#four teenage girls and their groups of (mostly) teens/young adults behind them trying to save the world

[lady-of-the-spirit]

Fushigi Yuugi as the "the world should have protected you but you have been asked to protect it. What an honour. What an injustice." quote.

[nailriddenbat]

Operation Henderson and Harrington Pt. 1 ~ Mini-Series

Summary: The kids take it upon themselves to test their matchmaking skills. With a little help, they form a plot to get you and Steve together by Halloween.

Pairing: Steve Harrington x (Henderson!You) Reader

Word Count: 1.2k

Warnings: Language! Mostly from Dustin.

A/N: It is almost 1 am over here but I had to post this and get it out of my system. This is going to be a mini-series! Part one is posted below and I will update over the next few days :) Give me some feedback! xoxo

Part One ~ Part Two ~ Part Three ~ Part Four ~ Part Five ~ Part Six ~ Part Seven FINALE

There would never be a normal Halloween in Hawkins, Indiana. The kids would always be doing something whether it be fighting off some monsters, or saving their best friend, or getting their two favorite teens to finally date.

“We can’t tell them that we came up with this,” Dustin insisted as he looked at the group.

He sat around a table with Mike, El, Will, Lucas and Max. The group was gathered in Mike’s basement as they tried to come up with a foolproof plan on getting you, Y/N Henderson, and Steve Harrington to finally date. Halloween was coming up and that was the deadline.

“Are they even definitely chaperoning us as we go trick-or-treating?” Max sighed as she slammed her hands down on the table. “This is going to be pointless if one or the other, or both, doesn’t even show.”

“Pointless? How could you say it’s pointless?” Dustin scoffed. “This is for the greater good! This is for love!”

“Love,” El smiled softly.

“Thank you, El!” Dustin held his hands together as he bowed his head to her. “See, she gets it,” he narrowed his eyes over in Max’s direction.

“Max is just being realistic, Dustin,” Lucas defended her.

“She’s got a point,” Will spoke up and agreed with his two other friends. “We’ve been down here for an hour and we still haven’t come up with anything.”

“What could a bunch of kids possibly do?” Mike chimed in, doubting that any of them had any sort of capability to push two stubborn teenagers together.

“You’re killing me. You’re actually killing me,” Dustin said blankly as he looked around the circle.

“What are you losers talking about down here?” Nancy Wheeler spoke up from the staircase as she held up a can of pepsi to her mouth. Behind her stood Jonathan Byers, ready to pick his little brother up and take him home.

“He cannot go home until we have a solid plan!” Dustin argued and spun around, pointing at Will who had begun to stand. “Sit back down, young man.”

“What solid plan?” Jonathan asked.

Mike sighed as he began to explain the situation they had somehow found themselves in. “Dustin is convinced that Y/N and Steve are meant to be together but they won’t ever say anything.”

“So Dustin has decided to make it our responsibility to get them to start dating on Halloween,” Lucas finished for Mike.

Nancy glanced over at Jonathan, a small smile making its way onto her face. The kids watched as they shared some silent exchange.

“Sit back down, Will,” Jonathan nodded his head towards his brother and pulled his own jacket off. “Nancy and I want to help.”

“Thank you! Someone besides me cares!” Dustin shouted out with glee. 

“What sort of plans did you guys come up with so far?” Nancy asked as she moved over to the table.

“No plans whatsoever,” Max answered. “It’s hopeless.”

“No, no,” Nancy reassured the group as she leaned down and looked around at all of them. “Trust me, this is not as hopeless as you may think. I know for a fact that Y/N and Steve will both be chaperoning you on Halloween. Jonathan and I have plans, or else we’d be doing it, and the adults won’t be available.

“Okay so we know that they’ll be with us, but what does that do? It’s not like we can lock them up in a closet. They’re both too smart for that,” Lucas looked around the table, trying to figure out if anyone had some sort of idea.

The room went quiet as everyone tried to contemplate what could bring Y/N and Steve together.

A few minutes later, El spoke up in a soft voice, remembering something that she had seen on the television recently. “Matching costumes,” El suggested. “They can match.”

Jonathan nodded his head quickly as he looked over at El, then back at Nancy. “Matching costumes works perfectly,” he agreed with El.

“Yes but they can’t be the only ones matching or else they’ll know something is up,” Nancy clicked her teeth together as she sat back, tapping her fingers against the surface of the table. She slowly looked around the table at each of the kids.

