Everyone had done their jobs. Joyce, Jonathan and Nancy had flushed out the mind flayer from inside of Will. Steve and the kids managed to lure the demodogs away from the Lab by doing the plan Mary hadn't been previously fond of. And Eleven had shut the gate with Hopper by her side. Everyone had succeeded and Hawkins was saved.

Hawkins Lab was overthrown by the military that finally showed up and shut it all down, sacking those that worked there and leaving them jobless — which Mary praised the lord for, because now that there was no crazy scientist there would be no even crazier monsters.

Everyone had reunited at the Hopper Cabin. Mary and her father had embraced tightly and wholesomely, not letting each other go for a long period of time. Mary had congratulated everyone else on stopping the mind flayer and their minions and had explained the situation with Charlie.

Everything in Hawkins went back to normal — after everything that had happened, somehow they had all managed to move by it and get on with their life's. Mary, for example, finally got her official internship at the police station and worked very closely alongside her father. She was doing little jobs here and there and getting some money that she was saving up for a deposit on her own place.

Somehow, Hopper had managed to pull some strings with Doctor Sam Owens and now, Corina had an entire backstory. There were documents made stating how she had been in the care system her whole life with the names of the schools she had attended and the names of her supposed biological parents. It was all fake, but at least it gave Corina somewhere to start over — to finally have the chance at leading a normal life. But in the meantime, instead of living in an abandoned house, Corina had moved in with Mary who was living with her mother because it was closer to the station and because she was working on their relationship.

Jim was alright with that — Mary moving in with her mother. Mostly because she still stayed over on weekends and he seen her every other weekday anyways — but he had to admit, it was weird not having her presence around all of the time. But even then, Hopper had something to look forward to — getting to raise a child again. Because Doctor Owens had pulled those strings again and somehow managed to change Eleven's name to Jane Hopper; making her Jim's official adoptive daughter.

Of course, this was all with Mary's blessing. She and Dr Owens had talked about it for weeks before officially pulling the documents together. Jim had cried when he opened the envelope, revealing El's new birth certificate and Mary had hugged him tightly. She thought her father deserved a second chance at raising a daughter since he had lost Sara and hadn't had much luck with raising her since she had practically been a nightmare. So, in theory it was the least she could do.

As for Charlie, after everything he had gone through that night he was slowly piecing himself back together and becoming his normal self again. However, he did plan on leaving Hawkins and so, the moment he and his friends graduated Hawkins High School, he was fully prepared to go. And it wasn't out of the blue, in fact, he and Mary had been pretty mature when discussing his plans to take a few years to travel Europe and see more of the world before coming back to Hawkins and taking over his fathers garage.

The pair had agreed it was for the best — that Charlie tried to find himself before returning to the small town and Mary assured him she wasn't going anywhere. And so, on the night after their graduation, the teens of Hawkins had all agreed to meet up at the junkyard for their very own graduation party that involved cheap alcohol, silly games and a lot of dancing.

          Mary walked in with Charlie's arm flung over her shoulder. It was nostalgic, Mary Hopper and Charlie Williams, the iconic couple of Hawkins High walking into the junkyard lit up with colourful fairy lights. Charlie was wearing his infamous leather jacket with his hair messily gelled on top of his head whilst Mary was wearing a dark denim romper with the zip not pulled the whole way up. The top half of her hair was pulled up with a red scrunchie with loose curls framing her face — to everyone looking at them, they looked like a normal happy couple; like they hadn't somehow survived the possible end of the world.

Charlie looked down at Mary, giving his lazy smile, "I'm gonna go grab us some drinks." He said.

Mary glanced up, giving a closed smile, "Okay." She chirped, giving him a quick kiss on the lips before he disappeared into the crowd of teenagers that were partying hard now that school was over forever.

Mary smiled to herself, looking onwards to the crowd. After everything that had happened, she was finally slipping back into normalcy and was feeling content with the way things were going. She was getting along great with her father, she was interning at the station, her relationship with her mother was getting a little more stable as was her fondness for her baby half-sister. Her only main concern was that Charlie was leaving and that meant their relationship would be on pause — but deep down she knew it was for the best; after all, they had their entire lives ahead of them to find their way back to each other.

Out of the blue, a pair of hands covered Mary's eyes from behind her and she grinned, already knowing who it was by the smell of their cologne, "Guess who?" Steve sang, already sounding slightly tipsy — Mary knew when her best friend was getting drunk because he drew out his words for longer.

"Patrick Swayze?" She asked in a hopeful voice. Steve let out a flabbergasted noise and moved away his hands, letting Mary turn to see it was him. She threw her hands up, clicking her tongue, "Agh, disappointing as always, Harrington." She joked with a smug smile, pushing his arm.

Steve laughed sarcastically, "Funny — you're so funny, Mary," The girl mocked a curtesy. Steve tried to keep a mad face but the look of innocence on Mary's eventually made him laugh and he pointed at her, shaking his head, "You know what, Hopper? You know what?" He said as he advanced towards her, continuing to point as she backed away with a grin on her lips.

