Ashes Falling Upwards (stranger things, Will x OC/reader)

Escape

Brrrrring!

As the students struggled to cram themselves out the doors of the English classroom Ash was at the front of the mob, making sure she could get to Dustin and tell him the news. She'd been thinking about it all class, and decided he would probably be excited to hear it. Sure, he might be disappointed to know he had, in fact, not discovered a new species, but on the other hand he had found a strange thing from the Upside Down, which was awesome in its own right.

"Ash!" She felt a hand come down hard on her right shoulder and she stopped so Erin could catch her breath beside her.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" She gasped. "That's not the front door, in case you forgot."

"I—um..."

I'm going to tell my friend the pollywog he found is actually a creature from the place I got kidnapped to—oh yeah, did I tell you about the kidnapping?

"You uhh what?" Erin snapped. "Don't tell me you're gonna hang out with your new best friends again."

"They're not my best friends. No one can replace you, Ers."

The girl didn't look convinced. They stared at each other for a few seconds, neither side willing to give in until a voice called, "Ash!"
She saw Mike wave at her, stopping his walk down the next hall. "You coming? We're gonna show it to Mr. Clarke."

Oh. Well shit.

"I have to go." She muttered, shaking off Erin's hand.

"What? Are you serious? You're choosing them again?"

"I'm not choosing anyone!" Ash started down the hall towards Mike without looking back, feeling guilt rise in her chest.

"Ash!" The crack in her friend's voice stabbed the shard of guilt deeper into her heart.

"Fine then," Erin tried when Ash didn't respond. She jogged to catch up and match her pace, "I'll come with you."

Don't do this, please.

Ash didn't look into her eyes as she muttered, "no. You can't."

"The hell do you mean I can't?" Erin snapped, finally growing truly angry. "You basically spend all your time with them, so I should at least get to know them! What, you're just trying to dump me so you can hang out with them all the time now?"

"That's not it, I—"

"Then what? What's so important that you won't let me come?"

"I..." She glanced towards Mike, who was giving them a confused stare.

"I can't tell you. I'm sorry."

Erin's eyes widened, tears brimming in them. Then she frantically wiped a sleeve across her face, nodding.

"Okay. I get it. See you tomorrow."

"Erin..." Ash tried, but the girl was already walking away, still wiping at her eyes.

Was that the right thing to do? Did I just ruin our friendship, for a pollywog?
Oh shit, the pollywog!

"Mike!"

"It's okay, you don't have to say anything."

"What?" She blinked. Is he talking about what just happened with Erin? "No, Dart. Where is he?"

"I told you, we're showing him to Mr. Clarke, so let's—"

"We can't!"

"What?" He frowned even deeper. "What are you talking about?"