With a sigh, Valerie sat up on Matthew's bed with a hand pressed against the side of her head the moment she heard Karen Wheeler yell, "Mike! Phone!"

Then she looked over at Matthew, who was still sound asleep, and could faintly hear the sound of Quiet Riot's Metal Health (Bang Your Head) starting to play on his walkman from where his headphones were wrapped around the base of his neck.

With a shake of her head, she pushed herself off of his bed and ran her hand through her hair as she walked out of his bedroom and in the direction of the closest bathroom.

Despite the number of times in which she'd spent the night at Matthew's home ever since school had let out for summer break, Valerie still wasn't quite used to hearing the constant yelling from his family at any time of the day.

Whether it was Karen yelling for Mike because of his girlfriend– El– calling him, Matthew yelling at Mike to keep down the noise, Nancy yelling at Mike whenever she was home and not spending her time at the home of Jonathan Byers, Mike yelling something in response to whatever someone in his family was saying to him, or Karen simply yelling at Ted for something didn't matter.

The Wheeler family as a whole was quite noisy, no matter the time of day it was, which explained a lot for why Matthew was the way he was and constantly had his headphones on and was listening to tapes on his walkman at whatever volume he wanted it to be at.

Other than hanging out with Valerie, music was the only true form of escape from the craziness and insanity that was his family.

But then again, Valerie wouldn't have it any other way.

Because as far as she was concerned, the craziness and insanity that was the Wheeler family was a hell of a lot better than having to be home and hearing Billy and her stepfather– Neil– getting in fights with each other about whatever wrong that Neil had perceived his son to be doing.

The only downside to being at Matthew's home so much was the guilt that Valerie felt for leaving Max to have to continue to live in that environment.

Although she knew that Max could quite honestly take care of herself and Billy hadn't bothered either of them since the night that Max had apparently– according to Matthew– threatened him into leaving them alone with a nailed baseball bat and ordered him to leave them and Max's friends alone from that moment onward, she still couldn't help but feel guilty that Max was still living in that house and Valerie was spending her time sleeping at the Wheeler home.

While Valerie was waking up to the insanity that was the Wheeler home where they constantly yelled at each other for whatever reason any of them had, Max was more than likely waking up to Neil confronting Billy over something stupid and Billy getting mad and driving away from the house.

She didn't want to have to leave her little sister in that sort of environment, but she didn't know how to get her out of it without getting herself into a fight with Neil or even her own mother– even though her mother seemed to do nothing on the matter and only wanted to try and keep the peace between Billy's father and the rest of their supposed family.

With a shake of her head, Valerie walked into the bathroom and stopped when she saw just how much of a mess her hair was from the apparent tossing and turning that she did when she was sleeping.

It wasn't that much of a surprise that she was moving around in her sleep.

After all, Matthew had told her himself that she apparently liked to move around in her sleep after this one night where he stayed up super late to finish up on a drawing and could see her moving around in her sleep.

Some nights, she would fall asleep with her back pressed onto Matthew's bed, and then the next morning she'd either wake up to find herself lying on her side and lying on her stomach.

Matthew didn't seem to mind, though, and found it amusing to see her in a completely bizarre position, if he happened to wake up before she did and saw her with her legs dangling off of the side of the bed or that she was sleeping with her head hanging off one of the sides of the bed or in any other way that her body chose to move her as she slept.

She just considered herself lucky enough that she never fell off of the bed, despite all of the moving that she did.

But fortunately for her, Matthew had put some pillows down onto the floor, just in case she did.

After letting out a sigh, she opened up a bag she kept in one of the cabinets in the bathroom and pulled out a single comb before she started to move it through the knots in her hair.

It wasn't long after she started to comb her hair that she closed her eyes with a sigh when she heard the faint sound of Mike yelling from the basement, "Mom! Get off the phone! How many times?!"

With a shake of her head, Valerie rolled her eyes to herself, while Karen yelled, "Did Nana call?!"

Then Mike yelled, "No, Mom! Just get off the phone!"

It was then that Valerie heard a chuckle, which got her to turn her head to see Matthew standing in the doorway of the bathroom with his headphones still wrapped around his neck and his walkman clipped to the jeans that he had just put on himself.

With a scoff, Valerie turned her attention back over to the mirror as she said, "I still don't understand just how the hell you could sleep through all this yelling."

