speaking of best friends

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

Three bikes glided over the street, one of the riders clutching the handlebars so tight her knuckles turned white. Her head was bent, her dark, curly hair spilling over her face, her face wet with silently shed tears. Nothing was going right. This week, she'd made friends, but now she believed she'd lost one in a single moment. Lucas Sinclair had looked at her with such fury, such disgust at that moment that it confirmed what she already believed about herself. That she was a monster.

A monster in human clothes, a monster in human skin.

"This is weird without Lucas." Dustin suddenly spoke up from his own bike beside Alina's. He kept looking to her during the ride so far, sympathy etched onto his face. Alina wished he wouldn't. She didn't want any further reminder of what Lucas had spat to her on his way out. Liar. Dangerous. You'll get me killed. It was so unlike what he'd said to Mike only a few minutes before, defending her to him. Al's trying to help. Al's part of the party. Al's not a freak.

Mike clenched his jaw. "He should've shaken my hand." After a moment of decision, he added, "and not said what he did to Alina."

Alina stared at him, surprised, her jaw dropping as she continued to pedal. "Who are you, and what have you done with the real Mike Wheeler?"

Mike rolled his eyes. "I'm just saying. Even I think that what Lucas said was a little harsh. Okay, a lot. He was being a complete asshole." He let out a sigh, saying the next words as if they physically hurt him. "And... I guess I have to admit it. You've done a lot for us. Trying to help find Will and everything. I guess..." he seemed a little hesitant for a moment before he spoke again. "Fine. Alina, you're a part of the party."

Alina nearly crashed her bike at that, before regaining balance and staring slack-jawed at Mike. "Okay, so I'm part of the party now? After your insistence that I wasn't back at Lucas's... and at school... and at your house... and practically everywhere I came with you guys!"

Mike gritted his teeth. "I'm... I'm sorry, Alina. I shouldn't have treated you the way that I did. It was... it was wrong of me. It's just... I guess I didn't want you to replace Will."

Alina cocked her head at him. Her tears had dried on her face, her mood suddenly improved by the notion that someone didn't hate her. "Okay," she said slowly. "So... you thought I was a replacement for Will, but you didn't think of Eleven like that, did you? Hm, makes sense, considering that she looks more like him than I do."

"I said I was sorry, Alina."

Alina solemnly put a hand over her heart, using her other to steer her bike. "I know," she said, "and this shall be a day put into the history books. 'The day Michael Wheeler not only apologized to Alina Fairgrieves, but also said that she was a part of the party. November 12th, 1983.'"

"Shut up."

Dustin and Alina chuckled, high fiving each other, which might have been a little dangerous to do while bike-riding, but whatever. "Anyway," Dustin said to Mike, "Lucas is just jealous."

"What are you talking about?" Mike asked.

Dustin sighed. "Sometimes your total obliviousness just blows my mind." He shook his head. "He's your best friend, right?"

"Yeah..." said Mike, before realizing what he'd said. "I mean, I don't know."

"It's fine," said Dustin. "I get it. I didn't get here until the fourth grade. He had the advantage of living next door. But none of that matters. What matters is that he is your best friend. And then this girl shows up and starts living in your basement, and all you ever want to do is pay attention to her."

"That's not true!" Mike argued. "Besides, even if it was true, he was doing the same thing to Alina! He'd always be talking to her, inviting her over... I barely felt like I got to talk to him anymore. No offence, Alina."

"None taken." Alina rolled her eyes.

"Don't you get it?" Dustin had an air of superiority over him, like he had when he figured out to follow the compasses. "He was! He was doing the exact same thing that you were doing with Eleven. Because he was trying to make you feel the same that he was! He must've felt that Al was the only one who actually paid attention to him, the only one who didn't argue with him, the only one who listened to him... the only one who didn't put all of her attention on Eleven, even though the whole thing started because she wanted to know who El was."

He turned to Alina. "It's why he went nuts when you defended her. He thought he could count on you to be the one who wasn't obsessed with her. He was being an asshole, but don't worry. He'll come back soon. He never stays mad for very long. And yes, Mike. Yes, all you wanted to do was pay attention to Eleven. And you know it. And he knows it. But no one ever says anything until you both start punching and yelling at each other like goblins with intelligence scores of zero. Now everything's weird."

Mike was quiet for a moment before speaking. "He's not my best friend."

Dustin chuckled. "Yeah, right."

Mike sighed before correcting his sentence. "I mean, he is, but so are you. And so is Will."

"Can't have more than one best friend."

"That's not true," Alina argued.

"Yeah," said Mike. "Says who?"

"Says logic."

"Well, I call bull on your logic," Mike argued. "Because you're my best friend too."

Dustin beamed. "Okay."

"Aw." Alina was a little touched by the two boys, even if she still wasn't considered anyone's best friend. "You guys are so cute. Do you want to make friendship bracelets next?"

"Alina, for the love of God, shut up," said Mike. But he, as well as Dustin, were stifling laughter. But the moment was short-lived, as just then, they noticed the three police cars parked at their local grocery store. A couple of people were gathered around two police officers—one of which Alina recognized from her interrogation—recalling whatever incident had occurred to have them called here.

