Chapter One: Summer Lovin'

(Suzie, Do You Copy?)

***

The soft, soothing sensation of the makeup brush stroking her cheekbone was a sensation Valerie would never tire of, contrasting with the slight itch of the fake horns sticking out from her forehead—already blended in as much as she could. Red and orange eyeshadow adorned her eyelids, black lipstick glossed her lips, and now she was applying pink and red blush to her cheeks—completing the look of a dragon or demon, or some entirely new creature. Valerie didn't entirely know, but she didn't care.

Any chance to practice and hone her makeup skills was a chance worth taking.

Swiping the brush across her cheek one last time, Valerie dropped the brush, scrutinising her reflection, noting the edge of the latex that hadn't been blended in well enough.

Another chance to practice, she thought, allowing herself to smile at how it still looked good.

She wondered if it would be good enough to use in a movie or show.

Valerie looked to the posters adorning her walls, next to her ABBA, Tina Turner, Ana Gabriel and Madonna posters—Star Wars, Alien, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers—both of them—The Thing—both the original and the Carpenter one—Bladerunner, and other posters of her favourite science fiction movies, plastering the walls in her room as much as they did in her bedroom back in that apartment in New York. Where she had first begun testing out how to do more than just simple eyeshadow and lipstick, to try and utterly change herself into an alien or mythical creature, to find her passion and hope it could lead her to working on movie sets and transforming actors into fantastical and horrific creatures.

If her sister wanted to be the star seen, then Valerie was the one content to be behind the scenes and let her work be shown to the world instead. Maybe have an award for best makeup—one could hope, after all.

And yet, that dream wasn't now, was years from this moment. And if Valerie walked into Hawkins parading horns and gills, she'd be silently judged even more than she already was. The downside of small towns.

Plus, the little matter of her summer job. A summer job that, hopefully, she could save up money from to pay for film school. So she could make that dream a possibility.

Sighing, Valerie let herself look at her handiwork before she began the process of removing it. Piece by piece, the otherworldly creature was destroyed and the girl behind it was revealed, until only the girl remained. Wiping her face again, Valerie exited her room and ducked into the bathroom—thankfully, Cami wasn't using it. Turning the sink on, Valerie splashed water on her face, cleansing it of makeup and whatever glue was left behind on her forehead.

Deeming her face clean, Valerie went back to her room and put away her makeup and prosthetics—some she'd bought at New York or in Indianapolis, most homemade—she heard a knock on her door and her mother saying, "Valerie! You need to take Camila with you to Starcourt when you head to your job, mija!"

"Okay!" Valerie shouted back, sighing as she put the last of her makeup away. This time, her mom hadn't made mention of her potentially practicing her makeup and prosthetics skills before her shift at Scoops Ahoy. Which Valerie was glad for—she heard enough about what her parents, especially her mom, thought of her career choice. That she was essentially a disappointment for not wanting a more financially stable job.

If only they knew how much more of a disappointment she was if they learned she wanted to kiss girls instead of boys.

Valerie sighed, grabbing her uniform out from her closet—that wasn't something she was going to entertain, not now.

Especially when thinking about it would inevitably lead to Valerie thinking of her and... yep, she was thinking of her co-worker again.

Valerie cursed herself as she took off her old clothes to slide into the sailor's uniform, her mind teasing her with that messy short blonde hair and blue eyes and her cute freckled face and her voice and what it would be like to kiss her lips. Teasing her with images of her friend and co-worker and crush, Robin Buckley.

Thinking about Robin made everything in Valerie want to short-circuit—even though thinking about women always made Valerie want to short-circuit—but Robin was another level. The thought made Valerie's cheeks heat and her urge to find out what Robin's lips tasted like increase, but she reeled it back in when around her—both because of the very real fact Robin could be straight, and the more embarrassing fact that Valerie knew she would make herself a fool in front of this very smart, very pretty girl. And Valerie refused to act like a lovesick fool around Robin Buckley.

So she handily tried to shove down images of Robin down and focused on other things—like her routine of getting ready for work.

