Disclaimer: Still do not own Stranger Things. That is why this is posted on Fanfiction. Who am I kidding, if I ever owned a successful series there's like a 60% chance I'd write a fanfic of it. That is not the case here.

*IMPORTANT EDIT: I slightly changed the last chapter. The school tour just was not working. Sorry. I tried, but it was not doing what I wanted it to, and felt awkward so I changed it. Instead El and Jennifer get to have their first class together. You might want to look back at the last few paragraphs of chapter 2, but it is not really necessary.


Coveting Mind

The First Class


Making sure that she got a seat next to El in class was simple enough for Jennifer. She had to apologize to her friend Amy for ditching her, but Amy understood the situation. The teacher divided them up into groups of three to answer a worksheet of questions.

Jennifer was surprised by how El went about the assignment. El would look over a question, reading slowly, and ask Will, the third member of their group, what some of the words meant. Once she seemed to have a good idea of the question El would hunt down the information with vicious efficiency. She glared at the textbook like it had offended her on a deep and personal level. Turning the pages with such force and speed that Jennifer winced, fearing that they would rip. The girl seemed to have two settings. Quiet and curious, or hungry predator. There was no middle ground with El.

When the three finished with the assignment Jennifer felt the need to talk. Mike did ask her to help El feel welcome. "So you're friends with Mike?"

El nodded, "Mike is the best."

Jennifer smiled. "Yes, he really is," she agreed. "How do you know him?"

Eleven paused. Seeming to choose her words carefully she replied, "He's friends with Will."

There was obviously something more to the situation that El was not willing to talk about. Jennifer was raised to be polite so would not pry. Her curiosity might try to burn a hole through her brain, but she would be polite. Do not pry. She moved the conversation along.


There was something about Jennifer Eleven did not like. She was not good. Except Mike liked Jennifer. Mike only liked good things. Everything Mike liked was good, so Jennifer must be good. It was confusing. El could not help but be wary of her.

It was something about how Jennifer was so focussed on Mike. Too focussed on Mike. It was wrong. This girl should not find Mike that interesting. Mike was very interesting. El knew that Mike was the most interesting person. El loved to spend hours doing nothing but watch Mike do trivial things throughout the day, and had done so often. It is just that this girl should not share El's opinion of Mike, because something. Well, El was certain that it was because of some reason. A very good reason.

El felt guilty that she felt like that. Mike gave El the brightest smile when he introduced Jennifer to her. It was the same smile he had when he was teaching El how to play Dungeons and Dragons, or showing her Star Wars. It was something Mike enjoyed and wanted to share with El. Not liking Jennifer made El feel like she was letting Mike down somehow.

El vowed she would make herself like Jennifer. They were going to hang out together, and talk about things friends talk about, and El was unsure. Braid each others hair maybe? El was fairly certain she heard that was something friends who are girls (which she knew was distinctly different from girlfriends) were suppose to do together. The two of them were going to be good friends. Then Mike would be happy, and would be proud of her.

El forced herself to smile.


Lucas and Dustin had english together as their first class. Dustin had trouble focusing on the assigned reading. His thoughts kept drifting to the conversation that happened before school.

Leaning towards his friend, Dustin whispered, "Did you get the impression that Jennifer has a thing for Mike?"

Lucas raised an eyebrow at Dustin, and shook his head, "It's Jennifer Hayes, one of the most popular girls in school, and Mike is, well, Mike." Lucas had nothing but loyalty for his friend. He would be willing to follow Mike through hell if it came to it. Lucas was also a realist, and when it came down to it Lucas knew, "He's the nerdiest nerd who ever did nerd." Jennifer was pretty. A cheerleader. One of the in crowd. The idea that someone like Jennifer Hayes would be attracted to Mike was absurd. Lucas just had to keep reminding himself of that fact, no matter how many times he remembered her looking at Mike like a love sick puppy. It was impossible. Any evidence to the contrary must be dismissed.

"That is a good point." Dustin said.

"It is," Lucas replied.

"But," Dustin said, "That does not answer my question."

"I don't know," Lucas said. He was not good at this kind of relationship thing. Not that there was a relationship here. As stated previously, it was impossible.

"I'm just worried were looking at a potential code K-220-Yellow on our hands."

Lucas gave Dustin a funny look, "What about giant squid?"

"No, K," Dustin said, "You're thinking of Kr."

Lucas thought for a moment before asking, "You know Jennifer's friend, Allie, right?"

"Her name is Amy," Dustin replied. "Kind of."

"Well ask her then." Lucas said. "She'd know."


AN: This took longer than I expected. Sorry. Real life decided it was going to pile everything on me, a few of my other projects have started to take off (taking much of my creative energy), and, as stated before the chapter, the initial idea for this chapter was just not working. Honestly, I'm still not really happy with it, but it will do. I might come back and change some bits later. Again, sorry, and thank you for all the reviews and love this story is getting.

Now that I'm getting into the story a lot of the idea's I had planned don't seem to be working out. I'm trying to figure out how best to proceed, and what needs to happen before hitting act three which I hope will work out better. Is there anything you want to see in this fic? I'm not promising anything, but some random requirement might help me, even if it's just something simple like using the word "perspicacious." Is there any part you like / not like?

The first (and only planned) proper OC of the story is, not introduced, but named at least. Amy. I chose her name by typing "baby names 70s" in google and picking the 2nd most popular girl name. I only bring this up because the most popular girl name was Jennifer. It seems one of the shows writers was as lazy as I am.