A/N: THANK YOU for hitting 400 reviews! When I started this story, I had no idea it would get this kind of attention. You're all fantastic, and I love reading your theories and thoughts on each chapter. Also, Happy Valentine's Day and season 4 teaser day! I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Guest: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it.

CalvinHobbesGatsby: I'm so glad you enjoyed reading it! I definitely enjoyed writing it.

Simon Samovar: I'm glad you liked how it turned out, even if the first half wasn't your cup of tea. Your questions will definitely be answered in the coming chapters!

OdoMango: I'm so glad you liked it. Obviously, Mike and El's relationship is a big focus throughout this story, but Max and El's definitely came to light last chapter. I hope you like this one too!

UnoPeso22: I'm so glad last chapter was a good pay off after making you wait a few slower chapters! I totally agree about your assessment of Josh versus Brad, El was definitely lucky. And yes, poor Lindsey. I'm so glad you like this story, and I'm flattered I can keep you interested with the smut being so infrequent. I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much!

Iron. exe: I'm glad you liked it!

Phieillydinyia: Sorry to make you cry! But glad that you enjoyed it!

LabAlley: I'm glad you liked it! And don't worry, I absolutely ship Mileven.

NoDownSide: Mike's talk with Nancy is definitely important, and I wouldn't say that Mike will really be an ass, but things ahead certainly aren't going to be smooth, either. I hope you like it!

Niko: I'm glad your opinion on the chapter was turned around and that you ended up enjoying it! Nancy and Abby certainly are wildly different from one another.

Guest: It is so important to acknowledge that Mike and El weren't only boyfriend and girlfriend, but also best friends. Thank you for bringing that up. And never apologize for long reviews. I love reading everyone's thoughts!

Strangerthingslover13: Thank you! Speaking of Hopper, did you see the season 4 teaser released today?

Shrike176: I'm certainly glad you were pleasantly surprised. And that season 2 parallel was completely coincidental! I did not have season 2 in mind while writing that, so thank you for pointing it out!

Guest: Thank you so much. You are absolutely right about more drama heading our way!

Wow: I'm glad the last chapter was able to deliver what you wanted! I hope you enjoy this one too!

Angenian: I'm glad El finally turned things around too! And your stating Mileven for the record is noted.

Alisea: Thank you! I like the way you are trying to understand where Max is coming from. I hope you like where this continues to go! And also, thank you for your review on chapter 1 of my previous story. If you are ever looking for happy Mileven, feel free to check out the other 3 stories I have published on here, as this one is the only one I've done where they are broken up!

39CluesStrangerThingsFan-Star: I'm working on it : )

Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things or any of its original characters.

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Monday morning at school, Mike was at his locker getting ready for his first class when he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist from behind and squeeze him in a tight hug. He turned around and looked down at Lindsey who smiled up at him and stood on her tiptoes to give him a peck on the lips.

"Hi," she grinned.

"Hey," Mike replied. "How was your trip?"

"It was fun. It's always good to get to see my grandparents," Lindsey sighed. "But I missed you."

"Yeah, I missed you too," Mike said.

"I wish we could've spent the day together yesterday like we talked about before I left for break," Lindsey pouted, and Mike momentarily flicked his gaze over her shoulder, feeling awkward that she had brought this up so early in the morning, but not surprised. He should've been prepared for this.

"Uh, yeah, me too. I'm sorry about that. Nancy ended up staying a lot later than I thought she would, and you know how moms are about insisting on family time," Mike stopped before it turned into a full-fledged ramble.

He didn't want Lindsey to think he was lying to her. Well, he was lying to her. But he didn't want her to think that. The truth was that Nancy had left Hawkins yesterday around noon, and Mike had spent the afternoon wrestling with the conflicting thoughts in his head. When Lindsey had called him around ten in the morning, bubbly and excited to see him again, he had apologized and told her his mom was making him spend the day with the family. There was no way he could have told her that his older sister, the one who Lindsey was so excited to meet some day, had advised him to strongly consider leaving her because he was still in love with his ex-girlfriend, and that he really just wanted the day to himself to try and figure out what to do.

