"Okay, remember, if anyone sees us, look sad," Mike reminded us as we walked through the back doors of the middle school. The halls were empty, not a person in sight, which was good. We didn't come up with a plan for what we were going to say when someone saw El, we couldn't expectly tell them that she was a girl we found in the woods and that her name is Eleven.

"Attention students, there will be an assembly to honor Will Byers in the gymnasium now," The PA speaker said, making me jump out of my skin. My heart was pounding in my chest, I wasn't a very good actor so the thoughts of acting made me jumpy. I looked over at Lucas to see he had a smirk on his face, and I just rolled my eyes in response.

We continued down the hallway until we reached the AV room door. Mike grabbed the door knob and tried to open it, but to no one's surprise, it was locked.

"Do not go to fourth period."

Mike continued to try the knob, but it wasn't going to open.

"It's locked," Mike said, frustration filling him.

"No shit sherlock," I mumbled, crossing my arms over my chest.

Lucas let out a loud sigh and said, "Let me try."

Lucas then mimicked what Mike did only seconds before. Even as Lucas tried to turn the knob, the door didn't move.

I rolled my eyes, "Did you not just listen to what I just said?"

Lucas made a face at me but didn't respond.

"Hey, do you think you can open it?" Dustin asked the supernatural girl, his eyes wide, "With your powers?"

"Boys?" A voice said, making everyone jump. We all turned to see Mr. Clarke standing in front of us, his face written with confusion and sadness. The boys seemed to relax a little when they saw the science teacher, but my body stayed tense, anxiety building in me.

"Hey," Lucas said, trying to act normal as he leaned against the AV club door.

Mr. Clarke eyed all of us before saying, "Assembly's about to start."

"We know," Mike said, his voice and face written with sadness, "We're just, you know..."

"Upset," Lucas interrupted, quickly dropping his smile.

"Yeah, definitely upset," Dustin said flatly.

"We need some time alone," Mike tells Mr. Clarke, his face on point.

"Time to mourn," I said, a little too loudly.

"Time to cry," Dustin said flatly, his face expressionless.

Mr. Clarke nodded his head before saying, "Yeah, listen, I get it. I do. I know how hard this is, but let's just be there for Will, huh?"

We all nodded to the science teacher, trying our best to look upset. But some annoyance filled me, the assembly was going to be filled with teachers and students that didn't care about Will. People that made fun of him, bullied him, and teachers that ignored him. The school's intentions were good, but it should be filled with people that really cared about him.

"And then..." Mr. Clarke continued, as he took out a pair of keys and threw them to Mike, "the Heartkit is all yours for the rest of the day. What do you say?"

"Thank you, Mr. Clarke," I said sweetly, trying my best to act normal.

"No problem, Amanda," Mr. Clarke responded with a smile, "I'm glad to see that you're getting into science again."

I gave him a bright smile back, but I knew that the smile wasn't very convincing.

But Mr. Clarke didn't seem to notice because his eyes immediately moved over to El, who was standing beside me. "I don't think we've met. What's your name?"

We all turned to look at her as she said, "Elev--"

"Eleanor," Mike interrupted, jumping in quickly.

"She's our..." I said, trying to think on my feet.

"Cousin!"

"Second Cousin!"

"Second cousin twice removed," Dustin said randomly.

"She's here for Will's funeral," I finished with a nervous smile.

Mr. Clarke turned to look at El and said, "Ah, well, welcome to Hawkins Middle, Eleanor. I wish you were here under better circumstances."

El turned to look at Mike before mumbling, "Thank you."

Mr. Clarke made a face and asked, "Uh, where are you from exactly?"

Our eyes darted to her again and she muttered, "Bad place--"

"Sweden," Dustin blurted.

"We have a lot of Swedish family," Mike follows.

"She hates it there," I added.

"Cold!"

"Subzero."

Mr. Clarke still had a confused look on his face so I added, "She barely knows any English."

"Shall we?" Mr. Clarke asked after a couple seconds in silence.

