Several hours later, the mall was empty and deserted, with all of the stores gated up except one, that contained four teenagers standing in front of a white board, staring in curiosity at the Russian code that they'd just managed to squeeze four sentences out of.
"The week is long, the silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west." We all read in unison.
~~~
"I mean it just...it just can't be right." Steve said as he shut the gate.
"Its right." Robin argued.
"Honestly, I think its great news."
"How is this great news?" He asked, locking the gate and standing up, rushing to catch up with us. "I mean, so much for being American Heroes. Its total nonsense."
"Its not nonsense," I said, "Obviously we intercepted this message, which means that the American Government could have intercepted it. Its obviously some kind of secret code."
"What kind of code?"
"You know, like a super secret spy code." Dustin said.
"That's a total stretch."
"I don't know, is it?" Robin asked.
"You're buying into this?"
"Look, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission. What'd you think they were gonna say, 'Fire the Warhead at noon'?"
"Exactly."
"And my translation is correct, I know that for sure, so...'the Silver cat feeds', I mean who talks like that unless they're trying to mask the true meaning of their message?"
"Exactly." Dustin agreed again. Robin and Dustin moved ahead, bouncing off of each other, while I stood beside Steve.
"And why would anyone mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?"
"Exactly!"
"So I guess that confirms your suspicion." She told him.
"Evil Russians."
"I can't believe I'm about to agree with this strange child, but yeah, totally evil Russians." Steve glanced at me, raising his eyebrows. I shrugged.
"Stranger things have happened." I whispered. He nodded, looking away from me before stopping suddenly, grabbing my arm to keep me with him while Robin and Dustin kept walking. "What is it?"
"Do you have a quarter?" He asked. I furrowed my eyebrows but reached into my purse, beginning to dig through it.
"Hey, guys?" Robin asked, realizing we weren't following them. "What are you doing?"
"She's getting me a Quarter." He said.
"You sure you're tall enough for that ride?" They jogged over as I handed it to him and he crouched down in front of one of the rotating horse rides, putting the quarter in it. My eyes widened as it started up and the music started playing. "You need help getting up, little Stevie?" Dustin laughed.
"Shh!" I said, holding a finger to my lips and gesturing to her with my other hand. Dustin's smile fell as he realized what the song was. "Its the song...the one in the background of the recording."
"Holy crap." He took the recorder out, playing the message. The music matched up perfectly with the horse.
"Maybe they have horses like this in Russia." She suggested.
"Indiana Flyer?" Steve asked, pointing to the logo. "I don't...I don't think so. This code, it...didn't come from Russia. It came from here."
~~~
Steve and I walked across the parking lot alone. Robin and Dustin had both ridden their bikes there and insisted on doing so again, and Steve and I had parked beside each other somehow, which led us to walk to our cars in silence.
"I'm still mad at you, don't get me wrong," I said, earning a glance from him, "But that in there...that is what I was talking about, about Education versus Intellect? You took something that everyone else overlooked and you used it to uncover a massive clue about the message. Three straight-A students, and we never would have figured that out." He nodded.
"Yeah...I guess it was pretty smart of me." I nodded, looking away from him, slowing to a stop as we reached our cars.
"Are we really not gonna talk about this?" He asked. I shook my head.
"No...no, we're not." I whispered. "We're not, because I know what you're going to say, and I'm not ready to hear it."
"No, Riley, I don't think you do know what I'm going to say-"
"Steve..." I squeezed my eyes shut, looking down at the ground. "Its been a long day, and I really, really don't have the energy to have a long relationship conversation so can we please just not do this right now?"
"Ok, fine, but...just promise me we'll do it sometime, please, because I have something I really need to talk to you about." I nodded.
"Yeah...I promise." He nodded.
"Ok. Be careful getting home, ok?"
"You too." He leaned in to kiss me but I took a step back, looking down at my feet. He nodded, climbing into his car. I got into my tuck and waiting for him to pull out of the parking lot before laying my forehead on the steering wheel.
I know what he wants to talk to me about. He knows I'm onto him. That thing he wants to talk about is him breaking up with me because he knows that I know that he doesn't like me as much as he said he did, or he just thought he did like Nancy, or he never did at all and he's been lying to me this whole time so that I wouldn't find out that I'm just his rebound girl, but regardless of what the reason is, I know what he wants to talk to me about and I'm sorry...
But I'm not gonna make it easy for him.
~~~
There was music blasting from our room when I got home that night, which usually only happened when Mike was here. And not only was the door all the way closed, my Dad was not here, which was a major violation of rules. I shook my head, opening the door, fully prepared to give her another speech about boundaries when I saw that she was sitting on her bed, looking at Teen magazines, and Max was dancing around in her socks. I smiled.
