If Eleven ever saw, she would flip the fuck out.
A dark circle surrounded Mike Wheeler's right eye, marring his fair skinned face.
Troy and James, or the "mouthbreathers" as El dubbed them, had cornered him in one of the boys' restrooms and things became physical when Troy started bad-mouthing El right in front of him. After all, she was his girlfriend and he was not going to take any shit from Troy if it involved her. He managed to incapacitate them by delivering two swift, brutal blows to their crotches, but not before Troy's fist made contact with the right side of Mike's face.
Dustin, Will, and Lucas sat around in the infirmary, looking worried, while the nurse was taking a look at Mike.
"That's quite a shiner, Mr. Wheeler. What happened?" the nurse asked while preparing an ice pack.
"I tripped." he lied, but the nurse was having trouble believing him.
"You tripped…?"
"Y-Yeah… I hit my face on a desk." The nurse placed the ice pack gently on his swollen eye and sighed softly.
"Alright then… Make sure to keep this on your eye and get plenty of rest." Mike only nodded, clutching the ice pack with his hand and keeping it on his bruise. The boys took this as their cue to get up from their seats.
"He's free to go, right?" asked Will.
With a nod of her head, the three boys helped Mike out of the infirmary. Classes had already been dismissed a few minutes ago and, luckily, Eleven shared her last period class with Max on the other side of the school, so Mike had a clear shot to his bike.
Although El could possibly be avoided, that didn't mean the other three boys would remain silent. They interrogated him as soon as he stepped a foot out of the nurse's office.
"Okay, so what actually did happen?" Lucas went straight to the point. Mike groaned, opening his mouth to reiterate his story.
"I told you-"
"Oh, that is bullshit, Mike, and you, I, and we all know it." Dustin interrupted.
"Mike, just tell us." Will said. Mike released another groan. There was no skipping around the subject for them.
"...Fine. I got in a fight with Troy and James." His friends gasped all at once.
"Holy shit! How did you survive?! Was El with you?" asked a shocked Dustin.
"No, and none of you are going to tell her, understand?" He stared with a serious expression. They all unanimously agreed.
There was no way they could allow El to obliterate Troy and James (no matter how much they might deserve it) which she'd definitely do if she found out what they'd done. The four boys walked outside to fetch their bikes, keeping an eye out for El. Mike hid the ice pack in his backpack with Will looking very much worried.
"Are you sure you should be riding your bike? You can come ride with me and my mom and she can drop you off at your house." Mike shrugged off his concern, unfazed.
"I'm fine, Will. Really." Will pursed his lips, still doubtful, but they were soon cut off from their thoughts when Lucas tapped all of them on the shoulder.
"G-Guys…" he began stammering, pointing to the school entrance where Max and Eleven had just come out from. They noticed the boys immediately at the bike rack and started walking towards them, unaware of their situation. "Danger at 12 o'clock! Repeat! Danger at 12 o'clock!"
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" cursed a frantic Dustin as he grabbed his bike in a hurry.
Gasps escaped from the girls' lips and their nonchalant expressions turned into shocked ones as they quickly noticed Mike's blackened eye and broke into a sprint.
"Forget it!" Mike turned back to Dustin, Lucas, and Will. "We're not gonna make it out in time, so let's just stick with my story, alright? Remember, I tripped and fell onto a desk and that's all that happened. Got it?" The three boys quickly nodded. Mike turned back around to see Max and El had already caught up to them.
El's hands went to her boyfriend's face, delicately cupping his cheeks. She gently circled Mike's bruise with her fingers and she looked like she was about to cry.
"What… happened…?" she squeaked out, barely audible. Mike gave her a reassuring smile and pulled her into a hug.
"Nothing. I just tripped and fell, but I'm okay now."
As if on cue, Troy and James went up to them to make fun of Mike and contradict his story. Dustin's palm flew to his face and Mike's expression sunk as soon as the two bullies came into view.
"This will not end well…" Dustin said. He, Will, and Lucas began backing up, not because of Troy and James, but because of what would inevitably happen to them.
"Hey, Frogface! That bruise I gave you is looking pretty good, isn't it? I'd call that an improvement!" Troy taunted.
With that, Mike felt El tense up and saw anger flashing in her eyes when she broke away from their hug to confront the two mouthbreathers. She purposely stomped her feet as she approached them. James immediately ran away, but Troy (like the dumb little bully he was) stood his ground, albeit clearly somewhat afraid due to his previous experiences with her.
"Aw... is Frogface being a coward and letting his weirdo girlfriend fight his battles for him?" Mike ran to embrace El from behind, trying to restrain her.
"El, no! He's not worth it!" he pleaded. Their friends joined him in begging El not to use her powers.
She huffed angrily and released herself from Mike's grip before turning her back on Troy. Her boyfriend and friends all sighed in relief.
However, there was absolutely no way she was going to let Troy go unpunished. Eleven suddenly whipped her body around and threw a punch at him, making his right eye match Mike's blackened one.
"Oh!" exclaimed Dustin, his hands flying to his mouth before they curved up into a smile. Lucas and Max began snickering as well.
"Nice shot…" Will commented.
El wasn't finished as she poked a finger at Troy's chest and threatened, "Don't you ever touch him again, you got that?" Stricken with fear, Troy quickly nodded and fled the scene.
"That… was awesome." Max added. Mike rolled his eyes and El returned to coddling him.
"You okay, Mike?" she asked once more, cupping his cheeks again.
"I told you already. I'm fine." he answered with a smile and a nod.
"Promise?" El tilted her head to the side which he always found adorable.
"Promise."