Since season three kind of ruined a chance of El going to school with all her friends freshman year, I decided to rewrite it for when I think she will actually start going to school with everyone. So, this is kind of like a rewrite of First Day. 

I hope you like it!

---1987---

The first day of Junior year... well, the first official day of school ever for a certain Telekinetic teenage girl, and she was ecstatic. Okay, sure, she was a tad bit nervous. Hawkins High was a new territory, uncharted waters she'd never explored, nor was school in general, but she was ready to face it head on. She'd been held captive in a Lab, fought inter-dimensional monsters, been to another dimension, almost been killed, and risked her life on multiple occasions. What could be worse than that? Certainly not high school, right? 

The original plan had been for her to start school second semester of freshman year along with all her friends. Hopper had been homeschooling her since January, 1985, and she was ready. But, unfortunately, the paranormal world wasn't done with then quite just yet, causing many tragic events to occur, including her and the Byers' leaving Hawkins after the terrible "death" of her adoptive father, Jim Hopper. She hadn't gone to school in their new home, out of fear it was too risky after the summer of '85. Fortunately, that next year during Christmas break, they had gotten Hopper back, her powers had returned, and they all moved back to Hawkins, much to her and Will's excitement. Few months later, September rolled around, and El was enrolled to Hawkins High School for Junior year along with her friends (and boyfriend). 

Yes, her and Mike were still together as an official couple. Their relationship had ups and downs, just like every normal romantic relationship, but every time they came out of the hardship stronger than ever. Now at the age of sixteen, it was much healthier and involved less lying (more like none) and didn't just contain making out (they also balanced it out to make room for their friends), but they were also older which meant maturity and progression. They really weren't kids anymore. Their relationship ran so much deeper than just swapping spit and looking cool like most high school couples. No, theirs included much deeper meanings than some married couples couldn't even accomplish. The meaning of love, the loss of losing that one person, long distance, and care was all embedded into their hearts, connecting them together, impossible to tear them apart. 

And yet, some people, more irrational people, who hardly spared them a second glance, still called it puppy love. 

At age thirteen, Mike had called her every night for 353 days in hope she would return, and every night, she had listened, longing for him, for his touch, for his lips against hers, for his soft voice to talk to her. That was not the definition of puppy love, not in her book. What they had was true, they had something that would last forever. 

Anyway, back to school. El was excited, excited she's finally attending school with her friends. She'll finally be able to live like a normal teenage girl. No more hiding, no more fighting, and no more pretending. She had a real birth certificate, and a contract confirming Jane 'El' Hopper's enrollment at Hawkins' High. 

As for living the normal life of a high school girl, though it may sound easier than fighting a monster with no face, it came with it's own challenges. One of them being: picking out an outfit for the first day of high school. 

She didn't want to come off as trying "too" hard, knowing from Max that she didn't want to do that if she wanted to survive school, so dresses were out of the picture. Those were for the "popular" girls apparently. Although, she also didn't want to make the impression she was a stoner or a homeless person either, so no ratty jeans and shirts. But she wanted something that suited her, that screamed El. So, digging through her dresser, she pulled out a pair of grew sweatpants (or joggers) and Mike's Star Wars graphic T-shirt. She then pulled out a pair of her high waisted jeans and a light pink T-shirt. 

Would it be weird to wear sweatpants on the first day of school? She really liked the sound of being comfortable while sitting in a small desk all day. Besides, who cares what anyone thought, right? Who cares if they said anything. As long as she liked it and felt comfortable, confident in what she's wearing, that's all that matters, right? Right? Or should she just go ahead and wear the jeans and actually look presentable? She could swip swap the outfits and wear the jeans with Mike's T-shirt...yeah, she'll do that. 

After exchanging her pajamas for the first day of school outfit, El quickly ran a hair brush through her shoulder length, curly, chestnut hair before grabbing her backpack off her bedroom floor, shutting the lights off, and heading into the kitchen where her step-brother, Will, was eating breakfast, flipping through a D&D manual. 

She muttered a quick, "hello," hanging her backpack on the back of her chair, and made herself two Eggo waffles, not caring to put syrup over them. Sitting back down, El enjoyed her waffles (the obsession never went away), and tried sparking up a conversation with Will, "Is that the new one?" 

"Mhm," Will hummed in reply, not even sparing her a single glance, his eyes dancing around the page, and El rolled her eyes, knowing there was nothing she could do or say to get him out of the D&D world. Though, she wasn't much better when it came to her and her soap operas. 

A few minutes passed and Hopper made his extravagant appearance, still bald and a bit too skinny for El's liking, dressed in a T-shirt and sweatpants. She gave him a small smile as he passed, giggling when he ruffled her hair. She was so happy to have him back, to have her father back, the man who kept her safe even when she was a brat in return. The least she could do was started calling him 'dad' and eventually Will had caught up in the habit, which Hopper was super excited about; having a daughter and a son. 

Joyce came in seconds later, already dressed in her detective uniform (Hopper's partner in crime is what she was), and pressed a kiss to the tops of both Will and El's head. She walked into the kitchen, accepting the warm cup of coffee Hopper had made for her, kissing his cheek as a different way to say thank you. 

El smiled at them and stood, bringing her empty plate to the kitchen, setting it gently down in the sink as to not make much noise since it was still early in the morning and everyone was still on the verge of waking up. She glanced at the clock, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head, and ran to grab her backpack, yelling at Will, "We have ten minutes to get there, Will!" 

Holding up his pointer finger as to say 'one minutes, please', Will finished reading something about temporal time, folding the corner of the book, and closing it, then he placed it in his backpack that was hanging on the chair and zipped it up. 

Impatient, El hugged her parents goodbye, listened to a few ruled Hopper had come up with over night, and headed out the door after slipping on her white tennis shoes. Only then, when she was going to open the door to the driver's seat of the car her and Will shared, did she realize she had forgotten the keys inside. Thankfully, Will stepped out of the house, shutting the door behind him, and walked to the passenger side, tossing the keys over the roof of the car. She caught them with ease as he said, "You forgot those." 

She stuck her tongue out at him immaturely before unlocking the car and slipping inside, both her and Will throwing their backpacks into the backseat. They buckled their seat belts (like the good kids they were) and El started up the car. Sooner than later, they were on their way to Hawkins High for their first day of Junior year, humming along to some old Clash songs, per Will's request. 

Originally, El had wanted Mike to driver her to school, and Will take their car, but Hopper had shut that idea as soon as it came out of her mouth, talking about how being in the same car as your significant other lead to temptation which led to other things, blah, blah, blah. As if Mike and El had never driven in the same car before. She had just rolled her eyes and reluctantly agreed to take the car with Will. 

El sucked in a breath as she pulled into the parking lot of Hawkins High. Sure, she had been excited but now after actually seeing it, she was pretty nervous and swallowed down some nausea. There were so many people, some younger, some older, some the same age as her, all crowding the parking lot, courtyard, and doorways. At one point, this many people would have been against the rules, but now, it was perfectly okay. 

Shaking out all her thoughts, El parked the car in a vacant parking space, pulled the keys out of the ignition, and leaned back in her seat. She closed her eyes and took two deep breaths before opening the door, stepping out into the warm September air. She shut the door, only to open the backseat and grab her backpack, then shut that one too. 

"You ready?" Will asked as he came to stand beside her, backpack already shouldered. 

"Yeah," El replied and, together, they started walking toward the courtyard. On their way, they received some off looks from the student body, some confused, and some impressed, others with a hint of anger and shock. El didn't understand some of it, and assumed it's because she's walking with Will Byers, or the fact that she's the new girl and hadn't ever seen her before. 

"Did Mike say where he and the others would be?" Will asked her, craning his neck to look around, trying to find the familiar faces of their friends, as they stood in the center of the courtyard, teenagers walking around them. 

El nodded, already turning in the direction of the bike racks, pulling Will along. As they neared their location, El could faintly make out the voice of Dustin Henderson, loudly making a comment about how the lunch ladies better not hoard the chocolate pudding this year. 

"Byers!" Lucas exclaimed, cutting Dustin off mid monologue, when he caught sight of the two siblings tracking their way over, pausing when they reached them. He added, "And Hopper." 

"Hey, Lucas," El greeted but she was already making her way toward Mike, but before she could come within a three foot radius of him, someone grabbed her arm and she spun around, coming face to face with  no other than the zoomer. She pouted and the redhead rolled her eyes. 

"Oh please," Max scoffed. "You talked to Mike last night." She pulled her into a hug and out of the corner of her eye, El could see even more bystanders giving them wide eyed glances, probably out of shock because Max wasn't usually so affectionate, much less a hugger. Max pulled away and smiled, shoving her backwards. "Alright, now you can go suck Mike's face off." 

"Max!" She slapped her arm lightly, before turning around and headed over to Mike, walking straight into his open arms. Letting out a breath as her head tucked itself underneath his chin, she let herself relax and fully melt into his warm embrace. Her fingers curled around the fabric of his shirt as she hugged him. "Missed you." 

Mumbling a "missed you too" Mike pulled away, smiling down at her. 

She took the opportunity to take in his appearance. His very attractive appearance, if she might add. He sported jeans and a green/white striped T-shirt tucked into them with a light jacket over that, tennis shoes adorned his large feet. His hair was shorter (his mom had forced him to cut it before school started, claiming it was far too long to be acceptable. Which, she had a point. It was almost to his shoulders), cut into a floppy flowy do, it was hard to explain. But it looked so soft she just wanted to run her fingers through it, but she restrained herself. Her eyes drifted to his face and her knees began to weaken so she grabbed onto his arms for support. His cheekbones were even sharper than a couple years ago (she loved them even though he thought they made him look girlish which was totally untrue), and his eyes were bright for being such a dark color, his lips pulled into a smile. 

