𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗥𝗮𝘁𝘀

Dustin entered Scoops Ahoy to see a brunette at the counter

"Hi"

"Hi," she said back

"I'm Dustin"

"I'm Robin"

"Pleasure to meet you. Uh, is- is he here" Dustin said referring to Steve

"Is who here" Robin asked but before he could answer, Steve burst through the door

"Henderson" Steve breathed out as he pointed to Dustin. Dustin laughed as they both pointed to each other

"Henderson! He's back, he's back" Steve yelled as Robin stared at them both, completely weirded out

"I'm back. You got the job" Dustin yelled back as he pointed to the Scoops Ahoy sigh in the store

"I got the job" Steve started to imitate a trumpet. Steve and Dustin started to do a handshake they made as Robin watched them

"How many children are you friends with" Robin asked as they finished the handshake

Steve sighed as he pointed to Robin

Max was riding up and down her street on her skateboard trying to land an Ollie. As she tried to do it for the millionth time she fell as her skateboard rolled away. Max looked up to see where her board had rolled away to see it get picked up by someone she didn't expect, Eleven

El walked towards her with Max's board in El's hand

"Hi," El said

"Hi?" Max said questioningly, last time she checked El didn't like her so what was she doing here

"Can we talk?" she asked

"and then he said he- he missed me, and then he just hung up" Eleven explained to Max what had happened to her half an hour ago. max was pacing back and forth listening to her

"He's a piece of shit"

"What" El muttered in disbelief

"Mike doesn't have jack shit to do today and his Nana obviously isn't sick, I guarantee you, him and Lucas are playing Atari right now" Max accused them

"But friends don't lie"

"ya well boyfriends lie all. the. time."

"She knows I'm lying. She knows I'm lying" Mike passed back and forth in his basement as he explained the situation to Lucas while Will was setting up something behind them, being completely ignored

"I don't understand, why lie" Lucas asked

"Hopper, he threatened me"

"Did he say he'd kill you"

"What no"

"So then what's the big deal" Lucas shrugged

"The big deal is if I don't do what he says then he'll stop me from seeing El, like permanently" Mike slightly yelled

"You don't understand, Lucas. He's crazy, he's lost his mind" Lucas shook his head in disappointment and sighed

"Hey guys I'm almost set up here" Will muttered but he was completely ignored

"I had no choice Lucas, I really had no choice"

I just wished you consulted me because the way you handled this, you're deep shit" Lucas told Mike

"You're going to stop calling him, You're going to ignore his calls, as far as you're concerned he doesn't exist," Max said as she sat next to El on her bed

"Doesn't exist" Eleven furrowed her eyebrows

"He treated you like garbage, you're gonna treat him like garbage. Give him a taste of his own medicine" Max smiled

"Give him the medicine" El repeated with a hint of confusion in her voice

Mm-hmm and if he doesn't fix this, if he doesn't explain himself, dump his ass" She said. El looked taken back, I'm she was but it was very evident on her face

Mike groaned as he flopped onto his couch. Lucas looked at him like he was an idiot (he is but we don't have to mention it)

"I'm not gonna lie, it's gonna be bad" Mike groaned once more but louder than before as he looked up with his hands on his head

"But, you can fix this, it's just one little mistake, I've made hundreds, thousands. Max has dumbed me five times" Mike just looked at him like he was crazy and honestly, he probably was

"But what have I done? huh? Have I despaired? No, I've marched back into battle, and I've won her back every single freaking time" Lucas whispered like a total creep

"How" Mike asked

"I'll show you, come on" Lucas grabbed Mike's arm as they bolted up the stairs

"Wait guys, I'm still here, guys?" Will yelled

"Come on," Max said as she lifted El off of her bed

"Where are we going" Eleven asked confused

"to have some fun, there's more to life than stupid boys you know"

Male voice speaking Russian on recording

"So what do you think," Dustin says after he pauses the recording. Steve paces back and forth as he eats a banana

"It sounded familiar," he said as he shoved a piece of his banana into his mouth

"What"

"The music, the music right there at the end" Steve explained

"Why are you listening to the music, Steve. Listen to the Russian, we're translating Russian" Dustin yelled frustrated

