MARIELLA RAN DOWN THE HALL, eyes darting from every direction as she mumbles to herself. She searched the corners of the hall before she quickly turns into a class room. Room 17.

She rushes around, checking under the desks and in the closet with trembling hands. "Where are you?" She whispers as she turns out of the class and raises the walkie to her mouth. "Room 17's clear. Heading to main entrance," She says.

Fast walking through the halls she makes sure to stop at the random shelves and tables which were in the halls, dropping down to the floor and looking under them. Sighing in defeat, she raises the walkie to her mouth again. "Check under the shelves and desks in the halls for the ugly little thing,".

"He's not ugly!" Dustin shouts through the walkie.

"Yes he is!" Mike responds.

Hurriedly rushing to the main entrance, she ignores her friends as she hears the main door slam shut. Someone had just entered the school. Furrowing her eyebrows as she looks around for the person and spots no one, she continues her search. Nothing.

"East is clear. No sign of Dart," Mike yells them.

"Main entrance is clear too. Checking the front just in case the bugger snuck out somehow," Mariella lifts the walkie to her mouth as she walks to the door and pushes it open.

Eyes looking at the bike rack and to the grass and outskirts of the school as she stood underneath the overhang of the school in defeat. She had some weird feeling of someone watching her, unaware of Eleven's preening eyes from inside the school watching as she turns her head from side to side in search of the creature.

Eleven smiles, seeing the girl who had made her feel as if she was truly pretty for the first time. She notices her long hair now shorter and the way she had grown before shaking her head and walking off to see if she could see anyone else.

"West is clear too, Will?" Dustin says, audio crackly on the walkie.

"South is clear. Lucas? Anything?" Will responds.

"Nothing here, man. Mars? Anything outside?" Lucas asks her.

"Nope. Got nothing so far, I'm gonna head round' back," She sighs before beginning to walk to the back of the school slowly.

♧

Mike walked into the gym, taking a look around before he hears the boys locker room door swing open and shut. He stares at it, eyes narrowing as he cautiously walks towards it. Nervously, pushing the door open and entering the dark room, walkie held tightly in his hand.

He sees a mop slouched in the corner of the entrance and quickly grabs it, extending it out as a weapon in case Dart was really in the room and chose to attack. Walking towards the main changing area slowly, he feels his heart rate increase and can't help but think of the way Mariella would always panic when she thought that his pulse was going too slow or too fast.

As he enters the blue toned changing area, his stomach drops at the sound of objects clattering around and he shakes, backing into a cubby quietly and holding the mop closely to him. Before he turns into the area and extends it once again, grunting out loudly. 

"What the hell are you doing?" Max exclaims, turning towards him in shock as she stares at him.

Mike stops, lifting the mop up and looking to her. "What are you doing?" He asks angrily. "Why are you in here?" 

"Looking for Dart," Max explains.

"This is the boys' room!" Mike closers his eyes in agitation.

"Yeah, so?" Max questions, voice breathy.

"So you should go home!" Mike yells at her, dropping the mop as exiting out the changing room.

He pushes the door open, it swinging. Max hurriedly following after him. "Why do you hate me so much?".

"I don't hate you. How can I hate you? I don't even know you," Mike responds, walking straight towards the door.

"But you don't want me in your party," Max argues, trailing after him.

"Correct," Mike shrugs, continuing towards the gyms exit.

"Why not?" Max fires at him.

Mike snaps, turning to her and stopping. "Because you're annoying and I don't trust you!" He shouts. The words echoing on the gym walls. "Also, we don't need another party member," He adds, shaking his head at her. "I'm our paladin, Will's our cleric, Mars is our rogue, Dustin's our bard, Lucas is our ranger, and El's our mage!" He lists of his friends.

Max stares at him in confusion, narrowing her eyes. "El? Who's El?" She asks.

"Someone. No one," He shakes his head, annoyed with how many questions she was asking.

