Casey and Kelly were heading to school, and he had made himself breakfast. Now all he was just waiting on was one thing. And he was taking an annoyingly long time.
Dustin arrived with an old hat and the boy himself was wet and sweaty. "Why are you wet?" Theodore inquired in a mildly concerned manner.
"I took a shower before coming here," Dustin answered. It didn't explain why his clothes were wet. Did he take a shower in his clothes or something?
"Let's go."
Dustin huffed out an exhausted sigh. "Yeah."
The bike ride was slow and the longer it took, the more Theodore felt like dead weight. So he offered to do the biking instead. And after two times, Dustin agreed. The ride was a little faster after that because Theodore had a lot more energy than Dustin.
They both made it to Michael's house, and now Theodore was parking the bike next to Lucas'. "You bring him everywhere like he's your new puppy," Lucas commented to Dustin, clearly talking about Theodore.
"He's my friend. His only other friend is Will. I want to give him a chance." Dustin told Lucas.
"That isn't our problem. We're looking for Will. He needs to go."
"He's too far deep in the hole now, Lucas." Lucas scoffed at Dustin's remark and left to go inside. Dustin sighed but smiled at Theodore like the other hadn't heard the whole conversation. "Let's go inside." Theodore nodded.
They entered the house and were lucky enough not to catch Mrs. Wheeler. The two quickly made it downstairs and stood behind Lucas, staring at Eleven. Then, moving over to the table, Lucas and Michael were waiting for them—Dustin.
Michael had a plan; "operation Mirkwood". It was where they would use Eleven to find Will, a good enough plan for now. A plan that wasn't too complicated and was easy for Theodore to understand. In his mind, that was a good plan.
Michael also had a façade that would cover what they were actually doing. They'd tell their parents there was AV club. Theodore was not in AV club but it didn't matter. His mother wouldn't care anyway.
"You seriously think the weirdo knows where Will is?" Lucas asked.
"Just trust me on this, okay?" Michael told him.
"Okay."
"Did you bring the supplies?" Michael queried. At first, Theodore was confused, but then he remembered at some point the other night Michael wanted them to bring supplies for the plan. When he had gone into further details about how the operation would go. Theodore didn't bring anything.
"Yeah," Lucas answered, grabbing stuff out of his bag and naming them as he set them down. Binoculars, an army knife, a hammer, a camouflage bandana, and his wrist rocket.
"You're gonna take out the Demogorgon with a slingshot?" Dustin questioned cryptically.
"First of all," Lucas started, "it's a wrist rocket. And second of all, the Demogorgon's not real. It's made up. But if there is something out there, I'm gonna shoot it in the eye..." Lucas pulled on the elastic like he had an imaginary rock and shot it, successfully scaring Michael and Dustin. "and blind it." He finished.
The boys looked at Theodore expectantly, and the brunette just grabbed what he had in his pocket. A pocket knife, with a lot of other things attached to it, such as scissors, a screwdriver, a carving knife, combination pliers, wire cutter, wire crimper, tweezers, corkscrew, can opener, and a variety of other things that you use on a daily basis. He had bought this at one of the corner stores and now he just brought it everywhere.
He saw the boys giving him a variation of looks (proud, "what the fuck", and "I wish I had that"), so he shoved it back into his pocket and said, "You never know."
The boys seemed to dismiss it and moved over to Dustin. The boy in question brought a bunch of snacks, some Theodore hadn't even known existed until this very moment.
"Seriously?" Lucas incredulously asked, staring at Dustin like he was a madman.
"We need energy for our travels. For stamina." Dustin explained. "And besides, why do we even need weapons, anyway? We have her." He waved his arm, gesturing to Eleven.
"She shut one door!" Lucas countered.
"With her mind! Are you kidding me? That's insane! Imagine all the other cool stuff she could do. Like..." He thought for a moment, trying to come up with something that Eleven could supposedly do. "I bet that she could make this fly!" Dustin voiced, as he pulled out...something. Theodore wasn't all that sure as to what it was.
It looked like a spaceship, but that could be wrong. Maybe it was supposed to look like something else. He didn't want to think about it anymore.
Dustin calls out for Eleven's attention while standing in front of her. The other boys stand around the table and watch them. "Okay, concentrate. Okay?" He suggested, holding the toy right in front of her. The...thing dropped, rather pathetically, to the floor.
