𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧: 𝐣𝐮𝐧𝐤𝐲𝐚𝐫𝐝

❝ᴀs ʟᴏɴɢ ᴀs ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ʜᴀᴘᴘʏ, ᴀʀʟᴏ.❞

𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐀𝐗 𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐔𝐏 𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 up with lucas on their way to the junkyard before the trio had ran into percy and apollo. the two williams boys were inside of apollo's old volkswagen van. it had spray paint all on the outside of it, and was basically falling apart from age, but arlo had a deep love for that van. her, lucas, and max were now inside of the van, arlo's and lucas' bikes being stuffed into the back while apollo drove them to the junkyard.

"do you know why dustin told us to go to the junkyard?" percy questioned, turning around to face his friends. he still was very confused on what was going on.

"yeah. that kid broke my sleep from how much he was radioing percy." apollo informed, bringing a cigarette to his lips to take a pull. arlo looked over at lucas since the both of them knew that it was about dart, but arlo knew what had happened for them to even be looking for the slimy creature.

"something about dart." she answered, shrugging her shoulders.

"he found him?" percy asked, his eyebrows raised slightly.

"in a sense." lucas mumbled, earning a confused look from percy, apollo, and max.

the rest of the ride was silent, percy and apollo trying to figure out what was going on. arlo was sat between lucas and max, the harrington girl's eyebrows furrowing slightly. it was an ache somewhere inside of her, coming from deep within, but she didn't know where or why it was there. she continued to look down at her lap, eyebrows still furrowed together. a nudge coming from her right side snapped her out of whatever trance she was in, turning to look at max with raised eyebrows.

"you're crying." the mayfield girl whispered, her eyebrows knitted together in worry as she looked at arlo. without another word she brought her hand up and wiped the tears that had trailed down arlo's cheeks, making sure to be gentle. lucas watched at the strawberry blonde's cheeks turned crimson as she did so, the gears in his head slowly turning. "why're you crying, cherry? are you okay?" arlo nodded, looking up at the girl with flushed cheeks.

apollo looked at the two through the rearview mirror, a small knowing smile plastered on his lips. he quickly looked back at the road, bringing his cigarette up to his lips to take another pull. when the group arrived at the junkyard that held so many memories for lucas and arlo, they all climbed out of the busted van. apollo was the one leading the group, his heart fluttering in his chest at the sight of steve harrington.

"i said medium-well!" lucas yelled, gaining the attention of steve and dustin. dustin's face dropped when he realized that max was with them. steve practically dropped what he was doing and ran over to his sister, glad to see that she was standing and okay.

arlo grunted when her brother pulled her into a tight hug, reluctantly wrapping her own arms around his waist. "yeah, i love you, too, steve. but i - i can't breathe."

"sorry. sorry. it's just that what happened last night. . ." steve quickly apologized, pulling away as he looked down at the girl. "i was really worried, lo."

"i know. i'm sorry. let's hope it doesn't happen again." arlo told him, a small smile appearing on her lips.

"arlo, lucas, a word!" dustin yelled gesturing towards a rusted car. the two in question looked at one another before they walked towards him, arlo slipping out of steve's hold. they followed the curly haired boy towards the rusted car, the three of them crouching down behind it. "what is max doing here?"

"oh, i told her everything that happened last year and brought her along so that she could see proof that i wasn't lying." arlo replied.

"you told her?" dustin asked.

"yes, i did. you wanted to tell her, too." arlo defended, looking at the curly haired boy with furrowed eyebrows.

"but i didn't, all right? we all agreed not to tell her and to look for dart." dustin reminded.

"and you don't think that when dart shows up with a flower shaped mouth, ready to eat us all, that's not gonna need some fucking explaining?" arlo challenged. "same thing goes for percy and apollo. they're gonna be so fucking confused when they see an ugly ass inter-dimensional creature with a flower shaped mouth eating from the pile of meat. you're worrying about the wrong thing right now. have you heard from mike?"

"no." dustin answered.

"will?" lucas added.

"no."

"hopper?"

"no! no one is around." dustin snapped. "why do you think i'm with arlo's brother? something's -"

"wrong. i agree." lucas finished. "which is why we need as much help as we can get.

the sound of max grunting is what caught the trio's attention, peaking over the car door to see that max was moving a piece of scrap metal. "she didn't believe me anyway." arlo told dustin.

"probably didn't tell it right." dustin mumbled, a small smile on his face as he looked over to the shorter girl.

"yeah, that must be it." arlo nodded, mirroring his smile. "so, are we good, dust? we can't exactly be fighting during a time like this." she then asked, holding her hand out.

"yeah, we're good." dustin answered, taking her hand and shaking it.

"cool." arlo said, her smile widening. she was getting ready to open her mouth to say something else but she was interrupted by the sound of something hitting the car that her and the boys were leaning against. they turned around to see that it was just steve.

"hey! dickheads! how come neither one of you are helping us out? i mean even apollo is doing something!" the older harrington questioned, gesturing to max, apollo, and percy. "we lose light in 40 minutes. let's go. let's go, i said!" he urged, walking away.

