Chapter Text
Because she’d promised her mom she wouldn’t go to the pool, Mia calls her work early the next morning, while Mom is in the shower. Mrs. Jenkins picks up, and Mia tells her she’s really sorry, but she wouldn’t be coming in today.
“Oh, darling, it’s fine! I’ve told Mr. Vander already, you’ve been working too much this month. You’ve come in almost every single day, you deserve to rest, alright? ”
Mia hangs up the phone and starts getting breakfast ready with Will and Bob. Mom gets to the kitchen soon after Jonathan, and they eat and talk, and Mia even finishes her entire plate.
Will is going to Mike’s this morning. Mia was planning to go to Max’s.
“I can drive you guys.” Jonathan says, “I’m going to the post today too. I didn’t finish some pictures yesterday.”
Mom doesn’t say anything about her brother working on a sunday.
“I was - uh… I was thinking about biking to Mike’s today.” Will says, nervously glancing at Mia.
Mia feels her body go cold, and crosses her arms, sinking her nails into her elbows.
Will has gone back to biking everywhere when their mom allows him to - only during the day of course, and he has to call Mom when he gets to wherever it is he’s going. Jonathan had fixed Mia’s bike at the beginning of the summer, hoping she’d start trying to ride it again too, but so far, Mia still hadn’t had the stomach to face it.
Maybe it’s the fact that she’s eaten her entire plate, maybe it’s Bob’s stupidly strong coffee, or maybe it’s the conversation she had with Will last night, the threat of the Mind Flayer coming back.
She’s suddenly filled with a manic energy that makes her heart jump in her chest, warming up her palms until they sweat.
Riding her bike doesn’t really seem such a big thing all of a sudden.
“Yeah. Sure. I’ll bike there with you.”
Mom, Bob, Jonathan and Will look at her.
“Are you sure, honey?” Mom asks, breaking the awkward, sudden silence.
“You don’t have to.” Will tells her worriedly, “Jonathan can take you.”
Mia glances between them, at their eyes full of uncertainty and concern, as if she was a fragile thing that they expected to just start sobbing right then and there on the living room floor.
Mia clenches her jaw, anger warming her face.
“I can do it.” She spits out.
“We never said you couldn’t, Mia.” Bob pipes up, “It’s great that you’re willing to do this now, it really is. We just - we just want you to know that you don’t have to do it if you don’t feel ready to.” He holds mom’s hand over the table “We’re here for you, kiddo. There’s no pressure. We’ll be equally happy to take you to town as we will to see you riding away on your bike.”
“Thanks.” Mia whispers, voice softening. She feels like an angry dog, soothed by the broad hand of Bob’s warm words. “I’ll try my bike today.”
Mom beams at her, leaning into Bob’s side.
Will grabs his backpack in their room, and Mia takes her work backpack from the floor by the couch, since it already has most of her money and other things. Will grabs her bike from the shed, and they walk to the edge of the property soon after Jonathan drives away, bidding mom and Bob goodbye on the porch.
At the start of the road, Mia throws her leg over her bike for the first time in almost two years, heart slamming against her throat.
She grips the handlebars, feeling the hard rubber press into her palms.
She’s grown since she last used it, so she has to lift the seat, but when she places her feet onto the footrests, something seems to click in her head. It feels like she has never spent a day in her life not riding her bike.
She pushes forward, doing a wide loop on the stretch of dirt road, closing her eyes at the feeling of wind against her face.
When she loops back to where she began, Will has a wide smile on his face, green eyes glittering in the early sun.
“Shall we?” He asks.
Mia nods and they set out towards the town.
It’s not as easy when they turn the corner into Mirkwood.
Mia’s heart jumps at the sight of the looming trees, and despite the sun rising above their heads, the trees are thick with foliage, causing the gaps between their trunks to be covered in shadows. She feels cold and dizzy at times, but Will gets her attention with this or that, and she’s thankfully kept firmly in the present.
Still, they bike as fast as they can through Cornwallis, Mia counting the seconds until they get out of the woods.
Finally, they ride through Motel 6, and soon enough the school’s water tower appears above the trees.
A cold breeze hits her back from the woods, and a violent shiver wracks her spine.
Will snaps his head to her, “You okay?”
“Yeah.”
She breathes a sigh of relief when they finally roll into town.
They pass the Coroner’s Office and the library, and the street that leads to Melvald’s and the radio shack. Will and her talk about Bob and Mom, and how Jonathan’s never at home anymore. Will tells her about the time Steve gave the party free ice cream, before Dustin left for his camp. Mia tells Will about the novel she picked up from the library last week, Stranger With My Face. Before she notices it, they’re almost at the end of Cornwallis, waiting at the intersection with Cherry Oak road to wait for the cars to pass.
This time, she puts both feet on the ground, glancing around at the neighborhood.
Over there is the tree in Carolyn Garcia’s yard. To the other side, Mr. Jones’ swing set.
Right up ahead is Dustin’s house, and Jenny’s, right across from it.
Or what used to be Jenny’s house.
When she looks at her brother, Will is already staring at her.
“We can go through Cherry,” He whispers, voice soft and careful, “Then we split up at Dearborn.”
Mia nods, barely aware that she’s doing it. “Ok. Ok.”
Will nods his head for them to turn left, and Mia follows after him.
She doesn’t pay much attention the rest of the way. She looks at the asphalt beneath her bike, and the yellow strips of paint, counting each of them. She’s reached fifty-six when Will calls her name again.
Snapped out of her trance, she looks up just in time for him to turn right on Dearborne.
“We’ll meet here, later, okay?” He shouts, already riding away. “Or you can go to Mike’s!”
“Alright!” She shouts after him, continuing down Max’s street.
Max’s house is just a few houses ahead.
She can do this for five minutes longer.
She starts pedaling faster, but suddenly, a car peels out of the curb with screeching tires, driving dangerously fast towards her.
Mia stops her bike and hobbles behind a car just in time to avoid being hit.
It’s Billy’s blue camaro, its front windshield cracked with huge spiderweb cracks. There’s a split second when he drives past her that their eyes meet, and maybe it’s the fear that she’d felt yesterday by the pool when he got mad at her, or maybe it’s the sheer look of hatred that he shoots her way now, but a shudder goes down Mia’s spine all the same, the hairs on the back of her neck rising up.
She watches him continue down the road until he turns and disappears from view.
“Someone didn’t have a good morning.” She mumbles, deciding to walk the rest of the way to Max’s house.
*
It’s just a little over nine a.m, and she hadn’t called beforehand, but thankfully Max is awake, and opens the door for Mia when she knocks.
“Mia?!” Max shouts her name, a smile breaking over her face like the sun coming out on a cloudy day. She throws her arms around Mia’s neck, “You’re here!”
Mia squeezes her waist tight, warmth spreading from her chest to her fingertips. “Hey, Max.”
Max pulls away, her eyes the same color as the morning sky. “I didn’t know you were coming. Don’t you have to go to the Pool? Billy just left.”
“I uh, I promised mom I wouldn’t go today. She thinks I’m working too much.” Mia shrugs, smiling self-deprecatingly.
Max is already nodding her head. “You totally are. I’ve barely seen you all summer.” Max steps to the side, gesturing at her to come inside.
Mia’s been only a couple of times to Max’s house in these past months, both times her parents had been out, but Billy had been there, and so, they’d hung around the yard before leaving for Mike’s. Mia had never actually stepped inside her house before.
Max’s house is different from Jenny’s - it’s in a much older part of town, where the houses are less modern looking, and more simple, kind of like Mia’s house. The walls are painted a light cream color and the fireplace a deep jewel green, with a jar of beautiful seashells over the mantle. Though the colors are generally bright, the house isn’t very light. All the blinds are drawn, except in the kitchen, the only room that’s lit up by the early morning light. Neil and Susan, Max’s stepdad and mom, are having breakfast there, Max’s empty seat and her half-way eaten plate sitting between the two of them.
