XLIII

"There they are," Max murmurs, peeking out from behind the bush. "Are you ready?"

Eleven sneaks under the sheet that serves as her disguise. When she looks back at Max to indicate with a nod that she's ready, she notices that her friend has also put back on the mask of the serial killer—whose name Eleven cannot bring herself to recall—which completes her disguise.

"Follow me!" she says, and Eleven does exactly so, keeping a safe distance so as not to ruin the 'surprise,' as Max has called it.

After running a few feet, Max stands in front of the group of Ghostbusters and shrieks in the most piercing voice she can manage while waving her fake knife.

As expected, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Will scream in terror. Eleven chuckles and finally goes to stand next to her friend as she takes off her mask.

"Holy shit, you should have seen the look on your faces." Max laughs heartily. "And you?" she adds, specifically addressing Lucas. "Who screams like that? You sound like a little girl."

Without waiting for any response from him, Max turns around and starts to walk; so does Eleven. Sensing that the boys are not following them, her friend turns to look at them once again: "Hey, you guys coming or not? Oh, I heard we should hit up Loch Nora. That's where the rich people live, right?"

The two girls laugh. Soon, Lucas and Dustin join them—this doesn't surprise Eleven; Max had told her that the two of them had invited her to go trick-or-treating. However, Will and Mike lag behind a bit. Focused on her conversation with Dustin and Lucas, Max doesn't notice.

Eleven, who doesn't have much to say, falls behind as well, until—accidentally—she finds herself close enough to the two boys to hear what they're saying.

"Did you agree to this?" Mike snaps at Will.

"What?" Judging from his tone of voice, his friend is confused.

"To her joining our party." Mike doesn't sound happy.

"It's just for Halloween…" Will tries to appease him.

"You should have checked with me."

"Well, they were excited. I guess I thought you'd be okay with it…"

Excited? Eleven doesn't exactly understand the reason behind this. Maybe because Max is… pretty? Yes, that must be it; she has also sensed that the fact that her friend skates and loves video games seems to be something that Lucas and Dustin admire.

Mike's voice snaps her out of her reverie: "She's ruining the best night of the year."

Eleven waits a few seconds for Will to say something, anything…

Realizing he won't say a thing, she bites her lower lip and plants her feet on the ground: her sudden halt causes Mike and Will to nearly collide with her.

"Hey!" Mike protests. "Look where you're—!"

But Eleven has already turned around and is staring at him through the slits of her costume.

"Max… doesn't ruin anything," she mutters.

Will just looks at her as if he's seen a ghost—which, coincidentally, she's dressed up as—but Mike frowns. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Eleven repeats, feeling a sudden lump rise in her throat, but refusing to give in to it. "Max doesn't ruin anything. She's… great."

Some feet ahead, Max, accompanied by Lucas and Dustin, halts. "Hm? You called me?" she asks, returning to where they are.

"No," Mike and Eleven say in unison, not taking their eyes off each other.

"Uh." Max frowns and watches them with a confused expression. "Okay…?"

"Who are you?" Mike questions her then. "As far as I know, Dustin and Lucas invited Max, not anyone else."

Eleven understands his message: if Max is not welcome, she is even less so, since she has sneaked in with her friend. That's not going to stop her, though. In answer to his question, she pulls the sheet back until her face is exposed.

Mike's expression when he sees her is… funny: as if he didn't know whether to be scared, angry or just surprised.

"Jane Ives?" he blurts out, then shoots an offended look at Max. "You brought Jane Ives with you?"

Max blinks theatrically and makes a pout that seems to express doubt. "Uh, I'm sorry, does the street have your name on it or something, Mike?"

"Of course not, but—"

"Are we forbidden from passing through this place without your express authorization, Your Highness?" Max insists mockingly, walking over to stand next to Eleven. "Or maybe we should have made an offering to you before daring to peek into your domains?"

Mike blinks a couple of times, opens his mouth as if to say something; however, he seems to think better of it, because he closes it again without saying anything.

"Look, you're right," Max agrees with her hands in a placating gesture. "Lucas and Dustin invited me, but guess what? Jane is my friend, and where I go, she goes. If that bothers you"—this time, she addresses the other two boys—"well, Jane and I will just go on our own tour. Isn't that right, Jane?"

Eleven takes off her eyes from Mike to look at her friend: her light blue eyes watch her with such determination that she can't help but be moved. "Yes, Max," she agrees as she puts the sheet back on top of her.

Without waiting for anything else, the redhead links her arm with hers, and they are already moving away from the group when Mike calls to them: "Wait."

He sounds extremely exasperated, and though this only makes Eleven want to leave all the more, Max stops to look over her shoulder at him. "Yes, Mike?"

Eleven imitates her, and then sees the disapproving glances Dustin and Lucas are giving their friend and the obvious discomfort that Will's petite body exudes.

Mike finally turns away from his friends to look at them both. "I'm sorry," he sighs. "I think… I was… rude. It was not my intention. It's just… we're not used to this, okay?"

"To this?" Max repeats, and Eleven is inwardly thankful for the fact she's taking it upon herself to speak for both of them.

"To… girls wanting to spend time with us. Even if they're the new girl and the…" Eleven makes a face, sensing the word Mike will use to describe her, but the boy ends up choosing another term: "And the shy girl."

'Shy.' Well, it's better than 'weird.'

Max maintains eye contact with him for only a few more seconds. Then, she fixes her gaze on her. She doesn't utter a word, but Eleven doesn't even need to try to pry into her thoughts—as Henry has taught her—to read the question written in her eyes.

Eleven nods. Max gives her a smile before looking back at Mike and announcing in a smug tone: "Apology accepted."