The plane ride wasn't long nor short, averaging about four hours. However, it gave Mike a perfect opportunity to take a much-deserved nap. He'd woken up at 3:00 am to get to the airport on time, so he totaled around six and a half hours of sleep. In retrospect, it was a decent number of hours, but it sure as hell didn't feel like it.

He realized he probably looked really strange sleeping in a Hawian shirt, a visor, shorts, sunglasses, and flip-flops. Mike didn't care, though.

By the time he arrived in Lenora Hills, it was already 10:00 am.

Mike could barely contain his excitement. This was the first time he'd be seeing Eleven ever since Christmas.

Arriving at the gate, Mike looked around, trying to spot the group, when he heard, "Mike!"

He knew that voice from anywhere.

Eleven.

"Ah!" he called. Dashing over to her, they exchanged a passionate kiss, embracing one another. God, he was so happy to see her.

Mike suddenly remembered he was carrying flowers that he'd picked himself and said, "Oh, careful, careful, careful. You're squishing your present. It's a gift. I, uh- I handpicked those for you in Hawkins. I know you like yellow, but now I'm realizing it's too much yellow. I know you also like purple, so I got purple as well. So I kinda did, like, a 70/30 split kinda thing."

Mike saw her look at the tag on it, and he swore he saw her smile falter. "They're perfect. Thank you."

"Oh," he replied. Mike saw Will happily rush over to him, and the two hugged. "Hey. How you doing?"

Will didn't reply, leading to the most awkward silence Mike had ever encountered.

Jonathan saved them. "Hey, Mike."

"How you doing?" he responded.

"Yeah, good, man."

"Great." Mike spotted a rolled-up sheet in Will's hands. "Uh, what's that?"

"Um, it's nothing. Just this painting I've been working on."

"Cool!"

"That's a rad shirt, man," someone said, and Mike only then noticed a tall guy with insanely long hair that reached his hips. Had he been there the entire time? "Ocean Pacific?"

"Oh, hey, Mike. This is, uh, my friend Argyle," Jonathan said.

"Oh. Hey."

Suddenly, Argyle pulled Mike into a giant hug, and he heard him fumbling with the shirt tag.

"Oh no, no, no," Argyle rambled. "No, it's a shitty knockoff. Yeah. But don't sweat it. I'll get you the good threads out here." Then abruptly, his tone changed, and he said, "I heard a lot about your sister."

Mike didn't even know how to respond. What could he even say?

"Uh," Jonathan said, clearing his throat. "O-Okay. Um, should we go?"

"Yeah, this is kinda awkward, man," Argyle said nonchalantly.

"Yeah, so awkward…."

Eleven grabbed his hand and started walking together through the airport hallways.

"I have our whole day planned. First, El Rodeo for burritos," she smiled.

"What, really? Burritos for breakfast?"

"Yes. Trust me."

"Yeah, no, I… I trust you. It's just, you know, a little weird."

"Then, after burritos, I want to go to Rink-O-Mania."

"Rink-O-Mania, okay. What's Rink-O-Mania?" he asked.

"It's the most fun place in Lenora. They have skating and games."

"'Sounds awesome. Are your friends gonna meet us?" Mike said as they headed outside.

Will stared at Eleven in confusion. "Friends? What… What friends?"

She smacked him with her flowers. "You know, Stacy and Angela."

"Angela?"

"You'll meet them, I promise," El responded to Mike's question. "Just not today. I want today to be about me and you."

Climbing into a pizza van that smelled like weed, Argyle sped off.

Mike and Eleven snuggled close to each other, leaning their heads together.

This was going to be the best vacation ever.

Sure enough, Eleven took him for burritos, which was surprisingly good. They'd shared one, taking turns eating it.

"Is it good?" she asked.

Mike nodded. "Yeah, it's delicious."

"Told you burritos for breakfast was good," Eleven replied.

Mike couldn't help but notice Will scowling at the two of them the entire time. Why he was doing it, Mike had no clue.

As Will got up to throw away his wrappers, El politely asked, "Can you please throw mine away too?"

"Fine," he said shortly.

Jesus.

After that, they headed off to Rink-O-Mania.

Sure enough, once inside, Mike realized just how giant it was.

Lenora Hills was much bigger than Hawkins, so compared to the arcade, this place was like a palace.

'You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)' was playing over the speakers, which was fitting enough.

"Let's go get some rollerskates," El said.

Heading to the counter, Mike ordered his shoes.

"Have fun," the employee said.

"Thanks," El replied. "Bitchin', right?"

"Yeah, bitchin'. Do you come here a lot?"

"Yeah." "No," Eleven and Will said at the same time.

"Will does not, but I go to parties here."

"No-"

"It's a big party place," she interrupted.

Sitting on a bench, Mike was about to put the skates on when she said, "Oh, I forgot. You need socks."

"Oh, shit."

