CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE LIE

ATHENA CHECKED HER clock for the third time in five minutes, bouncing her knee and quickly tapping her pencil against her desk as she internally count down the number of minutes left in her tutoring session.

She couldn't wait to get Steve out of her house as soon as humanly possible so she could finally start looking for whatever she had stumbled across the other day.

"Stop doing that, you're distracting me." Steve curtly snapped as he continued to write his response to the practice question he was currently answering on his page.

Athena's eyebrows condescendingly raised as she stared at him, eyes deliberately full of taunting malice. "Oh, it pisses you off?"

"Yeah. It pisses me off." Steve deadpanned as he met her calculating state with an equally thoughtless one of his own. "Just like everything else about you."

"Oh, okay, that's good to know." Athena kept her provoking stare on his face as she just intensified her vindictive tapping, earning herself an irked glare from Steve.

"God, you're so annoying." Steve irritatedly snapped as he shook his head, not caring about how immature he sounded.

"And you're just an angel." Athena sarcastically remarked. "I hate you more than you hate me, so you can try to insult me all you want, but it won't work."

"Right because you were so tough after I called you out for being way too sensitive the other day." Steve's words were laced with a faint sense of mockery, as he knew exactly which pressure points to push in order to effectively infuriate her.

Athena shot him the coldest glare she had ever worn in response. "If it weren't for Nancy, you would be long gone by now."

Steve paused, furrowing his eyebrows at the girl as he just blinked. "Did you just threaten to murder me?"

Athena just unenthusiastically raised her eyebrows in return. "Out of everything I have said to you, that is what stands out? One of the several death threats I have made to you? Really?"

Steve just scoffed, practically rolling his eyes in intolerance of her spiteful attitude, and he just shifted his attention back to his work, internally deciding that it wasn't worth arguing with her.

"Twenty minutes left before you leave me the hell alone." Athena jeeringly added, blowing out a long breath as she went back to her page.

"That's the only thing we agree on, twenty minutes can't come fast enough." Steve deadpanned, to which Athena just shot him a disgruntled look once more. "Oh, and by the way, that whole thing at Nancy's earlier, what the hell were you swinging a frying pan around for?"

"That is absolutely none of your business." Athena defensively crossed her arms over her chest.

"Uh, it is if you're doing it around Nancy." Steve abruptly declared.

Athena just huffed out a contemptuously snide breath as she shook her head in disapproval. "Could you just stop acting like you own her for one second?"

"I'm acting like I 'own her'?" Steve furrowed his eyebrows as he placed the pencil he was previously using on her desk. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Athena just scornfully glared at him as she elaborated on her point. "You act like anyone that you don't like will somehow corrupt her if they even try to talk to her. I mean, just look at what happened with Jonathan, you freaked out and broke the guy's camera. No apology or anything either, by the way, that's super nice of you."

"He took pictures of Nancy when she was half naked, Pierce, that's a pretty fucked up thing to do." Steve harshly deadpanned, words incredibly earnest as he shot daggers her way. "I get that you're somehow cool with being friends with that freak, but you honestly think what he did was okay?"

"No, obviously it wasn't okay, Harrington," Athena's eyebrows furrowed deeper as she just steered the conversation back to her original position, "But that didn't give you an excuse to break the guy's prized possession. And you're completely missing the point of what I just said, you need to back off a little."

"Oh, I need to back off?" Steve defensively raised his eyebrows in pure disbelief, and simultaneously offence, at her words. "You're the one starting all this shit, Nance and I are fine."

"Fine, I'm sure you are." Athena just threw her hands to the sides in exasperation as she just decided to drop the topic, the girl realising that Steve wasn't letting any of her words sink in—though why would he take advice from Athena, anyway? "Just don't hurt Nancy, she doesn't deserve to get her heart broken by you, of all people."

Steve just scoffed, choosing not to entertain the girl's statements even further, and failing to acknowledge the fact that Athena was probably the best person to go to if he actually wanted to know how Nancy was feeling, considering the closeness of the pair.

