Chapter Twenty: What The Heck Just Happened?

~~~PART TWO~~~

"NO!" 

"YES!"

"No way, you're not serious. You can't be serious."

"Why would I not be serious?" I asked.

I was currently walking out of 'The Hawk' theater, with Steve walking in step beside me, while Nancy and Jonathan walked behind us. Steve and I had been screaming at each other for the past ten minutes since the credits of 'The Karate Kid' rolled, earning dirty looks from the people around us and amused ones from Nancy and Jonathan.

"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 simple 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 rolled my eyes, stopping beside our cars and turning to look at Jonathan and Nancy, who were watching us.

"Do you ever get the feeling that when these two are together, everyone else ceases to exist?" Nancy asked, cocking an eyebrows.

"Oh please, Nance. You're just jealous that your best friend likes me more than she likes you." He ruffled my hair and I shoved his arm off.

"Do you have another best friend that I should know about? If you do, can you point me in her direction so I can lecture her about getting some better taste." I shot back, smiling. "Anyway, as fun as this was, I've gotta get home."

"Come on, do you have to?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, I have to go figure out what to do for dinner." 

"We can just go get food! Come on, you never stay out late to hangout with us. We're seniors, and nine times out of ten you're home in bed by 8:00."

"Have you met my dad?" I asked. "For someone who's so good in a crisis, if I didn't cook, the man would drink a twelve pack of beer and call it a meal."

"Your Dad's a grown man, he can feed himself." Jonathan tried. I shrugged.

"Sorry, guys. Maybe next time. Bye guys!"

"See ya!"

"Bye, Riley!"

"See ya later, Barbie." I climbed into my truck, starting it up and pulling off of the curb so that I could start the drive home.

There was another reason I had to be home to make dinner, and it had nothing to do with my Dad, although it was well known that if I didn't cook, he'd only ever feed me microwave dinners and Poptarts.

At lot had changed in my life in the year since the Demogorgan was defeated. For example, I spent a lot of time with Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan, surprisingly enough Steve more than the other two. We actually got along really well. It wasn't the most serious of friendships, and we didn't really have deep or meaningful conversation but it was fun! And honestly, after everything we'd been through last year...I needed some fun in my life.

But that wasn't the only change. My dad and I had moved out of the trailer, and relocated to a cabin in the woods, which when we found it, looked like it had been abandoned for quite a while. We cleaned it up, furnished it, set up security measures all around the property to let us know if anything or anyone was getting a little too close. It was a good set up.

I parked the truck a little ways away from the house, stepping over the trip wire and making my way up the stairs and to the front door in a rythmic knock. Two knocks, pause, one knock, pause, three knocks. I heard the multiple locks unlock with a satisfying click before opening the door and going inside.

"Hey, sorry I'm late." I called, shutting the door and locking it again. "The movie went longer than expected. I can't wait until it comes out so we can watch it together, I think you're gonna love it."

The bedroom door opened and out came Eleven, at least a foot taller than she'd been last year with twice as much hair. I smiled at the thought, putting a hand on top of her head.

"You're hair's getting long. And look how curly it is. We'll ahve to do soemthing with it before too long."

"Do something with it?" She asked. I smiled, walking past her into the kitchen and getting the stuff out for dinner.

"Yeah. You know, style it." She furrowed her eyebrows. "I know I'm not a good example of this, because I only ever wear mine in a ponytail, but typically girls wear their hair in different styles. We can braid it, go for a side pony-tail, low pony-tail, put it in a bun. I'll show them all to you." She nodded and I turned to put the food on the counter when I spotted a plate sitting on the table with yellow crumbs on it. I shot El a pointed look. "Eleven?"

"Yes?"

"Did you eat Eggos before dinner again?"  She just looked at me. I shook my head. "I told you, if you get hungry we have actual snack food, you're not supposed to eat Eggos before dinner." She nodded.

