TW: homophobia, bullying

"Barbara?" Laura called out.

"Barb!" Julie shouts, running outside, Laura following after.

"Barb? We aren't playing hide and seek out here, you know what's going on." Laura sighs. "Maybe she left?"

"But the scream." Julie mutters.

"She probably saw Steve's neighbor's mean dog and ran." Laura shrugged. "I'd run too."

"I don't know." Julie mutters.

"I'll go ask Nance if she saw her. You go look out front." Laura orders.

Julie nodded, and Laura headed upstairs.

"Nance? Have you seen-"

Laura stopped herself as she heard what was coming from Steve's bedroom, running back downstairs in disgust.

...

"Night, El. Night, Shelly."

"Night, Mike."

"Night."

Mike walked up the stairs, in his pajamas.

"I'm surprised he's not in his Star Wars pajamas." Michelle chuckled.

El looked at the girl who lay on the couch, a blanket covering her legs.

"You really think we'll find Will?" Michelle asks.

"Yes." El spoke, nodding.

"Good." Michelle nodded, turning off the light. "Night, El. Get some sleep."

"Night."

...

After an hour, Nancy came downstairs into Steve's living room.

"Finally." Julie groaned. "My dad's gonna kill me if he's still awake."

"Where's Barb?" Nancy asked.

"I think she got spooked by the dog next door and went home. She for sure left, though." Laura sighed.

"Shit. Well let's head home, okay?"

After the girls arrived at Julie's house, they said their goodbyes, and Julie crawled into her bedroom window, hoping her dad was asleep in the other room.

The Wheeler sisters headed back down to their house, freezing as the cold breeze hit them.

"Mom's gonna flip." Laura whispered, as she quietly opened the door.

"Just...don't say a word and go to your room. We'll be fine." Nancy whispered back.

The girls walked into their house, Karen catching them, as she turned the light on.

"Jesus, you scared me." Nancy jumped.

"I scared you?" Karen scoffed.

"I know, we should have called." Nancy nods.

"Where have you been?" Karen asked frantically. "We agreed on 10:00."

"After the assembly, some people wanted to get something to eat." Nancy lied. "I didn't think it'd be a big deal."

"You didn't even think to call, Laura? And let me know? With everything that's going on!" Karen asks.

"I'm sorry, if I saw a phone, I would've called." Laura said, looking down at her feet.

"We didn't even realize how late it was." Nancy sighed, walking up the stairs. "I'm sorry, Mom. What more do you want?"

"Wait." Karen stopped the girl. "Who's sweatshirt is that?"

"Steve's." Nancy answered.

"Steve's. So is Steve your boyfriend now?" Karen asks.

"What? No!" Nancy lied, again. "It was just cold, so I borrowed his sweatshirt."

"And where was your sister, hm? She certainly doesn't have some boy's sweatshirt on." Karen scoffed.

"She was...she-"

"I was sitting somewhere else, with Julie. I was fine. I can actually go without a guy's stupid sweatshirt." Laura fake smiled at Nancy.

"Whatever." Karen exhaled, as Nancy walked up the stairs, into her room.

"Goodnight, Mom." Laura said, walking up the stairs.

"Laura..."

"Yeah?"

"You can talk to me. You can talk to me. Were you at least safe?"

"I was okay, Mom. I was with Julie. Nothing happened." Laura halfway lied.

"Okay." Karen nodded, tears building up in her eyes.

Laura headed upstairs, guilt filling her.

...

Charles sat in the car, his dad drove quickly, as Charles was late to school again.

"You're quiet." Hopper says.

"Sorry. I didn't realize." Charles replies, sitting up straight.

"You were in a great mood last night. What happened?" Hopper asks.

"I don't know...I've just been thinking about Jonathan." Charles answered.

"What about him?"

"Remember that rude guy from school, Tommy?"

"Yeah."

"He's giving Jonathan shit about his brother. I wanna help but I don't know how. Tommy's just an asshole, and he doesn't even have siblings, so he doesn't know what it's like to lose one." Charles stammered, blinking back tears.

