Hey guys! So I've been rewatching Stranger Things for the zillionth time and I can't seem to get this idea out of my head. It's just something I've needed to get out of my system. Anyways...here ya go!
Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things or any of the characters, just my OC and what I add into the story. This is the only time I'll be saying this.
PROLOGUE: California (Summer of 1979)
"Do you think we could live here someday?"
A loud pop of bubble gum sounded after the question was asked, along with the soft flow of waves heard in front of the three sunbathing girls.
"I think if we beg my parents maybe we could stay longer than just until the Fourth of July is over?", Nancy said, a hopeful questioning in her tone.
Katie scoffed and threw her head back in a laugh.
"Nance, all three of us know that if your dad misses more than a week of work he'll lose his mind.", She giggled and continued chewing on her gum.
The young girls laughed and agreed and simultaneously took a long sigh, staring out at the ocean before them. Never had Katie imagined she would be seeing the ocean. She'd seen ponds and lakes and pools, but nothing could catch her breath quite like the ocean could.
"Do you guys wanna go swimming?", Katie asked.
"Let's go!" Nancy stood up as fast as lightning and started sprinting toward the water, Katie and Barb not far behind. The girls laughed as they swam and splashed each other. Katie threw a wailing Nancy into the water while a bashful Barb watched and kept her distance, making sure there was no chance Katie could try and do the same with her.
Besides, Barb knew without at doubt that Katie, however strong she was, would not be able to lift her.
"Ew! Mike! Get that away from us!" Nancy shrieked as Mike, Nancy's little brother and his friend Lucas, laughed as they waved a giant wad of seaweed at the girls and clearly had the intention of tossing it onto one of them.
"Mike! Lucas! Leave the girls alone!"
From the shore Katie heard Mrs. Wheeler scolding her youngest and his friend while she rubbed her swollen stomach growing with a new life. Mr. Wheeler was nose deep in a paper while he sat in his chair under the bright yellow umbrella that they had brought to the beach. The family that had graciously taken her on vacation with them was what one would call 'picturesque'. However, Katie knew better than to believe Nancy wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps of the dutiful housewife and mother of two soon to be three. But she couldn't help but love them, for they had taken her in as one of their own from the moment her, Nancy and Barbara had entered kindergarten.
Katie smiled at Mrs. Wheeler as she watched her grab Mike's arm to make him toss the seaweed aside. Beside him, Lucas was cackling manically.
"Ugh," Nancy scoffed, "He's such a dweeb."
"He's eight, Nancy, what do you expect from a boy?", Barb chimed in.
"I don't think there's a boy out there that isn't a dweeb," Katie added with a dramatic flair by promptly diving into the water. "But enough about boys, let's swim!"
And so, the girls went deeper into the water, riding the waves and enjoying the way the water made their fingers prune and how the salt was making their hair curlier than usual. Nancy was on the verge of having a full-blown afro.
"Girls!" Karen called from the shore after about an hour in the water. "Come get some lunch!"
"We should get ice cream after," Katie said as they made their way back to the beach with wrinkly fingers and toes.
"Just remember no swimming for a full twenty minutes after we eat," Barb said with her knowing tone. She looked gravely at Katie who was notorious for breaking rules, even ones as silly as that.
"But there's only so much time before we have to leave and never see the ocean again!" She exclaimed, and Nancy laughed.
"I'm sure we'll come back. We're going to live here, right?"
"I'm sorry, did you want to drown?" Barb asked with a push of her glasses and a raise of her eyebrows.
"I'd rather drown here in beautiful California than die back in boring Hawkins, to be honest," Katie pointed at her and both of her friends rolled their eyes.
They knew all too well Katie was going to leave Hawkins and never look back someday. A part of them knew it was a running joke, but the other part knew that she was very serious and when the day did come the girls didn't know what they would do.
After a very delicious lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches, complete with chips and juice boxes, and watching disgustedly as Mike and Lucas kept chewing with their mouths open, Katie decided it was time for ice cream.
"C'mon the shack is right there!"
"We just ate! How can you eat any more?" Nancy asked, and Katie shrugged her sunburned shoulders.
There was no limit when it came to ice cream.
