"so, you can call her a 'traitor' all you want, but she's not a freak."

in the media is erin's final outfit for when eleven disappears and stuff
—

not knowing what else to do, mike, dustin, and erin all went back home. erin didn't eat that night, not having the appetite to. she just showered, took her pills, and went to sleep.

but in the morning, dustin was on her doorstep bright and early with a plan to get mike and lucas to apologize. she had agreed eagerly, and went and changed, grabbing the backpack from the day before to go over to mike's house. her and dustin, strangely the ones with the constantly bizarre thoughts, were going to save their party.

she stuffed her pills in her pocket and they left quickly.

the two kids now stood in the wheeler basement, across from the wheeler boy himself. eleven was still gone when they got there, surprising erin greatly. where was she then?

"i just.. i can't believe she didn't come back." mike sighs.

"she's gotta be close." dustin replies.

"she said it wasn't safe." mike says. "she just messed up the compasses because she wanted to protect us. she didn't betray us!"

"mike, calm down."

"i shouldn't have yelled at her." mike continues, ignoring dustin. "i never should've that."

"mike, this isn't your fault." dustin tells him.

"yeah, it's lucas'." he huffs out. erin rolls her eyes.

"it wasn't his fault either." dustin says. mike stops his pacing and stares at the ground.

"it wasn't his fault?" mike asks, walking towards dustin and erin.

"nope." erin replies.

"so you guys are saying he wasn't way out of line?" mike exclaims.

"totally, but so were you!" dustin says. "what?" mike asks.

"and so was eleven." dustin adds on.

"oh, give me a break!" mike yells. dustin exploded.

"no, mike, you give me a break!" he walks towards the boy. "all three of you were being a bunch of little assholes! erin and i were the only reasonable ones!" he says, throwing his hand back to gesture to the girl behind him. "but the bottom line is.. you pushed first."

erin nods, picking up her jacket and walking over to stand beside the curly haired boy.

"no! no way! i'm not shaking his hand!" mike shouts, shaking his head repeatedly.

"you're shaking his hand!" dustin tells him. "no, i'm not." mike says. erin rolls her eyes again.

"you really want will to come back with you two pissed at each other, michael?" mike winces yet again at erin using his actual full name. it was now obvious she's annoyed with him.

"this isn't a discussion," dustin agrees. "this is the rule of law. obey or be banished from the party. do you wanna be banished?"

mike sighs, "no." dustin nods. "good." he turns away, and picks up his jacket. erin shrugs hers on and looks at mike.

"where are we going?" mike asks. erin pulls her long hair out of her jacket collar once she was done putting it on.

"to lucas sinclair's house. where you'll work your shit out, you x-lax." she insults him and his eyebrows narrow at her.

"and then we're gonna find eleven." he tosses mike his backpack. erin picks up her large one, carefully situating the baseball bat slightly sticking out of it, and throwing it on her back.

they make it to lucas' house quickly, it not being that far from mike's. if you didn't count the long stretch of road where there were no houses, only buildings, he technically only lived twelve houses down from erin. she looks over her house as they pass it, noticing her bedroom light is on. damn, she must have forgotten to turn it off.

they dump their bikes next to the shrubs at the door, and dustin rings the doorbell. surprisingly, lucas is the one to open it. he swings the door open slowly, and then stops and stares at his three friends on his doorstep.

"what do you want?" he finally asks. when mike just stares at the ground, a stone cold expression on his face, dustin slaps him in the chest. he looks over at him before sighing, "i drew first blood, so.." he stuck out his hand.

lucas stares down at it in annoyance before dragging his eyes back up to mike.

instead of answering, he walks away, and they follow him into his living room, erin shutting the door behind her gently.

he starts pacing, thinking intently. he glances across to the three other kids a few times, but overall doesn't speak.

and then he stops and crosses his arms. "okay," he starts. "i'll shake." mike sighs, holding out his hand to him quickly. erin smiles happily. thank god.

"on one condition."

erin's head snaps to the boy. damn it, they were so close.

"we forget the weirdo and go straight to the gate." lucas states. mike yanks his hand back. "then the deal's off."

"fine!" lucas exclaims, throwing his hands up.

"fine!" mike yells back. erin sighs, running her hand down her face.

"no, no, no, not fine!" dustin interrupts. "guys, seriously?" he grasps mike's shoulder and turns him around to face him. "do you remember what happened on the bloodstone pass?"

mike glances over at the boy he's quarreling with. lucas is staring at dustin with an unamused expression. mike gives a shrug and dustin's mouth drops open. he huffs out. "we couldn't agree on what path to take, so we split up the party and those trolls took us out one by one. and it all went to shit. and we were all disabled!"

erin watches mike and lucas' reactions closely. "so we stick together, no matter what!" dustin continues.