"stop being a fucking asshole! shit!" arlo cursed, moving from besides lucas to go push her brother forward. steve went stumbling before he turned around and looked down at her, forgetting how strong the younger girl was.

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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐍 ago, covering the junkyard in complete darkness. everyone was inside of the school bus that they had covered in scraps to make sure that dart wouldn't be able to enter. arlo found the whole thing funny since that was the same school bus that her, the boys, and eleven hid inside when they were running from the bad men. arlo was all the way at the back of the bus, making sure to stay hidden since she knew that shadows were clinging to her. lucas was on top of the bus, using his binoculars to see if dart was anywhere near them. max was sat across from arlo, watching her closely. dustin, steve, apollo, and percy were all at the front, dustin and steve trying their hardest to explain to the two williams boys what had happened and what was going.

"so we just guarded up an old ass school bus so that we could trap an. . . what was it, henderson?" apollo started, looking at dustin with furrowed eyebrows.

"an inter-dimensional creature." dustin answered

apollo nodded, gesturing towards the younger boy. "right, thank you. an inter-dimensional creature because it ate your cat? but not only that, little harrington supposedly has powers?"

"pretty much." steve nodded.

"yeah, okay." apollo mumbled, earning confused looks from everyone in the bus.

"you - you believe us? you're not even gonna ask us about the telekinetic girl or anything? you're just gonna. . . believe us?" dustin quizzed, not wrapping his head around the fact that apollo had believed them.

"yep." apollo nodded, taking out his box of cigarettes before he pulled a cigarette out. steve quickly reached forward and plucked the cigarette out of his hand, shaking his head. "what the hell, harrington?"

"if we have to sit in this bus together for god knows how long, you are not smoking." steve told him, throwing the cigarette somewhere behind him. "i don't care if we're in here for an hour or all goddamn night. no smoking, apollo."

"fine." apollo sighed, stuffing the box of cigarettes back into his leather jacket. "whatever you say, king steve."

arlo got up suddenly, making everyone turn to look at her. the harrington girl ignored all of their looks as she started to climb up the ladder that led to the roof of the bus. lucas heard her climbing up, making the sinclair boy look away from his binoculars and at her. he smiled slightly when she sat next to him, the both of them turning to look out at the scenery. she almost felt peaceful up there on the roof; it was dead silent and there was a soft breeze blowing, cooling her flushed skin. she had forgotten about the dull ache coming from deep inside her as she looked around at the fog covered scenery.

"you know. . ." lucas started, making the latina turn to look at him. "ever since max came along, you've been acting different. not in a bad way. it's just that, for as long as i've known you, you've made it your mission not to befriend any girl at our school or in this town. then max appeared, and all of that went out the window." he continued, arlo's heart starting to beat faster against her ribcage as she looked down at her hands. lucas noticed this, seeing how more and more shadows were starting to cling to the harrington girl. "and i thought, 'hmm, maybe our little arlo is growing up.' but i realized that it wasn't that. i realized that it was something else. you like her, don't you? and i don't mean like in a friend kinda way, arlo. i mean like like. i mean like in a way that everything around you reminds you of her."

"how'd you know?" arlo questioned, her voice soft as she looked up him.

"i would notice little things. the way you would perk up when you heard her voice or saw her. or the way that you would even just look at her. you only let the people you care about touch you, and she's grabbed you and dragged you places so many times. i mean, you even let her give you a nickname." he listed, a chuckle escaping his lips. "you know it's okay that you do like her, right? i mean, the rest of the party wouldn't care either. as long as you're happy, arlo."

"don't you and dustin like her, too?" arlo asked.

lucas shrugged, "we'll get over it."

arlo smiled, so happy to call the sinclair boy her best friend. "thank you, luke."

"anytime, arlo." he nodded.

"hi." a soft voice appeared, making the duo turn to see that max had climbed up the ladder. lucas smiled slightly when he saw the way arlo was looking at the girl. "am i interrupting something?"

"uh, no." lucas answered quickly, handing arlo his binoculars. arlo looked at him with raised eyebrows, wondering what he was doing. "arlo was just trying to convince me to take a break. relax my eyes and all that crap. so that's what i'm gonna go do. arlo, do not break my binoculars." he further explained, waiting for max to move out of the way so that he could go down the ladder.

the shorter girl smiled when she had finally realized what lucas was doing, the dark skinned boy sending her a wink as he descended down the ladder before disappearing. silence fell over the two girls as they looked around the junkyard. arlo gently placed lucas' binoculars next to her.

"it's kinda awesome." max admitted, breaking the silence.

"huh?" arlo asked, tilting her head.

"the fog, i mean. looks like the ocean." max elaborated.

"you miss it?" arlo questioned, earning a confused look from the girl in front of her. "the ocean? the waves? california in general? i still think that hawkins is lame compared to california." the harrington girl elaborated, referring to the night that she had walked max home from the arcade.

"no, no, no, it's not that. it's just. . ." max mumbled, looking at arlo with sad eyes. arlo picked up on this, her playful demeanor going out the window. "my dad's still there. so. . ." arlo frowned at that. "remember i told you that my mom married this guy and they wanted to start over? well, they wanted a fresh start away from him. as if - as if he was the problem, which is total bull. and things. . . are just worse now. my stepbrother's always been a dick, but now he's just angry. . . all the time and. . . well, he can't take it out on my mom, so. . ."

