This summer, the new mall in Hawkins became the place to be, hence why Benny, Lucas, Will and Max were there, expecting to see Mike.
"What time did he say he would be here?" Benny groaned, adding to the list of complaints that came from the four.
"He should've been here 20 minutes ago," Will checked his watch again.
"Maybe he just hasn't checked the time," Max excused him.
"Or maybe he just forgot about us," Lucas folded his arms across his chest.
"I didn't forget about you guys!" Mike tiredly exclaimed once he rode his bike close enough for them to hear.
"Well you're late," Lucas lead the four over to him.
"Sorry!" Mike climbed off of his bike hurriedly.
"We're gonna miss the opening," Will complained, referring to the movie they came to see.
"Yeah, if you guys keep whining about it. Lets go!"
"If you guys keep whining about it," Lucas mocked childishly.
Mike turned him around and slung an arm around his shoulder, "Just please stop talking, dude."
"Let me guess, you were busy," Lucas smacked his lips to imitate kissing noises. Benny snickered at the boy making Max elbow him.
"Oh, yeah, real mature, Lucas," Mike rolled his eyes.
"Oh El, I wish we could make our forever, and never hang out with any of our friends," Lucas mocked yet again.
"Or better yet, we could just run away and never look back for a second, and never even think about our friends," Benny added on with a grin making Will snort.
"Benny, stop," Max scolded, hitting the back of his head lightly.
"Will thinks it's funny," Benny looked at her in disbelief with a shake of his head.
"Because it is," Will laughed out.
"Yeah, it's so funny that I want to spend romantic time with my girlfriend."
"I'm spending romantic time with my girlfriend," Lucas mocked, grabbing Benny's arm to pull him next to him and put an arm around his shoulders, making kissing noises in his face.
"Ew, get off," Benny shrugged his arm off and pushed his head away. The five hurried down the escalator, murmuring 'sorry's to the people they had to lightly push past. Once they got off of the escalator, Mike stumbled into a group of girls.
"Hey, watch it!" One of the girls warned him. Another girl kept a shameless gaze on Benny as he grinned at her making Max yank his arm.
"Yeah, watch it, nerd!" A voice called out to Lucas. It was his sister, Erica, sitting with her friends and eating ice cream.
"Isn't it past your bed time?"
"Isn't it time you died?" Erica shot back.
"Psycho!"
"Buttface!"
"Mall rat!"
"Fart face!" The two blew raspberries at each other making Benny turn Lucas around by grabbing his shoulder.
"Now that was mature," Max mocked while rolling her eyes. They ran to catch up to Will and Mike who'd already entered the new ice cream shop; Scoops Ahoy. Mike walked up to the counter and rang the bell impatiently.
"Oh my god, calm down," Benny scolded the boy.
"Hey dingus, your children are here," the tired girl at the counter with the nametag 'Robin' spoke.
"Again? Seriously?" Steve opened the sliding window. The kids looked at him expectantly and Mike ring the bell one last time. Steve sighed and motioned for them to follow him through the door that lead to the hallways behind all of the stores. It was the short cut the kids took quite often when trying to get to their movies on time.
"I swear if anyone hears about this-!"
"We're dead!" They shouted from down the hall. Steve threatened them with the same phrase every time they took the shortcut.
"Did you bring the snacks?" Lucas asked Mike.
"Yes, I brought the snacks. Stop worrying," Mike rolled his eyes. He walked them to the door that would lead them to the movie theater. Mike opened the door quietly, looking around for anyone walking by before whispering, "All clear."
The the five exited the hallway and made their way to the theater that was previewing 'Day of the Dead'.
Mike, Will, and Lucas shuffled across the row with three open seats while Max and Benny made their way to the two open seats in front of the boys.
"See, Lucas? We made it," Mike whispered.
"We missed the previews."
"Still made it," Max shrugged.
"Yeah, fart face," Benny mocked, looking back at Lucas who made a face at him. Mike searched through his bag for snacks, handing them off to Will while he passed them to Lucas who passed them to Max. The movie started and Benny opened his pack of skittles, about to eat them before Max snatched them from him.
Benny gaped at her dramatically and mumbled, "Could've asked."
The movie played for about 10 seconds before stopping. The crowd groaned and a few people got up to leave.
"Is there a storm we didn't know about?" Benny leaned back to talk to the other three boys.
"No, you idiot," Max responded. "It's just a power outage." Only less than a minute later, the movie came back on making the crowd cheer and sit back down.
Will, however, sat there terrified as he reached his hand to the back of his neck and felt the all too familiar goosebumps.
