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november 8th
hawkins middle school - davis' residence
tilly and slater were sat behind lucas and dustin in mr clarke's science class.
"where are the other two?" slater asked tilly, motioning to the two vacated places in front of them.
"will is missing and-" tilly started.
"will byers?" slater raised his brow.
"yeah." tilly nodded, "and mike is probably playing with some nerd toys."
"oh, this is weird." dustin spoke, trying to ignore the two behind him, "he's never this late."
"i'm telling you, his stupid plan failed." lucas groaned, the two no knowing their conversation was being listened to.
"i thought you liked his plan." dustin reminded him.
"yeah, but obviously it was stupid, or he'd be here." lucas pointed out.
"if his mom found out a girl spent the night...." dustin said in a hushed tone.
"he's in deep shit right about now." lucas interrupted him.
"hey, what if she slept naked?" dustin asked him.
slater and tilly shared an intrigued look before leaning in closer.
lucas groaned, "oh, my god, she didn't."
"oh, if mrs wheeler tells my parents..." dustin frowned.
"no way." lucas stopped him, "mike would never rat us out."
"i don't know..." dustin sounded unconvinced.
"all that matters is, after school, the freak will be back in the loony bin, and we can focus on what really matters, finding will." lucas explained.
tilly leaned forward and decided to torment them, "i think she slept naked."
"huh?" their heads turned around in sync to see the duo.
"just saying." tilly shrugged, "girls love sleeping naked." she was obviously messing with them, but they were clueless.
"what?"
"am i right, slates?" tilly turned to her friend.
"oh yeah." slater nodded, deciding to add to the joke, "mj always sleeps naked when she comes over."
tilly smacked his arm and the two roared in laughter. the duo in front of them looked disgusted and confused.
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"so, how was school?" daniel asked as the duo helped him make dinner.
tilly laughed, "don't be a stereotypical dad, cut straight to the point."
"fine." daniel smiled, "anything interesting going on?"
"apart from will byers? no, not really." slater shook his head as he sliced the green beans.
"aren't you on that case?" tilly asked her dad.
he nodded, "yeah. hopper and i are doing everything we can."
"any news?" slater quizzed.
"they think will uh... you know..." daniel explained.
"i don't actually." tilly confessed.
"callahan thinks there's a slight chance he might have...." daniel muttered, "fell down the quarry."
"what?" the two yelled.
"slight chance." daniel elaborated.
"still a chance." tilly frowned, "callahan is an idiot anyway."
"majo!" daniel scolded her for her language.
"anything else?" slater investigated.
"earl says he saw a buzz-cut haired kid running around benny's." daniel admitted.
"old man earl?" tilly rolled her eyes, "isn't he part blind."
"oh yeah." slater agreed, "no point relying on him."
"i'd rather belive the byers boy got a haircut and is running around then he... you know." daniel explained.
"right."
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november 9th
hawkins' middle school - wheeler's residence
lunchtime the following day, tilly wandered over to her friends who had been waiting at the doors.
"where were you two this morning?" stacey questioned the duo.
daniel had woken up late and so had the others. by the time they reached the school, form was over.
"why didn't you ask slater?" tilly raised her eyebrow.
"stace didn't want to ask until you got here." jennifer filled her in.
"well i'm here now, and we overslept." tilly shrugged.
"you stayed over at his?" stacey heaved in bitterness.
"vise versa." slater stretched.
"come on james." troy hauled him to the back of the batting cage.
"issue?" tilly asked.
"no." stacey shook her head.
"i'll be back." tilly had spotted troy with the party and knew they were up to no good.
"... some other queer." was all she heard from his mouth.
tilly laughed, "when did queer become an insult?"
"come on." mike turned to his friends, "just ignore them."
"i mean i guess it's always been, but i thought you were more mature than that troy." tilly fake pouted.
as mike walked off, troy put his leg out - tripping him. mike fell forward and bashed his chin against a rock.
"watch where you're going frog face." troy snickered as lucas and dustin went to help mike.
