EPISODE THREE
the case of the missing lifeguard.

LAUGHTER FILLED the room as angel was playing through eleven's record player in her room in the cabin, the girls dancing around the room and reading magazines.

the sisters sang along to the songs, whilst eleven hummed to the beat since she didn't know it, looked in one of the magazines and widened her eyes.

"you found ralph macchio." nova sat down next to her, crossing her legs and adjusting her skirt. "macchio?" eleven questioned.

"yeah, he's the karate kid! hai-yah!" max pretended to strike nova who jumped slightly, but then laughed as the girls joined in. "he's so hot, right?" max grinned.

"bet he's an amazing kisser, too." max spoke, and eleven pulled a face.

"is mike a good kisser?" max asked and eleven looked down. "i don't know...he's my first boyfriend."

"ex-boyfriend." max corrected as eleven frowned slightly, nova wrapped an arm around her.

"hey, it's okay. don't worry about it. he'll come crawling back to you in no time, begging for forgiveness." she chuckled as max laughed, nodding.

"i bet he's, like, totally wallowing in self-pity and misery right now. 'oh, i hope she takes me back'." max pulled a sad face as the girls laughed.

"god, what i would give to see all their stupid faces." max sighed as nova looked at eleven who smiled lightly, "what is it?" max asked.

eleven grinned.

after explaining what she could do, max turned the radio to static and el placed a blindfold over her eyes as max and nova sat on the bed. "is this really gonna work?" eleven nodded in response.

"holy, shit. this is insane." max exclaimed. "max." eleven spoke, "yep. quiet, sorry." she spoke as nova chuckled.

eleven let out a breath, and then after a few moments, she spoke up, "i see them." max and nova sat down in front of the girl.

"what are they doing?" max asked.

"eating." eleven answered, and nova pulled a face, "of course they are."

"they say we are 'species'." eleven spoke up and both girls sat up.

"what?" max pulled a face, nova tilted her head in confusion.

"...'emotion not logic'." both girls scoffed at her words.

"what?!" max exclaimed as nova tried not to laugh at her facial expression.

suddenly, eleven yanked the blindfold off and looked at both girls, frozen, before she broke into a fit of laughter and rolled onto the floor as both sisters were shaking her and asking what she saw as eleven couldn't stop laughing.

a car pulled up outside, and they all looked to the door, hearing hopper yell something he barged inside as all three girls jumped, "hey! i said three inches— oh." he widened his eyes.

"do you knock? jeez!" max exclaimed, eleven nodded, "yeah, jeez!"

"woah, woah, hey...i'm sorry. i thought..." he spoke in shock.

"mikes not here." nova spoke up and hopper stood in the doorway, not moving.

"max and nova wanted to have a sleepover...is that okay?" eleven asked and hopper nodded his head.

"yeah, sure! of course...your parents know about it?" hopper asked as both girls nodded slowly.

"uh, yeah. it's cool." he said, but continued to stay put as they shared a look.

"did you...need something?" max asked awkwardly.

"oh! no. no, i'll leave. i'll let you..bye. sorry." he shut the door a laugh could be heard from behind it as the girls sat on elevens bed.

max began to write peoples names on a board, and got a bottle as she spoke, "i cant believe we're really doing this." she chuckled.

"ready?" max asked as eleven nodded whilst nova watched, sitting at the end of the bed as she couldn't help but feel like it was a bad idea. eleven spun the bottle, and it landed on mr. wheeler as nova grimaced.

"boring. spin again." max chuckled as eleven frowned. "against the rules?" she asked.

"we make our own rules." nova spoke up with a smile.

eleven spun it again and this time it landed on billy as the girls all widened their eyes. they both looked at nova who looked back, "okay, i should just warn you. if he's with a girl, get out of there immediately before you are scarred for life." nova spoke and eleven frowned, not sure on what she meant.

"nova." eleven spoke, "no, seriously. he's really gross." she continued.

"nova!" eleven chuckled as nova sighed, "okay, shutting up now." as max turned the radio to static.

eleven put the blindfold on and let out a breath.

nova fiddled with her fingers as they nervously waited for a reaction from el, "i found him." eleven spoke up after about a minute.

"what's he doing?" nova asked.

"i don't know...he's...on the floor? taking to someone." eleven spoke, and max and nova shared a look. all of a sudden, eleven gasped and began to breath heavily as she ripped off the blindfold.

