after school, violet hurried towards the av club and noticed everyone gathering inside. violet looks at the door, mike was staring at her before he closed the door on her as she ran towards it.
she furrowed her eyebrows, hitting the door. "guys, can i come in?"
the instant response she recieved was mike shouting a loud, "no!" of course.
she sighed, falling against the wall. she thought about how she felt left out, that this wasn't fair towards her. she suddenly glanced at her bag before reaching in and taking out a paperclip. she bent the paperclip, straightening it out enough to use for picking the lock.
she stuck it into the keyhole, jiggling it around inside until it opened. she licked her bottom lip in focus. after a few more jiggling, she managed to open the door, and saw dart running towards her. her eyes shot open at the creature.
"don't let it escape!" mike yelled, quickly running to the door.
he tumbled onto the girl by accident, his eyes widening in surprise. a light tinted blush spread across the girl's cheeks. he quickly stood up, dusting his sweater off and taking off down the hall.
she waited a few confusing seconds before sitting up then standing, and following the others.
--
everyone had spread apart trying to find dart. violet sighed, walking out of the girls locker room and once she finished that room, she walked into the boys' locker room.
after minutes of what felt like hours of searching, noises could be heard coming from the door. mike jumped out from behind some of the lockers, screaming. she looked at him with a confused face.
"what the hell are you doing?" she shouted back, holding my skateboard tightly under my arm.
"what at you doing? why are you in here?" he questioned back, giving me a rough look.
"looking for dart."
"this is the boys' room."
"yeah, so?"
"so you should go home," he snapped, throwing the mop down and walking out.
she stood speechless for a second before rushing after him. "why do you hate me so much?"
"i don't hate you." he glances back at her once, heading for the gymdoors. "how can i hate you? i don't even know you."
"but you don't want me in your party?"
"correct."
"why not?" she groans, grabbing his wrist to stop him from walking any more.
his head snaps back and he pulls his wrist from hers. "because you're annoying! also, we don't need another party member! i'm our paladin, will's our cleric, dustin's our bard, lucas is our ranger, lex is our rogue, and el is our mage!"
she paused as her arm fell to her side, she swallowed. "lex? el? who are they?"
"people. no one. they moved away a long time ago, all right?"
"so are they someone or no one?"
he rolled his eyes and swiftly spun around, continuing to head for the door. she placed her skateboard down and skated ahead of him before stopping and hopping off the board.
she stopped him in his tracks by stepping in the way, crossing her arms. "well, i could be your zoomer."
"that's not a real thing," he responded.
"could be. take a shot." she smirked, quickly grabbing her board and stepping on, kicking off while she did circles around him.
"i don't see any tricks, you're just going in circles," he sighed, his eyebrows raising, yet he wasn't leaving.
"if it's so easy, you try it."
"no."
"why not?"
"i don't know how."
"so then you admit it's kind of impressive."
"i think if i spent, like, all day practicing, i could do that," he bluntly confronted, squinting at the blonde.
"i would give you a million bucks if you could."
"okay, you're making me dizzy. please just stop," he groaned quietly, though, he kept watching her spin around him anyway. he had to enjoy it just a little.
"i'll stop when i join your party," she giggled.
"come on, just stop." he smiled at the girl, she felt her heart beat quickly once she saw him actually smile. at her.
"it's a simple question. am i in or out?" she stuck her tongue out playfully before the board flew forward, causing the thin girl to fly up and off of the board. her back hit the hard gym floor, a loud thud erupting when it did so. she groaned in pain, holding her stomach.
"jesus! are you all right?" mike asked caringly, kneeling next to her in genuine concern.
"yeah, yeah. i think so," she replied, reaching for his hand he gestured to her. she grabbed it firmly, him using his bit of strength to pull her up.
"what happened?"
"i don't know. it was like a magnet or something pulling on my board. i know that probably sounds crazy.." she laughed nervously, walking over to get her board.
she turned back to see mike run through the gym doors before coming back in to tell her that he had gotten a message from will on the talkie about where dart was.
the two hurry to where he said, meeting up with dustin in the bathroom.
"where's dart?" mike questioned.
"i don't know. not here," dustin replied.
"what?" mike began checking each stall, unable to find dart.
"well, he said by salerno's, right?" violet asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"yeah, maybe will has him."
"where is will?" mike lowly asked, looking at all of them worriedly.
--
lucas, dustin, violet and will's mother ran out to see mike trying to wake up will. his eyes were shut but he stood in the middle of the field.
"i just found him like this! i think he's having another episode!" mike worriedly chanted.
"will! will! will!" his mother said, shaking him. "sweetie, wake up! it's mom! will!"
violet rubbed the back of my neck, seeing mike and the others look extremely worried for their best friend, specifically mike. she had no idea what was going on. this was different than normal, unusual.
"will! can you hear me? will, please, just wake up. please, wake up. it's mom! it's me!"
after a few more screaming and shaking, will gasped awake from his episode. his eyes shot open and joyce hugged him tightly.
-- the next day.
violet rushed towards the school, heading around to the back, meeting up with the party except dustin. mike had called everyone there to look for dart.
mike pointed at the dumpster with a thin, short pole. "hop in."
violet huffed and shook her head. "yeah, no."
"stop being a baby and do it already!" mike yelled at her, pointing at the trashcan while leaning onto his wooden stick with both hands.
