CHAPTER TWO.
headaches.

outfit in the media is also when they surprised dustin in the last chapter. kinda obvious but i'm just saying it anyway

also can't wait to rip your hearts out and stomp on them at the end of this ✨

and i really wanted to add something sorta domestic into this so that's why i did the stuff at the end.

—

"wait, so her name is suzie?"

"suzie with a 'z'. she's from utah." dustin replies, walking down the hall carelessly.

"girls go to science camp?" will asks.

"suzie does. she's a genius." the curly haired boy replies. "is she cute?" mike asks in surprise.

"think phoebe cates, only hotter."

nineteen looks over at will, but he only shrugs. who's phoebe cates?

"what's going on?" max asks as the four kids get to the door.

"going to talk to dustin's girlfriend." will says to her. lucas raises up, slinging water from the faucet.

"girlfriend?!"

the seven kids walk the rest of the way through the woods, trying to get to wherever it is dustin wants to be. they cut across a dirt road and go on up a hill. nineteen looks over at the other kids as they breathe semi-heavily. she didn't get exhausted by physical activities. probably something to do with the lab training. though she was hot in her long sleeved shirt. she didn't know much about appropriate dressing. the first time she met steve, he put her in shorts during october.

"aren't we high enough?" lucas then asks, panting.

"cerebro works best at a hundred meters." dustin replies.

"you know, i'm pretty sure people in utah have telephones." max pipes up. nineteen hefts the small blue bag she's carrying onto her shoulder better.

"yeah, but suzie's mormon."

"oh, shit! she doesn't have electricity?" lucas asks him. "oh, that's the amish." max corrects.

"what are mormons?" will asks. nineteen looks to dustin at the front.

"super religious white people." he calls back. "they have electricity and cars and stuff, but.. since i'm not mormon, her parents would never approve." he looks off. "it's all a bit.. shakespearean."

nineteen looks up confusedly. "shakespearean." max asks him.

"yeah. like romeo and juliet."

"right."

"star-crossed lovers."

"i got it."

"hey, guys!"

nineteen turns around. mike and eleven are a little ways behind them.

"this is fun and all, but, uh.." he taps at his watch.

"i have to go home." eleven voices. nineteen's eyebrows scrunch together.

"we're almost there." dustin argues.

"sorry, man." mike says. "curfew."

"curfew?" dustin asks incredulously. "then why isn't nineteen going with her?" he asks.

before mike can come up with a lame excuse, nineteen opens her mouth, "i don't want to go home." she looks to eleven, suddenly feeling very hurt that el was leaving to go with mike again. "not with you."

oh, shit!

nineteen ignores lucas, even though she's the only one that heard him, and continues looking at eleven.

"well, you heard her. come on, let's go." mike says, tugging eleven away, unaffected. eleven looks a little reluctant to go now that nineteen voiced her thoughts aloud, but she then smiles at them. "good luck." they run down the hill, giggling.

"damn, blue. what was that?" max asks, surprised at hearing nineteen say that to eleven of all people. nineteen shrugs, wiping the sweat off of her forehead.

"curfew at 4?" dustin interrupts, bringing them back. "they're lying." lucas tells him.

"it's been like this all summer." will states.

"it's romantic." max offers quietly.

"it's gross." will replies.

"it's mean." nineteen says.

"it's bullshit." dustin huffs. "i just got home." he stares after them. "well, their loss, right? onwards and upwards!" he then says brightly, turning around. "suzie awaits!"

nineteen grimaces, and follows after the kids. it's way too hot and sticky out. she sniffs, wiping the sweat off of her forehead again.

she notices will hang back a little, and stops momentarily to look at him.

"will?" she asks. he turns back around, looking at her as if he just came back from something. "are you okay?"

he nods, swallowing. she smiles delicately, touching his shoulder.

"guys, come on!" dustin yells. nineteen glances back, before sighing and walking after lucas, max, and dustin. will hurries after her, ready to finally meet dustin's supposed girlfriend.

they reach the top of the hill in minutes, and nineteen throws down her duffel bag, pushing her hair back off of her shoulders.

"we made it." dustin says.

"yeah, only took five hours." max says. nineteen looks over at her in confusion. it hadn't been five hours?

"that is sarcasm, blue." max tells her. nineteen's mouth drops open into an 'o' and she nods.

"why couldn't we just play d&d?" will asks, annoyed.

"i'm so thirsty." lucas sighs. he lays down his bag and pulls out a small container. nineteen watches as he untwists the cap, and pulls it up, letting all of the water fall into his mouth.

nineteen stares with eyebrows scrunched together as he gulps it down loudly. the redhead beside him doesn't seem too impressed either as he stops and wipes the back of his mouth off.

