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.*･｡. A DEAL WITH GOD! .*･｡.
————THE POLLYWOG
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011.
TURN AROUND, LOOK
AT WHAT YOU SEE.
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   Why did Max Mayfield hate her?

   Ashley wanted to know.

   Was it because she had called her a brat? Was that it? Because if it was, Ashley found that ridiculous.

She was a brat! An irritatingly stubborn brat!

The kid had too much attitude, and too much fire, and she had clearly decided that she didn't like, nor care for, Ashley at all! Her problem with the teen was becoming a problem for the teen — she just wanted as many letters of recommendation as she could get so that when she was sending off her college application, admissions had no choice but to accept her. And perhaps she actually wanted to help this girl adjust to her new life in Hawkins, was that so hard for Max to believe? Why was she making it so difficult for her? For both of them? This would be over a lot sooner if she actually tried; all that she had to do was humour Ashley, at the very least. That way, they could tell Principal Russel that the buddy thing had worked and she was well-adjusted, now. Even if they had to lie because Max had a strong aversion to any offered help. Even if she wouldn't let Ashley in, couldn't she just lie?

And show up?

   All she had to do was show up after school when Ashley'd asked her to. And if she couldn't make it, all she had to do was say I'm a little busy or I'd rather eat dirt.

It was that easy. That way, Ashley wouldn't end up wasting good time walking over to the middle school when everyone at the high school lingered around the halls; waiting for tonight's pep rally, or practising entrances if they were a Hawkins Tiger, be it cheer team or basketball. That was where Ashley should have been, right now: leading her girls through the routine that they had learnt, making sure their walkovers weren't sloppy, telling Tina to keep her centre when she stepped out. Ashley should have been in that gymnasium, micromanaging and making sure the basketball team knew to run out after their assigned cheerleader despite them having done it for months now, if not years.

   Ashley should have been there but instead she was traipsing her way through Hawkins Middle, searching for a grumpy redhead who evidently didn't care very much about pre-existing plans. Max was supposed to meet her in Study Hall twenty minutes ago, but never even showed up.

And Ashley thought that was really rude.

Showing up to plans was common decency, right? Even if Max was only showing up to promptly leave again, she could have had the decency to let Ashley know about it.

But, no — Ashley had sat at a tiny table and conversed with Mr Wallis about the new chickens he and his wife had gotten, so they could have fresh eggs in the morning, waiting for a kid that never showed her face.

She knew that her first meeting with Max had been rocky, and she knew that they didn't really see eye to eye, but Ashley thought that maybe they could. Eventually. With time. Ashley had thought: maybe this kid might warm to me.

Wrong!

Completely wrong!

Ashley had never been so wrong!

She had naively thought that, one day, Max Mayfield could like her as much as Lucas Sinclair had, meanwhile Dustin Henderson treated her like an annoying big sister and Mike Wheeler yearned to strike her with a barge pole— particularly in the last year, Mike had really despised her.

Max was proving to be more like Mike, dammit.

Will had— well, Ashley refrained from thinking about whether Will Byers had liked her or not, hoping once again that she didn't bump into him as she roamed the hallways. He was a quiet kid, it would have been nice if Max was the same way. Then again, that might have meant Ashley would end up in Max's mind, and there was no way she could handle that.

Handling Max face to face was already hard enough.

"Seriously, Maxine?" Ashley muttered to herself, reaching up her hands to tighten her ponytail.

It was habit.

"Where are you?" She sighed out.

Ashley continued on through the halls, huffing in irritation, her tired eyes peeled. It wasn't hard to spot flaming red hair, but Max Mayfield was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she had hopped on her skateboard and headed home already, seeing as none of the small preteens Ashley passed by were her, but that seemed doubtful; she had seen Max ride in her asshole brother's car to and from school since arriving in Hawkins, and Billy was currently in the gym. She doubted Max had left.

So where was she?

Admittedly she looked a little out of sorts in the middle school, seeing as she wasn't thirteen years old. The remaining students all gave her odd looks, though some smiled — recognising her as the nice cheerleader who did assemblies, sometimes.

(Another way of getting extra credit.)

   Scratching the bridge of her nose, Ashley peered down the hall to her left, no Max.

"Where are you, ya lil' bastard?"

   She paused.

   Mike?

   Ashley followed the sound of his voice, cutting down another of the closest halls, eyes narrowed as she strode to locate the Wheeler child. He sounded suitably grumpy.

