• The Mall Rats •

IT WAS EARLY IN THE MORNING when Winnie woke up. She was laying underneath Dustin snuggled in his bed after staying the night with him. Their night consisted of movie marathons, popcorn, and of course cuddling. Even though they did find information about Russians they wanted to spend a night together not focusing on dangerous shit. So they decided that the next day they were going to investigate about the radio message.

Dustin was still sound asleep on top of her and she laughed silently. She poked his face only for him to stir and cuddle into her further. She tried moving him off but to no avail, she tried once more but his weight was crushing her. Finally when she had enough she pushed him off the bed making him yell and fall on the floor with a thud.

"Ow my face." Dustin said groaning.

"It's time to wake up." Winnie said getting out of bed.

Dustin nodded and groggily got up and headed toward the bathroom. As Winnie shook her head at her boyfriend's antics she heard the phone ring from Dustin's room. Winnie knew Dustin's mom was probably out getting groceries so Winnie got up and went to answer the phone. She went into the kitchen and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Hey it's max."

"Hey what's up?"

"We need you over here, your sister is here and we need to talk about some boy trouble."

"What did Mike do?" Winnie Asked groaning.

"Just get over to my place." Max said. "And bring your wallet too, I think I might have an idea."

Winnie agreed and hung up the phone, she sighed hoping to spend time with her boyfriend and figure out the Russian communication but she didn't want to deal with Max's fury.

"Who was that?" Dustin Asked, coming in after changing from his pajamas.

"Max, she said something happened with El and Mike." Winnie said.

"What about our Russian mission?" Dustin said disappointed. "Winnie please don't ditch."

"I'm not, I just need to deal with this for a few hours and then I'm all yours." Winnie said coming over to him and placing her arms around him. "I promise." Winnie then placed her pinkie out and Dustin knew she was serious.

"Okay, keep your radio on you. I'll head to see Steve. But you keep your promise." Dustin said and kissed her forehead and grabbed his backpack with all the stuff they needed for their mission. "I'll see you soon Winnie bear."

"Bye Dustyman." Winnie said and watched as he opened the door and left.

She went back into the Dustin's room and grabbed her bag and walked talkie making sure it was on full battery. She then changed into a new outfit, getting out of one of Dustin's t-shirt and gym shorts and headed towards the Max's house.

••••••••

Winnie had arrived to Max's house and was sitting on Max's bed with El as she explained to Winnie what had happened as Max was pacing back and forth.

"Then he said he missed me. And then hung up." El finished.

"He's a piece of shit." Max said.

"What?" El questioned confused.

"El, Mike doesn't have shit to do today. His nana obviously isn't sick." Winnie explained to her.

"I guarantee you, him and Lucas are playing Atari right now." Max adds.

"But friends don't lie." El says.

"Yeah, well, boyfriends lie. All the time." Max said. "Well except for Winnie's honestly they are goals. How do you have a great relationship Winnie?"

"Well Dustin and I trust each other, we respect each other's boundaries and if we fight, we try to find a solution." Winnie explains making both girls look at her as if she had grown two heads.

"Okay, here's what your gonna do." Max says. "Your going to stop calling I'm, your going to ignore his calls. As far as you're concerned he doesn't exist."

"Doesn't exist?" El asked surprised.

"Not gonna lie sis, but you just need some space from him. Your life shouldn't rely on him. You are your own woman, own that shit."

"Exactly." Max agrees. "He treated you like garbage. Your gonna treat him like garbage. Give him a taste of his own medicine."

"Give him the medicine." El repeats.

"And if he doesn't fix this, if he doesn't explain himself, dump his ass."

Winnie laughs and she puts her hand on El's shoulder.

"Or you can give him the silent treatment, I did do that to Dustin once. He only lasted 3 minutes until he spilled why he didn't show up to one of our dates, he got his hand super glued to Steve's head, had to go to Mr.Clarke to fix it so they didn't have to cut it. He swore Steve to never tell anyone." Winnie said laughing.

"Come on girls." Max said grabbing both of their hands and getting them up from her bed.

"Where are we going?" El asked.

"To have some fun, there's more to life than stupid boys, you know." Max says and looks over at Winnie. "Mall time?"

