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Chapter Text

Olivia woke up with a groan and let a hand go to her forehead. Gently massaging the throbbing headache. She should really stop drinking on school days, waking up in the morning was not a blessing. Then again, it was one of those nights where she couldn't sleep, so a bottle of whiskey would do. After a while, she looked up and squinted when the bright light shines at her face, not helping with her pounding head. With a groan she wipes away the sleep from her eyes and reaches for the pack of cigarettes on her small night stand, immediately lighting one up to start her day. She inhales the menthol and closes her eyes when it cools her chest. A few seconds later she gets up from the bed, turns off the cigarette on the ashtray and walks out her bedroom, bumping into her younger brother Jay. He greets her with a yawn and a nod of his head before walking down the hall. She chuckles at him as he lazily walks away, if only he knew how she felt.

She walks into the bathroom and leans her hands on the sink. She takes a deep breath before looking at herself in the mirror and slowly sighs when she sees her busted lip. At least it wasn't bad to the point she needed stitches. He had gotten her clean in the mouth, she didn't have time to react, it had happened out of nowhere. Even if she already knew it was going to happen, she still didn't know when exactly he would start throwing punches. That was the annoying part of him. He would attack the moment she would least expect it and once she's been struck by his heavy fist, he would just leave her there on the ground. Better for her, if he's in the mood, then he wouldn't hesitate to let his steal boot connect with her ribs

It hasn't even been a week since they moved out to Hawkins and he has already managed to sneak in a few punches. Luckily, people at her school knew a few stories about her and knew she wasn't one to go by the rules, so Olivia didn't have to worry about the comments on her bruises she ends up getting every once and a while. The first time she did show up to school with a small cut on her left cheek, people began spreading rumors about getting into a fight with someone around town. Olivia only rolled her eyes at anybody who looked her way and continued with her day.

After splashing her face with cold water, she brushes her teeth, dabs a cotton with rubbing alcohol on her lip, walks out the restroom and towards her room. Olivia rummaged through her suitcase, that was still unpacked, until she finally pulled an outfit for the day. The weather seemed pretty warm, considering her entire room was turning hotter each minute that passed. So she settled with a white simple t-shirt, with the front tied in a small knot, navy jeans and some black and white converse on her feet. Being satisfied with her outfit she fixes her hair into her usual wavy curls. Once she was done with everything she looks at herself in the mirror and sighs.

'Another day' 

She thinks to herself as she grabs her backpack and cigarettes, before walking out of her room. When she walks up to the kitchen she sees Jay in front of the toaster as he waits for his waffles. It was rare when she saw him in the kitchen, alone, which made Olivia glance over to the living room to see if he was there. He was, but he was out cold on the couch with a beer bottle on his stomach and on the small coffee table. A small wave of relief washed over her when she saw he wasn't going to wake up anytime soon, probably until the afternoon or if she's lucky until the night. She really didn't feel like dealing with him at such early in the morning and wanting to go to school with another mark on her face, she already had a slight hangover and him releasing his anger and stupidity on her wasn't going to make things better.

Walking back to the kitchen, Olivia walks towards the counter and grabs a green apple from a bowl. Olivia leans against the counter as she takes a bite from her breakfast and waits for her little brother. However, both siblings freeze in their spot when the toaster rings, and hearing their father waking up from his nap while cursing. Knowing too well how things will get, Olivia quickly grabs her backpack along with Jay's and hands him a napkin for his breakfast before storming out of the house. 

******

"Did you know over 100 people have gone missing here in Hawkins?" Jays asks while riding his bike at the same pace as Olivia,

"Maybe they just ran away," Olivia comments as she walks beside her brother and kicking a rock at the same time,

"100 people running away?" He scoffs, "They must've had a good reason then," 

Olivia chuckles and continues with kicking the rock. 

"Not everyone plans on sticking around until their old Jay, so they leave. Hoping to find adventure," 

"Is that what you're gonna do?" He asks after a few seconds, making her stop in her tracks,

She looks over at him and sees how he also stopped peddling. He sat on his bike, but didn't meet her green eyes.

"What? No," Olivia looks at her younger brother and sees how pain and fear is written on his face,

"Why would you think that Jay?" She asks him when he wouldn't look up,

He shrugs a shoulder and gently massages the inside of his palm. A habit he tends to do when he's anxious or scared.

"I don't know... I just thought you'd want to get away.. from this life....from him," 

Olivia walks closer to him.

"More than anything," She places a hand on his shoulder, "But I will never leave without you,"

"Okay?" She asks looking into his big hazel eyes that reminded her of their mother,

Jay was born with their mothers eyes. Beautiful big hazel eyes that never fails to make her smile whenever they are full of light and happiness. Olivia on the other hand was born with her fathers bright green orbs. They used to be filled with pure joy and love, but now they are filled with anger and darkness. They lost their light the moment she lost both her parents.

"Okay," Jay says with a small nod before continuing down the road towards the school,

Olivia remained quiet the rest of the way while Jay continued with his history facts about the small town. She would nod or agree with him, but wasn't really paying attention to whatever he was really saying. His words kept echoing in her head, repeating and making her chest get heavy. Olivia felt pure guilt. She never wanted this life for her or for Jay, she never wanted him to be motherless and be left with a deadbeat father who likes to take all his anger out on his own children. Luckily, Jay hasn't had a finger laid on him and that was the only thing keeping Olivia from snapping. As long as she knows her little brother isn't being physically hurt, then that's enough for her to keep her cool.

Rudy Davis might be their father and ten times their strength and weight, but that doesn't mean Olivia will back down from beating the crap out of him. Possibly even have him gone from their existence. Olivia would do anything to remove him from their lives. 

Anything.

******

 "So," Olivia jumps when Ivy suddenly leans on a locker, "Kevin Buel is throwing a little party Friday night, you comin?" 

Olivia chuckles at her when she shoves some books in her locker.

"Another party? This is would be the third one I go to since I started here," 

Ivy rolls her eyes at her, "Like that has been a problem for you," 

Olivia scoffs at her with a smile while shoving the last book in the locker. She was right though, Olivia loves to go out, loves to drink and smoke and go wild. It brought her life. Made her feel like her life wasn't as shit and it made her feel... free. 

"So you coming?" Ivy asks again as they start walking out the doors,

Olivia sighs and pulls on her backpack strap. She definitely wanted to go. Being away from the house was close to freedom, but she still had a little brother and a drunk of a father. She did not trust nor did she feel comfortable having them both alone in the house. Many things can happen in just a small amount of time, and Olivia would never forgive herself for making a selfish decision.

"I don't know.. I'll think about it," 

Ivy nods her head and opens the double doors, "That's a yes then," 

Olivia shakes her head with a small smile. Ivy Miller was something else, she is crazy, wild, but she was definitely someone Olivia got along with right away. Just being with her for three days, Olivia felt as if they've known each other for a lifetime. Ivy was outgoing, never kept quiet, always energetic, a rebel, and she was the pot head student of Hawkins. Everybody knew about her and her family. From what Olivia learned, the Miller's have always had a reputation in the town and in the school. Every single family member had their own reputation in their own ways. For instance, Ivy, she's the only female in her family and the youngest. She was always the golden ticket in her father's eyes, always made her feel like a princess and spoiled her. She was smart, really smart, but she was a handful at the same time.

Ivy might be smart when it came to school, but none of that mattered to her. All she really cared about was smoking, drinking and having fun. Living life to the fullest was her main priority, and Olivia instantly liked that side from her. The moment they both started talking to one another, they both knew they were gonna get along quite well, and deep down Olivia was thankful to have someone her age to talk to.

Chapter Text

"Oli!"

"Oli!"

"Olivia!" 

The feeling of being roughly shoved causes Olivia to wake up with a scare. She gathers her surroundings and realizes she is in her room, her green eyes then land on scared hazel eyes. Olivia furrowed her brows at her younger brother who was crouching near her bed, she was about to ask what was wrong when the sound of something breaking outside her door causes her to jump out of bed. Olivia quickly walks towards her door, but before she can place her hand on the knob a hand settles on her elbow. She looks down to see Jay beside her and looking up at her eyes with his pleading ones. It wasn't that he was afraid, hell, it surprises her how brave he truly was for a kid his age, but the look he was giving her had fear written all over it.

Olivia knew that Jay knew what their father did to her when he was in his mood. She knows he is not a little kid anymore who you can lie to, but at least she can lie to him about how much pain she rides with. How much fear she truly has about their lifestyle. How tired she really is. Those are the things she can honestly lie about, and it was easy to do it. Olivia may always have an escape route from their fathers explosive moods, but deep down Olivia knows one day she won't have one. When that day does come, Olivia will hopefully be ready.

"Stay here," She tells her younger brother with a firm tone before quietly slipping out of her room,

She quietly closes the door shut and walks down the hall. The closer she got, the more she was able to hear her fathers drunken state. It was one of those days. She honestly didn't know how he had the energy to wake up the next day for work, he was a mechanic and would deal with people and noises practically everyday. Olivia actually had to give her father some credit for having the strength to wake up in just a few hours and starting his day like any other day, if she was in his state she would have just called in sick and sleep it off the rest of the day.

Olivia leaned against the wall and slowly peaked her head to the side. Rudy leaned heavily against the counter with a whisky bottle nearly down his throat. Olivia watched in pure anger and disgust as her father drank the entire bottle. Just as he finished, he shamelessly throws the bottles against the wall, shattering it and causing Olivia to slightly flinch. She shakes her head at her deadbeat father before quietly walking back down the hall. When she walks into her room, she sees Jay sitting on her bed while playing with loose strings on her blanket. Olivia hates this life for them, for him, but soon she'll have a plan and they'll soon escape. 

As she walked further into her room, she noticed how small light was beginning to shine through the curtains. She looks over to her clock by the night stand and gives a tired sigh when it read 6:00 am. 

It was extremely early for her, but with the ruckus that her father is doing outside the door, sleep will definitely not be an option at the moment. Besides, at least this time she'll be early to school for the first time. Not that she actually cared. Telling her brother once again to stay put, she quietly leaves her room and stalks over to her brothers to gather fresh new clothes and his stuff for school. Walking back towards her room, she tosses his clothes and makes her way over to her own drawers. A simple army green shirt, black jeans and converse on her feet should do. After giving one another privacy to change, both of them leave through Olivia's window, neither of them wanting to deal with their drunk father at crack of dawn.

They might have skipped breakfast, but Olivia made sure to steal a 20 from their fathers wallet while he was relieving himself in the trash. Before arriving at school she made sure to stop by a local restaurant to grab a quick bite. At least this time they'll both have some decent real breakfast for once.

*****

"Alright, I'll see you later,"

"Okay," Jay waves at her as he walks down to Hawkins Middle School,

She watches him from where she stands until he disappears inside the building. 

"Hey," Ivy’s voice is heard behind her, "We're gonna miss first period wanna come?" 

Olivia glances over her shoulder and sees the group of people she usually hangs out with. Nobody in the group was considered a friend to her, minus Ivy, but she would only hang around them because of Ivy. They were her friends, but she also hung around because they really did have awesome weed.

"Yeah I'm in,"

Ivy smiles at her as she hooks her arm with hers and walks towards the rest of the group. Once everyone greeted Olivia, they all began climbing into the truck. Both Olivia and Ivy, along with her friend, Zoe, sat in the back, and in the front was Aaron and Rhen. Once everyone was safely seated in the truck, Rhen sped out of the school's parking lot and into the street. With the windows rolled down and the radio blasting made you feel alive. It might have been early, but that doesn't mean it stopped everyone from singing their lungs out as they sped down the road.

After a while, Rhen makes a turn and stops the truck before getting off. As you climbed off the vehicle you looked around, realizing you were in the local park that was only a few blocks away from the retail stores in downtown.

"Alright.. let's have some fun," Aaron smiles at everyone as he pulls out a small zip bag that had at least four rolled papers,

Everyone cheered and sat around on the truck bed as they all enjoyed the rolled blunt, along with a few beers. After a few minutes passed, everyone began getting the munchies and agreed on going to the store. After driving off to the town and parking, everyone climbed off the truck and made their way towards the little market where everyone went their separate ways. Olivia wasn't exactly hungry, she knew how to control the cravings but still managed to purchase two twinkies, and a nougat. After grabbing her snack, Olivia turns around when she hears Aaron and Ivy arguing about which bag of chips to grab. Olivia only rolls her eyes with a shake of her head as she walks out the door.

She has only been in Hawkins for a few days and she has already gotten tired of their bickering. They would always fight. Always. There hasn't been a day where they don't fight, and honestly, Olivia doesn't think she'll be able to take it any longer. While waiting for everyone else, Olivia decides to have a quick smoke. She walks a few steps away from the store and leans her shoulder against the wall as she pulls out the small blunt from her pocket. Placing the blunt in between her lips, she reaches in her pocket once again for the lighter. As she lit the blunt, the sound of someone clearing their throat make her eyes look up. 

Her eyes land on a golden star and then up towards a tall man with a hat and dark shades on his face. She inhales the marijuana as she continues to stare into his covered eyes and then slowly exhales the smoke from her lungs. The man waves the smoke away from his face with pure disgust, making a small chuckle escape Olivia's lips. Without looking away, she places the blunt in her mouth once again.

"Brave of you to be smoking that in front of the Chief of police," His voice was deep as he spoke,

Olivia hums, "So, you're Hopper," She slightly moves her head to the side as she exhales the smoke,

"Thought you'd be shorter," Hopper raises a brow at her, "You know.. cause Chiefs tend to be short," 

Hopper stares at her with an unimpressive look, making the corner of Olivia's lips twitch. 

"You're a grumpy one," She inhales the joint once again making Hopper set his jaw,

"So I've heard, turn around," He orders her as he reaches behind to grab the cuffs,

Olivia smirks at him and takes another drag from her joint before tossing on the ground and turning around. Looking forward, she feels his hand gripping ahold of her wrist, and semi getting a whiff of his cologne and cigarettes. The same moment Hopper is in the process of arresting her, everyone decides to walk out the store. Ivy stops in her tracks and Olivia can't help the small chuckle that escapes her lips when she sees the girls eyes go wide.

"Something funny?" Hopper growls behind her as he struggles to put on the cuffs,

Maybe if he hadn't grabbed a cup of coffee he wouldn't be struggling to place the cuffs. But how would the Chief know he would be arresting someone so early in the morning. 

"Nope," Olivia says with a smile as she pops the 'p',

While Hopper remained having difficulties, Olivia signals Ivy with a small nod to start the truck, meaning she'll soon make a run for it. With a shake of her head and a smirk, Ivy starts walking towards the truck. Behind her, Olivia can hear the Chief making small curses as he continues to struggle with the cuffs and that honestly was pure satisfaction to her ears.

"Hopper!"

Perfect.

Olivia's lip curls upwards when she finds the opportunity for her escape. Turning to the left, a brunette head with glasses strolls down towards them with an angry look in her eye. She wasn't sure, but Olivia thinks she heard a low groan coming from the man behind her.

"Hey..Marissa," Hopper turns to face the short women, away from Olivia,

"You better have a damn good explanation for yesterday!" 

Hopper makes a grimace face. He really didn't. Well.. being drunk and passed out on the couch wasn't a good excuse to say.

"I uh, I know I'm sorry." He closes his eyes when the headache comes back, "Just wasn't my day,"

Marissa scoffs at him and places both hands on her hips, "Well it ain't getting better today,"

She looks behind him, causing him to do the same and sees how Olivia is running down the street.

"Hey! Hey!" Hopper yells while running a few feet but stops when he knows he won't be able to catch up to her,

He watches as she runs towards a truck and climbs into it. Before shutting the door behind her, she sends him a wink with a small smirk on her lips. ‘Little bitch’ he thinks to himself as the truck burns rubber, Hopper lets out a loud sigh when he knows it won't be the last time he sees her.

