CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
SPIES

Kimmy and Aaron were back in the Scoops Ahoy staffroom the next day, Dustin updating the two on what they had missed as he signed Kimmy's cast.

"The week is long?" Aaron asked in confusion, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked to Dustin from where he stood behind a sitting Kimmy. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"We don't know," Robin shrugged from next to Dustin, eating a packet of chips as she did so. "But at least we've got something."

"I guess," Aaron shrugged. "Do you really think this is some super secret Russian plan, Dustin? It sounds like this guy is just talking bullshit and he just happens to be Russian-"

"No, no, no." Dustin shook his head as he handed Kimmy back her black marker. "There's something seriously wrong here, we just need to figure out what he's really saying."

"Yeah, but how do you know that?" Aaron asked with a sigh.

"I just... I just know." Dustin admitted, throwing his arms up in frustration. "It's seriously sketchy."

"You just know?" Aaron retorted, rolling his eyes at the boy. "Yeah, okay, the guy does sound a little sketchy, but that doesn't mean he's planning an attack against America."

"Aaron, just trust me, okay?" Dustin sighed, frustratedly, placing his hand to his face in a stressed manner. "It is sketchy. Don't ask questions, just listen to me."

"Do you want to sign it?" Kimmy asked Robin before Aaron had the chance to respond to Dustin.

The older girl looked surprised as well as uncomfortable at the question, Kimmy looking slightly uncomfortable too.

It was weird, Kimmy asking Robin to sign her cast was weird. Kimmy knew it, Robin knew it, Aaron knew it and Dustin knew it. Kimmy had known the girl for just over a day, and it was obvious to Aaron that she was reluctant to ask Robin to sign her cast, even if the other two hadn't noticed.

Aaron knew Kimmy had asked Robin to sign her cast just so the older girl didn't feel left out. However, the blond knew that Robin probably wouldn't have even batted an eye at not being able to sign the brunettes cast, never mind being so upset over it that she felt left out. Although, Aaron knew that Kimmy had the tendency to care more about others feelings than her own.

"Um, sure?" The older girl responded with much hesitance, taking the pen Kimmy was holding out for her and signing her cast.

Aaron looked over the brunette's shoulder and down at her casted arm, furrowing his brows at the names written on them. "I thought Max wanted to sign it?"

"Yeah, she does, but I haven't seen her yet." Kimmy nodded, calmly. "I called her last night and-" Kimmy cut herself off with a gasp, motioning for Aaron to sit at the table where she, Robin and Dustin were. "I completely forgot, guess what?"

Aaron was worried for the girl now sat next to him for a moment before he realised she was looking to the three she was sat around with an amused expression.

"What?" Dustin asked carefully, unsure as to what would words come out the girls mouth next.

"Okay," Kimmy sighed excitedly, unable to hide her slightly amused expression. "So, obviously I was talking to Max last night over the phone, and I'm telling her about my arm and everything, and guess what she tells me? El dumped Mike! Can you believe that?"

Dustin and Aaron snapped their gazes to the girl, only shock evident in their faces as they registered her words. While Robin just looked confused.

"Seriously?" Dustin gasped, sounding like he didn't believe the girl when he shook his head. "You're lying-"

"I swear I'm not!" Kimmy insisted with an airy laugh. "Mike ditched El to go to the mall with Lucas and Will, and when Max and El were at the mall they saw them. Max said that Eleven walked right up to Mike and told him - and I quote; I dump your ass. I mean, what the fuck? I'm so sad I missed it!"

"When the hell did El start talking like that?" Aaron scoffed, Kimmy turning to look at him with a curious expression. "Max's probably just exaggerating, there's no way she dumped him. Definitely not by saying that she dumped his ass-"

"Yes she did, Aaron!" Kimmy nodded her head frantically, not even glancing away from the blond when Dustin stood from his seat and made his way to the textured sliding windows. "And Max isn't exaggerating, she told me exactly what happened."

