Legendary | s. harrington (18+)

PART ONE: chapter one

SATURDAYS were usually the busiest, not like the Palace was often overflowing with eager customers, but today seemed like a good night. Evie barely had any time to pull the black leather book she hids behind the desk and scribble on its cheap pages - she could just about add some sparse details to an old piece, but starting a new one tonight to pass the time was out of the question. She was interrupted for the second time in a minute by a large man with round glasses balancing at the end of his nose. He had whiskers tamed by the metal frames over his face and crows feet at the sides of both his eyes. His Jaws T-shirt was yet again two sizes too small and his beer-belly was exposed beneath the black material he made no effort to pull down.

"Can I get some change?"

Evelyn looks up, taking her chin away from her palm and with a beaming smile, plucks the note from the man's clammy hand.

"Of course, Stew!" Stewart pushes his glasses back up his nose and counts the quarters Evelyn hands back to him. After an agonising minute backing up the queue and clicking the coins back and forth in each of his palms, he thanks her and turns away. Eve has a maths exam in two days, so she could have assured Stewart Gossett that she hasn't gotten his change wrong. She's been revising so much it seems she's spouting equations in her sleep.

"Hey Eve, your nerd-friends are here." Eve smiles at the words falling from Keith's mouth, and though she turns towards him at the sound of her name, she throws her attention right back to the door ahead of where she is situated. A grin somehow bigger than the one she had before brightens her face.

"Hey, guys!" Eve lifts herself to sit on the wood of the change counter and places her elbows on the shelf so she can lean over and grin at the four boys stealing parts of her smile. An abundance of 'Hi Eve' and 'Hiya Evie's filling the entrance of the Arcade.

"Hey, is your mum still here?" Will sighs, hanging his head in embarrassment. He puts his thumb over his shoulder, knowing he doesn't even have to look to be certain that his Mom would still be there. Mrs Byers is terrified of leaving her son, but Evelyn had reasoned with Will on many occasions - unaware of what had truly happened - that Joyce had only just got him back. Evelyn stretches to the right and waves frantically at the nervous-looking Byers hunched over her steering wheel to see into the Arcade from the parking lot. Joyce seems to relax, having seen Evelyn, and offers her an earnest smile and a grateful wave.

"Are you still coming over Monday?" Will asks, having forgotten he was embarrassed. Evelyn snaps her attention back to the ghostly looking boy in his khaki rain jacket. Her smile is so soft and so gentle that Will already knows the answer.

"'Course, I am. Think Will the Wise can organise another Elder Tree campaign?" Eve moves herself around the counter, routinely replaced by Keith so she could talk to the boys properly and not affect anyone who came in. If it wasn't a Saturday, the boys could usually come behind the counter and sit with her, discussing game strategy. Will exhales his anxiety, a sloppy smile back on his young face, and he turns to Lucas who has started rambling about something. Evelyn is somehow like a big sister now to Will, having been his babysitter for almost two years and officially one of the few friends he let into his circle. Evelyn was an unlikely character to pop into their lives but she'd been more than welcome whenever Joyce needed to pick up an extra shift or Jonathan had to work on his portfolio. He wanted to be a photographer, and Evelyn thought that was very cool. When Eve had caught wind that Will had gone missing the year prior, she had searched night and day with the Byers and was more than a pain in Chief Hopper's neck with any and every possible lead she could fabricate. Evelyn had picked up extra shifts just so she could help Jonathan pay to print out more flyers.

"Hey - is anyone on-" Eve already knew what Dustin Henderson was about to ask her as he cranes his neck to see through the small crowds around each of the games.

"Pretty sure Dragon's Liar is free - but if I go first with my badge on, people will just assume there's something wrong with it and move out the way. Watch this." Dustin looks up at Evelyn in awe and follows close to her heels as the small crowds begin to separate.

"Hey, Sam." She is saying to the regulars who are mumbling hello's as she heads for the far corner. And as promised, the game is now free of people. Eve digs around in her change bag and pops a quarter in the slot, waving goodbye as the boys huddle around the machine. "Viola."

"You're the best, Summers!" Dustin calls over his shoulder but with no time to spare and the intro music starting, he grips the controls like his life depends on it. Eve hasn't even made it back to the desk before she can hear all their panicked voices overlapping, ordering Dustin to turn right or left until ultimately she hears him shout, "Shut up! Shut up!". Eve counts down the seconds before he screams in frustration, signalling he has lost, and blaming it of course, on Mike.