{The Weirdo on Maple Street, Part II}

The next morning, the Henderson family overslept. Alice woke up 45 minutes after her alarm, shaken up from a night of dreams about thunderstorms and escaped convicts.

"DUSTY! ALLEY CAT! WAKE UP!" their mom shouted, pounding on their bedroom doors. "SCHOOL STARTS IN 25 MINUTES!"

Everyone moved at three times their normal pace, running into each other in the kitchen and fighting over the bathroom. Alice and Dustin rode their bikes faster than they had ever ridden, and fortunately, they both made it to school on time.

It wasn't until Alice made it to school that she realized she was wearing mismatched shoes.

"Dang," she muttered to herself while standing at her locker, looking down. "One red Converse, one black Converse. I'm a walking fashion faux paus."

"Alice, are you okay?"

She turned and saw Nancy and Barb standing in the hallway, studying notecards. A realization dawned on Alice, and she gave a strangled cry.

"What's happening?" Barb asked urgently. "Are you sick? Having a stroke?"

Alice shook her head.

"No. I forgot about the chemistry test."

She began banging her head against her locker door.

"Al, stop!" Nancy said. "It's going to be okay. You can study with Barb and I."

As they walked down the hall, Alice dragged her feet. Of course she forgot the test. After last night's strange adventure, how could she think of chemistry equations? Now, her friends were trying to help, but she couldn't even focus on what Barb was saying. It sounded like a foreign language.

A flash of a green sweater walked past, snatching the notecards out of Barb's hands. It was Steve, and he was with Carol and—ew, gross. Tommy H.

"Nice shoes," Tommy snickered. "You get dressed in the dark this morning?"

"Yes, in fact I did." Alice said. Tommy wasn't sure how to respond—there was no way to twist her words and make fun of that.

"Oh," Tommy stammered. "Well, it looks really stupid."

"Do not care," Alice mumbled, grabbing the notecards from Steve. "Give me those. I know nothing."

As she flipped through the cards, Nancy tried to look over her shoulder.

"I think you've studied enough, Nance," Steve reassured her.

"Steve," Nancy protested, but he wouldn't let her finish.

"I'm telling you, you know, you got this! Don't worry."

"Yeah, little miss 4.0," Alice said. "I'm the one who needs these."

"Now," Steve said, grinning slyly, "on to more important matters."

He started yammering on about how his parents were out of town, but Alice zoned him out. Or, she tried to. It was impossible to study with Tommy's obnoxiously loud mouth-breathing in her ear.

She tuned back in when she heard Nancy say, "A party?"

"Ding, ding, ding!" Carol said sarcastically.

"It's Tuesday," Nancy said.

Tommy laughed.

"'It's Tuesday,'" he mocked. "Oh my God."

"Come on," Steve said, eyes shining. "It'll be low key. It'll just be us." He gestured to Tommy and Carol. "You guys can come, too," he added, nodding at Barb and Alice.

Barb rolled her eyes, obviously uninterested. Alice, however, was intrigued. She had never gone to a wild teen party before, but had seen plenty of movies.

No, what was she thinking? She had to help the boys find Will.

"What do you say?" Steve asked Nancy. "Are you in, or are you out?"

Nancy bit her lip. "Um..."

"Oh, God, look!" Carol hissed.

Everyone turned to see Jonathan Byers hanging a "Have You Seen Me?" poster of Will on the wall.

"Oh, God, that's depressing," Steve muttered.

"Should we say something?" Nancy asked, fidgeting with her binder.

"I don't think he speaks," Carol snickered.

"How much you want to bet he killed him?" Tommy asked, grinning nastily.

Alice smacked his arm, the same time Steve said, "Shut up."

"Ow!"

"Don't be a wimp, I barely touched you," Alice shot back.

Nancy went over to speak to Jonathan.

Alice wanted to say something too. But what would she say? "I'm glad your brother is missing, not mine?" "I found a stranger in the woods while looking for Will?" That was not the brightest idea.

She waited too long to decide. The bell rang before she could say anything.

Nancy walked back over to the group. "Time for chemistry," she said, taking the notecards back from Alice.

"Want me to walk with you, Nance?" Steve asked hopefully.

"Oh, um, that's okay," Nancy said. "You have math, all the way at the other end of the wing. I'll see you at lunch, okay?"

She gave Steve a kiss on the cheek, and he smiled.

"See you. C'mon guys."

He, Carol, and Tommy turned on their heels and walked down the hall toward their class. Alice, Barb, and Nancy went in the opposite direction.

"Damn. Well, I'm going to fail." Alice said. "There goes my GPA. Maybe I will go to Steve's party, to forget my troubles."

