EPISODE TWO
the mall rats.

NOVA  AND  max were outside their house, nova was sat on the sidewalk, drawing something, whilst max was practicing on her skateboard.

nova jumped when max slipped off it, and they both watched as it stopped near eleven's feet, who picked it up with a blank look and walked over to both of them. "hi."

"hey?" max frowned, taking the skateboard, nova waved slightly and closed her sketchbook. "can we talk?" eleven asked slowly.

max and nova shared a confused look.

"—and then he said he missed me...and then he just hung up." eleven finished. they were in max's room and eleven had been telling the two of them about how mike was acting strange that morning.

"he's a piece of shit." max spoke, she stopped pacing for a moment. "what?" eleven frowned.

"mike doesn't have jack shit to do today, and his nana obviously isn't sick." max pointed, at them both, "i guarantee you, him and lucas are playing atari right now."

"but friends don't lie." eleven whispered, max sat down in the middle of them, "yeah, but boyfriends lie. all the time. "right, nova?"

"um...sure? i mean, lucas doesn't, but..." she began, max nodded, "boyfriends always lie." max finished, nova pulled a face.

"you're going to stop calling him. you're going to ignore his calls." max spoke as nova raised her brows, "as far as you're concerned, he doesn't exist."

"doesn't exist?" eleven repeated with wide eyes. "he treated you like garbage. you're gonna treat him like garbage. give him a taste of his own medicine." max shrugged, her hands on her hips.

"give him the medicine." eleven repeated slowly. "and then...if he doesn't fix this, doesn't explain himself? dump his ass."

both nova and eleven raised their brows.

"come on." max grabbed both of the girls hands and pulled them up, "where we going?" nova asked, "to have some fun! there's more to life than stupid boys, you know." max grinned.

THE GIRLS got off the bus a little while later, and arrived at starcourt mall, it was busy, and nova knew eleven would probably be nervous for that reason.

eleven's eyes widened as max smiled at her, "so what do you think?" max asked as eleven looked at the girls. "what's wrong?"

"too many people...against the rules." she spoke as max shrugged, raising her brow.

"seriously? you have superpowers. what's the worst that could happen?" she whispered as eleven nodded slowly with a smile.

"c'mon." nova smiled, pulling on both of the girls hands as they ran inside the mall, giddy smiles on their faces.

elevens eyes widened in awe as she looked around the mall, the two sisters sharing a smile before looking back to eleven. "so, what do you wanna do first?"

eleven looked at them, and then back to the mall, still in shock as max asked, "you've never been shopping before, have you?"

eleven shook her head slowly and nova felt bad, "well, i guess we'll just have to try everything." she grinned, taking el's hand and pulling her towards the gap with max following closely.

the two watched as eleven walked around the store, jaw dropped and looking at all of the clothes, until she stopped, looking up as she tilted her head. it was a blue hoodie with paint splashes on it. "do you like that?" nova asked with a smile.

eleven frowned, and looked at them, "how...do i know what i like?" she asked.

"you just try things on...until you find something that feels like you." nova smiled at her.

"like...me?" eleven raised her brows, both girls chuckled, nodding.

"yeah. not hopper, not mike, you." max told her with a smile.

the girls went into every store they could see, trying on all sorts of different clothes and accessories, nova had even found a light blue cropped t shirt with a matching skirt, max and eleven both convincing her to try it on, she did, and max had even gave her a pair of matching converse to try with the outfit.

when nova came out of the changing room, max had found red sunglasses and eleven was in a black jumpsuit with different coloured shapes on, and both girls widened their eyes at nova, "woah!" max smiled, "pretty." eleven nodded.

nova grinned, holding the girls hands and walking to the mirror as they checked out their outfits. "woah." nova raised her brows, looking down at her outfit and then at the girls. "you should totally get it." max spoke and eleven nodded her head vigorously.

"okay, but only if you get those sunglasses and el gets that jumpsuit. seriously, i'm obsessed with that, el. you look great." she smiled and eleven blushed softly with a smile.

