Hi everyone! Hope we're all hanging in there and staying safe and healthy. Thanks so much for your love in the last chapter. Here is chapter 14!

El's POV

"You actually spent Thanksgiving at your dad's girlfriend's house?" Max said from the backseat, her seatbelt off and head between the headrests of mine and Kali's seats.

"Talk about awkward," Kali replied from behind the wheel.

"Tell me about it," I answered. I didn't think too much about the fact that she referred to Joyce as Hopper's girlfriend and I didn't correct her since she is, after all, right.

It's the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and Kali was giving Max and I a ride to school. Both of them were out of town again over the long weekend, so we haven't each other in a few days. Since we were all together, the carpool served in helping us catch up quickly.

Unfortunately, now it was my turn.

"How did it go though?" Kali asked. "I mean, it couldn't have been totally miserable."

"It wasn't... ideal at first," I started. "I was definitely putting up a fight when he mentioned it that morning. And I still don't think it was right of him to bring it up last minute. But it ended up being... nice."

"Nice?" Max repeated the word like she didn't know what it meant.

"Yeah, I mean," And with this, I was hoping it would be the last I speak about how my Thanksgiving went. "Her house is nice, the food was good, and it was nice... company." I shrugged.

"So that had nothing to do with you being absent yesterday?" Max spoke.

Damn.

As far as anyone knows, including my two closest friends, I was out sick from school yesterday. But I was absolutely not about to tell anyone the real reason why I didn't show up.

"No. Of course not," I answered honestly. "I just wasn't feeling very well," which is technically also true.

"Do you feel better now?" Kali asked.

"Yeah," I answered, pushing some hair behind my ear. "Good as new." For the next couple of minutes, the only sound in the car was the radio. When the opening chords to one of our favorite songs started playing, Max spoke up.

"Oooh, I love this song! Put the volume up." Kali smiled as she did so and I knew she recognized the song too. As Van Halen's Hot for Teacher played throughout the car, I've never, in my life, wanted to get to school faster.

Soon, both of them were singing out loud while Max drummed along on the backseat.

I think of all the education that I missed

But then my homework was never quite like this!

Due to my private and personal matters, there couldn't have been a worse song to be playing at the moment. It took up nearly the remainder of the ride to school, save for the last few fifteen seconds or so. Once Kali pulled into a parking spot, I couldn't undo my seatbelt any faster.

"Oh, look we're here." I was out of the car before Kali even shut the engine off.

From behind me, I heard each of their car doors slam shut.

"El, wait up!" I heard Max's voice. With a deep sigh, I turned on the spot.

Once we were all together again, Kali spoke to me. "You're acting weird. Are you sure you're feeling okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," I spoke through gritted teeth. "Are we going to go in or what?" I all but marched into the building.

My restlessness wasn't random. And it didn't help that all the forces seemed to be acting against me.

Even though the rest of Thanksgiving dinner went smoothly, because of my realization regarding Mike, I couldn't wait to get home, go to sleep, and hopefully get it out of my mind.

That clearly didn't work since Friday and, for pretty much the entire weekend, I made it my goal to stop thinking about Mike. Three days of watching TV and movies endlessly and finishing off the leftovers Joyce sent us home with did nothing.

Monday came way too early and the very last thing I wanted to do was open my eyes and get on with my day, especially since it would involve seeing Mike at tutoring after school. I've played the pretending to be sick card in the past but I knew Hop wouldn't believe it this time since it's coming after a four day weekend. So I acted normal, getting dressed, drinking my cup of orange juice while Hop drowned his coffee, and said goodbye before getting in my car. When leaving the driveway, I even turned in the direction I would take to go to school.

But really, I was just hiding out in Starcourt Mall most of the day. My first stop though, was Axl and Dottie's shop. Axl, who's had his fair share of encounters with Hopper, makes a damn good impression of him which came in handy when I asked him the favor of calling school and telling them I was sick.

It had to be a very exact operation. It was easy to avoid a lot of people I know since they were in school or working. But with Hopper being a pretty active police chief, it's never easy to guess his location while he's on the clock. Since Jim usually gets home around dinnertime, I just went back to my house after school let out and he had no idea where I really was all day.

Surprisingly, I did forget about Mike for a little while, probably because I had the challenge of playing keep away from Jim. It's back to regular life now and sooner or later I'm going to see Mike and deliver some news that I don't know how he'll take. But I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

I waited for Kali and Max to finish up at their lockers once I was done at mine. Just as Max was passing Kali a spare pen was when I heard a voice from behind us that I sensed was directed at us.

