Mike couldn't stop staring. El had gotten to the lunchroom later than the rest of the group and was just now getting through the line while the others kept her usual space, right next to Mike, open. Unfortunately, a guy next to her, Mike thought his name was Kyle or something started talking to her, and Mike just couldn't take that. It didn't help that Kyle was older and a very handsome guy, "Exactly the type that steals girlfriends" Mike thought to himself. It had been a solid minute or so of him staring before his friends managed to snap him back to reality.

"Mike? Mike!"

"Huh?"

Dustin was amazed, "Mike, are you really that threatened by another guy talking to your girlfriend?"

"I'm not threatened by him! It's just...he's tall-"

"You're tall too, Mike." Lucas chimed in.

Mike kept going, not listening, "He looks and dresses like a movie star, and look at them! He's practically charming her pants off!"

They all looked over and saw Eleven had her head back laughing at something Kyle had said.

"See? She never laughs like that at my jokes!"

Max spoke up, "Maybe because your jokes aren't funny, Mike."

Mike still didn't listen, "If he keeps flirting with her like this, what's gonna stop her from thinking she should be with a guy like him instead of me?"

"You just answered your own question, my friend." Will chimed in.

"What are you talking about?"

"She won't think that because she has a guy like you, she's crazy about you, Mike. She would rather die than be with anyone but you."

"Really?" Mike asked.

Will continued, "I live with her, man, I know these things. Now, will you, for the love of god, calm down?"

"And stop overreacting to crap like this because it's not healthy and you're becoming insufferable." Max looked over and said in her usual blunt but caring tone.

Mike leaned back and started to think about what his friends said.

"Maybe you're right, you guys, maybe I'm-" he trailed off when he saw something that sent him back over the irrational cliff. El and Kyle were walking down towards the table, her laughing at something else he said, and, before parting ways, she patted him on the arm. That was too much for Mike and, not thinking rationally, he slammed his tray down, got up from the table and stormed out of the lunchroom, not even looking at Eleven, leaving her surprised and shocked.

"What's wrong with Mike?" she asked, coming up to the table.

Everyone just gave noncommittal groans until Will said "It's a long story" before Dustin helped himself to the brownie on Mike's tray.

The group thought their day couldn't possibly get any worse, the group was wrong. Mike, Max and El had the same history class together taught by Mr. Trent and today, he split the class up into groups of two and assigned each group a point in history to write a report on. El was partnered with Max and they were assigned The Great Depression. Mike was partnered with a new girl named Samantha, and was assigned The Revolutionary War. El stared daggers at her boyfriend and that girl, so tall and pretty with long, blond hair and a beautiful sundress on, who did she think she was working with Mike? And who did Mike think he was smiling and being so nice to her? Max eventually had to snap her friend back to reality.

"El? El!"

"Oh! Sorry, Max."

"Can you please focus and help me with this report?"

"I'm sorry, but...Mike's with that new girl and look at them, being all friendly with each other."

Max couldn't take this crap twice in one day, "Well, Mike's a friendly guy and you shouldn't be so freaked out."

El glanced back over at them and saw Samantha was laughing at something Mike had said and she was touching his arm.

"Look at that, look at that! She just touched his arm! She is totally flirting with him!"

Max was getting fed up, "Look, El, you have nothing to worry about, I-"

"What do you mean, "nothing to worry about?" What if Mike doesn't like me anymore? What if he doesn't want to be with someone short and ugly like me that he has to crouch down to kiss and has to answer a million questions from every day when he can be with someone beautiful and tall and probably a genius like her?"

Max ran her fingers through her hair, trying very hard to hang on to her last shred of patience, "El, first of all, you are not ugly, not by any stretch of the imagination and I know Mike agrees with me. Second, you don't know anything about that girl, you don't know if she's a genius. Third, and most importantly, Mike is completely head-over-heels, spill-his-own-guts, crazy for you. I know for a fact that he never wants to be with anyone but you, and he would sooner take a bullet to the head than break your heart!"

El finally calmed down, "You really think so?"

"Yes, I do, now, can you please help me with this report that we're both supposed to be working on?" Max said gesturing towards their history books.

"Yeah, sorry, just one more second."

El quickly focused over at Samantha's desk and mentally flung all of her books onto the floor. Max saw this and sarcastically muttered, "Yeah, that'll teach her." El smiled, proud of herself and finally went to reach for her textbook, but, then she saw something that made her blood boil. Mike was getting up and helping Samantha pick up her books, still smiling at her.

El struggled to hold in her tears, and started to sniffle, getting Max's attention, she looked up, "What?" she then looked over at Mike and Samantha before bridging her nose and mumbling, "Oh, for Christ's sake..."

"I knew it! He doesn't like me anymore! He'd rather be with her!" El yelled irrationally.

"El, calm down, he-" Max started to say before getting cut off by the bell.

