S2 , E5
DIG DUG
(Warning: not proofread)

Ellie stared at the machine in front of her confused. Josie had dragged her to the arcade and was now playing one of the games Ellie didn't know.

"I don't get it" Ellie said leaning against the side of the machine Josie rolled her eyes looking over at Ellie "of course you don't, the only game in here you know is pack-man" Josie laugh before going back to her game.

Ellie let out a sigh standing up straight, Josie wasn't wrong. "Im gonna go play pack-man" Ellie told the girl before walking off. When she got there there was already a kid there. Which didn't surprise her, it was a popular game.

Ellie stepped back leaning against the wall as she waiting for the boy to give up. She had no idea how long that would take, but she was willing to wait...

Until she saw max.

Ellie's heart skipped a beat when her eyes caught on the girl flowing red hair "max" she said leaning off the wall. Max quickly turned over to Ellie, her annoyed looked changing to a worried look as she glanced outside.

Max let out a quiet sigh of relief when she noticed that the blue car was gone, then she turned back to Ellie this time looking happy.

"Hey Ellie, what are you doing here" max asked as the brunette walked towards her "Josie wanted to come and play her games" Ellie said pointing in the direction Josie was.

"That your game?" Ellie then pointed to the game in front of the two that had a sign hanging on it that said 'out of order'.

Max glanced back at the game behind her then looking back at the girl "yep" the girl said popping the 'p'.

"That sucks" Ellie sighed "sorry about that, Road warrior" Keith said randomly appearing from behind them "what happened" max asked looking over at the boy "short circuit in the motherboard. A real bummer" Keith said slapping the machine.

"But fret not. I got another machine up and running in the back" he said shoving more of his chips in his mouth.

As the two began to walk off max paused and turned to Ellie "you coming" she asked waiting for a reply "uh, sure, yeah. Why not" Ellie said walking over to her as max began to start walking again.

"Hold these" Keith Said forcefully shoving his bag of chips in lot Ellie's hands, Ellie looked away from max and towards the boy about ready to smack him with the chips before Ellie heard Maxs laugh.

Her laugh.

"What" Ellie asked the girl "nothing" max laughed looking down for a moment before looking back up at the brunette "it's was just your face" max laughed causing Ellie to squeeze her eye brows together "what do you mean" she said confused "I mean like" she paused looking around "it was kinda cute" max mumbled loud enough for Ellie to heard, but quiet enough so that no one else did.

Eventually Keith opened the revealing Lucas. Ellie let out a groan turned to max who looked mad but she still willingly walked into the room, Ellie following short behind.

"You better get me that date now, Sinclair" Keith said confusing Ellie, but honestly she didn't even wanna know. "I told you I would" Lucas said annoyed. Keith threw his hand up making tons of weird noises "and keep things PG in here, alright" gross.

The moment Keith sit the door max turned to Lucas "what is this shit, stalker" she stepped towards him "sorry. I just needed a safe place"

"A safe place to what? Be creepy?
"Listen. Im gonna tell you the truth about everything that happened last year. But if anyone finds out, you could be arrested.
"Possibly killed"

"Killed?!" Max said while Ellie smiled "Is this a joke" Lucas ignored her moving to his next question "I need to know. Do you accept the risk"

"Oh my god! This... this is so stupid" max said shaking her head "do you accept the risk" Lucas repeated. Max stood there for a moment obviously thinking.

"Yeah. Sure. fine" max said walking over to the chair in the corner and sitting down "I accept the risk" Lucas' eyes then turned to Ellie. She had a bad feeling about this, but if max was in. So was she.

"Okay" Ellie muttered before she sat on the floor besides max "let's hear it" max said crossing her arms.

"Last year... Will didn't get lost in the woods" Lucas paused "he got lost somewhere else"

Max and Lucas were talking but Ellie wasn't exactly paying attention, she was more focused on the fact that her brother, Steve Harrington, was apart of this.

Her focus quickly changed however once the other two began to yell "how gullible do you think I am?" Max yelled "why would I make this up" Lucas argued "I don't know. To impress me or something? Or you're just, like, insane"

"I tell you all of this. I mean, too-secret stuff. Risking my life. And this is how you react?" Lucas yelled standing up. Max chuckled "risking your life?"

Ellie's eyes traveled to the floor, she didn't know why, but for some reason. She believed him. She remembered one night, about a week after will went missing, probably the night they found him. She stayed up late because Steve still hadn't come home, it was really late and Ellie was getting worried. When he finally got home he was extremely sweaty and gross and was holding a bat with a bunch of nails in it. He didn't tell her what happened, which was strange to her because he usually told her everything or he lied about and she easily caught on. But that night he just went up to his room and she didn't see him until they had to go to school in the morning.

The sudden movement of the red head snapped Ellie out of her thoughts "where are you going" both her and Lucas said at the same time only Ellie's closer to whisper that max probably didn't even hear.

"Story times over isn't it" max said before exiting the room Lucas chasing after her Ellie quickly getting up and following the two.

"What's wrong with you? I gave you what you wanted"
"I wanted to be a part of your group, not a part of some joke"
"It's not a joke"
"You did a good job, okay? You can go tell the other I believed your lies if it gets you experience points or whatever"
"We have a lot of rules in our party, but the most important is, friends don't lie. Never ever. No matter what."

"Is that right" max said walking over to her game and pulled the 'out of order' paper off of the screen "then how do you explain this" she said pressing it into Lucas' chest.

"I had to do that. To protect you." Lucas said throwing the paper on the floor "to protect me from who exactly" max yelled "the big bad government baddies from hawkins lab?" Max said loudly dropping her skateboard "lower your voice" Lucas said calmly.

"Or maybe it was to protect me from the demogorgon from another dimension" max said kneeling down on the ground and placing her coins in the machine "max, I'm serious, shut up!" Lucas said. Ellie caught eye of the people around them who began to send them confused looks "max" Ellie mumbled in hopes to get her attention "oh, no, no! You know what it was? It was eleven. The girl—" Lucas quickly stepped forwards placing his hand on Maxs mouth stopping her from yelling the rest "stop talking" he said quietly "You're going to get us killed. Do you understand"

Max grabbed his hand removing it from her mouth so she could talk "you're serious?" She believes him.

" I really wish I wasn't" Lucas said putting his hand back by his side "prove it" max said shaking her head. Lucas paused glancing between the two girls "I can't."
"So what? I'm supposed to just trust you?"
"Yes"

Before the conversation could go any further the sound of a very annoying car stopped the group. Max looked over at the door worried. She picked up her skateboard running over to the door, the other two following.

"Shit. I gotta go. Umm" max turned to the two "don't follow me out" she said placing her hand on Ellie's lower arm. Max paused for a moment before she ran out the door hopping into the blue car.

Lucas watched her get into the car before turning to Ellie "do you believe me?" Lucas asked. Ellie eyes snapped away from the blue car and towards the boy "I need to talk to Steve" Ellie mumbled before pushing past the boy and walking out the door.

Ellie hopped into the Steve's car an angry look on her face "we need to talk" Ellie said slamming the car door.

Steve turned to the girl a confused look on his face "that's never a good thing" Steve said "Lucas told me what happened last year" Steve face froze "I don't— what are you" he paused "he's lying" Steve stuttered.

"No you are lying. You are such a bad liar" Ellie groaned throwing her head back into the seat.

AUTHORS TALKS!!
I saw my brother watching stranger things and it gave me motivation to write.

I love how in love with Maxs laugh Ellie is.

Also we are basically half way through season 2 and I'm gonna try to get three this next half faster then I did the first half because I'm really excited for season 3, it's literally my favorite st season.