"Mall time." Winnie said and grabbed her backpack. "Don't worry sis after today you'll totally forget about this Mike bullshit."

Winnie and Max knew exactly what to do to help El and they both were excited to have a new girl to the dynamic duo but now it became the trio.

••••••••

The three girls exited off the bus and were standing in front of the mall. Max and Winnie smiled excitedly as El looked a little nervous.

"So what do you think?" Winnie asked her sister.

El said nothing as she looked up at the sign and then around at people.

"What's wrong?" Max Asked El.

"Too many people." She said. "Against the rules."

"Seriously?" Max Asked. "You and Winnie have superpowers what's the worst that could happen."

"Besides if you ever feel like it's too much, just let me know." Winnie told El, and she nodded.

"Come on girls, it's time to have some real fun." Max said and grabbed their hands and running into the mall.

The ran through the doors and went into the center of the mall, letting El look at everything around her. El looked like a kid in the candu store, seeing so many options and so many things to choose.

"So what should we do first?" Winnie asked.

El didn't respond still looking up at everything making Max laugh.

"She's never been shopping before. Has she?" Max Asked Winnie.

"Well when she's staying with Hopper, the only thing she wears are flannels and play Monopoly until Hopper gets angry that we beat him every time."

"Well then, I guess we're just gonna have to try everything? Winnie are you ready for shopping spree?"

Winnie held up her wallet and winked.

"Let's do some shopping. I've been saving up a lot of money for a spree like this." Winnie said. "Don't worry El I got you covered."

"Oh, come on." Max said and once again the three girls run and go into the Gap store.

They go into the store and El looks at all the clothes around her. Max and Winnie follow behind her smiling at her first time seeing everything. El looked up at mannequin and saw a bright blue shirt.

"Do you like it?" Winnie asked.

"How do I know.... what I like?" El asked.

"You just try things on." Max explains. "Until you find something that feels like you."

"Like me?"

"Yeah." Winnie agrees. "Not Hopper, not Mike. You."

El nodded understanding what they both meant and then, el began to look  at clothes with the girls and seeing what she wanted. Winnie actually decided to join in and try on clothes with her sister. The three girls laughed as they looked at cool clothes and tried them on and putting on a fashion show.

Winnie came out of the dressing room with a overall dress on with a red and white polka dot shirt. El came out with a black dress on and had neon colors and weird shapes and scribbles on it. The two girls looked in the mirror and both liked it.

"Here try these on." Max said handing Winnie the cat eye glasses. She placed them on and liked it with the outfits.

"Bitchin." El said.

"Bitchin." Winnie responds. "Let's go check out."

Winnie goes over and grabs her wallet and pays the cashier.

"We're gonna wear them out." The cashier nodded and handed them a bag for their other clothes.

"Alright what's next?" Max said.

•••••••••

After hours of shopping, Winnie suggested that they go to Scoops Ahoy. Winnie went in first and Steve smiled.

"If it isn't Mrs.Henderson?" Steve jokes

"Hey babysitter , one strawberry, vanilla with sprinkles, and chocolate chip cookie dough." She said.

"Coming up, hey are you sticking around? We need your help." Steve said. Winnie looked over at Max and El.

"Yeah. Give me a sec." Winnie said.

Winnie went over to the two girls as they waited for ice cream.

"Hey guys I gotta go." Winnie said and the two girls we're sad.

"But we're having fun." Max said

"I know, but I promised Dustin I would help him."

"It's a no boys day." Max said. "We're here to tell El there's more to life than stupid boys."

"I know but I pinky promised." Winnie told her. "And you know about pinky promises."

"I know." Max sighed. "You take them seriously. Fine. You get out of it. But next time, you can't ditch us."

Winnie nodded.

"Okay! Here you guys go. You got a strawberry and then a vanilla with sprinkles extra whipped cream, and chocolate chip cookie dough extra chocolate sauce your favorite Winnie." Steve says handing them the three cones.

"Thanks." The three girls said.

"Wait a second, are you even aloud to be here?" Steve Asked El.

Max and El laugh giving Winnie one last hug and leaving the ice cream.

"That wasn't an answer. Okay." Steve said and took Winnie to the back.