"Hey, lovebirds!" Dustin shouted from a few feet away, causing both Mike and El to jump apart, completely separating themselves, and they turned to face the Bard. He gestured to the front entrance to the building. "Should we go grab our schedules and locker combinations?" The question wasn't only directed at the two 'lovebirds', but to all of them. 

They all agreed and, as a group, walked toward the large double doors. As they walked, El looked around the new, yet unfamiliar, surroundings, still feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the new people. Especially since half the student body seemed to be watching her every move and whispering about her, no doubt already making up rumors. 

Max has warned her about that a couple weeks ago at their last sleepover before the school year began. She had explained that high schoolers are nosy pricks that would do anything to get their hands on a good, made up story about someone to spread around, just so they could get noticed by the popular kids. She had also mentioned the popular groups practically lived on gossip and that El should stay away from them. "Nothing good comes from hanging around them," Max had told her as they flipped through a beauty magazine. 

Now understanding the "high schoolers are really nosy" part, El wanted to disappear so they'd all just stop looking at her, stop putting her in the spotlight. She'd never been a big fan of personal attention, it made her feel just a bit sick to her stomach. But, she was the new girl and being in the spotlight for a couple days just came with it. 

They entered the school building and everything seemed to go in slow motion. Heads turned in their direction, people started talking, and El fought the urge to roll her eyes. Although, other students, much to her relief, payed them no attention. Boys and girls crowded around lockers, talking and laughing about their own private conversations. Some kids walked down the hallway, conversing with one another about what they did over the summer, exchanging schedules, and much more she didn't have time to list. 

Weirdly, it all felt normal. El was sure the moment she stepped foot inside, she was going to feel like an outsider, like she didn't belong. But, that wasn't the case. As she walked down the corridors toward the main office with her best friends in tow, smiling as Dustin pointed things out to her, and Mike saying how she wasn't clueless, El felt right in place, like she was exactly where she was supposed to be; right there, with her friends- no, her family, at school. 

They took a left turn down another hallway and was met with a smaller room blocked off by glass windows, and a wooden door. El thought they were going to knock but Dustin just turned the doorknob, opening the door, and walked inside with everyone following. He and the woman at the front desk exchanged a few friendly words before she nodded and typed a few things into her computer, the printer next to it spitting out five sheets of paper, handing them out to their rightful owners, all except for El. 

"What's your name, hun?" The woman, clad in a long beige skirt and a white button up T-shirt tucked into it, asked. Her brown hair was tied up into a tight, professional looking, bun, her blue eyes surrounded by thick mascara, and her soft pink lips pulled into a small smile. 

El blinked, snapping herself out of her thoughts, cleared her throat, and answered, "Jane Hopper." 

A look of realization dawned upon the young woman's face. "Oh! You're chief Hopper's daughter!" She exclaimed brightly and El nodded, giving a tight lipped smile of her own to show she's not being rude. The woman- Mrs. Jansen, as her name tag read, the secretary, typed her name into the computer, clicked something, and the printer spit out another piece of paper. She picked it up and handed it to her saying, "Here you go, Jane. Your schedule, locker number, and combination to your locker. I hope you like Hawkins High!" 

Muttering a "thank you", El followed her friends out of the office, down the hall, and paused in front of the door labeled: AV Club. She watched as Mike dug around in the pocket of his jeans for a minute and pulled out his key chain, flipping it to a certain silver key (he had picked up the key to the room a week ago so he could clean it up a bit), and inserting it into the lock on the doorknob. There was a click and the door swung open, and they all piled inside. 

They sat around the table clattered with different varieties of machines, their schedules laid out in front of them. El bit her lip as she stared down at hers, nervous since it was a good chance she may not have a single class with any of her friends. That would totally suck and deflate the whole reason she was excited about going to school in the first place. 

"So," Lucas began, breaking the comfortable silence between the party. "What do you guys have first period?" His dark eyes glanced down at his schedule, skimming across the page. "I have advanced algebra." 

"Advanced Algebra," Max replied, smiling brightly. "Mr. Matthews?"

Lucas nodded, smiling. 

El grinned, happy that her best friends were so happy together. They too had matured a lot since they were fourteen which meant their bond had grown deeper, especially after everything they had gone through over the past couple years, and their relationship had progressed. Sure, they might not be as intertwined as Mike and El, but they were pretty damn close. 

"I've got physics," Dustin announced, breaking the couple up, not wanting to witness them making googly eyes at each other, or 'eye bang' as he liked to call it, more than necessary, but El knew he secretly didn't mind. "Mrs. Jackson." 

"History," Mike spoke up from beside El and she scooted her chair closer to his, their arms brushing against each other's, and peered down at his schedule. They only shared fifth and seventh period together, plus lunch, but it was better than nothing.  "Mr. Wilson." 

"English. Ms. Jones," El said, grimacing. English was not her strong suit.

Will made eye contact with El and smiled. "I also have English with Ms. Jones." 

El sighed in relief. At least she wouldn't have to be alone. 

They continued to compare schedules, getting excited when they got the same classes, but the mood turned solemn when realization hit. Most the the party barely had any classes all together, and their lockers were spread around the school. Around the table, they discussed ways they'd be able to see each other between classes, during the six minute passing period, but their classrooms were so spread out that they'd have to each take an intricate, challenging route to meet up near the same bathroom within the time span of three minutes, still needing time to get to and from class. So in conclusion, what they came up with, was to meet before school at the bike racks, get together at lunch (thank God they all had the same lunch period. Apparently the odds were somewhat in their favor) then meet up again after school, and it would all progress from there. 

Mike made a comment while looking down at his watch that the bell was going to ring in less than ten minutes, and that they should all go find their lockers. 

The party had reluctantly agreed, pushing away from the table simultaneously standing up and shouldering their backpacks. El brushed off nonexistent dust on her pants as a distraction to keep her hands from shaking anxiously. Finding out she'd be away from her friends, her family, most the da took a negative toll on her, it frightened her. However, she was also El Hopper and she would survive. 

After giving Mike a quick kiss and bidding the rest of her friends goodbye, El swiftly walked down the corridors, staying near the lockers. Her caramel colored eyes flickered between the numbers printed in black ink against the white paper and the numbered plates hanging on the locker doors. 

211.

Finally, she thought as she stood in front of the locker she'd be keeping her belongings in for the next two years, her gaze focusing on the padlock. She knew her combination, but how was she supposed to enter it? Frowning, El looked around her, trying to find any source of directions. Thankfully, a couple lockers away, a girl who looked to be a year younger was twisting the padlock to the right, then left, and back to the right, then pulled her locker open.

Okay, she could do that, couldn't she? 

El turned back to her locker and twisted the padlock first to the twelve, to the right, then next to the forty-two, and back to the left to the ten. After repeating that for a couple ore times, the locker finally opened and she felt her shoulders relax. 

Cheeks flustered with embarrassment in case anyone had been watching her, El took her backpack off her shoulders and unzipped it, pulling out all the extra supplies and placing them inside her locker. Then, she pulled out three Polaroid pictures and taped them to the inside of her locker door. One of the party that Jonathan had taken when he took them hiking last summer, another of her and Max simply just laughing with ice cream cones in hand, and one more of Mike being adorable and laughing like an idiot (she had taken that herself when he wasn't expecting it). 

Right as she pulled her hand away, the locker door slammed shut, just barely missing her fingertips, and she jumped back in shock. El frowned as someone leaned against it, and she lifted her stare to meet the mystery person's eyes. She wasn't impressed with what she saw. And she knew this boy dressed in blue jeans, a white T-shirt, and a green Letterman's jacket thrown over his shoulders, was trying to impress her...with his looks. He wasn't even that cute, wasn't her type. Maybe to other girls he would be, with his muscular arms and strong jaw, deep blue eyes, pearly white teeth, a perfect smile. His blonde, slicked back, hair that was pulled into a tight bun at the back of his head. 

Yeah, definitely the opposite of her type, literally. Not her cup of tea. She preferred tall lanky boys (no muscle whatsoever) with dark hair and eyes, sharp cheekbones with freckles splashed across them, and a slightly crooked smile. 

El rolled her eyes, having seen enough high school romance movies to know what was about to go down. Without saying a word to the jock who was still eyeing her like a hawk, she re-shouldered her backpack she had set against the floor, and turned around, but 'Man bun Willy' blocked her path. 

"Excuse me," she said politely and tried to move around him but of course he stepped right in front of her. Huffing in annoyance, El looked up at him and resisted the urge to gag at the way he was gazing down upon her. Like she was some kind of eye candy.

"So, you're the new girl people have been telling me so much about," he said, lips tugging up in a smirk, and she could practically smell the smoke in his breath. "Well, I'm Timmy Smith. You are?" He held his hand out for her. 

She just stared at him for a second, ignoring his outstretched hand, before answering coldly, "Jane. Now if you'd excuse me, I need to get to class." She tried to push past him as she noticed the people in the hallways decreasing. 

But of course, Man Bun Willy- she meant Timmy, had other ideas as he grabbed her arm and yanked her back towards him. Leaning down, he whispered seductively in her ear, "But, baby, I was thinking we could have some fun first." 

Her face scrunched up in disgust. Elbowing him in the stomach, El managed to escape his grasp, seething, knuckles turning white from the strong grip she had on the backpack straps. How could someone be so disgusting to harass a girl just because she's new then seduce her into wanting to connect just because she's hot? "Don't touch me," she said, her eyes fixed in a glare, teeth gritting. "I already have a boyfriend." 

Timmy scoffed. "So what?" 

El gaped, her grip loosening in surprise. "What do you mean: 'so what'?" She used air quotes, raising her eyebrows. "I have a boyfriend, we have a pretty committed relationship." It wasn't a lie, though people around her may have found that statement ridiculous, but she had no doubt she'd become a Wheeler in a few years. "And I'd rather not cheat on him and ruin it all. Besides, you're disgusting. I barely know you and you've already asked me to "have some fun"? That's so messed up."Then she spun on her heels and strode down the hallway, taking a right turn, leaning against the wall and taking a deep breath, closing her eyes. She needed to calm down, she couldn't lose control. Breathe in... breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. 