   Max had gone trick-or-treating with the party so Ashley figured it was a safe bet to see if she was with them — or, at least, if Mike knew where she had gone. But it then occurred to her that he may be accompanied by Will Byers or that he was likely close by, seeing as they usually did everything together. If Ashley remembered, she was pretty sure Dustin would get late home after UV club one day a week, and she figured if Mike Wheeler was lingering in the halls, it was going to be for a party-related reason.

   It made her hesitate.

   She didn't want to risk seeing the Byers boy.

   Although, she didn't really get a chance to decided if she would be following Mike or not. Because as she turned another corner, a smaller body collided with hers.

    "I'm so sorry!" She immediately gushed, peering down.

She was confronted with silence.

Silence in the shape of a young girl, with unruly curls and baggy clothes, who looked no older than Mike Wheeler.

   Ashley tilted her head.

   The girl was staring up at her, her face blank, eyes slightly wide. As if she had never seen a teenage girl in a cheer outfit before. Or like the teenager girl wasn't supposed to see her at all. Ashley tried to find a familiarity within this kid, but she struggled. Sure, Ashley didn't know every kid that lived in Hawkins, but this girl was totally unrecognisable. Ashley had never seen her before, and yet, a small part of her felt like she had.

    "Are you okay?" Ashley asked after a brief stare off, pursing her lips into a smile when the girl said nothing.

   After a moment, "Yes."

    "Good," so she speaks, "I'm glad," Ashley nodded, trying to look as chipper as possible, and not annoyed about Max Mayfield's bad time management skills. She had completely forgotten about Mike at this point. She peered around the emptying halls, "What're you still doing here?"

   The girl frowned.

    "School's over," Ashley reminded, figuring that the kid seemed quite lost. She wondered if she was new. "Do you have a club you should be at?"

    "No," she sounded unsure.

    "Oh, are you waiting for someone?"

    "Yes."

    "Okay," Ashley peered down at the watch on her wrist, taking a moment to calculate just how much time she had wasted and how much she had left before the pep rally. After a moment, she smiled at the girl once again — that sugary grin that she had rehearsed at least a dozen times over. "This someone—" she started to talk again, "Are you meeting them anywhere specific? If you want, I can walk you there?"

    "No," she immediately said.

    "You sure? I have time—"

    "No," the girl repeated, shaking her head defiantly. Ashley gave her a small nod. The girl softened, "Thank you."

   With that, the unknown girl slipped past her and strode through the halls. She was confident in her steps, despite potentially having no clue where she was headed. It seemed to Ashley that whoever it was she was meeting was guidance enough; the end results showed her which way was right.

Ashley watched her for a moment, entranced by the odd girl, as she disappeared from sight. She bit her lip and swiped the back of her hand beneath her nostril subconsciously.

With a shake of her head, Ashley twirled back to the hallways, huffing upon realising she had lost track of any kid in the general vicinity. There was no sight of Max, nor Mike, nor the girl. They were all gone and with them, the majority of Ashley's spare time; there was only so long that she could delay showing up, and soon everybody would be wondering where she had gone to and why it was so important that she had to be late again. Max Mayfield had successfully wasted her time; time that would have been spent with her team, had she not tried to help Max at all. Now Ashley was at least half an hour late and Tina would be thinking of all the ways she could snatch cheer captain next year. Ashley dreaded the idea.

It was time to leave.

She could deal with Max Mayfield later.

————

"I didn't know your dad was picking you up from the party! We were supposed to have a sleepover!"

"I know," Ashley sighed.

She slowly stretched out her hamstrings from where she was sat on the floor of the gymnasium, while Cindy slicked back her hair into a fresh ponytail, knowing that Ashley liked them to be as neat and tight as possible for pep rallies.

    "I didn't feel great so I called my dad to pick me up," she lied as casually as possible, focusing on her fingers touching her toes. "I'm sorry, I know you were looking forward to it."

   Linda waved it off.

    "It's okay."

    "Um, no it's not?" Cindy said.

   Linda rolled her eyes.

    "Just because you didn't wanna watch Never Ending—"

    "We've watched it at every sleepover for the 6 months!" Cindy scoffed, tying the sleek green ribbon around Ashley's ponytail but she stopped when she couldn't quite get it right. "Stupid—!" Her groan of frustration cause Linda to stand from the bleachers, one hand taking the ribbon so that Cindy didn't rip it in half. The girl gladly swapped positions and all but threw herself onto the closest bench, elbows rested on her knees. She pointed at Ashley, "You're the reason I can't fucking unhear that stupid song Ash! That stupid fucking—"

    "Turn around," Linda sang.

    "No!"

