CARLA HADN'T SMILED SO MUCH IN ONE AFTERNOON.

Watching Eleven gaze at everything in sight, touch all the fabrics as if they were something of a different world—which to her, they truly were—was something special.  Carla's lips turned upwards every time the Hopper girl was mesmerized by an item, which was once every few minutes.

The first store they stopped in was The Gap—per Max's request.  Eleven was quick to run her hands along everything, stopping when her eyes caught hold of mannequin dressed in blue shirt with white, red and yellow stripes strewn across it—almost like they had flicked paint upon the shirt and called it finished.

"Do you like that?" Max asked the girl.

"How do I know...what I like?" Eleven questioned.

"You just try things on. Until you find something that feels like you."

"Like me?"

Max nodded, "Yeah.  Not Hopper, not Mike. You."

Taking those words to heart, Eleven started to try on colorful outfits of all kids—outfits that were much more eccentric than the over-sized flannel and white pants she'd arrived in.  Starting with the blue shirt she'd originally been drawn to, Carla found a pair of yellow pants with red suspenders that matched, which she tried on.

Checking herself over in the mirror, Max handed her a yellow beret that would match her pants, to which the girl sat on her head, the item covering her face.  Carla gave a light laugh and came forward, adjusting the beret so it was correct.

Eleven then picked out a similar outfit, this one a slightly loose white t-shirt and matching skirt with the same splattered paint pattern—in the same colors as well.   Max held up two belts, trying to decide whether the yellow or red fit better, and El was quick to pick the yellow one.  With Carla's help, she put it on and began to spin around, eventually stumbling back into Max's arms from dizziness.

She found another outfit and ran back to the changing rooms, leaving the two other girls to browse for a moment.  Max tried on multiple different sunglasses, returning with a cherry red pair—a color that suited her well—and Carla found a small ring that caught her eye.

Running back out dressed in a black romper with colorful shapes all over it, Eleven took to the mirror with a huge smile; this was the one.  Carla gave a nod, and she almost felt like a proud mother as she watched El style her hair.

Pleased with the romper, Carla pulled out her wallet and paid for everything, the three walking out with their arms linked, wearing each of their new items.  

Next was the Flash Studio, where the two teens rushed to put on the most eccentric outfits they could find, Carla holding the bag with Eleven's previous clothes inside.  With non stop laughing, the girls allowed the camera man to snap photos of them, changing outfits every few pictures.   After a couple, Eleven ushered Carla to join, which she did, wrapping a feathered boa around her neck and putting a colorful beret on her head.  She stood in between her two friends, smiling and striking dramatic poses with the two, like they did on the magazine covers.

Grabbing their photos, Max and El made a beeline for the shoe store.  Eleven quickly found a colorful pair of heels, finding the right size—with the help of the Mayfield—and placing them on her feet.  Since the heel was too thin—too thin for someone who'd never worn a heel before—she held on to her friend to keep from falling, which she eventually ended up doing anyway.

Carla, who'd been browsing shoes herself, heard the girls bursting into laughter from the fall, and turned over to see what had happened.  From the corner of her eyes, she could see a group of four girls—who didn't look much older—sending them side eyes, as if the sight of two preteens messing around made them annoyed.

The Wheeler sent a look right back at them, setting down the flat she'd been looking at and joining the girls once again.  Max ran to put the pair of shoes that Eleven had tried on away before intertwining her hand with El's and running off, Carla trailing right behind them.

Re-entering the food court, the three girls caught a glimpse of the four annoyed teens from the shoe shop.  Eleven was informed by Maxine that they were trying to hit it off with a 'cute guy', who then encouraged her to do something to the leader of the small clique, who she'd recognized as Stacey.

Carla gave a narrowed eyed look towards the two as they snuck behind a banister, eyes set on Stacey.  After a few seconds of dead staring at the girl, her Orange Julius exploded right on to her —as well as the boy she'd been speaking to and her friends.     

Did she just use her powers? Though Carla didn't truly care what the girls did—as long as they stayed out of trouble, she was fine with letting them free—wasn't this slightly dangerous? It had only been a drink explosion, and sure, the girl—Stacey—had been slightly rude with her looks, but that didn't mean Eleven should be using her powers in public.   What if someone bad was here, and saw? Or—

Carla decided not to let those bad thoughts take over.  This was supposed to be a fun day out.  Everything was over, there was nothing to worry about.  Her and the girls were safe; there was no more harm coming their way.  Eleven slipping her powers to the world wouldn't harm anyone....especially if that girl was the one who started it.

So, she didn't speak on the matter and let Eleven grab her hand and drag her off to wherever the two girls found next.  Max had a huge smile on her face as they ran away from the scene, "See? What I'd tell you? There's more to life than stupid boys."

