Thank you all so much for your love on the last chapter! For those wondering if El is going to take Mike up on his offer, let's find out shall we?

El's POV

"Dad?"

"Yeah, kid?" Sitting across from me in his uniform, he put his newspaper down and brought his coffee cup to his lips. We were sitting at the breakfast table before I left for school, but based on how soggy I allowed my cereal to get, I wasn't doing much eating.

Instead, I spoke out loud a thought I've had for the past few days.

"What do you think about me going to college?"

I don't think I've ever seen this look of complete -glee?- on his face in my whole life.

"College?"

"Yeah," I didn't have anything specific in mind for how he would respond, but I didn't think it would be like this: with him questioning me. I decided it would be best to keep it casual. "I might apply to a couple of schools... What do you think?"

He smiled widely.

"I think it's a great idea Ellie. Good for you. I'm proud. You can count on me for anything you need, alright?" He looked at me seriously.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Thanks." He looked down at his watch.

"I gotta go," he announced as he stood up with his coffee cup and put it in the sink. "You have a good day at school, okay?" He kissed the top of my head as he walked past me.

"I will. Bye." he grabbed his hat from the hook near the front door and was gone within seconds. With a twirl of my spoon in the bowl, I came to a big, possibly life changing decision.

Seeing as I had a task to do, I arrived at school earlier than I normally would and went straight to the locker of the person who I hoped was actually serious about their offer from the other day.

Luckily, Mike was at his locker when I approached. Even more lucky was the fact that he was alone.

"Hey, Mike," and for the first time ever, I truly felt nervous to have a conversation with him.

He turned and saw me, adjusting his glasses before he spoke.

"Oh, hey El." Unlike the past experiences of us talking in the school hallway, he didn't sound awkward or uncomfortable in the slightest. It was as if talking to me outside of tutoring was a regular thing now. "How are you?"

"Good. Um," I swallowed, not entirely sure how to start. "So, err, if your offer still stands, I'd like to take you up on it. About college." I added quickly, like I could be talking about anything else. "Applications and... stuff."

"Oh!" He understandably looked surprised. "Yeah, sure. You hadn't mentioned it in the past few days so I thought you forgot about it."

"Yeah, I uhh," I hesitated. "I was thinking about it over the weekend and all. I know it's kind of a big deal so..."

"It is, yeah." He agreed and I was glad that he tried to see it my way. "We can meet today after school?" He fixed his glasses again. "If that works?"

"Okay," I moved a piece of hair -that wasn't even in the way- behind my ear. "Umm, we can go to that place from last time? That coffeeshop?"

"The Upside Down. Yeah," He closed his locker as answered. How is it that he sounds so cool and calm right now? "Does four o'clock work for you? I have some things that might help you at home, so I'll have to stop by and get them."

"Four. Yeah. Sure." I nodded, while realizing he hasn't stumbled over his words the entire time we've been speaking. "I'll be there." He nodded, causing his hair to shake and gave me a small smile. It was the most 'Mike' like I've seen him so far.

"Don't be late." It was the last thing he said before he walked around me and down the hall. He said it so quickly, so... unexpectedly that I couldn't make out the tone in which he said it.

It must be some dig at the fact that the last time we met there, I showed up way later than we planned. But I don't think Mike's the kind of guy who-.

"Late for what?"

Suddenly, Kali was standing in front of me, her pierced eyebrow raised.

"Kali! Uhh, hi."

"Hi. So what's going on there?" She turned and looked in the direction Mike went before facing me again.

"Umm, I just-" I thought fast, knowing that I could make up a good enough lie if I tried. "I have a test tomorrow that I totally forgot about. So Mike was just agreeing to help me study even though we normally don't have tutoring on Tuesdays."

"Oh, shit. What class? If it's the same one maybe we can study together instead."

"Err..." Fuck. "Okay, umm. It's not a class. There's no test." She gave me a questioning look, clearly confused. In regards to how to continue while giving away as little as possible, I was too. "I've umm, I decided to apply to a couple of colleges. But I don't know shit about doing any of that so Mike and I are meeting after school so he can help me. He said he would if I wanted so... yeah."

"College?" She sounded nearly exactly like Hopper did this morning. "That- that's really cool El. I didn't know you were interested in going."