"Hey, kid. Look at me." Hopper said firmly.

Charles looked at his dad, taking a deep breath.

"I'm going to find the kid. The most you can do is stick up for him, all right?" Hopper told the boy.

Charles nodded, looking back out the window.

...

"We just have to tell our parents we have AV Club after school." Mike explains.

"That'll give us at least a few hours for Operation Mirkwood." Michelle added.

"You seriously think that the weirdo knows where Will is?" Lucas asked the siblings.

"Just trust us on this, okay?" Mike spoke, "Did you get the supplies?"

"Yeah." Lucas nodded, pulling things from his bag. "Binoculars...from 'Nam. Army knife...also from 'Nam. Hammer, camouflage bandana...and the wrist rocket."

"You're gonna take out the Demogorgon with a slingshot?" Dustin asked.

"How the hell is a slingshot gonna kill it, dummy?" Michelle asked, agreeing with the annoyance from Dustin.

"First of all, it's a wrist rocket. Second of all, I'm not dumb. And third of all, the Demogorgon's not real. It's made up." Lucas states. "But if there is something out there, I'm gonna shoot it in the eye...and blind it."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Michelle rolled her eyes.

"Dustin, what did you get?" Mike asked.

Dustin emptied his bag, "Well, alrighty. So, we've got...Nutty Bars, Bazooka, Pez, Smarties, Pringles, Nilla Wafers, apple, banana, and trail mix."

"Seriously?" Lucas crossed his arms.

"We need energy for our travels. For stamina." Dustin explained.

"He is right." Michelle nodded, grabbing some of the Pez candy.

"Why do we even need weapons anyway?" Dustin asked. "We have her!"

"She shut one door!" Lucas argued.

"With her mind!" Dustin exclaimed. "Are you kidding me? That's insane! Imagine all the other cool stuff she could do."

The curly headed boy walked over to the girl, picking up one of Mike's toys. "I bet...that she could make this fly!"

"Hey. Hey." Dustin looked at El. "Okay, concentrate. Okay?"

Nothing happened. The toy just fell to the ground once Dustin let go of it.

"Okay, one more time." The boy nodded. "Okay. Use your powers, okay?"

Same thing happened.

"Idiot." Lucas mutters.

Mike picked the toy up, "She's not a dog!"

"Time for school!"

Dustin and Lucas grabbed their coats, backpacks, and ran.

The twins sat in front of El.

"Stay down here. Don't make any noise, and don't leave." Mike orders.

"If you get hungry, eat Dustin's snacks, okay? The Pez candy is delicious." Michelle smiles.

"Kids!"

"Coming!" Mike yelled.

"Bye, El." Michelle waved, grabbing her bag, and running, as her brother kept talking.

...

Charles Hopper walked to his "new" seat on the bus, sitting down beside a sleeping Julie.

"Newby. Wake up." Charles laughed, nudging her.

Julie woke up, eyes wide in embarrassment. The girl only got half an hour of sleep last night.

"Shit. Shit. Sorry." Julie apologized.

"I don't see how you can sleep on this uncomfortable bus." Charles chuckled.

"I only got thirty minutes of sleep last night." Julie sighed.

"Damn. Why?" Charles questioned.

"No idea." Julie lied.

...

Laura slammed her locker shut, complaining to her best friend.

"I mean it's disgusting! She literally neglected us last night for Steve, was a complete jerk to Barb, and I go up to ask her something earlier and she's making out with Steve at her locker! Did they not do enough of that last night?!"

"Calm down, Laur." Julie chuckled. "She was being a jerk, though. Have you seen Barbara?"

"No, I think she's running late. She might not have gotten any sleep...I didn't for sure." Laura leaned her head on her locker.

"That makes two of us."

...

"Just wait until lunch, doofus."

"I can't help it I'm starving!"

"Shut up! You're gonna get in trouble!"

Michelle rolled her eyes as she could hear her brother and friends whisper arguing, during the middle of a pop quiz.

"You should've brought those snacks from your bag!"

