I ended up staying the night at Mike's. After I explained everything about the encounter with the long armed monster, it was quite late and I was honestly too scared to bike home. They believed me, which was refreshing. We know that Will was hiding from this creature, we just don't know where. I expect somewhere in the forest, but I already know the cops have searched almost everywhere.

Right now, I sit next to Eleven on the couch while she plays with a toy, her cold feet pressing against my sweatpants. I've come to like the girl, especially after she scared Dustin by moving his hair with her mind. Speaking of which, the three boys stand together at the table, and I join them when Mike begins speaking.

"We'll tell our parents we have AV club after school," He says, looking around at us all, "That'll give us a few hours for operation Mirkwood."

I know that Steve won't care how late I am home, and he won't care what excuses I give him.

"You seriously think that the weirdo knows where Will is?" Lucas says and I shake my head at him.

"You gotta stop calling her that, man."

"Just trust me on this, okay?" Mike says, "Do you have the supplies?"

Lucas nods, "Yeah. Bonoculars, army knife, camoflouge bandana. And the wrist rocket."

"You're gonna take out the Demogorgon with a slingshot?" Dustin says, using the name of the figurine as the name for the monster.

"First of all," Lucas defends himself, "It's a wrist rocket. And second of all, the Demogorgon's not real, it's made up. But if there is something out there, I'm gonna shoot it in the eye-" Lucas whips the yellow rubber string at Dustin and me, making us flinch, "—and blind it."

"There is something out there." I insist, "And I didn't see any eyes on it, so good luck with that, man."

Lucas shakes his head at me, and I sigh along with Mike.

"Dustin, what did you get?" He asks the curly headed kid, who pulls out his backpack. He dumps the contents onto the table, and I instantly stare at him in disbelief.

"Okay, we got bazoukas, nutty bars, smarties, pringles, yellow wafers, apple, bananas, and trailmix." Dustin grins at us and I groan.

"Seriously?"

"We need energy for our travels, for stamina," Dustin says, "Besides, why do we even need weapons anyways, we have her."

He gestures to El and Lucas protests.

"She opened one door! And tugged on a rug!"

"With her mind!" Dustin retorts, and I laugh. "Are you kidding me? That's insane! Imagine all the other cool stuff she could do. Like-"

I watch as Dustin grabs a model Star Wars spaceship from under a blanket, "-I bet, she could make this fly."

He stands in front of El, who holds a blank face, and shows her the ship, "Okay, concentrate."

I roll my eyes as he drops the thing and it clatters to the floor.

"Okay. One more time." Dustin picks up the ship and I shake my head with Lucas. "Okay. Use your powers, okay?"

I almost laugh at Eleven's expression when she lets the thing go crashing to the ground again, not even glancing at it.

"Numbskull." I mutter under my breath and Mike runs over to grab the ship.

"She's not a dog!" He exclaims, picking the toy off the floor. I hear the basement door open and everyone turns to the sound.

"Boys, time for school!" Mike's mom shouts. We all grab our bags, and I bite my lip.

"Mike, your mom doesn't know about me sleeping over." I gesture to my face, "And I don't think she'd be very happy with your choice of friend, so I'm just gonna wait out front."

Mike nods, "Yeah okay, door's right there."

He points to the obvious, but I nod anyways, grabbing my backpack and rushing out the door. The cold air hits me hard, but I make my way around to the front of my house, where my bike awaits. The front door flies open, and Dustin's toothless smile makes the corners of my mouth stretch up. I hop on my bike as Lucas closes the door behind Mike, and we all ride into the street.

My hair flips around in my ponytail as my bike slows down, stopping when we reach the bike loops. I park mine in, dismounting and catching my breath. Lucas and I raced at the end, and I barely beat him, even with a sprained wrist. He's being a sore loser, so is currently kicking at the dirt and shooting me nasty glances. I don't blame him though, I'm not a particularly good sport myself, and would probably react the same way.

I spot my brother driving his car into the parking lot, and I swallow the lump in my throat. He makes immediate eye contact with me, his expression not changing as he parks his car. I know he'll take any excuse to be mad at me, even though he doesn't care if I sleepover somewhere.

"Uh, you guys go ahead," I say to the boys, my eyes remaining locked with Steve, "I'll see you later."

"Okay," Mike sees where my eyes lie, "Remember, 3:15 by the power lines."

