Author's Note: Chapter 4 is here! There are some important details here! Not only that, but a furry friend is introduced! Without further ado, here's Chapter 4!

Chapter 4: Sibling Love

Friday, May 14, 1985

Room C14, Advanced Spanish

Steve had just finished working on an assignment his teacher, Señor Hernandez, passed out when the phone rang. Señor Hernandez walked over and picked up the phone. Steve turned in the assignment by placing it in the class "assignment turn-in" box when his teacher hung up. "Steve, you're needed down at Hawkins Middle. Your friend, Maxine Mayfield, needs to be picked up, she has a fever, it must be bad. Some kid named Will Byers said he and two other kids named Dustin Henderson and Mike Wheeler were practically dragging her into Mrs. Jordan's office," Señor Hernandez said seriously as he handed him a pass to be excused from class.

"No way, Harrington, are you friends with middle schoolers?! What happened man?" Some snooty kid named Jared Michaelson said rather loudly. Every kid in the room started snickering, calling him mean names and teasing him.

Steve felt his face heat up a bit, but instead of getting angry, he called them all mouth breathers in Spanish under his breath. He took the pass and grabbed his stuff before leaving the classroom to head to his locker. He could still hear some kids teasing him before Señor Hernandez told them to settle down.

Steve could feel his breath starting to speed up, and he quickly brought it back down. He was not about to let those jerks give him a panic attack. Not when the kids needed him more.

It only took him 15 minutes to get his keys and the walkie-talkie the kids had gotten him for Christmas from his locker, move his car to the middle school parking lot, and get to the nurses office where he saw a heartbreaking site.

Will, Mike, and Dustin went back to lunch 10 minutes before Steve got there, so all he saw was Max, curled up in a ball on a cot in the back of the nurses office, shivering with a barf bucket next to her. "Steve! Long time no see!" said Mrs. Jordan, coming out of the bathroom that was in her office.

"How's life as a senior? Graduation's coming up! Must be exciting!" Steve glared at the nurse like she struck a nerve mentioning graduation. It was getting really stressful these last couple weeks, and Steve thinks college is a hopeless dream for him. He doesn't care though. He'd rather spend time with the kids he thought of as little siblings than go to some college he'd probably flunk out of not even a year in. But the stress of final exams and finding a summer job was getting to him. Luckily, his mom taught him how to deal with panic attacks, something becoming way too familiar to the young teen.

Mrs. Jordan realized she's hit a tough subject and backed off when Steve kneeled down next to Max, who was never really asleep but was very close. "Hey kiddo, I heard you're not feeling too great," Steve said in a kind, gentle voice. "I-I feel like I'm dying," Max said, her voice almost painfully congested. "Don't worry Max, I'm gonna take you back to my place, ok? I think our 2-week plans are gonna take a bit of an early start. Do you need anything from your locker before we go?" Steve asked, willing to go down and grab whatever she needed before they took off.

"N-no. Will grabbed m-my skate b-b-b-board before they l-left," Max stuttered quietly. Her voice was raspy and her throat was on fire, so talking at a normal volume was out of the question. "Ok, let's get you in bed. Thanks Mrs. Jordan," Steve said before standing up and helping Max do so herself.

Steve signed Max out of school and the two walked over to his car. Max got in the passenger seat and Steve grabbed a blanket that had been in his car that was, by some miracle, clean. He gave it to the shivering red-head and got into the driver's seat. As they started to pull out of the parking lot, Steve decided to make some conversation.

"How long have you been sick?" he asked softly enough that it didn't worsen Max's headache, but loud enough that she could hear.

"I think last night, after you left, I started getting sick, but I thought it was nothing. It really hit me when I woke up this morning," Max replied. "Wait, why did you come to school? Or at the very least say something when we were driving?" Steve asked. He wasn't going to get angry at Max, but he was a bit ashamed she had to go to school like this when he could've stepped in sooner.

"I-I thought if I told you, you'd take me home, and I'd have to s-spend two wh-whole w-w-weeks with B-Billy," Max said, crying again. It made Steve's heart hurt that she was so desperate to stay away from Billy that she would go to school feeling so sick she would need to be picked up during lunch with a 101 fever.

"Max, you would never stay with that jerk for 2 weeks if I had anything to say about it, do you understand?" Steve said with a serious tone. Max nodded and smiled for the first time that day.

Steve made a quick stop at a small diner that was on the way to his house. He returned to the car with 2 containers of chicken noodle soup, 1 with a yellow post-it on it. When Max got a better look at it, it said "Feel Better Max! -Jacqueline"

"Who's Jacqueline?" Max asked. Steve wanted to answer her question, but the right words just wouldn't come. What was Jackie to him? More than a friend, but not like a crush.

"She's…Jackie's…We're family. She's like my sister.," was all he could come up with. "Kinda like how you're my little sister. And Mike, Will, Dustin, and Lucas, they're like my little brothers. And because of that, I need to protect you guys in any way possible, no matter what." Max blushed a little when Steve called her his "little sister". Luckily, her cheeks were so flushed, no one could tell. "How old is she?" Max asked. "She'll be 19 in a few months," Steve replied.

Steve pulled into his driveway 10 minutes later, him and Max still chatting about Jackie. As the two were walking to his front door, Max swore she heard barking. "Do you hear that?" she asked.

"Hear what?"

"That barking."

"Oh right! I forgot to tell you!" Steve exclaimed. Max winced a bit at the noise, so Steve lowered his voice. "Sorry. Max, I introduce you to…" Steve opened the door to reveal a small brown corgi, maybe the size of a hot dog, who jumped right into his arms. "I haven't exactly given him a name yet, but-"

"You got a dog," Max said, awestruck.

"Yeah, I got a dog."