Welcome back, everyone! How's everyone's quarantine vacation going? I hope you're all safe and healthy. I've been trying to focus on my homework mainly for the last week; I'm trying to get all of my school stuff out of the way before I put all my attention here, but I didn't want to leave you guys hanging for too long :) This is a shorter chapter, but I didn't really know what else to do with this one before I move on. So I hope you guys enjoy it!

Luna0603: I'm also really excited to explore highschool with the Party. I have a lot of ideas for things I can do. In response to your thoughts on the structure of their day, I just mimicked how things go where I live; I live in Canada, and that's how schools work here, so I just did it that way. I find it to be good. Hopefully Mike can brave off what Troy throws at him :) PS. I hope the next chapter TTWAS comes out soon!

Hypersushi: It won't be the last time we see Troy in this fic...

Yla: Indeed

Gym class ended up going fine. Troy never spoke to Mike during class, not that they ever got the chance. They spent the majority of the class the same way they spent the other classes; listening to the teacher lecture about rules and expectations and what to do and what not to do. He was relieved to hear that most of the gym grade would be dependent on attendance, so as long as he showed up, he wouldn't have to stress about being able to pass.

After class, Mike left promptly to avoid any further change-room interactions with Troy and made his way out of the room and got into the hallway. He was instantly greeted by a swam of students all heading the same direction, and he silently thanked God for his tall height again as he began navigating through the halls. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around. It was Max.

"Hey," she said. "You good?"

Mike furrowed his brows. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I saw Troy in your class," she stated. "And I know that he's one of the reasons why you

guys are so jittery about high school."

He shrugged. "He tried telling me off in the changeroom, that's it."

"What happened?"

"I'll tell you and the guys when we get out of here. I'm getting claustrophobic in this hall."

Max nodded. "Lead the way," she joked. Mike made a face and proceeded to act as a battering ram to get by, with Max in tow. When they finally made it outside, they saw the rest of the Party waiting by the bike racks near the wall, and walked toward them.

"How was gym?" Will asked.

Mike kissed his teeth. "Troy's in my class," he said through gritted teeth. The group grimaced.

"Shit," Dustin cursed. "That's fucked."

"Yeah," he agreed.

"Did anything happen today with him?" Lucas asked.

"Not really," Mike replied honestly. "He just started talking a bunch of shit to me, so I reminded him of the time he pissed himself in middle school, which seemed to shut him up and score me some brownie points with the other kids."

The rest of them grinned. "Good," Max said. "I told you guys, you can handle yourselves."

"Yeah, until he punches me in the stomach or something," Mike grumbled. The rest of the boys shared knowing glances.

"Cross that bridge if you come to it," Max said. "I just want to go home right now."

Everyone else nodded. "Max do you want to come over to my house for a bit?"

She shook her head. "No, I got plans today. I can't." Lucas was about to ask with what, but then Mike spoke up.

"I'm probably gonna check to see what El is doing right now," Mike said.

"Might wanna hold that thought, Mike," Max grinned. "I'm with El today."

Lucas and Mike looked at one another. Guess we'll hang out, then. "Okay, have fun then. With whatever you girls do."

"We will," Max said with a smirk, and discreet look to Mike, for she knew exactly what she was going over to her house to talk about.


Max knocked on the door and within a second it was being opened by El. Max smiled at her, and El nervously smiled back. While she was completely comfortable with Max and talking to her, she had to admit, she found it kind of awkward to be talking to her about stuff like this. When she had called her on the Supercom that morning, she had literally said "I need help with sex."

Despite her poor wording, Max had more or less understood what she needed help with, so here they were.

"Hi," Max greeted, and stepped inside quickly. "Is anyone home?"

"No," El replied. "I think Will must have gone to Mike's or something, because he hasn't gotten home yet. And Mom and Jonathan are working."

Max looked around, once again familiarizing herself with the Byers home. It hadn't been too long since she had been there. But everytime she did find herself in the house, her mind always drifted off to that night where Billy and Steve got into that fight, and El closed the gate. It had been such a hectic night.