Valerie glared into her mirror, bobby pins in her mouth as she wrangled her hair into submission with elastics, gel and the bobby pins, until it had been tamed into a ponytail. Grabbing her casual makeup kit, she applied foundation on her face and mascara on her lashes—going for as much of a natural look as possible.

When she reached for a pink lipstick Valerie liked to use, her fingers came up empty. And she knew instantly who the culprit was.

"CAMI!" she yelled, marching out of her room and to her sister's down at the end of the hall. "Did you steal my lipstick again?!"

Cami opened the door, sticking her head out as she denied, "No!"

"Don't lie to me! It's gone from my kit and you always steal it! Now hand it over," Valerie accused, glaring daggers at her sister.

"Okay, okay! And I was gonna give it back," Cami said, glaring back at Valerie as she ducked into her room before coming back out, the stolen lipstick in her hand.

"Thank you, and don't steal this anymore, or I'll kill one of your plants!" Valerie threatened.

Cami gaped. "You wouldn't."

"I would!"

"If you do, I... I'll rip off your Star Wars poster and tear it apart!"

"I'll smash your Eurythmics record!"

"I'll break one of your makeup prosthetics!"

Silence dropped like a bomb as Valerie gaped at Cami as her eyes widened as she realised what she just said, before Valerie's eyes narrowed and she hissed, "You do that, and I'll break your hand."

"I won't!" Cami hurriedly said, holding her hands up placatingly.

"Good. And don't steal my lipstick!" Valerie shouted, marching back to her room. She paused and threw back over her shoulder, "Also, get ready, if you want me to still drive you to Starcourt!"

"I will! I'll be ready in a minute!"

"You better!" Valerie shouted before she headed back into her room, sighing as she glared at the lipstick. Cami could literally be the personification of sunshine and they'd usually get along, but sometimes she'd pull shit like this and Valerie wanted nothing more than to strangle her.

Maybe that was just how sisterly relationships were—killing each other in one minute, then protecting each other in the next.

Especially when ever since they moved to Hawkins, Valerie had the sense Cami was hiding something from her. That she refused to talk about it—even though Valerie could hear her screaming in the middle of the night and talking for hours afterward on the phone with her ex and best friend, Alistair Graveswood, that she'd seen her jump when the Bensons' dog rushed at her for a friendly greeting, looking almost terrified for an instant before she was smiling and telling Valerie she'd just been spooked by the barking.

The Bensons' dog never barked.

But Cami kept it under wraps, tightly locked away. And Valerie wanted to do her duty as big sister and have Cami tell her what was wrong, but she decided to give her space. If Cami wanted to tell her, she would.

So Valerie pushed down her thoughts about whatever her sister was hiding and her anger at her being a thief again and finished doing her makeup. Checking to see it looked okay, Valerie made the short trip to the bathroom to put on deodorant and then back to her room to snag her hat and her much-loved copy of Dune and shove her feet into her Reeboks, before marching out to her sister's room and banging her fist against it.

"Cami! Are you ready?" Valerie yelled, still banging her fist on the door.

It opened five seconds later, where she saw Cami give her a look before she said, "Yeah, I'm ready, Val."

She left, letting Valerie see her sister's outfit—a white tank top with a rainbow mesh off-shoulder top over it, denim shorts with bright flowers appliquéd on the pockets, and white socks and Converse with stars drawn around the rims, and an ever-present scrunchie around her wrist alongside her other bracelets. Summer not stopping her sister's colourful or borderline eccentric style.

In fact, Valerie was certain it only gave her more chances.

"Come on, let's go, hermanita," Valerie said, missing the look Cami gave her as they headed out, their mom shouting, "Have fun, Cami! You remembered to feed Annie, right?"

"Yes, Mami!" Cami affirmed as she petted the adorable black kitten, Annie mewing in contentment.

"Okay. And Valerie, you work hard, okay mija? ¡Las quiero!"

"¡Las quiero!" Valerie and Cami yelled back as they left the house, jogging up to Valerie's car and getting inside.

