Royal Pain || Stranger Things

eight || dine and dash

El stared hesitantly at the red vehicle Tatum was pulling out from its cover in the trees, brows drawing in. "What is that?"

     "It's a motorcycle. It's like a really fast bike," she told her, offering out the helmet. "No one will see you if you wear this."

     Eleven took the helmet, running her hands along the colored stripes surrounding the visor. "Pretty."

     Tatum climbed onto the bike, smiling as she kicked it to life. "Put it on." When El did, she patted the slim seat space behind her. "Let's go see Mike."

     Although hesitantly, El climbed onto the back of the bike, following Tatum's instructions of wrapping her arms around her waist.

     "Hold on," Tatum told her, the bike taking off.

     El's arms wrapped tighter around Tatum as they raced down the dead-end road and turned onto another, the town soon coming into focus around them. Her head pressed into the teen's back, heart racing for more reasons than one.

     It was unfortunate that on her way towards the school parking lot, they passed a blue camaro racing in the opposite direction blaring rock music and lacking a redhead sister in the passenger's seat.

     Taking up a spot just shy of the teacher's strip, the students piling out of the school causing Tatum's hesitancy to turn the motorcycle off.

     "I don't know if they're still here."

     El flipped up the visor, peering over to the predominantly empty bike rack. "He's here."

     Tatum killed the engine, letting El get off first before helping her with the helmet. "You're sure?"

     Pointing to the bikes, she nodded. "That one's his."

     Tatum glanced to her stepmother's car still parked not too far from the motorcycle, sighing as she pocketed her keys and left the helmet on the seat. "Alright, let's go inside."

     The two made their way up to the middle school, no students opposing them as they went through the front doors.

    "Where should we look first?"

     Without a word, Eleven began to guide the way.

     Following close in tow, they made an abrupt turn down a slim hall past a large 'Keys to Success' bulletin board filled with information that was mildly useless, and then another turn down a hefty row of classrooms.

     "How long has it been since you've seen Mike?" she asked, breaking the silence of the hall.

     "Long time," El dully replied, looking around every turn before stopping dead and retracing her steps.

     Tatum's brows furrowed, looking to the double doors of the gymnasium. Following her up the windows, she spotted not only Mike, but Max.

     Eleven jerked her head to the side, Max wiping out on her skateboard and clattering to the gym floor.

     "Did you do that?" she asked quietly, watching Mike crouch to help Max up from the ground.

     El grabbed Tatum's hand, breaking out in a full out run back down the way they came.

     Tatum let out a noise of surprise but ran with her anyway. "I thought you wanted to see him?" she hissed, footfall heavy in her Doc Marten boots.

     "Stupid!" Eleven let go as they burst back out through the main doors of the school, rushing over to Tatum's bike. "Home."

     Tatum held back her questioning, retrieving her keys. "Okay. Okay, I'll take you home."  A sudden wave of pain coursed through Tatum's body, nearly dropping her to her knees. "Ow, ow, oh my god," she seethed, clutching the sides of her head as her eyes squeezed shut.