Chapter Text
Monday, October 29th
“751,300 points!” Will exclaimed, staring at the Dig Dug screen in shock. “That’s not possible!”
“Who’s MadMax?!” Dustin whirled on the arcade attendant, who stared at him blankly.
“Better than you.” Keith replied, wiping his hand over his mouth to dislodge the Cheeto dust on his face but only serving to smear it more.
Dustin stuck his middle finger up at him.
“You don’t know that.” He scoffed, turning to insert a quarter into the machine.
“He is right?” Ellie piped up from beside him. “The score is higher. MadMax is better at Dug-Dig than you.”
“Okay first, it’s Dig-Dug.” Dustin corrected, already mashing at the buttons on the machine. “And second- whatever.”
“Where’s Will?” Lucas looked around, puzzled. The others immediately followed, Dustin abandoning the game he was playing in an instant.
They hadn’t had much trouble with people since Ellie ‘took care’ of Troy and James at school, Eddie continuing to scare them enough to keep them away from his sister and her friends, but people still treated Will weirdly. It was like they expected him to suddenly keel over, turn green and start biting people or something.
The name ‘Zombie Boy’ had been being thrown around since he went back to school the previous year, but it had gotten worse after everyone had returned after summer break.
“Will!” Mike called, spotting him outside the arcade and following him out there.
“D’you think he’s okay?” Dustin asked quietly as Mike put a hand on Will’s shoulder, making him jump and turn around.
“I dunno.” Lucas replied just as quietly, Ellie watching the two outside silently.
Will had been… getting better. He’d been in hospital for several weeks after his ordeal in the Upside-Down, culminating in his rescue from his mom and Hopper before Wayne hurriedly drove them all to the hospital. After returning home, he’d been appropriately mothered back to health before returning to school just after Christmas.
He was… fine. He seemed fine, and even with the blanking out and staring into space, the sudden startling at loud noises and animal sounds, he didn’t seem too different. But there was something in his eyes when he blanked out, a fear in them when he was startled back to awareness that set the others on edge.
Also-
Ellie had told her friends about some of the things she could do. They knew that she could move things, could tune into people talking over radio’s, that she could kill monsters.
She hadn’t told them about the feeling she got when something from The Upside-Down was near. Or how she’d felt it ever since Will came back.
She was sure it was probably okay- Will had spent days there, of course he’d feel like something from the awful place, but she’d hoped it would fade over time. It had, a little, but it still put her on edge sometimes when for some reason it felt… stronger.
Will glanced behind him before following Mike back into the arcade, giving them a tired smile that wobbled a little at the corners.
“Are you okay?” Ellie asked, stepping to stand by him and give him a gentle nudge with her shoulder.
“’m fine. Got distracted.” He avoided her eyes but bumped her shoulder back as she took his hand.
“Dustin has got his ass beat on Dig-Dug,” She announced, drawing an offended sound from Dustin. “Want to see?”
“Okay, rude.” Dustin huffed, leading the way back to the machine anyway. “And you don’t need to say ‘has got’, you can just say ‘got’.”
“Got. Dustin got his ass beat-”
“You don’t have to say the whole thing again!” Dustin threw his arms up in frustration as the boys laughed, Will even cracking a proper smile at the whole exchange.
They would be okay. Ellie was sure.
~*~
Tuesday, October 30th
Ah, the start of a new week, Eddie thought as he slammed his locker shut. The bell would ring in a few minutes and as much as the teachers wouldn’t believe it, he didn’t actually want to be late for all of his lessons.
Some of them, maybe.
“Hey!”
Eddie ignored the call, not recognising the voice and assuming it was some jock vying for another’s attention. Maybe he should start making sheep noises at them in the hallways, that used to be pretty fun.
“Hey I’m talking to you, freak!”
Now that caught his attention.
Eddie sighed, slowing his steps and turning around-
Holy shit.
“That your name?” An actual blonde fucking beefcake, the type you’d see in a magazine, asked as he approached with a smirk.
“Might as well be.” Eddie replied as he took the assumedly new student in. The guy did not look like he belonged in Hawkins, all golden hair and tanned skin and double denim snorted, standing just a little too close.
Ooh, intimidation. Scary.
“So...” Eddie lead on, leaning against the locker by his side.
“So,” Blonde Guy huffed a small laugh, doing the same. “Heard from a little birdy that you’re the guy to buy, uh… herbal refreshments from in this shithole.”
Eddie actually snorted at that, noticing the guy’s smirk drop just slightly.
“Yeah? Who’d you hear that from?” Eddie shook his head. “Not anymore, I’m afraid. Closed up shop a while back, got caught out too many times.”
“Oh?” Blonde Guy’s voice dropped slightly, his friendly demeanour starting to slip. He straightened up a little and if it wasn’t for Eddie’s thick-soled boots, he’d probably be even taller than him. “That’s ah, that’s a shame. I’m sure you could do a favour for a new friend and you know, find me some?” He flashed a grin that was all blindingly white teeth. “I’m new in town, y’see.”
