✵

"Is your cousin dating Steve Harrington?" Jessica had randomly asked during their lunch, causing Ringo to pause mid-sandwich and screw her face up in disgust.

"Unfortunately," she admitted, following her friend's gaze towards the so called 'popular table', where Steve sat alongside his friends.

"Why?" Jessica pried, causing Ringo to chuckle.

"She must have a thing for guys with long hair that will fuck her over," Ringo shrugged, turning back and facing toward her friend again.

In truth, she didn't care for Steve Harrington at all in the days preceding. But now, she was curious. Because she had seen both sides of his personality: the spoiled, rich, white boy who dominated the school, and the sweeter side who liked to laugh and kiss his girl - also known as, the side of Steve that kept Nancy interested.

"Don't we all," Jessica sighed, looking off into the distance dramatically, gaining another chuckle from the blonde.

"Hey, Ringo right?" A voice came from beside her, a body to accompany it sliding into the chair next to Ringo's.

Ringo paused mid-bite again, chewing the rest of the food in her mouth before daring to talk to him. And so she could calm herself beforehand. The man now sitting with them was nothing short of God-like, his attractiveness alone made her nervous.

She shot a glance towards Jessica, who only rolled her eyes and continued to eat her grapes.

"Yeah, it's Ringo. And you are?" Her lips lifted into her signature grin, and it was clear he noticed her attempts at charming.

"I'm Daniel," he held his hand out for her, which she took carefully, giving it a gentle shake.

"And I'm Jessica," the dark haired girl interrupted with a cheesy grin, giving a small wave.

"Nice to meet you, too," he responded politely, holding his hand out for her to shake as well, something Ringo appreciated.

"So, everyone can't seem to stop talking about the new girl," he turned back to the blonde, giving her a quick once over.

"All good comments I'd hope?" She bantered, giving him a once over of her own.

"Better than good, babe," he replied, standing up from his chair and pointing his thumb towards the very table they had stared at moments earlier. "You wanna come have lunch with us?"

Ringo's eyebrows furrowed as she gave a quick glance back between Daniel and Jessica, her decision already made without debate.

"I'm good here, thanks anyway," she politely rejected, smiling sadly.

"Another time, then?" He winked, walking away from them but holding Ringo's eyes the entire time.

"Jesus, does this guy think he's in a John Hughes movie or what?" Jessica scoffed a laugh, snapping Ringo out of her daze. "I thought you would have gone with him to the Breakfast Club over there."

"And leave you? Never," Ringo shook her head.

"You could have brought me along," Jessica tilted her head.

"I knew you wouldn't have gone," she pointed out smartly. Jessica laughed and nodded when she realised she was right.

✵

The second Nancy and Ringo returned home from school, they were bombarded by both Karen and Mike. Surprisingly, gossip had yet to spread, and the news of Will's disappearance hadn't reached the high school. It was safe to say, the two teenagers were horrified by the news.

"Have you guys heard anything?" Mike asked after his mother had explained the situation, hoping Will had called last night or this morning and the girls had forgotten to tell him.

"No," Ringo shook her head almost numbly. Child disappearances weren't as rare these days in America as one would like, but never had she dreamed it would happen to someone she knew. "God, this is just terrifying." She spoke quietly, scraping her hand through her hair and staying put while Nancy ran upstairs - likely to phone Barb. Or Steve.

Mike huffed in frustration and ran down to his basement, but Ringo was too surprised to do anything but think about the horrific circumstances Will could be in right now.

"You alright, sweetie?" Karen asked kindly, squeezing her arm. "You don't need to worry, you're safe with us. We live in a nice neighbourhood, the Byers didn't."

Ringo held in a scoff at the 'nice neighbourhood' comment, hating how they were able to sleep soundly while others couldn't. Brushing it aside, she settled for a nod of a head and offered to help with dinner.

Dinner itself was another bombardment from Mike, this time - it was directed at his parents. Nancy and Ringo sat quietly, too disturbed to even eat their food.

"We've been over this, Michael," Karen chastised him after he once again pleaded with her to help him look. "The chief said-"

"I don't care what the chief said!" He interrupted her. Ringo's eyes widened, but she stayed quiet. An outburst like that in her house would have been met with quite the punishment.

"Michael!" She scolded, dropping the small spoon of food she was attempting to get Holly to eat.

"We have to do something! Will could be in danger!" He begged, turning to Ringo for help. Her lips parted as she stuttered over her words, not wanting to be involved but knowing he needed her in his corner.

"I don't know, Karen. Maybe joining the search party would be a good idea? I'm sure a lot of the locals are involved, it wouldn't be dangerous in a group," she offered, Mike throwing her a look of gratitude.

