CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
PARTY MEMBERS

The next day, Dustin had asked the group to meet him in the AV room at lunch. Well, at least that's what Max told Kimmy he had done while in Mr Clarke's class seeing as the brunette had fallen asleep.

Kimmy was exhausted after her sleepover with Max. The two had been up all night eating candy and talking about anything that came to the girls minds.

Kimmy was stood with tired eyes, yawning repetitively as she did her best to look interested as Dustin slammed his homemade trapper he had shown her the day before on the table in the middle of the room.

She turned to look to Aaron who stood next to her looking unimpressed as he looked to the curly haired boy who wore a smile on his face with a confused glance.

"Dustin," Aaron sighed, sounding as if he would rather be eating his lunch. "What is that?"

Dustin's grin widened, leaning over to open his trap excitedly. When nothing could be seen, the group of thirteen year olds leaned over to look into the trap, a slimy slug looking creature wriggling around.

"His name is D'Artagnan." Dustin beamed before reaching his hands in the box and pulling the creature out, much to Kimmy's surprise.

"Dustin!" Aaron gasped in disgust, taking a step back as he physically cringed in repulse. "Stop it, it's not funny!"

Aaron was ignored by the boy as well as the rest of the group as the all leaned closer to see what exactly it was Dustin had found.

"Cute, right?" Dustin murmured with a smile.

Aaron scoffed loudly at Dustin's words from behind the group.

"D'Artagnan?" Mike asked in a mix of both confused and bored tone, ignoring Aaron's dramatics."

"Dart for short." Dustin smiled with a nod, holding his hands out so the group could get a better look. "Found him in my trash-"

"You found him in your trash?" Max asked sounding surprised, her face scrunching up in confusion.

"Yeah," Dustin laughed, looking down at the creature in his hands looking almost loving, like the way most people would look at a puppy or something - not a large slug. "Foraging for food."

Kimmy snorted at this, brining her hand to her mouth as she tried to control her silent laughs.

"You wanna hold him?" Dustin asked Max, holding the slug out to her.

"No, no." Max dismissed instantly, taking a step back as her eyes widened. "Definitely not-"

"He doesn't bite." Dustin laughed, as if Max was ridiculous for not wanting to hold his pet slug in her hands.

"I don't want to-" Max cut herself off as Dustin dropped the slug in her hands, the girls face screwing up in disgust as she almost gagged. "Oh, god, he's slimy!"

Max handed the slug to Kimmy abruptly, Kimmy feeling sick as she felt it move around in her hands. "This is disgusting! Dustin you can't have a slug as a pet!"

Kimmy then threw the slug at Lucas who was stood next to her, the boy instantly throwing the slug into Will's hands. "He's like a loving booger."

The slug was in Will's hands for about five seconds before it was thrown in Mike's hands. However Mike wasn't disgusted like the others had been, instead he lifted it closer to his face to get a look at it curiously.

"What is he?" Mike asked Dustin sounding puzzled.

"My question exactly." Dustin laughed, reaching out to take the creature from Mike's hands and placing it on the table.

Dustin then reached down and pulled a pile of books from his school bag, dropping them onto the table loudly.

"At first, I thought it was some type of pollywog." Dustin explained, Kimmy's head tilting in confusion as she looked to her friend.

"Pollywog?" She repeated utterly perplexed.

"It's another word for tadpole." Dustin answered quickly, going to move on before halting and looking to Kimmy again. "A tadpole is the larval stage of a toad-"

"Yeah, I know what a tadpole is." Kimmy interrupted, rolling her eyes at his unnecessary explanation.

"Alright, then you know that most tadpoles are aquatic, right?" Dustin nodded, motioning down to the top book on the large pile as he opened it on a page he had bookmarked. "Well, Dart, he isn't. He doesn't need water."

"Yeah, but aren't there non-aquatic  pollywogs?" Lucas asked sounding confused.

"Terrestrial pollywogs?" Dustin asked Lucas before answering his own question before the boy could even process what the curly haired boy had said. "Yep. Two to be exact. Indirana semipalmata and the Adenomera andreae. Ones from India and ones from South America, so how did one end up in my trash?"

