p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="a643f1dfe3d3bea27788bd58d470b14a"November 6th 1984/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="c2dc9aaad0dd24522e0903d153d3bef0"Riley Higgs drummed his fingers anxiously against the glass display case housing crystal balls and raw crystals, his light brown eyes flicking over the few faces of townspeople in the upstairs store as they wandered round and whispered to their children not to touch anything. He'd made three sales so far for the grand opening day, which kicked off five hours ago and ended in three. A trio of teenage girls sauntered up the staircase; each dressed in light jeans and crop tops, despite the biting chill outside, Riley tried not to stare at the three remarkably pretty girls as they judgingly rolled their eyes over everything. One of them - the redhead with freckles that she'd tried really hard to hide under thick layers of of foundation - picked up a red candle in the shape of a skull and giggled. The trio flitted over to the cash register, the red head plonking the skull candle down and biting her bottom lip as she held back another giggle. "um Hi ladies, thank you for coming up here today. Is this all I can get for you?" Riley stammered, feeling all of their baby blue eyes on him, making him feel warm beneath his navy corduroy shirt. "Yup" The leader of the group - the blonde one with braided hair - popped her lips and showed Riley the pink bubble gum between them. "Okay well nice choice, it smells of cherry and when it burns down to the middle there's a surprise inside," The girls raised one perfectly plucked eyebrow each at him, in unison. "um, it releases another scent - champagne," The girls lifted their heads in small acknowledgement. "That'll be $4 then, please." Now the girls all glanced at each other conspiratorially, making Riley even warmer under his collar. "We aren't actually buying this spooky shit. We wanted to know WHY you're selling it." The third and quietest girl said, the brunette. Riley's brain faltered for a second, "Uh because this is a store, so we sell things?" The blonde laughed in his face, "No shit. We mean WHY are you selling this satanic, devil worshipper shit." Riley stood up straighter, ready to defend his store and his mum's livelihood, "We don't sell anything satanic actually, and we're atheists, so we don't believe in god or the devil. We sell crystals and knickknacks and oddities because people enjoy dipping their toes into the strange and unusual in a harmless way, like lighting a skull candle. If you're not going to buy anything I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The red head huffed as the other two rolled their eyes, "Well maybe there's more weirdos like your family in England, but round here we steer clear of black magic and all that crap" and with that the trio flicked their hair as they each turned away and flitted down the stairs. Riley stuck the candle back in its place and took a gulp from his glass of water, feeling the cold liquid cool down his insides; girls like that made him nervous, not because he was into them, but because he knew how dangerous they could be./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="64bc7ef8f79db689fed0b9d95a8bf82d"Downstairs, the music store was livelier and making over triple the sales that Riley had all day, Sidney and her dad powered through behind the register, whilst Kiara wandered around interacting with customers and going upstairs to help Riley now and then. "I can't tell you how nice it is to have a new music store in town - this place has just been haemorrhaging independent stores for years," An older man with a goatee, grey speckled black hair and three jazz records in his hands said as Paul rung up his items, "Pretty busy too, can't say we don't love a good opening day sale!" Paul laughed as he conversed with the older man. Sidney did her best to keep up with her dad and carry the chit chat with customers the way he did, but she had never been a natural with small talk, or hiding her resting bitch face. When they finally got a break from making sales, Sidney leaned back against the wall and groaned "Are you sure you don't wanna jack in that cushy new job you've got lined up and work here instead? seems like you're a natural salesman." Paul linked an arm over his daughter's shoulder, her hair just tickling his skin in its now DIY bob-style cut she had given herself late last night, "It's all about reading people Sid, you look into their eyes and watch their body language and how they talk, it tells you everything you need to know about a person in under a minute. The best salespeople just reflect what they see back to the customer." Sidney rolled her heavily lined eyes, "Yeah I bet every storekeeper in this town has a PhD in forensic psychology just like you too. Seriously, I can guarantee once you stop helping out here and Kiara is upstairs, the sales will crash with just me here." Paul shook his daughter lightly by the shoulders, looking into her deep brown eyes, the eyes of her mother Sally, "Well then you'll just have to spend the rest of your life paying off the loans we took out for this place then. Believe in yourself kid." At that moment, the phone in the backroom started trilling, so Paul excused himself to answer it, leaving Sidney alone at the register to deal with the line of customers that had gathered out of nowhere. From across the store, Kiara saw her stepdaughter struggling to deal with the growing line of customers by herself, she hoped that working here would give Sidney more confidence in herself - just as she hoped the same for her son upstairs, but she could see when her kid needed help. "Why don't you go see if anyone needs help out on the floor, i'll deal with this" Kiara was suddenly at Sidney's side, her long magenta skirt swishing around her legs. "Uh yeah sure, thanks." Sidney awkwardly handed her customer over to Kiara before power walking to the opposite end of the store, stopping behind a tall shelf to hide and catch her breath. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="b25286982b30503d6c1be14883aab84a"A few feet away from her, Sidney caught a glimpse of light blue denim clad legs, and saw a large hand shoved into the packpocket of those jeans that really accentuated the surprisingly nice ass of the man standing there checking out the Depeche Mode records. Unable to take her eyes away, she looked the man up and down a few more times, unable to see his face because he was turned slightly away from her, but she could definitely see the biceps beneath his short sleeved white crew neck tucked into those jeans, and the caramel coloured curls that sat just on his shoulders in a style that had clearly taken some time to create, but was meant to look effortless. Just then, a trio of girls in light jeans and crop tops ran down the stairs laughing and whispering to each other, Sidney caught the words "Freak" and "Satanic" and immediately set off to run up the stairs and check on Riley, but as she strode forward the guy with the nice ass stepped back and they almost collided. "Hey watch yourse-" nice ass guy grunted out, whipping his head around and settling his gaze on Sidney, he didn't have to tilt his head down very much to look at her since she wasn't that much shorter than him. "Sorry I just gotta get past-" Sidney forced herself to tear her eyes away from the guy's face - which was just as nice to look at as his ass in those jeans. "You work here don't you? saw you up front when I walked in." He said, more as a statement than a question. Sidney kept a tight lid on the pinkness threatening to spread across her cheeks at the thought of being noticed by this model of a man. "Um yeah, my family owns this place...Can I help you with anything?" The guy did a little nod in response, slowly tracing his bright eyes over Sidney in a way that made her feel like she was on a stage infront of thousands of people. "Oh my god Billy, what're you doing in here?" The blonde girl from the laughing trio squealed, noticing the two of them but swiftly ignoring Sidney. The guy - Billy - immediately turned his attentions to her, leaving Sidney feeling a little empty without it. "Thought I'd come see what the fuss was about, lots of people been hyping this place up for a while now, seems to be alright." The blonde girl blew a bubble with her gum and pierced it with her tongue, "You should totally go upstairs and check out the shit they're trying to sell -" Sidney sharply inhaled, her original feeling of defensiveness for Riley kicking back in, "If you've got a problem with our stores, don't come back, but if you would like a private session with our psychic to tell you what a waste the rest of your life's gonna be after you've peaked in highschool, feel free to stop by upstairs." The blonde girl gave Sidney a deathly glare but didn't say a word, just rolled her blue eyes and leaned into Billy, "You coming to Tanya's later for the party?" the redhead lifted her eyes towards them at the sound of her name. Billy gave the blonde girl a devilish smile, looking deep into her eyes, "Sure will, see you ladies later." With that the trio exited the store and Billy lingered his eyes on their backsides just long enough for Sidney to complete her assessment of him - he was a player who thought he was god's gift to the female species. "You going to the highschool here then?" he unexpectedly asked Sidney, returning those eyes to hers. "Um, yeah. We start Monday," she wasn't sure what else to say to him but Billy pursed his lips and nodded to himself, "Well I'll see you round then" before leaving the store without buying anything. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="858c19a173eecde0ec0df7408b494d16"An hour before closing time for both stores, a gang of teenage boys wandered in, all dressed in dark colours except for the shortest one, who wore a light green open shirt over a white tee and a blue cap. There were six of them in total and Kiara decided to stay downstairs in the music store to keep an eye on them; she wasn't judging them off their looks, they reminded her of Sidney with their band shirts on but you could never be too careful. Sidney was out back, leaning against the cold brick wall and smoking a cigarette she'd taken from Kiara's 'emergency pack'; her dad was dead against smoking cigarettes and Kiara had quit not long after they married, but she knew Sidney secretly smoked too when she was stressed or anxious, so she kept a pack in her handbag just in case Sidney needed one, keeping it secret from Paul too. Sidney crushed the butt with her heavy brown boot and popped a strong mint into her mouth, going back into the store just in time to catch sight of a boy wearing a familiar looking blue cap as he hopped up the stairs after his friends who she didn't see. "Hey, you good to hold the fort here for