"did you seriously just drink the rest of our water?" max asks in annoyance. lucas glances at her, nineteen, and then back at max before spitting out the water in his mouth into the container again and holding it to the redhead.

nineteen makes a noise from the back of her throat, indicating she found it gross. max looks at the container and then shakes her head, walking away.

they open the bags quickly as metal pieces and other parts of cerebro fall out. nineteen stares in wonder at them, as dustin instructs the others on what to do.

nineteen stands in front of them, hands on her knees, and as they twist the bars together.

"blue, put your hand here for a second, okay?" dustin asks, pointing to a section. nineteen nods, setting down her hand. "hold it tight, alright?" she nods, twisting her hand around it to hold it tighter. dustin screws something into the side.

"gnarly." she voices, trying out a word steve had used the other day. the other kids chuckle, causing nineteen to look at them confusedly. the kids just smile in amusement, shooting each other glances.

they wrap slinky material around tiny, thin sticks and then attach them to the wired devices. dustin duct tapes almost everything and then they push up the pole. it's big, sticking out in every direction. nineteen stands off to the side, looking up at it in awe.

"pretty impressive, right?" dustin says.

"yeah." max softly agrees.

"now, you ready to meet my love?" he then says, sitting down next to a small radio.

"okay, sure." max sighs as will nods. "yeah." he says brightly.

dustin holds up the receiver and pushes down a button.

"suzie, this is dustin. do you copy? over."

nothing but static came back through, causing will and nineteen to give each other looks.

dustin waits a moment before looking back up at his friends. "one sec. she's probably.. she's still there."

"suzie," he tries again. "this is dustin. do you copy? over." nothing but feedback comes again. and nineteen sighs, looking across the field.

suzie was real, alright. she could see the mental image and hear dustin's thoughts enough to tell, but she figured she would let their friends find out on their own, in the right place and right time.

"i'm sure she's there. it's just-"

"yeah."

"you know, maybe she's, like, busy or.."

"yeah!" lucas says again, teasing him.

"it's around dinner time."

"mm." lucas hums, staring down at the curly haired boy. "yep." max says. "here." dustin adds on.

he holds up his hands before trying again.

"suzie, do you copy? this is dustin. over." he tries again and again, but nothing comes out. not even a whisper. nineteen shakes her head lightly, smiling and sitting down on the ground.

-

a couple hours later, after hearing dustin repeat, 'suzie, this is dustin. do you copy? over', the other four kids were about to go insane. they were laying on the ground. nineteen had her ankle carelessly thrown over lucas' right one and she was bunched up against will's side, her left arm pressed against his right.

nineteen lightly groans, reaching up and holding the side of her head. the headache had come a few minutes ago.

"you okay?" she hears and turns to her head to will. his eyes flicker over her face as she smiles, pulling her hand down. she nods slightly. "my head just hurts." she reveals.

"..do you copy? this is dustin. over."

nineteen sighs, looking back up at the sky. it's so beautiful. she squints, trying to see better.

"suzie! this is dustin. do you copy? over."

"suzie, this is your dustin. do you copy? over."

nothing but radio static. nineteen sighs yet again and closes her eyes. could she please just answer him, it was even driving nineteen insane just listening to him.

"suzie-"

"dustin, come on!" max suddenly blurts, annoyed. "she's not there."

"she's there, all right? she'll pick up." he replies.

"maybe cerebro doesn't work." will says, sitting up.

"or maybe suzie doesn't exist." lucas states.

"she exists!" dustin argues, his voice cracking.

"she's a genius and she's hotter than phoebe cates? no girl is that perfect."

oh, shit.

"is that so?"

lucas obviously realized his mistake as soon as it came out of his mouth, and nineteen silently giggled to herself as the two girls sat up, looking down at lucas. nineteen leaned right next to will, her face directly beside his, on their elbows, watching the exchange in amusement as lucas looked to his girlfriend.

"i mean.." he starts. "you're perfect." when max gave him a death stare, he began stammering. "i mean- yeah, y-you're, like, per-perfect in your own way. in your special - your own special way."

max then smiles, chuckling. "relax, i was teasing." lucas then smiles along, nodding. "i'm obviously perfect and dustin's obviously lying!"

nineteen looks up to the boy. he shakes his head and scrunches his eyebrows together.

max stands up and then holds out a hand to lucas. "come on, don juan."

"where are you going?" dustin asks, walking forwards a little.

"home." max tells him.

will looks over to nineteen as the other duo skips off down the hill. "it's 8:40." he tells her. nineteen's eyebrows raise and she looks to the watch on her wrist. sure enough, it said those numbers.

