I think ringo adds both dimension and balance to the plot. I love her a lot!

*crying while eating cookie dough* THEY ARE SO CUTE I CANT STAND IT

god Steve executed that kiss PERFECTLY dude it gave Me goose bumps! You write intimate scenes perfectly. I gotta go try out the shuffle kiss or whatever he called it on my boyfriend, brb... wish me luck

Yeah honestly a parents death is such a complicated element to write about. It’s hard to know how your character will react and how it will effect their decisions/judgment/behavior.

I also want to comment on your note at the end of the chapter where you mentioned people were upset at Steve and Nancy’s break up. This is going to sound a little hard to believe probably, considering I’m here reading a fanfic about it, but I honestly never really paid too much attention to the public’s reception of this show. I wasn’t aware people condemned Nancy’s part in how their relationship ended but I can say that in canon, I agree.

BUT honestly? Adding Ringo has given Nancy some much needed depth. Ringo is someone that Nancy can be jealous over. And if you take what we know about Nancy and Steve, but add some jealousy into Nancy’s behavior, and suddenly it’s so much more likely for her to overcorrect her attraction to jonathon. And do it to such an extreme extent that she forces herself to remain in an unhappy, unfulfilling and unFAIR relationship with Steve. BUT since you also made ringo Steve’s love interest, we add yet another layer to the whole thing bc now Steve is the one who ultimately decides to end the relationship.

Therefore I feel it all makes sense due to the way you’ve told the story and it’s all in character. And also I hate Nancy way less in this than I do in canon because at least she has some relatable, human aspects to her. Being jealous of her cousin almost makes her likable.

Wait, was that the bad guy with the mullet? Can’t remember his name but he’s in the later seasons. The reason I ask is, did he just insult jonathon bc he couldn’t “tell if he was a girl from behind” because of his long hair? Because that dude... also has long hair in the back?! He has a mullet! Lmao?

Also I wanted to say I am SSSSOOOO glad you decided to show us the summer. That was the best decision. I love the driving lessons, dude. I was CACKLING when she said “All of you can shit in your hands and clap!” LMFAO I have never heard that before! Your sense of humor is golden and it shines through in this story. 15/10

Yes, I googled the dance. Yes, I am horrified and delighted XD

LOVE THIS STORY

Okay, okay, don’t be mad at Ringo. Don’t be mad at Ringo. Don’t be mad at Ringo.

... I’m mad at Ringo LMAO

Hooooooo boy. Nancy is trying my patience. She wants to have her cake and eat it too. Poor jonathon! Bc he’s in love with her and she clearly cares deeply for him. And poor Steve! Bc he cares for Nancy and he’s wanted her longer but it’s also pretty obvious he loves Ringo.

But Nancy needs to man up and break things off. She already dreads ringo returning

*incoherent blubbering from tears* WHHYYYYY T_T

Stupid Ringo’s Mom! Coming back out of no where to take her away! Stupid teenagers, insisting on staying in the wrong relationships when the truth is STARING THEM IN THE FACE!

*clears throat* well... now that that’s over... my only “critique” if you can really call it that, because it doesn’t subtract anything from my enjoyment of the story, is your use of past tense every now and then. For the most part it’s fine but I have noticed you tend to use “I seen that” which should actually read “I saw that”, for example. At other times, and especially when you’re summarizing a series of events in order to “catch us up to speed”, so to say, you will forget to switch to the correct tense. for example in this chapter there is a paragraph where you’re describing the morning events leading up to Ringos final departure, and you’re running through all the things that “had happened”, until finally you get to a point where you’re ready to jump back into the active story telling. At this point you say, “Eventually, noon had come around, and the doorbell had rung.” Maybe I’m wrong but I think it would be a little easier on the eyes and flow more naturally if instead, you said, “Eventually, noon CAME around and the doorbell RANG.” Then go ahead and continue into the rest of the story as usual.

Hopefully that made sense! It’s just a little hang up of mine, again it does not take away from the content of the story at all - trust me, I’m still VERY much enamored with this story! Can’t wait to see what happens next with Steve and ringo!