She finally started to calm down, except right at that moment, someone decided to grab her left shoulder, and her eyes snapped open, a gasp bubbling up her throat and pushing past her lips, heart thumping wildly. Instantly relaxing when she looked into a familiar set of green eyes, she breathed, "Will." 

"Yeah, you okay?" He asked worriedly, pulling his hand away from her shoulder slowly, letting his fingers wrap around his backpack strap. 

Nodding, El pushed off the wall and told him she'd gotten lost as they walked to their first class of the day together. Her heart was still racing within her chest, blood pounding in her ears, and she focused on her breathing as Will went on and on about what he'd been leaning in that D&D manual he'd been flipping through during breakfast. His voice trailed off as the neared room 157, and pushed open the door, stepping inside and she followed suit, closing the door behind her once she was inside. The classroom wasn't anything different from what she'd seen in movies or what her friends' descriptions; desks, posters, boxes, chalkboard. 

Ignoring the pairs of eyes that followed her, she and Will walked over to where their teacher, Ms. Jones was sitting. She was young, maybe mid twenties, clad in a light pink, knee length dress, her dark brown hair thrown into a tight bun. Her brows eyes were focused on the book she was reading, skimming across the page. 

"Ms. Jones?" Will spoke up for the both of them and the teacher tore her eyes away from the current page she was engrossing herself into, and smiled at the two of them. She raised an eyebrow for him to continue. "We were just wondering if there was a seating arrangement?" 

"Oh, no, you go and sit wherever, honey," Ms. Jones said, then went back to her book, licking her thumb and pointer finger so she could flip the page easily. 

Will grabbed her arm and pulled her through the rows of desks, choosing the third row, two empty desks in the middle. He sat down and El sat next to him, placing her backpack on the floor against her seat. Bouncing her leg nervously, El took a moment to look around the room but nothing could catch her attention like all the eyes glued to her did. She had no doubt they were whispering about her, coming up with rumors to be spread around. It was easy to tell who the popular kids were, they took more of an interest in her apparently while the not-so-popular kids stayed quiet or talked among themselves, not sparing her a second glance. 

El gave Will a sidelong glance, and to no one's surprise, he was already flipping through that damn D&D manual, munching on a chocolate granola bar he packed. She let out a soft laugh and opened her backpack, taking out a notebook and opening it up on her desk, along with a black ball point pen, and began doodling against the lined paper absentmindedly. 

The bell rang seconds later, signaling the start of class, though El didn't look up from her notebook until Ms. Jones called her name for attendance, and she called out a quick "here!" before returning to the notebook splayed out in front of her. 

Tuning in to the teacher's lecture, El heard Ms. Jones explain the rules of the classroom and the plan for the school year, but at some point, she got bored and zoned out, but made sure she at least looked like she was paying attention so she wouldn't get called out. Her mind wondered unwillingly to the thought of Mike with his gentle eyes that softened every time he glanced down at her, messy hair that felt so good threaded through her fingers. The way he'd wrap his arms around her and kiss the top of her head. Oh, the feel of his lips against hers. She nearly shuddered pleasantly at the mere thought. And how he'll whisper 'I love you' in her ear at the most random times. 

Man, she was whipped for Mike Wheeler, wasn't she? Absolutely and utterly in love with him. Is she ashamed of it? Not in the slightest bit. Would she scream it to the world if she could? So that everyone knew that he was hers and she was his? Hell yeah. Why wouldn't she? 

Her attention was pulled back to the real world when the mention of reading 'Beloved' by Toni Morrison the first couple months of school, and she stayed in tune for the rest of class. Speaking of English, it went by in a breeze and before she knew it, everyone was standing out of their desks and heading for the door. 

El glanced over at Will only to find him already on his feet, backpack shouldered, and his nose stuck in a book she couldn't quite recognize. From her angle, she could see a picture of a dragon so she assumed it had something to do with D&D. 

While the other Party members grey out of the game a couple years ago, Will stayed invested. He'd save up money for the newest things; books, manuals, action figures, even a new game set. Sometimes he even got El to play with him, though she didn't mind. She actually enjoyed the quality time with her brother, and once in a while, the Party would get together for a new campaign for Will's sake, making up for the summer of '85 when they'd dissed him for girls then their world once again got turned upside down. 

Noticing the classroom was now empty, El came back up to reality and stood, grabbing her backpack off the floor. As her and Will left the classroom, she gazed down at her still opened notebook, having no clue of what she had been writing/doodling, and her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. Neatly scribbled all around the lined paper was a variety of: Mike+El, Mike Wheeler, El Wheeler, Mike+011, with (of course) a bunch of small hearts scrawled around their names. She sucks in a breath and shut the notebook, tucking it away safely in the crook of her elbow, cheeks coloring in hopes no one had seen. 

"What's your next class?" Will asked, having finally put away his book, and she was grateful for the distraction, the redness of her cheeks dying down to a dull pink. 

"Hold on." She pulled her crinkled schedule out of the pocket of her jeans, unfolded it, and read what class was awaiting her. "History. Mr. Daniels," she said, checking the door number before stuffing the paper into her pocket. "Room 200." 

Will stopped walking, causing her to by default. He looked at her apologetically and her eyebrows knit in confusion, the skin between them pinching. "I'm going the opposite way," he said, jabbing a thumb behind his shoulder as he explained he had art next in the art department, which was on the west side of the building. "Will you be okay?" 

"Yeah," El reassured, waving him a goodbye as he took off to the left and she made her way down the right corridor, feeling a bit self conscious  as- what she assumed- the popular groups watched her, whispering, and El found herself wondering if this was going to go on all day, possibly all week. She sure hoped not. 

Once she made it to the end of the hallway, according to the map of the school she had been given from a staff member during orientation a few weeks ago, and to get to her next classroom, she needed to take another right turn. As she turned, walking down the crowded hallway, El caught sight of a familiar tall, dark haired teenager, walking on the opposite side as her, to her left. He was talking to a kid with glasses a couple years younger, possible a freshman, who was nodding along intently to what he was saying. 

Fortunately El, Mike, sensing her stare, turned his head and met her eyes right as she passed him. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he bid farewell to the supposedly freshman and whirled around swiftly, falling into stride with her, and snaked his arm around her waist. 

"Isn't your class that way?" El nodded her head over her shoulder, trying to mask how happy she was to be back in his arms. School had always been a tough topic, even though this was her first year actually attending. Summer was their euphoria, they could see each other every day unless something important came up, and they could also see their friends. But when September rolled around, El had to accept the fact that her friends would be at school for five days in a row for eight hours each, and she just had to sit on the sidelines. It was nerve wracking sitting all along at home since Hopper worked most of the day, thinking about what her friends might have been doing while she sat on the couch, flipping through multiplication flashcards. At least now, she was in the same building as them. 

"We've got-" Mike glanced down at his watch he never cared to give away even though the more he grew, the tighter it became on his wrist, and El had started to worry if it would soon start cutting off his circulation. "-four minutes. I'll be fine." 

Giving him a smile smile which he returns, El moved closer beside him, enjoying the comfort and warmth his body provided. She asked him about history, grinning as he talked excitedly about this cool project they'd been assigned with partners, laughing when he made a joke about his teacher whom he seemed to really like. And soon, before they knew it, they were standing in front of room 200, her history class. 

They bid each other farewell with a small kiss, nothing but a peck on the lips, knowing Mike wasn't too keen on big PDA since his sister already had a reputation and he didn't want to be known for that same reason. El watched him walk away, heart thumping when he glanced at her over his shoulder and smiled before disappearing behind another wall. She sighed, truly lovesick for the paladin, only snapping out of her momentary daze when she realized there was only one minute left until the bell rang. 

El walked through he doorway, hugging her notebook to her chest as if to squeeze the nerves right out of her, and made her way through the rows of desks, picking the second row, the desk closest to the wall. After placing her backpack beside her legs on the floor, she slid into her seat and set the notebook and pencil in front of her. During the final seconds of passing period, she decided to take a quick look around, letting out a small breath when she realized no one was staring at her or seemed to be talking about her. Her eyes paused on each and every map she came across during her examination, taking a couple seconds to skim over the different continents, countries, and states, not very experience in geography. 

A lump formed in her throat and she swallowed it down forcefully. Crossing her legs, she bounced her foot in the air as a desperate distraction from the growing unease gnawing at her stomach. She held onto her pencil tightly, tapping the eraser against the orange cover of her college ruled notebook, teeth biting down onto her bottom lip. What if she was called on during class and didn't know the answer? That was her worst fear about going to school. Most high school students, especially freshman, claimed theirs to be getting lost and finals. But she was terrified of being called on, not known the answer, then being known as the dumb girl who's dating the biggest nerd on the planet throughout the rest of high school. 

The bell rung, and El jumped in her seat, faintly hearing a laugh come form behind her, and she shrunk down, cheeks coloring in embarrassment. The door closed with a gentle thud and a kind looking man came to stand at the front of the room, holding a clipboard up to his face, dark eyes skimming the page that was clipped to it. Another second passed, the students, including El, waiting expectantly for him to speak, and when he finally started calling out names, unrecognizable to her, El was surprised by his unusual high, nasally voice. "Jane Hopper?" He called out, brown eyes sweeping across the room and she shyly raised her hand. The teacher nodded and wrote something down before continuing on with the list. 

After attendance was taken care of, he introduced himself as Mr. Daniels, giving a short summary of his life that El paid close attention to, before he handed out thick textbooks, placing four on the first desk of each column so the first person could pass them back. El muttered a "thanks" as the boy in front of her passed the textbook over his head, and she grabbed it before placing it down on her desk, caramel eyes dancing across the cover. It was nothing special. Just a blue cover with a picture of an airplane, and 'World History' typed on the top in big red letters. 

