"So do I get my uniform when I get there or what?" I asked Bob as I clambered into the passenger seat.

"Uniform?" He questioned, starting the car. "What uniform?"

"You know… My school uniform?" I snorted, going to kick my legs up onto the dashboard only for him to knock them down again.

"Hawkins High School doesn't have a uniform." He explained. "Do British schools have uniforms then?"

"Yeah it's pretty standard in almost all of the schools back home." I shut my eyes as I realised I had called the UK home. It wasn't home for me anymore, mum and Oliver had made that clear when they shipped me off to Indiana. "Well I'm going to need to get more clothes, I didn't get the chance to pack my entire wardrobe. I used to wear a uniform 5 out of seven days of the week, so I didn't have much variety to begin with anyway. I can maybe squeeze one and a half weeks of outfits out of my clothes but I don't want people to think I'm skanky or something."

"Tell you what, if you manage to make even one friend today- I'll give you some money to buy a whole new wardrobe." Bob bargained as we pulled up to what I assumed was Hawkins High School. It wasn't too far so I wouldn't have issues walking once I knew the way.

"It'll be tough but I'll try." I laughed, opening the door and exiting the car.

"Love you kiddo! Good luck!" He called out just before I closed the door.

"You too Bob." I sighed, clutching my backpack as he sped off. I peered up at Hawkins High School and I was immediately filled with a sense of dread. I felt like I'd just stepped into a stereotypical American sitcom and I was 'the new girl'. Taking a deep breath, I started to make my way into the school, not knowing where I was going or what I should be doing.

"Aubrey Newby, right?" A cheery girl bounded up to me. Her blonde ponytail was so tight it looked like it would rip her face off if tugged on. She answered her own question before I got the chance to. "Of course you are! I know everyone in this school and it's not often we get new kids! I'm Angela but you can call me Angie!"

"I assume you're the welcome wagon?" I asked, though I already knew the answer. Judging by her preppy look and attitude, she wouldn't have touched me with a stick unless she had to. I wasn't exactly the most approachable person in the world.

"Oh my god! You're accent is so precious! Guys you have to hear this!" She gasped while waving over the two girls she had previously been standing with. "Say something again!"

"Umm… Something... again?" I stuttered out, my mind drawing on a blank when it came to saying something meaningful or well thought out.

"You're like, so funny!" One of the girls giggled, her voice was sickeningly sweet and lacked any sincerity.

"Look, can we just get this over with? I'm not some performing circus monkey and if you keep gawking whenever I say something I'll start charging per word." I huffed with an eye roll for added attitude. In perfect sync, they're brainless smiles turned to scowls.

"No need to be such a bitch about it." Angie hissed, shoving a stack of paper in my arms. "That's your schedule, locker number, code, and a map. I was kind enough to cross your classrooms off with an X so you can find them easier. You're welcome." Without giving me a chance to respond or ask any more questions she stalked off, the two girls following her.

"I though British people we're supposed to be nice?" I overhead one of the two asking.

"No that's Canadians." The sickeningly sweet one responded. With that they turned a corner and were out of my sight.

Thankfully, my locker was fairly close by and easy to locate. I opened it to find a stack of textbooks inside, so I plucked out the ones that I needed up until lunch according to my schedule. When I closed my locker I turned around to lean against it, yawning fairly loudly. My tiredness was probably a mixture of jet lag and the fact that I struggled to sleep on the couch. Too many new smells for me to concentrate. I looked down at my watch, confused when it read 4:30. I soon realised I hadn't changed the time yet, and looked around the hallway for a clock as a reference. I knew Indiana was 5 hours behind the UK, but I wanted to double check so I wouldn't fuck up my schedule completely.

As I peered around I spotted an unmistakably recognisable teen boy pinning up MISSING posters. I debated approaching him or not, and in that time he looked up and our eyes met. A small smile of recognition spread across his face.

"The cat had a hard time dragging me in, but here I am!" I grinned, walking up to him. "One person goes missing, and another appears… Wow that was wildly inappropriate of me, sorry!" I winced, realising what I had just said and who I had said it to.

"You haven't changed a bit Bree." He laughed ever so slightly, though it didn't do much to mask his sadness. I pulled him into a quick hug which he hesitantly returned. "I heard whispers of a new student but I didn't expect it to be you."

