Saturday morning came like any other day; bright and promising a clear blue sky, despite the chill in the air. An old battered truck eased slowly to a complete stop outside the Wheeler house, two kids silent in the car. Dottie Fields eyed her little brother, knowing he was still hiding something from her. Micky had briefly opened up about his friends' little adventure involving some girl with powers and her connection to the monster that was hanging around their house. She even knew he had snuck out of the house yesterday afternoon to follow them into the woods for some reason, but he wouldn't tell her a single thing now.

"You know, one word from me and mum will give you back your bike." Dottie noted quietly, having had played a part in his bike being taken away from sneaking out of the house yesterday. Micky sent her a glare in response. "Come on, Micky, tell me what's going on."

The boy crossed his arms. "You're not a part of the party."

Dottie didn't even know what that meant, but wasn't playing around with his games today. She had promised her best friend that she would try and discover more information about whatever these kids were up to, fearing it not only had something to do with the monster, but maybe with Will going missing and Marigold running away last year. "Well, you told me about the Demogorgon the other night, even mentioned how Will's not dead and that girl—"

"That was a mistake." Micky hissed across at her, knowing his friends hadn't been very impressed that he had spilled his guts to his older sister. "The party doesn't rat out friends. We don't share private information with outsiders. We don't turn on each other. We obey the rules, or be banished from the party."

A stretch of silence was passed between them, Dottie uncurling her hands from the steering wheel. She assumed this party was his group of friends, the boys that were hiding secrets from everybody. "Are you banished, Micky?" The question was almost a whisper, Dottie actually felt mildly guilty for being the reason his friends might be upset with him.

He shrugged his thin shoulders. "Dunno', maybe." With another frown thrown over at his sister, Micky was pushing open the heavy car door and slipping into the chilly air. He didn't mention that yesterday his party had followed their compasses into the woods or that Eleven had tricked them or how Lucas had been hurt. He didn't utter out another single word because there was a bond between the party members and he wasn't going to risk that again.

Dottie watched him walk across the trimmed grass through the passenger side window, her teeth biting down on her bottom lip with guilt. "Micky!" Suddenly, she was howling out his name and he twirled on the spot, his backpack jolting on his back. Dottie killed the engine and stepped out into the cold. Her little brother followed her towards the bed of the truck where she yanked out his blue bike. "Don't tell mum, she'll kill me."

Micky was already flashing her a smile,. "You smuggled out my bike?"

"Wouldn't want you losing your spot in the party," she admitted quietly, while setting her hands on her hips and giving him a matching glance. Her faded denim overalls were in place again and a melted candy bar filled the pocket, but she didn't remotely care because she had a bigger issue to deal with today. Although she was feeling guilty, stealing his bike from the shed was not just a play to make him happy, she had a different tactic. "Go on, do whatever you boys are gonna' do, but make sure to be home before dinner."

A mumbled thanks followed, Micky having no idea that Dottie had another little trick up her sleeve. When he was safely inside the house, along with most of his friends, she jumped back into the truck and drove down the street a little bit. She killed the engine once again, a safe enough distance from the Wheeler house. She almost felt bad about spying on her little brother, but pushed aside the dreaded thoughts because she knew deep down, following him and his friends was the only way to keep them safe.

When almost twenty minutes had passed, she was growing bored and was just about to fish out the hidden snacks in the glove box when something caught her eye. It was Micky, Dustin and Mike riding away from the house on their bikes. "Alright, boys, what are you hiding?" Dottie whispered while stepping on the gas.

***

Daisy Lonsdale was riddled with so much uncertainly, that she felt weighed down and almost felt like it was growing harder to breathe. She was once a girl that loved mysteries and adored when Marigold would create stories to share with her at bedtime. But lately, the mysteries that danced in her skull felt like a burden. She had stayed up late staring at the clues her sister had left behind; the novel, the mixtape and the scribbled down lyrics. Sadly, no matter how long she looked at the clues, listened to the odd songs on the tape or even flipped through the pages of the book, nothing revealed itself and she felt hopeless that she hadn't figured it out yet.

She had spent half the night puzzled with thought and the other half worrying about everything that was currently going on, that she hadn't slept very well, which was why she was sluggish today. Thankfully, the Hawk was quite. Her manager had taken one look at her darkened eyes and informed her to stay outback and restock storage her entire shift. Being alone in a dusted closet didn't help with her never ending theories about Marigold or the monster racing in her clouded head, but organising boxes did help keep her awake.