Throughout class, they read through a couple pages of the book, reading as a class which Mr. Daniels called "popcorn reading" and El thanked God she was never chosen by anyone. She jotted down notes as they went along, earning a scoff from a few people, but she ignored it, knowing that she wasn't the greatest at comprehension so note taking was the best solution for that flaw, and she smirked when she got praised for doing so by Mr. Daniels and the few people who had made a noise, sunk down in their seats shamefully. 

El found herself paying attention more in history than English, intrigued on what had happened to the world she had been locked away from for twelve years. Maybe the fact that she had been raised in a lab, kept away from everything outside of it, had something to do with her long attention span, or the fact that Mr. Daniels was a nice man with a great sense of humor who could make a student laugh by just speaking. Either way, El enjoyed the class, and when the bell rung, signaling it was suddenly over, she found herself eager to get back to history that following day, so curious about that world and the people living in it. 

She filed out of the classroom along with her classmates, schedule in hand, and managed to find her way to advanced algebra. Granted, it was only a little ways down the hallway. The first thing she had noticed upon entering was her boyfriend sitting in the front row in the third column of seat, closest to the wall at the right. El playfully rolled her eyes and took the empty seat beside him, leaving the two behind them empty. 

"Aren't you too tall to be sitting in the front row?" El teased as she set the blue notebook down on the desktop, placing a sharpened pencil diagonally on the cover. 

Mike grinned in amusement, still getting used to her teasing. But when you've lived with Hopper and Joyce, who fight like an old married couple which requires a lot of teasing, for a few years, you kind of pick up on the trait. "You're just jealous because you're a shorty," he teased right back, nudging her foot with his. 

Letting out a snort, El opened her notebook to the first page and said, "Yeah right. I'm perfectly fine being shorter than you." 

She saw Mike's cheeks color a light shade of pink as he leaned closer to her. "And why would that be?" He asked, his voice dropping down to a whisper, his dark eyes flicking down to her lips the back to her eyes, his face a mere inch away from hers. 

"Because," she began, her own voice barely above a whisper. "I don't hit my head against my door frame waking into my room." Smirking as he gaped, El leaned back into her seat, keeping her eyes glued on the chalkboard where an introduction was scrawled out in white chalk, the green board making it pop. 

Mike got over his initial shock and let out something between a laugh and a sarcastic scoff, shoving her shoulder before leaning back into his chair, no longer invading her personal space (not that she minded that either, she preferred him closer anyway) and opened his mouth to say something but was immediate cut off by the thud of the closing door. 

The voices quieted down to silence as everyone's attention was averted to the front of the room where a nice looking woman with blonde hair curled around her shoulders, deep forest green eyes shining with excitement, and her frame was adorning a light pink blouse tucked into a knee length white skirt, stood in front of the room. In her hands was a clipboard and with not even a good morning, she started listing names for attendance. 

"Jane Hopper?" Her forest green eyes scanned the faces within the classroom walls. 

"Here," El said, tapping her pencil against the notebook, and her teacher, Mrs. Mellvack, nodded, marking something off on the paper before calling out more names. 

"Micheal Wheeler?" She called out as she got to the W's, going in alphabetical order. 

El gave Mike a sidelong glance as he announced his presence and she couldn't help but just smile at him, admiring (for the hundredth time that day) how handsome, or beautiful as she liked to call him, he really was. At some point Mike sensed her gaze and looked at her, furrowing his eyebrows, and she quickly looked back to their teacher as she started going through the same lecture she'd been hearing all morning; rules, goals, what they'd be covering over the year, and El was starting to believe teacher's were just as stupid as their students. Seriously, they all just continued to talk quietly in whispers, and Mrs. Mellvack hadn't noticed that half her listeners weren't even listening. Half of them were day dreaming, the other half not caring what the teacher had to say. 

Once the lecturing was over with, they began their first lesson of the year after the textbooks were handed out, and El gave the teacher her full attention, soaking up everything, copying down the words that Mrs. Mellvack wrote on the chalkboard. While words never came easy to her, numbers always held her attention. Just the fact that there was an abundant amount of numbers just fascinated her for some odd reason. That it's infinity, never ending. And that adding them together made it even bigger. Like, who wouldn't be interested in learning about them? Apparently, more than half the students in her class. They stared at the board blankly, pencils hovering over their paper, and El knew they weren't really paying attention. Some didn't even care to look at the board and settled with staring at the top of their desk. 

Mrs. Mellvack turned around to face the class, clasped her hands together, and announced the homework pages. "No writing in the book," she said as she walked toward her desk in the back of the room. "You may work with one other person. One." She held up a finger as she sat down behind her desk before putting her attention to a computer on her desk. 

Looking over at Mike, El saw him already on their homework page, reading through number one, bottom lip caught between his teeth in concentration. She reached outward and set her hand on his forearm. "Mike?" 

"Hm?" He hummed in reply, eyes not leaving his work. 

"Do you want to work together?" 

He looked at her then and nodded without hesitation, using all his strength he could muster up to move his (pretty heavy) desk closer to hers, their arms brushing against each other's. "I finished number one. I'll walk you through it." Leaning over, he set his hand on her test book, index fingers following along with the words printed in black ink, and he began to read the word problem. 

El smiled, falling even more in love with boy as he explained all the steps in great detail, pausing so she had time to write things down, congratulating her when she got one right, assuring her it was alright when she'd get in incorrect. For the rest of class, they worked together, taking turns going through problems then explaining how they got their answers, only getting into one small argument over answers that was quickly resolved when Mike jabbed his finger into her side and she flinched away, giggling. By the time class ended with the ring of the school bell, they had gotten halfway through their homework. They high fived before packing up. 

They were walking down the hallway together, hands linked, swinging between them, when Mike decided to break the comfortable silence between the two of them. "Do you wanna come over after school? To finish our homework?" 

"Yeah, Hop works late tonight anyway," she told him as they took a left turn, just barely dodging a running freshman who claimed he was running late even though they had about four minutes left of passing period. El laughed. "I'll just have Will take the car and I'll ride with you." 

He squeezed her hand affectionately. "Sounds like a plan to me." His eyebrows scrunched, looking deep in thought, then asked, "What's your next class?" 

She glanced down at her schedule, though she already knew. "Photography." Something dawned on her then, a realization. She had forgotten her camera in her locker. "Oh! I have to stop by my locker." Letting go of his hand, El wrapped her arms around the notebook, hugging it to her chest. "I'll see you at lunch?" 

"Of course," Mike confirmed, nodding as the hand that was once holding hers came to hang onto one of his backpack straps. "Want me to go with you?" 

"No, I'll be fine," she said with a smile and leaned up to kiss his cheek before darting off to her locker that was just down the hallway, quickly unlocking it and grabbing her camera case that also contained the camera itself. El spun around after closing her locker and came face to face with, you guessed it, Man Bun Willy- she meant Timmy. He smiled that troublemaker smile, his eyes glinting suggestively as they raked up and down her body, and El suddenly felt bile rise to her throat. 

"Hey, Jane," he said. 

Not wanting to deal with him at the moment, El pushed past him, ignoring his laughter and mentions of playing hard to get. She rolled her eyes and continued to journey to the photography room in the art department. Walking down the unfamiliar hallway, El accidentally bumped shoulders with someone and burst out a sincere apology, only to realize it was only Will. They laughed, said hi, then bye, and went their separate ways; Will to gym (he was just dying to do that) and El to photography. 

She was still smiling when she entered the classroom but it flipped upside down at the lack of people in the room. There was maybe ten at tops, and they were all spread out, staring right back at her. Giving a nervous wave, El hurried into a seat, next to a girl around her age with brown curly hair and brown eyes. 

She gave El a tight lipped smile. "Hey." 

"Hi," El replied, still looking around the room, a bit marveled by the fact not to more people were interested in photography. "Not many people is there?" She asked, trying for conversation. 

The girl slowly shook her head, pressing her lips together. 

"I'm Jane, by the way," El introduced herself. "Jane Hopper." 

"I know," she flatly stated. 

Not knowing what to say, El just nodded and leaned back in her chair, fidgeting with the sipper of the camera case that held her 35 mm camera Jonathan had gotten her last Christmas. She also had a Polaroid, but she kept that at home, figuring it wouldn't be much use in a photography class. 

Another minutes passed and the bell rang, the teacher (a short, skinny man with glasses and brown graying hair) entered at that exact moment. He shuffled through some papers, clearing his throat many times before he opened up with an explanation. His name's Mr. Wallace, he's thirty-nine years old, has a six year old son named Bradly (Brad for short). He's been working at Hawkins High for twelve years, grew up in Hawkins, and photograph had always been a hobby of his and he wanted to share his passion with other students. 

He quickly went through rules, what to do and what not to do, how to handle the equipment, what days he stayed after school plus the times. He made sure everyone know (multiple times) that if they had a question, to not be scared to ask him. Then, of course, Mr. Wallace had to share with the class that they'd be doing the first semester which was just learning how to use a camera properly, then the next semester was actually taking and adapting the photos. 

After all this information was shared, by the time Mr. Wallace actually closed his mouth and confirmed he was done speaking, the bell rung and students were already pouring out of the classroom. El followed them, making sure to tell Mr. Wallace to have a good afternoon before exiting through the open door, and practically running up the stairs, eager to see her friends. 

Because she had forgotten to pack herself a lunch because the excitement had made her brain foggy the night prior, El headed straight to the cafeteria doors, smiling when she spotted Mike waiting for her beside the two, wooden, double doors. "Mike!" She exclaimed as she walked over to him, and throwing her arms around his shoulders, standing on her tiptoes, and catching him off guard and he stumbled back. 

After regaining her posture, he wrapped her back up in a hug. "Hey, you!" He said excitedly, kissing the top of her head before he pulled away from her entirely, still smiling. "They're all in there finding us a table." 