“Oh no,” Mike groaned. “I know that look.”

“What look?” Will looked at his brother for some sort of explanation.

“You know, kids,” Nancy sighed dramatically. “Y/N and Steve would do just about anything that you asked them to do, even if you asked them to partake in a group costume…”

“But we already had our group costumes picked out. We’ve had this picked out since January. I don’t want to change the plans just so Dustin could play matchmaker for his sister!” Lucas complained.

“Okay I will seriously let you pick the group costumes for the next two years if you just shut up and let Nancy talk,” Dustin went back at him.

“No, I’m not going to shut up! This is ridiculous!”

The bickering between Lucas and Dustin continued on for a few minutes as everyone moved their heads back and forth, almost as if they were watching a ping pong match, but Jonathan broke it up a few minutes later by clapping his hands together.

Max sighed and looked over at El, whispering, “We need more friends who are girls.” The two shared a giggle before looking back at the group.

“Y/N loves the movie Grease,” Nancy explained. She pointed to El and Max, “Have you seen that movie?”

“No but my Mom has the VHS at home and sings the songs all the time,” Max grumbled.

El shook her head and Miked reached over to touch her hand, explaining that they had a VHS copy as well and could have her over to watch it. Alternatively, she could take the copy home and watch it with Hopper.

“It’s not necessary for any of you to watch the movie. Jonathan and I can show you the costumes. I think you two should ask Y/N to dress up with you and your group could be the Pink Ladies,” Nancy explained. “I will talk to Y/N on a separate occasion and convince her to be the female lead, Sandy. As for you guys…”

“The T-Birds,” Will said. He remembered that was one of the movies that they had watched with Bob on movie night. “And Steve can be Danny Zuko. He’s the leader of their group. They slick their hair back and wear leather jackets, stuff like that.”

“Steve will totally go for that,” Dustin grinned.

“What do you think?” Nancy turned the question over to Jonathan, biting her lower lip.

He shrugged a little and gave her a comforting smile, “It’s definitely worth a shot.”

“But you cannot let either of them know that this was planned! It has to seem natural and like it was a coincidence,” Nancy warned them. “All in favor of the plan?”

“It’s actually called Operation Henderson and Harrington, but yes I am in favor!” Dustin was the first to stand from the table and put his hand in the center.

“You named the plan?” Nancy stared at him.

“Of course he named the plan,” Mike rolled his eyes as he stood up and put his hand in the circle. “I’m in.”

El threw her hand on top of his with a smile directed towards Nancy and Max rolled her eyes before putting her hand in as well.

“This is only so I can pick the group costumes for the next two years,” Lucas made sure everyone knew where his intentions were as he put his hand in.

Will silently nodded and put his hand in.

“I’m in,” Jonathan rested his hand on top and soon, his hand was covered by Nancy’s.

“Let’s get those two shitheads together!” Dustin cried out with victory.

[ofallthethingsiveloved]

Can I finish my bagel first?

I wanted him the most when I was fifteen.

My parents were both semi-professional bowlers for most of my early teen years. Every weekend was spent at bowling alleys across the state, watching one, if not both, of them compete. This also meant that my weeknights were spent at the local 8-lane bowling alley, because it was, surprisingly, more fun than staying home alone. Growing up in a small town had its perks, as the bowling alley was right in the center of town, surrounded by any fast food I could possibly want and the freedom of walking there.

On Tuesdays, my parents would drop me off at my guitar lesson and I would walk to the bowling alley afterward, my Washburn acoustic strapped to my back. They had the co-ed league that night, which was one of my favorites to attend. My mom’s Thursday night women’s league was all older matriarch types and Sunday nights was mostly grumpy middle-aged men. But Tuesday, for some reason, held the younger crowd. Teams made up of young men in their twenties seemed to be the majority and fifteen year old me was all about it. At that age, I was right in the thick of my most awkward phase. I wasn’t sure if I hated my body or if I had one at all. Despite my best efforts, my skin was always greasy and my hair would not lay flat. Tuesday nights were all about observation. These men all knew me well and treated me like their homely little cousin. I was so uncomfortable that I didn’t even bother to do the feeble teenage girl flirting that my friends did with the servers at Chili’s. Mine was a fact-finding mission. I wanted to know what kind of music they liked, which movies they were quoting, how did they feel about women that didn’t wear make up. I wanted to fit in with them, because if I understood grown men, I could surely figure out teenage boys.

