THEY SIT IN THE WHEELERS' BASEMENT, Mike beside Eleven on the couch with his own copy of the 'Flea and the Acrobat' example Mr. Clarke showed them earlier that day.

Eleven watched as Mike jabs the pencil though the paper and her eyes go wide. "It would take a lot of energy to build a gate like this. But that's got to be what happened. Otherwise, who'd Will get there, right?" He says looking to Eleven with big hopeful eyes.

Eleven simply stares back in confusion and nods, "Right,".

"Michael, you're confusing her. Be more precise," Mariella comments, patting Mike's back softly from where she sat beside him. He turns his head to her and nods, mumbling out a "Yeah,", noticing how she pulls uncomfortably at her black dress which she wore to the funeral.

"What we want to know is, do you know where the gate is?" Lucas asks. Eleven shakes her head, no.

"Then how do you know about the Upside Down?" He asks another question, confused as Mike and Mariella look to her also confused. They hadn't noticed Dustin spinning in circles in the corner with his compass.

Eleven looks to her fingers and begins fumbling them before turning to gaze to Dustin. The rest follow her eyes and land of Dustin pacing back and fourth.

"Dustin, what are you doing? Dustin?" Mike asks, staring at him with furrowed brows and lips formed into a line. He pays no mind to Mike's calls. "Dustin!" He calls out again.

"Dustin!" Lucas shouts out, Mariella flinching at the sudden harshness of his voice and shaking her head with a small smile. She'd never get used to how loud these boys could be.

Dustin turns to them, snapped out of thought. "I... I need to see your compasses," He stammers out.

"What?" Mike asks.

"Your compasses. All of your compasses, right now!" Dustin states breathlessly, not bothering to explain his odd behaviour.

"But why?" Mariella says, leaning forward and looking him with a confused expression.

"Just give them to me!" Dustin shouts, moving his hands violently in the air in frustration.

"Alright! Okay," Mariella responds as they all begin to get up and scour the place for compasses.

They end up dropping seven compasses onto the table which the gamers manual resides and instantly Dustin sets to work, examining the face of each one, fumbling them around the table.

"What's exciting about this?" Mike asks, looking down at the table them to Dustin with confusion on his face.

"Well, they're all facing North, right?" Dustin responds, a smile on his face as he looks down at them.

"Yeah, so?" Lucas says, shrugging his shoulders — not understanding what the fuss was about.

"Well, that's not true North," Dustin answers as if it were obvious.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly what I just said. That's not true North," Dustin repeats. "Are you both seriously this dense?" He asks, sighing as he looks between the two confused expressions his friends wore and notices how Mariella stared down at a compass which she picked up.

"The sun rises in the Easy, and it sets in the West. Right? Which means, that's true North," Dustin explains, using his hands for elaboration.

"Wait... I see. Dustin! It's like Mr. Clarke said. A portal... It'd mess up the magnetic field!" Mariella comments, looking to Dustin with excitement.

"Yes! If we follow the compasses, it should lead us..." Dustin starts, trailing off at the end upon realization.

"To the gate!" Mariella jumps up, a smile on her face as she places the compass down onto the table.

"How do we know the aren't just broken?" Mike asks curiously causing Dustin and Mariella to look to him with blank expressions.

"Do you even understand how a compass works? Do you see a battery pack on this?" Dustin sighs, twirling a compass around Mike's face.

"No," He answers.

"No, you don't because it doesn't need one. Like Mars said, it relies on the Earth's magnetic North Pole," Dustin explains, placing the compass onto the table.

"So what's wrong with them?" Lucas asks.

"Well, that's what I couldn't figure out, them Mars reminded me of what Mr. Clarke said," Dustin says, looking to Mariella to explain.

"A compass' path can be changed by a magnet. If there's a force stronger than the Earth's pull, it would impact it," Mariella explains, pointing in the directions of North, South, East, and West.

"So, that's why, the compass can lead us to the gate!" Both Mariella and Dustin say while smiling widely with excitement.

"We just cracked the code," Mariella says, turning to Dustin and high-fiving him happily.

♧

They ventured off into the woods the same day, only an hour after they made the discovery about true North. The group all quickly going home to change out of their formal wear and into casual clothing.

They regrouped back at the Wheeler's and headed off. At this point, they walked on train tracks, Mariella with Lucas and Dustin as Mike chatted with Eleven.

"How much further?" Lucas asks, beginning to get tired of walking without knowing their destination.

"I don't know. These only tell direction, not distance," Dustin answers, exasperated while looking down at his compass. "You really need to learn more about compasses,".

Mariella sighs at their bickering and turns her head and sees Mike and Eleven talking about who-knows-what. She notices how Eleven wipes her nose continuously as they speak.

"I'm just saying. How do we know when we get to the gate?" Lucas says, a perfectly logical question, mind you.

"Uh, I think a portal to another dimension is gonna be pretty obvious!" Dustin bickers, looking to Lucas as if he were stupid.

Lucas sighs and follows Mariella's gaze. "Do you think she's acting weird?" He asks Dustin and Mariella.

"Who? Eleven?" Mariella asks back, turning her head to him and tilting it curiously.

"Who else? You? You're the only other girl and you're still and shiny as a pretty penny," Lucas replies sarcastically, nudging her arm with a laugh.

"You're asking if the weirdo is acting weird?" Dustin inquires.

"I mean, weirder than normal?" Lucas elaborates.

"Don't be mean, she's nice," Mariella sighs, dropping her compass into her pocket and tying her hair back with her scrunchie.

"I don't know, man. Who cares?" Dustin responds to Lucas, looking off into the forest.

"Hey, Mar! Come here for a sec?" Mike calls out, as Lucas and Dustin look to each other and smirk.

"Go off, Pretty Penny, your prince awaits," Lucas teases as he pushes her out between him and Dustin.

"Haha, so funny," She rolls her eyes as she walks over to Mike and Eleven.

"Yeah?" She asks, walking next to Mike and looking between them.

"Can you... I don't know, distract El? She's tired and... No one gets bored or tired when they're talking to you, alright?" Mike says, looking at Mariella with a shy smile as she raises a brow at him.

"No one gets bored around me?" Mariella questions, not noticing Eleven's sheepish smile as she looks between the two. "You always say, 'you're boring us to death, Mariella Sloane!'" She adds, playfully nudging him.

"That's only when you go on about algebra and essays, Mars!" Mike responds, putting his arms up defensively as Eleven tries to understand what he means by 'Algebra' or 'Essay'.

"What's... Al-Ge-Bra? Ess-Ay?" Eleven repeats, sounding the word out and wiping at her nose.

"Algebra is just a bunch of stupid numbers. An essay is a jumble of words on a topic an annoying teacher assigns," Mike answers, Mariella scrunching up her nose at it and sighing. Eleven tilting her head, unsatisfied with the answer and looking to Mariella.

"Algebra, is in fact, a bunch of numbers which are added up and an essay is basically research or thoughts put into a few blocks of words," Mariella explains simplistically, not wanting to confuse Eleven. She wanted her to not feel alienated or left out.

Eleven nodded, understanding but wishing that she knew what algebra and essays did. Or how they looked. She was so clueless to the world she had come to, and all she wanted was to understand. She had come to really like Mariella and her band of friends. She just wished that she didn't have to trick them like this.

Eleven wipes her nose once again with the sleeve of the windbreaker Mike gave her. Looking down at the dark red stain on it, she shook her head lightly and looked in between Mike and Mariella who smiled at one another, laughing.