THE NEW YEAR BROUGHT MUCH TO HAWKINS, it was October. It brought the party the new arcade they began frequenting and growth spurts. It brought them teenage rebellion and so on. It also brought on, snarky Mariella DeGray.

Months after Will was found, Mariella had decided that being sweet wasn't all she had going for her. She began to become more loud, less shy, more confident. It began physically, her once silky brown waist length hair which all the girls in Hawkins Middle seemed to love was now chopped off and straight cut just above her shoulders. Something which Lucas was more than happy about. He hated her long hair, after all. Her mom, on the other hand, wasn't too keen.

After her hair, her words became less clouded. She spoke louder. She glared at those who angered her. She mastered the pointed look her father used in court. It was odd, the boys thought. Watching as their shy gem become a composed, stone cold yet kind individual of her own.

Despite so, Mariella continued to remain gracious and giving. Though, only to those she cared for. After all, she'd give everything and more for those she loved. The events which ensued to year before had taken its toll on all of them. Mariella had her own type of coping, after all, shooting a man in their side and watching your only girl friend conquer a monster was pretty traumatic in itself. She had a tendency for numbers. Scribbling down off algebra problems when anxious, mumbling out math problems too. It was something the boys found fascinating, the way her brain pumped answers out.

And so, she stood in front of the mirror of her bedroom. It hadn't changed much despite her other changes. She adjusted her dark green fall coat over her black overall dress and pulled her turtle neck up comfortably, grabbing her coin purse from her vanity and stuffing it into her pocket.

"Mars! What's your haul?" Dustin's voice echoes out of the speaker of her walkie which sat at the foot of her bed.

"Take a wild guess, Henderson!" She speaks into it with a smirk.

"I don't know? A dollar?" He asks, genuinely at a loss.

"You really think—! I've got seven dollars, sucker!" She laughs. "What about you? A dollar?".

"How do you have seven dollars? Of course, I only got a dollar!" Dustin responds.

"Babysitting the Ellis kids next door. Don't worry, I'll share! Over!" She says before tossing the walkie back into her bed and rushing out of her room and into the hall, running down into her parents room and seeing her mother about to start changing into her nightgown.

"Oops! Sorry, mom!" Mariella laughs. "I'm meeting the guys are the arcade," She explains, closing the door and running down the stairs. Their relationship had improved tremendously since last year. Emma had finally began to accept that Mariella wasn't her and that she was her own person.

"Mariella!" Emma shouts out in annoyance at her daughters lack of privacy.

"Sorry! Bye, love you!" Mariella calls from the bottom of the steps and rushes out the door.

♧

Mariella pulls into the arcades parking lot, already spotting Dustin, Mike, and Lucas shoving their bikes into the bike cage. She bikes towards them, zigzagging past cars and waving towards them before noticing Will exiting Joyce's car and running towards them.

Hurriedly, she bikes up the curb and hops off her bike. "Hey!" She smiles, nudging Lucas on accident as she locks up her bike.

"What's your haul?" She asks Lucas, Dustin, and Mike as she pulls out her coin purse with a sheepish grin.

"Four dollars," Mike answers. "I stole from Nancy's piggy bank," He adds as they begin towards the doors.

"Five. I convinced Jonathan to give me some," Will nods, following behind Lucas.

"Six dollars, losers!" Lucas responds with a look of victory evident in her face.

Mariella puts her hands up and skips in front of them while dancing around in pride. "Ha! Seven dollars, suckers! Who got the most? I did!" She laughs as she pats Lucas on the back. It was a competition they had between them, seeing who could get the most money.

"By a dollar, Ella! You're not that cool," Lucas says, the others rolling their eyes as they wander towards the first game of the night. Dragon's Lair.

"You cant beat my high score, Dustin, not even if you tried," Lucas snorts, watching Dustin press a quarter into the machine and begin playing.

"To slay the dragon, use the magic sword," The cartoon drawing of Princess Daphne says, the party crowded around Dustin watching him intently try to beat Lucas' seemingly impossible high score.

"Oh, Jesus! I'm in uncharted territory here, guys," Dustin sighs, staring at the screen with concern.

"Down! Down! Down!" The group yells, wide eyed, watching Dustin grab the joystick and hold it downwards.

"I'm going! I'm going!" Dustin yells back, the knight ducking and running towards the screen — the dragon letting out flames as Princess Daphne exclaims. The m ugh continuing to run away.

"I'm going! I'm going! I'm going!" Dustin smiles as he turns the joystick in all different directions, the party instructs him, clamouring when the see the dragon reappear.