An empty chair sits across from her. No plate, or cup, or even a placemat.
Seems like she crashed Max’s breakfast. What a way to make a first impression.
Neil greets Mia with a smile and a polite hello, and Susan offers her some of their breakfast. Despite having already eaten, she accepts a little bit of the scrambled eggs, just so Max can finish her own breakfast without feeling like she needs to hurry.
Mia’s shoulders are tight with anxiety, and she’s doing her best to occupy as little space as possible in her chair, and to make as little sound as she can, eyes darting from Max to Susan, then to Neil as they chat.
“So, Mia.” Mia jumps as Susan addresses her, turning to face the woman’s wide smile. Her red hair is just a touch more ginger than Max’s, though Max’s own hair has become a lot lighter than its usual firetruck red this summer. “How is your mom?”
“She’s fine.” Mia says, smiling politely before shoving some eggs into her mouth to get herself some time. Then adds, “My brothers too.”
“That’s great.” Susan nods her head. “And how are you, dear? I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been for you.”
Mia glances at Max with a frown, finds her friend inhaling her breakfast as fast as possible and gulping down her orange juice.
“I’m fine.” Mia answers, uncertain.
Neil clears his throat. “Can’t believe that bastard died.”
“Neil.” Susan reprimands.
“What? A guy runs over a kid and just dies, without suffering first? That ain’t fair.”
Mia’s frown deepens as she glances around between Susan and Neil. “What?”
Max’s eyes are wide on the other side of the table, the redhead shaking her head no at both adults. As soon as she sees Mia looking at her, she nearly aspirates the rest of her food.
Max slaps her hands down on the table and gets up, “We should get going, c’mon, Mia.”
Mia gets up, but there’s still some eggs left on her plate, and it’s good manners to take her plate to the sink, so she shoves it all in her mouth and gets up, then walks around the table to get Max’s plate.
“Oh, no, dear!” Max’s mom calls out, hands reaching towards Mia. Mia freezes but Max’s mom just smiles. “It’s fine, just leave it, I’ll grab it later.”
She smiles awkwardly at Susan, straightening back up.
Neil puts down his cup of coffee against the table with a loud thunk. “The guy should have lived at least a little bit. Would've been good if he received a kicking from the boys in blue before he was sent to rot in jail, huh?”
It clicks, then, in Mia’s head.
The fake story about Jenny’s death.
She very much regrets eating the eggs.
“C’mon, Mia.” Max whispers, hand gentle around her wrist.
Mia lets herself get pulled after Max into the darkened hallway, barely aware of Max’s mom whispering to her husband.
“Neil.”
“It’s my house! I will say what I damn well plea-”
Max’s bedroom is the first door to the right. She pulls Mia into it, softly shutting the door behind her.
Her room is absolutely gorgeous. There are skateboarding posters on the walls and shelves full of magazines, books and comics, as well as other cool-looking stuff that Mia has no idea what they are. There’s a jar of pink seashells by the window, and a huge conch shell by her bed next to a little plate with earrings, necklaces and rings, which she has never seen Max wear. There are two skateboards with no wheels leaning on the wall next to her closet, and a yellow bean bag by a side table, which has a few pictures in pretty frames and a yellow lamp. Some perfumes and makeup line the vanity by the closet, some shoes and clothes thrown carelessly on the floor in front of it.
Max beelines for those, grabs all of them and shoves them inside the open door of her closet, banging it shut immediately after. She turns to Mia, cheeks red.
“So, what do you want to do today?” Max asks, looking around her room, “I have some new Wonder woman comics. Ooh, and I finally got the Like A Virgin compact disc. We can steal Mom’s new boombox.”
Mia sits down on Max’s huge queen bed, smoothing a hand over the rainbow comforters, still reeling from what Mr. Hargrove had said. “Yeah, sure.” She agrees, not really listening to Max.
“Or we could go outside.” Max suggests, hopping towards the bed and jumping on it. She hugs Mia’s shoulders, dragging them both down on the bed. “Ah! I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve missed you so much! It’s not as much fun to hang out with just Mike and the others.”
Mia smiles, brushing Max’s long hair out of her face and tilting her head to the side to look at the other girl. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.” Max smiles. Her face is all freckled from the sun, covering even the backs of her eyelids. “C’mon, since you can’t decide, I will. We’re going outside. I’ve been getting the hang of this new trick - I’ll show you, c’mon, c’mon.”
They head to her front yard with Max’s skateboard under Max’s arm. Mia sits on the curb and watches her, cheek leaning on her hand.
“I was sick and tired of doing the same three tricks, you know, so I asked Carrie from the arcade if there were any skate parks here since I didn’t know any. She said that people were starting to hang out at the mall, so I went there last week, and found some guys with skateboards and they were super awful to me because apparently ‘girls can’t skate’ or some stupid bullshit.”
Mia wrinkles her nose, “That’s awful.”
Max nods her head, incensed. “I know. So here’s my goal for the rest of the summer - I hung around to watch them skating for a little bit, and I’m going to master all of the tricks I saw them doing, so I can go back there and rub it in their faces that I’m better than them.”
Mia nods her head approvingly, “I like that goal.”
“Yeah.” Max grins, but then her face falls, “Problem is, I don’t actually know how to do half of those things. I don’t even know what they’re called.”
“I could ask if anyone at the Pool knows how to skate.” Mia offers, crossing her arms over her knees, “I think…Heather might know someone. She knows a lot of different people. Oh - there’s Carter. I think he skates. Why don’t you show me what you’re trying to do? I could ask him, see if he knows what they’re called.”
Max nods and gets on her board. She skates back and forth for a little while and then her face gets focused. She shifts one foot closer to the bolts at the front of the skate, the other settling on the very back of it, and bends her knees, getting close to the board. She jumps, legs kicking out.
The skate comes off the ground for a moment, slamming back down with a loud noise on its side. Mia is impressed, though from Max’s face that’s not even close to what she was attempting to do.
Max curses, brushing her hair away from her face. “The guy did some kind of kick - his front leg was higher than the other and he kind of flipped the board beneath him. It looked so simple, but I can’t do it! It’s driving me mad. It’s not an ollie, but I don’t know what it’s called.”
“Try again, maybe you’ll get it.”
Max tries and tries again. At some point she stumbles and falls, scraping her elbow on the asphalt. Mia winces and rushes to help her.
“Shit.” Max pouts, looking at her bloody elbow, “Ow, that hurts.”
“We should get inside and rinse that off -”
There's the sound of Max’s board clattering against something.
Max and Mia snap their heads up to where it had rolled, and find El standing there, Max’s skateboard in her hand.
“El?” Mia asks, helping Max up. She smiles at the brunette. “What are you doing here?”
El smiles at them, but her brown eyes quickly grow serious again.
“Hey, El.” Max says, glancing quickly over El, “What’s wrong?”
El frowns, “Can we talk?”
Mia and Max share a concerned look.
Why didn’t she call? Had she walked all the way from Hopper cabin to Max’s house?
That was so far away.
“Sure, El. Of course.” Max says, “Come on.”
They get back inside Max’s house. Max introduces El to her parents, and El says she’s Mike’s cousin who’s come to visit.
Mia has a funny sense of deja vu, thinking about how Mike had introduced El back at the school, almost two years ago.
They go to Max’s room, shutting the door behind them. El sits on Max’s bed, taking in the girl’s room with wide, awed eyes. She seems particularly taken with Max’s bedsheets, smoothing her hand over the rainbows on it.
Mia grabs the yellow bean bag and sets it on the floor in front of El, while Max stays standing in front of the door.
“Spill.” Max says.
El looks from Mia to Max, brows furrowed in confusion, “Spill what?”
“She means for you to tell us what happened.” Mia explains, “You said you wanted to talk?”