"Boys! We're in the middle of a quiz. Eyes on your own paper." Ms. Dixon scolded. "I don't want to hear any more noises or you'll all have detention."

The three boys mouthed a embarrassed "sorry", as Michelle had to hold back her laughter.

Michelle reached into her pocket, pulling out a pack of fruit snacks, quickly handing them to the boy once their teacher wasn't looking.

"Thanks, Michelle. I'm starved." Dustin smiled.

"I was snacking on them last period. No problem." Michelle whispered.

"Did I hear noise?!"

...

"And for the project, you will be working in groups of three."

Laura and Julie looked at each other, praying to be in the same group.

The teacher went on and on, calling names.

Charles Hopper scribbled on his paper, drawing circles.

"Charles Hopper, Laura Wheeler, Julie Newby..."

The girls looked at each other, Julie's face turning red.

"You're so obvious about it." Laura whispered, chuckling.

The teenage boy looked over at the girls with a smile.

...

At lunch, Charles joined the girls.

"You okay, Wheeler?"

Laura wasn't engaged in the other two's conversation, all she could think about was Barb.

The scream from last night, how she just left, how she wasn't even at school today- why didn't she realize this last night!

"Laura?"

The girl snapped out of her thoughts, "Yeah, I'm good."

"You've been zoned out for a good five minutes." Charles chuckled. "You sure?"

"Yeah, just worried about Barb." Laura nodded.

"Barbara Holland?" Charles questioned.

"Yeah, last night we-"

"Oh Steve! Oh Steve!"

Julie looked over as everyone heard Carol fake moaning a few tables over.

"Gross." Charles looked over disgusted.

Laura rolled her eyes, trying not to gag.

...

Michelle, Mike, Dustin, and Lucas all stood outside, picking up rocks.

"How about this one?" Mike asks.

"Too big for the sling." Dustin shook his head.

Lucas chuckled under his breath, acting like any boy would at his age if he heard something like that.

"Shut up, Lucas." Michelle scolded, sometimes she wished she didn't hang around only boys. It was easier, less drama, but they were disgusting sometimes.

"So, do you think Eleven was born with her powers, like the X-Men, or do you think she acquired them, like...like Green Lantern?" Dustin asks.

"I don't know. It's cool either way, she's still a superhero." Michelle smiled.

"She's not a superhero, she's a weirdo." Lucas replies, causing the girl to roll her eyes.

"Why does that matter?" Mike asks. "The X-Men are weirdos."

"If you love her so much, why don't you marry her?" Lucas mocked.

"What are you talking about?" Mike scoffed.

"Mike, seriously?"

"What?"

Dustin and Michelle looked at the two boys, then at each other, grinning. They all had noticed how Mike looked at the girl.

"You look at her all, like... "Hi, El! El! El! El! I love you so much! Would you marry me?"" Lucas exclaimed, getting down on one knee.

"Shut up, Lucas." Mike rolled his eyes, as his sister, and their other friend laughed at him.

"Yeah, shut up, Lucas."

The four kids all looked up, as they saw Troy and James. Once again.

"What are you losers doing back here?" Troy asks.

"Probably looking for their missing friend." James smirked.

"That's not funny." Michelle stated.

"It's serious. He's in danger." Dustin added.

"I hate to break it to you, toothless, but he's not in danger. He's dead. That's what my dad says." Troy said, matter of factly. "He said he was probably killed by some other queer."

The two bullies shared a laugh, but Michelle looked them dead in the eye.

"What?" Troy asked, smiling.

Michelle glared at him, her nostrils starting to flare, as she reared back her fist, punching Troy straight in the nose.

"Oh, shit!" Lucas gasped, along with the other boys.

"Ouch! God!" Troy grabbed his nose, kneeling over.

"Don't ever say that about him again." Michelle looked at the boy.

"Come on!" James grabbed Troy, walking away.

"Holy shit." Dustin laughed.

"Thanks." Mike smiled.

"Mhm." Michelle smiled back, grabbing her hand, wincing.

"You okay?" Mike asks.

"Yeah, just hit him really hard." Michelle chuckled. She didn't even care who saw, she knew how to get out of it.