"And how do you know that?" Aaron retorted in a teasing manner. "She just so happened to call you and suddenly start spilling every little detail of what happened during her day-"

"Yes." Kimmy scoffed with an obvious tone. "We tell each other everything-"

"Steve!" Dustin's unnecessary yells in Steve's ear cut Kimmy off, turning to look at what was going on. "El dumped Mike!"

Steve's once annoyed expression dropped and he looked to the three with wide eyes. "Seriously?"

"Seriously!" Kimmy confirmed with a slight tug on her lips. "It's crazy right?"

Steve gasped at the girl and went to ask Kimmy something else but a repetitive ding of the bell resting on the counter behind him. The older boy rolled his eyes and shut the textured windows before turning around to serve the customer.

"Wait," Aaron asked Kimmy with a perplexed expression, the girl looking at him calmly as she waited for his question. "She dumped him because he went to the mall with Will and Lucas? That's it?"

"Aaron!" Kimmy exclaimed in disbelief along side a frustrated expression. "No that is not it, he ditched her to go out with Lucas and Will. Do you listen to anything I say?"

"I don't know, I think she overreacted." Dustin shrugged, Aaron nodding in agreement, Kimmy rolling her eyes at them.

"You just don't get it." Kimmy shook her head, done with the conversation. "Max said he lied to her and then ditched her and then-"

"That is so not a reason to dump him." Aaron shook his head as Dustin nodded in agreement, neither of the two boys seeing Kimmy's point of view.

"Well," Kimmy sighed, looking to Dustin then Aaron as she spoke. "I hope you wouldn't ditch your girlfriend or lie to her, Dustin. And I would hope that you wouldn't ditch a future girlfriend or lie to her, Aaron."

Aaron's face got redder at what Kimmy had said to him, he probably wouldn't have got so flustered if it was anyone else, but seeing as it was quite literally the girl who he wanted to be his girlfriend, he was flustered beyond belief.

The blond was glad that Kimmy was now facing Dustin so she wouldn't see just how flustered he had gotten at her words.

"I would never." Dustin gasped at Kimmy's accusation, sitting back down at the table as his brows knitting together. "I'm just saying that I think they overreacted."

Aaron shrugged at Kimmy, now a lot calmer with his cheeks a lot less red. "I believe that Max isn't exaggerating as much as I believe she didn't push El to dump him-"

"Why do you think she's exaggerating? She's telling the truth!" Kimmy exclaimed with wide eyes before regaining her composure and sending Aaron a teasing shrug and a slight grin. "Anyway, I don't think you should be arguing with anything she's saying, she's already not happy with you right now."

Aaron's cheeks went pink in embarrassment at what Kimmy was referring to and sunk further into his seat, trying and failing to look unfazed.

Kimmy and Aaron had agreed not to tell the party how exactly the girl had broken her forearm, well, it was really Kimmy who had thought about it. Aaron knew the girl had only brought it up to the blond because she knew how bad he felt over the entire thing.

"Why is she not happy with Aaron?" Dustin asked curiously, Aaron biting his cheek and reluctantly going to respond but Kimmy beat him to it.

"Because yesterday when Aaron and I were out getting food, we were kind of... running around... a little bit. And Max and El were out in the mall and Aaron accidentally ran into Max." Kimmy lied quickly, the blond boy looking to her with wide eyes at how easily she could lie to Dustin. She was always so nervous and had a tendency to stutter over her words when she tried to lie to Aaron. "But she's fine, just annoyed at Aaron kind of."

Dustin began laughing, not noticing how uncomfortable Aaron seemed to be next to him.

"Well, anyway," Kimmy continued with a small smile tugging on her lips. "I'm sure she'll get over it soon."

Aaron scoffed loudly at her words, knowing well that Max would not let Aaron's actions just slide by. Kimmy begun laughing, sending the blond a smile as she tried to reassure him. "She'll get over it. I can talk to her about it if you want?"

Aaron knew Kimmy was offering to talk to max about what had really happened. The blond knew Kimmy probably had already done so, but she was willing to do so again for him. Aaron bit the inside of his lip, thinking momentarily before replying.