I developed tiny crushes on all of them for different reasons. One looked like Rivers Cuomo, one gave me my first MxPx CD, one let me have the kills of his cigarettes. One guy had the most precious smirk and perfect green-blue eyes. They were all perfect in their individual ways. As I got older, so did they. They got 9 to 5 jobs, which meant that they couldn’t spend their weeknights knocking down pins. By the time I was in college, they had lost interest in the bowling alley and I had mostly forgotten them.

Skip ahead a few years. I’m twenty-seven and I’ve walked out on a seven year relationship. I had survived my ten year high school reunion and was starting my first summer as a single woman. I had gotten my groove back, so to speak, and was slowly shaking off years of being held down by a man that made me doubt that I could be loved by any person other than him. My best friend and I decided that this would be the greatest summer we had ever lived. For the first time, we were of legal drinking age and neither of us were in relationships. Her family owned an income property down the shore and one of the units was being left empty for us to use for three months. We were pigs in shit that summer, entirely unstoppable. If we weren’t at the beach, we were working our way through every bar in the county and daring each other to speak to men we didn’t yet know.

One Friday, we were watching a cover band in a bar three towns over. I had already switched from Jack Daniels to Shirley Temples and went outside to smoke while a middle-aged man spoke to my best friend about local politics. On my way out of the bar, I thought I saw a smirk I recognized. It wasn’t impossible to see someone I knew, but I couldn’t figure out exactly why I knew him. I blew smoke rings on the patio as I worked my way through the Guess Who? game in my head. Did we go to school together? Am I just recognizing him from his profile on a dating app? Why do I know that face? As I walked back in, I heard his voice and I knew exactly who he was. I told my friend that I wanted us to walk past him, so I could re-introduce myself. As we approached, I made eye contact and tilted my head, as though I was recognizing him for the first time. 

“Oh hi, I know you. You probably don’t remember me, but ohmigosh how are you!?”

He stared at me for a few seconds before I let him off the hook.

“I’m S--------. L------ and W--------’s kid. You used to bowl with them. P-------, right? You look great.”

“Oh holy shit! S--------, I didn’t recognize you at all.” He looked me up and down, but not in the creepy way. “You grew up. I mean, we both grew up. But you, you look like an adult now. Wow, yeah, hi. Where have you been?”

He was probably in his mid-thirties, but the only thing giving it away were the small wrinkles forming around his eyes and the handful of gray hairs mixed into his already fair hair. We spent the better part of the next two hours swapping horror stories. We talked about how rocky the road to the present had been and resolved ourselves to hang out again. As I was walking out the door, my best friend reminded me that he was really quite cute and shouldn’t I invite him down the shore? I immediately ran back in and told him he was going with us to the beach in two weeks, rain or shine. I saved his phone number and made him pinky promise not to cancel.

I texted him two days before we were supposed to all go out on the boardwalk. He solidified the plans and I sent him our address. He would meet us down there after work on Friday and we would all head back home Saturday afternoon. My best friend and I took bets on what his car would look like. She thought it would be a small silver SUV, I put my money on a dark metallic red or green sedan, probably a Toyota. When a green Camry pulled into the driveway, she did a shot. The three of us walked to the bar, where we met up with some more people we knew. He and I took turns buying the drinks until I couldn’t light my own cigarettes.

He refused to ignite a Newport for me and handed me an American Spirit. I protested, I wanted my chemical steeped tobacco.

“I’m trying to save your life. Just say thank you and smoke it.” 

We laughed and talked more until I made him hold my arm as I walked down the steep stairs from the rooftop bar. 

“Look at you, saving my life again.” 

The walk home was about four blocks and with every block, we fell more behind the rest of the group, more focused on trying to quietly continue whatever drunk conversation we were having than keeping up. 

At some point shortly after entering the house, I lost track of him and started preparing myself for my hangover. I made a bagel and dug one of my hidden Gatorades out of the back of the fridge. We had no furniture, so I sat cross-legged on the kitchen counter, eating my snack. He came in and made a faux-outraged remark about not being offered a bagel. I held out my own bagel for him to take, which he refused, opting instead to kiss me. I pulled back abruptly.

“I’m going to hate myself for saying this, but can I finish my bagel first? Also, I like the color of your eyes. They’re blue but not blue, green.”

