The next day neither Henderson siblings were going to school so both slept in later than they usually would with Rosie sleeping on Dustin's floor the night before.
The same could be said for the Wheeler brothers as Oliver had convinced his mom to let him stay off school telling her he was looking after his brother.
After getting dressed Rosie decided to make her way to the Wheeler house to see if Mike would talk to her and to check in on Eleven. Dustin was in his room when she left not wanting to go with her.
She decided to cycle over hoping the fresh air would help to clear her head. Once she arrived she realised neither of the Wheeler parents cars where their but Oliver's was.
She knocked on the door thinking Mike would answer but instead Oliver swung open the door. He looked like he hadn't slept at all the night before but still gave her a comforting smile as he noticed she was wearing his hoodie.
"Hey Rose" he said to her. She didn't reply though just stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. She rested her head in the crook of his neck as she felt his arms go around her waist pulling her in close.
They stood in the doorway for a little longer until Rosie pulled back. Oliver moved to the side letting her in the house before shutting the door. "I heard about Will. How are you and Dustin doing?" he asked as they walked into the living room.
"We're coping" she answered truthfully sitting down on the sofa as Oliver sat with her. "It just reminds me of after our dad died" Oliver noticed the way her eyes watered mentioning him.
"What happened?" He asked before quickly continuing with "You don't have to answer that"
"No, no its fine" she reassured him. "Dustin was 7, I was 11.My dad was taking me out to get ice cream to bring back home for me and Dustin. We were driving there just talking about stupid things like what ice cream flavours were the best. Then all of a sudden we hear this car speeding up behind us. The road was narrow but my dad tried to move to the side to let the guy past but he wasn't doing it" Rosie deeply inhaled before she continued
"I guess he got sick of us being ahead of him cause he rammed his car into the back of ours, causing us to go swerving into a tree as he continued zooming along. When i opened my eyes my dad was hunched over the steering wheel with blood dripping down the side of his face. I kept trying and trying to shake him awake but he just sat there motionless. I ended up getting out the car and I just started running.
I don't know how long I was running for until I saw Hoppers truck. He stopped to help me then walked with me back to my dad's car where he told me he had died.I was too scared to get into his car then hell I didn't get back in a car for basically 6 months till Hopper helped me with my fear of getting in one. After Dustin found out he shut me out for a week not speaking,just sitting in his room. I was so relieved when he started talking to me again I think I cried"
Oliver sighed at the girl who quickly wiped away a stray tear with her finger before she turned to him "Your so brave Rosie"he told her making her sniffle "I'm sorry you've had to lose two people you care for"
"It's okay Ollie, thank you" This time he initiated the hug,pulling her close to him on the sofa. He let her head tuck into his neck as he rubbed her back trying to comfort her in any way. It was quiet between them until the sound of footsteps bounding down the stairs caught their attention.
Both turned to see Mike had coming running down the stairs, not even noticing the pair before he went running down to the basement. Oliver got up from the sofa running a hand through his wild hair before he turned to the basement door Mike had left open. "I'm going down there"
Rosie immediately tried to stop him knowing a certain telekinetic girl would be down there "No you should let Mike have some space to think"
"I just, I just need to know he's okay then I'll leave him alone" Oliver decided before he quietly made his way down the basement stairs not wanting to startle his brother.Rosie was right behind him and as they got closer she began to hear not only Mike's voice but also the voice's of her brother and Lucas who must have came in the garage door.
Oliver reached the bottom of the stairs before her and began to say "Are you all-" but his voice stopped when he saw the girl with the shaven head sat wearing his brothers clothes holding a walkie talkie.
"Oh shit" Dustin swore looking at the older Wheeler boy who had turned to Rosie. She gave him an awkward smile before he turned back to the small group sitting in a circle.
"What the fuck is going on?!"
No one said anything for a few moments before Mike told his brother "You better sit Oliver, and you can too Rosie".
Lucas and Dustin then moved away from each other leaving enough room for the two older teens to sit down, Rosie next to her brother with Oliver next to Lucas.
"You all have a lot of explaining to do" he told them so they did. They told Oliver everything from the beginning about how they went looking for Will but instead found Eleven, how she had telekinetic powers and that she knew something about what had happened to Will.
Oliver have them all looks with raised eyebrows not sure whether to believe them. Rosie could see this so she leaned over placing her hand over his that rested on his knee. "Trust me I know how weird it sounds but it's true"
Oliver inhaled deeply going over everything he had been told one more time before he looked at his brother. "What can I do to help?"
Mike grinned at his brother before he turned to El "Show them what you showed me"
Just then the radio El was holding started going in and out of frequency making lots of static come out. But in amongst the static there was the faint sound of someone crying. El kept playing with the buttons trying to make the sound more clear but so far it was no use.
"We keep losing the signal but you heard it right?" Mike asked them.
"I know I'm new to all this" Oliver gestured around him "but what exactly am I meant to be hearing here?"
