I DO NOT OWN STRANGER THINGS.

Hawkins Middle School. Hawkins, Indiana. Halloween.

Mike felt as if he was drowning in humiliation. He and the party were decked out in their Ghostbusters costumes for Halloween. As if Lucas swiping Venkman, even though he had called dibs on Venkman wasn't bad enough, he had to accuse Mike of being a racist.

Then to add insult to injury, it turned out that the school had decided to end the practice of wearing costumes to school on Halloween. Everyone had been informed of this change; except the party.

"When do people make these decisions?" Dustin asked as the party walked the halls, facing the snickers and faces made by the other kids.

"Everyone dressed up last year." Will muttered in shame.

"It's a conspiracy, I'm telling you." Dustin insisted angrily, always assuming that someone was out to get him.

"Just be cool." Mike said as he kept walking, trying to pass through the kids; intent on punishing them for observing Halloween.

"Who you gonna call: the nerds!" One boy exclaimed as the faux ghostbusters walked down the hall. As Mike started walking to his locker, his heart skipped a beat as he saw Max skating down the hall. Hoping to avoid any awkwardness from yesterday, Mike moved to avoid her; but she stopped right in front of him.

"Busted any ghosts lately?" Max asked with a smirk.

"Not really." Mike said as he tried to side swipe her.

"Mike...I wanted to say sorry; about yesterday." Max said, anxiety clear in her face.

"It's cool...I'd probably be embarrassed by me too." Mike replied, assuming that was why she had wanted him out of sight.

"What? No Mike." Max quickly clarified as she took his hand in hers. "I wasn't embarrassed of you, I was embarrassed of my stupid step brother. He's a huge jerk and I didn't want him to give you shit because he saw me with you. I swear Mike, I'm not embarrassed to be seen with you."

"Promise?" Mike asked anxiously.

"Promise." Max said intently as she squeezed his hand. Mike was partly relived by this, but also saddened; the word promise had meant so much to him and Eleven. Now he had shared it with Max and he found that it also held deep meaning.

"Um...me and the party were going to go trick or treating tonight..." Mike started to say.

"The party?" Max asked curiously.

"Me, Lucas, Dustin and Will. We like playing Dungeons and Dragons." Mike answered.

"Sure...I got nothing better to do." Max replied with a smile as she took off on her skateboard, leaving Mike conflicted and relieved all at once.

Hawkins, Indiana. Later that day.

After school, the other members of the party were amazed that Mike had been able to convince Mad Max to go trick or treating with them.

"Mike, you are the man!" Lucas insisted as they biked away from the school.

"How did you do it dude?" Dustin asked eagerly.

"I dunno, I just asked if she wanted to trick or treat with us and she said that she had nothing better to do." Mike shrugged.

"She better be willing to pool her Candy." Will insisted, since it had always been a tradition for the party to poll their Candy together to get equal portions. Suddenly, the guys heard the loud vroom of a car engine blaring behind them. The car wasn't slowing down as it got closer and closer.

"Go!, Mike, you need to haul ass!" Lucas shouted as the guys started to pedal as if their lives depended on it; because as far as they knew, it did.

"Whoa! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!" Dustin yelled as the car kept barreling down the road. Eventually, the guys landed in the ditch as the car raced past. As the guys looked up, they saw a flash of red hair speed past.

"Holy shit!" Dustin exclaimed in shock. "Was that Mad Max?"

Hawkins, Indiana. Later that evening.

When dusk fell, the party met up at the Wheeler house and began their quest for Candy. Mike was unable to be mad at the lame lady for calling them exterminators or at Dustin actually liking nougat. he was too busy worrying about whether Max was actually going to meet them or not. He was kicking himself for not telling her where they were meeting. Mike had been too nervous to go into specifics. As the guys were busting Dustin's chops about liking 3 Musketeers, a trick or treater, wearing a Michael Myers outfit jumped out and damn near scared the piss out of all of them. The figure took off the mask, revealing herself to be Mad Max.

"Holy shit! You should have seen the look on your faces." She said, enjoying her scare. "And you? Who screams like that? You sound like a little girl."

"You came!" Mike exclaimed with relief as Max's cheeks turned a light shade of pink before shaking it off.

"Hey, you guys coming or not?" she asked quickly, motioning the other guys, "Oh, I heard we should hit up Loch Nora. That's where the rich people live, right?" The boys quickly Followed Mad Max as they started to hit up the rich neighborhood. Mike was sure to stay close to the redhead as their sacks filled with relative ease.

"Another full-size, like, seriously, rich people are such suckers." Dustin teased as he suddenly thought of Max. "Wait, you're not rich, right?"

"No, I live up Old Cherry Road." Max clarified awwkardly.

"Oh." Dustin said with equal awkwardness.

"No, it's fine." Max insisted quickly, trying to deflate the tension. "I mean, the street's good for skating."

"Yeah, totally tubular." Dustin said before changing course. "What? Did I say that right? Or is it, like, tubulaar.

"It's like…totally tubular." Lucas said, impersonating a surfer dude. dustin got a kick out of it and began doing the same.

"Totally tubular!"

"What a gnarly wave, dude."

"Totally brodacious, bro!"

"Stop, my ears are hurting." Max said, feigning annoyance, but unable to hide her giggles. As Mike hung back will Will, he felt a mixture of relief and annoyance; relief that Dustin and Lucas were taking the attention off him and annoyance because he wanted to he alone with Max again.

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