Disclaimer: The characters in this little piece of fiction are not my own. I just borrowed them and will place them back where I found them when I am done.
Chapter 1: New beginnings
"And do you feel scared, I do
But I won't stop and falter
And if we threw it all away
Things can only get better."
(Things can only get better – Howard Jones)
The square one storey building hadn´t changed its look much, if ever, Hopper thought when he turned onto the parking lot already half full of banged up secondhand cars, rusty pickups and a shiny polished corvette or two, a motley group of teenagers slouching their way to the entrance, a couple leaning against the sides of a Dodge that had seen better days. He parked his trucks near the entrance, killed the motor and took a moment to look outside as if canvassing the area, stopping only when he became aware of a pair of familar inquisitive eyes.
„Hopper." she stated. „Don´t worry. I´m fine. My friends are here."
He turned his head to look at the girl on the passenger seat. Her locks had grown out a little in the last three months and she insisted to keep them that way, that she liked the look, but apart from that she looked a little forlorn and out of place clutching her new clothes, red winter coat she had chosen herself and rucksack. He wondered whether she was feeling as nervous as he was, but the reassuring smile she gave him seemed to tell a different story.
„You don´t have to do this you know." he said. „you can take some more time. Stay home. Watch some more tv. Learn more." They had had this discussion before and he knew it would be as futile as before but hey, at least he had to try.
She didn´t even comment, just tilted her head ever so slightly in that somewhat reproachful way that seemed to say ´I can fend for myself´.
„All right." he attested. „I´ll walk you in." And he hurried to continue when she opened her mouth to protest. „Just to the main office. No worries, kid, I´m not gonna embarrass you, just see to the formalities is all." He leant over slightly to open the door for her which earned him another reproachful glance before getting out of the car himself, closing the door and locking it.
The stream of students had thinned and a glance at the clock told him they were threatening to run late. Some father you are, he thought by himself while at the same time noticing he was scanning the surroundings carefully. Stop it, Hopper. You´re being overly suspicious. And yet he couldn´t help but place a hand on her shoulder as they walked to the entrance and whether she minded it or not, at least the girl walking next to him seemed to sympathise because she let it happen.
oOo
The secretary was another relict, Ms Henderson, by now almost as old as Hawkins itself, old enough for Hopper to remember her from his own highschool days and in the years that had passed since she only seemed to have grown more contempatively slow in her tasks while having lost none of her prodding curiosity.
"And she is your daughter, Jim? I didn´t know you…" the older woman´s voice trailed off, seemingly insecure about how to approach the sensitive topic of the man´s family relations. It was an open secret that Hopper had spent some time away from Hawkins. In the ´big city´ as people said with reverence and little background on what that meant or where that was. Few, Ms Henderson not included, knew of Sara which made it even easier to pass Eleven or Jane as they would all have to refer to her now, as his own. The timeline fit and apart from Mike and his group of friends and the few that had been involved in all the crazy shit that had happened within the last year and a half, nobody had ever seen the girl around her apart from when she had still looked very different. Interesting how a curly head of hair could change someone´s look so much…
"Yeah." he gave back, leaning against the counter, tossing a glance at Jane as Ms Henderson gave the girl a printed schedule and instructed her to "just walk down the corridor and take the third door to your right to find your new class, dear." Eleven took the paper, gave the older woman a brief smile and him a semi-warning glance. This is my job, she seemed to say. "I see you later, Dad." she said and turned to walk away, leaving him with a brief twang of pride that she would so easily slip into that role and a consideraly bigger pinge of pain. Dad….it had been long years since he had last been called ´Dad´. He forced his own emotions down and tore his eyes off the image of her slim frame walking down the corridor. She would be fine on her own. Hell he had seen what that kid was capable of. She should sure be able to make it through a few hours of school day.
"Where is her mother?" Ms Henderson continued and while Hopper felt the urge to tell the old crow that it was none of her damn business, he merely replied. "She couldn´t take care of her any more. She´s with me now," while filling in the form the secretary had passed him.
"Oh, the poor darling thing." Ms Henderson leant over the counter alittle to be able to glance after the girl. "She does seem a little out of place now doesn´t she? Let´s hope she has a good start here."
Hopper pointedly shoved the filled in form towards the woman. "Yeah. Let´s hope so, Ms Henederson" he said sharply. "I would really appreciate if you let me know if anything was the matter. Today or whenever."
Visibly miffed by his tone, Ms Henderson took a sulking moment to tuck away the paper, giving him a pair of pointedly raised eyebrows. "No worries Mr Hopper, we all take this school very seriously. So if there is nothing else…"
Nosy old hag… he thought to himself. I bet you would´ve liked more juicy details from that made up story, huh? He swallowed the remark and forced himself to a pointedly friendly smile, tapping a finger against his temple in an almost mock salute. "Have a good day Ms Henderson" he called out, already half way out the door.
She´ll be okay, he reassured himself when he pushed open the door and headed outside. You were the one who pressed for making this whole issue happena lot faster than suggested so deal with it now. A year had seemed impossibly long. Three months had been the limit of what Eleven would had not wanted to risk their relationship again and so far things had been going just fine. Maybe after all that had happened just accepting that a day, a week, a month could pass without anything crazy was something that took some getting used to.
When he drove off the parking lot he forced his mind back on his work. There was a report of some shoplifting over at a store a main street. Nothing big, because this was a town where nothing big ever happened. That too, was something he´d have to get used to. But he was more than ready for that.
