𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞: 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫

❝ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇʏ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʙʀᴇᴀᴋ ᴀ ᴘʀᴏᴍɪsᴇ.❞

𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐀𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 dustin at the dining table. the party plus the wheeler family we're all sat around the table, eating dinner as an awkward silence filled the air. arlo had already asked mrs.wheeler if she could sleep over, the woman saying yes - obviously. everyone's parents loved arlo. mostly because they thought that one of their sons would end up with the girl. . . if only they knew that she didn't see them in that type of way. the only downside about sleeping over now was that arlo would have to sleep in the basement. mrs.wheeler was really strict about the no boys or girls sleeping in the same room.

arlo was poking at the meatloaf that mrs.wheeler made, a slight grimace on her face. she hated meatloaf with a passion. it weirded her out. why did meat have to be in the shape of a loaf? it's not bread. it's meat. she also didn't like how it tasted, but that first part is what really bothered her. that was the only thing that she didn't eat, everything else on her plate was gone. the rest of the party was poking at their food, not really having having an appetite.

"something wrong with the meatloaf?" mrs.wheeler asked, making everyone look at her.

"oh, no, i had two bologna sandwiches for lunch." dustin answered with a cheeky smile, making arlo smile slightly. it was believable because that's something that he would actually do. "i don't know why."

"me too." lucas added, faking a smile.

mrs.wheeler looked at arlo with expectant eyes, making the young girl cower away in her seat. "i have a weird thing against meatloaf. i - i don't even eat my mother's."

"yeah, she doesn't like that it's in the shape of a loaf." mike explained, making his mother look at arlo with furrowed eyebrows.

"if it's not bread, it shouldn't be shaped like it. simple as that." arlo quickly said, getting frustrated that they were even talking about it.

"it's delicious, mommy." nancy complimented, making arlo look at her with furrowed eyebrows. when was the last time nancy called mrs.wheeler mommy?

"thank you, sweetie." mrs.wheeler smiled.

"so, there's this. . . special assembly thing tonight. . . for will at the school field. barb's driving." nancy informed, making arlo silently say "ah." that's why she was being all sweet and innocent a few seconds ago.

"why am i just hearing about this?" mrs.wheeler questioned.

"i thought you knew." nancy answered simply. mike and arlo shared a knowing look, having the same feeling that the wheeler girl wanted to go over to the harringtons'.

"i told you, i don't want you out after dark until will is found."

"i know, i know, but it'd be super weird if i'm not there. i mean, everyone's going. even - even arlo's brother is going. right, arlo?" nancy said, turning to look at the girl in question.

the harrington girl pulled on a tightlipped smile, nodding as she let out a hum. "yep. yeah."

"just. . . be back by 10:00." mrs.wheeler told her daughter. "why don't you take the boys and arlo, too?"

"no!" mike and arlo exclaimed in unison while dustin and lucas frantically shook their head.

"don't you think you should be there? for will?" the older woman quizzed, looking around at the younger kids.

before anyone could answer, the figure of eleven coming down the stairs gained the party's attention. mike coughed into his glass of milk, making it splash everywhere. arlo's eyes widened at the sigh of the girl, sitting up slightly. the look on arlo's face made mrs.wheeler turn around to see what she was looking at, but she was interrupted when dustin punched the table with his hands. she looked at the curly haired boy with a stern but worried look.

"sorry. spasm." dustin lied as he sunk into his seat.

the loud noise made holly, mike and nancy's little sister, whimper slightly. mrs.wheeler went to go comfort her, but nancy turned to dustin with a small scowl on her face.

"nice." she mumbled towards him.

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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍 the stairs that led to the basement, mike having a tray of food in his hands. after dinner, mrs.wheeler cleared the table and went upstairs to put holly to bed. nancy left for the "assembly for will", arlo knowing that she actually wanted to go out so that she could go to steve's little party. mike's father got situated in the living room, almost immediately knocking out on his lay-z boy. once the kitchen was cleared, mike rushed to fix eleven a plate.

