𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧: 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?
❝ɪ'ᴍ sᴏʀʀʏ, ʀᴇᴅ.❞
𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎 𝐖𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐔𝐏 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 feeling extremely wrong. besides the fact that she hadn't gotten any sleep the night before, she couldn't help but think about what had happened on the field. the shadow monster had tried to take her abilities from her, but it was like her abilities had started to pull at the mist that the shadow monster was made out of, pulling it back into her body. everything just felt wrong to her. her stomach had been churning since she had gotten out of her bed, and it was like she had goosebumps all over her body, even though she was far from being cold. as of matter of fact, she felt like she had a fever, but her and steve had checked multiple times. it was normal.
"you sure you don't wanna go back home, lo?" steve questioned as they pulled up in front of the middle school. "i can keep driving and head back." he told her, worry dripping from his tongue.
"i'm sure, steve. you just want an excuse to stay home too." arlo nodded, unbuckling her seat belt as she grabbed her bag. instead of steve's jean jacket, which she's been wearing since the start of october, she was wearing a light sweater. even in that, she still felt like she was burning up.
"okay, i love you. just come and find me across the street if you change your mind, yeah?" steve told her, his eyebrows raised to show that he was serious.
"okay." arlo said, climbing out of the car and slamming the door behind her. she noticed that dustin, the curly haired boy standing there and looking around for his friends, who oddly wasn't at the bike racks. "where's everyone else?" she asked as she approached him.
the henderson boy flinched at the sudden voice, turning around to see that it was arlo. "i don't know. i just came." he answered, raising one of his shoulders into a light shrug before he dropped it. the familiar voice of mike wheeler appeared, the duo following it to the side of the building. max and mike were standing in front of the dumpster, long sticks in their hands. "what the hell's going on?"
"what do you think? we're looking for dart." mike answered in a duh tone, making arlo roll her eyes.
"you're looking for dart by standing there with sticks in your hands?" she challenged, looking between max and mike. she noticed the look that max was sending her way, making her cheeks warm up. and then suddenly, two garbage bags came flying out of the dumpsters, making dustin and arlo exclaim. lucas then hopped out, landing right in front the two.
the sinclair boy noticed the two as he stood up straight. "well, well, well. look who finally decided to show up. after i drew the short straw. real convenient."
"steve was trying to convince me to stay home cause i still feel like shit from yesterday." arlo informed, earning a worried look from lucas. he went to go hug her as a sense a comfort, but she quickly held her hand out. "i love you, luc. i really do, but you smell horrible."
"you do stink." max agreed, moving from where she stood next to mike to the other side of dustin.
"hi, max." the henderson boy greeted, a cheeky smile on his face.
"hi." max repeated, although it sounded more like a question. she then slowly moved over to where arlo was standing, being closer than necessary. dustin deflated at that, but lucas noticed how arlo practically beamed, making him raise an eyebrow.
"where's will?" dustin questioned, turning back to the boys.
"and percy?" arlo added.
"they'll be here." mike told the two, nodding his head.
"are you two just gonna stand there? or are you gonna help?" lucas quizzed as he tossed sticks to dustin and arlo. the both of them caught them with ease before the group started to poke the garbage bags with the sticks.
"why are we poking garbage bags with sticks?" the voice of perseus williams asked, making the group turn towards him.
"looking for dart." mike answered simply as he continued to poke the garbage bags. arlo looked over to where dustin was standing, having a feeling that the boy was hiding the inter-dimensional creature.
"oh, cool." percy mumbled, walking over to the group before he started to kick the bags. "where's will?"
"he'll be here." mike repeated.
"okay." percy nodded.
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❝𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆?❞ 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐀𝐒 𝐀𝐒𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄 he had seen mike running back towards them. the party was all sat at the stairs that were at the front of the school. it had been lunch and percy had been picked up by apollo, neither one of them giving the kids any reason. will still hadn't shown up, causing mike to call the byers. arlo had sat close to max during the whole time they've been outside, the girl being the only person that was giving her some kind of comfort. lucas had noticed that as well, mentally adding that to the rest of the things that he had noticed since max had came to hawkins.
"we need to talk. av room. right now." mike told the group as he ran up to the door. everyone got up, max helping arlo up as she grabbed her board. mike noticed this, "party members only." he spat as he opened the door to the school.
"come on, mike." dustin tried, looking up at the freckled boy from the bottom step.
"no! this is non-negotiable." mike told him before he entered the school.
