CHAPTER SIX
really? really.

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Azalea decided against calling in sick to work again today.

Steve told her he would give Dustin a ride to the mall, and she could head to Scoops after—although he didn't want her going back to work at all.

But she assured him that she was scheduled for the early morning shift, so Billy wouldn't even be around as he was scheduled later.

It was just gonna be her and the elderly, early-bird swimmers.

Walking into work, Azalea's heart raced fast. She didn't even want to go into the changing room area, scared that a mind-controlled Billy would be there waiting for her.

But he wasn't.

It was a slow, sunny day and as Azalea sat on the lifeguard chair for a few hours, her worries faded away.

The end of her shift came sooner than she expected, and she walked back into the changing room to get dressed and retrieve her bag from her locker.

As she was about to leave, someone called out to her.

She turned around, seeing Heather run up to her, "Azalea! Hey!"

"Heather! Are you feeling better?" she asked.

"Yeah, much better," Heather said, leaning on the brick wall beside them, "I noticed you weren't here the past two days. Are you feeling okay?"

"Oh yeah, I was just sick,"

"What were you sick with?" Heather asked, her head tilting.

Her eyes were staring blankly, as if she was looking right through her.

"Oh, um, just a little stomach bug," She lied.

Heather's eyes darted to Azalea's forehead, "Oh my god, your head!"

She reached towards the place on her forehead where Billy had hit her. Azalea swatted Heather off, quickly covering the bruise up with her hair.

"What happened?" Heather asked.

What was this? An interrogation?

Her eyes were so lifeless. Just like Billy's were.

Azalea started to back away, "I'm just so clumsy, I ran into a door,"

Heather's face hardly moved, eyes staring blankly at her. She stepped towards Azalea.

Shit, shit, shit.

"Anyway, I have to go. Good to see you." Azalea said quickly. She turned around and walked fast to the parking lot, not looking back.

Heather too?

What was going on? Did the Russians really have something to do with this?

Azalea got in her car and immediately locked the doors, paranoid.

None of any of this made sense.

Billy and Heather, Russians in Starcourt, her dad working for them, the mind-control.

How did it all connect?

She had to talk to the others. Maybe, just maybe, those boxes had some sort of mind-control weapon in them.

They're were in too deep.

But she couldn't stop now.

Azalea started driving towards Starcourt, passing through the middle of Hawkins.

The roads were completely empty, shops being shut down due to lack of business since the mall was built. It looked like a ghost town—no one was around.

Except someone flying down the sidewalk on their bike.

And in a sailors uniform.

The whole situation with Heather immediately slipped from her mind.

"Robin?" Azalea called out her window. She had slowed her car down enough to ride along side Robin on her bike. Luckily there was no one else on the road.

"Azalea! Hey!"

"Where are you going?"

"Back to the mall!" She said loudly, focused on riding her bike and talking, "I just got some blueprints from County Recorder's Office,"

"Oh—"Azalea said confused. She wanted to ask more about that later, "Do you want a ride?"

Robin stopped pedaling. Azalea stopped her car too.

"Really?"

Azalea smirked, "Yeah, really. That's where I'm heading, too."

Azalea put the car in park and got out to help Robin put her bike on the back of the car.

"Good. If I was alone with those two dinguses all day, I think I would lose my mind." Robin said with a laugh.

Azalea nodded knowingly. She loved hanging out with Steve and Dustin, but adding Robin into the mix had been a great change of pace, "Trust me, I know."

Once Robin's bike was securely on the back of the car, the two girls climbed in.

"I've been meaning to ask," Robin said rubbing her hands along her shorts, "What is your relation to Dustin?"

Azalea smirked, beginning to drive her car again, "Our parents are dating—his mom, my dad. I like to think of him like a brother. But sometimes I worry about what would happen if our parents break up, so I never call him that."

Robin fidgeted with her seatbelt. Was she nervous?

She began to word-vomit, hardly taking breaths between sentences, "I can tell he thinks of you as a sister. He looks up to you. And talks about you all the time. Oh, like earlier today, Steve was saying that he could just take on the Russian guard, and Dustin reminded him how he had never actually won a fight, loosing to Billy and Jonathan before. Also, Jonathan Byers? Really? And then Dustin told me that it was you were actually the one who beat Billy after he beat up Steve. Which by the way—badass. He was so excited to tell me. He thinks you're super cool. And I do too."

Azalea licked her lips and smiled, taking in Robin's ramble.

"Sorry. I talk a lot when I'm nervous." Robin laughed breathily. She then tensed, "That's not what I—"

"You're nervous?" Azalea asked lightly with a sympathetic look.

