𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐭

xxiii. PUDDING

  

     The boys and Eleven sat in the gym for a quite a long time now, Mike's leg was bouncing up and down now. Eleven was leaning on him again after sliding away towards Charles but now that Charles was sitting on the ground, she moved back, closer to Mike. Mike got more anxious, checking the time and looking over to the doors so over.

      Suddenly he stood up, running over to the doors as his friends watch in confusion. He leaves the gymnasium and then after a couple of minutes, he walked back into the gym.

"They're gone." He says and Lucas looks over, so do Eleven and Charles. "What?" Lucas said. "Nancy and Jonathan. His car's gone." He said and Charles sighed at that. "They're probably just sucking face somewhere." Dustin said and Charles snorts. "You mean, kissing? There is a proper word for it." He said and Dustin merely rolled his eyes.

"Gross either way." Lucas said as Mike's face scrunched up. "No. No way!" He said as he looked at Dustin then at Charles. "Did they go with the chief?" Dustin asked the boy. "I don't know." Mike said right away as Charles sighs. "No, they didn't." He said and they all look at him. "What? Did you see them? Do you know where they went?" Mike asked him and Charles rolls his eyes.

"I don't know but they didn't go with Hopper." Charles tells him and Mike sighed. "Demogorgon." Eleven said and they all look at her. Mike looked at her then at Lucas, before looking at Dustin. She was always saying stuff in such a vague way, sometimes Charles didn't understand her.

"Guys, guys! This is crazy." Mike said, "we can't just wait around." He then said as Charles glanced at Eleven, the girl had her knees up to her chest, hugging them as she sat on the bleachers.

"Mike, in case you forgot, we're still fugitives. The bad men are still looking for us." Lucas said right away. "Yeah, and we don't even know where your sister is." Dustin said and Charles looks at him then at Mike. "El can find them." Mike says and Charles looks at Eleven. She was still tired.

"Mike, she's still drained. Exhausted." He says and Mike looks over at Eleven. "I still think we should stick to the chief's plan." Charles says. "Exactly. We stay here, keep El out of sight and keep her safe." Lucas said as he looked at Mike. "That's the most important thing, remember?" Charles told Mike who looked at him right away.

"Besides, she's okay. She's with Jonathan." Lucas said and Dustin looks at Mike. "Yeah, and she's kind of a badass now, so.." He says then he turns to walk away. "Well, where are you going? You just said stick to the plan!" Mike shouted as the boy made his way across the gymnasium.

    "I am. I'm just gonna go get some chocolate pudding. I'm telling you, Lunch Lady Phyllis hoards that shit." Dustin shouts back and Charles rolled his eyes. "Are you serious?" Mike exclaimed back at Dustin. "El needs to be recharged!" Dustin shouted over his shoulder as Lucas and Charles decided to follow the boy. The three exit the gymnasium and start heading to the cafeteria.

     In the cafeteria, Dustin opens the fridge in the cafeteria. "Found it!" Dustin yells and then he and Lucas start grabbing a bunch as Charles rolled his eyes, stuffing his hands into his pockets, not bothering to help the two.

    "I knew she was hoarding it. I knew it. Always lying, saying she's out. Bald-faced liar." Dustin said and Charles snickered at that. "Mike, I found the chocolate pudding!" Dustin shouted as he turns back towards Charles who grimaced at the volume of his shouting. "Relax, Dustin, jeez," he said as Mike shouted back, "okay!"

      "Come on, help us." Dustin said as Charles sighed. "Fine.." He mumbled before starting to grab a bunch of the pudding as well. Charles grabs a spoon, before they leave the kitchen, walking into the cafeteria where Eleven was, they set down the chocolate pudding. "Have some." He tells Eleven, holding out the spoon he took. Eleven took it. "This will charge your battery right up, I'm telling you." Dustin said with a smile to her.

      She grabs a pudding, Dustin grabs one too but before they could open them, Mike comes running in. "Guys!" He shouted and they all turn to look at him. "What is it?" Lucas asked the panicking boy. "They found us." Mike told them as he came to a full stop. They as in the bad men.

      The boys and Eleven ran through the halls, Mike was holding Eleven's hand as Eleven grabbed Charles' with the other. "How did they find us?" Lucas asked as they rush down the small flight of stairs. "I don't know, but they knew we were in the gym." Mike said as Charles ran more ahead, letting go of Eleven's hand. "Lando." Dustin said.

      They come to a stop, when men come through the doors. "We got 'em!" The man shouted. "Shit!" Lucas yelled. "Go, go, go, go, go, go!" Mike yelled as they all turned around and started running. "Come on!" Lucas yelled as they ran. "There they are. Freeze." More men came from ahead. "Back! Go back!" Mike yells so they all turn around again, starting to run the other way but then a woman came down the hall with two men with guns.

      All four boys come to a stop, especially Eleven as the blonde woman raised a gun, straight at Eleven who started focusing, using her powers. Charles looked at the woman and two men. Their eyes started bleeding, the blood also came from their noses and Charles gasped, backing away.

      The lights were flickering and if Charles was being honest, it was terrifying. He looks to the other three men to see the same thing was happening to them. He looked down, closing his eyes and covering his head with his hands.

     He hears bodys fall to the ground, with a loud thud then he looked up, his eyes open. Eleven was about to fall to the ground but then Charles caught him, slowly letting her down. "El." He says as Mike, Lucas and Dustin also come to kneel by her. "El, are you okay?" Mike asked, worriedly.

    "El! Something's wrong." Mike said as he looked up at Charles who was holding Eleven's head on his lap. "She's just drained." Dustin said as Charles held his hand to Eleven's head. "No, no, no, she won't wake up. Eleven!" Charles said as he looked down at Eleven. "El! El! El!" Mike shouted as he continued to shake Eleven, trying to wake her.

   

    

    

    

     

    

    

    

authors note ugh can't wait for will & charles already like just maybe one or two chapters away from their reunion 🥺😪😔