"Let me guess. You and your amigos are gonna use the corridor to see a movie?" Valerie questioned as they made the drive to Starcourt.

"Yep," Cami confirmed as she rolled down the window, letting the summer breeze blow through her curly hair—well, as much as it could since it was also in a ponytail, a sun-yellow scrunchie keeping it back.

"Okay. Are you seeing Goonies?" Valerie grilled, smiling as she hummed along to Dancing Queen.

At that, her sister's mood darkened. "Dios, I wish! No, we're seeing Day of the Dead instead."

"Wait, that's a horror movie, right?" Valerie asked. When her hermanita nodded, Valerie grinned. "Oh, I wasn't expecting that! But will you be okay with watching it?"

"Yeah, I think so," Cami answered, turning away as she mumbled, "Probably not as scary as I think it will be."

Something about the way Cami said it had something tick at Valerie's big instincts, just like the screaming and Cami's reaction to the neighbours' dog had. But instead of prodding on that, she said, "Well, hopefully you'll like it. As long as you don't have too many nightmares, okay?"

Cami's smile hesitated to dawn before it did. "I won't."

That ended the conversation, as now instead Valerie and Cami sang to ABBA, Valerie envious of how much better her little sister's voice was—Cami was going to win so many Grammys when she was older—until Starcourt appeared.

The building seemed to loom above the parking lot—though not as much as the building at the edge of town had, Hawkins Lab—as hordes of people headed inside. And when Valerie parked near enough to it, she could see her sister's friends already there.

Valerie smiled. She was glad Cami had made friends—not that she doubted her sister's ability to make any. Cami was sunshine and positivity condensed into human form. But the fear she wouldn't borne of how all the friends Cami had made in New York had dropped her for whatever bullshit reason or pretended to be her friend and then left her had lingered inside Valerie.

But she hadn't needed to worry, not when Cami smiled so brightly and left the car and sprinted to the group waiting for her—Max Mayfield, Lucas Sinclair, Will Byers...

And Alistair Graveswood.

Valerie looked at Alistair—she liked him, and he was really nice, if snarky and had dark eyebags under his eyes that had Valerie want to strap him to a bad and make him sleep. Plus, he'd been nice to Cami when they were dating, and even after their breakup, they remained close—in fact, they seemed to be closer. Plus, she automatically liked him due to her friendship with his sister, Rowan Graveswood.

And yet, there was something about Alistair that seemed... off. In fact, there was something off about both Alistair and Rowan, but that feeling seemed more prominent around Alistair, almost like...

Like he saw more than he let on.

Valerie shook her head, looking away from her group—noting the absence of two more boys from the close group—as she grabbed her things and got out, waving to her sister and her friends before marching into Starcourt.

Air-conditioned air buffeted Valerie as she marched over to Scoops Ahoy, ignoring the siren call of the other stores. Sea shanties filled her ears as she walked in, ten minutes before her shift started—and was immediately noticed.

"Valerie! You're finally here! Thank God! The brain cell count has been raised!"

"I'm standing right here, Robin!"

"Shut up, dingus."

Valerie smiled as the third employee of Scoops Ahoy, Steve Harrington, glowered at Robin and grumbled as he turned and served a customer.

"Hola, guys," she greeted as she walked behind the counter. "How's things going?"

"Great. Dingus has flirted and failed dismally with three girls today," Robin reported, Steve shooting her a murderous glare.

"Ah, of course," Valerie hummed, grinning as now Steve directed his glare to Valerie, mumbling, "It's this goddamned hat, I'm telling you."

"Sure it is, Steve," Valerie teased, before she asked in a stage-whisper, "Has she arrived yet?"

"No, but she probably will," Robin told her.

"She always does when I arrive for my shift—I swear she has a sixth sense or something, that little twerp," Valerie grumbled, her own glare on her face.

Of course, she was talking about the current bane of her existence, Erica Sinclair. The little demon terrorised Scoops and Valerie's thinning patience ever since summer practically began, only getting samples and refusing to actually pay for an ice cream like any regular customer would. Valerie was certain Erica had blown their company policy five times over. She was also certain one day she was gonna commit filicide if Erica didn't pay for a goddamned ice cream soon.