Robin shook her head fast, "No, no. Not really. I mean, I am a little nervous. Just because this is the first time I've been alone with you, and I want you to like me—I mean—well, I don't know. I think you're awesome, and I really want to be your friend. So I'm nervous that I'll mess everything up. And, I'm rambling again."

"Don't worry, Robin," Azalea sighed, "I think you're awesome, too. And honestly, I don't mind the rambling. I like to know what you're thinking."

"Really?" She gleamed, "My mom always tells me I talk too much and can come off as too abrasive—"

"I think you're great just the way you are. Really." Azalea hummed.

Robin sighed happily, relaxing in her seat, a small smile on her face.

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Azalea and Robin went straight to the back door of Scoops, and were greeted by Dustin and Steve already back there.

Did Steve or Robin ever actually work?

"Hey, you made it!" Dustin danced seeing Azalea. She smiled and gave him a side hug, still riding on the high of Robin telling her how cool Dustin thought she was.

Robin then took up the table, laying out the blueprints from her bag.

"It is fascinating what 20 bucks will get you at the County Recorder's Office." She told the group proudly, "Starcourt Mall. The complete blueprints."

"Not bad." Dustin praised.

"So, this is us, Scoops," Robin pointed, "and this is where we want to get."

"I mean, I don't really see a way in." Steve told her, looking close at the prints.

"There's not," Robin said, then removing the top blueprint, "if you're talking exclusively about doors."

"Air ducts." Dustin marveled.

Robin nodded at him, "Exactly. Turns out, this secret room needs air just like any old room."

She then grabbed a marker from the whiteboard and started circling places on the map, "And these air ducts lead all the way...here."

She landed on the secret room.

They had a way in.

"Holy shit. We could actually do this." Dustin muttered, "I'm going in the vent, right?"

Azalea looked between her and the two other teens. Dustin was their best bet, "It's all you, Dust."

Steve's lips quirked into a smile, "Let's do it."

He immediately grabbed the ladder from the corner of the room and brought it towards the vent. He then pulled the vent cover off and handed it to Azalea.

Dustin, always prepared, grabbed a flashlight out of his backpack and handed it to Steve.

"Yeah, I don't know, man." Steve said, shining the flashlight into the vent, "I don't know if you can fit in here. It's like...super tight."

"I'll fit." Dustin said confidently. Steve stepped off the ladder and let room for Dustin to start climbing, "Trust me. No collar bones, remember?"

Robin interjected, confused, "Uh, excuse me?"

"Oh, he's, uh...Yeah, he's got some disease." Steve explained poorly, "Chry, uh... It's chrydo, um... Something."

"Cleidocranial dysplasia." Azalea chimed in.

"Yeah, that." Steve said leaning against the ladder, "He's missing bones and stuff. He can bend like Gumbo."

Azalea stifled her laugh, "Oh my god,"

Robin narrowed her eyes, "You mean Gumby."

"I'm pretty sure it's Gumbo."

Dustin's voice echoed out from inside the vent, "Steve, just shut up and push me!"

"Okay." Steve rolled his eyes, stepping up into the ladder, "I'll push ya."

"Hey, be careful!" Azalea told the two boys. It was bad enough they were sticking Dustin in the vent in the first place. She didn't want him getting hurt.

"Not my feet, dumbass." Dustin called back to Steve, who apparently was pushing him wrong, "Push my ass."

"What?"

"Touch my butt! I don't care!" Dustin yelled.

Robin turned away from the two towards Azalea, hand covering her mouth to stifle her laughter. Azalea was doing the same.

"Come on! Harder! Push harder!"

"I'm pushing!"

They couldn't hold it in any longer, they both doubled over in laughter. And seeing the other person laughing made them laugh even harder.

But the boys were oblivious.

"You're playing with my legs!"

"I'm not playing, I have terrible footing."

"Come on!"

Robin buried her head in her hands, nearly cry-laughing with Azalea.

"I'm gonna just shove you, ready?"

"Just shove me?"

"One, two—"

"Steve, wait!" Azalea called out, through her fit of laughter, "Don't get him stuck."

He ignored her, already shoving him, "That work?"

"One more time."

"Idiots! No! Not one more time." Azalea sighed, walking over to them, "Dustin, you don't fit. Let's think of something else, please."

Azalea looked over at Robin, who seemed distracted, staring outside the back window to the front of the store. Erica Sinclair was once again ringing he bell, asking for some free samples.

Robin smiled widely.

"I've got an idea."

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