𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐭

xi. THE ASSEMBLY

The five boys drove through town and Charles smiled at Eleven's admiration of everything around them, the cars, the people, the stores. It was cute, like she was a lost puppy, in a way. At the school, Dustin and Mike throw the doors open so they all walk in, Charles looks at Mike who looked back at them, all of them walking in a line.

"Okay, remember, if anyone sees us, look sad." Mike said to them, mostly to Eleven who looked at Dustin, Lucas and Charles who all demonstrated what Mike meant, wiping their tears or trailing tears down their cheeks, which she did the same. It was sort of adorable and Charles smiled.

"Attention students, there will be an assembly to honor Will Byers in the gymnasium now. Do not go to fourth period." The man announced over the PA as Mike tried to open the door to the audio visual room. It was locked and so Charles sighed as he crossed his arms. "It's locked." Mike said as he then turns to them. As if it weren't already obvious to them that the door was locked.

"What?" Lucas said then tried to open it as well as Dustin looks at Eleven who stood side by side with Charles. "Hey, do you think you can open it? With your powers?" He asked the girl then Mr. Clarke came from around the corner, they all jump.

"Hey." Lucas said. "Assembly's about to start." The teacher says as Charles looked at Mike. "We know. We're just, you know.." Mike trailed off. "Upset." Lucas said then looked down, pretending to be sad. "Yeah, definitely upset." Dustin stammered. "We need some alone time, Mr. Clarke." Charles said as he looks to the man.

"To cry." Dustin quickly added awkwardly. "Yeah, listen.. I get it. I do. I know how hard this is, but let's just be there for Will, huh? And then.." Mr. Clarke said, taking out his keys he throws to Mike. "The heathkit is all yours for the rest of the day. What do you say?" He said and Dustin smiled.

"Oh," The man said as he noticed Eleven, "I don't believe we've met. What's your name?" He asked her. "Ele—" "Eleanor! She's my, uh—" "cousin." Lucas quickly cut off Mike, helping him out. "Second cousin." Dustin said as he raised two fingers. "She's here for Will's funeral." Mike sighed.

"Ah, well.. Welcome to Hawkins Middle, Eleanor. I wish you were here under better circumstances." Mr. Clarke told her. "Thank you." She said and Charles mentally face palmed at that.

"Uh, where are you from exactly?" Mr. Clarke then asked and they all look to her with worried looks. "Bad place—" "Sweden!" Dustin quickly said. "I have a lot of Swedish family." Mike explained and Charles tried so hard to stay serious.

"She hates it there." He said. "Cold." Lucas says. "Subzero." Dustin said and the teacher just looked at them all with a confused face. "Shall we?" He decided to ask, meaning if they were ready to go to the assembly already. "Yep!"

Dustin pulled the doors open, they made a loud bang, catching everyone's attention. "Abort." He says but Charles and Lucas both push him. Charles spots Poppy sitting by herself, so he runs up the seats, sitting next to her as his friends come join. "Who's the blondie?" Poppy asked, sunglasses resting on her face. "Mike's Swedish second cousin he has a crush on." Charles says and Poppy snorts. "Alright, cool cat." She says and he smiled at that.

The rest of the assembly, Lucas and Mike don't even listen as the the two kept looking around. "Look at these fakers." Mike said to both Lucas and Charles as he looks around. "They probably didn't even know his name till today." Lucas says then Charles hears Troy and James laughing. All of them look over, "assholes." Poppy whispered as Charles heard Eleven whisper, "mouth breather." He smiled at the huge difference between the two.

"Hey! Hey! Hey, Troy!" Mike shouted and Charles sighed, looking down. Troy turned to face Mike, James doing the same. "You.. you think this is funny?" He asked him. "What'd you say, Wheeler?" Troy asked as Charles stood next to Mike. "I saw you guys laughing over there. And I think that's a real messed up thing to do." Mike said.

"Didn't you listen to the counselor, Wheeler? Grief shows itself in funny ways." James said as Poppy stood behind Charles, wanting to know where this was going. "Besides, what's there to be sad about, anyway? Will's in fairyland now, right?" As Troy spoke, Charles' fist balled up.

"Flying around with all the other little fairies. All happy and—" Troy is cut off with a fist coming in contact with his face, it threw him back and he looks up to see Charles panting softly, staring down at him with a glare as Mike gasped, Lucas and Dustin both exclaiming loudly especially the crowd. "You're dead, faggot. Dead!" Troy said as he got to his feet, but then he stopped and Charles gets confused at this, as the boy stayed frozen in his tracks.

Charles grimaced when he saw the pee stain forming in Troy's pants, "oh, dude, what the fuck?" He asked then started to laugh. "Dude, Troy peed himself and got punched by Charles Dumont!" A kid exclaimed and the crowd started laughing, pointing as he stayed still, peeing his pants.

Charles looks back at Mike and Eleven, the two were looking at each other as Eleven wipes away at her nose and that's when he knew. "Not bad, cool cat," Poppy said to Charles with an amused smile at him. "Hey, what's going on here?" The principal says and Lucas grabs both Charles and Mike. "Guys, let's go!" He said to them and they all rush to leave the gym, the crowd doing the same. The boys and Eleven immediately head to the audio visual room right away as everyone filled up the halls.

authors note wbk charles was gonna punch troy for will aka the boy he's in love with!!