A/N: Well, I'm back. For reference, this chapter takes place about a week before the sleepover in Chapter 2, "Fun and Games".


Lunch

El bit into her sandwich, and chewed slowly as she thought about the day so far. Fridays were usually good, but this was an exception.

"Hey, Lucas," she suddenly spoke up, and the mentioned boy, who sat across the table from her, looked up from his own lunch expectantly.

"Yeah?"

"Do… do you think I said something bad to Mike today?" Lucas sighed. Mike, who usually spent each day at lunch sitting right beside El and who was always excited to talk with and spend time with El, decided that he wanted to eat lunch in Mr. Clarke's room; Will and Dustin had decided to join him, leaving only El and Lucas in the cafeteria. It was an odd circumstance, El and Mike being separated during lunch (for they usually ate together, whether in Mr. Clarke's room or the cafeteria), which itself was led up to by an unusually frosty Mike the entire morning. Looking around the school cafeteria, Lucas finally responded.

"He'll come around. Probably by the end of school today."

El nodded, and the pair returned to their lunches. As she softly chewed on her ham-and-cheese sandwich, El's thoughts returned to the beginning of the morning, in an effort to track down whatever had caused the current conundrum…


4 hours earlier

"Hey El! Will!" Mike cried out, as he walked his bike into the school bike rack – El and Will happened to be pulling in at the same time.

"Morning Mike," El replied, a small smile on her face; Will also gave his usual morning greeting. Before long, Lucas and Dustin joined them as they arrived at school on their own bikes, and the five walked toward class, with El and Mike, like usual, already deep in conversation between the two of them, while the others walked alongside in their own conversation. Just before they reached the stretch of lockers right before their homeroom's door, a cry from behind stopped the group.

"Hey Elle!" The five friends turned simultaneously to face the speaker. The speaker in question was a relatively tall, well-built and grinning blond boy, flanked by two of his friends. Rex Gavin was the star football player in the Hawkins Middle football team, and as such, was one of the most popular kids on campus. He was pretty much a complete unknown to the group, but nonetheless, they stopped and waited for him to walk up to them. Rex, who was at least half a head taller than Mike, the tallest of the group, lifted an eyebrow as he faced all five of them.

"Can I speak with Elle alone?" he asked, politely enough to seem normal but strong enough to show that he wanted to speak with only her, and away from the other boys. Mike and the others looked at El, and she hesitantly nodded.

"We'll wait for you in Mr. Clarke's room," Mike whispered, with his hand on her shoulder, before the four boys turned and walked to class.

"So Elle…"


Six minutes and twenty-two seconds later

Mike idly paced back and forth between his desk and the front of Mr. Clarke's desk. The room was relatively empty, except for a pair of girls near the back of the room who talked quietly between each other. The morning was still early, and even Mr. Clarke was not in the room yet. Dustin, Lucas, and Will sat at their desks, anxiously watching their friend pace and grow more heated.

"It's been a long time! How long does a short talk take?" Mike blurted out. He had stopped pacing and was now staring at the three seated boys. Lucas blinked, and checked his watch.

"It's been, like, six minutes. I don't know why you're getting so upset and worried about this," Lucas replied, with Will slightly nodding his agreement.

"Upset? I'm not upset. Or worried. It's just that, ya'know, Rex is a jerk, and I don't want him to hurt El or anything."

Dustin lifted an eyebrow at that. "Hurt El? You're kidding me, right? El, who flipped over a van?" Dustin snorted. "More like El hurting Rex."

The door to Mr. Clarke's room opened, and El stepped in, backpack slung over one shoulder. She slowly closed the door before Mike got to her.

"El! What did Rex say? What did he want?" Mike hurriedly said. El looked taken aback by the intensity of Mike's words for a moment.

"Um, he just wanted to know whether I would go with him to watch a movie tomorrow." Mike's heart stopped for a few seconds.

"What did you say?"

A pause.

"I said yes," El replied. "He seems friendly enough, and it felt like it would be mean to refuse him for such a small thing. I wanted to see the movie anyway. Did I do something wrong?"

Mike's mouth twitched a bit while the others had wide eyes behind him. He swallowed before replying.

"No, no, you didn't anything wrong. I hope the date goes well." Mike had a hollow sort of smile on his face. Quickly, he turned and moved to his seat before El could reply. She wanted to say something more, but other kids started entering the classroom, so she took her customary seat behind Mike, who stared unflinchingly forward.


Four PM, same day

El walked out of eighth period, somewhat dejected. Mike had avoided her practically the entire day, and Lucas' words at lunch seemed far away. Just as she was about to exit the school building and head for her bike, however, a cry from behind stopped her.

"El!" She turned. Mike stood behind her, one hand outstretched as if to stop her before she got too far away for him to reach her. She stopped, half-turned around, and waited for Mike to close the distance between them. At this point, the school hallway was deserted apart from the two of them, and the silence was deafening for the few seconds that stretched into an eternity as El, half-turned, stared straight at Mike, who stood sheepishly with both arms hanging limply as his sides.

"I- I want to apologize," Mike blurted out, avoiding El's eyes by looking at her mouth. "I acted stupidly today, and…" his voice trailed off as El put a hand on his shoulder.

"Mike." El stared straight into Mike's wide eyes. "It's fine. I understand what happened."

Mike smiled, and El was happy.


Sunday

"Hey, El, how was your date, by the way?" Mike asked, over the sound of the movie being played in the living room of the Wheelers' house. Mike had the whole group over for a bit of fun before the weekend was over, so they all decided on a movie to relax with before returning to school the next day.

"The movie was okay. Wasn't as good as I had hoped though." Mike waited for the part that he was more interested in.

"Rex is nice enough, I guess. Not really interested in him though."

Mike's heart soared as El snuggled closer to him.