chapter four
halloween fools

 ✧ 

　HAWKINS' MIDDLE SCHOOL'S    halls were full of students, and the chaos was so perfect, like a movie. There was the couple that was making out on the left side of the hall, and about ten feet farther down, the cliquey girls. Opposite them, the cliquey "jocks," and between them, the parade of band geeks with their huge instrument cases. 

　There were the tech kids who never did anything but make paper airplanes and the math kids who held a book to their nose, bumping into everyone in the halls.

　One thing they've all had in common was that none, not one student, was wearing a Halloween costume. On Halloween.

　Oh, the embarrassment to the poor kid who decided to wear a costume to school that day. The rest of the school had silently decided; that they were much too mature for Halloween.

　Rue Newby chuckled softly at the thought. She had been one of the fools to wear a costume, but she didn't mind. Rue liked her Halloween costume, even if it was simple.

　It wasn't like she had much time to put it together. She wasn't planning on wearing a costume at all, that is until she got a phone call early that morning, the voice of a girl she was growing to appreciate, asking if they could match costumes.

　"Dun dun dun, another bites the dust . . . " Freddie Mercury sang in her ears.

　Her fingers tapped to the beat of the song on her textbooks. Rue made her way through the school halls, trying her best not to get trampled by anyone while Queen played on her walkman.

　"Rue!"

　She stopped in her tracks, hearing her name muffled through the song.

　"Rue!" the voice called again.

　She looked all around her, pulling her headphones to her shoulders, still not finding the source of the voice "Ruth Newby," she felt a hand on her shoulder, making her jump and turn around.

　Rue let out a small squeal clutched onto her chest. "Oh," she let out a breath, spotting Max Mayfield with a bright grin on her face. "It's just you,"

　"You sound disappointed," she teased, poking at Rue's sides.

　Rue chuckled, waving Max's hands away with her book, "Stop it, I'm ticklish."

　The ginger smiled brighter, now curling her fingers and tickling Rue. She giggled as Rue laughed harder, the girl becoming breathless as her knees buckled.

　Max pulled away, and Rue had to catch her breath, trying her hardest to look mad but the smile on her rosy face said otherwise.

　But her smile slowly flew away when she felt the butterflies beginning to flutter aroI'm to stomach. It felt nice, Rue liked the feeling of the warmth. Though it made her happy, it made her see flashes of a person she knew she was far, far away from, but Rue couldn't help but feel guilty.

　Clearing away the thoughts, she nudged Max with a grin on her face. Rue wasn't going to let her stupid feelings get in the way of having a friend. Not again. Things were going so well in Hawkins, the fresh start was what she needed, and she wasn't going to ruin it.

　"You scared me, you know," she said as the two of them began to walk down the hall, ignoring the stares from the other students as they were two of the very, very, very few who wore costumes.

　"Ironic 'cause it's Halloween," Max wiggled her eyebrows. "You make a great Daphne, by the way,"

　Rue blushed, looking down at her Scooby-Doo themed costume. It was a simple purple dress, black leggings and a big green belt she found that belonged to her mom. "Thank you very much, Velma Dinkley,"

　Max snorted, pushing up the false glasses up her freckled nose.

　"I still think you would've made a better Daphne," Rue added, pulling the books closer to her chest.

　The girl shook her head, "No way, I'm not as pretty as you."

　Rue's eyes widened, and she looked to the side for a moment, her jaw-dropping as heat rushed to her face. Does Max Mayfield think I'm pretty? She blinked, shaking her head. Did Rue hear her correctly? Or was she hearing things?

 　Well, don't just stand there, Rue! Say something!

　"Don't be silly, Max, you're gorgeous,"

　She turned to look at Max again, too busy trying to control herself from collapsing to notice Max's face was as red as her hair.

 　I can't believe I just said that.

　I can't believe she just said that.

　Rue choked on air. There it was, the Whisper. Its voice was exactly like the one that belonged to the girl next to her. Before she had the chance to process what the Whisper had said, she felt an arm lock with hers.

　The two girls made it to Max's locker, chatting up about their plans for the evening. "I have a baseball game tonight, so I'm not sure if I can go,"

　"I didn't know you played baseball?" Max scrunched her nose, glancing at Rue for a second before shoving her skateboard into her locker.

　Rue shifted in her spot, digging the toe of her left shoe to the floor. "I guess it never came up?"

　"It's cool," Max shook her head, "'Baseball is cool. Are you any good?"

　She jokingly scoffed, "Of course I am. You're talking to a future professional baseball player."

　"What an honour!"

　"It truly is! You'll see in a few years once I'm the first woman playing for the Yankees,"

　Max chuckled, playfully rolling her eyes. But Before she could get anything else out, there was an awkward voice that spoke up, grabbing both girl's attention.

　"I'm glad to see you're wearing a costume! I was a little worried that you weren't . . ."

　They turned around to find two boys dressed in Ghostbusters costumes, one of them was Stantz and the other Venkman. Rue felt a smile growing on her lips at the sight of Lucas and Dustin. She didn't hang out with the party as much as Will had wanted to, but it was safe to say they were alliances.