“Uh... Sure. Yeah. Finish your bagel.” He proceeded to stand there and watch me eat my bagel. Yes, this was really as uncomfortable as it sounds. When my precautionary carbohydrates had been consumed, I hopped off the counter and pulled him by the wrist to the room that held my twin-sized air mattress. 

What happened after that is, admittedly, blurry. I know that at one point, I dislocated his shoulder and had to help him pop it back into place. I was horrified but he explained that it happened often as a result of an old soccer injury. The next morning, I slid out of the room to take a shower and throw up all of the alcohol that was left from the night before. I was beyond sick and afraid of waking him up. My best friend had left very early that morning for a prior engagement that she had completely forgotten about, which meant that I would have to ride home with him. I laid in bed for what felt like an eternity until he started to stir. Within 15 minutes, we were in the car, quietly driving toward home. It was one of the most solemn commutes of my life. 

A week or so later, I reached out to invite him to a trivia game at a bar. He responded that he never meant for that type of thing to happen between the two of us. I admitted that it was my every intention that things transpire as they did. He said he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. I didn’t reply and we have not spoken since, but I’m still appreciative of that night. It was fun in those moments. But, it also taught me some situations should be left alone, though I would make the same decision multiple times in the coming years.

[consulting-celiac-in-the-tardis]

11+ Kids and Teens with Celiac Disease Already Doing Seriously Amazing Things

New blog post! If you read this blog regularly, you know that I love applying a positive perspective to life with celiac disease. At times, though, having a chronic illness or needing to follow a gluten free can feel pretty dang hard.

That’s why today’s post is highlighting 11+ kids and teens who are totally kicking booty at life, even with celiac disease! Whether you have a child with celiac you want to feel less alone or just want to read about some amazing members of the younger generations, keep scrolling to discover some pretty inspiring girls and guys.

1. A (Literal) Master Chef

If you’re a fan of the cooking show, Master Chef Junior, you probably already know all about Che Spiotta. Spoiler alert: he’s the winner of the latest season of Master Chef Junior.

According to this interview, the now-thirteen-year-old has still not mastered the art of baking gluten free bread, but he certainly doesn’t let his diet get in the way of enjoying himself in the kitchen. As Che puts it: “I probably started on the stove when I was 3 or 4. I think that’s because I’m gluten free, and at first I didn’t know what I had; there were just lots of foods I couldn’t eat...When I realized I was gluten free, I just kept on cooking. I realized how much fun it is. I love the creativity about it. “

2. 10 and 11-Year-Old Authors

The most impressive part of these stories isn’t that Lillian Bordoni and Kristen Adam respectively published books about celiac disease at ten and eleven years old. What really gets me are motivations behind these girls’ separate projects. Kristen, author of Dear Celiac (available on Amazon), wanted to keep kids with celiac disease from feeling lonely when they were first diagnosed, like Kristen felt. Meanwhile, Lillian reportedly had one of the most extreme forms of celiac disease seen by Children’s Hospital Colorado. So she wrote and illustrated Cecilia the Celiac Superhero (available on Story Jumper) to tell show readers that anyone can thrive with celiac disease as long as “they just all put their family together and try super duper hard.”

3. Hockey Superstar 

If you’re a big fan of hockey, you probably already know about Kaapo Kakko, a Finnish hockey player who was the second draft pick for the 2019 NHL. But besides being an amazing hockey player who won three gold medals in the Finnish hockey world, Kakko also has diabetes and celiac disease. And Kakko won’t let either of those conditions get in the way of him dominating the ice.

In fact, when asked about his health struggles, the eighteen-year-old replied, “It’s nothing for me. I got (diagnosed) five years ago. It’s a normal thing for me.”

4. Members of the Celiac Youth Leadership Council in Seattle

Seattle Children's Hospital is doing more than just diagnosing kids with celiac disease; it's also empowering celiac kids and teens to take part in a mostly kid-run outreach and mentor program for people with celiac disease. Besides raising celiac awareness in their community, celiac teens like Elle Penarczyk are running a gluten free food drive for a local food bank and "testing gluten-free products sold in regular bakeries and pizzerias to see if they’re affected by flour in the air." Talk about a hospital - and a group of young celiacs - who are seriously going above and beyond.

5. Twin Authors Heading to College

As the self-named Casey the College Celiac, I obviously love hearing about the new generations of celiacs heading off to college. In particular, I love hearing about new advocates educating others along the way...and Rayna and Hallie Katzman definitely fit both bills.

