❛ I've been one poor correspondent and I've been too, too hard to find, but it doesn't mean you ain't been on my mind. ❜

SEASON 2, EPISODE 1
MADMAX

━━━━━━ October 29, 1984

WHEN FRIDA WAS FIVE, she first held her little sister, Inés, in her arms after hours of sitting patiently in the waiting room. She often looked back on that moment fondly. Her sister's big brown eyes found hers, and in a second, a sweet smile lifted her chubby cheeks. Frida felt loved and acknowledged as the only thing in that baby's world. Her mom was asleep in her hospital bed, exhausted from the intensive labor, and her stepfather had passed Frida the baby in the guise of them meeting for the first time. Frida hardly remembered him, but she would always remember the look on his face when he held Inés for the first and only time—terror and disbelief. He handed Frida the baby, said he was going out for a smoke, and never returned.

⠀⠀⠀Frida didn't realize what had happened until her mom woke up, and the nurse calmly explained that her husband had left. The nurse transferred Inés into her mom's arms before leaving with a sympathetic expression. When Frida climbed into bed beside her mom and sister, Frida's mom softly told her, 'She may not know you for all of your life, but you will know her for every moment. You have to take care of each other, always, even if I'm not there.'

⠀⠀⠀Then, a few years later, her mom got sick and was in and out of the hospital for years until she passed away not long before they moved to Hawkins. Frida tried to do her as her mom asked so long ago. She loved her sister, took care of her, and acted like a second parent for a long time, but Inés pushed back even before their mom died. She hated Frida, even when Frida thought the world of her, and all she could tell herself was to let Inés the space to grieve.

⠀⠀⠀Inés sat in the passenger's seat of Frida's car, bundled up in a long-sleeve white turtleneck and navy blue sweater. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and a frown pulled at her lips as she stared out the window as dead leaves scattered. The high school and middle school were side-by-side, so the sisters were forced to be in each other's company every school day despite the tension between them. In the past, Frida tried to make conversation, but Inés always had a biting remark to return.

⠀⠀⠀Sometimes, she wondered what she did wrong, but in all honesty, she didn't think she could handle knowing.

⠀⠀⠀"Abuelo said you're going with us to the movies," Frida said, breaking the tension. She awkwardly readjusted her grip on the steering wheel to release the anxiety in her bones. They were close to the school, so it reassured them that the conversation wouldn't last long.

⠀⠀⠀"He told me I had to if I wanted to go with my friend," Inés muttered. Frida could hear the annoyance in her tone and could imagine her rolling her eyes.

⠀⠀⠀"He seemed really excited about you making a new friend," Frida commented. Her lips grew into a terse, thin smile as she faced Inés. Her expression was sour, exasperated at their conversation. Her mouth hung open slightly, and her eyes pressed into slits.

⠀⠀⠀"I have a lot of friends," she hissed, leaning back in her seat and rolling her eyes.

⠀⠀⠀"I know. He just seemed to think this was a real one," Frida explained, then cringed at her bluntness. She didn't mean for it to come out as it did.

⠀⠀⠀"I don't make up fake friends," Inés muttered.

⠀⠀⠀Their conversation dropped as Frida rolled into a parking spot. Before she was even in park, Inés jumped out of the car with her backpack swung over her shoulder.

⠀⠀⠀Music screamed through the parking lot as a dark blue muscle car swung into the parking lot, nearly missing a boy heading inside. A teenager around Frida's age stepped out with sunglasses covering his eyes and dirty blonde, curly hair brushing against his neck and cheek. Frida hadn't seen him before as he tossed his cigarette into the ground and eyed the roaming teenagers around him with a leer. On the other side of the car, a girl slumped out. She had a shock of red hair, a deep frown that matched Inés', and a skateboard in hand as she strutted away from the boy without a word.

⠀⠀⠀Inés sprinted across the lot to meet the redhead, bright smiles breaking their brooding expressions. The new girl jumped on her board to keep pace with Inés as they headed toward middle school.

