June 30th, 1985

The Byers Residence

The rhythmic tapping of Nancy's pen against the wooden table had me trapped in a dazed state as I stared off into the distance, my gaze locked on the brightly colored magnets that laid on the kitchen floor.

Even as Jonathan almost slipped on the star-shaped magnet, my eyes stayed locked on the floor.

"Nell? Hello, Eleanor?" Nancy's voice pulled me from my trance, "I'm sorry, you lost me." I rubbed my eyes to refocus myself before tucking a few strands of dark hair behind my ear.

"Which part?" Nancy asked, sitting a bit straighter in her seat. "All of it? Why are you writing about diseased rats? I thought all field rats were technically diseased." My eyebrows furrowed together, before looking back down at her neat handwriting that littered the notepad. "Mrs. Driscoll said they aren't like normal diseased rats, says she hasn't seen anything like it."

"Mrs. Driscoll sprayed us with a hose when we were kids for being on her lawn, Nance. She's a hypochondriac." I stated, sliding the notes back to her. "She's sweet." Jonathan rolled his eyes at my statement before taking a seat beside Nancy at the table.

"I think it's worth looking into." Nancy shrugged, closing the book in front of her. "I have a good feeling about this." She continued with Jonathan nodding in agreement.

Letting a puff of air pass through my lips, I stood from my seat, grabbing my empty coffee mug before walking away from the table.

"So, why are you so grumpy this morning?" Jonathan followed close behind me, before leaning against the kitchen counter as I filled my cup. "Grumpy? Why are you talking like mom?" I rolled my eyes at my brother before turning to face him. "You've been acting weird all morning." He stated, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Holy shit, Jonathan. What does it matter?" I let out a light scoff before taking a sip of my coffee, grimacing at the bitter taste. "It matters cause you're my little sister and I'm supposed to protect you."

Tapping my nails on the glass of the mug, I nodded slowly before looking down at the floor. "You're older by like a minute." I stated with a false grin. "Ninety seconds." "Who cares."

"I do. I can tell somethings wrong." He stated with a roll of his eyes. "Please, don't use the twin thing as an excuse..."I mumbled, pinching my nose bridge.

"It's a twin thing. Plus, you only drink your coffee black when you're upset," Jonathan stated quickly with a smirk. "Are you like obsessed with me or something?" I laughed at his observation before taking another regretful sip of coffee. "Did something happen between you and Steve?"

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head quickly. "You do know that my emotions revolve around more than just Harrington, right?"

"So that's a yes."

~~~

The incident that had gone down between Steve and me was the last thing I wanted on my mind, even with the extinguished candles still littering around my room the only thing I wanted to focus on was the little moments with my brothers.

And right when I was ready to take full advantage of my free day, the phone on the wall began to ring.

Resting my book down on my desk, I hurried down the hall and into the kitchen. "Byers residence," I spoke into the yellow phone, placing it between my shoulder and ear. "Hi." A soft voice greeted from the other line in monotone. "El? Is everything all right?"

The young girl never called our house, and I rarely even spoke to her as the year went on as she and Mike were inseparable. "I need someone to talk to." She stated quietly.

The front door of the house clicked open before the figure of my mom rushed past me. Blowing it off, I returned my attention back onto El. "Okay, what's wrong? Or what happened?" I asked, twirling the phone's cord around my finger.

"Can you meet me at Max's?" El asked while I shook my head in confusion. "Aren't you supposed to stay home?" I asked, looking down the hall to notice that my bedroom door was propped open.

"Yes, but if you stay with me I'll be okay. Like Will." She answered simply. "I guess?"

"Okay. I'm leaving now." El stated before I could stop her, the sound of the dial tone reached my ears as she hung up. "Shit..." I mumbled under my breath as I walked back down the hall and towards my room to grab my shoes only to find my mom in front of my desk, holding a stack of my textbooks pertaining to the electromagnetic field.

"Hi, sweetie." She quickly greeted me, her eyes wide. "What are you doing with my books?" I asked, watching as she clutched the books tighter to her chest. "Just wanted something to read while I'm at work." She stated before grabbing a random Stephen King book without looking at the cover.

"You're gonna read about magnetics at work? And Firestarter?" I spoke slowly as she made her way back towards my door. "That was the plan, yeah."

"Okay. I don't buy it, but okay." I stated with a shrug before sliding on a pair of black checkered vans. "Where are you going? Where's Will?" She asked, watching me as I pulled Steve's jacket off of my chair. "He's staying the night at Mike's tonight, and I'm going to get Erica." I lied quickly as we both walked out into the hall.

"But it's Sunday, I thought Mrs. Sinclair had off work on Sundays." Mom stood in front of the door, blocking me from leaving. "Just got off the phone with her, she got called in. Can I go? She's kind of waiting on me."

"You want a ride?" "No! I mean, it's the opposite direction from Melvalds. I'll be fine." I stated, slowly edging her away from the door with my hand. "I'll be home before curfew. Love you, bye!" I called out to her, snatching my bike up from off of the lawn before peddling down the road.

