Steve knew that it was odd, but it felt like the most normal thing in the world. He had somehow found himself laid on the floor to the side of Violet's bed on a spare duvet. She'd thrown a cushion down to him and he'd folded it in half before laying his head on it. He'd left his sneakers in the corner and had walked around the house with Violet to make sure everything was locked up. He couldn't deny that a part of him was being nosy, seeing pictures of Violet as a kid scattered around. He'd teased her over a few of the photos and she'd just hit him in the arm.

Heading back up to the bedroom, Violet kept her lamp on as Steve suggested he just sleep on the floor in case her mom got back early in the morning. She'd agreed and had grabbed the spare duvet and blankets. She'd insisted that she'd be fine, but Steve was having none of it. He had insisted on staying.

The two of them were laid in the same identical position, on their backs with hands laced together on their stomachs, eyes focused on the ceiling above them. Somehow, despite having hardly slept in forty-eight hours, Violet felt herself more awake than she should.

"You know, I was actually coming over tonight to have a go at you," Steve spoke and Violet cocked a brow but remained still.

"Have a go at me?"

"You told Nance about the tree…about what we talk about…that didn't exactly go down well with her," Steve admitted. "And at first I thought that I was annoyed because you'd told her and she'd get the wrong message because, I mean, why wouldn't she? We hang out at some tree and I'm the most popular guy in the school."

Violet scoffed at that. "Get over yourself, Hair-ington," she urged from him and Steve's lips tugged upwards at the familiar nickname that she gave him. He drummed his thumbs against his stomach and closed his eyes for a moment.

"Yeah, fair enough," he conceded on that point. "But I hadn't told her any of that stuff…I mean…I like her, Vi…I really like her."

"I know," Violet assured him on that point, but she couldn't entirely explain the feeling in her stomach that had risen up. She tried to ignore it, figuring that the entire scenario was just a bit odd and that was why she felt weird. "And I didn't tell her to try and…I don't know…like, get in the way of what you guys have," Violet said and she realised how ridiculous that sounded. As if her and Steve had anything going on or ever would. "And I know that sounds stupid because it's you and it's me, but I didn't tell her to try and ruin things. I just…it kind of slipped out."

"Yeah, I get it," Steve promised her. "And I didn't think that would be your motivation at any point. I just want Nancy to know it too. But then I think I was annoyed because I always thought that what we talked about out there…I don't know…it was between us two. There's just some things that I don't want Nancy to know just yet. Things between us are new and I don't want to dump my trauma on her."

"If it helps, I told her that there's nothing between us," Violet said. "Shit, I didn't even know if you were my friend really."

"Well, I am," Steve said. "Besides, you're much more tolerable than Carol."

Violet chuckled at him saying that but rolled her eyes. She rolled onto her side and stuffed a hand underneath her pillow. "What a compliment," she muttered and Steve closed his eyes. "You still need to go and apologise to Nancy tomorrow, Steve. Got it?"

"Yeah, I know," he confirmed. "I was a dick. I know that I was."

"As long as you know it," Violet said and she stifled a yawn, but Steve still heard it.

"Get some sleep, Vi," he urged from her. "I'll wake you before I go in the morning."

"You know that you don't have to stay, right?"

"And you know that I'm not going anywhere," Steve said. "Besides, I need to get up early and do some lengths. It's the swim competition next week so I'll definitely be gone before your parents might get back or my parents know I'm gone."

"You know I can't swim?" Violet said and she reached for the lamp, turning it off and bathing the room in darkness. Violet tugged her duvet up to her chin and closed her eyes firmly. Steve's brows arched as he tried not to think about how, despite the duvet beneath him, the floor was still quite hard and he wasn't sure that he was going to get a good night's sleep.

"You really should know how to swim."

"Tennis is my life, remember?" she said back to him.

"Still, it's a fundamental skill, Vi," he replied.

"Well, the closest I come to a pool is your back yard. So long as you don't push me in then I'm good," she mumbled. "Maybe one day I'll learn though."

"I think you should," Steve said.

"Hmm," was all she offered him. "I'll sleep on it."