El gathered up her things and ran as fast as she could out of the classroom, tears rolling down her cheeks. Mike saw this and tried to catch up with her, wanting to know what was wrong.

Max just sat at her desk, angry at her friends for their stupid jealousy, knowing something needed to be done and quickly thinking up a plan.

After school, only Will came over to Mike's house, the others saying they'd be by later. The two boys were sitting in the basement going over their homework, before they heard a car pull up.

"Huh, I wonder who that could be?" Will asked calmly, hoping his acting skills were convincing.

Mike wondered the same before he heard the door open upstairs and "I told you, I don't want to be here, I don't want to talk to him!"

"Well, T.S., you're gonna!"

He saw Max holding El by the arms, forcing her down the stairs, followed by Dustin and Lucas, with El yelling at her "Let me go! You know I have powers and I could hurt you, right?"

Max got her to the ground floor, "Yeah right, like you'd really use them on me!" she yelled before forcing El into a chair opposite Mike, causing him to ask, "What the hell's going on? Why did you force her here?"

Max quickly looked at the both of them and said, "Listen, I'm sick of you two being mad at each other for completely idiotic reasons, now, you two are gonna sit here and you're not leaving those chairs until you sort this out!"

Mike angrily turned to Will "You knew about this, didn't you?"

"Yes, Mike, I did and I fully support it 100%" Will said, getting up and standing with the others.

"Fine, what is this all about?" Mike asked, wanting to get this over with.

Dustin stepped up and start to unfold the story, "Eleven, Mike here is jealous of you talking to that guy, Kyle, at lunch today and Mike, Eleven is jealous of you being partnered with Samantha in history today, you can start sorting this out." Dustin said before stepping back.

Mike and El both looked at each other with incredulous looks on their faces, before saying simultaneously "You're jealous of Kyle/Samantha?"

El started it off, "Kyle was just being friendly with me today! And I was being nice to him!"

"I'm not stupid, El, he was totally flirting with you!"

"Well, it doesn't matter because I only have eyes for you, Wheeler! Also, you're one to talk, Samantha was flirting her butt off with you today, and I saw you pick up her books! I know you like her back!"

"El, do you have any idea how insane that sounds? You know that I'm completely over the moon for you, right?"

"Oh, please, Mike, I know you'd rather be with someone tall, smart and with long, beautiful, blonde hair than someone short with lame, brown, curly hair that has to ask you about everything!"

"I love your hair, I love having to crouch down to kiss you and I love answering your questions, Hell, I love how happy you get when you learn something new! You get the cutest look on your face and I can't get enough of it! And just for the record, Samantha's actually kinda stupid! I had to explain things to her three times today before she finally got any of it!"

"Oh, so it's different when you have to explain things to me?!"

"Yes, because, you actually get the things I explain to you, again, it took three times before I made it through her stupid head! This report might kill me!"

"So, you don't wanna be with her?"

"No, I wanna be with you, El! I love you! Yeah, that's right, I love you, I know it's the first time I said it, but, I don't care! You're the love of my life! I love you with every fiber of my being! I love every single trait about you! You wanna know how serious I am? I feel broken if I go more than a day without seeing your beautiful face or hearing your voice! You are the only person I wanna be with for the rest of my life! The mere thought of being without you makes me want to die! In case I'm not making my point clear enough, I. Love. You. El!"

"All right, let me make my point clear now! I love you too, Mike! You're also the love of my life! I love you so much, I can't even get attracted to other guys! I hear other girls talk about how hot they find the football players or how dreamy the new Algebra teacher is, I look at them and you know what I feel? Nothing! Because, they're not you, Mike! You don't have to worry about Kyle or any other guy, ever! You are my whole world, Mike! I don't know what I'd do without you! I love you so much sometimes I feel like it's going to burst out of me like an alien! Some days, all I have to do is look into your big brown eyes and that's all it takes to make me happy because I am so lucky to have you!"

"You have no goddamn idea how happy it makes me to hear that, El! And I'm lucky to have the greatest girlfriend in the world!"

"You're the greatest boyfriend in the world, Mike! And, to be perfectly frank, I'm so filled with love for you right now, all I want to do is rush across this room and kiss you until our lips fall off!"

Mike shot up from his chair and extended his arms "Bring it on, baby!"

El shot up from her chair, ran over, and slammed her lips onto Mike's so hard it looked like it hurt. This quickly turned very passionate for them and awkward for their four friends that were still in the room, with surprised, confused looks on their faces. They quickly decided to go upstairs to give the lovebirds some privacy and before they got too personal and something was seen that would scar someone for life.

They got upstairs without saying anything and it was only after Dustin closed the door that Lucas spoke up:

"What just happened?"

"They made up...I think...and that's the important thing." Max answered him.

Will looked at them and asked, "Look, I don't know about you guys, but when they come back up, how about we all agree never to speak of any of this again?"

"Agreed." the other three said in unison.