⠀⠀⠀Frida sighed, leaning her head onto the steering wheel out of frustration. She wanted to clear the air and make things right by Inés, but there was no way to talk to her sometimes. It made Frida want to scream!

FRIDA'S SKIN WARMED UNDER her dark red corduroy jacket from the sun behind her. She sat on the bleachers beside Eddie Munson as the wind whipped through their hair. A few strands landed in his mouth, and he puffed them out where he sat below her in the walkway rather than the seats. His arms stretched along the row behind him, his hand grazing against Frida's knee.

⠀⠀⠀"How do historians refer to the time period of the 1730s to the 1740s when colonists began embracing secular rationalism over religion?" Frida read off her flashcard. Her eyes glanced down to Eddie, where he'd leaned his head back and screwed his brows together in confusion.

⠀⠀⠀"What was the question?" he asked after a minute, narrowing his eyes from the sun. Frida repeated, and he groaned. "I don't know, the Jurassic era."

⠀⠀⠀Frida's lips turned into a frown as she set her flashcards in her lap. She'd worked all Saturday night skimming her textbook for possible questions that might come up on their test that Friday. He wasn't even close to the answer (the Great Awakening).

⠀⠀⠀"I thought you wanted to try this year?" Frida asked, a tinge of disappointment seeping through her tone.

⠀⠀⠀"I skated through Junior year, didn't I?" Eddie asked, brushing her off with a flick of his wrist. He didn't mention that he made it because Frida and June forced him to study and split writing two essays for him. "Besides, I think this is the year I make the best D&D campaign!" he exclaimed.

⠀⠀⠀Eddie was the president of the Hellfire Club, where they played Dungeons & Dragons. Frida had made friends with June during a science lab, and the two girls hit it off better than anyone else. June then invited Frida to join, and the three teens became inseparable. Frida hadn't played D&D before that day or even heard of it.

⠀⠀⠀Eddie moved from Frida's feet to perch on the row below her so they could crowd into the same space. One of his legs sat between hers, and the other was on the outside. A bright smile lifted his features, and a glimmer of excitement and slight madness pierced through his eye.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm thinking a nautoloid has captured a hundred or so people and the mind flayers have put a tadpole into your brain to turn you, right? But what's weird is that no one turns! Why does that happen, and is it all a plan by the mind flayers?"

⠀⠀⠀"Why don't you use what you learn from my history flashcards to help the world build?" Frida asked, waving the deck in his face, but he pushed her hands back into her lap.

⠀⠀⠀"You can't trick me into studying, Ace," Eddie scoffed, rolling his eyes. They were silent only momentarily before he asked softly, "But you like the idea, right?"

⠀⠀⠀"Of course I do. Is it only based on the nautoloid?" Frida asked, quirking a brow. She knew it was better to play along when Eddie got into a mood rather than push him. Or else she'd be back to having him talk to her only through June for a week before acting like nothing happened a week later. If he wanted to do something, he would, and if you wanted him to do something, he'd drag his feet.

⠀⠀⠀"Not sure yet. I'm trying to think about what should happen after you get the tadpole," he muttered with a frown. He was backing into his head, thinking over the possibilities that could play out.

⠀⠀⠀"Maybe if you crack open a textbook, you'll find some inspiration," Frida murmured, pushing his legs away and crossing her ankle over knee.

⠀⠀⠀"You're so naggy. Anyone ever tell you that?" Eddie muttered in annoyance, brushing his hand through his hair while readjusting his position.

⠀⠀⠀"About every day from you, Ed."

⠀⠀⠀June arrived beside them in a gray cotton T-shirt and green track shorts with a bright smile. While the pair were up in the bleachers studying, June had been running laps since she was on the track and field team. Frida stuck around to watch to support her friend and wait on Inés, who was stuck in school an extra hour after the high school let out. Eddie liked to hang out wherever he wanted.