Steve smiled at that and nodded his head once. "You sleep on it," he urged from her. "Goodnight, Vi."

"Goodnight, Steve."

…

Steve had actually slept quite well. He wasn't sure how he did, but he'd woken later than he'd intended. He didn't have time to get any lengths in, but he was still going to be home before his parents woke up. He could hear the birds chirping through the window and there was some light streaming through the curtains. Steve raked a hand through his hair which he guessed was a mess on the top of his head. His clothes were crumpled and his breath felt bad.

His body was stiff, but he managed to push himself to sit up so that he was eye-level with her mattress. Violet had rolled onto her side to face him, but her eyes were tightly closed and her mouth slightly open. She'd kicked one leg out of the duvet and her stuffed rabbit had fallen onto the floor. Steve noticed a small amount of drool in the corner of her mouth that had fallen onto her pillow and he tried not to chuckle. He didn't want to wake her, not really. She looked like she was sleeping peacefully. But he needed her to lock the doors after he'd gone.

He reached for her arm and laid a hand on it at the same time that he picked her bunny up and placed it on the side of her bed. "Vi," he whispered her name.

It took him a few more attempts to stir her awake before she was almost coherent. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and Steve stifled another laugh from his lips. She blinked out the sleep in her eyes and somehow stood up and followed him to the back door. She let him out and then trudged back to bed, figuring that she could still get a few more hours' sleep before she had to go to school. She felt better knowing that it was almost daylight outside.

She managed another two hours' of sleep before she had to get ready for school. Steve's car was already gone so she figured that she must be running late. Her parents still weren't home and Violet just left a note on the kitchen table saying that she hoped she'd see them that night and she'd be home from school at the usual time. She'd parked her car in the car park and grabbed her backpack, heading towards class for first period.

"You alright?" Daisy asked from her, meeting her at her locker.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Violet assured her. "I just…you won't believe the night I had."

"What happened?" Daisy wondered. She'd listened to Violet tell her story about what she thought she'd seen with Nancy the night before. Daisy hadn't brushed her off or told her that she was being ridiculous. She'd actually wondered if maybe there was something going on in Hawkins. She hadn't told her parents though. Her mom was a professional worrier.

"Steve stayed over," Violet whispered.

"What?" Daisy screeched and Violet reached for her arm, squeezing it firmly.

"Keep it down," she urged from her in a hiss.

"What do you mean he stayed over?" Daisy asked, trying to keep her voice quieter. "What the hell went on last night?"

"Nothing," Violet said and the two of them fell into step next to each other. "I was outside practicing and he found me there. I just…I kind of cried on him after everything that had happened yesterday. My dad didn't believe me about what had gone on and I guess that hurt more than it should. I just…I just cried and told him that I was still on edge over what had gone on the night before…mom and dad were also away last night so I was home alone. I think he knew that I was worried about no one being there and he said that he'd stay."

Shaking her head in disbelief, Daisy cradled her textbooks against her chest. "I mean, you could've just come to mind, V," her friend said. "Why didn't you just call? Mom would've made up the sofa bed."

"I know, but I didn't want to put you out," Violet said. Truthfully, she hadn't really thought about calling Daisy. She wasn't sure why she hadn't considering that she was her best friend. "And the police said they didn't find anything in the woods so I just tried to tell myself that it'd be fine."

"You know, I don't get him," Daisy confessed. "One minute he's a dick and the next he does something nice."

"Yeah, he's not exactly an easy guy to understand," Violet retorted and she spotted Nancy out of the corner of her eye. "Listen, I'll be back in a minute, alright? I just need to talk to Nancy."

"See you in class?"

"Save me a seat," she urged from her friend and headed over to where Nancy was stood by herself at her locker.

Violet tugged at the staps of her backpack and fiddled with them. She moved over to Nancy and saw that she was also looking exhausted. She suspected she hadn't really gotten much sleep either. "Hey," Violet greeted her and Nancy turned to look at her.

"Hey," she greeted her back.

