Hello Everyone!

I have always been obsessed with the 80s, and with the very political underground punk scene of that era, so I decided to write about it! I know that Punk!El and Nerd!Mike isn't a super original AU for this fandom, but nothing else I have read really captures the true punk scene of that time period. This fic does get a bit political, and El is definitely pretty hardcore, but I was going for punk rock accuracy rather than canon character accuracy.

I really hope you enjoy the first chapter, and I hope you will stick around to read the rest if you did!

Thanks, Allie xx

August 16th, 1985

"Don't be nervous, kid. It's going to be fine." Hoppers voice said from somewhere behind her.

El Hopper had been staring out the window of her father's truck the entire drive. She watched the passing trees, and cows that roamed around the open feels with a strange sense of disdain. But now that they were stopped in the Hawkins High parking lot, the only thing outside Els window was packs of gossiping teens, and far too many brain-dead losers.

Today was not only Els first day of school in the cozy town of Hawkins, but it was also her first day of Junior year.

Els adoptive father, new Hawkins Chief of Police Jim Hopper, had gone to school here when he was a kid, and he promised her it was a better environment than her old school in Chicago. But Jim being in high school seemed like a lifetime ago, and he had no way of knowing what it was like to be the new kid, the class spectacle, the school freak, the weirdo.

El knew that in a tiny town like this, word travels fast. She had seen the way people gawked at her when she walked around downtown, or when she shopped around the record store, and she understood why. With her slicked back hair, leather jackets, and dark makeup, she was something that no one in Hawkins had ever encountered.

A real life, non-conforming, patriarchy-smashing, Punk Rocker from the big city.

She took in a deep breath and slowly pushed open the car door, stepping out into the warm August air. She slung her new backpack over her shoulder and braced herself, she could already see some girls off in the distance pointing at her.

Hopper chuckled, noticing her tension. "Don't go getting into any fights." She turned around with a puzzled look on her face and he smiled. "Or just don't get caught."

She rolled her eyes and felt the smallest smile tug at the corners of her mouth. Jim- her dad- always had a way of making her feel better. He understood what she had been through, or at least the things she had told him, and he let her be true to herself.

She waved goodbye as he drove away and walked towards her imminent doom.

Everyone she passed took a moment to stop and stare at her, with very little regard for not being obvious. It made El feel sick to her stomach. The way everyone wore their hair the same, and dressed the same, and gossiped about pointless bullshit the same. Someone blasted a stupid pop song from their boombox, and someone else sprayed cheap Farrah Fawcett hairspray in the crowded hallway, practically choking El as she passed by.

'God, this is hell.'

She thought to herself as she finally found her locker. She put away some of her textbooks and hung up the tiny magnetic mirror that Hopper had given her on the back of her locker door. She checked herself out, making sure her face said 'leave me alone or i'll kill you' with enough malice, and when she was confident it did, she walked to her first period.

The day went by mostly in a blur. Lots of morons talking way to loudly about things she didn't care about, lots of stunned stares and girls whispering about her, and lots of teachers looking at her like an alien. She must have said 'I don't go by Jane, it's El.' a hundred times and it was only 4th period.

This was going to be a long day, and an even longer year. At least she had been able to sneak a cigarette behind the dumpster during lunch. The burning smoke helped calm her down and it certainly sent a message that she was not to be messed with.

She just wished that there was at least one person in all of Hawkins that wasn't a complete waste of space, but as the hours went by, that wish felt more and more impossible.

"Have you seen the new girl yet?" Dustin whispered to Mike during the passing period.

Mike rolled his eyes. He had been hearing about this 'new girl' all day. Supposedly she was some freak from Chicago. The rumors about her were numerous, and crude. According to the gossip, she was a demented, devil worshiping, ex-convict, who just broke out of the loony bin. New kids always have it pretty hard, but these stories were intense, even for the caliber of bullshit that came out of the mouths of Hawkins Highs finest bullies.

"No I haven't seen her yet. And even if I did, im sure she isn't as bad as everyone is saying." Mike sighed as he opened his locker to exchange his history books for the new English ones.

"Well I just saw her and believe me she really is bad!" Dustin expressed, eyes wide. Mike snorted and shut his locker, ignoring Dustin's warnings. "Im serious! And I heard that she is in your English class."