"Yeah, my mum got sick of my shit and decided I was gonna be Bob's problem from now on." I loosely explained. We went silent for a second before I gestured at the posters in his arms. "You need some help today? I can just say I got hopelessly lost on my way to my first class?"

"It's okay, thank you though." He sighed, clutching the posters closer. "I'm going to my dad's next so…"

"Urgh Lonnie." I spat, remembering the older man bitterly. I remembered my last summer in Hawkins when Jonathan had been forced by his father to kill a bunny rabbit. I spent a full week hugging him whenever he'd burst into tears at the memory. "He and your mum finally called it quits then?" He nodded in response. "You sure you don't want me to come over there and beat him up?"

"As much as I would like to see someone kick the crap out of him, and I don't doubt that you could easily do it with your eyes closed, it's probably best if I go alone." He told me. "You should probably find your first class before the bell rings."

"You're right." I nodded, giving him one more hug. "When Will is found well and healthy, which he will be, we should hang out again." He smiled and agreed before we parted ways, pointing out his phone number was on the missing posters if I ever needed to call.

As I walked away, I saw another girl approach Jonathan with a determined look on her face, leaving behind a group of teens who were whispering and pointing at the scene unfolding. One of the males nudged his friends as I passed.

"Looks like freak managed to trick the new girl into feeling sorry for him." He jeered, earning what could only be described as an evil witch cackle from the girl who looked like she was growing out of his arm, and an eye roll from the other boy. "Or maybe she's a freak like him. Huh new girl?" I tried to tune it out, but he stepped in front of me. "It's rude to ignore someone when they're talking to you."

"It's also rude to call people names, yet here you are." I hissed in response. "Now why don't you get out of my way before I make you get out of my way?"

"What's your problem?" He scoffed, clearly not taking my threat seriously.

"Currently? You are." I answered pushing him out the way with some mild force. He was about to grab my shoulder when the other guy spoke up.

"Leave her Tommy." He told him. 'Tommy' scoffed again before making his way back to the girl, slinking his arm back around her waist.

Two arguments and I hadn't even had my first lesson. That's got to be some record.

I managed to avoid any confrontation during my classes, glaring at teachers who looked like the 'why don't you stand in front of the class and introduce yourself!' type, thus avoiding the "I'm Aubrey, yes I'm new, yes I have a different accent to you all, no I'm not going to be your friend" speech I had prepared as a just in case.

Before I knew it, it was the end of the day and I joined the herd of students making their way out. I spotted the unmistakable baby poo brown car and made my way towards it.

"Hey kiddo! How was your first day?" Bob questioned as I threw my bag, now heavier with added textbooks and homework, into the back seat.

"Pretty standard first day, classes were pretty easy because I'd learnt a lot of what we were studying a few months ago." I explained, buckling my seatbelt in.

"Did you make any friends?" He then asked and I winced, realising I had probably made some enemies but no friends. "I'll take that face as a no. It's a shame, I'd gotten you a gift to say congratulations too."

"Wait no!" I gasped, not wanting to miss out on whatever the gift was. "I saw Jonathan Byers again! We hugged and everything! I even offered to beat Lonnie up for him! That's a friend, right?" Bob chuckled in response.

"You know what? I'll take it." He told me, reaching into the backseat to pull something out. "It's from work so I got a staff discount, I remembered how much you loved singing and dancing as a kid but I didn't see anything like this with your stuff." He handed me a box containing a record player and I was almost reduced to tears. "Do… Do you not like it?" He asked, concerned.

"I love it." I smiled, clutching the box close. "I wasn't allowed anything like this in the UK, I was told the noise would disrupt Benji's studies."

"I didn't want to risk getting you any records you might not like, so I figured if you told me the names of 3 I could grab them for you tomorrow?" He offered with a grin, clearly proud that he'd done something right.

"Thank you." I grinned back as he started the car again so we could go home.

Setting up the record player was easier than I'd expected, Bob had done most of the work for me, after all it was part of his job to help others with things like this. The paint on my walls had dried and after a couple of hours with the windows open, the smell had dulled down almost entirely. It was almost 9pm by the time I was fully unpacked and I flopped myself onto the bed.

"It's getting late, what do you want for dinner?" Bob asked, popping his head in.

"Chinese?" I asked hopefully, I had my regular order for the local Chinese in the UK, but it would take a few tries to figure out what I liked here.

"Fine, but this won't become a habit! Just a 'Welcome to Hawkins'." He said sternly, pointing his finger as if it would solidify his words.