"Do you want to hang out in your room?" she suggested.

"Sure," she agreed, and they both walked deeper into the house after Max kicked off her shoes in the living room. They both sat down on the bed and El breathed in heavily, not knowing where to start.

"Do you want anything to drink?" she asked, knowing that it was customary to offer guests drinks (Joyce had told her that).

"No, I'm okay," she said, before her face turned into a much more excited expression. "Let's get into the meat and potatoes of why you called me here, El," she exclaimed, almost giddy.

El smiled, her eyebrows raised. "Why are you so… excited?"

"I don't know," she said, practically bouncing on the bed with excitement. "I guess it's just… I don't know. I feel like you're my little baby and you're like… growing up or something. I don't know. I guess I'm just being weird."

El laughed. She was getting flashbacks to the time when they first hung out in her cabin, after they had just gone shopping for the first time. "Well, thanks for coming," she began. "I know you gave me those magazines and they helped a lot but… there was still some stuff that I wanted to ask someone, and I didn't really want to ask Joyce, so…"

"No, it's fine, I understand," she said. "There's just some stuff that you don't tell parents."

"Yes," she agreed. "So, um… I just wanted to know, have you, like, actually done anything with Lucas yet?"

Max mulled things over in her mind. Would it be a good idea to tell El? She was positive that she wouldn't tell anyone, except for maybe Mike, but it was likely that he probably already knew from Lucas. And it wasn't like she minded any of the Party members knowing what they did; they were of that age when kids started experimenting, so there wouldn't be any judgment floating around. On top of that, she trusted all of them with her life, so none of them should be going around telling people, after all.

"Yeah, we have done stuff," she replied. "But we haven't gone the whole way yet."

El looked confused. "What's 'the whole way?'"

"Sex," she clarified. "We haven't had sex yet."

"Oh," she replied quietly. She looked kind of forlorn.

"What's wrong? Did you expect us to have?"

El shook her head. "I don't know," she admitted. "But you're still able to help, right?"

Max scooted closer to where she was sitting. "Yeah, of course. We've done other stuff."

"Like… foreplay? That stuff? I read about it in the magazine."

Max felt her cheeks getting warm. She had anticipated this conversation; this was the

whole damn reason she had even came here in the first place. Nonetheless, as it would be with anyone, it was kind of embarrassing to talk about. Especially considering that, with El, she kind of felt like she was talking to an eleven year old in some ways.

"Well… Lucas has gone down on me. And I have on him, too." El's eyebrows fell downward in incredulity. "Oh," Max said, realizing that she couldn't say what she was trying to say with slang and euphemisms. Guess we're going to the bullpen, then.

"I've given him blowjobs. And he's eaten me out." El's mouth turned into a silent "oh," as she remembered reading those terms in the magazines. She found it hard to picture either of them doing that stuff, but the idea of it made her excited to try them with Mike.

"How was it?" she asked. Max looked thoughtful.

"It was actually pretty good the first time… for both things. For both of us. But the more we did it, the better it got."

"How many times have you guys done it?" she asked.

"Umm… maybe five or six times? It's only been about two months since our first time, and we don't get too much alone time. We were only able to hang out in public and at Lucas's house for our whole relationship, and his parents are pretty strict when it comes to the whole 'girls in the bedroom' thing, you know?"

El nodded, all too familiar with the strict "three-inch-minimum" rule that Hopper enforced when she lived at the cabin. "So how did you get the chance to do it, then?"

Max shrugged. "There were times when no one was home. We figured it out," she explained.

El paused to think for a second. "How did it happen? Like how did you guys… start? Do you know what I mean?" she questioned hesitantly.

"Yeah, I do," she answered. "Um, to be honest, it kind of just… happened. Lucas is kind of nervous and squirrely, so he never did anything without me practically spoon feeding it to him. He always asked me if what he was doing was okay with me… which I guess is a good thing, but at times I wished that he would just do it, right? It kind of takes you out of the moment."

