CHAPTER FOUR.
material girls and hurt feelings.

up above is nineteen's outfit for when her and eleven get their nEw LoOks ✨

also PSA: if you don't like or you disagree with what i put in my books, then don't read them??? nobody asked for you to click on this book and nobody wants to hear your dumbass opinion. these are MY BOOKS and I, THE AUTHOR, can do whatever i like.

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eleven jumps out of the changing room and towards max and nineteen, who stand by a mirror on a wall. nineteen stares at her in shock and then looks in the mirror at her. max had grabbed a small yellow hat and was waiting to try it on eleven.

eleven puts the hat on her head and it covers her eyes. she sets her hands on her hips confidently, but straightens up when max swoops in and adjusts it on her head.

eleven then hooks her thumbs in the suspenders and drags them out. she lets them go and they snap against her stomach. nineteen giggles, looking over at them.

eleven then walks back into the changing room with another outfit and hops out. she smiles happily, looking at her best friends for what they think of it. nineteen smiles widely at her.

nineteen and max saddle up against eleven. nineteen leans on eleven, holding her left hand. max holds up two belts, yellow and red, and looks to eleven. eleven grabs the yellow one quickly, liking the brightness.

she twirls around quickly after getting it buckled. max and nineteen rush forward and spin her even more but she then stops and giggles wildly as she stumbles back into the brunette and redhead, getting dizzy.

when eleven goes back in, max and nineteen walk over to the moving poles where multiple sunglasses sit. max grabs a few and walks up to the mirror. she tries the square black ones, but quickly decides against them. she then puts on the pair of white and red sunglasses and stares for a moment before grimacing and taking them off. nineteen appears beside her.

she holds up a pair of red ones with dark lenses. max tries them on. she smiles immediately and pulls them down, smirking at herself in the mirror. she pulls nineteen over to the shirts on the wall, already picking out ones for her.

eleven exits then, wearing a black romper with different colored shapes on it. she stands in front of the mirror and bends down, flipping her hair and messing with it like the women would do in the mtv videos.

"blue's turn! blue's turn!" max then says, shoving clothes into her hands. nineteen bites her lips excitedly and goes into the changing rooms quickly.

she tries on the first outfit. it's a yellow frilly t-shirt and a pair of long purple overalls. she's barefoot as she jumps out. max gasps and eleven stares shocked.

they giggle as she walks forward and just stares at herself, amazed at how she looks.

she gets so excited that before she knows it, her hair is beginning to float. max and eleven rush forward and smooth it down, careful not to touch her knowing they would be electrocuted. it's silent for a second before they all burst into giggles.

the girls push her back in with the other clothes and she feels the soft white sweater. it's long and gives her a major case of sweater paws. she puts on the pants, which are plaid white and pale pink. she shoves on the white converse and walks out.

the outfit is simple but she likes it enough. max does as well and takes her hand, twirling her. eleven smiles at their reflection in the mirror.

"okay, last outfit!" she says. nineteen takes it and runs in there. it's a short-sleeved cashmere sweater with red and light red, almost pink, stripes going vertical and horizontal across it. along with it is a pair of black jean short-shorts.

then, there was a pair of pure white nike sneakers for her. she pulls them on, walks out, and then jumps out from behind the wall.

eleven gasps when she sees her. "pretty!"

nineteen blushes and walks forward. she flips her hair much like eleven did and grins. her and eleven look at each other before grabbing ahold of max's hands and going to pay for the clothes.

they giggle the entire way as they do it. max talks to the cashier while eleven and nineteen stand back and try not to smile.

"okay. let's go, i have some more places in mind." max tells them.

they walk out of the gap with bright, confident smiles on their faces. eleven and nineteen both hold bags, happily bouncing with each step. the redhead stands in the middle of them, a smirk building on her face. she grins as she interlocks both of her arms with each girl. they giggle at each other and strut past everyone.

it's not long before max sees something she likes and takes off running again. she explains on the way that it's a photoshoot. across the top of the store, it says 'flash studio' and the walls are black with multicolored sketches across them.

max stops at the counter and they quickly pay and arrange for everything. the brunettes hold tightly to one another's hand, squealing in happiness every once in a while.

they're sent to the back, where they get costumes on. nineteen gets dressed in a pastel green, silk shirt and a light red and gold hairband. eleven gets dressed in gold and max in purple. they move to stand against the paint-splattered wall.

"that's it, girls!" the man behind the camera cheers enthusiastically. "okay, here we go."

they all cup their faces with one hand. then in the next picture, eleven gets behind max and sets her arms on her shoulders. max stands in the middle as nineteen moves to her front and takes max's hands in hers as they drape over her shoulders. they pose like the models on mtv.

they then start laughing after it as the photographer cries, "wardrobe change, please!" he points out. "wardrobe change! thank you!"

they quickly put on big jackets with patches sewn in, then yellow suit jackets. they cup their faces and make random expressions.

they pose in many different ways, max coming up with most of them.

they bend down as max sits on the ground, nineteen behind her on her knees, and then eleven standing up so that their heads are all right above one another's.

