"🎶 Crack that whip! 🎶"

The arcade was certainly buzzing tonight, kids crowded around coin-op's while Whip It by Devo blasts loudly around them. The smell of pizza, and quarters linger in the air.

Goldie is behind the counter using the phone while Keith watches with boredom, tossing cheese puffs into his mouth.

"What do you mean you aren't coming?! We agreed Saturday's are the best nights to go out!" Goldie sighs into the phone, looking around her in anticipation.

"I know, I know, but Billy won't give me a ride and I can't board half way across town!"

The two have only been friends since Monday, three days ago. Yet, they're already so close.

"Well, why didn't you just come with me?! My bike looks small but it's—"

"A monster weight holder. Yeah, yeah, you've already said that to me. Look, I'm sorry, I really am. Can we...schedule for next weekend?"

"Next weekend? Next weekend I'll be crying after a long week of school. Can you feel that? That's my wrath and extreme self-doubt kicking in!"

"C'mon, please?"

Goldie sighs, "Yeah, fine, I guess. You better hope no ones beat my pac-man score by then."

"No way," Max chuckles, "you're a champ at that game. You could win your spot back, anyway."

"Okay, I'm going back home. You wanna help me decorate my room when I get back?" Goldie offers with a grin.

"Yeah, that sounds rad. I'll go over and wait in your room. See ya."

"See ya!" With that, she slams the phone back onto the receiver and hops over the counter gracefully. "Thanks, Keith! I'll see ya around."

"Mhmm," Keith lazily responds.

While rushing past multiple kids to the door, Goldie accidentally finds herself crashing into a group of boys who were just coming into the building.

"Shit— I'm sorry!" She quickly apologizes, bending over to help pick up the fallen change.

"It's..." Dustin looks up at the girl with a loss for words.

She doesn't seem to notice any of their stares, in too much of a hurry to get back to even care what they thought about her.

"Look, here, you can take my change," She states, shoving multiple quarters into the boy's hands to which he fumbles to catch. "See ya!"

Without even letting him thank her, she rushes out of the building and towards her bike. They watch through the window as she bike's off quickly, the wind blowing her hair about dramatically.

"Who was that?" Lucas swallows, eyes wide as he continues to stare off.

"An angel," Dustin responds, staring down at the quarters. "And here I thought the angel of the arcade was just a myth."

Mike quickly rolls his eyes, pushing past them to the arcade games.

"Shut up, lets just do what we came here to do," he groans.

"I've never seen her at school before," Will continues, admittedly interested in the girl. "You think maybe we just haven't noticed her?"

"I think I would've noticed someone as attractive as her," Lucas states with a flirty smile.

"Move aside, boys, let the pro show you how it's done," Dustin purrs, pushing past them to the controls of the Dungeons and Dragons game.

The boys quickly forget about the girl, and go concentrate on the intensity of the game.

Meanwhile, Goldie bikes until her house comes into view. As soon as she makes it onto the lawn, she hops off her bike and carelessly throws it aside. As she stomps up the grass in the dark, she doesn't even notice Billy outside having a cigarette.

"Goldie!" He calls out, catching the girl's attention.

The soft brunette turns her head to him, and allows herself to smile sweetly.

She's heard from Max on numerous occasions that Billy is a complete asshole with no sense of boundaries. The red head has even claimed that she wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be a murderer.

On some accounts, Marigold has witnessed his violence, but being naive has chosen to brush it off. Just like she did with her dad.

At this point, it's not even that she's naive. It's that she wants to see the good in people so badly that she ignores the ugly truths.

"Hey, Billy!" She waves, walking over to him.

"Sorry I didn't take Max to the arcade," he mutters through smoke. "She was being a brat about it."

"Oh," Marigold awkwardly nods. "It's okay. I didn't really want to play Pac-Man tonight, anyway..."

That's a complete lie, and even Billy can tell.

In all honesty, he seems to have developed a sort of soft spot for Goldie, noticing something familiar in her that he can relate to. He just doesn't know what it is.

"Why didn't you just stay and play on your own? I know you wanted to," he hums, puffing out a cloud of smoke.

The girl coughs and waves the smoke away before answering.

"There were...um, there were too many boys," she softly states.

Something about the way she states it sounds so broken, and it makes Billy shiver to the core. Immediately, he begins to suspect something, but chooses not to ask about it directly.

"I've got to go, I think Max is waiting in my room for me," Goldie excused herself. "It was nice talking to you, Billy."

"Yeah," he nods, watching suspiciously as she rushes back into the house.

Who is Marigold Sullivan, and why did she move to Hawkins, Indiana?