"Will" Rosie answered.
"I heard a baby" Lucas spoke getting back to Mike's question.
"What?"
"Mike you obviously tapped into a baby monitor. It's probably the Blackburns next door"
"Uh did that sound like a baby to you?" Mike spoke defending what he heard. "That was Will!"
"Mike.." Oliver started but he was cut off by his younger brother.
"Oliver he spoke last night. Words! He was sing in that weird song he loves"
"Should I stay or should I go" Rosie stated knowing Jonathan had gotten Will listening to The Clash.
"Yeah! Even El heard him!" Mike spiked excitedly and both older teens hoped he wasn't getting all the hope up for nothing.
"Well if the the weirdo heard him-"
He was interrupted when Rosie reached round the back of Oliver to smack Lucas on the head. "What have I told you about calling her that" she scolded.
"Are you sure you're on the right channel?" Dustin asked.
"I don't think it's about that. I think somehow she's channeling him"
"With her powers?" Oliver questioned.
"Like Professor X" Dustin added on.
"Yeah"
"Are you guys actually believing this crap?" Lucas questioned his friends.
"Do you remember when Will fell off his bike and broke his finger? He sounded a lot like that" Dustin made a decent point and the more Rosie thought about it the more she considered the possibility it might be Will.
"Apart from Oliver did you guys not see what I saw? They pulled Will's body out of the water. He's dead!" Lucas shouted showing how fed up he was of what the other boys were trying to convince him of.
"Well maybe it's his ghost. Maybe he's haunting us" Dustin suggested but Mike quickly shot him down.
""It's not his ghost"
"How do you know that?" Lucas questioned.
"I just do!"
"Then what did we see in the water?" Rosie asked trying to piece together what nigh be going on.
"I don't know. All I know is Will is alive" Mike told her "Will is alive! He's out there somewhere. All we have to do is find him"
"And how exactly do we do that?" Oliver asked them but nobody knew what to say. El continued to mess with the radio trying to get the static sounds to change to Will's voice but it was no use.
"This isn't going to work. We need to get El to a stronger radio"
"And where do we get that?" Oliver wasn't sure how all this was going to work until Dustin's face lit up with realisation.
"Mr Clarke's Heathkit ham shack"
"Yeah" Mike nodded along with his friend.
"The HealthKits at school" Lucas pointed out.
"Now that's a problem" Rosie sighed before Lucas continued.
"There is no way we're getting the weirdo in there without anyone noticing" Lucas added to his previous statement who earned another slap on the head from Rosie.
"What did I just say?!"
"Sorry but I'm right. I mean... look at her" All five sets of eyes went to Eleven who looked at them slightly scared and Rosie felt bad.
"Mike,Ollie do you guys still have those dress up boxes we all used as kids?" She asked and both Wheeler brothers shared a look before nodding "Great, you boys get her an outfit and a wig"
"What are you gonna do?" Lucas questioned her.
"I'm gonna do some makeup on her so she's a little more confident" Rosie spoke standing from her cross legged position and extending her arm to El who accepted letting the older girl pull her up so she was also standing before they made their way out the basement leaving the boys still sat there.
Rosie hoped Nancy wouldn't notice someone was using her makeup but she wasn't going to use too much. She sat the girl down on Nancy's window seat and opened the box.
"This might tickle a bit" Rosie warned as she opened the blush and put some on the brush. When she went to apply some to the girls cheeks she moved back quickly. "Don't worry I'll be gentle" she reassured her.
Eleven then allowed Rosie to start lightly applying a small amount of blush over her cheeks. When she finished El took the brush out her hand to put some on Rosie who let her.
Next was some pale pink lip balm on Els lips and Rosie was done. "Even without this stuff you are a very pretty girl. Don't let those boys tell you any different" She told the girl who slowly moved forward to wrap her arms around Rosie's waist.
"Thank you" she spoke slowly before Rosie moved back. "You pretty too" she told the older teen who smiled at her before going to the door.
"Boys, you got something?" She called out before hearing the sound of footsteps stomping up the stairs.Dustin ran over and handed her a blonde wig and one of Nancys old dresses which was a pale pink.
"It was the best we could find" he told her.
"No this is great" she said going back in the room closing the door in his face bad she turned to El.
"This goes on your head but you can change into this first" she explained before leaving to allow El to change.
She left the room to stand with the boys in the hallway, leaning against the wall with Oliver. He noticed the slight tint on her cheeks and smiled as he put the pieces together that she had allowed El to do her own make up.
They weren't stood out there long before El came out in her new outfit. Everyone was slightly taken aback at how El looked like a regular girl now.
"Wow, she looks-"
"Pretty" Mike cut Dustin off. Rosie heard Oliver start to snicker beside her so shoved him slightly to make him stop. "Good. You look pretty good" Mike continued suddenly feeling embarrassed.
Els small smile dropped slightly as she made her way over to the mirror looking at her reflection. "Pretty. Good"