Consequently, Steve, fully self-assured in his behaviour and relationship, just decided to shift his focus back to his work, wordlessly signifying that he didn't want to talk anymore, much to Athena's immense relief.

•

Mabel blew out a completely exhausted breath at all of the information she had been forced to process about alternate universe's, the 'flea and the acrobat' story, and the necessity for creating a massive amount of energy—more than humans are currently capable of creating—in order to travel 'upside down' and form a gate in order to access it. Theoretically, of course.

Dustin, in that time, had figured out that the direction of the compasses had been changed by a magnet, particularly because there was the presence of a more powerful magnetic field, in which the needle would deflect to that power, and thus, disrupt the electromagnetic field.

In short, if they followed the compasses North, they would be led to the gate that connects their world to the Upside Down.

It was safe to say that Mabel's brain hurt.

As if reading her mind, Lucas suddenly blew out an impatient breath from his position walking beside her, pulling the girl out of her inconsistent thoughts as he turned to look at Dustin. "How much further?"

"I don't know." Dustin cluelessly answered as he casted his eyes down to his compass briefly. "These only tell direction, not distance. You really need to learn more about compasses."

"Yeah, well, maybe if we didn't go on some stupid spontaneous mission for something that probably doesn't even exist, he'd have more time to." Mabel irritatedly huffed out as she crossed her arms over her chest defensively, focus on the ground below her.

"I'm just saying..." Lucas quickly cut in before Dustin could argue back. "How do we know when we get to the gate?"

"Uh, I think a portal to another dimension is gonna be pretty obvious!" Dustin quipped, mimicking a purposely dumbfounded tone to emphasise his point.

Lucas just sighed, not bothering to argue back as he just turned around to glance at Eleven and Mike, to which the girl just wiped her nose with her jacket's sleeve—well, Mike's jacket that she was currently borrowing.

"Do you guys think she's acting weird?" Lucas suddenly spoke up, flickering his gaze between Mabel and Dustin as he awaited their responses.

Dustin just stared at Lucas blankly. "You're asking if the weirdo is acting weird?"

Mabel shot the boy a frown. "Hey, that's mean."

"I mean, weirder than normal." Lucas rephrased.

"I don't know, who cares?" Dustin cluelessly shook his head, not seeing the point to the boy's words.

"She's probably just really tired from using her super cool powers a lot." Mabel lightly shrugged, not thinking too much about the girl's behaviour.

•

"You never said what I was saying, Jonathan." Nancy lightheartedly started, catching Jonathan and Athena's attention as the trio walked further into the woods, the gun and Nancy's backpack in her hands, the bat and Jonathan's backpack in his, and the frying pan in Athena's grasp.

"What?" Jonathan confusedly inquired, not understanding the callback.

"Yesterday," Nancy specified, "You said I was saying something, and that's why you took my picture."

Athena nodded in understanding, remembering the previous conversation, and simultaneously getting more and more interested in Jonathan's elaboration.

"Oh, uh..." Jonathan seemed to catch her drift, and dismissively glanced down at the ground as the trio continued to make their way through the clearing, each of them not paying attention to the light crunching of the leaves, which littered the dirt beneath them, that they were stepping on. "I don't know. I guess...I saw this girl, you know, trying to be someone else. But for that moment...it was like you were alone, or you thought you were, and, you know, you could just be yourself."

A brief pause steadily settled between the three as Athena's eyebrows tugged upwards, the girl remaining quiet as her curious eyes flickered between the two beside her.

"That is such bullshit." Nancy suddenly huffed out a humourless, and simultaneously offended, scoff as her eyebrows furrowed deeply.

Jonathan momentarily haltered in his movements at her answer, not expecting her reaction in the slightest. "What?"

Nancy shot him a defensive glare. "I am not trying to be someone else."

