( songs for the chapter )
⋆ rocket man // elton john
⋆ there is a light that never goes out
// the smiths
THE SOUND OF CRACKLED MUMBLING woke Kate from her sleep. She lifted her head from the pillow, looking towards the clock radio on her nightstand. The bright green numbers told her it was barely midnight, so she was obviously confused as to why one of the boys were talking through her Supercomm.
It took a minute for her to blink the haze of sleep from her eyes. She reached for the walkie-talkie next to her. Kate lifted the antenna and pressed the button on the side, before she began to speak. "What the fuck is going?" she groaned out tiredly.
"There's a girl trying to get naked in Mike's basement," Dustin's voice sputtered through the speakers in one hurried breath.
"What?" Kate asked in a surprised shout that shockingly didn't wake her dad. She could still hear him snoring from two rooms away. She sat up in her bed and switched on the lamp.
"There's a girl getting naked in Mike's basement, and you need to come over now!"
"Dude, it's midnight..." Kate pointed out to the boy who apparently didn't care that people were trying to sleep, while he was bringing in random strangers who were evidently getting naked.
"And?"
"Please, Kate," Mike suddenly spoke as he snatched the Supercomm from Dustin. "We need your help."
Kate hesitated for a moment. If she left without waking her dad, he'd probably find out that she left and she might actually get grounded. If she did wake him, he wouldn't let her leave without him – and something told her that he'd probably tell the boys' parents if there was a girl stripping in Mike's basement. But she knew she needed to go; those were her boys and they needed help – so she was going to help them.
"I'll be there in ten minutes."
Kate parked her car a few houses down from Mike's place. She had no idea what was going on inside the house but she knew his parents definitely didn't know and that they probably shouldn't. As she exited her car, she saw the three friends waiting for her outside the garage.
"Are you guys insane?" she yelled in a whisper. "You don't bring random strangers into your house when you're not even supposed to be out in the first place."
"I know, but she looked scared," Mike commented. "I think something's wrong with her."
"There's something wrong with her, alright," Lucas chided under his breath.
The four of them made their way to the basement. Mike led the group down the stairs and turned on the overhead light; that's when Kate saw a girl with a shaved head, sitting under a makeshift pillow fort.
Of course, Kate's first reaction was a mixture of surprise and confusion – but she chose not to let it show. Mike was right: the girl looked terrified, and Kate wondered if she'd just ran away from home. But the torn up and dirty hospital gown folded up next to the girl told her otherwise.
She wondered if this had something to do with Will. A boy goes missing and a girl in a hospital gown is found in the woods – what was Kate supposed to think? But she shut down that spiral of thoughts before they got too extreme. The whole situation was probably a mere coincidence, and the random girl's parents would be looking for her by morning.
Kate walked toward the fort before crouching down on her knees. She sent a tightlipped smile to the younger girl. "Hi, I'm Kate... What's your name?"
The girl rolled up her sleeve and revealed a somewhat faded tattoo. The numbers "011" were written on the inside of her forearm. Kate furrowed her brows and tilted her head to the side in confusion. Not only was she found in the middle of the woods, but she wore a hospital gown, and had a tattoo. The situation was only growing weirder by the second; this was the oddest thing she'd seen in Hawkins since Steve shaved his head in sixth grade.
"Eleven?"
"El for short," Mike chimed in. The small girl nodded.
"Do you know what happened to you?" Kate asked with the softest voice she could muster. "Or how you got here?"
The girl – Eleven – fervently shook her head. Kate could immediately tell that it wasn't because she didn't know, but because she didn't want to answer. El's chin began to quiver slightly and Kate reached out her hand to comfort her – the younger girl flinched back.
"Hey, it's okay. You're okay," Kate reminded with a small smile, trying her best to calm her down. "I'm your friend here, okay?"
Eleven's brows furrowed at the use of the foreign word. "What is... 'Friend?'"
"Is she serious," Kate heard Lucas mumble from behind her.
"Um, a friend... is–" she stammered, trying to find the right words. She thought of Steve for a moment, thinking of ways to describe their relationship. She smiled. "Is someone you'd do anything for."
"You lend them your cool stuff," Dustin added. "Like comic books and trading cards."
"And they never break a promise," Mike said before Lucas explained: "Especially when there's spit."
"Spit?" Eleven asked, confusion written all over her face. Kate was sure she looked the same. In her seventeen, nearly eighteen, years of being alive, she'd never done a spit swear, and she never would.
"It means you never break your word," Lucas told her before spitting into his own palm and shaking hands with Dustin. "It's a bond."
Dustin pulled his hand away, staring at it with disgust. He wiped the spit away on his t-shirt.
