(      darkest before dawn      /      act three    )
episode one   |   stranger things

❛  BEST SUMMER EVER   ❜
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WHEN AURORA WAS EIGHT years old, she picked at her nails. A lot. It had gotten to the point where her therapist had told her aunts she needed something to occupy her hands, and so they tried everything. From sports, to putting her in book clubs and finally they tried art.

From the start, Aurora Briar was a clear prodigy ( though when it came to ceramics, she lost all talent ). Her art was one for museums — according to her aunts — and it helped her stop picking at her nails. For that day in second grade on, Aurora would always be found painting or drawing. Though, she always tried new things like sewing and crochet, both of which she excelled at as well.

The summer of '84 was supposed to be the best summer for Aurora Briar.

Mr. Brinson — the middle school art teacher — had helped Aurora find a part time job at the newly opened Starcourt Mall. Lucky for the girl, Mr. Brinson's wife had just opened up her own arts and crafts store, where she hired Aurora on the spot. She didn't work more than four days a week, but it was enough for Aurora. And an extra bit of quarters for her summer helped too.

Mike would visit often, even sitting through the children classes to watch Aurora as she taught. Some days he would bring Holli and she would participate which gave Mike an even better excuse to be there. Lucas would stop by with Erica and ( even with an extreme amount of complaining from her end ) would participate as well.

The days that Aurora didn't work, she was either with her newly proclaimed boyfriend, Mike Wheeler, or her girlfriends, Max and Eleven. The boy would complain when Aurora had her weekly two nights at the arcade with Max and Eleven — the brunette was desperately trying to learn how to play the video games, which Aurora and Max loved to help with.

Made With Love sat in the center of the Starcourt mall, which brought in a lot of costumers. Aurora loved Mrs. Brinson, the sweet older lady that owned the shop always made sure that Aurora would be able to great her friends. The other girl that had been hired was a sweet girl named, Vicky. Vicky treated Aurora like she was her sister, Vicky and Aurora were like two sides of the same stone, both of them soft spoken and kind. The older red head always stuck her neck out for Aurora. Made With Love was a small family, all female and they always had each others backs, Aurora loved it.

Aurora dragged the chalkboard sign outside, using it to prop the door open for the flow of costumers. She had just finished writing the sign with her chalk and added cute details to the board as well. The sign listed the for classes that they taught on Fridays. A painting workshop for adults at nine-forty-five am, a guided drawing session for kids at eleven, a painting workshop for kids at one-thirty, and a late night drawing class at seven for adults only.

"I love it Rory!" Vicky complemented the girl as she flipped on the open sign. "And the flowers? I wish I could draw like you."

Aurora blushed, "V, you're a senior taking AP art history, I think you can drawn a little better than almost fourteen year old."

Vicky laughed a hearty laugh, "yeah, yeah. You make my drawings look like a kindergartener compared to yours." Aurora blushed harder, before Vicky glanced out the glass towards the doors of the mall. There were a few parents and kids crowded around the doors, "Okay, we ready for the day, A?"

Aurora ran through her mental checklist, "Cash box is open, register is ready, shelves are all stocked and the floor has been swept — twice."

Coming out from the back office, Mrs. Brinson pulled the girl into a tight hug, whispering, "you are amazing, I ever tell you that?"

"I wouldn't hurt to hear it one more time." Aurora batted her eyelashes before stepping from the door with a grin. She found her way behind the counter — yes, she had to stand on a stood to be able to see over. And yes, all of the boys already giggled about it — as Starcourt opened for the day.

As soon as the first costumer of the day entered Made With Love, Aurora had no time to rest. She got a fifteen minute break at one — right after her first class and right before her second — which she spent in Scoops Ahoy, annoying Steve Harrington and Robin Buckley.

"Ah, mini blondie!" Steve greeted as she tiredly shoved the door open, "so nice to see you."

"Mini blondie!" Aurora heard from the back before Robin came rushing out to scoop ( no pun intended ) the girl into a hug. Robin always enjoyed Auroras commentary and sarcasm towards Steve, which made them fast friends. And Aurora might also be trying to get Robin and Vicky together. It was her sixth sense, who would get together and who wouldn't.

"Birdie!" Aurora laughed along as Robin dropped her to the ground and quickly scooped her a cup with cookies-and-cream ice cream.

"How's Vicky?" Robin asked, and Aurora broke into a grin.

"She's good," Aurora smiled, not so subtly into her ice cream, "the shop is doing good too, but I think she's a little stressed."

Robin frowned slightly at the comment, "huh. Well, if there's anything I can do to help." Robins captain hat slid off her head and Aurora laughed. "Oh shut it, Dingis! You've got costumers."

Aurora heard Steve groan from the back before he slunk to the front, "why can't you take them?"

"Because my favorite person is here," Robin grinned before Aurora stood up. "But now she is leaving."

Aurora sighed, "sorry, sorry. But, I'll see you later cause we're taking the back way to watch the movie tonight."

Robin sighed, before a grin spilled over her lips, "let me go get, Vicky and Mrs. Brinson their ice cream." Aurora nodded.