"I'm trying to listen to Russian but there's-" Steve's sentence cuts off by Robin and Alex bursting into the room

"All right, babysitting time is over, you need to get in there," Robin said as Alex awkwardly stood behind her with his hands in his pockets.
Robin looked towards her board where she kept tally's when Steve did something stupid

"Hey, my board, that was important data, shit birds" Robin yelled

"I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data and what are you doing here," Dustin said as he looked towards Alex

"I'm looking for Delilah," he said as he sat down at the table

"Yeah? And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyway" Robin said as she smirked and walked to the table

"How does she know about the Russians" Dustin whispered to Steve

"I don't know" Steve mumbled with a banana in his mouth

"You told her about the-"

"It wasn't me" Alex stared at all of them bored, he just wanted to find his girlfriend and make sure she was ok

"Hello, we can hear you. Actually, we can hear everything, you are both extremely loud" Robin said referring to her and Alex

"You think you have evil Russians plotting against our country, on tape and you're trying to translate but haven't figured out a word because you didn't realize Russians use an entirely different alphabet than we do," Alex said as he looked at both Dustin and Steve. They looked at each other, confused at what Alex had just said

"Sound about right," Robin said
Robin tried to grab for the tape but Steve got to it before she could.

"Whoa, what do you think you're doing" Steve said

"We wanna hear it," Alex and Robin said in unison

"Why" Steve and Dustin said

"Cause maybe I can help, I'm fluent in four languages, you know"

"Russian"?

"Ou-yay are-yay umb-day" Alex chuckled, understanding what she said
The boys except Alex of course, laughed in glee not know what she really said and that it wasn't Russian

"That was Pig Latin, dingus"

"Hah, she called you guys dumb" Alex laughed

"Idiot" Steve said as he slapped Dustin with the banana peel

"But we can speak Spanish," Alex said

"And French and Italian and I've been in band for 12 years, my ears are little geniuses, trust me" Robin added

"I grew up in a Cuban household, my mom could speak Spanish to me really fast and I'd still understand her" Alex deadpanned

"Uh..." Steve hesitated as he stared at Alex and Robin

"Come on, it's your turn to sling I've cream, my turn to translate. I don't even want credit, I'm just bored" Robin begged

As Steve hesitated, Robin stook her hand out, wanting the recorder so she could translate, Steve stared at Dustin and finally gave in as Steve took the slinger and Robin took the recorder.

Max and Eleven hopped off the bus that took them to Starcourt mall.

"So what do you think," Max asked as she followed behind Eleven.
Eleven looked at the mall with uncertainty. Max noticed

"Hey what's wrong" She asked

"Too many people, against the rules" Eleven deadpanned, hopper allowed her to go out but it couldn't be in an area with lots of people

"Seriously, you have superpowers, what's the worst that can happen," Max said as she smiled and grabbed El's hand. El smiled and nodded

"So what should we do first" Max asked as El looked around the mall in awe

"You've never been shopping before, have you" Max laughed, El shook her head as she continued to look around

"Well, then I guess we're just gonna have to try everything" Max looked at a store called the GAP and her eyes lit up. She grabbed El's arm and ran to it

"Oh, come on"

"I just, I don't understand what we're looking for" Soon after, the boys coincidentally passed the store the two girls ran in

"Something pretty and shiny that says "I'm sorry," Lucas said. Mike looked at him still confused about what to get. Lucas sighed and turned towards Mike

"Remember when you'd get Delilah upset sometimes" Lucas went back all the way to when it was just the OG party: Mike Wheeler, Will Byers, Lucas Sinclair, Dustin Henderson and Delilah Henderson

"Ya" Mike nodded remembering when Delilah ignored him to days end because he said her dress wasn't pretty

"What did you get for Delilah that made her feel better" Mike thought and realized something that he gave to Delilah that made her stop ignoring her

A promise ring

"But El doesn't even know what that is, Hopper will think something way off and think I'm corrupting her," Mike said as he shook his head and looked at Lucas

"Exactly so you get something else but has the same meaning as your promise rings. Like I said before something shiny that says I'm sorry" Lucas explained

"So something that literally says I'm sorry" Mike furrowed his brows, still not getting the memo

"No!"

