𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒅𝒔 • 𝑩𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 [2]

20•

"I don't know, he looks pretty normal to me."

"Normal?" Lucas questioned as we all leant against the hood of my car. "How many times have you seen him with a shirt on?"

"I mean, it's a little weird..." Max replied from her place beside me. I continued to look at Billy and I could practically feel the knot, among other things, inside my stomach grow bigger.

"More than a little, " Mike said, "I mean, he was in a tub of ice like Evie said. The mind flayer likes it cold, plus everything else."

"But he's lounging at the pool," Max continued, "which is like the least mind flayer thing ever."

"Not necessarily," Will spoke up, causing us all to look at him, "the mind flayer likes to hide. He only used me when he needed me. It's like- like you're dorment, and then- when he needs you, you're activated."

"What the fuck do we do?" My voice was barely above a whisper as I stared straight ahead. I had given up on trying to mask my panic and judging by the look on everyone's face, it was now painfully obvious.

"Well, we could just wait until he's activated." Max suggested.

"No," Mike cut in, "what if he hurts someone-"

"Or kills someone." Will intergected, causing me to groan.

"We can't take that chance," Mike stated, "we need to find out if he's the host." Suddenly, Mike pushed off from the hood and began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" El asked.

"I have an idea. Boys only."

"Seriously?" Max frowned.

"No fucking way Mike." I protested. Billy was my boyfriend.

"Just trust me." He called before him and the boys ran towards the entrance.

After a while of Max, El and I standing outside like idiots, Lucas came running towards us. "Hey El, we could use your help."

I watched as El sighed before handing Max the walkie talkie and trudging after Lucas. I wiped a bead of sweat from my brow before pushing muself away from the hood and walking around to the side of my car to open the driver's door. After a few moments of fishing around in the compartments, I pulled out a cigarette and quickly lit it before slamming the door and resuming my position beside Max.

"I know this is a stupid question, but are you okay Evie?" Max asked as she fiddled with the binoculars.

"If you knew it was a stupid question then why ask." I sniffed before taking a long drag of my cigarette. God I sounded horrible. "Sorry firecracker, it's just- everything sucks right now."

"It's okay, I understand." I really wanted to tell Max that there was no way that she could possibly understand my situation but instead, I just nodded.

"Hey Mike," she spoke into the radio, "you there?"

"Yeah." He practically yelled. I quickly threw my burnt out cigarette across the parking lot before snatching the walkie out of Max's hands.

"Watch the tone asshole." I scolded.

"Okay, sorry. I'm coming... Just hold on a second." Mike answered. One of these days I was going to punch him right in the face. I gripped the walkie talkie tight in my hand as Max lifted the binoculars to her eyes, pointing them towards Billy. "God I hope its not you," she sighed, "we really hope its not you."

Sooner than anticipated, darkness fell over Hawkins. All of us were waiting in the designated hiding spot, waiting to get Billy alone so that we could begin the plan. He had just finished in the shower and we all sprang into action. The kids told me to stay in the spot until last and honestly, I felt useless.