How both her siblings never took notice of the BMW that rolled up the curb with her in its passenger seat, she would never know.

Max was one thing, having drowned herself in homework or a new skateboard trick to perfect many times over, not always being super perceptive when one of the two would grasp her attention. But Billy? Billy being completely uninterested in how she got home and why she came home after him was a miracle. An utter miracle. Sure, he knew boundaries. He was never one to be that obnoxious, little brother stereotype that would poke his nose into every bit of her business. But Billy was the furthest from oblivious, and the furthest from turning the other way when something suspicious caught his attention.

If anything, she expected to come eye to eye with crossed arms and the face of the last person she could lie to.

Yet, when she came inside and dropped her bag onto her bed, she caught his closed door. Music blared through as it commonly did at night, Max was drawn into the TV in the living room, and neither of them ever asked any questions. Or at least any questions that didn't come from arguing over the toppings of the pizza they ordered for dinner.

She must have been better at sneaking around than she thought. That or Billy assumed she took an extra shift at the station and told Max not to bug him about it. The later made more sense. And with the way they were avoiding any and all interaction since that morning, the later was probably true.

Max may have not been home alone as she originally thought, but that didn't make it any better. Rowen still worried over Dart, imagining his potential appearance and with it, many different scenarios of how he could appear. It left her to dutifully peer out the window every half hour when her siblings were not looking, left her to be uncharacteristically silent for the rest of the evening. Left her to lie awake all night, fiddling with the ends of her hair instead of trying to get some rest for the eventful day to come.

She hated it when she couldn't sleep, so much to the point that Max called her "Grumpy Pants" when she did not get enough. But, as if by some miracle, the lack of rest didn't hinder her much when she woke. She still had the same, nerve-wracking feeling in the pit of her stomach that made her forget everything else. She was still worrying over the same things, still playing with her hair... the only difference was that she now had a coffee cup in her hands.

Steve had, against her assumptions, offered to pick her up that morning, claiming that Dart could still show up anywhere at any time even after the sun rose above them. He mentioned how it would save her the trouble of biking all the way back to Dustin's house, too.

He wasn't wrong. Her legs ached from the amount of peddling she had done and truthfully, she wasn't enjoying the soreness one bit. She turned him down, though, reminding him of the brother that got in his face and the sister that didn't like him that much either after watching their last exchange. What a scene that would have been if one of them had caught him parked at the curb. She could imagine a number of different ways that could play out... but all of them ended up with Steve on the ground and a conversation she did not want to have.

It was better that she risk biking down Cherry Road on her own.

After downing her large mug of coffee, Rowen sped into her room, caffeine now settling in her system. The stack of journals was ignored once again. They were beginning to collect dust, and it made her sneeze as she whipped by them... but that was all the attention the black books were given. Books which she, not even a week ago, spent so much time flipping through and scribbling in. What had made her stop writing again? Her job? Having a faceless monster screech at her? Having to track down said faceless monster with the kid she tutored and the guy she had been trying to avoid for the past two days? ... She wouldn't be surprised if the reason was all of it. It all rolled together into one huge pile of anxiety and distraction, and there she was getting ready to step back into it.

Rowen changed out of the tee-shirt and pajama pants, replacing it with skinny jeans and the same, gray-blue sweater she wore the day before.

Tying the laces of her faithful black Chucks, she marched towards the back door with an "I'm working an extra shift at the station. I'll be back later," thrown Max's way, ready to take the same path she took to Dustin's house the day before. But when the telephone went RING once again, and no one moved to answer it, Rowen halted, and plucked it from the wall...

"Hey, it's Dustin. Change of plans. Meet us at the Hunting & Camping store on Briarcliff. We need to get a few things."

She didn't need to ask to know what "we need to get a few things" meant. They wanted to stock up on supplies, no doubt. Set as many traps around their bait so they knew for sure that Dart would be dead. Gone.

At least that was what she assumed. Rowen considered the shotgun her dad kept in the back of the garage as she grabbed for her bike. It was hidden out of sight and never once used since he put it there. He wouldn't notice if she took it... but other people might if she was riding down the street with firearm slung over her shoulder. It was way too long to fit into her measly shoulder bag.

No shotgun, then.