"so he takes it out on you?" arlo finished, feeling a wave of anger wash over her at the thought of billy hurting max in any shape or form.

"i don't even know why i'm telling you this." max shook her head, averting her gaze away from arlo. "it's just. . . i know that i can be a jerk like him sometimes, and i do not want to be like him. ever. i guess i'm angry, too, and. . . i'm sorry." she apologized, looking back at arlo with an apologetic look in her eyes. "jesus! what's wrong with me?"

"you're nothing like your brother, max." arlo assured, making the strawberry blonde look at her with furrowed eyebrows. you're great at video games, and you're extremely smart. and you are actually really caring, and sweet, and funny. you're literally nothing like the other girls in this town. and you're totally tubular." she listed off, a smile pulling at her lips as she watched max's face light up.

"nobody actually says that, you know." max told her, a few watery chuckles escaping her lips.

"yeah, i know." arlo nodded.

"and it makes you seem really cool." max complimented sarcastically, making the shorter girl chuckle.

"i really enjoy talking with you, strawberry." arlo admitted, deciding to give max a better nickname than red.

the red head felt her cheeks heat up at that, her head tilting slightly at the nickname. "strawberry?

"strawberry." arlo nodded.

"well, i really enjoy talking with you, too, cherry." max said. arlo smiled at that, feeling her heart flutter in her chest at the way that max was looking at her. before either one of them could say anything else, a loud growl filled the air. this made the two girls look away from one another and at the junkyard.

"arlo, what's going on?!" dustin yelled from inside the bus.

"hold on!" arlo shouted back as she shifted onto her knees. she grabbed lucas' binoculars and brought them up to her eyes, looking around the junkyard frantically. she froze when she saw a figure appear break through the fog, her heart dropping once she realized how big it was. "i've got eyes! ten o'clock! ten o'clock!" she handed the binoculars to max so that she could see before she pointed over to where dart was.

"wait. you sure that's not a dog?" max questioned, taking the binoculars away from her face.

"what? no - no, that's not a dog." arlo told her. the two girls continued to look at the creature, watching it closely. dart wasn't taking the bait, which worried arlo. the girl felt max nudge her, making her look towards the taller girl. the strawberry blonde pointed to something, arlo looking to see that steve was outside of the bus with his bat in his hands. "steve, what the fuck are you doing?"

"stay there, lo! do not move! just be ready!" steve shouted at her, knowing his sister. the harrington boy continued to walk out into the fog, whistling to try and get dart's attention. arlo watched steve carefully, more and more shadows starting to cling to her. she didn't even notice that max had climbed down the ladder into the bus. she continued to look through the binocular, seeing that dart had completely came out of the fog, noticing the yellow patter on his bag. she then saw some movement to the right of steve, making her turn towards it to see another small demogorgan. another one appeared behind him.

"steve! watch out!" she yelled, practically throwing lucas' binoculars away. her brother ignored her, a groan escaping her mouth from how hardheaded the older boy was. "three o'clock! three o'clock!" that finally got his attention, the harrington boy turning around to see the two small demogorgans approaching him.

"steve! abort! abort!" arlo heard dustin yell from below her. steve turned around just as dart started to run towards him, the harrington boy running and sliding over an old car to dodge the creature.

"fuck this." arlo mumbled, grabbing lucas' binoculars before she disappeared into the shadows. she reappeared inside of the school bus, quickly giving lucas his binoculars before she disappeared again. percy, apollo, and max all stared at the spot she previously was in, having her just appear before disappearing. the latina emerged from out of the shadows next to steve, quickly punching a demogorgan right as it was getting ready to attack steve.

"i told you not to move!" steve scolded when he realized that his sister had saved him.

"is now really the time to be scolding me!?" arlo shouted as she quickly shot a shadow ball at one of the demogorgan dogs, sending it flying into the fog. she could hear her friends calling for them to start to run back, which is what the two siblings were starting to do. arlo sucked in a breath as she grabbed ahold of steve, the both of them disappearing into the shadows before they reappeared inside the bus.

when everyone realize that the two siblings were back on the bus, they hurried to close the door. apollo was the one to grab a piece of scrap metal and put it in front of the door to block the little demogorgans off. the sound of gagging bounced off the walls of the bus, making everyone turn to steve, who was trying to hold down his lunch from earlier. if arlo decided to shadow travel with another person, or multiple people, they usually feel nauseous afterwards. the harrington girl had collapsed on the floor from how much of her abilities she had used, blood trailing from her nose. max moved away from the group and over to max, tuning out the four boys that were currently freaking out because the demogorgan dogs were breaking through the armor that they had covered the bus in. the strawberry blonde dragged her away from any windows and placed her in the middle of the floor, holding her close.

arlo wiped her nose as she looked around, hearing dustin trying to reach anyone on his walkie. steve had recovered from his nauseous state, swinging his nail bat at a demogorgan that was trying to get in. apollo was kicking