I somehow end up back in the back room of the ice cream parlour, lying on the table as Robin tries to decipher the Russian coming from the recorder. I throw a tennis ball up and down, deathly bored while the man drones on about who knows what.

Eventually, I groan.

"We're getting nowhere." I catch the ball and flop my head to the side, watching Robin pace back and forth, deep in thought.

"Shhh," she shushes me, then points at Dustin, "Play that last part again."

He hastily clicks the rewind button, replaying the last section of the message.

I tune them out as Robin starts to decipher the foreign language, actually starting to get some headway. As exciting as it is that we might be uncovering a secret Russian message, I can't help but be too distracted by my encounter with Jonny to get enthused by the situation.

I feel awful for shutting him down like I did. Part of me enjoyed the attention he was giving me, but that could just be because I like attention, not because I still have feelings for him.

I just wish things were like they were. I wish he never cheated. It would make everything so much easier for me. I'm not a big fan of life changing decisions, or just decisions in general. I'd prefer to just go with the flow, but Jonny has caused a riptide in my current. He's making me choose whether or not I want to give him a second chance. Whether or not he deserves one.

I did just shut him down, and you'd think that that would give me closure on the situation, but honestly it's just made everything more difficult. Now he has me second guessing the decisions I do manage to make.

What is this boy doing to me?

After smiling in the little celebration I can give to Robin figuring out our first sentence, which makes barely any sense, by the way, I exit the back room to where Steve is slinging ice cream.

I grab a mini spoon that's usually used for samples and take a giant chunk of chocolate ice cream, much to Steve's annoyance.

"Hey, you gotta pay for that."

"How is that logical?" I ask, mouth full, "Not even customers have to pay for samples."

"Yeah but you do. On account of . . ." He thinks for a bit, then shrugs, "you're stupid."

"I'm stupid?" I laugh, throwing the spoon away and grabbing another, "Tell me Steve, who was the third president?"

He gives me a blank stare, and I grin in victory, scooping a thing of cookie dough and eating it in his face, provoking an eye roll.

"Ask me another, I'll get it."

"Okay." I grin, grabbing yet another spoon, "Second president."

He throws his hands up in defeat, then makes an expression as if a light bulb went off in his head, "Thomas Jefferson!"

I burst into laughter, scooping cotton candy and eating it with a grin, "He was the third, dipshit."

"Damn it," he mutters as I scoop vanilla on my spoon, "Hey, you hate vanilla ice cream."

"I know," I say, a mischievous look befalling my features as I hold the spoon between my fingers and use my other hand to flick it at Steve, the glob of ice cream landing on his cheek.

I burst into another fit of laughter, which quickly cuts off when he tackles me into a headlock, using his free hand to put a scoop into a waffle cone, holding me still as I squirm.

"I surrender! I surrender!" I shout, trying to tug his arm off of me as he holds the ice cream near my face.

"Say I'm smarter than you," he says, threatening me with the cone.

"Come on, Steve." I grin, "You know I'm a terrible liar."

In response to my insult, he shoves the cold dessert into my face, and I squeal. He lets me go, and I lick away the ice cream.

"Mmm, salted caramel."

He's laughing at me, grabbing the thing of napkins and holding it high so I can't reach him.

"You're underestimating my ability to lick this all off of my own face," I say, peering at him with one eye, the other one closed as melting cream slips over it.

I suddenly lunge forward, reaching for it. He just holds it higher, and I groan.

There's no way I'm gonna reach it, so I just grab Steve's shirt and wipe my face with it, much to his disgust.

"Aw, seriously? You're gross, Liz." He shoves me away, and I grin, grabbing the napkins from him.

"You brought this upon yourself."

He glares at me, "Asswipe."

"Shitwad."

I begin to clean the rest of my face with the napkins as Steve treats the customers. I hear familiar voices, and I look up, my mouth falling open when I see Max.

With Eleven.

"What the hell?" I gape at Max, lowering my voice and making sure Steve isn't listening, "I've been trying to sneak her out for centuries, how did you pull this off?"

She grins as El giggles, "We're taking some girl time, since Mike is being a douche."

"I heard." I nod wisely, hopping over the counter and eyeing Eleven's outfit, "New clothes?"

She nods, "They're me."

I grin, "Sweet. You've no idea how long I've been waiting for this."

Maybe it's a good thing Mike is acting like a used tissue. El looks happy, as if she's finally realizing that life isn't all about her relationship.

My brother turns back to the counter from where he was talking to Robin, holding two ice creams in his hands.

