Desideratum - Stranger Things

Chapter Eleven

Bonnie sat in the back of the chief's truck as he drove her, Jonathan, and Nancy to the middle school, Joyce behind him in her car with younger kids. Everyone quickly began setting up in their assigned stations as they worked together to get the deprivation tank ready for Eleven. Bonnie helped Nancy and Mike get the hoses to fill the pool up, the trio stopping by the shed. As the blonde watched Nancy try to open the door, she nearly laughed at Mike shoving his body weight into the door after she walked away, clutching his shoulder with a groan.

"Let me try," Bonnie held out her hand and focused on the lock, hearing it click open and give them entry. She wiped the blood leaking from her nose as Nancy removed the lock and slammed the door open.

Nancy put some hoses into a wheelbarrow, Bonnie and Mike carrying a hose each. "What did she even eat?" Nancy asked her brother, talking about Eleven.

"What?" Mike looked at her.

"Eleven," Nancy clarified.

"Oh," Mike mumbled. "Candy, leftovers, Eggos...she really likes Eggos."

"I knew you were acting weird," Nancy began. "I just...I thought it was because of Will."

"I knew you were acting weird, too," Mike countered. "I thought it was 'cause of Steve."

"Hey..," Nancy set the wheelbarrow down as she talked to her brother. "No more secrets, okay?"

Not wanting to interrupt their family moment, Bonnie hurried past the pair and into the school to see Dustin and Lucas wrestling with the kiddie pool.

"Hey!" She shouted. "What are you two doing?"

"It won't stay up!" Dustin complained.

"Because it doesn't work like that," the blonde sighed, walking over. "The sides will stay up when we get water in. So, don't fight it right now."

"Okay," the boys sighed, letting the walls fall down.

After a few minutes, Nancy and Mike came in with the hoses and they started setting them up to connect to some of the sinks in the janitor's closet outside the gym. Nancy walked away with two of the largest ones and Bonnie and Mike held onto one hose as the water came rushing out later. After it filled up to a good height, the kids started focusing on the temperature, Bonnie standing at the gym doors to relay the commands to Nancy.

"Colder!" Lucas shouted to her, the blonde turning toward the janitor's closet.

"Colder!" She relayed, hearing the valves squeak.

"Warmer!" Lucas shouted after a few minutes.

"Warmer!" Bonnie relayed, hearing the valves squeak again.

"Right there!"

"Don't mess with them!" She shouted, hurrying to Nancy to see the brunette hold her hands up to avoid messing with the temperature.

After some time, Lucas told them the height was good so each girl hovered over a handle and turned it off at the same time to avoid causing a slight temperature imbalance. Quickly unhooking the hoses, they brought them back into the gym where they watched Hopper and Jonathan pour the giant bags of de-icing salt into the pool.

"If it snows, no school," Bonnie grinned at Nancy, who smiled and rolled her eyes.

Soon, the two were done pouring the salt in, so Dustin took an egg out of their carton and carefully placed it in to test, only to notice the egg sink. They needed it to float. So, that sent Jonathan and Hopper back to pour in more salt. Once the two bags were empty and they waited a minute or two, Dustin put in another egg, their last unable to be used again, and everyone watched as it floated on the surface.