Hi! Sorry for the short hiatus, my life's been pretty busy lately! In other news, I decided to create a Spotify account with all the songs (aka the chapter titles)! It's called ud&ba and my account is bella_is_a_tardis. Go check it out! I'll be updating it when I publish the corresponding chapter. Also a little bit about the convo in the beginning of this story, I have no idea how their high school works so I used stuff from my high school lol.
chapter four
better together
october twenty-eighth, 1984
It was Saturday evening and all the kids were lounging around, waiting for Mike to finish writing the campaign, El was watching intensely at his shoulder.
"Have you all started looking at high school classes?" asked Lucas, laying on the floor of Mike's basement.
"No?" said Dustin, who was laying on the couch staring at the ceiling. "We literally started eighth grade less than two months ago."
"Well, I have. I'm going to tryout for football." he said. All eyes immediately turned to him and the scratching of Mike's pen came to a halt.
"Really?" asked Will, who was laying on the opposite end of the couch, legs entwined with Dustin's.
"Do you think I won't make it?" asked Lucas.
"Of course you'll make it." said Mike, going back to his writing.
"Don't you have to, you know, work out for that?" asked Dustin. Lucas rolled his eyes,
"Well obviously. I've been running around the neighborhood every weekend." he said.
"what is.. football?" asked El.
"It's a sport." explained Lucas, "you throw around a ball and try to get it through a goal at the end of the field." El nodded slowly, going back to watching Mike. "It's double blocked though which means I won't be able to take as many electives."
"I haven't even looked at the electives yet." said Will, "I suppose I'll take art, but that's only one." there was a few seconds before Mike held up the paper and exclaimed,
"Done!"
Dustin sighed, "Finally!"
They played until dinner. El watched from Mike's side, trying to understand the game and the rules so maybe she could play with them one day. She had placed her hand on Mike's knee and would occasionally rest her head on his shoulder which made his breath hitch. Dinner came all too soon but the boys promised to keep playing once they were finished.
"El," asked Nancy once they had all settled down at the table, "do you need any clothes? I've got boxes of clothes your size that I don't wear anymore. After dinner we can go through them if you want."
"That's nice of you, Nancy." said her mother. El nodded,
"Thank you." El had been wearing clothes of Will's for the past week. It wasn't bad, but she was looking forward to getting clothes of her own. After dinner, Nancy led El upstairs. She sat the younger girl on her bed and went into the closet, coming out a few seconds later carrying three big boxes almost overflowing with clothes. She set those down and left the room, coming back with another box, this one empty.
"We can go through these and pick out your favorites and put them in this empty box." said Nancy, sitting next to El. The younger girl was completely overwhelmed, as she had never had to make fashion decisions before. Nancy seemed to notice this and tried to make it easier.
"Since this is your first time actually picking clothes, I recommend you pick a few things from each category. So a few dresses, some pants, some shorts, some jackets." El nodded, taking this advice in. Nancy opened the first box and they started sifting through it, El picked out a denim jacket, some floral summer dresses, a few pairs of jeans, and some fun colored pants. They got through all three boxes in under an hour and El was left with one big heavy box. Nancy also gave her a few pairs of underwear and some bras but promised to take her shopping eventually. "Will you help me carry this downstairs?" she asked.
"Yes." said El, "Thank you, I really appreciate it."
"You're welcome! I think appreciate is the biggest word I've ever heard you say." joked Nancy. El smiled,
"I've done lots of reading since we last talked."
"Clearly." said Nancy, smiling back. The two girls picked up the heavy box and brought it downstairs, setting it by the door. All the boys followed them down, having been waiting in Mike's room.
"That's a lot of clothes." said Dustin.
"You'll be set for a while." said WIll. El nodded,
"All seasons." she said. Nancy smiled and left the teens to go downstairs, back to their game.
"So El, what did you think of D&D?" asked Will. They were waiting for Jonathan in the car later that night. He said he was going to talk to Nancy "for a minute" but it had been several minutes.
"It was… interesting. Can I play too next time?" she asked.
"Yeah! We'll have to make you a character first though." he responded. El nodded before adding,
"Why is Jonathan taking so long?" Will rolled his eyes,
"Because he's talking to Nancy."
"Is that… bad?" she asked.
"No, but they like each other. The problem is, Nancy is already dating Steve."
"Dating?" she asked.
"Yeah. When you date someone you're in a romantic relationship with them. You can also go on dates with that person." He responded, struggling to come up with an adequate description.
"Oh." said El, taking all his words in.
They only waited a few minutes before Jonathan came out, smiling.
october twenty-ninth, 1984
"Is it okay if we take you to the Wheelers? Hopper is coming with us so he can't look after you." said Joyce, the next morning at breakfast. El nodded,
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"The lab." said Will, picking at the food on his plate.
"We're going to see if they'll help Will. As I'm sure you know, he hasn't been doing so well." said Joyce.
"They... don't help." said El, narrowing her eyes.
"Brenner is gone." said Joyce softly. El shook her head slightly but said nothing. After breakfast, Will went out to the shed, Daisy following closely behind him. El waited by the back door, watching as Will disappeared behind the shed door and came out a few minutes later carrying a small black bag gingerly between his fingers.
"Is that… the slug?" asked El. Will nodded, and opened the bag a bit so El could peek in. Daisy tried to nose her way between them, probably in search of a snack. El gently pushed her away and looked in the bag, recoiling almost immediately.
