Chapter 5

"Will. wake up," said Eleven as she gently shook his arm. Will groggily opened his eyes and looked around. Hopper was pulling into the driveway at their home.

"Sorry, didn't mean to fall asleep," said Will.

"That's alright, baby," said Joyce as she reached back and patted Will's hand. "I think I'll talk to Dr. Owens about changing your dosage on that medicine he put you on. How are you feeling?"

"I'm alright," said Will. Hopper turned off the engine.

"Listen you two," he said pointing at Will and Eleven. "I want to thank you for talking to Sara. Whatever you said, I can see a difference in her."

"We're sorry we can't tell you when we talked about," said Eleven. "We promised."

"Don't worry about that, kid," said Hopper. "She seems to be opening up to you and trusting you. I want her to have someone she can trust, even if it isn't me. Hopefully, you can help her enough that she can get out of there."

"Would she live with us?" asked Eleven.

"I'd like that, but she'll probably choose to live with her mother. She knows Indianapolis, not Hawkins. She'd probably visit though."

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Will sat on his bed working on the outline for an English paper that was due at the end of the semester when Eleven knocked her unique knock on his door.

"Come in, El," Will called. Eleven entered followed by her dog Buttons and her cat Leia. Luke, who was curled up next to Will and flicking his tail contently gave them a quick glance and began licking his paw while Chester sat in his doggy bed and wagged his tail to greet Eleven and her pets.

"The mail came," said Eleven. "Jonathan sent a package from New York." She held out a small wrapped item for Will. He opened it up. It was a new mixtape with a note that read: Thought you might like these, see you soon.

"He made me one too," said Eleven. "Want to put one on while we're waiting for Mike and Julie to come over?"

"Sure," said Will. Eleven popped in his tape and U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For started playing.

"Why won't you tell Jonathan that you're sick?" asked Eleven.

"You know why," said Will. "He's spent too much time worrying about me and he's worked too hard to get to NYU to be distracted by something he can't do anything about."

"You spend a lot of time worrying about him too," said Eleven. "Why is that different?"

Will sighed and shut his notebook. "Jonathan had a job when he was our, you know. He just had to work a lot more hours because Lonnie wasn't paying child support and Jonathan had to help Mom make ends meet. I get to keep all the money from my job and I get to be involved with school activities. There's also the fact that I met Mike on the first day of Kindergarten. Jonathan had a couple kids he got along with, but he never had a Mike...or a Lucas or Dustin."

"That's not your fault," said Eleven,

"I know it isn't," said Will. "But I'm still going to let him focus on his own dreams for once, and again, there really isn't anything he can do about it anyway."

"You had a hard childhood too, and Jonathan never got trapped in the Upside Down or possessed by the Mind Flayer," said Eleven.

"Like I said, I still had Mike, Lucas and Dustin all those years. And while we're comparing, you were trapped in a lab for over a decade. I'd say out of the three of us, I had it the easiest, heart condition or not."

"Do you really think that?" asked Eleven.

"I really do," said Will.

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The party spent most of the homecoming game (a week after the first visit with Sara) looking and Sci-fi magazines. They cheered when Will and Julie's design won the float contest for the second year in a row. Will muttered that Western was a stupid theme, but it made for a decent creative challenge. They also paid attention as the marching band played at the beginning and at half time time due to the fact that Dustin's girlfriend Cathy played the trumpet. "I do love a woman in uniform," Dustin remarked. "And she can multitask as well. Marching and playing at the same time takes talent."

The party members, especially Will and Mike, had very little interest in football. They had grown to like baseball due to the fact that Dustin and Lucas were on the team, but football wasn't for them. It seemed to be more for the jocks and cheerleaders than the honors students.

It was Eleven's first time fully experiencing homecoming. She'd gone to the dance with Mike the year before, but had to worry about keeping a low profile. She was a student at Hawkins High school Sophomore year, so her presence didn't raise any questions and she had to option to relax.

She couldn't relax, however. As Max and Jennifer Hayes chatted with her in order to drown out the cheerleaders (the squad included Stacy and a members of her click who frequently went out of their way to torment Eleven and her friends), Eleven's mind was on Sara and Will.

Eleven glanced over at Will, who was sitting with Julie and drawing on his sketch pad. Every few minutes, he'd hand the sketch pad to Julie and she'd draw something. Eleven couldn't see what they were working on, but figured it was a story. Mike was engaged in some sort of card game with Lucas, Dustin, Randy, Dave, and Tim. Eleven had to giggle at the intense expressions on their faces. Max and Jennifer followed her gaze and began to giggle as well. As Eleven glanced around the bleachers, she couldn't help but notice that the crowd was light for such a big event.