"That's a lie and you know it, it'll be a weekly thing by next month!" I laughed, he quickly joined in, the stern facade fading as fast as it had appeared.

"It looks really good in here kiddo." He told me once we'd calmed down. "I'll have to get you to redecorate the rest of the house at this rate."

"I was thinking Unicorns in the living room and Trolls in the bathroom!" I smirked, he laughed again as he started to make his way out of my room. "Wait!" I called out, hopping off of my bed and grabbing a slip of paper from my nightstand. "Record requests." I explained, handing it over to Bob. I'd managed to narrow down 3 that I'd wanted for a long time, having heard a lot of the songs on them on the radio and when I went to parties with my 'friends'.

Billy Joel's "The Stranger"

Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours"

David Bowie's "Heroes"

"Good choices." Bob nodded with a smile as he read the paper. "Consider it done."

Maybe, just maybe, living in Hawkins wouldn't be terrible.

When it came to lunch the next day, I got there early and picked a table. I sent glares at people who dared to approach me. Bob had packed me lunch that consisted of a ham and cheese sandwich, and a packet of crisps called "Lays". The 'cheese' was orange and looked like plastic so I quickly discarded it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone approach me and prepared myself for a glare.

"Aubrey, right?" The girl sat down and I realised it was the same one who had approached Jonathan earlier that day. "I'm Nancy."

"You know, I will never get used to you guys pronouncing my name like that." I smirked as she sat down opposite me. "Awh-bree" I attempted in my best American accent. "Reminds me of my childhood, I lost my accent pretty quickly when I moved, my mum hated that she was looked at strangely so she would force us to put on British accents until they eventually stuck."

"How do you say it?" Nancy questioned, I could tell that she was genuinely interested.

"Orh-bree. With more of an 'or' rather than an 'aw'." I explained, taking a bite of my sandwich. "I assume you're not here to discuss pronunciation with me. What do you want?" She seemed quite taken aback by my brash tone.

"I can't find my friend today, and none of my other friends seem to care. I was wondering if you'd maybe seen her in one of your classes." She explained. "Her name is Barb, she's got short red hair, freckles, and wears glasses." I tried to think back, I hadn't paid much attention to my fellow students but I couldn't recall seeing her… Although…

"When the teacher read out names in Maths- sorry, Math- he called out 'Barbra' but no one answered. I'm sorry I don't know more than that." I shot her a small, sad smile. She seemed to care about her friend, that and the fact that she appeared to have been nice to Jonathan this morning while ignoring the assholes making fun of him, I decided she wasn't too bad.

"I see… Thanks anyway." Nancy sighed, making a move to stand up again.

"Hey!" I called just as she was about to walk away. "I'll tell you what, I'll help you look for her if you take me to the mall at some point." I offered, she smiled and nodded. We planned to meet in front of the school at the end of the day. I highly doubted Bob would know what sort of shops had the best clothing and deals for a teenage girl, that and I intended on purchasing some party clothes that I highly doubt he'd approve of. Nancy seemed like a nice girl who wasn't too quick to judge and would go along with things without too much protest, so she would be a safe person to go shopping with.

Once I'd finished my food, which didn't take long, I made my way to the closest phone that I knew of. Bob had given me the number of his work just in case.

"Hello, Radioshack, Bob speaking. How can I help?" Perfect, I wouldn't have to deal with talking to someone else first. I hated phone calls where I had to wait while whoever answered went to fetch the person I'd asked to speak to.

"Hey! Bob!" I responded.

"Aubrey? Is everything okay? Are you okay? Do you need me to pick you up?"

"Everything is fine, don't worry! I actually called to say that you don't need to pick me up today, I'm going to hang out with someone after school for a bit."

"You made a friend? Who is it?"

"Nancy, I didn't catch her last name but it's a small town so-"

"Wheeler! Good family, good choice." He told me, cutting me off. I figured since it was a small town he would probably know someone just by their first name.

"Great! So yeah you don't need to pick me up, I'll either get a lift from someone or I'll call you from wherever I am and see if you can get me later."

"Sounds like a plan! I gotta get back to work though, see you later kiddo! Stay safe and make good choices!"

"I will, promise!" With that he had hung up. It was perfect timing as the bell rang, signalling that we had 5 minutes to get to our next class. I grabbed the books I'd need from my locker and made my way to my next lesson.

