MADELINE, dustin henderson

|010

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, this will do. This will do just fine," Steve states as him and Dustin arrive at the junkyard. They place the leftover meat in the middle of the junkyard.

"I said medium-well!" they hear Lucas shout.

Maddie's POV

Dustin and the guy turn to us and Lucas waves at them. I chuckle as we start walking towards them. I notice Dustin keep looking at me.
Me, Max, and the teen start to make the bus more difficult to get in, while Lucas and Dustin talk about something behind an old car.

"I hope this will be worth it," Max mutters and I sigh.

"We'll see," I state as we continue to 'improve' the old bus. Max groans as she tries to pick up a metal board.

"Here, let me help," I say and help her pick it up, putting it on the bus.

"Thanks, Maddie." she smiles and I smile back.

"Hey!" Steve says, making the boys behind the car jump.

"Dickheads, how come the only ones to help me out are these two random girls?" Steve asks, motioning towards us.

"You know, I think we're going to be faster alone," I state and me and my sister laugh.

"Come on," Steve exclaims and the two boys follow him, helping out too.
Steve makes a gasoline trail from the meat to the bus, me and Max put a ladder inside of the bus and after we finish, we close ourselves in it. Lucas climbs the ladder, looking through his binoculars, trying to spot any movement. Me, Max, Dustin, and as I now know, Steve, sit inside, doing nothing, really. Steve is flickering with his lighter, Dustin is pacing around and me and Max are sitting on the bus seats.

"So... you really fought one of these things before?" I ask Steve and he just nods.

"And you're like totally a hundred percent sure it wasn't a bear," Max adds, making me nudge her elbow.

"Shit, don't be an idiot, okay? It wasn't a bear!" Dustin says and I sink into my seat.

"Why you even here if you don't believe us. Just go home," Dustin states to my sister.

"Past your bedtime?" Max asks and climbs up the ladder to Lucas. Dustin starts walking around again.

"Jeez, Dustin. Can you please stop pacing?" I ask in discomfort and he sighs.

"Sorry," he mutters and sits next to me. I lean my head on his shoulder and look to the ground.

"Did you even get any sleep?" Dustin jokes and I chuckle.

"Not really. You know, I was just thinking. About how different it was in California..." I trail off, remembering my dad.

"Was there someone... special in California?" Dustin asks and I sigh.

"I guess you could say that. We had to move away, leaving my dad behind. We were really close, but I knew that my step-dad would want to make a new start. Far... far away from him," I state, a tear rolling down my face.

"Me and Max are always on the blame. When it comes to being late, it's us. When it comes to lying, it's always us Billy takes it out on. It's just... I know how bad I am at being friendly, being sweet, but when you have to live around the things that aren't as perfect, it's hard to change anything. I mean, don't give me wrong, I want more than anything to be back in California... but it's different here. And I like a change if I can't make one," I say, looking to the ground.

"So... the California girl wants to be a Hawkins girl now?" Dustin asks and I slightly laugh.

"Dustin!" I mutter. "It's just... I know that Billy has a strong force on me, making me mad and bad acting sometimes. But I don't want to be like him, I don't want to be a bad person. You know? I—" a sob breaks my sentence. Dustin turns to me, making me move my head up.