"Yes," she agreed. "Mike does that a lot. It's sweet, but I always remind him that what he does is fine and that I'd tell him if something was wrong."

"Yeah," Max said, nodding her head. "Anyway, one night, which was pretty soon after the Fourth, we were lying in bed together, and I remember thinking about how much he had done for us that day, and how nice and caring and kind he was being. And I kind of just wanted to thank him for it, so I just kind of…" she trailed off before continuing. "Okay, El, just let me know if you want me to stop talking, or if you're, like, uncomfortable or something, okay? I don't want to make you feel weirded out."

"Okay," she said. "Keep going."

She took a breath. "I just put my hand into his pants and went for it. And he asked me if I knew what I was doing, and I said yes, so then it just went from there."

El nodded slowly in understanding. "So you just took off his pants, and… used your mouth?"

Max swallowed, both embarrassed and amused at how direct El was being. She couldn't tell if that was just the way she was, or if she just didn't understand the gravity of the questions she was asking. Either way, she wasn't going to not provide an answer. After all, she was, all things considered, her best friend (that was a girl). At this point, she would probably only put El above the rest of the guys, with the exception of Lucas.

"Yeah," she said.

El toyed with the tips of her hair nervously. "Do you think Mike would be okay if I did that

to him?"

Max laughed. "Mike? Hell yeah, I think he'd love it. I think any fourteen year old kid would. He'd probably love giving you some attention, too," she threw in mischievously, waving a hand down to between El's legs.

El grinned sheepishly at the idea. "Well, he's already done some stuff. And I have too, kind of."

"Ooh!" Max exclaimed in excitement. "Do tell," she said, nearly bursting at the seams. She felt like a child on Christmas morning. It wasn't quite the type of gossip that most teenage girls would be sharing, but sitting with a friend alone in a bedroom talking about this stuff made her feel so… normal. Like her life hadn't been a crazy whirlwind ever since she joined the party. She was loving every second of this conversation with her best friend (in spite of the fact that she felt a little awkward talking about it out loud, but that was okay).

"He's, um… touched me… down there. I think it's called 'fingering?'"

Max nodded, already sort of surprised that they had already gone that far with things, but she was sort of in a way proud of El for making that step. "That's good. Me and Lucas have done that too. What did you think?"

El grinned stupidly and giddily. "It was… great."

"How many times have you guys done it?"

"Only once," she replies sadly. "We don't get many chances to do stuff alone."

Max nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I feel you," Max sympathized. "Have you guys done anything else?"

El thought. "Um, he's… kissed me… here," she said, motioning toward her chest with her hand. "But I think I might have already told you that. And that's it, besides kissing and stuff."

"Right," Max said. "Well, I'm glad to hear that. And you guys haven't had any problems with any stuff, right? Like, it's all been good?"

"Yeah," El agreed.

"So I don't think that either of you guys would have an issue with moving to the next level, if you know what I mean."

El nodded, but Max could still see a slight shadow of question on her face. "What's wrong?"

El sighed. She felt awkward asking it but… "Max, I don't really, um, know how to give… Mike a-"

"A blowjob," Max finished for her. The way the word sounded coming out of her mouth was odd, and even felt a little bit unnatural. But at the same time, it made her feel scandalous and dirty, but, oddly enough, she wasn't opposed to that.

"Yes," El agreed, her face turning red for the umpteenth time since they had started talking. Max scratched her neck, not really positive as to how she could describe how to give a guy head. She had only given it a handful of times herself, and by no means considered herself experienced or knowledgable on it. But what she knew was more than what El knew.

"No teeth," she said firmly. "I know that sometimes bites and teeth and shit feel could on the mouth and neck and stuff, but I tried it on Lucas; don't. It doesn't feel good. Ever."

"Okay," El replied, making sure to remember that, because it seemed important by the way Max was talking about it. "What else?"