"Hey, what about this one?" Dustin asks, holding up a rock.

"Yeah, this is it." Mike smiled.

Lucas grabbed it, a big grin plastered across his face, causing Michelle to laugh.

"Yeah, this is the monster killer!"

...

Once the four kids were in their second to last period of the day, the teacher got a call.

Nobody thought anything of it, until...

"Ms. Wheeler. You need to go to the principal's office right now."

Michelle ignored all of the "ooo!"'s, and grabbed her books, walking out of the room.

Once she sat down in front of her principal, the man looked at her.

"Your classmate, Troy just left my room, claiming you had punched him in the nose. It looked serious, due to the amount of blood. He's in the nurses office right now."

"Oh my goodness. He got punched?" Michelle fake gasped, making sure to cover up her hand, which had a bruise forming on it.

"Yes. Did you punch the boy?" The principal asked.

"Why would I punch him? He never talks to me?" Michelle lied, she knew there weren't cameras in that area outside that they could check, so this might could go well.

"Drop the lies, Miss Michelle. Did you or did you not punch Troy?"

...

Julie and Laura stood in front of Nancy, as she dialed Barb's number on the phone outside.

"Hello?"

"Hi...Hi, uh, Ms. Holland, it's Nancy."

"Oh, Nancy, how are you?"

"Good. I'm good."

The two best friends looked at Nancy anxiously.

"Um, I was just wondering, uh, is Barb there?"

"Mmm...No, she hasn't come home yet."

"But she did come home, right? After the vigil?"

"No, she said she was staying with you last night."

"Right, yes. She did, sorry. I meant, did she come home this morning? I think she left some textbooks and she was gonna go pick them up."

"Oh, um, no. I haven't seen her."

The girls looked at each other, their hearts dropping. Where did she go last night?

"Do- Do you know what? I just remembered...she's at the library."

Julie cringed at how bad this was going, offering to talk for Nancy, who shook her head no.

"Nancy, will you please have her call me as soon as you find her?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I will. Sorry to bother you."

"That was horrible." Laura commented, as Nancy hung up the phone.

...

The three girls were talking, planning to watch Steve and Tommy play basketball. Well...Nancy was. Laura was gonna sit with Nancy, bored out of her mind. Julie was gonna gawk at Charles Hopper, sitting on the bench.

"No, this is called stalking."

"What is Jonathan doing over there?" Julie asks, pointing to the boy who stood with Steve, Tommy, Carol, and their classmate, Nicole.

"The hell?" Laura muttered, as they quickly walked up to the group.

"What's going on?" Nancy asks, smiling nervously.

"Here's the starring lady!" Tommy smiles.

"What?" Julie mumbles.

"This creep was spying on us last night." Carol pointed at the boy.

The three girls looked over at him, confused, and in shock. Why would Jonathan Byers be spying on them?

"He was probably gonna save this one for later." Carol handed a picture to Nancy.

Nancy gasped quietly, seeing herself shirtless in the picture. Laura looked at Jonathan in shock. The boy had always been quiet, and a little odd, but taking pictures like this?!

"See, you can tell that he knows it was wrong, but..." Steve walked closer to Jonathan. "Man, that's the thing about perverts...it's hardwired into 'em. You know, they just can't help themselves."

Steve ripped all of the pictures up, Tommy laughing at it.

"So...we'll just have to take away his toy." Steve shrugs.

"Steve..." Nancy pleaded.

"No, please, not the camera." Jonathan begged.

"Stop." Julie scolded, looking at Steve.

"No, no. Wait, wait..." Steve stopped, holding out the camera. "Here you go, man."

As soon as Jonathan went to grab it, Steve dropped it. The camera fell to the ground, breaking in two.

"Come on, let's go. The game's about to start." Steve nodded.

"Boo." Tommy smiled at Jonathan, as they all walked off.

Nancy, Laura, and Julie stayed, beginning to pick up the pieces of paper.

"Hey, girls!" Steve called. "Come on."

Nancy picked up all of the pictures of Barb, and left.