El looked at all the clothes in the GAP in awe. So many colours and so many different outfits that AREN'T BUTTON UP T-SHIRTS.

El stumbled upon a shirt that was on a cheat mannequin. Max came up from behind her and noticed the look in El's eyes to see she was a bit interested in it

"Do you like that" Max asked

"How do I know... what I like" usually Delilah helped her with that, she was good at showing El new things and having her understand stuff.

Oh how she would miss that in the future

"You just try things on, until you find things that feel like you"

"Like me" El questioned. What was like her, she didn't know, maybe Delilah knew!

"Yeah, not Hopper, not Mike, you" El looked back at the shirt and smiled

Delilah was walking around Starcourt mall, trying not to have her friends or boyfriend find her, the Mind Flayer told her to keep low as he grew his army.

Delilah stopped in her tracks as the feeling came back. The feeling she has been suffering from for the past year. Alex always helped her with it once she told him what happened in 1983-1984, she trusted him enough.

But Alex wasn't here

"Shit," she thought. She ran to the bathroom, unknowingly passing by Lucas, Mike and Will.

She ran into a stall, getting weird stares from the girls. She sat on the toilet as she tried to focus on her breathing with her head in her hands, but it was so hard without Alex.

"Hey are you ok" a girl was right outside her stall

"Um, I don't think so. I think I'm having a panic attack" the girls eyes widen

"Can I come in?" she asked

"Sure, I guess" the girl came in and crouched down in front of Delilah so she could see her. Delilah looked at the girls feature

WHY WERE GIRLS SO HOT

She had platinum blonde hair with black roots obviously showing that she dyed her hair like Delilah. She had bright blue eyes with rosy cheeks and lips. She was absolutely gorgeous

"Ok I want you to breathe in and out, can you do that for me" Her voice was sweet and lovely, like honey.

"I-it's too ha-hard" Delilah stuttered out

"Ok that's fine, just try and match it with mine ok?" The blond girl gently took Delilah's arm and put it on her chest so Delilah could feel it

Slowly Delilah matched her breathing with the girls and she was feeling better

"Are you ok now?" the girl asked. Delilah nodded and thanked the girl
The girl helped Delilah out of the stall and walked her to a table in the food court section of the mall

"Do you want me to stay with you"

"Yes please" Delilah nodded, even though the Mind Flayer told her not to interact with anyone, this girl was so sweet and she just wanted a friend

"My name is Amara, Amara Jackson" Amara stool her hand out in front of Delilah

"Delilah, Delilah Henderson" Delilah smiled

She had an idea

A terrible idea

"Was that Delilah" Mike asked as he saw the girl running to the toilets

"I don't know but it doesn't matter we need to find something for El," Lucas said as they walked around the mall. They finally stumbled upon a store that sells pretty nice things.

Mike crouched down and looked at the variety of jewelry. He stopped at a golden teddy bear and smiled

"Excuse me sir" he called to the man behind the counter

"Hmm" the man looked down at Mike

"How much for this teddy bear right here?" Mike pointed to the bear he was interested in. The man looked at it and smiled at Mike

"Three hundred, three hundred," Lucas said in belief as they exited the store

"I should've shoved that teddy bear right up his-"

Max and Eleven went through clothes and clothes, checking them out. Eleven was amazed by all the colours and clothes.

Max tried out a bunch of glasses till she reached a red one that she obviously liked

The boys walked around until they stumbled upon a girl's store. They looked at it in horror as they realized what it was
A lingerie store
The shop was filled with fancy underwear and bras as women looked and bought

They quickly ran away, not wanting to see any more of it

The boys were at a mini perfume shops in the middle of other shops, smelling perfume

Lucas sprayed one into the air and smelled it. She nudged Mike's shoulder, wanting him to smell it

"Mike" Mike looked up and Lucas sprayed the perfume in his eyes. Mike closed his eyes as yelled out

The girls ran into a photo store to take pictures.

"That's it, girls, ok here you go," the man said as Max and Eleven posed for pictures

"Wardrobe change please" he yelled
The girls giggled as they changed their outfits and posed for more pictures

"Shake it, shake it out for me" the man hyped them. The girls shook out their hair with excitement and smiled on their faces

El was trying on heels, she wobbled as Max helped her across the store. Eleven yelped as she fell to the floor, giggling with Max

A group of four girls looked at them in disgust and annoyance
El and Max laughed some more once they saw them roll their eyes

El and Max stood behind a pillar as they watched the four girls talk to a guy
Eleven focused on the cup that the oranges-haired girl was holding. A few seconds later the drink exploded landing on all the girls and the guy.