Chapter Text

"Davis! I swear to god you are one crazy son of a bitch!" Aaron yells from the passenger seat as they sped down the road,

Everyone cheered in the truck for Olivia's savage move. It was nothing new for teens to run away from the cops, but what was new, was that Olivia didn't just run away from any cop. She ran away from the Chief of Police. Everyone in town knows not to mess around with Hopper, unless of course you're stupid. So when the rebel teen outran the Chief, everyone couldn't help but look at her as a golden prize. She was one of the first to be held in cuffs and then running away.

Speaking of. 

Looking down at her right wrist was the metal cuff snapped around it. With her free hand she lets her fingers touch the silver metal, moving it against her skin and slightly wincing when it roughly scrapes her. They were pretty tight, but luckily she knows her way around locks. Literally. This wouldn't be her first time in cuffs, or behind bars. If she had a dollar for every lockup, she'd be loaded and living far away from Rudy. Looking over to Ivy, her eyes land on her hair and let's a smile appear. Reaching out a hand, she gently pulls on the bobby-pin from her hair and digs one end of the pin inside the cuff. Within a matter of seconds her wrist is free. 

Again, it wasn't her first time in cuffs. Glancing at Ivy, she gives her a smirk when she stares at her with an impressive look. Without another thought, Olivia lowers the window and happily tosses the metal cuffs outside. 

****************

"I'll grab a bottle from my old mans, don't worry about it," Rhen mumbles as he speaks around his cigarette, 

Aaron nods his head in agreement and goes back to his lunch. Olivia sat on the edge of the truck with one leg dangling and a cigarette in between her lips. She watched the active schoolyard, watched how multiple teens were chatting away in their groups, eating in their groups and minding their own business. She watched in silence while blowing out the tobacco from her lungs. As she sat alone, Rhen starts to make his way around the car until he's standing beside her. His thigh slightly touching her leg.

She looks over at him when he offers her his bag of Cheetos. With a small smile she exhales the smoke before reaching her hand inside the medium size bag. She thanks him before placing the Cheeto in her mouth. 

"You comin today?" He asks as he takes a drag of his cigarette,

God. How much she has been hearing that same question all day. Ivy kept reminding her about the party. Nonstop. A few students in her class—that she semi speaks to—have also been asking her and honestly it is quickly getting annoying. It's not that she doesn't want to go, hell, she wouldn't even have to be asked to attend the party, she would just show up. The main reason why she's turning it down would be for Jay. There is no way in hell that she's leaving her baby brother alone, in the house, with their drunken father. She would rather face his wrath then leave her brother alone to face it himself, just so you can get shit faced at a damn party. That would be selfish and cruel.

Never in a million years would she ever choose partying, smoking, or drugs over Jay. Never. He is her blood, her anchor, and her reason to be strong. If he wouldn't have came into this world.. then there is no doubt in Olivia's mind that she wouldn't have made it this far. There has been countless times where she has thought about it, thought about letting go, leaving this shitty ass of a world behind and never having to come back to it, but she hasn't. Why? Because of Jay.

"No, not tonight," She exhales the smoke while looking at him,

Rhen slowly nods his head, "So you've got plans?"

Olivia inhales a long breath, her eyes focused on a pigeon eating something from the floor, and lets it out in one big sigh.

"Somethin like that.. yeah," Rhen nods his head in understanding,

"Well," He begins as he takes another hit of his cigarette before tossing it to the ground, "It's gonna be boring without you,"

Olivia snorts with a roll of her eyes. Him and his flirty comments. 

"I think you guys will be fine," Rhen smiles at her before shrugging a shoulder,

"We'll see," Is all he says as he keeps his eyes on her,

She sees how his hazel orbs land on her lips, and sees how he licks his own bottom lip with a small smile. Olivia isn't stupid, she knows he likes her, or at least wants to get in her pants. The little days she's been here in Hawkins, she's been learning new things everyday about who Rhen really was. He was a jock, football, to be exact. Has loaded parents, gets spoiled, has a reputation in school and doesn't like to commit in relationships. He just likes fucking and ducking, and that's what makes him Rhen. Yes he might be very attractive with his brown curly locks, hazel eyes, perfect jawline, freckles on his cheeks and fit toned body, but he wasn't the type to make Olivia swoon over. Okay yes, she probably would mess around with him in bed for the fun, but she wouldn't see it go further than that.

The sound of the bell ringing breaks the staring, letting a wave of relief wash over her. Not because it was awkward, but because she hates looking people in the eyes. It just felt awkward for her, and she felt as if looking into someone's eyes for an amount of time is like giving them a promise, or giving them trust. Not that she has trust issues, well.. she does but not to the point where she feels suspicious towards everyone she meets, but enough to know how to avoid those people. Hopping off the truck and tossing the last bit of cigarette left, Olivia starts making her way towards the doors. While doing so the sound of something falling to the floor and loud giggles causes her to turn around.

On all fours on the ground was a girl with dark brown hair, books littered all over the floor with Zoe towering over her. A few other girls she didn't recognize were also giggling and hovering above the girl.

"Watch it, freak," Zoe giggles at her and kicks one of her books,

Olivia watched as they left her on the ground to pick up her scattered books. She scoffs with a shake of her head. Honestly, it gets quite old when someone messes with the same kid every day. 

Glancing over her shoulder one last time, the poor girl is still on the ground picking up her scattered things while other students walked around her and giggling to one another. Some boys even managed to kick her books farther away from her. She didn't know how long she stayed looking, but at some point they both make eye contact. It was the first time Olivia was able to see what she looks like and she understood now why the nickname was always being said. On the girls upper lip was a large scar that traveled up towards her right nostril. It honestly didn't look as bad as other people described it. It was just a harmless scar, rather badass, in Olivia's opinion. Feeling insecure, the girl shamefully lowers her gaze and hides behind her long hair, Olivia takes the moment to avert her eyes as well. 

Walking through the doors she can still hear students giggling behind her. Ignoring the shitheads, Olivia makes her way over to her next period. Walking into her classroom, she stops and sighs heavily. Pop Quiz. It read in bolded letters on the board. Yup, the days' definitely gonna go by extremely slow. Olivia makes her way over to her desk in the back of the room and sits down with a huff, already resting her head against her arms as the lesson begins.

*********

"Hey," Olivia smiles at her younger brother who was walking towards her with his bike,

Jay waves at her and hugs her before making their way out of the school grounds and down the road to their hell of a home. They both settled in a conversation about their day while walking. Olivia shared little details, her school life wasn't as interesting as her little brothers. For some reason, the kid is always having new stories to tell everyday. Whatever, nonsense seems to spill from his lips, Olivia always made sure to pay attention. Not once did she ever ignore him, if anyone asked, Olivia would say they were pretty interesting. At times.

"So.. Kenny is having this sleepover today," Jay softly says while pushing his bike at a walking pace,

"Yeah?" 

"I was gonna go but... I can stay home with you today" He looks up at you,

Olivia snorts at him. This kid. She thinks.

"Jay you're going," Olivia demands,

His eyes drop down to the ground, "What abo—,"

"Jay," She gives him a grim look, "You're going.. and that's that," 

Jay softly smiles at her and nods his head. For the rest of the walk it was in silence. Only the sounds of birds chirping, dirt crunching under their feet, the chain clicking of Jay's bike and the trees brushing every so often. It was peaceful to Olivia's ears. Whenever she can, she'll stroll through the woods alone around this time, it was quiet and peaceful. It was the only silence she can get after all. 

After a few miles, they both arrive at the house. Both letting a breath of relief when they don't see their fathers 1967 Ford F-250 sitting in front of the yard. Must've gone to work or the bar. Olivia thinks to herself as they make their way inside the home. Both siblings go their separate ways, Olivia towards the couch, and Jay towards his room to gather his things for the night. Turning on the tv and flipping through the channels, Olivia lights a cigarette from Rudy's pack. He wouldn’t notice, he smokes like a damn chimney. 

There wasn't much to watch in Hawkins, a couple movies, tv shows, or the weather was all she had. Having no other choice, she lets an old rerun of an unknown show play on the screen.

Time had passed and before she knew it, there's a loud honk outside their home. With furrowed brows, Olivia extinguishes her cigarette before walking over to the covered window. Peeking through the sunny cream curtain, a brown Pontiac Catalina Safari was parked outside they're street. Figuring it was for Jay she calls out to him, in less than a minute he's coming out of his room with a backpack filled with clothes, a pillow tucked under his arm and a wide smile on his face. Olivia smiles at her younger brother and ruffles his hair before walking him out of the home. After having a long conversation with Mrs. Hadfield and telling her to give a call for whatever reason, Olivia waves goodbye to Jay one last time before walking back inside the home.

She lets out a long sigh when silence is all around her, only the low voices coming from the television was keeping the home alive. She realized just how boring the day was going to be. If she would have known sooner about Jay's sleepover, then she would have agreed on attending the party. Possibly even gotten a ride. The thought did occur to her, but the sun was already setting and she really didn't feel like walking alone in the dark, not that she hasn't done it. Then again, the event wasn't as far from her place, so maybe if she left now she'd make it before it got dark. While having a full on debate in her head, the familiar sound of Rudy's truck is heard from outside the house.  Checking through the window once again, she sees how her father stumbles out the truck, only this time he's not alone. Climbing off the passenger seat was a red head, her steps matching her fathers as they made their way towards the home. Olivia makes a disgusted face when both adults sloppily start swallowing each other's mouths right outside the door.

Olivia groans when she knows it'll be one of those nights. With an annoyed sigh and a shake of her head, Olivia makes up her mind. 

She's going to the party.

********

3:00 am

"Shit!! Cops!" Someone screams in panic making everyone run in different directions,

Olivia springs to her feet along with everyone in her group. Rhen grips her hand before running towards the side of the house and away from all the commotion. They both hide behind some trash bins as they watch officers barge into the home or arresting some people out in the yard. It looked like a scene from an action film, multiple cop cars in the street, people running all over the place while others were being pinned to the ground with their hands cuffed behind their backs. 

Everything was going so smoothly, but like always there’s always that one neighbor. 

After the third drink, Olivia had lost count on how many she had, luckily she can handle her alcohol. Just like her father. Olivia was out in the backyard with her group drinking and sharing a few joints. It was a good night and felt as if it would last until dawn, unfortunately that never happened. Olivia was sitting in the middle of Rhen and Ivy, enjoying the night, puffing on a joint when the commotion erupted. It was such a buzz kill, but if anyone asked, Olivia would say it was quite fun to run away from the cops. It wouldn't be her first time, back in her hometown she'd run away for a living. Every party she'd gone to was always being shut down by the people in blue, and every time it'd happen she would ditch the place in a heartbeat with a wide smile on her face.

While hiding behind the trash bins, both Rhen and Olivia slowly start to come out of the shadows when it looked like the right opportunity. However, before they can walk around the bins, a bright light is being flashed in their direction. Rhen and Olivia glance at each other and bursting in a fit of giggles before running in separate ways. Rhen back towards the backyard and hopping over the fence, while Olivia ran down the street and into the woods. She ran and ran, looking back every few minutes to see if anyone was following her. When she saw no one was running after her, Olivia walks out of the woods with heavy pants. She rests her hands on her knees as she gathers her breathing, awhile chuckling to herself.

Piece a cake.

 A huge grin appears on her face, man does she love the adrenaline. Glancing down to the road one last time, she begins to walk the rest of the way. However, after a few miles she starts to notice how the floor would move as she walked. Shaking the thought away she continues down the dirt road, but her vision only gets worse and strange. Glancing up with furrowed brows makes her intake a large breath. Everything was moving and everything seemed... brighter. Her eyes wonder higher, up the glowing trees and up towards the sky where she starts seeing more than color. In her mind, she sees the stars coming to life and falling down from the sky. They're soon floating and flying all around her, she lets out a disbelief chuckle at what she's seeing. 

She tries reaching out towards the ball of gas, but before she can make contact it floats away from her. Next thing she knows, she's being hauled up towards the sky by millions of stars. In her drugged mind, she didn't realize nor felt herself falling on the ground, her hallucinations held a tight grip on her, making everything around her disappear. It was just her and the stars, lifting her up towards the dark sky. Olivia closes her eyes at the calm feeling of being loose, it felt nice. Better than nice, it felt.. great. It felt so good to not have any problems in mind, not having to worry about her deadbeat father, not having to worry about Jay or any other shit in the world. Olivia felt at peace.

Opening her eyes, she smiles widely at the amazing view of the small town of Hawkins. However, as she glances down at her feet, all the stars that were keeping her balanced in the air start to explode. Yes, explode. They don't disappear one by one, no, they all explode at the same time, leaving her levitating in the air for a few seconds before falling 60 feet in the air. As soon as she hits the ground, Olivia jolts up from her weird dream with a sharp gasp. Her green eyes wide as she scans her surroundings, and only feeling her blood drain when she realizes she's not home.

"Sober yet?" Olivia snaps her head at the deep voice, 

Hopper was leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed in front of him, while having an exhausted look on his face. Olivia squints her eyes at the man in confusion, but realization soon settles in on her when she takes in the Chiefs appearance. Hopper was still in his uniform, only having the first few buttons of his shirt undone. His hair was disheveled as if his fingers ran through it multiple times throughout the day. If the Chief was still in his uniform, and Olivia woke up on a couch in a small office,then that would mean one thing, she was in the police station.

"How did I get here?" Olivia asks after a while,

Clenching his jaw, Hopper peels away from the doorframe and walks inside his office.

"Found you on the ground, coked out of your mind," He explains as he hands her a bottle of water, 

Olivia looks at him warily, not fully trusting him, but hesitantly accepts the water bottle. She tries to remember what the hell happened last night, but everything seemed like a blur after they crashed the party. Instead of taking a sip of water, she places it against her throbbing head and closes her eyes at the refreshing feeling. Hopper watched her movements carefully. His eyes began to wonder down her hands, noticing a few scars on her knuckles. A fighter, he thinks to himself. Just by the way her knuckles were covered in scars, he knew she wasn't like most teenage girls in this town. She was different, very different. At least in Hopper's opinion.

Olivia slowly opens her eyes, immediately landing her eyes at the man sitting at the edge of his desk and noticing how he's watching her.

"What?" She asks with hint of annoyance in her voice,

Hopper slightly shakes his head, "Your dad is on his way to pick you up,"

Great. Anxiety and fear begin to pool in her stomach when she knows very well how the day will turn for her. Although, curiosity hits her, how would he know who her father is? Wait.. does that mean he knows her name?

"How did you know who to call?" She asks while opening the bottle to take a sip from it,

Hopper rubs his eyes with a tired sigh. His expression was enough to answer her question, he must've stayed up all night trying to figure out who the hell she was. She didn't exactly greet herself while in the process of getting arrested, so how would he know her name?

"Hawkins is a small town, we hadn't had new folks up here in a few months," He tells her, taking out a cigarette from his pack and lighting it up, he inhales it before continuing, "Plus, news travel fast out here,"

"Good to know," Olivia sarcastically comments,

Hopper rolls his eyes as he takes another drag from his cigarette. Thick silence settles in between them, which was becoming heavier by the minute. Olivia leans back on the couch  and lets her eyes wonder around the office, although, she gets lost in her thoughts. She was already thinking what Rudy can possibly do to her, a few punches to the stomach? Maybe to the face? Maybe all in one? Who knows? Rudy can get creative at times. Then again, he did grow up with two older brothers who enjoyed the ring. He studied boxing up until his teen years, but even as timed has passed the man still had a pretty neat hook.

