I jump up from my spot on the sofa, leaving El sitting distraught and confused behind me. I run over to my supercom hastily, nearly tripping over some of my D&D figurines along the way.

I pick up the device and hold down the button, "yes Lucas, I'm here, over."

"Mike! We know where those kids are, there have been sightings of strange things all over Hawkins like monsters and stuff, like the Demogorgan but more!

"You gotta get to school, bring Eleven with you and we'll leave to go find out where they're all coming from," Lucas explains this all so rapidly, so fast in fact that sometimes the speaker crackles and I can hear his puffed out breathing on the other end, "over," he finishes.

"Okay okay," I say, moving my hands up and down as though he were actually in front of me so I can calm him, "just hold on for a second, is Will with you? Over."

"No, he's in class, but we all figured this out together. Dustin told me I should go to the bathroom to tell you, over."

"Okay, good. I'm not bringing El to school while Will is there, come to my house after school, we'll talk about it here. Over."

"But would it be safe at night? Remember how the Demogorgan was attracted to blood? What if one of us gets hurt and we bleed? Over."

"It'll be fine. We'll just be extra careful, nothing is going to happen. We'll find out what's going on, go get Hopper if necessary, come home and think of something from there. It's Friday night anyway, ask your parents if you can sleep here tonight. Over."

"Okay, Mike. I'm trusting you. Over and out."

"Over and out," I echo, releasing the button.

I look over to El, who heard the whole conversation and is looking very scared and distraught.

I make my way over to her quickly, setting my supercom down on the table on the way over.

"Everything okay?" I ask her, sitting beside her and taking her hand in mine. She nods slowly, not making I contact with me as she parts her trembling lips to speak.

"Scared," is all she says, and I realise I didn't even ask her if she was okay with coming with us after school, especially with Will. I'm so stupid!

"Do you want to stay here? You don't have to come," I ask her, hoping she'll say no. I don't want to put her in danger.

"No," she starts, and she tilts her head up to look at me, "I need to help."

"El, you don't have to. Sure, your powers would be useful, you'd be like a superhero searching for those missing kids," I'm nodding and smiling enthusiastically as I contemplate how cool my girlfriend is, "but if you feel unsafe then you shouldn't have to come."

She shakes her head, "I need to help."

I nod my head, defeated. She wants to help, despite how scared she is, like a real superhero.

"Okay, I'll protect you, so don't feel scared, okay?" I say reassuringly, squeezing her hand.

"Promise?" She asks, her eyebrows knitted together.

"Promise."

My mum never got home, I guess she's been running errands all day. My dad's at work, and Holly is with my mum. So El and I had the whole day to ourselves.

She worries I've been missing too much school, and she's right, I am missing a lot of school, but El will always be more important to me.

At 3:15, or as El still says it, 3-1-5, we find ourselves pacing the basement, awaiting their arrival. Well, I'm pacing, Eleven watching my feet tentatively as they leave and meet the floor over and over again.

"What're you doing?" She asks, breaking the silence.

"Pacing," I state, and I continue to pace.

"Why?"

"It helps to calm me down when I'm waiting."

"But doesn't it tire you out?"

"No, it's not that much work."

She nods at that, sinking back into the couch. I feel like she was only asking to take her mind off of what was about to happen, and I feel bad knowing I ended the conversation.

I sit down beside her, it's 3:17. After a few long and boring minutes, we finally hear a knock at the door. I jump up to answer it, looking back at El as though to ask her if she's ready. She nods when she makes eyes contact with me, so I unlock and open the basement door.

"Mike! God, do we have a lot to tell you!" Lucas beams as he steps inside, into the warmth of my house. Being Winter, nearly Christmas, it's incredibly cold outside. I can't say that I hate the cold, it's nice when you want to cuddle up in a blanket with a warm drink, but then again, the piercing icy wind can feel like knives when the cold hits your face.

"Mike, is everything okay buddy?" Dustin asks, his eyebrows furrowed as he makes his way inside, he's rubbing his hands together to warm them.

I nod with a smile, turning to look at Will who has a very straight face, almost as though he's holding something in. Something he doesn't want said out loud.

"Will," I greet him, the tension suddenly growing.

"Mike," he replies, and I shut the door behind him.

I doubt he knows that I know what he did, but I doubt thing are going to stay that way.

All three boys then turn to look at El, Dustin and Lucas smiling really big while Will has a sort of mad look on his face. Maybe I was wrong, maybe he does know that I know what he did to her.

Honestly, just looking at him makes me furious, knowing that my best friend has kissed her and possibly tried to take it further.

El wouldn't have been able to tell me anyway, she doesn't even know what that stuff is. Well, I don't think so anyway. Joyce gave her a brief version of "the talk", which didn't go too well on El's behalf. Maybe one day I'll have to explain it a little better to her, but that day certainly isn't today.

But that beside the point, I feel like I would know if Will had tried anything more. I'd be able to see it in the way El looked at me, in the way she spoke and walked. But she told me everything and I can't see it in her anyway, which calms my rage only slightly.

He still forcibly kissed her, and forced himself upon her, and I honestly never thought he would try anything like that whether he likes her or not. That just not something Will would do. Of all people, Will always seemed like the least likely person.

I don't think it was really him.

"So should we start?" Lucas asks, breaking the silence and interrupting my thoughts.

"Sure," I state, sitting around the table with the rest of them, pulling out a chair for myself and Eleven, beckoning her to join us.

"Okay," Lucas starts, "so, there were rumours all over school today of monster sightings all over Hawkins, like the Demogorgan, but more of them, like I said.

"We aren't going out to fight them, just to find out where they're coming from. There must be a gate near here and someone must have opened it. We all know El didn't do it, so who did?"

I glance around at all of them, my eyes lingering on Will a little longer. I doubt he could have done something like that so easily, especially with his powers only being so newly discovered.

Eleven opened the gate the first time when she met the monster in her own mind, she touched it, and the gate opened. She told me herself.

When Twelve, or Lilith opened it, she must've done the same thing. She must have met something in that place that allowed for her to create a portal between out two worlds, which leads me to think, maybe that's how she knew that the monster wasn't dead? She must've needed it so that the gate could be opened, she needed for it to be alive to make a connection.

Will, I don't think, doesn't have power of that capacity just yet, even though he's proven to be very dangerous.

Which leaves us with only one other known option.

Twelve.