"this is so disgusting. is this really necessary?" violet whined, scrunching her nose in disgust.
dustin walked up quickly behind violet. "what the hell is going on?"
"what do you think? we're looking for dart," mike replied nonchalantly.
lucas suddenly popped up and tossed out two huge trash bags, it landed between the other three, pieces of ttash spilling out.
"gross!"
"ugh."
"jesus."
lucas hopped out and grunted, staring straight at dustin. "well, well, well," lucas began, "look who finally decided to show up. after i drew the short straw. real convenient."
"you stink!" violet shouted, covering her face with one hand and walking to the other side of mike.
mike watched and looked at violet weirdly before shaking his head and looking back at the boys.
"where's will?" dustin asked.
"he'll be here," mike responded.
"are you just gonna stand there?" lucas asked, tossing a stick at dustin, dustin catching the stick. "or are you gonna help?"
dustin and violet used both hands to hold their sticks and pick up the trash and put it back in, but mike was using one hand as if he didn't care much, his other hand in his pocket. lucas, instead was kicking the bag.
--
after a bit, mike left to go call will, he hadn't showed up.
"anything?" lucas questioned, mike running up to the group.
"we need to talk. av room. right now," he murmured to dustin and lucas.
violer grabbed her board and stood up, earning a quick response from mike. he turned back and stared closely at her. "party members only."
she stood there and stared at him, her eyebrows shifting, she swallowed the anger she had towards mike wheeler, trying to play it off in front of the other two. she thought her and mike had a moment, he was smiling at her for christs' sake.
"come on, mike," dustin groaned, trying to defend the girl.
"no! this is non-negotiable."
"sorry, vi."
"sorry," lucas added, the two walking inside with no luck. they felt bad for the girl.
violet bit her lip, throwing her board down onto the sidewalk, skating off back towards the other entrance of the school.
--
she shut her locker, hearing lucas's voice behind her. "hey, vi. have you seen dustin? we're supposed to meet after class."
she ignored the boy, rolling her eyes and walking away with her skateboard under her arm. she was angry and it was radiating through her veins. not towards, lucas really, but mike. but it was the entire party that kept her out, wasn't it?
"vi! hey, violet," he spoke, following violet out of the school and down the stairs. "hey, where are you going? come on! we've gotta go look for dart."
"yeah, good luck with that," she sarcastically remarked.
she heard him running up after her. "what is wrong with you?"
"what is wrong with me? what's wrong with you?" she drew, snapping her head to look at him.
"i don't understand!"
"no! i don't understand!" she hissed, turning back face him with an upset look. "you guys act like you want me to be your friend but then you just treat me like garbage!"
"that's not true!" lucas protested.
"yes, it is," she admitted, holding her tears back. "you 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."
"we do. but it's.."
"but what?"
"there.." he sighed, "there are just things. things we can't tell you, all right? for your own safety."
"my own safety?"
"yes!"
"because i'm a girl?"
"what? no!"
"did you keep secrets from el?" she striked, biting her inner cheek.
"how do you know about el?" he questioned calmly.
"did you?"
"that was different. trust me. okay? that was just.. just different."
"okay. you know what?" she shrugged. "forget it, okay? i don't want to be in your stupid party anyway. i'm out. have a nice life." throwing her skateboard down, she skated away on it.
"violet!"
"you still stink by the way!"
she skated to the car that belonged to her brother, kicking up her skateboard.
"that kid you were talking to. who is he?" jonas asked as the two both got inside the car.
"he's no one," she replied, looking out the window.
"no one?"
"this kid from my class."
"why was he talking to you?"
"about a stupid class assignment."
"he causing you trouble?"
"no."
"then why are you so upset?"
"i'm not. why do you care?"
"because, you're a piece of shit. and whether you like it or not, we're family now. meaning i'm stuck looking after you."
"oh, what would i do without--" she sarcastically replied before he roughly grabbed her wrist, glancing seriously into her eyes.
"hey. this is serious. okay? there are certain types of people in this world that you stay away from. and that kid, lex, is one of them. you stay away from him, you hear me? stay away from him."
he threw her hand go, and she slowly looked out the window. tears came to her eyes as he started the car and pulled out of his parking spot. she swallowed. shit.
--
"if you're not out in an hour--"
"walking home. i know," violet coldly cut jonas off.
"hey. watch it," he growled, driving off as she stuck her hand in the air and flipped him the bird as he drove off.
violet walked into the arcade and went to her usual game, dig dug, but the machine was broken, and it read, "out of order," on the front.
she sighed, pulling her feet to the counter and staring at the arcade worker she met when she first came to the arcade. keith. "what happened?"
"short circuit in the machine. don't worry, i got another working one in the back," he replied, shoving more cheese balls into his mouth.
she bit her lip and followed him into the back. she saw lucas sitting there by the other machine. he smiled at the girl. she groaned.
"better get me that date now, sinclair," the guy remarked. he shut the door behind her.
she walked up to him, giving him a very pissed-off look. "what is this shit, stalker?"
"i just had to get you alone, okay? this was perfect," lucas said, giving her a nervous smile.
"make it quick."
"i'm going to tell you everything that happened last year. but if you tell anyone, you could get arrested. possibly killed."
"killed?"
he nodded and begun, "will didn't get lost in the woods. he got lost somewhere else."
instantly, the girl sat up. she seemed intrigued.