You guys are so nice. Thank you for giving this story a chance and probably more importantly, for the reviews. Now let's see what the girls are up to. Enjoy chapter 4!

"Shit. El, I think your dad's home," Max whispered, as if Jim could actually hear her from out here.

"Okay," I laughed. "He does live here."

As we got closer to my house, I could confirm that he was home based on his Blazer parked next to my car in the driveway.

After our visit to the Babysitter, more formally known as Steve Harrington, we, as always, went to the woods behind my house to use our purchase so no one would easily see us.

Who would ever suspect three teenage girls of smoking pot in the woods behind the chief of police's house anyway?

We didn't realize how late it had gotten and ended up hiding out longer than expected. If it weren't for the fact that we've been exploring and hanging out in these woods for years, who knows how long it would have taken us to figure a way out?

Since Jim was home, I knew it must have been at least after seven.

"I don't know if this is just the weed talking El," Kali spoke with a slight slur to her voice, "but have I ever told you that your dad is insanely hot?"

Max let out a laugh that was very unlike her.

"Eww, Kali! That is so gross!" I exclaimed.

"I'm just telling it like it is," she smirked. "And he's a man in uniform…."

"Ugh, never mind. You're not coming in."

"No, I'm sorry! Please let me in. I am so hungry!" She practically begged.

Typically, we would buy a crapload of snacks before we met up with Babysitter. But since we were running late because the girls were waiting for me after school, we didn't have a chance to get anything. He doesn't like tardiness, so now we're relying on whatever food is in my kitchen to keep us at bay. Hopefully, Jim won't suspect a thing as to why we're raiding his cabinets.

We walked up the front steps and just before I opened the door, I turned to them.

"Guys, remember: just… be cool okay?" Neither of them said or did much of anything apart from a nod and I hoped that was a sign that they understood.

I opened the door and noticed the living room light was on and heard the sound of the TV too. I grinned, knowing we wouldn't have to pass him to get to the kitchen.

"El? Is that you?" It was too much to wish that he wouldn't hear us either.

"Hey, Mr. Hopper!"

"Hi, Chief!" Both girls yelled out and giggled at once.

Real fucking subtle.

"Hey." I greeted back to him, heading for the fridge while the girls went for the cabinets above the counter. I heard him walk over to the kitchen as well and prepared myself for all the inevitable questions that were about to come.

"Whoa, you girls are hungry." The scuffling behind me stopped and when I turned to look, Max's eyes somehow landed right on Jim.

"Yeah, uhh…. We umm.. We were just-"

"We were doing homework and lost track of time so we haven't eaten anything," I made up to cover Max's stuttering.

"Homework?" Jim asked, clearly not believing me.

"Yeah," I shrugged. "We're having trouble in calculus so we put our brains together and whatever." I chose that subject knowing the girls and I would have a laugh about it later.

"Okay," he spoke, although I could tell he still hadn't let it go.

I looked back into the fridge in search of food but could tell Jim was looking at the three of us intently.

A moment later, we had our hands full of food, me holding a plate of two slices of pizza and a container of chicken wings while the girls held various packages of junk food. Without saying a word, we headed towards my room.

"Don't you wanna heat that up?" I heard Jim call out to me.

"No, it's okay," I called back, knowing I was too hungry to wait for it to warm up. Not to mention, he probably already knew what was going on so he would definitely take that time to bring it up, not caring if we had company or not.

My bedroom door shut behind us a little too loudly and we dumped all the food onto my bed. Kali and Max reached to open a bag of chips just as there was a knock on my door.

"El? Can we talk?" With his muffled tone from the door standing in our way, I couldn't really make out his tone. The three of us looked at each other, eyes full of worry.

"Not right now, dad. I'm changing." I took off one of my shoes and dropped it on the floor, allowing the noise it made to serve as proof.

"Okay, well uh, I just wanted to give you a heads up. I won't be home tomorrow night. I uhh, got somethin' to do. You'll be okay for dinner?"

"Yeah," I replied, not really paying attention.

"Alright," he continued. "Just wanted to tell you in case I don't see you in the morning."

"Okay," I mumbled as I teared into my first bite of pizza.

"Okay," I waited a few seconds since it seemed like he was going to say something else. "Good night girls."

"Night!" They chimed, each with a mouthful of Doritos.

"Do you think he could tell?" Max leaned in to whisper, as if he was listening in. I shrugged, figuring he probably could tell that we were stoned but not really caring if he did.

"What do you think he's got going on tomorrow?" Kali asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Max smirked and shoved Kali.

"Ugh, shut up! I'm just asking."

"I dunno. Maybe it's a work thing," I suggested even though I wanted nothing more than to change the subject.

"He would tell you if it was a work thing," Max spoke at a normal volume this time. "Does he ever go out for work after he comes home?" I shook my head.

"Only if it's an emergency." Which it hardly ever is around here.

"So then it's probably not."

"Mmm!" Kali exclaimed. "Maybe he has a hot date."

"Aww, are you jealous?" Max teased again. She flipped her off and Max let out a laugh.

"Whatever. Why are we even talking about this?"