El smiled, not saying anything, and grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers through his, and together they pushed through the double doors, entering the cafeteria. Her smile faded as the scene in front of her became overwhelming, her grip tightening on Mike's hand. There were teens everywhere, which was normal considering it was a high school and lunch time, but it still frightened her. It was loud, hundreds of voices mixing together, filling the large room, echoing off the walls and ceiling. There was a long line of kids holding onto trays waiting to buy their disgusting looking meat loaf, and El decided she'd just steal some of Mike's food. The popular kids were crowded around two tables, laughing and talking loudly. Kids ran around, others sat quietly with a group of friends, some talked among themselves. She even saw some students heading outside. 

Mike pulled er through the throng of people and across the cafeteria where longer tables were places, lining across the back walls. "There they are" he said and pulled her to the table in the middle where their friends were all seated, laughing at Will who was practically passed out against the table top, hair damp. 

"Woah," El said, her voice teasing, as she sat down across from her brother, Mike beside her. "What happened to you?" She poked his arm and he just groaned in response. 

Max snickered from her spot between Lucas and Will, her blue eyes glued to the side of Will's head. "Byers is pooped from gym class." She lifted her gaze over to El who was watching her best friend in confusion. "They ran the mile today. Thank God I don't have gym till next semester." 

"Oh great." El frowned. "I've got to run the mile next hour." She watched as Mike opened his lunch box, taking out a square Tupperware, and popped the lid off, revealing a really tasty looking sand which that was cut diagonally. 

Dustin let out a laugh from his spot beside Mike, leaning over the table so he could see her clearly. "Good luck, Ellie." He laughed again. "Don't hurl all over the track."

"Gross. I'm eating," Mike complained, raising an eyebrow at El who reached over and took the other half of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She just smiled and he brushed it off after realizing she must have forgotten her lunch. 

Munching gratefully on her- well, Mike's sandwich, El watched in amusement as Lucas agreed with Mike which caused an argument to spark between the ranger and bard of the party. Beside her, Mike just laughed at their friends and offered her some of his carrot sticks and ranch which she gratefully accepted. 

"No, Dustin, I just don't need you talking about puke while I'm eating!" Lucas said, obviously exasperated by the way he was rubbing his forehead, as if he was trying to relieve himself of a serious headache. 

Dustin scoffed. "Who's talking about puke now?" 

"You guys are unreal," Max said and shared a look with El before they both laughed, high on excitement and happiness. Sure, it seemed a bit cheesy but the party had been apart from each other longer today than they had been all summer. They were just happy to be back as a group, even if it was only for 45 minutes then they'd be separated again. 

Still giggling, El placed the leftover crust of the sandwich back in the container (Mike didn't mind) before he closed it up and placed it in his lunch box, stuffing it in his backpack. 

Will groaned again, interrupting Lucas and Dustin's bickering, earning everyone's attention. He didn't even say anything, just let out an exhausted (and dramatic) sigh, and they all laughed. 

The rest of lunch was filled with laughter, story telling, and bickering, as always. It was normal for the party, dysfunctional to others, but to them it was completely ordinary. They were much more than friends (for four out of the six, literally) but they were a family. What had happened in the past had drawn them together in more ways than one, and they'd created a special bond between them that was only meant for a family. 

Lunch ended and they all said goodbye, and went their separate ways after agreeing to meet up by El's locker after school ended. Mike and El stayed together a bit longer since the English classrooms were close to the locker rooms which was where El was heading. She had grabbed her gym bag from her locker and they were off. Once they reached her destination, they shared a quick kiss, and she stepped inside, disappearing from Mike's view by the closing door. 

A lady who was standing there was asking names and then giving out locker numbers and combinations. El waited in line and once she was up, she told the woman her name, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet impatiently as the woman's blue eyes scanned across the paper hanging from the clipboard. 

"Section B. Locker 62," the woman told her then uncapped a black ballpoint pen, writing something down on a pastel yellow sticky note, and handed it to her. "Your combination," she clarified, noticing El's furrowed eyebrows. 

"Oh. Thank you." She gave the woman, whose name she didn't know, a smile before walking further into the smelly locker rooms, the scent a mix between sweat and perfume. Her eyes traveled along the metal plates lettered A, B, and C, stopping at the B section. She found her locker, 62, and quickly undid the combination with a jerk of her head without anyone seeing, swiping the non existent blood from under her nose. 

After opening her locker, El placed all her stuff inside and started to change, slipping her jeans off and exchanging them for green sport shorts, she had purchased from the school, that were a bit shorter than she would have liked. Pulling her shirt over her head, El quickly replaced it with a white Hawkins High T-shirt that had her last name printed onto the back. She kept her tennis shoes on and began to search for an elastic band for her hair in her backpack. "Shit," she muttered, fingers slipping between books and notebooks in search for the hair tie, but coming up empty handed. 

"Hair tie?" A voice said next to her, followed by the sound of a locker opening. El glanced over at the source of the voice and saw a girl her age with long blonde hair tied up into a tight pony tail, sparkling blue eyes boring into her brown ones curiously, and a splatter of freckles splashed across her nose and cheeks. El nodded slowly, recognizing her from one of the popular groups. "Here, have mine." She pulled a black elastic band off her wrist and handed it to El. 

"Thanks," El uttered with a grin, throwing her short hair into a low ponytail, allowing a couple curls to frame her face. "I'm Jane Hopper." She held out her hand. 

"I know," the girl said, though she didn't sound rude, and shook her hand. "Jennifer Hayes." 

El nodded and shut her locker door, and gave Jennifer another smile as they walked out of the locker rooms together. "How does gym class work exactly?" Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment as Jennifer gave her an odd look. She elaborated, "I mean, what do we do? I've been home schooled my whole life." 

"Oh," Jennifer said softly. "We're just running the mile today then tomorrow we'll be doing a bunch of dumb fitness tests." 

"Great. My brother ran the mile and looked dead during lunch." El rolled her eyes sarcastically which was followed by a soft laugh from Jennifer as they walked into the gym full of obnoxious teenagers. 

"Let me introduce you to some of my friends." Jennifer grabbed her arm and pulled her in the direction of the bleachers where a group of girls were sitting, laughing among themselves, dressed in gym attire.

El recognized them, and even if she hadn't, she's not stupid and could have figured it out. They were the popular groups of their grade. She didn't know how she could tell, it was not explainable, it was almost like you could take one look at them and just know. And El was not too keen on meeting them, knowing the way they treated her friends in the past. If Max (and some of the student body) was right, these girls were not the people you wanted to get caught up with. They were snobby bitches, thinking they were better than everyone else just because they had money or the football team wrapped around their pretty fingers, and they took pride in tearing others down. Though, El hadn't heard much of anything about Jennifer so she must not have been as bad as the others. 

"Hey, guys!" Jennifer exclaimed, coming to a stop before the bleachers, smiling brightly when the girls turned their attention to her, all giving tight lipped smiles. A bit enthusiastically, she pushed El forward a bit and introduced her, "This is Jane. I met her in the locker room." 

One of the girls, who El recognized immediately from Starcourt Mall back in July of 1985, shrugged, gave El another sarcastic smile, and said, "We all know who Jane is, Jen. The chief's daughter," she voiced with disgust as she gave El a once over, then rolled her eyes and shared a look with one of the other girls. 

Jennifer sighed, obviously embarrassed by Stacy's behavior, and El could only guess why. "That's Stacy." She gestured halfheartedly to the girl with brown curly hair who had went back to chatting with deep blue eyes and black hair tied back into two french braids. 

"Nice to meet you, Jane," a girl with dirty blonde hair tied into a messy bun said kindly, her soft green eyes flashing dangerously in Stacy's direction, and El was beginning to think the popular weren't as bad as people made them out to be. The problem was Stacy. She glanced back at El and smiled knowingly. "It's hard being the new girl, especially when your dad is the chief of police, huh?" 

Shrugging, El replied, "It's not too bad. I have a few friends that went here before me." 

The black haired girl looked at her then, propping her elbow on her knee, her chin pressed to the palm of her hand. "That reminds me. I saw you walking with Will Byers this morning. You two look like your close. Really close." Her blue eyes flickered back and forth between El and Jennifer. 

Out of the corner of her eye, El saw Jennifer's cheeks color a light pink, her eyes taking on a saddened look as she gazed down at the floor. El was washed over in a realization and she was quick to demolish the accusation in the black haired girl's statement. "Oh, no, no." She held her hands up in surrender as she admitted, "He's my brother." A moment of silence passed as the girl's stared at El, mouths opening and closing like a fish gasping for air, the new information slowly processing. The sight was almost comical and El bit her lips to keep from laughing. 

Then Stacy shook her head, closing her eyes momentarily, before asking, "How? He's never mentioned a sister." She crossed her arms indignantly across her chest as she stared at El, waiting for an answer, eyebrows raised. 

"It's...kind of a long story," El said, crossing her arms subconsciously, pressing her lips together as she thought of a way to explain everything without grave detail, how to not mention any of the supernatural stuff like alternate dimensions ,and monsters, and underground Russian bases, and Hawkins Lab. 

The girls raised their eyebrows, silently telling her to explain. 

So that was how El spent the last couple of minutes of passing period, giving them the watered down version of how she's associated with the Byers at all, starting with how her dad and Will's mom, Joyce, were really close friends. She told them about how Hopper had helped Joyce look for Will and that had brought them closer then a couple years later they had planned a date night a few hours before Starcourt erupted into flames, and that he hadn't actually passed but was transferred to a special hospital in Indianapolis for a couple years. She explained how Joyce had took her in as her own, not knowing if Hopper would ever wake up, and they moved to the same city Hopper was being kept in. She then went into detail, the girls listened intently (for the gossip), about Hopper waking up, Joyce and him (along with their kids) moving back to Hawkins, a year later they had married and boom! Her and Will are siblings by default. 