“I see.” Eddie glanced him over momentarily, from the double denim to the fluffy blonde mullet and the muscles he obviously worked very hard for. “I can give you my old guy’s address, he just got released so probably looking for new buyers.”
It was a generous offer, Eddie thought, but Blonde Guy didn’t seem to see it that way.
“Ah, that’s real nice but I don’t really have the time to be running around. I got a little sister I gotta cart around or parents’ll get mad.” He sighed, straightening up. “Think it over. Let me know.” He clapped Eddie on the shoulder, the touch turning from friendly to threatening as he squeezed definitely harder than was friendly. Without waiting for Eddie to respond, he turned and headed down the corridor to where- of course- Tommy Hagan waited for him like a little repressed puppy.
“Dick.” Eddie muttered, turning back to his locker and slamming it just as the bell rang. Whoever the guy was and whatever macho image he wanted to put up, Eddie had faced down much scarier than him and lived. Plus, he couldn’t exactly imagine the dude trying to bite his face off any time soon.
~*~
There was a new girl in class.
Ellie sat up a little in her chair as the girl entered, slouching and staring around the room and answering in short sentences whenever Mr Clarke asked her something. Her hair was bright orange, and she was holding a skateboard- Ellie had seen one in a movie and wanted one, hopefully she would be getting it for Christmas.
The girl- Max- introduced herself and immediately went for a seat, right at the back in the corner.
Ellie twisted in her seat, noticing her friends doing the same, and when Max glanced over she smiled and waved as the boys snapped back to the front for some reason.
Max’s forehead creased slightly like she was confused, and the fingers of one of her hands twitched slightly as if she was giving a tiny wave back.
Ellie liked her. She hoped Max would be her friend.
~*~
“I just can’t believe it!” Dustin huffed, arms crossed as he definitely didn’t sulked on one of the school steps. “Her? Beating two of my high scores?!”
“Dude, it makes sense. Max, Mad Max? Plus, look at her! She’s cool.” Lucas sat next to him, leaning back.
“What? No-one’s cool and plays at the arcade.” Mike scoffed, levelling Max with a glare as she practiced with her board.
“Eddie’s cool, and he plays at the arcade with us.” Will piped up, huddled in his coat. He was visibly a little down- when he’d gotten to school some asshole had stuck a missing poster on his locker, and the name Zombie Boy had been following him around for months now. Ellie had offered to find the person and deal with them, but Will had been adamant about leaving it alone in case it got worse.
“We should ask her.” Ellie watched the girl on the skateboard, tilting her head a little as she attempted a jump.
“What?!” The boys-minus-Will blurted, Dustin shooting up from the ground and waving his hands.
“No! No you can’t just go up to a girl and ask them stuff, that’s weird!” He insisted, avoiding the eyes of their schoolmates at the loud outburst.
“I’m a girl.” Ellie watched as his mouth worked for a few moments, almost like a fish out of water. “Is that weird?”
“That’s different, you’re- you’re you!” Lucas vaguely gestured at her, exasperated.
“And Max is Max. She might be cool like Eddie.” Ellie put her bag on the ground, straightening her coat slightly.
“Where are you going?” Mike hissed, going to grab her arm but missing as she moved away.
“To make friends.” Ellie replied, ignoring the boy’s as they loudly whispered at her to stop.
Why were they so afraid? They weren’t afraid of Ellie, and they knew that she’d hurt people before. She doubted that Max had hurt people.
Max stopped her practicing as Ellie drew near, stepping on the end of the board and making it jump up into her arms.
Cool.
“Hello,” Ellie greeted, smiling. She’d practiced meeting new people at home, and Eddie had said she was good at it. He kept saying she had ‘puppy eyes’ and that he ‘wanted to squeeze her’. “My name is Ellie. My friends want to say hi, but they’re being weird. So I am saying hi.”
Max stared at her for a few seconds, blue eyes darting over her as if searching for something.
“Uh…” She started, straightening up slightly. “I’m Max. Are your friends the weirdo’s stalking me all day?”
“Yes, that’s them.” Ellie turned and pointed at them, realising with confusion that they were suddenly involved in an animated discussion that started the second Ellie turned around. “I don’t know why they are being weird.”
“It’s ‘cause they’re boys.” Max rolled her eyes, letting her skateboard drop to the floor. “And boys are weird.”
“Boys are very weird.” Ellie nodded. She loved her friends, but they were very strange. Steve was probably the most normal boy she knew, but even he said weird stuff sometimes. “I like your skateboard. I have asked for one for Christmas, but that’s far away.”
“Yeah?” Max put her foot on her skateboard, glancing down at it. “You… wanna try it?”
Ellie felt a grin light up her face at the offer and she nodded eagerly, hands clenching by her sides as she fought to keep down the enthusiastic reaction.
“Yes please!”
~*~
“What’s she doing?!” Dustin whispered behind his bag, watching the two girls interact.
“She’s a girl, man!” Lucas shoved his shoulder, barely taking his eyes from where Ellie was precariously stepping on the skateboard, gripping Max’s arms as she wobbled. “Girls can talk to eachother.”
