CAROLINE SAT UP EAGERLY IN HER SEAT AS THE CAR PULLED UP TO THE FRONT DOORS OF THE ARCADE. Her long brown hair hung over the shoulders of the sweater Lucas had given her a year ago. Will sat next to her, his feet bouncing in excitement.

"If anything happens," their mother, Joyce, was rambling in her usual anxious fashion, turning around so she could see the twins. "...if you need to come home, just ask them to use their phone and call home. Okay? Don't-"

"Don't walk or bike home," Will finished quickly. He glanced at the front doors, where their friends stood, waving. "I know."

"Okay, but, sweetie-"

"Mom," Caroline groaned. "We have to go!"

Joyce sighed in defeat. "Okay, okay. Have fun."

Caroline and Will leapt out of the back seat, waiting their mother goodbye as they joined their friends.

Lucas approached her right away, with his perfect dark skin and big brown eyes, and Caroline was glad for the darkness. He couldn't tell she was blushing. "Callie! What's your haul?"

"My mom wouldn't let me work," Caroline rolled her eyes, "So she just gave me a dollar's worth. Will got the same. But Olivia slipped me another quarter right before we left."

Lucas nodded eagerly. "Sweet!"

"Where are we headed first?" Dustin asked. "I say Dragon's Lair."

Caroline laughed, standing on her tippy toes to ruffle her friend's brown curls. "Trust me, no one has beat your top score. Let's go."

 Less than two minutes later, the party had congregated around Dragon's Lair. Princess Daphne's obnoxious voice came out of the machine. "To slay the dragon, use the magic sword!"

Dustin gasped dramatically. "Oh, Jesus! I'm in uncharted territory here, guys."

Caroline slammed her hand on the side of the console, making Will jump. "Down! Down! Down!"

Dustin was shrieking now. "I'm going! I'm going! I'm going! I'm going! I'm going!"

He was not going, and the party all began to raise their voices as one, yelling at their friend. 

"Shut up!" Dustin yanked the control and...

The knight's armor turned to ash, until all that was left was a grumpy looking skeleton.

Dustin exploded. "No. No. No! No! No! No! I hate this overpriced bullshit! Son of a bitch! Piece of shit!

Lucas clapped his friend on the shoulder. "You're not nimble enough. But you'll get there one day. But until then, Princess Daphne is still mine."

Caroline made a disgusted face as Lucas rubbed his hands together gleefully. He caught her staring and she looked away, embarrassed.

"It's- you know, I don't mean-" Lucas stammered.

Caroline raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? I don't care if you think she's pretty- I mean, not that I was thinking about you thinking about it-"

"She's just an animated character, I didn't mean-"

"What the hell, Lucas, why would I care-"

Mike, Will, and Dustin were watching the argument back and forth like a tennis match. Mike groaned.

"I'm so confused," he said. 

Will and Dustin nodded in agreement.

"Lucas, just make it official already," Dustin clapped Lucas on the shoulder, harder than he needed to.

"What- no- that's not what I-" Lucas was bright red.

"Yeah, we're not..." Caroline trailed off, looking at Lucas for confirmation. "I mean... are we? If you- I mean..."

Mike and Dustin groaned. 

"Whatever," Dustin cracked his knuckles. "I'm still tops on Centipede and Dig Dug."

"You sure about that?"

The party spun on their heels to see Kieth, the arcade worker who was the bane of their existence. He munched on a bag of crisps, grinning toothily.

"Sure about what?" Dustin demanded. A look of horror dawned on his face and he shoved his friends out of the way. "You're kidding me. No, no, no. Move! Move! No, no, no, no, no. Hey, no! No! No!"

He yanked the controls and the top score came up. Caroline was startled to see that Dustin no longer held the top spot. 

"751,300 points!" Will leaned closer.

"That's impossible," Mike scoffed.

Caroline finally asked the most important question. "Who is Mad Max?"

Keith continued eating his stupid crisps. "Better than you," he said with his mouth full.

Will stepped in front of his sister, who was growling at Kieth. "Is it you?"

"You know I despise Dig Dug," Kieth rolled his eyes.

Lucas threw his hands up in the air. "Then who is it?"

"Yeah, spill it, Keith."

Keith grinned, Cheeto- orange powder covering his hands. "You want information, then I need something in return."