Within twenty minutes Rowen rolled into downtown, tucking her bike in the narrow alley next to the police station, safe and out of sight. She walked the rest of the way, trailing one street over from where she claimed she would be for the day and into a mess of sharp objects and loaded weapons. This was not even close to how she imagined spending a Sunday. Or any day.

"Maybe we should get one of these," Dustin suggested.

Rowen took one look at the bear trap he pointed to, eyes nearly widening to the size of dinner plates. "No," she stated firmly.

Dustin's expression deflated. "But-"

"Nooo," she drawled, turning on her heel and walking down the aisle with the thirteen-year-old in tow.

They perused through the stacks of guns, hammers, nails, and many various supplies for nearly half an hour. Hunting & Camping, a near ghost town on the inside, echoed with the patter of their shoes and the sounds of their debates. Steve searched through as many aisles as he could, Dustin pointed at about every kind of torture device that he could possibly find, and Rowen rejected all of them.

As intimidating as Dustin's description of the Demogorgon they faced last year was, she was convinced that Dart couldn't have grown to that size so quickly. There was just no way. Which was why she figured anything such as a bear trap would be useless. And besides, it was... well, a bear trap. Rowen assumed they would be marching out of there with guns, packs of bullets and a net of some kind; depending on where they would be leading Dart and how they would be killing him.

But no.

Gasoline and buckets were what they walked out with; the last items she expected to buy from a store filled with weapons. Aside from the bear-trap. Steve paid for it anyway, hauled it into his trunk and coraled Dustin into his backseat anyway, making her hurry to the passenger side so they could get to the supermarket before noon broke.

Unlike the hunting store, Bradley's Big Buy was packed with any and every type of group from single mothers to groups of teens, parents with newborns and kids that were dragged by their dad's hands. Rowen watched all of them go in. And while she may have waited in the parking lot, she knew she wasn't the only one out of all these groups that stared at her two accomplices as they hauled pounds of meat into the car. She wasn't sure if anyone paid attention as they stared or if they just quirked a brow at piles of meat chunks being dragged along and went on as if nothing about it was weird.

Either way, she found herself as anxious as Hopper was when he went without coffee, hoping no one would be bold enough to approach them. She was eyeing bypassers like a hawk, a little too prepared to drive away anyone who might step a foot in their direction.

Rowen was still a mess of nerves, still coming to terms with the existence of another dimension, a pre-teen with superpowers, and the monster that they were currently on their way to hunt. And, as if to add to her pile, she was almost certain Hopper was missing. The few people they could reach out to were a no-show and, to act as the cherry on top of this very nerve-wracking cake, her dad was coming home in a few hours. She may not have looked it, but she felt as if she could snap at any given moment if the wrong words were said. Again... much like Hopper without coffee.

Dustin shut the back door and Steve jammed his key into the ignition. They drove away from downtown, past the arcade, past barren streets and one that supposedly led to Steve's house. They continued to idly roll down the concrete even as the houses began to thin out, giving way to a multitude of trees and open space. Eventually, Dustin pulled out a map from his backpack, one that was drawn on and crossed over roads, leading to blank spots that looked to be solely foliage. He leaned over her seat so she could see, pointing to marks and telling Steve to drift towards the curb. They coasted off of the main road, parking on a bumpier, gravel path that ended just at the forest edge.

To Rowen, they were in the middle of nowhere. To Steve, they were near the town border. But to Dustin... they were exactly where they needed to be.

"Are you sure this is a good place to start?"

"Positive. This is how we found the train tracks that lead to the junkyard last year."

"Wait... train tracks?" Rowen shut the car door. "Why didn't we just drive to those and start there?"

"Because they're in the middle of the forest," said Dustin. "Besides, Mirkwood is where Will disappeared last year. He said that that was where he first saw the Demogorgon. Right there. What better place to start a trail to bait one?"

He pointed to the road that peered through the mess of trees and bushes.

"Hold on," Steve said. "Mirkwood? That's North Avenue."

"Yeah, but we also call it Mirkwood."

"Why do you call it Mirkwood?" asked Rowen.

"Because it's from The Hobbit."

"Wait... did you guys seriously name a road after that Lord of the Rings shit?" Steve laughed.

"It's not Lord of the Rings, Steve. It's The Hobbit."

"What's the difference?"

"The difference is that they're set in two entirely different points in time, okay. The-"

"Enough," Rowen groaned. "I don't know about you guys, but I'd like to get to the junkyard before it gets dark."

