CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR.
3x02: The Mall Rats

This wasn't the first sleepover Sam and Max have had since becoming friends—they've had numerous at either of the girls' houses, especially since summer started. What this essentially meant, was that Max was in no way, shape, or form surprised when Sam had to be woken up from her night terrors that often occurred. She was used to this by now, as sad as that was.

"Sam. Sam," Max tried urging Sam awake with a sad look. "You're just dreaming, it's not real—"

"Bob!" Sam writhed on the bed, tears streaming down her face. "I'm sorry!"

The lights in Max's room were going insane, and everything electrical flashed and clattered like mad. Not only was blood pouring from Sam's nose, but her arms were wrapped around herself subconsciously. Max saw that her fingernails were beginning to dig into her skin, and she immediately began panicking.

"Sam, no!" Max shouted, trying to pull her hands away from her arms. "Sam, wake up!"

Sam whipped her body away from Max in her sleep, curling into herself and sobbing. "Don't leave him! I'm sorry!"

"SAM!" Max grabbed Sam by the shoulders, pulling her.

Sam shot awake with a gasp, sobbing. She tried thrashing backwards, but Max was already throwing her arms around Sam and pulling her into a hug.

"It's okay, you're okay," Max muttered, holding the back of Sam's head with one hand and wrapping the other around her shoulders. "It was a nightmare, Sam, it's okay."

Sam continued to cry, dazed. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean—don't want—"

"Sam." Max held Sam tighter, rubbing a hand up and down her back. "It's okay. You were dreaming."

Sam gasped in breaths, trying to not only calm herself down, but calm herself down enough that she could be that bubbly girl again. But she felt bad. She shook her head solemnly and returned Max's embrace, curling into her.

"Sorry. Sorry, Max, I didn't mean to..."

She didn't know how to finish it. I didn't mean to wake you up. I didn't mean to freak out. I didn't mean to be like this anymore. They were all plausible options that sounded like something Sam would say, but right now, she couldn't manage to say a thing.

"I think I'm getting blood on your shirt," Sam croaked apologetically into Max's chest.

Max huffed, holding her tighter. "I really don't care. I'm more focused on the fact your nose was bleeding at all."

"I don't know, it's been happening lately," Sam confessed. Max heard her sniffle, felt her wipe her nose—she placed her hands on Sam's shoulders again and gently pushed her away so that they could look at each other's faces. "I've been having the nightmares every night now. I—I don't know how to make it stop."

Max frowned, placing her hands in her lap to think about what to do. She was never good at this kind of intimate stuff, but she couldn't avoid it when someone like Sam was her best friend.

"Sam, it's getting worse."

"I know," Sam rasped, wiping the wetness under her eyes. "I'm sorry—"

"Don't be sorry," Max interrupted, shaking her head. She didn't know how to voice her thoughts any other way: "I just... I think you might need help, Sam."

Now Sam was adamantly shaking her head too. "No, I—I don't need help. I'm fine. They're just stupid nightmares."

"I don't think they're stupid," Max said. "And if you're having them every night, that's not okay."

"I'm fine," Sam insisted, feeling a little frustrated now, but she smiled innocently at Max to prove her point. "And I don't want to spend the day talking about my sleeping habits."

Max sighed, because Sam was trying to dismiss her feelings again. "Sam—"

Footsteps echoed in the hall before Max's bedroom door burst open, and a tired Billy Hargrove stormed in the room. "Max," he said sternly.

Sam noticed Billy looked sick. He was paler than he was when she last saw him, and he had dark bags under his eyes. Her chest constricted.

"Yeah, what do you want?" Max asked.

Billy narrowed his eyes, his gaze focused on the girl across from his sister. He pointed at her. "Samantha, right?"

Sam slowly nodded, not understanding why he suddenly wasn't sure who she was. Not only had she stayed at Max's house plenty of times, but she also kinda held him at gunpoint last year. She figured that kind of event would stick with him.

"Right, yeah," Billy mumbled, snapping his fingers. He looked back at Max. "I'm leaving for work."

Max sent him a judging look. "Okay...?"

"Just letting you know, don't get your panties in a twist," he said, rolling his eyes. He gripped on the door handle for a while as his eyes lingered on Sam.

Then he left, slamming the door behind him.

"Weirdo," Max muttered, shaking her head.

She looked back at Sam, noticing her eyes still glued on where Billy left, her mind always elsewhere.

Max jumped off her bed and landed with two feet planted on her carpet. "Get dressed. I'm gonna teach you how to ride a skateboard."

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"Max, I'm really sure you're setting me up for failure here," Sam worried.

She was standing stock still on Max's skateboard, a death grip on Max's hands, threatening that if Max let go she would tell everyone that Max drooled in her sleep.

