Beverly glanced up from the cash register, spotting Steve with...Dustin?! The young boy had gone away to camp for a few weeks, so seeing him in the mall surprised the girl. "Holy shit, Alicia," Beverly said, making the girl look at her. "Dustin's back." She pointed over at Scoops Ahoy.

Alicia looked over at the ice cream parlor, where Steve and Dustin seemed to be fake lightsaber fighting. "Oh, my God," Alicia whispered, a smile growing onto her face. After last year's events, the girls, and Steve, had grown close to Dustin since they were practically with him the whole time. Beverly saw him as the younger brother she never had and she loved the kid.

Even though Lucas didn't seem to thrilled to see Alicia talking with Dustin like they were friends, Alicia was also fond of the Henderson boy. He was just so smart compared to all of the other kids.

"Come on," Beverly said excitedly, taking Alicia's wrist and pulling her away from the register and towards the ice cream parlor.

"Hey, where are you two going?!" Dylan shouted after them since they had left the cash register unattended.

"No where!" Beverly called back, earning a loud groan from the boy. The two girls giggled as they quickly made their way over, bright smiles on their faces. "Dustin!" the Crawford girl exclaimed, rushing over to the boy.

"Beverly!" he responded in the same tone, pulling the girl into a hug. Robin and Chris watched, both giving each other a look since the younger boy had also greeted Steve the same way. Although Mike was friends with all these kids, Chris never really formed a connection with all of them. Especially after he kind of distanced himself from everyone for the past few months.

"Hey!" Alicia greeted, also pulling Dustin into a hug. "Wow, you've gotten so tall. First Lucas and now you," she said and Dustin smiled. "Don't tell me you have a girlfriend now."

"Well..." Dustin trailed off, making the three teens give each other an excited, and shocked, look. "I'll tell you all over some ice cream?"

"Deal!" Steve quickly said, rushing over to make Dustin some ice cream.

"What about Dylan?" Alicia whispered to Beverly.

The girl shrugged. "He can handle it."

After Steve had given some Dustin ice cream, the four of them sat down at a booth. Beverly had sat next to Steve on the end, trying to be discrete about her choice. However, Alicia had noticed it and arched a brow, earning a shake of the head from the Crawford girl.

But, Alicia didn't want to say anything in front of Steve or Dustin, so she chose to sit next to the latter on the other end. When Steve had seen that Beverly had chosen to sit next to him, his stomach had dropped and he immediately fixed his hair.

Dustin then told them about his super hot and super smart girlfriend. Beverly didn't want to say anything, but her shared glanced with Alicia spoke enough: She didn't know if she actually believed him or not by his description.

"No, no. No way. Hotter than Phoebe Cates?" Steve questioned, also not buying some of it.

"Mm-hmm," Dustin hummed.

"No."

"Brilliant, too. And she doesn't even care that my real pearls are still coming in. She says kissing is better without teeth," Dustin told them.

The three teens gave each other a wide eyed look at that statement, not knowing how to respond to that. "Good to know," Beverly said slowly, forcing herself not to laugh.

Steve began to nod, looking back at Dustin. "Wow. Yeah, that's great. Proud of you, man. That's ro — That's kinda romantic. That's like...Wow."

"So do you really just get to eat as much of this as you want?" Dustin asked, pointing to his Banana Boat ice cream.

"Yeah. I mean, sure. It's not really a good idea for me, though. You know, I gotta keep in shape for the ladies," Steve said. Beverly raised her eyebrows and Alicia gave her friend a side eyed glance, wondering what her response would be to that.

"Yeah, and how's that working out for you?" Robin called out from a few feet away, listening in on the conversation. Chris snickered from behind the counter and Robin gave him a nod.

"Ignore her," Steve quickly said.

"She seems cool," Dustin replied.

"She's not," he quickly denied and Beverly chuckled softly, trying to ignore Steve's prior comment. "So, uh, where are the other knuckleheads?" he asked.

"They ditched me yesterday," Dustin answered bitterly.

"No," Steve said in disbelief and Beverly's mouth parted in shock.

"My first day back. Can you believe that shit?"

"Whoa. Seriously?

"I swear to God." He took a spoonful of ice cream, shoving it into his mouth.

"Even Lucas?" Alicia queried.

"Even Lucas," Dustin confirmed.

Alicia shook her head angrily, her face scrunching up. "He is in some serious trouble," she muttered under her breath and Beverly laughed at her sincerity. But, Beverly did also want to know why all of his friends ditched him when he just came back.

That was low.

Dustin nodded, swallowing the cold food. "They're gonna regret it, though, big time, when they don't get to share in my glory," he assured them all.

"Glory? What glory?" Steve asked in confusion, looking at Beverly, who shrugged.

Dustin scooted closer to Steve, who, in turn, made Alicia scoot closer to him since she was next to him. "So, last night, when I was trying to get in contact with Suzie..."