Athena huffed out an uncomfortable chuckle as she tried to intervene. "Okay, guys, let's just calm down before-"

Nancy continued her string of hardened words as she unintentionally cut off Athena, keeping her hardened glare on Jonathan. "Just because I'm dating Steve and you don't like him-"

"You know what?" Jonathan unwaveringly interrupted her mid-sentence, not wanting to start an argument over something so trivial as he slightly sped up his pace. "Forget it. I just thought it was a good picture."

"He's actually a good guy!" Nancy called as she caught up to Jonathan, who was now walking even faster, Athena keeping up with him.

"Okay." Jonathan replied, unconvinced entirely as he glanced at Athena knowingly, trying to catch her eyes—which he'd know would mirror the expression—in an effort to back him up.

As much as Athena wanted to blurt out strings of curses attached to Steve Harrington's name, her desire to resolve the argument between her two friends and maintain the group's, previously peaceful, equilibrium was stronger. "Okay, enough, you've both made your points, let's all just move on and focus on the bigger picture."

"Thena, he is a good guy. I know you don't see that either, but the camera thing..." Nancy protested, acknowledging Athena's efforts, though still desperately trying to get the two to change their set-in-stone minds about her boyfriend. "He's not like that at all. He was just being protective."

Athena fought the strong urge to roll her eyes at the assertion she had heard one million times from both Nancy and Ruth before, and the girl had to remind herself that biting her tongue for this current debate was the best move in order to keep her friendships with Nancy and Jonathan intact, despite her constant, and overwhelming, desire to kick Steve when he was down.

"Yeah, that's one word for it." Jonathan scoffed in disagreement at Nancy's words, the trio still quickly walking further into the woods as they continued to bicker.

"Oh, and I guess what you did was okay?" Nancy sardonically fired back.

"No, I- I never said that." Jonathan scoffed, eyebrows creasing inwards as he refused to meet Nancy's grating stare.

Nancy continued to try and reinforce her position, and, to her best hope, attempt to shift Athena and Jonathan's minds about Steve. "He had every right to be pissed-"

"Okay, alright, does that mean I have to like him?!" Jonathan suddenly exclaimed, stopping the group in their tracks as he then gestured to his friend, "That Athena has to like him?!"

"No." Nancy stuttered out, not expecting the words as she just shifted her eyes between the pair, Athena sighing as she just looked away, not wanting to get dragged into an argument that didn't directly involve her.

"Listen, don't take it so personally, okay?" Jonathan curtly snapped as he turned to walk away. "I don't like most people. He's in the vast majority."

Nancy scoffed, offended, as she looked away momentarily, and it was almost as if the pair forgot that Athena was currently witnessing them pointlessly argue. "You know, I was actually starting to think that you were okay."

"Yeah?" Jonathan condescendingly questioned, eyes abruptly flickering to her before settling in front of him again.

"Yeah." Nancy hardened her tone. "Yeah, I was thinking, 'Jonathan Byers, maybe he's not the pretentious creep everyone says he is'."

"Nance." Athena cut in, furrowing her eyebrows at the girl as she started to get frustrated at this current debate, which was starting to enter truly disparaging territory.

"Well, I was just starting to think you were okay," Jonathan advanced towards Nancy, ignoring Athena as he continued his discourteous string of insults, not realising that his following verbal jab was also a dig at Athena, "I was thinking, 'Nancy Wheeler, she's not just another suburban girl who thinks she's rebelling by doing exactly what every other suburban girl does, until that phase passes and they marry some boring, one-time jock who now works sales, and they live out a perfectly boring little life at the end of a cul-de-sac. Exactly like their parents, who they thought were so depressing, but now, hey, they get it'."

With that, the boy hurried past the two in a furious rush, still fuming from the entirety of the argument, while Nancy just remained in her place, wholeheartedly offended, Athena choosing not to take the statement seriously—as she knew he was just spitting out the words in a moment of anger—and just shaking her head as she went to follow after him, focusing on the mission at hand.