"yeah, i agree." lucas says. "but this is the party, right here in this room." he says, standing up straight.

"el is one of us now."

"uh, no, she's not. not even close. never will be. she's a lair, a traitor-"

"she was just trying to keep us safe!" mike interrupts. "she didn't mean to hurt you. it was an accident!"

"an accident?" lucas repeats.

"all right, accident or not.." dustin starts. "admit it, it was a little awesome."

"awesome?" lucas yells. dustin nods. "yeah, she threw you in the air with her mind!"

"i could have been killed!" lucas screams.

"which is exactly why we need her. she's a weapon! do you seriously wanna fight the demogorgan with your wrist rocket?" mike asks. "that's like r2-d2 going to fight darth vader!"

erin's eyes widen. "you leave r2-d2 out of this!" she turns to lucas. "lucas, i know you're mad, but we need her, and we especially need you. you're apart of the party, you're our ranger! we'd be done for without you." she tells him sincerely. he stares between the three of them and then shakes his head.

"if you three wanna waste your time looking for the weirdo, go ahead, 'cause i'm not spending my time on her anymore. no way!" he licks his lips as erin's face drops. "i'm going to the gate. i'm going to find will." he tells them, and he pushes through mike and dustin.

"what's with you and that word?"

lucas stops and turns back around, looking at his only girl friend. "what?"

"what's with you and the word 'weirdo'? is it a bad thing to be a weirdo? we're all weird. so what?" lucas swallows.

"that's different, she's a freak." erin feels her heart snap.

"I'M a freak!" she shouts. she stares at him in defiance. she can't believe he would say that to her, especially knowing what she's going through. he had said it once before, but erin had let it go. not this time.

lucas stops and erin sees his lip start to tremble. "i'm technically a psycho, lucas!" she yells. "what, since i'm weird, you wanna send me to the nuthouse in kerley county, huh? i have to take medication that prevents me from doing 'psycho things'! do you not get that? so, you can call her a 'traitor' all you want, but she's not a freak."

lucas takes a deep breath in, not looking at the other two boys, before stomping out of the room. erin turns back to her two friends, and lets out a breath.

"lets get out of here, now."

-

erin lets out a groan of frustration as they pedal down the road. "it wasn't even about him disagreeing with us! i know he cares, but what he said was just plain mean!" erin rants. she shakes her head and sighs. "i can't believe he didn't come with us." she adds on.

"this is weird without lucas." dustin agrees.

"he should have shaken my hand." mike says.

"he's just jealous." from behind dustin, mike and erin share a look.

"what are you talking about?" mike asks him. dustin glances back and then sighs in annoyance, looking forward again. "sometimes, your total obliviousness just blows my mind."

erin scrunches her face up at his words and tucks her hair behind one ear.

"he's your best friend, right?" dustin asks. erin looks over at the black haired boy. mike looks down at the ground. "yeah.." he starts, and then seems to remember that erin and dustin were right beside him. "i mean, i don't know."

"it's fine, i get it." dustin says anyway. "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."

erin nods in agreement as mike spurts out, "that's not true."

"yes, it is. 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."

"he's not my best friend."

erin rolls her at eyes, because yes, he is, and pedals harder to keep up with their slightly longer legs.

dustin chuckles. "yeah, right."

"i mean, he is." mike sighs. "but so are you. and you." mike looks over at erin and they share a small smile. "and so is will."

"can't have more than one best friend." dustin says, shaking his head.

"says who?"

"says logic."

"well, i call bull on your logic, because you're my best friend, too."

dustin smiles at him and then chuckles, shaking his head. "okay." erin watches the exchange silently, smiling at her boys.

it was then that they suddenly noticed a commotion to their left. the trio stops and looks over. it's the grocery store, and multiple people are scattered everywhere. two policeman are talking to a man and a woman, with the woman moving her hands around her head wildly.

"whoa." mike says, nothing the glass all on the ground.

"you don't think.." dustin trails off and erin's eyebrows shoot up. eleven would have the capability to do that.

"definitely." mike pants.

"it couldn't have happened that long ago. she may still be around here." erin says, and they all three push off, turning towards the road that rides past the store.

the three kids don't notice one thing, the body standing at the edge of the woods watching them bike away.
—

i've had wannabe stuck in my head all day long