"Listen, do you have a minute? I know class is going to start, but it won't take long," Violet urged and Nancy just nodded once. Violet walked with her towards the doors leading to the quad. They stepped outside and Violet felt the chill in the air and pulled on the sleeves to her sweatshirt until her hands were covered. She folded her arms over her chest as they stood down the side of an alley between two buildings.

"What's up?" Nancy wondered.

"I just wanted to say sorry for yesterday," Violet said to her. "My dad and how he behaved…how he treated you…I was so embarrassed."

"You don't need to apologise," Nancy said. "Besides, my mom had a go at me when I got home. I think she knows about me and Steve, but I didn't want to talk about that. No one is seeing the bigger issue. Barb is missing and all my mom cared about was me staying at Steve's…and Steve…he was such an asshole yesterday."

Violet just nodded her head once and glanced down to the ground. "Yeah, he might've mentioned it," she admitted to Nancy and the younger woman looked at Violet and folded her own arms defensively. Why was she surprised that he'd gone running off to Violet? "He came over to have a go at me for telling you about us two talking and he told me that he thought he'd been a dick to you."

"I just don't even know what goes on in his mind sometimes," Nancy complained. "He was more interested in the police not finding out that we'd had beers than the fact Barb was missing."

"And I agree, that really was a dick move," Violet said, unable to defend Steve over that. "My best bet is that he'll try and apologise to you today. Despite the fact he can be a self-absorbed asshole…he's not actually not that bad and he really does care about you."

Nancy glanced downwards then, almost as if she didn't know what to say to that. She didn't doubt that Steve did care about her. She just wondered if the two of them were really compatible.

"Listen, I've got to get to class," Violet said when it became clear that Nancy wasn't going to say anything back to her. "I'll see you around."

"Are you doing anything…tonight?" Nancy questioned before Violet could turn around and walk away from her. Violet's brows rose on her forehead. "It's just that…I don't know…after the other night I don't know if I'm going crazy but I might need a second opinion on something and I feel like you're the only one who might understand."

"What is it?" Violet wondered.

"Tonight?" Nancy just urged and Violet knew that she might get in trouble. She was supposed to practice, but a part of her sensed this was more urgent and judging by the way Nancy was looking at her, she guessed she needed a friend to talk to.

"Do you want to get dinner?" Violet wondered. "I can drive us to the diner and then drop you off at home."

"Perfect," Nancy said eagerly.

"Meet me by my car after school," Violet said. "I'll see you tonight."

The two of them parted ways and Violet headed to class, sitting down next to Daisy just before the bell could ring. She opened up her backpack and pulled out her textbooks and pens. As Mr Jacobs walked in, however, it became apparent that no one was going to be doing any work. It was that morning when they told them that Will Byers was dead.

…

There had been an assembly that morning in honour of Will's memory. Daisy and Violet sat next to each other towards the end of a bench in the sport's hall, glancing around at everyone there. Violet had never met Will Byers. She had to admit that she hadn't really heard of him until he'd gone missing. She'd seen him and his friends hanging around together, the four of them seemingly inseparable. Once the assembly was over, Violet and Daisy went to lunch together, both of them talking about Will's death. A part of Violet wondered if there was any connection between his death and Barb's disappearance. She wasn't entirely sure and she wondered if the police were linking them.

Violet met Nancy that night after school. The two of them drove to the diner downtown and slipped into a booth together. They'd been making awkward small talk the entire way, both of them expressing how horrible it was what had happened to Will and wondering how his mom and brother were holding up. They'd talked about school and other small things, but Violet sensed that Nancy wanted to talk to her about something more substantial.

Sitting on the faded red leather seat, Violet wiped away a crumb from the metal table before the waitress came and took their order. Nancy went for a burger and fries whereas Violet went for a salad and water, knowing that she'd be jealous when she saw Nancy's food. She also knew that she was probably going to get in trouble for skipping practice. She'd be best off not eating a burger as well.

"So…what is it?" Violet finally wondered from her. "Because I know there's something you want to tell me."