"Don't just put it on your mouth," she instructed. "Any kind of, like, um... " She still felt awkward saying it. "Licking, or kissing, is good. Like, bottom to top, around the tip, all that stuff. And make sure to not forget about like, his balls."

El gave her a blank look. "His testicles. I'm sure you must have seen them in the magazines. Didn't you also mention that Hopper gave you a sex ed book when you started getting your period?"

"Ohh," El said, finally understanding. "Yes. I saw in the pictures. The diagrams."

"Yeah. Apparently it feels good for them when you lick and suck them too. But gentle."

"Okay," El said again, confirming her comprehension. "Anything else?"

"Uhh," Max hummed thinking. "Yeah, I guess there's one more thing. Don't go to far."

"What?"

"When you're giving a dude head, don't take it in too far. It could trigger your gag reflex, and that's not a good time. If you're gonna try to deep throat-"

"What's that?"

"When you take it as far as it can go, and it kind of, I guess, hits the back of your throat. I can't do it. Not yet, at least."

The idea of that sounded unappealing to El. "Do boys like it?"

"I'd guess yes," Max answered. "It's probably really similar to being inside a pussy."

El sat in silence for a few seconds, processing all of the new information that had been given to her. There was certainly a lot to process. It made her more nervous to actually trying give Mike any kind of oral sex in the future, but at the same time, a little bit more excited. She had more to go off of now, and a little more guidance. For that, she was thankful.

"What happens when he wants to… do it to me?" El asked.

"Like what, go down on you?"

"Yes. Is there anything I can do to prepare?"

"Well," Max began. "You could probably shave. Maybe ask Joyce to buy a razor for you, and you could start shaving your legs and pubic hair and shit. I'm assuming you have hair down there by now, right? We're fourteen."

"Yes," she confirmed. It shouldn't be a problem to ask Joyce for a razor. It's not like it was a suspicious thing to have.

"Alright, that;s good. And other than that, just make sure you clean yourself down there and keep good hygiene. That's about it."

"Okay, I'm already doing that anyway," she replied.

Max clapped her hands together. "Okay, then, El," she said, looking pleased with herself. "I think that's all the advice I have for you, then."

"Thank you, Max." El was feeling much better about the starting to progress the physical aspect of her and Mike's relationship. Thanks to Max, she at least had an outline of how to do certain things and what she could expect from it.

"Anytime, El," she replied. "And let me know if you ever need help with other stuff, okay? I'll always be around," she said with a smile. El returned the gesture.

Max looked around the room. "Do you want to do something, maybe? Hang out, just the two of us?"

El sat up straighter on the bed. "Sure. Like what?"

Then, Max could practically hear the ding of a lightbulb go off in her head. "I could try teaching you how to skateboard," she suggested.

El smiled. "Okay."


Needless to say, El did not make much progress in learning how to skateboard. However, she did gain a lot more respect for Max for being able to. The way she was able to do the tricks left her in awe. Even though she assured her that "she was just a beginner and only knew basic tricks," El was still thoroughly impressed. Jonathan got home, and since Joyce was working late he made everyone scrambled eggs.

It had been a pleasant day to say the least. Unfortunately, at the end of it all, it only made El more sad to know that within nearly three weeks, she'd be leaving Hawkins.

"How was your day, El?" Jonathan asked after putting a bite of egg in his mouth and chewing it.

"Good," El replied. Her relationship with Jonathan was nice, but as of now, she wouldn't consider him as a brother the same she would Will. It wasn't like she had much experience with sibling relationships and such, but she definitely felt a connection to Will that she hadn't achieved with anyone else, which she hadn't quite yet achieved with the older Byers boy. "I hung out with Max for most of the day."

Jonathan nodded. "Mom's working late, so you guys have the evening to yourselves. I'm going out with some of my friends, so stay out of trouble, alright?" he said with a teasing smile.

"Does Mom know?" Will asked.