"So what'd you take?" Hopper asks out of the blue, breaking the teen out of her thoughts,

Her green eyes land on his icy blues. He stares at her while exhaling a large cloud of smoke in her direction. Before she can make a smartass comment, a knock is heard. Olivia doesn't even turn around, she already knows it's for her.

"Mr. Davis is here," Hopper nods his head and takes one last drag before smashing his bud on the ashtray,

"C'mon," He motions a hand at her to follow him, but she doesn't,

She remains seated in her spot, not wanting to move from it. She can already visualize her fathers face, angry and red. It was only gonna grow darker when they got to the house.

Hopper stops outside his office when she doesn't move. He furrows his brows with a sigh.

"Olivia," He calls her by her name while leaning his hands on the doorway,

The way her name easily slips off his mouth leaves a weird sensation in her chest, almost as if she liked it when he called her by her name and not by her surname. Hesitantly, Olivia gets up from the couch, her legs slightly shaking as she makes her way out the office. Hopper steps aside for her to take the lead down the hall. With a shaky breath, she begins to walk, slowly. Her change of behavior didn't go unnoticed, Hopper noticed the way her shoulders clenched up, noticed how her hands would balled up into fist every few seconds. He noticed how she became nervous. 

Before they can emerge from the hall, Hopper stops her by her shoulder, and definitely feeling her flinch under his hand. 

"You okay?" He asks, eyebrows furrowed with suspicion,

Olivia doesn't even have time to answer back or give him a short nod because the sound of her father calling her stops her from doing so.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Rudy stays standing in front of the entrance of the station with his hands on either side of his hips, his face laced with worry, but she knew all too well what hides behind the mask,

"Sorry for her Chief, she's been a handful lately," His green orbs land on Hopper as he let's a hand wrap around her upper arm and tightening his grip as he pulls her towards his side,

Olivia tried her best to not wince at the death grip he's giving her. Her eyes casted down at the tiled floor as her father 'apologizes' for her behavior and for any other ruckus she's made in the past few days they've been in town.

"It won't happen again, right Oli?" Rudy glances down at her while tightening his grip on her arm,

She nods her head, eyes avoiding her fathers, "Right,"

Hopper watches her with narrowed  eyes. The vibe she was giving off was not settling right with him. A few hours ago she was a rebellious teen with a annoying attitude, and now she seemed anxious and... scared?  He didn't know if it was both but he definitely knew it wasn't like her, even if he's only spoken to her for a few minutes. 

"Sorry again Chief," With that Rudy turns to leave the station with his hand still on Olivia's arm,

As he pushes the door open with his free hand, Olivia glances over her shoulder and locks eyes with Hopper for a few seconds before turning back around. Hopper clenches his jaw, watching them leave through the door and still having the unwanted feeling on his chest.

Chapter Text

“This better be the last time you make me late,” Rudy firmly calls out as he walks out the house, 

The sound of him slamming his car door and the sound of the tires rumbling against the dirt is heard from inside the home. Olivia stayed on the ground, leaning heavily against the couch cushions, head laid back awhile pinching the bridge of her nose to stop the bleeding. She takes in shallow breaths, slightly wincing when sharp pain shoots up her right side of her ribs. Rudy hadn’t kicked her, this time, but he did land a massive body shot. Literally sending her to the ground with a loud thud. She was actually surprised he didn’t keep going, instead he hovered over her as he took in sharp breathes. Slightly hesitating before landing another big blow to her face, splitting her bottom lip.

With a irritated sigh, Rudy wiped off the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and let his fingers run through his dark locks before walking away from her. A small part of Olivia knew that her father still had... some kind of emotion towards her, otherwise he would have done more than punch and kick. A part of her knew, that he knew whatever he’s doing towards himself and his own children is wrong. However, she also knew he wouldn’t change. Not anymore.

After what seemed like minutes, Olivia uses the couch for support to lift herself off the floor. The pain on her right side felt as if someone was repeatedly stabbing her as she stood on her feet. She really hoped he didn’t crack one of her ribs, that would be a bitch to heal and definitely would feel uncomfortable. With slow steps she makes her way over to the restroom. Standing in front of the mirror she scans her face. Bloody nose, small cut on her lower lip as well on the bridge of her nose. She looked like shit, well, she always looked like shit but this time she looked worse. Skin slightly pale, dark bags under her eyes and blood staining her face and shirt, she looked like the definition of shit.

Once she stopped the bleeding from her nose, cleaned the rest of her face as much as she can, and checked her abdomen that was starting to form into a purple bruise on the side, she left the restroom. A nap sounded like a great idea, the headache she’s got and the way her ribs pinch her sides with every movement is not a good feeling. So after finding some pain killers through the drawers and popping two of them, she crawls into bed and vastly falls asleep. 

________________________________

1:35 pm

“Well well, look who’s alive and not rotting in a jail cell,” Aaron calls from the swing, cigarette in mouth,

Olivia flips him the bird as she nears the small group in the playground. 

“Jesus.. what happened to you?” Ivy comments when she notices the cuts on her face,

“Waking up on the side of the road will do that to you,” She lies, not really wanting to spill what really goes on at home, 

Nobody needs to know, not a single soul. Especially Hopper. Not that he’ll even care, but as part of his job he would have to do something, and the last thing Olivia needs is having so much attention drawn to her. Better to stay away from prying eyes and away from him, as long as no one, like him, sees her cuts then she’ll be fine.

Aaron snorts, “Sounds like you had a fun one,” 

Olivia glares at him, “I would have if I wasn’t tripping balls,”

Aaron only smirks wider as if knowing exactly what she was referring to. It didn’t take long for Olivia to know Aaron was behind it, she did smoke a joint he made and from the days she’s been at Hawkins and around him, she learned Aaron likes to experiment. Aaron is all to blame, waking up in Hopper’s office and taking a few blows from Rudy is all on him. Maybe if he didn’t experiment or offer his joint  in general, Olivia wouldn’t be dealing with the pain on her side.

“Tell me about it,” Rhen’s voice settles besides Olivia, “I woke up in my neighbors kiddie pool,”

Everyone, including Olivia, snorted at his comment. Olivia can only imagine how that must’ve looked, can imagine how terrified and confused the little ones must’ve looked when they saw a grown teenager unconscious in their pool. 

Once the laughter died down, everyone hung around the park a little while longer until they decided in going over to Aaron’s place. That’s where most of the weed comes from, practically the cave to smoke in. Aarons parents literally didn’t give a crap, well more like his mother. As long as the smell stayed in the basement and no cops came banging on her door, then it was fine. Olivia wish she had a mother— She shakes her head at the ridiculous thought. Even feels like slapping herself for even thinking that, anger and guilt start creeping through her chest, and boy, does she need a joint. Fast.

Luckily, Aaron’s place wasn’t too far from the town, probably a 15 to a 20 minute drive. Finally arriving at the house, everyone climbs off the truck. Olivia observes the home as she walks up the front yard. It was a decent home, looked pretty cozy. As they made their way inside the home, the sound of a television playing in the living room was heard. Just as they were about to head down to the basement, a short women with blonde curly hair came from the corner of the door, possibly that led to the hallway.

“Hi Ms. Hitch,” Ivy waves at the women with a smile,

Ms. Hitch, as Ivy referred to, returns the gesture and wipes down her hands on her yellow apron. 

“Hello Ivy,” She greets her as well with the rest of the group, but lands her chocolate orbs on Olivia,

“Your a new face,” Her smile brings comfort towards Olivia, leaving her relaxed and smiles back,

“Olivia Davis,” She introduces herself and extends a hand, 

The women gladly shakes her hand just as Ivy lets her know she’s new to the town.

“That’s so? How you liking it here?” She asks, 

Great. Now, I’m the center of attention. Just says it’s nice, keep it short. 

“It’s nice.. different,” Olivia gives her a small smile,

Ms. Hitch slightly chuckles, “Oh it’s definitely different then anything out there, but you’ll get use to it,” 

Olivia smiles at her once again with a small nod. She really didn’t want to give a full life presentation about where she came from, thankfully, Aaron’s mother excuses herself when the phone begins to ring. Olivia is actually surprised she didn’t comment about her bruises, guess she simply doesn’t care. Better for her. 

As they make their way down to the basement, Olivia starts to realize, no one, and she means no one really knows anything about her. Well maybe they’ll soon know things since Jay is her brother and Jay never shuts up. Well, at least she won’t have to do it.

Once in the basement, everyone went different directions, as if they’ve claimed their seats. As Olivia was looking around where to sit, a hand pulls on her wrist, turning around she meets eyes with Rhen. He smiles at her and nods down at the empty seat on the small couch, which happens to be right next to him. The couch didn’t even look big enough for two people, but where else would she sit? On the cement ground? No thank you.

“Alright ladies,” Aaron comes from a closet and places a large bong on the small coffee table, “Let’s have some fun,”

- -The Next Day - - 

11:45 am.

“Bye guys,” Olivia watches her brother bid his farewells from the yard, 

The smile Jay has plastered on his face when he sees his sister and his bike next to her, attracts one on Olivia as well. His smile that brings happiness and warmth in her chest, makes her day slightly better even after every shitty morning she deals with, Jay never fails to bring a smile on her face.  

However, that smile quickly turns into a frown when he inches closer. Olivia still has the smile, but it’s not as bright and sincere as a few seconds ago. 

“What happened?” He asks, hazel eyes observing her fresh cuts,

Olivia shakes her head with a small smile, “I’m fine,”

“Oli,” Olivia sighs, 

There was no way in hell she was telling him the truth. Don’t worry I just got highly intoxicated, arrested, and dad beat the shit out of me. Yeah, no way.

“I was just in the wrong place, wrong time. As usual,” She says instead, 

Jay furrows his brows, as if trying to believe her little story. Jay wasn’t small anymore, he knows why his older sister is always showing off new bruises, and he only wishes he can do something about it. Wishes he can somehow take away any pain she has, wishes he can standup to their deadbeat father. But he was only 14 years old, barely getting growth spurt, he was no match to Rudy. 

“Hey,” Olivia places a hand on his shoulder, making his hazel orbs look up to her green eyes, “I’m okay,” 

She gives him a smile, not a real one, but one that lets him know she truly was okay. Besides the aching pain on her right side, she honestly had worst. 

“Come on,” She pats the seat on his bike, motioning him to climb, which he does with a small smile,

As they begin to head down the road, Olivia walking with Jay matching her speed, they both fall into a conversation. Mainly about Jay’s sleepover, what they did, and what movies they binged watched, and even mentioned sneaking in “unhealthy” snacks in the room. Olivia couldn’t help the snort that escapes, her brother was very similar to her in many ways, but also in many different ways. Thankfully. Olivia didn’t need Jay to follow in her footsteps, not after everything she’s been getting herself into. 

After walking down the main road and turning into the woods, a shortcut that Olivia had found, they made it back home in less than 20 minutes. Both siblings settled down in the living room, Olivia on the couch flipping through channels, and Jay on the ground doing his homework. Which Olivia should be doing, probably even study for that History test that’s coming in a few days, but like always, she’ll push it for the last minute. She believes she studies better on the day of the test, and for some odd reason, she does.

Once flipping channel through channel and watching a rerun of an old western show, Olivia grew bored rather quickly, she debated on cleaning the living room a bit. After all, it was a mess, beer bottles thrown all over the place, different kinds of bourbon bottles laid on the floor as well in the kitchen. She could at least pick up the place to make it look less like an addict home and more like a... well.. a home. With a small huff, she gets up from the couch and walks to the kitchen. Grabbing a large trash bag, she begins to pick up the kitchen, once that was done she walks back to the living room. Jay remained in the same spot, too focused on his work to realize Olivia cleaning.

By 1:30, Olivia had both the kitchen and living room clean. Semi, but definitely cleaner than before. Feeling satisfied with her work, she walks back to the kitchen and prepares them both a sandwich. They both sat on the couch, watching whatever movie played on the screen and enjoyed their Sunday as much as they can before their father came home. Luckily, their father didn’t come home that night. Making them have a day off from their fathers commotion, but yet, neither of them were able to sleep properly that night.

 - - Monday Morning- -

“Aren’t you supposed to be at school?” That familiar deep voice makes Olivia’s eyes open, shielding the sun with her hand to let her eyes settle on an upside down tall frame that towers over her,

She exhales a long smoke, slightly smirking around the bud when she sees a brow rise above those dark shades. 

“Easy Chief, it’s just tobacco,” She speaks around the cigarette as she sits right on the beaten slide,

“Glad you learned your lesson, but that doesn’t answer my first question,” Olivia hoped she didn’t react too noticeably at his first words, if only he knew what lesson she got exactly, 

Olivia shrugs a shoulder as she leans back on the slide, “School doesn’t start for another 20 minutes, just killin’ time,” 

Hopper looks down at his watch, “It’s eight o’clock,”

Olivia takes one last drag of her cigarette before smashing it against the slide, “Well then, better start using those 20 minutes,” 

Just as she got up from the slide and was about to walk past him, a firm hand on her elbow stops her from walking. Literally. Olivia looks up at his covered eyes, seeing her own reflection in those dark shades before meeting piercing blue orbs. They scanned her, as if silently criticizing her. Then she sees how those blue orbs land on her beaten lip, and then back up to the bridge of her nose, knowing right away what he’s thinking she pulls away from his grip. But doesn’t move from her position, by the way he’s staring at her, how could she leave? 

The look in those bright blue eyes made her feel pinned to her spot, made her slightly intimidated. She’s seen a similar look in her fathers eye, but instead these blue eyes held a  different feeling behind them. They didn’t show anger or hatred, no, they showed worry, sincere, but a part of Olivia didn’t like it. Olivia drops her eyes down to the ground, not making Hopper’s suspicious subside.

“What happened?” He asks voice firm,

“Nothing,” Olivia replies back coldly, eyes still focused down on the floor,

Hopper stayed quiet, just looking down at her with firm eyes. Not being able to take the silence Olivia finally looks up to his eyes, only to roll her own when he raises a brow at her.

“Look, I got in a fight alright? I’m sure that happens here,” With that she brushes past his arm and begins walking away from him,

“So if I go ask your father the same thing he’ll give me the same answer?” Those words made her halt, made her skin crawl with fear and filled her chest with anxiety,

If Rudy knew the Chief of police was questioning her bruises, she knows for a fact he’ll lie about them, but once she enters the home it’ll be the end for her. Who the hell knows what he’ll do to her, more than kicks and punches that for sure. Looking over her shoulder she watches him take out a cigarette from a small carton, placing the bud between his lips and lights it up, all while casually waiting for her response. 

“Look kid,” Hopper sighs as he slowly walks towards her, “If anyone, I mean anyone, is causing you trouble I can help,”

Olivia knew he could, hell it was probably the only time, no, it was the first time someone has offered any help at all. In fact, it’s been the first time anyone ever noticed her pain. How exactly did this man see through her? Maybe the cuts and bruises helped a little, but maybe he also saw more than bruises behind the brick wall she carries around and that’s what Olivia is having hard trouble to figure out. How did he see through her?

“I said I’m fine,” Her tone grew colder and firmer, but that still doesn’t make the Chief to back down,

She noticed how his face turns from genuine worry, to a firm expression as he takes one last step towards her. Practically towering over her as he speaks again.

“Convince me,” 

Is all he says, never breaking eye contact as he waits for her reply. She stares into his blue eyes, realizing how darker and beautiful they are up close. She knows this was the only time she can get help without asking for it and feeling weak, but she was scared, even if she didn’t admit it, she was truly terrified. Terrified of what Rudy would do, what he’ll try and do to her. Terrified of him taking Jay away from her, terrified of never being able to see him again. And she knew Rudy was capable of kidnapping her little brother, he already did it by moving here.