She tried to make a break for it, but he grabbed her by the waist and yanked her back, making her squeal through her laughter. He settled her down and the pair collapsed onto an old red couch. Mary's hair was sprawled out on the cushion, her body only half on it whilst Steve sat with one of his legs crossed over the other.

The pair were slowly ceasing their laughing, staring straight ahead and to where the fire was burning centre of the junkyard. Mary was bobbing her head along to Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield — one of her favourite songs that had came out a few years before. Steve was singing the lyrics under his breath, making Mary erupt into laughter, whacking his arm, "Steve, stop! You sound like a cat being strangled, man!" She exclaimed through her laughter and Steve looked at her with mock shock.

"What? I sound amazing!"

"No — No, you don't!"

Steve let out a "Pfttt." As he rolled his eyes and Mary smiled sheepishly at him before resting her head back and closing her eyes, falling into silence.

"How's things? You know, with the whole home situation... It must be weird, living with your mom and your step-dad, oh, and Corina — and now having Eleven joining your family." Steve asked what he had been curious about for a long time. He had barley had time to spend with Mary since she had been slaving away at the station.

Mary inhaled, "Weird," She commented, "My mom and I, we're not exactly best friends yet but I'm slowly beginning to get over all the years of spite... and the step-dads kinda cool, I guess — he likes Duran Duran, so," She shrugged her shoulders, pulling a face and Steve laughed, knowing it was Mary's favourite band, "Living with Corina has actually been pretty good, she's definitely not what I thought she was. And El... She's a tough one, that girl. She's been through so much, Steve, and I'm so happy we can give her the family she's never had — even if it is a little messy. And it's not like she's replacing Sara, but, I don't know... I've always wanted a sister and now I have one and she's great, really great."

Mary was looking into the fire with a warm smile, not even realising she was doing it. Steve smiled for her, "I'm glad to hear it, Mare. You deserve to be happy — so unbelievably happy. Like waking up to Patrick Swayze happy." His words made her burst out laughing, wheezing and doubling over onto his lap as he laughed along.

Charlie returned with two red cups in his hand and a redhead by his side — Corina. She was dressed pretty casually, wearing a denim skirt and a spaghetti-strap red belly-top. Mary rose an eyebrow at Corina, her laugher slowing but her smile staying "Is that my top?" She asked, knowing she had something similar to it in her closet that she shared with Corina — since they now shared a bedroom.

Corina cocked an eyebrow, "Is that my dress?" She fired back.

"You stole this dress from Macy's — technically it's not mine or yours." Mary said with a shrug and a playful smile.

Corina rolled her eyes, "Move over, dweeb." She said, making a scooting motion with her hand and both Mary and Steve moved down the couch, letting Charlie and Corina sit down.

The four stared ahead, listening to the music. Charlie popped his lips together, "Well guys, this is it, we're really no longer in High School." He said, the realisation setting in.

Corina shrugged lightly, "I was only in school for a year so if I'm honest, things could have been worse —"

"Wait, how did you even graduate?" Steve spoke up in confusion, leaning around Mary to look at Corina that was at the end of the couch.

Corina narrowed her eyes, "What, like it's hard?"

Mary glanced at Steve, "My dad pulled a few strings." She whispered.

Corina tossed a cushion at Mary in retaliation that let out a "Oomph." as she got hit in the face with it and spilled a little of her drink down her cleavage.

Everyone was laughing at Mary's expense and the girl found it hard to be angry whilst the sound of her friends laughter filled her ears and soon she was grinning ear-to-ear, "I hate all of you!" She exclaimed as she put her drink down and then grabbed the pillow, whacking her friends with it and it broke out into a full on war of them all standing on the couch and hitting one another with the cushions whilst laughing and squealing.

Charlie knocked Mary down into the corner of the couch, landing on top of her and the girl smiled into his eyes, for the longest of time the world in slow motion. She moved her face closer to his, capturing his lips in a sweet kiss as Corina and Steve still fought with the cushions beside them, oblivious to their bittersweet moment.

Mary pulled back, resting her forehead against Charlie's. She knew that would be the last time she seen him for a long time, but even then, she didn't feel sad. Because she had the memory of an awesome graduation party and many more to remember. And in that moment, she was grateful for her group of friends, no matter how far away life would take them. For the first time in a long time — Mary Hopper was happy. Unbelievably happy.

( authors note )

       Welp, that's it for this book! Onto book 3 now that is currently in the works! It's going to be called "time after time" which is an absolute cyndi lauper bop!¡

        Thank you to everyone that's been reading this series from the moment I posted to recently, I genuinely appreciate all of your votes, reads and comments because if it wasn't for all of your support I probably wouldn't have the courage to ever write! So yeah boi, thank you's!

        I'll post again on here when book 3 is released!