"what's wrong? what is it?" nova asked in a panic. "what's wrong?" max asked with wide eyes as eleven looked at them, looking traumatised but not in the way nova thought.

ELEVEN HAD explained what she saw, about billy whispering to somebody about how they shouldn't be afraid and it would all be over soon, but then, billy had stood up and turned around, and looked directly at eleven, as if he could see her.

the next morning, the girls had left to go to nova and max's house, and even though it was in the morning, it was dark from the grey clouds as they walked to their house.

"it's gonna start pouring soon." max sighed, nova looked at her outfit and winced, she was in shorts and a crop top with a plaid shirt over the top, black and white vans on her feet. "we should be at the mall or, like, watching a movie or something."

"you don't believe me?" eleven frowned as max shook her head.

"no, we believe you." nova spoke up, max nodding.

"i believe you saw some super weird stuff, sure, but...you said mike had sensed you in there before, right?" max asked and eleven nodded.

"maybe it was just like that. maybe billy just sensed you somehow." max shrugged, eleven sighed.

"but the screams."

"i know...but, here's the thing. when billy is alone with a girl, they make, like, really crazy noises." max spoke slowly and nova pulled a face.

"they scream?" el asked in shock.

"yeah, but, like...happy screams?" max sighed.

"happy screams? what is happy screams?" eleven frowned as nova laughed quietly.

"it's like...i'm just gonna lend you my moms cosmo." max spoke as they arrived at their house, but frowned.

"billy's cars not here." nova spoke up.

"you really wanna do this?" max asked eleven who nodded and they made their way inside, and then into billy's room.

"why am i getting the feeling we're gonna find all kinds of wrong in here?" max asked with a sigh.

the girls all looked around with frowns, his room was a mess. max opened a draw and immediately groaned, slamming it shut as eleven walked into his bathroom, the girls following.

elevens eyes landed on the bath. "nova, max?" she whispered, nova looked in and shrugged.

"it's just ice...it's probably for his muscles. he works out like a maniac." nova smiled reassuringly.

eleven moved over to a drawer, and opened it before pulling out the bin, as both girls frowned at her. "el, what is it?" max asked, eleven pulled out a lifeguard bag and put it down, before slowly turning around and holding up a whilst which had blood all over it.

max and nova stared at it in shock, their eyes wide.

LUCKILY, NOVA still had one of lucas' jackets he left over one time, it was plain red, and max and eleven had white and yellow ones, nova called them all 'ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise'.

the three girls knew they had to go to the pool and see who's lifeguard bag it was, so they biked all the way there in their rain coats and headed inside, walking up to the counter.

"excuse me?" max asked as the man didn't look up, only speak, "no one in the water until thirty minutes after the last strike. and don't try argue with me. you wanna get electrocuted? go climb a tree."

nova pulled a face, as did max, "yeah, we don't care. we're not here to swim." max spoke in annoyance.

"or get electrocuted." nova added as the man looked up at her with a raised brow.

"we found this." elevens poke and held up the bag, "does it belong to anybody?" max asked. the man nodded.

"oh, yeah. that's heather's. i'll get it back to her."

"we could give it back to her." eleven spoke up.

"you could. except she's not here. bailed on me today." the man spoke as all three girls shared a confused and slightly worried look.

"what is this? you girls want a reward or somethin'?" the man pulled a face, sharing an amused look with the girl next to him.

"nope. we're just...good samaritans." max smiled as the girl next to the man sent them a fake smile as max eyed her.

eleven walked away, and nova followed her, max soon after as they looked at the pictures of all the lifeguards. "heather. you think you can find her?" nova asked.

eleven looked at them before ripping the picture off the wall and following the girls to the bathrooms. max turned on all the showers and nova got some goggles and duck tape as she wrapped it around, so it was completely dark for el.

eleven placed the picture down and pulled down the goggles, letting out a breath as both max and nova shared another nervous look.

after a few minutes, max spoke up, "what do you see?" she asked, "a door...a red door." eleven whispered.

all of a sudden, eleven screamed and ripped off the goggles, and nova brought her in for a hug, not sure on what was going on, but wanted to make sure their new best friend was okay.

"el! what's wrong? what happened?" max asked with wide eyes as eleven breathed heavily, putting her head in her hands.

el cannot catch a break lmfaoao

novas outfit inspo :)