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𝗕𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗬

chapter three:
ralph macchio

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MAX HAD SUGGESTED that they all have a sleepover, and who was Serenity to say no?

She had driven them back to Hopper's cabin, where they had instantly sat themselves in Eleven's bedroom. Max had turned on the radio so the room wasn't completely silent. Eleven sat on the bed flipping through some magazines they had bought, nodding her head along to the music. Meanwhile, Serenity stood in front of the mirror, braiding the end of the second French braid she had put in her hair. Angel by Madonna had come on, and she was singing softly to herself, her eyes trained on the reflection of her hair.

"You must be an angel," Max sang dramatically into Eleven's hairbrush, skipping around the room. "I can see it in your eyes."

Max then stopped by Serenity, a wide grin on her face. She pointed the hairbrush to Serenity, who rolled her eyes fondly.

"Full of wonder and surprise," Serenity recited, her and Max falling into small laughter afterwards.

Max suddenly turned back to look at Eleven, setting down the hairbrush and kneeling next to the bed. "Oh, you found Ralph Macchio."

Serenity tied off her braid with a hair tie and turned back around, sitting herself down on Eleven's bed next to her. Sure enough, Eleven had stumbled across a poster of Ralph Macchio in one of the magazines. Serenity smiled down at the poster, but hey, how could she not? Ralph Macchio was ridiculously cute.

"Macchio?" Eleven repeated.

"Yeah, he's the Karate Kid," Max continued. "Hi-yah!" She imitated a karate chop, and all three of them giggled. "He's so hot, right? I bet he's an amazing kisser, too."

Serenity sighed dreamily. "One can only wish to be Elisabeth Schue."

"Hey, uh . . ." Max pushed herself up to sit across from Serenity on the bed. "Is Mike a good kisser?"

Somehow, when Serenity agreed to this sleepover, she did not think about this topic coming up. Talking about her children, kissing? Oh God.

"I don't know," El answered. "He's my first boyfriend."

"Ex-boyfriend," Max corrected.

Serenity placed a comforting hand on Eleven's shoulder when she noticed her face completely fall. "Hey, it's going to be okay. Mike wouldn't give up on you that easily. He may be annoying at times, but he's determined."

Max nodded. "Renny's right. He'll come crawling back to you in no time, begging for forgiveness. I guarantee you, him and Lucas are, like, totally wallowing in self-pity and misery right now. They're like, oh, I hope they take us back." The three laughed at Max's fake crying. "God, what I wouldn't give to see their stupid faces."

Eleven paused for a moment. She straightened up, realization flashing across her features. Serenity tilted her head in thought.

"What is it?" Max questioned

So, as it turns out, Eleven had this power where she could remote-travel to find people by depriving her senses. She had used it to find Will back when he was in the Upside Down. Serenity remembered the kids telling her about it. Eleven walked over to her drawers, grabbing out a black blindfold. In this case, she was going to remote travel

Serenity didn't really know how to feel about spying on them, per se. But it would be interesting to see what they were doing now after Eleven and Mike's big breakup.

"Is Steve a good kisser, Renny?" Max inquired, standing up from the bed to turn the radio to static. "Actually, don't answer that question. I already know he is."

Serenity smiled shyly, nodding her head as a light pink blush coated her cheeks. "Yeah, he's the best. Don't tell him I said that, though. It'll go to his head."

Max then noticed Eleven tying on her blindfold. "Is this really gonna work?" Eleven nodded. "Holy shit, this is insane—"

"Max," Eleven stated to stop her rambling.

"Yeah, quiet. Sorry."

Eleven breathed deeply out of her mouth, focusing her concentration on her powers. "I see them."

Max got down from the bed and sat on the floor next to El, leaning against Serenity's legs. "What are they doing?"

"Eating."

Serenity sighed. "Typical. We shouldn't have expected anything less."

"They say we are species," Eleven announced after a moment of silence, blood starting to drip down from her nose.

"What?" Max asked.

"Emotion, not logic."

Max's eyes got wide. "What?"

Serenity's jaw dropped in shock. "What the fuck, I taught them better than that."

Eleven didn't say anything for another moment. Then, she took off her blindfold, her eyes glancing in between Serenity on the bed and Max on the floor.

"You okay?" Serenity questioned in concern at the look on Eleven's face. "What happened?"

Eleven suddenly burst into giggles, letting them overtake her body. She doubled over and fell against the floor, continuing to laugh harder. Serenity slid down from the bed and landed on the floor next to Max, who had started to laugh as well while trying to ask Eleven what happened. It was all so innocent — despite the fact that one of them had literally used superpowers — that it made Serenity start to laugh as well.

Their laughter only lasted a few seconds before a car was heard outside. Considering only a few people knew of the location of the cabin in the woods, and how late it was, Serenity could only presume it was Hopper. Max quickly stood up and switched the radio from static back to the pop station they had on earlier. Meanwhile, Serenity took a tissue and wiped the blood away from El's face, making sure it was all gone before throwing it away.

The three of them grabbed the magazines they had been looking at earlier and sprawled out on their stomachs on the carpeted floors. Serenity absentmindedly flicked through the magazine she had, listening to the way the front door slammed shut. Well, she could tell that Hopper was definitely not happy.

"Hey!" Hopper's voice shouted from the living room. "Hey! When I say three inches, three—"

The door swung open to reveal Hopper standing there. Once his eyes set on the girls on the floor, he immediately stopped, a look of embarrassment flashing across his face. And judging by the bottle of alcohol he held in his hand and how flushed his face was, Serenity could tell he was absolutely shit-faced drunk.

"Do you knock?" Max complained. "Jeez!"

