Chapter Three: The Deal

Max hated how noiseless the car was, even though the V8 engine roared the car felt quiet with nobody talking. Usually she could listen to the engine and watch the road to keep preoccupied whilst with Billy, but with him unconscious in the back and the other seats being used by Lucas, Dustin and Steve, it was hard not to think about what had happened.

"So just to make sure I fully understand, those Demon-dogs were from a different dimension?" asked Max.

"For the last time they're called Demo-dogs, and yes… they originated from a different dimension, although they probably developed here, like Dart," replied Dustin, quieting when mentioning Dart. She didn't understand his bond with it, it was a gross, slimy slug that grew and ate his cat, then tried to eat them.

"So, we defeated creatures from another world, that's pretty cool," she added. It was cool that they'd defeated things no one else even knew about, it was like they'd defended the world from space aliens, but even more unbelievable.

"When you say we defeated them, are you including your contribution of screaming at them," teased Steve.

"Are you including your contribution of running away from them," she retorted, watching him grin as she said it. "I'm guessing the only ones who actually anything did were Eleven and Chief Hopper."

"Hey, we played our role, we contributed to the team effort," responded Steve.

"If you start with your stupid basketball analogy again you can walk home," said Max, before Steve could continue babbling on about irrelevant game talk she wasn't sure he actually understood.

"Have fun getting me out of this seat, this car really moves," stated Steve, shuffling slightly into the seat, wrapping his hands further around the wheel.

"Okay, but have fun staying seated when Billy wakes up," reminded Max. Mentioning Billy didn't have the same crushing weight as before, after they'd carried him out of the house and crammed him into the car, she found it easier to joke about him. Steve even found this funny, although she knew he was still shaken by Billy's madness, they all were a little.

She realized Dustin and Lucas were talking to each other on the back row, obscuring their mouths from the front but not having to whisper due to the loudness of the car. She turned to face them, they quickly shot back as if they hadn't been doing anything, so she decided to ignore them.

"So, you think they really did it, they really closed the gate?" queried Max.

"Yeah, I mean we haven't been chased down by angry Demo-dogs yet," joked Lucas, "also the lights intensifying then going back to normal seems like Eleven closing the gate to me. I mentioned how lights seem to go haywire when she uses her powers yesterday, it must have been her closing the gate."

"Plus, the compass has started facing north again," declared Dustin.

"What does that mean," said Steve, looking confused as Max felt.

"Compasses are attracted towards the earth's magnetic North pole right," affirmed Dustin, Max nodded in response whilst Steve just pretended not to notice. "Well compasses have been pointing towards the gate due to the electromagnetic field caused by the amount of power surrounding the gate. Well at least compasses near enough to the lab have, on the other end of town they've been working fine, but I checked Will's before we left, it wasn't pointing towards the lab. Lucas, did you seriously forget to mention this?"

"What… no, it didn't seem massively important," retorted Lucas. "How Come you've decided to tell us this now, not like, ages ago."

"Hey, shut it you too," interrupted Steve. "Max, where the hell is your house?"

"Just up here," she responded, "park up over there and I'll wake Billy up." She knew she'd have to wake him up now, they needed to come to an agreement sooner than later, but it didn't make her dread it any less.

Steve pulled to the side of the road, across and a few doors down from Max's house. He stopped the car with more grace than Max had managed, then switched the engine off, plunging the car into silence.

"Do you want us here when he wakes up?" Lucas asked hesitantly. Without the roaring engine noise everything seemed loud, she missed it now more than before.

"No, you guys go, I can handle Billy," said Max, failing to hide the doubt in her voice. She had no idea how to approach this, to pretend it didn't happen or use the fact that it did.

"Are you sure?" worried Lucas, climbing out of the car, "you don't have to, we can…"

"Come on kid, she's got this" said Steve, grabbing Lucas by the shoulder, "do you want the bat to give him another scare though?" suggested Steve.

"I'll be fine, plus where am I going to hide it afterwards anyway," stated Max. She probably didn't need the bat to scare Billy, although she did like that bat.

Steve shrugged and headed to the trunk, probably to grab his prized possession. Dustin climbed out the same time as Max, putting his arm on the door whilst he bent down towards Billy.

"Nighty night you scary son of a bitch," he whispered to the lifeless Billy. Somehow it didn't surprise her that he did this, it was a particularly weird thing for someone to do, but then this was Dusti, and it wasn't he weirdest thing to happen today. That didn't stop Lucas looking at his strange friend with embarrassment and shake his head in disapproval.