She moved from her place against the side of the car, digging in the trunk for one pair of the rubber gloves they had taken from Dustin's house. Steve followed suit, separating three buckets in his trunk before grabbing the bags of meat. She scrunched her nose as he opened it up. The meat was pungent, definitely enough to catch Dart's nose or mouth... Or whatever it was that sat where a face was supposed to be.

They set about the beginning of their plan, putting the gloves on, tossing the chunks into each pail. Dustin sidestepped to the backseat of the car, grabbing his backpack and pulling a headset from inside, securing the piece underneath his hat. Rowen brought each bucket of cow meat down to the gravel as they were filled. The tank of gasoline was plopped next to them.

"Dustin! Dustin, this is Lucas! Do you copy?"

Rowen paused in what she was doing. A voice emitted from his backpack, and she immediately pinned it as his walkie. Dustin did not hold back his mock surprise when he heard it.

"Well, well, well. Look who it is."

"Sorry, man. My stupid sister turned it off."

"Well, while you were having sister problems, Dart grew again. He escaped and I'm pretty sure he's a baby Demogorgon!"

"Wait... what?"

"I'll explain later. Just meet us at the old junkyard."

"Us?"

"And bring your binoculars and wrist-rocket!"

"Wait, you said 'us'. Who's us?"

"Just be there stat. Over and out."

Steve stuffed his own backpack with the tank of gas and the not-so spiky end of his bat. Rowen backtracked to the passenger side of the car, slinging her own bag over her shoulder. She had taken a practical approach in preparation for their monster hunt, packing a water bottle, an old camping spotlight, even the sorry excuse of a first aid kit she'd thrown under the sink on the off chance that one of them might get bitten or scraped... or worse. She didn't want to think about the possibility of any of them getting seriously hurt.

She stopped herself before that thought could go any further.

The trunk slammed shut. "Alright, let's go."

And so they picked up their buckets and set down the path Dustin jotted down for them to follow.

As they trecked through the crumpled grass and broken branches, Rowen began to understand why driving to the tracks wasn't an option. It was the middle of November, which meant the leaves fell in thick piles, wet and mixing with the dirt to make one mushy surface. At first, she thought there had to be somewhere where a car could fit through. A place where the trees spread apart and gave way to the tracks, or a place where a road crossed over like some roads would in San Diego. But, as they journeyed further and further into the woods, she realized that Dustin wasn't exaggerating when he said they were in the middle of the forest. The trees were so close together that she was sure bikes couldn't even squeeze through in certain places, trunks almost intertwining, weeds spewing about and covering dips in the ground. Even walking was difficult... but was their only option. And they did a lot of it.

The trees never thinned out, and after what seemed like an age, the train tracks didn't seem any closer. She was starting to think Dustin had gotten them lost. He looked down at his crumpled map, made them go from one way to another many times over. At one point near the beginning, he pulled a small compass from his pocket, holding it under his thumb and looking at it when he was not referring to the map. But that didn't make her feel any more hopeful.

She was growing tired already and they hadn't even come close to the junkyard.

"Okay," Rowen sighed. "Are we getting any closer or are we just lost?"

"We're not lost. We're almost there."

"The train tracks aren't even on the map," Steve said. "How do you know we're close?"

"Just trust me, okay?" said Dustin. "We went this way last year and found the tracks no problem."

"And how long did it take you to find them last year?" Rowen asked.

"Why does it matter?"

"Because we don't exactly have all day, Dustin, okay? My dad is coming home in a few hours and if we get back well after dark, he won't believe that I just 'took a late shift'."

"But you work at the police station. Why wouldn't he believe that?"

"Because working late at a place that doesn't deal with a lot of business is a load of bull to him. That's why."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously."

"So... if you were working and it started to get dark, and there was no way you could leave, what would you do then?"

"I would find a way to leave."

At that moment, she remembered the long and ultimately awkward conversation she had with Hopper when she first started. She wanted to change her hours... had no choice but to, if she was being honest. Dinner was at six on the dot every night, and she told him that her dad was a stickler for all his children being seated at the dining room table before the clock read 6:00. Hopper didn't fold at first, thinking the reason ridiculous. She thought it was ridiculous, too, and he offered the option to give her dad the excuse that she was working. But he didn't know Neil Hargrove like she did. She didn't want him to, either.

