Disclaimer: Kayla Adams is my OC, nothing else belongs to me.

WARNING!

Mentions of drug use. (Weed and Alcohol)

Author's notes.

This is the first Stranger Things fanfiction I have done. This is based after the first season when Billy and Max first come to town. It will have spoilers, if you haven't watched season 2 or 3 yet then you should probably watch them first.

Chapter two

"Come on! You have to come!" Nancy begged.

"No. No we don't." Kayla disagreed.

"The both of you can't just sit at home all night on Halloween."

Again, Kayla shook her head. "Incorrect, you see I will be sat at home. Jonathan here," she threw an arm around his shoulder. "will be taking his brother trick or treating."

"All night? Come on Jonathan you'll be home by 8 at the latest, and Kayla, you're practically dressed for Halloween all year round!"

"Was that supposed to be an insult?" She foreigned hurt before looking at Jonathan who shrugged. "Fine okay!" Kayla threw her hands up. "I'll think, THINK, about it okay?"

Nancy grinned at her. "Okay."

They split ways as the bell rang, signalling the end of school. Kayla walked out into the carpark, lighting up a cigarette. There weren't many cars left by this point, quiet, just the way Kayla liked it.

"You're late again."

People were still here? Yep, the new students which she had taken to calling Denim and Red considering Kayla didn't actually know their names.

"Yeah I had to get catch-up homework." Red said.

"Jesus. I don't care. You're late again, and you're skating home. Do you hear me?" Kayla frowned getting into her dad's old car, a black 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle SS Convertible. It was Denim and Red's first day, what was he so pissed about. It couldn't have been that shit a first day could it? She wondered as she threw it into gear and drove down the road. Kayla wonder why denim had been so angry at his little sister, all she'd done was get homework. She waved as she passed by Lucas, Mike and Dustin who were casually cycling home. They may not talk much but they had all been through so much shit together. Kayla slammed on the brakes when she heard them yell, turning to see the boys almost get hit as Denim came racing pass.

"Jesus!" She jumped out. "You boys okay?" Kayla yelled. They were all breathless and a bit spooked but nodded. "Anyone wanna lift?"

….

She wasn't going to come. That's what she had convinced herself, at least she thought she had. Truth was not long after she had gotten home, exhaustion had taken over, she had woken a few hours later in a bath of sweat, screaming her lungs out. Luckily for her there was no one to hear. Terrified, she didn't want to think, she didn't want to remember. She decided that her choices were to get high or drunk. It was easy to come by some weed as a high school student and she had a large stash of alcohol she could break open. In the end it was not wanting to be alone that had made her mind up.

Cars revved, music blasted as she wondered. She hadn't seen Nancy all summer and suddenly she agreed to come to a party with her? Obviously, she had ditched Kayla to spend time with her boyfriend, which was understandable, but once again Kayla had ended up alone. Only this time she was dressed as a black-haired version of Sandy from Grease after she had given up her whole identity for some guy she hardly knew. It was Kayla's usual black colour, so she was somewhat okay, but the red high heels and tight clothes were out of her comfort zone. The only thing she could think of was 'is this the strongest alcohol they have?'. That had been about an hour ago and she was really starting to feel the effects, what did they put in that punch? Why hadn't Jonathan come? They could have been loners together. Steve had been her ride here so she couldn't just leave unless she caught a lift, she was sure she was way over the limit to drive. Jesus, it was loud. She stumbled, accidently bumping into Steve's ex-friend Tommy and Denim who had apparently broken some sort of drinking record.

"Easy there Doll."

Damn Denim had a smooth voice. "Sorry." She mumbled, not drunk enough to slur yet, she wasn't new to drinking.

"Almost ruined my record." He eyed her lazily, clearly over the limit as well.

"Yeah freak, almost knocked over the new Keg King, don't think you can get away with it just because you've scrubbed up nice for once."

"Ah Tommy." She smiled. "Almost didn't recognise you since Carol dumped your ass and is no longer glued to your face."

"Ohhhhhh!" The crowd roared.

"And you." She turned to Denim who was actually in an open leather jacket, showing off his perfect tanned abs. "Pray tell oh keg king, what is your name?"

"Tell you what Sandy, take my crown and you won't just get my name tonight." He winked at Kayla who was not amused.

"Thanks, but no thanks, I'm only interested in a name."

"Gotta earn it doll."

"Don't you get it freak?" Tommy butt in. "He's telling you to shove it. Obviously, you can't beat him, he got forty-two seconds."

"You realise that a human can hold their breathe for an average of up to five minutes, some can do it for longer, okay Tommy? That means logically, if we go for the 5, keg king here only held his breathe for 14% present of that time. And you lot got even less."

"So what? You think that you can to better freak?" Tommy pushed. "I'd like to see you try."

Kayla was never really one to back down from a challenge. "You want me to waterboard myself with cheap ass beer, fine." She looked at new blond boy. "You better have a name ready Denim." He looked confused, understandably so, still he went to grab her legs to hold her up, but she swatted at him. She could hold her own weight for a minute, wouldn't be much of a gymnast if she couldn't do a handstand.

She placed the tub in her mouth, held the edge of the keg and lifted her feet into the air. When she began to drink, the crowd began counting.

….

"…forty-five, forty-six, forty-seven, forty-eight!"

Kayla stood back up feeling dizzy, okay so that was nowhere near as easy as it looked, but it was damn well worth it just to see the look on Tommy's face. "16%." She grinned and Denim. "Got that name?"

He looked at her in surprise. "It's Billy, Billy Hargrove. Why are you so interested?"

"Because." She smirked. "I need the name of the psychopath who almost ran me of the road this afternoon and almost killed three kids. Couldn't exactly go to the police without it, now could I?"

