a lesson in girl power

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

The cartoon princess in Dragon's Lair was wearing nothing but a tightly fitting black leotard that left nothing to the imagination, a veil draped gracefully on one slender arm. As Dustin clutched the controls, the princess puckered her perfectly plump lips and swooned at the players in an overtly sexual way, her overly long blonde hair swishing around her as she spoke.

"To slay the dragon, use the magic sword!" she explained, thrusting out one perfectly manicured finger as she gave Dustin yet another explanation on what to do. Instead of splitting up and each person doing their own thing, the party always stuck together whenever they went to the arcade, watching their friends play and giving them helpful advice on what to do when they were stuck. They'd barely gotten here, and Dustin had already moved past where everyone else had been stuck at. Dragon's Lair was a near-impossible game—Alina had found herself considering throwing the game into oblivion while trying it out—so the fact that Dustin had gotten this far was astounding.

Alina wrinkled her nose at the image of the princess, and not for the first time wished that there was a game where the princess had to save the knight. Alina loved video games, always had, but she was disappointed in the lack of representation in them a lot of the time. What she wouldn't give to play as a warrior princess kicking ass and taking names as she battled her way to the ensnared prince.

"Oh, Jesus," Dustin moaned, his eyes locked on the screen, surrounded by the anticipated faces of the other party members. "I'm in uncharted territory here, guys."

And then the game began. Dustin pounded away at the controllers frantically as the party yelled out suggestions for where he should go. His knight managed to dodge under the swiping claws of the cartoon dragon, sprinting away from a burst of flame as the watching princess let out a dainty gasp. Alina had nothing against girls who liked feminine things, but this game was probably made by men, and the sight of the princess made Alina want to reach into the screen and throw her into the dragon's claws.

Dustin's knight continued to run, stopping in front of the magic sword the princess had said he needed to guess, and as the party continued yelling out suggestions, Dustin finally snapped. "Okay. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!"

He pounded on one of the buttons just as the dragon let out a plume of fire, engulfing the knight who was clutching the now useless sword. A dramatic cutscene played as the knight's flesh melted away, leaving only a pile of bones behind.

"No!" Dustin yelled at the sight of his crumbling knight. "No! No! No! No! No!" with a moan, he slammed his hands against the machine. "I hate this overpriced bullshit!" He delivered a quick kick to it as the title screen flickered back on. "Son of a bitch! Piece of shit!"

From beside Alina, Lucas was shaking his head. "You're just not nimble enough," he teased. "But you'll get there one day." He patted Dustin's back with a sly smile. "But until then, Princess Daphne is still mine." He gazed lovingly at the screen as the princess flickered back into view, and Alina let out a scoff.

She wasn't jealous enough to get worked up over a fictional character, but she still smacked Lucas's shoulder. "I don't see the appeal," she said with an eye-roll. "I think you guys only like her because of the minimal amount of clothing she's wearing."

"Is that a bad thing?" Lucas murmured, and Alina smacked him again, harder this time. Lucas yelped, rubbing his shoulder and glaring at her. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry, Al. I didn't know you cared that much."

"I'm just saying." Alina crossed her arms. "This game was quite obviously designed by men." She patted Lucas's shoulder. "I forgive you, though. I know it's the closest you'll come to interacting with a pretty girl."

"Hey!" Lucas turned to face his other friends with indignation written all over his face, as well as a little embarrassment. Dustin, Mike and Will all stared stonily back, determined not to laugh. "You see that? She's so mean to me. Why is she so mean to me?"

"You know I love you," said Alina, wrapping an arm around Lucas. She'd been doing these kinds of things lately—being obvious that she still liked him to see if he'd pick up on it. Sometimes it almost seemed like he did, but today wasn't one of these days. He was still glowering. So, a little disappointed, she faced Dustin instead, who was still looking sour at his loss. "Don't worry, Dustin. You're still top on Centipede and Dig Dug. I wouldn't worry about Dragon's Lair."

"You sure about that?"

All five party members turned to find one of the employees at the arcade, Keith, looking back at them, half a smirk on his face. In his hands he held a bag of Cheeto Puffs, which he always seemed to be munching on whenever they came around.

Dustin's eyes widened. "Sure about what?" he asked quickly, but Keith didn't respond, instead shoving a Cheeto Puff into his mouth, chewing loudly. Dustin seemed to realize what he was implying and began to shove past his friends. "You're kidding me. No, no, no."

The party followed as Dustin made his way through the vast crowds in the Palace Arcade, swearing frantically the entire time. When he reached Dig Dug, however, he let out a strangled cry at the sight of the scoreboard. "No!"

Dustin's name, which had been first on the scoreboard for as long as he'd been coming here, had been bumped to second, his place being taken up by another player named 'MADMAX'. Lucas and Alina were now third and fourth respectively, and their eyes bulged when they saw the number of points MADMAX had gotten in order to earn them the top spot.

"Seven-hundred and fifty-one thousand three hundred points!" Will read out in disbelief, evidently wondering if there was somehow a mistake with the machine. Alina, who had only made it to six-hundred and thirty thousand, was wondering the same thing.

"That's impossible," Mike breathed, as confused as the rest of them.

Keith, who had followed them to see their reactions to this new top score, let out a chuckle, causing all five party members to whip towards him. "Who is Mad Max?" Dustin asked quickly.

Keith shrugged. "Better than you."

Dustin glowered, sticking up his middle finger at the smirking employee while Will asked, "Is it you?"

Keith scoffed, bringing another Cheeto Puff to his mouth. "You know I despise Dig Dug." Orange Cheeto dust was plastered to his fingers and his mouth, and Alina resisted the urge to gag, knowing that they needed information from him.