"The Chief doesn't think it's safe for kids to go and neither do I, end of discussion!" She slapped her hand onto the table, looking around each and every individual of talking age at the table and daring them to challenge her. No one dared to.

"So," Nancy began, swallowing quickly as she prepared to spin her lie," Barb and I are going to study at her house tonight. That's cool, right?"

"No, not cool," Karen disagreed.

"What?! Why not?"

"Why do you think? Am I speaking Chinese in this house? No one leaves until we're sure that Will is okay," Ringo had to admit, their mother wasn't being unreasonable.

"This is such bullshit!" Nancy yelled, ignoring her father when he called her out for her language. "So we're under house arrest? Just because Mike's friend got lost on the way home-"

"God, Nancy, will you just shut up?" Ringo hissed, taking the slightly younger girl aback, but she couldn't hold it in for any longer. Mike's friend was missing, possibly kidnapped, and Nancy was annoyed because she couldn't see her boyfriend.

"Nancy, take that back, and Ringo, watch your language!" Karen demanded.

"No!" Nancy shouted stubbornly.

"I'm sorry Mrs Wheeler, but she's being an absolute brat!" Ringo dropped her fork and crossed her arms across her chest, glaring at her cousin, who glared at her in return.

Her and Nancy got along for the most part, but she couldn't deny her cousin could be significantly spoiled and privileged.

"You're just pissed off cos you wanna hang out with Steve!" Mike blurted, causing an eruption at the table. Ringo's eyes widened, slapping her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. The Wheeler parents heads whipped around to face their eldest daughter.

"Steve?"

"Who is Steve?"

"Her new boyfriend!" Mike continued, completely exposing her in the most brutal way.

"God, you are such a douchebag, Mike!" She cried out, huffing and quite literally stomping her foot before storming off towards her bedroom. Mike and Ringo made eye contact, and rolled their eyes simultaneously at her hissy fit.

"You see, Michael?" His father spoke up after she had disappeared, "you see what happens?"

"What happens when what? I'm the only one acting normal here! I'm the only one who cares about Will!"

"That is really unfair son, we care," he answered back, his tone and demeanour suggesting the exact opposite. Much like his sister, this prompted Mike to huff and rush off towards his bedroom too.

The set of parents looked to Ringo, expecting her to have a meltdown too. But she simply sat there, pushing her food around with her fork.

"Wait, why didn't you want to go to Barb's too?" Karen questioned, causing Ringo's eyes to widen as she scrambled for an excuse.

"Um," she stammered, using the first thing that came to her head, "constipation?"

"Woah!" Ted hollered as Karen shook her head with her eyes closed, clearly disgusted. "I'm eating here!"

"So am I! Maybe these green beans will help!" She tried to recover, but only dug herself further into humiliation.

Ringo smiled politely, her cheeks burning as she got up from her chair and gestured towards the stair case, her exit significantly less dramatic than her cousins.

"Do you think she's going to the bathroom now?" Ted asked when she was out of sight. Karen's head whipped around, completely frustrated.

"I hope you're enjoying your chicken, Ted."

✵

Ringo was in the middle of packing her backpack while Nancy was out of the room, stuffing things she thought she would need for the night ahead, like a flashlight and snacks. And definitely a coat this time.

She had come to the decision to sneak down to the basement and offer to take Mike with her to the search party as a chaperone, knowing full well he was probably going out of his mind with worry.

While her senses were on high alert out of fear of being caught sneaking out, a knock at the window of the bedroom scared her half to death, whirling around and clutching her chest.

She could have killed Steve Harrington at that moment, one push would have ended his life. Instead, she chose the morally correct option and trampled over to the window, sliding it up. Ringo suspected that Nancy was expecting him.

"Peeping in little girls windows are you now, Harrington?" She gave him a once over as he climbed through the open space, less than graceful.

"Believe me," he smirked suddenly at her, "Nancy's no little girl."

Ringo rolled her eyes and returned to her backpack, shoving more belongings into it as Steve wandered about curiously.

"Where is Nancy?"

"The bathroom," Ringo shrugged, not wanting to be here when they started to canoodle.

"Where are you going?" He asked nosily, sitting on the edge of Nancy's bed.

"Out," she answered, almost mysteriously. But also knowing that he would tell Nancy, who would tell her parents as revenge against Mike for his revelation at the dinner table.

"Hey, is this your Walkman?" He asked, reaching forward onto her cot and picking it up.

"Yeah, its mine," she shrugged, zipping up her backpack and throwing a glance over her shoulder. Ringo stopped her movements when she noticed him pressing the eject button.

"No!" She shouted, rushing forward and trying to get the Walkman off of him.

