𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫: 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬

❝ɪ'ᴍ ᴀ ɢɪʀʟ!❞

𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐍 𝐌𝐈𝐊𝐄 and dustin, all of them still drenched as they stood in mike's basement. after they found the girl in the woods, mike had given her his jacket and the five of them quickly made it to the wheelers'. the girl didn't talk much, only staring at anything that she found intriguing. lucas, mike, arlo, and dustin looked at her, not exactly sure what they should do. it was obvious that the girl was scared, and they had never seen her around before.

"is there a number we can call for your parents?" mike questioned, being the first one to break the silence in the room.

"where's your hair? do you have cancer?" dustin quizzed, earning a nudge in the stomach from arlo.

"did you run away? lucas asked.

"are you in some kind of trouble?" mike added, making arlo bring her hands up to rub her head. she had a headache, probably from barely sleeping, or her three best friends asking a bunch of fucking questions.

"is that blood?" lucas then asked, going to reach towards the girl.

"stop it! you're freaking her out!" mike yelled, slapping lucas' hand away as he looked at him.

"she's freaking me out!" lucas remarked, gesturing towards the quiet girl.

"i bet you she's deaf." dusting suggested, moving forward to clap his hands. this made the buzzcut girl flinch, looking at the boy like he was crazy. "not deaf."

"come on, guys. she's scared and cold, and i'm pretty sure clapping in her face isn't helping." arlo told her friends, sending a look to dustin, who just shrugged sheepishly. "mike, go get her some clothes."

the wheeler boy nodded his head, turning around to go over to the laundry basket that mrs.wheeler had put down there. the remaining party members watched the girl closely, seeing her flinch at the clap of thunder that echoed from outside. when mike came back, he handed arlo the folded clothes, the harrington girl seeing the look on his face as he looked at the unknown girl. she raised her eyebrows slightly but didn't think anything of it, turning around to face the girl.

"uh, these are clean." arlo told her, handing her the clothes. the buzzcut girl slowly grabbed the clothes before she started to rub them against her cheek.

arlo looked at the boys with furrowed eyebrows, all of them shrugging their shoulders. the quartet then watched as the girl got up from the couch, shoving mike's jacket off before she reached for the hem of her shirt, getting ready to pull. arlo's eyes widened at the action, her mind going blank as she just quickly slapped her hands over her eyes. she head dustin and lucas exclaim in a panic, knowing that they were covering their eyes too. she stood very still as she heard dustin say "oh, my god" over and over again.

"no, no, no!" mike yelled, stopping the girl from undressing herself. "see over there? th - that's the bathroom. privacy. get it?"

no one said anything for a few seconds, the only sound being the rain and thunder from outside. then arlo heard shuffling, still keeping her eyes covered. she heard mike talking behind her, but she didn't make a move to uncover her eyes, too scared that she would see something that she wasn't supposed to. her eyebrows did raise when she heard the girl speak, saying a simply "no" and "yes".

"arlo, you can look now." mike told her, making said girl slowly remove her hands. mike noticed the way her cheeks were pink, his eyebrows knitted together.

"this is mental." dustin announced.

"at least she can talk." mike tried, shrugging his shoulders.

"she said 'no' and 'yes.' your three-year-old sister says more." lucas pointed out, earning a nod from arlo.

"she tried to get naked." dustin reminded, earning a look from arlo.

"there's something serious wrong with her. like, wrong in the head." lucas told his friends.

"she just went like. . ." dustin started again, copying the girl's actions of almost lifting her shirt up. that made his baseball cap go flying off his head, the boy simply looking back at it before he turned to face his friends again.

"i bet she escaped from pennhurst." lucas suggested.

"from where?" arlo and mike asked in unison, their eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"the nuthouse in kerley county." lucas elaborated.

"you got a lot of family there?" dustin joked, a smile evident on his face as he looked at the sinclair boy.

"bite me." lucas told him. "seriously, though. think about it. that would explain her shaved hair and why she's so crazy."

"why she went like. . ." dustin added, copying the girl's actions once again.

"why are you still stuck on that?" arlo questioned, really wanting to forget that it ever happened. dustin simply shrugged, picking up on how arlo was acting.

"she's an escapee is the point. she's probably a psycho." lucas finished. arlo doubted the girl was a psycho. maybe she was just in the same situation as will; lost and far from home.

"like michael myers." dustin compared.