"That's important because friends... tell each other things," Kate tried her best to explain. "Even things parents don't know."
It was obvious El was still a bit confused about the topic but she nodded nonetheless. She looked back to Kate, who smiled shyly at her. "Friend?" she questioned.
"Friend."
Kate didn't sleep that night. Eleven had been on her mind since the second she left Mike's house around one in the morning. Something told her that this had to somehow connect with Will's disappearance, but she couldn't figure out how.
She felt like a zombie as she walked to her locker that morning. Her mind was hazy and if she shut her eyes for more than a few seconds, she was certain she would fall asleep right then. As she opened her locker, she felt people behind her.
The regular crew – Tommy, Carol, and Steve – were accompanied by Nancy and Barbra Holland. Her brows furrowed for a second, silently wondering why the latter two were with them, but she averted her gaze before they could see.
"My dad's left town on a conference and my mom's gone with him," Steve explained. "'cause, you know, she doesn't trust him or whatever."
"Good call," Tommy joked, causing the group – minus Barb and Nancy – to laugh.
"So... are you in?"
"My house is basically Alcatraz right now. My dad's not going to let me go anywhere," she admitted. Ever since Will disappeared, Jim had been more adamant about not leaving the house, especially after dark.
"It's not a party, Kate. It's gonna be lowkey. Just as six, alright?" Steve persuaded.
"I don't know..."
"Nancy and Barb are going. Are you seriously not coming?" Tommy inquired, trying to express that two of Hawkins' known nerds were hanging out with them. Nancy and Barb weren't even friends with them, yet they were still going – it would be weird for Kate not to show.
Kate sighed as she shut her locker. Her eyes flitted between Tommy and Carol, before looking at Steve. She could practically see the desperation in his eyes; and though she didn't particularly want to go, she knew Steve wanted her to.
"Fine," she groaned. "But one of you are picking me up."
Carol smiled proudly, pressing a hand to her heart, before speaking sarcastically: "Kate's actually making progress. I'm so proud."
The blonde rolled her eyes as she lightly shoved her friend. "Fuck off, Carol."
"Oh, God," Tommy whispered. "Look."
The six of them turned to face the entrance, where Jonathan Byers had just walked in. He kept his head down the entire time, only looking up once he reached the bulletin board. Neither of them could see the picture he was hanging up, but it was about Will – it had to be.
"Oh, God, that's depressing," Steve joked, before receiving a slight jab in the rib from Kate.
"Should we say something to him?" Nancy asked softly.
"I don't think he speaks," Carol responded.
"How much you want to bet he killed him?" Tommy joked.
Kate's head snapped in the direction of the brunette at his comment. While he found the situation extremely hilarious, she definitely didn't. Will wasn't dead, and Jonathan had no part of what had happened – Kate was certain of at least that.
It was easy for everyone else to make jokes about Will and the older Byers brother, but Kate couldn't stomach it. She knew Will too well, more than her friends could understand. She barely knew Jonathan, though; but she did know he wasn't as weird as everyone tried to make him out to be.
"Shut up," Steve shoved his friend.
Nancy took in a deep breath before walking over to Jonathan. The five others watched as the two conversed. Carol, herself, was somewhat baffled he'd actually spoken to her. She'd never talked to him and swore she'd never seen him talk to another person. Meanwhile, Kate turned on her heel and headed to her first period class. She'd talk to Jonathan then.
The chemistry class had long been started when he finally stumbled in. The entire class looked up as he entered the room, the principal right behind him. Thirty pairs of eyes were glued on the boy as he made was way to the back of the class, where he sat at a table with Kate. Mr. Kaminsky reminded the class that the lab sheet was due by the end of class, and everyone turned back to their partners.
It was somewhat silent between the two of them, besides the briefing Kate had to do about the small project that they'd been given. She wanted to ask about Will, or at least how he was dealing with the whole situation – but she didn't know to without hitting any soft spots.
"How're you holding up?" she asked quietly.
Jonathan shrugged shyly, putting on a small, but brave, smile. "I've been okay, I guess – as okay as I can be. Mom's freak out, obviously..."
"I'm here for you, you know?" Kate reminded. "Will's like a little brother to me, too... If you need anything, just call, okay? No one deserves to go through this alone."
Jonathan wanted to respond, to tell her that he knew she was there and that he was beyond thankful for that – but he couldn't. He knew if he opened his mouth he'd start crying, and he didn't want to do that in front of Mr. Kaminsky's first period class. So he just nodded his head with a smile and tear filled eyes.
They weren't friends yet, but they would be soon – that was something the two were definitely certain of.