Dustin's last statement made Mike pause. Not because he genuinely thought she was a lunatic trying to outrun the law, but because the last thing he needed was another class with a school bully. It was bad enough that nearly half of the jocks were crammed together, drooling and pea brained, in his History class. And it was worse that he shared Gym with Troy and James. All he wanted was one subject where he didn't have to worry about getting taunted, or shoved, or have to pick spit wads out of his hair.

"Godspeed my brave Paladin." Dustin slapped a supportive hand on Mikes shoulder. Mike took a deep breath and walked towards his Advanced English class, and his possible demise.

When he opened the door, the sunny teacher greeted him and it eased his suspicions. There was an available chair upfront near the window and he took it right away, knowing bullies never sat up front. He turned around in his chair, craning his neck to look over the gossiping mass of Seniors. It was intimidating to say the least, that he was in fact the only Junior in a room full of upperclassmen, but at least he knew all of them. He didn't see anyone who looked like a satanic/prison escapee, or anyone he didn't recognize for that matter. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned back around as the bell rang.

'Maybe Dustin was wrong, maybe she won't be in this class.'

But his silent hopes were quickly squandered as a late comer opened the door and stepped into the room. The chattering class room fell to a silent halt. All eyes turned sharply to watch the new girl shuffle in, in all of her scathing glory.

Her hair was slicked back in a dark, but somehow feminine, James Dean fashion. Her eyes were rimmed in smokey black and grey eyeshadow, and her lips were tinted the slightest shade of purple. She wore an over-sized red and black men's flannel despite the balmy summer heat, and a leather skirt that cut off just above her knees. Her hand painted band shirt was tucked in, but her black tights were ripped and torn all over, and her clunky boots made her footsteps heavy and loud as she stomped to an empty desk in the back of the room.

The room broke out in hushed whispers. She really did look like she would kick some ass if she needed to. But as Mike watched her long trek to the far corner of the room he couldn't help but notice the subtle look of embarrassment and unease underneath her uncaring gaze. She didn't seem like some raging maniac at all, she was just a girl who is scared on her first day at a new school.

'And she is actually kind of pretty.'

Mike thought with a strange smile, watching her take her seat. She blew a bubble of the cherry gum she was chewing and felt his eyes on her. She turned to look at him, flashing her best 'don't mess with me' face and he snapped around to face the front of the room.

"Dork." El whispered to herself in the back of the room. But an unusual feeling churned in her stomach and she suppressed the urge to smile. When she had looked at him, she had expected to see the same stunned hostility that she had seen in the eyes from everyone else; but instead he was looking at her like she was just a regular person, and not the freak she felt like.

The rest of the week was more of the same. Same reluctant car ride, same boring lectures from teachers, same clearly intended whispers and gossiping, same desperation to be anywhere other than a school in rural Indiana.

It became a painful routine; 1st, 2nd, 3rd period, don't talk to anyone, don't draw attention to yourself. At lunch just grab an apple or a sandwich, never get the mystery meat, eat outside alone behind the dumpster, smoke 1 or 2 or even 3 cigarettes (depending on how shitty that day had been). Then 4th period, 5th, and 6th and finally get to go home and play music so loud it shakes the house until Hopper came home.

It was monotonous, and agonizingly boring, but it was the perfect recipe to stay out of trouble and fly just under the radar.

El spent most of her time silently people watching from the back of her various classrooms. People act completely different when they think no one is watching. In the few weeks she had been in Hawkins, El had studied her new neighbors, and peers through a fine lens. She knew who was secretly a softy, and who was secretly a jerk, she knew when people were lying, and she knew when people were telling the truth. It was a coping skill that she had learned growing up in Chicago, because out there you are a little fish in a big pond, and you have to keep yourself safe.

By week two of school, she could already tell who was a bully, and who was popular, as well as the general layout of the Hawkins High social ladder. A ladder that she was at the very bottom of.

There were a few people that she considered to be less appalling than others. The curly haired dork in her biology class who always wore hats and was often called 'Toothless'; He seemed nice enough, and it made her giggle whenever he would look at her like he was scared shitless. There was also a small quiet boy in her drawing class, Will, who was extremely talented and had complimented her The Clash t-shirt last week. And that red-headed chick who always skateboarded around during lunch break. But El was certainly not going to actually talk to any of them, she was just trying to make it through each day without being noticed (another tactic she had learned in Chicago).

Growing up in foster care is rough, and El was thankful everyday for being out of the dump that she called a home for the first 12 years of her life, but it had taught her alot about playing it safe and being invisible.