•

The kids eventually made it to an abandoned junkyard, a few run down and beat up cars, accompanied by a large, decaying bus, characterising the space.

"Oh no." Dustin dejectedly sighed, stopping the party in their tracks.

"'Oh no'? What's 'oh no'?" Lucas repeated in a deadpanned tone, awaiting Dustin's explanation with hardened eyes.

Dustin twisted around to face the group, perplexed eyes dancing between each member. "We're headed back home."

"We're what?" Mabel's eyebrows flew upward as her head slightly jolted forward in bewilderment. "You're telling me we walked all that way just to go back home?!"

"Are you sure?" Lucas clarified, eyebrows furrowing at Dustin.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Dustin affirmed as he gestured to the sky, "Setting sun, right there. We looped right back around."

"And you're just realising this now?!" Lucas' voice raised an octave out of utter frustration.

Dustin frowned, taken aback as he looked at Lucas. "Why is this all on me?"

"Because you're the compass genius!" Lucas threw his hands to the sides as his irritation began to gradually increase.

"What do yours say?" Dustin pointed at the rest of the group's compasses.

The party all casted their eyes down to their compasses and shrugged as they collectively voiced, "North."

"Makes no damn sense." Dustin murmured, perplexedly furrowing his eyebrows as Mike huffed out an exasperated sigh.

"Maybe the gate moved?" Mike suggested.

"No, I don't think it's the gate," Dustin disagreed with a shake of his head, "I think it's something else screwing with the compasses."

"Maybe it's something around home, I mean, why else would our compasses lead us here?" Mabel furrowed her eyebrows in wonderment.

"No, it has to be, like, a super magnet." Dustin countered.

Lucas just suspiciously narrowed his eyes at Eleven as he pointed directly at her. "It's not a magnet. She's been acting weirder than normal. If she can slam doors with her mind, she can definitely screw up a compass."

"Why would she do that?" Mike's eyebrows creased inwards in perplexity at the boy.

"Because she's trying to sabotage our mission." Lucas hardened his tone. "Because she's a traitor!"

Lucas began to slowly approach Eleven, whose face was filled with complete sorrow.

"Lucas, what are you doing?" Mabel uncomfortably inquired, a mixture of conflicting feelings bubbling up in her stomach as a result of the current conflict. Curiosity for how the debate was about to go down, concern for both Lucas and Eleven, a slight twinge of mistrust, along with an abundance of other confusing ideas and thoughts now flurrying around her brain.

Lucas just ignored her as his suspicious eyes narrowed at Eleven, and his, already furious, tone sharpened with determination. "You did it, didn't you? You don't want us to reach the gate. You don't want us to find Will."

"Lucas, come on, seriously," Mike desperately pleaded, "Just leave her alone!"

"Admit it." Lucas deadpanned, glare still firmly on Eleven.

"No." Eleven softly muttered, shaking her head in refusal.

"Admit it!" Lucas suddenly yelled, causing Eleven to flinch back at the booming sound, the boy then securely grabbing her wrist to check her arm.

Unfortunately for Eleven, there was a fresh blood stain on her sleeve.

"Fresh blood." Lucas scoffed in betrayal, the boy dropping her arm out of pure bitterness. "I knew it."

"Lucas, come on!" Mike resolutely shouted, again, trying to prevent Lucas from making the situation worse.

This caused Lucas to finally face Mike. "I saw her wiping her nose on the tracks! She was using her powers!"

"Bull, that's old blood!" Mike shouted, shifting the group's attention to Eleven as he continued to hold out unbridled hope for her alliance still lying with them. "Right, El?"

When Eleven refused to speak, regretful tears now freely slipping past her eyes, Mike's eyebrows slightly furrowed, and he repeated the previous question, "Right, El?"

"It's...not..." Eleven let her voice trail off as she swallowed nervously, not wanting to reveal too much information, yet still keep her friends shielded. "It's not safe."

•

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