The Mall Rats
Robin and Catherine had shared many secrets so far during their friendship but they each had one they were reluctant to share. Robin didn't want her new friend to think of her as a freak and stop hanging out with her. Catherine didn't want to keep her powers a secret from Robin but she had to in order to keep her safe. And, besides, there was no easy way to tell someone you had superpowers that you didn't want- it brought up too many questions.
Little did either of them know, their secrets would eventually come out and they wouldn't be as bad as they thought everything was going to be.
Robin's secret came out first. It was during one of their sleepovers and Cat had turned to face her, her legs crossed as a grin spread across her face. "So, let's talk."
"We are talking."
"I mean, let's talk boys."
"Oh." Robin wasn't sure how to exactly talk about boys.
"So, obviously I'm dating Steve and I think I might be in love with him. Is it too soon to say that?" Cat rambled as she flicked through a random fashion magazine.
Robin shook her head. "I don't think so. Not if you properly mean it."
"I do. I really do mean it. I honestly don't think I could ever be with anyone else." She looked up from the magazine and rested her head on her hands, her elbows resting on her knees. "But what about you? Do you like someone?"
Robin thought of her crush on Tammy Thompson and couldn't help but blush. "You do!" Cat yelled excitedly, throwing her pillow at Robin. "You totally do! So, who is it? Oh, let me guess..." She listed off the names of every boy from Hawkins High that she could think of and Robin shook her head at every one. "Oh, no." Her face fell. "Don't tell me you like Tommy H. He's a complete moron."
Robin couldn't help but laugh. "No. Ew. How- Why would I have a crush on him."
Cat sighed. "Okay. Good. Is it Steve?" She asked suddenly. "Because I totally get if you liked him. He is really hot and lovely and absolutely amazing."
"No," Robin shook her head, "I definitely do not like Steve like that. And, besides, you guys are perfect for each other. No one could mess that up."
"So, who do you like? Because everyone that I've suggested hasn't been, and I quote, 'not your type'."
"Well," Robin started. She was unsure how Catherine Henderson would take what she was about to say. "Boys aren't really my type." She whispered.
"Oh. So, girls then?" Cat asked, her face still sporting the grin she wore.
"Uh, yeah."
"That's cool. So, which girl do you like? If you say Carol... Man, she's just as bad as Tommy H."
"No, ew, no way would I ever like that bitch." Robin laughed.
"Robin!" Cat laughed, throwing a cushion over at her best friend.
"What?! She is completely and utterly evil."
"Well, I can agree to that." Cat grinned and held her hand up for a high five.
Robin completed the high five before she caved in and revealed her crush. "Tammy Thompson."
"What about her?"
"Are you serious?" Robin laughed, chucking the cushion back at her friend. "You asked me who I liked and I just told you."
"Tammy Thompson?" Cat laughed. "You like Tammy Thompson? She's not even that cute."
"She so is!"
"Nu uh." They ended up arguing about Tammy Thompson for most of the evening until they started laughing till they couldn't breathe.
***
Robin handed the spoon of Peppermint ice-cream to Erica. She ate it before placing the disposable spoon in the pot on the counter. "Can I try the peppermint stick?"
"Haven't you already tried the peppermint stick?" Robin asked her.
"Yes, and I'd like to try it again."
Robin sighed before turning to the window and yelling for her co-worker.
Steve and Dustin were in the back, the former pacing the room while snacking on a banana. They were listening to the recording of the man speaking Russian. Dustin stopped the recording. "So what do you think?"
"It sounded familiar."
"What?"
"The music." The older boy said through a mouthful of food. "The music right there at the end."
"Why are you listening to the music, Steve?" Dustin yelled. "God, Kit would be more helpful than you." He muttered. "Listen to the Russian!" He yelled. "We're translating Russian!"
"I'm trying to listen to the Russian, but there's music-"
Robin burst through the door, cutting off the end of Steve's argument. "All right, babysitting time is over. You need to get in there." She waved her scooper in the direction of the main floor of the shop. "Hey, my board." She moaned, seeing that they'd exchanged her chart for some kind of alphabet. "That was important data, shitbirds."
"I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data." Dustin told her.
"Yeah?" Robin questioned, standing across the table from the boys. "And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyways?"
"How does she know about the Russians?"
"I don't know."
"You told her about-"
"It wasn't me."
"Hello, I can hear you." Robin said, interrupting their whispering. "Actually, I can hear everything. You are both extremely loud. You think you have evil Russians plotting against our country, on tape, and you're trying to translate, but haven't figured out a single word because you didn't realise Russians use an entirely different alphabet than we do." She stared at them. "Sound about right?"
Suddenly, Robin reached over to grab the tape recorder on the table. Steve quickly grabbed it, pulling it out of her reach. "Whoa! What do you think you're doing?"
