Chapter Five: I Liked You Better

Dad wasn't there when I got home, so I dismantled my carefully planned alibi and went to bed. Once again the nightmares came, but this time, Eleven was there too, standing in the rain in her big yellow t-shirt.

When I bolted awake at 5 AM, Dad still wasn't back, so I guessed that the search had not been successful and that they'd been out all night. I figured it wouldn't be. They're not gonna find him, no matter how many search parties they put together, because I have a very strong hunch that where he is now is not of this world. I just hope that he can hang on until I can find a way to get to him and hopefully find another hole for us to escape from.

Unfortunately now however, I still had to go to school as if that was even a fraction as important as what was going on in Hawkins.

I quickly got dressed, throwing on a pair of Jeans and a grey turtleneck, once again pulling my hair up into a ponytail as I rushed out the door to my truck.

When I got to school, I quickly found Barb and Nancy walking down the hallway going through Nancy's notecards for Kaminsky's Chem tests, which were notorious for being impossible.

"When Alpha particles go through gold foil, they become..." Barb read.

"Unoccupied space." I said, stepping up beside them. They both looked at me with wide eyes.

"Um excuse me! Calm down there Riles, you don't need to shout!" Barb exclaimed. I smiled. 

"You're talking!" Nancy said. "Does that mean today is a good day or..." I shook my head.

"Nope, I guess it just means...I'm tired of being afraid." I said. She smiled, sympathetically.

"Well I'm proud of you. Its nice to hear your voice again." 

"Thank you. Its nice to be using it. Hopefully after some time it will stop sounding like I swallowed a rose bush." I said, tightening my ponytail. "But anyway, you were studying?"

"Right, yes, 'A molecule that can-"

Barb's words were cut off by Steve Harrington running around in front of us, snatching the notecards out of  Barb's hand.

"Hey!" Tommy H. and Carol came up behind us, Tommy H. Sticking his finger in Barb's ear and tugging at my ponytail.

"I think you've studied enough, Nance."

"Steve-" She started.

"I'm telling you, you know, you got this. Don't worry." He said, "Now onto more important matters, my dad has left town on a conference and my mom's gone with him, 'cause you know, she doesn't trust him."

"Good call." Tommy said.

"So are you in?"

"In for what?" Nancy asked.

"No parents? Big house?" Carol prompted condescendingly.

"A party?"

"Ding, ding, ding!" I rolled my eyes.

"Its Tuesday." Nancy pointed out.

"Its Tuesday, oh my gosh!" Tommy and Carol laughed.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked, causing them all to look at me in shock.

"Would you look at that? Silent Sally speaks!" Tommy said, stepping up closer to me.

"You do realize a child has gone missing, right?" I continued, looking at Steve in the hopes that he was the rational one of the three. "Sounds kind of dangerous."

"Well don't worry about it blondie, you weren't invited." Tommy said, pulling my scrunchie out of my hair. I just looked at him, unphased by his stupidity.

"Come on." Steve said, snatching it out of his hand and giving it back to me. "We'll just be at the house, we aren't going anywhere else. It'll be low key, it'll just be us."

"Um..."

"Oh gosh. Look." Carol said in disgust. We all turned around to see Jonathan Byers posting something on the bulletin board.

"Oh gosh, that's depressing." Steve said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Should we say something?" Nancy asked.

"I don't think he speaks...kind of like some other people we know." Carol answered.

"How much you wanna bet he killed him?"

"Shut up." Steve said, shoving his chest. At least the 'King of Hawkins High' had some shred of decency in him. Nancy and I shared a look before making our way over to him.

"Hey." Nancy greeted as we stopped beside him.

"Oh, hey."

"We just...we wanted to say, you know um...we're sorry about everything." Nancy said. His eyes travelled over to where the others were watching us. "Everyone's thinking about you...it sucks."

"Yeah."

"A lot of people are looking for your brother." I spoke up, earning yet another shocked look. "I don't know where he is, but...knowing that there are people looking for you...it helps. It can make scary situations not so scary."

"You think so?" He asked, hope glimmering in his eyes. I nodded.

"I um...I know so." Nancy offered me a concerned look while Jonathan offered me a grateful one. The bell rang and people began moving to go to class.

"I have to go," Nancy said, more to me than to him, "Chemistry test."

"Yeah."

"Good luck."

"Thanks." He looked between both of us as we turned around, walking back towards the others.

"What'd you do, Hopper? You give him some pep talk of your experiences being a Milk Carton Kid?" Carol asked.

"What is wrong with you?" Steve asked, shooting me an apologetic look. I shrugged.

"That's exactly what I did." I said simply, smiling as her jaw dropped in surprise and walking past them to go to my next class.

