CHAPTER EIGHT.
well, the night's not over yet.

so, uh, if y'all didn't read the authors note i published, THIS IS NO LONGER A MAX STORY!! but they will be the best and sweetest brotp i've ever made so get ready for more max & 19 friendship bonding !!

—

after they left the junkyard, it got a little colder. nineteen had zipped her jacket up, shoving her hands in her pockets.

they were now walking on the train tracks, trying to make sense of what just happened.

"you're positive that was dart?" lucas asks his best friend. "yes." dustin confirms, stepping over a rock. "he had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt."

"he was tiny two days ago." max says.

"well, he's molted three times already." dustin says monotonously.

"malted?"

"molted." dustin corrects. "shed his skin to make room for growth like hornworms."

"well, when's his gonna molt again?" max asks. "it's gotta be soon." dustin replies.

nineteen looks up, looking at the bright, twinkling stars. they were beautiful.

"when he does, he'll be fully grown, or close to it. and so will his friends."

"yeah, and he's gonna eat a lot more than just cats." steve says. lucas suddenly stops and grabs dustin's shoulder, stopping him too. nineteen unexpectedly almost hits lucas' back.

"wait, a cat? dart ate a cat?" he asks in disbelief.

"no, what? no." dustin tries (and fails) to play it off.

"what are you talking about? he ate mews." steve says causally. max, who had been watching the two young boys argue, looks up at steve. "mews? who's mews?"

"dustin's cat." nineteen answers quietly from behind dustin. he whirls around in frustration. "blue!" he yelled.

she stumbles backwards as he yells in her face, moving in closer to max and pressing up against her left arm. steve immediately takes an arm around her and brings her around to between him and the redhead. "watch it, henderson."

after dustin shoots a small apologetic look at the brunette girl, he continues to argue with lucas. nineteen looks at their dark surroundings. the woods really were a scary place.

"he missed me." dustin suddenly admits. "he wanted to come home."

"bullshit!" lucas yells immediately. nineteen stayed silent, not even wanting to know what either of the boys were thinking.

"i didn't know it was a demogorgan." dustin snaps. "oh, so now you admit it?" lucas scoffs.

"guys, who cares? we have to go." max suddenly says, lightly pushing on nineteen's arms with her own as emphasis.

"i care!" lucas screamed. "you put the party in jeopardy! you broke the rule of law!"

nineteen was immediately confused, glancing at max and steve, who seemed less confused at their words, but still confused all the same.

"so did you!" dustin yelled in his face. "what?" lucas asked. steve let out a sigh and looked at their surroundings.

"you told a stranger," dustin held up the flashlight right in max's face, startling her and making her stumble. nineteen winces away from the light that partially blinded her due to her close proximity to max. "-the truth!"

the ginger scoffs out a laugh. "'a stranger'?" she steps forward, her voice going up a couple of notches due to being so angry.

"you wanted to tell her, too!" lucas argues. max stood beside them.

"yeah, but i didn't, lucas, okay?" dustin yells again.

a sudden screech emits from the woods, and steve and nineteen both turn away from the little fight happening in front of them. the girl looks upwards at steve. ever since the incident at the police station, she had started looking to him when there was something that needed to be done.

the three teens behind them continue arguing, oblivious to what's happening, as steve steps forwards. nineteen reaches out and grasps his left hand loosely. the brunette stops momentarily and glances back at her for a couple of seconds, then their hands, and then he tightens his hold as he scans the area in front of him with his flashlight.

"guys?" steve asks. they don't relent. steve rolls his eyes and huffs, turning around. "guys!"

the teens stop and look at him, finally hearing the screeches reach their ears. they all make eye contact, realizing what they had to do.

lucas and dustin gather their stuff and start quickly walking towards the sound of the screeches. the other two follow, except for max, who stays rooted to her spot.

"no, no, no. hey, guys, why are you headed towards the sound? hello?" she says, but they don't answer, just continue walking without looking back. "hello?!" she scoffs, curses and then quickly starts after them.

they walk until they reach a field of grass that overlooks a small part of the town.

nineteen sucks in a breath as the noises continue.

"i don't see 'em."

lucas gets out his binoculars and look around. he stops. "it's the lab." he says. nineteen looks up at steve in alarm.

"they were going back home."

-

after short persuading and reassurance that nineteen was not going back to lab permanently, not now, not ever, they start making their way down the hill. max had listened closely to what the three boys had told nineteen over and over, intrigued and hungry for more. it was insane to listen to what the boys said. nineteen had lived in the lab? yeah, she had powers, but it was all just.. weird.

when they started walking through the woods, max wanted to walk beside her. for most of the walk, max was deciding in her head if she should say anything. some soothing words? maybe offer to be her friend? max had never had an actual friend before. yeah, she knew a few kids at her old school but she didn't exactly hang out with them or anything. nineteen glances at her as her thoughts get louder and louder.

"friend." she tells at her. max looks over in surprise. she chuckles. "oh yeah, mind reader and all that." she crosses her arms.

max looks down as nineteen smiles and they continue walking after the boys. steve glances back and stops.

"hey, guys, check it out." steve almost laughs. he turns and points his flashlight at nineteen. dustin lets out a light laugh.

due to nineteen's sudden happiness about having her very first friend, the static electricity that hovered around her permanently had made her hair start to stand on its ends.

"what's going on with her?" max asks, staring at the hair floating right in front of her face.

"she's just nervous, i think." steve guesses. "it'll stop soon." he turns and continues his walk.