"shake it. shake it out for me!" the man says, shaking his curly hair. the three girls imitate it, giggling.

they leave soon, and then max leads them off again to another place. "that was so much fun!" max laughs. "i'm so happy we did this today."

she leads the sisters over to a shoe store, where they all look around at the different types of shoes.

max suddenly gasps, and quickly walked forwards. "you guys." she says, grabbing the shoe. eleven and nineteen walk forward and appear beside her. she's holding a yellow shoe with paint splattered print all over it. the girls all glance at each other as max slowly holds out the shoe to eleven, on her right. nineteen smiles lightly as eleven hesitantly takes it, looking down at it in awe.

she slips the shoe on, and then max hands her the other which she also puts on. she turns and nineteen and max move to each side. "careful." max tells her, trying not to laugh. they each hold one hand.

nineteen giggles as eleven glances at her before completely stumbling and falling to the ground. max and nineteen reach down to help her back up. they pull her up and the trio laughs, stumbling on one another.

they look up to see a pack of girls, each one with bigger hair than the one before, staring at them in disgust. they then all roll their eyes and nineteen curls back her lip, taking a step forward. max and eleven immediately burst into giggles as they grab her parts of her body to make her stop. nineteen looks at them for a second as her cheeks turn red, before she joins them.

"come on." max says, helping eleven take off the shoes. "let's go."

"that was stacy." nineteen informs them. "she's mean to dustin."

"what? when?" max asks, as they leave the store.

"snowball." nineteen replies, thinking of when dustin told her and steve what happened the day after. he had neglected telling steve about nancy, though.

"why don't we get some revenge for dustin?" max smirks. "el?" she turns her head. el looks up steadily, eyes wide and then bites her lip.

"i don't know."

"come on! it'll be funny and totally worth it. don't you want to avenge dustin?"

"avenge?"

"kinda like revenge."

eleven sighs and looks at nineteen, who is pressed up against max's side, giving her the same look. eleven sighs again before laughing a bit.

they watch as stacy and her group leaves the store and begin walking to the food court. the trio stays close, making sure they're not seen.

they stop at a column and peek out from behind it, eleven on the bottom, nineteen in the middle, and max on top. the four girls are talking to a guy, fast food drinks in hand.

eleven rolls her shoulders as she looks over them all and then smirks. she yanks her head up and as soon as she does, all four drinks explode everywhere.

nineteen gasps, shocked, before eleven looks back at her and they burst into giggles. stacy stands there in complete shock.

max takes them by the shoulders and they get out of there as quick as possible. "come on, come on!"

the redhead takes her sunglasses off and grabs the brunettes by their hands. "see? what'd i tell you? there's more to life than stupid boys."

none of them even notice as they run past those stupid boys.

-

max is rambling on about stuff and nineteen is trying her best to listen but it's hard when she's so excited at everything around her.

they pass by a particular shop that gets max's attention and she stops and points at an item hanging on a mannequin. nineteen stares up at the red guitar and her eyes sparkle from the bright lights emitting from the shop. as max starts talking about it, nineteen is content to look around at all the people.

when she looks to her left, she notices a shop that has an ice cream cone on the front. she walks forward in interest.

"blue?" she hears. "ooh, ice cream! good idea." they walk to the front of the store.

when they enter, nineteen notices the bright lights, the few people, and then steve harrington.

"steve!" she all but cries, running forward.

"blue!" steve immediately says, a bright grin adorning his face. she looks up at him like he's the sun and smiles her pearly whites.

"what-what are you doing here?" he then turns confused. "you're not allowed out, what are you guys doing here?" he looks behind her at assumedly eleven.

"came to see you." nineteen immediately says, smiling extra big.

"okay, you're getting scary good at trying to lie, but you're not quite there yet. when you fool me-"

"-is when i'll be good." nineteen finishes. she'd never been good at any type of lying so steve had tried to teach her so she could get out of trouble in the future. it hadn't been working out very good.

"well, do you guys want ice cream?" he asks. nineteen nods and looks back at max. max walks forward, looking at all of the flavors.

"what kind you got?" max asks. steve leans against the counter. "we got a lot. there's the menu." he pulls out a paper and lays it on the counter.

"poptart?" nineteen asks, eyes hopeful. steve frowns.

"no, i'm sorry."

"okay." she sighs.

"how about chocolate? you liked that pretty good when i got you some."

"okay."

"what have i told you about saying okay?"

"sorry."

"it's okay."

"okay."

steve shakes his head as max orders for her and eleven. he picks up three ice cream cones and feels them up with vanilla with sprinkles and extra whipped cream, strawberry, and chocolate.

he's about to hand them over when the window behind him is yanked open. a girl, robin, as steve has told her, leans out. "we've got out first sentence." she tells him.

"oh, seriously?" steve says, turning away. max holds out her hand in a fed up position as she was about to grab her ice cream.

"yeah. 'the week is long.'"