It didn't discourage Dustin though as he picked the spaceship up again. Most of the boys stared at him disappointingly, before Michael went over to them, sick and tired of how Dustin was treating her. "She's not a dog!" Michael told him, the spaceship now in hand.
"Boys! Time for school!" Mrs. Wheeler shouted from upstairs, informing the boys it was still a school day. The others shuffled around (besides Theodore and Eleven) grabbing their bags and such.
Theodore had his bag on his shoulders since the trip, so he waited for Dustin. Then he, Dustin, and Lucas rushed upstairs and outside. They got on their bikes (Theodore on Dustin's) and they were off.
Theodore was bored out of his mind; he had no idea what he should do. He was never this worried about anything before but then Will was around. So, now he sat on the curb, picking at his cuticles.
He puts one hand in his pocket to ultimately look for a distraction. His Walkman (which wasn't technically his but his sister's but sharing is caring, right?) that he didn't usually bring to school but he was in need of a lot of distractions as of late. Theodore just slips in the earpieces and plays the cassette. Soft rock plays in his ears and he hums along, he never knew Casey was interested in this type of music.
He looks down at the concrete and happens to see someone walking toward him. Dustin? He looks up again and sees Dustin's smiling face. "Need a distraction?" Dustin asks and Theodore just nods. He pulls out his earpieces—after turning off the cassette—and stands up. "We're looking for rocks for Lucas' sling. For protection, of course." Theodore nods then follows after Dustin.
The two head over to where Lucas and Michael are already doing the established project behind the baseball field in front of a shed. Lucas looks up at them and gives Theodore a hefty glare, "Bringing him again?" he comments.
Dustin gives him a look, "Lucas please." Lucas rolls his eyes but doesn't say anything more, just bending over to examine another rock.
Theodore awkwardly moves over to do the same, eventually just asking Dusting silently if his rocks are worthy. They're not. They move on and Dustin bids a conversation; "So, do you think Eleven was born with her powers, like the X-Men, or do you think she acquired them, like Green Lantern?"
Theodore picked up three more rocks and walked over to show Dustin. He shook his head and Theodore frowned at his lack of helpfulness so far. "She's not a superhero." Lucas countered, "She's a weirdo."
"What does that matter?" Michael questioned, "The X-Men are weirdos."
Theodore crouched over to pick a bundle of leaves that were covering a rock. "If you love her so much why don't you marry her?" Lucas mocked. Theodore picked up the rock and stood up to show Dustin. Another no.
"What are you talking about?"
"Mike, seriously?" Lucas asked and in all seriousness, it really was a surprise that Michael didn't know. Theodore huffed to himself and picked up another rock.
"What?" Theodore was going to show Dustin the rock, but the curly-haired boy was too busy witnessing the argument.
"You look at her all like 'Hi, El! El! El! El!'" Lucas derides in a somewhat high-pitched voice, not at all mimicking Michael like he wanted to. He moves closer to the other, hugging him, "'I love you so much!'" Lucas moves in a crouching position like one would when they are proposing to someone, then says the particular phrase: "'Would you marry me?'" Then standing up.
Michael scoffs, pushing Lucas away from him, "Shut up, Lucas."
"Yeah, shut up, Lucas." A new voice says.
Theodore looks over and notices Troy and the other with an even more forgettable name. His lips formed into a line, he hadn't done anything about them before but he had been feeling the rising need to punch something ever since the day they had gone looking for Will.
"What are you losers doing back here?" Troy ridiculed.
"Probably looking for their missing friend." The other one said. Theodore's fists clenched, nails digging into flesh.
Dustin looked up. "That's not funny." He told them, "It's serious. He's in danger."
"I hate to break it to you, toothless, but he's not in danger." God, the nicknames made Theodore's nose scrunch with disgust. His glare hardened. "He's dead. That's what my dad says. He said he was probably killed by some other queer." Theodore took a deep breath, in through his nose and out through his mouth.
"Come on. Just ignore them." Michael tried to comfort Dustin. He started to walk past Troy but he was tripped falling and hitting his chin on a rock.
Now Theodore had a liable reason. He strode over to Troy and punched him across the face before anyone had a chance to react to Michael's fall. The punch was packed with enough force to knock the boy to the ground, right next to Michael.