　Dustin cleared his throat, "Hi, Max."

　"And, Rue," Lucas added, smiling at her. Rue grinned and waved.

　"Right, well. Max, I'm Dustin, and this is — "

　"Lucas."

　"Yeah, I know," Max said, not only taking Lucas and Dustin by surprise but Rue as well.

　"You've met?" She asked, glancing between the three.

　Max shook her head, and looked over at Rue. "No, but they've been watching me," she turned back to them "The stalkers."

　"Uh, no." Dusting stuttered, "Actually . . . no. You've got it wrong, we weren't stalking — Rue, don't tell Will we were stalking her. Which we weren't!"

　Lucas rolled his eyes at his best friend, pushing him back a little bit so he'd stop talking. "We weren't stalking you." he said as if he was trying to convince both Max and himself.

　"No, we were just concerned because, you know, you're new and all," Dustin pointed out.

　Lucas nodded, "Yeah, for your safety."

　"Mmm-hmm," Dustin hummed. "There are a lot of bullies here."

　"So many bullies, it's — it's — it's crazy."

　"Yeah,"

　"Aw, that's sweet," Rue smiled, softly nudging Max's side as Lucas and Dustin nodded continuously. "How come I didn't get this treatment?" she asked, tilting her head.

　Both boys went red and began to stammer. "We — we — we — Will already — Yeah, Will he — said He already — We wanted but — Mike said — "

　"Mike said what?" she tested, the smile on her face washing away. She rarely hung out with these boys, but she wasn't stupid. When Will pushed her to hang out or whenever they came to the Byers home, and she was there, Mike wasn't very fond of her. Maybe it was because Will spent more time with Rue than he did with Mike.

　"Mike — Mike said — " Dustin tried but stopped when he saw the look Lucas was giving him. "He said nothing."

　"We're sorry we didn't protect you from the horrid bullies of Hawkins," Lucas said.

　Rue pulled a small grin on her face and shook her head, "I was just joking around."

　The two boys let out a breath.

　"Right, so we were talking last night," Dustin started, looking back over at Max. "and you're new here, so you probably don't have any friends — "

　"Rue's my friend," Max told him, locking her arm with Rue's.

　"Fine, she's the Daphne to your Velma, but listen," he said, waving his hand in the air, "you don't have a nice big group of friends to take you trick-or-treating. And since you're scared of bullies, we were thinking that it would be okay if you come with us."

　"'It'd be okay"?" she echoed.

　"Yeah. Our party's a democracy, that majority voted you could come."

　"And, Rue," Lucas added again.

　"Yeah, right and Rue," Dustin flashed her a smile.

　Max faked a laugh, "I didn't realize it was such an honour to go trick-or-treating with you."

　Rue nudged her, giving Max a look that said be nice.

　Poor Dustin didn't hear the girl's sarcasm and continued, "Yeah, I mean, we know where to get the full-sized candy bars. We'd figured you'd want in."

　"That's presumptuous of you."

　Rue snorted slightly. Both Lucas and Dustin had no idea what 'presumptuous' meant as Lucas stared at Max, puzzled, while Dustin took it as a compliment.

　"Yeah. Totally. Uh, so, um . . . you'll come?"

　Max rolled her eyes, shutting her locker. "Come on," she mumbled, pulling on the sleeve of Rue's purple dress.

　"We're meeting at the Maple Street cul-de-sac at seven," she heard Dustin call out. "That's seven on the dot!" he yelled before they turned towards another hallway.

　"Are you going?" Rue asked as they walked into Mr. Clarke's science class.

　"I don't know," she sighed, dropping to her seat.

　Rue sat down in front of her, pulling out her notebooks. "It can't be that bad, they're nice boys." she said as she turned the pages of the textbook, she chuckled softly as she heard herself. She sounded a lot like Will when he wanted her to meet the party.

　Max pouted, softly kicking at Rue's foot to grab her full attention, "I wanted to go with you," she leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand.

　Rue's ears went red, "I'm sorry, Max."

（ ₊˚. ✰┊📼 ! ）

　"So you hit T to zoom in and W zooms back out," Bob Newby explained to Jonathan, teaching him how the video camera works. "See? easy-peasy," he said after Jonathan got the hang of it.

　Ruth sat on the couch, defeated. She ripped off the cap from her head and dropped her bat on the floor. "I still can't believe it!" She groaned, throwing the baseball up in the air. It brushed the popcorn ceiling for a second before it fell again, and she caught it swiftly.

　"What?" Jonathan asked, turning the camera towards the girl who laid on the couch of his living room.

　"Her game got cancelled," Bob told him. The man was now holding a bowl of candy he planned to give out to children with Joyce that night. "It was her first one here in Hawkins, she was excited."

　Rue frowned, rolling over to look at her dad. He smiled at her, tossing one of the chocolate bars. She caught it and just stared at the candy. She was going to show her team just how good she is at baseball, the sport she's been playing for most of her life.