It was almost noon when Kennedy Khan stuck his head around the bend in the doorway and distracted her from counting out stale bags of chips to be wasted. "You will never believe what's going on outside in the alleyway." His smile was huge and Daisy stared at him, quite confused. "Jonathan Byers is fighting with Steve Harrington."

Daisy was scurrying to her feet. "Are you kidding me?"

Kennedy followed her out of the storage closet, chatting away excitedly. The two teenagers hurried through the main lobby area towards the service entrance out back which connected the candy bar to the makeshift kitchen. "Yeah, I think Jonathan's defending Nancy's honour or something. The group spray painted something a little crude on the announcement board out front."

Sure enough, when they finally flung open the back door that led to the alleyway out back, a fight had broken loose. Daisy stared at the two boys, blood covering their faces as grunts echoed through the air. Nancy was shouting out for them to stop, while Steve's friends were barking with laughter. "Holy shit." The words tumbled from her chapped lips as Kennedy sucked in a deep gasp, not realising the fight had gotten so bloody, so quickly.

For a moment, Daisy did nothing, just simply watched with mild interest. When the sirens finally rang out in the distance, that's when she was springing into action. Kennedy was cursing out her name when she moved towards Jonathan and Steve, who was currently taking quite the beating. Nancy was still yelling, strangled with dread. "Jonathan, that's enough." Daisy's voice seemed timid though. When she saw the blood running down Steve's pale face, her stomach twisted sourly. "Come on, you've done enough damage."

A police car was pulling up behind the kids and that's when the panic truly started. Carol, Tommy and Nicole were shouting out loudly, ready to flee the scene. Kennedy was already hurrying back inside, not wanting any part of the fight on his clean hands. Nancy was running her hands down her face as Daisy yanked on Jonathan's arm, trying desperately to ease him away from the bloodied boy on the ground. It was only when the two officers decided to get involved did Daisy step aside, blood smeared on her crisp white uniform. She was not sure which boy it belonged to though. With Officer Callahan pulling Jonathan off Steve, he was punched in the face which had Nancy shaking her head. Steve was pulled off the dirty alleyway concrete and made the mad rush in escaping the trouble. With blood dripping down his face, his eyes swung back to spy Daisy Lonsdale, who was standing quietly near the backdoor, staring down at the blood on her shirt.

***

A few hours later, Daisy had managed to scrub her uniform clean from blood, but images from the fight still tainted her mind. Once her lunch break was finished, she wandered towards the theatre entrance to spy the sign above. All The Right Moves starring the slut Nancy Wheeler. Kennedy was holding the ladder still for their manager to try and clean off the mess. When he spotted Daisy, he gave her a frown. "Not very creative, huh?"

Daisy shrugged. "Those bunch of kids really aren't."

Speaking of the Devil himself, Steve Harrington was suddenly standing on the corner. Dried blood covered half his face still, his eye a little bruised and swollen. Kennedy was already shooting Daisy a glance, but she didn't look away from Steve. "I just...wanna' help." he mumbled out softly, almost shrugging his shoulders.

Their manager was stepping away from the ladder while pegging the cloth in Steve's direction, who glanced at the dirty thing in his hands for a moment too long. "You use it to wipe things down," Daisy commented slyly. "It's not hard."

Steve was shrugging off his jacket, but didn't feel the urge to comment back right now, a little too defeated about what had happened today and how he had truly messed everything up. While the other movie theatre workers headed back inside, Daisy stayed on the street. Her arms were crossed over her chest, but she was quite amused watching him clean. Steve didn't say much at first, but after a while, he glanced down at her. "I'm sorry for all this mess."

"It's not me that needs an apology." Daisy huffed.

He nodded slowly. "I know, I know."

Daisy could see the hurt and guilt in his eyes and for the first time in a really long time, she almost pitied him. Clearly, after the fight something had shifted within him. He hadn't mentioned his friends and hadn't mentioned Nancy, but right now, Daisy got the feeling that he had lost both of them in a matter of hours. "Look, you did a shitty thing, Steve. You lashed out because you were hurting and I don't need the details about why the fight happened, but maybe next time, don't let your friends write that your girlfriend's a slut for the entire town to witness."