—
"This is Gold Leader, returning to base. Do you copy? Over?" Dustin's voice came over the supercomm in the middle of the room.
"Are you going to help or not?" Max spoke as if she was talking to a baby. Benny narrowed his eyes at her but grabbed a red marker anyway. By the time they finished, El had set up the toys in Dustin's room and they were all standing behind a wall so that Dustin couldn't see them when he entered.
Once he did return, he went straight to his bedroom.
"Okay, showtime," Mike whispered to El who was next to him. She closed her eyes and focused on the toys that could soon be heard making different noises and coming closer to their spot behind the wall. Dustin quickly grabbed the hairspray that Steve had gifted him for the snowball and cautiously followed the toys.
"It's just a dream. You're dreaming," Dustin tried to convince himself, holding Steve's hairspray tighter.
Max briefly looked behind the wall and saw the toys and Dustin approaching, nodding her head at Benny who repeated it to Lucas. Lucas nudged Will and he nodded to Mike.
"Now," Mike told El. She opened her eyes and the toys came to an abrupt stop.
"Come on," Max motioned for them to move. Dustin was crouched down in front of his toys as they crept behind him. Lucas stood in front with the sign while everyone else had party horns in their mouths. Max counted down silently with her fingers, and once she reached zero, they all blue their horns. Dustin screamed and turned around, violently spraying his hairspray right into Lucas' face, making him scream as well. The five behind Lucas jumped back and watched with their mouths agape. Lucas held up his hand for him to stop, which he eventually did.
"Holy shit!" Dustin breathed out.
"What the hell?!" Lucas rubbed his eyes painfully. The other five still stood there with wide eyes, almost afraid to move. Dustin began to apologize repeatedly to which Lucas just dismissed them. Once that matter was sorted out, Dustin insisted on showing Mike, El, and Will his new 'masterpiece'.
"Are we sure this is going to work?" Lucas worriedly asked again while Benny turned on the faucet in Dustin's kitchen.
"Yes, it'll work, come on," Benny guided Lucas towards the sink before hopping onto the counter.
Lucas yelped when his eyes touched the water, letting out various curses and 'ow's while he rubbed his eyes once in a while. He groaned while lifting his head up, rubbing his eyes once more.
"Better?" Max winced.
"Still stings," Lucas rubbed his eyes one last time so he could see more clearly. He furrowed his brows when looking at Max, "Is that a new zit?"
Benny buried his face in his hands laughing, "Idiot."
"What is wrong with you?" Max shoved his head under the water again.
"I was just asking!" Lucas screamed when his eyes touched the water.
"Don't encourage him," Max scolded Benny who was still laughing at the boy.
"Is she cute?" Will asked, adding onto the ongoing conversation with Dustin, Mike, and El who were exiting the house with some equipment.
"Whats going on?" Max looked up at them.
"We're going to talk to Dustin's girlfriend," Will smiled.
"Girlfriend?"
—
The kids panted as they trudged up the hill in the hot summer weather.
"Aren't we high enough?" Lucas complained as he adjusted the equipment on his back. Everyone, except for Mike and El, had to practically drag equipment up to Dustin's desired height so they could talk to his new 'girlfriend', Suzie.
"Cerebro works best at a hundred meters," Dustin explained his new invention.
"You know, I'm pretty sure people in Utah have telephones," Max added.
"Yeah, but Suzie's Mormon."
"Oh shit. She doesn't have electricity?" Lucas raises his eyebrows.
"Is your head hollow?" Benny tiredly teased.
"That's the Amish," Max hit the back of Benny's head lightly.
"What are Mormons?" Will mumbled.
"Super religious white people," Dustin grinned. "They have electricity and cars and stuff but... since I'm not Mormon, her parents would never approve. It's all a bit... Shakespearean."
"Shakespearean?"
"Yeah. Like Romeo and Juliet. Star crossed lovers."
"Are you sure that's a good comparison?" Benny snickered.
"Hey guys!" Mike shouted from behind them, still hand in hand with El making the others stop and turn. "This is fun and all, but, uh..." he trailed off, pointing to his watch.
"I have to go home," El smiled sweetly.
"We're almost there," Dustin reasoned.
"Sorry, man. Curfew," Mike turned, "come on, let's go."
"Good luck," El turned and ran off with him while giggling.
Dustin checked his watch, "Curfew at 4:00?"
"They're lying."
"It's been like this all summer."
"It's romantic," Max shrugged.
"It's gross," Will shook his head.