"el." the wheeler boy called, making sure not to drop the tray as he walked over to the fort that eleven was situated in. she had his walkie talkie in her hand, looking up at the four preteens as they gathered around the fort. "no adults. just us and some meatloaf." el looked at the food before she looked back up at lucas, dustin, and arlo. "don't worry. they won't tell anyone about you. they promise. right?"

"we never would've upset you if we knew you had superpowers." dustin said honestly, earning a slap in the tight from mike. "ow!"

"what dustin is trying to say is that they were just scared. . . earlier. that's all." mike elaborated from his spot in front of eleven.

"we just wanted to find our friend." lucas added, making arlo nod in agreement.

"friend?" eleven repeated, eyebrows knitted together as she looked at the boy.

"yeah, friend. will?" lucas nodded.

"what is 'friend'?" eleven questioned.

"is she serious?" the sinclair boy asked, looking between arlo and dustin. the henderson boy simply shrugged his shoulders. "um, a friend is -"

"is someone that you'd do anything for." mike interrupted.

"you lend them your cool stuff, like comic books and trading cards." dustin continued.

"and they never break a promise."

"especially when there's spit." lucas added, making arlo grimace in disgust.

"spit?" eleven repeated.

"a spit swear means. . ." lucas started, spitting into the palm of his hand. "you never break your word." he then slapped his hand against dustin's, the curly haired boy's face twisting into a look of disgust. "it's a bond."

"yeah, i don't do that." arlo quickly told eleven, gesturing to the whole spit swear thing. "but that's super important, because friends tell each other things. things that parents don't know. that siblings don't know."

eleven seemed to have taken in the new found information, looking at arlo. the harrington girl stared back, a familiar feeling appearing in her stomach. she didn't know where she knew the girl from, but she could've sworn that the saw her somewhere. while eleven at the food mike brought her, arlo started to set up the couch for her to sleep on. mrs.wheeler had given her blankets and pillows since the basement gets cold sometimes. once she was done, she went into the bathroom, doing her business, washing her hands before she came back out.

"what's the weirdo doing?" she heard lucas ask as she walked towards the boys. she joined his side to see that eleven was sitting at the table with the d&d board on it.

they all gathered around her, watching as she placed her hands at the corner of the board before she closed her eyes. arlo and mike shared a look before they turned back to the buzzcut girl, looking at her with furrowed eyebrows.

"el?" mike called.

the girl opened her eyes before she reached forward and grabbed one of the figurines. arlo's eyes widened slightly when she realized that was will's figurine. the byers boy used that in every game, every campaign. "will." eleven mumbled.

"superpowers." dustin said.

mike sat down in one of the chairs, facing eleven. "did you see him? on mirkwood? do you know where he is?"

instead of giving a verbal answer, eleven swiped all of the other figurines off of the table. she then flipped the board over to the underside, it being black. she grabbed will's figurine before she smacked it right on the middle of the board. arlo furrowed her eyebrows slightly, her mind flashing back to the nightmare she had the night prior. was will in that place she dreamt about?

"i don't understand." mike told her, looking between the figurine and eleven.

"hiding." she simply said.

"will is hiding?" mike asked, earning a nod from eleven. "from the bad men?" eleven shook her head. "then from who?"

eleven reached her hand to the side, grabbing the figurine that had two lizard heads on it. the demogorgan figurine. lucas, mike, dustin, and arlo all shared a worried look as they started to process the new found information. eleven looked at mike before she looked over to arlo, the harrington girl looking back. she felt this feeling start to flow through her body, almost like there was this power inside of her. it didn't feel like a type of power that brought light though. it felt like a power that brought darkness.

a power that brought fear.

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daij speaks!
heyyyyyyyyyyy. this chapter is really fucking short but here u go. hope u enjoyed