ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʟᴀꜱᴛꜱ ꜰᴏʀᴇᴠᴇʀ ☆ ꜱᴛᴇᴠᴇ ʜᴀʀʀɪɴɢᴛᴏɴ

052.

[1985]
052. the monsters gone he's on the run

If you would have told Annabelle weeks ago that her summer was now walking through Starcourt mall on a hot summers day, trying to find secret Russian spies, she would probably assume that was true and had been dragged into it by Steve and Dustin. Both was correct.

Steve and Dustin chose to be more secret in their spying, well, as secret as you can be when hiding behind fake plants with binoculars in a bright coloured sailor suit.

Annie opted to walking round the mall, actually trying to blend in and look for little things, tells, about people that could reveal their true nature. She also let her thoughts wonder as she tried to think of what the code could mean.

"Annabelle Lewis?" The blonde turned, seeing it was Mark Lewitsky. She knew him once, well once meaning a kiss when they were thirteen and passing him through the halls for the next five years after. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd be heading to New York by now."

Annie put on a smile. It's not that she didn't like him, it's that he was kinda an ass and she was different. She wasn't going to explain why her New York plans fell through, that would lead to the whole other world thing. Also, she was busy and Mark trying to play it cool, flirting with her was not something she was excited to be doing. Unknowing to the girl, her boyfriend and dumb-witted side kick was seeing the whole thing play out.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me?"

"What?" Dustin's attention was caught.

Steve scoffed. "That meat head, Mark Lewitsky, is flirting with my girl. You know, he's had a thing for Annie since sophmore year."

"Dude, if your not gonna focus give me back the binoculars." Dustin sighed.

"No, man. I'm not letting Mark try and worm his way-" Steve went to stand up, being dragged back down by Dustin, stumbling over his words and his own feet. Dustin sighed, "This is Annie were talking about. She's probably being polite. You do realise that she loves you. Which seriously surprises us all, cause she's this badass person and your. . . you."

Steve turned to the Henderson boy with a glare, "Thanks. You know how to boost a guy's ego."

"You were the one staring at Annie."

"She's my girlfriend. I can stare." He defended.

Dustin rolled his eyes and pulled the binoculars back. "Your the worst spy in human history." The curly head boy muttered under his breath.

"No, you know what, Henderson, you a very pushy kid. I don't know how Annie put up with babysitting you." Steve narrowed his eyes at the boy.

"Because she's cool. She also gave us candy when we did our homework."

"She bribed you."

"No, because Annie hung out with us willingly, too. She came with us to buy comic books and let us borrow hers whenever."

Steve chuckled. "It sounds like someone had a crush on my girlfriend."

Dustin turned to him with a deadpan look." She wasn't at the time. No wonder she called you Harry Osborn." He muttered the last part to himself as he went back to the binoculars. "Wha-" Steve was about to ask but Dustin cut him off. "Target acquired."

Annie was oblivious to Dustin and Steve stumbling over themselves to follow the blonde man who held a duffle bag. She was too busy nodding at Mark's words, the boy ranting about a game senior year he never even participated in. Mark never even got of the bench.

"How about we catch up over lunch one day. I'm suppose to met with Steve in five."

Mark's face dropped. "Harrington?" He was present for the spectacle in the hallway the last school year when Steve asked Annie to the dance. He thought that they wouldn't last a week. Well, everybody knew that they would end up either way, just most hoped they wouldn't to get a chance with the Steve Harrington or Annabelle Lewis.

Annie nodded. "Yeah. So, I should get back to my boyfriend. It was really nice seeing you." Annie let out a breath as she walked away and now had to mentally prepare for spy craft once again. Well, that was until her hand was grabbed, pulling her to the side. She didn't get a word in as lips were on hers. She knew exactly who it was the moment her hand was grabbed. Annie was flustered until they pulled back.

"Hi." Annabelle chuckled, breathless.

Steve was standing before her, hand on her waist. "Hi." The boy panted. He was stuck staring at her, taking in everything about her. How pretty she was. That didn't matter, she was perfect to him inside and out. Reluctantly, he glanced behind her to figure out where the target was going and grabbed Annie's hand to pull her along with him along.

Dustin stumbled over himself to catch up before the trio stopped, looking around the map. "You do realise-" Annie was cut off as Dustin shushed her. She had followed their eyeline to the guy that she knew was the jazzercize teacher. She only knew this because her mom went once and Annie had waited with a smoothie.

The boys finally realised why he wasn't the target when the music started to echo from the boom box. Annie covered Dustin's eyes as the woman began to dance. "Your way too young to be traumatised." Annie muttered, dragging Dustin away, latching her other hand on Steve's wrist to pull him away too.

"I-I wasn't loo-" Steve shook his head, stumbling over his words.

"I was." Annie chuckled and left Steve dumbfounded as she skipped closer to Scoops, leaving Dustin to then argue with the older boy about how it was his fault somehow.

The blonde walked through the ice cream shop, coming to a stop as she stepped through the back door. "Hi Robin." The Buckley girl was opening the door for a delivery, the same time Annie picked up the notebook that was sitting on the counter. She went over the words that seemed to become more and more confusing.

Annabelle looked over and her attention immediately went to the guy turning around. Silver cat. Annie looked back to the notepad, re-reading the sentence. When she looked back, Robin had the same thought and grabbed Annie's wrist as the duo rushed out, bumping into Dustin and Steve on the way.

The girls jumped up on the ledge of the water fountain, Annie passed the notebook to Robin as she looked around. "A trip to china sounds nice." Annabelle muttered. "Imperial Panda."

Robin's head shot up, looking at the restaurant in question. They both looked back for the next line, soon finding the shoe shop - if you tread lightly - then blue and yellow meets in the west, which was referred to the clock in the middle on the mall. The hands of the clock, blue and yellow, at nine, the west.

"Annie?" Steve's voice broke the girls out their thoughts, a grin on both their faces. "What are you guys doing?"

"We cracked it." Robin mused before she jumped down, Steve grabbing Annie's waist to help her down. The blonde bit her lip, smiling. Annie let out a breathy chuckle as she spoke, "We cracked the code."