It seemed that Dustin had put a lot of thought into what this slug could be, and knowing Dustin, Kimmy knew that he was probably telling the group this because he already had his own theories - not because he wanted to know what the group thought.

"Maybe some scientists brought it here and it escaped?" Max spoke up, although she didn't seem particularly convinced.

"Do you guys see that?" Mike asked abruptly, nodding towards Dustin's 'pet'. "Looks like something is moving inside of it."

Kimmy leaned closer to see what the boy was talking about as did the rest of the party, Mike moving the lamp on the table in order to shine it down onto the slug so the group could see, however this resulted in the slug turning its head upwards and hissing at the light.

Kimmy jumped back, moving to stand right back away from the animal where Aaron was standing looking incredibly stressed.

The slug then began moving away much faster than Kimmy imagined it would be able to, although Dustin caught it as it almost went off the table.

"Dustin, kill it!" Aaron panicked, placing his hands over his face due to frustration. "Please get rid of it Dustin, it's disgusting-"

"Dart isn't disgusting and I'm not going to kill him!" Dustin retorted sounding appalled at Aaron's suggestion, turning to talk to the animal in his hand. "It's okay, he didn't mean it-"

Aaron sent Kimmy a wide eyed stare, as if to tell her he was frustrated with the curly haired boy.

"And there's another thing." Dustin announced as he looked away from the animal and towards his friends instead. "Reptiles, they're cold-blooded. Ectothermic, right? They love heat, the sun. Dart hates it - it hurts him."

Lucas held up his hands, as if to tell Dustin to be quiet so he could clarify what the boy was talking about. "So, if he's not a polliwog or a reptile-"

"Then I've discovered a new species." Dustin announced proudly, puffing his chest out as he grinned.

It looked as if he wanted to say something else, but the school bell cut him off - indicating the end of lunch.

Aaron was the first out of the room, most likely due to fear he'd be late to his next class. Whereas Kimmy was the last out, not caring at all if she was late to her next class.

"We need to show him to Mr Clarke." Lucas announced from next to Aaron as the group walked together.

"No!" Dustin protested instantly. "What if he steals my discovery?"

"He's not gonna steal your discovery." Aaron shut the boy down with a blunt voice before continuing in a joking demeanour. "Or if he does oh well, at least I'll never have to look at that beast again-"

Dustin cut Aaron off with a dramatic gasp, pushing past Kimmy and Max to reach the boy who had offended him.

"You know what Aaron," Dustin began, sounding furious. "When I get rich and famous you will come crawling back to me and guess what you will get absolutely none of my fame or money-"

"As long as you have that thing, I'd rather be as far away from your apparent fame and money as possible." Aaron scoffed, rolling his eyes.

Kimmy turned to Max, rolling her own eyes at the boys dramatics. Max laughed in return shaking her head.

...

Sure enough, after the school bell went that day instead of rushing home the group went rushing to Mr Clarke's classroom.

Well, Mike and Will had yet to show, but Kimmy presumed that they were just running late.

"This is the reason I was late for class." Dustin beamed at his teacher, slamming his home made trap onto the table.

"Pretty neat." The man nodded, pointing to the taped doors. "These doors function?"

"Well, yeah, obviously." Dustin murmured, rolling his eyes at the man before the excitement seeped in again and he was grinning. "But it's not about the trap, it's what's inside."

The man looked to him puzzled, by this point Dustin was hardly able to contain his excitement for the reveal of Dart.

"Now, this very well may change your perception of the world." Dustin sighed dramatically, looking the man dead in the eye.

Mr Clarke shrugged, clearly not taking Dustin seriously. "Consider my interest piqued."

"Alright," Dustin sighed, suddenly turning serious. "First, let's just clarify that... this is my discovery, not yours."

"Dustin, Jesus!" Lucas snapped, growing frustrated with Dustin's attempt at dramatic effect. "Just show him!"

