Chapter Text
Don't get him wrong; Will didn't trust strangers. But if a horrible, deformed, tall creature was chasing after you, you too would find less scary the idea of following cheap copies of Strawberry Shortcake and Allison Reynolds through the woods. Even if they appeared out of nowhere and you had never seen them before. Even if they yelled at each other in Spanish things you didn't understand but knew had to be profanities. Even if they looked like they did NOT think this through.
"¡Si no vamos a lo de los Byers nos llevan al nene! Tenemos que seguir el plan." If we go to the Byers', Will would get taken, dude! We have to stick to the plan.
"¡Amiga, no hay tal plan!" Girl, there's no plan at all!
The boy could only look between the two teenagers, confused as to what they were saying. The taller girl —whom he had been calling 'Ice cream' internally because of the three colors that her hair displayed imitating a Neapolitan one— turned to look at him as her friend —'Deadpool' as he called her because of the printed logo on her t-shirt that said so— kept running in the direction of his home.
They weren't supposed to know where he lived, right?
There was no time to ponder anything, the creature was approaching and he could hear it. He was sure they could as well, considering their panicked expressions and the way they would momentarily quiet down whenever The Thing's clicky sounds echoed among the trees. Dry leaves and branches, results of the autumn season, crunched under their feet in a hardly inconspicuous fashion. The only thing Will could do the whole way to his house was shake uncontrollably.
He was still shaking when closing hurriedly the front door and, ignoring entirely the fact that he had just let inside two strangers, running to find his mother and brother.
They weren't anywhere.
Helpless, he picked up the phone quickly but all he heard were the same noises The Thing made.
"Hey, listen." Ice cream crouched in front of him with patience and placed her hands over his arms, rubbing them with care. She spoke calmly, in a level voice with a conviction almost defiant by her expression. "We're here. He's not taking you this time."
Of fucking course, though, that roughly ten minutes later Will's vision went black and the last thing he saw was the creature's head opening like a blooming flower filled with thorns, as the room's light bulb brightened. If he had any thought capacity right at the moment, he would've thought about how this was the universe's way of saying "You bet?"
Despite the closeness and despite the temptation, Nancy Wheeler wasn't one to give in. She prided herself on her reputation as a good student, a good friend, a good daughter and a good sister. Unless it was Mike we talked about— she could only be decent with him considering how insufferable children became at twelve years of age.
"Steve, I have to study. I'm not kidding.”
"Well, why do you think I want it to be nice and quiet?" Steve retorted, making the girl look down before meeting his eyes as she surpressed a smile.
"You're an idiot, Steve Harrington," she spoke fondly as she leaned away from him and walked to the bathroom doors before stopping herself. "Meet me at Dearborn and Maple at 08:00. To study." She clarified that last part almost mockingly to finally make her way out the room.
And collapse with someone.
"Fuck!" The girl she bumped into lost her balance and ended up in the floor. Nancy gasped sharply, taken aback by the situation and alarmed by the fact that she should be getting to class right about now.
"I-I'm sorry," she stuttered out, her eyes switching between the girl on the floor, her friend with a hand over her mouth trying to stop the giggles from spilling and the direction in which she was supposed to be walking.
The girl said nothing as she stood up ungainly, probably way too annoyed to provide a sincere 'it's okay'. Nancy noticed her friend with multicolored hair not doing anything to help and cringed inwards. Were they even friends?
"Don't worry about her, she's used to people not noticing her from up here."
"I am NOT that short!"
Oh, so they were friends.
"Nance?"
Steve appeared behind her like a work of fate and it only led to a couple of seconds in which awkward silence was the only thing to be heard between the four teenagers. The bell rang again. Oh, god, Nancy really had to go.
"Okay, so... have a nice day," the tallest girl bid farewell and, with that, everyone started racing to their classrooms.
"Uh, name's Venus Mugica and I couldn't go to the bathroom before coming here so this is a you problem now."
Steve watched as his teacher's face contorted into disgust and hurried the girl off to the restrooms. Her friend snickered and proceeded to introduce herself as well.
"I'm Rosemary Azure but just Rosie is fine. The girl you saw just now is my cousin, by the way, she doesn't bite even if it looks like it."
Dismissing any attempt from the teacher to get her to continue speaking, Rosemary "Rosie" Azure took her seat in the third row of desks leaving an open space for her friend to sit down next to her, and behind Steve.