"Yeah, jeez!" Eleven agreed, making Serenity smile a little.

"Oh, hey . . ." Hopper began, his words slurring a bit. "I'm sorry. I thought that, uh—"

"Mike isn't here, Hopper," Serenity reassured him. "Just me, resuming my older sister duties."

"Max and Renny wanted to have a sleepover," Eleven told him. "Is that . . . okay?"

"Yeah," Hopper answered. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your parents know about it?"

Max nodded. "Yup."

Hopper looked at Serenity. "And you—"

"My parents haven't known where I've been for the past decade," Serenity replied. "And don't worry, I'll watch over the two of them. An older sister happens to be a friend and a babysitter all wrapped up in one sometimes."

"Uh, yeah, it's cool. Yeah. That's — that's really cool."

The four of them were stuck in a silence for a moment. Hopper continued to stand in the doorway, looking like he didn't really know what to do with himself. The three girls just stared back at him.

"Did you need something?" Max inquired.

"No, no," Hopper responded softly. "Uh, I'll leave. I'll just let you — I'll leave you—"

He then shut the door behind him. Serenity raised an eyebrow for a moment. Well, that was interesting.

Max then suddenly had another idea to continue what they were doing before — spying — but making a little bit more exciting. She had found a game board and flipped it upside down, placing it on the bed. Max then got one of the empty Coke bottles that were in Eleven's room and placed it on the board. Serenity had a marker and some paper and wrote down seven names — Billy, Mrs. Wheeler, Dustin, Mr. Wheeler, Steve, Nancy, and Mr. Clarke. When all of the names were written down, she placed them around in a circle on the board.

"Holy shit, I can't believe we're really doing this," Max commented, a wide smile on her face. She turned to the other two. "Ready?"

"Ready," Eleven voiced.

"You sure?" Serenity asked, a little worry seeping into her tone. "I don't want you to overexert yourself."

Eleven placed a hand on her knee. "I will be okay."

Serenity gave her a small nod, a tiny grin on her face. "Okay. If you feel lightheaded at all, we'll stop."

Eleven then reached forwards and spun the bottle. It circled around on the board, the glass rubbing against the material of the game board. Finally, it landed on Mr. Wheeler. Serenity scrunched her nose up a little. She had never particularly liked Mr. Wheeler.

"Mr. Wheeler," they three of them chorused.

"Ugh, boring," Max said.

"Yeah, boring," Eleven

"Spin again."

Eleven put her hand on the bottle, but she stopped, looking confused. "Against the rules?"

Max shrugged. "We make our own rules."

Serenity tilted her head as she watched Eleven spin the bottle again. "I wonder what you would see if it landed on Steve." Her eyes squinted in thought. "I bet he's eating all the spare ice cream."

The bottle suddenly stopped. Serenity instantly rolled her eyes at the name it had landed on, an uncomfortable feeling going up her spine.

"Billy," they read.

Max got up to get the radio and Eleven's blindfold. "Okay, look, I should just warn you, if he's with a girl or doing something gross, just get out of there right away before you're scarred for life."

"Max—" Eleven started to say, taking the blindfold from Max

"No, I'm just saying, I'm serious. He's really gross."

"Max!"

"Okay, shutting up now," Max finished quietly, settling herself down on the bed and placing the radio in her lap.

Serenity shuddered at the thought. "Max is right though, El. Talking from first-hand experience, Billy is truly a disgusting human being. If you see something weird, leave, because I don't want your eyes to see something like that."

Max turned the radio to static, putting it down on the bed. Eleven reached up and tied the blindfold around her head again. She stayed silent for a moment, like the last time, letting herself immerse in her powers and focus on finding Billy. Eleven didn't say anything for a long moment, and Serenity and Max shared a glance.

Serenity's stomach twisted with nerves. Maybe it was just the fact that she didn't want Eleven to find something strange, or maybe it was just the fact that she totally despised Billy, but something about this didn't feel right. Last time, Eleven had been so quick to find Mike, Lucas, and Will. This was taking longer.

"I found him," Eleven announced after silence.

"What's he doing?" Max questioned.

Eleven's nose dripped with blood. "I don't know. He's . . . on the floor . . . talking to someone."

Serenity's eyebrows knit in thought. "Who?"

Eleven didn't answer. Serenity's heart beat against her chest in anticipation.

Suddenly, Eleven gasped, ripping off her blindfold with shaking hands. Her eyes were wide with terror and her face was gleaming with sweat. Tears started to fall down her cheeks, the clearness of them starkly contrasting with the blood dripping down from her nose. Serenity knew something about this wasn't right.

"What is it?" Max inquired. "What happened?"

"Eleven," Serenity began softly so she wouldn't scare Eleven further. "Eleven, breathe."

Eleven's chest heaved up and down, breathing heavily. She suddenly surged forwards, burying her head in Serenity's shoulder and throwing her arms around her waist. Serenity immediately hugged back, placing one hand on the back of Eleven's head and holding her tight. Concern shot throughout Serenity's veins. What had she seen? What had Billy been doing that made her react in such a way?

With Billy, it was never good. He was always bad news. But this . . . this seemed different. Eleven looked truly scared, maybe just as scared as Serenity felt when she watched him storm into the Byers' house, dead set on her hurting Max and Lucas after hurting Steve.

He would not hurt any more of her kids. Not on her watch.

"It's okay," Serenity said quietly, gently rocking Eleven back and forth comfortingly. "It's going to be okay."

She didn't know who she was trying to convince more at that point — herself, or Eleven.

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REMEMBER TO EAT SOMETHING AND DRINK WATER LOVE YOU BYE HAVE A GREAT DAY MWAH