Doctor Owens had agreed to change Will's weekly check ups to Saturdays, so he wouldn't miss so much school. Eleven smiled fondly as she thought of her brother's obsessive compulsive behavior when it came to his academic work. It had helped her out at great deal when it came to catching up on her school work. Perhaps, she could use what she had learned from Will and help Sara to catch up. Sara was exceptionally bright and curious. She had also been taught a lot of things by the corporation that held her captive, so she probably wouldn't need as much

Help as Eleven had needed.

The next day at their visit, Sara seemed to take particular interest in homecoming. It was one of those normal teenage thing on which she was missing out.

"This dance is tonight?" asked Sara as the end of the visit approached.

"Yes," said Eleven.

"Do you think you could come back tomorrow and tell me about it."

Will almost said that it wasn't that big of a deal, but stopped himself. Homecoming was something that he had the luxury of taking for granted and not caring too much about. Helping design the float and work on the committee was something he did to keep his mind occupied and spend time with people he liked rather than something he did out of school spirit.

"I think we can manage. We'll figure something out," said Will.

"Thanks," said Sara. "And thanks for this," she held up the solar system model kit that Will and Eleven had gotten her.

"Dad told us that you liked space," said Eleven.

"H-he did?" asked Sara.

"Yeah," said Will. "He mentioned that a lot even before he knew you were still alive."

Sara opened her mouth like she was going to say something, then appeared as though she'd forgotten what she was going to say. She merely looked down at her knees and nodded.

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The party members no longer had older siblings with driver's licenses to give them rides to the school dances. The idea of their parents giving them rides was horrifying, so they all found upperclassmen willing to help them out. Cathy talked a fellow trumpet player into giving her and Dustin a ride. Max found a fellow skateboarding and video game loving junior girl to give her and Lucas a lift. Mike and Will's friend Randy had managed to get a senior girl named Daphne Soder as a date. She had a van and had recently broken up with her boyfriend and another senior had pestered her for a date, so she asked Randy to go to homecoming thinking that there wouldn't be pressure from a sophomore. In Randy's case, she was unknowingly correct.

Hopper knocked on Will's door as he was trying to get the knot right in his tie. "Ready to let me help you with that, kid?" Hopper asked Will.

"Yes," Will groaned.

"Don't worry, you'll learn. Hopefully, your brother will too someday."

"I'm learning," said Will ask Hopper looped the tie around and pulled up the knot. "Learning that I'll get clip ons in the future."

Hopper chuckled as he took a seat at Will's desk. "Sit down, Will, I need to talk to you about something." Will nervously sat on the end of his bed. "Don't worry, kid, you're not in trouble, I just want to give you some advice to keep you out of trouble."

Will knitted his eyebrows. "Okay," he said slowly.

"I'm going to ask you an awkward and personal question," said Hopper. Will shifted uncomfortably. "You and Julie have been together for about a year now, have you... you know.. consummated your relationship?"

"What?" asked Will. "No! we're fifteen."

"Plenty of kids your age are active these days, hell, when I was your age I was lying to my mother about being on the debate team when I was really scre-"

Will covered his ears. "I really don't want to know."

Hopper's eyes twinkled and he chuckled. Will got the distinct feeling he was getting a kick out of everything. "My point is: you're at that age when your hormones are all over the place and sometimes things happen."

"I know that," said Will. "I do have self control, you know and Julie is trying really hard to prove to her parents that she isn't like her older siblings."

"Maybe," said Hopper. "But you recently found out that you have a potentially serious medical condition. That can make even nice girls trying to prove that they aren't like their siblings start to feel on the amorous side."

"Is there a reason you're deciding to talk to me about this now?" asked Will.

"I promised your mother I would," said Hopper. "She's having the same discussion with your sister at this very moment. Do you think that Wheeler kid might try anything?" Hopper asked in mock seriousness that wasn't lost on Will.

"I try not to think about that," Will answered. "But don't worry, none of us are like you."

"And just how do you know what I'm like?" asked Hopper.

"The librarian had a few things to say," said Will with a mischievous grin. If Hopper was going to have fun trying to make him uncomfortable, he may as well have a little fun of his own.

"Of course she did," said Hopper. "I'll have to have a talk with her about what she says to my kids. Anyway, I'm sure your mother would make a wonderful grandmother, but that doesn't need to happen for a few more years. Just promise me you'll use protection."

"Fine, I promise. Are we don't with this super weird conversation?"

