Pinned

by BadMoonlight

Rating: Right now, PG. Eventual R.

Pairing: Endless Mike/Ellen

Spoilers: Obviously, ones for 'Pinned!'. Slight ones for 'Tool and Die.' Also, maybe some 'Time Tunnel.'

She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for a response.

"You want to wrestle me?" Endless Mike cackled loudly and, in Ellen's opinion, rather annoyingly.

"I'm not bad," she said modestly, then quickly fought back the urge to slam her fist into his jaw to shut him up. He nodded, considering.

It was a late Tuesday afternoon outside the gym of Wellsville High. Most after-school club meetings had ended for the day, and the student parking lot was empty, save for half a dozen cars scattered in odd spots. Minutes before, Ellen Hickle had just finished up her meeting with the newspaper staff and was walking past the gym and adjoining locker rooms to the student parking lot, only to hear...

"Ow!"

Wait a minute... that sounded a little like Pete.

"OW!"

Yeah, that was definitely Pete Wrigley. Ellen had slowed down her pace and was about to crusade right to her friend's rescue before she realized that the sounds of pain were coming from the boys' locker room. She frowned. Theoretically, if he was in trouble it shouldn't really matter even if he was in a "forbidden territory" for people of her gender, but she still waited for a moment. He didn't really sound to be in any serious trouble, and she wanted to find out exactly what was going on before she just went barging into the boys' locker room without a justified cause. For all she knew, he could have stubbed his toe on something.

That could lead to an awkward moment.

"Y'know, Wrigley, I think I'm really going to enjoy our little rematch this semester." Ellen's eyes narrowed at the sound of a new voice. Endless Mike Hellstrom was at it again? She knew that both he and Pete had joined the wrestling team again this year. However, after all the trouble she and Teddy had gone through with Pete to help him defeat the boy last year, one would think he would have given up on beating her friend. But then again, Mike never did.

After a few more threats and rough slams against the plaster walls (which sounded very painful), Mike had slunk outside to the stairwell leading to the parking lot to find Ellen waiting for him. She was thoroughly disgusted with the bully's constant picking on her friend (though truth be told, not as much as she was with Pete for not standing up for himself.)

Which was why she had decided to finally challenge the self-proclaimed Doctor of Death to a little private wrestling match.

Which she was still waiting for a legitimate answer to.

"So you're saying--" Mike paced slowly down the sidewalk, staring at the concrete- "that if you win--"

"You'll leave Pete alone," Ellen supplied. She thought, then quickly added, "For good." No sense leaving any loopholes for him to find in the bargain. Mike stopped moving and raised his eyes to hers.

"Yeah, yeah, if you win, Carrothead escapes my wrath." He made an odd noise that sounded like a suppressed laugh. "Now. If I win..." Ellen rolled her eyes at his emphasis on the word 'I', his tone filled with such confidence. He thought he had a chance? Ha! It wasn't that she was cocky, but...

Okay, maybe she was a bit cocky when it came to her talent for wrestling. It wasn't her fault, really. She just had so much more experience than him. Not only that, it was in her blood.

She tried not to laugh herself as she finally answered, "If you win, you..." She sighed and trailed off, realizing he wouldn't exactly be asking for a quart of Neopolitan ice cream in return. Whatever it was, though, it couldn't be that bad, and besides... she was going to end up winning, anyway. Might as well call his bluff. "I don't know. Anything you want." He grinned.

"Anything, huh? Well, then." He brushed at some imaginary lint on his bomber jacket as the corners of his lips turned up in a feral smile. "I guess I'd better make it good... Right, Ellen?"

She shuddered. She hated whenever he said her name. He always managed to make it sound so... awful.

Ellen didn't always used to mind Mike. Her freshman year, when he had been Slurm's shop class assistant, he had seemed to take some sort of a liking to her and her eagerness to learn about the craft of woodworking. While he ignored the other students' feeble attempts to get help from him, he was by her side quite often, measuring and sanding and talking to her.

She didn't say much in return, of course. As opinionated and stubborn as she was, the sockethead who was two years her senior had still been intimidating at the time. For every bit he liked her, though, it seemed to be the opposite for Pete. Her redheaded friend was often on the receiving end of many harsh blows, both verbal and physical.

Then, it seemed, Mike's attitude toward Ellen began to change as well. As she became tougher and more cynical, the less he seemed to like her. Many of his odd schemes against Pete seemed to feature her in one way or another. There was the time he had tried to get Pete to join his gang and had nearly succeeded, encouraging him to commit such heinous acts as putting hot lather on Bill Korn's popped zit and twibbing Mark Twibb's ear, using the excuse of revenge against her for betraying him. Poor Mark still never recovered fully from that one.

Even worse was the time that Pete had worked up the nerve to ask her on a date and Mike had ruined the night beyond repair with his "helpful advice," turning her best friend into some sort of sleaze from a bad soap opera. She felt her fingers start to clench into fists, angry just from thinking about it.

Oh, well. No sense in getting worked up over the past now. If Pete couldn't handle the bully, she definitely could. Everything would be settled after she finally slammed his thick skull onto the ground repeatedly.

They parted ways as they reached the parking lot, he going to his beloved Mustang, she fishing in her bag for the keys to her dad's station wagon. Ellen, no longer nervous, felt satisfied and calmly pleased with her decision. This was something that she believed the older boy had a long time coming.

"Mike?" she called after him sweetly. He slowly turned around, looking irritated and confused. "Good luck at practice!"

You'll need it.

A/N: I may re-work this a bit later. I'm not sure if I justified Ellen wanting to fight Mike enough. My own take on it is that as the series progressed, she seemed to become more of a rule-breaker and more ruthless, using force when she got angry and cunning to get her way (as evidenced by 'Road Warrior' and 'Pinned!) I tried to keep both figures in character. Hopefully I succeeded with that and will also continue to in later chapters.

Comment, flame, suggest, anything is welcome, really. I'd just like some feedback.