"Yep!" Lucas said

We all turned and started towards the gymnasium with all of us wearing an awkward smile on our faces.

~~~

"At times like these... it is important that we come together as a community. We come--" The principal speeches but get interrupted by Dustin throwing open the doors.

The whole room turned to look at us, and I could feel my cheeks become red with some embarrassment. I scanned the audience until my eyes fell on Stacey and Melissa, who were sitting close to the top of the bleachers. That's when I released where the embarrassment was coming from, it was from walking in with the nerds, the most bullied kids in school.

"Abort," Dustin mumbled as he turned around, trying to leave the room. But Lucas grabbed his shoulders and turned him around, focusing him to start walking towards the bleachers.

"We come together to heal..." The principal continued as we walked over to the bleachers. I separated from the group then, started up to where my friends were sitting. They watched me the whole way up, the expressions on their faces were unreadable but I knew as soon as I sat down I would get interrogated by detective Stacey. That would be the worst tv show in history.

Melissa moved over so I could sit between her and Stacey, and I caught Melissa rolling her eyes at me. It made me blink twice, why in hell would Melissa be upset with me? She never cared before that I was with my brother and his friends.

"Oh, hey Mandy," Stacey said, a smile finally coming onto her face, "It's nice of you to finally show up."

"Yeah, wouldn't miss this assembly if they paid me," I said sourly to her.

There was silence between us for a moment, both of us pretending to be listening to assembly. But in reality, I was thinking of comebacks, knowing that Stacey was going to interrogate and attack. It was something she always did so she could find one of my flaws. Once she figured out that one flaw she could use it against me.

The girl is determined to become the most popular, but the only way she could do that is to get past me, and that was never going to happen.

"So, what were you doing with the freaks," Stacey asked, jumping right to the point.

I rolled my eyes, "I live with one of them, remember? They were hanging out at my house, and my mom drove us all to school because we wanted to be here for the assembly."

Even though I wasn't a good actor, I was good at lying. Two always said that they were close to the same, but I didn't believe that. Acting is about becoming a character and lying is about using your brain to come up with a believable excuse. The two weren't the same.

"You sure?" Stacey asked, her face stammering somewhat, "You sure you weren't mourning with them?"

"Why would I be?" I say, "I haven't talked to Will in years, he hasn't been my friend in years. Why would I be mourning with them?"

Stacey knew immediately that she lost, so she let out a huff and turned back towards the assumably

"Will Byers' death is an unimaginable tragedy," The principal continued, "Will was an exceptional student and a wonderful friend to all of us. It's impossible to express the hole his loss will leave on the community. I'd like to introduce to you Sandy Sloane. She's a local grief counselor from the church over in Jonesboro. But before she comes up..."

I heard a chuckle in front of me, and I looked down to see that Troy and James were sitting almost right in front of me. I was surprised that I hadn't noticed, I should have felt his annoying, stupid spirit in the air.

"What?" Troy laughed, trying to be as quiet as possible.

That's when I tapped him on the shoulder, not able to stop myself. Anger was building up inside me, but I immediately regretted letting my emotions get the best of me.

Troy turned around, and a big smile creeped onto his smug face.

"What do you want, gorgeous?" Troy asked, trying to flirt, "Do you want my number because I can give you more than my number."

Troy and James high-fived each other and I just rolled my eyes.

"One, your gross and I would never ask for your number," I snapped at him, "And two, can you keep your mouth shut. The sound of your voice is annoying me."

Troy laughed again, "Awww is little Mandy trying to listen to the principal. Do you need a counselor to deal with your grief?"

"No, I just don't want to listen to your annoying ass voice anymore," I snapped at him.

"I think she's trying to listen, Troy," James whispered to his friend."

Troy laughed again and said, "Are you seriously trying to listen to this? Who is interested in this? This is stupid. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Oh, he was such a great student. Oh, he's going to leave a hole in the community. I wonder how the other freaks are handling it, probably too much pain to handle. God, I can't believe anyone would miss that gay freak."

As the boys started laughing, the two girls beside me started laughing. I turned to look at Melissa and gave her a hard look, I was surprised to see my science loving best friend making fun of someone who died.

Melissa returned the look, "What's your damage?"

"You are seriously agreeing with these two dickheads?" I asked her.

Troy and James made a face at me but then just started laughing, probably not understanding the definition of a dickhead.

"I know that Will was a freak," I snapped at them, "But he's dead. He drowned a couple days ago and you're just laughing about it."

"Yeah cause it funny," Stacey said.

"It's funny that someone died?"

"Look who's getting uptight," Troy commented, "I'm sorry to tell you but Will's gay."

I rolled my eyes at him, "Will is a freak, I agree with you on that. But to make fun of someone who's dead and it makes fun of the people who are mourning him, that just makes you a monster."

"There just some harmless jokes."

"Harmless, ok," I rambled, the anger coming over me, "Tell me the next time someone dies, I make fun of them for you, see how you feel."

"You are such a hot-headed bitch," Troy mumbled before turning back to the principal.

The bell rang after about five minutes, and I sprung to my feet immediately, wanting to get away from my "friends" as soon as humanly possible.

I walked ahead of Troy and the others, not wanting to see their faces. I was planning on meeting Mike and the others at the AV room door, so that the annoying popular kids wouldn't see me with them. Even though I was mad at them at the moment, I still needed to sit with them at lunch tomorrow.

But I came to a stop once I heard my brother's voice.

"Hey. Hey. Hey, Troy!" Mike said. I turned around to see Mike and the others standing behind Troy and James. Mike's face was written with seriousness and he looked rather upset, "You... you think this is funny?"

"What'd you say, Wheeler?"

"I saw you guys laughing over there," Mike stammered, "And I think that's a really messed up thing to do."

"What is it with you Wheeler's today," Troy mumbled.

"Didn't you listen to the counselor, Wheeler?" James said, "Grief shows itself in funny ways."

Almost all the students were making a circle around them, waiting impatiently for something to happen. But I was thinking of the opposite, I wanted nothing to happen between the boys because I didn't want to see Mike get hurt.

Troy let out a sigh, "Besides, what's there to be sad about, anyway? Will's in fairyland now, right? Flying around with all other little fairies. All happy and gay!"

I rolled my eyes as Tory started imitating a fairy. Once he was done, he and James started walking away, smug looks on their faces.

But that's when Mike walked up to Troy, and pushed him, making him fall onto the hard gym floor. The whole room gasped, probably surprised that Mike the nerd got up the confidence to push Troy. Panic filled me, and I started praying to myself that Troy wasn't going to punch my brother.

Troy turned back to look at my twin, and said, "You're dead, Wheeler. Dead!"

He got to his feet and charged at my brother.

But then he stopped.

Then he started to wet himself.

"Dude, Troy peed himself!"

The whole room immediately filled with laughter, I even let out a couple of loud laughs. But there was a huge smile on my face, karma finally got him.

But then I turned to look at El, whose nose was bleeding. She whipped the blood away with the back of her hand, and I knew immediately that she was the reason that this happened. I rethought my thoughts from before.

Karma didn't get Troy, El did.