"Yeah. See you then." I say as Steve gets out of his car and begins walking over to me. The boys leave, glancing back in worry but continuing to walk. I don't know what to expect from Steve today, but it can't be good.

As he gets closer, I raise my hands in front of me as momentary protection.

"Steve, I can explai--" I start, but the words are knocked from my mouth when he grabs my wrist, dragging me with him as we head to a less public area. I yelp in pain as he twists my wrist the wrong way.

"Steve." I try to pull my arm from his vice grip, "Let me explain. You were busy, I didn't wanna bike home alone. It was dark, Steve let go!"

So he let's go, scanning my face as he turns to look.

"You know what's funny?" His eyes continue to look over my face, "I can't find an inch of skin that's not already beaten. You got lucky."

I sigh in relief, but Steve suddenly fake lunges for me, making me stumble backwards in fright. I go to the ground, using my hands to break my fall and yelping when my twisted wrist makes contact with the ground. Steve chuckles and walks away, leaving me on the ground watching with wide eyes.

After a while I stand up, inspecting my tweaked wrist and sighing. I hear the bell ring and I instantly rush inside, prepared for another day of prying eyes.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

After school, I head outside into the parking lot, grabbing my bike and unlocking it. My eyes scan the students that roam the school grounds, and I pull my hat on tighter. My ears catch a snippet of a familiar voice, and I turn my head slightly, seeing my brother standing by a car with Tommy, Carol, and another girl I don't recognize. There's also another guy there, but I can't see his face. All I know is he looks uncomfortable, and I can guess why.

I know it's not smart, but I stalk over to him, his conversation reaching my ears quickly.

"We'd just love to take a look," My brother is talking about an unknown subject, but I'm still too far away too interfere, "You know, as connoisseurs of art."

I frown, still not understanding the topic as the other boy shakes his head slightly, "I don't know what you're talking about."

He goes to push through my jerk of a brother, but Tommy grabs his bag and swings him around. The guy reaches for his backpack, but Tommy throws it to Steve, who catches it and points at its owner.

"Please give me my bag." The guy says as my brother looks at him.

"Look man, he's totally trembling," Steve says, "He must really have something to hide."

I finally reach the group, still not understanding fully why my brother was being a jerk to this guy but not generally caring for the reason.

"Hey!" I shout and everyone stops what they're doing to turn to me. I stalk up to Steve and try to look intimidating.

"Stop being a jerk, Steve." I say and he laughs along with his friends.

He takes one hand and pushes me, but I stand my ground.

"Give him his bag back," I say, not really knowing how to help this guy out when it's four against one. "It's not yours."

Steve laughs again, "You're pathetic, Liz."

I fume, running at him and grabbing the bag. He shouts in protest and I turn to throw it to the guy, but Tommy grabs my wrist, pulling me back. I grit my teeth at the pain as he holds me tight and Steve takes the bag from my hands, smiling at me. I squirm in Tommy's arms, grinding my teeth together in frustration. He only holds me tighter, my arms pulled behind my back in an uncomfortable position.

Steve opens the bag, and pulls out what looks like a stack of photos.

"Ah, here we go." Steve says and begins flipping through them, a frown becoming his face.

"Oh, man." Steve flips through the photos and Tommy drags me over.

"Let me see." He grabs a few, while still holding onto me tightly and begins looking through them. Carol does too, and I catch a glimpse of what the fuss is about. The pictures are of my house, taken from the forest behind it. Steve and his friends standing by the pool. Steve and a girl in his bedroom. That girl taking off her shirt.

"Yeah that's not creepy at all." Carol glares at the guy, who defends himself.

"I was looking for my brother." Those words trigger my mind, and my eyes widen. He must be Will's older brother. Jonathan, I think his name is. Now I understand why he was in that forest, he was looking in the right place, after all.

"No this," Steve gestures to the photos, "This is called stalking."

"Cut him some slack, Steve." I say and my brother scoffs, "His little brother is lost. You're being an asshole."

"Hey careful, Liz," I know Steve is worse at school, because he wants to look cool in front of his friends. I have reason to be terrified, but as usual I don't know what is good for me, "You can't afford another slip up. You do remember what happened last time, don't you?"

I clench my jaw, glaring at my brother. I know he's right, and I try to quench my inner anger so I don't regret it later.

"Hey, what's going on?" A female voice joins the group, and I look up to see the girl from my brother's party, and from the pictures.

