"care, i just had the weirdest conversation with lucas" max said, approaching caroline as she walked into the school
"max listen to me, i need to talk to you later" caroline said, stopping max before walking into their science class
"ok sure, we can talk later, but lucas he-" she said, trying to walk off
"in private"
"okay, okay, your house at 5?" max said holding her hands out, deciding to give caroline what she wanted, her agreement.
"that works, but please don't ask me anything about it today and don't, under any circumstances, tell anybody" caroline said, handing her a small folded up sheet of paper.
max nodded, she had only known the girl for a few days, but so far caroline was the only person she trusted in Hawkins, and she was never this serious. that clue alone told maxine that this was probably a serious problem, but she couldn't quite get her mind off the conversation she had with lucas sinclair. will byers went missing in the woods and some other kid died in the quarry within the same week, but, only will was missing. there was never a second 'missing persons case'. something didn't line up, but she chose to not argue with lucas or anybody else, after all, she was new. but it just confused on her on what could be so confidential, he'd have to lie.
the confused redhead walked into her science class closely behind caroline and took her seat in the back, seconds before the bell sounded and mr clarke began talking. something was off about today, something was missing.
"good morning, passengers!" mr clarke stated, gathering his final few supply items to start his lesson of today.
a few subtle 'mornings' surfaced in different voices among the class as mr. clarke began to teach his lesson. "ok so today, we're talking about... phineas gage!"
max transitioned her eyes and ears from mr clarke's lesson on phineas gage to the piece of paper caroline had slipped into her hand before entering the class
she unwrapped it quietly and quickly, silently hoping it wouldn't make enough noise to distract mr clarke or anybody else in the room. but with the mayfield luck, it distracted.
"max, put it away" mr clarke said, almost directing everyone's attention, including lucas and caroline's towards the girl
"yes, i'm sorry. my bad" the girl said quickly, crumbling the almost unfolded sheet of paper and throwing it into her backpack.
"it's alright. now class the case of phineas gage is one of the great medical curiosities of all time. phineas was a railroad worker in 1848 who had a nightmarish accident. a large iron rod was driven completely through his head. phineas miraculously survived, he seemed fine, and physically, yes, he was. but his injury resulted in a complete change in his personality. so much so that friends who knew him started referring to him as 'no longer gage' at the time this was known as the american crowbar case although it wasn't a crowbar-"
caroline threw her head down onto the wooden desk once dustin henderson raced into the class. she was frustrated with him, and lucas for that matter, the two of them completely ditched her on halloween, and basically stole max from in mike's words the best night of the year. not to mention dustin had just interrupted a story that made her life sound a little less crazy, which is probably why she wanted to listen. "i'm so sorry mr clarke. really i'm so sorry, please continue with the class. don't mind me. really continue, please. thanks"
"...although it wasn't a crowbar, it was a rod, as i said" mr clarke continued. caroline sat blankly as her mind drifted off the subject of phineas gage and onto what steve had experienced the night before. once caroline arrived home from the traumatic night of halloween, she found her brother laying on the couch, his face stained with tears. he looked at her and attempted to wipe his face, but she knew he wasn't ok, and she was going to listen to him because that's all a sister could do for a brother. he explained to caroline that nancy and him got into an argument and nancy called their love 'bullshit'. he wouldn't give her all the details, but what she knows is that steve left the party and had jonathan byers take his, probably ex, girlfriend home.
caroline began to think about how unnecessary it was to think of her older brothers relationship, considering she was in a science class with 4 boys who probably knew she had supernatural powers. caroline turned her focus to mr clarke as he snapped at dustin for turning around to talk to her redheaded best friend. "dustin!"
"yes, my lord" he replied
"would you care to join the class now?"
"please! yes"
"case of phineas gage"
"phineas gage"
"page 104"
"104, 1-0-4"
"focus"
"focusing, focusing"
dustin quickly turned around "A.V club. lunch."
max annoyingly held up a thumbs up and looked at caroline, "fucking A.V club"
•••
"his name is d'artagnan" dustin said, pulling a slimy creature from his 'handy-dandy little trap' according to yesterday's conversation by max's locker.
mike looked disgusted by the creature
"cute right?" dustin says smiling
"d'artagnan?" mike asked, making direct eye contact with caroline, she shook her head and looked back at the slimy creature
"dart for short"
"and he was in your trash" max said, placing her hand on the table
"foraging for food. you wanna hold him?" dustin gasped, smiling at the girl
"no, no" max said, moving her hands away from the creature
"he doesn't bite!"