Robin chuckled and said, "At least you have me and dingus to fend her off."

"My hero," Valerie snarked, before smiling. Robin returned it, before Valerie looked away, lest Robin see the red forming under her foundation, clearing her throat as she asked, "Want me to man the register or work the ice cream scooping?"

"Ice cream scooping," Steve said, handing one of the plastic red scoopers to her. "I've been doing it for the past hour already."

"And doing a fine service for the ladies with it," Robin teased.

Steve shot her a glare as Valerie accepted the scooper.

"Got it," Valerie said, moving to take Steve's position as he headed to the backroom. As she did, she quickly set her book down where it was conveniently concealed from any eyes—ready for her to read a chapter when things were slow or if Erica tested her restraint. Mostly the latter.

Standing behind the multi-hued frosty confections, Valerie sighed, and got ready to begin her shift and ignoring how closely she was standing next to Robin as the blonde said with an obviously fake cheery voice, "Hey, welcome to Scoops! How may we serve you?"

Just like any other shift.

***

Cami tapped her foot against the pavement to imaginary music as she, like everyone else in the Party, waited for Mike to arrive.

Like always, he was the last to arrive—due to spending time with El. It was sweet, especially after what the two had been through, but sometimes Cami wished he'd hurry up a little bit faster.

Him being late could mean we skip the movie, a thought whispered in Cami's head. Cami agreed immensely with the thought, even though she had a feeling it wouldn't come true.

Still, she wished she and the others—who were visibly growing irritated with waiting for Mike—could wait inside the mall. Don't get her wrong, Cami loved summer—it had to be her favourite season ever, aside from spring, of course—but she could deal without the sticky heat, as she could literally feel her hair beginning to frizz from it.

"God, why couldn't we have just waited for Mike inside?" Alistair grumbled as he kicked at the pavement with his already-scuffed shoe, an irritated look on his face.

Cami chuckled and agreed, "You and me both."

Patting her hair, she added, "This heat is really hating on my hair."

That caused Alistair to laugh, as now Lucas grumbled, "Jesus, what is taking Mike so long?"

"He's probably on his way," Cami reasoned, eager to defend her friend.

"Yeah, but this is literally the third time he's run late," Max pointed out. Cami couldn't argue there.

Lucas' face twisted even further with irritation. "We've probably missed the previews."

"At least it's only just previews and not the movie," Cami pointed out, finding positivity in everything.

"We'll probably miss that too," Lucas argued grumpily.

"And would that be so bad?" Cami asked, batting her eyes, the picture of innocence. She was hoping God or karma or whatever could make that happen. Hoping it also hid her grimace if they didn't miss it.

Alistair looked at her, frowning as he bumped her shoulder, catching her true feelings. "Hey, you don't have to watch it."

"I know, but I want to," Cami said. Not a lie—she did want to know what all the fuss was about with horror movies, without other elements like science fiction in Alien and The Blob. And yet... "I just don't understand how you guys can watch anything horror after... everything."

Cami didn't say more, but it didn't need to be. They all knew what she meant.

Across from her, Will shrugged. "Nothing's been scarier than all of that."

"And I bet these zombies aren't half as scary as the ones Al makes," Max said, before looking at Alistair and asking, "Right, Al?

"Yeah, right," Alistair said, smiling but there was something in his eyes that he quickly pushed away. Cami frowned, but decided not to comment on it.

"Speaking of zombies... you better not pull a Ghostbusters on us," Lucas said, glaring suspiciously at Alistair while Will nodded. Cami smirked as she eyed Alistair—she heard about his infamous tirade by now.

"Guys, I already told you I wouldn't. Promise," Alistair assured.

"Said the one raised by a con artist," Max snarked.

"I promise, I'll keep my criticism of Day of the Dead's zombies inside. Scout's honour," Alistair promised even as his voice was full of sarcasm, fingers crossed on both hands to prove it.

