Many Greetings! I want to apologize for taking nearly two weeks to get this out to you guys, unfortunately college doesn't allow for as much free time as you would think. I'm also afraid that this will result in me not being able to post chapters as long as they were before, but there's not much I can do. There were also many questions you guys had that I wanted to answer, the chief of which being Steve's role in this story.

In fact a lot of you guys are kind of wondering about Steve, and why I decided to kill him off too. The way I see it, there are two reasons, one is an in-universe reason and the other is more of a narrative reason. The in-universe reason is that I doubt Steve would be anything other than the last person to climb out of the hole, we saw this when Steve and Dustin were the last ones in the cave in the real season two. He's the adult so my logic was that if Mike was trapped in the hole then there isn't a good reason to have Steve be on the other side.

The narrative reason is that Steve is probably one of the characters that has the absolute least to do with Eleven. To him, she's the strange girlfriend of his ex-lover's brother. And it's not to say that Steve didn't have any potential, because he definitely did, but I feel like I wouldn't end up using him to the fullest potential if I kept him alive, because above all else, this is a story about Eleven. She's the main character, and then characters like Nancy, Owens, Hopper, and Will are all important side characters. I obviously could have found a reason to keep Steve alive, but to explore Steve's psyche and really go in depth with the character would have shifted focus away from El, which isn't exactly my end goal.

And if I decide to keep him alive but not explore his character, then it feels like I'm doing him a disservice because there really is a lot of potential. So yeah I just thought I would explain my reasoning behind Steve's death and why I plan to keep him dead, I hope this isn't some sort of deal breaker for you guys, but I think I should stick to my artistic vision with this really being a story about El. Thank you all for the reviews and I hope you enjoy! -Y

Chapter 3: Fallout

November 19th, 1984

Knock, knock, knock knock, knock. Knock, knock

Owens stands outside of the cabin door on the frigid November morning, thanking himself internally that he brought a heavy coat this time around. Sometimes those weathermen are right, he thinks to himself.

He had called Hopper just a few days ago to tell him that he would have to come in on monday instead of his normal tuesdays, because he had gotten a job as a general practitioner in the Hawkins Memorial Hospital. He figures it wouldn't hurt to give a little back to the world after the mistakes he's made.

After a good minute of standing in the cold, his body begins to have enough, so he knocks again, with a little bit more force. It's odd how Hopper's been acting recently. He knows that he's been taking all of his vacation and sick days to be with his daughter since the funeral, but when he was on the phone with the police chief, he didn't elaborate on his exhausted voice.

A part of Owens knows that this visit is probably just as important to Hopper as it is to El, so he makes a mental note to keep in check with Hopper while he's here. The doctor finally hears the TV that had been playing rather loudly turn off, which means that someone was awake.

Not a few seconds afterwards, Hopper swings open the door. Owens stumbles a little bit, not only at the speed of the door swinging but the general appearance of Hopper. His eyes are bloodshot and his face slumped, his beard is starting to grow uncontrollably, showing that he probably hasn't used a shaver in quite a long time.

"Don't tell me El's the one giving you showers, chief" the doctor jokes, noticing the similarity between Hopper and how El looked when Owens first talked to her. Hopper doesn't emote, but Owens still laughs at his own joke. Hopper begins to nod, "it's good to see you, doc". Owens finally remarks on Hopper's demeanor, "is everything okay?"

"You tell me." Hopper beckons Owens inside, but stops him before he fully gets into the house. He holds a finger up to his mouth, beckoning him to be quiet. Owens nods, wanting to be free from the cold as soon as possible.

Hopper slowly shuts the door behind him, and beckons to the kitchen, Owens nods again, but not before noticing the small girl wrapped up in warm blankets, sitting asleep by the fire. It's difficult to make out El's face, the orange glow of the fire being the only source of light in the house. So he sneaks over to the kitchen where he meets Hopper.

"How's she been doing?" Owens asks, pointing with his thumb over his shoulder. Hopper heaves a sigh before continuing. "After the funeral, she finally broke down, and she's been bawling her eyes out ever since" Hopper whispers, the memories flooding back…

November 15th, 1984

Hopper opens the fridge to hopefully find some decent food to eat. The drive home was dead silent, with Hopper not even being able to hear her breathe. He stole glances at her every once in a while, and every time he just saw her looking out the window of the passenger's seat, head rested on her arm.

