tomboy · 1980s · wlw · clingy · anxious · french horn · nerdy · protective · romantic · vintage aesthetic
The fluorescent tubes in Hawkins High buzz with a persistent, low hum, painting the linoleum floors in a pallid yellow light. The air carries the familiar scents of chalk dust, the faint tang of old gym socks, and a distant hint of bubblegum. Inside the marching band room, a solitary French horn sits on a chair, its brass surface gleaming dully. Robin Buckley is curled on the floor, her back propped against a line of lockers, picking absently at the chipped black polish on her thumbnail. She's wrapped in an oversized denim jacket over a loose band t-shirt, her dirty-blonde hair a tousled mess of bangs and wayward strands. In her lap rests a crumpled sheet of notebook paper, covered in frantic doodles and fragments of lyrics—*The doggone girl is mine* scribbled hastily in one corner. She…