    "Look at what you see!" Ashley joined in, clutching her chest right above her heart. She tilted her head to look up at Linda, who tied her ribbon into a bow and mirrored the action. It was true — they had watched that movie at almost every sleepover since they saw it, but it was a good movie. They knew all the words. Ashley figured it helped that Dustin often played it on repeat with his window wide open. "In her face!" She sang, slowly moving to sit on her knees. An annoyed groan passed Cindy's lips but both girls ignored her, their priorities currently elsewhere. And by elsewhere, they meant focused on irritating the angry British girl as much as they possibly could. If they were being honest, it wasn't all that difficult to do. Actually, in their eyes, it was very easy. "The mirror of your dreams!"

    "Jesus fucking—"

    "Make believe I'm everywhere!" Linda threw her arms out, "Given in the light!"

     "Written in the pages is," Ashley sprung up and the two girls held hands, ignoring the odd stares of their classmates starting to fill all of the stands. They sang;

    "The answer to our never ending story!"

    "Okay! Okay— cut it out!" Cindy groaned, jumping up to give them both shoves to the sides. They both giggled like little kids, an effortless air of bliss surrounding them. Ashley almost forgot why it was that they were singing it like fools in front of the school, but in all honesty, she didn't care. She felt good.

    "But it's so good!"

    "No, it's not!"

   Linda argued, "Yes it is!"

    "No—"

   Ashley laughed, straightening her uniform.

   From across the gym, Steve watched; hand on his hips, smile on his lips. He ignored whatever party his teammates were discussing, probably one that he wouldn't be invited to if this new kid Billy had anything to do with it, and breathed a chuckle. He took in the way Ashley Miller laughed— he hadn't heard her laugh since they had bumped into each other at FAIR MART, and it sounded so real; so genuine; that he kinda wanted her to keep doing it. His day had been a load of shit — bullshit, if you will — and it was nice to know she'd had a good one.

   At least somebody had.

    "It sucks!"

    "Take that back!"

    "As if!"

   As she continued to laugh at Linda and Cindy bickering, Ashley turned on her heel and adjusted the hairs framing her face. It was almost time for the pep rally to start and she knew that she should get herself lined up with the other cheerleaders and the basketball players. Her eyes grazed the hall.

   Most of them had scattered about the gym; Tina was gossiping near the stands where Carol and Vicky were sat, Chrissy was grins and giggles as she twirled her ponytail in front of Jason, Vanessa'd found herself very comfortable on Andy's knee, meanwhile the rest of both teams were talking to friends or practising tricks. She took a glance over at Tommy H, whom was guffawing like a total fool at something Billy had said which probably wasn't even that funny. It brought a roll to her eyes and she quickly moved on to glance over at the Tigers team captain who, to her surprise, was already looking at her with a fond smile.

   Her cheeks warmed in hot embarrassment.

   She raised a timid hand, hoping he hadn't seen her performance with Linda, but the light amusement in his eyes told her otherwise.

   He waved back.

    "Are you waving at Steve Har—?"

   Before Cindy could finish, the klaxon sounded and the band all started to play. Ashley shot her friend a look and jogged back over to the bench, snatching up her shiny green pompoms. "I gotta go, wish me luck!"

    "Good luck!" Linda beamed.

   Cindy frowned.

    "Why the fuck were you waving at—?"

   But Ashley was already gone, making her way over to where her cheer team were waiting.

    "Everyone remember the routine?" Ashley asked, more out of habit than anything. She knew that they knew the routine, and she knew that they knew she knew that.

   They nodded.

    "Good," she said. "Remember: keep your arms straight, shake those pompoms, and point your toes when you're stepping out of your walkovers!" Her eyes drifted to Tina who scowled. If the shoe fits. "I won't accept sloppy! Tigers are not sloppy! Okay?" As all of them nodded again, Ashley sucked in a breath and smiled. "Okay! Are you ready, Tigers?"

    "Yes!"

    "Pompoms in!"

   The team pushed their pompoms together, meeting in the very middle of their circle, and they started to shake them as the band got progressively louder.

   Ashley sang, "Go, Tigers!"

    "Go, Tigers!"

    "Woo!"

    "Let's go!"

   The girls squealed and cheered as they danced to the middle of the gymnasium, in turn attracting the attention of the stands.

    "Introducing, Hawkins Tigers Cheer Squad!"

   Ashley's eyes briefly travelled to their commentators table, then around the crowds. Everyone was cheering and clapping along to the school band, watching the girls start their routine and waiting eagerly for the basketball team to appear from behind the massive HAWKINS TIGERS ALL THE WAY! sign.