"well, guess it's just you and me, guys."

will coughs lightly, tugging nineteen up. "um, it's late. blue's curfew is in a few minutes and you know how scary chief hopper's vein popping out is." he says. nineteen's nose scrunches up and she walks to dustin.

"hop will be mad." she points down at her watch that now read 8:41. "call me and we can go see steve and eat poptarts." she tells him, wrapping her arms around his frame. "i missed you." dustin smiles against her shoulder.

"i missed you too, blue." she smiles at him before starting to walk down the hill.

"sorry." will says. "maybe tomorrow we can play d&d. or something fun. like we used to?"

"yeah, sure." dustin says quietly.

"welcome home." will offers, before walking down the hill after nineteen. nineteen stops at the edge of the woods, waiting on the byers boy, and not hearing her best friend's heart cracking at the top.

nor did she hear the russian code moments later.

-

nineteen waves at will, who's standing by the tree line. she smiles and opens the cabin door, yawning and making a mental note to check on him in a few minutes.. just to make sure nothing happens to him.. again.

she shuts it gently, locking it and then making her way to her and eleven's room. she opens the door.

eleven is sitting on the bed, looking down at a small book. nineteen glances her over before walking to the corner of the room and kicking off her shoes and her socks.

she scratches the side of her face and looks down at the vanity in front of her, rubbing her hand against the soft wood.

"i'm sorry for being mean today."

nineteen looks into the mirror as eleven looks up from her book expectedly. the long haired girl turns around and walks to the bed, sitting down criss-cross. "it wasn't nice."

"i'm sorry too." eleven replies. "i didn't know i was being mean." she tells her. nineteen looks down at her lap, not really knowing how to do this.

"it's okay." she says. "i didn't mean to. i was just feeling.. sad.. about it." she says. she then takes a deep breath in through her nostrils.

"and i don't like mike."

"what?!"

"yeah, that makes two of us."

nineteen turns around to the doorway where hopper stands with his hands on his hips. she smiles at him.

"why don't you like him, kid? did he do something?" he asks, entering the room. nineteen shakes her head.

"he's just.." she trails off. she feels annoyed because she can't convey how she feels. "i don't know. i don't want to talk." she then says, getting up. she walks to hopper and wraps her arms around his stomach once again. "i have a headache."

hopper leans back. "you've been having headaches for a while now. anything else going on?"

she pulls back and looks up at him. she squints and then blinks a little before closing them, groaning. his eyebrows raise.

"where does it hurt?" he asks. she taps her temple, still squinting.

"does doing that help you see?" he asks.

"only a little. i can see, but you..."

"oh, i think i know exactly what's going on." he pulls away completely and leaves the room. "have you been having trouble seeing things clearly?" he asks from another room. nineteen feels confused. she can see perfectly fine?

"i mean has anything up close been just a little blurry? maybe some words in a book or something?" he then asks. nineteen thinks for a second. kinda. the moon had been a little blurry back on the hill, but there were a lot of clouds out. maybe that's what he meant.

"yes." she replies. there was rattling sound and then footsteps. hopper appeared and walked to nineteen, settling down in front of her on one knee. in his hands, he held..

glasses?

they're almost circular shaped and plastic-looking. she looks up at him in confusion. he nods. "just humor me. we can't exactly go to a professional right now, and these are just old gag spares. they might even be a little too strong."

she looks back at eleven.

what the hell is a gag spare?

i don't know. eleven replies, leaning forward eagerly. she looks back in hesitation and then reaches down, picking up them up. she puts them on and instantly, the world seems a little bit sharper, but a little bit funnier. kind of wobbly.

she smiles a little, and looks down to hopper, who's chuckling. they're a little big on her and tilt to one side, but strangely, they suit her. she giggles happily. eleven laughs from behind her.

and then suddenly, as hopper and eleven are looking at one another in amusement, nineteen hears a shriek in the distance. a loud, echoing call that only she seems to hear as her family gets up, walking out of the room to the living room. nineteen turns, staring fearfully at the wall, where the woods were, and where that deadly shriek came from.

—

hey i love you guys but can you please accept that it's summer and i actually have stuff going on outside of wattpad and i'm not gonna have a new chapter up every single day? pls and thank you :)

headcanon: after everything went down in 1984, nineteen had a bad habit of sneaking out of the cabin in the middle of the night to go to steve's house for comfort. he always let her in and called hopper to tell him yet again of what his adopted daughter had done. it took her a few months, but once she finally realized steve wasn't her only safe place, she managed to quit.

bonus: yes, nineteen needs glasses! i don't think her eyesight is really that bad, it's just the straining that's giving her the headaches so :) nothing too serious, possibly reading glasses but i thought it would be cute