"i don't want to-"
dustin placed the creature on the grossed out redhead's hands, "oh god! he's slimy!" she yelled before almost throwing dart into caroline's hands
caroline gaged "gross" before quickly handing it to lucas who was standing beside her
"ugh, he's like a living booger!" lucas said, passing it to will
"ugh, oh gross" will replied, sliding it into mike's hands
mike raised it to his face "what is he?"
"yeah, um, is he even a known species?" caroline said, questioning the curly headed boy who found the creature
"my question, exactly" dustin said smiling
dustin slammed 4 books onto the A.V club table, then began telling his 'story' of the creatures origin
"at first, i thought he as some type of pollywog."
"pollywog?" max asked
"it's another word for tadpole. a tadpole is the larval state of a toad" dustin began to educate
"i- i know what a tadpole is" she said annoyingly before looking at the books.
"alright, then you know that most tadpoles are aquatic, right, well dart, he isn't. he doesn't need water."
"yeah, but aren't there nonaquatic pollywogs?" lucas asked
"terrestrial pollywogs? yep. two to be exact"
caroline looked closely at dart once again, then back at dustin. she knew dustin wasn't as interested in being her friend over being max's friend, but she liked how he spent all this time studying something he found in his trash, even if it could just be some tadpole. but little did she know, it was most definitely not a tadpole.
"indirana semipalmata and the adenomera andreae. one's from india one's from south america. so how did one end up in my trash"
"maybe some scientists brought it here and it escaped?" max asked
"do you guys see that?" caroline stated, looking at dart
"it looks like something is moving inside of it" mike said, looking at the creature then to dustin
dustin grabbed the light and moved it above the 'pollywog'
dart quickly looked up and screeched at the light causing the group to jump back in shock
dart moved to jump off the table before dustin stuck his hand out and caught it, placing it back in the carrier he brought it in
"it's okay, it's okay. i got you, little guy, i know you don't like that. it's okay" dustin said, petting the creature
the creature started to chitter, causing both caroline and will to catch eye contact
"and there's another thing, reptiles, they're cold-blooded, ectothermic right? they love heat, the sun, dart hates it, it hurts him"
"so if he's not a pollywog or a reptile-" lucas starts
"then i've discovered a new species"
caroline and will had each zoned out, holding eye contact. the chittering was the same chittering they heard in the upside down the night before.
the second caroline started to say something, the bell rang, causing everyone to grab their things and race to their next class
"we'll talk later, k care?" max said racing out of the room with dustin and lucas
the group started making jokes and talking in the hallway, but will and caroline stayed behind unable to comprehend that dart, dart was a creature from the upside down.
•••
"will, care, you coming? let's go show mr clarke" mike said, catching caroline and will at will's locker
"what?" mike questioned, caroline and will began walking towards mike uneasily
"it's about d'artagnan" will said, looking directly at mike
•••
"stop!" mike yelled, racing through mr clarke's classroom and grabbing the box containing d'artagnan
caroline and will followed closely behind mike, helping him snatch the creature
"im really sorry mr clarke, it was just a stupid prank!" caroline yelled, gaining confusion from the rest of the group
"what the hell are you doing?" dustin asks trying to take dart from mike
"i told him to stop" mike says to mr clarke, reassuring the whole 'it's a prank' theory.
"we need to go" caroline said, grabbing max's arm
"right now! right! now!" mike yelled, racing out of mr clarke's classroom, leaving the middle aged man extremely confused from behind his desk
the group followed closely behind, all of them racing into the A.V room
once they party reached the A.V club door, mike had slammed the door on max's face, not allowing her to come inside
"mike, let her in" caroline said, moving to open the closed door
"not yet" mike said, pushing the girl away from the door
•••
"hello? hello? guys come on can i come in yet?!" max yelled from outside, banging on the door
"no!" mike yelled back, almost enjoying making the redhead feel excluded. after all, he didn't like her and didn't want her anywhere near him.