"Here's the starring lady." Tommy grins from behind me and I make eye contact with the girl, who looks shocked by my face and the situation at hand.

"What?" She asks, frowning.

"This creep was spying on us last night." Carol chews her gum and glances at the girl, who looks at Jonathan. "He's probably gonna save this one for later."

Carol hands her a photo, and I know exactly which one it is as she takes it. She stares in shock at Jonathan, and Steve shakes his head.

"You see you can tell that he knows it was wrong. But that's the thing about perverts," He tugs on the guy's collar and brushes his shoulder, holding a photo in his hand, "It's hardwired into them, they just can't help themselves."

He then rips the photo in half and I grit my teeth together to keep from yelling out. Tommy laughs as Steve continues to tear it to shreds.

"So," Steve turns, "You just have to take away his toy."

I'm glad when the girl speaks up, because I don't know how much longer I can last without protest.

"Steve." She practically whispers, and I wait for her to say more, but she doesn't, making me groan internally.

"No please, not the camera." Jonathan steps forward and Tommy lets go of me in reaction so he can go stop the guy. I immediately react, lunging for the bag and grabbing it with my good hand. Steve stares at me in shock, and somehow reacts even quicker than I. He grabs the back of my jacket and pulls me back roughly, sending me into the car. I groan and Steve takes the camera from the bag I hold, shaking his head.

"It's okay, Tommy." He walks forward with the camera and I clutch my bruised side.

"Here you go, man." Steve holds the camera in front of him, and I try to warn Jonathan because he's done this to me before, but I'm winded, and can only take short, wheezing breaths.

So I watch as he reaches for the camera, only for it to fall through his fingertips and to the ground. You can hear it break along with my sanity, and I try to catch my breath so I can get mad at Steve. I know it's for the best that I can't talk, but even I don't know when to stop putting myself in danger.

"Come on the game's about to start." Steve says and turns to go. I forget about catching my breath and run to him, pushing him forward. He goes stumbling and turns with anger, locking eyes with me. The girl watches with horror as he looks at me with fury, and he seems to react to her stare. He gives me the, 'you're gonna pay for that' look, but turns around nevertheless. I sigh in relief, and Tommy shoves me before going, sending me to the ground. Carol follows him, but the girl stays. She bends down to pick up one particular piece of photo and stares at it with realization.

"Nance!" Steve shouts, "Come on."

'Nance' picks up the photos around her and puts them in her bag, standing up. She runs after Steve, and he puts his arm around her as he walks.

"I'm sorry about him." I croak, and the boy looks away from Nancy to see me. He sighs, and I crawl over to help him pick up the scraps.

"Why are you apologizing?" He asks and I shrug.

"He's my brother, I feel partially responsible for his actions."

"Steve's your brother?" He asks and I nod.

"Unfortunately, yes."

Jonathan bites his lip, and scans my face, "Did he do that to you?"

I look away, picking up another piece and handing it to him, "Not all of it, no."

"I'm sorry." He whispers.

"I'm sorry about your camera," I say, "And about your brother. You know, I think you'll find him. I think he's still out there somewhere."

Jonathan nods, and smiles at me. I smile back, picking up his broken camera and giving it to him.

"I'm Jonathan." He says.

"Liz." I say and wink, "Just your average girl."

"I don't even know you and you're helping me," He says, "No ordinary girl would do that."

"I guess not." I sigh, "I wish they would though."

Jonathan puts the camera into his bag and runs a hand down his face. I realize then that I'm really late for the meeting, and I frown.

"I have to go." I say, "Again, I'm sorry about Steve. He's a jerk."

"It's okay," He says, but it sounds very not okay.

"Okay." I agree anyways, and wave to him, "Bye, Jonathan."

"Bye Liz," He says, "Thanks for helping me out."

I smile and turn, jogging back over to my bike and hopping on, quickly riding away. My watch reads 3:28, and I swear under my breath. I ride alongside the road and past the police station, of course making direct eye contact with Chief Hopper again.

It's like the universe wants me to be in trouble with the law, it seems to happen so much. I force myself to look away from the angry man, and continue speeding down the road, knowing that Eleven and the boys have already left without me.

AUTHOR'S NOTE~~~~~~

WOO!

That was a long chapter my friends. I probably should've split it in half, but let's face it I'm way too lazy. Same old same old really, comment, vote, suggestions, spelling, blah blah blah.

😉