    "Lead by two year captain, Ashley Miller!"

   As she took up the front row with a smooth front round off, the sea of students gave an extra cheer. Even Cindy, who would much rather gouge out her own eyes than give into the corruptive nature of school spirit. She clapped her hands slowly, sitting amongst the standing ovation, which was a stark contrast to Linda — who was with the rest of the Hawkins Tiger writers, and who had jumped up and down so much that she dropped her notepad and paper. That in itself made Ashley grin widely, glad that her day was beginning to truly turn around. It felt so normal, like it usually was, like Ashley's whole world wasn't steadily falling apart at the seams. Ashley felt as if her life was how it had been three days ago, before her mind soon became a secondary site for Will Byers'. This was normal, she was a normal teenager with normal hobbies and normal friends. She got to be the Ashley Miller that everybody thought they knew, but had never really known at all.

   But then she saw him.

   In the front row, face blank and staring, his bangs in his eyes and tickling the bridge of his nose.

   Will.

   It felt like the breath was sucked right out of her.

   Ashley faltered.

   Only for a moment, but it was enough for Tina to bump her in the side when they changed positions. Ashley was sent stumbling, pompoms slipping from the tips of her fingers. Her ears rang, her eyes burned, her heart thrumming. She didn't even try to pick her pompoms back up. Ashley was too busy watching little Will Byers, unable to rip her eyes away as the guilt drenched her from head to toe. There she was: having a good time, acting like everything was fine, when she knew the horrors that were taking place in the boy's poor mind.

   She knew, and she had done nothing.

   Ashley felt her breaths labour, her chest heaving unevenly. The world around her seemed to slow, and suddenly all that she could see was Will Byers.

   Then, in a blink, he was gone.

    "Ashley."

   But Ashley was already too thrown off, and she had no time to recover, left in a stumbling mess. Her teammates sent she worried looks, unsure as to why she was screwing up the routine. She never screwed up their routines.

    "Ashley."

   Sucking in heavy drags of air, Ashley turned as the team moved to change their places again. Her circle was aimless and she could see their lips moving, she knew they were talking to her, but Ashley couldn't hear over the music — it was growing louder, threatening to burst her eardrums. Her hands travelled to shield them but they soon stopped dead.

    "Ashley."

   The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

   Hesitantly, Ashley's right hand inched towards the skin. It soon covered the crawling surface, tracing the fearful bumps that grew like weeds; as if her body was made to harbour the little pyramids.

   Goosebumps.

   And as Ashley span back into position, the world a hazy blur of dimming lights, she heard the clock.

   Just like her very own Never Ending Story.

   DING.

The gymnasium around her flipped onto its side, sending every one of her organs soaring. Life became a kaleidoscope; visions of colours dulling before her tumbling eyes, swirling ash and veins. It all tossed and turned beneath her two very feet.

   DONG.

   And she was no longer where she once was.

   DING.

   Not how she remembered it, anyway.

   DONG.

   Body shaking and knees knocking, Ashley glanced up slowly, the actions hesitant.

   Her brows furrowed.

   She was still in the gymnasium, albeit the disturbed version she found common in Will Byers' mind. Ashley was even stood in the very same spot. As if the world around her had distorted, warping and contorting, but somehow left her behind. Crawling vines now scaled every wall, the bleachers were empty and rotting away, and nobody flanked her side; no cheerleaders, no basketball team and no crowd. There was no one. Just her, standing there, trembling in trepidation.

   DING.

   Her nervous stare slowly lowered to her hands, lip tugged right behind her teeth. She chewed the skin violently, awaiting the sight of Will Byers' small palms, but her anxiety was snuffed out by the confusion that grew tenfold.

   Those weren't Will Byers' hands.

   The dinosaur bandaids sat there, unscathed, and she thumbed them with shaky fingers. Those shaky fingers then drifted to find her head, expecting to feel the smooth bangs above her browline, only to locate the intricate curls framing her face. She inched her hands back further and exhaled heavily upon feeling that familiar ribbon, then the ponytail proceeding it. This wasn't Will Byers' hair. Ashley peered at her body as she gripped onto her ponytail like it was a lifeline. Her heart hammered at the white jersey and green, pleated skirt. These weren't Will Byers' clothes.

   Ashley Miller was in her own body, while simultaneously living in Will Byers' mind.

   Well, fuck.

   This had never happened before.

━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━

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p.s i know there's no pep rally in this ep (or this season) but i wanted there to be one for the sake of the story. it makes more sense in the long run!!
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