“She seems… nice.” Will commented, watching over the top of his bag.
“Yeah, to Ellie.” Dustin grumbled, crossing his arms and slumping to lean back on the stairs behind him.
“Why do you even care? She’ll probably be indoctrinated into one of the other shitty clubs and never even look at us again.” Mike scoffed, watching the two girls interact.
“Dude, just because you’re jealous Ellie is talking to someone else-” Dustin rolled his eyes as Lucas snorted.
“I am not-” Mike shouted incredulously, jumping to his feet in defence just as someone spoke behind them.
“Will, sweetie?” The boys all turned around in tandem to see the school receptionist, Ms Richards, a pitying smile on her face. “Your mom’s here.”
A silence fell over the group as Will gathered his things, drawing his coat closer around him before mumbling his goodbyes and following Ms Richards.
“You think he’s doing okay?” Lucas piped up, girls forgotten as he watched their friend leave.
“I mean… he’d tell us if he wasn’t right?” Mike replied quietly, looking down at his lap as the doors swung shut.
“Where is Will?” Ellie asked, looking around them as if he’d appear out of thin air. A piece of paper was clutched in her hand, and her cheeks were red and flushed from her impromptu skateboard lesson.
“Doctor’s appointment.” Lucas piped up, glancing the way the boy had gone. “Where’d Max go?”
“Oh, she wanted to ask a teacher something. She is very nice, I like her a lot.” She looked down to the piece of paper she was holding before holding it out to Dustin. “She told me to give you this.”
Dustin snatched the paper, Lucas crowding his shoulder as he unfolded it and read the scribbled words out.
“’Stop spying on me, creeps.’” Lucas read aloud, going from excited to dejected within five words.
“Well, shit.” Dustin muttered, shoving the note in his pocket.
“She said you are all weird. I think she is right, and you should be less weird around girls.” Ellie shrugged, sitting on the step beside Mike. “I want her to be our friend. So you have to be nice.”
“We can be nice!” Mike scoffed, crossing his arms. The dead stare that Ellie gave him made him shift uncomfortably for a second, glancing away. “We can.”
“I want her to come trick-or-treating with us. It will be fun.” She nodded, reaching into her bag and pulling out her lunch as the boys stared at her.
“But- but that’s tomorrow?” Mike spluttered. “We’re not even friends, and you want her to come do a Party thing with us?”
“We will be friends. I told you.” Ellie nodded to herself as she opened a bag of chips. “Halloween will be very fun.”
~*~*~
“Can I get another one please?” Nancy held out her hand for the bright orange Halloween party invite, waiting until she and Jonathan were a few feet away from the classroom door before pressing one against his side. “You’re coming to this.”
“’Come and get sheet faced’?” He read aloud, an incredulous smile on his face. “No I’m not.”
“I can’t let you sit all alone on Halloween. That’s just not acceptable.” Nancy wheedled gently, nudging him with her shoulder.
“Well, you can relax. I’m not gonna be alone. I’m going trick or treating with Will and the kids.” Jonathan glanced down as Nancy stared at him, unimpressed.
“All night?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged, trying to resist her big round eyes.
“No, no way. You’re gonna be home by eight, listening to the Talking Heads and reading Vonnegut or something.” Nancy rolled her eyes, finally reaching her locker and handing him her bag to hold while she opened it.
“Sounds like a nice night.” Jonathan smirked at her, knowing he was winding her up. They’d been getting along well recently, although to some extent he was still shocked she- and Steve, and even Eddie- were still talking to him.
“Jonathan, just come. I mean, who knows, you might even, like, meet someone-” As she slid a book into her locker, two arms slid around her waist and she shrieked as she was lifted off the ground and spun around.
“Put me down-” She demanded, feeling a rush of relief when she realised that it was just her boyfriend. “Steve!”
“Hey,” He grinned at her, sliding his sunglasses off. She hoped he didn’t have a headache- he’d complained that they’d gotten pretty frequent after Jonathan nearly concussed him, and had taken to wearing his sunglasses indoors more often. Either that, or he thought he just looked cool. “I missed you.”
“It’s been like, an hour.” She smiled up at him, going to lean up for a kiss before a new voice joined in.
“That looked fun, lemme try-”
“Eddie, don’t you dare-” She ducked behind Steve as the whirlwind that was Eddie Munson appeared, a grin that spelled nothing but trouble upon his face. To her surprise, his gaze was set on Steve and her boyfriend didn’t seem to notice this until it was too late.
“Munson, what the fuck-” He squawked as Eddie wrapped his arms around his waist, heaving him off of the ground and giving him a half- spin before dropping him unceremoniously.
“Fuck- you’re heavy-” He wheezed, nearly stumbling straight into Jonathan as Steve righted himself on the locker.
“Yeah, no shit!” Steve shoved his shoulder, although there was a laugh in his voice.
Steve and Eddie weren’t a friendship that Nancy had seen coming, but she was glad that they got along- or at least mostly did.
“We still on for tomorrow, Jonny-boy?” Eddie leaned against the locker, turning his attention to Jonathan.