It's not that he necessarily wanted to break up with Lindsey, but Mike knew that Nancy was right about this situation not being fair to Lindsey. He knew he wasn't in love with her, and while she had not yet said anything about love either, Mike feared that it was coming. They had been dating for a few months, they were quite sexually active aside from the fact they weren't having actual sex, and Lindsey had grown progressively more affectionate both in public and in private. Mike knew that she took his mind of off El, and he also knew that wasn't a good enough reason to stay with someone. On the other hand, El didn't want to be with him anymore, and even if she did, how would Mike be able to trust putting his heart back in her hands?

"It's okay," Lindsey shrugged. "I understand family time. Clearly I just had a week of it forced on me. Do you want to do something after school today?"

"Um, I don't think I have anything going on, so sure," Mike replied.

He noticed Lindsey's face fall at his lack of enthusiasm to spend time together, and he immediately felt guilty. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead which made a small smile return to Lindsey's face.

"I'm sorry. Of course, I want to see you after school," he said softly. "We can do anything you want."

He leaned down to kiss her again before the two of them parted ways for their morning classes.

While Mike and Lindsey were reuniting, Max was walking down another hallway toward El's locker. Saturday night after El had stormed away, Max, Robin, and Abby had gotten a room at a hotel. Abby, still rather drunk, had passed out rather quickly, but the next morning she had a lot to say about the way El had acted during their car ride back to Hawkins.

She had no right to go off on you like that.

Just because she's miserable in her own life doesn't mean she should try to bring everyone else down too.

You were only trying to help her, and she doesn't deserve as good of a friend as you.

She's gonna crawl back to that Mike kid, and he's not even gonna want her anymore. I guarantee he's already fucking somebody else.

Robin had shaken her head and countered a few of the things Abby said by stating that El was young and confused, or that Mike isn't like that and he's actually a good kid, or that Abby really doesn't know El or Mike well enough to make those calls. She didn't want to get into a full argument with Abby about it, as they still lived together, so Robin changed the subject after each time Abby would bring up El again.

Max had sat quietly in the backseat, gritting her teeth while replaying her fight with El in her head. They had bickered before, but never anything like that. She couldn't believe some of the things they had said to each other. Hearing Abby criticize El was only pissing Max off even more, so she tried her hardest to tune the girl out during the one-hour ride.

When they had gotten back to Robin's house, Max had hurried up the stairs, tossed the clothes she had borrowed from Abby on Robin's bed, grabbed her own belongings, and was headed toward the door while Abby and Robin were still in the foyer.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Abby had asked her.

"I just want to get home. It was fun, but it was a long night," Max had replied.

"Sorry your friend had to ruin it," Abby had said while rolling her eyes.

Max had shot Robin a look, and Robin had subtly shaken her head, clearly not wanting another argument to erupt. But Max couldn't keep it in any longer. She turned to Abby and opened her mouth to speak, right as Abby did the same.

"When do you want to come visit for another weekend?"

"What?!" Max had exclaimed incredulously. "You think I would still come hang out after you spent all morning shit-talking my best friend?"

"I don't think she's your best friend anymore," Abby had replied.

"If she isn't, then that's my fault, and I'll do what I can to fix it. But how dare you sit there and call her a miserable person and a bad friend. She's a much better friend than I am," Max spat. She turned her attention to Robin who was watching with wide eyes. "Sorry, Robin. We can hang out whenever you're in Hawkins, but not if you bring her."

Then, Max had left without another word to or from Abby.

Now, she was nearing El's locker, hoping that she would be willing to have a conversation about what happened. Max saw El close her locker door and turn to head toward her first class, so she called out El's name to get her attention. El stopped and glanced around, looking for the direction her name had come from, and Max called out to her again, pushing past some of her classmates.

"El, wait," Max said when she reached El in the hall.

"Leave me alone, Max," El said, rolling her eyes and turning again to walk toward class.

"Please, I just want to talk about what happened," Max pleaded, walking with El who refused to look at her.

