"Max! Hurry up or you're skating to school!"

Billy barging into and out of rooms was a common occurrence that did not go unheard of. He stomped into her room, stomped to his car, stomped out of their house. She was used to it. She should have been used to it then.

But when her brother yelled out from the porch, she had been reaching for the doorknob. And he nearly slammed into her, striding by as she nearly tripped over the rug underneath their feet.

"Jesus, Billy! Have you ever heard of watching where you're going?"

He ignored her. "The little shit is gonna make us late."

"Late for what? You've never wanted to get to school on time in your life."

"That's not the point."

"Then what is the point?"

Without a word in reply, Billy walked back onto the porch and down the steps, leaving her to roll her eyes as he had done when she asked her question. She followed him outside.

An exaggerated sigh left his mouth and finally, he said, "The point is, Rowen, I wanna get out of here as soon as possible."

"You don't say," said she. Her sarcasm only made him more annoyed than he already was.

"Max! C'mon!"

Rowen glanced back into the empty living room of their house, hearing a pair of tiny feet shuffle and tap. Smoothing out her ponytail, she turned her gaze back to her brother. "Sarcasm aside, I get it. This place is a growing nightmare."

"You barely leave the house."

"Doesn't mean I don't get it, because I do."

Billy was unconvinced. "Oh you do, do you?"

"No, I don't. I'm just trying to make conversation," she sassed.

"What are you? Ms. Smart-Ass this morning?"

She scowled, unamused. His silent glare only pushed at her nerves, making her grumble. Brushing a stray strand of hair away from her face, she said, "Actually I need to be Ms. 'Ride with you guys and borrow your car because I have a job interview at nine-thirty'."

He didn't even try to hide the eye roll he gave her.

Rowen smirked. "What? Afraid you'll lose cool points when people see your big sister take your car?"

"What are you guys talking about?" A smaller, slightly bored voice made itself known. Max appeared to her right with that same beaten up skateboard in hand and a small book bag slung over her shoulder.

"About damn time," Billy muttered, ignoring her question as he slid into the driver's seat.

"C'mon," Rowen lightly shoved at the redhead's shoulder. "If we keep him waiting any longer his head might explode."

"We? Why are you coming?"

"I have an interview later. Since I'm not going to college I gotta get a job. You know? Adult stuff."

Max smiled, giving her stepsister's outfit a quick overlook. "I don't know how you're gonna get hired dressed like that."

"Dressed like someone who has style?"

"Dressed like a college kid."

"Technically I am one," she retored.

"Yeah, but don't grown-ups usually dress up in those matching suits or long grey skirts and stuff?"

"You mean the dull people? Hell no- I am not dressing like that." Rowen grimaced, letting her climb into the backseat before taking the passenger seat, pulling the door shut. "I'd rather choke than look like one of them."

"Jesus Ro, it's not a disease," said Billy.

He whipped the car out of their driveway, taking off way too fast for the size of their neighborhood's streets. It wasn't like he cared, though. Nothing kept him from an opportunity to show off, especially when it came to his car.

"Oh, but it is," she objected, reaching into the glove box in front of her for a cassette tape.

Rowen wasn't surprised to see most of the tapes stuffed in his car were ones she listened to. Probably from the box in my closet, too. She and Billy always had a similar taste in music, but she never knew him to swipe some of his for hers.

She caught him putting a handful of them in his car earlier that morning though, and as she continued to flip through them... she began to realize why. Scorpions, Foreigner, Ted Nugent; songs of theirs that were all of loud volumes. And he was already stuffing one into the radio. She figured that would be the case today. It was his first day of school after all. His grand introduction to Hawkins, Indiana.

Besides, Billy's ego was three times larger than what was considered normal, and with the fact that this place was officially their new home... how could he resist making a lasting impression? As far they were aware, they were stuck in Hawkins... As if their dad left the impression that they would be living there indefinitely wasn't enough of a clue; unless they came across yet another massive screw up, of course.

Getting away from all the 'screw ups', was the reason for their being there, to begin with. "A fresh start", as Susan called it.

But there was nothing 'fresh' about it... at least to the three people currently in the car. They had no reason to leave California, no embarrassment that made them want to leave home. But their reasons were no match for their dads. Contrary to Rowen's glossy eyes, when he announced they would be moving across the country, Billy made it clear that he didn't want to leave in a very loud, very angry tone. But it did nothing to change Neil's Hargrove's mind. He wasn't one to let people tell him what he could and couldn't do... especially his kids.

Before that moment they figured they couldn't hate him any more than they already did. Now, though? Rowen discovered she could. Nothing in this dull, suburban town looked promising. It felt like a punishment.

Who was she kidding, it was a punishment, and that was where the move stung the most... because California was full of promises. Full of opportunities, full of chances. She wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if he actually wanted her to feel stuck. Hawkins didn't even have a story column in their newspaper, nevermind a publisher hanging around, waiting to take a chance with her work.