At the end of the day I met Nancy outside the school as we'd planned. She waved me over to the phone she stood by.

"I'm going to call Barb's parents, double check that she hasn't just stayed home today." She explained and I nodded.

"Sounds like a good plan, the best place to look for someone is normally their own home." I smirked, leaning against the wall as she called the number from memory.

"Hi, uh, Ms. Holland, it's Nancy… I'm good." She said, I couldn't hear what 'Ms. Holland' was saying in response so I leaned in a little closer until I could just about make it out. "Um, I was just wondering, uh, is Barb there?"

"Mmm No, she hasn't come home yet." Ms. Holland answered.

"But she did come home, right? After the vigil?"

"No, she said she was staying with you last night."

"Right, yes. She did, sorry." I rolled my eyes as Nancy stuttered her way through the rest of the conversation. "I meant, did she come home this morning? I think she left some textbooks and she was gonna go pick them up."

"Oh, um, no, I haven't seen her." Nancy widened her eyes and looked at me for help, but I didn't know what to say.

"Do- Do you know what? I just remembered she's at the library!" She ended up telling Ms Holland, who didn't seem to believe her.

"Nancy, will you please have her call me as soon as you find her?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I will. Sorry to bother you." With that, Nancy hung up and took a deep breath.

"You're a terrible liar, I'll have to give you some lessons one day." I nudged, trying to lighten her mood slightly. This was the second person I know of to go missing in Hawkins.

"Yeah, are you much better?" She responded, smiling ever so slightly.

"I once managed to convince my Science teacher to give me an A on a project I didn't even do." I told her proudly.

"How did you manage to do that?" She asked, eyes wide.

"I just told her that I'd left it on her desk and gave her a rough explanation of what the project was, she was convinced that she'd lost it herself and felt bad so she gave me an A." I explained, recalling the incident.

"Wow, that's pretty-" She began, but seemed to have gotten distracted by something. "Hold on…" I glanced over to where she was looking to find the group of assholes confronting Jonathan. There was an added redheaded girl with them, and for a moment I thought it might have been Barb, but then I remembered Nancy said she had short hair and while Nancy had some sort of reaction to what was going on, it wasn't the 'holy shit I thought you were dead!' reaction you'd have when you found a missing friend.

"Hey, man." One said, getting off of the car which I could only assume was Jonathan. It looked like they had been waiting for him.

"What's going on?" He was clearly scared of what was about to happen.

"Nicole here was, uh, telling us about your work." The boy who appeared to be the ringleader said. I could tell that his hair was bigger than his ego, and that was saying something.

"We've heard great things." The girl from the hallway yesterday piped up, I hated everything about her already, I dubbed her 'Bitch'.

"Yeah, sounds cool." The boy who seemed to be attached to her 24/7 spoke, I dubbed him 'Bitch's bitch boy"

"And we'd just love to take a look. You know, as connoisseurs of art." Hair boy said, taking steps towards Jonathan. We could only just about hear what they were saying, or at least I could. I wasn't sure how much Nancy was picking up on. She hadn't yet made a move towards them so I stayed with my feet planted by her side, even if I wanted to storm over there and break all of their necks.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Jonathan managed to stammer out, trying to take a step back. Bitch's bitch boy grabbed his bag before he could move and I clenched my fists, Nancy still hadn't moved and if she didn't soon, I would. "Hey. Please, give me my bag."

"Man, he is totally trembling. He must really have something to hide." Big hair taunted as Bitch's bitch boy threw Jonathan's bag at him. He automatically started to go through it and Nancy finally began making her way towards the group, I pushed myself off the wall and joined her. "Here we go. Ah Here we go. Oh, man."

Bitch's bitch boy and Bitch herself began grabbing the pictures Big hair had pulled out of the bag.

"I was looking for my brother." Jonathan tried to explain as they rifled through the images.

"No. No, this is called stalking." Big hair said as Nancy and I got there.

"What's going on?" Nancy asked, I stood slightly behind her, deciding not to talk because I knew I'd end up causing a physical fight.

"Here's the starring lady… and… that one." Bitch's bitch boy's smirk turned into a frown when he saw me behind Nancy, I rolled my eyes at him, continuing to keep my mouth shut.

"What?" Nancy asked, confused by the scene unfolding before us.

"This creep was spying on us last night. He was probably gonna save this one for later." Bitch handed Nancy a picture, I peered over her shoulder out of curiosity but quickly looked away when I realised what it was.