Face smoothing over, El begins to tell them about last night. About having Mike over, about Hopper knocking on her door, then not saying anything for a really long time only to finally tell them Mike’s mom had called to talk about his grandma. The two of them had left in a hurry, but then Hopper had told El it was just a false alarm and that his grandma was fine. This morning, however, Mike didn’t show up at nine thirty, like he was supposed to, and when she called him, Mike had told her his Nana was very sick.
“But his mom was on the phone too. And she asked if Nana called. Mike yelled at his mom and said he had to visit Nana at the nursing home.” She looks down at Mia, “What’s a nursing home?”
“Uhm, that’s where old people live - like, when they need special care?” Mia glances at Max to confirm it, and the redhead nods. “Mr. Wheeler put Mrs. Wheeler’s mom there after Mike’s Nana spent a month with them last year, when she got bronchitis and pneumonia. Mrs. Wheeler didn’t really like it, but she needs care around the clock and Mike’s dad didn’t want her to do it.” Mia rolls her eyes. She really doesn’t like Mr. Wheeler - Mrs. Wheeler’s mom, Mabel Jones was a beautiful old lady with kind brown eyes and snow white hair, perfectly made up in those old styles full of swoops and curls. She didn’t deserve to be far away from her family, especially when Mrs. Wheeler wanted her there with her.
“Will and I went to visit her with Mike and Holly for Mike’s birthday in April.” Mia adds, “We played bingo.”
“What is bingo?”
“That’s like an old people’s game.” Max brushes off, pacing from one side of her room to the other in front of her closet. She shakes her hands at El, “What else did Mike say?”
“Mike said he wanted to be alone with…his feelings. That he missed me. And he hung up.”
Max pulls her lips back, eyes blazing, “Oh, he’s a piece of shit.”
Mia and El snap their heads towards her, El’s eyes wide. “What?” They say at the same time.
“Mike doesn’t have jackshit to do today, and his Nana obviously isn’t sick!” Max fumes, throwing her hands up. She gets close to El, pointing a finger at the girl, “I guarantee you, that he and Lucas are playing Atari right now.”
“But…” El glances from Max to Mia. “Friends don’t lie.”
“Yeah, but boyfriends lie.” Max says, “All. The. Time.”
El glances at Mia, eyes wide and hurt. Mia can only shrug. She feels a bit wrong-footed in the conversation…she hadn’t really planned to talk about El and Mike’s relationship today, much less about boyfriends in general, a topic which she has no expertise at all, and wants nothing to do with.
But Max is kind of right.
“Max is the expert on boyfriends here and -” Mia grimaces, “Well…I’ve known Mike for a long time. His mom too. If his Nana was really sick, he wouldn’t have even picked up the phone this morning.” Mia points out, “They’d have already left to see his grandma last night. And he would have probably warned Will not to come over to his house this morning.”
“Will is with Mike?” El whispers, brows furrowed.
Mia nods.
“See!” Max sits down on the bed, making El bounce. Max leans really close to El’s face, blue eyes wide. “He’s lying to you! So you’re gonna stop calling him. You’re going to ignore his calls. And as far as you’re concerned, he doesn’t exist.”
That seems…a bit counterproductive. Why would El have to pretend he doesn’t exist if her problem is clearly finding out what’s wrong with Mike?
Mike wouldn’t have just lied to her for no reason, would he?
“Doesn’t exist?” El parrots, clearly doubting the radicalism of Max’s advice.
“He treated you like garbage! Treat him like garbage. Give him a taste of his own medicine.”
When put like that, it does sound fair.
If Jenny was here she’d have taken her softball bat and marched to Mike’s house, and held him at bat-point to demand him to tell why he’d lied to El, but Max’s way was ok too.
“Give him the medicine.” El agrees, nodding her head.
Max hums, “And if he doesn’t fix this, if he doesn’t explain himself - dump his ass!”
Mia frowns. “That seems a bit extreme.”
“It’s not.” Max argues, “Listen, Mike can’t treat El like shit and lie to her whenever he wants to. If Lucas tries to pull that shit with me, I break up with him like this.” She snaps her fingers, “And then he realizes his mistake and never does it again.”
“But…haven’t you broken up like, twice already?”
“Actually, it’s five times by now.” Max corrects Mia, “But each of those times was over a different mistake. Lucas never makes the same one twice.”
El still looks sad on the bed, though. Mia reaches over to rub her knee. “It’s going to be okay, you’ll see. I don’t know why Mike’s lying to you - but Max is right. He shouldn’t do that and you do deserve better. But who knows? Maybe he’ll learn and you won’t have to dump him.”
“Yeah, Maybe.” Max concedes, “But - I know something that’s going to cheer you up until then.” She jumps to her feet, grabbing El’s hands and pulling her up.
Max takes a little bag from one of her shelves that jingles with money, and throws her bedroom door open with a flourish
“Where are we going?” Mia asks, getting up from the bean bag.
Max throws a smile at her, then at El. “To have fun! There’s a lot more to life than some stupid boys and you have both me and Mia at your side. You’ll forget all about Mike pretty soon.”
*
They get the bus to the mall, since Billy isn’t there to drive them and neither Max nor El have bikes. Mia’s never been more glad that she’s lazy and hasn't taken her money out of her backpack. She has more than enough for both her and El’s tickets, which she insists on buying.
El doesn’t look happy when they get there, though, like Max and Mia expected. She looks nervous, staring up at the mall with her entire face scrunched up.
There are too many people, she says. But Max is right when she argues that El has powers. And really, the army and the agents had gone away at the end of last year, after the story about a chemical leak killing Barbara Holland came out, together with that tape that Jonathan and Nancy got.
El doesn’t have anything to worry about anymore.
Max leads them both into the Mall, and El’s eyes are wide as saucers, the neon lights from the shops reflecting in them.
She doesn’t seem to know what to look at first, at the hundreds of people walking around, the fountain, the escalators, the foods or the ice cream cones in people’s hands.
Max and Mia grab each of El’s hands, and take the girl down the escalator, to the center of the ground floor. El spins around, mouth open with awe as she drinks in the sight of the entire building.
Mia looks around too - she hasn’t spent much time at the mall, and the only times she’s been here, have been with the others, and they were usually too busy doing something else.
Max, though, has been here plenty of times before, and seems to know the place like the back of her hand.
She grins at Mia, eyes shining.
“So, what should we do first?” She asks El.
El glances at her, overwhelmed. Mia smiles sympathetically. The building is huge, and colorful, and very noisy. If it’s overwhelming for Mia, she can only imagine how it is for El.
“You’ve never been to a mall before, have you?” She asks the girl.
El shakes her head.
“Well, then I guess we’ll just have to try everything.” Max says, grinning at Mia.
They go to the Gap first. El looks around at the clothes like a little kid in a candy shop, touching every single shirt, blouse and dress on the racks. Max follows behind her, delighted. Every now and then, Mia looks at a pretty shirt or the other, wincing at their price tags.
Max said she was footing the bill of anything that El bought, within reason of course, but Mia struggles to see how any of these prices were reasonable.
“Do you like that?” Max asks El, drawing Mia’s attention away from the terribly overpriced shirt she was looking at.
El stares up at the blue blouse on a mannequin posed like a scarecrow, then looks back at Max and Mia. “How do I know what I like?”
Mia’s heart breaks in her chest.
For a moment, that old anger at Hopper rises back in her chest. El shouldn’t have stayed a whole year cooped up inside that cabin. Max and Mia have helped the best they could these past six months, visiting her, helping her decorate her room and handing her their old hand-me-downs. But now that she’s thinking of it, they hadn’t really taught El how to look for things she enjoyed. They had just showed up with things and El had looked happy, and they’d considered it a job well done.
Mia shares a glance with Max, wondering if the girl feels just as guilty as her. Max’s eyes are troubled for a moment, but she quickly softens her face to talk to El.
