Right Side Up - A Stranger Things Season 4 Fanfic (incomplete)

Chapter 9

"C'mon, c'mon, please be over 13.." Will said as he rolled the dice and tossed it across the board.

"IT'S A 17! WE WON! WE WON!!" Lucas screamed in joy.

Lucas, Will and Dustin cheered for their victory and high-fived eachother, while El was clapping and congradulating them.
Mike got up from his seat and shook each of the boys' hands, and awarded them with chocolate medals.

"I'm still surprised you guys agreed to play again after all this time!" Will said, unwrapping his candy.

"What are you talking about man? We haven't seen you in months, a campaign was mandatory!" Dustin said, with his mouth full of chocolate.

"Yeah, Will, we thought we'd make it up to you for being selfish when you wanted to play." Lucas added, patting the boy's shoulder with a smile.

"Where's your mom, by the way? Weren't you guys supposed to leave like half an hour ago?" Mike said, looking at his watch "It's 12.00am already!"

At that moment, they all heard a knock on the basement door, and a voice followed.

"Will, El, your mom said you guys can sleep over for tonight, and she'll come get you tomorrow, is that okay?"

Will and El looked at each other before Will answered "Yeah, thanks Mrs. Wheeler!".
The boy turned to Mike "Are you sure you guys are okay with this? I mean, it's unexpected and all-"

"Don't be stupid Will, we were already planning on having a sleepover, and with you guys it's gonna be a hundred times more fun!" he said, and looked at El with a smile. El blushed and smiled back at him.
She then looked at Will, who gave her a reassuring look, and she responded with a nod.

"Guys, there's something that you need to know. Can Max come over?"
El said, loking at each of the boys.

The three of them looked at eachother, before Mike spoke "I mean, we can call her, but what's so important that she has to be here for?"

"You'll find out, just please call her and tell her to come here as soon as she can."

"On it!" Mike said and ran to the phone.

While Mike was talking to Max, Will sat down next to El, and put his hand on her shoulder. "Are you sure you want to tell them? What if it's your mind playing tricks?", he whispered.

"I told you, it doesn't feel like a hallucination, it feels real! Also, I'm starting to doubt the reason Mom wanted to come back here.. I don't think it's because of Thanksgiving" El whispered back to her brother, looking into his eyes.

"What do y-"

"She'll be here in 5'" Mike said, hanging up the phone. "Is everything okay, El? What do you want to tell us?"

"You have to wait until Max gets here, I don't want to make her feel left out." El said in a quiet tone.

"Yeah, unlike other people!" Lucas chuckled, to which Mike responded by elbowing him on his ribs.

"Ow! Not cool man!" Lucas complained, rubbing his right side.

Moments later, the faint sound of a doorbell reached the childrens' ears, and a very panicked Max ran down the basement stairs in a band t-shirt, neon green shorts and bunny slippers

Dustin giggled at Max's poor fashion choice. "Straight from the cover of Vogue I see!", which earned him a deathstare from Max.

"If you don't shut up, I'll shove the cover of Vogue right up your a-"

"Hey! We're not here to argue, remember?" Will interfered.

"Right. El, is everything okay, is your mom okay, what's going on??"

"Max, calm down, I'll explain everything, to all of you." El said, and got up from the ottoman she was sitting on.
"The reason I called Max to come here  all the way from her home is because.." El started, fidgeting with her fingers and looking at Will for support. Will nodded for her to go on, and she took a deep breath.

"Me and Will... We have reasons to believe that Hopper might be alive."

_______________________________________

Joyce woke up late the next morning. It was refreshing for her to wake up at that hour, since she was barely getting any sleep the past month and a half.
As soon as she opened her eyes the smell of freshly cooked bacon hit her nose, and she felt inebriated by it.
She walked towards the kitchen of the small home, to see Murray preparing scrambled eggs and bacon, with a Darth Vader apron on.

"Jesus Christ, Joyce. I thought you'd never wake up!" Murray said in an annoyed tone, but couldn't help but laugh before he went back to mixing his eggs.

"Yeah yeah, good morning to you too.." Joyce grumbled, scratching her head and pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"So, how'd you sleep?" Murray asked joyfully, as he poured the mixture into the pan, and turning around to face Joyce.

"I haven't slept that well in a long time, and the pull-out was surprisingly very comfortable!" Joyce said, as she took a sip of her coffee, and nearly choked on it before spitting it out.

"What the hell, Bauman? What did you put in this, are you trying to poison me?" Joyce shrieked, pushing the cup away from her.

"What are you talking about Joyce? It's vodka!"

"Vodka.?"

"Yes!"

"You put vodka in your coffee?"

"Yep, it always helps me wake up!"

"Well, that explains why you're always acting the way you do.." Joyce mumbled.

"Yeah, keep talking, this little bastard is perfect for getting you up on your feet early in the morning!" Murray said, and proudly took a sip of his special brew.

"Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something. Last night, while you were catching up on beauty sleep, I was studying some documents, when I got a call." Murray said, turning off the stove and making two plates of breakfast.

"A call? What kind of call?" Joyce knitted her eyebrows in confusion.

"It was about Hopper. Owens says his team is ready, and he's already booked us a plane. We're flying to Russia tomorrow."

A/N: I just want to thank you all so much for 100+ reads on this story! I seriously never thought the story would get more than like 10 reads, but I really appreicate the love you guys give to the story! I hope you had a wonderful 4th of July yesterday! Happy reading!

PS: Yesterday marked 1 year since the Stranger Things season 3 premiere, for those of you who didn't know! :)