STANDING AT LUCAS' DOOR, Dustin and Mariella nudge Mike and remind him to apologize sincerely and behave. He wasn't having any of it and kept rolling his eyes at them which caused Mariella to grab at his ear and twist it, pulling his head down and craning his neck.

And so, that's the image Lucas opened the door to. Upon realization, Mariella pulling her hand away and putting her hands behind her back as Mike runs his neck awkwardly.

"What do you want?" Lucas asks with a dull look on his face at the three of them.

It stays silent for a moment, Dustin and Mariella looking to Mike with glaring eyes as Mike looks to the ground stubbornly. Dustin reaches across Mariella and slaps Mike's chest, annoyed.

Mike sighs, glaring at Dustin before looking to Lucas. "I drew first blood, so..." He starts and extends his arm out.

Lucas looks down at it and sighs back. "Come in," He says, moving out of the doorway and pushing Mike's extended hand down.

They ended up in the living room of the Sinclair's house. Dustin, Mariella, and Mike stood in front of a pacing Lucas who breathed heavily with his eyes narrowed.

Lucas stops, thumbs in pockets and nods. "Okay, I'll shake," He says, crossing his arms as Mike breathes out a sigh of relief and extends his arm out once again. Mariella and Dustin smiling to themselves.

"On one condition," Lucas adds causing the smiles to get wiped off Mariella and Dustin's faves. "We forget the weirdo out and go straight to the gate,".

Mariella grimaces and closes her eyes in agitatatiom, Dustin groaning and Mike shouting out that the deals off.

"Fine!" Lucas responds, throwing his arms into the air.

"Fine!" Mike mimics.

"No, no, no! Not fine! Guys, seriously?" Dustin interrupts, raising his voice at them.

"This is ridiculous! Stop acting like little kids!" Mariella complains, smacking Mike's arm at his sudden outburst of mimicking. Her face wearing an upset expression.

"Do you even remember what happened on the Bloodstone Pass?" Dustin starts, looking between the two confused looks his friends wore. He sighs before continuing, "We couldn't agree on what path to take, so we split up the party and those trolls took us out one by one and it all went to shit! And we were all disabled!" Dustin yells now, his hands moving erratically at the end as he looks between his friends in frustration. "So we stick together, no matter what!".

"Yeah, I agree. But this is the party, right here in this room," Lucas says pointing to the floor as emphasis.

"El's one of us now," Mike replies, nodding. "Mars agrees!" He adds.

Lucas looks to her, she shrugs. "Don't bring me into this mess. I'm Switzerland! I am not involved," She responds, putting her hands up.

"Can you side with me? For once!" Mike puts his hands up in the air while looking at her.

"Whatever, Mike! Eleven is not even close to being one of us! Never will be. She's a liar, a traitor —" Lucas goes on but is cut of by Mike.

"She was just trying to keep us safe!" Mike shouts out. "She didn't mean to hurt you. It was an accident!".

"An accident?" Lucas questions.

"Alright, accident or not... Admit it, it was a little awesome," Dustin interrupts with wide, excited eyes.

"Dustin," Mariella slaps his arm and sighs.

"Awesome?" Lucas asks, arms spreading out.

"Yeah, she threw you in the air with her mind!" Dustin responds with the same eyes.

"I could have been killed!" Lucas snaps.

"Which is exactly why we need her! She's a weapon!" Mike explains. "Do you seriously wanna fight the Demogorgon with your wrist rocket? That's like R2-D2 going to fight Darth Vader. We're no use to Will if we're dead,".

"And we have Mars' gun!" Dustin adds as Mariella grimaces at the mention of her impulsive decision to take it from the safe.

"Michael! She's a person. Not a weapon! Stop treating her like one," Mariella states, shaking her head while moving her hair to her back.

Lucas inhales before responding, "If you three wanna waste your time looking for a traitor, go ahead, 'cause i'm not spending my time on her anymore. No way! I'm going to the gate. I'm gonna find Will," He states, shoving past the group.

"Well, we really messed that one up, didn't we?" Mariella says looking to Dustin and Mike with a sigh.

"Yup, we did," Dustin responds, popping the 'P' before he begins to exit the house.

♧

"This is weird without Lucas," Dustin says as they bike down the streets of Hawkins in search of Eleven.

"It's weird without Will," Mariella adds biking way ahead of the boys and going in a zigzag pattern. She couldn't even hear them from where she was.

"He should've shaken my hand," Mike responds to Dustin, looking to the side of his face.

"He's just jealous," Dustin shakes his head while staring at Mariella's long hair flow back and fourth in the air as she bikes.

"What are you talking about?" Mike asks, curiously.

"Sometimes, your total obliviousness just blows my mind. He's best friend, right?" Dustin sighs before looking away from Mariella's hair and to Mike.

"Yeah... I mean, I don't know," Mike answers more so as a question.

"It's fine. I get it. I didn't get here until fourth grade. He had the advantage of living next-door. But none of that matters. What matters is that he is your best friend and his girl shows up and starts living in your basement, and all you ever want to do is pay attention to her," Dustin starts. "And besides, even though he knows that you're not even into her, he knows you're into Mars. I think he just doesn't want things in the party to change,".

"That's not true," Mike denies, shaking his head and looking forward at Mariella who biked so carelessly.

"Yes it is. And you know it. And he knows it. Heck, Eleven even noticed the look on your face around Mars. But no one ever says anything until you both start punching and yelling at each other about the unimportant stuff like goblins with intelligence scores of zero. Now everything is weird," Dustin goes on.

"He's not best friend," Mike says, biking faster.

Dustin chuckles. "Yeah, right,".

"I mean, he is, but so are you. And so is Will. Mars too, I don't like her. She's just my best friend," Mike responds, sighing as he begins to question his true feelings towards Mariella.

"Can't have more than one best friend," Dustin shakes his head.

"Says who?" Mike asks.

"Says logic," Dustin answers, looking to him.

"Well, I call bull on your logic, because you're my best friend, too," Mike argues with a small smile.

Dustin looks back to him, mirroring the smile on Mike's face and nods, "Okay,".

"And by the way, I don't like Mars," Mike says as he bikes ahead of Dustin again.

"Keep telling yourself that!" Dustin laughs, a cheeky grin on his face.

They them notice how Mariella had stopped and looked off at a grocery store. The boys speed towards them and stop when they're next to her. They see how people are crowded around broken sliding doors.

"Whoa." Mike says as they all stare at the store.

"You don't think..." Dustin starts.

Mariella nods in response and begins biking away, the boys following after her.

"It was definitely her," Mike adds, looking to Dustin as they bike after Mariella.