Bonnie Petrova had always hated spending her summer in a small town, but she hated babysitting her younger sister for the entirety of it even more. Especially when aliens and evil Russians become involved ...
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CHAPTER THREE
secret russian code.
Somehow the flashy Starcourt Mall had become one of Bonnie's favourite places this summer. Even if it included a twenty-minute drive stuck in a sweltering car with her mean little sister and her best friend. They would split up in the mornings, their ways would cross every once in a while before Bonnie would drive them back home, but today she had no such luck.
Claire and Erica had insisted on accompanying Bonnie to Scoops Ahoy. Her annoyance was written all over her features. Robin chuckles softly as the pair walk into the ice cream parlour, Bonnie sulking behind. That smile quickly falters as the pair of ten-year-olds head straight toward the counter with mischievous grins decorating both their faces.
"Can I try the peppermint stick?" Erica asks once she's standing right in front of Robin, Claire right behind her with her arms crossed and head tilted slightly to the side.
"Haven't you already tried the peppermint stick?" Robin asks as she glances over at Bonnie, standing behind them with a scowl. Claire and Erica had been to Scoops Ahoy a few times, mostly when Robin was on break in the backroom with Bonnie and Steve worked the counter.
Bonnie and Robin had made fun of the young girls a lot that summer; their new style consisting solely of crazy patterns and headache-inducing neon colours. They'd never dare make fun of them to their faces, god no, that'd be suicide.
"Yes, and I'd like to try it again," Erica explains as she hands Robin the tiny red spoon back.
"It's your job to serve us ice cream?" Claire adds, with a condescending smile as she looks Robin up and down. Bonnie sighs loudly, running a hand through her hair as she flashes Robin an apologetic smile.
"Yes, it is," Robin answers, clearly unamused with their antics but plastering on a fake smile for good measure.
"Then serve us ice cream," Claire states as she leans a bit closer to the display, thinking of which flavour to try next as Erica does the same.
"Don't be such a brat, Claire." Bonnie hisses as she pushes Claire's shoulder causing the girl to stumble slightly, she rolls her eyes and mutters a quiet 'sorry'.
"Just a second," Robin says as she walks over to Bonnie, dragging her behind the counter. "Bonnie." She adds as she hands over her scooper. Before she can even protest, Robin has disappeared into the backroom. To yell at Steve, no doubt. Even before the door has fully closed, her suspicions are proven right.
"Alright, babysitting time is over. You need to get in there." Robin shouts at the pair standing around the table before she turns around noticing her whiteboard has been wiped down and replaced with the russian alphabet. "Hey, my board. That was important data, shitbirds." She adds even more annoyed now.
"I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data." Dustin states as he leans back a bit in his chair, Steve nodding along with him.
"Yeah? And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyway?" Robin asks. Bonnie can't help but scoff slightly at the utter absurdity of the situation happening on the other side of that thin wall. She can hear Robin speaking some weird foreign language, followed by impressed laughter from Steve and Dustin. Not a single thing she can hear from behind the counter makes sense to her.
"That was Pig Latin, Dingus," Robin says with a scoff as she leans against the window sill and crosses her arms: "But I can speak Spanish, and French and Italian. And I've been in band for twelve years. My ears are little geniuses, trust me. And I have Bonnie."
"Bonnie? Who's Bonnie?" Dustin asks, confused as he looks up at Steve with a frown, but before he can even open his mouth Robin sighs loudly drawing their attention.
"This is Bonnie," Robin states as she dramatically opens the glass window revealing the girl behind it. Bonnie waves at them as she mutters a soft 'hey' before she turns back around to deal with Erica, Claire and their group of friends.
"You know what? I think I'll just have some strawberry ice cream with sprinkles." Claire finally decides with a condescending smile as she tilts her head slightly to look at her sister.
"Have a nice day," Bonnie hands them their ice cream with a forced smile. Claire rolls her eyes before the group disappears out of the Scoops Ahoy, finding some other people to torment.
"You know Russian?" Steve asks once Bonnie turns towards the group again and she nods as she leans on the window sill slightly.
"Why?" Dustin asked as he throws a suspicious glance in Bonnie's direction. It almost seemed too good to be true, they find a secret russian code and a girl fluent in russian just stumbles her way into the group.
"My last name is Petrova? It's Russian?" Bonnie explains with a slight shrug as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. Robin grimaces slightly exchanging a bewildered glance with Bonnie as Dustin pulls Steve aside, huddling together in the corner of the room.
"She might be one of them," Dustin lowers his voice, whispering to Steve the best he can since Robin and Bonnie are mere feet away from them both.
"What? A Russian?" Steve mutters as he looks over his shoulder at Bonnie, flashing her what was meant to be a charming smile. "She just said that, idiot."
"No, Steve, not just any russian." Dustin also glances over his shoulder glaring at Bonnie as he lowers his voice even more: "A russian spy."
"No, I don't think so, Henderson. She's been in Hawkings since like fifth grade. She's on the soccer team for Christ's sake." Steve says in defence of Bonnie as he shakes his head repeatedly to emphasize his point.
"Deep undercover, Steve!" Dustin hisses, a bit too loud. Robin rolls her eyes as Bonnie laughs softly to herself at the absurd situation unfolding in front of her. "We can't trust her." He adds, but Steve's eyes have wandered back to Bonnie and everything Dustin has to say just seems to fly straight over his head.
"My Dad's from Russia. We moved here for his work." Bonnie interrupts them. "That's why me, my sister and our dad speak Russian." She adds, hoping it might somehow deter Dustin from his insane assumptions of her and her family.
"Do you want me to translate or not?" Bonnie asks as she makes her way over to the back room before she can open the door herself, it opens rather unexpectedly as Steve stands in the doorway with the tape recorder in his hand while the other holds the door open very close to where Bonnie is standing.
"Yes! yeah, that'd be great." Steve stutters slightly, the way Bonnie was so close as he had nearly walked into her, rendering his brain useless. He swallows thickly before giving her the tape recorder and she hands him the scooper with a grin.
"Leave us, idiots," Robin demands as she ushers both Steve and Dustin out of the door and turns to Bonnie with a satisfied grin. "We've got work to do."