"I think you might be blushing, Will," said Hopper as he noticed some color in Will's face.

"I am not!" said Will

Hopper laughed. "Yeah, we're done, kid." He stood up and patted Will on the shoulder. "Have fun tonight, just not too much fun.

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Hopper and Joyce waved as Will and Eleven got into Daphne's car and left to pick up Mike and Julie.

"How did the talk go?" asked Joyce.

"A little awkward, but I think he listened," said Hopper. "How did it go with El?"

"She told me she learned about it at school. Apparently sex ed is only slightly better than it was for us."

"At least they kids are smarter than we were," said Hopper.

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The dance wasn't particularly crowded. Apparently the flu had been going around that week.

"Holy shit, you guys," said Dustin to Mike, Will, Eleven, and Julie as they helped themselves to their fourth cups of punch. "The punch is that good! I think your lips match El's though, Mike."

"Shut up!" said Mike with a playful grin.

"Yeah, we're just really thirsty," said Will.

"I could use some air," said Julie to Will. "Want to take a walk."

"Sure," said Will as he tossed his empty cup into the garbage. "This dance is pretty lame."

Will, you can't go off by yourself. What if someone tries to hurt you.

I'll be fine, El. If something happens, I'll let you know.

As overprotective as she was, Eleven had come to the realization that Will could take care of himself, but his health made exerting himself risky. He didn't see anyone at the dance who might try anything with him and since Troy had been expelled and the chief police had become his step father, the bullies in the town hadn't been too keen to try anything with him.

He took Julie's handed and they headed out to the baseball field and sat on the grass.

They sat quietly for a few minutes with their hands intertwined. Julie looked like she was about to say something when a group of upperclassmen came out laughing obnoxiously and peeing on the field.

"I'll take that as a sign that we need to find somewhere else," said Will.

"I think you may have a gift for reading signs," said Julie.

They got up and quietly snuck away. The students in question never gave them any trouble personally, but Will and Julie had no desire to attract the attention of people peeing on the baseball field. A cool breeze swept over the area and Will gave a small shiver.

"Maybe we should go back inside," said Julie as she tugged on Will's and and they started to jog. Running was out of the question given the face that they were both wearing their formal shoes. "I have an idea."

"What's your idea?" asked Will.

"You'll see," said Julie with a grin. When they got inside the building, Julie led Will to the auditorium. She lifted a plaque off the wall and pulled off a key that was taped to it. She opened the door to the back stage where the two of them spent outs painting scenery.

"How?" asked Will.

"Shannon Collins showed it to me yesterday. Apparently one person is allowed to know where that key is and she said I help her so much, she decided to tell me, just in case."

Will grinned. "I don't think you're supposed to use the key for this."

"Well, there's no specific rule that says we can't. Besides, the dance this year kind of sucks and I feel like crap, so we may as well relax here."

"Are you sick?" asked Will, feeling a little worried.

"I think I'm just tired," said Julie. "There's no point in asking the others to leave early when we can just kick back here. And if anyone stops by and asks what we're doing here, we'll just tell them we're brainstorming."

"Sound like a plan," said Will. "Let's get to work!" He sat down on the old sofa and allowed himself to sink into the cushions. He was feeling a little tired himself, but it had been a long week. Julie curled up next to him and he put one arm around her while using his other hand to lace his fingers with hers as she rested her head on his chest to listen to his heartbeat. It was a habit that started when she learned about his condition and it was reassuring.

"This is all very innocent," said Julie. "We're just tired and we're resting."

"Of course it is," said Will. "Is something on your mind?" Julie grimaced and her eyes flicked up to meet Will's.

"Did your parents have the talk with you by any chance?"

"Hopper did and apparently Mom talked to El. How'd you know?"

"It was my parents' idea. Sorry about that. They've been freaking out ever since they found out Amy Potter's pregnant. I think they were finally starting to realize I'm not like Tina or Brian. Amy on the other hand…"

Amy was a fellow Sophomore. She was an honors student who was on the student council as their class vice president. It was a shock to the community when she got pregnant. She was considered to be a 'good girl.'

"Jeff is trying to deny he's the father too," said Julie.

"What?" said Will astonished. "No way!"

"Apparently, it'll damage his reputation. She said he told her she wasn't like all the other girls. That should have been a huge warning. You'd never say that to me."

"Well, it is kind of a cliche line and I don't exactly have a ton of experience with girls other than you, do I?"

"Exactly!" said Julie. "I mean the words all the other girls is a dead giveaway that he's a player and when a guy tries to flatter a girl by putting down our entire gender, ugh!"