He thinks about what she must be going through right now, as he doesn't really understand. He hoped beyond hope that she would shed a tear during the funeral, just so she wouldn't be bottling it all up during it, but at the same time he was glad that she didn't because it would have drawn unnecessary attention. Just be there for her, he reminds himself.

He sees an old carton of eggs, some lunch meat, cheese, milk, and some water bottles, nothing too special. He knows that there are at least a few more TV dinners in the freezer, so he begins to open that. He can hear the static of some sort of machine play in the background, probably some other toy that Nancy had brought for her.

He opens the freezer and eyes his choices intently. El doesn't like peas, he knows that for a fact, but it's just about all they've got. He reaches to grab one of the boxes, but before his hands can touch it, he hears a familiar voice.

"Dad…"

What the hell was that? Hopper thinks to himself, it sounded like she was in pain or something, so he instantly shoots his head up to look at his daughter.

He sees her looking back at him, with something he never expected, tears, one by one, streaming down her face. She's visibly shaking, looking like she's close to collapse, and starting to cry intensely, Hopper's eyes widen.

Holy shit… this is actually happening, Hopper knows exactly what he's looking at. It must have finally hit her, the fact that Mike was truly dead, and for a moment he completely freezes, forgetting everything that Owens had talked to him about.

He's afraid for his daughter, not wanting to hurt her or scare her away. But he remembers that he needs to be there for his daughter, because she won't be standing there for very long.

And just like that, she falls to her knees, letting the supercom fall to the ground, and Hopper rushes over to her as fast as he can. It doesn't take her even a second to realize that he's right by her, kneeling down in front of her, before she hugs him as tightly as possible.

Hopper is taken aback slightly, but he reciprocates with just as much force, the father and daughter grabbing onto each other for dear life.

After a little bit, Hopper's dread only strengthens when the crying gets nothing but worse. A part of him is worried that she's gonna cry herself to death, considering she's now started to scream in pure anguish as she sobs. It isn't like a high pitched squeal of fright, but it's more like a sound that came straight from her heart, as if she's being slowly tortured to death.

Hopper can't do anything but listen and hug, as he's completely at a loss for words. Every time he thinks she's about to calm down a little bit, it's like her whole thought process completely resets and it becomes more intense again.

After what must have been a few hours, El finally goes to sleep. Her body still writhing and spasming every few seconds from her crying. To Hopper at least, she still looks to be in pain, a permanent frown on her face is displayed, but he slowly lifts her up and carries her to her room, where he throws Mike's covers over her, and heads off to finish his meal.

Not two hours later, after Hopper's finished with his meal and watching tv, he hears crying coming from his daughters room. Oh my god, is all he can think as the adrenaline comes back and he runs straight into her room.

He sees her crying into Mike's blankets, not as intensely as she was just a few hours ago, but still above your average sob. She looks back up at Hopper and weakly extends her arms, Hopper takes the hint and runs over to hug her. She once again begins to cry into his shoulder.

After another 20 or so minutes, she finally calms down, and Hopper convinces her to take a shower. "Are you sure you're gonna be okay in there?" he asks.

Before the funeral, Hopper helped El take showers because he knew she wouldn't do it otherwise, but now he's just worried she'll get into another crying fit while he's not there to comfort her.

"Y-yes…" she says, still stuttering from her near hyperventilation. Hopper paces around the room, putting his ear to the door every so often while she takes a shower, making sure she isn't crying alone.

After only around five minutes, El steps out of the shower, pajama clad and ready for bed. She wears a baggy pair of pajama pants, a white tank top and a red flannel overshirt.

Hopper eventually convinces her to try to get some sleep, and that he'll be outside watching tv if she needs him. And after some time, he peers into her room and sees her asleep.

Hopper can't find it within him to fall asleep, considering how his daughter is acting right now, and so he shifts every so often in his bed, not daring to check the clock, even though he knows it must be at least 1:00 AM.

He lays there and gazes out the window, letting himself take in every sound of the night, and notices the occasional deer jump through the trees near the cabin. And at this he finds himself able to find some peace, slowly letting his eyes close on their own.