"I just…take a look at this," Nancy urged from her and she moved into her backpack, picking out the photo that she'd taken from when Steve had destroyed Jonathan's camera and she had helped him to tidy up. She'd pieced the shreds together as best as she could and taped them before seeing it on the side of the image. She'd spent the past night watching it, worried that she was either going crazy or she had been right and there had been someone in the forest that night.

She pushed the photo towards Violet and let her look at it. She peered down at it intently, squinting. It was a photo of Barb sat on the diving board of Steve's pool, legs dangling and arms on thighs. She looked fed up and exhausted. "Is this from Jonathan's camera?" Violet questioned.

"Yeah," Nancy confirmed. "I picked it up when Steve broke his camera."

"And Jonathan saw Barb?"

"He must've done if he has this photo," Nancy said. "But just look in the corner…there," she pointed to it with her finger and Violet lowered her nose closer to the image. She kept focusing her eyes on it, but she wasn't sure what she was seeing. "It might be nothing, but I don't know…after what happened the other night and now this…it just feels like a weird coincidence."

"I guess it could be something," Violet said, but she wasn't entirely convinced on that point. She rolled the sleeves to her baby blue sweatshirt up to her elbows, forgetting about the bruises on her arm. "It looks like a blur, but it's weird because it does seem to have a shape."

"That's what I thought," Nancy agreed with her. "I just know that the police aren't taking Barb's disappearance seriously and they should. Barb doesn't skip school, let alone town. I know her. I know my best friend and I just feel like no one is taking me seriously."

"I am," Violet said without a moment of hesitation.

Their eyes met once more and Violet nodded once. Nancy's gaze softened and she tried to blink back the tears that were threatening to pool there as she thought about Barb and where she might be. "Thank you."

"If anything happened to Daisy then I'd feel exactly the same," Violet assured her, thinking of her own best friend who she adored more than anything. "So, I'm going to help you, Nancy, but I think…maybe…we need to talk to Jonathan. He was there that night and so he'd clearly seen Barb. Besides, when I cornered him in the parking lot he seemed jumpy and evasive. Tomorrow morning, we'll go and see him. I doubt he'll be at school. I can't imagine what he's going through."

"Neither can I," Nancy said. She knew that her brother could be annoying, but she still loved him more than anything.

"I'll pick you up before school then and we'll go to his house," Violet said.

"Okay," Nancy agreed with the plan.

The two of them had their food served and ate with a more muted conversation about other things before paying and leaving. Nancy noted the bruises on Violet's arm, but she didn't bring them up. Violet dropped Nancy off at home, wondering just how she'd gotten herself into this predicament. What did she think Jonathan was going to tell them? Had they actually seen something that night in the forest? Was that photo proof? Violet had no idea. All she knew was that they were clearly doing some digging into what had gone on. She just didn't know how dangerous it was going to be.

Pulling into the driveway, she parked her own blue BMW and climbed out of it. She didn't even get a chance to get to the front door before it opened wide and her father was stood there in his suit, face like thunder and eyes glaring at her. Violet grabbed her bag from the backseat and slung it onto her shoulder. She didn't even get to the door before her father was walking out.

"Where the hell have you been, young lady?" he snapped at her. "You were supposed to be on court two hours ago!"

"I know," Violet said. "But I've had to do homework," she lied, knowing that it would be much worse if her father found out she'd been with Nancy Wheeler. "I stayed late in the library to try and catch-up. I need to keep my grades up for college applications."

"And you think you're going to get a scholarship if you skip practice?" he snapped at her.

"I figured that I could just practice when I got home," Violet said. "I'll go and change now and head to the court."

"What homework were you doing?" Donnie wondered before she could move by him and go inside. Violet's brow furrowed as he held a hand out. "Show me what you did."

"You don't believe me?" Violet questioned.

"I drove past the school after work tonight and your car wasn't there, Violet. There were no cars there."

Violet cursed in her mind and her father's hands dropped to her hips. He waited expectantly for her to tell him the truth and she knew that she had to. She knew there was no other option now. She sighed and shrugged. "Nancy Wheeler asked if I wanted to go for dinner after school," Violet confessed. "She's really worried about her friend, dad, and she just wanted someone to talk to. I told her that I could have dinner."