"sorry, max." dustin apologized as he grabbed his bag.
"sorry." lucas mumbled, following mike inside.
arlo looked at the freckled girl with an apologetic look on her face, max shrugging her shoulders. "go before mike gets his panties in a bunch." max muttered, sitting back down.
"i'm sorry, red." arlo told her before she slowly went up the stairs. lucas waited by the door for her, immediately wrapping his arm around her shoulders as they walked towards the av room. she wrapped her arm around his waist, a slight frown on her face. "i feel bad that we keep leaving her out."
"yeah, i do too. but if it's about. . . you know what, then she can't know." lucas reminded, looking down at the harrington girl.
"yeah, i know. but it still sucks." arlo mumbled as they entered the av room, mike and dustin already being there. the duo sat joined dustin and mike, sitting down in the chairs before they turned to the wheeler boy.
"will didn't want me to tell anyone, but on halloween night he saw a sort of shadow in the sky." mike started, making arlo's spine go straight. her mind went back to what happened on the field the day before and to all of the nightmares she's been having. they were seeing the same thing?
"a shadow? w - what kind of shadow?" lucas repeated, seeing how arlo had tensed out of the corner of his eye.
"i don't know. but it scared him. and if will really has true sight. . . i mean, if he can really see into the upside down, maybe he saw that shadow again yesterday." mike explained.
"so that's why he was frozen like that?" dustin questioned.
"maybe." mike answered.
"can it hurt him? i mean, if this shadow thing isn't from our world. . ." lucas asked, his voice trailing off.
"i'm not sure. dustin?"
"well, if you're in another plane, you can't interact with the material plane, so theoretically, no, the shadow can't hurt him." dustin informed, earning a look of distress from arlo. when the shadow was doing. . . whatever it was doing to her, she felt an ache all over her body.
"yeah, if that's even what's happening." mike mumbled. "this isn't d&d. this is real life."
"so what do we do?" lucas asked.
"we acquire more knowledge. i'll go to will's after school. see what's going on. you guys stay here and find dart." mike told his friends.
"dart? what's he gotta do with this?" dustin quizzed.
"will heard him in the upside down. i don't know yet, but he's gotta be connected to all this. he's gotta be. if we find dart, maybe we can solve this thing. maybe we can help will." mike answered.
"guys." arlo called, making the three boys turn to look at her. all of them immediately saw the look of distress on her face, the harrington girl gripping at the sleeves of the sweater she was wearing. "i gotta tell you something. it - it might help with this whole situation."
"what is it?" lucas asked, hating the look on the girl's face
"will's not the only one that's been seeing the shadow in the sky. i've been seeing it too, but in my nightmares." arlo explained, her eyes dropping to the floor as she recalled everything that's been happening. "and yesterday, on the field, i used my powers to go inside will's mind. . . and it was there. it had will in this tornado thing? but will couldn't move. and i tried to call for him, but the shadow looked at me, and it reached one of its arms towards me and started sucking my powers out of me."
"whoa." the boys breathed out.
"then my powers started to come back into me, but it was like they had a grip on the shadow's powers?" arlo continued, her eyes starting to sting as she thought about everything that happened. she could feel the same pain she felt the day before. "it - it was painful. i was in so much pain. maybe that's why i feel so bad today?"
"so. . . you have true sight too?" mike asked, looking at the girl with furrowed eyebrows.
"maybe? i mean, i was having nightmares about will being in the upside down when he disappeared. so maybe i do. but guys. . . i - i have a feeling that this thing - this shadow is a lot worse than what happened last year. like i said earlier, it's angry." arlo told the boys.
"at you?" lucas questioned.
"at everything in general. it wants us gone." arlo muttered, not noticing that the tears that had appeared in her eyes had fell over onto her cheeks.
"so you've seen it right?" dustin asked, earning a nod from the latina. "what does it look like?"
"almost like a spider? and - and it doesn't have a face." arlo answered.
the boys nodded, taking in all of the information that the girl had just told them. they thought about how she said that this situation was a lot worse than last year's. lucas wrapped her arm around arlo's shoulders, pulling the girl closer to give her any type of comfort. the three boys looked at each other, silently asking one another what they should do. mike then nodded his head, saying that they should still look for dart and that he was still gonna go to will's after school. they had to figure out what was really going on.