Barb scoffed.

"Really?" she said, shaking her head. "You want to go to his party?"

"I mean, maybe," Alice said, thinking about the mystery girl and Will. "It would be a nice distraction."

"It sounds terrible," Barb said.

"I don't know," Nancy said, looking down. "It could be fun."

Barb narrowed her eyes.

"Whatever."

She pushed past her friends and stormed into the classroom.

"What's her problem?" Alice asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No clue," Nancy said.

They followed Barb into the classroom, trying to relax before their test.

✏️ ✏️ ✏️ 

Next period, Alice painted sets for the school play in Drama class. She told Maria and Samuel about Steve's party. When she first mentioned her invite, Samuel gasped and dropped his paintbrush.

"Steve Harrington," he said, "King Steve, invited you, YOU, to his party?"

"Don't sound so surprised," Alice mumbled. "I'm not some unpopular dork—"

"Actually," Maria quipped, "you are."

"Shut up!" Alice said, narrowing her eyes. She flicked red paint on Maria's jeans.

"Hey!" Maria retaliated by splattering blue paint on Alice's shoes.

"Jokes on you, I like how that looks." Alice admired her sneaker. "Looks sharp."

"Can I come with you?" Samuel asked. "To the party?"

"Really? You want to be seen with me, an unpopular dork?"

"I'll do anything for a chance to go to King Steve's party," Samuel said excitedly.

"You're such a shallow asshole, you know that?" Alice said, only half joking.

"C'mon Al! I need this." Samuel protested. "I'm playing Stanley Kowalski in our production of Streetcar and Steve and Tommy H. are the perfect muses."

"I'm not even sure if I'm going to go," Alice said. "I have...stuff."

Maria raised an eyebrow.

"Very convincing," she said.

"Stuff more important than—" Samuel began.

Alice interrupted: "If you say King Steve's party, I'm going to deck you."

Samuel fell silent and mimed zipping his lips.

"That's what I thought."

🎨 🎨 🎨 

After school, Alice met Dustin and Lucas outside the middle school's entrance.

"Hey dorks. Where's Mike?"

"He stayed home today," Lucas said, frowning. "He's probably with the freak."

"Don't call her that!" Alice said, narrowing her eyes.

"C'mon," Dustin said, mounting his bike. "Let's go to Mike's house and see if his mom took her back to the nuthouse."

As the three of them rode past the high school, Alice saw Steve and Nancy walking to his car.

Nancy waved, and Steve called, "See you tonight!"

Alice fake-grinned, and waved back. "Haha, yeah!"

She zoomed ahead of Dustin and Lucas as she heard them sputter and say, "What the shit?"

"Shut up," she muttered.

"What did he mean, 'see you tonight'?" Dustin asked, glaring.

"He invited me to a party," Alice said. "I'm probably not going to go."

"You shouldn't," Dustin said. "He's a dick."

"He's okay," Alice said. "It's his friends who are dicks."

"You can't go to his party," Dustin continued. "We have to find Will."

"She doesn't have to be there," Lucas said. "We can handle ourselves. Plus, she's not in the party, so..."

"I'm the chaperone!" Alice protested. "Remember?"

"You're less a 'chaperone,'" Lucas said, "and more just tagging along. Like a—what's the scientific name for tapeworms sucking out nutrients from their host?"

"A parasitic relationship?" Dustin offered. Alice glared daggers at him.

"Yeah, that!" Lucas said brightly. Off Alice's look, he cleared his throat. "No offense, though."

"Funnily enough," Alice quipped, "I do take offense to that comment. If you think I'm such a parasite and don't want my help, maybe I will go to the party."

"Good!" Lucas said. "We'll let you know if you miss out on anything. And we'll give you a fourth of the credit when we find Will."

They continued their ride to Maple Street, Alice's mind swirling.

Would it be bad to go to Steve's party? she thought. To spend one night being a reckless teenager? She wanted to help find Will and protect Dustin and his friends, but they obviously didn't care one way or the other. Besides, she didn't want to make Barb fifth-wheel Nancy, Steve, Tommy, and Carol.

When they got to the Wheeler's house, they left their bikes in the backyard and entered through the perpetually unlocked basement door. Mike met them at the stairs and lead them to his room where—surprise—the mystery girl was still there.

"What? Are you out of your mind?" Lucas snapped. "Why is she still here?"

"Just listen to me!" Mike protested, but Lucas wouldn't let him finish.

"You are out of your mind!" Lucas said angrily. He crossed his arms.

"She knows about Will," Mike explained.

"What do you mean she knows about Will?" Alice asked, turning to look at Eleven with wide eyes.

