"so there's this special assembly thing tonight for Will at the school field. Barb's driving."
"why am i just hearing about this?" Karen asked. "i thought you knew." Nancy said.
"i told you, i don't want you out after dark until Will is found."
"i know, i know but it'd be super weird if i'm not there. i mean, everyone's going."
Karen sighs, and relents. "just be back by ten.... why don't you take the boys and jordyn too."
"no!" they quickly said. jordyn takes a bite of the meatloaf and mike casually takes a sip from his glass milk.
"don't you think you should be there? for Will?" Karen asked mike. just then, behind Karen, walking down the stairs is el.
mike sees el, then spits out his milk.
Karen turns to se what's behind her—
dustin pounds on the table twice. startled, Karen turns back to dustin.
"sorry spasm." dustin gives a soft smile. Mike looks at the mess he's made. lucas looks to mike and dustin. what do we do now?
jordyn was quietly chuckling hiding her face in her shirt. holly is spooked, she slouches in her chair and is about to cry.
"it's okay holly. it's just a loud noise." Karen confronted her. "nice." Nancy scolded dustin.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"El?" mike asked.
dustin, lucas, and jordyn are behind him. mike walks over to el and sits down in front of her with the tray.
"no adults. just us and some meatloaf." mike reassured. she still says nothing, but looks up at lucas and dustin. she stared at jordyn for a long time. but mike tried to reassure el.
"don't worry. they won't tell anyone about you. they promise, right?" mike asked looking at the three. "we never would have upset you if we knew you had superpowers." dustin smiled.
mike smacks dustin leg. "ow." dustin winced in pain.
"what dustin is trying to say is that they were just scared that's all." mike reassured. "we just wanted to find our friend." lucas spoke.
"friend?" el asked. "yeah our friend, will."
"what is friend?" el asked. "is she serious?" lucas asked. dustin shrugs. "just tell her, dude." jordyn muffed his head.
"um a friend is someone- is someone that you'd do anything for." mike said interrupting lucas. "you lend them your cool stuff, like comic books and trading cards." dustin smiled.
"and even do each other's makeup, paint nails, do hair, and listen to music while reading fashion magazines." jordyn beamed. el smiled at her
"especially when there's spit." lucas added. "spit?" el asked.
"a spit swear means your never break your word it's a bond." lucas said spitting in his hand and giving dustin a handshake. "hell naw." jordyn scrunched her face.
"that's super important, because friends... they tell each other things, things that parents don't know." mike finished off. el says nothing, but seems suspicious about this whole friend thing.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
el sits down at the table where the d&d board is. it's not game ready, but there are 6 miniatures on the boards surface. el's focus is on those.
"what's the weirdo doing?" lucas asked. jordyn slaps lucas's chest, he winced. el places the palms of her hands on the board. she closes her eyes. mike, dustin, jordyn, and lucas move closer.
"el?" mike asked. after a beat, el opens her eyes. she reaches down and picks up the wizard miniature. she holds it close to her face, inspecting it.
"will." el said. "superpowers." dustin smiled. lucas rolled his eyes. mike sits down in the chair next to el. "did you see him? on mirkwood do you know where he is?" mike asked.
using her arm, el sweeps the board clear of the miniatures. they fall to the floor. she flips the board upside down.
it's surface is black. el takes the wizard representing Will and puts it in the center of the upside down board. "i'm sorry i don't understand." jordyn squints her eyes.
"hiding." el said. "will is hiding?" mike asked. el nodded. "from the bad men?" mike asked.
el shakes her head no. "then from who?" mike asked.
el places a different miniature on the board
the demogorgon.
dustin puts his hand over his hand and sighs. jordyn put her hands on her hips looking up exhaling.