The party turned to Mike, who's look of disgust said it all.

"No, no, no. No way. You're not getting a date with her!" Mike spazzed.

Lucas moaned. "Mike, come on. Just get him the date."

You're a pig," Caroline told Kieth distastefully. "She's way too good for you." Kieth stuck his tongue out at her.

"I'm not prostituting my sister!" Mike shrieked.

"But it's for a good cause!" Lucas protested. 

"Lucas, what the hell!" Caroline smacked his arm, making him wince and massage it.

"No, don't get him the date. Know what? He's gonna spread his nasty-ass rash to your whole family." Dustin spat.

That finally got to Kieth. "Acne isn't a rash and it isn't contagious, you prepubescent wastoid!"

Dustin stood angrily. "Oh, I'm a wastoid? She wouldn't go on a date with you. You make, like, what? $2.50 an hour?

"Nice perm."

"Gonna make fun of my hair?"

"I like Dustin's curls!" Caroline protested. Dustin nodded at her appreciatively.

The arguing continued. Will had gone suddenly very quiet, and Caroline turned to see why her brother wasn't helping her out. She turned around and watched him walk towards the exit of the arcade, as if in a trance.

"Will! Where are you going?" She followed him outside before grabbing his hand. "Mom said we can't-"

"Look," Will whispered, horror painted on his features.

He pointed up at the sky, which had changed from bright, twinkling stars to something much more sinister.

A monstrous storm.

Caroline let out a cry of despair and spun back around to see the arcade in the same state as the outside. Snow and ash blew through the air as the arcade sign spun in the wind.

She couldn't move. She felt bile rise up her throat, the old gunshot wound from last year pulsing. 

Not a panic attack, not now, please not now-

 It should have been over now, Eleven had died to kill the monster-

Electricity crackled, making her hair stand up into the storm, when suddenly-

"Callie! Will! Are you okay?" 

Caroline gasped and suddenly she was back, far away from the Upside Down and the monstrous storm. Mike Wheeler had grabbed her wrist and was staring at her. Will was still holding her hand so tightly she couldn't fell her blood flow.

Caroline cleared her throat, looking back up to make sure that the storm was gone. "Yeah. I just... I needed some air."

Mike looked at Will, gently putting his arm around his friend. "Come on. You're up on Dig Dug. Let's take that top score back, huh?"

Caroline followed suit, watching Lucas's face face light up adorably when she came to stand next to him. 

"You okay?" He frowned when he saw how pale she was.

"I'm fine," Caroline promised, forcing a smile. 

Lucas nodded, just sweetly putting an arm around her, realizing how she didn't want to talk about it.

"Why can't the damn monster just leave us alone?" She breathed.

"Meet the human brain. I know. I know, it doesn't look like much. A little gross even, right? But consider this. There are a hundred billion cells inside of this miracle of evolution. All working as one. No, no, I did not misspeak." Mr.Clarke stood in the front of the class, lecturing. "I did not stutter. A hundred billion."

The door of the science room swung open, revealing a girl with fiery red hair holding a skateboard. She looked unhappy to be here- not that Caroline blamed her- and she was staring at the floor.

Mr. Clarke clasped his hands together. "Ah, this must be our new student."

The principal nodded. "Indeed. All yours."

The girl rushed forward as soon as the door shut behind him, making a beeline for the back seat. 

"All right. Hold up. You don't get away that easy." Mr.Clarke stopped her before she could get there. "Come on up. Don't be shy. Dustin, drum roll."

Dustin, in his usual dramatic flair, began to drum his hands on the desk.

"Class, please welcome, all the way from sunny California, the latest passenger to join us on our curiosity voyage, Maxine!"

Maxine looked annoyed. "It's Max."

Mr. Clarke looked down at her. "Sorry?"

She looked up at him defiantly. "Nobody calls me Maxine. It's Max."

Lucas turned and whispered in Caroline's ear, "Mad Max."

Caroline fought back the goosebumps on her skin at the fact his mouth had been so close, turning to Mike to see his confirming nod. This had to be the kid who had beat Dustin's score; there were no other Max's in Hawkins. It was a tiny, tiny town.

Mr. Clarke was smiling. "Well, all aboard, Max."