"exactly!" lucas agreed. "we should've never brought her here."

"so you just wanted to leave her out in that storm?" mike asked.

"yes! we went out to find will, not another problem." the sinclair boy answered.

"i think we should tell your mom." dustin said, looking at mike.

"i second that."

"you two are out of your goddamn minds." arlo mumbled, making dustin and lucas look at her with furrowed eyebrows. "we weren't supposed to go out tonight, remember?"

"so?" lucas asked, not picking up what arlo was putting down.

"so if mike tells his mom, she's gonna tell your mom, and your mom. . . you three will be in a ton - and i mean, a ton of shit." she explained, pointing to the three boys around her. she watched as lucas and dustin's faces dropped, finally seeing where she was going. "i'd be in the clear because my parents aren't home. the most i'd get is a little lecture from steve."

"arlo's right. we'll never find will." mike nodded, agreeing with the girl. lucas and dustin shared a look, the henderson boy copying the buzzcut girl's actions once again, pretending to lift his shirt. "all right, here's the plan. she sleeps here tonight."

"you're letting a girl -" dustin started.

arlo looked at him with knitted eyebrows, "i'm a girl!"

"yeah, but you're different!" lucas quickly reasoned.

"how the hell am i different?" arlo asked.

"just listen!" mike yelled before lucas could try to answer arlo's question. "in the morning, she sneaks around my house, and goes to the front door and rings my doorbell. my mom will answer and know exactly what to do. she'll send her back to pennhurst or wherever she comes from. we'll be totally in the clear. and tomorrow night, we go back out. and this time, we find will."

"i'm down with that." arlo shrugged, looking at dustin and lucas with raised eyebrows.

the two boys shared a look before they nodded their heads. that was when the buzzcut girl walked out of the bathroom, looking at the quartet with confused eyes. mike quickly set her up in the makeshift fort that he's had since he was a kid, giving her a bunch of blankets and pillows. the other three party members started to climb up the stairs, lucas stopping to look at mike. this made dustin and arlo stop, doing the same as him.

"you really think she's psycho?" dustin asked lucas, looking up at him. he now had his baseball cap back on his head, covering his dirty blonde curls.

"wouldn't want her in my house." lucas answered, starting to climb back up the stairs.

"what about you, arlo?"

arlo looked at dustin before she looked back at the girl. the two made eye contact for a short second, arlo having a sense of familiarity as they did so. "i don't think she's psycho. but there's definitely something about her that's off." she mumbled.

"mental." the henderson boy muttered before he climbed up the stairs after dustin.

arlo followed him, closing the door quietly as the trio went towards the garage door. the harrington girl wondered if her brother was still up in nancy's room. she climbed onto her bike, the boys doing the same thing before the three of them started to ride off into the storm. arlo glanced back at nancy's room, seeing that her light was on. she nodded her head before she turned back around. the trio rode down the street silently, arlo being the first to break off since she lived in another part of the town. she bid goodbye to the two boys before she rode the rest of the way.

she just really hoped that they found will.

◂ ❀ ✘ ❀ ▸

𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀 𝐁𝐎𝐖𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋 at the kitchen island, listening to the small radio was on top of the fridge. steve was still upstairs in his room, perfecting his hair so that he would look great for nancy. she actually thinks that nancy would do her brother some good, be a better influence on him than the jackass people that he called his friends. she put another spoonful of cereal in her mouth, chewing on it as milk dripped down her chin. the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs made her look towards him, seeing that he was wearing a blue crewneck.

"again with the blue." she mumbled through her cereal.

"blue is my color, alright? don't be mad that you can't pull it off." steve told her, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl. "so, uh, i need you to stay at one of your nerd friends' houses tonight."

arlo looked up at him, stopping herself from putting more cereal into her mouth as she looked up at her brother. "why?"

"mom and dad aren't home, so i'm taking the opportunity and i'm throwing a party." steve answered as he bit into his apple, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

"why can't one of your stupid friends throw a party at their houses? why do i have to be kicked out of the comfort of my home?" arlo quizzed, placing her spoon back into the bowl as she glared at the older boy.

"arlo, it's not that big of a deal. you'll be back tomorrow night, okay? if it wasn't important, i wouldn't be asking you to do this." steve tried, seeing how frustrated his sister was getting. he knew that she hated all of his friends, especially tommy h. and carol. but they were his friends and he liked hanging out with them. or at least that's what he thought.