Mike walked over and gestured to a photo of the boys winning the science fair.

"She pointed at him," Mike said, "at his picture. She knew he was missing, I could tell!"

"You could tell?" Lucas said with an eye roll, unimpressed.

"Just think about it," Mike said. "Do you really think it was a coincidence that we found her on Mirkwood, the same place where Will disappeared?"

"That is weird," Dustin admitted.

"And," Mike continued, "she said bad people are after her. I think maybe..." He bit his lip, and hesitated.

"Mike," Alice said slowly. "What is it?"

Mike sighed. "I think these bad people are the same ones that took Will. I think she knows what happened to him."

Lucas felt anger bubble in his chest. "Then why doesn't she tell us?!"

He wheeled on the girl and shouted at her, "Do you know where he is? Do you know where Will is?"

"Stop it, you're scaring her!" Mike yelled.

"She should be scared!" Lucas said. He turned back to her. "If you know where he is, tell us! This is nuts."

"Mike," Alice said, "I hate to say it, but, we have to take her to your mom."

"No!" Mike said. "Eleven said telling any adult would put us in danger."

"What kind of danger?" Dustin asked, nervously.

"Her name is Eleven?" Alice asked, frowning.

"El for short," Mike said.

"Mike," Dustin said loudly. "What kind of danger?"

"Danger, danger."

He made a finger gun and pointed it at Dustin's forehead. Alice's heart leapt into her throat as Mike pointed the finger gun at her, and then at Lucas.

Lucas slapped Mike's hand away and said, "No, no, no! We're going back to plan A. Alice is right, we're telling your mom."

Lucas turned towards the bedroom door and opened it, but it slammed shut before he could exit. He frowned, but opened it again. It slammed once again, louder than before.

All four kids turned to Eleven, whose nose was bleeding slowly. Her eyes were narrowed.

"No," she said in a dangerously low voice.

"Holy shit," Alice said with a gasp.

"Alice, relax," Mike said, but he was also in shock.

"Relax? No, I can't relax! She's like, she's like Yoda!"

"I can't believe this is happening," Dustin said.

Lucas, who had been silent the whole time, turned to Eleven. "How did you do that? How?"

"Lucas, don't scare her," Mike said.

"What the hell man? How can we trust her?" Lucas said angrily.

"I need to sit down," Alice said, lowering herself into Mike's desk chair.

While the boys kept bickering about whether or not to tell Mrs. Wheeler about Eleven, Alice's mind kept spinning. When did things get so crazy in her life? And, more importantly, could Eleven really find Will?

"Alright, here's what we do," Alice said, taking charge. She stood from Mike's chair and pointed at Eleven. "We don't tell anyone about her. We keep her a secret."

"What?" Lucas said. "I can't believe you folded so easily! What happened to telling Mike's mom?"

"Look, I don't really want any of us to get shot," Alice snarked. "And if there really are bad people looking for her, we need to protect her."

Eleven had a blank look on her face most of the time, but the corners of her lips curved up slightly when Alice said she was going to protect her.

Alice turned to Mike. "Can you still keep her here?" she asked him.

He nodded. "Yeah, she can stay here. If she wants to," he added quickly. Mike turned to Eleven, and she nodded slowly.

"Perfect. I'll try to bring over some old clothes for her to wear, I think my mom has kept basically everything from my childhood. Dustin can give them to you at school tomorrow."

Lucas shook his head. "I still can't believe this is happening. She's got powers, that's insane," he muttered.

"It's mental is what it is!" Dustin said. He grinned. "But, it's also really awesome."

"Yeah, yeah, awesome," Alice said. "As long as no one gets killed."

A little while later, Alice and Dustin descended the Wheeler's staircase to get their bikes and head home. Before they could get to the basement, they ran into Nancy in the foyer.

"Alice? I didn't know you were coming over," Nancy asked, confused.

"Oh, um, I just came to pick up this bundle of joy from his playdate," Alice said, putting her arm around Dustin and squeezing him tight.

"Let me go," Dustin grumbled, shimmying out of her grip. "And I'm 12, I don't have playdates."

Nancy gave Alice and Dustin a strange look. "Oh! Well, while you're here, you should stay for dinner. Then Barb can drive both of us to, the, um..."

"The party?" Dustin interrupted loudly.

"Shut up!" Nancy hissed. "How did you know about that?"

"Oh," Alice said, frowning. "Was that supposed to be a secret?"

"Yes! My mom will kill me if she finds out we're going. You won't tell, right?" Nancy asked, glaring at Dustin.

Dustin shook his head.

"You have my word, Nancy, I won't make a peep! Now, what's for dinner?"