Olivia looks back into his eyes and softly scoffs while shaking her head. She begins to walk away from him without another argument, even if a voice screamed at her to turn around and give in, to ask for help and to be over with all the bullshit. 

But she didn’t.

“Davis,” Hopper calls out to her, but she remains walking away, 

As his job it’s mandatory to run after someone who’s in trouble and offer them the help they need, especially when it comes to endangered minors, but Hopper knew Olivia wasn’t like most minors. And he knew she wouldn’t take his help even if he had her cuffed in his office, she was made of stone. That won’t give in, but he knows even stones can break, and when she finally does break he’ll make sure he’s there to catch her.

Chapter Text

After the incident with Hopper in the playground, Olivia made sure to avoid him at all cost. That was her plan, avoid going into town and his pestering questions, avoid getting into trouble that would lead her back in his office or worse, behind bars. That was her plan, it was a good plan, at least that's what she thought. It was going as planned, almost marking two days since she last crossed paths with him, unfortunately, she jinxed herself.

While walking down the dirt road with Jay, the sound of tires stopping beside them makes both siblings look up. 'You've got to be kidding me.' Olivia's jaw clenches as she stares at the man inside the cruiser.

"Need a lift?" Hopper calls from the drivers seat, shades on his face as he stares at both of them,

"Yeah sure-,"

"We're good," Both siblings say in sync, causing Olivia to give her brother the look before continuing down the dirt road,

"You sure? It's getting pretty late. Plus I'm heading down to the school might as well," Hopper offers once again, hand leaning against the passenger seat as he slightly cranes his head to peek out the window,

With an irritated growl Olivia responds sternly, "I said we're fine Hopper," 

"Oli," A whisper and a small hand pulling hers makes her stop, "Please? I-I have a test today,"

Olivia stares into her brothers eyes, slightly losing the firm look when Jay gives her a small lopsided smile. If it wasn't for Jay she would have already slipped into the woods, running till she knows he won't be able to reach her, but considering Jay is with her and just smoothly happened to give her a reason to accept the ride, even if she has a feeling it was a lie, Olivia goes ahead and looks over at the Chief. Who only puts the Blazer in park as he gestures his head to the trunk.

"C'mon put your bike in the back, kid," Hopper says as he climbs off the truck and walks over to the back,

Once it was loaded, Jay makes his way over towards the passenger side, big grin spreading on his face when he sees his older sister holding the door open with a tetchy look. She narrows her green eyes at him when she hears soft snickering coming from him as he climbs into the backseat. Just because they're already going through shit back home, Olivia is holding all the shit she wants to give her little brother right about now, so instead she rises her foot, letting it connect with Jay's which sends him tripping to the backseat of the cruiser. Olivia smirks with a faint chuckle when her baby brother glares at her as she too climbs in the front seat. She still has that shit eating smirk on her face when she shuts the door, but it fades as soon as she notices Hopper staring at her with a very amused raised brow.

She quickly looks away from his gaze, staring out the window instead, replacing her smile with the same scowl she had on not too long ago. Although, her jaw slightly clenches when she hears a deep, amusing chuckle beside her before feeling the cruiser moving down the dirt road. The whole car ride to the school was in silence, only the low music playing from the radio was keeping the tension around them.. somewhat bearable. Luckily the school was only 15 minutes away, but for Olivia it felt like a whole hour as they drove towards school grounds. She just wanted to get there already, being in the same car as him was not making things better. What if everyone saw her getting off the cruiser? Not just any cruiser, the town's Chiefs cruiser! If news really did travel fast here like Hopper said then Olivia was in deep shit back home.

If Rudy found out she was getting rides to school by the police chief, then she already knew what would come after, another busted lip with a top notch shiner to the eye. She doesn't know how many times she can go to school looking like she just came from a cat fight without having the school getting involved in her shitty life at home, maybe she should start covering them up with makeup. Or maybe she should just try and avoid getting hit.

Olivia softly snorts at the thought, not noticing the way Hopper spares her a small glance with a raised brow before focusing back on the road. He wanted to ask, but restrained himself from doing so, if she was barely vocal when they're alone what makes him think she'd be now with her younger brother sitting behind them. So instead he averted his eyes on the road, doing his best in ignoring the tension around them.

After what seemed like an hour in a car with him, which in reality was only 15 minutes or less, they finally arrive on school grounds. Every pair of eyes is turning in their direction, curious expressions painted on each of their faces as they see the Chief pulling into the parking lot. Olivia wanted to sink in her seat to hide from everyone, not from embarrassment, but to save her from an ass kicking she knows too well will come once the rumors begin to spread across town. 

After parking the cruiser, all three of them climb off. Olivia wanted nothing more than to walk away from them, make it seem as if she did not just get a ride from the Chief, but she never leaves her baby brother without a goodbye and she wasn't gonna start now. The moment Jay has his bike on the ground, the warning bell rings around them, signifying the first period of the day. As much as she hated the idea, Olivia was gonna head straight to her class, early or not she just wanted to be away from him, away from the prying eyes. Not that she's any safer inside the classroom, people still talk, it'll only be a matter of time before the whole school knows about her hitching a ride with the police.

"Thanks Chief," Jay says with a small smile as he shrugs on his backpack,

The older man waves him off as he shuts the cruisers trunk, "Call me Hopper kid," 

Jays smile widens at the name, then nods at him before averting his hazel orbs to his older sister who remained waiting for him. 

"Bye Oli,"

Olivia waves at him, "I'll see you later,"

With that Jay makes his way towards the middle school. Normally, Olivia would wait and watch until he made it inside the school doors, but Hopper was now walking towards her and she honestly didn't feel nor want to have any type of communication with him, so she quickly makes her way inside the high school. Completely ignoring the way he scoffs behind her. The faster she got to class the sooner she didn't have to see him anymore, coming out of his truck in front of hundreds of prying eyeballs was already enough attention, imagine walking together towards the school? Yeah, now that would only make things worse for her.

The hallways were quickly emptying as students made their way to their first periods, causing Olivia to quicken her pace, she really didn't want to be around him and Hopper quickly caught on by the way he chuckles as he watches the teen practically run up the stairs. With a shake of his head and a slight roll of his eyes, he makes his way over to the office where the principle is waiting for him with a delinquent who apparently was caught smoking on school grounds.

Too early for this shit. Hopper thinks to himself and mentally prays for this issue to move fast, he just wants to get to the station and relax in his office before actual calls start pouring through the phone lines. Maybe even try to find out more things about a certain person who clearly has an attitude and issues, and who clearly seems to have some sort of grip on the chief that he can't quite seem to understand why. 

Although, one thing he does understand is how much it's killing him to find out.

++++

"So my dad keeps asking me if I've settled on a college yet, or if I've done my research on some and I just keep telling him that California seems interesting. Little does he know I'm only looking at apartments to move into after I'm done here," Ivy shares as she lazily does dumbbell curls with 5 pounds, 

Olivia listens to her as she rants on about how she wants to live in the city, work at a bar, have a nice cozy apartment with a beautiful view of the city lights with a bong right next to her. Meanwhile, Olivia was doing barbell curls with 70 pounds, until she dropped the barbell to change the weight, replacing it with 80 pounds. 

"I mean," Ivy scoffs, "I honestly don't even want to go to school to be a doctor or lawyer or whatever my parents dream for me. I just want... my own... life— are you really lifting that?" Ivy points with raised brows at the set that Olivia is currently lifting,

While the barbell was up towards her chest Olivia glances down at the weight, not noticing she's currently lifting 160 pounds, and only then notices how other boys in her classroom were staring at her with amazement. Not liking the attention, Olivia carefully places the weights on the ground, standing back up she notices how Ivy was staring at her with the same look, except she had an impressed smile on her face.

Olivia shrugs her shoulders, "I use to train with my uncles," 

Which wasn't a lie, her uncles along with her father use to box in their early years and only shared their skills with Olivia and her cousins. So of course she's familiar with weight lifting.

"You are one mysterious girl Olivia Davis," Ivy comments with a chuckle as she places her own weights on the ground, then plots herself on a nearby bench,

Ain't that the truth. Olivia thinks to herself as she joins her, arms leaning on her thighs.

"I honestly don't know how I'm gonna keep lying to my parents, the more I think about it and the more I picture it in the future honestly exhausts me," Olivia spares a glance at Ivy, noticing how the girl has her head down, fingers interlocked on her lap,

It honestly tugged on Olivia's heart to see one of the few people she considers as a friend so vulnerable, so opened, especially when Ivy Miller was the complete opposite. She's an energized ball, a wild cat, living her young life to the fullest, being a secretive rebel, and constantly bending the law. Yet, even after everything Ivy has done, Olivia can still see through her, can see how she's scared to fully commit in living her own life without people judging or having them lay her future in front of her. She saw how much her parents opinion mattered to her, saw how Ivy secretly needed their opinion even if she told herself she didn't.

"You know.. someone once told me... 'you are your own writer in your story. And you shouldn't let anybody else write it for you.' Be your own writer, Ivy. Don't let anybody else do it," Olivia tells her the words she needed to hear, earning a smile to slowly tug on the other girls lips, letting Olivia know Ivy truly did love those words,

"They sound like a smart person," 

"Yeah.... Yeah," Olivia whispers the last part as she drops her head down, feeling that distant but very familiar burning sensation in her throat,

Then feeling her eyes beginning to burn, causing her to close her eyes to prevent the tears from building and spilling. Her fingers were firmly interlocked on her lap, her skin color turning white from how hard she's clutching her fingers together. Talking about her only reopened the wound and that is something she does not want to relive again. Ivy sat watching her, knowing all too well those words were something personal and meaningful to her, however, before she can dare to ask the gym teacher is blowing the whistle, signaling them the period has ended. 

Without sparing a glance to Ivy, Olivia just gets up from the bench and begins to walk towards the girls locker room, but stops when she notices Ivy wasn't next to her.

"You comin?" She asks, pointing a thumb towards the lockers, Ivy sends her a small smile before joining her,

"By the way, I know the perfect spots for today," Ivy tries shifting the mood by changing the subject and sending her a wide, proud, excited smile,

Olivia groans with a roll of her eyes and walks away towards her locker, "Please no, god no,"

"We are going, and we are doing it!" Ivy points a long black finger nail at her, "'Kay. Tonight, after school,"

Not letting Olivia argue back, Ivy quickly walks away from her and towards her own locker. 

Great. Olivia says to herself with a sigh.

++++

"Tonight?"

Olivia nods.

"Well.. why can't I come?"

"Because whatever they have planned it's-its not for kids," 

Jay furrows his brows, "What is it?"

"I don't know they don't-.. they won't tell me," Jay sadly drops his eyes down, hand playing with the bar handle of his bike, "Hey, I promise it'll just be me and you next time, like always," 

That got a smile to spread on her brothers face. Nodding his head they both do their secret handshake that they've came up with over the years.

"Go with your friends, spend the night. Just don't go home, okay? I'll pick you up tomorrow," Jay nods his head again and gives her a hug before walking towards his friends who were waiting for him with their own bikes,

The moment she sees Jay pedaling away with his friends, she makes her way towards Ivy and her friends, who were patiently waiting for her against Rhen's truck. Once everyone climbed inside, they set off to god knows where. Olivia just hoped it wouldn't get her in trouble with the law once again, it's been nice not having to deal with her father for two days now and she'd like to keep it that way.

+++

3:30 am

"So, how's your night so far?" Rhen asks, inhaling the small blunt before passing it to Olivia,

She shrugs her shoulders, taking a hit of the weed, "It's okay,"

"It's okay?" 

Olivia chuckles with a shake of her head, "Alright, it's been fun,"

Rhen nods his head proudly, "Good,"

Olivia scoffs at him with a smile, although she truly did mean it, the whole day has been nothing but adventures and memories that she's for sure never going to forget. After school, like Ivy had said, they took her to some kind of underground party, somewhere outside of Hawkins where she learned was from a college school. How did they manage to find it or get in will forever be a mystery to her, but overall she had fun. Now, they were back in Hawkins in some old abandoned playground, not to far from downtown, but not close either where they'll get caught. 

"I'm glad you had fun, you deserve it," Rhen's red hazel eyes turn to her, red from the weed and low from the alcohol he'd been consuming throughout the night, Olivia knew for sure her own eyes weren't any better,

A sincere smile spreads on Olivia's face from his comment, she hasn't felt this appreciation in what seemed like years, and it honestly felt.. nice, to feel it once again. They both hold their gazes for a good minute, smile still plastered on each other's faces, then next thing Olivia sees is him slowly leaning forward. She didn't know if it was the alcohol or the drug in her system but she feels herself leaning in as well, however, just as they were only centimeters away from each other's lips the sound of Aaron yelling something has them jolting away from each other. Well, more like Olivia pulling away first.

"Look at what I found," Aaron slurs as he comes stumbling from a dark corner of the park, most likely where he disappeared to take a quick leak,

Through the small fire in the metal bin that they had made, Olivia was able to make out what the idiot was holding, and it honestly brought a small panic in her chest.

"Jesus Christ Aaron drop that shit," Rhen tells him when the moron begins twirling a gun in his hand,

Aaron only chuckles at him, completely ignores him and continues playing with the gun, pretending to be a cop who's just apprehended a perp, or just simply fake shooting straight ahead. Causing Olivia to flinch each time she hears the chamber click, but she wasn't the only one, Ivy and Zoe who were laying down on the ground trying to sober up were now standing and shouting at him to stop being an idiot. As well as throwing him empty beer bottles.

"Guys relax! It's not even loaded," Aaron slurs, turning around and giggling at his friends worried expressions, "Look,"

At his words he brings the revolver up his temple and doesn't hesitate in pulling the trigger, making everyone flinch and curse at him when the chamber clicks once again. Olivia counted it, that was the fifth click, making her panic rise even more.

"Aaron seriously knock that shit off!!" Rhen had risen from his seat next to Olivia, anger and annoyance written on his face, along with anxiety due to his idiotic friend,

Aaron groans, slightly swaying in place, "You guys are being a bunch of pussies,"

The moment the words leave his mouth, a loud, almost like a firework going off is heard around them, leaving an echo in the night sky from its thundering blast and making everybody jump in place. All eyes are looking directly at Aaron, mouths hanging wide open from shock at what just happened. Aaron on the other hand slowly looks down, then let's out a shuddering gasp when he sees his jeans turning into a dark, deep red.

"Rhen?" Is all he says before falling to the ground, earning a yell both from Zoe and Ivy,

Olivia and Rhen however quickly make their way over to Aaron, who was now screaming at the top of his lungs on the floor awhile clutching onto his bloody leg. Both Olivia and Rhen's eyes go wide at the sight in front of them, but immediately jump to action. Olivia quickly puts both her hands over the wound, applying pressure to prevent more blood from coming out and Rhen doing his best on calming Aaron. However, the more the idiot moved from agony, the more blood was pouring out.

"I think he hit an artery or something, he's losing too much blood. We got to get him to a hospital!" Olivia yells over the whole commotion of Aaron's screams, Zoe freaking the fuck out and Ivy throwing up,

Rhen nods his head and begins pulling away, but before he can try and lift Aaron off the floor he quickly unbuckles his belt, then bends down to wrap it around Aaron's leg. Causing him to let out another wail as Rhen tightens the belt, then another yell as both teens try lifting him off the floor. Both Olivia and Rhen do their best in walking him towards the truck, both of them grunting and panting with each step they take since Aaron was literally dragging his wounded leg and leaning all his weight on Rhen's and Olivia's shoulders. Once near the truck, Olivia quickly hops inside and helps Aaron get in. The moment he's settled in the seat, she reapplies pressure on his leg the same time she hears the door behind her open and close. With one quick glance she sees everybody in the truck, then averts her eyes back down onto Aaron's leg when she feels the way Rhen skids out of the park and onto the road.

