He was the older step-brother of Max Mayfield, who he often mistreated, among others. He got a job as a lifeguard at the Hawkins Community Pool alongside Heather Holloway, and flirted with Karen Wheeler. Eventually, he came under the possession of the Mind Flayer, who used him as a vessel and as a tool to gather the civilians of Hawkins, to create a larger physical vessel to host the Mind Flayer: the Spider Monster.