With a tilt of his head, he replied, "Believe me, Val. After spending almost seventeen years of my life having to listen to this shit, it does take some getting used to." When she only rolled her eyes to herself, he asked her, "So, why exactly do you comb your hair before you brush your teeth?"

In turn, she asked him, "Does it really matter?"

With a sigh, he said to her, "Well, no, but it is kind of weird that you comb your hair in the morning before you do anything else."

She replied, "I could say the same about your family and their constant yelling."

With yet another chuckle, he said, "To each to their own, then, I guess." After a couple seconds of silence, he asked her, "Um, sorry to ask, but did you, uh, mess around with my walkman after I fell asleep last night? 'Cause the last thing I remember listening to was The Four Horsemen and I woke up to, uh, Slick Black Cadillac, so..."

When she only nodded her head, he said, "Right. I guess that kind of explains the, uh, crick in my neck, then." Then he gestured towards the headphones wrapped around his neck as he said, "I must've been super tired, if I fell asleep with this still around my neck."

In turn, she said to him, "Mm-hmm."

With a sigh, he told her, "Well, I'm gonna head back to my room and work on that drawing of mine some more and let you use the bathroom in peace. Just, uh, let me know when you're done so I can get to using it and actually get to start my day, alright?"

Once more, she said, "Mm-hmm."

Then he nodded his head and walked out of the bathroom, leaving her to wince to herself when her comb got caught in a knot in her hair.

While faintly listening to the sound of Styx's Renegade playing from his walkman and his headphones wrapped around his neck, Matthew said with a shake of his head, "Not happening."

With a scoff, Mike yelled, "Oh, come on, Matt!" When Matthew only continued to shake his head, Mike asked him, "And why the hell not? I mean, I've seen you do nothing but give Valerie rides to wherever she wanted for months now. So, why the hell would you give her a ride, but not your own brother?"

With a nod of his head, Matthew replied, "Maybe, Mike, it's because I actually like hanging out with her and don't want to risk the chance of you and Sinclair stinking up my car with the scent of your mediocrity." While Mike only sighed to himself, Matthew asked him with a tilt of his head, "And do you know just where that scent of mediocrity even comes from?"

When Mike had only let out a sigh, Matthew told him, "It comes from that one part of your brain that says 'Yes, Mike, let's be stupid and lie to our girlfriend that has superpowers all because we're just a little bit scared about Hopper ruining our chances of continuing to date El and instead of owning up to this lie, we're going to bring in our stupid friend Lucas Sinclair, who's been dumped by Max for, like, five times now'. And it's because of the stupidity that both you and Sinclair have that I'd rather not let whatever stupidity you two have to get into my car. So, no, I'm not gonna give either of you a ride to the Starcourt mall just because you want to buy some gift that you would only get for El because of whatever guilt you may or may not be feeling from lying to her in the first place." Then he nodded his head in Will's direction as he said, "Byers over there, however, is someone that I would be completely okay with giving a ride to the mall because unlike you two dumbasses, he's not a fucking moron. And between you two, Byers, Henderson, El, Max and Sinclair— Byers, El and Max are my favorites in your little group of friends. So, go away and find someone else to beg and grovel to, 'cause I don't wanna hear it."

It was then that Will asked him, "Where's Valerie?"

After turning his head to look over at Will, Matthew said, "Oh, she's back at the Starcourt Mall. I dropped her off, like, an hour or two ago, I think. She said she wanted to buy herself some ice cream and talk to this person from school that she likes." Then he looked back over at Mike and Lucas as he said, "Now, scram. I'd like to fucking smoke in my room in peace without you two hovering over me and trying to convince me into doing you guys a solid and giving you a ride to the mall."

It wasn't long after Matthew had said that that Mike fell onto his knees and pressed both of his hands together as he said, "Matt, I swear to God, if you give us a ride to the mall, I will pay you however much money that you want right now."

As he started to push himself up and into a sitting position, Matthew replied, "Oh, yeah?" When Mike had only nodded his head, Matthew put a single hand out in front of himself before he said, "Cough up forty bucks, and you've got yourself a deal."

With a shake of his head, Mike told him, "I-I don't have forty bucks."

With a feigned pout, Matthew said to him, "Oh, then I guess you don't have a ride to the mall, either." Then he laid back down on the bed and went to grab one of his unlit cigarettes as he said, "I'll see you assholes later when you're done being total dumbasses."

With a groan, Mike quickly walked back out of Matthew's room, without even bothering to close it behind himself and left Lucas and Will to quickly run after him.