🍽 🍽 🍽

Everyone sat around the table eating Mrs. Wheeler's meatloaf during the most awkward dinner of all time.

Well, they weren't really eating. They picked at their food and shared furtive glances.

"Something wrong with the meatloaf?" Mrs. Wheeler asked, frowning.

"Oh, no," Dustin said, trying to think of a fast excuse. "I had two bologna sandwiches for lunch. I don't know why."

"Me too," Lucas said weakly.

"It's delicious, Mommy," Nancy said in a sickly-sweet tone. Nancy only used that voice when she wanted something.

"Thank you, sweetie," Mrs. Wheeler said.

Time to go in for the kill.

"So," Nancy said, "there's this special assembly thing tonight for Will at the school field. Alice and I are going, and Barb's driving."

Mrs. Wheeler sighed.

"Why am I just hearing about this?"

"I thought you knew," Nancy said, feigning surprise.

"I told you," Mrs. Wheeler said, "I don't want you out after dark until Will is found. And I'm sure your mother feels the same way, Alice."

"I know, I know," Nancy said. "But it'd be super weird if we're not there. I mean, everyone's going. Right, Alice?"

Nancy elbowed Alice, who yelped.

"Uh, I mean, yeah," Alice said quickly. "It's really important. So important."

Mrs. Wheeler relented. "Just be back by 10:00."

Nancy grinned at Alice, who gave a strained smile back. She still didn't really want to go to the party, but the boys didn't seem to need her, and Alice didn't want Barb to be alone.

Mrs. Wheeler suddenly had a bright idea. "Why don't you take the boys, too?"

"No!" Nancy and Mike said in unison. Alice glanced out of the corner of her eye and saw Eleven descend the stairs.

"Oh crap," Alice mumbled. Mrs. Wheeler gave her a strange look.

"Don't you think the boys should be there?" Mrs. Wheeler asked. "For Will?"

Mike choked on his milk when he noticed Eleven, and Mrs. Wheeler began to turn. Dustin pounded both his fists on the table to keep her from seeing Eleven.

"Sorry," Dustin said meekly. "Spasm."

Mike and Nancy's littlest sister, Holly, made a face like she was trying not to cry.

"Oh, it's okay Holly," Mrs. Wheeler cooed. "It's just a loud noise."

"Nice," Nancy, who hadn't seen Eleven, hissed to Dustin.

"Very smooth," Alice said with a grimace.

After dinner, Alice cornered the boys in the hallway.

"So, I'm going to go to the party for a while," Alice began, "and then I'll meet you guys in the woods—"

"Don't bother," Dustin said. "We can handle it."

"Are you sure?" she said, furrowing her brow. "I don't even want to go anyway, so I'll just stay for a half an hour and then—"

"We're fine!" Lucas said. "We're men. C'mon Dustin."

He dragged her brother up the stairs to Mike's room, and Alice frowned.

"Keep your walkie-talkie on channel 6!" she called after him. "Call me if you need help."

Dustin gave a thumbs up right before Mike slammed his door.

"Help with what?"

Nancy had just finished helping her mom with the dishes. She stood behind Alice with her head tilted to one side, eyes narrowed.

"Help with his homework on The Great Gatsby," Alice said quickly. "I'm shit at all subjects except English."

"Don't sell yourself short," Nancy said, leading Alice up to her room. "You're also good in drama class, and band, and—"

"—and all the subjects that don't require real knowledge," Alice deadpanned. "Yeah, I'm a genius."

"Your artistic brain will come in handy," Nancy said, closing her bedroom door. "I need help picking a top. I bought some new ones with Barb this weekend. Which of these do you like best?"

Nancy held up a few different blouses, and Alice pointed to a striped sweater.

"That one," she said.

"Really?" Nancy asked, doubtful. "I don't like it as much as I like the other ones."

"Look, does it matter which shirt you're wearing?" Alice asked. "It's just a party."

"Yes!" Nancy said, exasperated. "It's a huge deal."

"Steve likes you because of you, not because of what blouse you wear," Alice said, tapping her foot impatiently on the floor.

Nancy shook her head. "You're just naïve."

A car horn beeped outside.

"That's Barb!" Nancy said. She grabbed the striped shirt and threw it in her purse. "Come on, let's go."

"Bye, Dustin," Alice called through Mike's door.

"Don't do anything stupid," he called back.

"Ditto."

The two girls ran down the stairs, saying their goodbyes to Mrs. Wheeler and clamoring into Barb's car.

A/N A slightly longer chapter today! Let me know what you think!

{Edited July 6, 2020; Reposted September 1, 2024}