"Oh. Mm," Steve hummed with a grin, making a phone shape with his hands. Beverly snorted before she quickly covered her mouth, earning a cute look from the Harrington boy.

"And, uh..." Dustin trailed off, looking around at the parlor cautiously. He then put his hand over his mouth and began to whisper something inaudible.

"What?" the three older teens all said.

Dustin clicked his tongue. "Uh..." he inhaled deeply before he whispered the same thing again, the three of them still not hearing it.

"Just speak louder," Steve urged and the girls nodded.

"I intercepted a secret Russian communication!" Dustin exclaimed, making everyone stop what they were doing and give him a weird look.

"Whoa, okay," Beverly quickly said, holding her hands up.

"Uh, what?" Alicia breathed out at the same time, looking around in an embarrassed matter before everyone started to look away.

"Jeez, shh!" Steve shushed, also at the same time. "Yeah, okay, that's what I thought you said. What — What does that mean?"

"It means, guys, we could be heroes. True American heroes," Dustin told them all.

"Huh," Steve said with interest.

"Uh-huh."

"American heroes," Steve repeated, liking the sound of that.

"American heroes?" Alicia also said, but she was completely confused. And she did not like to be confused.

"Just think, you could have all the ladies you want and more," Dustin told the boy and Beverly tensed up a bit, giving Steve a secret look.

"More?" Steve said.

"More."

"I like more," Steve revealed, glancing at Beverly for a split second that none of them noticed. It went so unnoticed, in fact, that Beverly's heart began to sink at the words. She had tried so hard to tell herself that she didn't like Steve, but hearing him so intrigued about other girls...it made her want to scream.

"Mm-hmm," Dustin hummed before he looked at Alicia. "And you don't even have to get a license since you would have your own personal driver," he told her, wiggling his eyebrows.

Alicia scoffed. "Beverly's my own personal driver," she replied, even though she was still curious on what Dustin was talking about.

Dustin shrugged before he looked at Beverly. "And you...you could everything you have ever dreamed of," he added.

"Which is?" Beverly asked, shaking her head.

"Well, whatever you have dreamed of," Dustin said. Beverly licked her lips and glanced at Steve, who was already looking at her. Shit, shit, shit! Now he's gonna think I dream of him and I can't let him know that I do! Oh, shit... Do I really dream about him?

Steve had noticed her glance, but he didn't know what that had meant. All he knew was that it caused his cheeks to turn slightly pink, and for him to get even more nervous than he already was. He quickly reverted his gaze back to Dustin, trying to calm himself down. "W-What's the catch?" he stuttered.

"No catch, I just need your guys' help," Dustin revealed as Alicia stared at the other two suspiciously.

"With what?"

Dustin unzipped his bag and took out a Russian translation book. "Translation."

✦ ✧ ✦

Although Beverly and Alicia had their jobs to attend to, they didn't think it would hurt to take a break. And it was almost their lunch break anyway! Dylan could handle it just fine!

And, thankfully, Carmen had called up their store from the hospital and told them that she wouldn't be able to stop by today since the hospital wanted her to stay a few extra hours. And, possibly, she would have to work extra the next few days conveniently.

They listened to the Russian recording in the back while Chris and Robin worked the front, confused as to what the four were doing once they heard someone speaking Russian and a stupid song playing in the background at the end of the recording.

Steve chomped on a banana as the four of them listened, trying to decipher what it could mean even though none of them could speak Russian. Once it was over, Dustin clicked it off and asked, "So what do you guys think?"

"I don't know. They didn't have a Russian class in high school," Alicia pointed out and Beverly nodded, crossing her arms.

"It sounded familiar," Steve spoke up.

"What?" Dustin said.

"The music. The music right there at the end," Steve clarified as chewed on the banana.

"Why are you listening to the music, Steve?" Dustin questioned. "Listen to the Russian! We're translating Russian!"

"Okay, let's calm down," Beverly interjected, not wanting to get all heated up already when they haven't even tried to translate yet.

"I'm trying to listen to the Russian, but there's music—"

"All right, babysitting time is over. You need to get in there," Robin cut Steve off as she bursted through the door with Chris right behind her, looking pissed.

"Yeah, your sister is trying to get away with getting free ice cream again," Chris told Alicia, who put her hands up in defense since she hadn't known about that.

"Hey, my board!" Robin exclaimed once she saw that they had erased her data and replaced it with the Russian and American alphabet. "That was important data, shitbirds."

"I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data," Dustin assured her and three older teens nodded, not wanting to give anything away.

"Yeah? And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyways?" Robin questioned and Chris nodded, crossing his arms.

All of their eyes widened, not expecting her to say that. "How do they know about the Russians?" Dustin whispered to no one in particular.

"I don't know," Steve shrugged, his mouth full of banana.

"You told them about—"

"It wasn't me," Steve said.