Barb looked like she wanted to indulge the cold, sticky sweetness as well but was too shy to admit it, lest her friends think she was eating too much.
"C'mon!", She said again and dragged her friends up off their sandy butts. She grabbed her small wallet from Mrs. Wheeler's bag and offered to buy her friends a treat. It was the least she could do with her allowance money, courtesy of her favorite and only uncle, Uncle Jim.
After Nancy ordered a vanilla soft serve and Barb got her orange sherbet the two went to sit on the bench across the boardwalk while they waited for Katie.
"Could I get chocolate chip with chocolate jimmies on a cone, please?" She asked politely and excitedly.
"Hey, that's my favorite!"
Katie turned to the new voice and behind her saw a blonde boy, about her age, with a tall blonde woman wearing a large sun hat. He was smiling at her and she smiled back.
"I thought I was the only one that liked it like that!" She laughed as the employee handed her the ice cream.
"Nope!" The boy said proudly and crossed his arms over his chest. "It's best with the chocolate jimmies because otherwise there's too much-,"
"Vanilla! Exactly!" Katie happily cut him off, which he didn't seem to mind as they both reveled in the fact that they shared similar tastes in the most delicious treat in the world.
His mother, next to him, smiled at the interaction between her son and this young girl.
"What's your name, Sweetie?" She asked.
"I'm Katherine, but everyone calls me Katie," Katie happily introduced herself as she carelessly licked her ice cream in front of this boy and his mom.
"I'm William, but everyone calls me Billy. It's kind of awesome having two names isn't it?" He asked, his eyes bright with excitement of meeting someone that shared so much with him in so little time.
"Very awesome, but I'm only called Katherine when I'm in trouble," She admitted, feeling her cheeks burn.
"That's okay, my mom does the same thing-hey!"
"Billy! I do not-," His mother laughed and ordered their ice cream as Katie and Billy talked some more.
Katie had to admit she was elated with the fact that she was making a friend in California, maybe they could stay in touch? Maybe she'd see him again when she left Hawkins and moved here?
"Where are your parents?" He asked.
"Oh, I'm here with my two best friends, they're over there-," She pointed to where Nancy and Barb were sitting on the same bench, facing the water. "I'm here with Nancy's family for the Fourth of July, we're on vacation." She explained.
"Oh-," He said, suddenly sad that this would probably be the first and last time he'd see Katie, this cool stranger that shared in his favorite ice cream combo. He always liked making new friends. His friends at school would probably be jealous he was talking to girl, as most twelve-year-old boys were. "-so, where are you from?"
"Hawkins, Indiana," She said with a large sigh, clearly indicating it was a boring corner of the world compared to where they both currently were. He smiled.
"Never heard of it, do you like it here?"
"I want to live here actually, I love the ocean."
"Maybe you'll move here someday-," He said with a shrug of his shoulder, licking his ice cream and enjoying the sweet mix of vanilla and the soft crunch of chocolate.
"I hope so-," She sighed again. "Do you want to meet my friends? I mean-," She looked over at Billy's mom, "-if that's okay?" She asked, hopeful.
She had a feeling Nancy and Barb would like Billy as much as she did currently.
"Yes, that's okay, don't go wondering off though, Billy," She said and gave him a stern look. She reminded him there they were set up on the beach and he rolled his eyes telling her he wouldn't forget.
"C'mon!" Katie grabbed his hand which he didn't mind but he tried to make the burning of his cheeks go away anyway.
"Guys! This is Billy!" Katie introduced after jogging to her friends.
The red head and the brunette turned to see the new member of their small party and smiled as they introduced themselves.
"Nice to meet you guys-," He said, "-Heard you were from Indiana?"
"As boring as it is, yes, we are," Nancy said.
"Are you guys staying for the fireworks? They usually have a pretty awesome show on the pier, it's only a five-minute walk."
"Yeah we're staying for them, I don't think I could drag Katie away from the beach if I tried," Nance nudged Katie's shoulder and Katie laughed, agreeing with her.
"Are you from around here?" Barb asked the blonde-haired stranger.
Barb was always the practical one, she knew not to talk to strangers however nice they may seem. Billy was around their age that was sure, but you never knew someone's intentions until it was too late.