Dustin scoffed. "Im just trying to clarify-"

"Dustin!" Aaron rolled his eyes, motioning to the man. "Show him."

"Okay, okay, fine." Dustin smiled, and Kimmy was sure she had never seen him smile so wide before.

The door to the classroom opened then, Mike rushing through it with Will following close behind.

"Stop!" Mike yelled, rushing to grab the trap. "I'm sorry, Mr Clarke. It was just a stupid prank."

"What are you doing?" Dustin asked, sounding appalled.

"I told him to stop." Mike continued, now walking backwards out of the classroom. "We need to go."

"Mike!" Dustin yelled, chasing after him when the boy ran down the hall, the remaining four exchanging glances before following after Dustin.

Mike lead the group to the AV room, however he had slammed the door in Kimmy and Max's faces, claiming that it was for party members only and that the two girls were not.

Kimmy was incredibly saddened by this, frowning deeply as her face dropped. She had thought she was part of the party, no matter how much it was clear Mike wasn't a fan of her - but apparently she wasn't.

After being friends with the group for nearly a year she'd just expected to be allowed into the party - especially after what had happened with Eleven last year. She was obviously wrong.

Kimmy began to doubt herself, knowing that if she wasn't a member of the party, she wasn't part of the friend group.

Placing her ear to the door, she tried to listen to what the boys were saying, however she was taken by surprise to hear an argument had broken out, not Dustin rambling about his discovery.

"Mike, Kimmy's out here." Dustin protested, "I want her to see this too."

Mike sighed, "I get it but-"

"No you don't." Aaron snapped, his tone of voice taking Kimmy by surprise. "She's our friend, she's part of the party and you need to learn to accept it, end of. I'm not going to stop hanging around Kimmy just because you don't want us to, just because El left-"

"El didn't leave, she was taken!" Mike snapped, seemingly having being pushed too far.

Kimmy took her ear away from the door at that, suddenly feeling as if she were intruding on a private conversation.

Max began to bang loudly on the door furiously, evidently enraged with the Wheeler boy. "Hello? Hello? Guys, come on. Can we come in?"

"No!" Mike yelled from the other side of the door, shutting the girl up.

"This is so stupid!" Max exclaimed, sliding down the wall to sit next to Kimmy.

"I know," Kimmy mumbled, sighing as she looked to her friend. Kimmy was beginning to suspect that maybe she'd have to distance herself from the party, especially if her presence was causing such arguments amongst the group. "I've been putting up with it for almost a year-"

"Why?" Max asked, still sounding angry with the group of boys. "You shouldn't have to put up with it, Kimmy! If they have been doing this to you for that long then they really are pieces of shit - they are treating you like utter garbage!

"I didn't have any friends before you moved." Kimmy shrugged, realising how pathetic she must have sounded. "I didn't know what else to do-"

"Well you know what?" Max retorted, very pissed off at the group of boys for Kimmy. "We are done with them! We are friends now, we have each other and that's enough. We don't need people like this who are going to leave us out like this!"

Kimmy bit the inside of her cheek, feeling guilty about even the idea of ditching the group.

However, a voice in the back of her voice was screaming at her telling her that Max was right. She had let herself be a doormat the entire year, allowed herself to be left out and ignored way more often than not all so she could have people to sit with at lunch.

"I think it's just Mike who doesn't like us." Kimmy blurted, clasping her hands together nervously. "I don't really know about Will, but Aaron, Dustin and Lucas-"

"If they really liked us and wanted us around they wouldn't let Mike treat us like this." Max scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Especially to you - you've been friends with them for the whole year and you're still getting bother from him? It's a joke."

"I think it's just because of El-" Kimmy had blurted the words without meaning to, her eyes widening as she slapped a hand over her mouth.

"El?" Max repeated, looking to Kimmy curiously. "Who's El?"

Kimmy sighed, looking to Max nervously and refused to meet her eyes. "She was this girl who was in the party last year. But she... moved away, and Mike's not been the same since."

"What did he like her or something?" Max asked quietly, genuinely interested in what had happened.