"Okay. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!" Dustin yells at them, the party instantly going quiet. Dustin pressing the red button repeatedly before the knight is covered in flames.

His cartoon body falling into screen as a skeleton and falling apart. "No, no. No!" Dustin shouts. "No! No! No! I hate this overpriced bullshit!" He goes on, slapping the console and kicking it. "Son of a bitch! Piece of shit!".

"You're just not nimble enough. But you'll get there one day. Until then, Princess Daphne is still mine," Lucas says, pointing at the screen when the cartoon of the princess gasping pops up.

"Whatever. I'm still tops on Centipede and Dig Dug," Dustin sighs, looking at Lucas with defeat.

Mariella snorts, looking up at Mike with an eye roll, him smiling down at her before Keith's voice approaches them. "You sure about that?" He asks, holding a bag of Cheesies in hand.

"Sure about what?" Dustin asks, eyes widening as fear sets through him at the thought that his high score was beat.

Keith stays silent, placing a chip in his mouth with a smirk, Dustin pushing Mariella and Will out of the way and running to the other aisle of arcade games.

"You're kidding me. No, no, no," Dustin panics, the others following after him.

"Move! Move! No, no, no, no, no. Hey, no! No! No!" He shouts out, pushing past other kids who stood hunched over games as he checks both games.

Stopping at Dig Dug he grimaces, listening to the arcade machine chime and reading the name. MADMAX.

"751,300 points!" Will laughs, staring at the screen before nudging Mariella as they both begin cracking up at Dustin's reaction.

"That's impossible," Mike says, shaking his head.

"That's killer, that's what it is!" Mariella pipes in, disbelief in her voice.

"Who is Mad Max?" Dustin asks, looking at Keith who watched with an amused smirk.

"Better than you," He shrugs at them.

Dustin flips him off. "Is it you?" Will asks, pointing at Keith curiously.

He scoffs. "You know I despise Dig Dug,".

"We don't even know you," Mariella scoffs back. Mike and Lucas laughing at her bluntness.

"Then who is it?" Lucas asks.

"Yeah, spill it, Keith," Dustin shouts, walking towards him.

"You want information, then I need something in return," Keith smirks, placing a chip in his mouth and looking at Mike. The party darts their heads towards him.

Mike's eyes widen at the idea, beginning to shake his head continuously. "No, no, no. No way. You're not getting a date with her," He shouts at him.

"'Mike, come on. Just get him the date," Lucas says, looking to Mike.

"I'm not prostituting my sister!" Mike yells.

"But it's for a good cause!" Lucas argues.

"As if Nancy would want to date you! She's way too sophisticated and badass!" Mariella laughs at Keith and shaking her head, no. "Even if Mikey did, she'd say no!".

"Don't get him the date. Know what? He's going to spread his nasty-ass rash to your whole family," Dustin interjects, pointing at Keith with a smile.

"Acne isn't a rash and it isn't contagious, you prepubescent wastoid!" Keith argues with them, all staring at him with looks of disgust. Except Will.

"Oh, I'm a wastoid? She wouldn't go on a date with you," Dustin goes on. "You make, like, what? $2.50 an hour?".

"Nice perm," Keith rolls his eyes at him.

"What? You're gonna make fun of my hair?" Dustin snaps.

"This is so funny," Mariella sighs with an amused smile, leaning onto Mike's arm. He towered over her. He had grown significantly since last fall.

"It's ridiculous!" Mike laughs at Keith and Dustin who continued arguing for what literally felt like ages. "Hey, look. Will went outside," Mike turns, grabbing Mariella's wrist and dragging her out the arcade doors and staring at Will who stared at the sky with wide eyes.

"Will! Are you okay?" Mike asks him, snapping Will from his trance and gasping, looking at them before turning back and staring at the sky.

"Another one?" Mariella asks, tilting her head. Wrist still in Mike's hand.

"No. It's fine. I just... I needed some air," Will lies, shaking his head, still staring up at the sky.

"You sure?" Mariella presses.

"Yeah," Will nods turning back to them.

"Come on, you're up on Dig Dug," Mike butts in, letting go of Mariella's Wrist which he forgot he was holding and wrapping a arm around Will's shoulder and leading him back into the arcade.

"Gotta protect that high score," Mariella smiles, cheekily at them as she opens the door and lets them in.

"Gotta protect that high score," Will agrees with a smile, nodding as Mike wraps his other arm around her.

And, so, they enter the arcade, Mike in between the two. His arms wrapped around their smaller figures loosely and in this moment he knew, these were the two people in his life he would risk everything for. Always.