"y-you can borrow it. we can all share." eleven spoke and both sisters grinned widely, "come on, let's find some more clothes." max tugged on their hands.

the girls strutted out of the shop, their arms linked as laughs escaped her lips and giddy smiles were on their faces as they looked for the next shop to go in.

they went into a photo booth, except a man was actually taking the photos whilst they were in different outfits, "that's it, girls! here we go." the man exclaimed as the three did different poses and then changed outfits.

the next store, they found eleven a pair of heels, and were on each side of her, trying to help her walk in them as giggles escaped their lips, eleven tripped and fell over, a gasp leaving her lips as they all broke into laughter, ignoring the disgusted looks from hawkins middle school stacy and her friends.

the three hid behind a wall as they peered over, seeing stacy and her friends speak to a older guy, eleven tilted her head and her drink exploded everywhere as a gasp left eleven, max and novas lips as they ran away, laughing loudly in shock.

"see? what'd i tell you! there's more to life than stupid boys." max said between giggles as they ran across the mall, not noticing mike, will and lucas sitting by the fountain with annoyed looks on their faces.

the girls walked into scoops ahoy and smiled at steve, who waved at them, "hey, what can i get for ya?" he asked, "chocolate, please." nova asked, max ordered strawberry and eleven ordered vanilla.

"okay, here you go, strawberry and vanilla, with sprinkles." he spoke after speaking to robin for a few moments, handing the girls the ice cream as nova payed.

"thank you." they all said in sync as steve stopped. "wait a second. are you even allowed to be here?" he looked at eleven. all three girls shared a look before laughing and running away, nova shouting a goodbye to steve as the two pulled her out.

"...okay." steve shook his head, dumbfounded.

they made their way out of the mall, ice creams in hand as max and eleven decided to switch, and then made their way to the bus, however max stopped, and so did nova, hearing her favourite persons voice.

"oh, you gotta be shitting me." max sighed. "lucas!" nova spoke, and pulled both girls over to them.

"isn't this a nice surprise." max spoke as they reached them, whilst mike dropped his bike with a horrified gasp, nova brought lucas in for a hug, who smiled, kissing her forehead. "is your outfit new? i haven't seen you wear it before." he asked.

"yeah, got it today." she smiled up at him as he returned it, "it looks great—"

before he could even finish, mike had pointed a finger at eleven, a shocked expression on his face. "what are you doing here?"

"shopping." eleven spoke simply.

"this is her new style. what'd ya think?" max motioned to eleven's outfit as nova intertwined her fingers with lucas' and watched the interaction.

"what's wrong with you both?!" mike exclaimed, pointing at both nova and max.

"hey, chill." lucas snapped, mike waved him off.

"you know she's not allowed to be here." mike finished, max raised a brow.

"what is she, your little pet?"

"yeah...am i your pet?" eleven nodded, turning to mike. "what?! no!" mike shook his head, confused. "then why do you treat me like garbage?" eleven asked.

"what?" mike asked, seeming extremely confused. "you said nana was sick." eleven told him with a frown. "she is! she is sick." mike smacked lucas' arm.

"super sick." lucas spoke up, not really paying attention as he was speaking quietly to nova, who then started to listen to what was going on.

"that's why we're here. to get a gift for her. for nana! and we're here to get one for you. but i couldn't find anything that suited you...and i only have, like, $3.50, so it's hard."

"super hard. it's expensive." lucas said sadly, nova trying not to laugh at his expression, eleven stepped forward.

"you lie. why do you lie?" her voice broke slightly as mike looked down.

the bus pulled up, and eleven turned to the bus, and then back to mike, taking a step forward as mike frowned at her. "i dump your ass."

a gasp left nova, lucas, will and max's lips as mike pulled a face, before eleven walked away, max quickly following.

nova, still in shock, kissed lucas' cheek and said goodbye before running off with the girls to the bus as they found a seat, and shared a look, before breaking into laughter, high fiving each other.

"that was awesome." nova spoke honestly, chuckling as eleven and max laughed.

i love the shopping scene🫶🏼🫶🏼

inspo for nova's fit :

but the skirt is the same colour as the top :)