Life in Hawkins

Chapter 34 The mall rats

(Y/Ns pov)

It's just another day, doing the same thing i've been doing all summer, at work. But this morning I was running late, since the bus was late picking me up. Coming into the shop through the back door. Hearing yelling coming from the front of the store, dropping my stuff down on the table to go see what's happening. "Henderson! He's back! He's back!" I hear Steve yell. "Im back! I'm back! You got the job!" I hear Dustin yell back. "I got the job!" Steve yells again. They do their weird complicated hand shake, while that's happening I make my way out. Clearing my throat to get their attention, once I have it I start talking. "We got the job, glad your back Dustin" I say walking over to him, giving him a hug. "How many children are you guys friends with?" Robin asks from the counter.

After saying hi Steve and l treated Dustin to some ice cream. We sat down in a booth so Dustin can tell us about camp.

"No. No way. Hotter than Phoebe Cafes? No" Steve says in shock. "Mm-hmm. Brilliant, too. And she doesn't even care that my real pearls are still coming in. She says kissing is better without teeth" Dustin describes his new girlfriend. "Wow. Yeah, that's great proud of you, man. That's ro- that's kinda romantic. That's like... wow" Steve says struggling to find the right words. "Shut up, Steve. She sounds great, i'm happy for you, Dustin" I say punching Steve in the arm, and giving Dustin a smile. "Hm. So do you really just get to eat as much of this as you want?" Dustin asks, mentioning the ice cream. "Yeah. I mean, sure. It's not really a good idea for me, though. I gotta keep in shape for the ladies. But Y/N, takes the opportunity to eat as much as they want. You know, since they're boyfriend broke up with them" Steve answers. "Oh, really!? You know what, Steve? How are the ladies working out for you, I would love to hear more about that" I say in a irritated tone. "Haha, yeah, how's it working out for you, Steve?!" Robin asks from the counter, laughing at what's going on. "Ignore them" Steve tells Dustin. "She seems cool" Dustin says about Robin. "She's not so, where are the other knuckleheads?" Steve quickly changing the topic. "They ditched me yesterday" Dustin answers in a sad tone. "No" "What?" Steve and I say in shock. "My first day back. Can you believe that shit?" Dustin says upset. "Whoa. Seriously?" Steve says. "I swear to god. Mh. They're going to regret it, though, big time. When they don't get to share in my glory" Dustin explains. "Glory?" I repeat confused. "What glory?" Steve asks just as confused.

"So, last night we're trying to get in contact with Suzie..." Dustin starts. He stops talking for a second taking another bite of his ice cream. "And uh" Dustin starts again before stopping. But this time he looks around the whole shop then starts again. He whispers, so both Steve and I lean in to hear what he's trying to tell us. "What?" I ask confused. Dustin starts whispering again but we still can't understand him. "Just speak louder" Steve says. "I intercepted a secret Russian communication!" Dustin practically screams.

Once those words came out of his mouth, everyone in the shop turned to look at us. "Jeez, shh. Yeah, okay. That's what I thought you said" Steve says. "Mm-Hm" I say in a sarcastic tone. "What- what does that mean?" Steve asks confused. "It means, Steve, we could be heroes. True American hero's" Dustin explains. "Huh. American hero's" Steve says back. "Just think, you could have all the ladies you want and more. And Y/N could win back their ex" Dustin says trying to convince us. "More?" Steve asks. "Hey-" I try to start talking before getting cut off by Dustin saying "More." "I like more. What's the catch?" Steve questions. "Guys, I really don't-" I again try talking, but again neither of them listening. "No catch. I just need your help" Dustin clarified. "With what?" Steve asks. "Translation, so Y/N what do you say?" Dustin asks looking at me.

We move to the back of the store to start the translation process. Listening to the Russian speaking over the tape. "So what do you think?" Dustin asks. "It sounded familiar" Steve stated. "What?" I ask shocked and confused. "The music. The music right there at the end" Steve clarifies. "Why are you listening to the music, Steve? Listen to the Russian! We're translating Russian!" Dustin yells at him. "I'm trying to listen to the Russian. But there's music-" Steve starts again before the door suddenly opens. Robin opens the door standing there looking very irritated. "All right, baby-sitting time is over. You need to get in there. Hey, my board, that was important data, shitbirds" Robin says looking at the Russian alphabet now on the whiteboard. "I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data" Dustin tells Robin. "Yeah? And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyways?" She asks. The guys look at each other confused, while I just roll my eyes. "How does she know about the Russians?"Dustin asks Steve. "I don't know" Steve admits. "I told you both to shut up" I say at how loud their both being. They continue their little argument. "Hello, I can hear you. Actually, I can hear everything you are both extremely loud you think you have evil Russians tape, and you're trying to translate, but haven't figured out a word because you didn't realize Russians use an entirely different alphabet, than we do sound about right?" Robin asks sarcastically. The guys just stand there looking dumbfounded. Robin try's to reach for the tape on the table, but before she can reach it Steve grabs it. "Whoa! What. do you think you're doing?" Steve questions. "I wanna hear it" Robin says. "Why?" We all ask because now i'm confused too. "'cause maybe I can help i'm fluent in four languages, you know" Robin explains. "Whoa, that's even more than you, Y/N. So do you speak Russian?" Dustin asks. "Ou-yay are-yay umb-day" Robin answers. "oh-ho-ho!" Steve says surprised. "Holy shit!" Dustin yells excitedly. "That was pig latin, dumbass" I tell them. "But I can speak Spanish, and French, and Italian, and i've been in band for twelve years. My ears are little geniuses, trust me" Robin says. "Uh..." Steve says doubtful. "Come on, it's your turn to sling ice cream. My turn to translate. I don't even want credit. I'm just bored" Robin admits. The bell from the front of the store rings. And Steve makes up his mind handing Robin the tape and going out to help the customer.

