"That girl is pretty wild now
The girl's a super freak
The kind of girl you read about
In the new wave magazines."

Super Freak
By Rick James (1981)

Halloween was the Henderson's second favorite holiday as the children dressed up and went out for the night whilst their mother stayed at home handing out candy for the trick or treaters. Valerie used to trick or treat with Nancy and the boys when they were younger but as they all got older, the boys wanted independence and Nancy wanted to go to parties or stay at home. This, of course, left Valerie in an awkward position of wanting to go to parties but also wanting to make sure that her brother was safe and getting candy.

"Alright, Dust. Mama wants to take some pictures. Oh, my god. You look great." Valerie chuckled as she looked at her brother's ghostbuster outfit. In Middle school, everyone used to dress up for Halloween. That was pretty much the best part of school during the year. Dustin and their mother had put an immense amount of effort into his costume to make it look like it was from the movie. "Thanks. Are you not dressing up? I thought you were going as Madonna?" Dustin asked as he put his fake proton pack on his back before walking towards her, his proton gun trailing on the ground. The two had discussed their costumes and they had ultimately landed on Madonna although it was more Valerie's choice than Dustin's as he wanted her to go as the woman from Ghostbusters.

"I have to maintain my status as the freaky girl who never does anything to stick out and plus everyone is going to be dressing up as Madonna. Now come on, Mama wants some pictures of you in that before you leave." Dustin smiled as Valerie draped her arm over his shoulders before walking into the living room where their mother stood, adjusting the camera. "Alright Dusty, go stand in front of the fireplace." The siblings separated as Dustin began to pose and Valerie stood next to her mother. Valerie loved the fact that Dustin was actually into it and posing whereas other kids his age would be telling their mothers that they were embarrassing.

"Oh! I want to see those pearls. Yeah!" Claudia squealed as her son smiled wide, showing off his teeth and causing Valerie to chuckle. She had missed her family's antics. "Who you gonna call?" Claudia and Valerie attempted to sing out the theme to the song as Dustin held up his ghost trap and his mother took another picture with a beaming smile on her face. "Alright, Vallie, you go and pose with your brother." Valerie laughed before standing next to her brother and holding her hands up as Dustin pointed his gun at her.

"Oh Vallie, you should have gone as that girl who's possessed. Oh, what's her name?" Claudia gasped and sighed as her kids stood still in their poses. Dustin rolled his eyes and looked at Valerie with a pointed look to say that even their mother thought she should have gone as Dana. "Um, Mama. Do you mean Dana?" Just as Valerie said the name, her mother gasped and laughed before taking a picture of her children confused faces. "Yep, that was it. Off to school now." The siblings walked out of the house before getting to their respected vehicles.

"Dust, I still don't know why I can't just drive you. It'll save you time." Dustin chuckled before starting to pedal his bike away from her, leaving her confused. "Alright then." Valerie drove her way to school, parking next to Chevrolet Camaro with a guy smoking a cigarette on the front. Getting out of her car, Valerie felt smoke being blown into her face which caused her to cough violently and wave her hands in front of her face. "Do you mind?" Valerie got her bag out from the seat, seeing the guy still smirking at her. She hated smokers. It was a huge trend at the moment but it just smelled and tasted disgusting. People who smoked just thought they were so cool and Valerie could tell that this guy was no different.

"The name's Billy. What's yours, sweet cheeks?" As soon as Billy winked at her, Valerie wanted to get the hell away from him and his disgusting nickname. Valerie had met a lot of sleazy, mullet-haired guys in her lifetime but none of them compared to the awfulness that this guy radiated off of him. "Valerie, bye." As she turned and walked towards the school's entrance, she felt happy that she was away from him until a few moments later, his arm was draped over her shoulders, his hand hovering dangerously close to her chest. "Come on, sweet cheeks. Let's talk. Let's get to know each other." She felt his arm fall from her shoulders and he began to trace his fingers down her arm before eventually going around her waist.

"Fuck off." Valerie pushed him back before quickly walking to her class where she squirmed the whole lesson, unable to get the feeling of him off of her. Valerie searched the school for her friends, not finding any of them until she spotted Nancy blankly staring at a locker across from hers. "Hey, Nance. Are you alright?" Nancy snapped her head towards Valerie before walking towards her quickly.

"I need your opinion on something." Nancy grabbed Valerie's wrist, pulling her into an empty classroom where she slammed the door shut and closed the blinds for the windows. "Nancy, what is it?" Valerie was getting concerned as her friend was starting to act like the people that thought Russians had infiltrated the school. "I think we should tell Barb's parents about what happened." Valerie's eyes widened as she stared at her friend who wore a solemn expression on her face. "Nancy, that is an awful idea. We can't say anything to anyone." Valerie refused to tell the Holland's what had happened. She did want to get it off her chest but she wasn't stupid enough to actually say anything.