"So you can berate me for still being in love with Mike? Tell me how bad of an idea it is to want to go back to him? Give me more advice on how to get over him when I don't want to get over him, I want to be with him, but you just don't understand that?" El asked, not slowing her pace.

"No, of course not. El, I want to apologize," Max said.

At that, El came to a stop. Max noticed they were standing right outside of El's first class of the day, but instead of going inside, El was seeming to wait for Max to continue.

"I should've done a better job of listening to you all along. You said you were happy with Mike and that you loved him, so I never should've put those doubts in your head. I shouldn't have pushed so hard for you to go out with Brad. I shouldn't have acted like such a jerk this weekend," Max listed.

"No, you shouldn't have," El agreed coldly.

"And I'm sorry," Max said. "I've been a shitty friend, and I know I said that before, but I don't want to lose my best friend by not being the type of friend that you deserve."

El considered Max's apology. Max seemed genuine, but El couldn't help but feel hesitant because of everything that had gone on between them. Then again, Max had gotten much more attentive to El's feelings over the past several weeks. Until Abby came into town, of course.

"I don't know, Max," El sighed. "There's just so much that happened, and-"

"I'll make it up to you. I'll do whatever you want me to do to prove that I'm sorry and that I'll be a better friend. Just name it," Max insisted.

El sighed again as the bell rang through the halls.

"Just let me think about it," she said.

El walked into her classroom, and Max headed down the hallway to start her day, hopeful that El would accept her apology and start letting things get back to normal between the two of them.

El's day was off to a decent start. At the beginning of each of her classes, she turned in the homework that she had completed while she was out, and her teachers all seemed understanding with her. She was able to avoid Brad all day, making brief eye contact with him when she happened to glance into a classroom he was in while walking down the hallway, but other than that, she had no interactions with him.

Mike had been on her mind throughout the day. She wanted to see him, as she hadn't seen him in over two weeks. On the other hand, she was nervous about seeing him. Would Lindsey be with him? Would he even speak to her? She figured that even if she didn't run into him in the hallways, she would definitely see him in the cafeteria at lunch. Unfortunately, her science teacher had other plans, as he instructed El to hurry and grab some lunch from the cafeteria and bring it to his classroom to eat while making up a test she had missed during the week while she was out.

El went the rest of the day without seeing Mike or Max for that matter, who apparently honored El's request of letting her think about things. During her study hall at the end of the day with Dustin, El joined him at their usual table with a friendly smile.

"You look nice today," Dustin said, and El glanced down at the skirt and sweater she was wearing.

"Thanks," she smiled.

"How was your first day back? The new English class go okay?" Dustin asked eagerly.

"Everything was good," El replied. "Well, except Mr. Snyder made me take my lunch in his classroom so I could make up a test I missed." She and Dustin both rolled their eyes. "But other than that, I had a good day. Switching to a new English class was the right decision, for sure."

"Great. I'm glad to hear it," Dustin said excitedly.

The two of them worked on their schoolwork across from each other for the remainder of the class period, chatting here and there until the bell rang. El went directly to her locker and packed up what she needed for the evening, and when she closed her locker door, she briefly debated going to Mike's locker to see him… just briefly… just to say hi and thank him for coming over that night… not to tell him she loves him or anything.

El sighed and started toward the parking lot, knowing that Mike would be with Lindsey, and if she were to try and talk to him, it would be easier without Lindsey being there. El didn't know how much Lindsey knew about what happened when Mike came over, or if Lindsey even knew about Mike coming over, so she walked alone toward Will's car to wait for him, deciding to try and pull Mike aside at some point tomorrow.

Meanwhile, after chemistry, Mike and Lindsey were at her locker about to leave school for the day, when Mike realized he forgot his notes for his calculus homework. He told her that he needed to go and grab something from his locker and that he would be back in a couple of minutes.

As Mike was walking down the hallway, he saw Brad Connor at his own locker with three of his buddies from the basketball team. Mike clenched his fists at his side and kept walking, still seeing Brad's smug smile out of the corner of his eye and his three friends laughed at whatever was just said.

