A/n This is by far my longest chapter yet, I hope you all still enjoy it! And thanks so much for all the kind reviews, it means so much to me and I can't tell you how much I appreciate the support!

After Hopper's conversation with El, he realised how exhausted he was. Staying awake all night worrying about El probably wasn't the wisest decision, he figured. He also figured that he should give El some time alone with her friends, especially if she was going to have to spend the next few months back in the cabin. So, he decided to go back to Jonathan's room to see if he could get some sleep.

Nancy and Jonathan sat at the kitchen table across from each other, holding hands, seemingly having a serious conversation.

Dustin looked around at all six party members and decided it was time for a proper reunion.

"I think I speak on behalf of everyone here when I say, Welcome to the party, to our two new, official, members." Dustin announced.

Mike squeezed El's hand and she smiled back at him. She looked around the group and her gaze landed on Max. El's face fell. She had forgotten about the girl.

Max saw how El looked at her and figured now was as good a time as any to have some one-on-one time with her. She also figured that if El liked her, Mike would stop being so hostile to her.

"Hey guys, can I have a minute alone with El? You know, new member-to-new member?" Max asked the group.

El's face was hard to read. She seemed surprised, and also angry, that Max wanted to talk to her. Max couldn't understand why.

"Yeah sure"

"Go right ahead" Lucas and Dustin smirked, guessing the content and outcome of this conversation. They walked to the other side of the living room to give the girls privacy, picturing a few more windows being shattered telekinetically in the near future. Will followed close behind.

Mike didn't move.

"Hey paladin! Wanna give us some space?"

Mike blushed, realising he was still holding El's hand.

"Is that ok El?" he asked.

She slowly nodded, still looking confused.

"I'll be right over there if you need me." And with that, Mike joined the others at the other side of the room, who were already having a very deep and animated conversation about something or other.

"Like I said last night, my name is Max. Lucas told me what you did last year, and I heard what you did last night. You're amazing. Really cool. And I figured, since we're both in the party now, we should be friends. The boys are idiots, we need to stick together. I mean, if you want.." Max stopped talking after realising she was rambling.

"No." replied El coolly.

"What? What do you mean 'no'?"

"I don't want to be friends."

Now Max was confused. What had she done wrong?

"In my experience, you can never have too many friends..." Max smiled, trying to seem nice. "Maybe I came on too strong?" she wondered to herself.

"No" El repeated.

Max couldn't take it. After Mike refusing her friendship all week and now this, Max was done being rejected.

"Why not? Seriously. What did I do to you to make you hate me?"

El realised Max seemed sad. El didn't know what to do. She didn't know how to explain why she didn't like Max, she didn't have the right words. But El remembered how she felt last year. She was lucky Mike wanted her around, but how many times had the boys wanted to get rid of her? She remembered how bad that felt. She didn't want to make Max feel like that, even if El didn't want to be her friend.

"I'm sorry." El tried to choose her words carefully.

"I'm trying so hard but I- Wait what? Why are you sorry?" The last twenty-four hours had been very confusing for Max.

"I'm sorry for making you sad..."

"No, wait, don't feel bad, you didn't make me sad. Or maybe you did. Whatever. Why don't you like me? Is it because you're not use to girls? Or you're shy?" Max was having trouble finding the right words too.

"You and Mike are friends. And that makes me... sad."

"Trust me, Mike doesn't not want me to be his friend. And why would it make you sad even if we were friends?"

El spoke slowly, choosing each word very carefully, "You are pretty and have long hair. You can go outside and go to school and you aren't a freak and-"

"Hold up. Are you jealous?" Max had never been more confused in her life.

"What is 'jealous'?"

"It's this feeling you get when someone has something that you want. Your stomach gets tight, and you're furious and devastated at the same time. And you don't know how to make it stop."

El stopped to think before she replied to Max. She definitely had all those symptoms.

"Yes. I think I'm... jealous"

"You're jealous of me? You have superpowers! You are by far the coolest person I know, and I don't even know you! How could you be jealous of me?"

"I went to see Mike one day. You and him were happy. And I was ..jealous-"

"So you messed with my board! With your mind! Oh my God that's awesome! I mean, it wasn't awesome at the time, and I should have known something was wrong- I never fall off like that. But that's awesome." exclaimed Max.

El giggled at Max's excitement, despite her own jealous feelings towards her.

"I'm sorry." El tried to apologise for her outburst of anger in the school.

"Don't be! Seriously, that's THE coolest thing that has ever happened to me."

The laughter that the girls shared faded away.

"So can we be friends now?" pleaded Max.

El was still unconvinced, and it was written all over her face.

Max was about to say something when Lucas said something across the room that made the other boys laugh. Max's eyes never left Lucas. Suddenly everything was clear to El.

"You like Lucas. Not like a friend." El said. She spoke this as a statement, not a question.

Max's face turned a deep crimson colour.

"What? Uhmmm... what? Haha. No. Not like that. He's my friend. We're friends, just friends". stuttered Max.

El didn't believe her.

"Do you like Mike? More than friends?" she tried again.

"Ugh gross, no way. Not at all." Max declared, with a lot more conviction.

El realised she had no reason to reject Max's offer of friendship. She knew from the way Max and Lucas looked at each other that they were like her and Mike. Besides, Mike spent all last night at El's bedside, not Max's. She had no reason to be jealous. Mike and Max were like El and Lucas. Just friends.

It also occurred to El that if she was going to have to stay in the cabin a little longer, she should make as many friends as possible, so she could have lots of visitors. And it was fun laughing with Max. She was clearly very easily excited by El's "superpowers".

"Do you promise you and Mike are just friends?" asked El.

"Oh my God, I promise! I don't like Mike, I swear. He doesn't even want me to be his friend."

"Ok."

"Ok what?"

"I want to be friends" smiled El.

Max was so happy she could burst. How did she get so lucky? She made so many great friends within a few days of moving to Indiana. She never had friends like these in California.

And now that she and El were friends, maybe Mike would accept her too.

She looked over at Mike and saw him staring at El, a huge smile plastered across his face. She had only known him for a week and she could already see that he was lighter and happier this morning than he had been in a long time. And she could tell it was because El was back.

She turned back to El to say something and saw that El was staring right back at Mike, wearing the same stupid smile as him. A thought occurred to Max.

This was why El was jealous. El saw Mike and her together and she thought she was being replaced. Well, that couldn't be farther from the truth. And that's why El asked about Lucas. She could tell Max and Lucas liked each other in the same way she and Mike did.

"Deal. Let's be friends." Max smiled and extended her hand for El to shake. Second time lucky, she thought to herself.

El shook her hand and both of the girls smiled at each other, at a new friend. They also promised each other that the contents of this conversation would remain secret to everyone else.

This was the beginning of an epic, badass female friendship, that no jealousy or boy- trouble could ruin.

A/n Girls support girls.