The two Boys headed towards Steve where they began collecting their things from the trunk. She could hear Steve and Dustin muttering something whilst she stared at Billy, deciding the best way to wake him up.

"Bye Max, hope it goes alright with Billy," came Lucas, as he and the other boys began walking away from the car. Lucas didn't look pleased to be leaving but having him around for this would just make it worse.

"See ya stalker," joked Max. Lucas perked up a little at hearing this, but once Dustin and Steve started laughing at him, he began to look flushed. "Bye coach, bye teach," added Max in the direction of the sniggering boys.

"Bye Max, hey! What do you mean by teach, just because I have to remind you how a compass works, doesn't mean I'm a teacher," retorted Dustin. Steve simply waved without looking and continued walking with the boys. "I mean I would be a pretty great teacher, like Mr Clark," Dustin continued as they walked down the dimly lit road, fading out of earshot.

Dustin could be irritating, but she'd rather listen to his babbling than have to negotiate with her maniac stepbrother. She knew her approach now, but worried about the consequences it could have, especially to her friends. But she had to do this, otherwise her friends definitely wouldn't be safe. She hesitantly stepped into the back of the car, took a deep breath, and struck a hard punch to his shoulder.

Billy never got cloudy headed, even after a party he'd wake up focused, even if it was a bit later than usual. But everything looked fuzzy, he felt fuzzy, like the room was humid, except it wasn't hot, all he could feel was pain across his back and in his shoulder. He wasn't in a room, he was in his Camaro, but he was in the back and he wasn't alone.

"Are you awake Billy?" asked Max, his stepsister, the bitch who stabbed him. "Listen Billy, we're sorting this out now, so get up!" And with her final word, he felt her sharply slap the side of his face, he was going to kill her for this.

"Your dead," he muttered. He was about to plough his fist into the shape which was Max when she faded into the background, pulling him down, forcing him forward onto the seat beside him.

"Listen you ass hole, you're going to forget about my friends and what happened tonight, you're going to stop being a dick to Steve and you're going to leave me alone," she told Billy.

"Yeah, and why should I do that?" He asked, preparing to jump of his stomach and tackle her to the ground.

"Because otherwise I'll tell your Dad that you've hurt me."

He froze, "You wouldn't do that, you can't do that!" he protested.

"Why not, it's not like your known for being a gentle soul," she retorted.

"You can't make stuff like this up Max," blurted Billy.

"And I'm not, you have hurt me and my friends, so stop and he doesn't have to know," Max warned.

He couldn't believe this, he'd been sent to get her after she had run off, and now he was lying across his back seats, head out the door, straining to look up at her through the pain in his back, and she was threatening him. But these threats were not to be taken lightly, the only person scarier than Max in this moment was his father, and what he'd do if she told him these lies.

"Alright Max, you win," admitted Billy, clambering out of his car. "I'll leave your friends alone, including Herrington," the words stung him.

"Good. Now drive us home and tell them it took a while to find me, don't mention Steve or anything else, just agree with what I say," stated Max. Once he was up he noticed they were back on their street, their house was close.

"How the hell did we get here," asked Billy.

"You drove us here, that's what they'll reasonably think," replied Max.

"So, Herrington drove my car, I'm gonna kill him!" raged Billy.

"No, you're not, you're going to avoid him from now on," guaranteed Max.

He hated this, he hated her. He slumped into his seat, seeing the house lights on was only bad for him and good for her. She slipped into the seat next to him, closed the door and they were off to the nightmare.

"Why didn't we just drive to your car, so you could drive us home," complained Dustin. He'd been walking, running and building all day, his legs ached and now he had to walk home, which felt much further than it actually was.

"Quiet kid, were almost there," replied Steve. Dustin knew Steve felt the same and was probably just as annoyed that he hadn't gone to pick up his car.

"Do you think Max will be okay?" asked Lucas, doubtfully.

"Yes Lucas, she'll be fine, or did you not see her almost hit him with that bat," retorted Dustin. Max was going to be fine, Lucas just worried too much.

"Yeah, chill dude, she's probably breaking his fingers right now," joked Steve. Dustin thought it was fitting, but Lucas still looked worried.

It was quiet for a moment, it was nice out, but a little cold, and Dustin was too tired to really enjoy walking through the deserted streets. "I should have just taken Mike's bike, you could have taken Wills Lucas, he never uses it," moaned Dustin.

"What, yeah, sure," responded Lucas, clear to Dustin not paying any attention.

