Amanda was ansty the entire three-hour flight to California. Even before then, when Mike called threateningly that he was outside and was going to be leaving for the airport without her if she didn't get up in the next thirty seconds. So she flew around her room, pulling on a shirt and shorts before grabbing her suitcase and heading for the door. Nancy was sweet enough to drive them, considering that it was nearing the ass crack of dawn and she could've been sleeping.

    Which brought them to now, with Mike and Amanda landing in the golden state and heading out of the gate and on the lookout for their friends. Through the bits of open space as travelers passed by, Amanda could spot Will, El, Jonathan, and someone else sitting at their gate, waiting for them. El was the first to notice, her eyebrows shooting up in excitement at the sight of them—or Mike, more or less—and the rest followed her lead, getting up to greet them. Amanda scooped Will into a tight hug that would've lasted longer than eight seconds had Will not warned her about crushing his painting.

    "Oh, sorry," Amanda apologized, stepping back and smiling, "I honestly can't believe I'm here! It's so great to see you."

     "It's great to see you, too, Mandy." Will returned the smile and the sentiment, "Hey, I finally listened to the mixtape you sent last time and I gotta say: might be your best one, yet. I didn't know you listened to Metallica."

     "Yeah, the guy I told you about—the senior that got held back—he introduced me to the band's music! And there are definitely some more songs I need to get you to listen to, if you have the time."

    "You're on," Will challenged and Amanda sidestepped so he could get to Mike. Their reunion was unfortunately awkward and Amanda wanted to look away but it was like watching a car crash and she couldn't. Jonathan was kind enough to take and wheel out Amanda's suitcase as they all left the airport and El went through the day's itinerary—burritos for breakfast from El Rodeo and then Rink-O-Mania at three o'clock for roller skating and arcade games.

    Amanda and Will were chatting and catching up on whatever they forgot to write in their letters in the back of the van and all throughout breakfast, laughing and giggling and throwing bits of sausage at each other. Then they all went back to the Byers' home to change and get settled in. Amanda had an air mattress in El's room while Mike slept in the guest room, however, the one downside was that they had to share the bathroom. When they were all ready to go, they all piled back into the van and made their way to the roller rink.

Rink-O-Mania was a place like no other.

     It was decorated in several patterns, with neon light all along the floor and ceiling; Amanda had never seen anything like it. The coolest thing Hawkins had in comparison was the Starcourt Mall that had burned down over a year ago due to the secret Russian lab that was being housed underground. She could remember it like it was only yesterday. Snapping out of it, Amanda was the first to head up to the counter and grab a pair of skates and waited for Will, Mike, and El to grab theirs.

     "So, do you guys come here often?" Mike asked and El answered "Yes" while Will answered "No" and El turned her head to give Will a sharp look before saying, "I come here, but Will does not. For parties. It's a big. . .party place."

    Amanda raised a curious eyebrow at El, thinking back to the one letter Will had written about El being picked on. She wondered why El was lying to Mike, and why El wouldn't want Mike to know about it. She looked over at Will, who had a glum look on his face as he watched El and Mike talk animatedly. She wanted to ask what was going on with him—even though she already had an idea from last year—but Will was out on the rink in a matter of minutes. Thanks to the short-lived ice skating lessons Amanda had gotten when she was six, she rolled out with ease and caught up with Will in no time, skating backwards to face him.

    "Okay, how are you doing that?" Will asked, amazed by the feat. "Ice skating lessons," Amanda answered, smiling as she continued on with her backwards skating. She held out her hand, waiting patiently for Will to take it. As soon as he did, Amanda tried her best to twirl him but he was too tall for her to complete the move and it ended up with Will in an awkward twist before Amanda let go, giggling as the two went in a circle. It was nice having Will by her side again, seeing his smile that wasn't sent with a letter in the mail via Polaroid. It was nice.

    "Hey, I'm gonna go get a milkshake," Amanda said to Will, coming to a stop to rest near the exit of the rink, "you want anything?"

    "You don't have to buy me a milkshake." Will shook his head, bashful at Amanda's offer. Amanda only smiled, and answered, "But I want to. Now, come on. What flavor do you want? I'm getting cookies and cream."

    "Of course you are." Will rolled his eyes playfully as the two made their way to the snack bar, "What else would you get?"

     "Hey, I just so happen to like my comfort zone, thank you very much," Amanda returned before turning to face the dude running the snack bar. "Cookies n' cream milkshake for me and strawberry for the birthday boy here, please." She then smacked a ten dollar bill onto the counter and slid it forward.

    "You remembered my birthday." Will blinked. Amanda made a face. "I'm your friend, Will. Why would I forget?"

    "I mean, I only told you, like, once. In an offhand comment."

     Amanda shrugged. "So I pay attention."

    The guy running the snack bar put down the two milkshakes for the both of them, and Amanda and Will grabbed their respective ones, saying thank you before they went to sit with Mike and El.

     "Will and Mandy," Will started, tone wistful, "Mandy and Will. Two best friends, back from the dead."

    Amanda looked at him, bemused and giggling. "Why are you like this?"

    Will simply shrugged before stealing a sip of Amanda's milkshake but Amanda was quick to flick him upside the head and he recoiled away. "You have your own milkshake, dingbat. Drink it."

    "Mine doesn't taste as good." Will's shoulders slumped at the statement. Amanda raised a brow, broke open another straw, and took a sip. "It's fine. It tastes like strawberry Nesquik."

    "Exactly my point."

   Amanda's eyes widened then. "You don't like strawberry Nesquik?"

   Will shrugged. "It's got like some sort of acidic taste to it. I dunno how to explain it."

    "I-I can't even believe what I'm hearing. How are we friends right now?"