Max laughed, having to look up for once because Sam was taller on the skateboard. "I'm not setting you up for anything. You can do it, Sam, you've just gotta push with your foot. That's it."

"I'm gonna die," Sam panicked.

"You're not gonna die—"

"I've survived a Demodog attack, but I'm gonna die via skateboard!" Sam cried. "Max, do you know how embarrassing that is?"

Max finally grew impatient of Sam's stalling. "Okay, I'm gonna let you go now—"

"Maxine Grace Mayfield, don't you dare!"

Max faltered, blinking at Sam in confusion.

"How do you know my middle name?"

Sam blinked back at Max now too.

"Okay, you can let go now," Sam conceded, changing the topic.

Max's suspicious eye lingered on Sam for a few moments longer before realizing it was better not to receive an answer. She exhaled, feeling as if she had to mentally prepare for Sam too.

"Alright, it'll be really easy. You're just gonna ride for like, a second," Max said, still holding both of Sam's hands. "Keep your knees bent, and push off with your back foot very slowly."

"Very slowly." Sam nodded, breathing. "Got it."

"And bend your knees."

"Right."

"Sam?"

"Yes?"

"You should also have your eyes opened."

Sam realized right then her eyes had been screwed shut in fear. She opened them to see Max was watching her with an amused look.

"Oh, that makes sense," she mumbled.

Max laughed, but Sam didn't really think anything was funny when Max let one of her hands go. Her panic immediately increased, though Max didn't care in the slightest Sam was about to die.

"You can do it, Sam. Trust me." Max tried letting go of Sam's other hand, but Sam was squeezing it too tight.

"I trust you," Sam started. "I just don't trust myself not to die."

"Sam."

"Okay, fine, fine! I'm going," Sam grumbled.

Sam finally let Max's other hand go. For a minute, she just stood there, trying to balance without Max's help. For a minute, Max wondered if Sam was actually going to do anything. Just when she was about to ask Sam her internal question, Sam stuck out her arms in attempt for balance. Shakily, her back foot started moving off the board.

"So—just like—?"

Sam's foot finally came down on the road. Very slowly, just like Max advised, Sam pushed gently and moved a good seven inches.

"Yeah!" Max exclaimed, surprised and proud. "You're... you're getting it?"

"Am I really?"

Sam's head whipped up to Max enthusiastically, but just as she did so, it caused her to lose balance. The board slid out from under her, and Sam was falling off the board quicker than she could comprehend.

"Shit!"

"Wait!" Max ran forward and stabilized Sam before she could actually fall. In unison, both girls exhaled breaths of relief, successfully preventing Sam from eating shit on the concrete. "Okay. Shit, Hughes."

"Sorry," Sam huffed. "I get distracted easily."

They turned to get the board, but stood confusedly when they spotted Eleven there, picking it up before walking over to them.

"El? What are you doing here?" Sam asked, walking up to her.

El shyly glanced at her old shoes, then back at Sam. "I need your help... I went to your house, but Corey told me you weren't there. So I looked for you in—"

"The void?"

"Yes." She pursed her lips, then looked over Sam's shoulder and spotted Max standing awkwardly. "Hi."

"Hi?" Max furrowed her eyebrows, stepping closer and taking her skateboard.

"Can we... talk?" El asked stiffly, glancing between the two girls.

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El filled them in—Max and El sat on Max's bed, Sam pacing back and forth in the room Basically, El and Mike hung out literally every day, 9:30 A.M. on the dot (totally not unhealthy or whatever). Today, Mike hadn't shown up at the designated time, and so El called him curiously. The explanation Mike gave her was that his Nana was sick, though Hopper told El his Nana was fine yesterday. So Mike claimed Nana took a turn for the worse, and he had to go to the nursing home to see her.

"And then he said he—he missed me... and then he just... hung up," El muttered.

Before Sam could get her thoughts together, could stop pacing, Max blurted, "He's a piece of shit."

"Woah," Sam stopped pacing as El's eyes widened and she said, "What?"

"Mike doesn't have jack shit to do today!" Max shrugged. "And his Nana obviously isn't sick. I guarantee you—he's playing Atari with the boys right now."

"Atari?" El asked, turning to look at Sam.

"A video game," Sam informed kindly.

"Oh, okay..." El glanced back and forth between the two girls in confusion. "But... friends don't lie?"

Sam grimaced, not really wanting to break it to El. But she had to: "Yeah, well, boyfriends lie. All—the—time."

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"She knows I'm lying," Mike panicked, pacing back and forth in his basement. "She knows I'm lying!"

"I don't even understand. Why lie?" Lucas asked.

Mike immediately stopped his pacing, baffled and gaping. He tried to refrain his eyes from darting towards Corey, but they did so against his own will. He forced himself to do what he'd been doing best lately, and he lied.