"It's annoying," Benny sighed.
"It's bullshit. I just got home," Dustin watched them run off solemnly before trying to lift the spirit. "Well, their loss, right? Onwards and upwards!" Max, Lucas, and Benny groaned as they followed after a much more enthusiastic Dustin. Will stayed back, touching the back of his neck carefully and feeling the same goosebumps that he felt just earlier this week.
"Will, come on!"
—
"Made it," Dustin grinned while he dropped his heavy equipment.
"Yeah, it only took five hours," Max sarcastically mumbled.
"Why couldn't we just play D&D?"
"I'm so thirsty," Lucas breathed out, taking his and Benny's shared canteen of water and gulping down the remaining sips of it.
"Dude, we're sharing that!" Benny complained in disbelief. Lucas looked at him then back at the canteen. The other boy watched in disgust as he spat the water in his mouth back into the canteen and grinned at him sheepishly.
"Never mind," Benny waved him off. Dustin began to instruct the four kids on how to set up Cerebro. In roughly thirty minutes, they had fully finished setting up Cerebro.
"Pretty impressive, right?" Dustin stared in awe at his invention. The four hummed in agreement. "Now, you ready to meet my love?"
"Okay, sure," Max placed her hands on her hips.
"Yeah," Will seemed rather intrigued.
"Suzie, this is Dustin. Do you copy? Over." The radio stayed silent. Benny's hope faltered slightly. "One sec. She's probably... She's still there. Suzie... This is Dustin. Do you copy? Over. I'm sure she's there it's just-"
"Yeah," Lucas nodded slowly.
"You know, maybe shes, like, busy or-"
"Yeah."
"It's around dinner time... Suzie, do you copy? This is Dustin. Over." Dustin repeated the same phrase for nearly hours, and still nothing happened.
Night had fallen and the kids were laying down, resting their heads on their backpacks as Dustin persisted.
"Suzie! This is Dustin. Do you copy? Over," Dustin stood up and stretched. "Suzie, this is your Dustin. Do you copy? Over. Suzie-"
"Dustin, come on! She's not there," Max snapped.
"She's there, all right? She'll pick up."
"Maybe Cerebro doesn't work," Will suggested.
"Or maybe Suzie doesn't exist," Lucas rubbed his head tiredly.
"She exists!"Dustin defended.
"She's a genius and she's hotter than Phoebe Cates?"
"She's hotter than Phoebe Cates?" Benny sat up, his attention suddenly caught. "Are you sure she's real? Because Phoebe Cates is-"
"Phoebe Cates is what?" Max sat up and tilted her head at him.
"She's- um... She- she's-" Benny stuttered, the weather suddenly getting hotter.
"Relax, I'm joking, and Dustin's obviously joking as well. I'm leaving," Max stood up and walked away leaving the four boys.
"Where are you going?"
"Home," Max flatly responded.
"Well, guess it's just us," Dustin sighed.
Benny hissed as he touched the skin on his arm, seeing the red tint on it spread and darken. "Shit," he mumbled. "I need to take care of this," he motioned towards his sunburn. "We can try again tomorrow."
"No, it's- it's okay," Dustin disappointedly slouched his shoulders. Benny gave him a weak smile before getting up to leave.
Once he was a few minutes into his walk, he came across a crashed car in front of a building. However, he recognized the car.
Sitting behind the cracked windshield was Billy Hargrove.
"Billy?" Benny squinted his eyes as he cautiously approached the car.
"Piece of shit," Billy mumbled to the car, hitting it repeatedly before staggering out of it. He slammed the door shut angrily. "You- you're the kid-" Billy tried to pinpoint where he'd seen the boy.
"Yeah, yeah, I was at the Byers' house," Benny spoke fearfully, not liking the fact that he was alone with an angry Billy Hargrove. Billy didn't recognize the name of the house but dismissed it. He touched his bleeding head before turning back to the car, spotting a substance on his cracked windshield.
"What the hell?" He mumbled, slowly touching the substance and examining it. From behind him, something moved, creating a startling sound. He straightened up, "Who's there?"
Billy walked forward slowly. "Stay here. Don't fucking move," he warned. "I said, who's there?!" Just after he finished, his leg was grabbed by something, making him fall on his stomach.
"Shit!" Benny screamed, watching the boy with wide eyes as he clawed at the ground to try and stop the thing. Benny was frozen with fear, desperately wanting to do something, but he was too scared. Billy screamed as he was dragged into the structure.
Right before his screams were silenced, Benny heard one last thing come from the teen's mouth, "Run!"
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