"But--" Valerie quickly interrupted her in an attempt to stop the idea before it became anything. They all knew that they couldn't say anything otherwise Hawkins Lab would come after them and their families. One of the employees had traveled to Florida just to threaten her to never say a word to anyone or they would interfere with her and her family and that was enough to spook her into silence. "What good would it do to them if they would know their daughter was killed in the upside down? Let's just let the poor people be. They don't need or deserve more torment." Nancy stayed silent before nodding and leaving the room.

Valerie sighed before walking out of the room and continuing on with her day, pretending that everything was as normal as possible. As she got in her car to drive home from school, she noticed her brother riding past with his friends, all wearing their Ghostbusters costumes. Valerie quickly got in her car and ended up stuck driving behind Billy's blue car which infuriated her beyond belief. Billy drove fast but still remained close in front of her as she usually drove a bit above the speed limit on a deserted road. As she drove down the old farm road, she noticed Mike, Lucas, and Dustin in the direct path of Billy's car which showed no signs of slowing down.

"Oh, my god." Valerie began frantically honking her horn as they neared closer to her brother and his friends. Valerie screamed as she slammed her foot on the brakes just as Billy's car swerved to the other side. She quickly swerved her car on the side of the road as she looked at the boys lying on the dead leaves, staring at the car that almost tried to kill them. "Dustin! Oh, my god. Are you guys okay?" Valerie hopped out of her car, rushing towards the boys who were staring as the car drove away. She put the finger up, knowing he could probably see her in his rearview mirror.

"Valerie we're okay. Was that Mad Max?" Valerie furrowed her eyebrows as Dustin mentioned the girl who had beat the boys at their games in the arcade. "I don't know. I thought it was this douche-bag from my school called Billy. Are you guys sure you're okay?" The boys nodded again and Valerie shook her head as she watched the car speed away out of sight and the boys finally get back on their bikes. "Okay. Dust, I'll see you back at home. Be careful!" Valerie jumped back into her car before driving back to her house where Dustin arrived ten minutes after her.

"Mom! I'm going to walk to Mike's now. I'll see you later." Dustin shouted from his room before noticing Valerie at his door. "Hey Dust, do you mind if I walk you down to the Wheelers to, you know, get out of the house for a bit and see the Halloween costumes this year?" Valerie leaned up against the doorway of her brother's room as he stood in his Ghostbusters costume. In all honesty, Valerie just wanted to make sure he was safe walking alone with Billy in town. "Yeah, sure. It's only five minutes though." Valerie nodded and smiled before the two walked out of the house and towards the Wheelers.

"So, how's the Mad Max situation going? Still think that girls can't play video games?" Valerie smiled as her brother beamed up at her whilst fiddling with the ghost gun in his hand. "She's super cool and she's coming trick or treating with us." Dustin reached his hand up to fix his hat out of habit only to realize that he left it back at the house. "Just be careful of her brother. He is one crazy son of a bitch. We learned that today." The two chuckled before they became silent again. "Valerie, do you think you'll leave again?" Valerie cleared her throat as she heard the question that was on everyone's minds, actually spoken aloud. The question made her nervous and made her palms sweat as she thought about it. She already knew the answer.

"Dustin, I will never leave you. Not again." The two quickly embraced, Mike's house just in front of them with Lucas and Mike waiting out front for the other two to arrive. "What are you doing for the rest of the night?" They split apart and Valerie hummed as put her hands into the thinker pose as she thought. "Tina the bitch is having a party so I might go to that. Or I'll just watch Poltergeist again for the millionth time." The two chuckled as they stopped next to the boys, also dressed in their Ghostbusters costume. "Alright boys, you have fun and get some candy for me." Valerie heard Jonathan pulled up behind her as she ignored the boys' protest in getting candy for her. She waved at them before leaning down to Jonathan's open window.

"What's the plan for tonight, Johnny? I thought you were trick or treating with Will?" Valerie laughed at the boy's clear distaste for the nickname she had given him. "I think I might go to Tina's. Want to come?" Valerie smiled before running around the car and jumping into the passenger's seat. Both had wide smiles on their faces as she winded down the windows and put sunglasses on even if it was almost dark.

"Let's ride."

I think I've been a bit lazy with my writing because I started writing this chapter like two days ago and I only now have finished it. Sorry about that. Bit of a filler chapter if I ever saw one. It's kind of hard to write these chapters because the Steve-Nancy-Jonathan sort of storylines is very small in the first few episodes and in some of the moments, I have to really expand so I'm sorry if this isn't amazing, I'll try to improve it as the chapters go on.

Thanks, Queenie.

(EDITED)