Max darted to the back corner of the class, looking grumpy. Her red curls framed her tan face, and she seemed a million miles away as she stared out the window.

The party turned in their chairs to stare at her, unable to help themselves. Caroline even joined in, wanting another look.

Max caught sight of Caroline staring long after the boys had turned back to the lesson, and flashed her the bird. Caroline would have believed it if there weren't for the small grin on the girl's face.

Caroline finally turned the right way in her seat, smiling to herself.

Another badass girl in Hawkins was long overdue. Caroline had a feeling that she and Max were going to be good friends. A small space for a girl friend had been missing since Eleven had died.

"About damn time," she whispered.

They were at break now, hanging outside in the baseball dugout. They had been watching Max for nearly ten minutes, and Mike was still in denial. "There's no way that's Mad Max."

"Yeah," Will agreed. "Girls don't play video games."

Caroline smacked his arm. "Hey! I do!"

Lucas shot her a look, a smirk on his face. "And you suck."

Caroline shrugged. "Yeah... can't argue with you there. But just because I  don't doesn't mean no girls can." She watched as Max picked up her board.

"You're the only girl we know,"  Lucas pointed out. "And after last year..." he shot Mike a look, making sure that he wasn't listening- "we know girls can be badasses. You and... her both."

Caroline's face was solemn. Dustin must have noticed because he chimed in, "And even if they did play video games, you can't get 750,000 points on Dig Dug."

"It's impossible," Mike said in awe, seemingly angry that a girl had gotten the highest score he had ever seen.

"But her name is Max," Lucas said. "How many Max's do you know?"

Mike stuttered. "I don't know."

"Zero," Caroline made a circle with her first to emphasize her point. "That's how many."

"She shows up at school the day after someone with her same name breaks our top score. I mean, you kidding me?" Dustin scoffed.

Lucas nodded as if that settled it. "Exactly. So she's gotta be Mad Max."

"And plus she skateboards, so she's pretty awesome." Dustin looked at Caroline, who was staring at Max with admiration and a bit of envy. "And she probably plays baseball too."

Mike snorted. "Awesome? You haven't even spoken a word to her."

Dustin shrugged. "I don't have to. I mean, look at her. Shit, I've lost the target."

Will pointed his finger out right over Caroline's shoulder. "Oh! There."

Max had crumpled up a paper and thrown it in the bin sitting by the stairs. The boys looked at each other and, after a silent agreement, they sprinted out of the dugout.

"Jesus Christ," Caroline groaned as she watched her brother and the party dig through the trash can. "I wish that bullet had done its job."

She finally swallowed her pride and went to salvage what little dignity her friends had left when Dustin's head appeared out of the bin, holding a crumpled ball of paper.

"Got it," he said gleefully. Caroline gave him a look of disgust. "There we go."

Caroline snatched the paper out of their hands, opening it up. She snort-laughed when she saw what it read. "'Stop spying on me, creeps.' Oh, God, I love her."

Dustin ran a hand down his face as Caroline cackled. "Well, shit."

"William, Caroline Byers. Your mother's here."

The party turned, Caroline's face going pale when she saw the principal. Immediately the smile vanished from her face and she became solemn and quiet, the shell of the girl she had been a year ago.

Lucas handed her her backpack and held her hand while she waited for Will to do the same. 

"Hey, it's okay," he tickled her side, trying to make her smile. But it only caused her to flinch, a cruel reminder of the gunshot that had nearly killed her and put her in a wheelchair for months while undergoing surgery. 

Her mother stood in front of their battered old car, smiling. The cigarette gave away her anxiety, though, and Caroline didn't buy the fact that her mother was completely comfortable with these appointments either.

Will called shotgun, so Caroline climbed in the back seat. Olivia already sat there, ready for her appointment, holding out the beef jerky that Caroline loved so much. 

Caroline smiled at her big sister. "Thanks, Ollie."

The pretty Asian girl nodded, smiling to herself. Caroline had to remind herself that whatever horrors she felt at that lab, it was nothing compared to Olivia Brenner.

Hey lovelies! Welcome back! Already we have Lucaline being adorable and awkward. They know they are more than friends, but they are still working out the kinks. Will and Caroline's Twintuition clearly isn't going away anytime soon, and they are going to be struggling with it for a while. 

Comment, vote, and stay tuned for the next chapter!