“Yep. Is Ellie still excited?”
“Oh my god, you have no idea. She can’t decide if she wants me there or not- one minute she does, the next she hears Mike saying that having your sibling with you is ‘uncool’ and I’m suddenly banned.” Eddie rolled his eyes. “Guess we’ll find out later.”
“Will keeps telling me I don’t need to come, I think mom’s been suffocating him.” Jonathan grimaced, glancing down at the party invite in his hand.
“See? Even Will thinks you need to get a life.” Nancy teased, tapping at the invite before handing hers to Eddie. “Eddie, are you coming?”
Eddie made a contemplative noise at the paper, flipping it over with ringed fingers.
“Eh, maybe. If her highness deigns me not worthy to be in her presence tomorrow, I’ll think about it.” He handed it back, ignoring the quiet,
“What?” From Steve as he continued.
“’sides, not everyone’s gotten the memo that I’m not in the selling game anymore. Some prick cornered me earlier trying to score off me, and he was not happy to hear no.” He rolled his eyes, pushing off of the locker. “I’ll spend the whole time telling people that I don’t sell anymore and they’ll probably throw their drinks on me or something, not my idea of a good time.”
“Think about it.” Nancy shrugged, leaning up to kiss Steve before pushing him gently away. “Get to class.”
“Yeah, will do. We uh, we still on for dinner later?” He put his sunglasses back on, glancing down at her.
“Yeah. 7PM sharp.” She smiled sadly at him. They’d been visiting the Hollands weekly for dinner and it hadn’t gotten any easier- knowing what had happened to their daughter while watching them tirelessly search for her was hard, but she didn’t know what else she could do.
“What’ve you guys got next-” Jonathan asked before lurching forward, someone nearly slamming into him from behind and sending him tumbling into Eddie.
“’scuse me.” A voice came from the other side as the Blonde Guy Eddie had had the displeasure of meeting smirked at them, stalking past.
“The corridor’s wide for a reason, dipshit!” Eddie called back as he righted Jonathan by the shoulders. “Learn to walk!”
“Shut it, freak!” Tommy spat as he followed his new messiah, glaring at Steve as he passed.
Eddie threw up his pointer fingers and stuck out his tongue, making a garbled demon noise in response
“Who was that?” Nancy asked, watching as the guy disappeared into a throng of people.
“That, is the guy who cornered me for drugs earlier. Seems like a real nice fella.” Eddie grimaced. “Hopefully we won’t be seeing too much of him.”
~*~
“Asshole!” Max shouted as the Camero sped out of the parking lot, narrowly missing clipping a curb on the way out.
“Max?”
Turning at the sound of her name, Max spotted Ellie sitting on a bench outside the school, swinging her feet a little as the toes of her shoes scraped the ground.
“Oh. Hey.” She replied, shifting her messenger bag strap on her shoulder. She hadn’t meant to be late leaving- the teacher in her last class had held her back to ‘check up on her’ and Billy wasn’t exactly patient.
“Are you okay?” Ellie asked, tilting her head, dark brown eyes always so strangely intense.
“Yeah. I’m fine.” Max huffed, shoving her hair back over her shoulder as it got in her face. “My brother just left without me.”
“… Oh.” Ellie looked out in the direction the car had left in. “Why?”
“Because I took too long. He’s an asshole.” Max paused for a second before flopping down on the bench next to her new… friend? “A girl got in the car too, so they’re probably gonna go somewhere and make out.”
“Boys are gross.” Ellie huffed, crossing her arms and making Max snort.
“Yeah they are.” A few seconds passed before something occurred to her. “Why’re you out here?”
“I am waiting for my brother.” Ellie pointed up the hill to the high school. “When Will is not here, he picks me up. When Will is here, we walk up there.”
“You have a brother?” Max watched as she nodded. “… What’s he like?”
A small smile grew on Ellie’s face, her leg-swinging kicking up a notch.
“He is very nice. And patient. He teaches me a lot of things.” Ellie sat up, putting a hand in her pocket before pointing at Max’s ear. “What’s that?”
“What?” Max instinctively palmed at the side of her head, confused, as Ellie reached forward- and with a flourish, revealed a coin in her hand.
“You had a coin in your ear.” She smiled impishly before pocketing it. “He taught me that. And lots more important things.”
“So your brother’s a magician?” Max smiled, feeling weirdly charmed by this strange girl. She wasn’t sure what it was- the intense stare, the way she talked. Something was off, but Ellie seemed… nice.
“No. He’s just silly.” Ellie perked up as a beat-up old van entered the parking lot, coming to a halt a few feet away. It looked like the kind that teachers would tell you to steer clear of, and Max was just gearing up to grab Ellie and run when the door was thrown open and a guy stepped out.
A guy who looked exactly like someone Billy would talk to back in California.
“Eddie!” Ellie greeted him cheerfully, jumping to her feet.
“Ellie!” The guy- Eddie- replied just as cheerfully, in weird contrast to the dark clothes and chains he was draped in. “Good day?”
