They were all back at Mike's house, surrounding the girl that had on Mike's jacket and was sitting on the couch in the basement.
"Is there a number we can call for your parents?" Mike asked, looking genuinely worried.
"Where's your hair? Do you have cancer?" Dustin asked.
"Did you run away?" Lucas asked.
"Are you in some kind of trouble?" Jess asked calmly, looking at the girl sympathetically.
"Is that blood?"
Lucas reached out to touch the red stain on her shirt.
Mike hit his arm back.
"Stop it! You're freaking her out!"
"She's freaking me out!"
"I bet she's deaf."
Dustin claps loudly, causing the girl to flinch.
"Not deaf."
"All right, that's enough, all right? She's just scared and cold." Mike says, leaving to get some clothes.
When thunder rumbled loudly, she gasped, flinching.
"Hey, you're okay," Jess reassured her, causing the girl to look at her, making Jess smile gently.
"Here, these are clean. Okay?" Mike says, handing her a sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants.
She takes them, rubbing her face on it comfortingly.
She puts them aside, taking off the jacket Mike gave her and reached to pull off the shirt.
"No, no, no!" Jess and Mike exclaimed, keeping the shirt down as Lucas and Dustin looked away.
"Oh my god. Oh my god." Dustin exclaimed.
"See over there? Th-That's the bathroom. Privacy. Get it?" Mike says, looking at the girl.
The girl looked to Jess who gave a small smile, beckoning her to follow her.
The girl grabbed the clothes Mike gave her and followed Jess with Mike behind her.
Once she entered the bathroom, Mike was closing the door when the girl turned around and stopped him.
"You don't want it closed?" Mike asked Jess next to him.
"No."
Jess grinned.
"She speaks!"
"Oh, so you can speak. Okay, well..." Mike trailed off, looking to Jess.
"How about we just keep the door..." Jess says, Mike, closing the door until there was reasonable about still open.
"Just like this," Mike says, Jess, nodding in confirmation.
"That better?" Jess asked, looking at the girl.
"Yes."
They both nod, smiling at her.
X
"This is mental." Dustin sighed.
"At least she can talk." Mike defended her.
"I can confirm that." Jess agreed.
"She said 'no' and 'yes'. Mike's three-year-old sister says more." Lucas argued.
"She tried to get naked," Dustin says.
"There's something seriously wrong with her. Like wrong in the head." Lucas says.
"That's rude Sinclair." Jess snapped.
"It's true," Lucas argued.
"She just went like..." Dustin says, motioning with his hands what the girl was doing, making his hat fall off.
"I bet she escaped from Pennhurst," Lucas says,
"From where?" Mike asked.
"The nuthouse in Kerley County."
"You got a lot of family there?" Dustin asked, making Jess snort in amusement.
"Bite me." Lucas threatened.
"Seriously though, think about it. That would explain her shaved hair and why she's so crazy."
"Why she went like..." Dustin says, motioning what the girl did again.
"She's an escapee is the point. She's probably a psycho."
"Like Michael Myers," Dustin suggested.
"Exactly! We should've never brought her here."
"So you just wanted to leave her out in that storm?" Mike asked, Jess, crossing her arms, making her point clear she was on Mike's side.
"Yes! We went out to find Will, not another problem."
"I think we should tell your mom," Dustin suggested.
"I second that."
"You guys are such putas I swear!" Jess exclaimed.
"Who's crazy now?" Mike says, agreeing with Jess.
"How is that crazy?"
"How is that- We weren't supposed to be out tonight, remember?" Jess exclaimed.
"So?"
"So, if I tell my mom, and she tells your mom and your mom, and her mom when her parents are back tomorrow..."
"Oh, man." Dustin groans.
"Our houses become Alcatraz," Lucas muttered.
"Exactly! We'll never find Will." Jess sighed.
"All right, here's the plan. She sleeps here tonight." Mike says.
"You're letting a girl that isn't Jess-"
"Just listen! In the morning, she sneaks around my house and goes to the front door and rings my doorbell. My mom will answer and know exactly what to do. She'll send her back to Pennhurst or wherever she comes from. We'll be totally in the clear. And tomorrow night, we go back out. And this time, we find Will." Mike says, causing Jess to nod.
"Now, I second this." She says, glaring at the boys to dare say otherwise.
X
Jess and Mike were handing the girl blankets and pillows for her to sleep on as well as Mike's sleeping bag in a fort they made for her.
Dustin watched as Jess had a huge smile as the girl took the blankets from her, smiling at her as well.
"Mental." He says before following Lucas.
"Hey, um, we never asked your name," Mike says, Jess nodding.
The girl looked at Jess and Mike before revealing her arm, that had 011 on it.
Jess gasped, looking towards the girl.
"Is that real?" Mike asked, reaching over to touch it.
She flinched away, making Mike look up at her.
"Sorry, I've just...never seen a kid with a tattoo before," Mike says, smiling sheepishly.
"What's it mean? Eleven?" Jess asked.
The girl points at herself.
"That's your name?" Mike asked.
She nodded.
"Unique," Jess says, smiling at Eleven.
"Eleven. Okay. Well, my name's Mike, short for Michael."
"And my name's Jess, short for Jessica," Jess says, smiling at her.
"Maybe we can call you El, short for Eleven," Mike suggested.
Eleven nods, agreeing to it.
"Um, well, okay. Night, El."
"Night, Mike."
"I'll join you soon okay Mike? I wanna talk to her for a bit more. I won't be long okay?" Jess says Mike nodding.
"Ok."
Jess smiled at El, who watched the girl.
"You know, I never really talked to another girl before since I move to Hawkins," Jess confessed, making El smile a bit.
"Mike and the boys are like my brothers in a way. We look out for each other. Hopefully, we can be like sisters. I never had one before."
El nods, hoping for the same thing.
Jess smiled before sighing.
"Your name's Eleven, right?"
El nods.
"Well, Mike gave you your nickname for everyone to use, how about I give you my own kind of nickname?"
El nods again.
"How about, 'Once'? It's Eleven in Spanish."
"Spanish?"
"It's a different language. Kinda like English but...different." Jess explained.
El nods, liking it.
Jess smiled.
"Ok then. Buenas Noches Once."
El hesitated before replying.
"Buenas Noches Jess."
Jess smiled before drawing the blanket to close the fort.
