𝙆𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 // 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 𝒙 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓

2-1: MADMAX

Only three more days until Halloween. It's been about ten or so months since Will came back home, and it's been nothing short of happy moments and laughs with the boys. Nancy, Jonathan and I have become really close friends (not to say I' ve replaced Barb, but I basically did). Shit, even Steve and I have been hanging out together, too, but usually with Nancy around with us. He's become way less of an asshole and is actually pretty fun to be around now that I know the guy. 

My mom found a job back in February, so I've been able to go out and have fun while she's out working. Steve's been having parties at his house while his parents are on business trips and I've attended a few here and there myself. I'm a junior now in school, and the boys are eighth graders. They're seriously growing up way too fast. I got myself a bike so I could ride around with them whenever they went out together and wanted me to come along, too. 

Tonight we decided to go to the arcade. I had a piggy bank that I kept all of my coins in, so I didn't need to do much searching before I managed to find twenty four quarters after dumping out the thing. I grinned and put them in my jacket pocket before grabbing my walkie. "Dustin, do you copy?" I asked into the device before quickly receiving a voice from the other end.

"Yeah, I copy." Dustin said. "What's your haul? Over." He asked, and I smirked.

"Only twenty four. You? Over." I questioned back.

"You got that kind of cash?" He told me in shock. "Only four. Over."

"Well, don't worry about it. I'll let you have some of mine if you run out, all right? I don't go to arcades as much as you dorks, so I wouldn't be all that good. Over." 

"Really? Cool. Thanks, (Y/n)." He tells me, and I could hear the smile through the walkie. "See you there. Over and out." 

I pulled down the receiver on the walkie and stuffed it in my backpack as I put on my shoes. It was pretty dark outside already, and I left the house after placing a note on the fridge in case my mom came home when I wasn't there to let her know where I was. I hopped on my bike and began riding through the small town of Hawkins, Indiana, to get to the arcade. 

By the time I got there, the boys had just parked their bikes in the bike racks. I pulled up, and they waved to me as I placed mine beside theirs. A car honked and the four of us turned to see the Byer's car parked out a little ways away. 

"Hey!" Dustin shouted at Will who was in the passenger's seat beside Joyce. We all waved to the boy, who was receiving a quick talk from his mother before he got out of the car. He jogged up to the rest of the group and we all greeted one another before heading inside the arcade, where we booked it to the boys favorite game, Dragon's Lair. They put in the quarters, and played until they began getting to the final boss. An animated woman with long blonde hair and a sexy black dress spoke through the machine in a sultry voice. 

"To slay the dragon, use the magic sword." She said dramatically, and Dustin began panicking a bit.

"Oh, Jesus! I'm in unchartered territory here, guys." Dustin began as he stared at the screen, taking control of the game.

"Down! Down! Down!" Lucas quickly shouted, and Dustin talked over him.

"I'm going! I'm going!" 

"Right! Right! Right! Right!" We all began shouting at him, and he moved the joystick to the right. He pushed the joystick up and we all stared at the screen in anticipation and excitement. 

"I'm going! I'm going! I'm going!" Dustin shouted once more, and Lucas began giving him instructions that weren't exactly easy to hear. The sword appeared on the screen and the boys began shouting and clamoring at Dustin. "Okay. Shut up. Shut up!" He yelled causing everyone to stop talking as he smashed in a button a few times. The knight on the screen erupted into flames before turning into a skeleton.