"Yeah, poor Amy. She doesn't deserve that. She made a mistake. It doesn't make her a slut."

"No, it doesn't. The people saying that are idiots."

"From that stupid abstinence talk that woman gave the girls in our class last week, you'd think that every girl was either a good girl or a slut. Between that and the excessive lectures from my parents, I'm half tempted to do it out of spite!"

"Um…" Will started.

"Not now," said Julie hastily. "It's just a random thought that came from my own annoyance."

"Oh, good!" said Will. "I mean it's not that I never want to, but…. Shit, there's no right answer for this, so I'm just going to shut up right now."

Julie giggled. "That's alright, you're cute when you babble."

"I know," said Will. "I do it on purpose."

"Sure you do." Julie reached up and ruffled Will's hair then gave him a soft his that he returned. "Holy shit, I'm tired. I think you are too. What do you say we get some sleep?"

"What if everyone else decides they want to leave?" asked Will.

"El will find you when she's ready."

"Good point!"

In the Gymnasium, Mike and Eleven sat at a table in the corner having a discussion of their own while Max, Lucas, Dustin, Cathy, and all their other friends were on the dance floor. Like Will and Julie, they were both feeling tired.

"Why are all the adults telling us not to have sex all the time," Eleven asked Mike. "Mom just said to be careful, but the other adults only say 'don't do it."

Mike, who was taking a sip of punch as Eleven asked the question, spit it in surprise. He picked up a napkin and cleaned himself up.

"Your Mom probably explained it to you better than my dad did to me. I'm still not sure what he said. They're all just freaking out though, don't worry about it."

"Aren't you two gonna dance?" asked Lucas as he and Max approached the table.

"We danced earlier!" said Mike in protest. We're just feeling a little tired now." Mike put his head down on the table while Eleven leaned on his shoulder and started rubbing circles on his back.

"You look tired, are you sure you're okay?" asked Max.

"We're alright," said Eleven. "Don't worry."

"Are you two ready to go?" asked Randy as he approached the table.

"You look like you're having fun," said Mike. "You're leading the dancing."

"I'm actually pretty bored," said Randy. "Not many people are joining in. I think Daphne's bored too. Why don't we find Will and Julie and get out of here."

"If you're bored, I'm all for that," said Mike as he massaged his temples.

Will and Julie were only half asleep on the sofa when Eleven's call to Will came in.

Will, we're tired and ready to go. Are you?"

Yeah, El. We can meet you by the main entrance.

Will gently tapped Julie. "El just said they're ready to leave."

Julie taped the key to the back of the plaque as they slowly trudged to the school's main entrance. Will started to feel dizzy as they headed up a half flight of stairs. He turned around and darted back to the bottom to vomit in a garbage can.

"Will!" said a a startled Julie as she rubbed his back. "Are you okay?"

Will slumped onto the bottom stair with a panicked look on his face as he grabbed his chest and started breathing rapidly.

"Will, what's wrong?" asked Julie as she began stroking his hair.

"I-I think I need to go to the hospital," said Will.

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El, help!

Eleven could feel the fear in her brother's voice. She gripped Mike's arm tightly and he looked at her questiongly. He recognized the expression on her face.

Will, what's wrong?

I need to go to the hospital.

I'll call an ambulance.

No! Please.

I be right there.

Eleven could almost always find Will without even closing her eyes when he was scared or in peril as long as he was awake. She looked at Mike and tapped his arm four times with her index finger.

"How about we meet you guys at the front entrance in about 15 minutes?" Mike said to Daphne and Randy. "We'll go get Will and Julie."

"Do you need help finding them?" asked Randy.

"No, that's okay. We have a pretty good idea where they are. You two go ahead and enjoy the dance for a few more minutes."

Eleven tugged on Mike's hand and they headed out at a brisk walk trying not to attract attention. "What is it, El?" Mike after they got out to the hallway and he checked to make sure no one was listening.

"He said he needs to go to the hospital," said Eleven. "C'mon!" She started running down the hallway to the stair where she'd seen Will sitting. When they got there, Mike had to lean on the wall to catch his breath. He forgot all about being winded when he looked down and saw Will looking terrified as he clutched his chest. It reminded Mike painfully of the day the scientists at Hawkins Lab burned a vine from the upside down and Will felt the pain. His eyes were their normal color rather than the almost black shade that resulted from the Mind Flayer possession, but everything else was exactly the same.

Mike and Eleven hurried to Will's side. "Where's the pay phone?" asked Mike. "We need to call an ambulance!"