But as soon as he feels himself slip out of reality, he hears a loud BANG

He jumps up, adrenaline boosting him yet again as he looks around sporadically to find the noise. He sees nothing, but hears hurried footsteps coming from outside his room. Not a moment later he sees El swing the door open and run to Hopper, trembling in his arms as they both lay on his bed.

"Hey… kid what happened?" he says in his tired voice. El trembles again, pulling herself closer to her dad, if that was even possible. "Nightmare…" she explains, Hopper's eyes widen, knowing full well how bad her nightmares could get.

When Hopper first took her into his cabin, she got nightmares almost every night. She would always explain to him with her limited vocabulary that it was usually about the Upside Down, the Lab, or Mike. It was always about Mike getting taken away, or worse, getting killed by Papa or the Demogorgon.

But now that dream was a reality…

November 19th, 1984

Hopper's slowly thrust back into reality, shifting his focus back to Owens as he begins to speak. "How'd it go over for her?" he asks, a slight concern in his voice.

In truth he isn't completely sure how she was going to take it. Owens has a general idea of how most people react after they move on from denial, but El's denial was so bad that a part of him was scared for her, because it was going to be crushing for her.

Hopper puts his hands through his thinning hair, trying to jolt himself from his exhaustion. "It was pretty awful doc…" he says honestly, remembering the fear he had felt for her when she cried, he elaborates further. "She was crying for hours, sometimes she would just scream" he explains, closing his eyes to keep himself from tears.

"I'm so sorry, Hopper, it must have been hard on you. Have you been getting any sleep?" Owens questions. Hopper opens his eyes, with each blink stinging due to his eyes being open all the time.

"That night… she said she had a nightmare, so she came to sleep in my bed, and she hasn't even been in her room since, insisting that I be with her at all times" he lets out, letting the memories come in with his words.

Hopper wants to tell him everything, all the crap he's gone through the past couple of days, just to get it off his chest. It was crying… all day everyday. When she got up, they ate breakfast and she would cry, they watched tv and she would cry, he would talk about having to go to work and she would cry, he would take a sick day and spend time with her and she would cry, and so on and so forth.

But he doesn't want to keep talking to him, he just wants to take a nap, "why don't you take care of this one, doc, I'm not feeling it right now" he suggests, Owens nods profusely.

"Yeah, just let me handle it for a few hours and you get some sleep, okay Hop?" he responds, Hopper nods back and saunters over to his room, looking back to him, "Ellll, wake up…" he attempts to use a soothing voice, but it just doesn't work for the police chief.

El slowly but surely starts to move her head, and immediately notices that her dad isn't right by her side, she widens her eyes and jumps straight up, seeing her dad by the door to his room. "Dad…?" she asks in a puppy dog voice, almost whimpering for him to come back, Hopper rests his head on the door frame in silent frustration.

Owens thankfully notices and chimes in, "your dad's gonna get some sleep for a little bit, and you and I are gonna have some lunch, that sound okay with you?"

El looks at Owens, her face telling him that she wants Hopper to stay here with them, "El, your dad needs sleep okay? It's just for a few hours, so he can get better and take care of you more, and you don't need to worry because I'll be here the whole time" Owens consoles, taking a second to think about his last words, "I know I'm no match for that lovable teddy bear" he jokes, pointing to Hopper, who still has his head resting on the wall, "but I'll do my best" he finishes.

It's too dark in the house to see much of El's expression, but she looks back and forth at Owens and Hopper, eventually bobbing her head down, "o-okay" she whispers, Hopper breathes a large and emphatic sigh, "thank you, El" he says as he walks through the door and shuts it.

El breathes a whimpering sigh, this being the first time that she's been without her dad in a long time. A long silence fills the room, until Owens claps his hands, startling her, "alrighty!" he says with a smile, "let's get to work" he comments, opening each and every blind, until the sunlight has completely filled the room, making El shield her eyes.

Owens is finally able to take a good look at the girl before him, she wears a simple tank top with no overshirt, using Mike's comfiest blanket as a substitute, and thick flannel pajama pants. Her eyes are red and puffy, no doubt using most of her water intake for tears.

"Are you hungry, El?" Owens asks, she shakes her head, and to her surprise he just nods and walks over to the cabinet, grabbing two glasses of water and filling them up. Once finished, he walks over to Hopper's chair at the table and gestures over her seat, inviting her to sit.