"oh, hey, by the way, tap her on the shoulder." steve says, stopping and looking at dustin. the curly haired boy walks over to her, and glances around at his friends before lightly touching her shoulder with his pointer finger.

he lets out a squeak, his voice cracking, and falls back, holding his finger in his other hand. steve turns back and starts walking again, chuckling to himself.

"steve, you asshole, she shocked me!"

they had been nearing the lab anyway, but now they were almost at the entrance. they slow down their walk when they saw lights, but continue to the clearing.

"hello!" a voice shouts that nineteen can't see. "who's there? who's there?!"

the five of them walk out of the woods.

"steve?!" the two people in front of them ask simultaneously.

"nancy?" steve asks, walking forward.

"jonathan." dustin mumbles, walking to them as well.

"what are you doing here?" the woman asks. and as she gets closer, nineteen realizes she's the one in all the pictures in steve's room. the one with the pretty face.

but nineteen remembers steve's thoughts. this is nancy, the one that hurt steve, and the one that had made him cry. nineteen narrows her eyes at her slightly.

"what are you doing here?" steve retorts, them all walking towards each other.

"we're looking for mike and will." nancy answers, coming to a full stop in front of them.

"they're not in there, are they?" dustin asks, already turning to nineteen.

"we're not sure." nancy says. "why?"

dustin faces the brunette girl. "find them." he tells her, starting to walk away, only to slowly turn around as the monster's screeches come from the forest once again.

while all of them start overlapping each other about when they had last seen the two boys, nineteen slips away and tries to do as dustin had said.

it was easy to find them, unbeknownst to her, them being in the actual building in front of them. she walks over to the group. "in there." she says. steve looks away. "what?"

"mike and will." she answers, pointing to the lab.

"how do you know?" jonathan asks, looking the younger girl up and down. lucas steps forward, and puts his arms around nineteen's shoulders. "you remember eleven? yeah? well, this one," he pats nineteen's shoulder. "-is kinda just like her, except she's different and knows a lot more. got it?" he says.

"okay," jonathan laughs in surprise, looking down. "whatever, but if you know mike and will are in there, can you find my mom, too? joyce byers?" he asks, looking at nineteen. nancy steps forward. "and hopper? chief hopper?"

nineteen nods and closes her eyes, filtering through the minds that were alive inside, picking up on the group of people that were in the same room as mike. hopper and joyce were in there, too.

she opens her eyes and nods. "in there too." she tells them, pointing to the lab again.

"well, great, now how do we get in there?" steve asks, and then they all start arguing over top of each other again.

nineteen backs away as it went like this for a few minutes. she closes her eyes, reaching out to eleven.

eleven. answer me.

i'm here.

where are you?

and with that, nineteen felt multiple more images and thoughts being shoved into her brain. all of the things she had done, left hawkins, met kali, everything. eleven's voice echoing through her mind.

"we have a sister back home. her name is nineteen. i haven't spoken to her in a while."

and then something stands out majorly. it's a man who had worked at the lab when papa was there, and he's saying that papa is still out there. nineteen quickly comes back to, looking at her surroundings. she shakes her head when she feels blood hit her lip and she feels for her cheeks but nothing's there. however, when she feels at her nostrils and pulls back to look at her fingers. red adornes them and she turns quickly to the group. "el-"

"the power's back." nancy suddenly says, stepping forward. they all stop arguing and run back over to the security box. jonathan jumps in and repeatedly hits a button. the rest of them turn towards the metal gate in front of them. nineteen glances back and forth, confused as to what they were waiting for.

"let me try." dustin says from behind her, walking into the box. she hears them struggle "let me try, jonathan!"

it still wasn't opening. as dustin curses behind her, nineteen walks to the gate, putting her hands on where it connected to the pole, locking it and making sure it stayed closed. she wraps her hands around it in a death grip.

"what's she doing?" nancy asks.

"being a badass." lucas replies.

her hands start to sweat as the pole heats up, breaking apart. it starts to smoke as an electric blue color shines through her fingers. she stares ahead, her vision clouding over.

the pole suddenly let out squeak a and then it bursts, now officially fried.

nineteen backs away, pulling her hand up. she shakes it a little, getting the burnt remains off of her hands. steve runs forwards and then starts to push it, making a clear way for jonathan's car.

-

the remaining five were waiting there for a little bit longer than expected, especially after nancy and jonathan drove away quickly. it was silent, completely, no one saying anything, nineteen was sitting on the ground, leaning in he doorway of the box. she leaned her head against the side and sighed.

dustin, lucas, and max all paced around in front of her. she watched them all walk back and forth, anxiously waiting for everyone's return.

max suddenly stops and walks forwards, looking at the road ahead of them.

there's distance noise, nineteen just now noticing it. she stands up quickly and walks over. "guys?" max asks, getting their attention.

two cars swerve around the corner, headlights hitting them in the face, jonathan honking fast.

they speed on past, nineteen making 2 seconds of eye contact with mike wheeler through the window, before a bigger car stops beside them. the words 'police' are printed on the side.

"let's go!" the man said, opening the door for them. nineteen recognizes him as the man she saw on the dirt road right before she met those two women in town.

they all get in quickly, the four kids piling in on each other in the back, and steve getting the passenger seat.

"okay, let's go! let's go!" he yells once he's in, hitting the side of the car. the wheels squeal and they drive off after the other car.

—
max is nineteen's first official real life friend woodjwkxufikwjd