𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞: 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧

❝ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ...❞

𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎 𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 pacing the kitchen that night, confusing the girl. she could tell that he was angry about something, the older boy mumbling things under his breath as he walked back and forth in the kitchen. she watched him for a few seconds, trying to see if he'd calm down and welcome her home. but he didn't, he was still wrapped up in his thought.

"steve." arlo called, looking at him with knitted eyebrows. this made him stop pacing and look at her, his eyebrows raised. "what's wrong? why are you pacing around like dad?"

"nancy. . ." steve started, his voice trailing off. he brought his hand up to his hair furiously. "i was just at nancy's house - mike's house, and - and she was with that creep."

arlo stepped more into the house, dropping her bag to the floor. "what - who are you talking about?"

"will's brother!" steve answered.

"jonathan?" arlo questioned, making steve nod. "what are you insinuating? that she's with him, romantically? nancy would never do that -"

"you didn't see them, lo!" steve interrupted. "he - he was putting a blanket around her. he was comforting her. i'm the one who's supposed to do that."

"steve. . . you don't own her, dude. she's a person, not an object. plus, her and jonathan are probably friends in a way. i mean, mike and will are best friends, so they know each other. you're probably reading into it too much." arlo tried.

"no. no, i'm not." steve mumbled, shaking his head slightly. he started planning something in his head. something to make nancy pay for hurting him. something that'll hurt and embarrass her just as much.

"just leave it, steve. it's late. we should go to bed, yeah?" arlo suggested, her eyebrows raised.

"yeah, okay." steve mumbled, walking out of the kitchen and over to the stairs.

arlo watched him go, a breath of air going past her lips. she shook her head slightly before she followed him up the stairs. the day was just chaotic all around, huh?

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𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 of the stairs, dustin next to her. the two were watching mike pace back and forth, worried about eleven. he had messed up the fort that the girl was sleeping in, probably in a little outburst. arlo watched him with tired eyes, not getting any sleep the night before. she was extremely exhausted, but her body wouldn't let her sleep -- her mind wouldn't shut up, it kept wandering off and making up scenarios.

"i just. . . i can't believe she didn't come back." mike voiced, still pacing. arlo averted her eyes, staring to get dizzy from watching him go back and forth.

"she's gotta be close." dustin tried.

"she said it wasn't safe. she just messed up the compasses because she wanted to protect us. she didn't betray us." mike frantically spoke, saying his thoughts aloud.

"mike, please calm down." arlo mumbled.

"i shouldn't have yelled at her. i never should've done that." mike concluded.

"mike, this isn't your fault." dustin told him.

"yeah, it's lucas'."

"it's not his fault, either." arlo said, making mike stop pacing and look at her.

"it wasn't his fault?" the wheeler boy questioned.

"no." dustin and arlo answered in unison.

"so you're both saying he wasn't way out of line?"

"totally, but so were you!" dustin replied.

"what?"

"and so was eleven." arlo quickly added.

"oh, give me a break!"

"no, mike, you give us a break!" dustin spat, stepping closer to the freckled boy in front of him. "all three of you were being a bunch of little assholes! arlo and i were the only reasonable ones. but the bottom like is. . . you pushed first. and you know the rule."

"you draw first blood. . ." arlo continued.

"no! no way! i'm not shaking his hand." mike quickly interrupted, shaking his head.

"you're shaking his hand!" dustin demanded.

"no, i'm not.

"mike, this isn't a discussion. this is the rule of law, okay? obey or be banished from the party. do you wanna be banished?" arlo reminded, stepping closer.

"no." mike answered quietly.

"good." dustin simply said before he walked over to grab his jacket.

"where are we going?" mike questioned.

"where do you think?" dustin shot back, pulling his jacket on. "we're going to get lucas. and then, we're gonna find eleven." he finished, throwing mike's bag at him.

with that, the three tweens made their way out of the basement and onto their bikes. arlo rode in front of the boys, dustin keeping a close eye on her since he knew that she was very sleep deprived. he could see the bags that were under her eyes, only getting worse and worse each night. maybe after all of this was over and they had will back, she'd be able to get a good night's sleep. the trio pulled up in front of lucas' house, all of them getting off their bikes and dropping them to the ground. they walked up to the front door, mike ringing the doorbell.

after a few seconds, the door opened to reveal lucas. "what do you want?"

mike didn't say anything like they had planned, which made arlo and dustin both slap him on his arms. the wheeler boy let out a sigh. "i drew first blood, so. . ." he mumbled before he held out his hand.

lucas looked down at his hand for a few seconds before he looked back up at mike. he then looked over to arlo, the girl raising her eyebrows slightly. at some point, lucas had stepped back to let the trio inside his house, all of them going into the living room. the sinclair boy started to pace, thinking about if he should shake mike's hand or not.

"okay, i'll shake." lucas announced, stopping his pacing so that he could look at his three best friends. mike held his hand back up, ready to shake. "on one condition. we forget the weirdo and go straight to the gate."

"then the deal's off." mike told him.

"fine!" lucas shouted.