"How is Steve?" She asked. I furrowed my eyebrows at her.

"He's fine...why are you asking about him?"

"You two are...more than friends?" My eyes widened.

"No! No, no, no, Steve is...more than friends with Nancy. We're...we're just friends." I clarified.  She nodded.

"I miss Mike." I sighed, closing my eyes and leaning against the counter in front of her. I reached out, ruffling her hair.

"I know you do." I said. "And I'm working on convincing Dad to let you see each other, but he says its just too dangerous right now. We still don't know if the lab has eyes on him or what's going on. We have to be careful." She nodded. "I'm sorry. Unfortunately, you're stuck with me, and I guess we'll just have to go to the video store tomorrow night and rent some disgustingly cheesy romantic movie." She smiled. "You like that idea? Huh?" She nodded and I chuckled, going back to making dinner.

There was another rhythmic knock and El unlocked the door with her mind. It opened and Dad came in, taking off his hat and jacket before locking it back.

"Hey," He greeted, "How was the movie?"

"It was good. I think you'd like it, there was a lot of fighting involved." I said, wiggling my eyebrows at El who chuckled. He nodded, walking past me to the fridge and grabbing a beer, popping it open and taking a sip.

"And how was Steve?" I rolled my eyes.

"Have you two been talking about this behind my back, or what?" I asked, beginning to chop vegetables. "Steve has this thing, its called a girlfriend. Steve and I are just friends, I don't know why I have to keep explaining that."

"You know how many girls I was 'just friends with' when I was your age?" Dad asked, leaning against the counter beside El. I scrunched my nose up in disgust.

"No, and I would really rather not know, thank you very much." He chuckled, taking another sip. "I was just talking to El, and we're gonna have to start styling her hair before too long. And you know...maybe one of these days get her some clothes that don't make her look like a trucker."

"She dresses like you! I thought it was fine, because that's how you dress!"

"Yes, trucker-chic is my personal preference, but Eleven should get to pick out clothes that she actually likes." I pointed out. I smiled at her. "Maybe when I get paid I can go pick out some girly stuff and bring it home, see if you like it." She smiled at this. "Oh, shoot, I have more groceries for dinner in the car. I have to go get them. Dad, can you keep chopping these?" He nodded, taking over and I put my coat back on, walking out to my car. I grabbed the brown paper grocery sack, and turned to go back inside, when suddenly the entire world around me shifted.

Suddenly I was back in the upside down, filled with creepy vines and white spores. I gasped, dropping the bag as my heart began pounding in my chest.  Thunder roared and I looked up to see the sky filled with red lightning. I was suddenly covered with goosebumps, and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end, just like it had a couple of times last year. I turned around, running back inside and closing the door, leaning against it as a panic attack began to well up inside me. I put a hand over my heart gasping for breath when suddenly I felt a pair of hands on my arms and everything was back to normal.

I sank to the floor as the normal world reappeared in front of me, Dad crouched down in front of me while Eleven looked over his shoulder, her eyes wide with fear and concern.

"Riles, hey what's going on? Was something out there?" Dad asked. I shook my head, putting my hands over my face and attempting to control my breathing. "What happened?" I shook my head.

"Nothing I just..." I moved my hands, looking at him. "I saw the Upside Down." He furrowed his eyebrows.

"What?" I nodded.

"It was like I was back there again, everything disappeared and it turned into the Upside Down, and there was this weird storm and..."  I shook my head.

"Has that ever happened before?" Dad asked. 

"No...never." He nodded, standing up and sighing, running a hand over his face.

"We'll take you into the lab tomorrow, have the Doctor take a look at you." I nodded, standing up and pushing my hair out of my face.

"I um...I dropped the groceries."

"I got 'em." He walked past me, going back outside, and I turned to look at Eleven, who walked over and wrapped her arms around my waist, crushing me in a hug. I hugged her back, burying my face in her hair and trying to steady my breathing.

What the heck just happened?