Time flashed by to the next spring; the ice thawed and the earth came back to life.
Surviving the winter meant that change was on the horizon.
Richard and the rest of the youth group had graduated smoothly. Even Nancy, who hadn't made it into her dream college, had used her fame as the female lead of demon child creel to secure a bank loan and open her own news agency in town—she finally had a career and a direction.
They all saw Barbara off, wishing her joy at the university she'd longed for. Richard watched the car carrying Barbara and her family disappear down the road out of town, sighing that the beaming face which had once looked at him with affection had rounded out again.
A beauty's shelf life really is that short.
Jonathan… Jonathan had thought he would leave town and move to where his future mentor lived. Then the mentor wrote to say he wanted to stay in Hawkins Town for a year or so, which left Jonathan exactly where he was.
As for Eddie and his Hellfire Club—no surprise—they all had to repeat the year.
Perfectly normal. The whole crew spent their time writing songs and touring; their studies had been abandoned long ago. They just refused to drop out. They planned to keep at it next year. So what if they were making money? Tuition fees? Were they afraid? Not of repeating a grade, not of their parents' nagging—what was there to fear?
Mike and the younger kids all moved up to the fourth year of middle school and welcomed a new classmate they'd known for ages: "Jane Hopper."
Little Eleven had finally settled in Hawkins Town, living under a new identity. She wore her hair long, dressed like kids her age, and had even picked up her big-sister Carly's catchphrase—"bitchin'."
By the way, among the younger group Lucas and Maxine had become an item; they were stuck together like glue, annoying everyone who had to watch.
Curly-haired Dustin had quietly bowed out of a romance that had no role for him and threw himself into his studies with real success. Soon he would head to another state for a summer camp meant for gifted kids and take part in a nationwide youth science competition.
Everything seemed to be moving in a good direction—but not all the changes were welcome.
"Chade!" Steve burst into Heihe Tea, face flushed with shock. "Did you hear? That prime chunk of land downtown is finished. In a few months they're opening a mega-mall called Star Court."
"I heard." Richard turned calmly, leaning back against the bar, right elbow on the counter, milk tea in his left hand. "Nothing to fear, nothing to worry about."
"Why?" Steve asked, puzzled.
Richard: "Because I invested in it."
Steve: "???!!!!"
"When did you invest!?" Steve gasped, sucking in several sharp breaths.
Richard dug in his ear with a pinkie, utterly relaxed. "The mall was going to be a write-off. The backer was in cahoots with the mayor, both dirty, selling the country out. Then some mysterious person dumped mountains of evidence on them and they got sent up the river.
I liked the project, so I—Richard—took it over, rushed the construction, and turned it back into a shopping plaza."
Steve: "…Was that mysterious person you?"
"Don't make wild accusations. I can sue you for slander." Richard flatly denied it. As long as he was around, the Season-Three plotline would never start, and the Frozen Wrath dungeon would never open here.
Steve was skeptical, but it was good news; his brows relaxed and he threw an arm over Richard's shoulder. "All right, if the mall is ours, we're opening a Heihe Tea branch inside, right?"
"Yes—except we're moving our current shop there," Richard said, nodding then shaking his head.
"What about this place?" Steve looked around, shocked; after a year he'd grown attached to the décor, and the thought of abandoning it stung a little.
"We're not closing it—it becomes a branch." Richard spoke calmly. "Have we picked the address for our Heihe Tea franchise company? Once that's set, we can start rolling."
Steve caught on at once and chuckled. "So you're already itching to franchise and branch out?"
"Trends have a shelf life. We have to ride the wave while it lasts." Richard sighed. In this 1980s era, without decent phones or 3G networks, viral businesses were limited—no social media, no self-publishing platforms.
All he could do was buy TV ads and spread the brand the old-fashioned way.
Steve nodded, confident in their product. Even with franchising—where quality control might slip—the revenue would be huge.
"By the way, should we shoot a new ad?" Steve asked. "I'm sick of the one we're running."
"Not for now." Richard shook his head. "But we can keep making movies. We'll rope Jonathan in—he's studying filmmaking with his mentor, right? Perfect on-the-job training."
Steve: "Isn't that a bit… extravagant?"
"As long as it lets us be even more extravagant next time, why worry?"
"Fair point." Steve agreed, then asked curiously, "Jonathan and Carly have been pretty tight lately—lots of meet-ups, lots of time together."
Richard shot him a sideways look, eyes odd.
Steve grinned like a gossip. "Something going on between them?"
"Maybe." Richard smiled, uninterested—CRACK!
Eleven flicked her wrist; a gust of wind snapped out and shattered a stand of tree trunks.
"She's getting stronger." Ricky and the twin sisters clapped at the display.
Eleven grinned, rubbed her nose—no blood—and said, "Good. The stronger I am, the better our odds of storming The Upside Down and beating Henry on his home ground."
She turned to Jamie. "When the moment comes, we'll need you. Your power's the key—the only thing that can make sure Henry stays dead."
Jamie nodded, rotating her wrist to conjure a ball of flame in one hand. "Don't worry. I've gotten stronger too."
Ten days remained until Richard's invasion of The Upside Down.