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𝗠𝗜𝗗𝗡𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧

𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓯𝓸𝓾𝓻:
"𝙸 𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝙶𝚘𝚍, 𝙸'𝚖 𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚊 𝚔𝚒𝚕𝚕
𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖."

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MACKENZIE DEFINITELY FORGOT about all of her worries as she sat on Eleven's bed in her room at the cabin. She was flipping through some magazines with El, her back resting on the headboard and her legs extended in front of her. Meanwhile, Max danced around the room, singing along to Angel by Madonna into a hairbrush. Mackenzie giggled at her antics as she turned the page, looking at her favorite celebrities. She glanced up to see El smiling down at a poster of Ralph Macchio.

Max stopped singing and kneeled next to the bed. "Oh, you found Ralph Macchio."

"Macchio?" El asked.

"Yeah, he's the Karate Kid. Hai-yah!" she exclaimed while imitating a karate chop, making Mackenzie and El giggle. "He's so hot, right? I bet he's an amazing kisser, too."

Mackenzie leaned forwards as Max came up to the bed to sit next to her. "Hey El, is Mike good at kissing?"

"I don't know," she replied. "He's my first boyfriend."

"Ex-boyfriend," Max corrected.

At the sight of El's sad face, Mackenzie reached forwards and gave her hand a squeeze. "It'll be okay. Knowing Mike, he'll probably come and try to take you back anyways."

"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," Max fake cried. "God, what I wouldn't give to see their stupid faces."

El stopped laughing, her face lighting up with realization. Mackenzie smirked, knowing exactly what she was about to do.

"What is it?" Max questioned.

Mackenzie got up from the bed. "El has this power where she can spy on people without them knowing she's there. We just need a blindfold and some static."

That's where Mackenzie found herself sitting on the edge of the bed with Max, staring down at the floor where El sat with a blindfold tied around her eyes. Static from a radio station played in the background.

"Is this really gonna work?" Max inquired, an eager smile on her face.

El nodded.

"Holy shit, this is insane—"

"Max."

"Yeah, quiet. Sorry."

El was silent for a couple moments. Mackenzie continued to stare at her, watching as a drop of blood dripped down from her nose. She resisted the feeling of food churning in her stomach from it and focused on the situation at hand.

"I see them," El voiced.

Max and Mackenzie sat down on the floor in front of El.

"What are they doing?" Max asked.

"Eating."

Mackenzie rolled her eyes. "Of course. What wouldn't they be doing?"

A couple more moments of silence.

"They say we are species," El voiced.

"What?" Max asked.

"Emotion, not logic."

Mackenzie scoffed incredulously. "I swear to God, I'm gonna kill them."

"Mike is now making fun of Will," El said.

"What?" Mackenzie questioned, suddenly feeling very defensive. "What is he saying?"

"How he can't believe he hasn't kissed you yet."

Her face burned bright red. Max let out a laugh and nudged the girl with her elbow. Mackenzie rolled her eyes and pushed Max over on the floor. It was only a little while later when El suddenly ripped off her blindfold, her eyes widening as she looked at the two girls in front of her.

Mackenzie's eyebrows scrunched in concern. "El? What happened?"

The girl erupted in a fit of laughter, leaning over on her side since she was laughing so hard. Mackenzie shared a confused look with Max before they began to laugh with El. It only stopped when they heard a car pull up in the driveway, which meant Hopper was home. El quickly wiped the blood off of her face while Mackenzie turned the radio back to a normal pop station. The Bitch is Back rang through the room, making Mackenzie smile and bop her head along. Each of them grabbed a magazine, laying on their stomachs on the floor to read them.

Hopper's angry shouts and stumbling (Mackenzie could tell he was obviously drunk) made its way to El's bedroom, where he opened the door violently. He stood there for a moment, his hand clutching a bottle of alcohol and looking a little embarassed.

"Do you knock? Jeez!" Max exclaimed.

"Yeah, jeez!" El repeated.

"Oh, hey. I'm sorry. I thought that, uh . . ."

"It's okay, Hopper," Mackenzie smiled. "Mike isn't here."

"Max and Kenz wanted to have a sleepover," El revealed. "Is that okay?"

Hopper nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, your parents know about it?"

"Yup," Max answered.

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

He stood there for a moment.

Mackenzie raised her eyebrows at him. "You need anything else, or . . ."

