it's the end of the world as we know it.

17. here i go again

"Frankie!" Stella's voice bounced off his walls, and he groaned, rolling over in his bed, trying to ignore her. She yelled again, "Frankie!"

"Oh my god, what?!" He yelled back, sitting up slightly in his pillow.

"Take me to Starcourt!" She pleaded.

"No! You have legs!"

"You really expect me to walk from here to Starcourt?! That'll take forever!" Stella complained.

"Fine! Give me ten minutes."

"Okay! Thanks!" She exclaimed cheerfully, and he heard her feet pad down the hallway. Frankie grumbled, and just as he slowly drug himself out of bed, his phone on his bedside table rang. He snatched it up, knowing it was Max.

"Frankie, Will called, he said something drastic happened. He wants us to meet at Mike's house. I would make you come pick us up but you could literally walk to Mike's house." Max explained.

"Stella's making me take her to Starcourt anyway, so if you're willing to wait about 25 minutes I can come pick you guys up anyway." Frankie told her.

"Hold on, let me ask El." Max said, and she pulled the phone away from her mouth. A second later she came back. "El said that's fine, we'll just call the Wheeler's house and tell Will we're waiting for you to come pick us up."

"Okay, I'll be there in at least twenty five minutes." Frankie agreed, and hung up. He swore this was the fastest he's ever gotten ready, he practically threw the clothes on he was wearing, grabbed his keys, and ran out to the living room. "C'mon Stella, let's go!"

"Hold on!" She snapped, pulling her shoes on. The two siblings ran to his car, and Stella dropped into the passenger seat. "What's got you in a rush?"

"I'm picking up Max and El in a few minutes so I gotta get you to Starcourt." Frankie explained.

"Oh, so you'll rush for Max but not your own sister." Stella scoffed. "Who's El?"

"El's Luke's sister. I guess they adopted her recently or something." Frankie gave a fake explanation.

"That seems weird for the Chief to do." Stella said.

"Yeah, but I dunno. It's not my family." Frankie shrugged. In no time, with a little bit of speeding, they got to Starcourt. Stella climbed out, and before she barely even had the door latched shut, Frankie was off towards Max's house. He watched the clock on his dashboard; he made it there with five minutes to spare.

Max and El were sitting on the front porch waiting for Frankie as he peeled into their driveway, and he noticed the blue Camaro was still missing. The two girls climbed into the car, Max in the passenger seat, El in the back.

"Nice, you got here pretty fast." Max nodded, glancing at him.

"I sped a bit. Glad Hopper wasn't around." Frankie responded.

Max snorted. "Yeah, he better give us all passes."

"I wish." Frankie said. "So what'd Will call about?"

"Don't know. He didn't really elaborate, just said we had to get to Mike's house."

Frankie hummed. "Weird. Maybe it's related to the Billy situation."

"Maybe." Max agreed.

In a short time, the group had arrived at the Wheeler's house. Frankie noticed Nancy's car wasn't in the driveway, so she was probably at work with Jonathan. At the thought of him, Frankie frowned. He hadn't heard from Jonathan in a few days, and he missed him. Maybe he should call him when he got home later.