and we can be heroes..
...just for one day.
In which whilst trying to bring some normality back to her mundane life in Hawkins, a sarcastic babysitter finds herself plunged deep into a world in which her 'cursed' town seriously begins to live up to...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
TWENTY TWO -
ROAMING A SHITTY, DESOLATE JUNKYARD HALF WAY ACROSS TOWN WAS NOT CASSANDRA'S FAVOURITE ACTIVITY, by any means. She loitered, quite frankly bored, waiting for Lucas to arrive so that they could actually get on with tracking this thing.
This had been the third time she'd blown a bubble from her gum, allowing it to pop within the awkward silence as she ignored the cryptic stares Steve shot her from the right. She almost thought of messing with him, finding a way to tease a stuttered response out of the teen, though not before a sudden voice made the trio's head's swirl. "I said medium well!"
Irritated, Lucas clutched the handle bars of his bike, approaching the teens with an unfamiliar red head by his side.
"Who's that?" Steve whispered through gritted teeth, leaning towards Cassie. The blonde's eyes grew wide when she scanned the girl's face, a glint of mischief twinkling within her eyes. She punched Dustin's shoulder playfully. "Max, huh?"
"Shut up." Dustin grilled, shooting an unimpressed glance as he waited for the pair to approach.
"She's pretty cute." The blonde continued quietly.
"Cassandra." Dustin's words fell like those of a scolding mother, still glaring daggers into the elder's skull. It was then Lucas who he gave an awkward greeting, evidently thrown by the presence of his schoolboy crush.
It was enough that he had dragged Cassie and Steve back into this, Max was certainly not a name he was keen to add to that list.
"Cassie, this is Max." Lucas introduced somewhat formally, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. The redhead only pulled her lips into a thin line, nodding her head at the elder girl with a small, hardly audible 'hi'.
Tension as thick as this was enough to suffocate Hawkins ten times over, and yet it seemed not one of the preteens planned to address it. The Sinclair offered his babysitter a warm, goofy grin within the silence, and although he wouldn't admit it, Lucas was beyond relieved she was here.
Cassie Cohen was essentially his older, smarter sister— at least that's how Lucas viewed her. She was sarcastic and brash at times, but it seemed no one in Hawkins would plant their feet firmly in the ground in the face of adversity in the way she would for her friends. She understood him in ways his parents couldn't comprehend, and if anything, Lucas had began to understand why Will spent so much time with Jonathan.
That was precisely why he should have seen her knowing glare coming, insisting that the boys of the Party needed a moment to talk it out. Shoulders sighed heavily, dragging his feet towards the old Ford that Dustin had perched himself beside, out of the redheads sight.
"What the hell is going on?" Steve whispered over to Cassandra, cautious to steal a glance at Max, who's expression gave nothing away. The new girl scoffed, folding her arms over her chest as she retreated further into the junkyard.
