the same page, make sure we weren’t all over the place…

I jumped up and practically raced for the phone. I didn’t get a line in my room like Nancy did, but our cord was thankfully long enough to reach down the hall. I dialed the Byers’ number and then slipped back into my room.

“Byers residence, Will speaking!”

“Hey Will, it’s Ally.”

“Oh!” I heard him gasp and then clear his throat. “Hi Ally!”

“Hey! I was calling to talk to Jonathan. Is he -” Will sighed and mumbled,

“Yeah, he’s here. JONATHAN!”

I heard footsteps, mumbled talking, and then,

“Hey, Allison?”

I smiled a bit; not a lot of people called me by my full name, and for some reason, I didn’t mind it as much when Jonathan said it.

“Hey. I had a quick question about the chapters I’m doing.”

“Oh, yeah. Yeah. Hang on, let me…” I heard him walking, then heard a door shut. “Okay. What’s your question?”

I rattled off my thinking, and was glad he was on the same page. We spent a good twenty minutes planning out what we were gonna do, and finally I shut my history book, satisfied.

“Sorry to tie up your night doing homework,” I apologized, moving to my bed and stretching out across it. “Perks of having a nerd for a partner.”

Jonathan actually chuckled.

“Yeah, well, makes up for having a freak as yours.”

Though I smiled, I could hear the honesty in his voice.

“You do even me out,” I teased, and when he stopped chuckling I added, “but for the record, I don’t think you’re a freak.”

“I am, though.”

“Why do you think that?” when he didn’t reply, I pressed on. “You just don’t like socializing. It’s not that weird. I wouldn’t be as social if Nancy wasn’t so outgoing. Until she started dating Steve, I hardly talked to anyone but her and Barb.”

“Oh, so they’re actually dating now?” Jonathan snorted; I couldn’t help my giggle.

“Sorry, hanging out.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“But really, Jonathan. You’re not a freak.”

He was quiet for another few moments. I wished I was there with him, able to see his face and figure out what he was thinking. I heard him take a deep breath, and then say quietly,

“Thanks. That means a lot.” As I went to reply, he added, “But I do think you’re a nerd. For the record.”

I laughed and shook my head, feeling my cheeks heat up just a bit. This is NOT flirting, I promised myself, despite the fact that we kept talking. And talking. And talking. Mostly about music, that seemed to open doors for him that he didn’t often get to open. He made fun of my musical tastes and I made fun of his.

I hadn’t even noticed what time it was until we both heard,

“Jonathan! I need to use the phone!”

“Hang on,” he muttered to me; he put his hand over the receiver and shouted,

“It’s 10 o’clock! Who do you need to call?!”

My eyes went to the clock. 10:04. Had we seriously been talking for three hours?! When Jonathan moved his hands away, I said sheepishly,

“I didn’t realize how late it’d gotten.”

“Me either. I guess I better let you go.”

“Yeah, me too. It was nice talking with you though. Even if you don’t like the Beach Boys,” I teased, making him chuckle again. “I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow. Night, Allison.”

“Night, Jonathan,” I said, smiling to myself as he finally hung up. I crept back into the kitchen to put the phone back on the receiver, mindful of mom and Don still sleeping in the living room. Dustin was passed out on his bed, radio in one hand and a copy of the DnD rules in the other. I smiled to myself, tucking the blankets up around him before finally heading to bed.

Despite the rough morning, I couldn’t deny it had been a pretty good day. And, despite my arguments, I realized that I was maybe, possibly flirting with Jonathan Byers.

And I was okay with that.