-"el?" will and i yelled, scrimmaging through each and every room to find eleven, but she was nowhere.
will and i met up and her room and saw her dresser drawer open and half empty.
-"we have to call hop and you're mom." i frantically suggested, having a nervous breakdown.
-"no! no, they wouldnt be happy! we have to cover this up somehow and find her." will insisted.
-"are you nuts?? how are we supposed to find her?" i argued.
-"i don't know!" he grunted, pacing around the room clearly stressed out.
-"call the rest of the party, ill handle things with mom and hop." will said, rushing past me and out her bedroom door.
i look over to els desk and see her telephone sitting there, so i quickly picked it but realized i couldn't call them while in school.
-"shit." i cursed under my breath.
i have to actually physically go see them with my bike.
i rushed downstairs, passing by will who was dialing numbers into the downstairs phone.
-"i have to go get them!" i whispered.
-"hurry!" he whispered back, letting me exit his house and down his driveway to go all the way back to school on my bike.
i had to find them, i know dustin's in chemistry right now, lucas is in pe but i don't know about max.
it didn't take long before i saw the entrance of the school, encouraging me to peddle faster towards the double doors and rush to walk inside.
i went to pe first, it was the closest to me. when i entered the gymnasium, everyone was halfway across the stadium and walking into the locker rooms.
i rushed to follow them and let myself into the sliding doors and saw lucas in the corner of the room changing his shirt.
-"lucas!" i called, pushing through the men in that class.
-"what are you doing here mike? shouldnt you be in algebra?" he asked, confused on my surprising visit.
-"we have to go, it's an emergency. do you know where max is?" i frantically asked impatiently.
-"but mike-"
-"lucas, now." i ordered, giving him a stern and serious look.
_
everyone was at wills house, waiting for hopper and joyce to get here. but we've only been waiting for a few minutes.
-"where would she go in illinois?" max asked, reading the note and being just as confused as everyone else.
-"you think it has something to do with her sister?" i ask, remembering kali from chicago.
-"i don't think so, el despises her. besides, how could she help eleven in any way?" will replied, but was almost interrupted by hopper and joyce storming inside.
will took the note and hid it in his pocket from them, quick enough for them to not notice.
-"what do you mean she's gone?" joyce exclaimed.
-"she didn't leave a note or anything?" hopper asked, looking extremely distressed and worried.
-"no.. nothing." will lied, not very obviously.
i was almost disappointed he was lying, that note is a huge clue on where she was. her going to illinois could mean a million things, though.
wait.. dont the byers know someone from illinois? i remember him from fourth of july night.
isn't he a detective or something like that? maybe he knows something about where el is.
i grab onto wills shoulder, pulling him into a different room to talk to him privately without every one else hearing.
-"isn't your moms detective friend living in illinois?" i ask him, furrowing my eyebrows.
-"murray?"
-"yeah, murray."
-"yeah, you think he is with her? el is like.. super weirded out by him. there's no way she'd be staying there." he insisted.
-"yeah, but she's in illinois. where else would she possibly be?" i raise my hands.
he gave me an uncertain type of look, not saying anything.
-"it would be stupid if we didnt go at least check." i mumbled.
-"we?" he quoted from me.
-"yeah? you, me, the others.."
-"no, mike. that's like a 2 hour long drive away. look, ill just go by myself and i'll be back by tonight." he affirmed.
-"no, youre not going by yourself! im coming with!" i shook my head, denying his rejection.
-"why do you want to go?" he scowled.
-"because, just because el and i broke up doesn't mean i don't care about her still.."
he slowly nodded, looking down at his feet awkwardly.
-".. and because i don't want you doing this by yourself. i don't want you to get lost or something and have no way to reach anyone." i added, receiving a small grin from will.
-"fine.. we just have to somehow sneak away from our parents tonight. tell them you're staying with.. lucas. he'll cover for us." will informed, leaving out the bedroom door before me.
_
later that afternoon, i was packing a bag for the road since it was going to be a long ride..
i walked downstairs to nancy and my mom watching television downstairs in the living room.
-"alright, im leaving for lucas's" i announced, opening the door in front of me.
-"honey, you sure you don't want me to take you?" she asked, starting to stand up.
-"no! it's just down the street. got to go, bye!" i spoke as fast as i could before slamming the door and rushing to my bike.
i had to remember the pathways i had to take to get to wills house, not taking to long to get there.
i saw the side of his house from down the street around 5:07 pm.
he was waiting in his car for me and his facial expression was blank when i shoved my bike in his trunk and got up front with him.
-"alright im ready." i clapped my hands on my lap after buckling my seatbelt.
he greeted me with an awkward nod before going in reverse and backing out.
i almost forgot about the events that happened just a few hours ago.. the thing at school, him crying in my arms. hopefully we can just put that behind us now and move past it.
i don't want to ever hurt will like that again, ever.
i wanted to apologize again, but that would make the car ride seem even more awkward than it already was. i decided to leave him alone and forget about it.
it seemed like we've been in the car for hours, we had stopped for gas a few times and i could tell will was nervous since this was one of his first times driving on the interstate. we were kind of making a joke about it.
-"you can't drive 20 miles an hour on the interstate, will!" i giggled.
-"what do you know about driving? you failed your test. twice." he smiled.
-"shut up, just drive faster!" i giggled, watching him pass by cars faster than before.
after a few moments, he was starting to pass by them faster than usual. he had to have been going over 80 mph.
-"will, slow down! you're going to get a ticket." i yelled at his chaotic driving.
-"make up your mind!" he rolled his eyes.
-"god, you're such a reckless driver." i joked, sitting back in my seat.
-"i'd like to see you do better, where's your license?" he teased me, widening his eyes at me.
-"you're a funny guy." i sarcastically growled, us both giggling before he turned his eyes back on the road.
as he was driving, we passed by a big green sign.
"welcome to illinois"