Lucas still looked at Alistair suspiciously, not completely buying it, while Max smirked. Cami kept quiet, noting how Will didn't say anything much. She tucked that away to add to her plans to get Alistair and Will together, or at least have Alistair tell Will how he really felt.

That had ended conversation as the five of them waited for Mike. As they did, Cami observed the people coming in and out, the numbers seeming to have grown in the past few hours since she'd been here. She liked doing that, watching people go, wondering what was going on in their lives.

Probably not haunted by nightmares of monsters whose faces open up, a traitorous thought whispered. Cami pushed it away. It was terrifying, but it was over now. The gate was closed, and Will was free and the Upside Down was finished. Now Cami could focus on having the best summer ever! And with the greatest friends she could have asked for!

Everything was gonna be fun and amazing and great!

Especially if Mike showed up right about now...

As if she—or maybe the universe or God—willed it, Mike finally arrived, biking literally toward them. They turned as Mike parked and Lucas announced, "You're late."

"Sorry!" Mike apologised, sighing as he moved toward them.

"Again!"

"This is literally the third time, Mike," Alistair pointed out, arms crossed and frowning.

"Yeah, I know, Al. I'm sorry," Mike apologised.

Alistair rolled his eyes as Will said, "We're gonna miss the opening."

"Would that be such a bad thing?" Cami murmured, making sure it was quiet. Beside her, Alistair smothered a laugh.

"Yeah, if you guys keep whining about it," Mike retorted and Cami stared at Mike, since technically he was the one running late.

"As if you weren't literally the one running late," Alistair reminded as Will camouflaged his laugh with a cough. The two smiled at each other before looking away, Cami catching the red creeping onto her best friend's cheeks. Cami grinned, the wingwoman in her thrilled even as she wanted to shake Alistair and scream at him to just tell Will how he felt.

"'If you guys keep whining about it'. Nyeh-nyeh-nyeh," Lucas mocked as they turned to the mall.

"Just please stop talking, dude," Mike said as their little group headed inside the mall. Relief filled Cami the minute her face met the cool, air-conditioned air, and she didn't need to look at Alistair to know he was similarly thrilled at being in air conditioning again.

"Let me guess. You were busy making..." Lucas said as he made obnoxious kissing noises. Alistair and Will chuckled while Cami rolled her eyes at the slight immaturity, but she was also fighting back her own grin.

"Oh, yeah, real mature, Lucas," Mike deadpanned.

"Oh, El, I wish we could make out forever and never hang out with any of our friends," Lucas said, fully making fun of Mike now. His impression was pretty spot-on and hilarious.

"Lucas, stop," Max chided, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, it's not that funny," Cami agreed. It was. Her smile revealed that.

"Will and Al think its funny," Lucas defended, pointing to the duo.

"Because it is," Will responded, a grin on his face as Alistair nodded.

"Yeah, it was hilarious," Alistair concurred, a grin flashing on his face.

"Yeah, it's so funny I want to spend romantic time with my girlfriend," Mike said sarcastically, throwing his hands up into the air as he did.

"I'm spending romantic time with my girlfriend," Lucas pointed out, slinging an arm around Max's shoulders. She rolled her eyes, but her smile broke through the mask of annoyance at the display of affection.

"And we're spending time as exes-turned-friends," Cami pitched in, bumping her shoulder with Alistair's, grinning. Alistair returned it before she looked at Will, her grin turning wicked as she murmured, "Well, not entirely..."

Her best friend's eyes widened and he quickly elbowed her in a clear message to drop it while Will looked at them in confusion. Cami huffed in frustration—she was trying to be a good wingwoman and stop the pining already, can you blame her?—but she did drop it, especially as they had now arrived at the escalators.

They didn't bother for their steps to reach the bottom as they instead shoved through the crowd to get to the ground floor. It made everything in Cami on edge and had the ghost of her mother yelling at her for her rude behaviour, but desperate times, Mami. Besides, she pushed through more dense crowds than this in New York.