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𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐗'𝐒 locker, having not seen the girl since lunch. she smiled when she saw the red head come into view. she walked up to her, "hey, red. so, me, dustin, and lucas are gonna look for dart if you wanna -" she greeted but was interrupted when max slammed her locker and walked away from her. "max!" arlo called with knitted eyebrows as she followed the mayfield girl. "hey, max! hey, where you going? we gotta look for dart!" she yelled as she followed max out of the school.
"yeah, good luck with that." max said, not turning around to look at the shorter girl.
arlo noticed the snappiness in her voice, adding onto the confusion. "what's wrong? why are you mad at me?" the harrington girl quizzed, not liking the fact that she had gotten on max's bad side.
"why am i mad at you?" max repeated, turning around to face arlo. the latina flinched at the sudden action, her eyebrows still furrowed as she looked up at max. "you act like you want me to be your friend but then you just treat me like garbage!"
"that's not true!" arlo quickly defended, nothing how max had specifically been talking about her and not dustin and lucas.
"yes, it is! you just go and hide in the av club, keeping secrets like we're in second grade or something. you know, i thought you guys wanted me in your party." max spat, her voice raising slightly.
"we do! i do! but it's. . . there's just. . ." arlo quickly said, her voice trailing off as she tried to figure out the right words to say.
"what?" max asked.
"there - there are just things that we can't tell you. it's for you own safety." arlo finished.
"my own safety?" max repeated, her eyebrows raising slightly.
"yes!" arlo snapped, growing annoyed by all of this. of course she wanted to tell max everything, but she knows that would cause so many problems.
"did you tell el these things?" max questioned, tilting her head as she looked down at arlo.
"what?" the harrington girl asked, her face scrunching up slightly. she had forgotten that max had known that eleven existed.
"did you tell her everything or did you keep her in the dark too?" max further elaborated.
"that - that was different, okay? trust me when i say that it was different." arlo answered, feeling herself get a little sad at the mention of the telekinetic girl.
"okay. you know what? forget it, okay? i don't wanna be in your stupid party anyway. i'm out. have a nice life." max told her before she turned around and started walking to the parking lot of the high school.
"max, please." arlo tried, but the strawberry blonde ignored her as she dropped her board down to the ground and hopped on it. she let out a sigh as she felt an ache in her chest. arlo's eyes followed max, watching as she hopped off her board and walked towards a familiar car. arlo's eyes then snapped over to the boy who was leaning on his car, glaring at her while a cigarette was placed between his lips. that was the asshat that nearly killed her a few days ago. had he been watching them this whole time?
arlo let out another sigh as she started to make her way to where steve usually parked. as she walked past billy's car, her and max made brief eye contact, billy noticing the way that arlo looked at his stepsister. he raised his eyebrows slightly at that, putting two and two together as he took a pull from his cigarette, getting in the car.
"that kid you was talking to, who is she?" billy questioned as he slammed his door shut, a cloud of smoke slipping past his lips.
"she's no one." max mumbled, pulling her seatbelt over her since billy drove like a fucking maniac.
"no one?" the hargrove boy repeated, turning his head to look at max.
"this kid from my class." max elaborated, patiently waiting for billy to pull off and take them home.
"why was she talking to you?" billy asked as he brought his cigarette back to his lips.
"it was just about a stupid class assignment."
"then why're you so upset?"
"i'm not!"
"she causing you trouble?"
max turned to look at the older boy, the space between her brows furrowed together. "why do you care?"
"because, max, you're a piece of shit, but we're family now whether we like it or not, meaning i'm stuck looking out for you." billy replied.
"what would i ever do without -" max was about to sarcastically comment, but billy grabbed whole of her wrist. she looked at him with wide eyes, a wave of fear washing over her body.
"hey!" he exclaimed. "this is serious shit, okay? i'm older than you. and something you learn is that there are a certain type of people in this world that you stay away from, and that kid, max. . . that kid is one of them." he told her, his voice low as he pulled her closer. max tried to loosen the boy's grip, but that only made him tighten it. "you stay away from her, you hear me? stay away." he demanded before he let go of max's arm and started the car, pulling off within a matter of seconds.
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daij speaks!
hiiii. how're we feeling? did everyone eat today? i hope so. i'm posting this as i'm packing to go back to school (which i'm going back to on sunday🥲). literally don't wanna go, but what can we do about it? going back to school means lack of updates which makes me incredibly sad but i will try my best to update. i promise.
but i hope u guys enjoyed this chapter 🫶🏼
this is daija signing off for probably like two-three days 🫡