ch. 1

To say Cassie Adams was not happy to be moving was an understatement, to be leaving for her final year of high school sucked. It was her last year, and she was being dragged away to a place where she does not know anyone. Cassie was never the most popular girl in school by any means, and she was happy with that, but she had a great group of friends who she had spent most of her time with from the ninth grade through tenth grade. Cassie was a good student, she liked school enough and she did well in it. That was until her mother passed away while she was in the eleventh grade. This loss completely turned Cassie and her father's life upside down. She ditched her actual friends, and stopped going to class. She had turned to the likes of drugs and alcohol to numb the pain she felt whenever she would think of her mom. As a result she turned to the wrong crowd and was partying every weekend, she began to choose drugs over school. She was fighting with her father, Tom, constantly at home and she began failing her classes. Her father had had enough by the end of the school year and decided to uproot her and bring her back to Hawkins Indiana.

Cassie was born and raised in Hawkins, that was until they moved away when she was in the seventh grade. Just as in California, Cassie loved her friends and school in Hawkins before she left. She was really good friends at the time with Nancy Wheeler and Barbara Holland. Her father got a fancy job out in California, and they left their small town life for the big city. It was hard for her to leave behind the friends she had grown up with but she was happy for her father getting a promotion, and her mother had convinced her that she was going to meet new friends and have great experiences in California as well, Kathy Adams was always the optimist in that family. Of course her mother had been correct, Cassie and her family had an amazing life out in California, until they abruptly lost Kathy and their lives turned upside down.

When her father told her the two of them were moving back to Hawkins, it was not the best conversation. Cassie had come home the night prior in a drunk stupor as she had every other weekend. Her dad was sick of her developed bad habits and he knew he would get nowhere with his daughter that night in her state, so decided it was best to tell her the following morning. The move had been in the works for a couple weeks as he needed a transfer for work, but Cassie was totally blindsided when he presented her with this information. He came into her room that morning and immediately walked over to her window and tore open the curtains to wake up his hungover daughter.

"Time to wake up." He said monotoned putting a glass of water and aspirin on her bedside table, an action he found himself doing more than he should for his underaged daughter.

Cassie groaned and pulled a pillow over her face "It's Saturday, I have nowhere to be, leave me alone" she mumbled, her head aching from the last night's festivities.

"Actually you do have something to do Cassandra, start packing your things, we move to Hawkins in two days." Tom announced before walking out of her room.

This got Cassie's attention, she hopped out of bed and chased her dad out of her bedroom. "Moving? To Hawkins?" she asked. "What do you mean moving?"

Tom crossed his arms over his chest "you know the thing you do where you go from one house to another, sometimes even in another state, like us to Indiana" he said with a smirk.

"Oh, you think you're so funny." Cassie muttered, rolling her eyes. "I'm not going anywhere I have friends! I have school. This is my senior year coming up, I'm not leaving!" she exclaimed.

"Well last time I checked you're barely passing school anymore, and those people you call friends. They aren't, if I'm not mistaken two weekends ago they dropped you off on the porch after a party and left you there intoxicated. Until I saw you outside and had to bring you in. This is non-negotiable go pack." Tom lectured.

" But Dad-" she started.

"Non-negotiable!" he yelled.

Cassie knew there was no winning this fight, her dad had already made up his mind. They were moving to Hawkins and she had no say in the matter, but she could hate him for a little, and give him the silent treatment. She angrily began to pack up her room for the move they were going to make in two days' time.

Tom was worried about his daughter, and he was scared he was going to lose her. He could not lose the most important person in his life, not again, not if he can help it. So he felt the best thing to do was to take her away from her recently chosen life style in California before it got any worse, and she could not be saved. This is how the two of them ended up in a painfully long and quiet car ride to Hawkins Indiana. Tom would take her hatred for as long as she intended to give it as long as it meant not losing his daughter, like he had lost his wife. He knew his daughter was acting up due to the loss of her mother, but how she chose to do it was not acceptable in his books.

Hawkins was going to be a new start for the two of them, they were going to fix their relationship and he was going to get his daughter the help she needed to get back on track. About five minutes after seeing the "Welcome to Hawkins" sign Tom and Cassie pulled into the driveway of their new house. Tom looked over to his daughter with a grin on his face "Home sweet home, Cas" he said.

"We'll see." Cassie mumbled, getting out and slamming the car door behind her, marching to the door to their new house. Although not happy they left California, Cassie had to admit that the house was rather home-y. For a brief second she thought maybe it was good to start over after losing her mom, leaving the other house in California behind that was full of memories of her. She missed her mom, and she knew that she would not be proud of her for her recent actions. Cassie knew she needed to be better, she just did not like the feelings of grief and loss she felt for her mother and preferred the numb feeling brought on by the drugs and alcohol. Cassie never opted for the hard drugs, mostly just weed, she just wanted to feel better, even if it was just for that period of intoxication, not thinking of the repercussions and once she began to feel the loss of her mother, she would restart the intoxication process.

"God I wish you were here Kath." Tom mumbled, looking at a photo of his wife he pulled from his wallet.

He knew he was doing the right thing for the two of them by starting fresh in a familiar place, but Cassie was not going easy on him for his move. Tom himself was just as angry at the world as his daughter was, he just did not show it quite like her: he was angry that he lost his wife, angry that they were never going to be the family they were again, angry at his daughter for the shit she had been pulling since their loss. He wanted his daughter back or at least a better version than the current, so they could have some form of normalcy after the tragedy. Tom felt that maybe moving back Hawkins could help her, a place of better people and community, he just did not know when he was going to see an improved Cassie. He could not blame her for being angry, but he sure wished she did not go down the hole she did.

Tom rubbed his hands down his face and took a couple deep breaths, he then slowly got out of the car and walked into the house after his angry daughter. Things will get better, they have to. He thought to himself as he entered his new house after his daughter.