"I don't know." Kimmy mumbled, pausing for a moment to think about it. "I think maybe he did. He was so upset when she left, he still is-"

"That doesn't give him an excuse to treat us like crap." Max reminded, shrugging her shoulders as she picked up her backpack and began rummaging through it.

"I know it doesn't." Kimmy answered calmly. "But I can't help but feel bad for him. I think he's still struggling to come to terms with it-"

"Well guess what?" Max said as she shifted towards the door again, messing with a paper clip in the lock. "Mike needs to realise that you don't pull down other people just because you have your own issues. She moved away? Fine. It's not your fault she moved away, he needs to get a grip."

Kimmy swallowed nervously, panic suddenly flooding her as she watched Max. "Don't tell anyone I told you about her, we aren't supposed to talk about it."

Max glanced at her for a second, scrunching her face up in confusion before turning back to the locked door. "Okay, I won't say anything. Promise-"

Max cut herself off with a laugh as she got the door open, Kimmy's eyes widening as she went to high five the girl before she backtracked.

The slug suddenly rushed past the two girls, the five boys chasing after it, pushing the two girls down in the process as they all fell to the floor.

The group rushed to stand, Kimmy and Max wearing matching expressions of concern on their faces.

"What was that?" Max asked Mike breathlessly, clearly panicking.

"That was Dart!" Mike retorted sharply, much to Kimmy's surprise. If it was Dart, then the animal had grown almost two times in size in just a few hours.

"What?" Max gasped, most likely thinking the same as Kimmy.

"You let him escape!" He snapped at the two girls, looking furious.

"Well if you had just let us in to start with, then this wouldn't have happened?" Kimmy snapped back at him, suddenly furious that the two girls were suddenly getting the blame when they weren't even in the room. "Would it?"

"Hey, it's not my fault he got out!" Mike argued back at her, looking just as angry at the accusation. "If you weren't allowed in, you should have taken it as a hint - we didn't want you in there!"

"Why did you attack him?" Dustin pulled Mike's shoulder and turned him away from Kimmy before she could say anything in return.

Mike pushed past him, the group splitting up in all directions in search for the animal.

"Don't hurt him, Mike!" Kimmy heard Dustin yell as she ran down an opposite hall. "Don't you dare!"

Mike was following Max - which Kimmy guessed would not end well. Lucas was with Will, Dustin was himself and Kimmy was with Aaron.

Kimmy nervously turned to Aaron as the two began looking around for the creature, Aaron looking less than pleased that he was having to partake in looking for the slug he hated.

Kimmy reminded her about what Max had told her before, about being walked over.

"I don't think I'll be hanging out with the party much anymore." Kimmy blurted quietly, causing Aaron to snap around to face her. "But, um... do you think maybe we could still hang out. Do you think you'd be allowed to?"

"Why wouldn't you be hanging around with the party anymore?" Aaron asked instantly, ignoring her second part of the question.

"I just... I don't really think I'm wanted in the party to be honest." Kimmy admitted, clearly embarrassed, panicking as she saw the flash of hurt on Aaron's face. "I don't mean you. But... it's difficult when I'm the only one who gets left out all the time, I feel like Mike doesn't like me so that means none of you do. I don't mean to make you feel uncomfortable or make you think I don't like being your friend - I want to stay your friend but I think it would be easier for everyone if it just went back to before. Before I joined the party-"

"No, we do want to be your friend." Aaron shook his head, clearly panicking as he spoke. "I get that Mike is kind of an ass to you sometimes but he's just struggling with Eleven-"

"I know and I get that he's hurt, but it's not my fault that Eleven isn't here anymore and I think he holds some sort of resentment to me over it even through I didn't do anything." Kimmy interrupted, trying to show her point of view to Aaron. "But I don't think any of you get that you are my only friends - well, Max now too. But imagine if whenever you spent time with the only friends you had it felt like they didn't want you there-"

"Don't let Mike stop you hanging out with the party." Aaron practically pleaded, looking terrified that he'd lose her as friend. "I do talk to Mike about how he speaks to you, I promise! But he doesn't listen to me about anything! I don't want you to leave the party, you're my friend, seriously."

