She remembers, now: Stan had said his friends from home had been here before he'd gotten here. He'd been a little sad when he'd said it, though she thinks he hadn't wanted to be. He talks about Richie just as much as any of them, but he hadn't described how he looks.

And why would he? Stan has no idea what her friends in Hawkins look like. He has no reason to try to protect her from the fact that their faces look the same. He has no reason to think she would need that protection.

"... How do you be a 'best friend'?" she asks. It's easier to focus on simpler things like that, than on how to process the fact that he's Not Mike.