"Yeah, I live about twenty minutes from here with my Mom-," He paused. "And Dad. But he hates the beach, so I usually come here with just my mom. I'm a pretty decent surfer." He said and threw a proud look over to Katie which she returned with a smile.
"I've always wanted to learn how to surf!" She exclaimed.
"Katie…I don't know if that's a good-,"
"I think it sounds kind of fun," Nancy cut Barb off, but not after giving her an apologetic look while Barb just glared at her.
"Could you teach us?" Katie asked Billy and his blue eyes lit up with excitement.
His friends were definitely going to be jealous.
"Of course, but it takes some practice, you guys up for it?"
"Yeah-," Nancy smiled and Katie winked at her.
Because duh, who didn't want to learn how to surf from a cute California boy?
Barbara gave a reluctant sigh.
"Fine, but if you guys get injured don't say I didn't warn you."
"You did pretty good for your first time on a surfboard-," Billy slid up next to Katie who was currently wrapping herself in a towel. After falling off the board at least twelve times she managed to stand on it all of one time to ride a small wave before promptly falling off again. Billy had helped her gain her balance. Billy was sweet, and Katie knew without a doubt she liked him. Who wouldn't? Nancy had whispered to her of how cute he was, and Barb had said she liked how he never laughed at her for falling off the board. "And as congratulations I got something for you." He smiled innocently as he held something behind his back.
"If that's a dead crab or seaweed or something I'm sorry but Nancy's little brother already has you beat. He threw those at us like two hours ago-," Katie laughed, and Billy just smiled.
Unknown to Katie, Nancy and Barbara were exchanging whispers of how Billy clearly liked her and couldn't wait to tell her later when he wasn't around.
"Nope-," He held out his hand, "-it's sea glass."
Katie gasped at the pretty trinket in his hand and reached for it. It was a pale blue color and relatively small, about the size of a pendant on a necklace, but she could clearly see the wear and tear from the sea and once again marveled at how incredible the ocean was.
"It's beautiful!" She exclaimed and held it up to the sun to see how much color it actually had.
"There's tons of it on the beach, just have to have a good eye. Plus, blue is pretty rare I think-," He stammered and blushed at how excited she was, happy that his gift had caused such a reaction.
"Thank you so much, Billy, I love it." Katie beamed at him and he blushed again giving her a bashful smile.
"Good, yeah, that's good-," He hesitated in his next question but took a deep breath and asked anyway. The worst she could say was no. "Also, I was wondering if you and your friends and your family wanted to watch the fireworks with me and my mom?"
"Oh, yeah let me ask-hey Nancy!" She called her friends over and asked what Billy had just asked her. Nancy shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't see why not, we've already been hanging out."
Once Nancy asked her parents if they could watch the fireworks with them and they agreed, Billy felt his chest flutter as he happily smiled at Katie. Katie was grinning back at him, very happy that she got to spend more time with him.
"Do you think I'll ever see him again?" Katie clutched her sea glass in her hand, sighing wistfully as she remembered sitting next to Billy watching the beautiful red, white and blue fireworks light up across the sky. He had talked to her about living in California and how he loved how it was never cold and that he could go to the beach whenever he wanted. The only thing he wished he could see in real life was snow.
He had never seen it and wondered what it was like seeing the world turn white and fluffy.
"You're not missing much." She had told him. She hated snow. She much preferred where he lived.
He had laughed and once the fireworks were over he gave her a shy hug and a sad goodbye. And that was that.
"Probably not," Barb said, reasonably.
Nancy gave her a look and Barb just shrugged.
"I think he liked you-," Nancy whispered to Katie in the back seat of the wagon. She didn't want her parents to hear; she knew her mom would never stop asking questions if they caught wind of Billy liking Katie. "-like…liked you liked you."
"He did not!" Katie gasped quietly, and Nancy and Barb giggled and nodded to her.
"Well since I'll never see him again I guess I can admit he was very nice and cute-," She giggled and all three girls continued to gossip about Katie's Billy for the rest of their trip.
Katie hoped for more reasons than one that Billy would some day be able to see snow.