At least she thought it had, until a group of vicious preppy bitches decided to teach El a lesson in just how clearly visible they thought she was.

El couldn't go outside to eat today because it was pouring rain and she wasn't about to sacrifice her hair, or hand-painted patches, even for a cigarette and a chance to be alone. So she walked through the line and grabbed an apple like always, but instead of taking the exit door to her favorite hideout, she sat at a lonely table in the corner of the room.

She could feel the eyes watching her, and she could hear the whispers, but she tried to ignore them all by listening to her walkman with the volume turned up full blast. She looked around the room, trying to find some 'subjects' to observe to pass the time when she notices that Toothless- Dustin -, Will, and the dork from English were all sitting together, along with the boy from PE, Lucas was it?.

'I guess nerds have to stick together.' She chuckled to herself, taking a bite from her apple.

That's when she noticed the group of girls she had come to know quite well walking towards her.

Tammy, Katie, Sharon, and Heather. AKA the Bitch brigade. El's locker was just across from Tammy's and she had made it quite clear that she didnt like a newcomer in her school.

"Why don't you go back to the loony bin, you trashy slut!" Tammy had yelled at El on the second day of school. Her shrill voice and sickeningly sweet cotton candy perfume were enough to make El feel like vomiting.

"Bite me." El hissed through her teeth. The blonde bimbo simply flipped her side-ponytail in reply and sauntered off. That had only been the beginning.

El found hateful notes in her locker almost everyday, and she had actually been tripped by Sharon, the largest, ugliest girl of the group. If it were a different situation El would have kicked their asses already, but her dad was a cop and she knew he would find out. So she just tried her best to ignore it. Which was really difficult when they were surrounding her table.

"What do you want, Tammy?" El sighed, taking another bite of her apple and trying her best to seem unfazed.

"I want you to get out of my town, dirtbag." Tammy said crossing her arms. Her henchmen giggled behind her.

"You and me both. But that isn't going to happen anytime soon so why don't you do yourself a favor and get bent." El hissed.

"Hey, Tammy do you smell that?" Heather giggeled.

"Yeah something smells like slutty trash." Katie added. El looked from girl to girl, knowing they were referring to her but not knowing what their end game was.

"I think its little miss gutter punk over here." Tammy sneered. "Why don't we help her out."

The girls all laughed in unison, and before El had anytime to react, Sharon pulled a massive bag of stinking garbage out from behind her and dumped it on Els head.

El gasped and stood up, her clothes dripping with old soda, and milk from that days school breakfast. Ketchup covered french fries stuck to her jacket and shirt, and a half eaten pizza slice slid off of her jeans, leaving a long trail of red sauce and grease. Not only was she covered in filth, but her backpack and walkman were also drenched. El was seconds away from diving over the table and punching Tammy into the ground, but as she shook the trash from her hair she noticed that the entire cafeteria was staring at her, and her rage turned into intense embarrassment.

"See now you smell so much better. You should really be thanking us!" Tammy chuckled, her and her henchmen high-fiving as they walked away. El was in shock. She didn't know whether to scream or cry, but when other people around the lunchroom joined in the vile laughter she knew she just needed to get out of there. She grabbed her ruined walkman and bag, and hurried out of the exit door.

It was still raining hard, much to hard to walk home in, but it helped wash away the garbage juice from her hair and clothes. The place she always took refuge in during lunch had a small ledge above it, so if she stood with her back pressed up against the wall she didn't get drenched directly. She dropped her bag on the ground and fished out her pack of cigarettes and lighter. Her shirt was ruined, and her jeans probably would be too. There was no way in hell she was going to go back into the school, not when she stunk this bad, and definitely not when she was crying this hard.

She hadn't cried in a long time, not since the day Hopper had adopted her. But out here in the cold, covered in trash, and full of shame, it seemed like the only thing she could do.

Mike had watched the entire ordeal happen. He knew those girls were nothing but trouble, and when he saw that Sharon was holding the big black garbage bag he knew that nothing good could come of whatever they were planning.

It was pretty impressive, the way El held her composure through Tammy's taunting. Whenever he got picked on he always clammed up. It was usually easier to just get shoved around than it was to actually stand up for himself.

"That is so shitty!." Mike huffed, watching El try her best to shake the garbage from her hair. "Like they are treating her like she is the monster when they are the ones being awful!" He stood up, slamming his fists on the table.