Julie gave Jonathan a small, "I'm sorry, Byers." before heading off with Laura.

Laura didn't know what to do. She was in shock. Somebody she had known since she was little was taking pictures of her sister...shirtless.

...

"So did you get out of it?" Dustin asks.

"Yeah, thankfully." Michelle nodded, adjusting her backpack as they walked to the bike rack.

"How?" Lucas asks.

"A lot of lying and acting innocent." Michelle smiled.

"Like how you do with mom after you bully me?" Mike asks.

"Yes, Michael. Yes." Michelle said with a straight face.

...

The four kids rode to the Wheeler's backyard, looking at El, who seemed terrified.

"You okay, El?" Michelle asks.

"Yes." El nodded, turning around.

"Hop on." Mike pat his bike. "We only have a few hours."

El slowly walked over, getting on the back of Mike's bike, and they all rode off.

...

"So I told Mr. Mundy... "The solution of ten plus Y equals...blow me."" Carol laughed.

Laura and Julie rolled their eyes, sitting against the lockers.

"Bull, if you did that, you'd be in detention right now." Steve scoffs.

"Saturday." Carol smiles.

"I bet Mr. Mundy's still a virgin." Tommy says.

"Oh, he's so a virgin!" Carol laughs.

"Maybe you should blow him, Carol. Help your grades a bit." Tommy smiles.

The three girls walked off in annoyance.

"Whoa, where you guys going?" Steve asks.

"I totally forgot." Nancy stammered. "I told my mom, I would um...."

"We have to take Julie home and babysit Holly." Laura lies.

"What do you mean? The games about to start!" Steve exclaims.

"I'm sorry." Nancy sighs, walking off.

The three girls walked out of the school, Nancy went her own way to "go home and take a nap", while Julie and Laura went to the Newby's house to plan something.

A look for Barb.

...

The five kids were on the train tacks. El and Mike leading the way. Michelle between the other two boys in the back.

"Do you see the way Mike's looking at Eleven?" Dustin asks.

"Yea. I think he likes her." Michelle nods.

"Dustin..." Lucas starts.

"What?"

"Have you seen the way you look at-"

"PHOEBE CATES? YES." Dustin panics.

"Damn, very passionate about your love for her." Michelle laughs. "But...I mean, Phoebe Cates is very pretty."

"Yes. Yes. For sure."

...

Charles sat down on his couch, cracking open a soda as the television played. He wore a white tee shirt and sweatpants, his curly hair still wet from his shower.

Around twenty minutes later, the phone rang. The boy ignored it at first, until it rang for a second time, he tiredly sighed, walking to the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey. Charles?"

"Newby?"

"Yeah, yeah. It's me and Laura."

"Oh, hey! What's up?"

"Something bad happened."

"With who? Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine. It's Barbara."

"What happened?" The boy gulped.

"We'll explain everything. Come over to my house. Turn left on the plaza, it's the white and red house."

"All right. Be there in twenty."

"Bye."

The boy hung up, nervously throwing his jacket and shoes on. The sun was setting, so he grabbed a flashlight for his trip back.

Charles jogged out the house, shutting the door, and getting on his bike. Hopefully he gets back home before his dad.

...

The five kids walked through the woods, Eleven stopping everyone.

"Here." El stated.

"This is where he lives." Michelle explained.

"Hiding." El said, quietly.

"No, no, I'm saying this is where he lives. This is his home." Michelle repeats.

"He's missing from here. Understand?" Mike looks at the girl.

"What are we doing here?" Lucas asks, catching up to Michelle.

"She said he's hiding here." Mike shrugs.

"Um...no!" Lucas looked at the boy like he was an idiot.

"I swear, if we walked all the way here for nothing-" Dustin started.

"That's exactly what we did." Lucas exclaims. "I told you she didn't know what the hell she was talking about!"

Michelle sighed, she was confused, and knew fighting would make this worse.

"Why did you bring us here?"

"I- I-"

"Mike, don't waste your time with her." Lucas huffed.

"What do you want to do then?" Mike snapped.

"Call the cops, like we should have done yesterday." Lucas replies.

