010 / Billy Hargrove

Three - Poofy hair

Ten

I looked at the boy in shock, and he looked at me the same way. His hair was funny, it's so... poofy. I've never had my hair that long, do boys usually do that with theirs?

"What the hell... who are you?" He questioned. I didn't know what to respond, and I feel too shocked to even use my powers. He was... pretty. I didn't like the feeling that overcame me when I looked at him, it was shame. General Cooper had told me about it when a new intern came to the base, my face turned red when I saw him and he'd notice. Cooper took me aside and i vividly remember him slapping me.
"No feelings. Feelings are shame, you don't wanna feel ashamed do you?" He made me feel so... little. As if I couldn't do anything on my own.

"Dude... are you skinny dipping in my fucking pool?!" He yelled, maybe I've angered him? His heartbeat was still loud, so he must be upset still. It's ridiculous to have a bath- or pool as he likes to call it- outside and not expect someone to get in it. And what the HELL is skinny dipping?!

"Bath." I calmly respond. Isn't that obvious here? He dropped his bat to the side and ran his hands through his poofy hair, heavily sighing. He looked at my hospital gown and he looked more confused.

"Just... stay right here dude. I'm gonna go get you a towel and some clothes I guess. Is that all you have?" I nodded. He wore nice clothes compared to my raggedy gown.

"Stay. Okay? Do not move a muscle." He pointed at me as if I were an animal. He lightly jogged back into his house, leaving me alone to myself again. I still wanted to know what skinny dipping was, and muscles too! I can learn so much out here, the idea of learning makes me excited! All I've never known was commands and harshness.

After a short time, the boy came back with a black towel and baggy shorts with a shirt.
"Here, just- dry yourself off with the towel and wear my clothes." He layed the clothes and towel next to me, I stood up to grab them and he quickly turned around, saying, "woah dude! Don't uh- don't you know about privacy and that stuff?" What the fuck is privacy and why do I need it? I ignored his comment and picked up the towel. It was soft on my rough skin, i haven't felt something like that in a long time. I wore the same gown everyday and it was heavily worn. I dried off my skin, making sure to dry off everywhere before putting on his clothes. The shorts were super baggy on me, but I tied them with the little strings they had and they fit me alright. The shirt was baggy too, reaching my mid-thigh. It had four men on the front with the words "Beatles" above them.

"Done." I stated, he turned around again and sat down on a chair he had. I sat down next to him on the long chair, I wasn't sure why anyone would need such a big chair for. It could fit 4 people easily.

"Okay. Look this isn't the weirdest thing that's happened to me. I just need to know why you're here and your name. Can you at least give me that?" He sighed, ruffling his hair with his left hand as his leg began to bounce quickly. I gave him a blank stare in return. What if he knows about Hawkins Lab? But what if he calls the police and they find me?

He sighed again, "I'll let you stay here for the night, my parents won't get back until Monday, but you have to, HAVE to, answer my questions."  I nodded. I lifted my right arm up, revealing my tattoo. I pointed to it, then my body.

"Ten. Sister." He looked more confused than ever. What's so hard to understand? I'm being simple aren't I?

"So your name... is Ten?" I nodded again. "And are you looking for a sister? Or you ARE a sister? Did she get lost or what?" I shook my head.

"Not lost. Hawkins Lab." His eyes widened, "Eleven?!" I smiled, "Yes!" He finally understood! "Now I feel like a dumbass for not connecting you guys sooner! My ex, Nancy, and her brother Mike told me about her. You know about the Demogorgon right?" He explained.
Mike. I heard that name in my dreams, the ones where a boy would talk to Eleven, he would talk about how much he missed her every night in them. I thought it was sweet that he did that for my sister, he's also the reason why I escaped in the first place. I seemed to pick up on what he would tell her every night. I thought they were dreams but its now confirmed that it was a reality.

"Day 342, I miss you so much El. But I promise as soon as you get back we're eating Eggos and I'll teach you how to play some of the games back at the arcade!"

I always thought he was sweet, that one had been one of my favorite talks.

"Dema-Demi-demo-" I tried sounding it out but it was too long. I sighed, "Mike. Take me to Mike." He furrowed his eyebrows, "it's kinda late for that right now. You probably don't understand that much about how stuff in the world works huh?" I shook my head.

"Alrighty then, Captain Steve-O Can help you learn some basic human stuff!" He said pridefully. I giggled at the name he assigned himself.

"Well short-stack, follow me inside. You can sleep in my room tonight." He stated. A smile crept on my face, I've never had a nickname before. He stood up and I followed, when suddenly my stomach growled. "Hungry." I stated simply. The base usually fed me vegetables with water to drink, that's what everyone has to eat right?

"Oh well, I can make you a sandwich, do you like it with white or wheat?" I gave him a confused look, "oh uh, sorry I forget. Just sit down at the table. I'll just make you pancakes if you want." Steve-O walked to the other side of the kitchen and grabbed a box and a bowl. He poured out the contents of the box, which was just some sort of powder, and went to a strange machine with two doors. He opened one and grabbed a container with white water in it pouring it into the bowl,

"White water?" I asked, everything here is so... strange.

He chuckled, "it's called milk, it's good. Here I'll give you a cup." He quickly poured the liquid into a cup and handed it to me. I stared at it, do i really wanna drink this? I picked it up and slowly sipped a little, to my surprise it was... good? I started chugging it down my throat, finishing it in seconds.

"More." I demanded.

"Holy- Short stack, don't chug it all next time!" He laughed a little. I not used to this treatment, he was so... not evil. I didn't feel like he'd hit me, or force me to do bad experiments. Steve handed me another cup of milk and continued making "pancakes."

"Steve-O not... evil." I said to him as a way of showing gratitude. He turned around and stared at me, his face looked relaxed.

"Uh yeah, If I'm being honest I used to be kind of a shithead. But i dunno, i guess I learned to be nicer and decent." He explained.

"What's shithead and nicer?" I said with a puzzled look on my face as he handed me a plate with pancakes. They had a weird glistening texture on top of them.

"A shithead's just, you know, kinda like rude, douchey person. They're just idiots. Dumb people. And you don't know what nice is? It's just being... well nice? Not mean." He ruffled his hair again as I nodded and stared down at my food. I didn't like eating ever since Brenner gave me the sweet food that knocked me out.

"Oh here, I'll cut it up for you. It's good, I promise" he smiled at me.

Gosh, his smile made me feel ashamed. Feelings are shameful.

He used a fork and knife to cut the circular food into little slices, then handed me the fork. I grabbed it and impaled the fork into the pancake, bringing it to my lips. Before I ate it I asked him, "no trick, right?" I didn't want to end up back in that lab or that base.

He looked confused, and sat down next to me, "No no, I promise it's good and it's not a trick. Now eat, I've been hearing your stomach growl for the past 10 minutes and Daddy Steve can't let someone in need starve" he grinned. I could tell he meant his words, his heartbeat didn't go up.

"You're not my dad?" His face fell and he laughed at my choice of words.

"No dude it's like- well never mind I'll explain later. Just eat, short stack." He said.

I bit down on the pancake slice, and my god did it taste amazing, it was so sweet and savory! I started munching down on my food, excited to eat the next slice and drink more milk. Steve looked at me with a surprised look on his face, then said, "alright, so first thing I'm teaching you tonight: bad words."

A/N: hi guys!!! Sorry if I have typos, i haven't thought to go threw the chapters and fixed them yet, also thank you for reading this hehe :)