"Do you guys want anything to eat at all?" Carla tried to make sure they didn't spend all afternoon shopping and at least got something to keep their energy up and their body fed. 

Max's face lit up at those words, "Scoops! Carla, El's never been there before, we have to go."

Though, she'd usually wait till the later hours to spend her time in Scoops Ahoy, she would never deny such a request from the girl and gave a small smile.  She looked at Eleven, "I may know someone who could get use some free ice cream, but only if you want it."

"Free?" Eleven raised a brow.

Carla shrugged, "Girlfriend perks."

"Let's go." Max pulled them along to the familiar ice cream shop.  There wasn't a line at the front counter, so the three made their way up to the employee, who just happened to be Steve.  His eyes—which had previously been gazing down towards the register, fingers tapping against it—quickly lit up at the sight of his girlfriend.  

"Hey, baby." Steve sent a smile her way, watching as she leaned against the counter towards him.  Behind her was Eleven and Max, causing him to send a small glance to the two before his eyes met back with his girlfriends, "What brings you here so early on in the afternoon?"

"Free ice cream?" Carla replied with a hint of a question in her tone.  She'd pay for it if Steve wanted her too—which would never happen.  Whenever she tried to pay, he shooed her hand away and insisted it was 'on him'. 

"Is that all I am to you now?" Steve raised a brow, though she knew he was just messing with her.

"No, but I might as well use the perk if you're gonna keep letting me do it." Carla replied.

"That's fair." Steve nodded before looking towards the two girls behind his, both of them waiting to state their orders. "What can I get you two?"

Max and El ordered their cones, and the Harrington began to scoop when the glass panel slid open, revealing his co-worker, Robin.  She was quick to announce,  "We've got our first sentence."

Steve quickly turned around, just as he was about to hand the preteens their cones, "Oh, seriously?"

"The week is long." the freckled blonde replied, using a very thick Russian accent.  Carla could hear the conversation from her spot behind the counter, and gave a confused look.  She had no clue what they were talking about, but yet again, she didn't work here.  It wasn't her conversation. 

"Well, that's thrilling."

"I know. But, progress." Robin gave a light smile before sending a wave towards the brunette girl, "Hey, Carla."

"Hi, Robin." Carla sent the same smile back, watching as the girl retreated back to the break room, shutting the windows behind her.

Steve returned back to the girls, handing the two their respective cones, "Okay, here you go, you got a strawberry and then a vanilla with sprinkles, extra whipped cream."  The two took them, chorusing with a small 'thanks'.  He then looked back at Eleven, remembering what Carla had told him when the kids originally started coming to the mall on the daily, "Wait a second.  Are you even allowed to be here?"

"I'm honestly not sure." Carla turned back to look at Max and El, who began to giggle.  The Wheeler was sure that the two hadn't discussed a mall trip with Hopper, nor even bothered to let him know his daughter wasn't housebound—like she was supposed to be.  "They kinda forced me on this job."

"You agreed to it," Maxine stated, which wasn't wrong.

"I'm your car-pooler, taking you places is literally my second job." Carla shrugged, before turning back to her boyfriend.  "Plus, I couldn't turn down an opportunity to see you, so..."  She trailed off, eyes meeting with his.

As if it were imperative that they did so, Carla leaned even further against the counter, skirt pressed right up against it.  She pressed her lips to his, her hand finding refuge on the side of his neck, fingers filing through his hair.  Steve's hand fell right beneath her chin, lightly supporting, his fingers slightly curled upon it. 

It was Max's voice that caused the two to break apart, "We'll leave you two be."

"Don't you need a—"

"We could take the bus." Maxine replied, cutting the older girl before grabbing her friend's hand and running out of the ice cream parlor.  Eleven was quickly pulled along, waving with a light smile towards the two older teens. 

"So much for chaperoning." Carla watched as the two girls faded from view, still hand in hand with one another. Hopefully, they'd get home okay and end up back in the safety of Hopper's cabin, or the Hargrove-Mayfield household—though with Billy present, Carla wasn't sure how safe you could feel there.

"Teenagers." Steve shrugged, crossing over to the 'Employee's Only' door.  Him and Carla would usually spend their nights talking on and on in the break room—unless he was actively working—and on instinct, he let the door open,  forgetting what was happening behind it.

Dustin Henderson's voice was the one to remind him, "Yeah, the one that looks like a—Steve!" 

Everything then fell quiet.  The Harrington boy, who was holding the door wide open for his girlfriend, muttered a quick, "Shit."  Though he'd tried to keep his mutter quiet, Carla had easily heard and gave a narrowed eyed, and confused look.