"whatever, steve." arlo mumbled, stuffing another spoonful of cereal into her mouth before she got out of her seat. "i gotta go. i'm gonna be late for school."

"arlo, come on. don't be like that." steve said, turning to watch her place her bowl in the sink.

"i'm not being like anything."

"it's just one night."

"have fun, dipshit." arlo told him as she grabbed her bag from behind her chair, her voice more stern than it usually was.

steve watched her leave the house, sighing as she did so. he didn't like when he made his sister mad. even if it was a rare occurrence, he still hated when he did. it made him feel like a real asshole. arlo wasn't afraid to call him out on it either, which made him feel like a bigger asshole. but he shook it off, knowing that she'd get where he was coming from when she got into high school.

◂ ❀ ✘ ❀ ▸

𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎, 𝐃𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐍, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐀𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐀𝐋𝐋 riding their bikes from school and towards mike's house. he had radioed them and told them that they needed to come over asap. they thought that it had something to do with why he hadn't gone to school that day, and they were right for the most part. they just wasn't expecting the reason. the three entered mike's room to see the girl that they found last night sitting on the bottom bed his bunk. the trio shared a look before they all looked at mike, waiting for him to explain why the girl was still there.

"are you out of your mind?" lucas asked when mike didn't start talking.

"just listen to me." mike tried.

"you are out of your mind!"

"she knows about will!"

that made arlo look back towards mike, her eyebrows raised at what he just said. she then looked towards where the girl was sitting on mike's bed, crisscrossed apple sauce with a blanket over her legs. the girl looked back at arlo, a small smile appearing on her lips as she did so. arlo smiled back, not expecting her to smile at all.

"what do you mean she knows about will?" dustin questioned, making arlo turn back to the boys.

mike walked over to where all of his science fair trophies were, picking up a picture of him, will, dustin, lucas, and arlo. "she pointed at him, at his picture. she knew he was missing. i could tell."

"you could tell?" lucas repeated, his eyebrows knitted together as he looked at his best friend.

"just think about it. do you really think it was a coincidence that we found her on mirkwood, the same place where will disappeared?" mike pointed out, making arlo tilt her head slightly. he does make a good point.

"that is weird." dustin said.

"and she said bad people are after her." mike quickly added in. "i think maybe these bad people are the same one that took will. i think she knows what happened to him."

"then why doesn't she tell us?" lucas asked as he turned around to face the girl. he then walked past arlo and towards her. "do you know where he is? do you know where will is?" he quizzed, grabbing her by the shoulders as he raised his voice.

"lucas!" arlo scolded, seeing how scared the girl looked.

"stop it, you're scaring her!" mike yelled

"she should be scared!" lucas shouted back turning to face mike before he turned back towards the girl. "if you know where he is, tell us!" the girl didn't say anything, looking up at lucas as her eyes started to water. the sinclair boy turned back around to face his friends. "this is nuts. we have to take her to your mom."

"no! eleven said telling any adult would put us in danger." mike quickly shot down, arlo furrowing her eyebrows at the weird name. her and lucas shared a look of confusion.

"what kind of danger?" dustin questioned.

"her name is eleven?" arlo and lucas asked in unison, clearly not processing the danger part of mike's sentence.

"el for short." mike informed.

"mike, what kind of danger?" dustin repeated, raising his voice slightly.

"danger danger." mike answered simply. he then formed a gun with his fingers, pointing at dustin's head. that made arlo's eyes widen slightly, watching as mike moved his finger gun over to lucas.

the dark skinned boy quickly slapped his hand, "no, no, no! we're going back to plan a. we're telling your mom." he told the wheeler boy before he walked over to the bedroom door.

he opened the door, but before he could walk through, it slammed closed. arlo flinched at that, watching as lucas went to go open the door again only for it to slam close. . . again. the lock on the knob then turned by itself, meaning that the door was now locked. the group of four slowly turned around to face eleven, seeing that she was now standing up with blood running from her nose. she had a hard stare in her eyes, it being directed towards lucas.

"no." she simply said.

"yeah. . . i'm okay with not telling mike's mom." arlo mumbled, watching eleven wipe the blood from her upper lip.

◂ ❀ ✘ ❀ ▸

daij speaks!
another update!!!!!! i can't wait to have arlo's powers come into the storyline. when i write it, it might honestly be confusing as hell. but i promise, i will try to make it make sense.

but i hope u guys enjoyed this chapter