"Woah!" He laughed, dangling it up high so she wouldn't reach. Ringo wasn't even that small, he was just so damn tall. "What are you listening to that is that embarrassing?"

She watched, cheeks burning with redness as he opened up the compartment and slid the tape out. Ringo reached again, their bodies pressed together as she clawed at his arm to drag it down, but she couldn't stop him from reading it above his head.

"'Ringo's Kicking Ass Mix'?" He quoted, eyes wide as he handed it back to her, Ringo snatching it from his grip, trying to shut out his howls of laugher. "What the hell?!"

"I was twelve when I made it, so shut up, you fluffy haired fuck!" She cursed, grasping at straws as she tried to ignore her own embarrassment.

"Calm down, Ringo," he wiped underneath his eyes, his body still shaking from laughter, "I wouldn't want you to... kick my ass!"

At this, he started laughing even harder. His face as red as Ringo's, except with exertion instead of embarrassment. His amusement was contagious, and eventually she found herself giggling along with him, as much as she tried not to.

"You couldn't have named it something happy? Like 'Ringo's Sunshine and Rainbow's Mix'?" He suggested with a raise of his eyebrows, holding out his hand for the Walkman again and the headphones so he could investigate the content of the tape in question.

Sliding it back inside and slipping the headphones onto his head to cover his ears, he switched on the tape and listened for a moment, Ringo watching for his reaction as she bit her lip.

"Slow Ride by Foghat?" He asked, she nodded her head eagerly, impressed that he knew. "It's a good song, you've been redeemed."

She smiled softly, taking the Walkman when he handed it back to her and placing it down on her bed.

"Ass-kicker," he added, and their laughter started again.

"Steve?" Nancy's voice flooded through after she opened her door to find her boyfriend and cousin laughing together. "What are you doing in here?"

"And that's my cue," Ringo gripped her bag, sliding the straps onto her shoulders and moving towards the door, her eyes making contact with Steve's as she shut the door.

Ringo carefully, but quickly, slithered down the stairs after realising Mike wasn't in his room. She successfully dodged the step she knew to have a creak, and sighed in relief upon noticing Ted and Karen engrossed in the television. Or rather, Ted was, while Karen knitted.

Upon opening the door to the basement and walking down to the bottom of the steps to confirm her suspicions, Ringo cursed under her breath at the realisation.

Mike was already gone.

✵

Ringo was a nervous wreck in the basement, biting her nails and pacing the floor so hard her feet hurt. She debated with herself to tell Karen, at the end of the day, Mike could have run away, or he could be in serious danger.

She told herself that when the clock would strike ten thirty, if he hadn't returned she would have to tell. As much as she didn't want to and he'd hate her for it, his safety came first.

At 10:27, just as Ringo was preparing her speech to Karen Wheeler about the reason she was in the basement for a half hour and hadn't noticed Mike's obvious absence, the door to the basement scraped open.

She sighed in relief at hearing the flurry of pre-teen feet head down towards the basement. The second Ringo spotted Dustin's head of curly hair, she gasped in absolute relief.

"I'm going to personally beat each and every single one of you with a goddamn banana!" She ranted as they started to flood down.

"A banana?" Dustin asked in confusion.

"Well I don't want to hurt you, plus you can eat it after I beat you with it for some potassium, maybe it'll make you smarter," she glared at each and every individual as they stepped past.

"Ringo, thank god," Mike sighed at the sight of her, his anxious tone making her alert. "We need your help!"

"With w-" her question was completely cut off by the sight of a girl following after Mike.

She was small, with a buzzed head and a giant sweater adorning her body. The girl was staring at Ringo with eyes that reminded her of a doe in headlights, absolutely terrified.

"Who's this?" She demanded, inspecting her carefully.

"We went looking for Will, and we found her," Mike explained, marching up to his cousin and hoping she would have the solution.

"What do you mean found? Like literally found or like you found your inner peace?" She gushed, tense from each of the boys frantic natures.

"We found her Ringo! In the woods!" Mike ranted at her, scaring the girl even further.

"Hey it's okay!" She soothed, crouching down to look at her at eye level. "Come on," she held her hand out, the girl jumping at her movement. The girl watched her for a moment in absolute fear, not sure of whether or not to take her hand, but deciding if it had come to it, she could protect herself.

Ringo clasped her hand gently and led her towards the couch in the corner, urging her to sit down. The girl watched with terror stricken eyes as Ringo moved to lift the blanket draped around the back of the couch, and wrapped it around her, hoping to calm her shivers.

After a moment, she turned to the boys in question, who stood sheepishly digging their toes into the carpet.

"I want to know everything."