THE VERY NEXT DAY, Mariella enters the class with a sniffly nose and scratchy voice from the cold weather from last nights endeavours. She was bundled up in a grey jumper and a dark brown fleece lined jean jacket.

Walking to her spot beside Dustin and Lucas, she listened to their conversation.

"Yeah, but obviously it was stupid or he'd be here" Lucas says as she walks over and seats herself in herself next to Dustin.

"What happened?" She asks, rubbing her eyes which drooped from her usual lack of sleep.

"Mike's not here and he's never this late. His stupid plan failed," Dustin explains while she organizes her pencil case.

"If his mom found out a girl spent the night-" Dustin starts.

"He's in deep shit right now!" Lucas finishes.

"Maybe he just woke up late?" Mariella suggests while pulling out her binder and setting it on the desk.

"Hey, what if she slept naked?" Dustin asks while hitting both Lucas and Mariella's arms and raising his eyebrows.

"You're ridiculous!" She groans exasperatedly, putting her head on her desk.

"Oh, my God. She didn't." Lucas says, annoyed.

"If Mrs. Wheeler tells my parents..."
Dustin starts while putting his hand to his face.

"We'll all be in deep shit. I don't wanna be grounded again," Mariella finishes while rubbing her eyes again.

"No way, Mike would never rat us out," Lucas reassures the two.

"I'm not sure," Mariella says while combing through her hair with her fingers.

"All that matters is, after school, the freak will be back in the loony bin and we can focus on what really matters, finding Will." Lucas adds using his hands to emphasize.

"Yeah, finding Will." Mariella agrees, nodding her head.

♧

That day, Mike never showed up to
school. The party of three were left wondering what type of trouble Mike had gotten himself into by letting that odd girl stay the night.

"What if he was questioned by the government?" Dustin asks in a panic, eyes wide.

"Pfft! Yeah, right!" Mariella scoffs at the idiocy of his comment.

"It's possible! She's pretty kooky, what if-!" Lucas defends before Mariella cuts them off.

"Think logically, please! I'm suffocating in ignorance!" Mariella would say while putting a hand to her forehead and falling back dramatically.

♧

They stood in front of the Wheeler's residence, walking up to the door and stopping. Dustin and Lucas exchange glances as Mariella inhales.

"What if..." Dustin starts, pulling his hat off of his head and messing up his hair with his hand and putting it back on.

"Shut up," Mariella cuts him off, annoyed with the amounts of 'what if' questions she had been faced with that day.

"Mars, let's think logically," Lucas buds in, putting his hand on her arm.

"Think logically? Nothing about this is logical," Mariella rolls her eyes and lifts her hand, knocking on the door three times.

They could here a shuffle behind the door before it creaks open, revealing Mike.

"Oh! Thank gosh! You're here," Mike exhales, grabbing Mariella's hand and pulling her into the house. The boys follow.

"Huh? What? What's up?" Mariella asks, confused at Mike's shortness of breath and urgency.

"Upstairs," He points up with his finger, looking at the group before he begins running up the stairs.

"Mike! Wait-!" Mariella shouts to him and runs up the stairs after him, Lucas close behind. Dustin rolling his eyes and walking after then. They follow him into his bedroom, where the odd girl was in.
♧

"Are you out of your mind?" lucas enunciates, staring at Mike with squinted eyes and confusion. Mariella stood beside Dustin, shaking her head in disappointment at the boys bickering.

"Just listen to me!" Mike quickly interjects, eyes wide and voice frantic.

"You are out of you mind!" lucas finalizes while shaking his hands.

Sighing, Dustin and Mariella look at each other as if to say, 'this is trouble'. Slowly, Mariella walks deeper into the room and notices a picture of the party on Mike's dresser. Another photo catches her eye, a photo of her and Mike alone. At the Summer County Fair, she held a cloud of cotton candy and Mike was laughing at the wide eyed happiness on her face. Jonathan took it. This made her smile.

"She knows about Will!" Mike says, snapping her out of her daze and she looks at him in confusion.

"What do you mean she knows about Will?" Dustin buds in, concerned, speaking for Mariella before she could even process the words.

