𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗦 ᵐᵃˣ ᵐᵃʸᶠⁱᵉˡᵈ

xᴠɪɪɪ. ʜᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇs ɪᴛ ᴄᴏʟᴅ

Both Will and Oliver became incredibly uncomfortable all of the sudden. "No, she doesn't seem like it? At least not to me." Lucas mumbled. "Do they have history they didn't tell us about?" He continued on about the questions.

"Kill me now." Oliver mumbled, deflating in his seat next to Will. Will looked over to him. The bowl-cut boy knew. He knew a lot.

Viola sat on the toilet criss-cross watching as Max got rid of the blood under Eleven's nose. Once Max was done her eyes averted to Eleven's neck, Viola followed her gaze and froze.

On Eleven's neck was a dark handprint, like a bruise. Billy must've gave it to her when he.. you know.

The Lockeheart girl sighed, looking away from the bruise. "Does it still hurt?" She heard Max ask. "Only when I talk." Eleven muttered. "Well, it's a good thing you're not Mike, then." Max muttered as Viola stood up from the toilet seat. ""Blah, blah, blah, blah."  You'd be in constant pain." The two girls chuckled.

"Here." Viola walked over and opened the mirror cabinet. She grabbed a small tub of cocoa butter and showed it to Eleven. "It'll lighten the bruise." She muttered.

Savannah frowned seeing her little sister looking down the dark patches in her porcelain skin while on the verge of tears. "Here." Savannah whispered, crouching in front of Viola who sat on the edge of her bed. Savannah put out a tub cocoa butter. "It'll lighten the bruises and the scars." She whispered.

"Huh?" Eleven asked confused making Viola snap out of it. "Oh, uh, it's a trick I learned. Just makes your bruises and scars lighter. But thats only if you want though, this will just do it more quickly." She shrugged, going to place the tub back but Max grabbed her arm. "No. It'll help." The red-head smiled at the girl. Viola returned it.

"I just don't get it. Something's not right. I can't get Hopper off my back all summer, now all of the sudden, he's hiking with Will's mom to Illinois?" Mike paced back and fourth. They had luckily moved on from the topic of Viola and now they were talking about where the hell everyone was. "And Dustin's MIA, too? I mean, this can't be a coincidence."

Lucas sighed. "What does it matter? The bottom line is, they're not here." He raised his voice. "It's up to us."

"Up to us to do what exactly?" Mike asked. "Find Billy and stop him." Lucas answered. Oliver and Will just silently looked back and fourth between the boys as the conversation continued. "Okay, yeah, that's a really nice sentiment, but even if El could find him again, and that's a pretty big if, then what?"

"We burn the shit out of him and make sure he doesn't escape this time." Lucas held a box of Cocoa Puffs, which he was snacking on. "Okay, then what?" Mike asked, waiting for the boy to continue. "Then we win." Lucas said as if it was that easy. "No, see, that's the problem. We don't. We don't win." Mike yelled at him. "We got the Mind Flayer out of Will before and he just came right back. We don't just have to stop Billy, we have to stop the Mind Flayer."

Lucas shrugged. "How in the hell do we do that?" He asked. "I don't know." Mike shook his head. "Maybe El does." Will suddenly spoke up. All the boys' eyes went to the bathroom. "What are they still doing in there?" Mike asked. Mostly to himself. "I don't know." Lucas said, his voice muffled from the cereal he had stuffed in his mouth. "Girls just like hanging out in bathrooms." Lucas continued as himself, Will, and Oliver stood next to Mike. "Why?" Mike asked, pushing away the box of cereal Lucas offered to him.

Lucas shrugged again. "I mean, I don't know."
"They're conspiring against me." Mike assumed. "That's what you're considered about right now?" Will asked, looking over at Mike. "It's not my main concern. It's just a sub-concern." He lied.