Dustin was sitting at a small white table, tape recorder and Russian-to-English dictionary splayed out in front of him.  Robin was in front of the table, two open markers in hand—one red, one black.  Black marker was hovering over the whiteboard in ahead of her, having been in the middle of writing when the couple barged in.

"Hey, Carla." Dustin tried his best to sound casual, though he knew it would never work.  Carla could sense when things were wrong, and Dustin sucked at lying to begin with.  He watched the girls eyes trail over the room, landing on him.

"What's going on?" the Wheeler asked, noticing how quiet the room had gone when she entered—as well as Steve's small curse.  "I didn't know you returned from camp."

"I got back yesterday." Dustin nodded, slowly crawling his fingers up the translation book so he could try and discreetly slide it down to his lap, out of view from the older girl.  "I was gonna come say hi, but Steve told me you'd probably show up here....and now you're here, so....Hi."

"I'm sure the party was happy to have you back." Carla replied.

"I guess you could say that."

She nodded, and then everything fell quiet again.  Dustin tilted his head quickly towards the whiteboard, which Robin took as her cue to stand in front of it, crossing her rooms so she looked more casual.  He then eyed Steve, who spoke up not too long afterwards.  "I, uh, think there might be some customers coming—let's go sit out here for a minute."

Steve grabbed her hand and tried to pull her out of the break room, eyeing Dustin back to let him know that the moment he left, they'd hide everything away.  His plan backfired—not like he expected it to work; he knew Carla sensed something was up—and Carla stayed in place.

"What are you guys hiding?" Carla questioned.  She'd always been able to read peoples emotions well, and Dustin sucked at lying.

"Nothing." Dustin's voice slightly rose in pitch.  He didn't want to lie from his friend, he knew it was wrong, but Steve had been keen on keeping her out of this whole Russian mess until they absolutely couldn't anymore.

Steve tried to pull her out again, "Carla, come on—"  They'd been through too much to lie from each other, to keep things—especially something as crazy as a Russian transmission to Hawkins—hidden, but Carla had been through enough.  This would probably end up being some joke, and Steve didn't want her to grow anxious over nothing.  It was better that she didn't know anything until it threatened her well being.

"No." Carla said firmly, gazing at Steve before looking back at the scene in front of her, "I know you three are keeping something from me.  Robin, you're standing right in front of a board which you'd previously been writing on, Dustin you stopped talking when I entered the room and are trying to hide a book, and Steve, you're trying to get me out of this room."

The three stayed quiet, so Carla continued. "There's no point in lying anymore, so please tell me what the hell you're trying to be so secretive about before I go and figure it out myself."  She then quietly added—so that only Steve would be able to hear, "We've gone through too much together to keep secrets."

Steve let out a sigh, causing Robin to give in, slowly stepping away from the white board.  Carla was quick to eye up the thing, taking in the letters written on to it.  She didn't recognize the ones in red—they clearly belonged to another language—and below the red letters, there were letters written in black—the alphabet.  They were translating.

"What are you translating?" Carla asked no one in particular.

Dustin was the one to answer in a mumble, "A secret Russian message."

"What?"

"A secret Russian message." Dustin repeated himself, knowing how stupid his words sounded.  Russians in Hawkins? It had to be one of the most unbelievable things he, Steve, Robin, and now Carla had ever heard.  "I intercepted it using something I made at camp..."

"You intercepted a Russian transmission?" Carla repeated his words, taking in what she'd heard. 

"I know it sounds ridiculous." Steve added.

After a moment of silence, she spoke up again, "I believe you, Dustin."  If you told her back in 1983 that the younger boy had received a message from Russia, she would have sent you a confused look and asked if you were okay, but after everything and that had happened to Hawkins since.....it didn't seem too out of the ballpark.  "Show me what you've got."

Robin sent her a small look, almost as if she was surprised that Carla hadn't hesitated on believing Dustin. She didn't know what the girl had been through to become so welcoming to such unusual ideas.

With her words, Dustin played her the tape and the group of four—with Steve and Robin replacing each other every thirty minutes to work shifts—spent the rest of their afternoon and night translating.

Though Carla had never been too good at languages, but with the help of Robin—who had rather good ears, thanks to being in band, as well as being fluent in a few other languages—the two had been able to decode enough to get a sentence. 

The week is long, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west.

Carla was proud of the work that they'd accomplished, even if it didn't make any sense.  The four had no idea what that sentence was supposed to mean, and read it over in unison, just like they had been for the past hours on end.  "The week is long, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west."

There were no more customers, as the mall had closed over thirty minutes ago.  Of course, instead of leaving right when the announcement was made, Carla stayed with everyone else, making sure the code was correct.

But, they couldn't stay all night, and after doing a final check through, decided to close things up for the night.  Steve had led everyone outside, mind stuck on the sentence they'd decoded as he locked up Scoops, "I mean, it just...it just can't be right."