"She's back in school today. She fucking changed classes to avoid me," Brad laughed, and Mike froze as the words hit his ears.

Brad was talking about El. Mike told himself to keep walking, just go to his locker and ignore the idiot behind him talking about his ex-girlfriend. But he couldn't force himself to move forward, so he listened.

"Petty bitch," one of Brad's friends chuckled.

"Why was she gone all week anyway? She need that long to recover after you fucked her?" another chimed in.

"Probably," Brad laughed. "She had the tightest pussy, and I fucking destroyed it. She couldn't even stand up afterward."

That was it. Mike spun around and stormed over to where Brad and his friends were crowded, glaring into Brad's eyes as Brad watched with that same smug smile on his face.

"Oh, hey, Wheeler. Didn't see you there," he quipped, the corners of his lips curling into a bigger smirk.

"You need to shut the fuck up, Connor," Mike spat. His hands were shaking as he pointed at Brad, and he was seeing red.

"Are you pissed that you're not the only one who's fucked El anymore? I mean, come on, man, I'm not mad at you for fucking my ex," Brad sneered.

"Stop talking about her like that. You're fucking disgusting," Mike said firmly, clenching his fists so hard his fingernails were digging into his palms.

"Come on, it's just simple locker room talk," Brad shrugged, slowly circling around to Mike's other side. "Not that you'd know anything about that, being such a fucking nerd."

"I'd rather be a nerd than a fucking rapist," Mike said venomously.

"What the fuck did you call me?" Brad asked, stepping closer.

"You never had sex with El. She didn't want you. So you held her down and tried to force her until she threw you off," Mike said. "Does that make you feel like a man? Acting like a nice guy and then forcing girls to do things they don't want to do? Lying to your friends about it afterward? You're so fuckin-"

Mike was cut off when Brad shoved him backward against the locker. His vision blurred as the back of his head collided with the metal door.

"…the fuck you're talking about," he heard Brad finish saying as the ringing in his ears stopped.

He didn't have time to think about what happened next. Mike's fist swung through the air and hit Brad square in the nose. Mike felt the crushing pain in his hand as he saw Brad double over, clutching one hand to his face.

Then all three of Brad's friends were on him. Mike felt one strong blow to the side of his face and then another in his stomach. He dropped to his knees and tried to protect his ribs which were now being kicked from both sides, but they didn't stop until Brad ordered them to.

"Get him up," Brad's gruff voice demanded.

Two of Brad's friends each grabbed one of Mike's arms and lifted him up to his feet, keeping ahold of him as Brad inched closer to his face. Mike flinched as Brad reached around and grabbed a tight handful of his hair to steady his head so the two were at eye-level.

"I hope this was worth defending that bitch," Brad snarled and dropped Mike's head.

Mike felt one last blow as Brad's fist hit his cheekbone, and then he was dropped to the floor as the four of them walked away.

"Mike!" Lindsey exclaimed, dropping to her knees next to him.

She had gone into the bathroom across from her locker when Mike had left to grab his calculus work out of his locker, so she had missed the entire altercation, coming out into the hallway to hear murmurs from the handful of students who hadn't left yet and had witnessed the fight, and then to see her boyfriend curled on the floor with a blackening eye and a bloody lip and nose.

"What happened?" she demanded, brushing his hair away from his forehead.

"Holy shit," Will muttered as he dropped his backpack on the floor and knelt down next to Lindsey. He was on his way out of the building to meet El at his car to head home when he saw Lindsey kneeling down in the hallway over someone's body.

"I'm fine," Mike wheezed, pushing himself up on one elbow then bringing a hand up to pinch his eyes closed as his head began spinning.

"No, you're not fine, babe, just stay still," Lindsey said gently, placing a hand on his shoulder before turning to Will. "Should we call someone?"

"No," Mike said as Will opened his mouth to speak. "I said I'm fine… I just tried to get up too fast."

