I wake up and untangle my limbs from Steve's. I rub my eyes and shake him awake.

"Hmm?" He mumbles.

"Billy didn't call me last night."

"Okay? And?" Steve says groggily.

"And he always calls when I bail on him. Steve, something's off."

"He probably just got busy. Or maybe he just called your house instead of here," Steve slurs, cuddling his pillow. I flick his head, "Ow!"

"Steve! Something's off." I repeat, "He always calls here if I'm not at the house."

As if on cue, the phone by my bed rings. I pick it up immediately, "Billy?"

"Uh, no, it's Max. Do you wanna come skate with me today?"

I stand from the bed, "Yeah, sure. I'll meet you at your house?"

"Okay. See ya, Y/N!"

"See ya."

I hang up and look back over at Steve, who's now snoring lightly.

I shake him awake, "I'm gonna hang out with Max today. If it's anything like last time, we'll probably have a sleepover or something. Get up. You have work today."

I get dressed, and head over to the Mayfield/Hargrove house.

//Timeskip//

I sit on the ground in front of Max's driveway while she skates back in forth down her street.

"I don't get why you invite me to do this with you when I don't even skate. I just watch." I chuckle.

Max shrugs, "I like having an audience."

I nod, "That makes sense, I guess. Oh, hey, I've been meaning to ask you, have you seen Billy?"

"Not today. He went somewhere last night though. I haven't seen him since."

"Did he tell you where he was going?"

"Y/n, it's Billy, of course he didn't."

Max rides back down the street and I watch as she stumbles and the board keeps going. El comes out of seemingly nowhere and stops the skateboard with her foot. I walk over to the two girls as El hands the board to Max.

"Hi." El says.

"Hi?" Max answers.

El looks between the two of us, "Can...we talk?"

"Yeah. Yeah, sure." Max answers and the three of us walk to Max's house and go straight to her room.

"Go ahead, El." I nod, sitting on Max's bed. El takes her place next to me and starts talking.

"I-I called Mike this morning to ask if he was coming over. He was acting...weird," Max starts pacing the room as El speaks, "Mike said he couldn't come over b-because his Nana is sick, but Hop told me that his Nana is okay. He said that he needed to be alone with his feelings. And then he said he-- he missed me. And then he just hung up."

"He's a piece of shit," Max replies.

"Mike doesn't have jack shit to do today, and his Nana obviously isn't sick. I guarantee you, him and Lucas are playing Atari right now."

"But friends don't lie."

"Yeah, well, boyfriends lie. All. The. Time."

I speak up, "I dont know. Maybe you're jumping to conclusions, Max? Maybe something really is up with his Nana. And even if there isn't, El, Mike wouldn't lie to you unless he had a good reason to."

"Or maybe he's just a piece of shit." Max counters. She sits on the opposite side of El, "You're going to stop calling him. You're going to ignore his calls. As far as you're concerned, he doesn't exist."

"Doesn't exist?" El questions.

"He treated you like garbage. You're gonna treat him like garbage. Give him a taste of his own medicine."

El nods, "Give him the medicine."

"Mmhm. And if he doesn't fix this, if he doesn't explain himself, dump his ass."

I clear my throat, "Come on." I jump off the bed and grab their hands.

"Where are we going?" They ask in unison.

"To have some fun. There's more to life than stupid boys, you know."

We walk to my car and I drive the girls to the mall, pushing my worried thoughts about Billy to the back of my mind.

"So what do you think?" I ask when I pull into the parking lot. El has an uncomfortable look on her face, "What's wrong?"

"Too many people. Against the rules."

"Seriously?" Max says, "You have superpowers. What's the worst that could happen."

I nod, "And I'll be with you guys the whole time. If you get in trouble, I'll tell Hopper it was all my idea. I'll say I dragged you here against your will or something," El nods with a small smile, "Great. Let's go."

The three of us climb out of the car and Max grabs our hands and pulls us into the mall.

We stand in the center and El looks around in all, "So what should we do first?" Max questions, "You've never ben shopping before, have you?" El shakes her head, "Well, then I guess we're just gonna have to try everything."

"Yeah," I agree, "But take it easy. I work at a public pool, for godsake, I can only afford so much."

"Ooh, come on." Max grabs our hands and drags us into the Gap.

El walks through the store, looking at all of the clothes and accessories. She gazes at a blue shirt with colorful lines on a mannequin.

"Do you like that?" Max asks.

El looks over at her, "How do I know...what I like."

Max shrugs, "You just...try things on. Until you fnd something thay feels like you."

"Like me?"

"Yeah. Not Hopper. Not Mike. You."

//Timeskip//

After El tries on a lot of clothes from different stores and I buy the clothes she likes, including a colorful jumpsuit that she wanted to keep on, and I get Max a pair of red sunglasses she picked out, I took the girls all around the mall to do different activities. After El made a girl's Coke explode, I decide that we should hit one more store and then head back to Max's house.

We walk into Scoops Ahoy and I see Steve at the counter, "Hello, sailor. Glad to see you rolled out of bed this morning."

"Couldn't have done it without you. Now, what can I get you girls?"

Max and El order and I get my favorite flavor, as well.

"You gonna be home tonight?" Steve questions.

I shrug and look at Max, "Am I?"

She shakes her head, "Nope. Sleepover."

Steve sighs, "Figures. Well, whenever you get the chance, we need to talk a--

The sliding glass window opens and Robin appears, "We've got our first sentence." Steve turns around and they talk in low voices.

When he turns back he hands u our icecream, "Uh, okay. Here you go, you got a strawberry, a

Y/F/IC and then a vanilla with sprinkles, extra whipped cream."

"Thanks." The girls reply in unison.

"Wait a second. Are you even allowed to be here?"

The girls make eye contact and then run off giggiling.

I look back at Steve, "El's having a rough day. I'm trying to help. What was that all about with you and Robin?"

"Nothing. Uh, it was just...it's another game."

"Right. Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

I leave without another word.

I catch up with the girls and they take notice of Mike, Lucas, and Will.

"I'm gonna go pull the car around," I inform, walking out to the parking lot while Max and El confront the boys.

I get in the car and drive it over to the front of the mall. The girls march over to the car and climb into the backseat, giggling

"What happened?" I question, handing Max my ice cream from my loss of appetite.

"I dumped his ass." El replies simply.

I nod, "Well, that's, uh, great. Good job." I look over at Mike and shrug at him before driving off, "Where to next?"