“Good day.” Ellie repeated, waiting for him to approach before raising her arms to hug him. Eddie did so, lifting her slightly off the ground and squeezing her. “We did art and science and I made a friend.”
“A friend?” Eddie replied in a hushed tone, eyes zoning in on Max who was feeling weirdly uncomfortable seeing their interactions. “Is this the friend?”
“Yes. This is Max.” Ellie pointed at her for a few seconds before turning the finger to her brother. “This is Eddie. He is my brother.”
“Well, it’s an honour to meet you Max.” Eddie did one of those weird dramatic bows where he rolled his arm before dipping forward at the waist. “Any friend of my sister’s is a friend of mine.”
“Thanks?” The guy was weird. That much she knew now. “I’m uh, I’m gonna go now. See you tomorrow?”
“Where’re you headed?” Eddie scratched at the back of his head, looking up at the grey sky. “’s probably gonna start raining soon, are you close?”
“… Not far. But it’s fine, I can skate.” Max shrugged, although the temperature had unnoticeably been dropping all day.
“Eddie can take you home. Right?” Ellie looked up at her brother, who playfully tussled her hair.
“Sure. Where d’you live, Red?”
Max glanced to the side, crossing her arms.
“Down Cherry Lane. But Billy’s probably out and my mom won’t be home for like two hours, so I’ll just walk.”
A crease formed on Eddie’s forehead as he surveyed her- eyes that made you feel examined ran in their family, Max guessed.
“Down Cherry, and you wanna walk in the rain? Nah. My uncle’d kill me if I just let you walk home in that. You can come to ours for a few hours?” He looked down at Ellie as if checking in with her. “You okay with that, Els?”
“Yes!” Ellie nodded rapidly, looking over at Max in excitement. “Please? It will be fun!”
Max hesitated. She was obviously always warned about getting into cars- especially vans- with strangers, but was Ellie and her brother seemed nice- and it meant she wouldn’t have to sit on the doorstep then get yelled at by Billy if Neil found out. She’d just have to call her mom at work from their phone.
“… Okay. Thanks.” Max stood from the bench, one of her hands immediately getting seized by Ellie.
“Great!” She beamed at her new friend, who had no choice but to smile back. “We have pizza tonight.”
“Ah, Mondays.” Eddie clapped his hands together and shut his eyes as if in prayer. “Starts shit, ends great. C’mon kiddies, let’s get going.” He dipped into some weird half-bow, gesturing to the passenger side door before wrenching it open for them. “’s a bit stiff.”
“Thanks.” Max waited for Ellie to climb into the middle seat before following, pulling the door shut as hard as she could. “Where d’you live?”
“Forest Hills.” Ellie did her seatbelt up before pointing in a vague direction. “That way.”
“Hawkin’s finest trailer park.” Eddie commented as the engine spluttered to life. He eyed her for a moment out of the corner of his eye, as if waiting for her to say something about it.
“Cool.” Max watched as Ellie fiddled with the dials on the radio, something Billy would be immediately slapping away her hands from none too gently. A few seconds later she landed on a station playing Uptown Girl, and Eddie groaned loudly.
“Really?” He made a retching noise, although there was no bite behind his complaints.
“Chrissy likes it.” Ellie countered, nodding her head to the song.
“Who’s Chrissy?” Max asked, immediately curious. To her memory she hadn’t met anyone in their shared classes with the name, so it probably wasn’t someone in their year.
“Eddie’s friend. She’s really pretty and does cheerleading.” Ellie put her hands up, pulling her jaw-length hair into a short ponytail at the back of her head. “Her hair is like this.”
“Her brother’s in your guy’s year,” Eddie continued, taking a corner a little too sharply and making Max’s heart thud for a second in her chest. “Chris Cunningham? Sweet kid, kinda quiet. Likes space.”
Eddie had assumed that Chrissy would probably forget about their short encounter pretty quickly on the first day back at school, but to his surprise she’d continued talking to him whenever they ran into eachother and they had ended up talking a fair bit. Chris had also come over once or twice when Chrissy’s parents were busy and she had cheer practice- they definitively hadn’t told her parents that the Munsons lived in a trailer park, perish the thought- and the kids got along pretty well. She’d also kindly let Ellie borrow some tapes once she found out that Eddie listened almost exclusively to metal and was worried about her hearing, apparently.
“They have yellow hair.” Ellie nodded, turning the volume up slightly as the radio transitioned to another pop song, making Eddie produce more weird noises.
Before long they were turning into the trailer park, Max looking out of the window curiously. People said a lot of things about trailer parks- that they were dirty, the people were bad, they were dangerous. Forest Hills looked a lot nicer than she would have assumed, and they were waved down by an older woman a few seconds after pulling in.
“Ms Lee, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Eddie grinned as he wound down the window, leaning his chin on his shoulder as he peered down at her.
“How many times, Edward?” She tutted at him, wagging a finger. “’s Sally to you. ‘n tell your uncle that June has those tools she borrowed, keeps forgetting to return ‘em.”
“Will do ma’am.” Eddie dodged a swat from her as she rolled her eyes at him. “How’s Whiskers?”