"So, yeah," El finished, taking a deep breath. 

"Wow," the black haired girl, Lindsay, said, eyes wide. 

Clearing her throat, Jennifer faced El who raised an eyebrow after noticing the pity in her baby blue eyes, though she couldn't blame her. If anyone would have told El that same story, she probably would have taken pity on them as well. "I was thinking," she started, not tearing her gaze away from El's and she knew why. Stacy was practically glaring daggers at the side of Jennifer's head. "Do you want to sit with us at lunch tomorrow? I noticed you in our same lunch period and just thought if you need a place to sit... you could come by us." 

"Um..." El glanced at Stacy whose gaze was still fixed in a glare, and quickly looked back at the blonde who's looking at her eagerly. Not wanting to hurt Jennifer's feeling by telling her no, she tried for a small smile and said, "I'll think about it." 

"Great!" She clapped her hands together, grinning brightly, as were the other girls, happy another (nice) member was added to their group, although Stacy still looked about ready to jump both Jennifer and El the moment they stepped out into the hallway. 

Stacy opened her mouth to protest but was cut off before the first letter could even get passed her lips by a whistle and a deep voice ordering that everyone lined up for attendance. Huffing, Stacy stood from her seat and El watched as she stormed over to the forming line. 

Without hesitation, El walked toward her gym teacher (who, quite frankly, intimidated her), standing in between Jennifer and Lindsay as he started aggressively calling out names, not waiting for a here before marking someone absent. He was a tall man, a balding head, and was pretty muscular, wearing basketball shorts and a T-shirt. 

Once attendance was finished, the teacher- Mr. Corbsy spared them a lecture they'd been hearing all day in each and every class, and just explained what they'd be doing that present day as they walked out of the school and to the football field where a track circled around it. Mr. Corbsy separated everyone into two groups, not wanting everyone on the track at the same time, and the more El examined the students who were up first, she noticed that they were all pretty tall. She glanced around her group and noticed that they were all short, including her as she ranged around 5'4", and she didn't recognize anyone. She hadn't even been placed with Jennifer who was literally only an inch taller than her. 

Well, on the bright side, her group of short people got to run second because apparently, in Mr. Corbsy's words, they were all slow. At least she wouldn't have to endure the pain of running four laps in under ten minutes just yet, though El doubted it could beat the endless amount of torture and abuse she'd been through in the lab. Running four laps was nothing in comparison to being poked and prodded like an experiment for twelve whole years. 

Leaning against the fence that surrounded the green football field and bleachers, El crossed her arms over her chest as she watched people run their third lap around the track. Some kids were sprinting, others jogging, and some were even walking, but everyone seemed out of breath and exhausted. 

"Group two!" Mr. Corbsy shouted once the last person in group one finished their final lap. 

Resisting the urge to groan, El pushed herself off the fence and followed her classmates to the track, standing in the second (5 students line up in each section, then people stood behind them) and waited for the whistle to blow. Once it did, El copied her fellow classmates and took off, keeping a nice and steady pace, not quite sprinting by not jogging either, and made sure to keep her breathing under control just like Lucas had taught her a couple years ago when the party had gone to the middle school field to play tag out of boredom. In through your nose, out of your mouth. 

The sprinters passed her halfway around the track, throwing her odd looks as they whipped by, while the joggers and walkers stayed a little ways behind her. Some kids stayed near her, not wanting to pass out from exhaustion, but not wanting to fail cause they walked the whole way. 

By the second lap, El was beginning to feel the fabric of her shirt stick to her sweaty skin, and she kept mentally assuring herself she was halfway there and that it wasn't even that bad. 'You've gone through worse," she kept telling herself but instantly regretted it as the words triggered the deep, dark memories she had locked up deep inside her brain to resurface, and there was no escaping. She couldn't always run away from the trauma that was her past. It had already, a long time ago, curved its way into her head, attaching and embedding itself in her brain, and no matter how had she tried, they couldn't stay hidden forever. 

Images flashed through her mind, Papa staring at her with cold, dark blue eyes after she'd done something wrong, getting thrown into the "timeout" room as she screamed for help but Papa had just stood there, watching expressionless. The badmen punishing her, whether it was with their bare hands or tasers, finding Will in the Upside Down weeks after she had found the demogorgon in the void and screamed so loud the gate had opened. The ashes of her disappearing along with the interdimensional monsters swiped across the memories, changing them to Kali tempting her to kill a man who had two kids. Her mama's face appeared, closing the gate, the mindflayer grabbing her leg and dragging her across the floor, Billy slamming her against the walls and minutes later the floor, finding out Hopper wasn't coming back, and so much more. 

The flashbacks clouded her vision, making it impossible to see where she was going, but El forced her legs to keep going. The sounds started to fill her ears, blocking out the voices of her classmates, and she nearly collapsed as Papa started speaking, talking about festering wounds, and she finally understood. After all these years of wondering, she completely understood what he had meant. 

The wound that was festering wasn't anything physical. It wasn't something you could slap a bandage on or put in a cast,, or simply stitch up to a close. It wasn't even something someone could see with a naked eye. It was deep within her, something she could never fully forget. A wound that was part of her, part of her soul that she'd never be able to escape. The pain...the hurt, it would occasionally rise and swallow her whole. The wound was the PTSD that she suffered from, will suffer from for as long as she lived. 

El swallowed back a biting sob and kept running her fourth, final, lap. She wouldn't let Papa win, wouldn't let him prove his point. She wouldn't allow her past to define her. Wouldn't let the pain she felt at the moment keep her from finishing up a class. She'd fight through the pain, the hurt, she'd see through the haunting images, and even though the wound will continue to fester, she'd stay strong, and hopefully, one day, the wound would heal. 

She finished the lap, her vision clearing, the voices faded, the memories disappeared to the back of her mind, waiting anxiously to be let out again. El gasped loudly as she was freed, her eyes wide, and collapsed to her knees in pure exhaustion, chest heaving in despair as the events finally registered in her brain. For the first time in five months, she'd had a flashback, and a bad one at that. And of course, it had occurred during school, her first day of school, in gym class as everyone watched her ass he ran. El, sniffling, glanced at the rest of the class to find them staring at her in concern or amusement. She shakily stood, legs feeling like jello, and took a deep breath as she walked over to the teacher to find out how long she'd taken. 

"Ten minutes, fifteen seconds," Mr. Corbsy told her as he wrote it down on a sheet of paper. She nodded in thanks and turned to follow everyone else as they headed inside, but he called out to her, "Jane." She froze, not turning to look at him as he spoke, "You seemed a bit distracted out there. You'd slow down then speed up at random times, and you tripped once in a while. Is everything okay?" 

Of course she knew he was only doing his job and being nice. As teachers, they were required to care about their students' well being, not just teach them. But El couldn't help but feel irritated at his question. She turned around, gaze hardened. "I'm fine," she said and winced, not meaning for it to sound as harsh. "Sorry." 

He dismissed the apology. "I've just never seen a student... act like that out there," he admitted slowly as they started toward the school. "Are you sure you're okay? I can have someone take you to the nurse or counseling center." 

Deep breath in. Exhale slowly. El repeated the action a few times before answering as kindly as she could despite the anger that flared within her at the mentioning of sending her to the counseling center. How could a teacher just say that without knowing all the facts about her? No ones knew anything about her except for her friends and Mike. She didn't like people assuming things about her, even if they were right. "Look, I haven't had the best past and sometimes I get flashbacks," she explained, though she really didn't want to share this with an old man she hardly even knew. "And I'm not completely sure why it was triggered, but some memories came back to me out there, but I'm fine now." 

Mr. Corbsy looked like he wanted to say more but he held it back and let her head the the girls locker room. 

El took another deep breath as she turned away from him, walking toward the locker rooms, and slowly pushed the door open, heading for her locker. Jennifer was already dressed by the time she got there, brushing through her thin hair with a blue brush, and smiled as El opened her locker. Thankfully she didn't bring up what happened only a few minutes ago. Instead she said, "I love your shirt. Don't tell anyone but I secretly really love Star Wars. If Stacy found out I'd be dead because apparently it's for nerds." She rolled her eyes. 

"Oh, thanks. It's actually my boyfriend's," El said as she pulled her jeans up, buttoning them and tightening the belt around her small waist. She pulled at the black graphic T causing it to become a bit baggier around the waistband. She took her ponytail out, allowing her dark curls to bounce around her shoulders, and handed Jennifer the elastic band as they left the locker room. They were almost to the stairs when someone grabbed El's arm and tugged her backwards. "Hey!" El whipped around, coming face to face with a very angry Stacy. 

"Listen," Stacy ordered, cornering El against the wall, her teeth gritted, ignoring Jennifer telling her to let El go. "I don't care if you hang around my group, but let's get one thing straight, alright?" She asked and El nodded, loss for words. "I heard you were with Timmy Smith earlier today. Is that true?" 

El's eyebrows crawled up her forehead and she managed to stutter out, "Not in the way-" She got cut off abruptly as the words died in her throat as Stacy shoved her back into the wall, and Billy's face flashed through El's vision, causing her to gasp. Stacy smiled smugly as her forearm pressed across El's collar bone, ignoring Jennifer telling her to stop. 

Stacy leaned in close, her voice dropping dangerously, and sneered, "You stay away from him okay? He's mine and I don't need some new girl ruining my chances because she oversteps her boundaries and goes for the most popular guy in school. You didn't actually think Timmy would go for the vulnerable new girl just to be in a relation-"

This time, El cut her off by roughly shoving her away, her brown eyes fixed in a glare. She took a moment to compose herself before saying, "Quit assuming before you hear the whole story." She glanced at the stairwell only to find Jennifer was no longer there. She must not have wanted to be one of the witnesses of a teacher were to find them. 

Stacy rolled her eyes. "Fine. What's the full story?" 