"Hey, guys." I greeted.
"Hey."
"Hi, Riley." El replied, looking down at her magazine again. "Max wanted to have a 'sleepover'."
"That's fun," I said, glancing between them, "Well, in that case, I will leave you guys alone then." I turned to leave the room, when Max's voice stopped me.
"You could stay?" Max suggested, causing me to raised my eyebrows and turn to face her.
"You want the 'older sister' crashing your sleepover?" I asked.
" Well you aren't the traditional 'Older Sister', now are you?" She questioned. "Come on, it'll be fun." I shrugged, walking over and sitting on my bed as Eleven looked back to her Magazines and Max came over to join her.
"Oh, you've found Ralph Macchio." She pointed out, causing me to laugh.
"Macchio?"
"Yeah, he's the Karate Kid. Hai-yah!" They both laughed, and I smiled, but it soon fell as I was unable to stop the memories that flowed in with that statement.
"Because Johnny Lawrence is the villain. That's literally the whole point of his character, he's the bad guy." Steve said, pelting leftover popcorn at me.
"He's not a villain, he's just made a lot of bad choices." I argued. "That's the whole point of him giving Daniel the trophy at the end, it shows he's not all bad. And aside from that, of all the times Daniel got beat up in the movie, at least one of those times was his own fault."
"Which one was his fault?!"
"Halloween!" I exclaimed. "Johnny had strict instructions not to touch him until the match, and that scene was like two months before Halloween, which means that Johnny hadn't touched him in two months, and then Daniel just decides to turn a hose on him? For no reason, just because he stumbled upon him? That was entirely his fault."
"Ok, you know what I think Barbie, I think you analyze these movies, and their characters way too much."
"Yeah, well I don't think you analyze them enough HAIRington. But then again, I suppose that's not your fault. You simply don't have the comprehension."
"Oh yeah? Comprehend this." Suddenly his half-full popcorn bucket was on my head, and I had popcorn and butter all over me.
"STEVE!" I shoved him full force as he laughed, taking it off of my head and pelting it at him, attempting to pick popcorn out of my hair.
"Honestly Barbie, Popcorn's a good look for you. You should wear this more often." I shook my head, glaring at him.
"You're actually the worst human being on the planet."
"Oh yeah? Well there's this little thing I want to introduce you too, it goes on the wall, or it can be handheld, its called the mirror, Blondie. I highly suggest you take a look inside it."
I sighed, laying back on my bed. Even then he was acting like he liked me. Why would he act like that if it wasn't true?
"He's so hot, right? I bet he's an amazing kisser too." Max said, earning a strange look from Eleven.
"I don't know...I'm more of a Billy Zabka girl myself." I said, desperately wanting to distract myself from the thoughts that came creeping up.
"Yeah, I could see that." Max agreed. She paused, an idea forming in her head before turning to look at me.
"What?" I asked, anticipating an uncomfortable question.
"Is Steve a good kisser?" My eyes widened.
"Max!"
"What?! I'm just curious!" She laughed as I chuckled a pillow at her, which she easily dodged. "Is he?"
"I don't know, he's...he was my first boyfriend. I have nothing to compare it to."
"Was?" Eleven asked. I nodded, looking down at my hands in my lap.
"Yeah...I don't know for sure but I kind of thing he's getting ready to break up with me."
"Him? Break up with you?" Max asked. I furrowed my eyebrows.
"What does that mean?"
"Hello?" She asked. "You spent a year in a toxic alternate dimension running from a monster and survived, you took a beating from my brother in order to save us, as well as take on a bunch of those Demo-dogs armed with nothing more than a rusty fire axe, and you're telling me that Steve 'The Hair' Harrington doesn't want that?" I shrugged.
"I don't know anymore, to be honest."
"Well screw him." I looked up at her in shock. "Seriously! You're awesome." She stood up. "We're all awesome, and if our boyfriends can't see that, screw them all."
"Wait, what happened with your boyfriends?" I questioned.
"They lied to us." Max said. I looked at Eleven.
"Nana isn't sick." She explained. "Mike said he was busy, but we saw him at the mall."
"She dumped him on the spot," Max told me, "It was amazing."
"You dumped him?" I asked. She nodded, looking down at her lap as regret filled her eyes.
"Hey, don't worry about it! He'll come crawling back to you in no time, begging for forgiveness. I guarantee you, him and Lucas are like, totally wallowing in self-pity and misery right now. They're like, 'Oh, I hope they take us back'." They both giggled, causing me to smile. "Gosh, what I would give to see their stupid faces." El's smile dropped as a look of realization donned her face.
"What?" I asked, sitting forward on my bed. She just looked at both of us.