A/N: Hi all! Thank you so much for your conintued support! I'm glad you're enjoying this! This was a fun chapter to write and I hope you like it. As always, please review and let me know what you think!.

Chapter 11

The next week back at school was weird. People were waving and saying hi to me that had never done so before. Some of them I knew from the dance. I said hi to some people I recognized as the people who had been wallflowers who had come up onto the dance floor with me, but others were a mystery.

"What exactly happened at Homecoming?" Robin asked. We were walking down the hall and another person who I didn't know waved and said hi to me.

"I danced," I said. "Had fun, got other people to dance. A girl named Veronica snapped at Carol when she was trying to diss me. I don't know where all these people are coming from though."

Robin looked at me like I was stupid.

"What?"

"Nothing, dingus," she said, grinning at me. "If you don't know, I'm not telling. Are you going on the civics trip?" The civics class was arranging a trip to the mayor's office. I had no reason not to go.

"Yeah. Should be interesting."

"Or boring."

I thought about it. "Probably, but it might give an insight into the town." She didn't look like she agreed. "Wanna sit next to me on the bus there?"

"Totally."

"I say we skip the trip and go to the quarry." I looked at Ally who had fallen into step beside me.

"What?" We were going to be leaving next period for the trip.

"Come on, Tams, let's go. We can sunbathe and have fun like we used to!" She grabbed onto my arm. It was tempting, I could admit.

"As appealing as that is," I said, "I already told Robin I was going to sit with her on the bus. Besides, I want to see how this place is run."

Ally pulled back, looking confused and angry. "Oh my god, what is it with you and that dweeb?"

"You mean my friend?"

"Ugh, it's like you're in love with her! I don't get it, Tammy!"

I turned to her, more annoyed than I was before. "It's Kate," I snapped. "I don't understand your problem. So I made a friend, big deal. It's not the end of the world and honestly, she's being a better friend than you have. You won't even call me by the name I asked you to."

"Because it's stupid! You're Tammy!"

"I'm more than that!" I snarled. It was getting more personal than I expected. She was getting under my skin. "If you can't respect that, I don't know if we can keep this friendship going." I walked away. If I stayed any longer I was going to snap more than I already had.

"Tammy!" she yelled after me. "Tammy! You are such a bitch!"

I waved her off. I had places to be.

I sat down next to Robin on the bus.

"Did you get into a fight with Ally?"

"Is it already going around?" I asked. I tried not to roll my eyes as she nodded. "Yeah, she wanted me to skip the trip but I told her I already agreed to sit with you and she freaked out. Then she called me Tammy, again, and I told her off. Like, what am I supposed to do? Just let her keep treating me like shit?"

"Course not, but fair warning, I saw her leave with Tommy H and Carol." This time I did roll my eyes.

"Great."

Robin watched me for a moment before she changed the subject. "Prince is coming in like a month. We should go."

"Prince? Like, Prince Prince?"

"Yeah. I mean, it'd be a drive and at night, but if we can get our parents to agree, we should go."

"We'd have to get tickets," I said. I was already going through the process in my mind. Getting Tammy's parents to agree would be the hard part. Especially since it was going to be out of town.

"That's easy enough. Maybe. I'll find out how much they are."

"Okay, I'll work on my parents and see if I can get them to agree." By the time we reached the town hall, Robin and I had come up with a plan and a variety of crazy ideas of how we'd get our folks to agree.

We walked into the town hall and I listened as the teacher explained the electoral process and how it was important and all connected. The mayor's office was in the back and the secretary asked us to wait. Everyone was talking amongst themselves as we waited.

I headed to the secretary. "Hi, I'm Kate."

She looked up from her work and smiled at me. "Oh, hello. Candace Hartwell," she said.

"Do you mind if I ask you something?" She nodded so I continued. "What's it like working here? Like, for the mayor? Do you enjoy it? Do you get to suggest things and have a part of the process here? Like how does it work? I figure you're the best person to ask because maybe you're overlooked but I bet you know everything that goes on."

She smiled slowly at me. "Some of it."