"So…" Owens says, lifting the glass of water to his mouth, "your dad tells me you haven't been doing super well lately"

El sits down and nods, looking at the ground, "feel sad…" she says, biting back more tears. Owens gives her a warm smile, "El, remember, it's okay to feel sad".

"Didn't think it would be like this" she says as the tears start to flow yet again. She puts her head on the table and sobs. "It's okay, El, it's natural to want to cry…" Owens wants to say more, but there isn't much else to say. He recognizes people going through grief, and the crying is just an effect of it, so there isn't much else he can do besides be there for them.

"Mike's gone… and h-he's not coming back" she whines through the tears, "he w-was so nice to me, he called me pretty, and gave me clothes and a home"

"I know El… it's such an awful thing to happen, and I'm so sorry"

December 1st, 1984

Nancy shuffles in her warm fleece jacket, pushing her hands tighter into her pockets to protect herself from the warmth. She takes a few steps forward from her position, getting herself closer to Mike's grave.

"Heya Mike…" she begins, her voice sincere and full of regret, as if she's talking to someone that she didn't start off great with. "Happy one month anniversary" she says sarcastically, sighing to herself after a bout of silence. It wasn't as windy as the day of the funeral, and now it's a little more dead, with winter finally beginning to creep its ugly face. "You haven't heard from us much… none of you have" she says, looking to her left to see a neighboring tombstone that reads

In Memoriam

Robert Angston Newby

1945-1984

And she looks to her right,

In Memoriam

Steven Joseph Harrington

1966-1984

"That's probably because we don't like to see you guys like this" she remarks, putting her attention back onto Mike. "Mom and Dad aren't doing so great… there are arguments almost every night, it doesn't even matter what it's about because its almost never about you"

"I keep Holly company those nights… sometimes she wonders where you went" she looks down, fighting the tears that begin to form in her eyes, "She's started kindergarten, the teacher's really nice to her, knowing what happened. Dustin tells me that Mr. Clarke has insisted on having her in his classroom when she comes to Middle School" she laughs at the last part, remembering how much her brother had worshipped that guy like a god.

"Dustin and Lucas are doing fine, I think. I haven't heard much from them, and it kinda sucks to, because they were all pretty fun to watch" she jokes, remembering how she once dressed up for some campaign of there's three years ago. "But yeah, they're themselves for the most part, though most of what I hear is from Jonathan, so take that with a grain of salt if you want"

"Will isn't doing great though, he's been having more of a difficult time than the others… I think you meant a lot more to him than you think. Jonathan says he's just lying in his room and drawing a lot of the time. He showed me the ones Will let him see, and they're really good, and really weird".

She knows how abstract Will's art had been he was infected with the Mind Flayer, but with Mike gone it was seemingly up to a whole new level.

She goes over all of Mike's friends in her head, remembering how he wasn't overly fond of Max, so neglecting to bring her up. She lets a tear fall as she thinks about Mike's final friend. Her bottom lip begins to pucker and tremble as she struggles to talk, more tears streaming down her face.

"El's got it rougher though… when you first died all she did was hide in her room, until the funeral. After that she was a mess, I came to visit her a few more times, and every time she would cry into my arm when you were brought up" she puts her hands to her face, crying into her palms, now unable to talk.

El really was a mess since it happened. She remembers the second time she visited, Hopper thanking her profusely as he went to his room to get some sleep, all El did was cry into her shoulder and fiddle with the supercom.

"I think she's doing slightly better, well-" she rolls her eyes to her words, "better than sobbing her eyes out all the time, and Hopper started going back to work too, so I think there's some improvement"

"We all just really miss you, Mike… I hope, wherever you are right now, that you can see us" she finishes, kneeling down and putting another flower on the grave as she touches the cold stone and gets up. She walks to her right, over to where Steve's grave was.

"Steve…" he voice is weak just from saying it, she lets the silence of the moment play out, contemplating what the guy was to her. "I don't think I'll ever understand why you decided to go along with the kids. I know Dustin says you got beat up and then you were taken there… but I just don't know why you decided to go with it" she explains, trying her hardest to repress the anger within her.

"I know that if you guys didn't go down there, then El and Hopper probably wouldn't have made it… you probably knew that, Mike" she says, glancing back at her brothers grave. "But… god dammit Steve" she admits, letting the pain go free of her, but restraining herself before completely breaking down.