"Sure," Aaron nodded after a moment of silence, looking much more unbothered than he felt. "If you want."

With that the conversation came to an end, Dustin turning to talk to Robin.

Aaron, however kept his gaze on the brunette that the other two had glanced away from, the blond sent her the smallest of smiles to say thanks. Kimmy nodded and returned the gesture, as if to say it was no problem.

Aaron kept his eyes on her when she turned away and began talking with Dustin and Robin. Soon enough, Aaron looked away from her he too joining in with the conversation taking place.

Although he wasn't really paying attention, all he could think about was Steve's shift coming to an end so he could talk to him. Aaron thought maybe he would have to speed up the process Steve was adamant on him taking so slow. Aaron knew he'd have to bite the bullet and ask her out sooner than Steve wanted him to.

Truthfully Aaron was slightly worried that some other boy would beat him to it. Aaron did not know what he would do if someone else asked Kimmy out and she actually accepted the offer before Aaron had the chance to, the idea of it even stressed him out.

...

Steve, Dustin, Aaron and Kimmy were crouched behind some mall plant 'spying' on random people around the mall to look for anyone who looked suspicious.

Steve had binoculars pressed to his face, looking around with them. Kimmy was absolutely embarrassed, sighing and looking to Aaron who was next to her to see what he was thinking.

Aaron had his head in his hands, clearly embarrassed at what his brother was doing in public.

Kimmy held back a laugh as she nudged the boy to get his attention. Aaron turned to look to her with a reluctant expression, clearly wishing the group were anywhere but there.

"Why does he need to do this?" Aaron whispered to the girl, sounding like he wanted to cry. "I mean, are the binoculars really necessary?"

Kimmy let out a quiet laugh at his words. In all fairness, Kimmy agreed that Steve was being a little dramatic.

"Probably not." Kimmy agreed, no where near as bothered about what Steve was doing as Aaron was. "I think he just likes feeling like a spy."

"I can hear you." Steve retorted from next to Dustin, still not moving the binoculars from his face. "And they are necessary, Aaron. Unless you don't want us to catch the Russian?"

Aaron rolled his eyes, muttering something incoherently under his breath as he looked away from his brother.

"How are you even going to see an evil Russian from across the mall?" Kimmy rolled her eyes at the eldest one of the four. "Seriously, what does an evil Russian even look like?"

"Um... tall, blond, not smiling." Dustin retorted in an obvious tone.

"So Aaron?" Kimmy joked while laughing, however her laughter soon cut off abruptly when she realised Dustin was looking to her with a blank look. "Right, what else?"

"Ear pieces, camp, duffle bags." Dustin listed on his fingers swiftly. "It's quite self explanatory, Kimmy."

"Well, sorry," Kimmy scoffed when Dustin turned away from her to look out at the mall in search for 'evil Russians'. "I didn't know there was a list of requirements."

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me." Steve gasped as he gripped the binoculars tighter.

"What?" Dustin asked hurriedly, sounding panicked.

"Anna Jacobi's talking with that meathead Mark Lewinsky." Steve scoffed in disbelief, Dustin's look of panic dropping and instead being replaced with annoyance.

"If you're not going to focus, just give me the binoculars." Dustin scolded, looking to Steve seriously.

"Aw, Jesus Christ, whatever happened to standards?" Steve went on, completely ignoring the boy next to him as he continued to rant on about the two he was watching. "I mean, Lewinsky never even came off the bench."

"Maybe she's talking to Lewinsky because he makes more than three dollars an hour." Aaron leaned over Kimmy to tease his brother with a blunt tone.

Only then did Steve drop the binoculars from his face, turning to look to Aaron with a very annoyed expression.

"Actually, I make four dollars an hour, not three." Steve snapped, his brows knitting together while he looked to Aaron. "And you should be grateful that I have a job in an ice cream parlour since you're now banned from the ice cream shop in town."

Aaron rolled his eyes at this but didn't say anything, looking away from Steve with a huff. Steve smirked at his younger brother and picked up the binoculars once more.