"fine!" mike repeated.

"no, no, not fine!" dustin yelled as arlo brought her hands up to her head. "guys, seriously? do you even remember what happened on the bloodstone pass?" mike looked over at lucas, the dark skinned boy shrugging. mike then looked over at arlo before he looked back at dustin, shrugging.

"if this is a d&d thing, then i'm confused." arlo mumbled, going to sit in one of the chairs.

dustin sighed. "we couldn't agree on what path to take, so we split up the party and those trolls took us out one by one. and it all went to shit. and we were all disabled! so we stick together, no matter what!"

"yeah, i agree. but this is the party, right here in this room." lucas voiced, gesturing to himself and his friends.

"el is one of us now." mike told him.

"um, no, she's not. not even close! never will be. she's a liar, a traitor -" lucas listed off.

"she was just trying to keep us safe!" mike defended. "she didn't mean to hurt you. it was an accident!"

"an accident?" lucas repeated.

"all right, accident or not. . . admit it, it was a little awesome?" dustin jumped in, making arlo shake her head. regardless if it was an accident, lucas could've died.

"awesome?"

"yeah, she threw you in the air with her mind!"

"i could have been killed!"

"which is exactly why we need her. she's a weapon! do you seriously wanna fight the demogorgan with your wrist rocket? that's like r2-d2 going to fight darth vader. we're no use to will if we're dead." mike reasoned. arlo nodded in agreement. even though she could've killed lucas, they still needed her.

"if you three wanna waste your time looking for a traitor, go ahead, cause i'm not spending my time on her anymore. no way! i'm going to the gate. i'm gonna find will." lucas told his friends before he shoved passed mike and dustin.

"at least be careful, lucas!" arlo yelled after him, knowing that there would be no way to change his mind.

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❝𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐈𝐑𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐀𝐒.❞ dustin spoke up.

him, arlo, and mike had been riding their bikes around town, looking for eleven. they didn't know where the girl would go since she had been locked up in the basement the whole week. plus, she didn't know anybody else in town. arlo was slowly trailing behind the two boys, looking around to see if she had seen a blonde wig or a pink dress.

"he should've shaken my hand." mike shrugged.

"he's just jealous." dustin concluded, making mike look at him with knitted eyebrows. arlo nodded her head slightly, still not looking directly at the boys.

"what are you talking about?" mike questioned.

"sometimes, your total obliviousness just blows my mind." dustin told him. he turned to look at the harrington girl behind them, his eyebrows raised. she nodded once again. "he's your best friend, right?"

"yeah. . . i mean, i don't know." mike answered.

"it's fine. i get it. i didn't get here until the forth grade. he had the advantage of living next door. but none of that matters. what matters is that he is your best friend. and then this girl shows up and starts living in your basement, and all you ever want to do is pay attention to her." dustin explained.

"that's not true." mike quickly denied.

"that's 100% true, mike. we know it, you know it, and he knows it." arlo chimed in, making the two boys look at her. "but everyone would rather wait until after the punches are thrown to say something."

"exactly. now everything's weird." dustin agreed.

"he's not my best friend." mike mumbled, making dustin and arlo roll their eyes. "i mean, he is, but so are the both of you. and so is will."

"can't have more than one best friend." dustin informed.

"says who?"

"says logic."

"well, i call bull on your logic, because you're my best friend, too." mike shot back at him before he turned to look at the girl behind him. "and so are you, arlo."

"okay." the both of them said, small smiles on their faces.

the three continued riding, arlo going back to looking around. her eyebrows shot up her forehead, making it wrinkle as her eyes landed on something. she quickly pulled on her brakes, "guys!"

this made dustin and mike suddenly brake, turning to look at the harrington girl. she gestured to what she was looking at, never taking her eyes off of the scene. the two boys followed her gaze, their eyes widening. "whoa." they said in unison.

the trio was looking at probably one of the only supermarkets in town, the glass to the entrance being shattered into pieces on the floor. their was a bunch of people crowded in the front, including some police officers. arlo could see one of the workers talking to one of the deputies, telling him everything that had happened. a small smile appeared on arlo's lips when she saw a handful of people just going in and coming out with groceries, minding their own business.

"you don't think. . ." dustin started, his voice trailing off as he looked between his two best friends.

"definitely." mike and arlo said in unison.

with that, the trio quickly turned their bikes to go down the street that the supermarket was on, hoping that they would find the telekinetic girl that had caused this. they had continued riding through the town, having no luck in finding eleven. then arlo suggested that they should check the woods since that's where they had found her the first time. this then led to them walking their bikes through the many trees of the woods, screaming out eleven's name. arlo knew she was close by, it was almost like she could feel her. but not in any kind of good way, it was like she could feel the fear radiating off of the small girl.

"hey, stop. do you guys hear that?" mike asked, making dustin and arlo stop and look at him.

"what?" dustin questioned, not hearing anything.