“You just try things on.” Max tells her, “Until you find something that looks and feels like you. That you feel comfortable in. That makes you feel…happy.”
El’s eyes are wide. Confused, but excited too. She looks over Max and Mia’s outfits - at Max’s light wash jeans short and her white shirt with rainbow stripes, her long loose hair and the little braid at the side of her head; then at Mia’s dark shorts and thin, dark green crochet sweater, that her mom had made for her, which she’s using over a black undershirt.
Mia touches her ponytail a bit self-consciously, smoothing down the fly-aways at the sides of her head.
El touches her hair too, as if in reflex. It reaches just down to her shoulders, in soft brown curls. “Like…me?”
“Yeah.” Max says while Mia nods her head. “Not Hopper, not Mike, not even me and Mia…you.”
El smiles.
She takes the blue shirt from the rack under the mannequin.
They go around the store, picking up everything El thinks is nice - a bright yellow beret, red suspenders, wide yellow pants that will probably make her look like a clown, and many others. Mia helps El button on a white shirt and skirt combo in the changing rooms, and laughs when El jumps in front of Max to show it off. Max puts on a bright yellow belt over her waist and spins El around until the girl dissolves into giggles, smiling more than Mia has ever seen her smiling before.
El wants to try and button her next clothes by herself, so while they wait for her, Max and Mia try on sunglasses, and headbands. Max settles on a pair of red Ray-Bans and winks at Mia over the top of the frame.
Mia can’t help but flush to the tips of her ears. She’s too happy to feel bad about it, and just grins at her friend, showing off the forest green headband she’s put on.
El comes out soon enough with a dark romper full of colorful swirls and bright shapes, having only two misplaced buttons. Mia helps her to get them right, and El spins around in front of the mirror, tossing her hair this way and that. The whole outfit fits El, too, in a way that the striped shirt that had once been Mia’s and the oversized flannel that might have been Hopper’s most certainly did not.
She looks confident and absolutely radiant.
With her shoulder-length hair and round cheeks, she looks nothing like the haunted girl Mia had met two years ago.
Max pays for the clothes and her new sunglasses, Mia pays for her headband, and El strides out of the shop already wearing her new clothes, her old clothes pushed inside the bottom of the store’s bag.
They go through a few other stores, and Mia recognizes some of the retail workers as the owners of some of the stores that closed downtown. They stop Mia and try to chat for a few moments, always asking her how her mom is doing, and how her brothers are.
Max drags Mia and El to a flash studio, and they put on the most outrageous outfits to take pictures. There’s only them in the studio, so they can take as long as they want choosing the right clothes and deciding how to pose. The photographer is helpful, telling them where to look and where to put their hands. Mia is glad that living with Jonathan meant that she had her picture taken at least once a week, because she feels right in her element, posing and turning to the camera in ways she knows she’ll look ok.
The photographs would be ready for them at the end of the day, so Mia, Max and El go around the other stores, trying on shoes and lipsticks and even stopping at a toy store for El to look around.
El becomes so enchanted with the plushies that Mia gets her one of them, a pound puppy with a brown body full of black spots and short, floppy ears. El’s eyes are wide and shining as she takes the toy out of the box just outside the store.
“It’s so cute. And there’s even a certificate!” Max points out, tilting the box for El to see inside.
“Certificate?” El asks, with a frown.
“Yeah.” Max nods her head, “Like, to make the puppy officially yours.”
“You’d be officially its owner.” Mia adds.
El’s brows furrow. “I do not want to be its owner.”
Max and Mia glance at each other, surprised by the sudden animosity in El’s voice.
“Owner doesn’t mean anything bad, El. It just means that it’s your family, and that you care for it. Think of it this way, you liked it so much that you made it a part of your family. You adopted it. And this little paper is proof of that.”
That seems to clear the stormclouds from El’s face.
“Proof.” She says, picking up the adoption paper from the box, “I liked it so much that it’s now my family.”
“Uh-huh.”
El nods, as if finally understanding. “Like Hop and me.”
Mia glances at Max, who is smiling softly at El. “Yeah. Hop was lucky enough to find you, and now, this puppy is the one who’s lucky because you found it.”
El smiles, then a shadow of worry crosses her face. “What is its name?”
“You’re the one who picks.” Mia tells her. “Like parents do to their babies.”
El still seems a bit troubled.
“Like, I had this bear plushie, when I was in California.” Max says, cheeks becoming pink. “I named it Rainbow Mayfield.”
El tilts her head. “Mayfield. Like your name?”
“My last name, yeah.” Max nods. “Families share last names. You know that, right?”
El nods, then seems to think for a long moment.
“I want to write in it.” El says, certificate of ownership held tight in her hand. “I want it to officially be my family too.”
They sit on one for the benches on the first floor. Mia gets a pen from the seller at one store and comes back to help El fill her certificate. El kneels on the floor to write, her letters large and chunky. Max and Mia watch her quietly from where they’re sitting on the bench.
I assume all the loving, hugging responsibilities for EGGOS. Signed, JANE HOPPER.
“Wait, your name is Jane?” Max asks, head tilted as she reads El’s blocky letters. “Why the hell do we call you Eleven if your name is Jane?”
Mia is reminded of those newspaper clippings back at Hopper’s cabin. Terry Ives had a daughter named Jane Ives. El’s birthname was Jane.
Max looks at Mia, who shrugs. “We first knew her as Eleven…But her real name was Jane Ives.”
Max frowns, and glances down at El. “Do you want to be called El or Jane?”
“Friends called me El.” El whispers, seeming uncomfortable under the scrutiny of Max’s piercing blue eyes.
“We called you El because at first you said your name was Eleven. And we knew that a number isn’t a name for a person.” Mia explains, “You signed it Jane now, though. Do you…want us to call you Jane?”
El stays quiet for a moment, one hand reaching up to pat the puppy’s head, where it sits right in front of the certificate.
“Mama gave me that name.” El finally says. “Hop says it means God is good, because I was a gift to Mama.”
“Your mom must have loved you a lot.” Max whispers.
El nods.
“I like El.” She says. “But I don’t like Eleven. I…I want to be Jane. And Hopper too. Jane Hopper. For mama and for Hop. They are my family.”
Mia smiles at El. “Jane Hopper is a great name.”
“The best.” Max agrees.
They head to a fancy shoe store next, and Max helps El - Jane - to balance on a pair of funky high heels, giggling all the while at the girl’s coltish steps. The clerk looks at them as if they were about to steal the shoes. Mia sits on one of the low benches, Eggos sitting on her legs while Jane tries the heels on.
El unbalances, and falls. Max tries to catch her, but they both fall down, faces red from laughing and Jane’s shoes dangling from her toes. Some other girls at the shop throw dirty looks in their direction. Mia recognizes three out of the four: Stacy, Gabriele, and Laura Daniels, from school.
The four girls leave, muttering among themselves just loud enough for the three of them to hear.
“God they are such freaks.”
“Who’s even the girl with short hair?”
“Figures that the dykes wouldn’t know how to walk in heels.”
That last comment has Mia’s hands clenching around the straps of her backpack, head ducked down and jaw clenched. Max glares at the girls, but Jane doesn’t seem much bothered, still giggling like crazy.
“Hey, Jane.” Max says, eyes shiningly wickedly as she stared at the girls’ retreating backs. “I have an idea for what we should do next.”
They find Stacy, Laura, Gabriele and their friend by the food court, talking to a boy that Mia’s almost sure is Lizzie Owens’s cousin. They all have cups of juice in their hands, laughing and waving around their arms full of bracelets and rings.
With one flick of Jane’s head, the cup in Stacy’s hand explodes, showering all of them in fizzy coca-cola.
Mia gasps, delightedly bringing a hand to her mouth. Max high fives Jane, laughing loud enough it’s starting to draw stares. Laura’s eyes snap to them, and in a jump, Mia grabs both Max’s and Jane’s hands and drags them away, feeling light and happy.