Yes, after what had happened after the snowball Aaron did end up getting banned from the ice cream parlour. Kimmy would have been lying if she said she didn't see it coming, Aaron and the worker had gotten into quite a long and unnecessary argument which had got them kicked out.

"You are the worst spy in history." Dustin told Steve teasingly, grabbing the binoculars from him. "You know that?"

"Stop, hey, stop." Steve snapped worriedly when the binoculars got stuck around his neck.

"Give me them." Dustin said quietly, sounding a little annoyed.

Steve rolled his eyes at Dustin's words.

"I don't get why you're looking at girls." Dustin retorted as he placed the binoculars to his eyes. "You have the perfect one in front of you."

Steve sighed frustratedly. "Seriously, if you say Robin again-"

"Robin." Dustin nodded, not even looking at Steve as he looked around with the binoculars.

"No, don't- no." Steve shook his head, not sure on what to do.

"Robin, Robin, Robin." Dustin teased, although Kimmy could tell he was being serious. "Robin, Robin."

"No, stop it." Steve snapped eventually, clearly having enough of Dustin's teasing. "No, man, she's not my type. She's not even... she's not even in the ballpark of what my type is, alright?"

"What's your type again?" Dustin teased in a serious voice once more. "Not awesome?"

Aaron let out a loud laugh at Dustin's words, however Kimmy guessed that he was doing so just to annoy Steve, not because he actually cared or agreed.

Steve scrunched his face up and looked to the two boys. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Aaron sent Steve a toothy smile.

"For your information," Steve continued, wanting to put the subject to rest for the last time. "She's still in school. And she's weird."

"She's not weird." Kimmy rolled her eyes at Steve's words, not feeling comfortable about talking bad about the girl they group had been hanging out with the past two days.

"She's a weirdo." Steve told Kimmy, not even trying to hear her out. "And she's hyper. I don't like that she's hyper. And she did drama, that's a bad look. And she's in band? No."

"Now that you're out of high school, which means technically you're an adult," Dustin turned to face the older boy, the tone of his voice already telling Kimmy he was annoyed to some extent. "Don't you think it's time to move on from primitive constructs such as popularity?"

"Oh, primitive constructs?" Steve scoffed, his temper also rising. "That some stupid shit you learned at Camp... know... nothing?"

Kimmy snorted at his attempt at an insult, covering her mouth with her hand as she did so, looking to the floor to try get her snickers under control.

"Camp Know Where, actually." Dustin retorted, not sounding impressed at all. "And, no, it's shit I learned from life. Instead of dating someone you think is gonna make you cooler, why not date someone you actually enjoy being around?"

Steve looked to Dustin with a dumbfounded expression, not caring to listen to Dustin's advice at all.

"Like me and Suzie." Dustin continued, Kimmy seeing Aaron roll his eyes from the corner of her eyes, the girl nudging him hard in the rib and sending him a stare telling him to shut up before he could blurt something.

"Oh, Suzie." Steve spoke in faux interest, still clearly annoyed. "Yeah, you mean, 'hotter than Phoebe Cates.' Yeah, that Suzie."

Dustin and Kimmy both looked to Steve with an annoyed look. Kimmy was upset for Dustin that no one actually believed he had a girlfriend besides herself. If anything, Kimmy thought it was insulting that the entire group thought Dustin couldn't get a girlfriend which was why she always jumped to his defence whenever it was mentioned. That and the fact that Kimmy actually did believe that Dustin was telling the truth about Suzie.

"Uh, let's think about how exactly you managed to score that beautiful girlfriend." Steve scratched his head in faux thought, his brows knitting together before a look of realisation forced itself onto his face. "Oh, yeah. With my advice. Because that's how this works, Henderson. I give you the advice, you follow through. Not the other way around, alright, pea-brain?"

"Your advice is a bunch of bullshit." Aaron scoffed from his spot next to Kimmy, rolling his eyes as he spoke. "If anything, Dustin probably scored this... girlfriend because he didn't follow your advice."