Channelling her crowd-pushing skills from those days, Cami shoved through along with the rest of the Party. It earned them all dirty looks and Cami winced as she said, "Sorry, ma'am, sorry, sir, I need to get down, I'm so sorry." Beside her, she heard Alistair say, "Sorry, excuse me, sorry," though he didn't sound as apologetic as she did.

As Lucas elbowed a girl, she turned and yelled, "Hey!"

"Excuse us! Sorry! Sorry!" Lucas apologised along with the others as the bottom was now tantalisingly close.

At finally arriving at the bottom, they continued their frantic rush, the mall blurring around Cami in neon and people and the smell from the food court. She shoved down the temptation to wander through the mall as the Party continued to push through, Cami apologising, "I'm so sorry! We're in a rush! I'm really sorry!"

"Excuse me, I'm sorry," Max said as she pushed past a woman who gave her a dirty look, the redhead ignoring it as she, Cami, Mike and Lucas rushed onward. Cami risked a look back to see Alistair had doubled back to Will, the two holding hands as they pushed through and mumbled apologies. Cami smiled, her inner wingwoman and hopeless romantic squealing at the sight.

They're holding hands! Progress! she shrieked internally before refocusing on pushing through the crowds as they made their way past the last of them, marching to their destination with a mostly clear path, as Mike shoved aside a girl who yelled, "Hey, watch it!"

"Yeah, watch it, nerd!" 

Cami turned to see Erica Sinclair—Lucas' younger sister and her sister's apparent enemy—sitting at the fountain, a horde of her friends around her as they ate ice cream. Cami wondered if Valerie had jumped with  joy that Erica had bought an actual ice cream instead of insisting on just samples.

Alistair rolled his eyes as Lucas demanded, "Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Isn't it time you died?" Erica retorted in her usual sassy tone.

"Psycho!" Lucas yelled.

"Butthead!" Erica returned.

"Mall rat!"

"Fart face!"

Lucas blew a raspberry at his sister for that as Cami and Alistair shared a look, knowing they shared something like that with their respective sisters once or five times in their lives—in fact, Cami knew she and Valerie had shared something like that before they left with the lipstick (and she was going to give it back! She wasn't that stupid to keep it at risk of her sister's wrath)

However, Max rolled her eyes and said sarcastically, "Oh, that was mature," as she grabbed Lucas' arm and towed him to the store they'd been heading for, the store whose employees would let them use a certain corridor to sneak into movies without paying for tickets or worry about age restrictions.

Scoops Ahoy.

Together, the six of them marched up to the counter, where Cami could see her sister's co-worker and current crush, Robin Buckley, manning the register wearing a look that was both bored and annoyed. At the counter, Valerie was reading Dune behind it, a similar bored and annoyed look on her face, but when she saw them she lowered the book and said, "Hey. Wanna use it again?"

"Hey. Yes," Cami confirmed for all of them, even though she already said that earlier in the car ride—probably for the sake of the rest of the Party—as Mike began dinging the bell—loudly, repeatedly and aggressively.

Robin and Valerie shared an eye-roll before Robin called loudly, "Hey dingus, your children are here."

The window opened right after, revealing Steve Harrington behind it, wearing a sailor's uniform just like Valerie and Robin, an annoyed look on his face as he demanded, "Again? Seriously?"

In response, Mike dinged the bell one last time.

"Might as well let them use it. You've been doing it all summer," Valerie pointed out.

Steve glared at her, but nodded sharply and Valerie beckoned them over, opening the flap-doors separating front from back. Cami, Alistair and Will gave grateful smiles to her and Robin as they all marched behind it and to the backroom—and to the delivery corridor beyond, that linked all the stores to Starcourt together, including the cinema.

"Come on, come on," Steve muttered as one by one they filed in as he kept watch—Robin and Valerie probably doing the same—until all of them were inside and on their way to the cinema.

"I swear, if anybody hears about this—" Steve warned, only for all six of them to roll their eyes and yell, "WE'RE DEAD!"

When there was no response back, Cami assumed Steve had gone back to Scoops. So she focused on making the familiar way to the movies, trying to ignore the grimace on her face and hoping no one saw it.

