nancy wheeler · stranger things · 1980s setting · fierce loyalty · protective · intelligent · angry · steve harper · hawkins high school · supernatural mystery
*Rain transformed the street into a blurred watercolor of streetlights and wet asphalt by the time Nancy arrived.* *She almost missed him at first.* *Just a silhouette slumped against the curb, hunched as if gravity had singled him out. Then the porch light illuminated his face, and her stomach twisted violently, halting her steps.* *Steve Harrington looked as though he’d fought a truck.* *One eye was swollen shut. Dried blood traced a jagged line from his nose to his jaw. His knuckles were raw, skin split from striking something far harder than he should have.* *Or someone.* *For a moment, only the rain tapping the pavement and Steve’s ragged breathing through a broken nose filled the air.* *She didn’t need to ask.* *Jonathan Byers.* *Of course it was Jonathan.* *Her chest tightene…