They all stopped their bikes. "Woah," said Mike.

"You don't think..." Dustin didn't even have to go on for the other two to understand what he was implying.

"Uh... definitely."

"One-hundred-percent," said Alina, and the three of them biked past the scene of the crime, unaware of the man who watched them as they did so. Eleven couldn't have gone far, and they needed to find her before she unwittingly committed another crime.

Unfortunately, none of them were aware that they would find two other boys first, both of them seething for revenge.

It was almost time. Brandon was nearly pulling what little hair he had left out of his skull. He sent plumes of smoke into the air with every breath he took. Another cigarette. They were terrible for him, he knew, and increased his chance of dying early, but he couldn't help it. The guilt was eating him alive, especially when he thought of his daughter's heartbroken face when she saw him.

I'm doing this for you. I'm doing this for you. I'm so sorry.

When he'd handed in Alina's notebook, Brenner had flipped through it with an ugly look on his face. After he was finished, he turned to him.

"Did you know about this?"

"Of course not," Brandon said. "Not until today. That file you gave me on the girl... my daughter stole it from my office. Picked the lock." He sighed, breathing out a cloud of smoke. "She's brilliant. Learned it when she was eight. And it's her brilliance that makes her so dangerous. Anyway," he continued, "I went through her room to look for the file. I knew it was her right away—she oiled the hinges of the door with vegetable oil. And I found her notebook. She'd been hiding it from me."

"She didn't trust you." Brenner closed the book and handed it back to his employee. "It's not your fault. Your daughter went rogue, hung out with the wrong people. But this changes things. Not only do they know about the girl, but they know about the other dimension. And they know about the creature."

"So what do we do?"

Brenner just sighed. "What we have to."

"ELEVEN?" Alina called, walking her bike through the woods. They'd assumed that Eleven would've fled here after accidentally committing that crime. It was dense, and she was unlikely to be found. But she hoped that their friend would answer their calls and realize how much they still needed her. How much Will needed her. And they needed to find her fast, so they could stop Lucas from going into the gate by himself. Into the Upside Down by himself.

They all yelled her name, but the girl herself did not show.

Alina let out a sigh, raking a lock of hair out of her face. At this rate, it was going to take them forever to find her. Longer than it had taken to walk to Will's house.

Suddenly, Mike froze in his tracks as the sound of snapping branches echoed across the forest. "Hey, stop," he ordered Dustin. "Do you guys hear that?"

"What?" Dustin seemed confused, his ears not picking up on the sound. Instead of answering, Mike turned away.

"EL?" Mike yelled, to be sure. The three of them looked around the trees but didn't see any sign of her pink dress or blonde wig. "El?" he called again, just as two figures emerged from the trees. Troy and James made their way up the hill, Troy's hood pulled up, something metallic glinting in the sunlight. The right side of James's face was pinked and blotchy, and he was holding something, too.

"Hey there, Frogface," Troy sneered as he made his way towards them. As he did so, Alina realized with a chill what Troy was clutching in his meaty hand. A pocket knife.

Her hands immediately found her own switchblade threaded in her belt loops as James smirked. "Toothless. Midnight Girl."

Alina then realized what James was holding. A lighter. He smirked at her when he realized that it had caught her eye, miming clicking the trigger and setting his face ablaze. It dawned on her exactly what they planned on doing, to her at least. Her bike fell to the ground.

"Shit!" Dustin let his own bike fall and began to run away from the two boys. "RUN, MIKE! RUN, AL!"

And Alina bolted after Dustin, nimbly dodging roots as she ran through the woods, clutching her switchblade. Her breaths were heavy in her chest, panic swelling within her. Desperate tears dotted her eyes as she ran. She could hear the laboured breathing of the two bullies behind her, and one thought came to her mind as she did so.

This could be the day I die.

It was almost time to leave. Brandon was handed a gun, but Brenner promised he wouldn't have to use it. It was just for protection. But he hardly believed that. He wasn't stupid, he knew that his coworkers were not behind killing others to reach their goals. Which is why he had agreed to come along, at least to ensure that the kids would keep their lives.

Kids, he thought to himself. That's what they are. They didn't ask to be a part of this. All they were doing was trying to find their friend. Deep shame came through him. They all need to be protected, not just Alina. I can't let them murder another child, take another parent's pride and joy away from them. I have to help them. I have to warn them. But how?

The phone.

He made an excuse to his coworkers and headed to the payphone, dialling his own house number with trembling hands. He'd try it first, then he'd do the Wheelers. He'd found their number in a thick phone book.

There was no response from his own home, and his dread deepened. Alina must've been out with them again, trying to find Will. So he bit his lip and tried the Wheeler's, praying they'd pick up.

Their children's lives might depend on it.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: so alina is now finally officially part of the party! whew, only took twenty-six chapters, huh? and things are getting more interesting with brandon! it turns out that it's not so black and white with him! plus, the next two chapters were some of my favourites to write, so get ready for that!

'till next time!