"Timmy came up to me, I didn't go to him," El explained calmly, and Stacy's shoulders started to relax but stayed tense in some areas. "Don't worry, I want nothing to do with him, he's all yours. I already have a boyfriend." 

"You? The new girl?" Stacy asked, amusement evident in her voice, as she followed El up the stairs. "You've got a boyfriend already?" 

"I was home schooled, I still lived here," El said, taking a left turn to get to the library for study hall, and unfortunately, Stacy followed. 

"Oh, right." Stacy fell into stride beside her, apparently fine now that El wasn't in the way of her 'relationship' with Timmy Smith, and was now interested in collecting information to spread around. "Who?" 

El kept her gaze focused in front of her, tightening her grip on the backpack straps. "You know Mike Wheeler?" She glanced over at Stacy then and almost laughed as she tripped over her own two feet, jaw hanging open in shock. 

"President of the AV club Mike Wheeler? The really tall nerdy one?" El nodded and Stacy let out a disgusted snort. "What? Is he like... paying you or something?" 

"What?" El's eyebrows knit together in confusion, a bit hurt that she'd think Mike Wheeler, the most perfect and beautiful person she'd ever met, would have to pay to get a girlfriend. "No!" 

"You're dating him...willingly?" Stacy asked, nose scrunching up in distaste. "For how long exactly?" 

Pursing her lips, El did the math inside her head, and debated whether to start before the break up or after it. A moment passed before she decided on before the break up since you could hardly even call it that. "Almost three years." 

"I never would have thought-" She blinked, trying to overcome the shock. "I just- what do you even see in him?" 

Swallowing some biting comments, El said, "What do you not see in him?" She seriously did not understand why people didn't find any interest in Mike, or any of her friends for that matter. They were simply the sweetest, most compassionate people she's ever laid her eyes on, surely any person in the right mindset would want to associate with them, right? 

"I don't know." Stacy shrugged, "I've known him since kindergarten and- I- he's so nerdy and awkward, not a people person and-" 

"Maybe if you would have actually gotten to know him, you'd realize how sweet of a guy he really is," El said, lifting her shoulder in a half shrug. "Sure, he's nerdy and awkward and would rather be alone half the time, but that's just who he is. Besides he's a really nice guy. He's got a big heart and cares a lot." 

Stacy pressed her lips together, seemingly stumped of what to say for the time being. A couple girls El recognized from English passed by, and Stacy perked up, rolling her eyes. "I guess. He's still not my type, nor is anyone's but you do you, I guess."

El frowned at the sudden change of character. This wasn't the girl she was talking to only moments before. "You know," she started as they neared the library. "You shouldn't have to change who you are deep down to impress people." Then without another words, she slipped into the library, leaving Stacy alone in the hallway. 

Letting a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, El ventured deeper into the library, smiling at the librarian behind the front desk, and signed her name on the paper for study hall attendance. She walked into the opening, bookshelves surrounding it, and searched for someplace to sit. There were about eight tables spread around the center, half of them already occupied, and El started toward an empty one until she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Looking at the source of movement, El's eyes brightened as she saw Lucas sitting at one of the empty tables, pulling out a physics textbook and a green notebook out of his backpack, placing them in front of him. El turned and walked to the table, setting her hand on the chair across from him and whispered, "Can I sit here?" 

His eyes lifted from the textbook and met hers, his lips tugging upwards, and he nodded. "Yeah, of course. Mike would kick my ass if you told him I said you couldn't," he joked, earning himself a laugh from El as he moved some of his stuff out of the way. "I was starting to think I'd have to sit here alone for the whole year." 

El laughed again quietly and slid into the seat, hanging her backpack on the chair. Opening it up, she took her history homework out; a worksheet with ten questions surrounding what they'd read during class. "Guess not," she said, flipping her textbook open and turning it to the first page. 

"How's your day been?" He asked, back to looking down at his physics homework, writing something down in pencil in the notebook. 

"It's been okay," she replied, writing the answer to question one down. "You?"

"It's school," he simply answered. 

They worked separately together in a comfortable silence, just content that they had someone they knew in study hall. They only sounds audible in the whole library were pencils scratching against paper, book pages flipping, chairs screeching against the floor, and the occasional whispers. It was a peaceful environment, El decided, a perfect place to study. 

Something nagged her in the back of her mind, and El's pencil slowed to a stop, her eyebrows furrowing, and she whispered, "Hey, Lucas?" He hummed in reply, not looking up from his homework. "Do you know who Timmy Smith is?" 

She might have taken him aback because he froze, his pencil stilling against the lined paper. Another second passed before he looked up at her, confusion etched onto his features. "Uh, yeah. Why?" He asked, setting his pencil down completely. 

"Just wondering." El shrugged, biting her lower lip. 

"El," Lucas said, his brotherly feelings rising to the surface. "How do you know who he is?" 

"He came up to me today." She shifted nervously in her seat, knowing that if she told him, he'd tell Max, and she'd tell someone, and it would eventually get to Mike and he'd totally freak out over it. She really didn't feel like dealing with that. 

Lucas frowned, a crease forming between his dark eyebrows. "What'd he do?" She didn't answer and his eyes widened in alarm. "El, what did he do?" 

Um, he- well, he just introduced himself and I kind of pushed passed him," El explained, "but he grabbed me, pulled me against him-" she saw his jaw set and his hand that was resting on the table closed into a tight fist. "-and asked if I wanted to have some... fun. I elbowed him and got away. Thankfully Will found me right after but he didn't see it." 

"That's practically assault!" Lucas exclaimed angrily, earning 'shh's from the students around them. "I am going t kill him. I'm-" 

"Lucas," El spoke sternly, "It's okay. I'm okay." 

Lucas sighed and slumped back in his seat, rubbing his forehead. "It's just, you're like my sister," he said, eyes still closed as he calmed down. "Just thinking about anyone doing that to you- ugh." 

Smiling, El stated, "At least I know you've got my back." 

"We all do," he told her sincerely. 

There was a deeper meaning behind those three words, and El found herself blinking tears away, her heart swarming with love for these friends she'd managed to find in her crazy, out of control, world. She shifted in her seat again, displaying a watery smile, and replied, "Don't tell Mike, please." 

"Don't you think he's got a right to know?" Lucas raised an eyebrow. 

El ignored him and wrote down the answer to question five, and changed the topic. "I met Jennifer Hayed today. She's nice." 

"Ah, Will's lady friend," Lucas said, his eyes staring down at his textbook in amusement. 

El snorted. "Sure. Anyway, I also met Stacy and she is a bit of a bitch." He raised an eyebrow. "Deep down, she's not bad. We were walking together in the hallway and she found out I'm dating Mike because I told her." His eyes widened comically. "Yeah, so we talked about it and she's fine with it, nice even, until a group of girls walked by." She frowned. "She's got this mindset that she had to be mean to impress people." 

"All popular girls do," he deadpanned. 

"Jennifer and Lindsay didn't seem so bad," El said. 

Lucas lifted his shoulder in a half shrug. "They're-" he took the pencil out and scribbled something down on the notebook. "Jennifer and Lindsay, they're just nice Always have been, and Stacy, she's always been a bitch." 

"You said popular girls are mean." El smirked. 

Sighing, Lucas explained, "Jennifer and Lindsay are followers. They're nice but don't speak up for themselves, or stick up for anyone." El thought back on when she'd looked to see if Jennifer was still waiting but she had already fled. "Stacy, she's got a big mouth and isn't afraid to say what she's thinking, even if it's rude." 

"So, like Max." 

"Oh shut up." 

"It's true." 

Lucas laughed. "What I'm saying is, Jennifer is only popular because she's known Stacy since they were babies and their moms are best friends. Lindsay is popular because she's Jennifer's best friend." 

El nodded in understanding. "Oh," 

"Yeah." Lucas nodded. 

For the remaining time of study hall, they worked in silence and managed to get most their history and physics homework done by the time the bell rang. They put away their things and stood, shouldering their backpacks, and left the library along with the rest of their classroom. Side by side, they walked down the hallway, just talking about life in general until they parted ways. 

El took a deep breath as she entered room 220, but was relieved to find Mike already their, sitting at a table in the right second row, his cheek pressed to his right hands, left leg bouncing, and he was spinning a pencil around on the table top. He was incredibly cue, and was even cuter when she noticed his backpack on the seat next to him, saving her a spot. 

Smiling, El strode across the room, ignoring the looks she got from some of the kids as she went over to Mike Wheeler. "Hey," she greeted quietly, moving around him and grabbing his backpack, placing it on the ground between their chairs as she sat down. 

"Hi." Mike smiled at her, his eyes drooping a bit as they formed, into what their friends called it, heart eyes. 

And El was damn sure hers were showing as well. 

"How's your day been?" She asked, lifting a hand to run her fingers through his dampened hair, an indication that he had showered recently. "Did you have gym?" 

Mike nodded. "Dustin and I had it together and just about died," he laughed, his eyes glazed over as if he were reliving a pleasant memory. "Dustin was on the ground by the end of it." 

Giggling, El leaned in to kiss his cheek before bringing her attention to the front of the room as the bell rang. During attendance and the lecture, the teacher- Mrs. Downell, gave them, both El and Mike passed each other notes, laughing quietly when one of them wrote something funny, and El would kick his leg when he'd say something mean about someone. El didn't think it was possible to fall even more in love with Mike, but somehow she did. 

Class went by in a blur and soon her and Mike were walking hand in hand toward her locker, laughing when one of them made an unnecessary joke. El leaned her head on his shoulder, still letting out adorable giggles, and said, "I love you." 

"I love you too," Mike declared honestly, only letting go of her hand as they weaved around a group of kids and neared her locker. He leaned against the one next to hers as she unlocked it expertly (maybe her powers were involved but she wouldn't admit that aloud) and opened it. He pointed at the Polaroid of him. "Who's that?"  

El bit her lip to keep from smiling but failed miserably. "My boyfriend." 