⠀⠀⠀"Guys, I totally think Stacey Gill was checking me out," June whisper-shouted at the pair, leaning in close so no one else would hear them.

⠀⠀⠀"Who's Stacey?" Eddie asked, narrowing his gaze as he turned to the field. Frida followed his gaze, the pair trying to pick out June's type from the girls at the water cooler.

⠀⠀⠀"Brown hair, cute glasses, about my height," June listed.

⠀⠀⠀"Oh, right. She has a boyfriend," Frida deadpanned.

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, and I have a beard," June scoffed, jamming her thumb in Eddie's direction. "Doesn't mean anything."

⠀⠀⠀"I didn't know we were dating, Junie baby," Eddie teased with a grin, leaning toward June to sneak a kiss. She smacked her hand into his cheek and pushed him away.

⠀⠀⠀"Nasty, Munson. Get away from me," she scolded with a curl of her lip.

⠀⠀⠀Eddie shrugged and caught Frida's eye with a goofy smile. "She's totally into me."

⠀⠀⠀"Thought you guys had been dating this whole time," Frida added.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm being serious, guys. She looked at me for three full seconds, at my shoes, and then back into my eyes!" June said, a little too loud and eyes kind of wild.

⠀⠀⠀"Maybe you should go after girls who are..." Frida began, trying to find a delicate way of putting it, but couldn't find it. "Obviously gay," she landed on.

⠀⠀⠀"We live in homophobic, small-town Indiana. Who the hell is going to be 'obviously gay'?" she retorted.

⠀⠀⠀"Robin," Eddie said.

⠀⠀⠀"Robin? Who's Robin?" June asked.

⠀⠀⠀"When I was in band for the first semester of my second Freshman year, she played the French Horn. She was cool, but I caught her staring at Tammy Thompson a lot like how you're staring at Stacey Gill right now," Eddie stated, giving June a knowing look.

⠀⠀⠀June nervously scratched the back of her neck as her eyes darted back to Eddie. However, it didn't last long since her eyes immediately drifted back to the water cooler.

⠀⠀⠀"I thought she was into Steve Harrington. She stared at him with googly eyes in my history class," Frida noted, her brows furrowed.

⠀⠀⠀"Maybe she wants to be him," Eddie said. "He gets all the girls. Even the sweet ones like Nancy Wheeler."

⠀⠀⠀"I don't get why she's still with him," Frida said, a breath of irritation as she was reminded of their first meeting in the alley where he had called Nancy a slut. It made no sense to her at all. "He was a complete dick to her and Jonathan Byers last year."

⠀⠀⠀"Sweet girls like bad boys," Eddie shrugged as if there wasn't more to say.

⠀⠀⠀"I've noticed he hardly talks to Tommy H or Carol anymore. Also, Tommy H and Carol broke up," June said with a shrug. "So, like, none of them talk. It's kind of sad since they've been friends for as long as me and Eddie have."

⠀⠀⠀There was a beat of silence, then Eddie said, "Anyway, who gives a shit about them. Did you get Wednesday night off?"

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, Keith had it off originally," Frida sighed.

⠀⠀⠀"Oh, God, you didn't!" June exclaimed, already knowing where she was headed. "You struck a deal with him? He's so weird! Every time I go to the arcade, he tells me depressing facts about characters I like."

⠀⠀⠀"He's cool when he warms up to you. I mean, I have to work with the guy."

⠀⠀⠀"So, you didn't have to make a deal?" Eddie asked, raising a brow.

⠀⠀⠀"I didn't say that," Frida muttered, pushing a bleach-blonde strand of hair behind her ear.

⠀⠀⠀"What'd you promise him?" June asked, her voice full of dread.

⠀⠀⠀"I'd cover two of his shifts and a month of bathroom duty."

⠀⠀⠀"That's it?" Eddie asked.

⠀⠀⠀"And... a date to Winter Formal," Frida said under her breath, moving her eyes to the track so she wouldn't have to look either of them in the eye.