"It's right." Robin disagreed.

Carla added, "We didn't just spend our entire day decoding for it to be wrong."

Dustin casually slid his hands into his pockets, "Honestly, I think it's great news."

"How is this great news?" Steve stood back up, falling into step with the others,  "I mean, so much for being American heroes. It's total nonsense." His hand intertwined with his girlfriends, and the two walked hand in hand.

"It's not nonsense." Dustin argued, "It's too specific. It's obviously a code."

"What do you mean, a code?"

Carla answered, gazing up at the boy, "Like a secret spy code."

"You're buying into this?" Steve's eyes met with hers.

The Wheeler shrugged, "I don't know, but let's say it is a secret Russian message—just for fun.  If Dustin picked it up, anything could.  So, the Russians have to mask it up, use code names and shit so only the right ears will know what they really mean.  Everyone else will ignore it and see it as nonsense."

"Yeah, what did you think they were gonna say, 'Fire the warheads at noon'?" Robin agreed with the brunette. "And, why would anyone want to mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?"

"Exactly." the Henderson chimes in.

"So, I guess that confirms your suspicion." the Buckley finishes.

"Evil Russians." 

"I can't believe I'm about to agree with this strange child, but yeah, totally evil Russians." the blonde slightly laughed at herself.  The two then broke off into their own conversation about what the code could possibly mean, and what the Russians could possibly be hiding, leaving the couple to themselves behind them. 

Carla let Robin and Dustin's voices drown behind her as she continued walking. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't tired.  She'd been running around all morning with Eleven and Max, and then stared at the same fifteen words for the rest of her day. 

It was Steve's voice that took her out of her small daze, "Hey, Carla?"

"Mhm?"

"I'm sorry I kept this whole Russian thing from you." the Harrington started, "You're right; we've been through too much together to lie about stuff, or hide things, especially big things like this. I-I just...this whole thing seems stupid—I mean, Russians in Hawkins? I didn't want you to get worried about nothing, because I know how you get."

"It's okay." Carla replied. Though at first she'd been semi-upset that they'd all kept it a secret, she understood why. Steve was just worried about her, like every boyfriend should be.  Carla actually appreciated that part of Steve, the part that was always looking out for other people. "You were just worried about me, and it wasn't going to stay secret for long.  I was bound to find out eventually."

"Yeah, I know.  I just feel bad, because I know we're past the stage of secrets."

"You were just looking out for me, and I appreciate—" Carla cut herself off when she felt Steve's hand slip out of hers.  Confused on why he'd abruptly done so, she turned to face him, watching as his hands dug around in his pockets in front of Indiana Flyer. "Is everything okay?"

Steve pulls out a handful of coins from his pockets, coins spilling on the tiles as he searched through them, "Yeah, I just need-do you have a quarter?"

"I-maybe?" Confused, Carla pulled out her wallet to search for a singular quarter.  Met with no sign of the small silver coin, she shook her head  at her boyfriend, who then glanced over at Robin and Dustin, who had started making their way over once they noticed the couple had stopped.

"Quarter!"

"Sure you're tall enough for that ride?" Robin remarked as she tossed a quarter to her co-worker, who crouched down to place it in the coin slot.  Everyone went quiet as the Indiana Flyer music began to play, and that gave Carla a moment to truly think about what Steve was getting at with this children's ride—

Holy shit.

The music coming from the mechanical horse was the exact same as the music that played in the background of the tape recorder, Carla was sure of it. 

"You need help getting up, little Stevie?" the Buckley joked, causing Dustin to laugh from beside her. 

Steve sent them a look, "Would you two just shut up and listen?"

Though it takes them a moment, Dustin slowly realizes why Steve had wanted a quarter.  "Holy shit, the music.  The music!" He pulls off his backpack, pulling out the tape recorder and hitting the play button.

As Dustin's recording starts playing, Robin gave a confused look, "I don't understand."

Carla explained, "The music is the exact same as the recording. It's Daisy Bell in both."

"Maybe they have horses like this in Russia." Robin shrugs.

"Indiana Flyer? I don't think so." Steve shook his head, sending a look towards everyone, "This code, it....didn't come from Russia.  It came from here."

mara's misc!

i think this chapter turned out pretty good!

sorry it took a hot minute, but i've just been kinda busy with schoolwork and shit.  i have some big tests that are starting wednesday and thursday so idk when chapter four will come, but i'll try and get it up sooner than later.

i literally love writing carla's dynamic with everyone....like her and the girls are so pure, and then her and the scoops troop are just chaotic.  

i'm still kind of figuring out where i want carla to go in season three, so....

also, happy easter/ramadan/passover! (whichever you maybe celebrate!)

hope you enjoyed<3 see you back with chapter four!