My World / Stanger Things (Book 1)

The Monster

The next day I get a call from Mike to come to his house. I head over as soon as I can hoping that El went back.

I walk into the basement and notice only Mike and Dustin.

"Did El come back?" I ask. Dustin shakes his head.

"I can't believe it, she didn't come back," Mike says.

"She's got to be close," Dustin says reassuringly. Mike ignores him.

"She said it wasn't safe." Mike turns to me. "You guys were trying to protect us. I never should have yelled at you guys. You guys didn't betray us."

"Mike this isn't your fault," I say.

"You're right, it's Lucas's fault," he says.

"It wasn't his fault either," Dustin says. Mike stops pacing.

"It wasn't his fault?" Mike asks.

"No," I say.

"So you're saying he wasn't way out of line?" Mike shouts.

"Totally but so were you!" Dustin shouts back.

"What?"

"And so was Eleven," Dustin adds.

"Oh give me a break," Mike groans.

"No Mike you give me a break! All 4 of you were being a bunch of little assholes! I was the only reasonable one. Sorry Lily," Dustin says turning to me.

"No, it's fine. I was an asshole," I say crossing my arms.

"But the bottom line is, you pushed first, and you know the rule. You draw first blood -"

"No, no way! I'm not shaking his hand!" Mike interrupts Dustin.

"You're shaking his hand!" I yell.

"No, I'm not!"

"This isn't a discussion. This is the rule of law. Obey or be banished from the party. Do you want to be banished?" Dustin yells.

"No."

"Good," Dustin says walking over to a chair and putting on his jacket.

"Where are we going?" I ask.

"Where do you think? We're going to get Lucas," he responds. "And then we're gonna find Eleven," Dustin says throwing Mike's backpack into his arms. We collect our stuff and rush outside to our bikes.

We bike to Lucas's house and I ring the doorbell. We wait. Lucas opens the door and glares at us.

"What do you want?" he asks us. Me and Dustin wait for Mike. I roll my eyes and Dustin hits his shoulder. Mike sighs.

"I drew first blood, so -" Mike says holding out his hand for Lucas to shake. Lucas looks at Mike's hand and then gestures for us to come inside. We walk in and Lucas starts to pace around the living room, thinking. Eventually, he stops.

"Okay, I'll shake," he says. We all smile in relief as Mike holds out his hand.

"On one condition, we forget the weirdo and go straight to the gate," he says.

"Than the deals off," Mike yells pulling back his hand.

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"No, no, no, no not fine!" I yell. "Guys seriously?"

Dustin makes Mike turn to him. "Do you remember what happened on the bloodstone pass? We couldn't agree on what path to take, so we split up the party and those trolls took us out one by one and it went to shit and we were all disabled!" Dustin yells. "So we stick together, no matter what!"