After that, we all stopped talking and instead focused on consuming all the unhealthy food in front of us. A few minutes later, just as the first cords of Aerosmith's Love in an Elevator played on the radio, Kali spoke again.

"So, El," and although she was speaking to me, I could have sworn she snuck a look at Max first. "How's the tutoring going?"

I threw her a look, letting her know that that was not a subject I wanted to discuss.

"Yeah, you didn't tell us you were working with Wheeler the Weirdo," Max put in.

"Oh, no?" I hoped they could tell by my tone that not telling them was intentional.

Since my tutoring sessions weren't something we tend to talk about in our free time, I never mentioned that fact that I was working with Mike. It's not like it was a priority for them to find out about it either.

"Don't you find it funny that you got paired up with him?" Kali asked. "I mean, you're… you," I wasn't entirely sure what that meant. "And he's like, the biggest nerd, right?"

No disagreeing with you there.

"Seriously," Max started, now lying on my bed. "He's probably into comic books and jerks off to Princess Leia or something," both she and Kali laughed.

Even though a part of me wanted to join in, especially since they were probably right, I felt that it wasn't okay for them to make fun of Mike, who's barely even spoken two words to them.

"He's," I paused, my head feeling a little fuzzy. "not that bad. He's crazy smart and I might actually have a shot at graduating thanks to him."

Based on my tone, Kali and Max shared a look that took to mean they knew something I didn't. Not really wanting to comment on it, I decided to ignore it.

"Jeez, sorry," Kali mumbled, even though she probably didn't know what she was apologizing for.

"We didn't realize it was going to well," Max spoke.

"It's not. I mean, it is. It- it's fine," I struggled to find the right words as I realized how tired I was. "I just hope all the time I'm wasting going after school is worth it. Wheeler's... a total weirdo, but if it's going to help me pass my classes, I'll just have to put up with it. I don't really have much of a choice."

They gave me the same, sympathetic look they had when I first told them I had to go to tutoring.

"Just, you know, don't lose focus," Max raised her eyebrows in a way I couldn't believe.

"Yeah, right," I laughed for the first time since we entered the house as I laid down on my bed as well, placing my head on Max's stomach. "Like that's ever going to happen."

We all giggled as I saw Kali reach for the black nail polish on my dresser and unscrew the cap, spreading it onto her fingernail.

Another song came on the radio and Max's dancing to it had me getting off her. Soon enough, the three of us were swaying and singing along to an older Stones song, forgetting everything and not caring about what we remembered.

It was as if nothing and no one, not Mike Wheeler, my dad, or anyone else existed and I didn't have to worry about anything.

Not even that damn chemistry study guide.


Never in a million years did I think I would be tracking down the school's biggest geek on a Monday morning to help me study for a test.

But here I am.

I could have just waited to meet with him after school like I normally do on Mondays, but as I passed by the library coming in, the sign taped to the entrance, saying it would closed this afternoon, did not make that a possible option.

At the risk of looking like a crazy person, I walked with my usual strut and posture while my darting eyes did all the work looking for him.

Since I don't know where his locker is (it's not really something I was ever curious about), I knew I only had a limited amount of time to find him before classes started for the day. He really doesn't seem the type that would be late for class.

Finally, right when I was about to give up, I spotted him. By now, I would recognize that head of curly black hair anywhere.

He was taking some things out of his locker so his back was facing me. Luckily, he was completely alone. Without double thinking it, I approached him.

"Hey," I spoke a little more aggressively than I thought. Him jumping and dropping one of his books meant I surprised him as well. I took the chance to roll my eyes as he bent down to pick up what he dropped.

"Uhh, oh, hey, Eliz-El. Hey," he mumbled like a total spaz once he realized it was me.

"So listen," I decided to cut right to the chase. "I had a family thing going on this weekend and I couldn't get that study guide done." He blinked but I knew his attention was on me. I just couldn't tell if he believed my lie or not. "The library is going to be closed today apparently. But if you don't mind, I was wondering if you could help me study for tomorrow." Although I didn't mean for it to happen, I noticed that, as I spoke, my voice sounded more and more… pleading. And he must have sensed it too.

"Uhh, yeah, Mrs. Chapman said they're having a teachers' meeting…. So you couldn't get anything done?"

"No, not really," I decided not to dig myself into a bigger lie if it wasn't necessary. "So what do you say?"

"Umm, sure. I don't really have anything going on…."

"Great!" I sounded far too enthusiastic. "Where do you want to meet?" Of course, had I had it my way, I wouldn't be caught dead anywhere in public with Wheeler, but since it's my fault for getting myself into this, I guess I could put up with it.

"Do umm, do you know that coffee-shop called The Upside Down? On third?"

"I've heard of it, yeah," I told the first truth since I started speaking to him.

"Let's go there. It's quiet so we'll be able to focus and all."

"Alright," I shrugged. "Does 3:30 work for you?"

"Yeah," he nodded shyly.

"Cool. See you then, Wheeler." I turned and walked away from him before he got a chance to say anything else.

I should preface this by saying I wouldn't consider myself a big Steve fan but I don't mean any harm by making him their weed guy. We will get a little more into him though so don't worry. In this story, he's that guy in town that does that. I'm sure you all know one….

Thank you guys so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed and please review!