Those girls had been mean to Mia her entire life. It feels great to have a little bit of revenge.
They run through the lower floor to get as far away from the food court as possible, Max’s hair waving behind her head like a red flag. They pass the potted plants and benches at the center of the building, and for a moment Mia swears she hears Will’s voice.
She looks around, but doesn’t find his bowl-haired mop of hair anywhere. After a quick comment from Max, saying that she wants ice cream, they run towards Scoops Ahoy.
El hasn’t been there yet, and Mia wonders what Steve will think of her new clothes. Steve usually dresses really well, and he’d helped Dustin get ready for the Snow Ball last year, and had even taken all of them to have burgers at the diner by the arcade once.
Max and Jane enter the ice cream shop first, Mia following just behind them.
A hand suddenly grabs her wrist.
Mia’s heart slams into her throat, she whirls around throwing her elbow, and almost hits Will straight in the face.
He ducks at the last minute, eyes wide. “Sorry!”
“What the hell, Will.” Mia hisses, wrenching her wrist out of his grip. She slaps his shoulder. “Don’t grab me like that.”
“I already said sorry.” Will frowns, looking over Mia’s shoulder. Jane and Max are at the counter already, and Steve is letting Jane sample some of their ice cream flavors. Max is looking back at Mia, brows furrowed.
What is he doing here? She mouths, glancing between her and Will.
Mia shrugs, and Max turns back around to help Jane choose what flavor she’ll get.
“What is El doing here?” Will asks.
“She showed up at Max’s. Said something happened between her and Mike.”
Will huffs, making a face and Mia squints at him.
“You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
Will rolls his eyes, groaning. “I know everything about it. Mike is insufferable. Him and Lucas have been dragging me everywhere to get an apology gift for El. All they talk about is Max this, El that, and how they have to prove themselves or something. It’s annoying.”
Mia tuts sympathetically, patting her twin’s shoulder. It must be awful to like your best friend.
Mia might have…felt things around Jenny. But she had never liked liked the other girl. She had never let herself even think about that.
She had been disgusting enough to wonder what kissing Jenny might feel like. Had been disgusting enough to let her body feel things around her. Mia couldn’t let herself be evil enough to actually think of Jenny as boyfriends and girlfriends did, as Will thought about Mike. Liking had nothing to do, when it came to girls and girls. It was just wrong, plain and simple.
“What?”
Mia blinks hard and turns to her brother, “What what?”
“That face you’re making. What were you thinking?”
“Nothing.”
“Liar.”
“It’s nothing.”
“It’s something.” Will gets closer to her face, squinting at her. Mia makes a face at him, showing him her tongue. Will rolls his eyes and wrinkles his nose. “Tell me.”
Mia shakes her head, “No.”
But then her entire world tilts off its axis.
Will’s hand snatches her own hand, fingers squeezing hers tightly. His eyes widen to the size of saucers.
Mia wrenches her hand away, heart hammering in her chest. “What the hell, Will!”
“I’m - I’m sorry.” Will says, horrified. “I thought you -”
“You had no right to do that.” Mia growls, hands shaking at her sides. “I said no.”
Will had never done anything like this before - ignored her when she said no to something.
She had never expected him to do something like this. Will had promised he would never read Mia’s mind unless she said he could, and she had told him no.
Fury like she’s never felt tears through her body, making her hands shake. She grinds her teeth, feeling tears spring up into her eyes.
She said no, and Will ignored it. Will lied to her, he broke his promise, and he ignored her when she said no.
His eyes are wide, and he looks horrified. “Mia -”
He tries to touch her again, but she steps away.
Mia would never have expected Will to ignore her when she told him no.
“Shut up.” She spits out, brushing her tears away with the back of her hand. Will is horrified by her. “You promised! Don’t you ever get into my head again, you hear me? Ever.”
It’s one thing to do it by accident, another thing entirely to ignore it when she said no and do it anyway. Dad had always done that. She can’t do that again. She can’t. Not with Will.
“Mia -”
“What’s going on here?” Max sprouts up behind Mia, face thunderous, with a vanilla ice cream cone with rainbow sprinkles in her hand. “What did you say to her?”
“I -” Will opens and closes his mouth, hesitating.
“It’s nothing. He was just leaving.” Mia cuts him off.
“Hi, Will.” Jane says, showing up on Mia’s other side, two cones of ice-cream in hand, one pink and one green. She gives the green one to Mia, glancing confusedly between Will and Mia.
“Hi, El.” Will greets politely.
“Jane.”
“What?”
“I want to be called Jane now.”
“Oh…okay. Jane.”
Mia can’t bear the thought of even looking at Will. She can’t see the horror in his eyes again.
What did Will think of Mia, now that he knew what type of monster she was? Now that he knew that she lurked and lusted after girls who had no idea about any of it? After Jenny, out of all people?
She hadn’t wanted him to know.
“Mia, please, can we talk -”
Mia squeezes her eyes shut. “I don’t want to.”
“Will.” Lucas’ voice comes from the side. Him and Mike are standing a few feet over, and their eyes widen when they fall on Jane, Mia and Max. “Oh shit.”
“Oh, you gotta be shitting me.” Max scoffs next to Mia. “Isn’t this a nice surprise!”
Mike strides over to them first, finger pointed at Jane. “What are you doing here?”
“Shopping.” Jane answers, drily.
“Do you like her new style, Mike?” Max asks, sneering.
Mike’s head snaps to her, his eyes wide and angry. “What’s wrong with you? You know she’s not allowed to be in here.” He turns to Mia next, “How could you let her bring El here?”
Will frowns, “Mike -”
“Jane is not a dog for us to ‘allow’ her to do anything, Mike.” Max tells Mike
“What? I never said that!”
Will had seen her thoughts, and had been horrified by them. He had read her thoughts, despite his promise. Mia had told him no.
She didn’t think Will would ever ignore her when she said no.
Mia feels angry and scared and violated.
And she had told him no. She had told him no.
A trembling starts on Mia’s hands. She closes her hands into fists, forgetting about the ice cream cone Jane had given her. The fragile shell breaks, and the ball of ice cream flops to the ground, narrowly missing her shoe.
“Yeah. I’m not a dog.” Jane agrees with Max. “And why do you treat me like garbage?”
“What?”
Will steps next to Mia, ignoring the others. “Mia, I’m really -”
Mia looks at the ice cream on the floor. And something in her snaps.
“Fuck you.” She grits out, turning to her brother and shoving the rest of her ice cream cone against his chest. Then she flicks her hands towards Mike, showering him in melted ice cream. “And you too Mike. You’re a piece of shit for lying to Jane.”
Mike jumps back, face scrunching up with surprise and indignation. Will just stands there, looking down at his shirt
Mike splutters. “Who’s Jane?!”
“That’s El’s real name, Mike. Which you should know, since you’re her boyfriend and all.”
Some people stop and stare around them. Some girls off to the side clearly having the time of their lives watching the drama unfold. But Mia couldn’t care less.
Will looks down at his ruined shirt, then back at Mia, shoulders heaving up and down.
“I didn’t lie to El - to Jane!” Mike argues, face turning red. His eyes dart all around, embarrassed, before going back to Mia, “I didn’t.”
Will also seems to notice their audience then. He curls in on himself, eyes darting all around, wide and scared. Mia’s heart twists, but she’s too angry to feel sorry for him.
“Yeah? And how’s your grandma, Mike?” Max pipes up. “She isn’t sick. You were lying to Jane.”
Mike’s eyes widen, “I don’t - I -”
“You lie.” Jane snaps. “Why do you lie?”
“Are you girls crazy?” Lucas hisses, stepping close to Will to brush off the crumbs of the ice cream cone from his shirt. He puts his arm around Will and tucks him against his side, hiding him from the people staring at them. “What the hell, Mia?”
