frequency, stranger things!

III. MALL RATS

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III.   MALL RATS
(       CHAPTER THREE.      )

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          THE STARCOURT MALL WAS A RARE place to visit for half of Oswin's friends. It was either the arcade, one of their homes', or just riding around town. Oswin could count on one hand the amount of times he's been to StarCourt Mall, and when he was inside for the first time in a year, regret for not visiting frequently enough seeped into him.

"I thought he would meet us outside," Vivian said with huff.

The group had stood outside of the mall for a solid twenty minutes while waiting for Dustin Henderson to show, but Oswin grew tired and decided to go look for his friend himself. His friends followed him around looking like lost puppies, not knowing where to go and who to look for— completely due to the fact they had no idea what he looked like. To think that Oswin would've had a picture of them from camp shoved deep into his bag was a wild assumption of his friends, as he had to remind them that he wasn't very fond of getting his picture taken.

Oswin rolled his eyes. "I'm sure Dustin is in here somewhere."

"I have an idea," Amari said. "How about Oswin goes and finds Dustin while we just look around... deal?"

"Not deal. I want to meet this Dustin dude." Vivian scoffed.

"Okay, whoever wants to wander around, go. Amari and I want to go look at some clothes and a couple candy stores. We can all meet back at the center in a few hours," Marron suggested.

It was an immediate comprise between them all, and the friends parted ways. Amari and Marron scattered off to go shop for more clothes, not that Amari needed any more than she had, but Marron loved her style and maybe Amari agreed to helping Marron with her style. Stella and Miles went off to go get food, though Stella already knew Miles would be dragging her to the comic store afterwards. And that left Oswin, Annabelle, Vivian, and Robert. Well, temporarily.

"Hey," Robert nudged Vivian. "Uh... I mean— I know you wanna meet Dustin, but I'm gonna go look in the VHS store right over there, if you wanna, ya know, meet up once you do meet him or something..."

Vivian smiled. "Yeah, of course! Just don't disappear before I get there."

"Where would I even gonna disappear to? Russia?"

"Alright, smartass, go before I don't meet you there at all."

Oswin's gasp caused Vivian to turn her attention back to him and Annabelle, who were both looking into an ice cream shop. Scoops Ahoy?

Vivian furrowed her eyebrows. "What are we looking at exactly?"

Oswin directed his finger toward two boys— one with a cap on and one with a surprising amount of fluffy hair. "Dustin."