𝒯𝑜 𝐻𝑒𝓁𝓁 & 𝐵𝒶𝒸𝓀 - 𝐸𝒹𝒹𝒾𝑒 𝑀𝓊𝓃𝓈𝑜𝓃 𝓍 𝒫𝒪𝒞 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹𝑒𝓇

08

3rd Person- "Boom!" Dustin's voice echoed and Leora jumped. "Bada.. bada... boom." Leora hated how loud he would get at times. "Geez.." She muttered. "I was right. Skull rock was north." "Seriously? You're serious?" Steve questioned him. Dustin hummed. "This is skull rock!" Steve pointed at the huge rock behind him. "You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong." 

"Yes. And no." Dustin spoke. "Oh my God." Steve held his head in his hands. Leora chuckled at the brown haired boy, earning a smile from him. Eddie saw the ordeal from the corner of his eye. He hated how Steve could make her laugh without even trying. He saw Steve as competition.

 "This compass worked correct when we left the Wheelers'. It was correct when we got in the car at Cury. But it started to slip as further east we went. Now it's way off. When I was leading us here I wasn't wrong. The compass was." Dustin explained. 

"So you're using faulty equipment. You're still wrong." Steve told him. "Except it isn't faulty" Dustin told him. An electromagnetic field is affecting compass." Lucas pointed out.

 "Sorry, I must've skipped that class." Robin spoke. "In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power." Dustin explained slowly, seeing confused faces.

Steve shook his head while Eddie looked at everyone around him. "So either there's some super big magnet around here or..." Dustin trailed off. "There's a gate." Lucas finished. "Goodness gracious." Leora muttered, running a hand over her face. 

"But we're nowhere near the lab." Nancy said. "What if, somehow, there's another gate?" Dustin suggested. Everybody looked at him, not knowing what to do. Dustin started walking but Steve stopped him.

"Hey! What are you doing? Eddie is still a wanted man. We can't just go on a hike in the woods." Steve reminded him. "This little steel capsule can be the key to saving Max, and Eddie. What say you, Eddie the banished?" Dustin asked him.

 "I'd say you're asking me to go to Mordor. Which, if I'm totally straight with you, I think is a bad idea." He looked at Dustin. "But, uh, the Shire. The Shire is burning." Dustin started jumping up and down and Eddie stood up. "So Mordor it is."

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It was approaching night time when the group started to get closer to the gate. "I think we're getting closer." Dustin started running. "Hey! Dustin! Wait." Eddie ran after him. "Oh my gosh." Leora said running to catch up with them. "I think we're running." Robin said before she started running too. 

Shortly they were at the shore of Lovers' Lake. "You gotta be shitting me man." Steve whispered. 

He turned to his left and saw Leora panting. His eyes moved to her chest seeing it move up and down as she gasped for air. It was obvious that he was looking. But he quickly moved his eyes up to look at her. He didn't want her to think that he only wanted her for her body. 

"You okay?" He said putting his hand on the small of her back. She smiled at the gesture. "Yeah Steve I'm fine" She beamed. Hearing Eddie clear his throat quite audibly Steve removed his hand from Leora's back.

"There's a gate in Lover's Lake?" Max asked." Only one way to find out." Steve turned to look at Leora and Eddie. "You guys know where the boat is?" The two shared a glance. "Let's go." Eddie said grabbing the girl's hand.

While walking off Eddie turned his head to look at her. He always thought she was beautiful. 

After two minutes of walking, a boat covered with a tarp was in front of the group. Steve took the tarp off and looked at Eddie, before they picked it up and threw it on the lake. 

While they were still squatting, Robin placed each hand on their heads and got in the boat. "Thank you." She whispered. 

As Leora began to make her way onto the boat, she held her arms out to help herself balance a bit. Seeing her slightly wobbling, both Steve and Eddie put their hands out to help her. 

Eddie looked over at Steve with a clear grimace on his face. Who did he think he was? Leora wasn't Steve's girlfriend. So why was he acting like was?

"Oh um.." Leora looked at both of the boys and noticed the clear tension. "Thanks" She said taking both of their hands, and getting into the boat. Dustin started getting in but Steve stopped him. 

"What are you trying to do, sink us? This thing can only hold four." He said. "Why can't I go?! It's my theory." Dustin argued. "You stay here. Keep Max safe." Nancy ordered. "Who put you in charge?" Dustin rolled his eyes. "I did." Robin spoke.

 "Compass." Nancy reached her hand out and Dustin handed her a compass. Steve pushed the boat and then jumped in. "You said four!" Dustin gasped. "Sorry." Steve whispered. Robin and Eddie started paddling.  

"Bedtime by nine, kiddos!" Robin yelled and Dustin flipped her off. "Miss you already!" She called out.

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"Woah, woah, woah, slow down guys." Nancy said looking at the compass. The compass' dart was spinning. Like crazy. "What's going on?" Dustin's voice sounded from the radio. "Dustin, your compass went from wonky to wonky with a capital 'ahh'" Robin answered. 

 Steve gets up taking his shirt off. For some reason Leora couldn't seem to look away. "Steve, what are you doing?" Nancy asked him. "Someone has to go there and check this thing out. Unless one of you four can top being Hawkins High swim co-captain." He said while taking off his socks.

 Leora then reached into Eddie's pocket and took out a plastic bag. She wrapped it around the flashlight and handed it to Steve. "Thanks" Steve said with a light light brushing across his cheeks.

After he jumped in the water Eddie grabbed a cigarette out of his pocket. Just as he was about to light it Robin snatched it out of his hand and threw it into the water. "Gross." She exclaimed. 

"Oh, Christ!" Nancy yelled when Steve's head popped up. "I found it" He stated. "Did you really?" Leora asked. "Yeah and it's pretty wild. It's more a snack-size gate than the mama gate." He held onto the edge of a boat as support. "It's pretty damn big." He spoke before something grabbed him.

"You alright?" Leora asked. "Yeah I-" He was about to say something again when something dragged him in the water. "Shit!" Leora hissed.

A/N - 1087 words. I'm super duper sorry that this took so long. I've been kind of busy with school lately. I also had to unpublish my other book bc of how much stuff i have to do this week. I'm so sorry. <3