But Alistair saw it, and he murmured, "Hey. Next time, you pick."

She gave him a grateful smile as she replied, "Thanks, Al."

Up ahead, Lucas said, "This better be good."

"It will if Al keeps his promise and doesn't criticise the zombies like he did in Ghostbusters," Mike said as he gave Alistair a look.

Alistair only smiled sardonically and held up his crossed fingers.

"You have to admit, his criticisms were funny," Well defended as Alistair looked at him in shock before he smiled.

"Thanks, Will. I appreciate it," he said, flashing him that smile.

Will's eyes widened and to Cami he appeared to stop working—another point that things seemed to be progressing—as Alistair added, "But I won' be criticising. Unless it's the gore. Because come on, if you're gonna have zombies, be a little more realistic, okay? We've all seen how it's actually supposed to look like."

Mike rolled his eyes, but no one argued. None of them did when most of them had. Cami herself was quiet, trying to not think about the Demodogs, the tunnels. It was fine—it was in the past. It was gonna be good! This summer was gonna be great!

Even with the horror movie they were about to see.

Finally, they arrived and Mike poked his head out, checking around to see if nobody was around before saying, "All clear."

They stepped out, making their way to the theatre they knew would be playing the movie, showing the special premier of Day of the Dead. The smell of the cinema snacks filled Cami's nose—popcorn and soft drinks. Her stomach grumbled and she consoled it over how they would be having snacks soon as they made their way into the dark theatre, where Cami could see the previews had ended, making their way to the free seats available—Mike, Will and Alistair in the row above, her, Lucas and Max in the row below. No one gave them any looks or attention, focused on the screen and the movie that would be playing soon.

"See, Lucas? We made it," Mike hissed as they sat down.

"We missed the previews," Lucas argued.

"Still made it. Fart face," Max reminded, grinning as Lucas stared at her.

Cami, however, sighed and muttered, "Let's just get this over with."

Alistair leaned forward and whispered quietly, "It'll be okay. Like Max said, I've probably raised scarier zombies than the ones we're gonna see."

Cami giggled as Alistair leaned back—only for a second, as the task of distributing the snacks and drinks they smuggled in began. They passed the snacks and drinks around, Alistair handing over to Cami M&Ms, sherbet and a can of soft drink. Cami reciprocated with one of her gap-toothed smiles before she turned around, opening the M&Ms.

The snacks handed over, the Party sat back and waited, as everyone smiled except for Cami, trying her best to hide a grimace but failing as Max turned to her and had a wicked grin as she mouthed, 'Enjoy, Cami.'

Cami responded by pelting a M&M at Max. The redhead dodged it, grinning as she turned back.

And it was at the moment the last ad stopped playing and the movie had finally begun, opening up to a woman sitting alone in a white room. Already Cami's stomach was tense, gripping the arm of her chair in one hand and the M&Ms in the other, watching her get up and heading to the calendar, already thinking, Don't do it, you're gonna get grabbed, Dios, please don't do it, don't do it—

And then the screen juddered before freezing and then completely blacking out.

"Come on!" was shouted from practically everyone in the cinema, reverberating through it and Cami's ears.

And Cami?

Cami only smiled.

Gracias, God.

***

Valerie had just closed her book to head into the backroom to take a much-needed break—especially when she had served the twerp a few minutes ago; thank Dios she'd actually bought a proper ice cream along with all her friends—when all the lights blinked out.

The teen girl frowned as she lowered Dune and stepped away from the counter as Steve said, "That's weird."

"Must be a power outage," Valerie reasoned, shrugging as Robin nodded in agreement while Steve headed over to the light switch and began flipping it.

Valerie stared at Steve at how he was thinking that was actually going to work as Robin pointed out with a roll of her eyes, "That isn't gonna work, dingus."

"Oh really?" Steve retorted, and now flipped the switch faster and more aggressively.

Valerie scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Qué idiota," she muttered, causing Robin to turn and nod in agreement. Right. Valerie had forgotten Robin could understand and speak Spanish.