“Much better now. Tell your sister she can visit the kittens soon, ‘kay?”
“Thank-you Ms Lee!” Ellie piped up, sitting straight up in the chair eagerly.
A few minutes of small talk later and Ms Lee wandered off as Eddie pulled up to their trailer.
“You like cats?” Max asked as she unbuckled her seatbelt, throwing her weight against the passenger door to open it.
“I did not used to. But Whiskers is a very good girl.” Ellie followed her out of the car, holding her hands out a short distance from eachother. “I thought she was very fat, then she had babies.”
“Would it kill you,” Eddie groaned from the other side of the van before rounding it, holding both their backpacks. “To remember your own bag for once.”
“Yes.” Ellie nodded solemnly, as Max watched their interaction. “I would die. Quickly.”
Eddie’s eyes narrowed for a second before he tossed Ellie’s bag to her.
“You gotta hang out with Dustin less.” He muttered as he unlocked the front door, holding it open for the two girls to enter. “You’re absorbing his sass, it’s infectious.”
Max looked around as she unlaced her sneakers, barely trying to hide her curiosity. The inside of the trailer was warm and homely, a collection of mugs and hats lining the walls with some photos hanging up here and there. There was a frame sitting on a small table near the entrance with a key dish on, a slightly faded photograph of what looked like two people on their wedding day. Probably Eddie and Ellie’s parents, although they didn’t seem to be home.
“Welcome to casa de Munson,” Eddie held up his hands, spinning around before heading for the kitchen. “Make yourself at home, all that jazz. You guys hungry?”
Ellie turned her eyes to Max questioningly, who was still looking around.
“I guess?” She shrugged after a few seconds, and Ellie nodded before following her brother.
Left alone for a few moments, Max approached the photos on the wall to get a closer look. There was another of the couple in the first photo with an older woman, all of them smiling in the sunshine. One of who she guessed was Eddie, with much shorter hair than he had now and clinging to a thick book with a dragon on it, a huge smile on his face. Another of the man from the other photos, older there, an arm around a slightly younger Eddie with shoulder-length curls and the other arm holding a large stuffed toy he’d probably won at a fair.
Ellie wasn’t in any of them. The first picture she found of her was a recent one, although her hair was buzzed down to almost nothing and she was wearing a too-big Metallica t-shirt and jeans. She and Eddie were passed out on the couch, Ellie’s cheek smushed into her brother’s shoulder as he probably drooled into her hair.
Max’s heart gave a short, sharp stab of jealousy. Eddie looked like he should be just like Billy- loud, rude, aggressive. He looked like the kinda guy her mom would steer clear of at the store, and Neil would make rude remarks about ‘not ending up like him, Maxine.’
“Are you okay?” A voice came from near her shoulder and Max jumped, turning around.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She replied after a moment, glancing at the photos for a second before shoving her hands in her pockets.
Ellie stared at her for a few moments, not seeming to believe her before she perked up slightly.
“Want to see my room?” She pointed down the short hallway, waiting for Max to nod before taking her hand.
“Food in twenty, squirts!” Eddie called from the kitchen as they passed it, fiddling with the radio in there.
Ellie reached the door with a surprisingly sparkly name plate hanging from it with a flourish, turning around and raising her arms in a ‘ta-da!’ motion.
“This is my room!” She announced, turning the light on and heading over to close the curtains. “I decorated it. Eddie and Wayne helped me.”
Max looked around again, stepping into the room. It was about the same size as hers, with a grey-coloured carpet and off-white walls that were just about covered in stuff. There were a few posters that she recognised- The Muppets, Star Wars, one from the weird-looking puppet film she’d wanted to see a few years back but Billy refused to take her to. There were drawings everywhere, ranging from looking like they’d been done by a little kid to some that were actually really good, and one wall had a whole lot of Polaroid pictures pinned up by push-pins on a corkboard. A small shelf of tiny painted figures sat above her desk below a shelf of books, a weird jumble of fiction and low-level learning books.
“I have some games,” Ellie continued, seemingly oblivious to Max’s nosiness as she dug around under her bed. “Or we can watch a movie. We went to Family Video yesterday. Or we can draw.”
“You like drawing?” Max eyed the pinned up drawings on the wall, trying to decide which were probably hers.
“Yes! I’m not very good at it though. Will is very good.” Ellie stood up, pointing at a drawing of what looked like some kids fighting a monster.
Max suddenly realised it was Ellie and the boys from school- Ellie with her short hair from the photos, wearing a blue coat and looking angry as she held her hand towards the monster, which looked like it was crumpling to the floor.
“That’s really good.” Max nodded, flopping down on the bed. “Which one’s Will?”
“He has brown bowl hair. He had to go to the doctor today so he was not in class after lunch.”
“Brown bowl-” Max snorted. “You mean bowlcut?” She knew exactly which one Will was now- whoever cut his hair should be in jail.
“Yes, that. Eddie says we could be twins, but I have curly hair.” She pulled on a ringlet as if in example.