The whole drive to the hospital was incredibly overwhelming, from Aaron's wails, to Zoe still freaking the fuck out next to Olivia, to Rhen and Ivy arguing in the front seat was quickly affecting Olivia. That old feeling of her chest getting tight and stomach burning was quickly coming back. A panic attack was climbing it's way up the wall she had built, something she hasn't had since her mother passed away. 

Fuck. Breathe Olivia.

"Rhen. Hurry," She firmly calls out, voice slightly shaking but doing her best in ignoring it and the tightness in her chest and just focusing on applying pressure,

Rhen looks at her through his rear mirror for a few seconds, catching the worried expression on her face and Aaron's pale skin, immediately picking up the speed when he knows they were running out of time. After what seemed like the longest car ride they finally arrive in the entrance of the hospital, placing the gear in park Rhen quickly hops off the drivers side and makes his way over to Aarons side of the truck while Ivy runs inside for help. As they carefully carried a nearly unconscious Aaron off the truck, multiple nurses come running outside with a stretcher and quickly help lay him on top before wheeling him inside. All four teens follow the nurses and all assure Aaron everything would be okay, but get stopped by security just as they pushed through double doors. They all watch through the window until the nurses wheeling Aaron disappear into a corner.

"Alright c'mon kids, your friend will be fine. How bout we wait in the waiting room, okay?" An older nurse softly talks to them four and quietly leads them into a room where minor people were sitting and staring,

Both from the drama and shock at what just happened, but neither teen cared, they were all too worried and freaked out by what they've seen to even care about all the stares they were receiving. Instead, they all just quietly sat down and immediately zoned out. Getting lost in their own thoughts, reliving the terrifying moment in their heads. Everything had happened so fast, yet, Olivia knew it was coming, but was still taken by surprise by how fast it actually happened. Then again, everything could have gone much worse. 

Olivia wasn't really the religious type, nor did she ever say a prayer for anything, but as she sat there in the waiting room processing everything, she mentally did, without even realizing it. She prayed to god to look after Aaron, even though she knew what a complete idiot he was she still prayed to him to be by his side as he went under surgery, and also thanked him for not making the situation any worse. The thought alone was terrifying. 

All four of them quietly sat in their chairs, Zoe and Ivy tightly embracing each other, sniffing every once and a while, while Rhen and Olivia sat with dazed faces. However, they were all brought out of their thoughts when a nurse walks up to them with two foam cups, which both Zoe and Ivy accept.

"Let's get you two cleaned up and then I'll bring you some coffee as well okay?" The nurse turns to both Olivia and Rhen, small gentle smile on her lips,

Olivia looks over at Rhen and scans him, noticing how splashes of dried blood were on his clothes along with his hands, arms and on his cheek, then glances down at herself, feeling the way her stomach turns when both her hands were covered in dried blood, as well as her shirt and jeans. The nurse softly calls out to them both, small smile still on her lips as she motions them to follow her which they do, in silence. The nurse quietly leads them to an empty cubicle, separately of course and tells them to wash off the blood in the restroom before walking away. 

Quietly, Olivia makes her way to the restroom and towards the sink. Her hand reaches for the lever to turn on the water when her eyes land on her bloodied hand, then rises her other hand to look at and only noticing then that both hands were shaking. Visibly. Clenching her jaw she reaches for the lever again, dipping both hands under the water almost immediately it starts pouring and quickly starts scrubbing. Olivia honestly doesn't know how many times she used soap to wash off the blood or how long she spent in the restroom scrubbing away the stains, but from the way her fingers had pruned up lets her know it's been a while.

Walking out of the restroom she's met with the same nurse, who was setting down a stack of fresh clothes for her on the bed, but really it was just those nurse scrubs they wear in the hospital. Smiling at her once again and telling her she'll be back with some coffee she leaves again, closing the curtain to give her some privacy while she changes. Olivia quietly switches her bloodied shirt to the nurse scrub, she didn't feel like wearing the pants so she just left her jeans on. They were pretty dark so you couldn't really see the blood stains, and Olivia honestly didn't find it necessary to do so. 

Once changed she sat on the edge of the hospital bed, back facing the curtain, head low, eyes closed as she took in deep breaths. That same tightness in her chest was still lingering and the last thing she wanted was to have a full blown panic attack, dealing with Aaron was enough no need to add more on their plate. However, that familiar feeling wouldn't budge, especially when she knows she's in deep shit when goes back home. If she's lucky, Rudy will give her a taste of what's to come and that honestly was trigging her panic attack even more. As she was trying to ease off her panic, her nerves, the sound of the curtain sliding and the nurse walking in causes her to glance over her shoulder. Immediately feeling the way her heart drops when she sees Hopper standing right there with a stern expression on his face. They both silently stare at each other, blues eyes locked with green ones, no words were exchanged until Olivia exhaustedly averts her eyes and focuses them towards the nurse who is handing her a small foam cup.

"Brought you some coffee before you go talk with the Chief," She softly says with a small comforting smile, then gently rubs her arm before leaving room,

"Let's go," Is the first thing he says, voice firm and laced with anger, or possibly just annoyance at the fact he's gotta deal with her once again,

Olivia let's an exhausted sigh slip through her nose before getting up from the bed. Tossing her coffee in the trash she grabs her bloodied shirt, quietly walks past him and out towards the waiting room, but before she can turn the corner he gently, but firmly, grips her inner elbow and leads her towards the doors that lead outside to the building. Walking through the doors she sees everyone standing outside talking to two other cops.

Fucking great.

"So let me get this straight," Olivia hears the African American officer say as she makes her way over, with Hopper right behind her, "He went to the bathroom.. came back, tripped.. and landed on a pole?"

Is she serious right now? She thinks to herself when Zoe nods at him.

"Seriously?" Olivia blurts out, causing the officers, Ivy, Zoe, Rhen, even Hopper to stare at her, "He shot himself in the leg," 

She turns towards the officer, irritation rising in her veins when Zoe calls her name with disbelief and disappointment for telling the truth.

"He has a bullet in his fucking leg, Zoe," Olivia gives her a cold, firm and annoyed stare, not even phased at the glare Zoe sends her her,

How can someone lie about something so incredibly obvious? No, how can someone be so incredibly stupid to lie to an officer when the truth is right in front of them? 

"So he shot himself?" The officer confirms, which Olivia only then realizes his badge read Powell,

"Yeah.. with a cobra," That got both officers to stare at her with raised brows, either from surprise of her knowing what kind of firearm it was or perhaps the gun itself was well known to be powerful,

"A cobra? As in a Colt King Cobra?" Powell confirms, brows high on his forehead that slightly disappear under his hat,

Olivia nods without another word, not noticing but most definitely can feel the way he stares at her. Almost like a weight hovering over her. In fact, she's been feeling his eyes on her ever since he got here and as much as she wanted to confront him she kept her cool. She was already in enough trouble as it is, why add more? Why add more torture and hell on her plate?

"Geez, kids' lucky it wasn't anything else other than his leg," The other officer besides Powell comments, taking notes himself,

"And who's gun was it?"

"No one's. The idiot found it," That got a small snicker from the other officer, maybe she was just mentally exhausted or something but she could have sworn she heard him softly chucking behind her,

Powell nods his head as he writes something down then let's out a heavy sigh through his mouth before looking over Olivia's head.

"What you wanna do with'em Chief?" He asks, Olivia didn't even bother to look behind, his silence alone was only making her more anxious and making everything more suspenseful, 

She also didn't have to turn around to see if he's staring at her, she can practically feel the way his dark piercing blue orbs are burning holes at the back of her head. At the same time, the air around them only became much thicker the longer he stood quiet. Jesus Christ I need a cigarette.

"Take them home, have the truck impounded and have one of the parents pick it up," He finally says causing Rhen's eyes to nearly pop out of his head at his words,

"What?! You can't do that!"

"Actually he can, and you should be grateful he's letting you go without a ticket for underage drinking. Now that wouldn't look good on your college applications now would it kid?" The other officer with glasses states with an amusing tone, lips wanting to curl upwards at the defeated look on the teens face, 

Not saying another word Powell extends an arm, motioning them to follow his partner towards the car.

"Not you Davis," Hopper calls out just as she was about to follow, her green eyes finally meeting with his blue orbs,

Neither of them said anything, just simply held their stare in thick silence, even when Powell offers to give her a ride back home. Which Olivia would rather accept but had a knowing feeling it wasn't a choice she would be able to make.

"It's fine Powell, I got her," The officer looks between his boss and the young girl, brows raised at how obvious the tension was radiating off of them as they continued to stare at each other, 

But knowing better than to intrude, Powell bids his farewells with his boss and turns on his heels, walking straight towards his car where his partner and the rest of the delinquents were waiting. Not saying yet again another word, Hopper makes his way towards his cruiser, not noticing the way Olivia remains standing in her spot as she watches him walk away before rolling her eyes with a heavy sigh and finally following him. 

Both of them climb into the car in silence and drive in silence, only the radio softly playing in the kept the tension from getting thicker. It was still there, hovering around them like a dark cloud, but it was bearable and easy to ignore. As much as she hated it and even considered it, Olivia just wanted to get home to get away from him, but knows the moment she steps foot into that house she'll regret it immediately. 

Which sucks because it just shows she's got nowhere else to go where she'll feel safe, relaxed and comfortable. It only shows how fucked up her life really is. 

After what seemed like an eternity riding in the same car, again, Hopper is pulling into her street, a long dark gravel road with trees on either side, until lights are seen straight up ahead. Illuminating her red brick home, her very own personal hell. Olivia's stomach turns when she sees Rudy's truck parked out front, letting her know her father is home and most likely drunk out of his mind. 

Her eyes were focused straight ahead, waiting for her abusive father to come stumbling through the door and yank her out of the cruiser, not even realizing Hopper had parked just under a large tree that Jay envisions a perfect tree house. She didn't move, didn't speak, just stayed glued to her seat as her hazel eyes scanned for any movement.

"Your old man home?" Hopper asks, tired blue orbs carefully observing her, noticing how her hands were clasped around her knees as one them kept bouncing up and down,

No. She wanted to say no, but what was the point in lying now? He was going to get off with her and knock on the door himself before explaining to her father why she is standing next to the towns Chief at almost crack of dawn. So, she only nods her head, eyes still trained on her house. Then after a while of trying to gather enough courage, which never happened, she begins to open the door, but just as her right foot hit the gravel floor Hoppers rumbling voice halts her movements.

"I've got a trailer a couple miles back... you can spend the night there," He says inhaling a cigarette he had lit up then adds, "If you want,"

No don't do it! He'll know something is wrong! 

He already does! I've fucking blew it back at the park! He knows something! Otherwise he wouldn't be offering his place!  

Olivia mentally argues with herself, half of her body still outside the cruiser as she debates wether or not she should accept the offer or decline it. She knows if she accepts it he'll start asking questions and will get involved, which will only make things much worse, however, she also knows if she doesn't accept the offer and she walks into her home it'll just be the same bullshit she goes through. She wasn't going to, she really wasn't going to accept it but right now she didn't think she'd be able to handle her drunken father nor his vigorous punches, she was exhausted. Both mentally and physically, she craved peace for once, one night without having to worry if her father will come bursting through her door and start throwing punches while she slept, or having to worry if he'll fucking kill himself as he stumbles around the house. She needed one night. Just one night.

Slowly looking over her shoulder she takes a small glance at the way Hopper quietly inhales the tobacco then letting his hand rest on the steering wheel as he exhales the smoke. She averts her eyes, letting them rest back towards her house and once again debates in her head. Next thing she knows she's slowly climbing back inside the cruiser and shutting the door. Not saying a word Hopper just rests the cigarette in between his lips and starts up the car before reversing out of her driveway. She watches her house slowly disappear behind the trees and feeling a massive relief wash off her shoulders when they're back on the road.

Once again, they drive in silence. Only this time, Olivia doesn't mind it, in fact could care less about it. Soft music and the smell of Hoppers tobacco blowing in the car, surrounding them, actually soothed the young girl. Made her feel calm, relaxed, free and safe. Even if part of her wouldn't admit it. 

After a good 20 minute drive, or so it seemed, Hopper finally pulls into a secluded lot where up ahead was a trailer, also known as Hoppers home. Parking the cruiser and shutting off the engine, Hopper climbs out the car with Olivia following behind. Fumbling with his keys in the dark he finally gets the door open, where he steps aside to allow the girl to enter first, which she does and waits in the dark till he flicks the switch. Revealing a mess of empty beer bottles, cans, dirty dishes around the house, making it seem as if she was standing in her own living room. 

"Sorry bout the mess, haven't had the time to make it glamorous," Hopper sheepishly says as he picks up a couple cans from his feet, even if Olivia had a feeling that wasn't true but simply shrugs it off,

Her place sometimes wasn't any prettier, so she understood.

"Umm.. bedrooms down there and.. bathroom is right there," He points to the sections of the home as he continues to pick up his mess,

Olivia looks down the hall, getting a slight visual of a bed with white sheets then averts her eyes back to the main room and scans her surroundings, noticing then it only had one bed. 

"Where are you sleeping?" She asks,

"Couch," He replies as he continues picking up cans from the floor,

"I can take the couch, I don't mind," She offers herself, which she truly didn't mind, 

Hopper glances up at her as he shoves bottles and cans into a trash bin, "It's fine take the bed," 

"Seriously Hopper, I can take the couch,"

"Seriously Olivia, take the bed," He argues back, blue eyes staring into her hazel ones then adds, "I never make it to the bedroom so I normally crash on the couch. So seriously, take the bed," 

Olivia softly sighs through her nose with a small nod then turns to walk towards the bedroom, but before she walks further down the hall she stops in her tracks and hesitantly turns back around.

"Thanks," She tells him, eyes looking at him for a couple seconds before turning around to walk away but his voice calling out her name stops her,

He waits till her eyes are meeting his, then softly says, "Happy birthday," 

She didn't know why his words made her heart leap in her chest, didn't know why she felt some kind of warmth spreading in her chest, but it surely wasn't easy to ignore the feeling. She sends him a small sincere smile with a short nod before walking towards the bedroom and quickly shutting the door behind her. She lets her head lean against its wooden frame with eyes closed, in taking a large breath through her mouth and exhaling heavily.

What a birthday. She mentally tells herself as she pushes away from the door and turns around, coming face to face with the bed. He was right, it looked like he hadn't slept in the bed for days or weeks, a simple white sheet covered the mattress and right at the foot of the bed laid a tannish blanket. Wasn't folded or anything, just wrapped up in a ball on the bed. Once kicking off her shoes and tossing her bloodied shirt on the floor, she grabs the blanket and buries herself underneath, giving her a scent of cigarette, cologne and mens after shave, and almost immediately sending her into a peaceful sleep. 

+++

Chapter Text

The sun peaking through the blinds and the smell of food wakes Olivia up. She laid flat on her stomach with her arms underneath the pillow. She tried hiding from the brightness by burying her face into the pillow but the scent of mens cologne and cigarette has her halting her movements. With one eye open she pulls her face away from the pillow and observes it, trying to remember how that scent got on there but then remembers, she's not home and she's not in her room.

Still lying on the bed she glances around the small room, coming to realization where exactly she was.

Taking his offer on crashing at his place seemed like a good idea at the time, but now that she's awake, in his bed, she couldn't help the regret rising in her chest. Regret for taking his offer, regret for not getting off the damn car when she had the chance, and regret for proving to him that something was wrong. Fucking great. Now what is she going to do? Lie? Like that has helped her in any way.