No one deserved to know Neil Hargrove like his children did.

"Jeez," Dustin muttered. "Is your dad like super strict or something?"

Rowen huffed. "That's one way to put it."

"Okay," Steve butted in. "Forget about the strict parents on our tails for a second. If we're lost, we need to find another way to get to the tracks that won't take us all..."

He trailed off as all three of them came to a slow halt. The trees had finally thinned, giving way to a short dip in the ground that led to rusted metal.

Dustin turned to them with a triumphant smile.

"...day. Huh."

Rowen laughed, smiling at the sight of the tracks. She had forgotten all about the memory he had resurfaced. "Nice job, Dusty."

She ruffled the hat that covered his curls, continuing ahead of them, treading carefully down the dip and up to the rails, tossing a few pieces of meat as she went. From the woods, their trail merged onto the train tracks, more chunks being strewn atop the metal and the dirt. Their buckets got lighter, and Dustin occasionally checked his walkie to see if Mike or Will were near theirs. But the boys were still gone. They walked in silence for what seemed like another age before anyone said a word.

"Okay, I have to ask," said Rowen, turning to one of her yellow-gloved counterparts. "Why did you think Dustin and I were pranking you last night?"

Steve looked ahead, in front of Dustin where the tracks seemed to go on forever.

"I don't know," he shrugged casually. "I just figured he had some weird thirteen-year-old crush on you and wanted to impress you by helping you get back at me or something."

Never was there a face more worthy of the phrase "are you serious" than Rowens at that moment.

"It could happen," Steve said defensively, catching the look she gave him. "When he said you knew about what really happened to Byers last year, he didn't exactly give any context."

Rowen hummed. "Well, he may not have given you any context, but he told me Will was dragged into another dimension by a Demogorgon, that they found a twelve-year-old girl with superpowers and kept her in Mike's basement, that she killed said Demogorgon, then disappeared into thin air."

"Yeah, yeah. I know," he waved her off weakly. "He told you everything. I figured that out already... I don't know, I just... I thought that there might be a chance you wanted to get back at me somehow."

Rowen scrunched her nose. "No... No, I don't think so. That's not my style."

Steve smiled down at his Nike's.

"Listen, we agreed to let bygones be bygones," she added. "...And even though we agreed after the fact, I still wouldn't have done something like that."

"That's good to know," Steve muttered in relief, chucking a handful of meat behind them. "Anyway, I took the whole pranking thing back the minute I found that skin on the floor of his cellar."

"How come?"

"Because I know what Demogorgon skin looks like," he said a matter of factly.

A pause followed, the small plopping being the only noise to fill their ears.

"I'm surprised you believed him when he told you everything," said Steve, gesturing to Dustin who was now many feet ahead of them.

"Well, considering I got the monster first and then the explanation, it was kind of hard not to believe him," Rowen said. "At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if unicorns were real, too."

"I'd take a unicorn over a Demogorgon any day."

"Me too." Rowen agreed wholeheartedly.

"Hey, Dustin," Steve called. "So, you said that you found this thing in your trash can... And you kept it because you thought it was cool."

Dustin threw back a confused glance. "Yeah?"

"Then why did you bring it to school?"

"Because I thought I found an entirely new species. I needed to show the party."

"Well, if you needed to show them, then why didn't you just tell them to come to your house?"

"Because my house isn't where we meet."

"You couldn't have made it the place to meet that one time? You know, like... not risk a teacher finding that thing in your backpack?"

"No, I had to bring it to school."

"Why?" Rowen asked, weaving her way into the conversation.

A pause followed.

"Dustin?"

He turned on his heel, stopping in his tracks. Rowen and Steve stopped, too.

"Okay... don't laugh at me, alright?" he all but pleaded. "I did want the party to see it. But, I also brought to school because..."

He hesitated again.

"Dustin, just spit it out," Rowen pushed.

"Because I wanted Max to see it, okay?" he blurted.

A knowing look came across Steve's face, but Rowen just stared at their accomplice, bordering between amusement and surprise.

"Max?" she laughed. "Max, my sister?"

"Yes, Max your sister," said Dustin, turning back around to continue throwing meat onto the tracks. "She didn't like it anyway, so can we just forget about it?"

They resumed their walk. Rowen caught up with him, Steve trailing behind.

