Tʜᴇ Fʟᴀʀᴇ ꕥ Lɪᴢᴢɪᴇ Jᴏʜɴsᴏɴ

sᴇʀɪᴇs ᴏɴᴇ ꕥ 4

"And these are all my science fair trophies, we got first every year. Except for last year when we got third, Mr Clarke said it was totally political..."

Mike and Eleven were in Mike's bedroom when Lizzie arrived that afternoon, she sprinted up there to find Mike showing El the trophies they had won.

"Lizzie," El said as she entered. She smiled.

"Hey, El."

But suddenly, El's attention was on something else. The photo that was pinned up next to the trophy. The photo of the Party with their trophy. All of them.

El's mouth was open, her eyes were wide. Then, slowly, she lifted her arm up and pointed to him.

To Will.

Mike and Lizzie looked at each other, then Mike asked. "You know Will?"

She nodded.

"Did you see him? Last night? On the road?" Lizzie pushed on.

But before El could answer, the sound of a car driving to the Wheeler's was heard. Lizzie went over to the window and saw Karen's car pulling in. "Mike! It's your mum!"

Mike's eyes widened and he pulled El's arm. "We gotta go!"

He pulled El down the stairs and Lizzie followed, but Karen was already in the house. They ran back up.

But Karen had heard them, for she shouted a second later. "Ted? Is that you?"

"Just me, mum!" Mike yelled. Then he hissed. "Lizzie, go and hide in Nancy's room and don't let on you're here."

"Got it!" Lizzie hissed back as Karen was heard below.

"Mike? What are you doing home?"

"One second!" Mike yelled.

As Lizzie hid, she heard Mike say to El. "In here. I'll be right back, okay? Please, you have to get in, or my mum, she'll find you. I won't tell her about you, I promise."

" 'Promise'?" El asked in her small voice.

"It means something that you can't break," Miek continued. "Ever."

"Michael!" Karen shouted from down the stairs.

"Please," she heard Mike say, and then she heard a door shut, and her friend rush down the stairs.

For a few minutes, Lizzie crouched in her hiding place, hearing the muffled voices of Mike and his mum downstairs. Then she heard Mike rush back up. Surprisingly, he went to Lizzie first. "Lizzie! Lunch is almost over! You need to get back to school!"

"What about El?" Lizzie asked.

"It's okay, I'll go to her," Mike said in a whisped. "You need to go! My mum's in the living room so you can sneak out easily, go!"

"I'll be round later with Dustin and Lucas," Lizzie said, picking up her bag and leaving the room.

Mike sighed as he went to go get El. How was he ever going to explain this?

ꕥꕥꕥ

Lizzie, Dustin and Lucas rode their bikes quickly round to their friends' and ditched them on the grass as fast as possible.

They said a quick hello to Karen and then ran upstairs to Mike's room. There he was, standing, facing them.

And there was Eleven, sitting on the bed.

"Are you out of your min-" Dustin started.

"Just listen to me!" Mike shouted.