Before I could reply, someone came out of the mayor's office. "Hello everybody!" I looked at the man who came out. "Welcome! Welcome! Come on in!" He motioned for all of us to walk into his office. "Candace, hold my calls. Thank you, sweetheart." I crinkled my nose at the endearment and watched as he followed us in and headed for his desk. He had an air of smugness around him, the type I considered typical with a politician. His blonde hair was combed back and I guessed he was somewhere in his middle ages. Maybe.

"I am so honoured to have you visiting us at this fine institution. Now, I have been your mayor for three years now and it has been exciting! I love this town as much as I'm sure all of you do. Now, any questions?"

I raised my hand. No one else did.

"Yes, little lady." I narrowed my eyes.

"Kate Thompson," I said. I didn't want to be too rude but I wasn't about to let him refer to me in such a condescending way. "What are your plans for the town?" He looked a little surprised that I asked. "You're coming up for re-election soon, correct? I assume you have a plan to keep yourself in the good books of the voters, especially future voters like us."

"Well," he clapped his hands together, smiling at all of us. "Actually I do! We're going to build a mall, right here in Hawkins!" The others around me started talking excitedly.

"What about the small businesses?" I asked.

"What about them?" I stared at him and knew right then that my instincts about him were right. He was just another man grabbing at power whatever way he could, running over everyone who stood in his way.

"You build a mall, you could be taking away their profits. If they close down, the town will be a ghost town and that won't be good for anything profitable for the town, like tourism for example. How are you going to maintain that balance, in making people happy but also doing what's good for the town? Because it doesn't seem like you can do both."

"Listen, little lady-"

"My name is Kate Thompson," I snapped. His jaw clenched, but he forced a smile anyway.

"Miss. Thompson," he said. "There are many things you don't know about the town and it's politics. I am doing what will be best for the town in the long run." I was pretty sure I knew more about this town than most people did. I wondered how much he knew. Did he know about the monsters?

"Are you going to tell the rest of the town that? The town that is filled with those small business owners who you're going to be screwing over by building this mall. If they lose their livelihood over this, there won't be a town left for you to be a mayor of." I ignored my civics teacher's call of my name. I stared the mayor down. "Raise your hand if your family owns or works at a small business in town." I didn't look away to see who answered but I watched as his gaze flickered around me. "So, in front of your future voters, what's your plan?"

"Well, you certainly sound like you have it figured out," he said. I could hear the sardonic tone in his voice.

"And it took me less than a minute after hearing about the mall. How long have you had since you've been planning this?"

I had a feeling he was regretting telling Candace to hold his calls. I was tired of politicians who ran over the people. I was sick of it back home, seeing the loss of power and how people were just more and more afraid. This mayor was an easy, visible target. Especially with how incompetent he seemed.

"The new mall is going to increase tourism to our area and in turn, create business for those small businesses you are worried about."

"Not if those businesses are overrun by the mall," I replied. "And considering that many big companies are actually given tax breaks, they're not going to do anything to really help the town. You're going in circles and not actually giving a proper answer."

The mayor stood up. "I'm afraid our time is over." He no longer looked as joyful or welcoming as he had in the beginning. "There's a lot of work to be done as mayor."

"Like finding new ways to walk over the people so that you gain more power and money?" I was ushered out first.

He nearly slammed the door on us. I was a little amused, to be honest.

"Well!" the teacher said. "That was certainly enlightening. There are many ways to combat the government when faced with ideas or decisions you don't like. The civic process occurs in many ways. Protests, for example. Letter writing..." The class walked off, following the teacher as she led the way out. I paused by Candace.

She looked up at me as I stopped at her desk. I leaned over it, not wanting the mayor to hear me if he had his ear pressed to the door. "You can do better than this," I said. "Definitely better than him."

Robin was waiting for me. "So, what was that? You going to fight everyone today?"

"If I have to," I said. "If we let men like him run over us, taking away things that make our town ours, just so he can make money, then what won't we let happen? He has to know that somebody is watching for due diligence." I grinned, "besides, did you see his face?" I cackled as we left the building.

[tbc]