Me, sitting back with pretzels and lemonade rooting out for Ringo on as she swings her axe around like nunchucks

OHHH MY GOD STOP IT you are KILLING MEEEE they’re so CYUUUUUTE

*gushes like a fan girl* AHHHHHH I love it I love it I love it

Nope. Nope nope NOPE FUCK that dude man! I knew after the way the date went and the fact that he was cousins with some asshole in Orlando who “knew her” that there was no way he would let what happened on their “date” go. It’s really satisfying to see a female kick ass! And it’s more believable to have happened because like Steve said, she was raised.. shall we say, differently than others.

I really love their relationship. Like, so much. I hope mrs wheeler keeps that energy for ringo and doesn’t kick her out for shit that wasn’t her fault!

I don’t blame ringo for going off on jonathon in the slightest. In fact, I would argue he was let off the hook too easily. His behavior was obsessive and weird. Not healthy. I do feel bad he lost his brother for so long and who knows what he was going through because of that, but tragedy never excuses harmful actions to innocent people.

Also I really love Steve and ringos development. You’re doing it sooo perfect like you’ve got the PERFECT pace set. I love that they started out at odds and Steve is proving yet again that he has a heart. A really good one too :). I am super curious as to what happened w ringo in Orlando... seems like she was assaulted?

Yeah okay, lemme drop back in to mention that I’m very pleased you didn’t insert Ringo into the main group of kids. She’s older than them so I don’t think it would make sense or be realistic. Even if they enjoy her occasional company, like mike mentioned in the passage from his POV, she’s still mature enough to want to look for an adult solution to the problem that is Eleven. She’d bring actual adults on board, and she should! It’s the logic step. BUT in order to adhere to canon plot, she can’t do that, so she cannot be part of the inner group surrounding Eleven - at least, not yet.

I do enjoy Ringo building her own friends outside of Nancy’s group. She has a distinct personality so she is DEFINITELY not some Mary Sue that you just lazily scotch-taped into the scenes without changing dialogue. Well done :) I’m having a blast reading this

Do you ever putter around this website searching for the next story that will grab your attention so that you can sink into it and lose yourself in the plot for a few hours? I do. Way too much time, actually. And I can't figure out how to work the AO3 website (lmao I know I'm cringey) plus that website seems heavy on the smut and light on the plot. This one is usually pretty good about the hidden gems, the stories you can find that aren't just 'good for fanfiction' but seriously BETTER than some professionally, commercially published young-adult novels. That's what I want rn, while I'm still stuck in quarantine. Believe me when I say I've been BURNING THROUGH them. And now lately, I've come up empty handed. But. BUT! Biiiiiiiiish YOU REALLY DID SOMETHING HERE omg

Okay, let me fangirl for a second here...

Coming from a girl who grew up in an actual small town in Indiana, you NAILED it when you said something about how the kids were "hoodlums, looking for anything they could to entertain themselves from the dreariness" and "those who didn't were considered boring prudes." YES, YES, 1000x YES. It's sad but DAMN it is true. Also the part about the backwards parents. I would say, since I grew up in a predominantly white small town, you had two types of families: blatantly racist ones, or families who acted EXACTLY like the dude from Get Out-the kind of folks who non-ironically say shit like, "By the way, I would have voted for Obama for a third term if I could."

But I digress. Not only have you perfectly captured middle-town America, you did one other DISGUSTINGLY BEAUTIFUL PERFECT THING... you gave us a melodramatic teenager. "If I go near a large fire right now, I may get tempted to throw myself in." LMAOO *tries not to laugh* girl stop, stop, stop. They ain't really liKE THAT YES THEY ARE BC I TOTALLY WAS ONE OF THEM ughhh and now I'm hooked bc i really LOVE me some angsty teen drama. My guilty pleasure. It's worth it because on top of all of that, you're FREAKING AMAZING at writing.

So yeah. All that to say: thank you for this, and I'm very, very excited to read more. One more thing. I'm glad you started by saying that Nancy was invited to the bonfire by Steve, specifically. I'm glad you didn't just chuck that canon pairing out the window to make room for your OC.