November 4th, 1984

Hawkins, Indiana

"Well, then what?" Dustin asked Steve, causing me to smirk. "Yeah, Steve. Then what?"

Rolling his eyes, Steve looked down at his bucket and grabbed two more cubes. "Well, then you just wait.." That was all he said as he lightly threw the pieces in front of him.

"Until you feel it." He mumbled. "Feel what?" Dustin asked while I turned around to look at the two boys.

"It's like before it's gonna storm, you know? You can't see it, but you can feel it, like this..." Steve stopped for a second and made eye contact with me while Dustin and I waited for him to finish. "Like electricity."

Dustin nodded, "Oh, like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere-" "No, Dustin. Just no." I cut the young boy off, a small smile on my lips. "I think he means more like a sexual electricity, right?" I asked Steve, looking away from Dustin and towards Steve.

"Exactly, you feel that, and then you make your move." Steve nodded and looked back down at his bucket. "Then you kiss her?" Dustin asked innocently causing Steve to shake his head dramatically. "Whoa, slow down, Romeo."

"Sorry." Dustin mumbled. "I mean, yeah. You know, some girls, they want you to be aggressive. You know, strong, hot and heavy, like a lion." Rolling my eyes, I turned around away from the boys, and continued throwing my own cubes.

"But others, you gotta be slow, you gotta be stealthy like a ninja." Steve finished.

"What type is Nell?" Dustin asked causing me to chuckle lightly. "She's different from other girls. She's... special." Steve trailed off, trying to find the right word.

"I guess." Dustin mumbled, "But this girl's special, too, you know. It's just, like, something about her." Dustin continued, his voice slowly starting to sound more dreamy as he talked about the girl.

"Whoa, whoa, hey. You aren't falling in love with this girl, are you?" Steve asked, the sound of his and Dustin's footsteps came to a halt.

Turning to look at the two, I found that Steve was looking down at Dustin. "Um.. no?" Dustin stated looking slightly embarrassed. "Okay, good. Don't." Steve nodded and looked down at the ground as he began walking. "She's only gonna break your heart, and you're way too young for that shit."

Dustin looked down at the ground as the pair began to walk again, slowly catching up with me. "Steve." I whispered, grabbing his attention. "What?" He mouthed to me before I shot him a look and nodded my head towards the quiet boy that walked next to him.

Dustin looked slightly deflated at the idea that he probably shouldn't even go for his dream girl. Letting out a sigh, Steve nodded. "It's Fabergé." Steve stated and grabbed a few more cubes of meat, chucking them ahead of us.

"What?" Dustin and I asked as we looked up at him. "It's Fabergé Organics." He stated again, this time pointing up at his hair. "Use the shampoo and conditioner, and when you're hair's damp, not wet, okay. When it's damp." "Damp, okay." Dustin mumbled as he listened to Steve explain his hair routine, while I held in my laugh.

"You do four puffs of the Farrah Fawcett spray." Steve finished, causing both Dustin and I to let out our laughs. "Seriously?" "Farrah Fawcett spray?"

"Yeah, Farrah Fawcett. If either of you tell anyone I just told you that, your ass is grass." Steve stopped and pointed a finger in both Dustin and I's faces. "You're both dead, you got that?"

"Understand." Dustin stated with a smirk as he and I traded glances. "Okay..." Steve let out a sigh as he started walking again. "So, does this mean you can do our hair sometime?" I asked causing Dustin to laugh. "Why Farrah Fawcett?" Dustin giggled as the three of us continued down the tracks.

"I mean, she's hot." Steve shrugged as he threw a piece behind him. "I honestly thought you used Aqua Net." Rolling his eyes, Steve shook his head. "That shit's bad for you."

~~~

Walking over the hill that led into the old junkyard, Steve stopped to scan the area. "Oh yeah, this will do. This will do just fine." He nodded while Dustin and I stood behind him. "Good call, dude." Steve stated towards Dustin, causing a smile to spread over the boy's face.

"Well, then. Let's get to work." I stated, lightly nudging Dustin before the three of us walked down the hill, dropping more pieces of meat before stopping in the center of the hill, dumping the remaining cubes into a big pile.

"Hey! I said medium-well!" A voice yelled from the other side of the junkyard grabbing our attention. Looking over, we spotted Lucas and Max, the girl hopping off the back of his bike as they made their way towards us.

"Who's that?" Steve asked while Dustin stared at her in a daze. "Dreamgirl." I mumbled to him while Dustin looked between Max and Lucas.

A look of sadness slowly washed over Steve as he looked back down at Dustin. "What's up?" Lucas asked stopping in front of us, a grin plastered on his face while Max stood next to him with her arms tightly crossed, kicking around a random pebble.

"We need to talk." Dustin stated and started walking towards one of the many abandoned cars. "What?" Lucas asked as he kicked down his bike's kickstand. "We need to talk. Now." Dustin yelled over his shoulder.

"What's that about?" Max asked as Lucas jogged over to the car that Dustin was now hidden behind. "Probably some dumb boy stuff." I shrugged before looking around the lot.

"You think the bus is the best place to hide?" I asked Steve as he scanned over the cars in the lot. "Needs some work. If we gather enough scraps we could barricade it."

"You girls willing to get your hands dirty?" Steve asked a bit too cockily as he pulled off his Halloween shades. Rolling my eyes, I nodded "Bit of advice, pretty boy. You'll work faster without the gloves."

Max let out a chuckle as the two of us made our way further into the junkyard, turning around I spotted Steve finally pulling off the yellow gloves.

"So, you're Will's sister?" Max asked shyly, probably to break the silence in the junkyard, besides the obvious loud whispering of Dustin and Lucas.

"Yeah, I forgot we never got properly introduced. It's Eleanor, but the party just calls me Nell." I lightly dropped the metal plate I was holding and held my hand out to the young girl. "Maxine, but I just go by Max."

"So is Billy like your brother or step?" I asked as I picked back up the plate as carried it over to the bus. "Step-brother sadly. He's a dick." Laughing at the young girl's language, I nodded my head. "Seems to be his strongest trait."

Getting to a long piece of metal, Max and I picked opposite corners to drag towards the bus when a loud clang sounded through the air.

"Hey! Dickheads! How come the only ones helping me are Nell and this random girl?" Shaking my head at Steve, Max and I dropped the piece in front of the bus.

"We lose light in 40 minutes. Let's go." Looking over I watched as Steve walked away from the car, while the two boys stayed hidden. "Let's go, I said!"

"All right, asshole! God!"

"Okay! Stupid."