He pushed himself up slowly and shakily made his way to his feet, ignoring the protests from both Lindsey and Will who stood up with him, holding their arms out to steady him if he started to fall, which he did not.

"See? Fine… Besides, I've had it worse than this before," Mike muttered, though Will thought back to the last time Mike had been beaten up back in middle school, and Will couldn't think of a time that he had actually gotten hurt this badly.

"Who did this?" Will asked.

Mike met his eyes and then looked down at the floor.

"Brad Connor and his buddies," he replied quietly.

"Why?" Lindsey demanded, and Mike shrugged.

"He was running his mouth, and… I overheard some stuff and lost my temper. So he kicked my ass," he explained.

Will looked past Mike, who was still staring at the floor, and saw the expression on Lindsey's face. She wanted to know more. What had he overheard? What could Brad have said that was so bad that Mike stood up to not only him but also some of his friends? Lindsey pushed her curiosity to the side and took Mike's hand in hers, placing her other hand on his back.

"Come on, let's get you home and cleaned up," she said softly, and Mike nodded.

Will accompanied them out to the parking lot and walked with them to Mike's car, making sure Mike was situated in the passenger seat and that Lindsey had his car keys to drive them back to the Wheelers' house. Lindsey thanked Will for his help, and Will told her to call him if she needed anything else. He then turned and walked through the rows of cars to his own, where El was sitting in the passenger seat reading a book.

"What took you so long?" she asked as Will climbed into the driver seat.

"Sorry," he muttered, avoiding answering her question.

El looked over at Will while he exited the parking lot and started driving home. He was clearly distracted, and he wasn't telling her about his day like he usual did.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Will looked over at El's concerned expression and shook his head, sending her a forced smile.

"Nothing. End of the day was rough… dumb bullies. Nothing new," Will said. He wasn't completely lying.

"Did someone hurt you?" El asked, glancing over his face and not seeing any signs of injury. "Or threaten you? Is that stupid Zombie Boy name going around again?"

"Just drop it, El," Will said firmly. "How was your day?"

"It was good," El said after a moment of silence when she had debated whether to press Will any further or not. "I like my new English class a lot, and all my teachers were welcoming when I came back."

"That's good," Will smiled, and El nodded.

"The best part is I made it the whole day without seeing Brad," she continued, not missing the sharp intake of air from Will next to her. "Well, I guess I shouldn't say I didn't see him. I saw him in a class as I walked by, but he never said anything to me… I also didn't see Mike, though. Was he at school today?"

"Yes," Will replied shortly. "And that's great that… that you didn't see Brad, I mean."

El studied his face again and was about to speak when Will shut off the car, having reached the house. Without another word, he grabbed his backpack and headed toward the house. El followed him inside, and after a brief greeting, Will walked past Joyce and down the hall to his room.

"How was your first day back to school?" Joyce asked excitedly from the couch, patting the cushion next to her for El to join.

"It was great. Thank you for getting me into a different English class," El replied.

She bit her lip and looked down at her hands in her lap, and Joyce frowned at El's hesitation to say anything more.

"El? Did something happen at school today?" Joyce asked gently.

"Well… not to me," El sighed. "But, I think Brad might be bullying Will because of how things ended between us."

"What?! Why would he do that?" Joyce asked.

"You didn't see how angry Brad was when he left here that night," El said. "And with Will being my brother, and…"

She trailed off, but Joyce nodded her understanding. She knew her son had always been a bit of an easy target, which is why she had always been so protective of him.

"Did he say something? Was he hurt?" Joyce asked, the concern growing in her voice at the prospect that her son may have walked past her with a blackening eye and she somehow missed it.

"Not that I could see," El replied. "But he was late getting to the car after school, and when I asked what took so long, he just told me it was bullies. Then when I was telling him about my day, I mentioned that I made it through without running into Brad, and he tensed up."

"Okay, well I'll go talk to him and make sure he's all right," Joyce said, standing from the couch to join her son down the hallway.

Will was sitting at his desk in his bedroom, already working on his homework, when his mom knocked and opened his door.