Listening to the tape over and over again as Robin and I try to figure out what it's saying. Combining our language knowledge. "Wait, that last part, just one more time" Robin tells Dustin. He says "Okay" while rewinding the tape. "Okay. That word. Umm..."Robin says thinking. "It's pronounced 'dly-nna-ya'" I say. "Dly-nna-ya" Dustin repeats. "Which is spelled. D... d, d, d" Robin says walking over to the note pad. "D... the- the chair. The chair- looking thingy" Dustin says. After writing it down, Robin goes over to the widow to inform Steve of our progress. "We've got our first sentence" She says. "Oh, seriously?" Steve says turning around. "Yeah 'The week is long'" I say coming up to stand next to Robin. "Well, that's thrilling" Steve says in a bored tone. "I know. But, progress" Robin says before closing the window, so we can go back to work.

It's the mall closing time, we're all in the back cleaning up. "The week is long, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the east" We all say together. Closing up the shop walking towards the parking lot. "I mean, it's just... it just can't be right" Steve says unconvinced. "It's right" Robin says confidently. "Honestly, I think it's great news" Dustin admits. "How is this great news?" Steve questions. "I mean, so much for being American hero's. It's total nonsense" Steve adds. "It's not nonsense. It's too specific. It's obviously a code" Dustin explains. "What do you mean, a code?" Steve asks. "Like a super secret spy code" I say in a joking tone. "That's a total stretch" Steve says. "I don't know is it?" Robin asks "You're buying into this?" Steve questions Robin confused. "Listen just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission what'd you think they were gonna say. 'Fire the warhead at the moon'?" Robin explains. "Exactly" Dustin agrees. "And our translation is correct. I know that for sure" Robin adds. "Soo... 'The sliver cat feeds' why would anyone talk like that unless they're trying to mask the true meaning of their message" I explain. "Exactly" Dustin says agreeing with everything Robin and I say. "Why would anyone mask the true meaning of their message unless the message is somehow sensitive" I add. "Exactly" Dustin agrees, again. "So I guess that confirms your suspicions" Robin admits. "Evil Russians" Dustin says. "I can't believe i'm about to agree with this strange child, but, yeah, totally evil Russians" Robin says. "Don't worry you'll get used to it" I say with a laugh. "So how do we crack it?" Dustin asks. "Well, I guess we translate the rest and hopefully a pattern emerges" Robin explains. "A pattern. Right, like maybe 'silver cat' is a meeting place?" Dustin questions. "Or a person" I add. "Or a weapon" Robin adds, too. "It's probably gonna take a super genius to crack it, but... where's Steve?"Dustin asks trailing off. We all turn around to see Steve standing in front of a little hour ride. "Hey Steve" Robin calls out to him. "What are you doing?" I asks him, starting to walk closer. "Uh, it's a quarter. I need- do you have quarter?" Steve asks, as the rest make their way up to him. "Sure you're tall enough for that ride?" Robin asks sarcastically. "Quarter!" Steve yells. Taking a quarter out of pocket handing it to him. He puts it inside the ride and waits. The song starts playing, its 'Daisy bell'. "You need help getting up, little Stevie?" Robin taunts him. "Shhh! Would you guys just shut up and listen?" He whisper yells at us. "Holly shit" Dustin says understanding what's going on. "The music. The music!" I yell understanding as well. "I don't understand" Robin admits. "It's the exact same song on the recording" Dustin explains. "Maybe they have horses like this in Russia" Robin states. "'Indiana flyer'? I don't... I don't think so. This code, it... didn't come from Russia. It came from here" Steve says turning to face the rest of us.

~ Sorry for being MIA the past week been really busy, but i'm back so i hope you enjoy this chapter and i'll see you in the next,
p.s. THANK YOU ALL for getting me over 2k reads it really means so much to me that you like my story ~