~~~

We walked into the dark AV room, the only light just above the desk, the light lit up the thing the boys called the Heartkit. My mouth fell open when I saw it because it was amazing, I knew what it was just from looking at it, and I could help feeling a little jealous that boys get to use the advanced radio.

Mike locked the door then walked over to the Heartkit, pushing buttons and clicking things. El took a seat in the red plastic chair that sat in front of the radio, her eyes traveling over the device.

"What now?" I asked, not liking the silence that fell between us.

"She'll find him," Mike answers, "Right, El?"

El nodded lightly, and started taking deep breaths, her face written with nervousness.

Mike turned the dial, static noises filling the room. That's when El closed her eyes, her face calming almost immediately.

We watched her for a couple seconds, nothing really changing. But Mike's face was written with happiness and he said, "She's doing it. She's finding him."

"This is crazy," Dustin mumbled, his eyes widening with excitement again.

"Calm down," Lucas tells Dustin, "She just closed her eyes."

That's when the lights went out.

"Holy..." Lucas mumbled.

"Shit..." I finished, not really meaning too.

Suddenly, loud noises started coming from the radio. Loud smashing noises, and with every boom, it got louder.

"What is that?" Dustin asked.

There was another crash, this one making me jump.

"Mom?"

My stomach dropped, my heart started pounding. The voice that overlapped over the loud noises was Will's.

Will was alive.

"No way!" Lucas mumbled.

"Mom... Please... Mom! Mom!"

"Will!" I yelled, hoping he could hear us.

"Will, it's us! Are you there?"

"Can you hear us? We're here!"

"Hello? Mom?" Will's voice sobbed. The pain in his throat made my heart hurt.

"Why can't he hear us?" Lucas asked, his voice filled with panic

"I don't know!"

"Mom! Mom... Mom, it's coming! It's like home, but it's so dark... It's so dark and empty. And it's cold! Mom? Mom!

The words he said reminded me of a riddle, like home but it's dark.

All my doubt from before disappeared.

This was real.

Suddenly, the Heartkit bursted into flames and El opened her eyes again. The light was back on again and the fire alarm immediately started going off. But luckily Dustin was on top of things, grabbing a fire extinguisher off the wall.

We moved away so he could put the fire out, and it went out quicker than I thought it would.

"El, are you okay?" Mike asked, turning the chair so she could look at him. She looked exhausted, and she had thick red blood falling from her nose. "Can you move?"

El didn't respond, she just continued to breath in and out, her breath heavy.

"Just help her up," I say to them, "We gotta get out of here."

Mike and Lucas looked at each other then grabbed El out of the chair, both of them taking one of her airs.

Will's word flooded my head, and it was hard to believe that we had to go to his funeral tomorrow.