"Hey honey, can I come in for a minute?" she asked gently.

Will turned and nodded, and Joyce crossed the room to sit on his bed, leaving the door cracked open.

Back in the living room, El could hear their muffled voices, but she was straining to hear their words. She was feeling a mixture of sadness, guilt, and anger at the idea that her brother could now be facing torment by the hands of Brad because of something that he had nothing to do with. She wanted to know what happened.

El stood from the couch and quietly tiptoed down the hallway toward Will's door which was cracked open. She hovered against the wall, silently listening.

"I said it's nothing, Mom. I just had a long day," Will was saying.

"Will, you know you can tell me anything," Joyce pressured gently. "El mentioned that you said something about bullies."

"Well she shouldn't have," Will said quickly.

In the hallway, El flinched slightly at the harshness in Will's voice.

"Don't be angry with her," Joyce said soothingly. "She's worried about you, and if something's going on, I want to know about it so I can help you."

"Mom, I promise, there is nothing going on," Will insisted. El could hear Joyce sigh.

"Okay, I'm just going to come out and ask you. Is Brad Connor bullying you because El broke up with him?" Joyce asked bluntly. El leaned a little closer during the long silence that followed.

"No," Will finally said. "I'll tell you what happened, but you've got to swear not to tell El."

"Why?" Joyce asked.

"Just promise, Mom, that this will stay between you and me," Will asked again.

"Okay," Joyce relented. "Sure, honey, this can stay between you and me."

El started to feel guilty listening in now, but she had to know what happened, and she knew now that Will and Joyce weren't planning to tell her. So, she held her breath and listened.

"It wasn't me, it was Mike," Will began. "I didn't see what happened, I just… saw him afterward. It was bad."

In the hallway, El's stomach dropped, and her throat started to close as her eyes stung with tears. She tried hard to steady her breathing, not wanting Joyce or Will to catch her eavesdropping.

"I was about to leave for the day, and I saw Lindsey crouched down on the floor over somebody. When I got closer, I saw it was Mike. Mom, his face… it was bad," Will said. "He said he overheard something that Brad and his friends were saying, and he lost his temper and confronted them. And then they beat him up."

"Oh my," Joyce sighed. "Is he okay?"

"He said he was," Will replied. "I walked them to his car, and Lindsey drove him home."

"Why do you want to keep this a secret from El?" Joyce asked.

"Because, Mom, think about it. Mike came here that night after Brad left. He knows what Brad did. What's the only thing he could've heard Brad talking about that would've made him confront the guy?" Will explained. "Mike wouldn't tell me what Brad said, but I'm sure it was about El. And I just don't want El to know that Mike got his ass kicked because he was defending her. She's already been upset enough lately."

"Honey, it's very sweet of you to think like that, but what about when El and Mike's paths cross at school and she sees him with a black eye?" Joyce pointed out, and there was silence from Will.

"I guess I hadn't thought that far," he admitted.

In the hallway, El had heard enough. She walked quietly to her own room and closed and locked the door behind herself. She sat on her bed, wiping the tears from her cheeks, though they were quickly replaced with more. Her stomach was sick. Mike didn't deserve any of this. She had already hurt him enough herself, and now he was physically hurt too.

El sniffled and looked toward her dresser, particularly at the radio sitting on top of it, and a thought crossed her mind. Sure, she used her powers occasionally, but it had been a long, long time since she had gone into the void to find anybody. But the longing was there. She knew she couldn't physically go to Mike's house, but she needed to see him and know how bad it was.

She walked over to the dresser and opened the top drawer, rummaging through the socks and underwear to the back corner of the drawer were her hands found the folded black handkerchief that she hadn't used in so long. With the handkerchief in her hand, El grabbed the radio from the top of the dresser and sat down in the middle of her floor.

Her heart was racing as she turned on her radio and adjusted the volume so the static was just as she remembered. She took a deep breath to try and calm the butterflies in her stomach before tying the cloth around her eyes and squeezing them shut underneath the fabric. Then, she focused.