"Uh, Hopper!" Mike exclaimed, proud of himself for what he'd come up with. "Hopper threatened me. Yeah."

Corey raised an unamused eyebrow.

"Did he say he'd kill you?" Lucas questioned, still not understanding.

Mike's head whipped to Lucas incredulously. "What?! No!"

Lucas's arms threw up in the air. "So then, what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is," Mike was successfully not looking at Corey this time, so he could actually think of something plausible, "he threatened me from not being able to see El. You know like, permanently."

Corey's face didn't try to hide his judgment at all. "Still not seeing a problem."

"Y-you don't understand, Core," Mike stammered. "He's crazy!"

"Well, at least you actually are seeing El," Corey said, then he was smirking at Lucas. "Lucas can't even make a move."

Lucas jolted in the armchair he sat in, as if electrocuted. "What?!" He was gaping in bewilderment. "I don't like Sam!"

"I never said anything about Sam," Corey said, leaning back in the couch, his smug look growing drastically. Despite previously panicking, Mike snorted at Lucas's exposure.

"You." Lucas's eyes widened, officially caught. "I... No! It was implied!"

Corey and Mike shared looks, then Corey turned to Lucas. He nodded condescendingly. "Sure."

"It was totally implied!" Lucas cried.

Corey winked at Lucas. "We believe you, buddy."

"Hey, guys!" Will called from his spot at the D&D table. "I'm almost set up here!"

Mike exhaled sharply. "Can we get back on track, here? When I said Hopper's crazy?! He's lost his mind! I had no choice but to lie, guys! I really had no choice!"

Corey rolled his eyes, personally opposing Mike's desire to stay on the subject of El.

"I really wish you'd consulted us," Lucas said, shaking his head solemnly, "because the way you handled this... you're in deep shit."

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Sam held El's hands with a serious face. She sat next to El, having forced herself in between her two friends.

"Listen," Sam started earnestly, "I know it seems harsh, but you're gonna have to stop calling him, and you're gonna have to ignore his calls."

Max's head popped out from Sam's side to nod at El. "As far as you're concerned, he doesn't even exist."

El leaned closer to the two girls doubtfully. "Doesn't exist?"

"El, take this from someone with a boyfriend," Sam advised. "It's hard to even contemplate doing, trust me, I know. But sometimes when they act like this you just have to do it. Remind them to step up a little."

"We have a lot of experience of shitty boyfriend-ness from Justin," Max said.

Sam frowned, glancing at Max with a sinking feeling. "Hey, come on. It's not like that."

"Sure it's not," Max lied, but she sent El a contradicting look that even El was able to comprehend. "El, Mike treated you like garbage. You're gonna treat him like garbage. Give him a taste of his own medicine."

"Give him the medicine," El recited, as if she was taking notes.

"Wait, guys," Sam disagreed. "I don't want anyone being treated like garbage."

"Tell that to Mike." Max pinned Sam down with a look. Then to El, "Give him the medicine, and if he doesn't fix this—he doesn't explain himself—dump his ass."

There was a silence in the room for a moment, which was interrupted by another one of Sam's qualms.

"That's a little dramatic."

Max shrugged. "I've gotta successfully get one of you to break up with your undeserving boyfriends."

"Max!"

"Sam."

"You were on board with me dating Jay before." Sam frowned, not understanding why Max suddenly had such a vendetta against him.

Max nodded, because that was true. "Yeah," she agreed. "But that was when I first moved here. I didn't know he would be a lying, idiotic, toxic piece of shit. To you. The Samantha Hughes."

"Who would be bad Sam?" El wondered, astonished.

Max motioned to El, but faced Sam with, "Exactly!"

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Mike sat down next to Corey on the couch—or, he more so threw himself on it with no decorum. He groaned in a panicked manner, his side pressed unnecessarily against Corey's (because there was enough room for them to sit apart). Corey flinched away from all the contact.

"I'm not gonna lie," Lucas said, watching Mike with a grimace, "it's gonna be bad."

Mike groaned louder, causing Corey to roll his eyes.

"But," Lucas held up a finger, trying to console his friend, "you can fix this. It's just one little mistake!"

"Oh yeah," Corey agreed sarcastically. "Just fixing the 'I broke the friends don't lie pact' mistake. That should be easy."

"Not helping, Corey," Mike and Lucas snapped.

Lucas looked away from Corey and addressed Mike again. "Look, Mike. You can win El back. I'll show you."

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"Come on." Sam got up from the bed to grab both Max's and El's hands. She pulled them off Max's bed so they would join her in standing.

El tilted her head confusedly. "Where are we going?"

"To have some fun," Sam said, smiling at her. She shared a look with Max so that Max understood Sam's plan.

Max nodded eagerly back at her.