~~~

"Nice find, Max!" I stated as the red-head lined up the ladder with the opened fire escape on the roof of the bus.

"Hey! Can I get one of you to help me out with the tires?" I yelled out of the bus while Max ran off to grab more scraps. "I got it!" Steve answered back before jogging over.

"Thanks, just pass me the tires and then we can make a barrier on the roof." I said as I picked up two tires and carried them into the bus, Steve following behind with his own.

"You think this plan is gonna work?" Steve asked, looking up at me while I climbed up the short ladder to the roof. "It has too. If we don't get Dart, then who will?"

Shrugging, Steve grabbed one of the tires we brought with us, passing it up to me. "So, you've been quiet since we got here." He stated as I placed another tire next to the first.

"I mean, we've kind of been busy. We are losing light fast." I stated as I grabbed another tire. "Yeah but like even on the tracks, you've been acting weird."

Rolling my eyes at Steve, I placed the tire on top of another, "Nellie?" "What? What, am I supposed to say to that Steve?" I asked looking over the ledge to face him properly. "I don't know, but what I do know, is that something is wrong."

"What type of girl am I, Steve?" I asked, internally rolling my eyes at how demeaning the question really was. "What?"

"On the tracks, when you were giving a thirteen-year-old boy, tips on chicks you avoided the question." I shrugged and watched as Steve rolled his eyes, placing his hands on his sides. "It's nothing." He shrugged, still staring up at me.

"Okay, then. Tire, please." I stated and held out my hand. "Nell, don't do that." He stated, shaking his head as he grabbed the tire off the floor. "Do what? We have to keep working."

"You know what I mean." He frowned slightly as I pulled the tire out of his hands. "Obviously, I don't. You said it's nothing, so that's the end of it."

"We can still talk about it though, you don't need to block me off." Steve passed me another tire, staring up at me while I quietly stacked it next to the others. "Nellie, just talk to me."

"I don't block." I muttered and stared off at the sun setting in the distance, almost not noticing that Steve started climbing up the ladder. "Nell?" Steve questioned as he sat next to me, giving me a look.

"Okay, maybe I do. It's just easier to avoid the situation." Nodding, Steve lightly pulled my hand into his. "I'll stop blocking if you do too." Steve nodded to the proposition.

"As I said on the tracks, you are special." He started, "In middle school, I had a stupidly huge crush on you. So, when I started avoiding you that summer it was because that was the advice my dad gave me."

"That's so dumb." I let out a laugh while Steve stared off awkwardly, looking around at the sky. "I'm special cause I was a tween crush?" I joked causing him to shake his head.

"You're special because, unlike the other girls, you actually stayed away. Even though, I didn't want you to." He finished, now looking me in the eyes. Rolling my eyes, I chuckled at how bashful he had suddenly become. "Well, I had a crush on you too. I had this stupid idea in my head in middle school that's you'd be my first kiss."

Furrowing his eyebrows Steve let out a quiet chuckle, "Wasn't I?" He questioned, causing me to shake my head before quickly turning to stack the tires along the edge of the bus. "But you've never had a boyfriend." Steve stated though I stayed quiet. "Doesn't matter." I shrugged him off.

"No, now I gotta know." He grinned down at me, poking me on my side. "Forget about it." I groaned as he continued to poke me. "No, come on-"

"Lovebirds! We need help with these barrels!" Dustin yelled from below the bus with Lucas and Max standing behind him.

"In a minute, Henderson!" Steve yelled back, not doing well at hiding his annoyance. "We have no time to spare minutes, Let's go!" Rolling my eyes at the two boys, I stood up and dusted off my pants, "We're continuing this later." He stated with a smirk.

"If we don't get a move on, there will be no later." I stated, getting the boy to finally stand up and make his way back down the ladder.