It took a few minutes, but soon, El found herself opening her eyes in the familiar black emptiness that was the void. She looked down to see the shallow water rippling over her toes, and she breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that even after all this time, she still did it. El started walking forward, focused on finding Mike, and soon, she did.

Mike was standing in the bathroom in his basement over the sink with Lindsey next to him holding a wet rag. His cheek was still red, one eye was blackened, and his bottom lip was cut on one side. Lindsey held the cool cloth to his face, and El felt a pang of jealousy as she watched the girl delicately nurse him.

"Is it feeling any better?" Lindsey asked, and Mike just shrugged.

"Will you please just talk to me?" Lindsey sighed, clearly exasperated. "Tell me what happened."

"I got the shit beat out of me," Mike stated, and Lindsey pursed her lips, growing annoyed.

"I want to help you and make you feel better. So can you please tell me why?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter," Mike muttered, shaking his head.

"You said you overheard something," Lindsey recalled. "What could you have overheard that would make it worth confronting four guys by yourself?"

"It doesn't matter," Mike repeated quietly, dabbing at his lip and tossing the bloodied gauze in the trashcan.

"Yes it does. Was he talking about me? Was he talking about… about El?" Lindsey asked.

Mike looked down at the sink, avoiding her eye contact, and Lindsey knew the answer to her question. She raised the cloth to his face again and moved it against his face with a bit more force, causing him to jump back slightly.

"Ow, hey, what was that for?" he hissed.

"Sorry," she said curtly through pursed lips, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Wait… I just got my ass kicked, and now you're mad at me?" Mike asked incredulously.

"I'm not mad at you, Mike, I just…" Lindsey sighed. "I've been patient the best that I could, but I thought this whole El thing would be behind us by now."

"What whole El thing?" Mike asked, trying to calm himself. He was already angry enough about being beaten up, and he wasn't liking where Lindsey was going with this.

"It's like you're not even trying to get over her!" she exclaimed, and Mike rolled his eyes and turned back toward the sink. "Don't roll your eyes at me like that."

"How can you stand there and say I haven't tried?" Mike demanded.

"It's like you're still waiting for her to need you, and when she does, you drop whatever you're doing at the snap of her fingers. Even if you're with me," Lindsey's voice broke, and Mike hung his head, guilt creeping in once again.

"You spent a big chunk of homecoming staring at her. Then the second you got a phone call that she was crying – you didn't even know why – you made me go home so you could run over to be by her side. And you lied to me about it," Lindsey recalled tearfully. "And now, you overheard some jerk talking shit about her, so you put yourself in danger just to stick up for her! What am I supposed to think, Mike?"

"I don't know," Mike said, barely audible.

"That's not good enough," Lindsey shook her head. "You said you were ready to move on."

"I know what I said," Mike blurted out. "But maybe I was wrong."

The silence that filled the room was deafening. Even El was holding her breath, forgetting that they couldn't see or hear her from her place in the void. Lindsey laid the wet cloth on the counter and stormed from the bathroom into the basement, grabbing her coat.

"Linds, wait," Mike said, walking after her.

"No, stop talking," she said firmly. "We both need to calm down, so I'm going to leave before either of us say anything we'll regret."

She hurried up the stairs and slammed the basement door, leaving Mike alone.

Back at the Byers' house, El pulled the handkerchief from her eyes and looked around her bedroom, wide eyed and breathing rapidly. She unplugged her radio, tossed her handkerchief aside, and hurried down the hallway to the kitchen. El grabbed the phone off the wall and quickly entered the familiar phone number, listening to it ring until she was connected.

"Max?" El said urgently. "I know what you can do for me now."

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A/N: A lot happened in this chapter, and I've been working on it all week. I wanted to get it out to you by tonight because I'm going out of town for the weekend and won't have time to write at all. Which, of course, means chapter 19 won't even be started until Monday at the earliest. I really hope you guys liked this chapter, and please leave me reviews. I've had a shitty week, and reading your reviews always brightens my mood. Thanks for sticking with me, and I'll talk to you all again soon!