"I don't know," I shrugged like it wasn't a big deal, even though I've already determined that it is. "I mean, I might not end up going. But it's good to have options and whatever, right?"

"Yeah," she smiled and nodded though I could tell there was more she wanted to say. And that reminded me that she might tell all this to someone else.

"Please don't tell Max any of this. She'll just say it's stupid and laugh."

"I don't think she would." She shook her head and she believed herself. "But if you want, sure. Your secret's safe with me." And I would have been fine with that answer if she didn't wink immediately after.

"Okay. Thanks." I don't think I've ever produced a more awkward smile.


Mike's POV

It wasn't until a few minutes after making plans with El that I remembered I already had plans with the guys after school. We were all going over to Dustin's house to play on the new Sega Genesis console his cousin was letting him borrow for the week.

I knew it wouldn't be easy to get out of that one. A part of me, a very small part, felt like finding El and putting off our plans for another day. I was sure she would understand and if anything, I could at least tell her where and how to start looking for college information so she could get a head start on her own. But since I was the one who originally offered to help, it didn't feel right to do that. When it came to telling the guys I wasn't going to be able to join them, I tried to keep it as vague as possible. Telling them the plans were with El, however, got a pretty... expected reaction from each of them.

As soon as school let out, I ran to the bike rack outside the building and headed home to pick up the stuff I would need to meet El. Unfortunately, my mom was home and she had me do a couple of things around the house, putting me behind schedule. If meeting El at the Upside Down was going to be anything like it was last time though, she was also going to be late. I didn't think it'd be too big a deal if I didn't show up on time either.

So I was genuinely surprised when, at five minutes past four, the door to the Upside Down swung shut behind me and I saw her. She was sitting at the same table we sat at the last time we were here. One of her hands held her head up as her elbow rested on the table and she looked off to the side, A bored expression was on her face and her fingers with chipped nail polish drummed the wood underneath them. A black coffee mug was placed in front of her, still steaming from the top.

It was hard not to stare at her.

From here, I could tell she was wearing a different top than what she had on today at school. This one showed off more of her collarbone and had a lower neckline. Her hair was glossy, the brown richer than usual for some reason. The way she held her face made her lips look pouty and in a way, it emphasized her frown.

I closed my eyes and shook my head, not really understanding why I felt the need to do so, and started walking over to her. Once she saw me approaching, her expression completely changed. She sat up and smiled as I came over to the table.

"Hey! You made it." She spoke as I took the seat next to her and despite that I was late, it didn't seem she was going to say anything on the matter.

"Yeah," I replied, still in disbelief she was actually here. "You too." I hoped she couldn't tell how surprised I was by it in my tone.

"Do you want anything?" She nodded towards the part of the counter where orders are placed. "My treat."

"Uhh," I was taken aback, not sure what to say for a second. "Sure. Just coffee. Black. Thanks."

"Coming right up." She stood up and walked to the front and by the looks of it, El changed her pants too. She now had on a pair of tight black jeans. I watched her for only a few seconds before I removed my backpack and put it on the table, careful not to knock El's coffee cup over.

Along with the typical supplies we use for tutoring, I also brought some college pamphlets and information on specific schools in the area. By the time I had everything set up, El returned to the table.

"They'll bring your coffee out in a bit," She spoke, even though I already knew that, when she came back empty-handed. "Umm, so what's all this?" She looked down at everything on the table as she sat back down.

"It's just some information on colleges. Tips and advice from experts and things like that. A lot of this stuff I got from the guidance counselor at school."

"Oh!" And based on her reaction, it seems that despite all the time she spent in the administrative area of school over the years, going to the principal's office, she's never gone into the guidance department. "I umm, I never realized they had all that information. But that makes sense." She picked up one of the pamphlets though it didn't seem like she was really reading it. "So... how should we start this?" She asked before putting it back down.

It was safe to assume that she wasn't going to be interested in going to college for something that was already a core subject. But I couldn't figure out the best and least offensive way to say that.

"Umm, well I was thinking," I began. "In college, you can pretty much study whatever you want. You just make sure you go to a school that has a program for that. And it could be anything you're interested in. So I guess the question is: what do you like to do?"