She almost skipped back to the shop, and her pep got even larger when she saw her boyfriend and friends talking with Vicky. Aurora shoved the ice cream into her hands, grinning at the smile that bloomed on Vicky's face. Aurora then turned and Mike quickly pulled her into a soft kiss.

"I missed you, darling," Mike grinned, pressing his forehead to hers as his hands found her waist.

"I missed you too, but you did in fact drop me off this morning," Aurora laughed, and Mike scoffed, hushing her with another kiss before someone cleared their throat.

"Ahem," Lucas scoffed, "we're still here, dude."

"Aww," Aurora cooed, pulling away from her boyfriend, "do you miss your girlfriend?" Aurora pulled at Lucas's cheeks before he slapped them away in annoyance. Will smiled at the girl softly, pulling her into a soft hug before Aurora glanced at the clock: 1:17pm.

"Are you guys staying for the class?" Aurora grinned up at Mike before he pulled her into his side.

Mike opened his mouth, before Lucas sent him a pointed look. Then Mike cleared his throat and took a soft step away from Aurora, "Well, we were gonna got see Day of the Dead."

Aurora dimmed slightly at that, "I thought we were doing that later? I mean, I get off at six and we had already planned for that. And what about Max?"

Mike took another glance at Lucas, who nodded his head. Mike cleared his throat again, "Well, um, well we're just gonna do it now. I mean we're here and all. Max bailed, too."

Aurora nodded softly, "are we still gonna hang out after my shift?"

Another glance at Lucas and a clear of his throat, "the three of us already made plans. Sorry."

Aurora found no reason to argue, so she just slowly nodded her head, eyes cast to the floor. She glanced at the clock again: 1:24pm. Aurora pinched at the skin on her thigh softly before glancing at her boyfriend, "okay. It was nice to see you but I've got to set up for the class, I'll see you tomorrow? For Dustin's coming home party?"

Mike didn't glance at Lucas this time, nor did he clear his throat, "yeah. I'll pick you up." Mike grinned, before lifting her chin and placing a kiss to her lips softly.

"Get a room you two, there are kids here!" Mrs. Brinson shouted from somewhere in the store, and Aurora blushed harshly before grinning at her boyfriend.

"Love you," Aurora smiled at him. Mike just nodded, and followed the other two boys out the door. Will blew her a kiss that Aurora pretended to catch before watching them leave. Once they had rushed down the elevator, Aurora scurried to the back room to set up the clad with only seconds to spare.

Kids began to pile into the small classroom, each of them with parents who were given the chance to follow along with the tutorial as well. Most them took Aurora up on the offer and were quickly sat with a few more materials and a canvas. They weren't painting too much, just a simple tree that Aurora had pre sketched so the kiddos had an outline.

Just as Aurora was ready to close the door, Max stormed into the room. She walked to the back and plopped down into one of her chairs, before picking up a paint brush. Aurora sent her a look, and Max just motioned for her to begin.

Auroras hesitantly began to instruct the kids on how to paint the tree trunk, slowly doing it in front of them before allowing them to choose colors for their leaves. While the kids excitedly piled into a line for paints, Aurora hurried to Max.

"What's wrong?" Aurora asked in a hushed whisper.

"Lucas ditched me," Max grumbled, "so, arcade after your shift?"

Aurora found it interesting that Mike had told her that she had bailed on Lucas, while Max had told her a different story. Aurora didn't really know who to believe, but Max's irritation had her believing that maybe Mike hadn't told her the truth.

"Of course," Aurora nodded, "now, go get your paints."

The rest of Aurora's class seemed to flow, Max made funny faces at the girl every time they made eye contact which had Aurora barely containing her laughter. That ended up with Aurora not glancing at Max very often.

At the end of the class, she got to hand out sharpies so that each kid could sign off on their paintings. The parents or Aurora making sure that the sharpies were only used to sign their names, before she collected them and sent them to Vicky to have them all rung up. Max stayed behind to help Aurora clean up before hanging around until six o'clock came around. Made with Love closed at seven on Friday nights, the only people inside were the adults for the painting class which Mrs. Brinson was teaching, along with Vicky. That meant that on Fridays, Aurora got to leave at six.

After making sure her tasks were done, Aurora clocked out and wished the two older lady's well before heading out the door with Max. They had both phoned their parents to let them know the plan before jumping on their bikes and racing towards the arcade.

This? This was what Auroras summer was supposed to be.

Free from the worries of monsters and schoolwork. Just Aurora Briar and her best friends.

That's what Aurora's summer was supposed to be.

Everything changed on the way to the arcade, one minute Aurora and Max were riding along the side of the road, street lamps illuminating the road in front of them and then it was just dark.

Aurora was supposed to have the best summer ever, until the blackout.

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( LET ME SPEAK : )

ah! so cute guys, but the angst between
mike and aurora is already beginning.
this season is gonna put a strain on
everyone. so buckle up guys🙈
Moraven ( max, aurora, eleven ) is gonna
be the BEST of friends, and they will totally
not have any strain on their friendship this
season. at all .  .  .  !
BUT just so you know . . . this season is
going to be published super slowly bc
finals are coming up and i'm so behind
in every one of my classes :/

credit goes to fivehxrgreeves