She nudged El with a smirk. "There's more to life than stupid boys, you know."

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Lucas had to drag Corey off the couch with the help of Mike, but eventually they were successfully up and all standing. The three boys ran up the basement stairs to start on their journey to Starcourt Mall.

Will was being left at the D&D table he'd just finished setting up. He craned his head up to stairs to see that they were actually forgetting him.

"Wait, guys!" Will called out, hoping to stop his friends in action. "I'm still here!"

But all he heard was footsteps continuing up the wooden stairs.

"Guys?" Will frowned.

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A dollar and a few cents later, the three girls were stepping out the crowded bus and into the fresh air. The summer sun shone bright as they stepped forward, closer to the big, yellow building of Starcourt Mall.

Sam grinned, excited for El to experience the mall.

She held onto Max's and El's hands as they kept stepping closer. Max grinned past Sam and at El, who was taking in the sight of Starcourt.

"So?" she asked eagerly. "What do you think?

"I've been dying to show you this place for like, ever." Sam grinned—but then she got the sense that El's emotions weren't the brightest, and she didn't look too happy either. She squeezed El's hand. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Too many people," El worried, eyes peeling off of the mall and landing on Sam and Max. "Against the rules."

Sam shared a look with Max before turning back to El with a mischievous grin. "Breaking the rules is the best part."

"Exactly," Max scoffed. "And you have superpowers. What's the worst that could happen?"

El looked from the girls and back to Starcourt Mall again. Her gaze lingered this time, and Sam could tell the gears were turning in her mind. Eventually, Sam watched as an eager grin took place of El's previously worried frown. She nodded, showing she was ready, and her excitement infected the two of them.

Sam beamed, pulling them through the crowd and into the building.

The smell of overpriced food filled their noses, and they felt the cool breeze of air conditioning. They pushed past more crowds of people, hurrying to the middle of the mall so El could have a better look.

El spun around in a circle and gasped at the place. So many people, so much chatter, so many shops, so many things to do. Sam was growing happier by the amazed look on El's face alone.

"So what should we do first?" Max asked El, smiling as she watched El take it all in.

El didn't answer her. She continued to look around.

"She's never been shopping before," Sam told Max, excitement overcoming her all over again with the realization this was the first time Max and El were hanging out without it being tense or awkward.

Max gasped and looked at El. "You haven't?"

Sheepishly, El shook her head.

"Then I guess we're just gonna have to try everything!" Max decided with a grin.

"Ooh!" Sam cheered in elation, grabbing El's hand again. She suddenly began dragging her to their first destination. "Come on!"

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"I just don't understand what we're looking for!" Mike said as the boys exited JC Penny, on a hunt for how he could make it up to El.

"My will to live, maybe," Corey muttered, and Will barked out a laugh.

"No." Lucas shot Corey and Will a glare before looking back at Mike. "Something pretty and shiny that says I'm sorry."

Mike's face screwed up. "What, just something that literally says, 'I'm sorry'?"

"No!" Lucas groaned helplessly, rubbing his face with his hands.

"The Girl Expert over here apparently," Will whispered to Corey, nodding at Lucas.

Corey laughed but covered it up as a cough so the other two wouldn't get mad at them again. "Dude's acting like he hasn't been hopelessly pining over my cousin for almost three years."

"And Mike's acting like he's not an idiot when it comes to girls."

Corey laughed again, a little too loudly this time, because Mike was hissing for him to shut up.

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Sam and Max let El search through The Gap, trailing behind her as she felt the many clothes on racks. Her pupils were dilated in awe, trying to process it all. It was heart-warming for Sam to watch—she always loved seeing her friends happy.

El stopped in front of a glass display case. Above it was the top half of a mannequin that wore a popping blue shirt with a red, yellow, and white pattern. She stared up at it, mouth parted slightly.

"Do you like it?" Sam asked.

El's eyebrows furrowed. She turned to the other two girls and asked, "How do I know... what I like?"

"You just try things on." Max shrugged while Sam turned around and sifted through a clothing rack. "Until you find something that feels like you."

"Like me?"

Max looked at El, a big smile crawling on her face. "Yeah. Not Hopper. Not Mike. You."

Sam's hand stopped when she caught sight of a color block wind-breaker jacket of multiple colors. She immediately took it off the hanger and turned to show her friends the jacket with it sprawled over her chest.

"Look how cute this jacket is, I wanna die," Sam said with a bright smile. "Oooh!" She caught sight of a sector of the store with a bunch of cute hats and immediately got side-tracked. She grabbed El and began dragging her again. "El, you've gotta see this!"

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El stood in front of a mirror in the Gap's dressing rooms. She had on the blue shirt she'd been eyeing earlier, and Sam helped her dress it with yellow wind-breaker pants and red suspenders. In her hands, Sam held the yellow beret she'd dragged El over to earlier.

