9

Beep-beep-beep-

Mike sat bolt upright, staring, horrified, at his watch. It was 7:30.

`El?' He whispered, touching her shoulder. Then- `El!'

`Huh? What's happening?' She mumbled, rubbing her eyes. Mike showed her his watch. `Oh, shit-'

`We've got to go back down-'

`Leave the blankets-'

Mike and El scrambled back down the fire escape, cars already zooming about in the street below. Horns honked in the distance.
They got back down to apartment 24B. El pushed Mike through first, then clambered in herself. Her foot caught on the windowsill and she flopped onto the floor like a dead fish. Slowly, she raised her eyes up.

Max waited at the kitchen counter, stirring coffee. She looked down at El, spread-eagled on the floor, and smirked. `Morning.'

`I'm just- er- I'll just-' Mike stammered. `I've got to brush my teeth.' He bolted into the bathroom, almost tripping over the TV set because he wasn't looking where he was going.

Max sighed after him, eyebrows arched. `I wonder how he'll brush his teeth with no brush. And as for you-' she walked over to El, who was cringing. `What happened?'

`Nothing,' El said defensively. `Neither of us could sleep so we just went up on the roof.'

Max's eyebrows disappeared into her hairline. She took a loud sip of her coffee.

`I swear!'

`Alright.' Max put the coffee back on the kitchen counter. `But there's something I wanted to go over with you. Did Hop have the talk with you?'

`Oh my-' El covered her ears.

`It's just, I would feel responsible if you ended up producing a mini-Wheeler,' Max said loudly, obviously relishing every moment.

`I will kill you.'

`Does he have an STD record?'

`I will bash you over the head with the TV. Repeatedly.'

`And haven't you heard what happens if you improperly use a-'

With that, El shut herself in the bedroom and considered her life choices.


Once the initial crippling embarrassment was over, Mike, El and Max were all fairly pleasant to one another. They waited in the living room, Max packed up and ready to go.

Every time a car drove by, El leapt up from her seat like it had suddenly sprouted porcupine quills, ran to the window, checked outside, and then she would slink back to her chair. Max and Mike made several failed attempts to draw her into conversation.

Eventually they gave up, and just chatted to each other.

Somehow, they had got to arguing about Trix cereal when El jumped up from her chair, checked out of the window, made an odd squealing sound, and then went bounding down the stairs.

`Should we go after her?' Mike asked, peering down the now-empty corridor.

`Nah. Actually, you should probably hide. Hopper can be a little… intimidating if you don't know him well.'

Mike gulped.

A few seconds later, El returned. Next to her was a bear-like man, with a fedora and a very visible gun. Chief Hopper. And he wasn't looking happy.

`So you're Mike,' he growled.

`Yes… '

`And you're the one who stayed the night at my daughter's.' Hopper pushed his thumbs through the loops of his belt.

`Well, I slept on the sofa.'

`Did I ask you to talk back to me?'

For some insane reason, El looked like she was trying to suppress a smile.

That was when Mike had what felt like a minor aneurysm and began to gabble in an endless stream of word-vomit. `You were speaking so I thought I should probably reply, and I promise you that I was completely proper about it and slept on the sofa, also I heard Max giving El a safe sex talk earlier and-'

`Kid, calm down. I was messing with you.' Hopper stopped looking scary and started looking suspicious. `What's this about a talk, Mayfield?'

Max looked very pleased with herself. `Just thought they could benefit from it.'

She glanced at Mike and El, and gave them a quick wink. It was only a small flutter of eyelid that could easily be mistaken for a nervous tic, but Mike and El understood.

Max wasn't going to tell Hopper about the roof.


An hour later, Mrs Wheeler's sensible beige car drew up outside the apartment.

Mike almost collapsed with relief; he'd spent the last half-hour tormenting himself with various scenarios of how his mom could die coming to pick him up.

`Thanks for letting me stay,' he said to Hopper.

`No problem.' Hopper turned around, firmly facing the wall. Mike correctly interpreted this as `Say goodbye to my kid however you want and I'll pretend to know nothing.'

`See you, Madmax.'

`Bye, Wheeler.' Max punched him on the arm. Mike knew what she meant, and grinned at her.

Then he turned to El, who was looking slightly nervous in her old band T-Shirt. Her hands were doing a weird, twisting thing.

`I don't know if school's gonna be open today, so I'll see you- whenever?'

`Yeah.' El stepped forward and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. The walls of the flat seemed suddenly blurry, and then El moved back. Everything returned to normal. `See you whenever.'

Mike stammered something out, started towards the door, completely missed the opening and banged into the doorframe.