"So like, hobbies? Things that are not related to school?" I nodded, relieved that she was the one making that correlation and not me. "Well..." She paused like she was deciding if she should say what was on her mind or not. "I like movies." She shrugged, maybe thinking it wasn't a good enough answer.

"Movies?"

"Yeah, you know, like... movies." She repeated, not that she should have had to.

"Oh. You... want to be an actress?" I spoke hesitantly since I didn't know how I would be able to help her with that.

"No." El laughed. "I don't think I'm cut out for that. I mean, like filmmaking."

"Oh, that's... that's really cool," I spoke honestly.

"Yeah, they-." she glanced to the left of me and abruptly stopped talking.

"Someone here ordered a black coffee?" I nodded and seeing as I didn't have a mug on my side of the table, the barista placed it down in front of me. "Enjoy." She smiled at me and I could have sworn she lingered a little too long before leaving our table.

"Anyway," El's voice at the word was sharp. "Movies. I'm an only child and Hopper works a lot. Most days I'm left home alone with the TV so I'm always watching it. But movies just have... something about them. I've seen so many and I feel I've just developed a big... love for them I guess. The way there's just a whole world created for these characters and we get to see it and see what they go through. And that there's a whole story that happens in such a short amount of time. There's nothing like it." El had a faraway look on her face, like she wasn't just talking to me anymore. "Sorry," She quickly drew her eyes back to me and shook her head. "That probably sounds so dorky."

"No, no it's not." I assured her, not wanting her to think negatively about it. "It sounds like it's something you're really passionate about." She shrugged again. "What's your favorite movie?" It was, naturally, the next question.

"Don't laugh." And because she said not to, it was going to be hard to avoid.

"I won't."

"It's The Breakfast Club."

"The Breakfast Club?"

"Yeah. With Molly Ringwald-."

"I know, yeah. I've seen it." I just can't believe it's El's favorite movie.

"When it came out, Max and I snuck into the theater to watch it because it's rated R and we heard it was really good. It was the first time I cried at a movie. Which is kind of surprising considering how many I've seen. But it- it really resonated with me. When it ended, I just... felt like I needed to watch it again. I've seen it so many times now that I can probably recite all of it."

"So you'd want to write movies?"

"Yeah, maybe! Or direct them. There like, no female directors, you know. It's just... I know that it might seem like silly Hollywood stuff but... there's so many great stories that need to be told. I just want to somehow be a part of all that. I guess I never realized that one way is by going into that in college."

"Okay," I nodded, trying to think if I read anything about schools with good film programs within the information I brought. "Great. We're getting somewhere. Umm, here." I broke the pile of colleges and their respective information I had into two and gave her the one that was on top. "Why don't you go through these and see if there's something you like? I'll do the same and when we're done we can see what requirements they each have and we'll work from there?"

"Sounds good." She took the pile I handed her and placed it on the table, taking a sip of her coffee before putting the mug to the side. Based on the small smile on her face, I got the feeling she was more excited for this than she was letting on.

Going through all that information, we each kept to ourselves. There was a comfortable silence between the two of us, very similar to when we're in tutoring in the school library and we're each working on our own assignments. Same as over there, I was more than happy to help if El turned to me with a question but she never did.

About ten minutes into it, the same barista that dropped off my coffee earlier came around again and asked if I wanted a refill, holding the coffee jug carefully in her hands. I hadn't noticed I drank nearly half of my drink, but because I didn't want to drink the rest of it cool, I accepted.

Since El wasn't in the middle of saying something this time, I paid more attention to her as she poured. From my angle, it was a little difficult to tell how tall she was but she was likely around El's height. Her hair was a dark blonde, almost brown, and held back in a wavy ponytail. She has glasses like me, except her frames were thinner and a bright blue that I'd be too embarrassed to wear but they complimented her fair skin tone well. I couldn't make out her clothing too much since she wore the required Upside Down employee apron over everything.

"Uh, thanks." I spoke when I noticed she pulled back the jug.

"Of course!" She spoke a little too excitedly with another smile. "Can I get you anything else?"

"Oh, umm-."

"No, thank you," came El's voice out of nowhere. When I turned to look at her, she was already gazing intently at the barista. "We're good." I didn't realize she was even paying us any attention until she spoke. The barista, now no longer smiling, gave a single, quiet nod before heading off to assist another table. El turned back and continued what she was doing as if nothing had happened. I reached for my now refilled mug, already taking a larger sip than I normally would.