"Hey!" Came the voice along with deep footsteps. I turned around, curious as to who it could be.

And there, unexpectedly standing in front of me, was the very reason I didn't show my face around here yesterday.

"Mike!" I didn't realize my eyes could open that wide.

"What do you want?" Max spoke to him, rudely yet suspiciously.

"Can I talk to you?" He looked at me and I couldn't help but be impressed by how smoothly he ignored Max.

"Uhh," I looked between him and the girls, me being stuck in the literal middle. "Sure." I agreed and tried to avoid whatever looks the girls were giving me. Mike and I walked a few steps down the hall, stopping just before the drinking fountain.

"So what's up?" I spoke.

"Where were you yesterday?" He asked immediately, but besides curiosity, I couldn't tell how else he felt by my absence yesterday. "You didn't show up for tutoring and no one told me you were absent."

Did he... miss me?

"Umm," I started once I caught my breath. "I was sick. My dad called the school but I guess they didn't make note of it. Uhh, sorry."

"No, it's okay. I wasn't sure if you were absent from school or just ditching tutoring. Are you feeling better?" The furrow of his eyebrows caused a concerned crease that I could still see despite his glasses and hair getting in the way.

"Yeah," and I couldn't believe he was actually worried about me. "Yeah, I feel great."

"Okay," he nodded and pushed his glasses up his nose. "I'll see you tomorrow then. English paper right?"

"Uhh,"something else I did yesterday was to go over my plan for seeing Mike as least often as possible now. At the first chance I got, I was going to tell him that since my schoolwork was improving, all thanks to him, I no longer needed his help and would not be going to tutoring anymore. I didn't expect to encounter him this early or in this manner though. The way I saw it, there wasn't anything I could do about us going to the same school. But I could make it so that I wouldn't see him as privately as I do during tutoring anymore. That way hopefully... whatever one would call this cluster of emotions I have for him will go away.

But seeing how much he cares, wants to help, and of course how up to date he is on my assignments, made me realize how stupid me wanting to quit tutoring actually was. "Yes, yeah. I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks," I shot him a half smile.

Tugging on the strap of his backpack, he gave a single nod and walked away.

"What was that about?" Kali nodded in the direction where Mike and I just were when I met up with them again.

"Nothing," I replied firmly, hoping both of them would leave it at that. Kali shrugged in response and I knew she, at least, wasn't going to bother me about it.


That night, in yet another attempt to get my mind off Mike, I made dinner for Hopper and I. After confirming for what must have been the hundredth time today that I was feeling better, though I knew part of it was him teasing me for cooking dinner, I picked up my plate to bring it into the kitchen.

"No, that's alright, El. You did the cooking. I'll wash up here. Why don't you go do your homework or somethin'?"

"Okay," I answered even though we both knew I likely wasn't going to do that. I got out of my seat and after pushing my chair in, I began walking to my room. Before I even realized what I was doing, I swung back around, opening my mouth to share a thought I've had all weekend. "I like her."

"Hmm, what?" Hopper, who hadn't finished his meal, said through a mouthful of food.

"Joyce," I clarified, as if there was another woman I could be talking about.

"Oh. Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "She's nice. She's a good cook. And you're right: she didn't have to have us over for Thanksgiving, but she did." I took a small pause to be absolutely sure I wanted to speak this thought into existence. "She's a good mom."

He smiled. "I'm glad you think so, kid."

"So..." I took a step closer to the table.

"So?"

"So she's your girlfriend, right?" I had to hear him say it. With a sigh, he put his fork down and looked right at me.

"Yeah," he started. "She's my... girlfriend." I knew his hesitance wasn't because it wasn't the right word, but because he would have rather used a different one. I nodded again and took another step.

"Why didn't you say anything?" By my tone, I hoped he wouldn't think I was upset. "You said you would let me know if and when things got serious," I took a brief pause, thinking back to my conversation with Jonathan on Thanksgiving, "and you didn't."

"I know," his voice was firm. "I just- I wanted to be sure, completely sure, that it was going to work out with Joyce before I told you."

"Why?"

"The more serious things get, the more she'll... be around, you know? It'll feel like she's a part of the family and all." My eyes widened in surprise. I didn't expect him to say that.