"Hey, Rosie."
Unfortunately, Tommy H. just so happened to be sitting next to him and right in front of her, so as soon as she settled down he was quick to speak.
"Hey, stranger," Rosemary responded, quick and unwavering.
"It's Tommy, gorgeous." He grinned at her. "What's with the hair?"
"It's quite the statement, isn't it?" She fixed some strands, showing off the multicolored locks.
"Looks cool." Tommy then hit Steve's arm. "Right, man?"
"Yeah," Steve agreed with a friendly nod. "It does." Not that anyone's hair could impress him more than Nancy Wheeler's. Her hair was soft to the touch all the time, perfect when styled and even when not. He found his thoughts trailing off until a newfound presence made its way behind him.
"If only she dressed just as cool," stated Venus, taking her corresponded seat.
"At least I don't look like a wannabe rock star."
"No, doll, you look like a wannabe Blair Waldorf." Blair what?
"She wasn't pink!"
"Say, what if you two join us at lunch?"
The two girls seemed taken aback by Tommy's propose and snapped their heads in his direction before sharing a look and smiling in a way that made Steve uncomfortable. It was like they could read each other's mind... unsettling to say the least.
"That'd be great, sure." Venus replied before turning to Steve. "Will the girl from earlier be there?"
He was startled by the question but managed to regain his composure before any of them could notice. Or that's what he liked to believe.
"Uh, no, I don't think so- she sits with her friend, so..."
"The princess doesn't join us usually, but we can invite her if you want." Tommy spoke, moving his head sideways to lazily engage in the conversation despite having his back to the girls. After stating that, he turned back around to face the front of the classroom. Only God knew how much longer he had until he got called out because of distracting the new girls during class.
"No, that's quite alright. We'll find her after class," Rosie assured the boys before pulling out her school supplies.
Pastel pink notebook and matching pink ballerina pencil case that contrasted Venus' efforts. She has a single pen and a notebook that looked almost like she did it DIY. He chuckled at the way she frowned when her only pen fell to the ground and leaned to retrieve it for her.
"Here you go."
"Thanks, Harrington." Venus smiled widely, almost child-like but very contagious, before returning her attention to the teacher. Steve was about to return her smile out of sheer instinct when he noticed something.
Had he ever given her his name?
God forbid Nancy spent time with her, Barbara thought as she saw her best friend interact with a total stranger because of having bumped into each other earlier.
"Is this why you were late?" She asked right in front of them, to which Nancy stammered a little.
"Well, ye- not exactly, but kinda."
"If it counts for anything, we were all late," the dark-haired mystery girl shrugged making her friend huff out a laugh and intervene.
"Yeah, then Vee had to go to the bathroom right after introducing herself and announced it to the entire classroom." Barb noticed Nancy blushing to the tips of her ears and smirked knowingly.
"I'm sorry Miss It's-Not-Like-That and her boyfriend interrupted your bathroom break."
"Barb!"
"All is pardoned. He and his friend invited us to have lunch with them, actually." Vee informed nonchalantly, hands inside her pockets to reinforce the attitude.
Barb and Nancy shared a look at the statement before the redhead spoke.
"Tommy H. invited you to sit with them at lunch?"
"Yup. Said you wouldn't join, as well." The short girl gestured to Nancy.
"Mhm." The other girl hummed tunefully in confirmation. "Wanna come, though? I think they just thought you would decline.”
Although the invitation was sweet, the feeling of dread that caught Barb at the thought of spending time with the popular freaks —Carol and Tommy— was greater. She looked at her best friend in search for an answer, who's pleading eyes expressed all she had to know and fear.
"Alright. Just this once."
Benny had been having a strange day.
In the morning, a pair of weird-looking girls approached him saying they had lost their sister nearby and were looking for her. That, if he were to find her, to please not call anybody because they would return in the evening. In their exact words 'she has... autism...?' the shorter one looked at her sister almost hesitant while the other just nodded with certainty.
Benny was staring at the girl across from him and thinking of how there was definitely something going on with her. He just didn't know if it was to be attributed to a mental illness– no, a developmental disorder. They had changed the classification a couple of years back.
"Okay, kid, I need a few answers."
The girl in front of him didn't give him an ounce of attention but he figured she must have been listening.