Lucas and Dustin froze from behind him, amazed that Theodore had the guts to do what they had wanted to for years. "Leave us alone." He chided slowly, hoping the boy below him was smart enough to understand what he was talking about.
Troy scrambled up and after his friend that was already leaving, and from the look on his face, he had never been punched before. With how he acts, it was a surprise someone hadn't done it already.
Dustin and Lucas were quick to move over to Michael once the threat had left, Dustin patting him on the shoulder as he passed. The two pulled Michael to his feet, standing at his sides while Theodore stood in front of him. "You alright?" Lucas questioned.
"Yeah," Michael replied, looking up at Theodore. "That was pretty cool of you...punching Troy and all. Maybe you'll be a good addition to the group." Theodore nodded albeit awkwardly. The three stood around while Dustin was now standing up again after picking something up.
"How 'bout this one?" He implored, showing them the rock that was seemingly the right size.
Michael smiled, holding the rock for himself, "Yeah, this is it." The four of them (somewhat) smiled at each other.
Theodore pedaled Dustin's bike the boy in question sitting behind him. They were just behind Michael's bike, Lucas' to their right. They were slowly coming up to the designated meet spot.
They jumped off their bikes as they made it around Michael's house. They pulled their bikes uphill to Eleven, who faced away from them. "El!" Michael called for her. "You okay?" She nodded. She looked out of it but Theodore put it past him, only because of her assurance.
Theodore redirected the bike to face the woods. He waited for Dustin to get on before getting on himself. As Lucas started biking, Theodore followed him. This situation so far was pretty unproblematic, in fact maybe even boring. It seemed like today would be another loss but there was only one way to find out.
At some point, Michael and Eleven had made it in front of them and now they were walking a trail. Theodore stared at his feet as he pulled the bike beside him. He unconsciously listens to Eleven and Michael's conversation. "Why did they hurt you?" Eleven asked.
"What?" Michael implored, then seemingly understood. "Oh, that. Uh...I just fell at recess."
"Mike..." Eleven said, easily detecting his lie.
"Yeah?" Michael questioned "cluelessly".
"Friends tell the truth." She told him.
It was silent for a quick moment until Michael sighed. "I was tripped by this mouth breather, Troy, okay?"
"Mouth breather?"
"Yeah, you know a dumb person. A knucklehead."
"Knucklehead?" Theodore could practically feel Lucas' annoyance at Eleven's obliviousness.
"I don't know why I didn't just tell you. Everyone at school knows." Michael informed her. "I just didn't want you to think I was such a wastoid, you know?"
"I understand." She apprised.
And that was the end of that. It was silent for the rest of the trail walking. This comes to that and they're in front of Will's house. It was late and they were all tired and this didn't make sense.
Lucas threw down his bike as Dustin panted from all the walking they had been doing. "What are we doing here?" Lucas questioned.
"She said he's hiding here," Michael told him.
"Um, no!" Lucas opposed as Will was clearly not here. What would he be doing hiding in his own house anyway?
"I swear if we walked all the way out here for nothing–"
Dustin was cut off by Lucas who said "That's exactly what we did! I told you she doesn't know what the hell she was talking about!" And it really seemed like he was right, none of this stuff was adding up anyway. Maybe she was just playing them. Theodore scratched at his hand stiffly.
Michael looked at her, trying his best to not believe what Lucas was saying. "Why did you bring us here?" He asked.
She couldn't even begin her sentence before Lucas interrupted her, "Mike, don't waste your time with her."
"What do you want to do then?"
"Call the cops like we should've done yesterday."
"We are not calling the cops!"
"Hey, guys?" Dustin called out to the two bickering boys. Theodore looked over to Dustin who was stepping closer to distant flashing lights. Blue and red flashing lights. Theodore walked toward Dustin, dragging the bike after him. "GUYS!" Dustin shouted again. An ambulance. He hoped this wasn't what he thought it was.
Theodore steadied the bike as Dustin jumped on Theodore right after him. He biked hurriedly after the police cars, the others right after him.
Everything was going too fast. One moment he was pedaling quickly on the bike the next he was off the bike and hiding behind an ambulance. The paramedics were drifting into the water with a stretcher. Just picking something out of the water. Of course, it had to be the one thing he was dreading to see come out of that lake. Why couldn't it have been anything else? Anyone else? Why did it have to be Will?
End.