　Bob sighed sympathetically, moving over to sit next to her. "Don't worry too much about it, Ru-ru," he said, grinning as Rue scrunched her nose at the nickname. She hasn't heard it since she was five, and she still hated it.

　"You've got the rest of the year, and next year, and the year after that to show them off." Bob poked her side.

　Rue let out a giggle as she threw the ball in the air again. Bob caught it this time, "You can go trick-or-treating now!"

　She sat up, fixing her white, orange and blue jersey that said Newby 002 in bold orange on the back. Rue stared at her dad, who wore a cheesy vampire costume. "Can't I just stay here with you and Joyce?" she pleaded, "All you're doing is watching movies right? We can watch The Shining!"

　"Why don't you go trick-or-treating with Will and his friends?" Joyce suddenly chirped up, clearly listening to the father and daughter's conversation as she fixed up Will's Ghostbusters costume.

　"But I left my Daphne costume at home,"

　"You can keep that baseball thing on and that can be your costume." Will pointed, getting up from the chair in the dining room. "You can't say no," he added quickly, knowing the girl's instincts to decline his ideas when it came to hanging out with his friends.

　"I wasn't going to," Rue smirked, taking a bite from the chocolate bar. "I was gonna say 'sure'"

　"Oh, that's a first," Will teased, giggling as Rue stuck her tongue out at him.

　"It's settled!" Joyce smiled as she picked up Rue's bat from the carpet, handing it to her. She grabbed another empty pillowcase for Rue to use as a candy bag. "Here."

　"Ready?" Jonathan said with a smile, already standing by the door.

　"Yeah,"

　The three walked out of the house and into Jonathan's car, Will in the front while Rue sat in the back.

　"Be safe!" they heard Joyce call as Bob threw an arm around her.

　"I hope it doesn't suuuck!" Rue laughed as her dad mocked Dracula.

　"Bye!" Will waved out the window as Jonathan pulled out of the driveway.

　She pulled out her Walkman and threw the headphones over her head, drowning herself with the music as she stared out the window, neglecting Will and Jonathan's conversation in the front.

 　Under Pressure by Queen was the first to play from her mixtape and Rue was quick to switch it off. She blinked a couple of times as Billie Jean by Michael Jackson played instead.

　Rue could suddenly feel every bump the car made. Her heart beat faster whenever Jonathan went over a speed bump, and her mouth went dry when another car would pass next to them. Maybe she still is a little scared of cars.

（ ₊˚. ✰┊📼 ! ）

　The car came to a stop before Wheeler's house. The front door opened, and Lucas, Mike, and Dustin ran out, cheering for Will.

　Rue found herself smiling at them. Even from the stories Will's told her about his friends, she knew that they were good friends. They're good for Will.

　She turned off her Walkman, grabbing the empty pillowcase Joyce had given her, Will followed her actions and went to open the car door.

　"Hey wait," Jonathan called just before the two got out.

　Rue froze, and Will plopped back onto his seat and looked at his brother. "Yeah?"

　"If I let you guys go on your own," he started, and Will was already smiling ear to ear. "You promise to stay in the neighbourhood?"

　Jonathan asked, a smile on his face growing from watching his brother's excitement.

　Will looked at Rue in the back for a second as the thought he might be getting pranked. She only shrugged with a grin that mirrored Will's. The boy looked back at Jonathan, biting his lip.

　Rue knew that will's family was overprotective, and she understood after hearing stories that Will went missing the year before. It wasn't hard to miss, the stares he got, and all the doctor appointments Joyce would take him to for his PTSD.

　And because on her first day in Hawkins, she saw an old newspaper flying in the wind as she walked into her dad's Radio shop. It was titled; The Boy Who Came Back To Life. It was such a small world that her father ended up dating the mother of the said boy.

　"Yeah! I promise!" Will beamed, happiness spread across his face. "Yeah — yeah totally, right Rue?" he looked back at her again.

　Rue nodded, "Yeah!"

　"And be back at Mike's by nine," Jonathan said.

　"Nine-thirty?" Will tried to extend, hoping to get an extra half an hour out.

　"Nine," he repeated. "Deal?"

　"Yeah! Deal!"

　"Rue, make sure he comes back by nine," he turned around to face the girl, hoping if his brother forgets, she'll remind him.

　She grinned, "You got it," she gave him a fist bump before opening the car door and walking out with Will. The two of them did a quick celebratory secret handshake as the other three boys walked up to them.

　"Hey, Will," Jonathan called again. Will turned back around with a smile. "Don't let any of your spazzy friends use this, alright?" he said, handing him the camera through the open window.

　"Okay!" he said, taking it into his hands. Turning back to Rue, the two walked up to the trio who were hitting each other with their empty pillow covers.

　"Will!" Lucas cheered.

　"Egon!" said Dustin with a smile. "Rue, you came!" he stated, giving the girl a quick hug. Then they all took off on their mission to get as much candy as possible before nine.

（ ₊˚. ✰┊📼 ! ）

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