Saying Rowen was a writer was an understatement. Hell, she couldn't remember a time when a journal wasn't practically attached to her hand, couldn't remember a time when she wasn't scribbling through pages.

She could remember a time when it mattered to her more than anything, though. Those times when she would do nothing but talk about it, going over to the Hammonds three doors down or her friend Roni's house one ten-minute bike ride away... She could have stayed with either one of them had she asked, truthfully. She could have stayed until she found an apartment somewhere close, she knew it... And she was very close to doing so when she was putting her things in boxes.

Rowen could've stayed in California, stayed home where she wanted to be.

Sure, she wasn't eighteen at that time. Her birthday was only six days ago and by the time that rolled around, everything was already unpacked and stored in their little Hawkins house. She had still been seventeen when in California, still too young to legally 'leave the nest'... She felt tempted to do it anyway... but never tempted enough to actually follow through. Rowen had two other, bigger reasons that kept her from sneaking away with one of those two friends and left her to squeeze the life out of them the day the Hargrove's drove away from the sand and sunny beaches.

Those two reasons sat with her now, as they drove down gray asphalt, scrunched their noses at the smell of cow shit and prepared to make what they knew was bound to be a big entrance.

ii:

"You think I should start from scratch?"

"No! I... No. I mean.." Nancy hesitated to finish her sentence. She didn't know what to tell him. "When's the deadline?"

"It's tomorrow for early application. Can you come help me tonight?"

She shook her head. "No, we have our dinner tonight, remember?"

Steve felt ready to bang his forehead against the steering wheel. "Oh my god," he muttered, sticking his tongue out in disgust. That pointless dinner kept escaping his mind over and over and now it only made him more frustrated.

"Look you don't have to go just.. just work-"

He sighed. "No." The paper was yanked from Nancy's hand and crumpled up between his fingers. "What's the point."

"Hey, calm down."

"I am calm. I'm just being honest," he said. "I mean I'm just gonna end up working for my dad anyway."

"That's not true."

"I don't know Nance, is that such a bad thing?" Steve turned his gaze over to her, genuinely wanting to know the answer. Was settling for something simple and easy so bad? It sounded better than working his ass off to get into a college that he wasn't so sure about. "It has insurance and benefits and all that adult stuff... and if I took it I could be around for your senior year. Just look after you for a little bit. Make sure you don't forget this pretty face and stuff.."

By the end of his rambling, he had her grinning.

"Nance, I'm serious." And he was.

Steve leaned in to kiss her, lightly as they always did when they were at school, or anywhere where there were other people. If it was just him talking, he'd say he didn't care who looked when he wanted to kiss his girlfriend, but Nancy thought otherwise. Therefore the PDA was kept to pecks on the lips and anything that wouldn't lead to full-on making out. Right now was one of the times he questioned that (as if he didn't question it all the time). He could've stared at her all day if he could.

And he meant it literally, like full-fledged staring. It was something he actually considered doing.. but when a sudden noise dragged his attention away, they found themselves stepping out of his car. Someone was revving their car engine as openly and loudly as they felt like.

A deep blue Camaro quickly swung into the parking lot, shamelessly taking up two spots without even trying to stay in the lines. Music blasted without a care, intentional most likely. If the fact that the key was never taken out of the ignition once they stopped wasn't a clue already, the swing of the car doors was.

While he never had a car that nice, Steve knew what showing off looked like. And if the guy that stepped out of the vehicle was doing what he thought he was doing, he wasn't trying to hide it. He knew he'd definitely never seen Mr. Camaro before. The blonde mullet, the all-denim look.. yeah. Definitely not from Hawkins. Everyone in Hawkins looked relatively the same and this guy stood out like a sore thumb.

A curly-haired thumb.

He didn't need the shiny little license plate that dubbed him as a Californian for Steve to figure that he was new.

Eventually, a girl followed suit and stepped out of the passenger seat... Wait no, two. There're two girls, he thought. Another, younger girl with bright red hair climbed out from the back, plopping a skateboard onto the ground before riding away from them, towards the middle school.

"See ya, Speedster!" The older girl called out to the redhead before she could skate too far, which made his attention go back to the car. The girl that said goodbye- to her little sister, he assumed -had the same hair color the guy; curly like his, too.

Steve squinted as the sun peaked out from the clouds, having to put a hand above his eyes so he could see. She looked like she could be his age.. but she didn't have anything with her that told him she was a new student. In fact, after she turned her gaze away from the skater kid, she immediately walked around the car to the driver's seat where her brother had been.

She glanced his way.

Shit look away don't look like a creep, he thought. He was mentally scrambling to find something else to stare at. Nancy. Look at Nancy, dipshit. Look at.. the back of her head, wow, okay. Nancy was also staring at the new arrivals.