"Okay, hold on," Steve said. "So, let me get this straight... You kept something you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl, who... who you just met?"

"Okay, that is grossly oversimplifying things."

"I mean, why would she like some nasty slug anyway?" he shrugged.

"Um, because it's an interdimensional slug? Because it's awesome?"

"Well, even if she thought it was cool, which she didn't, I just... I don't know. I feel like you're trying way too hard."

"Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, alright?" Dustin protested.

"It's not about the hair, man. The key with girls is just... acting like you don't care."

Rowen's brow shot up at that. But she said nothing, continuing to walk and toss more meat to the ground as she trailed ahead of Dustin.

"Even if you do?" she heard Dustin ask. He fell behind, walking in step with Steve.

"Yeah, exactly. It drives them nuts."

"Then what?"

"You just wait till uh... till you feel it."

"Feel what?"

"It's like before it's gonna storm, you know? You can't see it, but you can feel it like this uh... Electricity, you know?"

Rowen would have facepalmed had she not been wearing gloves covered in meat juice. She settled for rolling her eyes.

"Oh, like in the electromagnetic field, when the clouds in the atmosphere-"

"No no no no no no no," Steve interrupted. "Like a... like a sexual electricity. You feel that, and then you make your move."

She couldn't help it. Rowen snorted, and it was loud enough to catch their attention.

"What?" asked Dustin.

"Nothing, it's... That is just the dumbest thing I've ever heard," she laughed. "Take it from a girl who's dumped guys like that. Okay, Dustin? It doesn't work."

She could practically feel Steve's offended glare on her back. "What are you talking about? Of course, it works."

Rowen stopped chucking meat, turning around to face the two, walking backward.

"Really?" she mused.

"Yeah," he said cooly. "I've dated a lot of girls using that method."

"And are you still dating any of those girls?"

Steve opened his mouth, ready to throw back a smart remark so she would be the one to look like an idiot to the thirteen-year-old and not him. He said nothing, though. Of course, he wasn't dating any of those girls. He was dating Nancy... Or well, used to date. After last night, he knew she was granted a little more insight than she wanted. As if being forced to play along with his story in front of Mr. Wheeler wasn't an obvious example. She was just poking at his nerves. He knew that too... but he was silent for too long. Long enough for her point to be made.

"Mhm," hummed Rowen, bringing him back to reality.

He swallowed back a retort... but mustered enough effort to at least roll his eyes. She caught it.

"Hey, I'm no relationship expert," said Rowen, holding her hand up as she turned around once more. "I'm just proving a point."

"Well, what do you think he should do, then?" he challenged.

"No," Rowen shook her head. "No. I am not setting him up with my stepsister. No offense, Dustin."

"None taken," Dustin muttered, trying not to sound so forlorn.

"But hypothetically..." The words Steve's mouth before he could stop himself. "Hypothetically speaking, what advice would you give him?"

"Hypothetically?" Rowen laughed. Hypothetically, I'm not going to tell you what my advice would be, was what she was going to say. But with the knowledge that neither of them had a clue...

"Hypothetically... I don't know. Maybe, have a normal conversation? Get to know a girl before making a move? Treat them with respect, you know? Like a lady, not a cardboard cut out of Phoebe Cates."

"Like a lady?" Steve echoed.

"Yes, like a lady," she snapped, craning her neck to shoot him a look. "Did I stutter?"

"No!... No, no stuttering there."

Dustin began to laugh under his breath, trying to play it off as a cough. He failed. Steve knocked off the hat on his head, leaving him to scramble to pick it up... but none of them ever said a word after that. They continued along their metal path, feet feeling heavier and buckets growing lighter with every few minutes that passed. The trio continued to follow the tracks until they too thinned out, melding into the dirt and giving way to an open field. With the sun bright above them, they could see dots of what they soon realized was the old junkyard Dustin spoke of.

Steve had long since placed his sunglasses over his eyes, unintentionally paying tribute to Rowen's nickname. But, when they stopped before the piles of scrap metal, broken down cars and junk of all kinds, he whipped the glasses off and nodded in approval.

"Oh yeah," he nodded. "Yeah, this will do. Good call, dude."

Rowen affectionately shoved Dustin's shoulder, only making the smile that stretched across his face due to Steve's praise wider. From the canopy of trees which stretched out into tall brush, then flat earth, they led their trail of bait along, winding through the trash and the metal until they dumped the rest a few feet away from a bus. Dustin declared that their designated hideout.