    "Because our friendship goes deeper than the superficial?" Will asked in a sarcastic tone. Amanda gave him a look. "Don't sass me, boy."

    All of their banter was soon interrupted by a group of friends heading their way, led by a blonde in knee socks, varsity shorts, and a blue t-shirt she definitely cut herself. They all carried the same smug look on their faces as they all honed in on El, who looked like a deer caught in headlights at the sight of them. Amanda looked between El and the group and it didn't take long for her to connect the dots.

   "Milkshakes?" the blonde asked incredulously, making a show of slapping her hands down onto the table as she rolled to a stop, eyeing Mike like a piece of candy. "Oh, where oh where have you been hiding this handsome thing?"

   There was a small moment before El started speaking, stuttering as she went along. "Angela, this. . .this is Mike. My. . .boyfriend."

    Angela held out a pompous hand as she introduced herself. "Angela. Pleasure." She then turned her attention to Amanda, who raised a single eyebrow. "And you are?"

   "Amanda," Amanda answered flatly, taking an obnoxious slurp of her milkshake, indicating that she couldn't care less about what Angela had to say.
    "I've heard a lot," Mike piped up, "it's to finally meet some of El- Jane's friends."

    The choice word "friends" seemed to have taken Angela by surprise as she let out a sharp laugh. "Friends? Oh, yeah. Super cool. Come on, friend. Let's skate, shall we?" She held out a hand towards El, challenging her.

    "I wanted to finish this—" El started, but was then cut off by the boy in sunglasses taking her drink away as he said, "I'll hold on to that."

    It wasn't long until Angela grabbed El's wrist and pulled her out to the rink, leaving Mike, Will, Amanda to sit by themselves at the table. Will and Amanda instantly stood, Will shaking his head at the scene.

    "What should we do?" Amanda murmured as she stood next to Will, watching as Angela continued to drag El around before stopping her and telling her to stay put as she rolled away. "We really should do something."

    "What can we do?" Will mumbled back.

    "Well, we can't just stand here. I feel like something bad is about to happen."

     "Oh, no."

     "What?" Mike asked, standing up. Will sucked in a breath, contemplating what he was about to say before speaking. "El hasn't been telling you everything, Mike."

    "What?" Mike repeated.

    "She's lying to you! She's been having problems."

    "Okay. What kind of problems?" And just as Mike said that, Amanda heard the record scratching from the DJ booth as they switched the song to play "Wipe Out" by Sufaris. This couldn't be good. From what Amanda could see, the group of kids that had been on the rink began to skate around El, swarming her as they all made the same hand movement, the same kind that El did when she was using her powers. Watching made Amanda's skin itch and her face hot, remembering how she felt when the kids at school would pick on her. She remembered the teasing, and the name calling, and the few pushes she would get so she could move out their way.

    All of it seemed to be happening so quickly until the DJ scratched the record again and yelled, "WIPE OUT!" into the mic before El got a faceful of her milkshake, some of it catching under her wheel and pulling her to the floor. Amanda didn't realize at first, but she was moving onto the floor to get to El. Without thinking, she gave one of the girls a hefty shove, seething, "Move" so she could grab El by the arm. As soon as El could get up, she wrangled herself out of Amanda's grasp and skated away. The kids were still laughing but they soon stopped when Amanda elbowed the boy with the sunglasses in the nose, watching him fall into a heap on the floor. Amanda turned to the rest of them, who backed away as she made her way off the rink.

    "What the hell was that?" Will questioned as Amanda plopped into a chair to pull off her skates. Amanda couldn't hear; all she could listen to was the static going on in her head as she yanked her shoes on. She seemed to have snapped out of it when Will started shaking her.

    "What!" Amanda yelped and Will took a step back. "I'm sorry," she apologized immediately, "what did you say?"

    "I asked you why you elbowed the kid in the nose," Will restated. Amanda looked down at the floor. "I couldn't let him get away with it. And hearing the kids mocking her made me remember what it felt like to be made fun of. It was nice to get back at one of them, even if it wasn't my own bully."

    "Do you feel better?"

    Amanda shrugged. "A little. He should be lucky I didn't knee him in the crotch."

    "Good. Now let's go find El."

The search for El wasn't easy, which was kind of funny considering that Rink O'Mania was a fairly small venue so there weren't many places for her to hide.

    "Any luck?" Mike asked as Amanda walked out of the girls' bathroom. Amanda shook her head. "No, but one of the girls will only have to apply makeup to one eye for the next two weeks."

    "Seriously?" Will asked, bewildered. Amanda huffed out a laugh. "I'm kidding. How about you guys?"

     Both Mike and Will shook their heads. Amanda sighed, looking around. Her eyesight then landed on the back room door opening with El walking out, tears drying on her cheeks, a clear sign that she had been crying. She was marching up to Angela and her friends, one who was holding a bag of ice to his nose—Amanda smirked in triumph. But the smirk slowly turned sour as El's face crumpled again as Angela walked away yet again.

    "Come on. We should keep looking for—" Mike started, but was then cut off by a high-pitched wail. "Found her," Amanda said sheepishly as they all took off running in the direction of the noise. In front of them was El, and in front of El was Angela, who was on the floor and bleeding profusely from the bridge of her nose (Amanda took notice of the skate in El's hand).

     "Holy shit, El," Mike panicked, "what did you do? What did you do?"

    The boy with the sunglasses turned to El and said, "Get away, you freak!"

    Amanda stepped forward and warned, "Don't make me hit you again", and the boy turned back around. All they could do was watch on. Amanda wasn't sure if she was supposed to be freaking out or not.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.
hey hey hey it's another chapter !!
mandy has a few unresolved anger issues i see
or something more. . .unless. . .jk. . .maybe
i hope you enjoyed !