By the time Steve's gaze fell back on the newbies, the girl was gone, sitting in the driver's seat.. but before she could pull away, Mr. Camaro leaned his hand on the door and stated, "Three o'clock, got it?"

"I know. I heard you the first time."

"Seriously, Rowen. Don't mess up my car, or I swear to God-"

"I said I got it." Now she had her head peeking out of the window. "Turn it down a few notches, will you?" said she, a smile slowly creeping onto her face. She laughed. "I won't mess up your car, I promise."

It seemed to have convinced him, because once she disappeared back into the car Mr. Camaro began to walk away, throwing a cigarette to the ground. Steve had no doubt in his mind that they were siblings after watching that exchange. The fact that they looked alike was already a giveaway but their conversation confirmed it for him. If he was wrong, then may I be flattened by that bright blue Camaro.

Once the car pulled out of the parking lot, Nancy huffed, looking over to him with a smirk. "That was interesting."

He nodded as the car door shut on her side, mumbling, "Yeah... very."

iii:

Ok, breathe. In and out. C'mon, Rowen.

She felt her hands begin to shake again as she reached for the front door of Hawkins Post, all but storming out of the very place that left her nerves wrecked. After hearing mixed opinions about the treatment of their employees, it became the last place she wanted to go. But that was exactly why Rowen made herself go. She probably should have expected her interview to go the way it did, given the way Mr. Holloway eyed her clothes, judging her as if she was in no position to sit across from him, asking to work for him.

Rowen made note of the comments and quiet chuckles she could hear from the smaller offices when she was inside, too.

Had none of that happened, she might have considered taking the job. But when she was laughed at as she made her way out, all determination to pine for the position went out the window. She would not take a position where she would be ridiculed and laughed at just to say she had a job. There was just no way. Not even the simmering anger of her dad could make her take it.

But that only made her hands shake more. It had been almost two weeks since they moved, and she'd done nothing but write in her journals and accompany Max to the arcade for the majority of that time.

Rowen made a mental note of the video store she spotted during the drive to Hawkins High School, trying to wrack her brain for the street name. She let out a long sigh. She did not want to waste gas just to find a store that may or may not be hiring. A hand ran down her face. Another reached into her pocket for the car keys. Rowen walked towards Billy's car, prepared to use up the last of his gas to drive around town till she found the store anyway.

That was when she saw it. There, three cars down, was an SUV. "Hawkins Police Department" displayed on the side. Of course.

She wasn't sure how well this guy would know the town, but she was positive they knew it better than her. So, Rowen made her way over. When she came face to face with the passenger window she could see a man inside, clad in a sheriff uniform with a handheld radio clenched in his fist and a mustache that nearly covered his mouth.

He was distracted, clearly, considering her approach to his car window went unnoticed. Her light tap at the window didn't even catch his attention. Not until she tapped a second time. When her knuckles rapped the glass again, he jolted, making her jerk her hand back. He looked out the window with wide eyes and a hand-drawn down to his belt over something she could not see. And it was only when she waved awkwardly, that his hand lifted and stretched out towards the window, rolling it down.

"Yeah?"

"Uh, hi. Sorry if I was interrupting... whatever it was you were drawn into," said Rowen. "I just moved here and I'm kinda lost. Do you know where the video store is? I don't remember the name of it but I saw all these movie posters and stuff in the windows so I guess that's what it is."

He lifted his chin. "You mean Family Video? Yeah, it's right next to the arcade," he paused, shifting in his seat before pointing to her right, "You go down this street we're facing, right? Go all the way down until you reach the first light. Take a right. Then keep going straight until you see a big orange and green sign at the corner on the left."

Rowen followed the imaginary path he mapped out, looking down the street until she spotted a tiny red dot which she deemed as the first stoplight. "Okay. Thanks, uh?..."

"Hopper. Chief of police."

"Rowen Hargrove. Californian," she smiled. "Thanks."

NOTE: welcome to my stranger things story!

thank you so much for reading! just a little disclaimer, i own nothing but rowen. please note that this story will include light mentions of verbal abuse and physical abuse. there will not be much, but it will be there so proceed with caution. canon-typical language warning as well.

im adding this note well after i have published this story, but i wanted to thank anyone who has been reading it or has just come across it. i did not plan very well at all when i was considering writing this, therefore it has been under many re-writes since i first uploaded it (the struggles of being indecisive).

so, to those who have been rereading my story (if there are any of you out there) i SINCERELY apologize for changing up multiple chapters so many times. none of the changes i've made affect the overall plot... i'm just... super duper picky... and was struggling to settle on what exactly i wanted those chapters to include and portray... but i got a grasp of it now... or at least a better grasp than i did.

i want to be able to narrate rowens story as best i can because this girl means so so much to me.

i would love to hear what y'all think of her and this story! and, again, thank you for reading!