"You bitch!" Billy's whole demeaner changed from relaxed to hostile as he grabbed hold of her arm threateningly. "Fine, go crying to the police, going crying to your fucking parents for all I care!"

She ripped her arm out of his grasp and before Kayla had realised, she has slapped him hard across the face. "I was joking asshole." She spat before taking off towards the bathroom, feeling suddenly breathless, chest tightening.

The nearby crowd was deadly silent. "What are you all looking at?" He hissed.

Tommy cleared his throat and pulled Billy away from everyone slightly. "You're new around here so you won't know this, she'll probably forgive you when she's sobered up slightly, but Kayla lives alone."

"Isn't she our age? Seventeen?" Tommy nodded. "Then how…"

"Her parents died last year, a car accident. Today is actually the first day a lot of us have seen her for a while, she's mainly been avoiding people."

"Then why is everyone giving her a hard time? You're not the first person I've heard call her a freak."

Tommy shrugged. "It's the way we treated her before. I think everyone felt treating her the way we always have would be better than pitying her. She never really liked a fuss and to be honest a lot of people don't like her anyway. She has that effect on others, just thought I'd warn you that anything to do with parents is a low blow for her."

"You're one of the people who don't like her I take it?" He watched Tommy shrug. "Why?"

"She's weird. Keeps to herself. Doesn't really have friends. Always dressing in dark or rock clothes. No one really knows her, they can't get close enough. She's recently been hanging around Jonathan, Nancy and Steve which is weird on its own."

"How so?"

"Well Steve used to be quite popular until he started dating Nancy, he's also a little dull. Nancy's a bit of a prude, classic rebelling teen. And Jonathan keeps to himself mostly but was caught last year taking purvey pictures of Nancy. They just make one really weird, random group." Tommy shrugged again. "My advice? Stay clear of them all."

Billy shook his head. Way too much to think about on his first day at school. He needed a drink. Heading inside with his cigarette, he grabbed some of the tissue paper hanging from the ceiling, trying to wipe off some of the stickiness on his face from the beer, when he was pushed towards Steve by Tommy.

"Got ourselves a new keg king Harrington. Yeah that's right."

"Yeah eat it Harrington." Another joined in, both completely ignoring the fact that a girl beat them all.

Nancy didn't want to see Harrington and Hargrove stare each other down, so she wondered off to find herself a drink.

"What's in this?" she asked curiously.

"Pure fuel!" A guy who just down a cup yelled. "Pure fuel!"

"Hey woah, take it easy. Nance, Nance, Nance." Steve said walking up as she downed a cup herself, but Nancy shook his hand off.

"We're just being stupid teenagers for the night. Wasn't that the deal?" She was obviously annoyed as she downed another cup and turned her back on him, walking off to dance.

….

"No, no, no." Steve grabbed Nancy's arm as she went to refill yet another cup.

"Get off!"

"No, you've had enough, okay?"

"Screw you!" She spat at him.

"Nance, I'm serious. Hey. Stop. No, I'm serious. Put it down." He held the cup, trying to take it from her.

"No!"

"Nance, put it down."

"Steve! Stop." she slurred

"Stop. stop."

His hand slipped, spilling the red contents right down her white shirt.

Nancy gasped. "What the hell?" she glared before rushing off to the bathroom.

"Nance?"

He tried following her into the bathroom, but she just slammed the door in his face. This was when she noticed Kayla lying in the tub sobbing quietly. Anyone else would have missed it and thought her sleeping but even in her drunk state she had noticed. Those first few nights, Kayla had spent at her house and they had been full of nightmares. She wasn't to know that they were still an issue for Kayla. Her mum had let Kayla stay because of what happened to her parents but after the third night of sleeplessness, Mrs Wheeler had asked her to leave politely. Kayla understood and didn't hold any grudges. But ever since, Nancy had found it easier to see when Kayla was upset. Kayla hated it. She didn't like letting anyone close.

"Hey, Kayla? Are you okay?"

She stiffened. "Mmm fine." She slurred. Obviously shocked at being caught off guard. Maybe she was drunker than she realised. Kayla tried to correct her makeup before turning to look at Nancy and stopped in her tracks. Was that blood! Her chest tightened up, breathing was becoming difficult. Kayla stared at Nancy's red stained shirt unable to look away, unable to think of anything but her parents' blood-stained corpses as the Demogorgon chewed on their cooling flesh. Like a coward she had run and left them there. Maybe they might have been alive? Maybe she could have saved them? These were questions she had to live with for the rest of her life. Kayla couldn't breathe. She needed air. This had been a stupid idea, she thought to herself as she scrambled out of the bath.

"I'm going home…" She managed before practically throwing herself out of the door, almost knocking Steve over. She briefly heard Nancy yelling something about bullshit at Steve before she disappeared into the night.

….

Her fingers were numb. She hadn't thought to pick up a coat before she left. Why hadn't she just asked Steve for a lift home? She wondered. He could have driven back to the party afterwards. She tucked her fingers under her arms as she stumbled again, her teeth starting to chatter. Why had she been so fucking stupid, why had she gone! Kayla tripped again. Stupid fucking red heels! She took them off, instead choosing to carry them. Sure, she'd get cold feet but better than breaking an ankle, right? Besides she was likely to get hypothermia before she got frostbite, right? Kayla heard the rumble of an engine behind her in the distance. Maybe she should ask for a lift? No. Too risky given her current state. It was what? A thirty more-minute walk? She could make it, probably, she thought, keeping her head down and hoped the driver didn't notice her, or even better maybe it would hit her.

Unfortunately, luck just didn't seem to be with her as she heard the car slow down to match her pace. Looking over she resisted the urge to groan. Casually keeping pace with her was a beautiful blue, 1979 Chevrolet Camaro LT.

"Need a lift Doll?"