"See, you can tell that he knows it was wrong, but Man, that's the thing about perverts It's hardwired into 'em. You know, they just can't help themselves." Big hair said bitterly, ripping up pictures as Bitch's bitch boy laughed. "So we'll just have to take away his toy."

"Steve." Nancy said to big hair, I assumed that was his name, it was either that or some weird safe word.

"No, please, not the camera." Jonathan pleaded, had he actually taken those pictures, that was wrong- but breaking his camera wasn't the right way to go about the situation.

"No, no, wait, wait Tommy, Tommy. It's okay. Here you go, man." Steve held out Jonathan's camera to him, and for a second I thought that maybe he wasn't so bad. Then he dropped it. I watched Jonathan's face fall, he had clearly had the same train of thought.

The group of assholes started to walk off, ripping pictures and dropping them as they went. Nancy bent over to pick up and study one of the images, but she was called by the group of assholes.

"Aubrey I-" She began, shoving the pieces of torn image into her pocket.

"It's okay, go with them. I'll stick around here for a bit." I told her with a small smile, she nodded and walked off with the group. She hadn't done anything wrong here, I couldn't fault her for it. Jonathan however. "Dude! It's one thing to TAKE the pictures but to develop them too?! At school?!" He looked down at his feet as I berated him.

"I know I just…" He trailed off, not having much of an argument. I sighed and picked up his broken camera.

"What you did was wrong, but what they did was also wrong." I handed it over to him. "Take this as a lesson though, it's not worth it to mess around with people like that. They're full of teen angst bullshit and they'll pick on whoever they think will work as a stepladder to get up the social food chain." He nodded in understanding as he put his camera and bag and the scraps of photos he'd salvaged from the wind into his car.

"Do you… Need a ride home?" He asked, looking around and not seeing Bob's car anywhere. I shook my head.

"Thanks but no thanks, I think I'll hang around here for a while and then maybe walk home." I told him.

I waved as he drove off. A sudden strong breeze swept my short hair around and into my face, I shivered and clutched my leather jacket closer. Regret washed over me as the wind continued to pick up, I should have accepted the ride. It was growing increasingly clearer that Nancy wasn't going to come back. Just as I started to walk away from the school I heard her call my name. I turned around and gave her a small smile.

"I was worried that you might have left already, I'm glad you didn't." She told me as she caught up.

"You're lucky I have nothing better to do and no friends." I joked, she looked mildly pleased at this.

"Well I'll be your friend." She told me, and I believed her whole heartedly.

Nancy and I walked down the road she told me would take us to where she last saw Barb. Along the way she froze at the sight of a car parked on the side of the road.

"Is it hers?" I asked, though from the look on her face I didn't need an answer. We made our way towards the car, Nancy looked inside for any sign that maybe the girl had slept inside it overnight, but apparently it looked untouched. We began calling out Barb's name, just in case she was somewhere nearby, hurt and unable to walk. Though there was no response.

After 10 minutes we continued to what I learnt was Steve's house, apparently there had been a lowkey party with Steve, and the bitch couple, whose names I learnt were Tommy and Carol. Nancy had dragged Barb along as some sort of safety net, she cut her hand. They had a small argument and Nancy had told Barb she'd get a ride home later. That was the last she'd seen of the missing girl.

We got to Steve's house and Nancy let herself in through the open gate, reassuring me that his parents were away so they wouldn't be caught trespassing.

"Barb was here, look." She pulled out a part one of Jonathan's pictures. It showed Barb on the side of the pool. Just as she showed me, we heard a rustling from the forest next to the house. Our eyes met and we nodded.. Every inch of my body was telling me to run away, but I put on a brave face and followed Nancy towards the noise.

The noises got louder the further in we got, and we drew closer together for protection. In a split second, something sped in front of us. I say something because I had no idea what it was, it was like nothing I had seen before, and it moved faster than any animal I knew of.

We both turned and ran, but Nancy tripped. Without thinking of my own safety, I grabbed her hand and pulled her up, our hands stayed connected as we ran.

It wasn't until we reached a residential area that we let go of our death grips on one another. We stood in the middle of the street, catching our breath. In a split second Nancy started sobbing, I wasn't sure how to react so I just pulled her into a hug as she cried onto my shoulder.

This was definitely not how I expected to spend my Tuesday afternoon.