"Okay, here you go, you got a strawberry and then a vanilla with sprinkles, extra whipped cream." He hands them to Max and El and they thank him before he frowns, looking at Eleven in confusion, "Wait a second. Are you even allowed to be here?"

We all look at each other, and they giggle while I smirk. I watch as they leave the parlour before saluting Steve and following.

"Maybe you aren't completely stupid."

"I'm not!" He calls after me.

"First president?" I yell as I reach the door.

"John Adams!"

"Okay, you're messing with me now!" I shake my head as he chuckles, watching me leave and catch up with Max and El.

"So does Hopper know?" I ask as we head towards the door, "Just kidding, that's a dumb question."

"We just wanted to get away from the boys," Max says.

"I say we cut them out of our lives entirely."

She rolls her eyes as I grin.

"So what did Mike do?" I question, because I know what he did, but I want to know what El thinks he did.

"He lied," she says, as if it's the most abominable thing that could ever happen. I snicker.

"I lie all the time. You'll have to be more specific."

"Friends don't lie," she says to me, and I shrug.

"Sure they do, watch this." I turn to Max, "You look really good today, Maxine."

"Oh, shut up." She rolls her eyes with a smile on her face as El frowns. I can tell I've confused her.

"I mean that small lies are different," I try to clarify, "What did Mike lie about?"

"He said his nana was sick but in reality she wasn't," Max explains for Eleven, "He blew her off."

I whistle lowly, "After six months of non stop seeing each other?"

I know Hopper is behind it, but I decide to keep that fact to myself.

We exit the mall, and Max turns to Eleven, holding out her ice cream.

"You wanna trade?"

I immediately catch the boys out of the corner of my eye, messing with their bikes and looking defeated. I already know that Mike hasn't found his apology gift.

"Speak of the devil," I mutter to Max and El, the former looking shocked to see them.

"Oh, you've gotta be shitting me," she says as Eleven also turns, smile falling from her face.

"Isn't this a nice surprise," Max says mockingly as she approaches Mike, Will, and Lucas, who look to be just about to leave.

Lucas turns to me in betrayal.

"Hey." I throw my hands up, "I didn't bring them here."

"You knew they were here and you didn't tell us?" Max turns to me, eyes narrowed.

I just shrug, "You never asked."

She rolls her eyes as Mike looks at El in shock, letting his bike drop to the ground to point at her, "What are you doing here?"

"Shopping," El says nonchalantly. I smile smugly; I've taught her well in the art of the Whatever Code.

"This is her new style," Max gestures to her, also looking smug, "What do you think?"

"What's wrong with you?" Mike turns to the red head in anger, "You know she's not allowed to be here."

"What is she, your little pet?"

"Yeah." El glares, "Am I your pet?"

"What? No!" Mike protests as glance at Will, who looks uneasy with the arguing. I know he hates it when the group splits like this. I do too, but then again, I'm here for the entertainment.

"Then why do you treat me like garbage?" Eleven asks, her ice cream beginning to melt.

"I'll take that off your hands," I say, grabbing the cone from her and licking at the parts that are dripping.

"What?" Mike's confused now as Will laughs at me behind their backs, provoking me to throw him a playful wink.

"You said nana was sick."

"She is!" Mike tries desperately to defend what's left of his pride while I lick away at the cone, watching him turn to Lucas for help, "She is. She is sick."

"Yeah, sick—" Lucas nods frantically, catching on, "she's sick."

"She's sick."

"Oh is she sick?" I ask, "Didn't catch that the first five times you said it. Maybe one more time and it'll ring true."

Will stifles his laughter as Mike glares at me, not gracing me with a response.

Lucas continues to attempt to cover up for his friend, "She's super sick—"

"Oh, super sick this time." I roll my eyes.

"—that's why we're here, actually."

"Yeah, we're shopping," Mike gestures to the mall stupidly, "Not for us, but for her. For nana."

"For nana." Lucas nods, and I snicker in amusement.

"Wow, who taught you two how to lie?Pinocchio?" I ask, but they ignore me.

"Also, we're here to get a gift for you," Mike says to Eleven, "Just, we couldn't find anything that suited you, and I only have three dollars and fifty cents, so it's hard."

"Super hard," Lucas backs him up as Max narrows her eyes in suspicion, "It's — it's expensive."

All this rambling seems to be for nothing however, as El is unconvinced.

"You lie," she insists.

Mike stares at her like he's a child caught stealing chocolate from his parents' dresser.