"H-How in the hell would she know about Will? She-she can barely talk!" Mariella snaps, her worry getting the best of her and forgetting her manners. Forgetting that the strange girl was in the room with them. She puts a hand over her mouth and sighs before sitting down on the floor in defeat.

Mike walks behind Dustin, picking up a photo of Will, Lucas, Dustin, and himself from the 1981 Science Fair, then presents it to them. "She pointed at him. She knew he was missing, I️ can tell!" Mike states, fully convinced as Lucas and Dustin stare at him in disbelief. Mariella crawling over and getting up to take a look before huffing.

"You could tell?" Lucas laughs harshly, Dustin squinting his eyes at Mike.

"There's a difference between knowing and having proof and making up what you want to know, Mikey," Mariella sighs, pushing her hair back and grabbing a light brown hair tie with a small pink bow on it off Mike's dresser to tie it. She knew it was hers. She left her things at the Wheelers way too much. She practically lived there.

"Just think about it!" Mike says, talking fast as if he had to convince them.
"Do you really think it was a coincidence that we found her on Mirkwood, the same place where Will disappeared?" Mike asks, scuffling around his head for proof. Anything he had to convince them.

"That it weird.." Dustin mumbles, slowly becoming convinced, eyes widening.

"And! She said bad people were after her. I think these bad people are the same ones that took Will. I think she knows what happened to him." Mike adds, desperate to get Lucas and Mariella to believe him. It was one thing for Dustin to believe him but you needed the Party to be on the same page for a mission to be successful.

"You'd be a terrible lawyer, Michael. And you! You'd be a terrible prosecutor! This is absolutely ridiculous!" Mariella groans, pacing around Lucas before pointing at Dustin when speaking of prosecution.

"Exactly, Mars! They're gullible! If she knows Will, why doesn't she tell us?" Lucas asks condescendingly, patting Mariella on the back. He then turns to Eleven and walks over to her.

"Do you know where he is? Do you know where Will is!" His' voice raises at the repetition, grabbing at the clueless girls shoulders.

"Hey! I'm just as a skeptic as you are but don't frighten the poor girl, Lu!" Mariella interjects, pushing Lucas away from the girl gently and looking to Mike and Dustin for support. She gently sits down next to the girl and wraps an arm around her shyly, mumbling 'it's okay, don't worry,'. Despite her worry and skeptical thoughts she still felt for this poor lost girl.

"You're scaring her!" Mike pipes in to Lucas, in hopes that if he doesn't listen to Mariella, maybe he would to him.

"She should be scared!" Lucas turns to mike while pointing at the girl.

"If you know where he is, tell us!" Lucas snaps, emphasizing his words and throwing his hands up wildly. She looks at him, ready to burst into tears.

"Lucas! Stop it!" Mariella shouts out, shaking her head and patting the girls back, comfortingly. The girl responds to it and shrinks into her.

"This is nuts! Ella's making friends with a crazy person and — you and Dustin are convinced that she knows Will! We have to take her to your Mom!" Lucas' body shakes now as he turns to Mike.

"Shut up, Lucas!" Dustin speaks up, hitting his arm in annoyance.

"No! Eleven said telling any adult would put us in danger," Mike explains, frantically.

"What kind of danger?" Dustin speaks up, worry laced in with his voice. It wavers.

"Her name is Eleven?" Lucas scoffs, disbelief and he begins to think this could not get anymore crazier.

"El for short," Mike answers, shrugging.

"Mike! What kind of danger?" Dustin raises his voice, upset that he was being ignored considering the question was pretty serious.

"Danger danger," Mike raises his hand as if they were a gun and points it to Dustin's forehead, whose face is now filled with worry. Then at Mariella who sat on his bed, eyes wide with shock. Then Lucas. Who slaps it down.

"No, no, no! We're going back to plan A! We're telling your mom!" Lucas argued, walking towards going to the door and beginning to open it. Then, when it halfway, it's ripped from his grasp and slammed shut cause the entire room to shake and everyone in the room to jump. Except Eleven who had pushed away from Mariella.

Mariella stood up, curious and stood next to Mike head tilted. Lucas tries the door again. The same thing happens, things fall over to the ground and the door locks.

Then, as if it clicked, the group of kids turn to the girl who sat on the bed. Their wide with fear.

"No." She says, standing up as blood drips from her nose.