Max considered her words for a second before asking her next question. It probably wasn’t rude? But Ellie had a way of speaking that was kinda like the kids that went to her school in California who’d moved over from another country, picking up the language as they went.
“Is English your like… second language?” She asked, sitting up and leaning against the wall.
“No, it is my first.” Ellie replied easily, copying her movements. “I… I found it very hard to talk. Before. But I am getting better.” Her smile was a little muted, and Max darted her eyes down slightly guiltily before suddenly remembering something.
“Oh shit- I gotta call my mom, can I use your phone?” She sat up, wanting to let her know where she was before she sent Billy out looking.
“Yes, you can. It’s this way.” Ellie hopped off of the bed, leading the way to the lounge where Eddie was splayed out on the couch, scribbling something in a notebook while the TV played in the background.
“All good?” He asked without looking up, all focus directed at the pages in front of him.
“Yeah. Just gotta call my mom or she’ll freak out if I’m not home.” Max headed for the phone, punching in the number she’d already memorised.
“Oh shit, good idea. The cops already don’t like me, don’t want them to accuse me of kidnapping.” Eddie glanced up at her with a smirk.
“Hopper likes you.” Ellie wandered over, perching on the arm of the couch.
“Nah, he likes you, kiddo. He tolerates me.” Eddie reached up and tussled her hair as Max’s mom picked up the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hey mom.”
“Max? Is everything okay?” Her mom’s worried tones came through the static and Max rolled her eyes.
“I’m fine, mom. I’m just at a friend’s house, I’ll be home later.”
“A friend? From school?” Her mom sounded surprised- which was fair. Max hadn’t expected to actually meet anyone she’d like, especially so quickly.
“Yeah. We’re gonna have food too, so don’t wait up.”
“Okay, Max. Call me when you want picking up, okay? I’ll send Billy over.”
Max winced slightly, turning her back to the siblings in the room to hide it.
“Sure. Bye mom.”
“Love you.”
“Love you too.” She hung the phone up, turning around “’kay, done.”
“Cool.” Ellie jumped up from the couch arm, stretching. “What do you want to do?”
“Uh.” Max thought of their options for a second, already discounting giving Ellie a skateboard lesson on the grass outside. “You wanna draw?”
“Sure!” Ellie lead the way back to her room, Eddie giving them a wave on their way out. “We can go watch TV too if you want to. I like noise when I do things.”
“Yeah, same. My dad got me a radio for my last birthday but it got broken in the move.” She was certain that it broke because Billy didn’t pay attention to the ‘Fragile’ tape on the box it was in, but she wasn’t going to say anything about it.
“That’s sad. You can borrow mine if you like? Eddie will let me use his.” Ellie got some papers and pencils out, dropping to sit on the floor after she fetched her radio from the small desk.
“Nah, it’s fine.” It was a nice offer, but Max didn’t feel like she knew the girl well enough to borrow anything off of her. “Won’t your parents mind, anyway?”
Ellie went very still for a moment before resuming her sorting of the pencils.
“I do not have parents.” She said softly, lining the pencils up by size. “My papa is in jail and my mama is… she is not well.”
“… I’m sorry.” Max murmured, guilt beginning to grow in her chest. “I- I assumed, that the people in the photos were your parents.”
“It’s okay.” Ellie shrugged, handing her a handful of pencils and beginning to start drawing. “We live with my Uncle Wayne. He is in the photos. He’s very nice.” She tilted her head, not looking up from the paper. “The lady is his wife. Her name was Carol, but she got sick and isn’t here anymore.”
A few seconds passed in silence before Max got the courage to speak again.
“How long’ve you lived with your uncle?” She tried, glancing up at the other girl as she started doodling. “I uh, I saw you’re not in the photos with Eddie?”
“Since last year.” Ellie didn’t seem as bothered by the new question, leaning her chin on one hand. “I was in another place. A bad one. But then I was found and now I’m here.” She looked up at Max, a smile on her face. “It’s good here. I like it a lot. Eddie came here when he was younger though.” She sat up, looking towards the door. “Where are you from?”
“California.” Max replied, feeling relieved that she hadn’t totally depressed them both with her questioning. “My mom and dad split up and they wanted to move away.” She made a face. “My dad’s still in California though.”
“Do you miss him?” Ellie looked up at her, drawing forgotten.
“… yeah. Yeah, I do.” Max shifted slightly. She hadn’t wanted to admit it, had seen the stress that had been taking it’s toll on her mom since the move. “I miss California too. It’s really… grey, here.”
“It’s very grey.” Ellie nodded, sitting up. “The summer is nice, but the rest… very grey. And wet. What’s California like?”
They talked for a while longer, activity forgotten as they got onto the topic of films and Max discovered just how many Ellie hadn’t seen.
“Really?! You haven’t seen Aristocats?” Max said incredulously, adding it to the list of films she’d started making for Ellie to watch.
“You have not seen The Dark Crystal!” Ellie exclaimed, a laugh behind her voice as she pointed at the poster she had on her wall.
