in which an unlikely relationship forms between two girls over the summer of '85...
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ever since andy harrington and max mayfield met in the fall of 1984, there...
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"We make our own rules."
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A HAIRBRUSH IN her hand, Max twirled around El's room, singing to the song playing on the radio. Even though Andy knew she couldn't sing as well as her, the three teenagers laughed at her singing. She watched with adoration as Max continued dancing around the room, smiling at the redhead in front of her.
El skimmed through the Super Teen Magazines Max brought until she turned the page and smiled at the boy on the page; Ralph Macchio–or the hot new karate kid almost every middle school girl had a crush on. And it seemed like Eleven thought he was cute, too.
"Oh, I see you've found Ralph Macchio," Andy said, and El gave a confused look.
"Macchio?" She blushed, still staring at the cut out of him.
"Yeah, he's the new karate kid," Andy said, not even surprised she didn't know. Max sat down on the bed, still humming the lyrics. Her eyes widened at the sight of him, and soon she was acting like an immature ten-year-old.
"He's so hot, right?" She commented while running her finger over the photo, causing Els' face to flush a deeper red. "I bet he's an amazing kisser, too."
El scrunched up her thin ivory face, pretending she didn't know what kissing was, even though she had been doing it every day with Mike.
"Is Mike a good kisser?" Max asked, watching as El opened her mouth for a few moments, then closed it, questioning herself.
"Well, I don't know." She stuttered, hiding the lopsided grin on her face. "He's my first boyfriend."
"Ex-boyfriend," Andy replied, and El looked away. They could tell she was upset about her breakup, so the girls comforted her with a bear hug that put an enormous smile on her face.
"Don't worry about it, okay?" Andy whispered, not really knowing how to console someone.
"He'll come crawling back to you in no time, begging for forgiveness. I guarantee you he and Lucas are totally wallowing in self-pity and misery right now. They're like–oh, I hope they take us back!" Max joked. The three girls giggled, falling on the bed in a fit of laughter.
"God, what I wouldn't give to see their stupid faces." El looked at the two teenagers as she thought of an idea.
"What is it?" Max gave her a questionable look, and soon El was searching her room for a blindfold. Then she turned to a station on the radio that wasn't being used and sat down on the floor in front of the radio.
She tied the blindfold over her eyes and focused on the static. Max grinned, sitting with Andy on the bed in front of El. She reached out to hold Andy's hand.
Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as their hands met, fitting together just like Lucas's did at the movie. Max chuckled as she saw Andy's face grow pink, her once-pale ears red as Ashoka flowers.
"Holy shit, this is insane--"
"Max," El said firmly, and the red-headed girl instantly grew quiet. They sat in silence, the only noise being El's relaxed breathing and the radio's loud static echoing throughout her room. Andy watched as crimson blood slipped from Eleven's nose and onto the tan carpet. "I see them."
"What are they doing?" The girls said in unison, dropping onto the floor and surrounding El. They had no response until moments later.
"Eating."
"Eating?" Andy looked at her with confusion, and El gave a slight nod. Max stared at her eagerly, waiting for her to give them an update as to what they were doing or saying.
"They say we are species." She replied almost robotically.
The girls shared a look of puzzlement, doubting if this was a smart idea.
"Emotion not logic."
There was more silence until El threw off her blindfolds, her breathing rapid and heavy. She glanced at the girls, who flooded her with questions about what she saw. She gave no responses and instead broke into a fit of loud, uncontrollable laughter, falling onto Max's lap. They looked at her with similar lost looks but seeing El laugh made them laugh too.
They collapsed onto each other, their ribs now aching from how hard they were laughing. Until they heard a car pulling up into the driveway. The girls looked at each other in a panic, rushing to change the station and put the blindfold away.
Their hearts pounded as the front door opened, and loud footsteps followed. El wiped the blood from her nose with her finger and grabbed the magazines from the bed, placing them on the floor.
"Hey!" A demanding voice sounded behind the door, and Andy instantly recognized it as Hoppers.
"When I say three inches, three–" The door swung open, allowing the girls to see an angry Hopper, wearing an unusual colorful button-up and formal pants. It surprised Hopper to see that Mike wasn't there, and instead, there were two girls in his place.
"Do you knock? Jeez!" Max and Andy scoffed, staring at the man in front of them like he was crazy.
"Yeah. Jeez!" El added, and Hopper rubbed his forehead. Andy noticed the large bottle of alcohol in his hand, and how bloodshot his eyes were. He was wasted, for sure.
"I'm sorry. I thought that–"
"Mike's not here." Max interrupted, laughing to herself at how confused he looked.
"Max and Andy wanted to have a sleepover. Is that okay?"
"Yeah." He slurred. "Do your parents know about it?"
Max and Andy nodded, even though they both knew they were lying.
"Uh–yeah, it's cool. It's really cool." He repeated a few more times. The girls could tell he was really drunk by the way he was acting. Still, he was standing there awkwardly, so they asked him if he needed anything and eventually, he left.
The girls sighed in relief and turned down the radio. It was almost ten, so Andy suggested they go to sleep, but of course, Max had other ideas. She thought it'd be fun if they played spin the bottle, but instead of kissing someone, they would spy on them.
They set up a board with paper on it that had names and put an empty Coca-Cola bottle in the middle. Andy didn't feel right about it, since one name on the board was her mother. But Max comforted her and told her not to worry. The girls kneeled in front of the board and waited for El.
She spun the bottle, and it spun for a few seconds until it landed on Mr. Wheeler's card. They shared the same look of disgust with each other. "Boring." Max rolled her eyes in disappointment.
"Yeah, boring," El said softly.
"Spin again," Andy replied. El's face twisted with confusion, but she still complied. El reached for the bottle, but then paused when she remembered that wasn't how to play the game. "Against the rules?"
"We make our own rules," Andy reassured and placed her hand over El's.
She smiled and spun again. The girls watched eagerly as the bottle rotated around the board, getting slower until it reached a complete stop. And this time it landed on someone much more interesting; Billy.