Then again, even if a part of her truly did regret on taking his bed for the night, she truly really did have the best nights of sleep in what seemed like years.

Letting out a sigh that turns into a yawn, she glances at the small clock near the bed and feels the way her brows rise when it's almost noon. She normally isn't able to sleep in, the furthest she's gone to sleeping in was until 9 am, if she was lucky enough maybe 10, but that's if she's lucky enough and if her father doesn't wake up before her. Which almost never happens on the weekends.

Slipping out of the covers she sits on the edge of the bed. Heavy sigh leaving her mouth as she sits there, feeling the way her body still feels completely exhausted, from so many reasons. There was nothing more she wanted than going back to sleep, if she could, she'd slip under the covers and drift away once again. Felt like she could have sleep for a week straight, but she can't. She had to leave.

Now.

With another heavy sigh she begins slipping on her shoes, noticing her blood stained shirt on the floor, must've fallen while she was sleeping. Once both shoes were on, had fixed her hair by combing wild strands with her fingers, she grabbed her shirt from the floor and makes her way out of the small room. Upon opening the door, immediately a wave of bacon and eggs invade her sense of smell. Her stomach grumbling on cue.

As she makes her way down the small hall, she soon sees how the Chief was behind a small counter, eyes casted down on whatever he's cooking, not noticing her presence. Olivia stuck to the small shadows, just silently admiring the man's presence, noticing his uniform still hung on his broad large frame, as if he slept with his work clothes and just got up to make breakfast. Would make sense since she practically invaded his bedroom where she assumes are his clean clothes. She lingered a little longer, trying to get a mental picture of him for some odd reason, that was until the floor creaks from her weight, causing him look up. They stay staring at each other for a couple seconds, neither one saying a word.

Then, the moment ends when his blue orbs avert back to the pan in front of him.

"Made some eggs," He tells her, flipping some bacon,

Although breakfast did sound absolutely amazing, Olivia just wanted to leave already, wanted to leave before he decided to ask any questions they both know isn't worth asking. Even if a war was currently brewing in her stomach, she wanted to leave as soon as possible.

"Thanks but.. I should get going," Bright blue eyes quickly rise at her,

"You should eat,"

"I'll eat at my house," She argues back,

That's highly not gonna happen.

The quicker she denies the offer the faster she can leave, this tension that's hovering all around them is getting unbearable. Plus, what if his neighbors saw her coming out of his home and climbing into his truck? What other rumor would they spread? Definitely not a good one that would keep Rudy from breaking another rib, or worse, keep him from officially digging her grave.

Less drama, less problems.

Less rumors, less bruises.

Hopper stares at her with an unreadable expression. Just two pair of blue eyes looking her way, emotionless, but filled with trust. Something the teen has always been able to feel towards him, which is odd considering she barely even knew the man. But for some reason she knew he was a man she can trust. A man she can feel safe. But of course, she denied it all.

Hopper sighs heavily, clearly not wanting to deal with her stubborn attitude this morning, "Fine. I'll give you a lift," He claims as he turns the stove off and places the spatula on the side,

"That's not necessary," She quickly rejects, already walking towards the door,

"Davis, you're not walking. It's about 15 miles or so to get to town. Maybe even more if you're heading home,"

"Being seen with you again will not make things better," She argues back from the other side of the counter, green orbs looking directly at those cool icy blues,

That got the man to lean his hands against the counter, eyes growing firm at her words. She hadn't said anything, didn't need to say anything to let the Chief know she was going through hell at home. The bruises, the sudden change of behavior, the secrets she kept, she was like an opened book, even though she was convinced it was tightly sealed, Hopper was able to read her perfectly. And it itched his skin in an uncomfortable, yet, odd way, when he saw how much pain she was truly riding with. He wanted nothing more than to give her the help she needed, despite it being part of his job, a deeper part of him just wanted to rid her from the pain, the darkness, the weight she constantly carried.

He didn't know why, but he felt drawn to her in a way he hadn't felt with others before. By others, he meant other teenagers. She was unique in her own way, something that peaked his interest since the beginning of their first encounter. What was it exactly? A question he truly didn't have the answer to yet. He just knew he had to somehow help her and protect her.

"You do realize I have to report everything that has happened right?" Olivia's heart jumps in her chest from fear, the words that she never wanted to hear,

"I never said anything,"

"No you haven't. But the signs are clear," Hopper watches her, observes the way her face reveals a different emotions from irritation to anger to fear,

Why was she scared to reach for help? He'd do everything in his power to keep her safe from her father if that's what she feared, so what was stopping her from asking? Was her situation deeper than he'd assume? Question after question piled in the Chiefs mind, not quite understanding the hesitation and rejection from the teen. Which heightened his suspicions about her life at home. Her father.

With another sigh, Hopper peals always from the counter to stand next to it, "Olivia... as Chief of police it is my duty to keep you away from harm. To protect you from it,"

"Exactly! So don't get involved!" She suddenly rises her voice, she yelled with firmness that slightly quivered as she continues, "You'll only make things worse,"

Without another word she walks out the trailer home, ignoring the way his deep voice calls after her. Once down the steps she makes quick work of running down the road, away from the home, away from him. What she didn't see was the way Hopper stood on the steps of his home as he watched her frame run down the dirt road. He should've stopped her, ran after her, force her in his cruiser to drive her wherever she wanted, but just as he was about to he sees her stopping a few feet away then seeing Mrs. Jones, an older woman who would always give Jim some leftovers of her food, pulls next to her. From where Jim stood, he can tell they were speaking to one another, then seeing a warm, welcoming smile appear on the older woman's face before seeing the teen make her way towards the passenger seat.

Well.. at least she's getting to her destination safely. He thinks to himself as he continues to watch her. What he didn't expect was Olivia turning around to look at him, they stare at one another for a split second before she climbs in the vehicle. He remained by the doorframe, watching the car drive away until it disappears from his line of sight.

Hopper pinches the bridge of his nose with a groan, feeling an oncoming headache. 'Why is she so difficult? Why can't she be like any other normal teenager and accept the help?

Like you accept any help.'

The voices overlap in his head, causing him to pinch his bridge a little tighter till he feels a dash of pain. He's dealt with multiple teenagers for years, has dealt with their attitudes, their smart mouths, their stupidity, but Olivia Davis? Now she is someone that has been giving the Chief migraines lately. Both from her stubbornness and lack of seeking help. Since the first day they met, he knew she was going to be a piece of work, but boy did he not realize just how invested he'd be towards her.

He couldn't place a finger on why or what it was about her that he just needed to lend a hand. He truly didn't know. And that alone frustrated the man to the point where it soured his mood. Despite the hidden plea the young teen had claimed of not getting involved in whatever hell she's currently in, he was still going to do his undercover investigation on her life at home and her father. The more information he can get, the better the chances that she'll have at getting the right help she needed. He just hopes the teen will come around sooner rather than later, but somehow knew it was going to be much later that she'd seek any sort of help.

Which meant Hopper needed to convince her someway— somehow to accept his help and that alone was going to be a challenge.
The headache has already formed just at the thought it. Looked like he was gonna have to bring a hammer for the brick wall...

Jesus.. I need a goddamn cigarette.

*******

A Week Later

It's been an entire week since she's last seen him, since she's last warned him about not getting involved, since she's rejected his help, again, and running away from his home. It was rather easy and simple to avoid him at all cost. She just kept a low profile from trouble. Obviously she still hung out with her so-called friends, but she was careful with her choices, made sure nothing would bring the Chief and his ponies on her back.

Rudy also helped in not bringing attention towards them since he was out of money. No money meant no liquor, no liquor meant no new bruises, but it also meant he was in a shittier mood because he had nothing to numb his sorrows. His guilt. However, it also meant she had to stay at home to deal with his shitty mood, because once he found out she didn't come home the previous night he's all but throwing fists in the air to get some sort of explanation on her whereabouts.

Sober Rudy was just as bad as drunk Rudy. He was more cautious of his surroundings, knew when things weren't right, knew when things would go missing, knew just about everything. So Olivia had to be just as cautious around him when he was sober.

Plus, sober Rudy also meant more painful punches. And those are the ones she tries to avoid at all cost.

If she's being completely honest.. she doesn't know what she would prefer, drunk Rudy or sober Rudy. They were both demons in their own ways. Leaving negativity and misery behind.

Speaking of the fucking devil. Olivia mentally says as she hears their spring door screeching open just before hearing it shut with a smack. Then hearing his work boots thumping against their wooden steps as he climbs down, then against the gravel as he walks down their front porch.

"Picked up some late shifts at the garage all week. Will be back later," He claims as he fixes the collar of his work shirt,

Olivia nods her head, not looking away from their air conditioner that she's currently fixing. Surprisingly, it wasn't Rudy who had broken it. Shocker I know. It just randomly stopped working, but this Hawkins weather was not bearable at the moment. Even if they're in the beginning of October, somehow the heat has made its way to the small town.

"Penny will stop by to make some food that'll last us the entire week," He continues, still fixing his collar then brings his eyes to his daughter who was now staring at him,

Rudy raises a brow at her, "That a problem?"

Olivia holds her father's stare for a split second. Mentally voicing her opinion on Penny, on his life choices, on him. Yet, none of it falls through her mouth, only getting stuck in her throat as she continues to hold his gaze before focusing back on the poor air conditioner that looks like it's on its last legs.

"No," Olivia finally says, busying herself with twisting and unscrewing parts from the A/C,

"Good," Rudy firmly states, eyes still looking at his daughter who forcefully pulled apart the beaten down machine, "Don't sleep late, you guys have school in the morning,"

Since when do you fucking care. Olivia mentally curses as she once again pulls apart something else from anger and annoyance.

"Jay," Rudy calling out to his younger son has Olivia glancing from the A/C to her father, body going rigid, preparing for anything,

Despite the hidden fear she had towards him, rage and adrenaline almost always rushes through her veins whenever her father directs his focus on her little brother. For whatever the reason, she's always ready.

Jay, who was sitting on the grass with a Rubik's cube glances up to look at his father. From where she saw, Olivia knew her brother was also on edge, but was always surprised at the calm expression on his face whenever he speaks to Rudy.

Their father simply points a finger at him with a raised brow, "Don't let anybody give you shit at school,"

Jay gives him a small smile with a genuine chuckle, "Never do,"

Rudy smirks at his son as he ruffles his short brown hair, "My boy,"

With that the man climbs into his truck, reverses out their yard and drives off. A heavy sigh falls from the teens lips, tension falls from her shoulders now that their father was nowhere near them, for the rest of the day.

"What do you think Penny is gonna make today?" Jay asks, rising from the grass to sit on the steps behind Olivia,

"Who the hell knows, probably something with Zolpidem so she won't see us for the rest of the night," Olivia responds with irritation as she plucks out some dust and oddly enough fur from the filter,

It was no secret that Olivia wasn't very fond of Penny, or better known to the town Penelope O'Farrell, or in Olivia's words.. "The Slut." She found out from people in town and kids at school that Penelope was known to sleep around in Hawkins, drink her life away at bars, fight with locals whenever they'd try and give her shit. Just a hot mess. It's no wonder Rudy found her attractive, they shared the same fucked up life. Olivia honestly didn't think she'd be coming to the house often, only thought she was a one-time thing, but apparently she stuck with her father.

She's been coming over to their house nearly everyday, even sleeping over at night, yet, Olivia still doesn't know what exactly was the relationship between her father and Penny. And she rather not know. The less she knew the better.

Now, the reason why she wasn't a huge fan of the woman was for three reasons; one being that she drank and consumed a lot of drugs, half the time she's over at the house she's always high on something or drunk with her father. Secondly, she treats Olivia and Jay just the same way their father does, clearly she's trying to get some sort of approval from him which Olivia doesn't quite understand why. And don't even get her started at the fact that Penny is always siding with their father. Always. And lastly, Olivia just knows she's a terrible fit for her father. That crackhead of a woman is only instigating their father in becoming more of an abusive asshole and that's what Olivia absolutely loathes.

Olivia is obviously not afraid of her, just afraid of the lies that she'll tell Rudy that'll get her in trouble. She's done it before, multiple times, but she knows Penny only does it because she secretly feared Olivia. She knows she can easily beat the living shit out of her so she uses Rudy as a bodyguard to prevent her from doing her any harm, which Olivia is waiting for the right moment.

"Well.. despite Penny not being a very nice person.. she really does know how to cook," Jay comments as he watches his sister work on their air conditioner that is looking in better shape, thanks to his sister,

Olivia glances over her shoulder, meeting his hazel eyes before rolling her own from annoyance at the fact.

"Yeah.. she actually does,"

*******

Wednesday Evening

"Jay! Olivia! Get out here now!" The sound of Rudy's voice rumbles through the walls,

The teens heart picks up at his tone, knowing all too well that something is about to happen and nothing good either.

With quick movements Olivia slides on her sweats before opening the bathroom door where Jay too comes out from his own bedroom. They share a brief stare before walking down the hallway where Rudy stood with a familiar dark look in his eyes. Fuck. Something is seriously about to happen.

"You two got anything you wanna tell me?" Rudy asks, voice slightly calm but filled with rage and irritation, hands on either side of his hips,

Olivia furrows her brows at him, clearly not knowing what the hell he's referring to. She looks over at Jay only to see the same expression on his face.

"Well? Who's gonna speak first?"

"About what?" Olivia answers,

Rudy holds her stare, green eyes filled with intensity, "Went to the liquor store.. was short 30 bucks. So I'm gonna ask again.." He starts, looking at both kids before landing his gaze back at Olivia, "..You guys have anything you wanna tell me?"

Guess the late shifts at the garage have been helpful for him, has him buying his liver killer before work. Typical Rudy.

"Wasn't us if that's what you're assuming," Olivia immediately responds back, hands slightly curling at her sides, an all knowing painful tick forming on the side of her neck when she knows something is coming,

"Well then what? It didn't grow legs and walk out of the fucking house did it?!"

"Maybe you dropped it. You're always losing shit when you're drunk," Olivia's breath gets caught in her throat as soon as the words leave her mouth,

Even Jay lets out a small gasp as he averts his scared eyes from Olivia to his father.

"You saying it's my fault? Hmm?" Rudy comments as he slowly begins walking towards her, "You blaming me?"

Olivia clenches her jaw, nails digging into the palm of her hand, "No. I'm not,"

"Sounds like you are,"

"All I said is you might've dropped it," Rudy's upper lift twitches as he takes another step forward but a voice calling him stops him in his tracks,

Both the father and the daughter turn to the voice. Penny stood near the entrance of the home, beside the couch. When the fuck did she enter? Olivia thinks to herself, but that wasn't the question she should have asked. Because in less then a second she feels her entire blood run cold at the sight in front of her.

Standing next to the couch, Penny's right hand stood raised with a couple bills in between her fingers. At first Olivia felt scared for her, thinking she was the one who took from her father's beer money, but boy was she fucking wrong.

"Found this in her shoe," The hag claims as she shakes the money, Olivia on the other hand has her eyes wide from disbelief and shock,

Her words hit her like a goddamn wrecking ball colliding with a stone like building. As if Rudy prayed to the mighty demons for more strength to punch through her chest. It was incredibly unbelievable at what she just hear.

"That's bullshit," Olivia whispers, wide eyes darting from Penny to her father who looked like he was seconds from imploding,

"Dad-," Olivia's words get caught in her throat when a large fist strikes her, causing her to clutch her abdomen with a groan as she falls to her knees,

Rudy had punched her square in the stomach.