"I agree." Dustin muttered with his mouth full of food. "But that's what happens when you dress like a freak. If you don't want anyone to pay attention to you, you have to tone it down."

"Thats bullshit and you know it. We don't dress like that and we get bullied all the time." Mike grimaced.

"Yeah but imagine how much worse it would be if we did." Lucas said, shuddering at the thought.

Mike watched El grab her things and practically run out the back door. "I'm gonna go see if she is okay." He grabbed his own stuff and followed her.

"Don't do it Mike! Its social suicide!" Dustin hollered at his friends reseeding form.

"As if I could fall any lower!" Mike said, whipping around and rolling his eyes.

"He has a point." Will chuckled.

Mike burst through the schools back door. It was raining so hard he could hardly see. He looked across the parking lot but didn't see anyone. He walked along the edge of the school, trying to stay under the slight awning above him. Then he saw a puff of smoke rising up from behind a dumpster.

'That has to be her.'

He composed himself and walked forward, not exactly knowing what to say in a situation like this. 'Sorry' didn't quite seem to cover it, and 'Hey i've been dumped in a trash can before' felt too stupid. He knew what it was like to be publicly humiliated, and he knew that when you felt that low, you just needed someone to tell you that it was okay.

He took a deep breath and continued forward, but stopped short when he heard the unmistakable sound of wheels on cement. He spun around to see Max, the schools previous resident new kid/ touch chick, skating towards him. She swerved around him and threw him a puzzled glance before rounding the dumpster and jumping off her board.

"Hey, I saw what happened in there." Max said, her voice muffled by the rain. "That was really messed up."

Mike heard El mumble something in reply and then Max laughed. He suddenly felt like a big dope, and clearly Max had this under control. So he walked back inside, head hung in a mixture of disappointment and embarrassment. Disappointment because oddly enough, he wanted to be the one to make El feel better, because he knew what it was like, and embarrassment because he was probably the last person that El would want advice from.

'What would a dork like me be able to say to make someone like her feel better? I'll bet she has beaten up more people than Troy and James put together.'

He sighed and sat back down with his friends.

"That was fast. Did you talk to her?" Lucas asked.

"No, Max Mayfield beat me too it." He muttered, dabbing at his wet hair with one of Wills napkins.

"Max Mayfield!? Son of a bitch now they are going to be best friend and probably burn down the school or something." Dustin rubbed his temples in frustration.

"Max isn't that crazy." Lucas sneered, elbowing Dustin in the arm.

"Maybe not, but the new girl might be!" Dustin elbowed him back.

"She is actually kind of nice." Will muttered quietly from the end of the table.

"You have talked to her!?" The three other boys said in unison.

"Not really. But we have drawing together and she is pretty good, and she is always quiet and stuff. Plus she likes good music."

"And if they gang up together, maybe they will become so powerful that they will take out all of the other bullies. Becoming a reigning super bully!" Dustin shouted, suddenly excitedly.

"I thought you didn't want them to be friends." Mike glared at the curly haired boy.

"I don't, but it's too late for that now so i'm looking on the bright side. If they kill Troy, and Tammy, and the other mouthbreathers then we only have two people to be afraid of."

Mike threw a crumpled napkin at Dustin and they all shared a laugh.

Dustin's predictions were almost eerily correct, as usual. Max and El become best friends. They were a feared dynamic duo of kick-ass-ness. They walked together to school everyday, and smoked together every lunch. They must have done something to get back at Tammy, because after only a week, the once high and mighty Bitch Brigade had stopped messing with anyone all together.

They were menacing when solitary, but together they were unstoppable. No one messed with the police chiefs adoptive daughter after that, and no one dared cross 'Madmax' Mayfield. It was the first real friend El had made since her days in the foster home, and Max was a good ally to have. After all, she had come up with the brilliant plan of breaking into Heather's locker and filling her perfume bottle with vinegar, as well as leaving a couple of the biology rats in Katie and Sharon's lockers. The cherry on top, however, was the secret admirer letter for Tammy from a guy who never existed, who asked her on a date that no one else would show up too.

"Have fun on your date last night Tammy?" Max had asked, practically cackling. The realization that A) no one actually thought that she was 'as beautiful as a rose, and as sweet as honey', and B) that Max and El had been the ones to make her look like a fool in front of the entire restaurant sent her running into the girls room crying.

Maybe High school in a tiny shithole like Hawkins wasn't going to be that bad after all.