Max heard a familiar giggle and she turned her head to see Delilah with another girl she fumed with jealousy that El noticed quite easily

"Are you ok Max" El asked. Max snapped out of her haze and turned back to Eleven

"Ya I'm ok, come on, let's go" El noises as she followed Max to Scoops Ahoy

"See? What'd I tell you, there's more to life than stupid boys" Max said as they giggled and ran passing the boys

The boys all sulked on a bench, giving up mainly because they were poor and their allowance sucked ass

"Can we please play D&D now" Will asked bored out of his mind

"No" Lucas and Mike said in unison
Will sighed in defeat

Dustin and Robin listened to the Russian recording as Alex and Steve were in the front

"Wait, that last part, just one more time" Robin stopped pacing. Dustin played it back so she could listen to it again

"Ok, that word. Um... it's pronounced dyl-nna-ya" Dustin nodded and repeated the word

"Which is spelled D, D, D, D" Dustin ran to the board looking for the letter for D

"The- the chair, the chair looking thingy" Dustin yelled out. Robin wrote it down then went to tell Alex and Steve

"We got our first sentence," She said. Steve and Alex turned around, Steve with two ice-cream cones in his hands

"Oh seriously"
"Cool," Alex and Steve said

"Yeah, the week is long," Robin said in a Russian accent. Steve and Alex looked at her in disappointment

"Well that's thrilling," Alex said

"I know but progress," Robin said before she closed the windows

"Ok here you go, you got a strawberry and then a vanilla with sprinkles, extra whipped cream" Steve turned back around as he handed the ice-cream cones to Max and Eleven

"Thanks" they both mumbled as they licked their snack right away

"Hey have you guys seen Delilah, I can't find her," Alex asked the two girls. Max debated if she wanted to tell him or not but Eleven already answered

"No," she said, Alex nodded in disappointment

"Wait a second, are you even allowed to be here," Steve asked as he stared at El. The two girls stared at each other and giggled as they ran out of the store.

Delilah stared at Amara, wanting to ask a question, but was too afraid to ask

"Do you want something" Amara asked as she noticed Delilah staring at her

"How did you know what to do" Amara stared at her confused until she got what she meant. She smiled finally able to share something about her to someone who also had it

"I also get panic attacks from time to time so I know what it feels like mad what to do" Amara smiled at her as they sat on her bed, they arrived at Amara's house once they realized it was getting dark

"Someone usually helps me, but he obviously wasn't with me so I panicked even more and I guess that made it worse" Delilah frowned in embarrassment. She just wanted to whelve this feeling.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, ya it bad but you'll get used to it at some point" Amara smiled at her sweetly

"Thanks, Amara" Delilah smiled back as she leaned her head on Amara's shoulder, wanting to stay like that forever.

"The week is long, the silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west" Dustin, Robin, Alex and Steve read. They had finally translated part of the message

"I mean it just, it just can't be right," Steve said as he closed up the shops

"It's right"

"Honestly I think it great news," Dustin said

"How is this great news, all this lead to was a riddle we have to solve" Alex shook his head

"I mean so much to being American hero's, it's total nonsense," Steve said

"It's not nonsense, it's too specific, it's obviously a code, a riddle like Alex said"

"What do you mean a code"

"Like a super-secret spy code"

"That's a totals stretch"

"I don't know is it" Robin said

"Your buying into this" Steve said in disbelief

"Listen, 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" Robin explained

"Exactly"

"And my translation is correct, I know that for sure, so the silver cat feeds, why would anyone talk like that unless they were trying to mask the true meaning of their message" Robin continued to debunk all of this being BS

"Exactly," Dustin said again

"Why would anyone mask the want to mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive"

"Exactly" Dustin turned to Steve as Steve mocked him by mouthing exactly

"So I guess that confirms your suspicion" Alex said as he looked at his girlfriends brother

"Evil Russians"