"troy." tilly shoved the boy firmly, "leave... now!"
"but-"
"just go." tilly sighed, the two boys scowled at her but went either way.
"you okay?" lucas patted his shoulder.
"yeah." mike brushed the blood coming out of the fresh cut.
dustin sighed and selected up a rock, "hey, how about this one?"
"yeah." mike examined it.
"yeah?"
"yeah." mike confirmed, "this is it."
"oh yeah." lucas grinned, "this is the monster killer."
tilly cleared her throat and all three sets of eyes were now on her.
"oh."
"i, uh heard about will." tilly explained, "and i wanted to say sorry."
lucas' face dropped, not believing anything she was saying, "yeah, right."
"no really." tilly tried to convince them, "he was my friend and i really, really hope they find him."
"well thanks, i guess." mike glared daggers at her.
tilly laughed at his attempt at being intimidating.
"tilly!" stacey yelled.
"see you... i think." tilly pivoted on her feet and jogged off.
"weird."
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as tilly strode past the wheelers', she spotted a girl with buzzcut hair roaming around alone, so she got off her skateboard and slowly walked towards her.
"hello?" tilly asked the girl calmly.
she flicked her head around and made deep eye contact with tilly.
"are you mike's friend?" tilly interrogated.
"mike?" the girl spoke, her voice was soft and frail.
"yeah mike." tilly nodded, "is he here?"
"no." the girl shook her head.
"i'm tilly." she introduced herself.
"el."
"nice name." tilly sat down on the grass and el copied her, "what's the time?"
el checked the watch on her wrist, "three-o-seven."
"3:07?" tilly asked, "great."
"friend?" el asked tilly.
"yeah, we could be friends." tilly nodded.
"sure?" el placed her hand on tilly's knee.
"what?" tilly retaliated.
"six." el explained, she then took tilly's wrist and revealed her faint tat: '006'.
"i've had it for a while." tilly shrugged.
el rolled her sleeve up and displayed her own emblem: '011'.
"what the hell?" tilly elevated her eyebrow in bewilderment as she inspected el's mark, "is el short for eleven?"
el nodded, "tilly for six?" the girl reached out and uses two of her fingers to touch tilly's wrist.
"shit!" tilly flinched back, "why did that burn?"
"sorry."
"and no." tilly shook her head, "my name is matilda joane and tilly is a nickname."
"nickname?" el asked.
"yeah. it's a short version of your name that people call you." tilly informed her, "like eleven and el, matilda joane and mj, tilly or jo."
a cat sauntered passed the two and el began gazing at it intently which terrified the hell out of tilly.
"what are you doing?" tilly asked her, however, el couldn't tear her eyes off the creature.
"el!" mike called from behind them.
"matilda joane?" dustin asked in shock.
"you okay?" mike questioned el, she nodded.
"hey losers." tilly got up and dusted her pattered jeans.
"what are you doing here?" mike scowled.
"making friends." tilly shrugged, "el's quite the catch. where are we going?"
"we?" lucas asked.
"yep." tilly nodded, "you guys are going to fill me in on everything."
"why would we do that?" mike scoffed.
"as much as i like eleven here-"
"how did you know?" dustin questioned.
tilly shrugged, "she told me. anyways, i'll tell your mum, and yours and most importantly your mum that you've kidnapped a random girl."
"i did not kidnap her!" mike stated.
"if you get involved, you're going to be in the same amount of trouble." lucas pointed out.
"i can take those chances." tilly grinned.
"we don't want your help." mike told her, "we don't need you in our party."
"party?" tilly laughed, "i don't want to be in your dweeb group. cool your jets - i'm just bored."
"fine." mike sighed, "hop on el. we only have a few hours."
"thanks for letting me ride with you luke." tilly walked over to him and placed her skateboard in his backpack.
"what?" lucas' face scrunched up in confusion.
"come on."
"fine." lucas moved forward and she slipped in the space behind him.
⎯ ❃ neens speaks!
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