"Why do you lie?" Eleven asks, seeming hurt.

Mike has no response, and I scratch the back of my neck at the awkward situation, looking behind me as the bus pulls over, the bus that we would be taking if we wanted to go home.

I turn back to the scene as Eleven steps forward and stands square in front of Mike, looking him dead in the eye.

"I dump your ass."

Mine and Max's mouths fall open as Eleven backs away, heading towards the bus. Max goes to follow, but I stay rooted to the spot.

"Liz?" She asks as I bite my lip.

It's either go with the boys, go with Max and Eleven, or go back and find Dustin and Robin.

"Coming," I say, following closely behind as we make our way to the bus, leaving Mike, Lucas, and Will sulking by their bikes.

*

"You must be an angel, I can see it in your eyes!" Max sings along to the radio before throwing me a hairbrush so I can belt the next line whilst pretending it's a microphone.

"Full of wonder and surprise!" I dance around the room, flipping my hair this way and that for extra effect as Max glances at the magazine El is looking at and grins.

"Oh, you found Ralph Macchio." She sits down on the bed as I continue to dance aimlessly, only retiring to the floor when I stub my toe on El's dresser.

"Macchio?"

"Yeah, he's the karate kid." Max chops her hand down at El, "Hai-yah!"

I snort, "That was pathetic, Maxine. You've got absolutely zero dojo mojo."

"Oh, like you could do better," she shoots at me before turning back to Eleven, "He's so hot, right? I bet he's an amazing kisser, too."

"He is." I nod seriously, grabbing a magazine off the bed and flipping through it absentmindedly as Max rolls her eyes.

"Hey, Uh . . ." She leans in, "Is Mike a good kisser?"

"I don't know," El responds, "He's my first boyfriend."

"Yeah, that's code for 'hell no he isn't'." I chuckle as Max corrects her.

"Ex-boyfriend."

I stand up and crack my back before plopping down on the bed dramatically, my eyes scanning El's face as she looks sad.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Okay?" Max puts a hand on her shoulder and smiles reassuringly, "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. Like 'oh I hope they take us back'."

They both burst into laughter as I yawn, not into the boy talk. It's the last thing I care about right now, but it's becoming obvious I'm gonna have to listen to their gossip all night.

"God, what I wouldn't give to see their stupid faces." Max grins, shaking her head in amusement.

My head snaps to El suddenly, obviously having the same idea as her by the expression on her face. I sit up and grin while she looks mischievous.

"What is it?" Max asks suspiciously.

"Yes!" I jump up and pump my fist in the air, "God, the amount of time I've waited to use your super powers for some good old fashioned pranking and spying would have you shocked. The day has finally come."

After we explain to Max our idea, and she immediately wants in, we set El's radio to an out of signal channel and listen to the static as we put a blindfold over the brunette's eyes.

Max pulls me onto the bed, where we sit facing Eleven, me bursting with excitement.

"Is this really gonna work?"

We watch as she nods, and I grin.

"Holy shit, this is insane!"

"Max."

"Yeah, quiet." The red head pulls back, "I'm sorry."

Silence falls over the room save for the static hissing of the radio, and I hold my breath as Max and I both shift to the edge of our seats.

After a minute, Max can't take it anymore, and she moves to sit beside El.

"What are they doing?" She asks as I sit on the other side, pressing my ear to El's head.

"You can't hear her mind, dipshit," Max says, laughing at me.

I grin, "It was worth a try."

"They're eating," Eleven says quietly, seeming focused as we go silent again, "They say we are a 'species'."

"What?" Max and I share a look of confusion.

"'Emotion, not logic'." Eleven quotes something the boys say, and my mouth falls open.

"What?"

"That's rich coming from them." I roll my eyes, "You should see how worked up Mike gets when I tease him."

Suddenly, Eleven rips off the blindfold, looking at us in shock.

"What? What happened?" Max asks in alarm, but El just bursts into a fit of giggles. I grin at her as she falls to the floor, nodding in understanding.

"Let me guess? Lucas let it rip?" I chuckle as Max starts giggling as well, and soon were just a laughing mess, all falling to the floor in glee.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

CORRECT MY MISTAKES
CORRECT MY MISTAKES
CORRECT MY MISTAKES

Gesundheit, sorry.

Anyway, another chapter, sorry for the late update I'm on vaca shon. Mama needs a break every once in a while.

Please comment what you think and vote if you are so inclined.

I'm going out for ice cream now so comment your favourite flavour. Don't forget to show your work.

Word count: 2750