"Then who is it?" piped up Lucas, his own nose wrinkling in disgust.

"Yeah, spill it, Keith," said Dustin, urging him on.

"You want information," said Keith, "then I need something in return." He smiled down at the party members, revealing orange stained teeth, before popping another one of his snacks into his mouth. Alina really had to suppress the urge at this, her head unwillingly turning to Mike's at the suggestion. They all knew what Keith meant by something in return.

Before Alina could even voice as to how bad of an idea it was, Mike was already shaking his head. "No. No, no, no. No way. You're not getting a date with her."

"Mike, come on," Lucas urged, seeming confused as to why Mike wouldn't take up Keith's offer. "Just get him the date."

"I'm not prostituting my sister!"

"But it's for a good cause!"

Alina shook her head with a grimace, reaching over to land another smack on Lucas's already-sore shoulder. "Mike, don't do it. That's totally disgusting. And besides, doesn't she have a boyfriend?"

"Al's right," piped up Dustin, glaring at the Palace employee. "You know why we shouldn't? Because he's gonna spread his nasty-ass rash to your whole family."

"Acne isn't a rash and it isn't contagious, you prepubescent wastoid!" Keith snapped.

"Oh, I'm a wastoid?" Dustin chuckled at the insult. "She wouldn't go on a date with you. You make like, what? Like two-fifty an hour?"

Alina let out a giggle, her eyes swiveling between the two like she was watching a tennis match. "He's right, you know," she said, causing Keith to glare at her as well.

He let out another scoff. "Nice perm," he remarked to Dustin, biting into another Cheeto Puff. "And you," he turned his eyes to Alina, who was currently wearing a too-big Star Wars short paired with baggy jeans with holes in them, "where'd you get those clothes? The dump, or just the second-hand store?"

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard that one before," Alina grumbled, turning to Will... or she would've, if he was there. Instead, without them noticing, Will Byers had made his way to the door, and was looking around the arcade strangely.

"Hey," Will said. "Hey, guys, do you see the..." Will's voice trailed off as he turned around, but instead of seeing Alina and be reassured everything was fine, his eyes seemed to go right through her. It was as if she wasn't there.

Will's eyebrows raised, and he continued to look around the arcade strangely. Alina began to make her way towards him to ask if he was alright when Will let out a startled gasp, jumping and looking towards the door. After a moment, he made his way outside, and that was when Mike joined her, his brow furrowed.

"Is Will okay?" he asked, watching Will make his way outside the arcade.

"We should check on him," said Alina. She knew that Will was prone to hallucinations and flashbacks to when he had been taken into the Upside Down, and, although he might not like it, needed to be watched a lot. Mike nodded resolutely, and the two friends made their way outside after Will. Dustin and Lucas, who were still locked into the amusing argument with Keith, didn't notice.

They found Will standing outside, his gaze locked onto the night sky, his limbs frozen. His breathing was short, and although he seemed to be looking at the sky, it was like he was staring at something else, something past the sky, like there was another layer he'd managed to peel away from it.

"Will?" Mike questioned, causing the boy to jump and whirl around to face his two friends. "Are you okay?"

Will blinked at them before turning to look up at the night sky again. But whatever he'd been seeing before seemed to be gone, as he wasn't trembling anymore. "Yeah," he replied quickly. "I just... I needed some air."

Alina had lived with Will long enough to tell when he was lying, but she kept her mouth firmly shut. She could talk about that when they got home. Instead, she moved towards him, and both her and Mike put an arm around his shoulders.

"You sure?" she questioned softly, wanting to be certain that he was alright. "Do you want to go home?"

Will shook his head. "I'm good. Really."

"Well, c'mon, then," said Mike, smiling down at Will, who'd always been the shortest of the group. "You're up on Dig Dug. Let's take that top score back, huh?"

"Yeah," said Will. But as Mike and Will went inside, Alina brought her arm back down, turning to look at the sky, trying to spot what Will had been so fixated on. But there was nothing. Just a motel across the road and the illuminated, spinning sign of Palace Arcade, paired with a completely average inky sky, dotted with stars. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Alina couldn't help but think back to yesterday, when her world had flickered around her, turning into that blue and black version. She'd thought it was some kind of sleep-deprived hallucination, and perhaps it was, but by the way Will had been staring, she wondered if he'd had one too.

She remembered the flecks of ash falling from the sky that had reminded her of the Demogorgon. The fearful part of her brain perked up, whispering two words she'd tried not to think of for the past year.

Upside Down.

The logical part of Alina's brain automatically shut it down. Eleven killed the Demogorgon. Will was rescued. Everything's okay.

As Alina stood staring at the night sky, the cool October wind caressing her cheeks, a shiver went down her spine. Panic rushed through her, electricity coursing through her body, and the world flickered again. Just for a moment. And Alina felt it. The calm before the storm.

"You coming, Alina?" Mike had poked his head back outside when he saw that Alina hadn't come in with him.

Alina shook her head, clearing it from whatever had just happened. "Yeah," she said, "of course."

And shaking off any lingering feelings of panic, Alina opened the door to the arcade, walking back inside.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: i just really love the vibe of this chapter idk why... but i'm super excited to officially be back in action with chapter two! i also started writing the third book and i'm enjoying it a lot :) 

anyway, i hope you enjoyed this chapter! i love keith honestly, he's so funny lmao. if you liked it, please vote and/or comment so i know you're reading! i'm getting a lot of ghost readers, and it kind of brings me down sometimes. 

'till next time!