"So, you're a friend of Dustin's?"

"Yeah sort of." Raising an eyebrow at the red-haired girl, Frankie stopped walking the giant piece of tin across the yard. Pursing her lips in thought, her eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean, sort of?" She asked with a bit of an attitude, before quickly regretting it. Not really knowing who this thirteen year old girl was, she felt bad for starting the conversation on the wrong foot.

"Sorry, it's been a long day." Frankie apologized, walking the tin inside the broken down bus. The red haired girl whose name Frankie learned was Max, followed her inside.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Max said underneath her breath. Glancing back at the younger girl, Frankie could tell something was going on with her. She didn't know who this girl was, but that didn't mean she couldn't help her.

"You okay Max?" She asked softy, turning to face the red head. Green eyes meeting brown, Frankie felt the weight of the world being transferred onto her shoulders. Biting her lip at the girl's head shaking, Frankie busied herself with boarding up the windows trying to figure out what to say next.

"You know my name's not really Frankie, it's actually Franny." Grimacing at the incredulous look she received from the girl in green, she continued. "Yeah, laugh all you want, I know it's embarrassing." Not knowing where she was going with this, she continued to talk. "Dustin told me your real name is Maxine, but that you go by Max. I guess that's something we have in common, that we both hate the names we were born with. Maxine and Franny, two girls with horrible names about to go against something they never even knew was on the same planet as them." Frankie laughed out the end of her spiel.

"How tragic." Max let out sarcastically, smiling when Frankie burst out in laughter. The two continued piling tin siding to the windows of the bus. Steve's plan on making some sort of fortress in the abandoned lot was smart, but took a lot of hard work. The girls were gathering more tin outside, with Dustin and Lucas nowhere to be seen.

"Hey dickheads! How come the only people helping me out is some random girl and Frankie? We lose light in forty minutes. Let's go. Let's go, I said!"

Turning around from her spot next to Max, Frankie made eye contact with Steve. Raising a teasing eyebrow at his sudden behavior, she smiled at him before going back to helping Max with pulling the scraps inside the bus. Steve who walked in front of the two complaining boys, felt his heart skip a beat. Shaking his head at the the long haired brunette in front of him, Steve couldn't help the grin spread across his face.

"C'mon Harrington, only forty minutes to go!" Dustin teased.

"Oh shut it spazz head!"

-

Sitting next to Steve in the old dusty school bus, Frankie couldn't help but feel nervous. It felt like they were just counting down the moments until their death. Morbid, she knew, but that's what it felt like. The only sounds that could be heard were the clicking from the lighter in Steve's hands which he continuously kept turning on and off, and the sounds on squeaking from where Lucas was moving on top of the school bus. Feeling the ever growing headache emerge, Frankie reached into the small pocket of her backpack for some Advil.

"So you really fought one of these things before?" Max asked Steve from her spot on one of the bus seats. Crossing her arms in apprehension, she looked skeptical. Steve looked up at the girl, giving a simple nod before going back to waisting all of their lighter fluid.

"And you're, like, totally, one hundred percent sure it wasn't a bear?" She asked still not convinced. Frankie, who finished downing her Advil and a whole bottle of water, leaned her head back onto the wall behind her. She knew the day was far from over, but it didn't mean she couldn't hope.

"Shit. Don't be an idiot, okay? It wasn't a bear."

"Dustin!" Frankie screamed out at her neighbor completely appalled at his behavior. Yeah it was bad enough cursing out Mr. Wheeler, but now one of his friends from school? That wasn't cool on so many levels.

"Why are you even here if you don't believe us? Just go home." Frankie immediately got up and stalked after the curly haired boy. Grabbing him by the ear, she dragged him to one of the far corners of the bus so they could talk privately. Not caring if she was bruising the cartilage, the brunette squeezed his ear harder.

"Ow! What was that for?" He screamed out as she let go of him. Looking at his neighbor, Dustin gulped nervously. He's seen that look before, when he would break stuff or make a mess when he was younger. Hip cocked, arms crossed, a brow raised, and nostrils flared. He wouldn't admit it, but that look would forever haunt the thirteen year old.

"I don't know if its from this whole day and you're not feeling it anymore, but I'll only say this once: don't act that way with Max, she doesn't deserve that." Seeing the look of guilt pass the boys face, Frankie's arms dropped and she smiled at the boy. Opening up her arms, she welcomed Dustin with a tight hug.

"Can you please apologize to her before we all die because you decided to keep a monster in your room?" Trying to keep a straight face, Frankie bust out in laughter. She thought it was pretty funny, Dustin on the other hand was over her. Walking away from the older girl, he didn't stop at her offended scoff.

Stretching her arms, Frankie walked back to the main part of the bus. Peeking out of the window, the girl rubbed her eyes. She was exhausted and pretty much over this whole 'alien monster from another dimension trying to kill them' thing.

Well, at least I'm getting paid, she thought out.

Sitting on one of the ladder rungs, Frankie couldn't help but raise her eyebrow at Steve's words to Dustin.

"That's good, just show her you don't care."

"I don't." Dustin's sullen voice told Steve. "Why are you winking, Steve? Stop." Looking at her neighbor in confusion, Frankie turned her head towards Steve, catching the teen looking smug. Not knowing why the brunette was winking, she turned back towards Dustin sending him a look of perplexity.

"What is he talking about Dustin?" She asked, beginning to cross her arms. Dustin who acted just as confused as Frankie, shrugged his shoulders pointing at Steve. Turning once again towards the big haired boy, Frankie rolled her eyes at his simple answer.

"Guy stuff."

"Okay sure." Frankie said sarcastically from her spot on the ladder. Narrowing her eyes at Dustin, she knew he was lying to her. Show her you don't care? Who's her? And that's when it came to Frankie. Jumping off the ladder she gripped the smaller boy in her arms.

"You like her!" She exclaimed, making sure the person she was talking about didn't hear her. Squeezing the life out of Dustin, Frankie couldn't help herself. This boy, who was basically her brother, had a crush!

"No no no no no, I do not like her." He said pushing off the smiling girl. Pursing his lips at her smug face, he rolled his eyes. He was going to kill Steve when everything went back to normal.

"No! No winking! Not you too!" He cried out from his spot on the bus. Voice cracking and cheeks blushing, he knew he wasn't going to get Steve and Frankie to stop. He knew Steve was bad, but Frankie would be a million times worse.

Grrrrrrrrghhhhh

"Don't think just because we have this monster to kill, that we're not talking about it later Dust."

-

an: I am honestly so sorry that this took forever, I went on vacation last week and got sick and just a lot of stuff going on but I'm ready to finish this bad boy! also I'm going to be releasing a meet my oc kind of book in the next couple of days so if theres anything on there that you'd like to see retaining to the oc's in this book let me know anyways thank you all you guys mean so much to me and I hope you like this chapter!