"No, no. Uh, I'll leave."

Hopper shut the door, and the girls all laughed together again. Max then suddenly had another idea to spy on some people they chose in a game of spin the bottle. She flipped a game board upside down and got one of the empty Coke bottles on the ground. Mackenzie began to write names on pieces of paper and spread Billy, Mrs. Wheeler, Dustin, Mr. Wheeler, Steve, Nancy, and Mr. Clarke around in a circle on the board.

"Holy shit, I can't believe we're really doing this," Max commented before turning to the girls. "Ready?"

"Ready," Mackenzie and El chorused.

El spun the bottle and it landed on Mr. Wheeler.

"Ugh, boring," Max said.

"Yeah, boring," El agreed.

Mackenzie nodded her head to El. "Go again."

El went to spin it but she faltered, looking up at Mackenzie. "Against the rules?"

Mackenzie shook her head with a smile on her face. "You've been following rules your entire life. It's time that you make some of your own."

A wide grin adorned her features as she spun the bottle again. It landed on Billy this time.

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

"Max—" El began.

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

"Max!" El protested.

"Okay, shutting up now."

The redhead turned the radio to static before El placed the blindfold over her eyes. She was silent for a moment before speaking up.

"I found him."

Max looked intrigued. "What's he doing?"

"I don't know," El answered, blood dripping down her nose. "He's . . . on the floor . . . talking to someone."

She suddenly ripped her blindfold off while gasping. Mackenzie leaned forwards in concern.

"What is it? What happened?" Max asked all at once.

El didn't answer. She only stared at Mackenzie and Max, her eyes wide with terror and filled with tears.

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EVEN THOUGH ELEVEN was thoroughly scared, the girls got a good night's sleep. They got up the next morning to investigate what El had seen, opting to go to Max's house to search Billy's room. After getting dressed — Mackenzie clad in a black t-shirt and pink shorts with her old pink Converse — they made their way to Max's street on their bikes. Thunder rumbled in the sky, making Mackenzie glance up. The sky was covered in dark gray clouds, a symbol that it would be another summer rainstorm. She sighed, playing with the end of her braid a bit.

"It's gonna start pouring soon," Max announced as they walked on the street. "We should be at the mall, or, like, watching a movie or something."

El looked over to Max. "You don't believe me?"

"I believe you saw some super weird stuff, totally, but you said Mike has sensed you in there before, right? So maybe it was just like that. Maybe Billy just . . . sensed you somehow."

"But the screams," El countered.

"Yeah, I know, but here's the thing. When Billy is alone with a girl, they make, like, really crazy noises."

"They scream?" El asked.

"Yeah, but, like . . . happy screams."

El looked thoroughly confused, making Mackenzie laugh into her hand. "Happy screams? What is happy screams?"

"It's like . . . I'm just gonna lend you my mom's Cosmo."

Mackenzie giggled while shaking her head. "Don't ruin her innocence, Max."

They paused once they got to Max's house.

"His car's not here," Max noticed, looking to El who had a determined look on her face. "You really want to do this?"

El nodded. They entered the house and walked up to Billy's room. Max opened the door and the scent of beer, sweat, and cigarettes immediately hit Mackenzie. She scrunched her nose up and made her way inside, noticing discarded beer cans and cigarettes in ash trays.

"Why do I get the feeling we're gonna find all kinds of wrong in here?" Max asked.

Mackenzie began to look around. She could faintly hear Max saying gag me with a spoon in the background, but she chose to ignore it. Billy's room had absolutely no clues, so they went to the bathroom. El turned on the light and they all walked in.

She saw El staring at the bathtub, which was filled with water and ice. Mackenzie approached it, a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. He likes it cold was echoing through her mind and she shared a concerned look with El.

"Max?" El questioned quietly.

She walked to the tub and picked up one of the plastic bags. "Ice. It's just ice. Probably for his muscles or something, he works out like a maniac."

El slowly looked over to the cabinet. Mackenzie followed her line of sight to see a little bit of red liquid on the door. El bent down and opened it, pulling out a trash can.

Max looked concerned at El's stiff state. "El, what is it?"

She pulled out a lifeguard fanny pack. Mackenzie tilted her head in thought at it, but then El pulled something else out.

A whistle. A whistle covered in blood.

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I have such bad sunburn ouchies