"I'm sorry my heart's too big for my own good! I just want to be a good person!"
~
Theodore Chambers moves from his home in London to Hawkins and realizes this town isn't what it seems
Or
In which the new kid in town is thrown into all sorts of insa...
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chapter seven; mall rats
What was there for Teddy to do? He hummed to himself on his bike, raking through ideas of where to go or what to do. Everyone currently had their own plans: his father, at work; Max and Eleven talked together about... girl issues? Whatever those are; Will and Lucas were helping Mike trying to fix... whatever problem Mike caused; And he sure as hell didn't want to be anywhere with his mother. Everyone was busy with their own thing. That was fine with Teddy. He could be on his own, letting Max's words engrain in his head.
Teddy had one idea of where to go, the place where any kid in Hawkins went when they were bored in 1985: Starcourt Mall.
Tiny problem, his mind decided to remind him of—Starcourt always had a lot going on, which overstimulated Teddy on the occasion. So many people, loud noises, bright lights, etc. He still liked it and wanted to go right now. He didn't think that would happen anyways. If he needed time to cool off, he would just make his way to Steve and Robin. Robin expressed how it happened to her sometimes, which helped Teddy become more comfortable with her. The two sailors would help him relax if he needed it. He had some change in his backpack and pockets in case he wanted any drinks or snacks or hey, even a new pair of sunglasses since he broke the last one. All sorts of possibilities at the mall.
Teddy Chambers thought he'd have a nice day by himself at the mall. Enjoy a milkshake... oh, maybe that new Orange Julius smoothie he always wanted to try? That changed the minute he pulled up to the bike rack where his three friends, Mike, Lucas, and Will, stood by their parked bikes discussing something away from the crowds bustling in and out.
Mike's eyes perked up as he bolted to Teddy's side, "Oh Teddy! Thank god you showed up!" He, for once in the past few months, actually seemed happy Teddy arrived somewhere he was.
"I... I didn't know you guys would be here... No one told me anything..." Teddy trailed off, putting his bike right next to Will's. To be fair, he didn't. Pure happenstance. Though, new questions formed in Teddy's head. How did a problem with El take them to a mall? What was the problem? He asked, "what'd I miss?"
"I messed up with El, and w-we need to fix it." He confessed.
Teddy raised his eyebrow. Yeah, he already knew that... but what could be so bad? He just wanted to know. "What did you do?"
Mike shook his head, avoiding the question, "It doesn't matter. What matters is fixing what I did."
"F-fair enough."
"And he doesn't know how to." Lucas added, "and that's why we're here."
'And why El is with Max,' Teddy thought to himself. That explained that. Lucas and Max were the couple that others would go to for advice, despite having broken up numerous times themselves. They understood their relationship better than others their age, hence why Mike went to Lucas and Teddy to Max.