"Come on man, she'll be fine," Dustin reassured. "She can handle herself better than any of us."

"Well... I mean," interjected Steve.

"Come on Steve, you couldn't take down Billy, your fight was a good try, but did you even think you had a chance?" questioned Dustin.

"Yes! Okay maybe not, but I got a few good hits off," replied Steve. Dustin was surprised Steve had lasted as long as he had, Billy hit hard, and Steve wasn't known for his ability to win a fight.

The boys continued walking, Lucas quieter than usual, not even mentioning them walking Dustin's preferred route rather than his own, as Dustin and Steve discussed the Upside down. Lucas was being stupid worrying, wasn't he, Max could handle her stepbrother, the better question was whether Billy had seen anything. He hadn't seemed to notice the Byers house being covered in crayon drawings, or that the window had a hole in it, he really wasn't that clever. A short while later, Steve needed to depart from the boys.

"Right, do you guys want lifts home from school tomorrow?" asked Steve.

"We need to get our bikes first, and could you take us to Will's instead?" replied Dustin.

Steve took a moment to consider this, "I can take you to your bikes but you're not putting them in my car.

"Come on man, it's just a bit of mud," complained Lucas.

"Yeah, just a bit of mud is enough. Plus, my Dad will kill me if I mess that car up,"

"Fine but meet us straight after school in the car park, okay," said Dustin. "Can we bring Max too?"

"Yeah sure, whatever kid, I'll see you tomorrow," finished Steve, as walked down the branching path, equally dark as their own.

"Yeah, you two Steve," replied Dustin, as he and Lucas started back towards their houses.

Once the boys were out of earshot, Lucas seemed to become more vocal in his questioning, "Why the hell are you keeping him around?"

"What do you mean 'keeping him around'" replied Dustin. "He's nice, and he isn't too busy flirting with his girlfriend."

"For the last time, she's not my girlfriend, and how was I supposed to know…"

"Know that Erica turned off your radio, I thought you would have noticed something you use every day has been switch off.", interrupted Dustin. "You were clearly too busy with Max to help out your friends."

"Help you out, I didn't keep a Demogorgon to try and impress her, you wouldn't have needed help if you weren't trying to get us all killed."

"I did not keep Dart to impress Max… I thought I'd made a scientific discovery…"

"Cut the bull, you did it to impress Max," stated Lucas. Dustin hated that it was true, although Dart could have been an evolutionary first, he'd thought he was impressive and hoped Max thought the same. But even though she didn't find him impressive and Dart ate his cat, he still missed him a bit.

"Look man, it doesn't matter now," said Lucas, breaking the silence, "can we just put it behind us?" Dustin wanted nothing more, and gladly shook Lucas's hand.

"Hey, Steve may not be the smartest…" started Dustin.

"You think?" interrupted Lucas

"But", Dustin continued, "he has been very helpful dealing with Demo-dogs and he's a nice guy, he has useful advice."

"Advice for what, keeping your hair tidy?" questioned Lucas.

"Well… yeah, among other things, but just because he doesn't know the difference between the Germans and the Nazis, doesn't mean he knows nothing," retorted Dustin.

"Yeah but, how does he not know the difference?"

"I'm sure loads of people don't know, like how Mike's dad doesn't know the difference between a communist and Russian,"

"I guess, but would you want to hang out with Mike's dad all day, it would just be weird," Lucas asked.

"Yeah, but not because he's stupid, because he's mike's dad, he's like three times our age."

"I guess, but no inviting him to a campaign, I think he'd struggle understanding the character sheet."

"Well I'm not asking you to be best buds with him or anything, just understand he's a cool guy, I'm not replacing anyone," stated Dustin.

"That fact that you suggested that, makes it sound like you are," accused Lucas.

"No… but when you and Mike are too busy with your girlfriends, it'd be nice if I had someone to hang out with,"

"So, you see Steve as your boyfriend?" asked Lucas.

"What! No! Shut up Lucas!" barked Dustin, voice breaking as untimely as ever.

"And what about Will, don't forget Will."

"I'm not forgetting Will, but I like hanging out with Steve, okay, he understands me,"

"Do you hear that?" whispered Lucas as they approached Dustin's driveway.

"What, no?" responded Dustin, worried.

"I can hear… church bells!"

"Ha, very funny Lucas, I'll see you tomorrow," retaliated Dustin.

"Yeah, see you later man," chirped Lucas, walking away. Dustin knew Lucas thought he was being funny, but when they were at school tomorrow, and Max was there too, he was going to have a lot of fun.