~~~

The three of us gathered in Max's room, with El on Max's bed describing the strange phone call that she had with Mike this morning. Max paced in front of El, clinging to each word the girl said, while I leaned on the wall listening to the obvious lies Mike had fed to her. "And then he said he... he missed me. And then he just hung up."

"He's a piece of shit," Max concluded for El. "What?" "Mike obviously doesn't have jack shit to do today." Max responded to El quickly. "Yeah, Nana probably isn't even sick. Will's over there right now with him." I added.

"I guarantee you, Mike and Lucas are playing Atari right now." Max's statement caused El to shake her head. "But friends don't lie."

"Well, boyfriends lie." I told her sadly with a shrug. "Yeah, all the time." Max added before jumping onto the bed next to El. "You're going to stop calling him. You're going to ignore his calls." Max instructed.

"As far as you're concerned, he doesn't exist." Max finished. "Doesn't exist?" El whispered, looking over in my direction. "Temporarily or until he tells the truth and apologizes." I agreed, kneeling down next to the bed. "He treated you like garbage. You're gonna treat him like garbage. Give him a taste of his own medicine." Max concluded.

"Give him the medicine." El repeated slowly with a nod, earning a hum of approval from Max. "And if he doesn't fix this, if he doesn't explain himself, dump his ass." Max gave her final instruction to El, causing her eyes to widen. "Dump his ass?"

"Leave him, you deserve better than being lied to. Especially by Mike." I agreed with Max. "You know what?" Max stood up from the bed before grabbing El's hands. "Come on." She stated, pulling El towards the door. "Where are we going?" She asked, keeping her feet planted on the ground.

"To have some fun. There's more to life than stupid boys, you know." Max stated only for El to turn to me. "Is that okay?"

"No one will see us." Max defended quickly as she opened the door to her room. "Plus you could watch over us. Like our guardian." Max continued as the three of us walked down the hall and out of the house. "I don't know, guys..."

"Please, Nellie. I wanna have fun." El stared up at me with big eyes. "Fine, but if Hop finds out about this, leave me out of it."

"Deal! Let's go before we miss the bus."

~~~

The Roane County bus was packed with adults, teens, and kids. All of us had boarded the bus with one destination in mind.

The Starcourt Mall.

Stepping off of the crammed bus, El stopped walking after only taking a few steps away from the bus. Her eyes scanning over the numerous people that entered and exited the mall in front of us.

"What do you think?" Max asked with an excited grin on her face while El looked up at the mall. "What's wrong?" I asked, lightly placing my hand on her shoulder. "Too many people." She spoke slowly, turning to look at Max. "Against the rules." She continued.

"Seriously?" Max had to stop herself from laughing at her friend. "You have superpowers." She whispered to El. "What's the worse that could happen?" She asked. The question seemed to calm some of El's nerves, while the question caused my own to spike.

"Right, Nell?" Max asked me, causing El's hopeful gaze to land on me.

Let out a sigh, I slowly nodded my head in agreement. "She's right. We'll be fine." I stated confidently before lightly pushing the two girls towards the entrance. "Let's go." I grinned at the two as they practically ran inside, Max grabbing onto Eleven's hand.

The mall seemed busier today, more people entered than those who left.

El came to a stop in the mall's center, where the food court and shopping centers clashed. El's eyes seemed to grow wider and wider as she looked at the multiple stores and people that crossed her path. "So, what should we do first?" I asked El, earning a confused glance.

"You've never been shopping before, have you?" Max asked as she giggled at her friend's expression. El shook her head quickly before looking over her shoulder as if to make sure no one was watching her. "Well, then I guess we're just gonna have to try everything." Max stated before pulling El in the direction of the Gap.

"Come on, Nell." Max called out over her shoulder, causing me to quicken my pace in order to catch up with the two.

Inside the store, El touched every article of clothing that we passed before coming to a stop in front of a bright blue shirt that was put on display. "Do you like that?" Max asked as El continued to stare at the shirt in silence. "How do I know... what I like?" She asked quietly.

"You just try things on." Max said with a shrug, "Until you find something that feels like you." She finished with a small grin. "Like me?" El asked, pointing a finger at her chest. "Yes, not Hopper. Not Mike. You." I stated, turning to the rake next to the display to find the shirt in her size.

"That goes for you too, Nell." Max stated with a raised brow as I handed El the shirt. "My clothes are fine." I stated with a grin, looking down at the band tee I was wearing. "It isn't even your size." She rolled her eyes at my response while El continued to look around the store.

"Nell, you wear Jonathan's hand-me-downs and Nancy's rejects." Max crossed her arms over her chest before dropping her eyes down on the jacket I was wearing. "That jacket is cute though."

Rolling my eyes, I shrugged the jacket off and nodded in agreement. "Fine, you do have a point there." Raking my eyes over the clothes in the store while Max pulled me further into the store.