Chapter Text
HELL, RINGO WHEELER HAD DISCOVERED, was not an underground lair where demons and souls of the damned resided.
She may have only been seventeen years of age, but the girl knew all too well that Hell came in a number of forms. Like recovering Christmas decorations and discovering that, once again, the lights had been tangled mercilessly despite your best efforts in packing them the year before. Or perhaps catching your parents in the middle of sex, as if it had never dawned on you that such a thing was still on their radar. Or even strutting around town in your new Chuck Taylors like the cock of the walk, wait- what’s that squelching sound? Oh yes. Dog shit.
Or having to move to Hawkins, Indiana.
The tiny town was even smaller than her neighbourhood back home, and in the space of a day, had proved every stereotype about small towns to be true. The parents were backward with their views, and all teenagers were practically hoodlums, simply looking for something to entertain themselves with during the drag of adolescence. Those who weren't, were considered rather prudish and boring.
It was the cruelest punishment her family could have come up with, and she had to applaud them for it. They had threatened to send her away from their home in a suburb of Orlando to Indiana since she was a child, but now they weren't just threatening it any more.
Sure, her uncle and aunt weren't all that bad. Her aunt Karen pitied her to an extent, which was a horrible feeling, but meant she showered her with baked goods and gifts. Her uncle Ted, her father's brother, didn't care much for her - she wouldn't be surprised if Ted hadn't even noticed her since she arrived. The man was completely out of tune with his surroundings.
The only slight advantage to the stay was her relationship with her cousins, Nancy and Mike, who were both complete polar opposites that somehow came together when Ringo was around.
"You can't just lay in here all day," Nancy commented as she entered the room they now currently shared, raising an eyebrow at her cousin, who laid spread eagle on the cot set up for her.
"I can, and I will," Ringo retorted in a bored tone, just about hearing Nancy's voice over the deafening music sounding from her headphones.
'Ringo's Ass Kicking Mix' was a tape she had childishly made when she was twelve and angry at the world, melodrama at its finest. Fast forward five years and the songs were still of a comfort to her. Even if she had to hide the name of the tape from anyone in the nearby vicinity, for fear of teasing commentary.
"I'm meeting up with Steve tonight, we're all going to a bonfire. It'd be a good way for you to meet the kids at school?" Nancy offered, biting her lip.
"Eh," she brushed off, waving her hand in the air and closing her eyes again.
"You're only here for a few months, Ringo," Nancy pointed out, "you may as well make the best of it."
"If I go near a large fire right now, I may get tempted to throw myself into it," Ringo huffed, rolling around onto her stomach and flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder.
"It's either that or staying home with Mike and his gang of geeks playing Dungeons and Dragons," Nancy replied in a sing-song voice, looking through her drawers for an outfit for the night ahead.
"You were even dorkier than he was at that age!" She laughed, recalling the time when the girls would dress up in ridiculous fantasy outfits and parade around the house with toy swords.
Sighing once more, Ringo pulled herself up to a sitting position before standing upright, heading towards her suitcase which was stuffed into the corner. Nancy bit back a smirk, knowing she had gotten her way.
"I hope you have other friends there, I don't want to third wheel with you and Steven," Ringo called out as she opened up her case, sifting through the large mound of her clothes that were beginning to wrinkle.
"First of all, will you unpack that already? Second of all, Barb will be there and third, it's Steve."
"Unpacking would be a sign of defeat," she refuted stubbornly, prompting Nancy to roll her eyes. Melodrama, indeed.
"So, Ringo," Karen began, smiling eagerly at the younger girl across the dinner table, "are you excited for your first day at school tomorrow?"
"I'd literally rather lick a dirty tire," she replied, with a sweet smile to lessen the blow before shoving another forkful of peas into her mouth.
"Our tires out there are looking rather grimy if you want to have a go at it," Ted interjected, chuckling to himself, which was cut off by a swift glare from Karen.
"Mom," Nancy spoke up, plastering on her most picture perfect smile that would charm underwear from a bare bottom, "I wanted to take Ringo to Barb's tonight so they could meet. Is that alright?"