"He's cute," he commented, praising himself. 

"I think so too," she said and closed her locker after collecting everything she needed, turning to face him. 

"What's his name?" He asked. 

Oh, he was going far with this game. 

"Mike Wheeler," El said. "Do you know him?" 

"No, but he looks very familiar." He squinted at the picture, seemingly deep in thought. 

El rolled her eyes, still smiling. "Wonder why." 

"Oh, wait." Mike tapped the picture and faced her again. "That's me." 

"You're a dork." She shoved his shoulder playfully. 

Mike smiled, and she returned it. They stood there for who knows how long, waiting for their friends, staring at each other like the love sick puppies. And in a way, they were, just not puppies. However, the bubble of love that surrounded them couldn't last forever, and suddenly popped as a deep voice boomed from down the hallway. 

"WHEELER!" 

She saw Mike visibly pale and shrink back, so she spun around and saw Timmy angry walked toward them, face red, nostrils flared, and steam practically floating out of his ears. Behind him, smirking, were two boys she recognized far too well as James and Troy, the two boys she had caught bullying Mike and Dustin. And walking slowly behind them, looking pretty smug, was Stacy, and El suddenly wanted to snap her neck. 

Timmy stopped walking exactly one foot in front of Mike, teeth grit and chest heaving with deep and angry breaths. James and Troy held in laughs at Mike's "pussy cat" face. He unclenched a hand to point his index finger at Mike who instantly flinched back and El's heart clenched painfully. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Wheeler?" 

"Um, nothing?" Mike said weakly, though it came out sounding more like a question. 

"Did you really think she'd choose you over me?" Timmy asked, laughing humorlessly at Mike's facial expression. "Tell you what, Wheeler. You stay away from her and I'll leave you alone. Deal?" 

El clenched her fists, ready to kick some serious ass if Timmy even dared to lay a finger on Mike's head, but she stayed still at the moment, giving the boys their space before she interjected. The last thing she needs is Mike getting sent to the principal's office on the first day of school because she decided to act on stupidity and jump in the middle of the fight, getting hit by a boy and then Mike going all crazy at that said boy, resulting in a trip to the principal's office. Yeah, she really didn't want that. 

Mike frowned. "No." 

"What did you just say?" Timmy's eyes flashed dangerously and the two ugly boys behind him quieted down in shock at Mike's sudden bravery. 

"Mike," El pleaded, "let's just go." 

But he ignored her and said defiantly, "I believe I said no." 

Timmy, once again, let out an unattractive, sarcastic laugh, eyes glancing down the hallway quickly as his tongue darted out to wet his lips. Then in a flash, before El could so much as move a finger, he had Mike pinned to the locker curling his fingers tightly to the fabric of the front of his shirt. His blue eyes bored into Mike's brown ones as he seethed, "Don't lie to me. A little birdy told me you're making moves on the girl I've got my eye on." 

El took a deep breath, her heart pounding nervously as she watched the exchange. Don't lose control. Don't lose control. Don't lose control. Instead of unleashing her powers, she stepped forward and spat, "How about you leaving him alone." 

But of course, he ignored her. 

"Sad how a girl needs to defend you're runty ass because you're too much of a pussy to do it yourself," Timmy laughed while James and Troy got over their initial shock and howled in laughter, muttering how true it was. Timmy turned serious again and looked back and forth between El and Mike, tutting. "No, no, this won't work. Only one of us can be with her, Wheeler, and that's going to be e because no girl falls for someone like...you." 

El practically gaped. How were people so mean? She didn't understand how someone could possibly have the audacity to say to a person's face that they won't find love because they're different and don't look like a basic white boy. That was totally messed up. 

"And a scrawny,, nerdy guy like you isn't going to get in my way just because you think you've got a chance," Timmy sneered. 

"Oh, and you do?" Mike shot back. 

El swarmed with pride at her boyfriend's comeback. Maybe she wouldn't have to interfere after all. Hopefully she wouldn't have to, because she also didn't want to end up in the principal's office on the first day of school either. Although, if it came to the point where things were getting messy between Mike and this... dirt bag, she would do something about it. Break his arm, maybe. Squeeze his bladder and make him pee? Trip him? Nah, she wouldn't use her powers, not when she's finally free, but she would kick him where the son don't shine. 

Timmy looked taken aback at the tone of Mike's words, until realization dawned on him and he barked out a laugh. "You didn't actually think she'd choose you-" he gestured to Mike with one arm while the other held Mike against the lockers. "-over me?" He gestured to himself, smiling smugly as Mike glared. "Damn, you did." 

Having enough, El physically shoved Timmy backwards and stepped between him and Mike, glaring up at him, arms crossing across her chest. "I thought I told you to leave him alone." She waited for him to reply and when he didn't, she continued, "I'll have you know I'd rather jump off a cliff than be seen with you. I've been with Mike for three years so if I were you, I'd shut my mouth and go find some other girl to screw around with." 

Blinking a few times, Timmy huffed and spun around, Troy and James following when they spotted a teacher exiting their classroom down the hall. But before they turned down the next hallway, Timmy called over his shoulder, "It's only a matter of time before she gets bored and dumps you, Wheeler! Once she realizes there's between men out there, don't be surprised when you're nonexistent to her!" Then he disappeared along with his group of bullies. 

"You tell 'em El!" 

"You told him off!" 

"Screw them!" 

"They totally deserved that!" 

El felt her anger wash away as their friends came up to them, cheering her on. Max gave her a high five while the boys went on and on about how she continuously amazes them. The excitement and adrenaline of the even slowly faded away and Lucas suggested they all go out for ice cream. 

"I'm just gonna go home," Mike said, sounding apologetic, and Lucas nodded like he completely understood why, which he kind of did. He had just been practically attacked for hanging around his own girlfriend. That should scar a dude for a couple days. 

And as much as she wanted ice cream, she couldn't go. "I'll go with you," El told him as she tossed Will the keys to their car. 

"Alright, well, we'll see you tomorrow," Dustin told them. 

Mike just nodded, gave a small wave, and spun around, heading for the door. 

"Bye guys." El smiled sadly and gave Max a look. "I'll call you later if I get the chance." 

She saluted her. "Roger that." 

Waving at Lucas and Will, El whirled around and jogged to catch up with Mike, slipping her hand into his as they walked through the front doors together, the warm September air enveloping them in a hug. She gave his hand a squeeze. "Hey, I'm sorry about what happened in there." She jerked her head in the direction of the school. 

"It's fine," Mike told her, digging in his pocket and pulling out the keys to his car, letting go of her hand to walked to the other side, opening his door, and getting inside. 

El frowned and slipped inside, buckling her seat belt, and waiting patiently for him to turn the car on before she spoke again. "You know, nothing he said was true." She reached over the console and grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together. Bringing his hand up to her lips, she pressed them gingerly to his knuckles, smiling against his soft skin as her turned to look at her, and only then did she noticed the red tint to his eyes. She slowly pulled his hand away, her own eyes widening as a frightening thought came to mind. "Are you crying?" 

He shrugged and leaned back against his seat, closing his eyes as his hand ran through his hair subconsciously. She watched as his shoulders dropped in defeat, his eyes opening, and he huffed out a breath. "It's stupid." 

"Oh, baby, no," El whispered and leaned over the console to wrap her arms around him, one hand rubbing his back as the other buried itself in his dark locks. "It's not stupid, okay? What he said to you- that wasn't okay, and yeah, that stuff hurts. It's okay to cry because of it. That's normal, okay?" She pulled away so she could look into his eyes and spoke seriously, "Mike, I just need you to believe me when I say this, everything that douche said back there wasn't true. I love you with my entire heart and I always will." Tears pricked her vision. "I need you to believe me. I love you so much and I can't even think about leaving you. You're it for me. You're my soulmate, the love of my life." 

Mike's lips tugged up in a smile as he leaned forward to press their foreheads together. "I love you so much, El Hopper." They closed their eyes simultaneously as their breaths mingled together from who close their lips were. She sensed he opened his eyes so she followed suit and stared into her favorite set of eye. "I love you. More than you'll ever know, and some people will call us stupid and that we're stuck in the honeymoon phase or that we're too young to even know what love is, but El, what I feel with you is something I don't feel with anyone else, and if that feeling isn't love, then I don't know what is." 

"You are amazing, Micheal Wheeler," El whispered, her eyes searching his for anymore self doubt and thankfully, she didn't find any. All she could find buried deep within his dark irises was love for her and her alone. "And I feel the exact same way about you." She wiped a tear off his cheek, letting her hand linger as she leaned in, pressing her lips softly to his. He kissed her back, letting his hand that wasn't holding hers bury into her hair, fingers curling around the wavy, dark strands. Familiar sparks ignited in her stomach like they did every time the two of them kissed and her heart did summer saults within her chest, and she could only imagine that his was doing the same. They pulled away with a gasp, eyes opening and their lips tugged up into a smile. "I really love you, Mike."

"And I really love you, El," he whispered, squeezing her hand as they leaned back into their own seats and he started backing out of the parking lot, making sure not to hit any students as they walked in front and beside the car. 

El let out a soft laugh and Mike glanced at her curiously. "How many times did we just say 'love'?"

"I don't know," Mike breathed out in a laugh. "But I don't really care." 

"Mm, me neither." El squeezed his hand and nestled comfortable into her seat as Mike drove down the roads of Hawkins, Indiana, knowing she'd have to tell him about Timmy and her flashback during gym eventually, but right now, she didn't want to ruin the moment. The euphoria of their conversation and their kiss was so intoxicating and she didn't want anything to ruin the mood. For once, everything was perfect. 

Well, whenever she was with Mike, it was perfect. 

The End. I hope you guys liked it!

I'm so sorry if the ending felt rushed. I didn't really know what to do and I have to get to bed soon because I've got to get up early for a doctor appointment (not because I think I might have Covid) for a physical so I can play volleyball in September.