. . .

OCTOBER⠀₃₁⠀

Dustin did not understand the lack of enthusiasm for Halloween this year. He had been anticipating it for months, costume perfectly planned and prepped with the party. He was bursting at the seams, trying not to drive his mom crazy, making sure his "STANZ" nametag was perfect — that all of it was perfect.

It was as if he had prepared for battle, sure he'd be there to meet it . . but the holiday arrived before any of them could blink. Somehow he had missed it, even if his costume was sitting in his closet, waiting for him. The town had beat him to it. Decorations were strung across shop fronts. Lights and cobwebs were fanned out around bushes and Jack-O-Lanterns were placed on doorsteps, grinning at everyone who passed. Rubber spiders were placed in random corners.

If the houses and stores were ready to celebrate, Dustin figured everyone must be showing up in their costumes, just as giddy as he was. To his disappointment though, as the party arrived at school, he realized he was wrong . . very wrong. No one dressed up, and Dustin swore the rest of the school had gathered together to conspire against them. How could no one else be dressed in costumes? It was Halloween! Where was the spirit?

Unless the rest of the school somehow forgot . . Did they suffer from memory loss? With all that happened last year with Hawkins Lab, Demogorgons, El . . it seemed more likely . . Sadly, it was not. No one else knew about what happened — they couldn't. Dustin was left with nothing but confusion, questioning the lack of costumes the entire day — whether it be by complaining or tossing the thought back and forth in his head.

He had hoped he would get the chance to impress Max that morning . . but when she also showed up in regular clothes, suddenly, dressing up as Stanz didn't feel so cool. He told himself it wasn't the best idea right now. As Lucas said at their lockers, they looked like idiots. His classmates weren't afraid to tease them for it either . . They did it all day.

"I swear to God, I wish this proton pack was real," he grumbled. "I'd be zapping so many assholes right now."

"Dustin it's not that big of a big deal," Lucas tried. "Everyone's going home to put on their costumes now anyway."

"Doesn't mean I won't wanna scare the shit out of some people when we're out trick-or-treating later."

After the final bell rang, the two had found themselves hovering near the bike rack, waiting for Mike and Will. The relentless teasing had continued, and Dustin's ire only swelled from boiling to overflowing. He knew it was understandable. He had a right to be angry . . . but after an entire day full of complaints, he could see through his rage that it was beginning to poke all the wrong buttons.

Mike and Will were tired of it, and Lucas was doing all he could not roll his eyes, he could tell. All he could, perhaps, to keep himself from exploding and himself from zapping Dustin, hands clenching into fists . . . He sighed in defeat. At least they were going home now. Home, where he would have the freedom to run down the streets and enact revenge upon whoever dared to laugh and sneer and tease him for wearing his amazing costume —

The rev of an engine had broken his train of thought and startled him. Both he and Lucas turned, and suddenly the sight of a bright blue car pulling into the high school lot had flattened every thought of Lucas's feelings towards his complaints. Suddenly, his ire was replaced with longing.

"Jesus I would kill for a car like that," he sighed. "Can you imagine if I had a license? That, along with these pearls? No way would Max say no to me."

"Isn't that her brother's car, though?" Lucas ventured.

"What?"

Even from the middle school, they could hear the engine cut off and the car door open. Once more, Dustin turned away from his friend to catch sight of the driver, musing any idea from a cool older brother to a mime of Steve with red hair . . .

"I'm pretty sure that's her brother's car. I saw them pull up in it this morning." Lucas hadn't been looking when he said this, thinking aloud all while keeping an eye on the back door for their friends.

Dustin smacked his arm.

"Ow! What?!"

None of his assumptions had been accurate.

Her brother was not who they were looking at, not unless they had made a serious miscalculation. Or maybe they had just assumed, thinking Max only had one sibling. The girl they were looking at certainly resembled them well enough, with tanned arms and flowy clothes and hair that was long and wavy and golden; not at all dull like the colors that they whizzed by down various streets. Not at all meant for Hawkins.

Dustin thought vaguely, and maybe a little dreamily, that she was actually a figment of the afternoon sun that blazed down on them, tangible and real. She certainly looked at home under it. She looked like she owned the whole place sitting on the trunk of that deep-blue car, and yet blended in all the same, unacknowledged, unphased.

Who they were looking at had suddenly made the idea of impressing Max uninteresting, unimportant, and threw it right out the window because, now, Dustin suddenly wanted to impress her.

His jaw had dropped long enough for something to float in, and the thought of her catching him had brought him back to reality just enough to turn away. But screw it, if a fly had flown down his throat, it would have been worth it.

Besides, it wasn't as if Lucas was doing any better of a job at hiding his open mouth.

"Oh, sure, yeah. That's totally her brother . ." Dustin told him, pulling him out of that same hold he had been in.

Lucas tried shrugging casually. "Maybe Max has a sister too. They dress kind of similar and she's sitting on the same car. That's gotta be it."

"Sure, but she's wearing bellbottoms and Converse, that's not similar."

"So what?"

"So, look at her! You stare at her for twenty seconds and that's the conclusion you come up with —"

"I wasn't staring!"

"What are you guys talking about?" Will's voice caught their attention.

The two turned to see Mike and Will approach them in matching costumes, not so gloomy and irritated looking as he had been for the entirety of the day, though probably just as eager to leave. Trick-or-treating down as many streets as they could physically handle was waiting for them.

"Dustin's making goo-goo eyes at Max's sister," Lucas teased, throwing it back onto him.

"Dude!" Dustin shouted.

"Max has a sister?" Mike asked, sounding a lot less bored than he appeared to be.

"Where?" asked Will, not as shy about his interest.

Lucas pointed. "There. Down in the high school parking lot."

A scoff sounded behind them. "So, you're stalking my stepsister now, huh?"

They jumped and turned around to see Max scowling.

Dustin immediately tried to salvage the situation. "No! No, we just — . . we — uh . ." he stuttered. "We just saw her pull into the parking lot and well, she's sitting on the same car you come to school in so we were wondering who she is."

Max raised her brows. "I just said she's my stepsister."

"We weren't stalking her. We were just curious," said Lucas.

It was clear Max wasn't convinced. Her gaze darted between the four of them as if she was trying to find a lie, determine who was weakest, who would crack first . . . She got nothing out of it. Mike and Will were none the wiser about the situation, and Dustin and Lucas were determined to convince her that what they were doing was not in any way stalking.

And eventually, they got what they wanted. Max resigned with a suspicious look on her face. "Just don't do it again."

Her skateboard plopped onto the ground and she stepped onto it, rolled past them and down the hill.

"You're still meeting us at Maple Street tonight, right?" Dustin called. He felt a hand slap his arm. "Ow! What the hell?!"

Lucas glared at him. "See? This is exactly why we don't stare!"

. . .