More time passed and we moved on to discussing what we found and exchanged ideas. El had only picked out three schools and they were all in-state but she seemed happy with her selections. I chose three as well but included the one I thought would suit her interests, based on what she told me, the best.

"How about this one?" I held up a folder that had purple and white lettering. El looked over and took a moment to read the name of the school before she answered.

"NYU?" She scoffed, "like I'd ever get into a school like that."

"There's always a chance." I tried to appease her. "You can also always transfer from another school, even if you go to community college first. NYU does actually have a great arts program I believe. Will's brother was thinking of going to school there and Will mentioned that when he was telling us about it."

"I guess I could do that. I obviously haven't given this -any of this- a lot of thought." She shook her head. "But who knows? If this film thing doesn't work out, maybe I will decide to move to Hollywood and be an actress." She lifted her head up sideways, her chin in the air and a grin on her face, like she was posing for an invisible camera.

"Yeah, that could work. You're really pretty."

Oh shit.

It came out before my brain could even process it. There's no way she didn't hear that. She faced me again, or at least, tried to. Her body was angled in my direction, the way it had been this whole time, but she wasn't able to look me in the eyes anymore.

"You-you think I'm pretty?" I don't know if I've ever heard her sound so small. El managed to glance up very carefully, like she was afraid of whatever I was going to say next.

As if I knew how to respond.

"Uhh, yeah." Because even though I didn't know what to say, I knew better than to take it back. "Sorry if that's weird-." I continued when the silence got a second too long.

"No! It-it's fine! Umm, thanks. That- that's nice of you." She gave me a slight smile and with that I knew I really hadn't made her uncomfortable. "I know a lot of guys at school just call me hot and say I'm a nice piece of ass. So it's good to know that not every guy thinks like that. Sometimes compliments like yours mean a lot more, you know?" I nodded, but I was still working out what she meant. "So, anyway," she looked back to the contents of the table. "What umm, what do you want to go to college for? We've been doing all this for me and I haven't even asked about you."

"Oh uhh," I didn't hesitate because I wasn't sure of the answer. I've already known for a few years. It was because it, unlike what El wants to do, actually is so dorky. And I knew El would think so. "I really want to- to get into video game design. Development and all that."

Her face broke out into a wide grin.

"That's so cool! And it suits you so well!"

"You think so?"

"Yeah! I thought you were going to say you wanted to do something related to math or science. But video games make sense and you're clearly into things like that."

"Heh, thanks."

"You should totally do it. Just as long as you don't make something like that awful E.T. game."

"The E.T. game?" My surprise was solely directed at the fact that she even knew that reference.

"Yeah. You know what it is right? That really bad video game based on the movie that came out for Atari in '82?"

"Of course, yeah. I know what it is. I just didn't know you were interested in video games."

"I mean, I'm not... But I feel like everyone knows about the E.T. game. It was a pretty big story when it came out, you know?"

"Oh, um. Yeah. It- it was." I was too impressed at her knowing that to give a proper reaction.

"What are some of the best schools for that? Have you applied to them?"

"Yeah. There's a pretty good one in Chicago. But the best ones would be on either coast. I did apply to a couple of them. I don't know where I would go yet. There's a lot to consider. It can get pretty expensive to go to college in another state. And I'd miss my family and friends. Including you even. And-."

"Friends?" Her tone, expression, everything changed when she said that word.

"Oh, sorry! Is- is that not okay? I know we don't really talk much outside of tutoring but I thought maybe-."

"Umm, yeah sure. We're... friends." As if to reassure me, she nodded. "But you know what? I-I just remembered I have to help my dad with something tonight. I actually have to be home in a few minutes. Sorry, I have to go." She barely stopped talking before she got up and collected her things.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. It's just a- a family thing. Don't worry about it." It must have been more serious than I thought if the break and shudder in her voice was any indication.

She grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair and completely averted my eyes.

"Okay. Bye," and she was past our table as I spoke. She didn't answer or look back at me before the door to the coffeeshop shut behind her.

So this chapter ended up being longer than I anticipated. It is the longest chapter so far, by a LOT. Hopefully, you guys enjoyed it. Thanks for reading and please leave a review if you can!