El smiled at the mirror as she looked at herself. Sam and Max wore smiles too, happy that El looked happy. Sam handed El the beret, to which she tried putting on.

Key word: tried.

El more so just threw it on the top half of her face and had to crane her head back to peer underneath the hat and look at the mirror. Max giggled from the other side of El, and helped El adjust the hat so she was wearing it properly.

Sam, who was now wearing that color block jacket she definitely planned on buying, watched El reexamine her outfit. She looped her thumbs underneath her suspenders and stretched them out with an awed look, as if she didn't understand how they worked. She laughed in surprise as the suspenders snapped against her chest when she let them go. Her laughter was contagious, so that Sam and Max started laughing too.

"I want to try more outfits." El grinned, and how could Sam and Max have a problem with that?

"Oh my God, this is the best day of my life," Sam damn near squealed. Her hands even shook in tight fists, and she jumped a little in excitement, but Max and El were accustomed to these kinds of reactions from her. "Okay, I'm gonna go check this out. You try on whatever you want, El. I'm gonna love whatever it is."

It was true. Sam did love what El threw on.

When Sam returned from buying the jacket she probably spent the rest of her money on, El was wearing a two-piece set of a loose button-up and this adorable flowy skirt that reached the top of her knees. It was white, but looked as if it had red, yellow, and blue paint splatter lines.

"I love it!" Sam cheered, immediately being struck by an idea. She ran over to a rack of belts and grabbed both a thick yellow and red one. Sam returned to where Max and El were standing, holding the two belts up like a scale weight tilting up and down. "Yellow or red? What are we thinking?"

El stared at the two belts for a moment, contemplating.

"Yellow," Max and El chorused, in perfect unison.

The two girls looked at each other and giggled at their synchronization. Sam laughed too, handing El the yellow belt and helping her put it on.

El looked at herself in the mirror again, analyzing how she looked in the outfit with the yellow belt. She began twirling around, testing the flowy skirt. Max started helping her, spinning El around with her hands on El's shoulders. At the speed, El stumbled and tripped backwards. She began falling into Max, and they staggered like bowling pins. Sam panicked for a moment, rushing forward as she tried stabilizing them. Luckily, they didn't fall—they were just dying of laughter that Sam could do nothing but partake in.

El tried on more outfits for fun, and Max even began testing out different pairs of sunglasses. Sam was happy to just stand and watch; she couldn't be happier that her favorite (only) girl friends were getting along. This was fun.

They left The Gap together, with Sam wearing her new jacket, Max wearing a red pair of sunglasses she'd bought, and El not only holding a shopping bag with a new outfit inside, but she was wearing another entirely new outfit as well. Sam was so proud; El picked it out without any help from the blonde, and that was how Sam knew this outfit was the one.

The three girls had their arms linked as they walked out, grinning and laughing along.

"What next?" El asked eagerly, excited to continue.

"I don't know." Sam shrugged from the other side of Max. "Max? Got any ideas?"

Max's gaze narrowed on something in the distance, registering something Sam couldn't quite see yet due to her poor eyesight. Sam could only notice how Max lit up in excitement. Her arms shifted from linking with Sam's and El's to squeezing their hands enthusiastically.

"Hell yeah, I do," Max said. "Come on!"

And then, holding the two girls' hands, Max broke out into a run straight forward. Sam laughed in surprise at the sudden momentum and could do nothing but be pulled by Max in a jog. Sam made eye contact with El, both eager to see what she had in store.

When Sam saw the neon sign labeled "Flash Studio," she knew.

They combined their remaining balances to pay for an entire photoshoot at the studio. The photo place provided numerous eccentric outfits Sam was ecstatic to try on. For the first set of pictures, they all wore silk blouses, yet they wore them differently in ways that displayed their unique personalities—the colors were different too, as Sam's was orange, Max's was purple, and El's was pink. They also had huge, flamboyant headbands and bulky jewelry on that sort of made them look like grandmas.

"That's it, girls!" the photographer cheered as they began posing for the first picture. "Okay, here we go..."

Sam was happy to pose dramatically, holding the bottom of her head with a gentle hand and a mock-serious face. Max and El on either side of Sam copied her, their backs together and Sam's back resting on the sides of their arms.

For the next one, El was in the middle and they all faced one way. Sam leaned on El's back, El leaned on Max's, and Max tried to sober up her expression. When the flash went off, it was all so ridiculous that the three girls began dying of laughter again. It was hard to take the pictures seriously when they were having so much fun.

"Wardrobe change, please!" The sassy man pointed towards the dressing rooms. "Wardrobe change! Thank you!"