"What did I tell you yesterday?" Donnie snapped. "You stay away from that Wheeler girl."

"She's nice, dad," Violet defended her. "She didn't deserve what you said to her yesterday."

"Are you talking back to me?" Donnie demanded and Violet tried not to roll her eyes. "You live under my roof, do you hear me? You do as I say. You think you're going to get into college by skipping practice and spending time with people like her? What college will want you, Violet? Everything I do is for you. The money I've spent on getting you to the top. Do you want to throw it away?"

"You mean mom's money?" Violet said before she could stop herself. It just slipped out before she knew it. Now it was out there and far too late to take back. Violet bit down on her tongue as her father stepped closer to her.

"What did you just say to me?"

"I'm sorry, dad," Violet quickly spoke. "I just…I didn't mean it…I really didn't mean it-"

"-You insolent, little shit!" Donnie snapped and before Violet could register what was happening, she felt her cheek stinging and she stumbled to the side, reaching for her car to keep herself upright. She took deep breaths as her hands went to her cheek and she felt it continue to burn. Her hair covered her face and she felt her eyes cloud over with tears.

"Violet!"

She wasn't sure who was calling her name, but he was shouting it loudly. Before she had a chance to pull herself upright, Steve was by her side, hands going to her arms and helping her to gain her balance. Looking to her, he saw that her cheek was red and her eyes were wet, hair sticking to her skin. "Hey, are you alright?" he asked from her.

"Get the hell away from my daughter, Harrington," Donnie demanded from Steve.

"You can't hit her like that," Steve snapped and Donnie laughed at that as Violet tried to regain her composure and focus on what was going on. Steve's hands were still holding her forearms, offering her support to stand upright. Steve looked at Donnie and glared at him. "You shouldn't lay a finger on her."

"Are you telling me how to parent?" Donnie demanded. "You think I'm going to stand out here and listen to some future high-school dropout tell me how I should parent my daughter?"

"What the hell is going on out here?"

Violet turned to the side and saw John Harrington approaching them. Steve's father was over six feet and muscular. He worked in real estate and had a property portfolio that was continuously growing and meant that he spent weeks at a time working away in an attempt to open up other offices across the country. He had brown hair like Steve and dark green eyes. His jaw was square and he was also impeccably dressed in smart suits.

"Steve, leave it," Violet whispered to him, not wanting his father to get involved.

"Your son is poking his nose in business that doesn't concern him," Donnie said and John glanced to Steve, looking at him expectantly.

"I saw him hit her, dad," Steve said quickly.

John glanced to Violet who was looking anywhere but at him. He saw the tears falling down her cheeks and knew that his son was telling the truth. The issue was that he wasn't in the habit of involving himself in other people's business.

"I'm sure Steve didn't mean to interrupt a private matter," John said. "Did you, son?"

Steve's brows knitted together and he looked to his father, shaking his head. "Seriously, dad?" he demanded from him, unable to comprehend what was going on. He knew that his father and Violet's father weren't entirely different. The two of them were pushers. They pushed their kids and didn't make excuses for them when they failed at something.

"Steve, apologise to Mr Mattheson," John demanded and Steve scoffed.

"It's alright, John," Donnie replied.

"No, it is not alright," John retorted, voice firmer. "He shouldn't be getting himself involved with your private family business."

"So it's alright if I just stand back and let her get hurt?" Steve snapped at his dad.

"Steve, it's alright," Violet said, not wanting it to escalate any further. She moved her own hand towards his arm and squeezed it in her fingers. "I'm fine."

"See? The girl is fine. Now…apologise," John demanded.

Steve glared at his father and then looked to Violet. She was lying, of course. She wasn't fine. She was anything but fine, but she clearly didn't want to be involved in this situation. Steve looked her in the eye and she gave him a stern nod before he let go of her and stormed away, heading back to his house without an apology. John watched him go before saying 'no hard feelings' to Donnie and they parted ways. Violet watched Steve walk away, his dad calling after him and she wondered just how much trouble he was going to be in when he got home.

….

A/N: Would love to know what you think!