"el! el?" mike yelled once again, looking around the preservation with knitted eyebrows.

the sound of shoes stepping on dead leaves appeared, making the three tweens face forward to see troy and james quickly making their way towards them. the both of them had angry looks on their faces, probably from the events that had happened in the gym the other day. arlo couldn't help but smile as a memory flashed, but that quickly vanished when she noticed something was in troy's hand.

"hey, there, frogface." troy greeted as he got closer. arlo's heart then dropped when she watched a blade appear from his hand, making her step closer to her friends. "toothless. dyke."

"shit! run, guys!" dustin exclaimed, quickly dropping his bike to the ground before he grabbed ahold of arlo's arm. "run! come on!"

arlo quickly turned around, letting dustin drag her for a few seconds as she tried to gain her balance. but once she had had, dustin had let her go, the harrington girl going in front of him as she picked up speed. she turned back to make sure that mike as behind them, a small wave of relief washing over her when she saw his black hair bouncing behind dustin. the relief quickly vanished when she realized that troy and james were right behind them, the switchblade still in troy's hand.

"you're dead, wheeler!" troy yelled as he followed the three.

"mike! come on, run, dude!" arlo yelled at him.

the three had kept running, ignoring the burning in their legs and lungs as they did so. they had been able to put some distance between themselves and the two bullies, but they knew that if they stopped, troy and james would quickly catch up. so they kept running, even when they had left the woods and appeared on a road that led to the quarry where will was found. but instead of it being right at the bottom, it was all the way at the top. the sound of dustin groaning is what made arlo stop, looking behind to see a pained look on the curly haired boy's face.

"cramp!" he yelled as he started to slow down, his run quickly turning into a limp.

"come on, dust!" arlo encouraged, seeing troy appear around the corner. "we gotta keep going, okay? they're right there!" she informed, grabbing his arm as she started to run again. the henderson boy nodded, ignoring the pain in his leg as he started to sprint again.

the two plus mike quickly came to a stop when they saw james running towards them. they turned around, before stopping remembering that troy was behind them with a switchblade. dustin and mike was quick to pick weapons up from the ground, mike grabbing a rock as he turned to james and dusting grabbing a twig as he turned towards troy. arlo was in the middle, both boys protecting her just in case the two bullies tried to do anything.

"stay back!" mike yelled at troy.

"don't come any closer!" dustin added, trying to cover up his fear with a hard glare.

troy and james ignored the threats that were coming from the dustin and mike, slowly taking steps towards the group of three. mike looked at troy before he looked back at james, pulling his arm back before he lunged it forward, attempting to throw the rock at the bully in front of him. instead, it went into a bush.

"nice throw, numbnuts." james teased, a smirk on his face.

the sound of yelling is what made arlo look over at dustin, seeing the boy swing the twig at troy. the older boy quickly stepped back, dodging the swing before he stepped forward and grabbed dustin. he turned the younger boy around, putting the blade of his knife to dustin's throat. that immediately made arlo's heart drop, the harrington girl stepping forward in worry.

"get off! get off me!" dustin yelled, trying to break free of troy's hold.

"let him go! let him go!" mike exclaimed.

"stay back, or i cut him!" troy told him and arlo.

"what do you want?" arlo questioned, her voice low as she glared at troy. dustin looked at her, seeing that her honey brown orbs were darker, almost black. it was like her pupils had dilated. mike looked at her too, a worried expression on his face. she had just found out she had powers, which meant she didn't know how to control them just yet.

"i wanna know how you did it!" troy answered.

arlo furrowed her eyebrows, tilting her head slightly. she didn't do anything to him, but she did do something to james. "how i did what?"

"not you, dyke! frogface! how he did it." troy elaborated. arlo's jaw clenched at the nicknames. "i know you did something to us. some nerdy science shit to make us do that."

"you mean piss your pants? and for him to scream like a little girl?" mike quizzed, throwing his thumb over his shoulder towards james.

"our friend has superpowers, and she squeezed your tiny bladder with her mind." dustin yelled out, making arlo and mike look at him with a stern look. "and for you james! arlo here made you see your greatest fear."

"shut up!" troy demanded, pushing the blade closer to dustin's face, making the henderson boy pull away. "i think i should save toothless here a trip to the dentist. help him lose the rest of his baby teeth."

"let him go. let him go!" mike yelled.

"i'll let him go, sure. but first. . . it's your turn." troy told him, pointing the blade towards mike before he put it back to dustin.

"my turn  for what?" the wheeler boy questioned.

"wet yourself."

"what?"

"jump. . . or toothless here gets an early trip to the dentist." troy elaborated.

"stop! no!" dustin pleaded. but that only made troy push the blade more into his face, dustin cowering away to avoid the blade.

"i'll cut him right now!" troy yelled.

"all right, just hold on! hold on!" mike shouted back, starting to back away towards the cliff of the quarry.

"wait!" troy quickly yelled, making mike freeze in place. "the dyke goes in with you. the both of you go in, or toothless will lose all his teeth." he quickly added, earning a hard glare from arlo.

but she did as told without a second thought, wanting dustin to be set free. she walked past mike and over to the edge of the quarry, ignoring the