"well, that's thrilling." he sighs.

"i know. but progress."

steve stares for a moment before standing back up quickly. nineteen isn't paying much attention, too busy daydreaming of the world around here. and as always, her thoughts change from her new life to her old one and she's thinking of the lab.

"okay, here you go, you got a strawberry and then a vanilla with sprinkles, extra whipped cream, and chocolate." he distributes the strawberry to max, vanilla with sprinkles to eleven, and then holds out the chocolate to nineteen, who hasn't looked away from the window. "thanks." the girls tell him.

"blue?" he asks in concern. she blinks and then looks up at him. "you okay, what's wrong?" she shakes her head and then grabs the cone.

"i'm okay." she tells him, and then smiles.

and of course, he knows she's lying, but he lets it slide this time. steve nods and sighs, leaning his hands on the counter as they start licking their ice cream.

"so, what are you two actually doing here?"

eleven and nineteen glance at each other and then giggle, turning away. max follows after them.

"bye, steve!" nineteen calls, waving one hand back. she licks at her ice cream happily.

that was weird as hell.

the trio decides to call it a day, and make their way home. they make their way to the front of the mall and walk out the doors. nineteen stands beside max, who glances at her. "you wanna trade?" she asks, holding out her ice cream. nineteen smiles, and they switch ice creams. max then holds out the chocolate to eleven, and they switch to their new ice creams. nineteen discovers she likes strawberry a lot.

max suddenly stops and looks to her left. "oh, you've gotta be shitting me."

nineteen and eleven follow her eyeline and discover those stupid boys, pulling their bikes out from the rack.

max immediately starts walking forward, then eleven, and nineteen lingers behind but follows anyway.

"isn't this a nice surprise!" max calls, settling in front of mike, lucas, and will. nineteen moves to her left, eleven on the other.

the boys stop, their faces dropping. mike lets his bicycle fall to the ground.

"what are you doing here?" he states, pointing at eleven.

"shopping."

"this is her new style." max gestures to eleven's romper. "what do you think?"

"what's wrong with you?" mike asks. "you know she's not allowed to be here."

"you know, i just love how you ignore nineteen's existence." max says and it goes quiet. nineteen bows her head, looking at her shoes. "and i bet el loves it too! i bet she loves how you treat her sister like shit!"

mike shakes his head. "i don't. i've never-"

"oh, really? how about the other day when she tripped and you walked right by her?"max tells him. "i saw you because i watched will, who was walking right beside you, actually help her. really, mike?"

"max.." nineteen mumbles. she didn't want to think about any of it. it hurt her feelings.

"that's.. that's not even.. they're not allowed to be here! she isn't! el isn't."

"what is el, your little pet?"

"yeah." eleven agrees, looking away from max. "am i your pet?" she asks tauntingly.

"what? no!"

"then why do you treat me like garbage?"

"what?"

"you said nana was sick." eleven states.

"she is." mike tells her. "she is. she is sick." he looks to lucas for help.

"yeah, sick - she's sick. she's super sick. that's why we're here, actually." lucas offers.

"yeah, we're shopping. not for us, but for her, for nana." mike gestures to the mall.

"for nana!" lucas chimes in. max doesn't look too pleased at her soon to be ex-boyfriend.

"also, we're here to get a gift for you." mike tries. "just, we couldn't find anything that suited you and i only have, like $3.50, so it's hard." mike says, exasperated.

"super hard." lucas shakes his head. "it's-it's expensive."

"blue said you lie." eleven states. nineteen stays down looking at her now melting ice cream.

"well blue is lying!"

nineteen looks up, eyes wide as hurt flashes across her face. max's mouth drops open and eleven's eyes narrow at him. now she's pissed. even lucas and will both stare at mike in shock. the wheeler boy's face drops, knowing he messed up officially.

"i didn't... i'm sorry." he looks nineteen in the eyes as her lip trembles. "it's my fault..." none of them know what he means as he looks back to eleven.

"you lie." she says lowly. "why do you lie?" the boy's mouth drops open slightly and he can't find the words. "why are you so mean?"

he's interrupted as the bus brakes squeal behind them. the girls turn to look at it and then back at mike.

eleven takes a couple steps forward until she's right in his face. his eyes widen and he looks her up and down quickly, unsure of what she was going to do.

"i dump your ass."

his face immediately turns into confusion and disgust. nineteen and max's mouths both drop as eleven turns and struts towards the bus. they stop for a second before max grabs nineteen's hand and guides her after the short haired girl.

the girls get on the bus and then sit the three-seaters. eleven is in the middle and looks over at nineteen. she can't describe how she feels but she's damn excited. nineteen stares back and then looks to max, who begins to laugh. nineteen joins in and their hands all meet in a high five.

the bus drives off and nineteen glances back, seeing the three boys staring after the bus.

—

Hey guys nineteen called and says she loves u all

(head)canon:
• if nineteen had been at the byers house in season two when billy came and beat steve's ass, nineteen probably would have killed billy. literally.