"I'm seriously such a crappy person," Steve sighed loudly, stepping down for the ladder and admiring his handiwork, almost all of the spray paint gone. A pink smudge of colour still lingered, but at least the insults were cleaned away.

Daisy twisted her lips into a quick smirk. "No disagreement here." Steve was already hanging his head with her comment, the words hitting a little harder in the afternoon sunlight. Suddenly, Daisy was remembering that she needed his help. "It's really bad timing, but I actually need a favour from you."

Steve paused. "Okay?"

She waited for a second, wondering if she could trust him enough with this. "You promised you would help try and find Marigold. Well, now I need you to speak with Chief Hopper and tell him you lied last year. I've reached a dead end in the clues and Dottie thinks it's a decent idea to see if he would be willing to help again, since it's his job and all that." Daisy watched his face and when he didn't argue, she went on. "I'm so close to figuring all this out, but there's a huge piece of the puzzle that I'm missing...and with you confessing about Marigold not just leaving town, maybe Hopper will believe me."

The older boy didn't even hesitate. He was already pulling his keys from his pocket and giving her a very familiar smile, one that he reserved just for her. "When do you get off work, Goldilocks?"

Daisy didn't even roll her eyes with the old nickname. "This isn't a sweet rekindling of some screwed up friendship. I just need one favour, then we're back to hating each other." she noted dryly, telling herself that whatever was going with them again, it was not like last time. "You're still an asshole, Steve Harrington."

"Yeah, that's fine." He showed her toward his car with another smile, his foul mood almost completely gone. "I'm growing on you again though."

***

When the duo finally made it to the police station, they were met with Chief Hopper striding towards the carpark followed by Joyce Byers, Jonathan and Nancy. The oddly matched foursome had determination set in their eyes. Daisy was quickly breaking away from Steve who hung back near his car, not wanting any part in whatever showdown was about to happen. "Chief Hopper!" Daisy called out.

The tall man was whirling on the spot to spy her, mentally groaning at the very sight of her blonde hair. He had been through enough these past few days and already had a list of a million things to do right now, including finding Mike Wheeler and his friends before anybody else did. He didn't even slow down for her to catch up. "Look kid, today's not a great day for another theory about your sister—"

"I'm telling the complete truth," Daisy started, eyeing the three people standing by Joyce Byers's car, everybody waiting for him. She could tell whatever was going on was important, but right now, the only thing that circled in her mind was finding answers to a riddle that had lasted a year so far. "Steve Harrington lied to you about Marigold. He'll tell you everything you need to hear, but you just have to listen to me."

Hopper was scrunching up his features, wondering what it would take today for Daisy Lonsdale to drop the case, because he had much more important things to worry about right now. "I don't know what's really going on, my aunt thinks Marigold was taken, or maybe went into hiding when she tried to find Duncan Downings, my cousin. She's a little crazy because she was in some experimental trials back in the day, but I don't think she's lying. Marigold didn't run away, sir. She's out there still and maybe in trouble."

"Wait, did you just say experimental trials?" Hopper asked with a thick frown. The words would have been meaningless, but lately, with his own research into Project MKUltra, maybe the kid really was telling the truth about her sister.

Joyce Byers was suddenly calling out his name though, breaking his pattern of thoughts. "Jim, we have to go. Now."

Daisy's attention was flying towards the three people waiting for him. She should have questioned why Nancy Wheeler was hanging around them or why they were all about to pile into a car, but she didn't. Hopper heaved out a long sigh. "Daisy, we'll talk about this later. Right now, there's somewhere I need to be, but we'll figure it out, okay? We'll find Marigold."

A twinkling of hope was set on fire in her chest. "Wait, you believe me?"

Hopper didn't have the chance to even respond before he was hiking across the police station carpark and dropping into the driver's seat while the car purred to life. Daisy was left in the dust, watching them speed away. Steve Harrington stepped inline with her, his heart a little too heavy with seeing Nancy and Jonathan together again. "What now?"

Daisy had no clue what happened next, already lost in the darkness of uncertainly once again. Although some questions were answered, it seemed there was still too much unsolved and she had a funny feeling that everything was connected somehow. Right now, pushing away the questions, she realised there was just one person she needed to see right now and that was her best friend. Too bad, Dottie Fields had somehow found herself in her own world of trouble with a bunch of twelve year olds.