Alice the Amazing ⇒ STRANGER THINGS

[53] Hall Passes and Pep Rallies

{The Hellfire Club, Part I}

🏀 🏀 🏀

March 21st, 1986

As soon as Robin entered Steve's BMW, she could tell he had something to share.

"Morning Rob!" Steve said as she tucked her marching band uniform in the middle seat. He smiled wide like a maniac, looking way too chipper for 6:32 in the morning. "It's a beautiful Friday, isn't it?"

Robin gave him a once-over.

"Are you on drugs?" she said.

"The only drug I'm on is love," Steve said, peeling away from the curb.

"Is that a street name for cocaine?"

Robin waited for a snarky reply. Instead, Steve just chuckled and turned up the radio.

He hummed along to "Object of My Desire," tapping his hands on the steering wheel to the beat.

"Okay," Robin said. "I know you have news, so just spill it. And drive carefully! I have to finish my makeup."

As she got to work applying mascara, Steve sighed contentedly.

"The best thing happened with Alice at Skull Rock."

"Ew," Robin said, gagging. "I'm glad you two are together, but I do not need to know the juicy details."

"No, no, it's not like that," Steve said. He beamed, eyes twinkling. "She said that she loved me."

Robin gasped, and then squealed, then reached across the car and wrapped Steve in a tight side hug, causing him to swerve slightly on the rural road.

"That is amazing, Steve!" Robin said. "I'm so happy for you two! Wait, you said it back, right?"

"Of course!" Steve said, shaking her off. "I've wanted to say it for months, but it never felt like the right time. The way it went down was nearly perfect."

"Why only nearly?" Robin asked, now working on her lipstick.

Steve ran a hand through his hair, wondering how much he should tell.

"She thought she saw something in the forest," Steve said, after a beat.

"What kind of something?" Robin said. "A monster-type something, or a run-of-the-mill pervert?"

"She said she saw blue eyes," Steve said. "It wasn't you, was it?"

Robin snorted before working on her hair.

"Do you think there really was something there?" Robin asked. "Or was it...you know."

Robin used the forefinger and middle finger to mime bunny ears behind her head, wiggling them back and forth.

"I didn't see or hear anything weird," Steve said, "so I guess it's like that. But...I don't know."

Steve stopped himself. He didn't want to entertain the thought.

Robin, curiosity getting the better of her, prompted him with a "But what?"

"I'm sure I'm just being paranoid," Steve said. "But Alice saw—or, subconsciously created—illusions of rabbits from December to July, leading up to all that shit with the Russians and Mind Flayer at Starcourt. Almost like they were, I don't know..."

"Signaling danger?" Robin offered.

"Yeah. They were giving her a warning: 'Something's coming.' And she hasn't seen them much since that night. But now she's having really vivid illusions of way more than rabbits. It just...it worries me. That something might happen again. I don't know if we can take it."