So they both shared another eye-roll as Steve kept flipping the switch until, as suddenly as they went out, the lights came on with a final flip of the switch.

Turning to them, Steve raised his hand and said, "Let there be light."

Valerie and Robin watched Steve go back to serving customers, Valerie rolling her eyes again—no way did Steve make the lights turn on with his almost maniacal light switch flipping. It must have coincided with the power coming back on.

"I'm surprised dingus didn't break that," Robin remarked, and Valerie snorted.

"Me too—thought it was gonna snap in his hand," Valerie agreed as Robin smiled. Valerie returned it before she felt her cheeks flush and she pointed behind her, fumbling, "So, uh, I'm just gonna have my break now, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, okay. I'll man the fort with dingus. Make sure the switch doesn't inflate his ego even more," Robin said, rolling her eyes again.

"Yeah, as if it needs inflating," Valerie agreed.

Steve shot them a glare. "I can hear you both, you know."

"Really? I thought with the amount of times you've zoned out this past month you couldn't," Valerie quipped and Robin barked out a laugh.

"Good one, Val," Robin complimented and Valerie grinned even as her stomach swooped with butterflies.

"Yeah, I, um... I-I'm gonna go on break," Valerie said, all but bolting into the backroom. Inside, Valerie wrangled her heartbeat under control, everything in her tingling at Robin complimenting her joke—at Robin laughing at her joke.

Her laugh's so nice, a dreamy voice in Valerie said. She quickly waved it away, marching to one of the chairs and sitting down, Dune already open. Her gaze flicked to the delivery corridor door. She hoped her sister was enjoying the movie—and that the blackout hadn't ruined it.

She wondered if Cami had been hoping the blackout would stop the movie from playing.

***

Cami bit back a groan of disappointment when the movie restarted again, slumping back in her chair.

"Great," she muttered to herself as everyone celebrated. She sighed, preparing herself.

It didn't take long for the movie to began—and just like she suspected, hands shot out of the wall for the woman. Cami jumped, her heart thumping against her chest. 

"¡Dios mío!" Cami exclaimed.

Max chuckled. Cami shot her a glare as she turned back to the movie.

But even though she had several heart attacks from the jump scares, Cami found she liked the movie—especially when it wasn't nearly as half as scary as what she'd seen last year—and that scary movies felt even more part of the summer experience.

Yeah, her summer was going great.

***

AHHH THE FIRST CHAPTER IS HERE!!

I loved writing Valerie and Cami!! And yes, be greeted to Valerie's passion/dream career: movie makeup artist! (specifically science fiction movies!) I think it's the most fitting career for her, so I hope you like it! And, of course, Valerie crushing so bad on Robin (but can you blame her?)

Yeah, Valerie and Cami have a different sibling relationship from Rowan and Alistair. They're close, but they fight WAY more than Rowan and Alistair did. Combine with how Cami can't really tell Valerie about the Upside Down (which has definitely given her trauma) and she wants to help her but can't... yeah (that is, until Valerie finds out about the Upside Down)

Yeah, Steve can't really catch a break at Scoops 😂 (even more than he already doesn't)

And Cami! My sunshine daughter, I love her so much, who is also plotting Alistair and Will getting together (she is DETERMINED for them to be together and being the best wingwoman ever) while also planning to have a great summer (little did she know...)

Ah, yes, the power outage. That scene is literally my favourite because of the switch—the very first instant I would absolutely LOVE Robin and Steve as a duo

And yeah, poor Cami didn't get out of seeing the horror movie XD

Next chapter will be soon! Also, it will probably be split between the sisters and depending on whether Griswold Family or Scoops Troop plot is seen first, that will be the sisters' chapter (until the big reunion at the end)

Spanish translations:

Mija: Daughter

Hermanita: Little sister

Las quiero: I love you

Amigos: Friends

Dios: God

Hola: Hey

Gracias: Thank you

Qué idiota: What an idiot

¡Dios mío!: Jesus Christ

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!