"They… They sell them at the counter."

"Oh, okay."

From where he sat, Mike headed to the counter to buy some. When he came back, he decided to make a lame joke. "Okay, so, I asked for vomit green and I got vomit green. Isn't that awesome."

Tying the laces on the rollerskates, Mike took Eleven's hand, and she led him on the rink.

"I'm so bad at this, I'm like Bambi on ice."

El laughed. "No, you're good. You got this."

"Okay," Mike replied.

Together, the two skated through the rink, sharing jokes the whole time.

He'd missed her so badly these past few months.

Finally, once they were tired enough, the two of them and Will went to grab a chocolate and strawberry milkshake.

Will didn't say a word to them, opting to grumble and mutter under his breath.

As Mike was trying the chocolate one, a group of kids wandered up to them.

"Milkshakes? Yum," a girl with blond hair said. "Where, oh where have you been hiding this handsome thing?"

"Uh…" Mike breathed uncomfortably.

"Angela, this… this is Mike, my boyfriend." Eleven looked nervous as she introduced her friend from school. Why was she nervous?

"Angela. Pleasure," she said, extending her hand. Mike shook it.

"Heard a lot about you. It's really cool to finally meet some of El- Jane's friends," he corrected.

Angela snickered. "Friends? Yeah, super cool. Come on, friend. Let's skate, shall we?"

"I wanted to finish-"

"I'll hold that."

"Come on," Angela said, pulling El to her feet and dragging her away.

The whole interaction was… weird. Maybe her friends were just super over-the-top or something?

Mike returned to his milkshake when suddenly Will stood up and uttered, "Oh no."

"What?"

"El, she hasn't been telling you everything."

"What you talking about?"

"She's lying to you."

Mike's face turned red. "Bullshit!"

"No, listen to me," Will pleaded. "She's having problems here."

Mike stared at him, confused. "Problems. Okay, what kind of problems?"

Before Will could even reply, the DJ stopped the music. "All right, everyone. This next song is dedicated to Jane, the local snitch."

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit!

As the song 'Wipe Out' began to play, multiple girls surrounded El, outstretching their hands and saying stuff Mike couldn't quite hear.

Judging by El's expression, it wasn't good.

Storming to the DJ booth, Mike yelled, "Hey! Hey, hey, turn it off."

"Sorry. I can't hear you, dude," the dude said smugly.

"I said turn it off."

"If you say so."

Halting the music, the DJ shouted into the microphone, "Wipe Out!"

Angela's friend suddenly threw the milkshake on Eleven, and she fell backward onto the hard floor.

Floodgates of worry rushed over Mike. Was she hurt?

As the crowd laughed and mocked El, Mike skated onto the rink, trying to chase after her.

"El! El!"

But she either didn't hear or listen to him because she skated away and was lost in the crowd within seconds.

"Fuck!" he cursed.

Meeting back with Will, the two of them began to search for her.

He even tried the woman's bathroom. But, unfortunately, the girls inside of it didn't seem too amused.

"Not there?" Will asked.

"No." Walking back toward the other side of the building, Mike didn't look at Will as they spoke.

"You should've told me she was having trouble," Mike said, annoyed. But, seriously, why wouldn't Will tell him?

"I didn't know they were gonna be here!"

"You knew she was having trouble for a year and didn't tell me."

"I didn't know she was lying to you."

"Which is why you were a douche all day?"

"I wasn't being a douche!"

Mike stopped and spun on him, glaring. "You were! You were rolling your eyes, moping. You were barely talking. You basically sabotaged the whole day."

"She was lying to you. Straight to your face, ever since you got here. And I've been a total third wheel all day. It's been miserable. So, sorry if I wasn't… wasn't smiling."

"Yeah, whatever man," Mike brushed him off.

"Well, what about us?"

"What?"

"You're mad that I didn't talk to you? You made it super clear that you're not interested in anything I have to say."

Mike shook his head at the angry Will. "That's just not true."

"You've called maybe a couple times. It's been a year, Mike. Meanwhile, El has a book of letters from you."

"That's because she's my girlfriend, Will."

"And us?"

"We're friends. We're friends."

Will looked like he was on the verge of tears. "Yeah, well, we used to be best friends."

"Then maybe you should've reached out more. I don't know. But why is this on me? Why… Why am I the bad guy?" Sighing, Mike looked away. He felt slightly guilty. Had Will been hurting this whole time? "Let's just… Let's just find her. Okay?"

They didn't speak the rest of the time as they searched for Eleven.

Suddenly, they heard a loud shriek and turned to see what was happening.

Mike gasped as he saw El standing over Angela, rollerskate in her hand, as the blond girl cried. Blood trickled down her forehead.

Running over to where Eleven stood, the two boys gawked at Angela.

"Oh… Oh my God," Will whispered.

"Holy shit, El. What did you do? What did you do?!"