"Hello, we can hear you. Actually, we can hear everything," Robin voiced, making them all look back at her.

"Yeah, you guys are all really loud," Chris commented. "And annoying," he said, and the four gave him a dirty look.

Robin nodded. "You think you have evil Russians plotting against our country, on tape, and you're trying to translate, but you haven't figured out a single word because you didn't realize the Russians use an entirely different alphabet than we do," Robin explained and they all gave her a dumbfounded look, including Chris next to her since he hadn't known about the alphabet part. "Sound about right?"

They all just stared at her, not knowing what to say. Chris then quickly reached over to try and grab the tape, causing Steve to rip it away before he could. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What do you think you're doing?" Steve asked, pulling the tape back.

"We wanna hear it," Chris said and Robin nodded with a smile.

"Why?" the four of them asked.

"'Cause I should be allowed to know about this after what we all did together last year," Chris pointed out.

"'Cause maybe I can help," Robin said at the same before she gave Chris a confused look. "What happened last year?" she queried, and Chris shared a quick glance with the four teens that knew what happened last year.

"Uh, nothing," Chris told her, shaking his head.

"Okay, well...I'm fluent in four languages, you know," Robin continued.

"Does Russian happen to be one by any chance?" Beverly asked, shrugging her shoulder.

"Ouyay areyay umbday," Robin spoke in return, causing them all to exchange sounds that they were impressed. Chris held up his hand to high five her, but Robin hadn't seen it yet.

"Holy shit!"

"Uh, I'm pretty sure that was Pig Latin," Alicia spoke up, giving them a look. Beverly's face dropped, embarrassed at herself since she thought it was actually Russian. Chris quickly lowered his hand, praying the Buckley hadn't seen it.

"It was Pig Latin," Robin confirmed with a smile towards Alicia before she looked at Steve. "Dingus," she added.

Steve slapped Dustin's arm. "Idiot," he grumbled, playing it off like he hadn't also thought the same.

"But I can speak Spanish, and French, and Italian, and I've been in band for twelve years," Robin told them and Alicia's eyebrows raised, dazzled. "My ears are little geniuses, trust me."

"Uh..." Steve trailed off, glancing at Beverly since he wasn't sure this was a good idea.

"Come on, it's your turn to sling ice cream, my turn to translate. I don't even want credit. I'm just bored," Robin begged, holding her hand out that held an ice cream scooper.

Steve looked down at it as the front bell dinged before he sighed, handing Robin the tape as he grabbed the scooper. "What about me?" Chris asked, not wanting to continue entertaining Erica and her friends.

"Guess your slinging ice cream with me, pal," Steve said, even though he didn't seem too excited about it. Beverly furrowed her brows, not sure why they didn't seem as "best friendly" anymore.

"Oh, no, he can stay. You can deal with those Devil children," Robin voiced and Chris gave Steve a smug look, going to sit down next to the Buckley girl as he gave her a grateful smile. Steve groaned and walked out to the front desk, dealing with the kids.

Beverly turned to look at Alicia. "Should we go back to the store?" she asked since she wasn't sure if Dylan was calling up their manager right now and asking for them to be fired.

"Well, I'm pretty good at speaking Spanish and French, so I was thinking I could help Robin a bit," Alicia told her. "If that's okay?" she added, looking down at Robin.

"Fine with me," the girl responded, and Beverly could have sworn she could see Chris mouth an annoyed curse.

Alicia smiled before she looked back up at Beverly. "Cover for me?"

"Of course," Beverly said before she headed back to the store. She walked past Steve on the way, who furrowed his brows.

"Hey, where you goin'?" he asked as scooped a free sample for Erica.

Beverly looked at him. "Back to the store. Don't wanna get in trouble for not working," she told him with a laugh.

Steve smiled. "Wouldn't want that to happen," he replied, still holding the small spoon with ice cream.

"Yeah," Beverly agreed, sharing the smile with him.

"Can you stop flirting and just give me my free sample already?" Erica spoke up impatiently, giving Steve an irritated look.

Beverly and Steve's faces both flushed, laughing awkwardly. "I-I was not flirting," Steve quickly told her, handing her the spoon.

Erica shrugged, taking the spoon. "Sure you weren't," she said sarcastically and Steve glared at her. "Just the facts."

Beverly hoped that her face wasn't too red because of Erica's words as she bid a temporary farewell to Steve, making her way back to an angry Dylan. Steve had watched her walk out, a lopsided grin on his face because of the dilemma he was facing with her.

authors note
birthday update!! yes, it's
my birthday haha. i hope this chapter
uploads because right now wattpad is
not working for me since i just changed
my email and the verification thing is
not being sent to me and i reached out
to wattpad's website thing about it
so hopefully it can get fixed but rn i
like cannot send messages, reply to comments,
make comments, or post anything on my profile
😑 so im hoping this posts haha....