bitchin'

Chapter 28

"Linds, I'm heading to work, are you coming with or not?!" Steve shouts. Lindsay scrambles to get her Vans on and runs out of her bedroom.

"Could've given me more than five minutes to get ready!" she exclaims. Steve just scoffs as he follows his sister out of the house.

The wind blows through Lindsay's brown hair with her hand resting on the open window ledge. The summer sun warms the town of Hawkins to where most are either at the town pool or inside their homes with fans running.

On most days Lindsay is either with Max and the Party or at the mall with Steve. He has a summer job at Scoops Ahoy!, the ice cream parlor in the mall, since he is now graduated. He would be going to community college, but with the lack of parenting in the Harrington Household, he's held off on going to college. Or at least that's what he says.

This week is the week of the Fourth of July or otherwise known as "Independence Day". A nationwide celebration of independence. This week is also the week of the Hit List Championships. Normally, she would be fighting in the championships to keep her title, but now she is just trying to stay under the radar. Chief Hopper has kept his word in protecting Lindsay, but he can't keep eyes on her 24/7. She has gotten in a couple of fights since leaving, but only to protect herself.

"Here's $5 for the arcade, if you see any of those kids, you come straight back to Scoops, okay?" Steve instructs as the two siblings walk into the newly-built Starcourt mall.

"Yeah, yeah," she answers, mostly ignoring him. He stops her inside the entrance.

"Linds, I'm serious, promise me you'll come straight back and let me deal with them?" he asks, making the girl look him in the eyes. She sighs and nods.

"Yes, I will."

"Good, have fun, see you later!" he says as he heads off to the ice cream parlor. She waves as he disappears into a sea of other people. She heads up to the second floor of the mall, where the arcade is.

Starcourt Mall is a huge hit in Hawkins and has taken over most of the business in town. It has lots of shops, places to eat, a movie theater, an arcade, even a photography studio! Lindsay spends most of her time in the arcade. Other times she just stays in Scoops with Steve. She likes his co-worker, Robin. She and Lindsay spend their time making fun of the Harrington boy.

She sometimes meets Max at the mall, but mostly they hang out at home. Although today, she and the other Party members are meeting at the mall for movie night. Since Steve works for the mall, he has access to the employee entrances to the other shops. Lindsay and Mike talk him out of sneaking them into the movie theater for free. Steve secretly enjoys it because he just wants Lindsay to be happy. Ever since she has been back with the Party and now with Max, she's been the happiest Steve's ever seen her.

Lindsay trades in the $5 Steve gave her for quarters. Like Dustin, her top favorite is Dig Dug, although she doesn't hold the high score for the game. She does, however, hold the high score for Pac-Man and Mike has spent the last two years trying to beat her.

"Well, well, well, look who it is: Lindsay Harrington."

Lindsay turns to see her old friends from the List; Anthony, Julia, Allison, Daniel, Kimberly, and Joel. She takes a deep breath and turns to leave the arcade.

"Where are you going, Harrington?" Joel calls as the others snicker beside him. Lindsay keeps walking, trying to remain calm and just head to Scoops.

"Hey! We're talking to you!" Daniel shouts as she reaches the exit, "come back!"

The group takes off after her as she begins to run to the escalator.

"Excuse me! Coming through! Sorry!" she shouts, pushing through the crowds of shoppers. She hears shouts from the shoppers but she ignores them. She makes it to the escalator and begins to more aggressively push her way through the shoppers, "sorry, excuse me! Excuse me! Pardon me, sorry! Sorry!"

The four Hit List kids begin their descent on the escalator as Lindsay reaches the ground floor. She pushes through more people, her backpack swinging from side to side.

"Hey! You can't do that!" a lady shouts as she cuts through the line at the ice cream parlor.

"Hey, what's going on?" Robin asks at the counter. Lindsay goes behind the counter, ignoring Robin and pushing the swinging door to the break room.

"Steve! They're here!" Lindsay pants. Steve jumps up from his seat and throws the sailor hat from his uniform on the table. He bursts through the swinging door as the four come stomping into the ice cream parlor.

"Haha! Steve Harrington, what a surprise! Here to save the day for little sis?" Daniel says sarcastically.

"Get out," he orders.

"Or what?" Allison sneers. He grabs ahold of the phone on the wall.

"I'll call the police. You can get ice cream, but you will leave afterwards," he threatens. Joel and Daniel look at each other, "you gonna order?"

Joel shakes his head 'no'. Steve points out of the parlor, "out."

Joel turns and slowly walks out. The other three follow.

"Fuck everyone in here!" Anthony shouts. Kimberly laughs and high-fives him. As they make their dramatic exit, Joel tips over a chair, Allison slides a napkin holder to the floor, and Daniel gives Steve the finger.

The rest of the parlor watches the scene and are speechless when the teens finally leave.

"Everything is alright, Scoop Ahoy! does not tolerate bullying. Enjoy your ice cream," Steve announces. Lindsay, who watched from behind the sliding window, waits for her brother to come back, "what happened?"

He sits down at the table across from Lindsay, "They just approached me at the arcade and I left as soon as they said something. They chased me down here though."

Steve sighs and rubs his forehead with his hand.

"We gotta talk to Hop again," he says. She looks down at her hands. Discolored skin covers her knuckles, now scars from the fights she used to participate in, "why don't you just stay here until the Party gets here?"

"Yeah, okay," she agrees, slightly disappointed.

"Are you hungry? I could get you a corn dog?" Steve offers. she nods, "you got it. I'll be back."

"Thank you," she says. He smiles as he leaves the break room. She hears Robin and him converse for a second.

"Wanna help me sling ice cream?" she asks, opening up the sliding window.

"Sure!"

"Okay, go wash your hands first," she instructs. Lindsay gets up and walks over to the sink. She does as told and then walks out to the front counter, "what can I get for you today?"

"Can I get a banana split?" a man orders.

"Yeah, that will be $2.16," Robin tells the man. After exchanging money, she turns to Lindsay, "get a large dish and do three scoops of vanilla ice cream."

She completes the task while Robin unwraps two bananas. She places them on both sides of the scoops of ice cream.

"Now you can do chocolate syrup," Robin tells her. Lindsay carefully does a squiggly line of chocolate syrup over the ice cream. She hands it off to Robin, who then hands it off to the customer, "you know, you're almost better than Steve at this."