"Olivia!" Jay calls after her, even tries to reach out to her but was stopped by their father,

"Go to your room Jay," Rudy demands, furious demonic green eyes stare down at Olivia who remained on the ground, clutching her stomach,

Jay stood where he was. Too scared to leave. He didn't want anything else to happen to his sister, but he didn't have an option. He was too small to fight their father, too small to protect his older sister. He'd only risk both their lives.

"Go to your room!" Rudy yells this time, causing the poor boy to flinch and a small step back,

From the floor, Olivia looks behind her shoulder, meeting those scared hazel eyes of her brothers.

As much as she could, with the little breath she had left in her lungs she says, "J-Just go. Go Jay,"

Tears fall down on the boys cheeks as he runs down the hallway till he goes inside his room where he shuts the door with a loud slam. He runs to his bed. Legs up towards his chest as he shoves his fingers in his ears to block out any noise that will come in the next few seconds behind his door.

"Get up," Rudy demands once again, hands curling into fists,

Olivia coughs as she looks up to his angered eyes. Anger, adrenaline, fear rises in her veins for what's to come. She should fight back, this was her chance, but she knew she wouldn't. She couldn't. Her self defense was overpowered by fear.

"Get. Up," Rudy demands once again, invisible smoke coming from his nostrils as he impatiently waits till she follows his orders,

Closing her eyes and taking a shaky inhale, she slowly rises from the floor. Hand still clutching onto her stomach as she stands in front of her father. They lock eyes, both sharing the same emotion in them. Anger. But in Olivia's, it was anger and pure utter fucking hatred. She knew Rudy knew it too because his jaw clenches before yet again connecting his fist to her mouth, sending her back down to the floor with a loud thud. With a broken groan Olivia spits on their wooden floor, coating it with blood before letting her tongue run along her lip, feeling how a small cut has immediately formed.

She raises her green eyes upwards, locking them with her father who hovered over her with the same expression. Noticing how he now had his work sleeves rolled up his elbows and knowing there and then, he's not done in "teaching her a lesson."

"Still wasn't me," Is all Olivia says before her father once again connects his fist on the side of her face, slightly causing her world to go black for a split second,

After that strike she had lost track of time, her body immediately went numb. It was either that or she just kept slipping in and out of consciousness because she didn't feel any pain after the brutal punches, instead she felt completely numb to it all. Then next thing she knows she's gaining her vision back, noticing the way her father is crouched to her level, green eyes dark and cold as she stares into her soul, knuckles split open with blood. Which was most likely her own blood.

"This better be the last time you steal from me," He coldly claims before standing from his crouched position to walk towards the kitchen, where she then hears the faucet running,

Cleaning the evidence.

It was also at the point where Olivia noticed she was on the ground, sitting back against one of the single seats in the living room. Hands clutching onto her stomach yet again. She panted heavily against the seat, feeling the way the adrenaline, the numbness quickly left her body, leaving her in agony. Her bottom lip ached like a bitch, her stomach burned to the touch, her right eye throbbed as she tightly shut her eyes from the pain traveling throughout her body.

As she remained sitting on the floor, gathering herself, fighting off the urge to throw up from the pain in her stomach, she hears those familiar work boots walking towards her once again. A faint whimper escapes her lips as she tries to crawl away from Rudy, but the stupid seat prevents her from going any further, so she's left with no choice but to watch as her father walks back towards her, probably deciding to give her one last aching blow to her face or body, but instead he only tosses her a wet—possibly dirty rag on her lap and then an ice pack.

Both things has the teen flinching as they land on her bloody sweats. Confusion settles on her face as she glances up to meet his eyes. The same expression of hatred guilt written behind those dark emerald orbs of his.

"Clean yourself up," Is all he says before walking away from her, Penny following right behind him with a stupid cigarette in her mouth,

She seriously needs to get the fuck out of here before she ends up dead in his hands. Which she rather get kidnapped and tortured then die by the hands of her own father. No fucking way is she losing her life to that shithead, rather much die in the hands of a serial killer.

A dry chuckle, accompanied by a painful cough leaves her lips at the sick thought. She's seriously Fifty Shades of fucked up.

*********

Thursday
8:40 am

Once dropping off Jay at the entrance of his school, Olivia makes her way towards Hawkins High School. No soul stood outside the building due to everyone being inside the classrooms already, so it was just her. Alone. And in pain. She honestly should have ditched today. Should've just gone to the abandoned train tracks she found one day while strolling through the forest with her friends. It's been their go-to hangout spot ever since, that's where they're all at most likely. However, the thought of walking 20 miles to get to the tracks seemed like an eternity that Olivia clearly didn't have at the moment. Not with the way her stomach is painfully burning with every step she makes.

So unfortunately, she's left with attending school today.

Making her way through the double doors she walks down the empty hallways towards her locker where she decides to grab her book for her second period of the the day. She's obviously already missing half of first period so why not just start off with history. Then like that she'll be able to grab a seat all the way at the back to be avoided. Fridays were documentary shows about whatever the topic they were covering, so it was perfect for Olivia to just sit back and suffer in silence.

Rudy had gotten her pretty good on her ribs. Left a large fucking imprint on the side of her abdomen that had formed into a dark shade of purple overnight. That was easy to cover up, but it was the face that wasn't. Her lower lip was busted with dried blood, another small cut on the bridge of her nose was visible along with a nice shade of purple surrounding her eye that trailed to the bridge of her nose. Then another small cut on her right cheek that also had a small but dark purple bruised surrounding the area.

Wasn't anything new when it came to Olivia sporting bruises, especially at school. Most kids threw rumors about her involving herself in fights which was the main reason why she had transferred to Hawkins High School, which wasn't a lie but also wasn't the truth. The whole truth. However, Olivia went along with the rumors, perfect coverup of where her bruises actually came from. 

Standing in front of her locker, she steadies herself against the metal frame when a wave of pain shoots up her torso. She should have placed the ice pack on her torso just as much as she applied it to her face. It had been a day since the beating, but her body ached like no other. With a pained grunt she reaches to put her combo, even that would send painful waves, even worse when she goes to pull open the metal door, she had to lean against the locker to keep her from falling to her knees in agony.

After a while she eventually begins to transfer her books from her backpack to her locker to switch them for her upcoming classes. As she was slowly getting book after book the sound of people chatting amongst themselves can be heard down the hall, but too engrossed in pushing down the burning pain and reaching inside her locker she didn't hear heavy boots walking her way.

"Aren't you supposed to be in class right now?" His deep voice rings annoyingly in her ears, causing an exhausted sigh to fall from her lips,

"Got here late. Just getting my books," Olivia finds herself saying, face looking forward, not sparing him a glance, well..more like avoiding looking in his direction.

The teen hoped the man would take her word for it and walk away, but knowing his stubborn ass, he didn't. In fact, he remains standing there in silence, observing her frame, noticing just how tensed her shoulders looked, how her body was slightly bent in a way as if she was uncomfortable about something. Then, just as he brings his piercing blue eyes back to the side of her face it was then he noticed her bottom lip. He gets a visual of dried blood which has him furrowing his brows along with angling his head to the side to get a better view. However, he only feels his blood run hot when he sees the rest.

His hand reaches for her chin before forcing her to look his way, "Who did it?"

She quickly pulls away from his hold, slightly slapping his hand away from her space, "Nothing happened I gotta get to class,"

With that she shuts her lock with a slam and turns to walk away, but a firm grip on her wrist stops her from taking any further steps. The sudden moment causes her to face him, giving him a perfect view of her slightly battered face. Then noticing the way his shoulders straightened up, eyes turning cold and angry as he continues to scan her features.

"Who was it?" Hopper demands, even if he already knew exactly who it was,

"Just drop it Hopper! Let it go," Olivia demands herself before pulling away from his hold once again and walks down the hallway,

She ignores the way he calls after her, even runs up the stairs where she then quickly disappears into a nearby janitors closet just in case he had followed her. When she knew she was in the clear she quickly slips out and makes her way towards the gym, where sat on the bleachers watching the freshman run fitness drills with their teacher.

A bad, sour feeling settles at the pit of her stomach when she knows her current features will not only ignite the rumors around town and school, but it will also spark another problem. Not only is Hopper losing his patience with her lack of seeking help or admitting she's in trouble, but it will also mean that Hopper has seen more than bruises on her skin and will use that to interfere.

And she knows he will. And she also knows once he does, a bigger problem that she's been trying to avoid and prevent will finally come to play.

She was failing in keeping that problem away, and that alone made the pain in her abdomen worse.

She had to figure something out before it was too late.

Before she lost Jay.

*******

Friday
6:00 Pm

"Where the hell have you been?" Olivia hears as soon as she enters the house,

Sitting on the couch, eyes directed towards the tv was Rudy. From the moment she saw him sitting there, awake, and sober, she knew something was off. She knew something was wrong. Yet, she hadn't expect him to be home. Talking. Sober.

It was Friday. He should've been out drinking his goddamn life away at the bar.

She wasn't supposed to be home in fact, but the only reason she's there was to pick up her cigarettes before meeting Ivy and the idiots to the abandoned train tracks to drink, smoke, and possibly experiment once again.  Yes, the idiot who shot himself in the leg is back to doing idiotic shit.

"Was out with friends," She tells him, then notices how Jay quietly stands in the dark hall,

Oh yeah. Something was fucking wrong.

"What's going on?" Olivia asks, eyes watching her brother, trying to see from where she still stood if he had any marks on him,

Thankfully he didn't.

Rudy stays quiet for a split second before he speaks again, eyes still focused on the tv, hands balled into fists, "There's rumors going around about you.. saying how you're hanging around with the Chief of police,"

Olivia's body goes rigid at his words, but keeps her composure, and stands with her head held high.

"Now," Rudy goes on with a dry chuckle and finally gets up from the couch, "I didn't believe'm at first since you.. tend to get in trouble with the law but all of a sudden... the Chief strolls into my job asking questions,"

Fucking Hopper. Olivia clenches her jaw, heart beating against her chest. "What kind of questions?"

Rudy coldly stares straight into her eyes with his next words, "Questions he shouldn't have to be worrying about,"

Well maybe if you weren't such an abusive ass then maybe he wouldn't be sniffing around our business!

"What are you telling him?" Rudy says again, slowly stalking towards her, cold, angry eyes still staring at her,

"I don't even talk to him," She defends,

"Then why is he asking questions and why have people seen you coming in and out of his fucking truck!?" He slightly yells, causing both Olivia and Jay to flinch, but the teen was able to hide it well enough,

"That was one time and he was just dropping me off at school,"

"Don't. Lie to me,"

"I'm not,"

Rudy scoffs, but still stalks towards her, "Then why is he asking questions? Hmm?"

Not knowing what to say or how to reply to his question, Olivia stays quiet. She hadn't told him shit, but the signs were fucking obvious, but she never fully admitted to him about her fucked up situation at home. Matter of fact she'd always dodge the trap whenever Hopper would try and dig something out of her, guess he was just tired of her denying it and took matters into his own goddamn hands.

Her silence was enough for her father to believe she was lying to him, to believe she had spilled something to the Chief because his blood only boiled more.

"What about you Jay?" He suddenly says, furious green eyes slowly travel to the small figure in the hall, "Became friends with the Chief recently?"

From where Olivia stood she can tell just how rigid he had gone now that their father was pointing his attention to him.

"Leave him alone-,"

"Shut up,"

"He doesn't know anything. He doesn't even know him," Olivia throws in another lie, well.. kinda,

She mentally pleads at her father to avert his attention from her brother, but he didn't he just kept staring at him as he slowly made his way towards poor Jay who was still frozen in his spot, staring at their demon of a father.

"Said anything to anybody Jay? Did a little class sharing one day?" Rudy continues, slowly stalking his way to his son who was still frozen with fear watching him get closer,

Not liking the way this was going and directing to Jay, Olivia does the terrible decision to walk towards her father and grip his inner elbow to turn his attention away from her brother, but as soon as she makes a tugging motion a large hand wraps around her throat before slamming her against the wall of the kitchen entrance. A pained grunt falls from the teens lips then a groan when she feels the way her father's hand tightens around her neck as he pins her against the wall. Her own hands quickly wrap around Rudy's wrist, she attempts to tug the forearm away away from her space but it was no success.

"This is how it's going to go.. either one of you admit to sharing anything with the Chief or else you both are going to pay for the consequences," Rudy demands, tightening his hold to make a point,

His dark emerald eyes shifting from Olivia to Jay. Waiting for either of them to speak up.

Olivia slightly growls at his words. Still gripping onto his wrist as she tries to shake from his hold, but remains unsuccessful.

"Like I said.. we haven't said anything," The teen claims with clenched teeth, then a loud choked yelp when Rudy strikes her bruised ribs that have yet to be healed,

The sudden moment has Jay taking a step with scared wide eyes, however comes to a stop when Rudy points at him.

"That's one lie! The more you say the worst it gets!" Rudy yells at both of his kids, Jay stood shifting his gaze from his father to his sister who was breathing heavily from pain,

Her whole face read agony. She was literally being tortured right in front of him. Pinned to the wall by the neck as she squirmed in his hold from pain, trying to wiggle herself out but just as she made a slight dent to his grip he was back to landing a brutal punch to her stomach, causing another agony yell from her. However, not being able to take it no longer Jay does the unthinkable, yelling at their father to stop he reaches out to his forearm, slightly yanking his arm back. Rudy averts his darkened eyes to the little boy and without hesitation he uses his free hand to wrap around the young boys throat before slightly raising him from the ground and throwing him back against the hallway.

Jay lands with a heavy thud. Shocked , wide eyes glancing up to their father. He has never ever touched Jay, never laid a harmful finger on him until now. However, just as he landed on the floor he sees the way Olivia reacts quickly by sending a knee in between his legs then connecting a firm right hook on his face as he crouched in pain. Sending him to the floor slightly dazed.

With quick steps Olivia crouches towards Jay, asking him if he's okay, but suddenly feels a large hand gripping her hair before slamming her head against the wall and being tossing backwards against the floor.

The impact dazed her, causing her vision to slightly spin. A hand reaches out to her head, only to feel something warm on her temple. Pulling her fingers back she sees blood coating the tips of her fingers. That piece of shit. She thinks to herself just as she feels large hands gripping onto her ankles before dragging her against the wooden floor then seeing Rudy hover over her.

"You little bitch! Think you can hit me?!" He yells as he sends his fist on the side of her face, feeling the way her lip opens once again,

The harsh blow only makes her vision spin more.

"I said leave her alone!" She hears Jay yell somewhere in the room. Then seeing him jump on Rudy's back, where a pained groan rumbles from the man before seeing him jolt to his feet, it was then Olivia understood why,

Jay was biting his ear.

Rudy groaned in pain. Still on the ground she sees the grown man reach upwards towards the boy where he grips on his shirt and arm before somehow tossing him over his body. Slamming the young kid on the ground. Yet that was enough to bring the adrenaline and rage back, causing Olivia to send two jabs before landing another clean right hook on the older man's face, sending him stumbling back against the wall. Causing the phone to fall on the ground with a loud thud. As Rudy struggles to upright himself, Olivia bends down to pick up her brother who had a slight cut on his right cheek with tears falling down his slightly pale skin.

Igniting the flame even more.

The sound of grunts and groans, along with a deep growl has both kids looking up. Rudy stood in the entrance of the hallway, staring heated daggers to both kids, mostly at Olivia, which she returned the look. She knew what she had to do, if it meant nearly getting herself killed to save Jay, she was ready for it.

"Go outside Jay," She says without breaking eye contact with the demon,

"N-No! I'm not leaving!" Jay yells after her, tugging on her wrist, knowing exactly what she's planning,

Still not looking away from Rudy she demands him again, "Go outside Jay,"

The little boy hesitates. Averting his gaze from Rudy to Olivia a few times before finally bolting outside the home, leaving the death trap of a home. He waited next to Rudy's truck with nerves, fear, and extreme anxiety. He knew what was going to happened and he was not prepared for the results when it ended, so with defeat he sat with his knees against his chest as he covered his ears, eyes tight shut to not see anything.

