To Love a Boy ☆ S. Harrington

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𓆉 ⋆.˚𓇼 ⋆.˚𓆟

November 12, 1983

Magnolia shot up at the sight of bright headlights in the front yard. After almost thirty minutes of impatient waiting, Hopper had finally come back. Her gums had begun to bleed after chewing on her cheek, anxiously, for so long. She followed behind Nancy as everyone rushed outside.

Much like Nancy had done with Mike, Magnolia ran to Dustin and hugged him. She turned towards Lucas, pulling him in as well. "Why can't you guys just be normal?" she asked with an airy laugh.

The boys laughed softly with her before glancing at Nancy, who stared at the bald girl. "Is that my dress?"

Magnolia now took in the sight of her. Her eyes were wide, and beady. She seemed scared and intimidating simultaneously, and Magnolia could never guess how her geeky cousin had befriended her.

𓆉 ⋆.˚𓇼 ⋆.˚𓆟

"Okay, so, in this example, we're the acrobat. Will and Barbara, and that monster, they're this flea," Mike explained as he held up a piece of paper where he had drawn an example of what he was talking about. Although what the kids said made sense, Magnolia couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that she had been there. She had crawled right into the place Will and Barabara had been taken to, and she barely lasted five minutes. That scared the girl even more.

"And this is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding. Mr. Clarke said the only way to get there is through a rip in time and space," he continued.

"A gate," Dustin clarified.

"Mm, more like a hole," Magnolia muttered, making her cousin send her a confused look.

"That we tracked to Hawkins Lab," Lucas added.

"With our compasses."

Wow, they loved to finish each other's sentences. Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy, who were on the couch, and Magnolia who stood beside it, looked lost.

Dustin, who picked up on this, continued, "Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the directions of a compass needle."

"Nerd," Magnolia coughed into her fist.

Just as he was about to shoot a smart-ass comment back at her, Hopper interrupted, "Is this gate underground?"

"Yes," Eleven spoke up softly, for the first time that night.

"Near a large water tank?"

"Yes," she nodded.