She begins to shout through a fresh batch of tears that begin to form around her eyes, "you had a life to live! You said you'd probably end up working for your dad but I knew you could have done something great… why, Steve, why?" she cries, her knees crashing onto the ground as she lets go of all she had bottled up for her boyfriend.

She silently cries for another few minutes, letting the gusts of the trees do the talking. When she finishes with her crying, she sits and looks at the name for a little bit.

"You're an idiot, Steve Harrington, you've always been… but thanks" she finishes. Steve had always been an idiot, but deep down Nancy knew that he was a good guy, with a good heart, which hurts her even more. The world will forever know him as Steve Harrington, king of Hawkins High… and nothing more.

"C'mon El, there's gotta be something else we can watch besides Days of our Lives" Lucas whines, grabbing a can of coke from Hopper's old fridge, and walking over to sit on the rocking chair to the left of the tv. El looks at him and nods happily, "we could also watch Guiding Light or As the World Turns" she suggests.

Dustin rolls his eyes, "El, they're all the same thing" he sighs, putting a hand to his face and leaning back in Hopper's recliner he had called dibs on.

El furrows her brows and gestures to the TV "they're completely different!" she protests, "and it's not like your space movies which are the exact same!", Lucas chimes in at this, "El, you can't be serious, just because they all take place in space doesn't mean they're at all similar". El scoffs, giving him a skeptical look, "Star Wars and Star Trek both have aliens, spaceships, big galaxy governments, and lasers" she argues, listing off the similarities with her fingers.

"Yeah but those are all superficial" Dustin responds, El whips her head and furrows her brow again, this time in a less angry manner, "super-fishal?" she asks, "it just means it's on the surface, but if you look deeper, then you'd see that the characters and situations that take place are extremely different and complex" he argues, his face getting flustered as he gets really passionate about these things, El widens her eyes again, "just like my soaps!" she backfires.

"First of all, not true, and second of all, I thought you liked Star Wars!" Lucas rebukes, El raises her hands defensively, "it's just not my kind of movie"

"Bullshit, I saw you crying when Han Solo got frozen in carbonite" Dustin adds, referring to when the boys had came over to El's cabin for the first time. She remembers it clear as day, because it was the first time Hopper had gone back to work. He had let the kids in on where she was staying and invited them over to visit because Owens had recommended it.

Dustin had whined to El about how scary her new dad was, especially about keeping the location a secret, which made her laugh. It was nice to laugh again, to see her friends which made her so happy. A part of her was pained to see them, because they were never accompanied by Mike, but they all silently agreed to not talk about him, and just enjoy their lives.

She was glad Dustin and Lucas still wanted to be her friend, because Mike was really the only one who took a huge interest in her when they first met. They basically watched Star Wars, caught each other up on the events of the year while she was gone, and chilled out. She enjoyed feeling normal for once, even if a pretty big part of her was telling her that it was not okay to continue to be happy.

"That's just because Han Solo and Princess Leia were in love" El explains, looking down at the ground. She was glad her friends were here to distract her today, because today was the one month anniversary, even though it feels like so long ago. Silence fills the room, with Dustin and Lucas picking up on her sadness, Lucas sighs and breaks it, "what do you think Will?" Lucas looks over to Will who was sitting on the couch with El, his eyes are closed and a light snore escapes his mouth, but he immediately jumps up at the sound of his name. "What?" he says, looking around the room with wide eyes.

"Should we watch boring soap operas or some of the actual good movies I brought?" Dustin questions. He had brought a big bag full of VHS tapes and was excited to show El more than just Star Wars. "hey c'mon guys we don't have to watch a movie or a show" he suggests, standing up and gesturing to a nearby closet, "let's just play a game, you ever play Uno, El?"

El nods her head, "yes. Dad plays it with me when I'm bored, he says movies rot your brain", Dustin groans at this, knowing all too well the pains of having an adult that restricts screen time.

"Okay, but what about something more… complex?" Will says as he shuffles through the closet, finally finding a box labeled Monopoly. He brings it out and the other two boys, who give him confused looks, "that might be a little too complex, Will" Dustin remarks, knowing El probably doesn't have any kind of experience with that game.

