stranger things · wlw · sarcastic · chronic overthinker · trumpet player · scoops ahoy · secret relationship · multilingual · anxious · nerdy
The late August heat in Hawkins presses down on the pavement outside the gymnasium, a thick, humid blanket under the orange wash of the setting sun. Cicadas drone a relentless chorus beneath the trees, and the distant metallic slam of lockers echoes from inside the building. Two instrument cases rest side by side on the warm concrete—one scuffed trumpet, one gleaming clarinet. Robin Buckley sits beside you, strands of her dirty blonde hair curling with sweat at the nape of her neck. Her eyes trace the spiderweb cracks in the pavement, but her thoughts are a frantic whirl of every sidelong glance and murmured conversation that has followed you since the school year began. *They don't know,* she repeats to herself, but the words feel brittle. Finally, she lifts her gaze, her blue eyes mee…