⠀⠀⠀There was a second of silence before Eddie and June took a breath in and started cackling. They held their stomachs, crunching to their sides, as the whole field turned to look at them. Frida's cheeks warmed at the attention, and glared at the pair for finding it so amusing when she did it for them.

⠀⠀⠀"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" June exclaimed, raising her hand and waving it in Frida's face to show she didn't mean to laugh. It didn't help since June couldn't stop. "But you and Keith at Win...!" A loud wheeze interrupted the last bit of her words, and she was laughing again.

⠀⠀⠀"You two can laugh all you want, but I got Halloween night off for you!" Frida snapped.

⠀⠀⠀"I hope I get an invite to the wedding," Eddie jeered.

⠀⠀⠀June hiccupped, her hand landing on Eddie's shoulder, as she added, "Can I be the bridesmaid?"

⠀⠀⠀"You two are complete pinche pendejos y ya no me importa acerca el Halloween. I'll just tell Keith to call it," Frida snapped, standing up. "At least then I don't have to bother with my sister and her attitude." (Fucking assholes, and I don't care about Halloween anymore.)

⠀⠀⠀"What? Now?" Eddie asked, standing up with her. His hands gripped her firmly into place, and he was quick to compose himself. "I'm sorry, no, we were just kidding, Ace. I'm sorry. We're sorry," he said, kicking June's shin to tell her to knock it off.

⠀⠀⠀June stood with them and stepped on the bleachers to tower over Frida. She bent down and kissed Frida's cheek nearly a hundred times, exclaiming, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

⠀⠀⠀Frida shrugged her off, wiping her cheek in disgust, but found it endearing in reality. She just needed June to know she wasn't easily so won over. "Good job at hiding that you're gay," Frida murmured.

⠀⠀⠀"What? Friends don't kiss?" June asked innocently. "Besides, everyone thinks I am anyway," she sighed, sitting down. Frida knew that June wasn't looking to out herself despite the rumors.

⠀⠀⠀"You wouldn't kiss me!" Eddie exclaimed.

⠀⠀⠀"Yeah, but you're a guy."

⠀⠀⠀"A guy with really good hair," Eddie said with a smirk. "Just imagine I'm a girl."

⠀⠀⠀"Ew, what the fuck, man. Never say that again," June told him before turning to Frida. "Hey, what did you mean by your sister?"

⠀⠀⠀Frida snapped her fingers and widened her eyes. "Right, my abuelo is making me take her and her friend with us."

⠀⠀⠀"Seriously? Your sister literally hates us," Eddie said with a frown.

⠀⠀⠀"I know, I know, but he wouldn't let me take off unless I promised to take them," Frida explained.

⠀⠀⠀"It'll be fine," June assured them with a reassuring smile. Her eyes darted to Frida's, her smile dropping, as she asked quickly, "We don't have to sit next to them, right?"

⠀⠀⠀"No, he said they can sit away from us."

⠀⠀⠀A whistle exploded through the stands as June's coach called everyone back to the field.

⠀⠀⠀"Alright, well, then it'll be fine!" June assured them. "See you guys later!" she shouted, turning her back and jogging to the field as Frida and Eddie waved goodbye.

🍂 ╱ AUTHOR'S NOTE

I've been really enjoying uploading this fic!! I miss Steve so much. I've started writing season 3 so hopefully by the time season 2 ends I'll be pretty close to finishing editing on season 3 / starting season 4 (which I'm even more excited about). 

It'll be another chapter before Steve is introduced into the main timeline! Sorry it's taking so long but I didn't see anyway that they would interact prior to the Halloween party :)

SONG: Sister Golden Hair by America

Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment if you'd like, they keep me motivated! However, this is an all kind of reader safe space. So even if you ghost read or comment every chapter, I hope you know it means the world to me that you've come into this fic ♡ I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next update is Monday, May 6!