The Losing Game

vi. the upside down

I'm 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠. . .

THE KIDS HAD DASHED FROM THE school as fast as they could. Theo carried Eleven to Mike's bike before she quickly adjusted herself to hold onto him. The seating arrangements were the same as the ride prior; Lucas and Isabella, Dustin and Jupiter. Theo had gone to pick up Mr.Wheeler's bike before noticing the front tire was completely flat.

"Shit," Theo muttered under his breath before slamming the bike back into the rack.

"What? What's wrong?" Dustin's panic from the fire was still prevalently shown across his face and in his words.

"Tire completely flat," He said. No one else knew what to do. All the bikes were at maximum capacity, but Theo had a plan, "I'm gonna run it."

"Woah, hold on. It's like a 10 miles bike back to my house, and that's if we take the shortcut. You can't run that far," Mike started on his rant, "Especially running with the bike."

"Yeah, that's just dumb Theo," Lucas, unnecessarily, added in.

"Fine. I'll leave the bike here."

"You are wearing a suit. You are going to ruin it!" This was Isabella this time. She was normally one to suggest incredibly stupid decisions but now was not the time.

"You can lecture me if beat me," Theo said before taking off towards Mike's house. He had already gotten a decent distance on them before they followed behind him.

"Is he always this sure of himself?" Jupiter asked Dustin while hopping onto the back of the bike.

"Oh, All the time," Was the answer he received.

Eventually, all seven members reached the basement. Theo's nice, formal attire was covered in sweat. All that running was fueled purely by the adrenaline that came with watching superpowers. Now the adrenaline running through him was fear. Fear that his father would get on his case about what happened to his suit, but that was later. Right now, he needed to be here, focusing on how the hell they were going to save Will.

Everyone else had plopped down onto the couch and various other furniture. They all seemed exhausted, both mentally and physically. Theo was standing at the bottom of the stairs, taking in everything. He was about to say something, maybe about a plan or getting help from someone else, but Mike Wheeler interrupted his thought process.

"You need to shower," His words were directed to the boy on the stairs.

"Excuse me?" At first, he didn't seem to understand, but after realizing everyone was looking at him, Theo blushed in a bit of embarrassment. He knew he was sweaty and gross, but was it that bad? He turned to everyone else in the room now. Dustin and Jupiter were giving him sympathetic looks. They felt embarrassed for the oldest kid but knew Mike was right. Lucas shifted his gaze towards the floor as if looking away would make Theo disappear. Isabella was watching Eleven, who was laying belly flat, head tilted, and eyes closed on the couch. Her legs were propped up onto Bella's lap. Bella didn't seem to mind.

"You ran here from the middle school," Lucas spoke up after a few awkward seconds in silence. He wasn't usually scared of Theo; in fact, he never was. Lucas just didn't ever want to be on Theo's bad side. "How are you not dead?"

"I run track, pretty good at it too, but even I would have passed out from that run," Isabella added in. She hadn't had time to think about track since she arrived at the Wheeler's house. Earlier, it seemed her mind was clogged with questions regarding her favorite thing in the world; Did Hawkins have a decent track team? Would she be able to try it out once she officially moved in? What was she going to tell her old coach? Now, most of her thoughts were focused on this weird mystery and the weird mystery girl. "Plus, I can also smell you from over here."