a bit? I'm gonna head up and give Riley a hand for the last hour." Kiara said, her eyes lingering on the staircase. Sidney looked around the music store, most of the flood of customers had died down now and she felt more comfortable on her own since the ones left all looked the same age as her dad "Sure, I'll be fine." A few of the remaining customers left without buying anything, but those who did barely engaged with any of the polite chit chat Sidney tried to start up, they said hi and looked over her Twisted Sister shirt which she'd added splashes of bleach to, saw the studded leather choker on her throat and said nothing else to her other than a weak "thanks" when she handed over their change. Sidney knew by now not to take it to heart because even back home in England - the birthplace of heavy metal - she got the same looks from people. With her head tucked as she closed up the cash register after the sale, she didn't see the person standing on the other side of the desk, his voice surprised her, "Fashion choices like that will generally lead to those kinda reactions from people round here." Sidney lifted her head to see a guy, shorter than Billy, wearing a leather jacket with a patch clad denim vest over it. The guy had long and messy curly hair, which definitely hadn't been styled in the mirror, and a slight mischievous smirk on his pale lips. All of this with the Motorhead tee that was haphazardly tucked into his dark jeans told Sidney this guy was probably one of those snotty metal elitists, the kinda man who see's a girl wearing any band tee and makes her take a pop-quiz on the spot to prove she's a poser if she doesn't know the name of the song that the drummer wrote in nursery school and was never recorded on any albums but if you were a 'real fan' you'd know it. "I mean, dress however you like, I just wanna warn you that people round here can be jerks to people who are different." Sidney swallowed, desperately searching for a quick and witty response, his second sentence had kinda blindsided her, she wasn't expecting the hint of concern she sensed in his tone. "What makes you think I'm different?" was all she managed. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="a82729352e9ae717535e5e49bca3f8f9"The guy rested his hands on the desk between them, she caught sight of the heavy silver rings adorning his long fingers, and gave him another once over. He didn't have the same dominating beauty as Billy, but he was cute, his teeth flashed anytime he smirked and his cheekbones were the most conventionally beautiful features of his face. "Uh just don't see many chicks in Hawkins who look like you do. Maybe its real or maybe you just like the look, either way it makes you a target here." Sidney swallowed again, feeling an odd connection blossoming between her and this stranger, "Well, thanks for the heads up. Guess I'll wear my pink shellsuit to school then." The stranger's eyes lit up a little, he leaned in over the desk inadvertently as he opened his mouth to say "You go to the high-" but the loud noise of multiple legs trundling down the stairs and voices chattering excitedly cut through his sentence as the other five boys exited the store upstairs, each of them carrying a small paper bag. "Eddie - dude you gotta check it out up there its sick! look at this candle!" The blue cap boy held up one of the cherry and champagne scented skull candles from his bag, showing it off to Eddie. "Nice find Henderson, you ladies been having fun shopping then?" he ruffled the boy's hair and the rest of group rolled their eyes at him, "Seriously man, its really neat up there," another boy said - black hair slicked back against his head and his round cheeks meeting his eyes when he grinned, he looked to Sidney "This is my favourite store now, everything you could want in one place, its awesome." Eddie rested a hand on the larger guy's shoulder, and he backed away from the desk, closing his mouth. "You sure about that G? I thought the gamestore was your favourite in this shitty town?" Eddie asked him, the other boys all answered at the same time, "Its a tie." Sidney laughed inwardly, leaning into the desk and speaking up, "Damn what does this gamestore have that we don't - other than games." The boys all looked at her in amazement, she saw them all gulp at the same time too. The tallest one, with long wavy black hair answered, "They have the biggest range of DnD gear in the state." Sidney nodded, knowing the game he spoke of vaguely, an idea sparking in her mind. "Well, if you guys think upstairs is cool and you play DnD, you should ask my brother up there to join you sometime, he loves that game." The boys all looked to Eddie, none of them saying a word. "Hmm is that so? And will this brother of yours be at the highschool too on Monday?" Sidney nodded and he replied, "Well I guess we'll find him there then, see if he has what it takes to join Hellfire." Before Sidney could ask what the hell that meant, Kiara came down the stairs ringing a bell and announcing the end of the grand opening day sale, she directed last customers towards Sidney and guided people out of the store, shaking hands with a few witchy looking women who skipped down the stairs behind her. There was suddenly a line of people waiting for Sidney to ring them up, and she got so distracted she didn't get the the chance to say bye to Eddie or his gang, but she did manage to steal a final glance to his backside as he walked outside, yeah that was nice too. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="c2dc9aaad0dd24522e0903d153d3bef0"Riley Higgs drummed his fingers anxiously against the glass display case housing crystal balls and raw crystals, his light brown eyes flicking over the few faces of townspeople in the upstairs store as they wandered round and whispered to their children not to touch anything. He'd made three sales so far for the grand opening day, which kicked off five hours ago and ended in three. A trio of teenage girls sauntered up the staircase; each dressed in light jeans and crop tops, despite the biting chill outside, Riley tried not to stare at the three remarkably pretty girls as they judgingly rolled their eyes over everything. One of them - the redhead with freckles that she'd tried really hard to hide under thick layers of of foundation - picked up a red candle in the shape of a skull and giggled. The trio flitted over to the cash register, the red head plonking the skull candle down and biting her bottom lip as she held back another giggle. "um Hi ladies, thank you for coming up here today. Is this all I can get for you?" Riley stammered, feeling all of their baby blue eyes on him, making him feel warm beneath his navy corduroy shirt. "Yup" The leader of the group - the blonde one with braided hair - popped her lips and showed Riley the pink bubble gum between them. "Okay well nice choice, it smells of cherry and when it burns down to the middle there's a surprise inside," The girls raised one perfectly plucked eyebrow each at him, in unison. "um, it releases another scent - champagne," The girls lifted their heads in small acknowledgement. "That'll be $4 then, please." Now the girls all glanced at each other conspiratorially, making Riley even warmer under his collar. "We aren't actually buying this spooky shit. We wanted to know WHY you're selling it." The third and quietest girl said, the brunette. Riley's brain faltered for a second, "Uh because this is a store, so we sell things?" The blonde laughed in his face, "No shit. We mean WHY are you selling this satanic, devil worshipper shit." Riley stood up straighter, ready to defend his store and his mum's livelihood, "We don't sell anything satanic actually, and we're atheists, so we don't believe in god or the devil. We sell crystals and knickknacks and oddities because people enjoy dipping their toes into the strange and unusual in a harmless way, like lighting a skull candle. If you're not going to buy anything I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The red head huffed as the other two rolled their eyes, "Well maybe there's more weirdos like your family in England, but round here we steer clear of black magic and all that crap" and with that the trio flicked their hair as they each turned away and flitted down the stairs. Riley stuck the candle back in its place and took a gulp from his glass of water, feeling the cold liquid cool down his insides; girls like that made him nervous, not because he was into them, but because he knew how dangerous they could be./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="64bc7ef8f79db689fed0b9d95a8bf82d"Downstairs, the music store was livelier and making over triple the sales that Riley had all day, Sidney and her dad powered through behind the register, whilst Kiara wandered around interacting with customers and going upstairs to help Riley now and then. "I can't tell you how nice it is to have a new music store in town - this place has just been haemorrhaging independent stores for years," An older man with a goatee, grey speckled black hair and three jazz records in his hands said as Paul rung up his items, "Pretty busy too, can't say we don't love a good opening day sale!" Paul laughed as he conversed with the older man. Sidney did her best to keep up with her dad and carry the chit chat with customers the way he did, but she had never been a natural with small talk, or hiding her resting bitch face. When they finally got a break from making sales, Sidney leaned back against the wall and groaned "Are you sure you don't wanna jack in that cushy new job you've got lined up and work here instead? seems like you're a natural salesman." Paul linked an arm over his daughter's shoulder, her hair just tickling his skin in its now DIY bob-style cut she had given herself late last night, "It's all about reading people Sid, you look into their eyes and watch their body language and how they talk, it tells you everything you need to know about a person in under a minute. The best salespeople just reflect what they see back to the customer." Sidney rolled her heavily lined eyes, "Yeah I bet every storekeeper in this town has a PhD in forensic psychology just like you too. Seriously, I can guarantee once you stop helping out here and Kiara is upstairs, the sales will crash with just me here." Paul shook his daughter lightly by the shoulders, looking into her deep brown eyes, the eyes of her mother Sally, "Well then you'll just have to spend the rest of your life paying off the loans we took out for this place then. Believe in yourself kid." At that moment, the phone in the backroom started trilling, so Paul excused himself to answer it, leaving Sidney alone at the register to deal with the line of customers that had gathered out of nowhere. From across the store, Kiara saw her stepdaughter struggling to deal with the growing line of customers by herself, she hoped that working here would give Sidney more confidence in herself - just as she hoped the same for her son upstairs, but she could see when her kid needed help. "Why don't you go see if anyone needs help out on the floor, i'll deal with this" Kiara was suddenly at Sidney's side, her long magenta skirt swishing around her legs. "Uh yeah sure, thanks." Sidney awkwardly handed her customer over to Kiara before power walking to the opposite end of the store, stopping behind a tall shelf to hide and catch her breath. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="b25286982b30503d6c1be14883aab84a"A few feet away from her, Sidney caught a glimpse of light blue denim clad legs, and saw a large hand shoved into the packpocket of those jeans that really accentuated the surprisingly nice ass of the man standing there checking out the Depeche Mode records. Unable to take her eyes away, she looked the man up and down a few more times, unable to see his face because he was turned slightly away from her, but she could definitely see the biceps beneath his short sleeved white crew neck tucked into those jeans, and the caramel coloured curls that sat just on his shoulders in a style that had clearly taken some time to create, but was meant to look effortless. Just then, a trio of girls in light jeans and crop tops ran down the stairs laughing and whispering to each other, Sidney caught the words "Freak" and "Satanic" and immediately set off to run up the stairs and check on Riley, but as she strode forward the guy with the nice ass stepped back and they almost collided. "Hey watch yourse-" nice ass guy grunted out, whipping his head around and settling his gaze on Sidney, he didn't have to tilt his head down very much to look at her since she wasn't that much shorter than him. "Sorry I just gotta get past-" Sidney forced herself to tear her eyes away from the guy's face - which was just as nice to look at as his ass in those jeans. "You work here don't you? saw you up front when I walked in." He said, more as a statement than a question. Sidney kept a tight lid on the pinkness threatening to spread across her cheeks at the thought of being noticed by this model of a man. "Um yeah, my family owns this place...Can I help you with anything?" The guy did a little nod in response, slowly tracing his bright eyes over Sidney in a way that made her feel like she was on a stage infront of thousands of people. "Oh my god Billy, what're you doing in here?" The blonde girl from the laughing trio squealed, noticing the two of them but swiftly ignoring Sidney. The guy - Billy - immediately turned his attentions to her, leaving Sidney feeling a little empty without it. "Thought I'd come see what the fuss was about, lots of people been hyping this place up for a while now, seems to be alright." The blonde girl blew a bubble with her gum and pierced it with her tongue, "You should totally go upstairs and check out the shit they're trying to sell -" Sidney sharply inhaled, her original feeling of defensiveness for Riley kicking back in, "If you've got a problem with our stores, don't come back, but if you would like a private session with our psychic to tell you what a waste the rest of your life's gonna be after you've peaked in highschool, feel free to stop by upstairs." The blonde girl gave Sidney a deathly glare but didn't say a word, just rolled her blue eyes and leaned into Billy, "You coming to Tanya's later for the party?" the redhead lifted her eyes towards them at the sound of her name. Billy gave the blonde girl a devilish smile, looking deep into her eyes, "Sure will, see you ladies later." With that the trio exited the store and Billy lingered his eyes on their backsides just long enough for Sidney to complete her assessment of him - he was a player who thought he was god's gift to the female species. "You going to the highschool here then?" he unexpectedly asked Sidney, returning those eyes to hers. "Um, yeah. We start Monday," she wasn't sure what else to say to him but Billy pursed his lips and nodded to himself, "Well I'll see you round then" before leaving the store without buying anything. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="858c19a173eecde0ec0df7408b494d16"An hour before closing time for both stores, a gang of teenage boys wandered in, all dressed in dark colours except for the shortest one, who wore a light green open shirt over a white tee and a blue cap. There were six of them in total and Kiara decided to stay downstairs in the music store to keep an eye on them; she wasn't judging them off their looks, they reminded her of Sidney with their band shirts on but you could never be too careful. Sidney was out back, leaning against the cold brick wall and smoking a cigarette she'd taken from Kiara's 'emergency pack'; her dad was dead against smoking cigarettes and Kiara had quit not long after they married, but she knew Sidney secretly smoked too when she was stressed or anxious, so she kept a pack in her handbag just in case Sidney needed one, keeping it secret from Paul too. Sidney crushed the butt with her heavy brown boot and popped a strong mint into her mouth, going back into the store just in time to catch sight of a boy wearing a familiar looking blue cap as he hopped up the stairs after his friends who she didn't see. "Hey, you good to hold the fort here for a bit? I'm gonna head up and give Riley a hand for the