"First day of school! Get up, Get up!" Sarah awoke to another flashlight to her face.
"Eleven, stop with the flashlight. What time is it?" Sarah covered her eyes with her elbow.
"Two minutes before sunrise."
"Of course, what time is school?"
"School starts at eight. We have a couple hours."
Sarah yawned, "Alright, I'm going to take a shower and get some breakfast."
"Ok, when you're done I'll help you get your stuff in order."
Sarah hopped into the shower, it was much easier to wash her hair now. Getting ready had become so easy and comfortable. Sarah was beginning to feel safe again, she had friends and a family, now she was going to school like a normal girl. It was exciting, but Sarah wished most of all that she'd have emotions. She could tell that everyone around her felt a little awkward, she could tell that she didn't appreciate everything as much as she could've. But the doctor said her feeling could return and she was determined to get them back.
After she got ready Eleven helped her organize her school work and gave her a prep of what high school was like. Luckily for them Hawkins was a small town, so the high school was about the same size as the middle school, and the elementary school really. The only thing different was a bus. Most kids rode the bus to high school, some to middle school and hardly any to elementary. Sarah didn't care though, she was free, and she was getting a real life.
Sarah anxiously awaited the bus, just to find that it was smelly, old and a gross color if yellow. On the bus were a couple kids she didn't recognize, but she expected more.
"Where is everyone?" Sarah asked looking around.
"Shh, not so loud." Eleven said, "Looking around the bus, she knew kids would be listening. She and Sarah sat in a seat near the back, "There are multiple stops, the next stop will be the one that Mike, Lucas and Dustin. After that there will be a stop, Max's, and then the stop after that will be Will's."
The bus stopped and Mike, Lucas and Dustin were the first to step on. Dustin saw Eleven sitting in the back like usual, but she was sitting next to someone new. It was a girl, she had golden blonde straight hair cut short, just above her shoulders, it framed her face and gracefully moved as she did. Her hair was parted to the side and she had side bangs, but the flowed into her frame making the bangs more hidden, mysterious, beautiful.
Dustin sat across from the girls and suddenly it clicked, "Sarah?" He said completely disbelievingly.
Sarah blushed and reached up to fiddle with her hair, "Yeah."
"You cut your hair."
Sarah's face turned to a deep crimson, "Yeah, I, um, got bored of long hair. Dad got me an appointment last night."
"You look...great."
The bus stopped.
"Ok, scooch over mr. In-Love," Mike said, "You too Sarah."
Sarah scrunched her face, "Why?"
Lucas rolled his eyes, "They do this everyday, Mike sits across from El and when we get to Max's stop, they sit next to each other."
"I heard my name." Max walked up and sat by Lucas, "Sarah? New cut? It's cute."
"Thanks."
"Hey, move please?" Mike asked, annoyed.
Sarah reluctantly got up, but sitting next to Dustin wasn't so bad. Once the bus stopped each student got off, there Sarah found a lot more kids than she anticipated. She immediately got separated from her friends. She knew she should be terrified, new place, new world, but she wasn't, of course.
"Hey." A young boy with curly brown hair said, he was taller than Sarah and his hair was like Dustin's, but it wasn't as big and not quite as curly.
She wasn't exactly sure how to reply, "Um, hi."
"Are you lost?"
"Kind of, I was with some people, but I got lost…"
The boy smiled, "That's ok I'll help you." He reached out a hand, "My name is Troy, Troy Harrington."
Sarah shook his hand, "I'm Sarah, Sarah Hopper."
Troy's eyes widened, "You're the sheriff's daughter, the one who went missing."
Sarah grew red with embarrassment, "Um, yeah."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-you seem kind of-uh."
"Oh no,, when I went missing it was, uh traumatic. A lot of things happened, including the loss of my ability to feel."
Troy looked at the ground, "Oh, I'm so sorry."
"It's ok, the doctor said it'll come back to me, it'll just take time."
"That's good, but hey, you clean up nice."
Sarah looked down at her outfit, she was wearing the baggy striped dress shirt, black jeans and her adidas. "Thank you."
"Yeah. Hey do you want me to help you find your next class?"
"Yes please, I have biology."
"Right this way."
As Sarah walked away with Troy; Dustin, Eleven, Lucas, Will, Mike and Max followed from the distance. Dustin's heart sunk a little.
Eleven rubbed his back, "Don't worry, she won't become a bully. She just got stuck in the wrong spot."
Dustin shrugged Eleven away, "Who said I cared anyway?" Dustin then stormed off to his first class, biology.
In biology Sarah and Dustin sat next to each other, which made him extremely happy. In that class their teacher introduced Sarah , earning her a lot of strange looks. Then they worked on an assignment about cells, Sarah was a fast learner and with the help of Dustin she learned the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic faster than most of the other students.
After biology the day flew by and before she knew it, it was lunch break. Hopper packed a lunch in Sarah's pack and as she headed to meet her group for lunch she was interrupted.
"Hey Sarah!" Troy waved Sarah down, "Come eat with us!"
Sarah looked over at Eleven, Dustin, Mike, Will, Max and Lucas, they were all looking at her, expecting her to come. She then looked over at Troy and his group, her dad had said to meet new people, try to be normal. So she headed over and ate with Troy. This time Eleven was heartbroken, granted Sarah didn't know all the crap he had given them throughout their lives. Couldn't she tell that he was a bad person just by looking at him? Apparently not.
Just like the first half of the day, the second half flew by just as fast. Sarah's new backpack was already full of homework and projects, but she didn't care. She felt so normal, it was amazing. As Sarah walked towards the bus, hands holding her backpack straps she heard some very concerning things."
"Hey look it's toothless, but toothless, you're teeth grew in? How much money did your momma spend to make you look like plastic?" This voice sort of sounded like Troy.
"No, he's pretending to be the tooth fairy," This voice was different, but still familiar. "He just steels them from under pillows and sticks them in his mouth."
"Ew, but what about you frog face? What do you and you're freaky psycho girlfriend do when you're alone? Or what about you midnight? You and your man-girlfriend must be pretty crazy."
"You know what, piss off?" It was Will.
"What are you going to do about it zombie boy? Die and come back to life?"
"Troy?"
Troy whipped around, "Oh hey Sarah."
"What are you doing?"
"Oh, you know, just messing with the losers of the school."
"Losers?"
"Yeah, you know, toothless, frog face, psycho freak, midnight, man girl and zombie boy."
"Why are you being mean to them?"
"Because they're losers, duh."
"No, they're my friends and El-Jane is my sister."
Troy's eyes widened, "You're friends with them?! Are you a loser too?"
Sarah paused, she didn't understand why Troy was being such a piece of shit, "Yes, I am. I'd rather be a loser than be you."
Sarah then walked past Troy, butting him with her shoulder and walked with her friends to the bus. As they walked Dustin felt an immense pride, Sarah chose him over a cool kid, the coolest kid. Even if she had chosen him along with many others, he still chose him.