“Okay, but at least tell me you’ve seen The Last Unicorn.” Max challenged her, a grin on her face.
“Of course. Eddie showed me it ages ago.” Ellie grinned back, writing it on the list she was making of films they had both seen. Her handwriting was slow and a little wobbly, and Max was so curious about where she’d been ‘before’ but something told her it was too early to dig that deep. “He says it is a classic.”
“Obviously.” Max snorted, before startling slightly at a sharp knock on the door.
“Food’s ready gremlins, c’mon.” Eddie’s voice reached them and Ellie just about jumped to her feet, holding out a hand to Max to help her up- a little needlessly, but it was sweet.
As they entered the small lounge, Max immediately noticed the older man in the kitchen who she quickly recognised as the one from the photos.
“Uncle Wayne!” Ellie exclaimed, going over to hug him. He embraced her easily, a fond smile on his face.
“Hey kiddo.” He greeted, glancing up and meeting Max’s eyes. “Eddie told me you been makin’ friends.”
“Yes,” Ellie detached herself from him, turning to point at Max. “This is Max, from California.”
“Well, Max from California.” Wayne nodded to her before taking a mug that Eddie handed to him. “Nice t’ meet you. Name’s Wayne, you’re welcome over any time.”
“Thanks.” Max replied, watching as Eddie hurriedly cut a pizza up with scissors before sliding it onto plates.
They ate their food in front of the TV that Ellie had immediately switched to some channel playing cop show re-runs, explaining characters that she knew very well to Max between mouthfuls of food.
“Wait so- a twin? He has an evil twin?” Max snorted incredulously at the plot twist.
“No.” Ellie waited a few seconds before smiling devilishly. “He has two.”
“What!” Max laughed, nearly tipping over her plate of pizza crusts. “That’s so dumb, what the hell.”
“It is! But I like this show.” Her friend reached up to the short coffee table, stealing Eddie’s mug and taking a drink from it. Yet another thing that Billy would have flipped the fuck out over, but Eddie just rolled his eyes and got up to get another one.
“My brother hates shows like this.” Max toyed with one of her crusts as the ending credits began to roll. “He says they’re pointless and stupid, like his dumb workout videos are any better.”
Returning from the kitchen, Eddie paused for a second as he connected a few dots.
“Your brother… he’s not like, this tall?” Eddie raised his hand to head-height. “Blonde mullet, way too much light denim?”
“Yeah, that’s him.” Max eyed him for a second as she shrugged her jacket on. “Billy. You met him?”
Yikes, Eddie thought. Poor girl.
“Yyyyyyyeah, I did.” He decided against any kind of pitying remark about her brother- even if they didn’t get along, he wasn’t sure if he’d get away with saying anything and not get a skateboard to the knee. “Well, if you ever get stranded at school again then find Ellie. I’ll get you home.”
“… Thank-you.” Max said quietly after a moment of pause.
The drive home didn’t take long, and it wasn’t before Ellie was rather enthusiastically hugging her goodbye before she exited the van.
“See you tomorrow!” She called from the passenger seat, waving out of the window at her.
Max waved back before opening the front door and immediately hearing yelling.
“- no, Susan, he can’t just get away with-” Neil halted as she entered the house, staring at her. “Maxine. Did your brother leave you at school?”
Max glanced towards Billy, who was taught as a string, leaning hard against the wall and staring at the floor. He had the red, tight look about him that told him that Neil had been at it for a while, and the shattered glass across the room said a lot.
“No.” She spoke up, tearing her eyes away from her brother to her step-father. “I made a friend, she asked me over. I called mom and told her earlier.”
Neil turned his stare towards her mom, who held his gaze surprisingly strongly.
“I told you.” She reassured, although her voice tremored a little.
“… Fine.” Neil huffed, fixing the cuffs of his shirt. “Clean that up, Billy.”
“Yes sir.” He muttered, hatred clear in his voice but somehow going over Neil’s head as he marched out of the room. He glanced up at Max, the glare on his face barely softening as their eyes met.
She didn’t say anything as she headed for her room, setting her skateboard against the wall and going to pull on her pyjamas.
What was it like, she wondered, to have a brother who seemed to enjoy her being around like Ellie’s brother did? Who drove her around without complaint, without screaming profanities as goodbyes and threatening to run things over just to freak her out?
She didn’t know. Even in his good moments, there was always the fear of him snapping and taking away anything nice he said or gave her.
Ellie was lucky. So, so lucky.
~*~
“So, new friend?” Eddie waited until Max had entered the house to pull away from the curb, flicking the windscreen wipers as a light rain began to fall. “You two seem to be getting along pretty well.”
“Yes.” Ellie nodded, watching the streetlamps as they passed by. “I like her a lot. She can skateboard.”
“So you said,” Eddie huffed a laugh as he slowed to stop at a traffic light. “You think school will be a bit better with her there?”
“I think so. I have asked her to come trick or treating tomorrow with us too.” Ellie smiled at him, and he was hit once more with just how much it meant to him that she was there, with him. “I think we will be best friends. And have a very good year.”
“I think so too, kid. I think so too.”