Sam threw on a large, chunky patterned sweater of many colors; on top of her head, she situated a beret much more eccentric than what El was wearing earlier. El put on a fancy off-white jacket while keeping on her outlandish jewelry, gloves, and purple headband. Max wore a big jean jacket with gold studs that she paired with huge gold earrings, and she slipped on gold rings over her own white gloves.

Max posed in the middle this time, holding up the collar of her jean jacket mysteriously to cover up her aloof grin. El dramatically threw her head back onto Max with El's hands framing her face. Sam put her back against Max's and held the brim of her beret with a hand, smirking gleefully at the camera.

Changing wardrobes again, they put on more bold jackets and redressed themselves in the flamboyant headbands. All three of them threw big, fancy boas around their necks of different colors. El took off her white lace gloves, so Sam put them on while Max kept her white ones on. They all cupped their jaws and chin with their two hands; Max smiled softly, Sam beamed, and El sent the camera a kissy face.

They put El in the middle for the next picture—Sam and Max were on either side of her, and both girls squeezed El tightly in a group hug. Caught off guard, El just stood there laughing while Sam and Max forced absolutely serious expressions onto their faces.

For the last wardrobe change, they all traded between Sam's sweater, Max's jean jacket, and El's fancy jacket— Sam was wearing the jean jacket, Max was wearing the fancy jacket and El's purple headband, and El was engulfed in the chunky sweater. With Max in the middle, she put her hands in a box shape, resting her chin on the middle of where her fingers met; she looked off into the distance with a wistful look. El leaned her hands on the side of Max's head dramatically, eyeing the camera charmingly. Sam, to Max's right, placed her elbow on the top of Max's hand, using that arm to hold her head and winking at the camera suavely.

They split the six pictures evenly between them, with each girl receiving two pictures. Once they took off the flamboyant photoshoot clothes, Sam spotted a store that would definitely be either really fun or really dangerous. It was a shoe store, and Sam and Max were quick to hand El a colorful pair of high heels in her size. They stood together, arms linked with each other happily, and watched El try and walk with the heels on.

El made one successful step before wobbling and falling forward to the ground with a surprised gasp. Sam and Max immediately rushed forward, concerned, but El rolled over on the carpet to reveal she was cackling. Sam and Max began laughing too, whilst they helped a giddy El stand up. The commotion caught the attention of judgmental girls their age, sending the trio unamused glares. Sam, Max, and El faced them, and when the other girls rolled their eyes and looked away, the trio made eye contact and just laughed harder.

After that, they were walking in the food court of the mall for their next stop. All three of their faces were lit up by smiles, having the most fun they'd ever had the whole summer. They didn't quite know where they wanted to go now, so they were just looking around for something that caught their attention.

Well.

Sam definitely saw something that caught her attention.

"Oh my God," Sam muttered to herself, not even realizing she'd stopped walking altogether.

Right there in the middle of the food court, sitting at one of the tables, was Justin Zimmerman and Carrie Cunningham laughing and grinning with each other. Carrie was sipping a smoothie, and Justin was eating a pretzel, and it didn't mean anything. It didn't. But Sam still felt weird at the sight, and she hated that she did.

Maybe it was the fact that, right after Justin had tried scheduling a date with Sam and got upset about her being too busy, he'd contact Carrie instead.

But that was fair. It was. They were childhood best friends, and boys and girls could be friends without any romance attached! Take a look at Sam, who'd only had guy friends until the age of twelve.

So she was being stupid. She had to be.

"Sam?" Max stopped walking with El, wondering what was going on. "What's wrong? What are you looking at?"

Sam's head whipped away from the sight; she'd been so distracted that she forgot Max and El were there. "Uh—" Sam looked all around the food court, searching for somewhere she could hide. She didn't want to see Justin. "Nothing—just—come on—"

Sam panicked, grabbing Max's and El's hands and dragging them over to a thick column in the mall they could hide behind.

"Yeah, it was," Sam swallowed, nodding to herself, "nothing. I didn't see anything."

El looked genuinely confused. "So why are we hiding behind a pole?"

Sam opened her mouth to answer, then deflated. That... that was a good question.

"Um..." She searched for an excuse, but before she could speak, Max was starting to peer out from the large beam. "Wait, Max, no—!"

It was too late though. Sam could literally see Max's expression change when she noticed it.

"That asshole," Max hissed venomously, gaze narrowing into a dangerous glare Sam would never want to be on the receiving end of.

"It's not a big deal!" Sam assured, panicking. She tugged Max's sleeve so that Max would hide back behind the pole, and it forced Max to look at Sam again. "Honestly," she pleaded. "It just surprised me. That's all."

"I'm... confused?" El intoned, brows furrowed and head tilted.

Max shot Sam a pointed look—it basically read Are you gonna tell her or do I have to?