"i don't understand" lucas said
"what do you not understand?" mike asked
"will saw something that looked like dart last year?" lucas responded
"kind of, but there was no tail" will said
"but then he heard it yesterday, the exact same sound. and caroline, she heard it too" mike answered putting his hands on the table and pointing towards the girl
"why didn't you tell us before?" dustin asked
"i wasn't sure" will said looking at his friends standing in front of him
"so, it's a coincidence" dustin said, raising his eyebrows
"or not" mike said, turning his head to look at caroline, giving her the key to suggest the next theory
"ok, well, what if when will was stuck in the upside down, he somehow acquired true sight?" caroline said, exhaling softly
"true sight?" lucas asked
"it gives you the power to see into the ethereal plane" dustin said, looking at caroline reassuringly
caroline softly smiled before looking to will
lucas sighed "elaborate"
"maybe these episodes that will keeps having aren't really flashbacks at all. maybe they're real. maybe will can somehow see into the upside down, like how caroline has clairvoyance" mike explained confidently, looking at caroline
"what the hell is clairvoyance?" dustin and lucas asked in unison
"it's one of my powers, i can see the unknown"
"you have powers?!" they yell
"shit" caroline says
"keep it down, sherlock!" mike whisper yelled, slapping dustin's arm
caroline pulled back the bandana around her wrist, showing her 004 tattoo
"like eleven" lucas stuttered, looking at the brunette
"yes, like eleven. i escaped last year. the day i escaped i ran into steve harrington and he took me in, he called me his little sister. i started school here and acted as a new student, but in reality, i came from a far worse place" caroline responded, moving the bandana to cover her tattoo once again.
"ok, explain everything, if you don't mind" dustin said, leaving against the table
caroline gave a quick yet detailed explanation of herself and her powers, helping lucas and dustin understand mike's reference to clairvoyance and how she could be their biggest helper in will's situation
"but back to the point, so dart is from the upside down" mike said once caroline finished talking, looking at the box containing dart
"we have to take him to hopper" lucas sighed
mike replied quickly "i agree"
"no way! if we take him to hopper, dart's as good as dead!" dustin said uneasily
"maybe he should be dead." mike replied
"how can you say that!" dustin yelled
"how can you not? he's from the upside down!" mike yelled back
"maybe! but even if he is it doesn't automatically mean that he's bad!" dustin yelled
"that's like saying just because someone from the death star doesn't make them bad!" caroline yelled, confused on what point dustin thought he was supporting
"we have a bond" dustin said, looking at the creature
"a bond? just because he likes nougat!" mike yelled
"no! because he trusts me!" dustin screamed angrily at his friend
"he trusts you?" lucas asked sarcastically
"yes! i promised i would take care of him!" dustin yelled back
dart begins to start screeching in the box containing him, causing the group to slowly back away in multiple quick paced steps
causing each of the kids to swiftly look towards the door, max began to repeatedly bang on it in hopes of them letting her in.
"guys, what's going on? come on!" max yells from outside
nobody answered, everyone was too focused on the trap moving sharply as dart rattled it from the inside. then it tipped over, causing mike to grab a microphone for radio communication from the wooden table
"don't hurt him." dustin said pointing at mike
"only if he attacks" mike responded looking at the knocked over containment for dart
"just open it already!" lucas said pointing to the box
dustin swiftly grabs the button he used to open the trap and pressed it, dart rolling out and two legs sprouting from it's skin
"oh, shit!" lucas screamed, jumping back from the creature
mike went to slam the microphone down as dustin blocks the attack in a frantic manor, scaring a screeching dart off the table.
"holy shit!" caroline says, stumbling over the leg of the table trying to avoid the small creature.
once dart reaches the door, an impatient redhead had picked the lock with a hair pin, allowing the creature from the upside down loose into the school.
"what the-" max says before being quickly interrupted by two of the boys racing out to grab dart before anybody else could see him and ask questions.
"where'd he go?!" lucas yells, scrambling off of max to stand up
"what was that?!" max yells back, sitting up off the floor
"dart!" mike yells back, turning his head quickly to max
"what?" max replies, shocked to notice the slimy friend from early quickly become such a terror to the party members
"you let him escape!" mike yells back, snapping at a very confused redhead
"mike, shut the hell up!" caroline snaps, earning a small amount of anger from mike
"why did you attack him!!" dustin yelled, lightly shoving mike
"come on" mike says in an annoyed manor, sprinting down the schools hallway after dart
"don't hurt him. don't you hurt him!" dustin yells as mike continues to run down the hallway in search of the creature
caroline looked back at dustin before racing down the other end of the hallway, looking for the creature she and will had heard the night in the upside down.