"I want to play" she responds, walking up and grabbing the box. She mouths out the name of the game and sits down on the floor, opening it up and preparing it without much knowledge of what to do.

It turns out that El… sucks at Monopoly. Will, ever the nice guy, and easily the best player of the game, often helps her out by giving her loans, which she promises she'll pay back as soon as possible, even if that isn't true.

About halfway through the game, Lucas gives a look to Dustin and Will, and they both shift their eyes to El, who's too busy focusing on the game to see the boys all looking at her. Will and Dustin nod back, and Lucas loudly clears his throat, getting El's attention.

"Hey El, so there's this kid we met at school a little bit before you came back, and now she's a pretty good friend of ours, so we were wondering if you wanted to meet her sometime" he lets out, a little quicker than he wanted to. El's brows don't furrow, but any semblance of a smile disappears, as her face becomes stone cold and she looks back down.

"Orange hair?" she questions, Lucas and Dustin smile, "yeah, her names Max, she's actually pretty cool, I think you met-" Dustin grabs Lucas' arm and pinches it to stop him from talking.

Dustin remembers how Max extended her hand to greet Eleven a month ago, and how she just walked away. He knew El never had much of a grip on social greetings, but he could tell it was intentionally cold. A part of him hoped that she had forgotten about Max, and so if they brought her up as if she was a new person, El would be a little more understanding.

El keeps her head down, she definitely remembered that girl. The girl that got to hang out with Mike, and tried to steal him away from her. She remembers the day perfectly. She had broken Hopper's three rules, because not being able to see Mike was eating her up on the inside.

After some help, she found her way to the school and even found her Mike, even though it was after school hours.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing, Mike Wheeler, in the flesh, the boy who took care of her and made her feel loved, the boy she fell in love with herself, in the next room. He had no idea he was even alive, and she moved to open the door, but stopped herself.

A raging battle going on in her mind. Mike isn't supposed to know. But he loves you and he'll keep a secret. But Hopper will be mad. But she's gone this far, he's going to be mad anyways. But it puts you in danger. But she loves Mike.

She decided, she puts her hand around the doorknob to open it, but before she can, she sees Mike with… another girl? She stood there and watched for a little bit, seeing Mike interact with this orange haired girl, she saw him smile with her, and even laugh, and at that moment she felt a pain in her heart, what if Mike forgot about me?

Her mind was telling her to open those doors and reveal herself, but her heart told her to leave… because he won't care that you come back. And in the end, that's exactly what she did, she left, too sad to confront Mike.

The memories flood her brain, she looks down and closes her eyes. That girl got more of a chance to be with him than El, and it hurts her heart to think about it. The frown becomes extremely visible on her face, which instantly makes her friends look to each other in worry.

"Don't like her" she whispers, looking to the ground, Lucas' brows contort. "C'mon, you haven't even met her. Just give her chan-"

"No!" she shouts, looking straight up at him with tears beginning to form in her eyes. Lucas' eyebrows widen back up, a look of sympathy now on his face. "El… what's wrong?" he says slowly, trying to decipher why she appears so emotional over some girl she'd never really got to know.

Instead of responding, she runs to her room, leaving the three boys to contemplate their happenstance. Dustin throws his arm at Lucas' in annoyance, "what the hell, man?"

"Wait so that was my fault?"

"You pushed her too hard!"

"Now how exactly did I do that? All I did was ask her to meet my girlfriend!"

"It doesn't matter! The point is you ticked her off, you apologize"

The boys begin to hear soft crying from the other room, and they collectively sigh in despair. After a bout of silence, Will speaks up, "Chief Hopper says she's been crying like that for weeks"

"Exactly, this isn't a time to push her, let's just let her be comfortable for a little bit" Dustin reiterates, Lucas puts his hands to his head in frustration, "Dude, I seriously don't understand what's so bad about introducing her to our friend group. She could use another girl to talk to anyway!" he argues.

Dustin scoffs, "you really think Max and El are anything alike? I actually don't know a single thing they have in common other than the fact that they're girls".

Lucas slumps down onto the floor, dreading having to apologize to El. Even though he felt bad, he knew he was in the right, even if Dustin did make a good point. Surprisingly though, Will chimes in again.

