Mike nodded. "Yeah."
Lucas just stared at him. "And you believed her?"
He scoffed, shook his head, and headed straight for the door.
"Lucas, where are you going?" Mike called.
"To tell an adult," Lucas shot back, grabbing the doorknob.
The door slammed shut in his face.
He froze.
He tried again.
It slammed shut. Again.
Silence swallowed the room.
Every one of us slowly turned toward Eleven.
She stood there calmly, a faint trickle of blood running from her nose as she wiped it away with her sleeve.
"No," she said quietly.
Dustin and Lucas looked like they might actually pass out. Yeah, she might be important later, but that didn't mean she got to traumatize everyone.
I walked over and flicked her forehead. She flinched, hand coming up instinctively.
"Don't scare them," I said.
She stared at me for a moment.
Then nodded.
I stepped out to cool off and ran into Barbara in the hallway.
"Hey, Barb," I greeted. We were on decent terms.
She gave a small smile. "Hey, Evan. I heard about Will… how are you holding up?"
"I'm fine. Just came to check on Mike." I shrugged. "You?"
"I'm here for Nancy," she sighed. "Trying to drag her back to reality."
I nodded. So… today, huh?
I pulled out a deck of cards, flicked them into a clean spring, then fanned them smoothly.
"Wanna see something cool?"
She raised a brow, but the corner of her lips twitched upward.
🂾Byer's House, Third POV🂾
Joyce opened the cardboard box and lifted out the new telephone, handling it like something fragile. She'd bought it that morning—if "bought" was even the right word. She didn't really have the money. The shop owner had let her take it anyway, told her she could pay him back whenever she could. Joyce had worked there long enough for favors like that to still exist.
Last night, Will had called. Or tried to.
And the phone she'd had was ruined because of it.
She carried the new phone into the living room and plugged it into the wall. The cord didn't reach far enough, so she dragged the sofa closer, scraping it across the floor until the outlet was within reach.
Joyce sat down, placed the phone carefully in her lap, and waited.
🃁 Evan POV 🃁
Back at the house, Lucas, Dustin, and Mike looked like they were seconds away from spiraling into a collective breakdown. Meanwhile, I just watched them. Unlike them, I wasn't shocked by El's powers—not when I had the luxury of meta knowledge.
"Did you see that?" Dustin practically exploded with excitement. "She has powers! Actual powers!"
"No, Dustin, we all suddenly went blind," I deadpanned.
"She's a freak," Lucas muttered.
"No, she's not," Mike shot back immediately. "She's… a friend."
Eleven blinked.
"What… is 'friend'?" she asked softly.
The room stilled.
She wasn't joking. She genuinely didn't know.
Dustin scratched the back of his neck. "Okay… that's actually kinda depressing."
Lucas crossed his arms. "Friends are people you trust. People who look out for you. People who don't lie to you." His voice sharpened near the end.
Mike shot him a look, then turned back to El, gentler.
"It means we're on your side," he said quietly. "We care about you."
She stared at him like she was trying to understand the feeling through the word.
"Care," she repeated, as if it were something fragile.
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Number of Chapters in P@treon: 21
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Sorry for the delay; I was held up by personal issues.