Chapter Forty-Nine: There's More To Life Than Stupid Boys

~~~Riley~~~

I sat in the food court, a plate full of mediocre Hotdog On A Stick food on a plate in front of me, slowly driving myself crazy with thoughts about why Steve doesn't like me anymore.

Is it because I wasn't ready to sleep with him yet? Do I not put enough effort into my physical appearance?

Or worst of all...I was right, and he really did only want to go out with me to make him feel better about Nancy, and he's now realized he's gotten all the use he can out of me. I want to believe that that one isn't true but...actions speak louder than words and all that.

"There you are!" I looked up from my food to see Dustin standing in front of me. I smiled.

"Hey, kid! You're back!" He nodded.

"Yeah, I'm back...and I need your help with something." MY eyes widened. "Nothing like that, although if we can figure this out, its gonna be huge. I need you to come back to Scoops Ahoy with me." I shook my head.

"Nope. No, sorry Dustin. That is the last place I want to be right now-"

"Yeah, I know that, and I know you and Steve are having some relationship problems right now, but this is a lot more important than your love life. I promise." I sighed.

"Fine, but-" He grabbed my wrist, pulling me away from the table and my food. "Wait! Dustin, I paid for that-"

"There's no time! We gotta go now!" 

"Then you're buying me lunch later!"

~~~

When I got back to the ice cream shop, Robin was behind the counter, giving samples to Erica Sinclair and her friends. Dustin dragged me behind the counter and into the staff room, where Steve was in the process of writing something on Robin's white board. 

"Hey...you got her. I didn't know if you'd want to come back."

"He didn't really give me much choice in the matter." I said, flopping down in one of the chairs. "Are you updating the 'You Suck' board, because I'm pretty sure you just earned a mark and its certainly not on the positive side." He nodded.

"I know you're mad-"

"Talk about this later," Dustin interrupted, "Riley, I have called you here because I have intercepted a secret Russian communication-"

"What?!" I exclaimed. 

"A secret Russian Communication." He emphasized, telling me to shut up. I sank down in my seat. "I think this could be big, but we need your help to translate it." He slapped a Russian-English dictionary down in front of me.

"Why would I know anything about translating Russian?" I asked.

"We're not saying you do, we just know that you're smart and good at figuring things out." Dustin replied. I sighed, raking a hand through my hair.

"I'll try, but no promises." I said, leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms over my chest. "Let's hear the thing."

~~~

"Неделя длинная. Серебряная кошка кормит, когда синий встречается с желтым на западе. Поездка в Китай звучит хорошо, если действовать осторожно." The recording played the Russian words, which sounded like complete gibberish to me, as music played in the background. Steve paced back and forth, eating a banana in a rather uncomfortable way as Dustin paused the recording.

"So what do you think?" He asked.

"It sounded familiar." Steve answered, causing me to furrow my eyebrows.

"What?"

"The music. The music right there at the end." He explained through a mouthful of banana.

"Why are you listening to the music, Steve?! Listen to the Russian! We're translating Russian!" 

"I'm trying to listen to the Russian, but there's music playing-"

"Alright, babysitting time is over, you need to get in there." Robin said, bursting into the room. she came to a stop in front of the markerboad. "Hey, my board! That was important data-"

"It was six-0 for 'You Suck'." I told her.

"Thank you."

"I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data." Dustin told her as Steve threw his Banana peel on the table. I shot him a look.

"What?"

"There's a trash can right there-"

"Yeah? And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyways?" We all stopped talking, looking up at her.

"How does she know about the Russians?" Dustin asked us.

"I don't know."

"You told her about the Russians?"

"It wasn't me."

"Hello, I can hear you." She interrupted. "Actually, I can hear everything. You are all 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 realize Russians use an entirely different alphabet than we do." I smiled at her. "Sound about right?"

"If possible...I think I like you more." I said. She reached across the table for the tape recorder, but Steve snatched it away.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you think you're doing?"

"I want to hear it."

"Why?" They asked in unison.

"Maybe because she knew they operate with a different Alphabet and we didn't so maybe she can help?" I suggested.

"I'm fluent in four languages, you know." She added.

"Russian?"

"Ou-yay are-yay umb-day." She said.

"Oh-ho-ho!"

"Holy crap!' They laughed.

"She just asked if you were dumb in Pig Latin you dorks." I said, causing their smiles to fall. 

"Idiot." Steve said, hitting Dustin with the Banana peel.

"Even if she doesn't speak Russian, if she's good with languages, she can probably figure this out." I pointed out.

"I speak Spanish and French and Italian, and I've been in band for twelve years. My ears are little geniuses, trust me." 

"Uh..."

"Come on, its your turn to sling ice cream, my turn to translate. Besides, your girlfriend is ticked off at you and if you stay in here any longer, she's gonna chuck a chair at your head." He looked at me and I shrugged.

"She's not wrong." He sighed, taking the scooper from her and walking out the door.

~~~

Dustin and I sat at the table with the recorder while Robin paced, listening to it over and over again.

"Wait, that last part, just one more time."

"Ok. "Dustin rewound it, playing it again.

"Ok, that word!" She pointed at him and he stopped it. "Um...its pronounced...'Dly-nna-ya'."

"Dly-nna-ya." he repeated.

"Which is spelled..." She gestured to him and he got up, going over to the board while I got ready to write it down on the notepad.  

"The...The chair! The chair-looking thingy." I wrote it down. The door opened and Steve stuck his head in.

"Riley, you might wanna get out here." I furrowed my eyebrows at him, passing the notepad to Robin and standing up, following him out of the breakroom. I stepped up beside him behind the counter my eyes widening as I saw Max Mayfield and by her side...was Eleven, wearing a brand new outfit. My eyes widened.

"Uh-oh." Max said, putting a hand on her arm and causing her to look up at me. Her eyes widened.

"You are not supposed to be here." I said.

"I know," She said, "But Max is teaching me-"

"There's more to life then stupid boys." She finished for her. I glanced between them.

"Well...you've got that right." I shot Steve a look, causing him to sigh.

"Will you tell Hop?" She asked. I bit my lip.

"No...no, I won't tell him." They both let out a cheer, jumping up and down. "However, you stay with Max, and don't do anything that's gonna draw attention to you, ok?" She nodded. "And here..." I reached into my pocket, handing her a small wad of bills. She looked at me in shock. "The outfit looks good. Its about time you start picking out your own clothes." She smiled nodding.

"Thanks!" I nodded.

"Low Profile, do you hear me?" She nodded and Steve handed them their ice cream.

"Ok here we go, you've got a Strawberry, and then a vanilla with sprinkles and extra whipped cream."

"Thanks." They both said.

"So...what did you do that's got Riley so mad at you?"

"I think...what didn't I do is probably an easier question." They left and I rolled my eyes, going to walk back into the break room. "Wait." He grabbed my arm, stopping me. I sighed. "Can we just talk for a second? Please."

"I don't think that's such a good idea," I shot back, meeting his eyes, "Don't ask me why though, because I'm not gonna bother to tell you."

"Look-"

"Hey, lovebirds," Robin interrupted, opening the window, "We've got our first sentence.' Steve sighed, hanging his head.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The week is long." She said in a Russian accent.

"Well that's thrilling." Steve said with a disinterested tone in his voice.

"I know. But, progress." She shut the window again and I pulled my arm out of his grasp just as customers came up to the window.

"Oops, you've got customers, no time to talk now I guess. Oops." I said sarcastically, walking into the back room and slamming the door behind me.