Kimmy bit the inside of her cheek, not knowing what to say as she watched him very evidently panic.

"And I tried to get him to let you and Max into the AV room just now, but he'd locked the door. And then totally flipped on me for it!" Aaron rushed his words out, stumbling over them as he searched his brain on what to say. "I like having you in the party. At least consider it? I know Dustin and Lucas would be bummed."

Kimmy sighed, feeling guilty for upsetting him, but then again, she always felt guilty for things she couldn't control. "I just- I just can't hang around and be treated like shit while waiting for Mike to get over El. I get he misses her, we all do, but I don't go around taking it out on other people, it's not fair."

Aaron frowned. "I know. It is shit of him, but I've tried to get through to him about it but he never wants to talk about it, or hear me out. Any mention of anything relating to El and he shuts off-"

"Let's go!" Mike's voice came from behind the two, startling them both as they jumped. "Oh- Will isn't with you?"

"No," Aaron shook his head, sounding hesitant. "I thought he was with you?"

There was a beat of silence, Mike thinking for a long moment before snapping his head up as his face fell.

"Shit!" Mike gasped, already moving away from the two.

Five minutes later, and the entire party was out on the field, Mrs Byers with them also, much to Kimmy's confusion but she knew better than to question it.

"Will, can you hear me?" Mrs Byers rushed foreword to grasp his shoulders, shaking him slightly. "Will, wake up!"

The boy made no sort of movement, his eyes rolled to the back of his head as he stood still in place.

Kimmy was extremely concerned for the boy, watching from behind Mrs Byers as the older woman spiralled into panic.

"Will!" The woman cried, her voice shaking as she spoke. "Will, please wake up! It's mom-"

Mrs Byers was cut off when Will jolted awake, gasping for breath as he fell into his mothers arms.

The teenagers made to move foreword to check the boy was okay. But his mother had asked them for some space, Mike staying behind with his best friend as the rest awkwardly left.

"Aaron?" Kimmy called after him nervously as the boy went to leave. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable earlier."

Kimmy almost went to apologise and ask the boy to forget about it all, but she didn't. She didn't appreciate how she was treated by Aaron's friend and how whatever Mike said went. She was sick of being treated like shit, she supposed today was the final push.

Aaron hesitated, looking to her unsurely before he spoke up. "I want you to stay in the party but I don't want you to have to always feel like trash over something you can't control."

Kimmy looked to Aaron surprised, not having expected him to have been so straight forward with her.

"I want to be your friend and I'm sure the others do too, but I don't want you to feel left out all the time." Aaron spoke quietly. "I'm not lying to you I like being your friend, so does Dustin and Lucas. Mike just needs to... work on his communication skills a bit more."

"I think he needs to work through a lot more than his communication skills." Kimmy mumbled with an eye roll.

"Listen, I know he sometimes makes you feel..." Aaron trailed off, looking for an appropriate word. "Like shit. And I hate that, and he knows that. But I also hate that he's going through a shit time. I mean, I get why you wouldn't like him, but he's been one of my best friends for years, and I can tell he's struggling, I just don't know what to do about it."

Kimmy knew what he meant, he didn't know how to help him.

"He's not usually this short with people." Aaron sighed. "Or rude, or tired, I just... I don't know."

Kimmy knew exactly what he meant, she frowned, she'd dealt with similar struggles for as long as she could remember. And she knew it portrayed itself in weird ways. But just because she felt sympathy for him didn't mean she'd let him walk all over her, not anymore.

Kimmy nodded, sending him a wobbly smile. "I'm sorry if I upset you earlier, Aaron. I didn't mean you- you've been a great friend to me. I just... I just got sick of Mike pushing me out."

...

I'm going to stop saying that every chapter is the last one for the holidays because it never is because I get bored and end up writing more😭

anyway hope you enjoy this chapter lol

- AJ :)