The weekend after the snowball when they spied on Dustin was the first week of March. The first few weeks of March the boys didn't get to hangout very much. They were all preparing for their yearly standardized tests. No Sunday D&D or Friday evening bike rides. It was all time spent studying instead.

El was getting in depth in her education since she had learned to read. She was at a third grade level. She knew how to multiply and divide and she had dived into science. Her tutor had taught her about rocks and dinosaurs. Finally, it was spring break the week the kids had been waiting for the whole month.

"Guess what El?" Mike yelled excitedly when he got home from school.

"What?" El asked.

MIke replied, "Lucas, Will, Dustin, and I are out of school all next week for spring break!"

"Yay! What are we gonna do all week?" Eleven asked.

"We usually hangout in the basement, go to the movies, get ice cream, go to the arcade, and go hiking through the woods."

Eleven replied, "It sounds like it's going to be fun. I don't have tutoring next week either. Your mom talked to my tutor about giving me the week off, because I will have tutoring all summer from 8-10 in the mornings."

"Oh you will? Well we will at least we have the rest of the day together." Mike replied sadly.

"Hey guys!" Dustin said as he and the others walked down the stairs.

Lucas asked, "What are we going to do tonight?"

"I have an idea. We could go to the movies." Will suggested.

"Yeah. They have really funny movie right now. I can't remember what it's called though."

"Ok let's go! Are you ok with it El?" Mike asked.

Eleven replied, "Sure Mike it sounds fun."

"Let's go." Lucas said.

The boys and Eleven raced outside and rode their bikes to the movies. Mike bought popcorn, because he had learned El loved salty snacks including popcorn. They all sat down and Eleven dug into popcorn as did Mike. The movie was hilarious and the kids laughed throughout the whole thing. Mike grabbed Eleven's hand in the middle of the movie and she smiled at him and rested her head on his shoulder.

Mike and El cuddled up on the couch downstairs when they got home. El put on some girly show she liked, but it didn't really matter to Mike. Mike always found himself staring at her when they watched TV, so the show never mattered to him. El fell asleep, but he left her there for awhile admiring her beauty. He realized leaving her downstairs with him might get him into trouble.

He used all his strength to get her upstairs and in her bed. As he was leaving her room he heard her sweet voice.

"Wait. Can I tell you a secret Mike?" El asked. Mike nodded and came closer. She kissed him and told Mike she loved him.

"Thanks El. Love you too." He said.

"Goodnight Mike." She replied.

"Goodnight El." He said.

The weekend went by fast the boys played D&D all day. They stayed inside, because they planned to spend most of the week outside. Also, they hadn't played D&D in a while, because if all the tests. El watched, because the game interested and she hoped to learn to play eventually. They finished their game on Sunday and began to talk about their week plans.

"How about we go to the arcade on Monday?" Dustin suggested.

Will agreed. "Alright. I like that idea."

"Tuesday we can ride our bikes and go hiking through the woods." Lucas mentioned.

Mike replied, "Ok. We could go to the movies on Wednesday that new action movie comes out."

"Let's do that. Thursday we could get ice cream and hangout at castle Byers or go to the park." Will said.

"What about Friday? Maybe we should let El choose." Dustin concluded.

Will agreed, "Yeah go ahead El."

El replied, "Can we hangout by that little stream in the woods. There seems to be lots of pretty butterflies, fish, and frogs."

"Sure El whatever you want." Lucas answered.

"Alright. Our week is set then." Dustin said.

Monday came and the kids headed to the arcade. The boys began to play a game called Donkey Kong. The boys had been playing for 10 minutes and El got bored. Mike gave her a couple quarters and told her he would meet her in five minutes.

She walked around until she found a game with a cute little frog. She read that the game was Frogger. El liked frogs, so she decided to play, she got the hang of the game and kept the frog safe for about two minutes. The frog got hit and died, so she lost the game. El got sad, she thought she had really killed a frog. Memories of papa trying to force her to hurt a cat began to come back. Mike found her crying sitting next to the game.

"El what's wrong?" Mike asked.

El answered, "I killed a frog."

"No El it's just a game a frog didn't really die, because of you. It is just a game for fun. I promise no frogs were harmed, because you lost the game." Mike explained. Mike explained.

El asked, "Are you sure Mike?"

"Yes, El all of these games are just for fun. Nothing and no one really dies if you lose the game." Mike answered.

"Well, it was fun. Can I play again Mike?" El asked.

"Go ahead El. I'll watch. The boys are playing Mario Bros anyways only two people can play at a time." Mike answered. El began to play Frogger again. She played for a whole fifteen minutes and then decided she wanted to play with Mike.

"Can we play a game together?" Eleven asked.

Mike answered, "Sure. How about Super Mario Bros it's two players. The boys have probably moved on to Street Fighter or something."

"Ok let's go." El said. They played for awhile until El got bored and they decided to find the boys who were playing Pac Man. The kids decided to get ice cream and then come back to the arcade a little later. Overall, Eleven and Mike had enjoyed their first day of spring break together.

Tuesday they rode bikes through town for hours. Eleven enjoyed the breeze through her short hair. Mike love having Elevens arms wrapped around him. Dustin, Lucas, and Will loved racing each other. The kids walked through the woods and on the railroad track where they had went looking for the gate.

El also remembered when they got to the area, the bus they had hidden in from the bad men. Lucas and her also finally became friends there. Eleven loved walking around it brought memories of when she had first met the boys back to her. She loved how she only ever recalled the good memories instead of the bad ones. Eleven was sad when the day ended. She enjoyed spending time holding Mike and feeling the breeze. The memories that came back to her and of course the new memories they had made the last few days also was enjoyable. El was tired and fell right to sleep feeling kind of weird, but she was probably just excited for the next day.