"I said medium well!"

The trio looked up from their meat pile, two with plain curiosity... and one with absolute shock; the one being Rowen. The person she gaped at only returned the look with equal measure.

"Rowen?!"

"Oh, no," Rowen shook her head. "No no no. Absolutely not. What is Max doing here?!"

Dustin jumped back when she threw him a glare. "Don't look at me! Lucas must've brought her."

Rowen could barely contain her growing anger, dropping her bucket and ripping off her gloves. She all but stormed over to the pair, resembling the way Billy stalked to his siblings when one of them pushed the wrong nerve, or pushed him at all. The way she glared down at Max was a far cry from the way Billy did... but it was still as intimidating. And both Max and Lucas took half a step back.

"What are you doing here?" Rowen demanded.

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" Max fired back. "What's going on?"

"Oh, you know, just some good old-fashioned monster hunting because someone let one loose."

"HEY!" Dustin shouted, offended. "That's not what happened and you know it!"

"Monster hunting?" Max questioned.

"Wait... who are you?" Lucas interrupted.

"Rowen," she answered. "She's my stepsister."

"Your stepsister?"

"Yes, her stepsister. Did you bring her here?" Rowen demanded of him.

Lucas gaped. "Uh- well, I..."

His hesitation was a clear 'yes'.

"Lucas!" Dustin called before his friend could utter another word. All three of them turned to face him. "Huddle. Now."

Cowering at her glare, Lucas hurried away from them, off with his friend to talk.

Max threw a look behind Rowen. "So... are you hanging out with Steve Harrington now?"

"What? No... no. It's not like that. I'm stuck with him if anything."

Max broke their stare with her mouth in an "oh". She looked away, crossing her arms and scuffing the bottoms of her sneakers against the dirt.

"Are you hanging out with Lucas now?" Rowen asked in return.

Max's eyes widened. Her gaze jerked back towards Rowen. "No! No... I mean, I came with him, but we're not... we weren't..."

"Max..."

"What?"

"It's fine if you were. I just wanna know why he brought you here."

Eyes now a little less wide, Max sighed. "I don't know. I mean, I came with him, yeah. But..." She shrugged, not looking very sure as to why she was there herself. "He said he had proof but won't tell me what it is."

"Proof?"

"Yeah, he told me this crazy story at the arcade yesterday about Hawkins Lab? Something called a Demogorgon got loose, and they had a friend that could move stuff with her mind. He said her name was Eleven," she explained. "I didn't believe him... But then he showed up at our house and said he could prove that he wasn't lying, so..." Max gestured her hands out towards the junkyard, then looked back to Rowen with a wary smile. "It's insane, right?"

Rowen opened her mouth... but then she closed it.

Max began to grow nervous. "Right?"

Rowen opened her mouth again, scrunching her nose. "Well..."

Max's hands uncrossed, flopping to her sides. "Don't tell me you believe them..."

"Well... yeah! It's kind of hard not to when a Demogorgon screeched in my face!"

"So... what? Those things are real?"

"Unless I'm having a super realistic dream right now? Uh, yeah. I'm pretty damn sure."

"Well, where did you see it? In the forest or something?"

"No. In Dustin's house."

"It was in his house?"

"Yes, and he had to tell me everything because it's some big secret that's being kept from the town, apparently."

"What did he tell you?"

"The same things. A girl with superpowers, another dimension, Will being dragged into this other dimension by a Demogorgon, Hawkins Lab chasing after them... They had to sign all these documents from the government that basically said they would pretend like none of it ever happened."

Max glanced over to the red car the boys were whispering behind. "So they're not insane..."

"Sadly for us."

Max looked over Rowen's shoulder again. "How does Steve know?"

"He was there, too."

"He was?"

Rowen snorted. "I know. Hard to believe."

She turned away, stuffing her hands in her pockets. The boys continued to whisper behind the car, only a hat peaking above from where they hid. Max went back to scuffing her shoes, looking this way and that, but when Steve threw yet another glance towards the sisters after the buckets dropped with a clunk, Max shook her head.

"Okay, hold on. I'm confused," said she. "Did he apologize to you or something? Because you were yelling in his face three days ago."