Via the twins' Facebook page

Before they went off to college, the girls worked with their mother to write and publish a book based on their celiac diagnosis at age 13 called Everybody’s Got Something: My First Year with Celiac Disease (also available on Amazon). According to this interview, the girls wanted to create a book that filled the gap between books about celiac disease for younger kids and for adults, and gave them the information they wish they had at 13.

6. Miss Pinal County 

Josephine Taylor didn't let celiac disease or Hashimoto's keep her from winning Miss Pinal County - and she's using her platform to raise some major celiac awareness. In particular, she's been working on making sure that all Arizona high schools have a safe, cross-contamination-free microwave that students with dietary restrictions can use. That way, students with celiac disease or food allergies can still eat in the cafeteria along with everyone else. At least as of this report, Taylor's efforts have paid off in one school district. But I'm sure Taylor's mission is far from over.

7. Taylor Miller from Hale Life

I've been fortunate enough to meet this teen in real life (at the first Gluten Free Teen Summit), and Taylor Miller is as kind in person as he is online. Taylor is the guy behind the super popular gluten free website, Hale Life (formally Gluten Away). Besides being a huge celiac and chronic illness advocate that speaks at tons of different events around America, Taylor also works with gluten free brands on social media marketing, owns a gluten free bakery in Tampa, Florida with his mom, and has started taking college classes. Suffice to say, he's a pretty cool guy!

8. Miss Nebraska Hopeful

Lianna Prill started competing in pageants as a junior in high school and qualified to compete for the spot of Miss Nebraska in 2014. It wasn't until Prill's dad was diagnosed with celiac disease that Prill eventually realized her constant migraines and flu-like symptoms could be symptoms of the same disease. Since going gluten and dairy free, Prill says, “Now I’m a new woman. All that stuff with being sick that I just wanted to forget about was actually part of a plan. I can’t wait to share that story and hopefully save some lives.”

At least as of this Facebook post in 2017, it seems like Prill is still fighting for her crown - but she did come in third place!

9. Celiac Strong Camp Founder

I've loved seeing that, nowadays, there are several celiac camps that occur all over the country. One of these camps, though, actually started out as Sabrina DeVos's Girl Scout project when she was just 16 years old. Nowadays, Sabrina is 21, but her Celiac Strong Camp is still (pun intended) going strong. Her main goal? In Sabrina's words: "I want other kids to experience the joy of having a few of worry free days and create a place where they can just be kids."

10. A Creative Cooking Champion

If you need some inspiration for getting creative in the kitchen, here's another inspirational teen for you to check out! Her name is Maizy Boosin and she beat three other young chefs to become a Chopped Junior Champion. Besides raising celiac awareness in the actual episode by talking about her condition, Boosin also shared plans to donate some of her $10,000 winnings to celiac disease research and education.

11. All of the gluten free and celiac kids you know in your own life! 

Of course, we can't forget to celebrate every kid, preteen and teenager who's navigating the usual hurdles of life along with eating gluten free and thriving with a chronic illness. And if you or the inspirational little celiac in your life needs even more young role models to look up to, you can check out Gluten Free Living's list of epic gluten free ambassadors, who range from a young cookbook author donating all her proceeds to celiac research to kids just spreading celiac awareness in their own community.

What I Hope Everyone Knows about Living with Celiac Disease as a Teen

Honestly, this post really hits home for me because I was diagnosed with celiac disease at age 16. In fact, I was diagnosed only a few weeks before my senior year...and less than a month before I was asked out on my first date. So before I even really knew how to take care of and feed myself safely with celiac disease, I already had to navigate the awkward reality of living with celiac disease at an age where 99% of social events revolve around food. And I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. It. Was. (And still is, in grad school). Hard. It was hard to not know what to order while visiting an ice cream shop on my first date, or to constantly turn down food at pizza parties, graduation events, freshman orientation and all throughout college. But I did it. Heck, even though I was hospitalized for celiac complications as a freshman in college, I can still say that I created some amazing (gluten free) memories during those four years.

At the end of the day, I think these kids are sending the same message I try to always convey: that celiac disease can be tricky at any age but that you can still kick butt through it. And you might even change the world along the way! No questions - just tell me your thoughts! <3 via Blogger https://ift.tt/2MptcRC

[lady-of-the-spirit]

Fushigi Yuugi as the "the world should have protected you but you have been asked to protect it. What an honour. What an injustice." quote.