Inside however, Olivia and Rudy remained staring at each other. Heavy rage radiating off of both of them. Yet, after what seemed like minutes Olivia only does one thing. She raises her first as she gets in her fighting stance, eyes burning with adrenaline and rage as she stares directly at Rudy. He only gives a deep chuckle as he slowly makes his way towards her.

This was the day she was going to use her fighting skills for the right reasons instead of the wrong reasons.

Control the outcome.. it's on you. Olivia mentally repeats her father's words, a lesson she always kept.

A lesson that will keep her alive.

*******

Both Olivia and Jay make their way hand in hand down the town. Looks were thrown their way, making Jay hide his face by looking down at the ground, Olivia on the other hand simply didn't care. She held her head high as she marched down the sidewalk, looking behind her shoulder once in a while to make sure he wasn't storming down the streets in the truck. She had heard the roaring engine as they ran through the forests but after a while they had lost the truck as they cut deeper into the field until they arrived on the other side of the road that led them straight to town.

Only taking a minute to catch their breath, Olivia took her brother's hand before quickly running down the road till they got to town. Where eyes can be witnesses, just in case.

As Olivia walked down the sidewalk with Jay tightly gripping her hand, anger and adrenaline still pumped in her veins with each step she took, if it weren't for the burning flame she felt she would have definitely felt the exhaustion, the way her hand and entire body was throbbing from pain. She was convinced a bone or two were broken somewhere inside her hands. But that can be solved some other time.

After what seemed like centuries later, they both make it to the station, where Olivia didn't hesitate in pushing through the doors. Not even the sound of Jay calling out to her stopped her.

"Olivia,"

"Where is he?" She demands at the lady fixing papers in the front desk, completely ignoring the way her eyes grow wide behind her glasses when she lands them on Olivia's bloody face,

"Oh my-,"

"Jesus Christ," Another deeper voice comments the same time behind her,

"Where is Hopper?" Olivia asks again, voice firmer and much more colder,

"Honey why don't we get you cleaned up-,"

"Where the fuck is Hopper?!" Olivia yells, causing the poor woman to flinch away from the desk,

A small splash of guilt tugs on Olivia's heart from the way she makes her jump, but it was quickly replaced with hot white rage once again.

"Whoa, better watch your tone kid," Callahan says while walking towards the counter of the station, his own eyes scanning her frame and slightly wincing at her state,

However, before she can once again demand the whereabouts of the Chief, from the corner of her eye she sees him approaching them from the hall. Again, rage, fear, adrenaline, exhaustion course through her veins as she stalks towards him, hands were balled into fists at her sides as she meets him halfway. Ignoring once again the way Callahan shouts after her as he walks right behind her.

"I told you not to get involved!!" Olivia screams at the man, but it didn't phase him,

In fact, Hopper just stared at her with a firm, grim look as she shouts at him. Even if he looked calm while she screamed at him, Hopper was absolutely furious on the inside as he takes in her appearance. Tears and Blood dripped down from her nose and brow, busted bottom lip dripped with more blood, a dark bruise forming on her right cheek that also had a gash with blood slipping out. She looked like shit. She felt like shit and he knew she must've.

"I told you not to get involved... I told you it would only make it worse..," Olivia's voice quivered, tears beginning to form in her eyes  from exhaustion, pain, fear and the dissolving adrenaline,

"Where is he?" Hopper demands with a clipped tone, eyes full of rage. He had a feeling she wouldn't answer like all the other times, but this time she had to, she looked like she went 12 rounds in hell, he had to step in this time,

Tears were now free falling down her cheeks, not caring if it made her look weak.

She shook her head, "I don't know," she hiccups a small sob before clutching her stomach from pain,

Hopper quickly grabs onto her shoulders in case she falls to her knees in agony. Once he knows she capable of standing on her own feet he looks behind her frame to direct his deputy.

"You and Powell drive to her house. Grab that son of a bitch and book him," He orders and in an instant the man with glasses runs down the little hallway where he calls out to his partner before they both bolt out the station,

"Flo," Olivia hears Hopper direct his focus to the older woman, who stood standing down the hall with a horrified look, "Grab the first aid kit. I wanna fix them up a little before driving them to the hospital,"

Without turning Olivia knows she nodded her head before going into search for the kit.

Meanwhile, Hopper guides both kids to his office. He tells Jay to sit on his desk first, considering he had fewer cuts and bruises on his face than his sister. Once he was done, he tells him to go with Flo so she can give him something to eat or drink as he waits for his sister. With hesitation Jay looks at Olivia with saddened, scared eyes, but with a small nod from the teen he follows the sweet older lady.

She hears her softly whispering to him as they make their way out the office, once out of ear shot she glances up to the man who rummaged in the aid box.

"Sit down," Hopper slightly whispers at her as he gathers fresh alcohol wipes, cotton balls, bandages and bandaids,

The teen slowly makes her way to the desk before carefully sitting on its wooden frame. A wince appearing on her face with each movement she makes doesn't go unnoticed by the man hovering over her, he was preparing the necessities when he spares her a glance, catching the moment where pain is shown on her face.

That son of a bitch.

He doesn't verbally comment on it, instead he walks further into her space, places the items beside her on the table before slowly and carefully gripping underneath her chin. She flinches at his touch but quickly recovers when he reassures her.

"It's gonna sting," He warns her, then waits for an approval to continue with his task, once given a short nod he gently dabs a soaked cotton ball on her lip,

She still flinches at the small pain, but remains still as he continues dabbing the cotton on her busted lip before grabbing another clean soaked ball to gently dab on her cheek.

Thick, intense silence hovers around them. Only the sound of faint muffled talking outside of his office can be heard. Olivia's eyes was focused on something as he concentrated in semi stopping the bleeding from her cheek.

"You can't keep skating around this. You gotta tell me what happened," Hopper suddenly asks as he dabs her opened wound on her cheek, blue eyes averting from her cut to her eyes, holding her gaze,

It's fucking obvious on what happened, but she had to tell him.

"You got involved... that's what happened," The teen claims, not once breaking his stare. It wasn't the truth he needed, but he didn't care anymore.

He averts his eyes away from her to toss the used cotton ball toward the trash bin by the door before bringing his icy blues to her beautiful forest green orbs.

"I only asked safe questions, didn't think I was obvious,"

Olivia scoffs then winces at the harsh pain that travels through her bruised side, "Yeah well you don't know Rudy Davis like I do. He's fucking Sherlock Holmes when sober,"

Her words sent a heavy wave of guilt. He blamed himself for her bruises, for her pain, for everything she went through this evening. He knew he asked safe questions, he doesn't remember slipping up, he never does, or did he? Fuck. He probably did this time and didn't catch it, if he hadn't then she wouldn't be leaning against his desk with blood coming from different places of her face.

He could have gotten her fucking killed.

That alone sent a burning acid like feeling crawl up his throat. He fought to keep the bile from rising any further, tried his best in focusing on cleaning the blood from the teenagers face before placing a clean bandaid on her cheek, then averts his gaze to her split knuckles.
He didn't understand how she can withhold so much pain for such a small girl. Most girls out there in Hawkins would cry over a paper cut, but Olivia Davis, no, she never cried. Never showed pain. It was both impressive and worrisome.

Yes she may have shed a few tears when confronting him, but those were angry tears, fearful tears. Tears that she's held for so long, and those type of tears eventually break free. The Chief understood perfectly, poor kid has gone through so much already that it was understandable why she nearly broke down in his arms.

Once he was sure that he had semi fixed her up, he goes ahead and begins cleaning up his workspace. Soaked blood cotton balls, bloody gauze, and bandaid wrappers were gathered together before being tossed in the trash bin. The chief lets out a tired sigh before turning around. He stood by the entrance of his office, hands planted on either side of his hips as he stared at her in silence. She remained leaning against his desk with hunched shoulders, head low, eyes closed as she gripped the side of her abdomen.

Fuck.

He mentally curses as he remembers. Without another word he makes his way to his chair to grab his coat and hat.

"C'mon," He whispers as he stands next to her, those green orbs of hers glance up to lock with his, confusion was written in them, "let's go with your brother,"

She slowly drops her gaze to the door, lingering her focus there before carefully and slowly rises from his desk. She feels his large hand wrapping underneath her arm as he helps her, then feeling the way it settles on her shoulder blades as he gently guides her out the office.

Once down the hallway and rounding the corner, Jay sat there on a desk with what seemed like a mug. He was quietly tracing the rim of the mug, eyes casted down but his focus wasn't there, he was lost in thought. It pained Olivia to see her brother this way, see him with a bandaid on his cheek that had blood already soaking it up. It pained and angered her. He should not be living this way. Should not be living in fear. He should be a happy kid, enjoying his youthful days, enjoying coming home to a nice big family, with a nice warm meal, not avoiding both his home and family.

Then again, how things are looking after today.. he may not even have a home. Causing the teens chest to tighten once again at the thought. They are definitely fucked this time.

"Kid," Hopper's deep voice rings out, causing both siblings to snap out of their own dark thoughts, "C'mon,"

Jay quickly sets the mug down on the desk with a soft 'thank you' to Flo before getting up from the chair and making his way to his sister. Jay looks up at Olivia, meeting her exhausted gaze before softly interlocking their hands together, causing a small smile to tug on the girls lips.

"Jim," Flo calls out to the Chief,

"Close up shop Flo. The boys have keys," Hopper voices as he opens the door, motioning the kids to walk through,

"No hospitals," Olivia says instead of walking out the door,

"Gotta make sure nothings broken,"

"Nothing is broken, I'm fine," Blue eyes stare straight into her green orbs, he holds their gaze,

"I gotta make sure nothings broken. You're going to the hospital Liv," Hopper claims as he once again motions for both siblings to walk out,

Not having enough energy or the strength to argue with the man, Olivia simply lets a heavy exhale fall from her lips before slowly walking past him.

"Head on home Flo. I'll see you Monday," Hopper tells the lady once more before walking out the door himself,

Once helping both siblings into the truck, he slips into the driver side, ignites the engine before driving down the road towards the hospital. The drive was in silence, only the sound of soft music playing through the radio helped ease the tension. However, every once in a while he had to remind the teenager to stay awake, he wasn't sure how badly her condition was, so of course he was taking safety measures. Same thing for the younger boy in the back, just because he had small cuts and bruises didn't mean he did not have internal injuries.

So to busy the young Davis sibling, Hopper asked him what were his favorite things to do or video games he enjoyed to play, which resulted in Jay talking for the rest of the drive.

At one point Hopper did spare a glance to Olivia, only to see a pained, annoyed look on her face as she suffered listening to her younger brother yap about some board game, then to some random facts he found about the small town. It brought some relief on the chiefs shoulders to know she won't fall asleep on his hands. Better to have her squirming in pain with an annoyed look than to have her asleep and having to panic at the thought of her not waking up.

So yes, he rather drive with her in pain and annoyed. But from the looks of it, he might have to drive past the speed limit to get there faster because Olivia looked like she was seconds away from strangling her brother.

*****

Hopper sat impatiently in the most uncomfortable chair. Knee bouncing uncontrollably, hat hanging on his knee, holding on for dear life. Olivia and her brother had been taken by nurses to get checked properly, that was over an hour ago. He had gone through five cups of coffee, a couple chocolate bars, a bag of chips, a whole pack of cigarettes and another cup of coffee. Probably wasn't the best idea, his anxiety was already off the charts, caffeine was only gonna worsen it.

Yet, when has Jim Hopper ever taken care of himself?

When they had arrived, a couple glances were thrown at them as they walked into the building. Nurses and doctors immediately ran towards them and right away took the Davis siblings with them. Ned, one of the doctors that was good friends with the Chief gave him a worrisome and confused look, but Hopper only shook his head, indicating he'd explain later, after he had taken care of them.
More looks and soft murmurs from locals who were also in the waiting room were directed at him, but he only ignored them or simply threw them a look which had them averting their gaze. Yet, the males, who were brave enough to walk up to him and tried to get some sort of information out of him, were only left disappointed as the Chief respectfully denied any questions.

Eventually, they did leave him alone. Most of the locals knew when and when not to bother the man with prying questions, so once they saw the familiar look in his eyes, the wives of the males were the ones to bring their husbands back to their seats. Leaving Hopper to finally sit in peace without nosey men requesting information in both ears.

He felt at ease, for five minutes before his radio went off. The tension, the anxiousness, the rage was back on his shoulders when Powell informs him through the radio Rudy Davis was nowhere to be found. He had gone AWOL. Son of a bitch must have left or disappeared knowing his kids would have looked for helped, either from local neighbors or the police.

Of course the lowlife would run away, he was a goddamn coward! If I ever see him again— if he even thinks about stepping foot in my town or even thinks of coming anywhere near Olivia and her brother I swear to god I'll rip out his goddamn—

"Jim,"

A voice has him coming back from his gruesome thoughts, then has him rising from his chair when he sees Ned walking towards him.

"How are they? How is she?"

"Nothing came out broken on both of'em. No internal injuries either, thankfully," The doctor informs him, having relief wash over the chief, "But the girl does have severe bruising on her left side. She'll need to keep bandaging it for the next few weeks and needs to be taking medication to ease the pain and swelling,"

Hopper nods at the information being given. Fingers playing with the edge of his hat. Now that he knows she doesn't have any life threatening injuries and she'll live, he can finally be somewhat at ease.

"I'm assuming you caught them," The doctors comment has Jim looking up, confusion written on his face,

"Them?"

Someone else was involved?

"Yeah. Kid said it was more than one person who attacked her and her brother. Said they were trying to grab anything they had on them, which resulted in the bruises because she fought back,"

Hopper remains staring at him, blue eyes unreadable, just staring at him in silence before letting them roll behind his head with a scoff.

"That what she told you?" Ned nods his head, crossing his hands as if to ask what else was he missing,

Hopper chuckles in disbelief, "That's not what happened. Their father did this,"

"Jesus,"

"She just doesn't want anybody other than me to know the truth,"

"Well shit Jim.. you know we gotta report this,"

"It's already been reported.. I just haven't gone further,"

"Why the hell not!? Two kids have been physically abused by their own father Jim!? The hell are you waiting for?!" The doctor harshly whispers at him, not wanting to let anyone listen in on their conversation,

"Because she's scared Ned! She's scared to lose her brother," Hopper whispers back, eyes firm as he stares down at the man,

"What about other family members?"

Hopper sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose when he feels an oncoming headache, "I don't know. Don't know anything about other family members. They're new in Hawkins,"

Hopper runs a hand through his sandy hair. A loud sigh falling from his lips as his mind spirals. He knew what he had to do, but he also knew if he did it would hurt you in so many ways and he surprisingly didn't want that. She's already been through enough, he didn't want to add more on her plate. But he had to, he had to help her in at least live a better, healthier, happier life.

"Look.. just get CPS involved but call David. Only David, you hear me?" The chief demanded, earning a soft sigh but an understanding nod from the doctor, "I'll try and see if I can find any relatives but meanwhile I'll just.. try and give her time with her brother in case...,"

He couldn't finish the sentence, he didn't want to finish the sentence. From the times he's gotten to know the teenager he knew her little brother was her light, her reason to keep going in this shitty ass of a world.

"Just call David," Hopper says instead and points to the double doors, "Which room?"

"7D. Through the doors, make a right. It's the second door," Nodding at his instructions Hopper begins walking towards the doors, but just as he nears them a voice is calling out to him,

"So where are they staying?"