Starcourt Mall

Nancy got dressed in a hurry before hastily running after Steve, breathing a small sigh of relief as she caught up to him in the garden. No sign of the monster yet. Still, her tension didn’t alleviate for even a second as she followed him.

Their friends were apparently gathered at Starcourt Mall. She walked with him down the streets, eager to get to the mall. Every few seconds she glanced back over her shoulder as if she was about to see another portal tear open in the air.

Nothing happened though. Maybe Steve was right; it still hunted like a predator, still waited for her to be alone. Or at the very least, was stuck pursuing her while she moved, stalking without catching up.

She prayed it wouldn’t.

Then they reached Starcourt. Nancy let out a breath, not feeling safe but glad they’d at least made it that far, and followed Steve inside and upstairs. He led the way to some place called Scoops Ahoy.

The blush returned to her cheeks as she walked inside, and several pairs of eyes turned to face her, all from people that had seen her undressed. She opened her mouth to speak, faltered, then waved mutely and quickly glanced down at herself to make sure her clothes hadn’t vanished.

“Hey Nancy,” Mike said. “Everything better?”

“Not… exactly,” Nancy said.

“She says one of the demogorgons is following her,” Steve said.

Lucas, Mike, Dustin, El, Will and Max suddenly jerked upright.

“Are you okay?” Mike said.

Nancy murmured something inaudible.

“What?” Mike said.

“It only took my clothes,” she whispered, a little more loudly, reddening.

There was a pause.

“What?” Mike said.

“You heard,” Nancy said.

She moved closer awkwardly, taking a spare seat and refusing to meet anyone’s eyes. In the ice cream shop, hopefully anyone would notice a giant monster appearing out of thin air, she should have plenty of warning.

Her cheeks burned, trying very hard not to remember the last time she’d been with everyone. God, and she’d thought it was over.

“Different diet?” Dustin said. “It wasn’t the Upside Down, things looking similar doesn’t mean they really are.”

“But still, clothes?” Will said. “That’s weird.”

“All of this is pretty weird,” Max said. “That doesn’t mean…”

There was an odd, flickering sound. Nancy stiffened; it reminded her of how the portal sounded. She suddenly looked around, panicked. She wasn’t the only one.

“There’s… something,” Eleven said.

Several heads turned. Nancy couldn’t see anything, nor could she see anyone else reacting to a portal opening in the air. She fidgeted awkwardly.

“It won’t come somewhere this open, right?” Steve said.

“It might be watching,” Eleven said slowly.

And then Nancy squealed as she felt something brush her leg. A long claw grabbed her leg, then contented itself taking a firm hold of her skirt. She almost slipped out of her chair from the sudden ****.

By the time anyone looked under the table, the veiny white window was closing and Nancy’s long, pale legs were bare. She quickly slapped her legs together and rested both hands over her lap, eyes going wide and cheeks going red as her bottom half was left in just her panties under the table.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding huh?” Dustin said.

“Stop looking!” Nancy whispered furiously.

She fidgeted, looking around Scoops Ahoy nervously. She rested her hands over her now-exposed panties, almost demure if not for the returned blush.

“Everything ok?” one of the women that worked at the café approached, dressed in the normal sailor uniform that the staff wore. Nancy yelped.

“Um,” Steve said, uncertain.

Nancy mouthed ‘get rid of her’ desperately, squirming on her chair. She adjusted her panties nervously, feeling them having slid down slightly when the Demogorgon had wrenched her skirt away. Apparently, rather than appear in the open, it could just get a portal large enough for an arm to appear under the table.

She glanced down again, terrified she was going to feel its arm again.

“Everything’s fine Robin,” Steve said.

The staff member looked at him strangely, then looked at Nancy, and shrugged.

“Whatever,” she said. “Just don’t cause too much trouble.”

The woman walked away. Nancy bit her lip, trying very hard to hold back tears so she didn’t draw even more attention to herself. She didn’t know how she was even meant to stand up now, without flashing her panties to the whole of Scoops Ahoy, but if she stayed where she was who knew how quickly the Demogorgon would come back for its next snack?