"We are not calling the cops!" Mike shouted.

"Stop! Fighting is gonna make this worse! Just calm down!" Michelle exclaimed.

"Hey...guys?"

"Well we need to call the cops!"

"We can't. We just need to talk to her calm-"

"Guys!"

The four kids looked over, as the boy in the hat looked ahead of them, nervously. That's when they heard sirens.

"Will..."

...

Charles arrived at Julie's house, thankfully her dad was at work, or he'd say no to a boy coming over to hang out with the girls.

"Okay, let me tell my mom I'll be home late." Laura said, picking up the phone.

Charles nodded, sitting down on the chair by Julie's desk in her room.

"Yeah. I know about Barbara...yeah, her parents are there? Okay. I'm gonna be home late since it's raining. Okay I'll try. Yes, once Bob gets home he can. Okay mom, OKAY. Bye."

"...sorry about that."

"Moms?" Charles asked, as they all chuckled. Julie and Charles both didn't have a mom around, but for different reasons. Dark humor.

"Yep." Laura nodded. "Also, Jules, can your dad bring me home later?"

"Yeah."

...

The five kids followed the sirens, leading them to the quarry.

They all snuck up behind a firetruck, Jim Hopper quickly got out of his cop car.

"Oh, God. Please tell me it's not the kid."

They all stood together, their faces dropping. Will was being dragged out of the water. He was gone. He was dead.

"No..." Michelle whispered, tears forming in her eyes.

Jim shook his head, turning away.

"It's not Will. It can't be." Mike mumbled.

"It's Will. It's really Will." Lucas' voice broke.

That's when they all started crying.

Mike started to walk away, Michelle had lost all of her hope. Her best friend was gone. She looked up at Dustin, tears streaming down her face. Dustin's lip quivered, as a quiet sob left his mouth.

"Mike..." El started, putting her hand on his shoulder, until he slapped it away.

"Mike? Mike, what? You were supposed to help us find him alive!" Mike shouted.

"Stop. We can do this la- " Michelle sobbed.

"Don't, Michelle! She lied to us! All of us! She said he was alive!" Mike exclaimed, turning back to Eleven, "Why did you lie to us? What's wrong with you? What is wrong with you!"

"Mike..."

The three kids looked at Mike, who yelled at the crying girl.

"What?" Mike waited from an answer, not getting one, as he stormed off to his bike.

"Mike, come on. Don't do this, man." Lucas said through his tears. "Mike..."

"Mike, where are you going? Mike!" Dustin sobbed.

"Come on." Michelle wiped her tears, her voice still shaking.

She got on her bike, El getting on the back. Michelle sobbed the whole way home, having to stop a couple of times, not being able to see through her tears.

...

"It's what we've gotta do. We'll find her." Laura stated.

That's when the phone rang.

"I'll get it." Julie stood up, walking to the phone. "Laura..."

Laura walked to the phone, Charles looking up with a worried expression on his face.

"Hello?"

"Laura, I need you to come now."

Laura nodded, she had a feeling about what might have happened. She swallowed the lump in her throat and hung up.

"We'll work on this more tomorrow. I've gotta go home." Laura picked up her bag.

"Wait! We'll walk with you." Charles stood up.

Julie knew. She stood up, following her best friend who tried not to cry. She felt so bad about that boy.

...

Michelle and Mike walked through the front door, looking over to see Barbara's parents on their couch. Karen had a scared expression on her face.

"Michael? Michelle?" Karen called out.

"Mom..." Michelle looked up, a tear falling down her cheek. Mike stood in sadness and shock.

Karen walked over to them, as the two broke down in her arms.

That's when Laura, Julie, and Charles walked in.

The three teenagers faces dropped as they saw the younger kids sobbing in Karen's arms.

"Mom, he's gone." Michelle cried.

Laura walked over to them slowly, tears falling down her face at the sight of her little brother and sister.

Julie and Charles looked at them, their hearts breaking too.

Everyone in that room felt like their hearts actually broke at that moment...

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Word count: 4186

A/N: I'm sobbing.