"Someone or no one?" Max asks again, voice raising slightly in annoyance.

Mike reluctantly responds. "She was in our party a long time ago. She moved away, okay?" He turns away, beginning to walk off.

Max drops her skateboard to the floor, tilting her head and skating after him. "Mariella hasn't always been the only girl in the party? Were they close?" She asks.

"She was for a long time and don't call her Mariella. She hates it, she's either Ella or Mars. Anything else gets her upset. And yeah, they were pretty close," Mike responds, rolling his eyes are the sound of her given name. The thought of someone calling her Mariella was so foreign.

"So what? Could this El girl do magic tricks?" Max goes on, skating circles around the gym. "Well, I could be your zoomer," She adds, skating in front of him and jumping off the board.

Mike sighs. "That's not even a real thing," He says.

"It could be," She responds, getting back on the board and skating around again. "Everyone is pretty cool with me joining. Lucas and Dustin and Will are nice. Even Mars is too," She says as she does so, adding in Mariella at the end knowing that she gets the most reaction when it comes to her from Mike.

"What's that supposed to mean? 'Even Mars'?" He scoffs, watching as she skates around. "Mind-blowing, Max," He rolls his eyes at her skating around.

"Nothing, I just know that you're super into her just like how I know you're impressed," Max shrugs, skating around still.

"I don't see any tricks, you're just going around in circles," Mike responds, rolling his eyes. "And Mars? She's just... Just my friend," He adds

Max scoffs. "I've seen how friends look at each other. You don't look at friends the way you look at Mars," She laughs before shaking her head. "And if it's so easy, you try it,".

"No," Mike shakes his head.

"Why not?" Max asks him.

"I don't know how!" He responds.

"So, then you admit it's kind of impressive," Max smirks as she skates towards him.

Mike rolls his eyes. "I think if I spent all day practicing, I could do that," He says to her.

"I would give you a million bucks if you could," She shakes her head beginning to circle around faster.

Mike groans, turning around over and over watching her. "Okay, you're making me dizzy. Please just stop,".

Max smiles. "I'll stop when I join your party,".

"Come on, just stop," He groans again.

"It's a simple question, am I in or out?" Max presses, forming her lips into a line.

"It's not my decision. We're a democracy!" Mike argues with her as she continues to circle around.

"Democracy? Everyone's good with me. You're the only one opposed," Max argues back, zooming around him even faster.

Mike sighs, shaking his head — knowing well that she was right. Lucas and Dustin had this weird infatuation with her, Will was just happy to see his friends happy, and Mariella would always welcome others with open arms.

"Okay! Fine, Jesus. You're in," He shouts at her, rubbing his eyes because of how dizzy she had made him.

She smiles, hopping off the board and clapping him on the back. "Thanks, lover-boy," She says as she steps on the end of her skateboard and picks it up before beginning to walk away.

"I am not 'lover-boy'!" Mike says, walking after her.

Max shakes her head with a laugh. "Seriously though, talk to her, she's always staring at you with these dopey eyes! And when she's not, you're grabbing onto her and pulling her towards you. What's up with that anyway? It's like you're scared of her being too far away," She rambles, listing off things she had observed about them.

"Nothing's up, I just don't trust people with my friends. Especially her — she's too nice," Mike goes on. "That's why I didn't want you in the party. I'm just paranoid, okay?" He says, turning to her as they exit the gym.

Max nods. "Yeah. I understand. After what had happened last years with Will going missing," She responds.

"Yeah, with Will going missing," Mike agrees, happy that she didn't know about the rest.

If there was one thing Mike wasn't happy about, it was that he was actually beginning to like Max. And, that's something he didn't need. He didn't want to make friends with her. It was so much easier to dislike her. After all, he did promise himself to protect all his friends. It was hard enough juggling four of them. Five? That just seemed impossible.

a/n: i love you madwheeler. you are the best friend duo i could only wish for.