Sam sighed and faced El again. "It's nothing, El—"

"Remember that shitty boyfriend of Sam's we were talking about?" Max asked rhetorically. "Well he's here right now. With the girl who bullies Sam."

"She doesn't bully me—"

"Basically bullies Sam," Max corrected unenthusiastically. "Her name's Carrie Cunningham, and she's a cold-hearted bitch."

El's face morphed incredulously, like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Waiting to be corrected, she asked, "Justin Zimmerman?"

But El wouldn't be corrected, because she exactly right.

"The very asshole himself."

"He's not an asshole," Sam defended, frowning. "He's just... They're childhood friends, you know? They basically live next door to each other. They're just hanging out."

Max didn't look convinced or approving. El sent Max a curious look, wondering if she agreed with what Sam was saying. Upon one moment of eye contact, Max's opinions were made known.

"Guys, seriously. It's fine," Sam begged. "Can we just keep having fun?"

El's entire face brightened up now. "I've got a fun idea!"

"Thank you, El," Sam exhaled gratefully.

"Which ones are Justin and Carrie?" El asked Max.

Sam's eyes immediately widened in a panic. "No! No, Max, don't you dare—"

"Here, come see." Max leaned out the side of the pole, tugging El while Sam continued fussing and begging. She pointed to the table where a tall mess of dirty blonde hair ate a pretzel, and an evil brunette drank a smoothie. "Those two? Right there?"

"I see." El nodded, eyes narrowing.

"Please, guys, don't—"

"That's them," Max confirmed. "Justin and Carrie."

El's gaze turned to Max with a look that had Sam terrified. "You were right, Max. He does look undeserving."

"Seriously, can we just—?"

"I got this," El announced, an eager note to her voice. "Don't worry, Sam."

Sam damn near cried incredulously, eyeing her two friends wildly, though they weren't looking at her right now. "Do you realize who you're talking to right now?"

"This will be fun," El assured, still peering out from the side of the pole. Max was over her, watching Justin and Carrie in the distance too. It suddenly got eerily silent, and Sam could almost begin to hear a low frequency vibration.

"Oh God," Sam muttered, moments before she leaned out from the pole too, over Max. The three girls were fanned out, and Sam only just caught sight of the eating pair before it happened.

All of a sudden, out of "nowhere," Carrie's smoothie exploded. It sprayed all over she and Justin—they gasped and shrieked, the liquid covering them head to toe.

Sam, Max, and El gasped too, though it was in utter amusement instead of shock. Sam had to admit—there was something very satisfying seeing her boyfriend covered in an exploded smoothie after she'd caught him hanging out with Carrie Cunningham. They broke out into laughter again, Sam even chuckling a little in shock at how funny she was finding it.

Before anyone could pin the girls at the scene of the crime, Max was shouting, "Come on!" and urging Sam and El to start running.

Sam let out another startled laugh while Max and El continued dying of cackles. Max grabbed both of the girls' hands as they all ran from the food court with glee.

Max, still giggling, noticed El looked beyond happy with her work. "See! What'd we tell you? There's more to life—"

"—than stupid boys!" Sam and El laughed, enjoying nothing more than running from the food court with Max.

╰━━━ ◦ ✸ ◦ ✸ ◦ ━━━╯

When the white slabs of paneled glass shut, Robin hid back in the break room. Steve turned back towards Sam, Max, and El with two ice cream cones in hand.

"Okay, here you go: a strawberry and a vanilla with sprinkles, extra whipped cream," Steve said, handing Max and El their designated cones. Then he grabbed the third one he couldn't fit in his hands before giving it to Sam. "And a coffee ice cream for Goldie."

"Thanks!" they all said in unison.

Sam began eating her ice cream as Steve's stare lingered on El.

"Wait a second," Steve started, brows furrowing at El in confusion. "Are you even allowed to be here?"

The girls' eyes widened slightly, and Sam shared gazes with Max and El. Mischievous grins painted their faces at Steve's questioning, and the girls began giggling. Sam grabbed El's arm with her free hand and started running away, Max following in suit. They ran out of Scoops Ahoy, leaving Steve there to stand awkwardly with no answer.

"That... Okay."

Sam, Max, and El continued through the mall as they simultaneously ate their ice cream. The three girls headed for the exit, having officially decided they'd done everything a person could do in the mall for one day. Sam and Max, on either side of El, pushed open the front doors of Starcourt and walked right out of them.

Sam eyed Max's and El's cones with an idea that made her face light up. "You guys wanna trade?"

The two girls grinned back at her, and without even needing to say anything, they traded cones. Sam took El's vanilla, Max took Sam's coffee, and El took Max's strawberry. As Sam began licking the ice cream cone happily, all three of them heard familiar voices in the distance.

"That's ridiculous!" Mike was complaining. "Why can't I just mow Old Man Humphrey's lawn?!"