Both Jane and Mia ignore him. Jane’s eyes are fixed on Mike, mouth pressed into a thin line.
“I dump your ass.” She spits out.
Max’s jaw falls. Mike’s entire face goes slack, then screws up as if he’d smelled something bad.
Jane nods her head at him, turns on her heels and takes Mia’s wrist. Max’s wrist raises as if tugged by a rope, but she quickly reaches over to hook her finger in the belt loop of Jane’s romper.
They stride away, leaving the boys stupefied and frozen behind them.
Jane starts giggling as soon as they step foot on the escalators, grinning as if a weight had been lifted off her chest.
Max is smiling too.
“Holy shit!” Max tells Jane, taking her hand out of Jane’s belt loop to give her a high-five. “Holy shit!”
Mia doesn’t really share their excitement. Her head is far away.
She had told Will no. She had said she didn’t want to talk about it and Will had ignored her. Had forced himself into her head and seen it for himself. He’d seen what a monster Mia was. He’d been horrified.
Tears spring up in her eyes.
A voice in her head tells her it’s stupid, that it’s not as bad as she’s making it out to be, that there might be a reason for all of this, if she just stops and talks to Will.
But Mia had told him no.
Mia flexes her hands at her sides, feeling her breaths shortening. She doesn’t know what to do with herself. Will had just barged into her head. It hadn’t been an accident. She had told him she didn’t want to talk about it and he’d just - he’d just -
They step outside the Mall, the mid evening sun too bright. Sweat slides, cold and disgusting, down the sides of her ribs.
Mia doesn’t feel good.
“Hey,” Max tugs Mia’s hand. Her smile is gone, and both she and Jane are staring at Mia worriedly. “What did Will do?”
Mia shakes her head, unable to speak.
“Are you okay?” Jane asks, her plush puppy in her arms.
Mia’s eyes well up with tears, but she nods at them, not even able to speak.
Max stares hard at her face. She must see that the hair-thin thread that’s holding Mia up is about to snap, and doesn’t insist.
“Okay.” She nods her head with a frown, “Do you - uhm, do you want to go back to my place?”
Mia shakes her head again. A tear falls down her cheek and she hastily wipes it away.
“Sorry,” She says, a sob escaping her throat. Mia takes a shaky breath in and out, “I don’t - I don’t feel good. I think - I think. Um.”
“It’s okay.” Jane says, lightly touching the back of her hand. “Call your mom?”
Mia shakes her head again. She feels like a broken record, repeating the same thing over and over. She doesn’t know what to do. She doesn’t want to take the bus with Jane and Max back to Max’s place. She doesn’t want to stay at the Mall. She doesn’t even want to go back home.
For a moment she thinks about going to Jenny’s, about hugging her best-friend, and then feels her whole face crumpling in on itself when she remembers that she can’t do that.
Jenny’s dead.
“I’m gonna -”
She doesn’t know what she’s going to do, and Max and Jane are staring at Mia as if she had been cut open and started bleeding right in front of them.
Her heart slams loudly against her ears, fast like a drum. ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum.
She needs to think.
She needs to get away from here.
She wants to cry. She wants to scream. Everything had been so good, for once, and now it was all ruined, Mia ruined Max’s day and she ruined Jane’s day, and she hates Will for it, she hates him.
Wait.
Will.
Will had come here with Mike and Lucas, which means they must have used their bikes.
She looks around herself, and spots it: the bike rack near the doors of the mall.
She strides there, not bothering to speak or wait for Jane and Max as they run to catch up to her.
After so many years, Mike’s, Lucas’ and Will’s bikes are easy to find, with their familiar colors, sharpie markings and stickers. She picks up Will’s bike, pulling it easily from the rack.
Let him walk back home.
“Are you going to steal a bike?” Max asks, incredulous.
Mia squints at her for a moment, as sweat drips onto her eyes. Finally processing Max’s words, she shakes her head.
“Will.” Is all she can say. Her throat feels as though it was being squeezed by a giant hand.
“Are you sure you’re okay to bike home?” Max asks, eyes wide with concern. In her hand, the ice cream has almost entirely melted, dripping over the sides of her wrist.
Mia wipes her face with the back of her hand and nods, trying to plaster a smile on her lips. But Max and Jane know Mia, and continue to stare at her with concern.
They know her.
And it suddenly cuts her down to the bone.
She’s ruining this again.
Once again all her shit is getting in the way. She is disgusting and she’s a monster and neither Max nor Jane should be close to her.
She shouldn’t have let Max and Jane get close, she shouldn’t.
She should have just died instead of Jenny.
“I’ll see you guys tomorrow, okay? I just - I don’t feel like - I should just go.”
“It’s okay.” Jane reassures her, eyes sad. “We will see you tomorrow.”
Finally, Max relents, biting her lower lip. “See you, then.”
Mia climbs on Will’s bike and pushes away, her hands shaking around the handles.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
The sun is hot above her head. The world is spinning and the dry air blowing against her face does little to help cooling her burning face down. Mia can feel the urge to cry starting again, and she pedals harder and harder, heart pounding in her chest.
She doesn’t know where to go. She just doesn’t want to be here.
She wants Jenny.
It feels like there’s a bunch of wasps under her skin. Mia pedals harder and harder.
She’s sweating buckets by the time her bike leads her downtown. She can feel her clothes sticking to her skin, the sweat sliding down her back and neck, making even her thighs sticky. She stops her brother’s bike in front of the shadow of the public library, gasping and panting over the handlebars.
The feeling of wasps persists. Mia rakes her hands down her arms, digging her fingers through the holes in her crochet sweater. It helps clear up her head a little bit, enough for her to realize that she needs to move, though she’s still not sure where.
Mia starts pedaling again, without direction.
She pedals and turns and glides through the little streets of the town center, peering into the closed shops, her head too full and too empty at the same time. She reaches the park that’s near the library and throws the bike onto the ground, sitting down on one of the empty swings.
She and Jenny used to come here sometimes, after grabbing ice-cream while Mia’s mom was at work.
Mia closes her eyes and for a moment she can taste mint and chocolate, and hear Jenny’s feet pushing against the floor, the chains of her swing squeaking as she launches herself higher and higher.
Mia snaps her eyes open, willing the memories to go away.
She gets up and tries to sit on the metal bars of the jungle gym.
The time Jenny knocked her chin against one of the lower bars flashes behind her eyes. The blood on her chin. The sound of her laughter.
Mia wants to scream.
Jenny is everywhere. Every memory of Mia’s is stained by her.
Mia gets up and runs to her brother’s bike, and starts pedaling again.
She gets to the Hawkins Post building, and asks the secretary in front about Jonathan, but he’s not there, and neither is Nancy. Mia thanks the woman and walks back outside, tilting her head up at the sweltering sun.
She tries Melvald’s next, but its doors are closed, and Mom isn’t there.
Mom was gone. Jonathan was gone. She’d left Max and Jane behind.
Jenny is gone. Her best friend is never coming back.
Mia starts biking again.
Bob isn’t at the Radio Shack, and his coworker tells Mia he’d left earlier on with Mom in tow.
Mia starts biking again.
Before she realizes it, the smell of chlorine hits her nose. Mia glances up, finding herself by the parking lot of the Public Pool.
The sun has dipped into the horizon - Mia hadn’t noticed it.
Maybe she could talk to Heather, or even Zoe. The lifeguard would be leaving soon, anyway.
Carter and Brandon are at the front playing tic-tac-toe on one of the flyers.
“Hey.” She calls out, trying to keep her voice from shaking.
Brandon looks up at her and lifts one eyebrow, eyes sweeping up and down Mia’s body. She must look awful, all sweaty and windswept. “Hey, Amanda. Isn’t it your day off?”
“Yeah. Just…stopped by to chat with Heather. Is she still here?”
“Yeah, come on in.”
