Summary- Troy is sick of people laughing at him after a little girl broke his arm. People call him crazy when he claims she has supernatural ability's and he needs to prove them wrong. (Mileven and friendship). (Hurt and comfort/ Friendship)

Joyce drives Eleven over to Hawkins school to meet the boys and Max at the end of last period, they're all pretty excited to show her the arcade and introduce her to the cool games they like. Joyce and El are pretty close as Hopper is working regularly and leaving El with Joyce to prevent her from dying of boredom or worse- run off to Chicago with a dangerous bunch of misfits seeking revenge. Joyce doesn't mind El hanging about much, she always wanted a daughter and Hoppers girl was the closest thing to it. Joyce found El quite interesting, the way she'd inspect each object she approached before handling it or the way she is so interested and focisus so much attention to literally anything on tv and will absorb so much information and take in every single word said. El's quite fond of Joyce also. To Eleven, Joyce is the most beautiful, strong and independent woman she ever met. She likes her pretty, long, dark locks that frame her face perfectly. Though the though makes her feel bad as she knows her birth mother loves her dearly, she can't deny that Mrs Byers being her mother would be pretty awesome. Joyce pulls up outside of the school at 3:45, half an hour after school finishes. On Tuesdays the gang are usually in the Av room for about 30-45 minutes after school for Av meetings or whatever they do- El has no idea and to be honest, neither does Max. They just go along with it. Unknown to Eleven, Troy is usually just about finishing his detention around the time the Av kids are ready to leave. Very unfortunate.

"Ok sweetheart, you know where to find your friends, right?" Joyce asks while parking up her car.

"Yes" Eleven answered simply, still not being big on conversation.

"Ok, you go have fun and stay safe. Stay with your friends and remember Hoppers rule. No powers out in public. Got it?"

"Yes"

"Ok bye bye hon, tell Will I want you and him home by 6:30 at the latest and Hop will pick you up from our place"

"Bye" El says not passively but rather sweetly, she just doesn't like to talk much, or at least she just isn't used to saying much.

The school still isn't something Eleven has much experience with but with the place being fairly empty for the time being, she just walks in. The halls and memories from this place are still traumatising but she and Hopper have been working on strategies to prevent those awful flashbacks. Out the door from the class room to the right came out Troy and his gang exiting detention.

"Uhh, dude I'd beat the shit out of you if you'd done that to me" Troy joked with her revolting laugh. El would recognise his voice anywhere. She didn't want to trouble so kept quiet, walking down the hall with her hood up.

"Yeah, Yeah. Shut up Troy. You got the shit beaten out of you by a little girl" One of his friends teased. Troy was just about sick of them bringing this up.

"She had fucking powers!"

"Sure she did" His other friend said sarcastically. Walking down the hall with his group of six other friends, one of which being his girlfriend, they pushed past El with another force that made her stumble into the locker.

"Watch where your going, weirdo" The girl snarked at Eleven making her look up. Even with hair Elevens face was distinctive and Troy would recognise her anywhere. She glared back at him as he stared at her with a disgusted expression. The other five kids looked confused and sensed the obvious tension.

"Its her" Troy stated bluntly at his friends.

"Who?" One questioned.

"The freak. The girl I told you about, she has powers!" He announced angrily though his friends just laughed at him as El turned to walk away to avoid them. Troy grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her backwords forcefully.

"Show them what you can do! Admit what you did to me!" He screamed at her angrily causing her to tense up.

"I-I don't know what you mean" She stuttered. Right then he pushed her into the large space closet on the right to them and Troy's friends followed and closed the door behind them. Troy pinned her arms behind her back making her squirm in discomfort. She tried to wriggle out of his grip but physically he was much stronger than herself.

"G'won, use your powers. Push me away. Show them who you are you monster!"

"I- I don't know what you talking 'bout" Eleven continued to try fight him off but it was kind of useless. Troy then responded by pushing her into the wall and lifting her from the ground. Keeping her pinned against and unable to move.

"Now do you have powers?" He asked impatiently.

"n-" he kicked her painfully in the thigh before she could even finish the word she tried to mutter. She squealed and continued to push him away. Problem being, she was too used to relying on her gifts to realise that her physical strength was quite weak considering her small petite frame. She tried to hold back tears from both fear and pain as well as trying to keep from exposing herself, more specifically- her powers. She'd rather take a beating than be dragged back into the lab and once again become nothing more than an experiment. As hard as she tried, the tears ran down her cheeks and a sob escaped her lips.