"Oh, uh... yeah." Rowen glanced between the two, rubbing at her forehead. "We agreed to 'let bygones be bygones' as he said. So we can hurry up and trap this thing."

"So he didn't apologize to you?"

"No. He did."

"Really?"

"Yeah?..."

"Then what's his deal?"

"What are you talking about?"

"He keeps looking over here."

Rowen glanced over her shoulder. "Max, he's just looking."

"I could tell him to back off."

"Max..."

"Hey, I would enjoy it. I've been wanting to do that since Thursday."

"Max... No one is telling anyone to back off, okay?"

Max raised her hands in surrender.

"Hey, guys! Or- girls! Uh... jeez..." Steve started out hollering, dissolving into mumbles on the other side of the junkyard. "We lose light in forty minutes. Let's get this done."

Rowen nudged Max's shoulder, making her walk ahead and down to where they dropped their bait.

"Guys, c'mon! Let's go!" she called, clapping her hands together.

"Alright, alright. We're going!"

Both boys appeared from the other side of their hiding spot.

"You. Bandana," Rowen pointed to Lucas, causing his eyes to widen once more. Dustin shied away from the stern look that, abandoning his friend to go help the others.

"It's Lucas."

"I know. I'm calling you 'Bandana" right now."

Rowen strolled up to him, biting her check and placing her hands on her hips. While she could have been misreading the entire situation, with the way Max's eyes popped out of her head, Rowen couldn't help but dread and feel a tad on edge over what was now lingering in her mind... Boys. Max and boys. And not just the 'buddy-buddy' Max-and-boys that meant outdoing them at the skatepark, but the 'Max and boys' that meant exactly what it meant when Dustin revealed that he wanted to impress her.

Rowen didn't like it. Max was only thirteen. She was hoping she would still have a year or two before she would have to deal with this.

"So, are you going to tell me why you brought her here, or what?"

"Okay... here me out," said Lucas, hands raised in defense. "I didn't know what we were walking into when I stopped by your house. Dustin just told me what you guys are doing."

"That still doesn't answer my question."

Lucas sighed, arms flopping to his sides. "I brought her here because I told her I had proof, okay?"

"Proof of... what, exactly? Dart being a Demogorgon? Of Hawkins Lab hiding some seriously messed up stuff?"

"All of it. She thought I was making it up."

"You told her another dimension exists, Lucas. Why wouldn't she think you were making it up?"

"You believed Dustin when he told you, didn't you?" Lucas argued.

"Yeah, because there was a full-blown Demogorgon in my face," Rowen snapped. "Max still thinks Dart is a little slug."

Lucas folded under her gaze, pretending to be interested in what the others were tossing into piles. Rowen exhaled, glancing over to the rest of their group as he had. Max was trying to pick up a piece of scrap metal almost as tall as her, Dustin was making sure it didn't fall on her, and Steve was making sure it didn't fall on Dustin.

"Listen," said Rowen. "I got thrown into this whole mess without a choice. Max didn't. And you dragged her into this because you... what? You wanted to prove something to her?"

"...Kinda," said Lucas sheepishly.

"Why?"

Lucas shrugged. "I don't know. We thought she was cool, you know? Dustin and I wanted her to be apart of the group. But our party has strict rules, and after everything that happened last year... one of them is knowing about the Upside Down."

"Is that why you told her? Because you wanted her to be apart of your group?"

"I mean... yeah. Basically. We kept having days where we needed to talk about it. And every time we started leaving, we had to come up with a reason why she couldn't come with us."

Rowen crossed her arms.

"We kinda treated her like garbage," Lucas added quietly.

"Sounds like it."

He flinched at her tone. "Guess you don't want her to be apart of the party after this, huh?"

Ironically, that got a chuckle out of Rowen. "Lucas, I barely know you," said she. "I barely know any of you. And it's not like this is the end all be all of screw-ups. Just don't do it again, okay? That's all I'm saying."

Lucas nodded earnestly. "Got it."

"Or if you are going to do it again, at least do it well. Bring some battle gear or something."

That got a smile out of him. Lucas went along with it, nodding once more. "Okay."

"Okay," Rowen echoed, nodding her head in the direction of the bus where the others were. They were still struggling with the scrap metal. "C'mon. Let's help them before they hurt themselves."


A/N: mike and nancy's conversation in " the bathtub " but make it max and rowen