Eventually, he managed to co-ordinate himself enough to leave the apartment. Mike really should have been feeling embarrassed for that spectacle at the end.

But a smile was spreading across his face that was so wide it was hurting his cheeks.

The spot where El had kissed him seemed hyper-sensitive. Mike touched it.

`Whatchoo smilin' at?'

Mike jumped three feet into the air.

A man was watching him from the shadows of the stairwell. A strong, pervasive stink of marijuana hung fuggily around him.

Suddenly, Mike's mind flashed back to what El had told him weeks ago, just before they'd found Georgie Steiner.

`Is your name… Earl?'

Earl looked taken aback. `How'd you know my name?'

`Someone told me.'

`Yeah, I'm Earl. An' whatchoo smilin' at? Never answered.'

`Uh-' Mike began to grin like an idiot again. `My crush kissed me.'

`Where?'

`Here.' He pointed to the spot on his cheekbone, just over his freckles.

`She likes you.' Earl lit up another cigarette. Mike could only imagine it's contents. `You go get her, man.' With a cloud of smoke obscuring his face, Earl clapped Mike on the shoulders, did the sign of a cross on his forehead, and then stumbled away, out of the doors and down the street.

Confusion swirled about Mike's head. Then he remembered why he'd gone down the stairwell in the first place and pushed open the door, leaving El's apartment block.

`Mike, thank goodness you're safe,' sighed Mrs Wheeler, reaching out to squeeze Mike's hand as he climbed into the passenger seat. `I would have come out to get you, but… we are west. I'm fairly sure I saw a young man on cannabis walk by.'

`Oh, yeah. That's Earl.' Mike buckled up. `Can we go home?'

Mrs Wheeler said nothing for a moment, and simply stared, blinking, at her son, who somehow knew a stoner.

And then she snapped out of it, and pulled away from the curb.


In Hopper's apartment, Max had been waiting for two hours for someone to pick her up.

`Do you want me to drop you back?' Hopper asked finally.

Max's voice sounded a little funny. `I hoped Mom would be here by now.'

`She's probably working.'

`Yeah. Working.' Max stood up and pulled on her hoodie. `El, wanna come? School's shut, so you won't be missing anything.'

`Stay,' Hopper ordered immediately. El hovered in the middle, her jacket half on and half off. Then she meekly returned to the couch.

Max gave Hopper an odd look, but decided to go with it. She got into his battered police car, and Hopper drove off.

`I want to talk to you about something,' he said.

Uncharacteristic worry wormed about in Max's stomach. `Talk to me about what?'

In answer, Hopper pulled up Max's sleeve. Bruises trailed up her forearm, ending at her elbow.

Max yanked her arm back, heart pounding. She tugged her sleeves down again. Sadness filled Hopper's eyes.

`Kid, I wish you could stay with me and El. We just don't have room. And we're moving in four days.'

Hard breaths came out of Max's nose. Her hands shook uncontrollably in her lap. `Last night was the scariest thing I've ever gone through. I could hear everyone dying. And I probably sit next to their killers in my lessons.'

Hopper wasn't sure how to reply to that.

`And if I can get through that, I can survive my step-dad. Me and my family are gonna have a long talk.'

Hopper left west Chicago and arrived at the small half shanty-town, half suburb where Max lived. His engine did the usual party-trick of coughing like a dying seal every time it went over a pothole.

And Jesus, did Max's road have a lot of potholes.

They pulled up at Neil Hargrove's house. Hopper cut the engine, then twisted in his seat to look at Max properly.

`Are you sure you're gonna be okay?'

`Yeah. I'll be fine.' Max opened the door and climbed out. She waved at Hopper from her doorstep. Hopper honked in reply and then drove off.

If Neil Hargrove put another bruise on that girl, he'd find himself with a gun jammed in a very undesirable spot.

But there was a little voice in Hopper's head reminding him that if Max said she could take care of herself, she could take care of herself.


School was cancelled for two days.

All in all, there were ten deaths. Sanders read their names off a little piece of paper, then put it back into his pocket and out of his mind. Troy no longer went to the school. He was in prison, awaiting trial. No one had come to get him out on bail.
Hopper passed all this information onto El.

On Thursday, they were curled up together on the sofa. Sprinkles fell from the donuts Hopper was eating. El was next to him, reading Pride and Prejudice.

`Dad, can I ask you something?' She said suddenly, closing the book and putting it in her lap. `How would you ask someone out? Hypothetically.'

Hopper gagged on his donut and inadvertently sprayed crumbs all over the living room. `Why do you want to know?' He choked, banging his chest.

