Author's Note: If you left a review on the previous chapter, just know that even though they haven't shown up on the site, I got them through my email. There seems to be a technical glitch going on, but please keep leaving reviews - even if they don't show up on the site right away, I still get them and they do mean a lot to me.

Mike wanted desperately to go see El in the morning before school, but his restless night left him so exhausted that he ended up oversleeping, so much so that his mom absolutely insisted on driving him straight to school so he wouldn't be late. They put his bike in the back of the minivan, and when he arrived in the schoolyard he seriously considered skipping class to ride over to the Byers'. But then he ran into Mr. Clarke, who wanted to talk to him about AV club on the way to homeroom, and he was forced to accept that he was going to have to wait until the end of the school day to apologize to El.

The school was decorated with pink and red streamers, and the girls were acting gigglier than usual, and the teachers had bowls of Hershey Kisses and conversation hearts on their desks. Valentine's Day. Mike slumped down at his desk and put his head in his hands. As if today didn't already suck enough.

Joyce and El spent most of the day on the couch, eating popcorn and watching old movies. El didn't understand much of the plot-lines, but she didn't mind, and she found comfort in Joyce's presence beside her and the way her laughter sometimes made the whole couch shake. "This is what I always used to do back in the day, when I got down in the dumps about a boy," Joyce confided. It wasn't a phrase El recognized, but she could tell what it meant.

"When I was around your age," Joyce continued, "I had a crush on a boy at my school. He was very handsome and all the girls liked him." El tilted her head, struggling to picture her Mama as a little girl. "One day, I called him up and asked him to go to the movies with me." She laughed. "My parents were shocked! Girls weren't supposed to ask boys on dates, especially in those days."

"What happened?" asked El, curious.

"He said yes!" Joyce smiled. "But then I went to the theater to meet him, and he never showed up. And the next day at school, he ignored me."

Eleven gasped. "What a… a mouth-breather!"

Joyce laughed. "You can say that again!"

"Mouth-breather? Again?" asked El, totally lost.

"No – I mean – sorry. I mean, yes, he was." Joyce ruffled El's hair. "I went home and cried for three hours straight. But my mother said to me, 'Jojo, a boy who treats you like that isn't worth crying over anyway, so you'd better just forget about him.' And she was right." Joyce sighed. "It took me a long time to figure it out, but she was right."

El fidgeted, not sure she saw the connection. She didn't think she could forget about Mike even if she wanted to – which she definitely didn't.

Joyce realized she had forgotten to explain the point of her little trip down memory lane. "What I'm trying to say, El, is that if Michael Wheeler is at all worth getting upset over, he's probably just as miserable right now as you are. So don't worry about it too much. I'm sure you guys will patch things up."

El shrugged, not feeling sure.

"I just… I just don't understand why he's mad at me," she confessed. "So I don't know how to make it better."

Joyce smiled and patted El on the back. "Well, why don't you go over to the Wheeler's after school, and see if you can talk things through with him."

"Okay," agreed El, feeling her hopes rise slightly. Maybe Joyce was right, and Mike would be ready to talk to her now. She just wanted a chance to fix everything.

The school day went past agonizingly slowly. Mike was far too distracted to focus on his classes – he almost got sent to the principal's office for ignoring his math teacher when she asked him to go to the board. His friends sat with him at lunch but didn't say much, all of them still stewing over last night's argument. Nobody even had the heart to tease Will about the cheesy valentine he had gotten from Jennifer Hayes.

Mike's mind was stuck in a loop, flashing through images from his dream and rehearsing potential apologies over and over. During free period he went to find Nancy, hoping she could give him some advice on how to get El to forgive him. He found her sitting on the picnic table by the swing set, having what was evidently a very intense conversation with Jonathan Byers. Given how the usually mild-mannered Will had acted last night, Mike had some concern that Jonathan would knock his lights out for hurting El's feelings, so he hesitated to interrupt them. He waited to see if Jonathan would leave, but Jonathan did not seem interested in leaving. This was made clear when the two teens started – ew – making out.

Gross. Mike turned around and ran back inside the school. He was a little confused at what his sister was doing with Jonathan since, last he checked, she was dating that guy Steve Harrington, but mostly he just really didn't want to think about it.

When the 3 o'clock bell rang signaling the end of school, Mike jumped out of his seat and ran out into the hallway. He ignored his friends calling out to him, ignored the teachers shouting "No running in the halls!", ignored everything. He ran to the bike rack and unlocked his bike with trembling, impatient hands. With a running start he took off, racing through Hawkins to the Byers' house on the edge of town, going so fast that his feet nearly flew off the pedals. When he reached El's house, he bounded towards the front door and knocked with all his might, nervously hopping from foot to foot as he waited for someone to answer, practicing his apologies under his breath.

Chief Hopper answered the door, much to Mike's surprise and terror. He looked down at Mike with narrowed eyes, and Mike knew instantly that Hopper had heard what happened between him and El yesterday - and was not happy about it.

"Wheeler. What are you doing here?" asked Hopper, folding his arms across his chest. Mike tried really hard not to make eye contact or look at the gun holster on the policeman's belt. He swallowed nervously.

"Hello, Hop… that is, Chief Hopper, sir, um, I'm here to talk to El – Eleven – is she, um is she here?"

The chief shook his head slightly and Mike interpreted the gesture as meaning he wasn't going to be allowed inside. He panicked and began to argue, blurting out the whole story without even thinking.

"Listen, Chief Hopper, I know I screwed up and she probably doesn't want to talk to me, and I know you and Ms. Byers and Will and Jonathan all hate me now and El probably does too, but please, please, please just let me talk to her, you have to let me in!" he begged. Hopper's expression softened very slightly. "I have to talk to her because, well, I was really stupid and I never should have yelled at her and I only did it because I was embarrassed because she found out that I had a crush on her and…"

"Mike. Mike! Slow down kid, you're gonna give yourself a stroke," said Hopper.

Mike stopped talking and turned red. I can't believe I just said all that to the Chief.

Hopper sighed and scratched the back of his head. He was still angry at Mike for making Ellie upset, but he knew in his heart that the kid meant well. "Look, Wheeler, to tell you the truth, El isn't here. She left about twenty minutes ago and if I had to guess, I'd say she was on her way over to your place."

The boy's eyes went wide. "My place?" Before Hopper could so much as blink, Mike was back on his bike and rushing away towards town. Hopper chuckled. Good luck, kid.

One chapter left! :D