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november 1st
hawkins middle
the whole party, and max, stood above the handmade ghostbusters box as dustin opened it.
"his name is d'artagnan." dustin introduced his new pet as he picked it out of the trap, "cute right?"
"that looks like a booger." tilly told him, dustin gave her a sad look.
"a cute one." slater interrupted.
"thanks."
"d'artagnan?" mike asked in disbelief.
"dart for short." dustin told him.
"and he was in your trash?" max questioned.
"forging for food." dustin informed her, "wanna hold him?"
"no, no." max denied.
"he doesn't bite." dustin reassured her.
"i don't wanna-"
"don't worry." dustin placed the small critter into max's hands.
"oh god he's slimy." max gagged before handing it over to lucas.
"tilly was right, he's like a living booger." lucas passed it over to slater.
"this is kind of cool." slater inspected it, "but, it looks like as slug."
"finally someone understands." dustin huffed as slater placed it in will's palms.
"ugh, oh god." will complained before putting it into tilly's hands.
once it touched tilly's skin, a sizzle was heard and it immediately jumped into mike's hand while hissing.
"what the hell?" max raised her eyebrow.
"well i didn't want to hold it anyways." tilly scoffed.
mike brought the creature closer to his face and examined it, "what is he?"
"my question exactly." dustin grinned as mike placed it back into its box. he slammed books on the table he got from the library. "at first i thought it was some type of pollywog."
"pollywog?" max asked in confusion.
"it's another word for tadpole." tilly spoke.
dustin saw a confused look on max's face and decided to barge in, "a tadpole is a larval stage of a toad."
"i know what a tadpole is." max rolled her eyes.
"alright then you know most tadpoles are aquatic right?" dustin urged, "well dart, he isn't. he doesn't need water."
"yeah but aren't there non aquatic pollywogs?" lucas doubted.
"terrestrial pollywogs? yup, two to be exact." dustin opened one of his books, "indirana semipalmata. and the adenomera andreae." he pointed to the other book, "ones from india, ones from south america. so how did one end up in my trash?"
"maybe some scientists brought it up here and it escaped?" tilly suggested.
"maybe." dustin muttered.
"did you guys see that?" mike had been staring at the creature, "looks like something is moving inside of it."
"that looks disgusting." tilly gagged.
they all stared at it so mike moved the lamp above it to get a clearer look. dart hissed the same way he did on tilly's hand and jumped off the table. luckily dustin had caught him as he jumped off.
"it's okay, it's okay." dustin reassured, "i got you little guy. i know you don't like that, it's okay."
they all looked at dustin as if he was crazy, max and slater shared a look.
"and there's another thing, reptiles, their cold-blooded: ectothermic right?" dustin said, "they love heat, the sun. dart hates it, it hurts him."
"which is why he jumped out of mj's hands." slater blurted.
"huh?" max quizzed.
"she has...." slater began.
"a high body temperature." will saved him.
"right."
"so if he's not a pollywog, or a reptile...." lucas started.
"i've discovered a new species." dustin beamed.
"i don't like this." will whispered to tilly.
"nor do i." she muttered.
the bell rang and the seven quickly grabbed their things and made their way out the room.
"we gotta show him to mr clarke." lucas ordered as him, slater mike and dustin made their way down the hallway.
"no, what if he steals my discovery?" dustin suggested.
"he's not gonna steal your discovery." mike rolled his eyes.
"why would he steal it?" slater asked.
"you know, i'm thinking about calling it dustonious pollywogus." dustin gushed before turning to max who had joined their line, "what do you think?"
"i think you're an idiot."
"you know when i become rich and famous for this one day, don't come crawling back saying 'oh my gosh dustin i'm sorry for being mean to you in eighth grade'." dustin warned her.
"yeah right." tilly scoffed.
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"will? tilly? you coming?" mike asked his best friends once he found them at will's locker, "let's go show mr clarke."
will took a couple of steps closer to mike.
"what? what?" mike questioned in a slight panic.
"it's about d'artagnan." will explained anxiously, "he's from the upside-down. i thought it looked familiar but i didn't know where."
"wait what?!" tilly gave him a look.
"i coughed something like him up into the sink on christmas eve." will continued.
"you coughed up a slug?!" tilly snapped.
"we have to tell the others!" mike demanded before running into mr clarke's room.
"stop!" he yelled just as dustin was going to open the box. he snatched it in his arms and threw the box to tilly, "i'm really sorry mr clarke, it was just a stupid prank."