Despite the lack of movement at the front, the swimming pool itself is packed, kids running around and shrieking with delight. Some teenagers are throwing a ball to one another at the adult part of the pool, and some guys are huddled in a corner playing some mini-version of water polo.
Billy’s at the lifeguard post, eyes glazed over, clearly not paying attention to the water.
Mia breathes in the scent of chlorine and water, relaxing for the first time since she left the mall.
“Mia! Hey!” Heather’s voice calls out to her. She’s helping Jackson carry a stack of towels, and motions Mia towards her with the tips of her fingers.
Mia walks over, feeling jittery and awful, and takes some towels from her, just for something to do.
“I thought you were staying home today.” Heather says, smiling, “Mrs. Jenkins said you weren’t coming.”
Mia grimaces, “I changed my mind.” She shrugs, “But I’m not working - I’ll just - hang out here, I guess.”
Heather smiles at her, brown eyes shining under the sun. “In that case - Gimme those.” She snatches the towels from Mia’s hands with a grin. “Go lie down while there’s still some sun. But let me know if you need anything, alright?”
Heather goes back to her duties, leaving the glow of brown eyes seared on the back of Mia’s retinas.
Maybe Mia shouldn’t have come. But where else would she go?
She heads over to the snacks bar to get herself a popsicle, using some of the money she still has in her bag. Afterwards, she finds a chair in the shade, not far from the lifeguard chair and takes off her crochet sweater, shoving it in her backpack and dropping it unceremoniously on the damp ground.
She folds the bottom of her undershirt up around her ribs, kicks off her shoes and socks, hissing when her feet touch the hot asphalt around the pool, which is dotted with boiling little pools of water.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck -” She hisses, hopping over to the little shower on the other side of the pool with her popsicle in one hand, to rinse her legs and feet off as pool regulation demands.
The cold water helps somewhat to endure the hot trek back, but she still hops the last few steps towards a spot by the lifeguard chair, right in its shade, sitting down so hard on the edge of the pool that her tailbone aches.
The water is cold against her skin. Mia kicks her feet in the pool, watching the other people having fun.
She licks her popsicle, wincing when a huge chunk of it immediately breaks off into her mouth. Her front teeth ache, a whole body shiver wracking her frame.
“Amanda?” Billy’s voice calls behind her.
Mia whirls around.
Billy’s squinting down at her from his chair.
And he looks awful.
He’s all sweaty and his curls are clumped together at the top of his head. He's wearing a shirt, and he’s sitting entirely under the shade of his umbrella too. Usually, he leaves his legs out, to use the sun for as long as possible to tan his legs.
“Billy.” Mia starts, looking him over worriedly. “Are you sick?”
He ignores her question. “What are you doing here?” He asks, voice tense.
Mia frowns at him, getting annoyed.
“What’s it to you?” She asks, putting her popsicle in her mouth.
Billy glances down at her popsicle, then at her eyes, squinting as if he couldn’t see her.
She glances at the pool, and yeah, the glare of the sun reflecting off of it is strong today.
Can he even see anyone in there? Where are his sunglasses?
“Are you -” She starts and stops, then continues again before she can think better of it. “Do you want me…to go get your sunglasses, for you?”
He stares at her, as if he hadn’t understood a word she’d said. “What?”
Maybe he hadn’t.
“Your sunglasses.” Mia repeats herself, “You’re squinting. You can’t do your job if you can’t see, Billy.”
Mia doesn't want any old ladies to drown only because Billy didn’t see them calling out for help.
When Billy doesn’t say anything else and continues to stare at her, Mia gets up, a bit freaked out.
Maybe he needs water.
Heatstroke is a thing.
“Look, I’ll just - I’ll go get it, okay? I’ll get some cold water too.”
Billy seems to snap out of it when she mentions the water, and nods his head.
Mia hurries to the staff room, kind of glad that she has something to do, even if it’s Billy that she’s doing it for. She grabs one of the huge plastic cups from a cupboard above the sink, the generic Hawkins Pool one that every worker gets to take home, and fills it with water from the tap.
When she’s reaching for the ice cubes in the fridge, Mia remembers that you’re not really supposed to give cold water to people who have had heat stroke. She adds just one ice cube, just so the water isn’t so warm.
She finds Billy’s locker by elimination, glad to see it’s open.
His backpack isn’t there though.
Mia opens Jackson’s locker, also left open, and grabs his sunglasses. She’ll just apologize to him later in the week, and tell Billy to give it back at the end of his shift.
She steps out of the staff room, only to see Billy stumbling out of the lifeguard chair.
He goes walking towards her, swaying on his feet as if he was drunk. He accidentally slams into a guy’s shoulder, sending his entire cooler to the ground, ice and metal cans spreading all over the side of the pool with a loud sound.
Heather, who had been sitting on one of the picnic tables talking to some other teens, snaps her head to him.
“Billy! She calls out, getting up from the table, “Are you okay?”
Billy barely gives her a glance, before stumbling away to the male bathroom, completely ignoring Mia when he walks past her.
“What the hell.” Mia whispers, walking over to Heather. “What happened?”
“I don’t know.” Heather frowns, moving to help the guy that had dropped the cooler. There are beer cans on the floor, and Heather’s face immediately snaps to the guy, whose shoulders are almost around his ears. “Hey, man, you can’t bring those in here. Unless you’re at the bar, you can only drink non-alcoholic stuff.”
“I’m gonna go check on Billy.” Mia tells Heather.
Heather nods her head distractedly, “Okay.” She says over her shoulder, before continuing to admonish the guy who brought a cooler full of beer to a public pool. “Look, man I’m not a narc or anything -”
Seeing that Heather’s too busy and also a little bit worried about Max’s step-brother, Mia walks to the bathroom Billy had gone into.
The male bathroom.
If only he’d gone into the Staff room. Ugh.
She hangs around the door for a bit, grabs the first kid that comes out and asks him if Billy is in there.
The kid pops back in, then comes out and says that he is.
“Is there anyone else in there?” She asks him.
“Why?”
Mia rolls her eyes. “Because I have to get in there, kid.”
“But it’s the boys’ bathroom.”
No shit. “Yeah. Is there anyone in there or not?”
“I don’t know.”
“Go check then!” Mia shouts, huffing.
Cowed, the kid gets back inside. Mia hears something inside the bathroom that sounds a lot like screaming.
The boy steps out of the bathroom looking freaked out.
“There’s just Billy. He’s screaming. Is he okay?”
“It’s what I’m trying to find out.” Mia grits out, pushing past the boy.
It’s colder inside the bathroom than outside. The air smells a bit like eucalyptus from the sauna, but mostly it smells like stale water, chlorine and wet clothes, with a hint of somebody’s body spray.
Mia wrinkles her nose, but it’s not that different from the girls’ bathroom, which reeks of perfume at the end of the day.
“Billy?” She calls out, afraid of stepping further into the bathroom. If Billy really had been screaming before, he’s not anymore, which immediately sets her on edge. “Are you there?”
There’s a shower running, somewhere inside the bathroom.
Hoping like hell she won’t find a naked Billy in there, but fearful enough that he might be passed out under running water, Mia walks towards the sound.
The curtain to the second shower stall is open, and when she cautiously peeks her head around the corner, she finds Billy, still clothed, but curled up under the stream of water, head on his knees.
“Hey, Billy.” Mia tries again, reaching over to turn off the tap so he won’t accidentally drown or something. He’s clearly not well. Mia hisses at the freezing cold water, but at least Billy had done the smart thing and thought to bring down his body temperature a little bit.
Billy snaps his head up to look at her as soon as the water shuts off, and Mia kneels down in front of him, glad that he’s responsive.
She offers him the cup of water, Jackson’s glasses dangling from her pinky finger. “Hey. I brought you some water.”
“What?” Billy whispers, eyes fixed on her face.
Mia frowns, “I said I brought you some water. Here.” She repeats herself slowly, wondering if they should call him an ambulance. The heatstroke might have started to affect his brain. She shoves the cup against his hand. “Drink it.”