"Oh, you've gotta be shitting me," Max groaned.

She, Sam, and El all stopped walking towards the bus stop. Instead, at the bike rack, they saw Mike, Lucas, Corey, and Will apparently trying to leave the mall at the same time as them.

Mike, who was supposed to be at the nursing home with his Nana.

Sam frowned. It was getting harder to defend him when he kept screwing up like this.

They were discussing splitting prices or something when Max marched for the four boys. Sam immediately didn't have a good feeling, surmising that Max was seriously in the mood to cause chaos today, but followed her regardless like she always would. El followed too.

"Isn't this a nice surprise," Max mused sarcastically.

The boys looked absolutely dumbfounded at the sight of El with Sam and Max at the mall—save for Corey, who looked absolutely miserable, but he always did. So.

Mike dropped his entire bike in shock, gaping dumbly. He pointed at El. "What are you doing here?!"

El stared back at him, unfazed. "Shopping."

"This is her new style." Sam showcased El, kind of ignoring the suffocating tension with her excitement. "What do you think?"

Mike didn't commune in her joy. "What's wrong with you two?" he asked Sam and Max. "You know she's not allowed to be here!"

"What is she, your little pet?" Max snapped, leering at Mike through daring eyes.

"Yeah," El agreed, challenging Mike. "Am I your pet?"

Mike stared hard.

"What?! No!"

"Then why do you treat me like garbage?" El asked, recalling her earlier conversation with Sam and Max.

Sam hated this. She hated seeing her best friends fighting like this. Mike and El were clearly not on good terms, and neither were Mike and Max, and Corey and Mike definitely weren't, and Lucas seemed mad at Sam, and Will was feeling left out, and Dustin wasn't even here.

Sam felt like the entire party was falling apart in her hands, right before her eyes, and she couldn't do anything but watch. It was killing her.

"What?!"

"You said Nana was sick," El accused.

"She is!" Mike lied, and it hurt Sam's heart, because Mike didn't need to be like this. He didn't need to lie. "She is. She is sick."

Mike shot Lucas a pointed look that was so obvious everyone could read it. Lucas sputtered to life, adding, "Yeah, sick—she's sick. She's super sick. Th-that's why we're here, actually!"

"Oh my God." Corey facepalmed from next to Will.

"Yeah, yeah, we're shopping," Mike eagerly jumped onto Lucas's lie. "Not for us, but for her! For Nana!"

He was so panicked—so, so unnecessarily panicked that it gutted Sam's chest. There should be no reason why Mike was trying so hard to do this. Clearly he wasn't fit for a relationship with El, but he was almost forcing himself to be. He was forcing it to work with El, when, Sam thought, maybe it physically couldn't.

"Also we're here to get a gift for you," Mike said to El, digging himself a deeper hole. "Just—we couldn't find anything that suited you, and I only have like $3.50, so it's hard."

"Super hard," Lucas added, nodding vigorously.

El's eyes were trained on Mike though. She exhaled through her nose shakily, and Sam felt it. Sam could feel the waves of anger.

"You still lie, Mike!" El cried, pushing against his chest angrily, causing him to stagger back more in surprise than anything. "Always lie. Why? Why do you lie? There's no reason. Never wanted to hurt you, never before—but you are... gone, since I came back. I feel it all the time. You're confused, scared, sorry... It makes no sense!"

"El, I—"

"You lie to yourself more than anyone!" El continued, and Sam wasn't sure she'd ever heard El speak so much in her life. And El didn't even seem upset for herself, she was upset for Mike. She was desperate for him to get it, to comprehend her feelings, to care.

Everyone was watching the scene, amused that Mike was getting served by El. But Sam, like El, thought it was sad. It was all so sad. Mike was lying to himself, and he was stuck, and she knew he felt that way, but she also knew he didn't have to be this way.

I just want you to know I'm here. I already told you that.

I know, I just... get scared, I think.

Of me?

Of me.

I get scared too. Of myself, I mean. I didn't think anyone else did.

I don't wanna... feel like this anymore.

Mike opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. El turned around after hearing the bus arrive, squeaking behind them. She looked back at Mike, stepping closer again as his eyes widened.

"I dump your ass!" El said boldly, dangerously.

╰━━━ ◦ ✸ ◦ ✸ ◦ ━━━╯

Published: January 15, 2024
Re-published: October 30, 2025

BAILEY YAPS...

I have to say that I had so much fun going through this chapter like oh I love girlhood oh I think this is the happiest all of Sam, Max, and El have ever been in their lives THEY'RE JUST GIRLS WHO WANNA HAVE FUN

I'm also still really sorry about Jaysam but I just love angst. The best ships make it through the hard parts before they see the light.

Also I'm evil and I love making the characters suffer

But we knew that