𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞: 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐲

❝ᴊᴀᴍᴇs ɪs ᴀғʀᴀɪᴅ ᴏғ ᴄʟᴏᴡɴs.❞

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐘, 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐑.𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐄 all walked into the gym just as the principal had started to his little speech. arlo was right - all eyes were suddenly on them as they entered the gym, all of the students looking at them with bored looks. the only sympathetic looks that they received was from the teachers and the principal himself. arlo cowered in on herself slightly, shuffling to the right so that she was hiding behind mr.clarke.

"abort." dustin whispered to his friends, going to turn around to walk back out of the gym. lucas quickly grabbed him the shoulders, turning him around and pushing him towards the bleachers.

the principal continued on with his speech, the party and eleven going over to the bleachers to sit down. arlo's leg started bouncing as she sat between mike and eleven, not paying attention to one word that left the principal's mouth. none of them truly cared about will. the only people that cared about him was the party.

"look at these fakers." mike whispered, making arlo look over at him.

"they probably didn't even know his name till today." lucas mumbled from the other side of the wheeler boy.

"regardless if they knew his name or not, they don't care about him like we do." arlo chimed in, making the two boys look at her. they nodded at her, agreeing with her statement.

the sound of someone chuckling is what gained the trio's attention, making them look over to see troy and james laughing and mocking the principal. "oh, he was such a great student. oh, he's going to leave a hole in the community." troy mumbled.

"mouth breather." arlo heard from besides her, making her turn to look at eleven. mike turned to look at the girl too.

the assembly lasted a few more minutes until the bell rang, signaling that it was time for fifth period. everyone got up from the bleachers, walking down them and heading towards the doors. arlo noticed how mike was further ahead than the rest of the party, walking with a purpose as he got closer and closer to troy and james.

"hey! hey! hey, troy!" he called. arlo looked over to dustin and lucas, the both of them looking back with raised eyebrows. when the two bullies turned to face him, he stopped walking. "you - you think this is funny?"

"what'd you say, wheeler?" troy questioned.

"i - i saw you guys laughing over there. and i think that's a real messed up thing to do." mike told him, arlo nodding in agreement.

"didn't you listen to the counselor, wheeler?" james chimed in. "grief shows itself in funny ways."

"besides, what's there to be sad about, anyway? will's in fairyland now, right?" troy quizzed, making arlo clench her jaw. she noticed that a crowd had formed around them. "flying around with all the other little fairies. all happy and gay!" he finished before he started to quietly sing. him an james then turned to walk away.

no one made a move for a few seconds, arlo practically seething from spot next to lucas. she was about to move forward to go towards troy, but mike beat her to it. her eyebrows shot up when the wheeler boy pushed the bully to the floor, everyone in the gym all exclaiming as they watched.

"you're dead, wheeler. dead!" troy seethed as he got up from the floor. he went to go attack mike, but he suddenly froze in his spot.

this made everyone look at him with furrowed eyebrows, arlo seeing the slight panic in his eyes as he looked around. she turned to look at eleven, seeing that she was staring at troy with a hard look in her eyes. that made arlo smile slightly, turning back to look troy. her eyes then went down to his pants, seeing how a certain spot got darker before it started to travel down his leg. arlo let out a chuckle when she realized what was happening.

"dude, troy peed himself!" one of the students announced, making the whole gym laugh in unison.

arlo saw james moving towards mike, a scowl on his face as he did so. the harrington girl stared at the boy, clenching her jaw as she concentrated. she didn't know what she was doing exactly, but she felt a chill run over her spine as she glared at the boy. lucas turned to look at her, noticing how her eyes seemed to get darker. it was like her pupil dilated to the point where it took up the whole iris. arlo continued to look at james, a look of determination on her face. and then suddenly, james started to scream. lucas' eyes widened at that, looking between the bully and arlo, seeing that blood was dripping from her nose.

"hey! what's going on here?" the sound of the principal scolded. arlo blinked, snapping back into reality.

lucas was quick to grab her hand, him, dustin, and mike all running out of the gym. eleven joined them, the group of five quickly running towards the av room. arlo brought her free hand and wiped the blood from her nose, looking down at it. a small smile pulled at her lips, running behind lucas.

"james is afraid of clowns." she announced as they all arrived at the av room.

"what?" mike questioned as he pulled out mr.clarke's keys.

"james. he's afraid of clowns. he's terrified of them. fucking horrified. they're his worst nightmare." arlo repeated, a laugh escaping her lips. "oh, i can't believe i did that."