last hour." Kiara said, her eyes lingering on the staircase. Sidney looked around the music store, most of the flood of customers had died down now and she felt more comfortable on her own since the ones left all looked the same age as her dad "Sure, I'll be fine." A few of the remaining customers left without buying anything, but those who did barely engaged with any of the polite chit chat Sidney tried to start up, they said hi and looked over her Twisted Sister shirt which she'd added splashes of bleach to, saw the studded leather choker on her throat and said nothing else to her other than a weak "thanks" when she handed over their change. Sidney knew by now not to take it to heart because even back home in England - the birthplace of heavy metal - she got the same looks from people. With her head tucked as she closed up the cash register after the sale, she didn't see the person standing on the other side of the desk, his voice surprised her, "Fashion choices like that will generally lead to those kinda reactions from people round here." Sidney lifted her head to see a guy, shorter than Billy, wearing a leather jacket with a patch clad denim vest over it. The guy had long and messy curly hair, which definitely hadn't been styled in the mirror, and a slight mischievous smirk on his pale lips. All of this with the Motorhead tee that was haphazardly tucked into his dark jeans told Sidney this guy was probably one of those snotty metal elitists, the kinda man who see's a girl wearing any band tee and makes her take a pop-quiz on the spot to prove she's a poser if she doesn't know the name of the song that the drummer wrote in nursery school and was never recorded on any albums but if you were a 'real fan' you'd know it. "I mean, dress however you like, I just wanna warn you that people round here can be jerks to people who are different." Sidney swallowed, desperately searching for a quick and witty response, his second sentence had kinda blindsided her, she wasn't expecting the hint of concern she sensed in his tone. "What makes you think I'm different?" was all she managed. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="a82729352e9ae717535e5e49bca3f8f9"The guy rested his hands on the desk between them, she caught sight of the heavy silver rings adorning his long fingers, and gave him another once over. He didn't have the same dominating beauty as Billy, but he was cute, his teeth flashed anytime he smirked and his cheekbones were the most conventionally beautiful features of his face. "Uh just don't see many chicks in Hawkins who look like you do. Maybe its real or maybe you just like the look, either way it makes you a target here." Sidney swallowed again, feeling an odd connection blossoming between her and this stranger, "Well, thanks for the heads up. Guess I'll wear my pink shellsuit to school then." The stranger's eyes lit up a little, he leaned in over the desk inadvertently as he opened his mouth to say "You go to the high-" but the loud noise of multiple legs trundling down the stairs and voices chattering excitedly cut through his sentence as the other five boys exited the store upstairs, each of them carrying a small paper bag. "Eddie - dude you gotta check it out up there its sick! look at this candle!" The blue cap boy held up one of the cherry and champagne scented skull candles from his bag, showing it off to Eddie. "Nice find Henderson, you ladies been having fun shopping then?" he ruffled the boy's hair and the rest of group rolled their eyes at him, "Seriously man, its really neat up there," another boy said - black hair slicked back against his head and his round cheeks meeting his eyes when he grinned, he looked to Sidney "This is my favourite store now, everything you could want in one place, its awesome." Eddie rested a hand on the larger guy's shoulder, and he backed away from the desk, closing his mouth. "You sure about that G? I thought the gamestore was your favourite in this shitty town?" Eddie asked him, the other boys all answered at the same time, "Its a tie." Sidney laughed inwardly, leaning into the desk and speaking up, "Damn what does this gamestore have that we don't - other than games." The boys all looked at her in amazement, she saw them all gulp at the same time too. The tallest one, with long wavy black hair answered, "They have the biggest range of DnD gear in the state." Sidney nodded, knowing the game he spoke of vaguely, an idea sparking in her mind. "Well, if you guys think upstairs is cool and you play DnD, you should ask my brother up there to join you sometime, he loves that game." The boys all looked to Eddie, none of them saying a word. "Hmm is that so? And will this brother of yours be at the highschool too on Monday?" Sidney nodded and he replied, "Well I guess we'll find him there then, see if he has what it takes to join Hellfire." Before Sidney could ask what the hell that meant, Kiara came down the stairs ringing a bell and announcing the end of the grand opening day sale, she directed last customers towards Sidney and guided people out of the store, shaking hands with a few witchy looking women who skipped down the stairs behind her. There was suddenly a line of people waiting for Sidney to ring them up, and she got so distracted she didn't get the the chance to say bye to Eddie or his gang, but she did manage to steal a final glance to his backside as he walked outside, yeah that was nice too. /p