Billy doesn’t move to take it.
His eyes are fixed on her face, unblinking.
Mia’s legs tense beneath her, and she’s suddenly too aware that she’s all alone in a bathroom with Billy, Max’s older step brother who punched Steve in the face last year.
“Do you have heatstroke or something?” She asks, feeling nervous, “Do I have to call an ambulance?”
Billy continues to stare at her, his fingers digging into his knees.
Dread curls in her stomach. Maybe she should go out and call for one of the boys to check in on Billy.
Mia doesn’t see him move.
One second Billy is curled up against the wall, and the other, there’s a hand on the side of her face and the sudden feeling of being pushed.
Her head slams against the tiles of the shower stall, lights bursting behind her eyes.
Mia falls on her side on the stall floor, gasping and disoriented.
Billy crouches above her on his hands and knees, his hair dripping water over her face.
Mia opens her mouth to scream, but Billy grabs her by the jaw and slams her down onto the floor.
Mia barely feels the pain bursting at the back of her head, before everything goes black.
*
Mia’s vaguely aware that she’s being carried.
Her head hurts too much for her to think.
She doesn’t really remember falling asleep.
She tries to move one of her arms to scratch at her eyes, but finds she can’t. Something pulls at her wrist.
There’s an odd pain in her head, pulsating like a drum in her temples. She feels weird, almost as if she was upside down.
She opens her mouth to ask Jonathan what’s going on, but finds she can’t move her mouth.
There’s something over her mouth.
Mia’s eyes fly open, awareness that she can’t move her arms or her mouth slamming into her like a high-speed train.
Her head is painfully tilted back over someone’s arm, cold, as if her hair was wet. It’s dark all around her, the smell of rot and mildew heavy in her nose.
Mia’s heart slams into her throat. She forces her head up to see who is carrying her and finds Billy, of all people, out of his lifeguarding clothes, hair loose and wet around his head.
Mia jerks, squirming in his arms. Billy almost drops her, but his hands tighten around her legs and her back, fingers digging into her ribs.
“Stop.” He growls, voice low, shaking her so hard she gets whiplash.
Mia lets her head dangle back, whimpering at the pain in her neck and head.
Her head spins, terror starting to break through her muddled thoughts.
It’s too dark around them, only a yellow light coming from somewhere behind them barely lighting up Billy’s head. She doesn’t know where they are, but there’s the smell of something old and rotting, of rust and iron, the staleness of an abandoned place in the air.
She looks around, trying to recognize anything, finding only what seems to be a metal door and a staircase up ahead, leading down into a square of darkness.
Mia doesn’t know where they are, she realizes, heart slamming harder against her chest
Billy walks through the doorway, climbing down the stairs, his steps echoing oddly. The further down they go, the darker it becomes.
Mia blinks, whimpering, as her eyes slowly adjust to the darkness. With her neck strained so further back, Mia can barely breathe, but still, she tries to scream.
A muffled noise is all that leaves through whatever is around her mouth.
Purple and pink spots start popping into her vision, terror making her dizzy.
What is Billy doing? Why had he brought her here?
Billy lowers her onto the floor, cold and dirty beneath her arms and back. He stares down at her, silent, and realization crashes into Mia.
Her heart stops, stutters, then starts again.
Mia tries to scream, whatever it is that’s wrapped around her mouth - tape, she realizes distantly - pulling at the skin of her cheeks. She twists her wrists, trying to force her arms apart, but whatever Billy had used doesn’t budge an inch.
Mia starts hyperventilating.
She tries to kick out with her legs, finding them also bound at the ankles. She bows her back, trying to turn herself onto her stomach to crawl away, but a hand falls on her shoulder, and another presses down on her stomach, pushing her down to the floor before she can turn herself over.
Mia screams again, like she’s never screamed before, trying to make herself heard over the tape in her mouth.
Billy just looks at her, still keeping her down. His stare is cold, distant. As if she was just a bug on the floor that he was considering crushing under his heel.
Mia bucks her hips and twists her shoulders beneath him, trying desperately to get away, to get him to let go of her, to turn around and crawl as far away from him and this place as she can, but Billy’s hands don’t even slack their grip on her.
She tries bringing her bound hands up to club him over the head with them.
Billy merely grabs her wrists with one hand, easily stopping the blow. Mia screams, fighting his hold, but Billy squeezes his fingers. Her bones grind together in his hands, and he uses his grip to slam her down onto the floor.
He hovers his body over her, all of his weight pressing down onto her chest.
Mia can’t breathe.
She starts shaking, and wheezes as air is slowly forced out of her lungs by his weight. Hot tears trail down the sides of her head.
Billy’s face gets closer to her and she turns her face away, terrified.
Billy’s breath hits the side of her neck, cold.
“Do not be afraid.” He whispers, voice low and dark, deceptively soft. “It’ll be over soon. Just stay very still.”
Mia sobs. She shakes and shakes, her body trembling violently. She tries to squeeze her legs shut, certain that this is it - Billy’s about to rape her in this dark, moldy basement and then kill her.
Dad had always said this would happen. That when she grew up, this is what boys would do to her. Her mind flashes back to the last few days at the pool, combing through every single one of hers and Billy’s interactions with desperation. Did she make him do this, somehow? Had he been mad at her? Had he thought she wanted it, somehow, when she offered to grab him water today?
Billy was going to rape her. He was going to kill her. He’d kidnapped her and taken her somewhere far away. Mia would never get to say goodbye to her mom. She would never see Jonathan or Bob or her friends ever again. She would never see Will again.
The last thing she’d ever done was fight with Will.
She should have never left the mall.
A sob wracks through her chest. Billy’s breath is close to her cheek, fingers cold as he starts peeling off the tape from her mouth. Mia squeezes her eyes shut at the pain, gasping as soon as the tape is off.
Then she screams, as loud as she possibly can.
It echoes horribly in her ears, but she keeps screaming.
She screams and screams until her throat burns.
Screams and her voice cracks and breaks and she has to cough to not choke on her own spit.
Billy just watches, not even blinking.
Suddenly, a low sound comes from one side of the room.
Goosebumps break over Mia’s skin, all the hairs on her arms and neck standing on end.
It’s a low rumble like thunder, with familiar high-pitched clicks over it.
It comes again, louder, double-toned like an indrawn breath.
Mia recognizes it immediately, horror flooding her veins and stealing the breath from her lungs.
A limb stomps out of the darkness, into the little square of light that’s coming from the staircase behind her and Billy. She sees red and oozing flesh, split into two giant claws. The shock of the limb hitting the ground climbs up through the thing's entire body, and suddenly Mia can see it in its entirety - grey and red rotting flesh and glistening skin, a head shaped like a closed flower button, bigger than any of the demogorgons she’d ever seen before, crawling around like a spider on enormous, misshapen limbs.
A vine slithers out of the monster’s leg like a snake. The vine opens its mouth - a flower with four petals, red and filled with teeth.
Mia screams, fighting under Billy’s hands to get away.
Billy gets up and brings his arm back, hand closed in a fist -
Mia opens her eyes, agony pounding across her skull.
She’s on her stomach, cheek pressed to the floor.
She needs to leave.
Before she can think about why, she’s bringing up her arms and trying to crawl up to her hands and knees.
She needs to leave, or she’ll die.
Something clamps around her shin, wet and freezing cold, dragging her across the floor as if she was a doll, her knees and elbows and stomach scraping on dirt and metal and rocks.
Mia tries to cling to the floor, to anything, terror making her desperate. Some of her nails snap, sending agony through her hand.
The vine stops dragging her, slithering up around her stomach and ribs instead. A cold, rotten breath hits the top of her head.
Mia tilts her head up.
Above her, a mass of red and grey glistening skin.
A mouth. Teeth around an empty hole of a throat.
Mia screams, and screams and screams.