"I can't believe I'm about to agree with this strange child, but yeah, totally evil Russians" Robin laughed

"So how do we crack it" Alex asked

"Well, I guess we translate the rest and hopefully a pattern emerges," Robin said with a little uncertainty

"A pattern, right like maybe the silver cat is a meeting place" Dustin suggested

"Or a person," Alex said

"Or a weapon like Dustin pointed at Alex

"It's probably gonna take a super genius to crack it, but..." Robins sentence trailed off as she realized that Steve wasn't with hem anymore

"Where's Steve," she asked. The three looked behind them as they realized that Steve had stopped behind them. Looking in his pockets for money

"Hey, Steve what are you doing " Alex called for him but he didn't listen. Coins clattered on the floor as he searched for a quarter

"Uh, it's a quarter, I need- do you have a quarter" Steve ignored his question and asked for coins as Robin chuckled

"Sure you tall enough for that ride" Robin teased as they ran over

"Quarter" Steve yelled, Robin threw him one as he swiftly caught it and inserted the coin in the slot

"You need help getting up, little Stevie" Alex teased as he and Robin smiled and Dustin chuckled

"Shhh, would you three just shut up and listen"

"Holy shit, the music, the music!" Dustin realized where he had heard the music and took out the recorder from his bag. He played the tape, the same music playing in the background

"I don't understand," Robin said

"it's the exact same song on the recording," Alex said as his eyes widened

"Maybe they have horses like this in Russia," Robin said

"Indiana Flyer, I don't, I don't think so, this code, it didn't come for Russia, it came from here," Steve said as he looked up at Robin

Delilah dragged Amara's unconscious body all the way to the warehouse, she had gotten a Hawkins citizen for the Mind Flayer's army

Delilah of course didn't want to do this to Amara, she was so sweet, but she had to, she didn't have a choice

Once she arrived she saw Billy's car pull, he had gotten someone too

"I see you got one too" Billy yelled out to her

"Yup" she yelled back, both of them remembering the process of kidnapping the two girls

They carried the girl's body down to the area where the mind Flayer stayed. They put down their body's as the two girls woke up, dried blood on their head

Their whimpers were muffled due to the tape, their eyes widen once they saw Billy and Delilah hovering over them with a cold stone stare

They shook in fear as their whimpering got louder, The two flayed took their shoulders and slammed down on the ground, almost in unison

"Don't be afraid, it'll be over soon, just stay very still" Billy whispered in Heather's ear, Delilah whispering something completely different

"I'm sorry Amara" Delilah whispered. Billy and Delilah took off the duct tape on the girls mouths

Snarling was heard from the other side of the room, Amara and Heather turned to see a flesh monster

"No!" They yelled as the monster stomped closer to them, they screamed and yelled until they were silenced by a piece of the monster attached to their mouths

Delilah could be seen with her hand outstretched with tears streaming down her face

Delilah sat on her bed silently cried in her new dress, Mike had called it ugly and weird. she heard the door open and she knew it exactly who it was

"I don't want to talk to you Mike" she mumbled

"I know but I'm sorry I said those mean stuff about your dress, I actually like the flowers on the them" he said as he sat down in front of Delilah

"Y-you do" Delilah sniffled

"Yeah, I actually got you something" Mike said with excitement as he reached into his pocket. Delilah raised her head in curiosity

Mike took out a ring box and opened it to reveal a copper wire ring with a ruby gem on top

"What is it" Delilah asked

"It's a promise ring, and I'm promising to never hurt your feelings again and if I do i have to get another ring for you" Mike smiled at her and Delilah smiled back

"Thanks Mike" Delilah smiled as she wiped her tears and hugged Mike

"Your welcome Delilah" Mike smiled

I FINALLY UPLOADED A LONG CHAPTER LETS GO

Now I have to go update the unlisted and just go back and forth for awhile

The fact that Amara wasn't planned to be in this book beforehand. I was just writing the panic attack part and I was like "let's add another love interest for Delilah that'll be fun" anyways I'm now devoted to protecting Amara with my life

WE ALSO GOT SOME MIKE x DELILAH CONTENT LETS GOOOO

Now Delilah has four love interests 😃

elle fanning
as
amara jackson

(4315 words)