"you made him start to scream in the gym." lucas mumbled, putting two and two together. the others looked at the two with furrowed eyebrows, having no idea what they were talking about. lucas saw them, letting out a sigh. "when james started screaming, that was because arlo somehow tapped into his brain and made him live out his worst fear."

"woah! you can do that?" dustin asked, an excited smile on his face as he stared at arlo.

"apparently." arlo nodded. "i made the clown chase him." she then informed, an innocent smile on her face.

"my best friend's a fucking superhero." dustin mumbled.

"come on." mike told his friends as he opened the door to the av room. he quickly flicked the light on before he led eleven over to the heathkit, the rest of the party following. the telekinetic girl sat down while everyone else surrounded her.

"now what?" dustin questioned, looking over to mike.

"she'll find him. right, el?" he answered, leaning forward to turn the knobs so that he could change the frequency. soon enough, he reached a channel that was just static, eleven closing her eyes.

it went silent for a few seconds as the party watched eleven. arlo took notice of her eyes moving frantically under her eyelids. she then wondered if she could do the same thing that eleven was doing but quickly dismissed it since they had completely different type of abilities. arlo and lucas shared a brief look before they looked back to eleven.

"she's doing it. she's finding him!" mike celebrated, making arlo smile slightly.

"this is crazy." dustin mumbled.

"calm down. she just closed her eyes." lucas dismissed, earning an eye roll from arlo.

suddenly, the light above them cut out, making the party flinch. the four of them all looked up at it, confused and taken aback on what just happened. before any of them could say anything about it, a clanking sound shot out from the speakers of the heathkit. the four tweens slowly looked back down, all of them sharing a look before they moved closer to eleven. lucas' eyebrows furrowed when he noticed that arlo seemed to have disappeared, but he knew she was there because he could see her face.

"what is that?" dustin asked.

no one answered since they didn't know, just staring at the radio as they continued to listen to the noise that was coming from the other side. and then suddenly, a voice came through.

"mom?"

"no way!" lucas exclaimed as arlo perked up. it was will's voice. eleven had found will.

"mom? please. . ." will begged. arlo could hear how scared he was, his voice shaking as he spoke. "mom! mom!"

"will!" mike yelled.

lucas quickly grabbed the mic, pressing the button so he could speak into it. "will, it's us! are you there?"

"can you hear us? we're here!" dustin added.

"we're here, will!" arlo yelled, moving closer to the mic so that the byers boy would be able to hear.

"hello? mom?" will let out again, this time his voice sounding distorted.

"why can't he hear us?" lucas questioned, looking over to mike.

"i don't know!" mike answered.

"mom! mom, it's coming." will yelled, making arlo's heart drop. was will being chased? "it's like home, but it's so dark. . . it's so dark and empty. and it's cold! mom? mom! mom, please!"

before anything else could be heard, a fuse blew followed by the radio going up in flames. arlo and the boys jumped back while eleven came to, blood dripping from her nose. the light suddenly came back on, arlo emerging from the darkness. lucas made a mental note to tell her about that later, hearing the fire alarm start to ring. dustin was the first to move, going over to where the fire extinguisher was. he quickly picked it up and turned around, pulling the lever so that he could put the fire out.

"are you okay?" mike asked eleven once the fire was put out.

"oh!" lucas exclaimed, seeing how pale and tired the girl looked. arlo saw it too, her eyebrows furrowing as she took in eleven's features.

"can you walk?" mike asked. eleven didn't say anything. she didn't even shaking her head. all she did was stare at mike. the wheeler boy turned to arlo and lucas, standing up from his crouched position. "here, help her up."

lucas and mike grabbed the telekinetic girl by the arms, walking backwards to the door. arlo and dustin quickly joined them, grabbing the girl's legs so that they could help them carry eleven. they quickly put her on one of the carts that was in the av room, it's original use being to transport equipment from room to room. they entered the crowded hall where students were slowly walking out of the school and onto the field, lucas pushing the cart. they quickly turned into an empty hallway, all of them running down it as they tried to get eleven out without being noticed.

"it's okay, el. we'll get you home." arlo reassured the girl, running besides the cart as she gripped onto eleven's hand. the tired girl gently squeezed back, making arlo look back at her for a second.

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daij speaks!
heyyyy everyone! i know it's been awhile since i've updated anything. it's been about a week, almost two i think. but a lot has happened; family issues and i got a job. i work part time, but it's full time hours (kinda?). and this week is like my first week of actually working and they have me opening. i'm exhausted in all aspects; physical, emotional, and mental. i don't feel like writing but i have the motivation to write???? it's weird idk. but since this has been in my drafts for, like, 5 days, i'm gonna upload it.

i hope u guys enjoyed it :). hopefully i'll update this weekend, because i rally want to.