"Oh," I exhaled. "Okay," and suddenly, I regretted saying anything.

"No, I- I didn't mean it like that. Dammit." He ran his hand across his face, realizing that he said something wrong. "El, listen," And now his voice got serious too. "No one is ever going to replace your mom. That's not what I want Joyce to do. That's not what I want anyone to do. So please don't think that. Joyce is... a wonderful woman. She really is and I can't tell you how happy it makes me that you like her. But she is not out here trying to fill this impossible role, I promise."

"Umm," Thinking of what to say to that was difficult. But not as hard as it was to speak while trying to hold back the uncomfortable mass in my chest. "Okay. I guess I just- I wasn't sure about any of that. I'm happy you're happy. And you're clearly happy with J-Joyce." We could both tell how much my voice shook when I said her name. He got out of his seat and walked towards me. "But uhh, thanks for... saying that. It's good to know."

"El," he reached out and put his hand on my cheek. I can't recall the last time he did that. It must have been years ago, but even though I wasn't a little girl anymore, he still felt so much taller than me. "I miss your mom too. So much. I think about her all the time. Me being with Joyce does not mean I'm forgetting about your mom, okay?"

"I know," I nodded while the first tear rolled down my cheek. "I know." Unable to hold back my emotions any longer, I wrapped my arms around him and his chest muffled out my cries.


The next day was the most normal one I've had in almost a week.

As if they completely forgot about me being absent on Monday, neither Kali nor Max asked how I was feeling all day. But based on my attitude yesterday, they probably just knew better.

I went about my daily routine as usual. But there was a weird, overhanging feeling around me the whole time. It wasn't strong enough to distract me, but noticeable enough that I paid attention. When I walked into the library after school, ready for my tutoring session, it stopped, but I finally understood what it was: I was about to see Mike again, in the place where I'm most comfortable with him.

In those moments, as I was walking to our table, it occurred to me how silly it was that I tried to avoid him on Monday and forget about him over the weekend. It was annoying and stressful. Now, on the other hand, I feel calm and peaceful. As if everything is going to be okay.

"Hey," I greeted him as I took my seat.

"Hi. Are you feeling better?"

I smiled.

"Yeah. I sure am."

As Mike instructed, I did a draft of my English essay and sat back in my seat when I finished. He didn't notice though because his head was facing down and he was scribbling into his notebook, like he does when he's focused on something. I peeked at the papers and print outs he lay across the desk, trying not to move too much so he wouldn't see that I was looking.

Several of the papers seemed like they were applications of some sort, as there were blank spaces to be filled out and some sections had boxes to be checked off. The heading on a few of them looked official and there was a folder with the word 'university' in big red letters visible in the mix of other papers. Putting two and two together, I decided to bring up my observation.

"What are you working on?" I hoped I didn't startle him.

"Oh," he looked up, and by the way he said it, it almost felt like he forgot I was here. "Uhh, it's just an essay for a college application."

"Oh, cool." I began. "You're really into it, huh?" I gestured towards the progress he made.

"Yeah," he shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. "I'm just trying to send them out as soon as possible." And then, as if he suddenly realized something, he sat up straight. "If you want, I can help you with your college applications and stuff. It's not really the schoolwork I'm supposed to be helping you with. But if you need help, I don't mind." He sounded eager and I know I'm not imagining it.

"Umm," I felt nervous about what he was going to think about what I was going to say. "I haven't been working on that. The college stuff. I'm really... not thinking much about it. Is that bad?" Stupid. Of course he's going to think it's bad.

"No!" And I could tell he sincerely meant it. "Not everyone goes to college after high school. There's other things you can do. Sorry, maybe I shouldn't have said anything." He started collecting all the college related stuff from the table.

"No, it's-it's fine Mike," I held my hands out to stop him and he did. "It's great that you're working on it though. You're really smart so I don't think you'll have a problem getting into any school." How I said that without turning red, I don't know.

"Thanks," he smiled while adjusting his hair and glasses in one easy move. "But if you change your mind, and you need help, you can let me know."

"Thanks," I couldn't think of what else to say, since I'm still so surprised at his offer. Similar to how he did yesterday in the hallway before turning away, he nodded.

"Did you finish?" He pointed to my own essay.

"Yeah." Reaching over the table, he picked it up and brought it to him so he could read it over.

As always, thank you all so much for reading! Please let me know what you think!