Neighbors - Strangerthingsau

Chapter 4

Shopping

After the movie got done the party decided to go to Mike house since his basement was the designated hangout. Will was setting up D&D, while Mike was over on the couch listening to Dustin and Lucas argue about the movie, and Max was also on the couch, not listening to the argument though. She was looking through a Wonder Woman comic, or at least she was until she gasped and slammed it down on the table in front of her, making everyone stop what they were doing to see what was going on.

"What's wrong?" Lucas asked sounding a little worried by the girl's sudden outburst.

"That's it!" Max exclaimed jumping up and running to the door with a smile on her face, ignoring all of the questions that filled the room by the other party members.

Everyone watched as she closed the door behind her, wondering what the hell was going on. They ran over to the window to see Max running to the Byers house like a mad man.

"What is she doing?" Mike asked as Max made her way to the front door, not even knocking, she immediately rushed in the house.

"Obviously, she breaking into my house." Will said in disbelief as Max disappeared from view.

Silence fell over the party as they waited to see what happens next. Luckily, they didn't have to wait long, because the redhead came back a minute later with the same smile on her face. Only this time, she wasn't alone. El was getting dragged by the arm behind her with a confused and shocked look on her face.

"Oh no." Mike sighed getting embarrassed for his friend.

The party watched as Max said something to El, making El respond by shaking her head no. Max sighed and turned back to the Wheelers yard. Not even noticing the boys in the window, she ran to retrieve her bike from where it lied on the ground. She went back to El and said something again, making El's eyes go wide. Max got on her bike and looked at El saying something. El shrugged in reply and stood on the back of Max's bike as they started peddling away. The boys watched as the girls turned a corner and disappeared.

"Lucas, I'm sorry to say but... your girlfriend has gone crazy." Dustin said looking over at Lucas who gave a sigh in return.

"She already was crazy. It just took you guys a while to notice." Mike said still looking at the place they had last seen the girls.

"I still can't believe she broke into my house." Will said as everyone returned to where they were before.

"Where are we going?" El asked softly. The two has been on the bike for about five minutes and Max still didn't say anything as to where they were going. El was still in shock because she didn't expect Max to barge into her room and rip her away from her bed.

"To have some fun." Max replied as a big building came into view with big letters saying Starcourt.

El waited for Max as she found a spot to put her bike. Once Max was finished she turned around to face El.

"You ready?" Max asked.

"For what?" El asked confused.

"To shop, obviously!" Max grabbed El's hand and pulled her in the mall. They stopped at the middle of the mall to get a good look around. El looked around dumbfounded.

"So, where do you want to go first?" Max asked watching El shrug her shoulders in response. "Well, where do you normally go when you shop?"

El looked at Max, not really knowing what to say.

"Have you ever been shopping before?" Max asked, more as a joke than anything else, until she remembered, El was adopted and a bad past that one really talked about what made it so bad.

"No." El replied softly looking down at her feet. She felt like a freak at that moment because she never really got the chance to do things other girls could, like shop. In fact, she was wearing one of Hopper's old shirts and a pair of jeans that he went out and bought for her.

"Well, that's okay. We can do everything."

"Okay." El sighed, smiling a little at her new friend. Max grabbed her hand and started heading toward the new store.

It has been 3 hours since the boys had watched the girls disappear on Max's bike. They started a game of D&D while the girls were doing who knows what. Mike tried to pay attention to the game but he couldn't really focus. Max really had to barge in on her like that. El must have been terrified. I bet she is going to have an even harder time trusting us. And it's all because of-.

"Mike!" Will said trying to grab the attention of the curly haired boy.

"What?" Mike asked getting out of his head.

"It's your turn."

"Oh! Um..."

They were all disrupted by the sound of laughter outside the window. Will was the first one out of his seat and out the door followed closely by Mike, then Lucas, then Dustin. The guys made their way to the Wheeler's backyard to see Max getting off her bike and El carrying shopping bags. She wasn't wearing what she had been wearing earlier though. Instead, she was wearing a black romper covered with shapes and different colors. She was looking at Max and smiling, she was happy to have a friend.

"El?" Will asked looking at his sister.

"Hey, me and Max went shopping." El said softly, looking at Max who was looking at the boys with a I won look.

"Come on." Max said turning to El. "We should go put away these clothes."

The girls went inside without looking back, leaving the boys in disbelief of what they just saw.

She looked pretty. Really pretty. Mike thought.