"Lucas has a decent point Dustin. El's doing pretty bad right now, but she's not…" he pauses to think of the right word. "Irrational. There's no reason that she wouldn't want to meet Max unless she was scared, but if she was she wouldn't have acted like that"

Lucas gestures his hand over to Will and looks at Dustin, "exactly! She hasn't even met her, so why would she get so upset?"

"So we're just gonna forget about the fact that El totally just ignored her when she stuck out her hand that night?" Dustin questions. Lucas sighs, "yeah… I don't know what was up with that" he admits. Will narrows his eyes, "what are you guys talking about?"

"You weren't awake, but when El finally revealed herself a month ago, she greeted everyone, and when Max stuck out her hand, she ignored her" Lucas explains

"Well if it was El's first and only time seeing her, then maybe she just associates her with Mike and how he died, that's pretty understandable" Will looks down on the last part, reminiscing about how he gets sad when anything related to that night is mentioned.

Everytime the boys tell him about going to see El, he's reminded of how much Mike actually cared about her, and how much she must have cared about him.

"That doesn't answer my question" Dustin retorts, then continues, "obviously she didn't know what was gonna happen to Mike, so why would she blow her off like that?" Dustin says, with considerably less annoyance in his words, now that they were on the topic of that night.

"Does she even know what a handshake is?" Will asks, to which Lucas shakes his head, "no, I remember telling her what a spit swear was, and she saw me and Mike do it at the junkyard a year ago"

Will sighs in defeat, and after a moment of silence, Dustin looks to Lucas, "so you gonna say sorry?" he asks, but before he can answer, Will interrupts, "I'll do it"

"Why?"

"'Cause I've never got to talk to El one on one, and who knows maybe I'll get some sort of answer out of her" Will answers as he gets up and walks to the door. He knocks on it, and it slowly unlocks, with gravity opening it the rest of the way.

Will sees the figure of El, wrapped around Mike's old blankets, sniffling softly with her eyes red. He closes the door behind him and sits on her bed, letting the silence play out for a bit. He had to admit, this was a little weird.

He was never as uncomfortable around girls as the rest of the guys were, because he wasn't ever attracted to them, but talking to someone you don't know in general is a little awkward.

El is mostly confused right now. She could hear the boys bickering about something, but she couldn't figure out what they were saying, so she figured after a while they would all come in and apologize, even though she didn't want them to. But here she lays, with Will being the only other person in the room, which was the last thing she expected.

Both don't talk very much, but Will knows the burden of speech is on him right now, so he begins.

"El… are you okay?"

"No…" she says as she looks to her right, wanting to avoid eye contact with him.

"Why don't you wanna meet Max?" he asks sincerely.

"Already met Max, don't like her"

"Dusin says you saw her one time, and didn't want to shake hands with her… why?"

"Saw enough! Okay?" she groans in annoyance, wanting to be done with this conversation. Neither one talks for a little bit. El wants to look at Will to see what he might be thinking, but she can't bring herself to. "El…" he says compassionately, moving a hand to her knee.

She sniffles again, the tears back in her eyes. "S-saw her before… at the school". Will furrows his brows, "you were at the school?"

El nods, the tears now falling, "Wanted to see Mike… but she was there" she lets more silence fill the air, with her now starting to sob. "I should have seen him!" she yells, moving over to hug Will as hard as she can and wailing into his shoulder.

Will's own eyes begin to water as he holds her. "I wish I wasn't stupid! I should've gone through the doors…"

Will quietly hugs El while she sobs for another few minutes, until she begins to calm down a little.

"You know, El… I never got to meet you when you first came to Mike's house. All I knew was that it was some girl who saved my life last year" he admits, fondly remembering how excited he was to see his friends after what he went through.

"Mike was really sad though. I knew he missed you a lot", he continues, "and then for the next year, he would always talk about how cool you were, or how compassionate you were… sometimes he would even talk about how pretty you were"

El begins to sob harder. He really thought I was pretty, she thinks to herself. "Mike was the only one I was able to talk to, when things got rough, even more than Jonathan or my mom" he begins to cry as well. "I really miss him, El" he finishes, finally hugging El back, as they both cry.

So this wasn't nearly as long as the other two. For that I apologize. But fret not! You're not missing out on any content. With college comes a lot less time to write, but it also comes with a more organized author. While I won't be able to write as much, I will be able to write more consistently, and so you'll be getting a new chapter hopefully every day or every other day.