"Do you think it's from the upside down?" asked WIll bitterly.
"Yes." said El, her face pale. They didn't say much as they put Daisy inside and went to the car, Will in the front and El in the back, the small black bag placed on the seat next to her.
Joyce dropped El off at Mike's house. As El got out of the car, Will waved nervously from the passenger seat.
"I don't know how long we'll be but it should only take a few hours." said Joyce, after rolling down the window. El nodded,
"Ok."
"Be good!" she said, smiling and waving as she drove out of the driveway. El waved and went to the front door. It opened before she could knock and Mrs. Wheeler appeared.
"Hello! Mike's in his room, he's been waiting all day for you." she said, smiling. El smiled back and pattered up the stairs. Mike met her at the top, breathless from running to the stairs.
"Hi." he said.
"Hi." responded El, eyes wide. They were inches apart and awkwardly stared into each others eyes before Mike pulled back,
"Do you, uh, want to go for a walk? We can ride my bike into town and I can show you the arcade!" El nodded,
"Okay." she said. She waited on the stairs for mike to go grab his jacket and when he came back they were walking to get Mike's bike, barely any words were said.
"What's the arcade like?" asked El, finally breaking their awkward silence.
"It's a place where people go to play games. We've got the highscore in most of the games." said Mike, saying the last part proudly. El rested her head on his back and Mike's heart started beating wildly.
"Sounds fun." she said, her voice muffled. They rode in silence for a few minutes before El's mind wandered back to the conversation she'd had with Will the night before. "Is this a date?" she asked. Mike was so taken-aback that he almost crashed the bike. Once he'd steadied the small vehicle, he slowly responded.
"Uh, no. If I were taking you on a date - which I will eventually, we'd do lots more than go to the arcade. Where did you learn about dates anyway?" he said.
"Will. He told me you usually go on dates with someone you're in a romantic relationship with. I uh, don't know if we're in a romantic relationship." she said.
"Well, In a romantic relationship, you've got a boyfriend and a girlfriend, or boyfriend and boyfriend and girlfriend and girlfriend. And uh, you go on dates and um, kiss, and do sweet things for each other." He said this all very fast and it took a few seconds for El to respond.
"We've kissed." she said. Mike nodded and fell silent. El understood that he wasn't ready to talk about this. She wasn't even sure she was ready. There was so much she'd yet to learn.
They spent the rest of the ride in a mostly comfortable silence, both lost in thought. When they arrived at the arcade, El jumped off the bike and marveled at the bright and flashing lights coming from the building. Mike put his bike on the rack and walked back to El, tentatively taking her hand and gently pulled her through the front doors. "Where do we start?" asked El. Mike glanced around and caught a glimpse of fiery red hair that he immediately identified as Max's.
"Uh, over here." he said, pulling her in the other direction of Max.
Mike taught El how to play every single game and she quickly climbed the scoreboards, getting first place in almost all of them.
"Do you have to be so good at everything?" asked Mike, jokingly. El shrugged, smiling as she beat another of the boys top scores. The only game they hadn't gotten their hands on, was Dig Dug. Max had been intensely playing for the past hour and had barely taken her eyes off the screen
"Who is she?" asked El, having caught Mike staring at the girl several times.
"That's Max." he responded. "She goes to our school. Lucas has a crush on her." he said the last part with a smirk on his face.
"He wants to.. date her?" asked El, remembering the word. Mike shrugged,
"I guess. But she'd never say yes. She mostly says things along the lines of 'go away' and 'you're being annoying'." said Mike. El cocked her head at this before straightening up and walking over to the other girl. Mike scrambled after her but was too late.
"Hello." said El. Max swung her head around.
"Hey? Do I know you?" she asked. El shook her head.
"I, uh, like your hair." she said. Max's face softened for a quick second,
"Thank you. Is that all you came here to say?" asked Max, reaching down to grab her bag and sling it over her shoulder.
"No?" said El, her voice squeaking a bit. Max snorted,
"Okay. What's your name?" she asked.
"Elev- El. My name's El." said El. Max reached out a hand and El stared at it for a few seconds before the other girl reached down and grabbed her hand and shook it.
"Hi El. I'm Max."
"Hi." The stood awkwardly before Max spoke up,
"My brother is waiting for me but I'll see you at school, yeah?" That is, you do go to Hawkins Middle right? I mean, I've never seen you." El shook her head,
"I don't go to school yet. I just got back from a big, um, trip." she made it up quickly. This was the first time she'd interacted with a stranger since she'd returned and didn't have a story yet.
"Oh okay, well I guess I'll see you around." said Max, giving El a smile before rolling her eyes at an angry beep coming from outside.
"Is that your brother?" asked El.
"Yeah. He's an asshole." she said, before walking away with one last wave to El.
"What's an asshole?" asked El, wandering back over to where Mike stood, agape.
"Uh, a mouth breather." he responded, picking a word she already knew. "But I wouldn't repeat it in front of any adults." he warned her.
"Oh." she said casually.
"How did you do that?" asked Mike, amazed.
"Do what?" asked El.
"Just, become friends with her like that." he said.
"I said I liked her hair." responded El, shrugging. Mike laughed but continued to gaze at her as they went to play Dig Dug. He decided she could do anything she set her mind to, even making friends with the mean new girl.
song: better together by jack johnson