"I don't know, honey," her mother grimaced, internally mulling it over, "are you gonna be out late? It's a school night."
"Not for me, if those tires have anything to do with it," Ringo cut in, causing Mike to giggle into his plate as he shoved the food around.
"You're going to that bonfire tonight, aren't you?" Mike whispered to his cousin.
"Yep," she nodded her head.
"Knew it," he hissed a snicker, smirking conspiratorially at her. "Can you push her into it?" He nodded his head towards Nancy.
"I think if we gave her to the fire, the fire would give her back," she raised her eyebrows comically, causing him to laugh again.
Mike Wheeler had always looked up to his cousin. She had always been the coolest in his eyes, chill and laid back, never letting anything affect her. A blow-in from Florida. His friends had always held childhood crushes on her, particularly when she accompanied them in the basement to join in on their roleplaying games.
"You don't want Ringo going to school without knowing anyone, do you?" Nancy whined, laying it on thick. "We’ll be back at eleven. Tops!"
"Fine," her mother sighed tiredly, giving in and throwing her husband another glare for not offering his opinion even once. Ted didn’t seem to notice, or if he did he was ignoring it in favour of salting his meal.
Ringo had no choice but to borrow a jacket from Nancy, who had laughed hysterically when her cousin came out of the bathroom wearing only a band t-shirt, shorts and boots.
"You are going to freeze to death! It's October!" Nancy cackled again, opening her closet and searching for a moment. She took out a coat and flung it over in her direction.
Nancy had promised that even with the coat, she would freeze in the shorts. But alas, Ringo was nothing if not stubborn, and insisted it was only a little cold air, she would be fine.
Yes, it was a decision she would come to regret.
When eight o'clock approached, Nancy and Ringo shouted a goodbye to the rest of the family. They walked silently down the sidewalk until they reached the corner, where Steve's car was parked exactly where he said it'd be.
Steve got out right away, rounding the car to meet Nancy. His eyes hadn't glanced over to Ringo yet, who stood there awkwardly while they shared a kiss, using the moment to inspect him. He wasn’t exactly what she had pictured for her cousin. A jock, no doubt, with fluffy hair and an expensive car. There wasn’t much else she could gather from appearance alone.
Unfortunately for her, the longer they stood there the more she bore the brunt of her outfit decisions. Her hands were tucked into her armpits as her body began to shiver from the cold. The longer she stood there, the more she would shake, and the more frustrated she'd became.
"Alright!" She shouted finally, breaking the two apart as if they had been zapped. "He's not going off to war! We’re going out! Can we get in the damn car?”
Nancy flushed in embarrassment, moving around Steve and rushing to the passenger side. Her boyfriend however was in no such rush, looking mildly frustrated that she had so brazenly interrupted them.
"Who are you?" He asked, his eyes narrowed as he gave her a quick once over.
"Ringo, Nancy's cousin," she answered, pushing aside her manners and moving towards the back seat to get inside the warmth of the car. Her mother would smack her up the back of the head for such rudeness.
"What kind of name is Ringo?" He asked with a sneer, letting out a scoff and finally returning to the drivers side as she clambered into the back.
There was another couple in the backseat along with her, the girl inspecting her as if she were a stain found on the bottom of her shoe. The guy next to her didn’t have as many qualms.
"Tommy, nice to meet you," the boy greeted, holding his hand out and grinning so flirtatiously, she could almost see his back teeth.
"Ringo," she offered reluctantly, shaking his hand and forcing a polite smile before swiftly dropping it and turning to look out the window.
"Ringo? Like that dude's name from the Beatles?" She bristled at his emphasis on the gender of said member.
Scratch that, she thought to herself. Getting sent to Hawkins wasn’t the cruelest thing her parents had ever did to her. It was giving her the name ‘Ringo’. Truly, what kind of acid-fuelled trip had they been on when they thought it had been a good idea to give their daughter not only a name typically associated with a man, but such a rare and unique that there was only one person in the world people related it to.
For Heaven’s sake, she didn’t even like the Beatles!