"I wanna hear it."
"Why?" Both the boys asked.
"'Cause maybe I can help. I'm fluent in four languages, you know."
"Russian?" Dustin asked.
"Ou-yay are-yay umb-day."
Steve laughed. "Oh-ho-ho!"
"Holy shit!" Grinned Dustin.
"That was Pig Latin, dingus."
Steve slapped Dustin in the arm. "Idiot," he muttered.
"But I can speak Spanish," Robin confessed, taking a seat in the spare chair at the table, "and French and Italian, and I've been in band for twelve years. My ears are little geniuses, trust me."
"Uh..." Steve was still hesitant to agree.
"Come on, it's your turn to sling ice-cream, my turn to translate. I don't even want credit. I'm just bored." She slumped across the table, her hand reaching out for the tape recorder. The sound of the bell being dinged sounded, meaning someone was waiting. Steve handed her the tape recorder as he took the ice-cream scooper, finally caving in.
***
The bus pulled up to the mall and the girls hopped off it. Cat slung her arm around El's shoulder, looking at the younger girl's face in order to try and gage how she was feeling. "So, what do you think?" Max asked. "Hey, what's wrong?" She asked when El gave no reply.
"Too many people. Against the rules."
Cat gave El's shoulder a small squeeze. "Screw the rules. We're here to have fun. You'll be fine."
"Exactly." Max grinned, taking hold of El's right hand. "You have superpowers. What's the worst that could happen?"
The two girls led El into the center of the mall, Cat grinning as looked around in wonder. "Pretty cool, isn't it?" She laughed. "This is where I spend my time when I'm not hanging out with you."
"So, what should we do first?" Max asked. El just stared at her in wonder. The redhead laughed, "You've never been shopping before, have you?" El shook her head. "Well, then I guess we're just gonna have to try everything." Max's eyes widened in excitement before she dragged her friends into 'The Gap'. They followed Eleven around as she looked at all the different clothes.
"Do you like that?" Cat asked as they stared at a mannequin wearing a colourful top.
"How do I know... what I like?"
"You try things on." Cat told her. "'Till you find something that feels like you."
"Like me?" El asked, confused.
"Yeah." Max smiled. "Not Hopper. Not Mike. You."
***
The girls helped El try on a lot of outfits while they were in 'The Gap'. Cat loved how all of them looked on El. While El was finding new outfits, Max tried on different pairs of sunglasses- finally settling on a pair of red ones. Cat tried on what seemed like a hundred different bandanas before choosing a red and white one. Cat paid for El's new playsuit, which was extremely colourful, along with her own bandana and Max's new sunglasses. They sauntered through the mall, smiling and giggling, happy with their new looks.
The next place they went to was a flash studio where they tried on different outfits and posed for pictures in front of a super colourful background. They went to a shoe shop, El trying on a pair of high heels. She held on to Max and Cat's hands as she walked through the shop, the three laughing when El fell- taking Cat to the ground with her.
They even had fun with El's powers- exploding the drinks of the girls who glared at them in the shoe shop. It was one of the best days Catherine had ever experienced.
"See? What'd I tell you?" Max exclaimed as they ran through the mall. "There's more to life than stupid boys." They ran in to 'Scoops Ahoy', giggling as they caught their breath.
***
"Wait, that last part, just one more time." Robin instructed Dustin. The two were still trying to translate the recording while Steve slung ice-cream out front.
"Okay." Dustin rewound the tape recording before pressing play.
"Okay, that word." Robin stopped pacing. "Um.. It's pronounced... 'dly-nna-ya.'"
"Dly-nna-ya..." Dustin repeated.
"Which is spelled..." The two swapped places, Dustin going over to the whiteboard while Robin took the chair. "D... D, D, D..."
"The- The chair." Dustin cried, pointing to the letter on the board. "The chair-looking thingy."
"Yeah, okay." Robin grinned, writing it down. She walked over to the window, sliding it open to speak to Steve. "We've got our first sentence."
"Oh, seriously?" Steve turned away from the counter and towards Robin.
"Yeah." Robin imitated a Russian accent. "'The week is long.'"
"Well, that's thrilling." Steve said sarcastically.
"I know. But, progress." She slid the window shut and Steve went back to serving El, Max and Catherine their ice-creams.
"And here is where I leave you." Cat told the two girls, pulling them into a hug.
"Wait a second. Are you even allowed to be here?" Steve asked El as Cat joined him round the employee side of the counter. The two girls giggled before running out the shop.
"Yeah, technically I'm on babysitting duty today so she's allowed." Cat smiled at Steve, leaning up and kissing him on the cheek. "So," she took a lick of her ice-cream, "what've I missed?"
***
Edited: 08/07/2020
Edit 2: 14/09/2021