"I swear, if I'm dying tonight because of you, I'm gonna haunt your ass so hard, Harrington!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah! I'm gonna go full Poltergeist and shit!"
"Then bring it, Graveswood."
"Challenge accepted."
***
In which after years of suppressing their...
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Chapter Ninety-Seven: Robin And Valerie Sign On
(The Mall Rats, Pt. 3)
***
Rowan frowned as the supposed secret Russian communication Dustin picked up came to a close with a click from Dustin's recorder. It hadn't made a lick of sense to Rowan, and she assumed it didn't make any sense to Steve, who was pacing around and eating a banana. And yet, his face was scrunched up, like he was thinking. Like something about it struck him as familiar.
Maybe he secretly knows Russian? Rowan thought. It was ludicrous—when would Steve, with his nuclear family upbringing, have the chance to learn Russian?—but weirder things have happened in Hawkins. And the communication... it sounded legit, like it could be real. That had something in Rowan twist uncomfortably, had her mind flash with thoughts of the Upside Down, before she reminded herself it was over, that it wouldn't have anything to do with that, that this communication could still be a fake.
And yet, Steve looked convinced, as did Dustin as he asked, "So. What do you guys think?"
"It sounded familiar," Steve said around his mouthful of banana, making both Dustin and Rowan look at him in confusion and ask, "What?"
"The music," Steve answered, as if that cleared everything up, as he pointed at the recorder. "The music right there at the end."
Rowan's frown deepened. "Okay? That's weird, but how would music be important here, Harrington?"
"Yeah, exactly! Why are you listening to the music, Steve? Listen to the Russian! We're translating Russian!" Dustin exclaimed, gesturing to the recorder.
"Yeah, and failing," Rowan muttered, giving a glare at the board that used to be Robin's "YOU RULE/YOU SUCK" board repurposed to help them translate Russian—or at least, it was meant to help—as Steve yelled, "I'm trying to listen to the Russian, but there's music—"
"Why's the music so goddamned important?" Rowan interrupted, but her words lacked their usual bite, because something about Steve's insistence, at his face earlier, now had her curiosity piqued, even as Dustin gave her a look torn between frustration and incredulity.
"It just is, okay!? I know we're trying to listen to the Russian, but there's something about the music—"
"Alright, babysitting time is over, Steve, you need to get in there," Robin interrupted as she and Valerie came in, the shorter girl nodding as she sighed, wincing. Rowan looked at her and asked, "Erica?"
The groan Valerie gave was enough answer for Rowan, who looked back to see Steve by the table Dustin was sitting at while she sat on the window counter, the two looking like they'd been caught with their hands in the cookie jar, the recorder still on the table—and the board bearing the Russian alphabet and the English one underneath on full display, something Robin immediately noticed.