"what the hell are you doing?!" dustin asked.
"i told him to stop." mike lied.
"mike are you being serious?" slater asked in unbelief.
"we should go." tilly commanded.
"right now." mike ordered.
"mike!" dustin said in disbelief.
"right now!" he repeated before running off, the rest following him.
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"hello? hello! guys come on! can i come in yet?" max groaned from the side of the door as she thumped her fists against it.
"no!" mike shouted back.
"i don't understand." dustin spoke.
"what do you not understand?" mike asked.
"will saw something that looked like dart last year?" lucas quizzed.
"kind of, but there was no tail." will confessed.
"but then he heard it yesterday." mike elaborated, "the exact same sound."
"why didn't you tell us before?"
"cut him some slack." tilly dug into her jeans pocket and pulled out some gum.
"i wasn't sure."
"a coincidence." dustin concluded.
"or not. what if when will was stuck in the upside down, he somehow acquired true sight?" mike suggested.
"true sight?" slater, tilly and lucas queried.
"it gives you the power to see into the ethereal plane." dustin informed them.
lucas sighed, "elaborate."
"maybe these episodes that will keeps having aren't really flashbacks at all." mike proposed.
"what do you mean?" tilly questioned.
"maybe they're real... maybe will can somehow see into the upside down."
"woah." slater gaped.
"so that would mean..." lucas commenced.
"dart is from the upside down." mike stated a dustin sighed.
"we have to take him to hopper." lucas dictated.
"i agree." mike nodded.
"so do i." tilly spoke.
"no!" slater shook his head.
"yeah, no way." dustin agreed with his friend, "if we take him to hopper, dart's as good as dead."
"maybe he should be." mike murmured.
"how can you say that?"
"how can you not?" mike snapped, "he's from the upside down."
"maybe" dustin argued, "but even if he is, it doesn't automatically mean that he's bad."
"that's like saying just because someone's from the death star doesn't make them bad." mike yelled.
"what?" slater looked up.
"stop with the arguing." tilly put her arm out and created a small flame, "i'll just burn him to death."
"mattie!"
"good idea."
"no!"
"violent, but i'm not suprised."
slater took the flaming hand, putting the fire out, "you can't because him and dustin have bond."
"a bond?" mike jeered, "just because he likes nougat?"
"no, because he trusts me!"
"he trusts you?" lucas lifted his eyebrow.
"yes, i promised i would take care of him." dustin finished.
dart began screeching inside of the box and it began shaking.
"guys, what's going on?" max yelled from outside, "come on."
the box flipped over and mike grabbed a lamp while tilly made another flame.
"here." will passed her a tissue for her currently bleeding nose.
"don't hurt him." dustin ordered.
"thanks."
"only if he attacks." mike explained.
"just open it already." lucas groaned.
tilly put her other hand forward and quickly opened the petite carton, trying her best not to burn it.
"holy shit!" lucas grimaced at the creature who had grown.
"what the fuck?!" tilly gagged as the creature's legs popped out of the skin, leaving goo in its place.
"oh shit!" lucas moved back.
"oh wow." slater gazed at it.
the creature roared in their face and mike raised the lamp to slam it down, dustin pushed his hand out of the way and the lamp hit the side of the table.
the loud noise didn't only startle dart, but it startled matilda too. the alien jumped off the table as tilly recoiled backwards and tripped over her feet.
"shit!"
will quickly pulled the girl up, removing her fire with his touch as the door suddenly opened, letting the slimy critter escape.
"what the-" she asked.
"oh shit!" dustin swore as him and the party ran out of the room, tilly and him ended up falling on top of max.
"get off of me!" max huffed while pushing herself up, "sorry."
"where did he go?" tilly groaned while getting up.
"what was that?" max questioned.
"dart!" mike huffed.
"you let him escape!" mike yelled at max.
"is your nose bleeding?" max quizzed the other girl.
"why'd you attack him?!" dustin pushed mike against the wall.
"come on." mike pushed dustin's hand away, grabbed tilly's arm and made his way down the hallway.
"don't hurt him! don't you hurt him!" dustin warned.
"let go." tilly burned mike's palms.
"hey!" mike snapped as they made their way to the gym, "you could have just asked."
"it's more fun." tilly smiled as she pulled out the tissue will had previously given to her.
⎯ ❃ neens speaks!
it gets very complicated from here!
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