"Your older sisters came to look for you earlier. You don't like hospitals?" No response. "Sometimes they give you not-so-tasty food, is that why you were refusing to eat?" No response. He sighed in defeat, very much aware that there was nothing disproving the information he was given by the two teenagers from earlier.
Then, he noticed a tattoo on her wrist. He moved her forearm to look at it better but the girl pulled away.
"Eleven? What's that mean?" No response, again. "What's it mean?"
"No."
Benny huffed out a laugh. "Well, I'll be damned. She speaks. No, what?" At the lack of response this time, he figured out a more creative solution. "All right. I guess no more food then–" He retrieved the basket with the half-finished burger but before he could stand up she interrupted.
"Eleven."
"Yeah." He paused, then turned to her once again. "What's it mean?"
The girl pointed at herself, tapping two times before repeating, "Eleven."
"Alright then." The man nodded before handing over the food with a soft chuckle. "Here you go– take it easy, take it easy."
When he stepped away and into the kitchen, he found himself thinking about calling social services anyway. The two girls didn't tell him where they lived for him to call them over, but they had specified that she didn't like strangers and was prone to run away once more if anyone came looking for her that wasn't a loved one. They just asked him to hold her for the day until the afternoon bled into evening, nothing more.
Looking back at the girl, he figured he still needed to give her the ice cream he had promised.
Strawberry ice cream was one of the best things Eleven had ever tasted. Benny gave her a big tin wrapped in a towel so she didn't get cold from holding it and she had been munching on it for quite some time now.
He told her to smile and she did. She found him quite funny. Calm in a good way, not like the way Papa was.
So when they heard knocking at the door, she couldn't help but get tense. He seemed to notice this because he reassured her that he would tell them to go away whoever it was.
He lied.
"Jane." Two girls entered the dinner, they did not look old enough to be with the bad men. The taller one smiled with affection as she approached the kitchen and caught sight of her, the other girl trailing after with curious eyes.
'Jane', she had said. Who was this Jane? Were they referring to her?
"We knew you'd be here. Hospital food's awful, right?" The girl kept speaking, and now Eleven knew it was directed to her because she leaned on the counter where she was sitting.
"Thank you for looking after her, Benny. We had school and couldn't come earlier," the shorter girl explained as she held her hand to shake Benny's. "My name's Venus. The girl over there's Rosemary and the girl you've been taking care of is little Jane."
Benny did not seem that convinced but it didn't look like he could do anything about it. He glanced at 'Jane' instead. "You're gonna take that with you?"
Eleven looked at the ice cream in her hands and nodded slowly, almost hesitant. Benny gave her a wide grin that made her feel more at ease, so she mimicked him with one of her own.
"Let's go." 'Rosemary' put a hand on her shoulder gently and led her outside. From this close, Eleven noticed she smelled really sweet. She couldn't pinpoint what scent it was but it distracted her from panicking and running away.
Once outside, walking by the street, the girls stopped to address the situation appropriately.
"Listen–" The multicolor haired was about to crouch to her eye level but Venus stopped her.
"Don't. Cábala."
The girl rolled her green eyes and stood up, still directed to Eleven.
"We know who you are and we're here to help you, okay?" She explained with a gentle voice.
"Yeah, look." Venus pointed at herself, "Venus." Then, she pointed at Rosemary and said her name before finally pointing at Eleven, "Jane. Friends!" She said this last thing while clasping her hands. This created a sound that broke through the silence in the vast and dark road, making Eleven flinch and drop the ice cream in her hands.
Because right then and there, it started raining.
"Hah, I made it rain," Venus said, making her friend giggle. But Eleven wasn't laughing, she was pulling away-
No. She was running away now.
"Wait!" She heard Rosemary exclaim but that didn't stop her escape, heading into the woods she started jumping over tree roots and swatting plants away from her path.
Did they have powers like her? No, that wasn't it. They didn't know her, not really. They had mistaken her with someone else and as soon as they realized so, they would send her back. She was not going back, she couldn't go back no matter what.
The raindrops that poured on her felt heavy. They made the shirt Benny lend her cling to her skin, soaking it cold. Mud stuck to her feet, as well, for every step she took it made squelching noises and splattered on her bare legs refusing to let go even with the downpour. And although she slowed her pace, nothing stopped her from running. At least nothing until a pair of young voices.
"I'm just being realistic, Lucas!"