"Yeah, of course," Jonathan replied. "Just entertain yourselves, alright?"

The two of them nodded. Jonathan gave them a thumbs up and headed to the door to throw on his light jacket to shield him from the cool summer air. When the door closed, Will looked at El. "What do you want to do?"

El sat up from her seat and put her plate in the sink after rinsing it off. "I'm going to call Mike. I want to see how his day was, I haven't talked to him all day."

"Okay, I'll be in the kitchen drawing or something," Will replied.

El walked to her bedroom and closed the door, and immediately sought after the Supercom under the bed. She jumped on the bed, bouncing on the mattress before she came to a rest on her pillow. She clicked the little machine on and spoke into the receiver, her voice brimming with excitement.

"Come in, Mike. This is El," she spoke giddily.

It was only a few more seconds after when she heard the voice of the boy she loved come back through. "El! Hi!"

His voice was staticky and fuzzy, but it still managed to nearly hypnotize her. "Hi," she said back. "I'm sorry I didn't call you sooner, I was with Max today."

"Yeah, Max told us after school today. How was it? What'd you guys do?"

Well, obviously El couldn't tell Mike what they really did. "We just talked about girl stuff. Then she tried teaching me how to skateboard."

Mike laughed. "How was that?"

"Hard," she replied. "I don't know how she's able to do it. I kept falling off."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to ever learn how to skateboard. I'd probably break my neck."

El chuckled at the mental image of Mike riding around on a skateboard. It was bizarre to imagine him doing such a thing. "What about you. How was school?"

"It was okay, I guess," Mike answered. "A lot bigger than Hawkins Middle. And all the kids are really older than us, so everyone's tall. But thankfully, I'm really tall for my age, I guess, so I was able to get around."

"I guess Will must have had some trouble, then?" El joked, and Mike laughed.

"Ha, ha," Will said sarcastically through the door. "I heard that. I'm not that short!" he yelled. El and Mike laughed. They could tell Will was just bantering.

"What else?" she asked.

"Uh, well my classes seem alright. I have a balanced schedule. Teachers all seem fine, too," he said. But then his tone changed. "But there is one thing, though…"

El got worried. "What's wrong?"

"One of the bullies. Troy. The kid whose arm you broke all that time ago? Do you remember?"

El's blood started to simmer. She remembered seeing that boy hold a knife to Dustin's neck, and then making Mike jump off the side of the cliff. Breaking his arm had been nothing but pure enjoyment for her. And if she was honest, she'd do it again with both of them if he ever gave Mike any more trouble.

"What happened?" she asked, her voice taking on the robotic tone it usually did when she was angry.

"Nothing," he said hurriedly. "Nothing happened. Not yet, at least."

"What do you mean?"

"He's in my gym class. He tried giving me trouble today in the changeroom."

"Did he do anything to you? Did he hurt you?"

"No, he was just talking shit. But I reminded him of when he pissed himself in grade seven, and that shut him up. But he threatened me after. And he had bunch of friends with him, and I think they might have been skipping class and smoking."

"Like, cigarettes? Like Hopper did?"

"Yeah, but kids who do it aren't usually the best kinds of people," he said. "Anyway, after that, they left me alone. But I just don't want anything to happen in the future, you know?"

"Yes," she said. "If anything happens, tell me," she instructed.

Mike laughed. "What, so you can break his other arm?"

"Depends," she answered honestly.

"You can't fight all by battles, El," Mike replied. "Don't worry. I think I can handle myself with him. But thank you."

El sighed. "Okay," she said. "Well, I'm happy that you stood up to him," she said with a smile on her face. "I'm… proud of you."

Mike's heart swelled. He felt as if the corners of his mouth were going to touch his eyes. "Thanks, El."

And that's the end of chapter 33! It's hard to believe that we've already reached this number. Guess I'm going to have to stretch this story out a lot, considering that ST filming is postponed and will probably be delayed for months... Make sure to stick around, guys! Take it easy and enjoy your extended vacation haha