"Yes," she simply stated, not giving him much of an opening to continue.
"But aren't you a girl?"
"No," she looked at him as if he had said the most shocking thing, eyes wide and sarcasm dripping from each word, "I am Ringo Starr. I just look really great for my age and decided long blonde hair looked sexy on me.”
"Jesus," he muttered in response, while Nancy had held back a giggle and even Steve's lips quirked in amusement. "Well aren't you just prickly like a cactus?"
Ringo didn't answer, she was getting a bad vibe from their entire group - Steve included. She wished at times like this that she was more subdued, not so quick to anger and defensive. She simply didn’t have it in her to shy away from conflict, and it got her in trouble more times than it didn’t.
Nancy let out a small sigh as she watched half of her school year drool over the shiny new toy that was the new girl.
Truly, she didn't know why Ringo would be so reluctant to meet everyone. Instead of treating her like the new, weird kid that no one knew anything about and therefore distrusted, they fawned over her. Wanting to know her name, her backstory, anything they wouldn’t have heard before in the dreariness of their own small town.
Ringo was pretty, in a classic way that Nancy wished she was able to master. Even growing up, all the boys in the playground had wanted to play with her, wanted to play ‘kiss tag’ with her. They only ever asked Nancy to join when they were asking what her cousin's name was.
She didn't hate her for it, because Ringo had never once taken advantage of it. Every time someone had tried to tug Ringo away to play on the swings, Ringo dragged Nancy along. If they talked in a group and Nancy had spoken without anyone else hearing it, her cousin would always acknowledge what she said. There were countless sleepovers as pre-teens spent with Ringo reassuring Nancy that she was even prettier than her, and that boys were stupid and only attracted to confidence.
It was also why Nancy would never let go of her friendship with Barb, no matter how much Tommy and Carol tried to force her to. She had learned that lesson from her bond with Ringo from a young age. Friends over boys, always.
Glancing up, she saw that Justin Kercher was in the midst of asking Ringo out, if his tilted head and body language were anything to go by. Nancy had noticed her cousin making wide eyes at her, the classic signal for ‘FUCKING HELP’, and rushed to her safety.
"Ringo! Come meet my friend!" She said, interrupting their conversation. Ringo sighed with relief and waved a quick goodbye to Justin before scampering off.
"God, thank you so much," she muttered to Nancy, prompting a fit of giggles to erupt from the two. They walked up to another girl their age, with short red hair and glasses that took up most of her face. She had a kind, sweet expression that was slightly caged off with a lack of outward self-confidence.
"This is my best friend Barb. Barb, this is Ringo!” Nancy introduced the two, secretly casting a glance around to see where her boyfriend had run off to.
"Hi!"
“Hey!” They both greeted with a smile.
“I like your outfit!" Ringo added, eliciting a humble chuckle from Barb, cheeks starting to redden. Nothing like a good ol’ compliment to break the ice.
"Thanks! I like yours too!" Barb bashfully answered.
"Oh, no you don't. I'm so cold right now my ass cheeks have practically frozen together into one giant cheek," she laughed off, followed by a grimace. She hoped Barb didn’t think she was too weird.
"Hey babe," a voice purred into Nancy's ear, arms winding around her waist from behind. Nancy smiled and leaned into his touch as he peppered kisses down her neck.
Barb and Ringo made eye contact before simultaneously gagging, prompting Steve to roll his eyes at them both. He opened his mouth to deliver a deadpan retort, but a glance over their shoulders stopped him.
"Hey, what's that freak doing here?" He asked out of nowhere. The girls followed his eye line, Nancy sighing when she noticed Jonathan Byers was the focus of his insult.
"'Freak'?" Ringo echoed, narrowing her eyes. It was one thing to assume Steve was an asshole from outward appearance, another for him to seemingly confirm it.
"Oh boy," Nancy whispered, pulling away from Steve and standing beside Barb, not wanting to get involved in the inevitable conflict.
"Did I stutter?" He raised his eyebrows at her, giving her a pointed once over and crossing his arms over his chest.