Kimmy and Dustin turned to Aaron with confused expressions.

Kimmy began to panic slightly that maybe Aaron had gone to Steve for advice about a girl and that's how he knew what he was talking about. This filled the girl with a mix of jealousy, fear and curiosity. More jealousy than she probably cared to admit.

"Yeah, and how would you know about how shit his advice is?" Dustin teased, not so subtly motioning between Kimmy and Aaron, the blonds cheeks going bright pink. The boy just glad Kimmy was facing away from Dustin and couldn't see.

Aaron had never actually told anyone besides Steve about how he felt towards the brunette, but Dustin and Lucas knew. They'd worked it out themselves. To be fair, it wasn't that difficult to figure out.

"I just... I just do." Aaron shook his head at the curly haired boy, trying to get him to stop before the girl noticed. "I'm his brother, I know not to trust what he says."

Steve rolled his eyes and scoffed at Aaron's words, Dustin shrugging his shoulders teasingly and smirking before adverting his attention back to his binoculars.

Kimmy sent Aaron one final confused look before she too looked away. The girl seen Steve send his brother a wide eyed stare at what he'd said, but to save Aaron from embarrassment and probably herself from getting upset at finding out who Aaron had been talking about, she pretended not to notice.

"Target acquired!" Dustin gasped, following someone across the mall with his binoculars.

"Where?" Kimmy asked leaning forward and squinting her eyes to try see.

"Ten o'clock." Dustin replied as he slowly gave Steve the binoculars, moving next to Kimmy and pointing to where he had been looking. "Sam Goody's."

"Shit." Kimmy mumbled as she caught sight of who Dustin had been looking at. The man had black sunglasses on, long blond hair that went past his shoulders, was dressed head to toe in black, was carrying a duffel bag and was scowling.

"Duffle bag." Steve gasped, removing the binoculars from his face and turning to the three fourteen year olds already watching him. "Evil Russian."

Dustin then stood, the other three copying his actions as they went running after the blond to try catch up to him.

Kimmy thought it wasn't the best idea for her and Aaron to go running around the mall again, seeing as what had happened last time, but they did so anyway.

Upon catching up to the stranger, the four made sure to keep their distance, all while still being close enough to follow him.

"Slow down." Dustin hissed at Steve who was now quite far in front of the three.

"We're losing him." Steve retorted without looking back.

"No, you're getting too close." Dustin whispered frustratedly.

Steve then bumped into someone, the older boy yelling at Steve as he past. This causing the man they were all following to turn around in confusion.

Kimmy's eyes widened, as did the other three she was stood with. The girl rushing off to the side as she pretended to look in a store window, Dustin practically running up to the service phones and pretending to be on a call, Aaron looking over the banisters of the mall stairs as he pretended to look down to the second floor. Kimmy squeezed her eyes shut in frustration and sighed as she watched Steve hid behind a small tree.

"Okay, come on." Dustin whispered at the three and motioning for them to follow as the man turned away and began walking once more.

The four watched him from behind one of the pillars as they watched him walk into a jazzersize class, their faces scrunching up in confusion as they watched him pull out a boombox from his duffel bag and take off his sunglasses and black jacket before moving into the middle of the room and begin to lead the class.

"Well, fuck." Aaron scoffed as he moved away from behind the pillar. The group looking to him sheepishly and nodding in response.

When walking shamefully back from the jazzersize class and to Scoops Ahoy, the four were extremely puzzled to find Robin standing in the middle of the mall on the fountain, looking around frantically.

"Robin." Steve snapped his fingers in front of her, sounding as if he was too tired to deal with the girl. "What are you doing?"

"I cracked it." The older girl beamed, still standing on the fountain.

"Cracked what?" Steve asked in a tired voice.

"I cracked the code." The girl gasped, jumping down from the fountain.

...

New chapter!!! ALSO TYSM FOR 8K READS?!?! OMG THANK YOU!!

Anyway, new chapters will be posted soon just hope I write fast lol.

Hope everyone is having a good day/night!!!

- AJ :)