"Do you have powers!" Troy growled and he threw her into the wall, knocking her head against the wall and then pulled her hair out of frustration. She felt small and powerless as Troy continued to throw his weight around as his friends just watched, amused by Troy's frustration and eagerness to force her to confess. They just laughed at the way Troy's ears would begin to burn and turn a bright shade of red whenever he got angry. Troy once again threw El backwords and kicked her, this time in the knee. Surly she'd have several bruises by tonight. Eleven shook her head as she continued to sob and beg him to leave her be.

"Ok Troy, that's enough" His girlfriend stepped forward trying to calm him down.

"Not until she confesses" He mumbled.

"Ok whatever, we believe you. I think she's had enough" His friend stepped in. As soon as El started crying, a look of pity was clear in his eyes. Troy wrapped a hand around her neck making her unable to breath too well.

"P-Please. Stop" El chocked out.

"Let her go, Troy" Another of his friends groaned, starting to get bored. Troy just stared into El's eyes harshly and to her he looked like the devil in human form. His forehead veins bulging and his eyes blood shot. He looked at her as if she was less than human and Eleven was pretty good at reading expressions. He looked at her as if she was a thing, a worthless object. He threw her to the ground and kicked her once more before catching his breath. El raised her knees to her chest and cried uncontrollably. As Troy and his friends excited the room, Troy noticed that the janitor had accidentally left the keys in the closed door (explaining why it was left open) and locked the door behind him. He and his friends walked off carelessly leaving Eleven alone in the small, claustrophobic closet.

"Hey, wasn't El supposed to meet us in here by now?" Dustin asked his friends casually while continuing to clear up. Will shrugged.

"My mom's probably late" Will rolled his eyes "As usual" He added.

"I'll wait outside for her" Lucas said quickly.

"Me too!" Max added.

"For heaven sake! You guys are just trying to get out clearing up!" Dustin groaned in annoyance.

"As usual" Will muttered. Lucas was about to deny in before Max's bluntness took over.

"Yep!" She grabbed Lucas's hand and exited the room. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him an innocent kiss before the made their way down the hall, hand in hand. Lucas and Max's affection was not at all secret and while they seemed so confident showing it to each other in public, it was no fun to tease them about it. Lucas of-course was shy about it at first but Max snapped him out of the embarrassment simply by being so open. He wasn't sure if she was a good or bad influence… noir did he care.

El knew that as nobody was around she could easily unlock the closet door with her gifts but she was too mentally drained that she continued to cry helplessly not only from the pain Troy had inflicted on her, but the bad memories being locked up had caused. She had no intention on trying to exit any time soon. She just needed to cry the hurt out of her. The world around her had frozen, everything was blocked out of sight, out of sound. One minute she's crying in a closet corner and the next she feels two strong arms pull her up and hold her head into his chest. She heard a boy's voice muttering something to her but she couldn't process what he was saying. She began to snap back into reality and realised she was in Lucas's safe embrace as he continued to comfort her. Max rubbed her friends arm to try calm her before Lucas instructed her to go get Mike.

"Shh, come on El. Your safe. I got you" Lucas assured her softly. Her cried became softer as she clung both her hands tightly at his shit as if it was her life line. "Don't cry, shh. There's no need to cry, your safe with me. I won't let nobody hurt you" He promised. Mike practically ran over to El and took her out of Lucas's arms and into his own, hosting her from her feet so she could burry her head into the crook of his neck and wrap her legs around his waist.

He kissed the stop of her head softly and held her tight. What had happed was irrelevant to him at the moment, he just needed her to calm down so he could see that bright smile she gave him whenever they were together. Questions were for later but all she needed now was for someone to hold her and assure her she is safe. Lucas and Max left them alone to give 'em some privacy until she'd calmed down and tell Will and Dustin to do so as well. They figured that having a meltdown in front of an audience probably wasn't something shed appreciate.

"M-Mike" El chocked out, looking at him with her wide vulnerable eyes.

"Don't cry El, baby, I got you. Mike's here. Shh, I'm here now. I love you"