"Nah, but your mouth is so full of shit I wouldn't judge you if you had," she mimicked his pose, standing in front of him and tilting her head back to meet his gaze head on.
"By all means, if you want to defend him, let him give you a ride home instead."
"I might just do that, your car smells like a ballsack anyway," Ringo stepped closer, their chests almost touching as she spat her words.
Steve's face contorted, in anger or surprise, he wasn't sure. He couldn’t stop his eyes from trailing after the girl as she whirled around and stomped her way across the open field to Jonathan, all the while muttering under her breath. He believed he heard her calling him a 'big bird looking son of a bitch'.
He had never been spoken to like that before. Or at least, never by a girl and directly to his face. The audacity. Who did she think she was?
"Hi!" Ringo was greeting cheerily on the other side of the field. "I'm Ringo Wheeler!"
Jonathan was startled, not expecting to be so boldly approached, his eyes were wide at the stranger now stood in front of him.
"U-uh, like the-" he stammered with nervousness.
"The guy from the Beatles? Yeah. I get that a lot," she sighed in exasperation, forcing a smile anyway. She understood, really. Who wouldn’t recoil at a name like that?
"I was actually going to say like the rabid dog that runs along down Maple Street," he smiled ever so softly, completely taking her by surprise. Ringo beamed in appreciation and let out a short chuckle.
"Yeah, my owners let me off my leash tonight," she said casually, carrying along with it.
"I'm Jonathan Byers," he offered his hand out, which she shook. "Wheeler, you said? Like Nancy and Mike?"
"Yeah, they're my cousins. I'm staying with them for a while," she explained. Short and to the point. No need to dump her lore on this poor guy.
"Oh," he said dumbly, not sure of how to continue the conversation. Thankfully, Ringo did instead, and lead the majority of the conversation from then on so it never had a dull moment. That was how the rest of the night went, the two seated by the bonfire and discussing everything, from Star Wars to music.
"Ringo!" Nancy called out from a short distance away, breaking them from their bubble as their heads snapped toward her. "Are you coming home with us? We've got to be back by eleven!"
She hesitated, not all that eager to get in a car with Big Bird and his evil sidekicks.
"I can give you a ride home," Jonathan asked suddenly, noticing her hesitation and causing Nancy's eyes to practically bulge from her skull. "I-I mean… if you want.”
"Really?" Ringo grinned in delight, nodding her head in agreement. "Yeah, if you don't mind!” She turned back. “Nancy! I've got a ride home, give Big Bird a kiss goodnight for me!"
"Um... how am I going to explain that we went to Barb's if I come home without you?" Nancy pointed out, wincing at the idea of how she would possibly explain that one to her mother.
"Ugh, fair point!" Ringo groaned, dragging herself up off the ground and nodding to her cousin, "I'm coming. See ya later, Jonathan!"
"Bye!" He murmured quietly, waving his hand. He hadn’t been planning to come at all that night, but perhaps it would prove to be worth it for the sake of a new friend. Or you know, any friend.
"Nancy?" Ringo’s hushed voice cut through the silence of the room, around a half hour after they had settled into bed.
Her cousin, who was just on the verge of falling asleep finally, groaned and turned around in her bed to peer through the darkness at the cot next to her bed.
"What?" She grumbled, rubbing both of her eyes with her forefinger and thumb.
"I was just wondering… why are you with Steve?" Ringo rolled around onto her stomach, tucking her pillow underneath her chin. She realised suddenly how her question might have came across, and scrambled to fix it. “And his whole group, really. Tommy and that girl.”
"Ringo," she whined, turning back around to face the wall. "He's not that bad, okay?"
"He's a complete cliché!" Ringo complained, whisper-shouting lest she wake up Ted and face his ranting, "And he seems like he’d be kind of a bully.”
"No that would be Tommy," Nancy reluctantly admitted with a sigh. Ringo gawked at her. Surely being friends with a bully wasn’t an upgrade? "You don't have to like him, but just be nice to him, please? For me?"
Ringo only hummed in reply, refusing to promise anything.