"Attention Faculty and students, at 8:00 PM tonight there will be an assembly on the football field in support of Will Byers and his family. All are encouraged to attend. Volunteer sign-ups for search parties are still available in the office."

~~~

I sat down at my desk in Math class, pulling all of my stuff out when suddenly Steve sat down beside me. I shot him a questioning look.

"I'm sorry about Tommy and Carol." He said. I chuckled, looking down at my notebook. "What?"

"Nothing...I'm just realizing that I'm only now deserving of an apology for your friends' insensitivity because now you're dating my best friend." I pointed out.

"Wow you're...you're really making up for lost time, aren't you?" He asked, flashing me a charming smile. I didn't return it. "Ok...I get it, my apology doesn't seem geniuine-"

"Its not." I said, causing him to furrow his eyebrows.

"Who are you to say if my apology is genuine or not?" I shook my head.

"Don't worry about it." He scoffed, shaking his own head.

"Well, all motivations aside, I just wanted to say that you are invited to come tonight, if you want." I furrowed my eyebrows at him.

"Why would I want to come to a party now of all times?" I asked. "I wasn't kidding earlier Steve, we don't know who or what took Will Byers, and your house is out in the middle of nowhere. A bunch of teenagers, alone, in a big empty house in the woods when one kid is already missing seems like an invitation for us to go missing too."

"You should feel right at home then." He shot back. My jaw dropped. "I was just trying to be nice to one of Nancy's friends. Don't worry, I won't do it again."

"Yeah. You'll just have to find another way to get her into bed." He shook his head, standing up.

"You know, I think I liked you better when you didn't talk."

"I think I liked you better when you didn't talk to me." I shot back, turning my attention to the front of the room and glaring at the board, watching him leave from my peripheral vision. I rolled my eyes, letting my mind travel back to what was actually important, which was finding Will before that monster could do something to him. Steve 'The Hair' Harrington, his stupid friends, and his intentions with Nancy are the least of my worries right now.

~~~

I pulled up into the pick-up lane at the Middle School, honking as I saw Lucas and Dustin at the bike rack with their bikes. The wheeled them over and I rolled my window down.

"Get in, we'll get searching straight away." I said. They nodded, going to put their bikes in the bed of the truck. "Wait, where's Mike?"

"Don't know. We have to stop by his house first and ask him that." Lucas said, reaching into his backpack and handing me a walkie talkie. I gripped the steering wheel, my knuckles turning white as the fear that he had encountered a similar fate as Will Byers bubbled up in my stomach.

I parked a few blocks away and the boys went to the front door while I waited around the back. After a moment they let me in and led me back to Mike's room, where Eleven was sitting on his bed with a blanket over her lap. Dustin slowly pushed the door closed.

"Are you out of your mind?" Lucas asked.

"Just listen to me-" Mike started.

"You are out of your mind!"

"She knows about Will." My eyes widened and I looked at her.

"What do you mean she knows about Will?" Dustin questioned. Mike walked over, taking a picture of the four of them off of his desk and holding it up for us to see.

"She pointed at him, at his picture. She knew he was missing. I could tell."

"You could tell?" I walked over, sitting beside her on the bed as the boys began arguing.

"You've seen that boy before?" I asked. She nodded, and I could tell by the look in her eyes that wasn't all. I swallowed. "Have...have you seen me before? Before yesterday?"

She nodded again. I put a hand over my mouth. This girl wasn't talking about the woods, she had seen the other place. She had seen me in the other place, which must mean that Will is there.

"And she said bad people were after her." Mike said, averting my attention back to her. "I think maybe these bad people are the same ones that took Will."

"People?" I asked. "Actual people, human people?"

"What other kind of people have you seen?" Dustin asked. I ignored him though, because I wasn't talking to him. I was talking to Eleven.

"People? For sure people?" I asked again. She nodded so I shook my head. "No. The people that took her aren't what took Will."

"How do you know?!" Lucas asked. I sighed.

"Its kind of a long story, but I think I know where he is. Its just a matter of figuring out how to get there." He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Well, if that's the case, then what do we need her for?" Lucas asked. "We can take her to your mom and then Riley can help us find Will."

"No! Eleven said telling any adult would put us in danger."

"What kind of danger?" Dustin questioned.

"Her name is Eleven?"

"El for short."

"Mike!" They turned their attention back to me. "What kind of danger?"

"Danger, danger." He said. He made his fingers into a gun, pointing it at me, the pressing it to Dustin's forehead, before turning it on Lucas, who slapped his hand away.

"No, No, No! We're going back to plan A! We're telling your mom!" 

"Lucas, come on just calm down-" I started, standing up as he walked over to the door and pulled it open. Just as quickly as he did, it slammed shut again, ratting the figurines on Mike's desk. My eyes widened as he pulled it open again, only to have it slam shut even harder, knocking them over. We all four watched as the lock turned by itself and turned around to see Eleven with blood streaming from her nose.

"No." She said, looking at us with hard eyes.