Winnie looked over and saw Robin and Dustin over the radio, a board with the Russian alphabet. And a sentence.

"Hey guys." Winnie said and eating her ice cream.

"Hey Winniebear." Dustin said and then looked at her outfit. "You look amazing."

"You like it?" Winnie asked twirling around. "I went shopping with El and Max. Was hoping I could wear this when we go out on our date. So what's happened so far?"

"Right now we are still translating. We got out first sentence "the week is long."" Robin explains.

"Helpful. At least we have that down. Any idea on the second sentence?" She asked looking at the board with the alphabet.

"No, it's a weird code. But I'm glad your here. I was worried for a second." Dustin admits kissing her cheek.

"I know but it was a pinky promise." Winnie said.

"What's so important about a pinky promise?" Robin asked.

"Winnie takes them seriously." Steve says opening up the window from the front. "I broke a pinky promise and I ended up having a poison ivy rash on my face."

"Don't mess with pinky promises." Winnie says and takes another lick of her ice cream.

•••••••••

After hours of cracking the code, the four of them had finally done it. They had cracked the code and had it up on the board and looked at it.

"The week is long, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west." All four of them said.

"Well that makes sense." Winnie says sarcastically.

Steve rolls his eyes and they all grab their stuff, leaving the ice cream shop so they could lock up. Steve pulled the gate down and locked it up and turned to the three of them.

"I mean, it just can't be right." Steve said.

"It's right." Robin assures him.

"Honestly I think it's great news." Dustin says.

"How is this great news?" Steve asks him. "I mean so much for being American heroes. It's total nonsense."

"It's not nonsense." Winnie says. "Its obviously a code. It's not like they are going to discuss their plans openly on a radio, where anyone can hear it."

"That's a total stretch."

"I don't know, is it? Winnie makes a good point."

"Your buying into this?" Steve asks Robin pointing at Winnie.

"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 warehead at noon"?"

"Exactly." Winnie agrees.

"And my translation is correct. I know that for sure. So "the silver cat feeds." Why would anyone talk like that unless they're trying to mask the true meaning of their message? Why would anyone mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?" Robin explains.

"Exactly!" Dustin says.

"So I guess that confirms your suspicions." Robin agrees.

"Evil Russians." Dustin adds.

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

"So how do we crack it?" Winnie asks Robin.

"Well, I guess we translate the rest and hopefully a pattern emerges."

"A pattern. Right, like maybe "silver cat." Is a meeting place?" Dustin suggest.

"Or a person." Robin adds.

"Or a weapon." Winnie adds. "It's probably gonna take a super genius to crack it, but-"

Winnie then stopped and turned around and saw that Steve was gone.

"Where's Steve?" She asked.

They all turned around and saw Steve at one of the toys for children. He was in front of a horse ride and was looking for coins.

"Hey Steve!" Robin shouts. "What are you doing?"

"Uh its a quarter I need. Do you guys have a quarter?" He asked.

They walk over to him confused and watched as he tried to find a quarter.

"Sure your tall enough for that ride?" Winnie asked getting a high five from Robin.

"Quarter!" Steve tells.

Robin rolls her eyes and in her pocket was a quarter, she tossed it to him and he grabbed it, putting it in the machine.

Then the machine begins to go and you can hear the Daisy Bell song playing, Steve begins to listen and the three of them look at him weirdly.

"You need help getting up, little Stevie?" Robin asked making Dustin and Winnie laugh.

"Shh!" Steve says and continues to listen. "Would you three shut up and listen."

Dustin listens and then it hits him and looks at Steve in shock.

"Holy shit." Dustin says. "The music."

Winnie and Robin looked confused as Dustin grabs the tape recorder out of his bag and then clicks the play button. As the Russian man speaks in the background you hear the Daisy bell music.

"I don't understand." Robin says.

"It's the exact same song on the recording." Winnie explains.

"Maybe they have horses like this in Russia." Robin says.

"Indiana flyer, I don't think so. This code it didn't come from Russia. It came-"

"From hawkins." Winnie says finishing Steve's sentence.

All of them looked at each other realizing that there were bigger things brewing in Hawkins. But the worst thing is, is that something wanted not just El but Winnie too.