"No!," said Will in a panicked voice. "No ambulance. We can ask Daphne to take us or call my mom, but no ambulance, please!" Will looked at Mike with a frightened determination. Mike hesitated, then nodded.

"Can you walk?" asked Mike.

"Yes!" said Will.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure!"

"Alright. Here's what's going to happen, Will," said Mike firmly. "You're going lean on me and we're going to meet Randy and Daphne at the front entrance. If you collapse, we're calling ambulance. Deal?"

Will hesitated for a moment and took note of the steely expression on Mike's face. He nodded. "Deal!"

Mike took Will's hand and help him up, it was sweaty, but so was his own hand so he barely noticed. Will barely leaned on Mike as they walked toward the entrance of the school to meet up with Daphne and Randy, Mike figured that his friend was trying to show that it wasn't as bad as everyone thought. But what if it was much worse? Will never panicked unless things were really serious.

"Oh my god, what happen?" asked Randy as he noticed that Mike was helping Will down the hallway as Julie held Will's other arm and Eleven walked behind them keeping an eye on things. No one was sure how to explain so Will decided to jump in.

"The doctors found an issue with my heart a couple weeks ago, I just haven't been telling people because I didn't want them to worry. I'm feeling a little dizzy and think I need to go to the hospital. Please don't tell anyone." Will felt bad about leaving Randy out of his secret because Randy was fairly new to the school and his friendship circle and already had a lot of reasons to feel left out of things.

"Do you want me to drive you there?" asked Daphne.

"If you could," said Will. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, wait here. I'll get my van."

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Joyce and Hopper sat relaxing on the sofa having popped an old western in the VCR when the phone rang. "I'll get it," said Joyce as she kissed Hopper on the cheek. "You like this movie a lot more than I do."

She walked over and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Mrs. Byers, it's Mike."

"Mike?" said Joyce. Worry was evident in her voice and it caught Hopper's attention. "What's going one. Are Will and El alright?"

"Will started feeling really sick, so we took to the hospital."

"We'll be right over," said Joyce. She hung up the phone and looked over at Hopper as she wrung her hands.

"What's going on?" he asked as he tried to keep his voice calm.

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Joyce and Hopper were at the hospital within five minutes. Eleven ran up to her parents and hugged them both ask Mike got to his feet. Julie had her face buried in her hands. She looked up with tears in her eyes to acknowledge her boyfriend's parents while Randy was rubbing between her shoulder blades. Daphne leaned against the wall.

"What happened?" asked Joyce.

"We were walking down the hallway about to leave and he seemed to have trouble breathing as we were climbing the steps. He got sick and threw up. Then he grabbed his chest and seemed really scared," said Julie.

"He said he needed to go to the hospital, but didn't want an ambulance," Mike added.

A doctor walked out into the room and recognized Joyce as Will had made a few trips to the hospital in the last three years.

"Good, you're here, Mrs. Byers- I'm sorry it's Mrs. Hopper now, isn't it?" Mike cringed as he remembered that he hadn't gotten used to Will's mother's new last name.

"Where's my son? How is he?"

"You can come back and see him," said the doctor. "He's fine. We ran a few extra tests- as a precaution- that we should have the results on those tomorrow morning. But it looks like he has that flu that's been going around. It's pretty nasty, so it's understandable that he thought his symptoms were connected to his heart condition. We'd like to keep him here a couple days and get him on some fluids."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "I think I want to get you, you and you checked out and possibly admitted as well," said the doctor as he pointed to Mike, Eleven and Julie. "You're all looking a little flushed as well. You can even be roommates with your friends just like when you were both in that fight at school last year, Mr. Wheeler."

Daphne hung back as the group followed the doctor to Will's room. She told Randy she'd give him a ride home when he was ready.

Will was sitting up on his bed with his on his knees and his hands clutching his hair in frustration as his family and friends entered the room. Joyce got to him first and pulled him into a hug.

"It was the flu!" said Will. "I've been telling everyone else not to panic and here I am freaking out over the flu!"

"Don't beat yourself up," said the doctor. "Heart condition issued often have flu like symptoms. Looks like three of your friends are coming down with it too, you just happened to be paying attention to your symptoms. You need to keep doing that. It could end up saving your life."

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A/N: this is just a normal nasty flu and has nothing to do with the Upside Down. Think the Flu Season episode of Parks and Recreation. In my stories, Hawkins borders Pawnee. In this case, the rich snobby jerks in Eagleton took most of the flu vaccine supply in the region that Ben Wyatt would one day represent.