`There's got to be a better way of doing it than telling your crush you hate their entire family.' El held up Pride and Prejudice. `Anyway, like I said. Hypothetically.'

`Well, hypothetically, I'd-' Hopper thought of how he'd asked out girls in the past, and winced. `I'd send them flowers or something. Or write them a letter.'

`Bit unoriginal.'

`This isn't exactly my area of expertise, okay? Anyway, aren't you a bit young to be thinking about this? You're only-' Hopper did a quick mental scan. `Fifteen.'

`That's more than old enough to be thinking about this. Technically, I could get married at this age with your permission.' El picked up the book and started reading again.

Hopper paused, sensing that the conversation shouldn't end there. `Are you going to ask someone out?'

There was a rustle as El turned over another page, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on the book. `What if I am?'

`You're getting to the age where you'll want to- do things- with boys. We have had a talk about this subject, haven't we?'

El groaned loudly. `Dad, you gave me that stupid book to read. We're fine. No need to discuss anything.'

`Good. Just checking.' He paused. `This isn't about Wheeler, is it?'

Brief silence. Then- `Maybe.'

`I'm not sure about you leaving the apartment right now.'

`Wait, why not?' El looked scandalised.

`It could still be dangerous. Keep your head down for a few days. Or at least until school starts again.'

Hopper watched as a furious, but completely silent, battle waged war over El's face.

`Okay,' she said eventually. `I won't go out.'

Suspicious, Hopper watched her sideways. `You won't go out for any reason?'

`Not unless something's on fire.' A bland, complicit expression had taken over the wild range of emotion. She looked like butter wouldn't melt, and Hopper didn't trust it an inch.

Maybe he should give her benefit of the doubt for a while and see what happened.

So that was what he did.


Back in her room, El slid Pride and Prejudice back into her bookshelf. How to ask Mike out to the dance?

Her eyes fell on the English textbook she'd inadvertently stuffed into her satchel all those weeks ago. The book she'd pulled out at exactly the right second on exactly the right day to see Mike Wheeler on the other side of that bookshelf.

Yeah. That would do just fine.

El grabbed a marker off the clutter on her desk and uncapped it with a click. Holding the lid between her teeth, El quickly wrote her question on the middle page. Then she bent the spine backwards so when opened, the book would immediately fall open to that page.

Guilt wriggled about unpleasantly in the pit of El's stomach. She felt terrible breaking her promise to Hop, but then again, the dance was tomorrow. It wasn't like she had options, especially seeing as school might not even open the next day.
Well…

Maybe she didn't have to break her promise. El had a box of matches in her desk drawer in case of a power cut. She struck a match, held it to a scrap of paper, and let it catch. The flame leapt along the edge, blackened the paper, and it began to curl in on itself, as if in pain. El quickly blew it out.

There, she thought determinedly. Didn't break my promise.

El clasped the book tightly to her chest. She opened the window, still holding the singed, smoking paper. A gust of wind suddenly wrenched it from her grasp. The blackened scrap whirled in the air, flakes of ash falling off it like black snowflakes. Higher, higher, higher. El watched it float upward, eyes squinted against the sun, smiling at it for no reason she could understand.

And then a particularly strong breeze whipped it over a wall, and out of sight. El stared at where it had been, then snapped herself out of it, and made her way down the ladder. Silently, she jumped down into the alley, landing lightly on her dirty sneakers.
As quietly as possible, El crept out into the street, and began to run.

Twenty minutes later, she reached her destination. Anxiety was ramping up in El's chest. She told it to shut up and rang the doorbell.

A woman opened the door, with carefully curled hair that fell over her shoulders.

`Hello,' said El nervously. `I'm here to see Mike. Is he in?'

`Yes, he is,' Mrs Wheeler answered. `Are you El?'

`Yeah, El Hopper.'

`Right- well, just come through to the living room. I'll get him.'

Painfully aware of her grubby punk clothes, El sat down in the prim living room. She hoped that she didn't leave any grease smears on the pristine furniture. Almost threateningly, a clock ticked on the mantelpiece, reminding her she only had a limited amount of time before Hopper got suspicious and came looking. Without a doubt, he'd beeline to the Wheelers' house.

To distract herself, El looked at the plethora of photos clustered about the clock. There was one of Mike, Dustin, Lucas and Will, all dressed up as the Ghostbusters. Next to them was a teenage girl, who El could only assume was Nancy. She was pretty.

The one that made El smile the most was a baby picture of Mike, with him grinning toothily at the camera, hair all over his face. He looked about three.

Then voices came down the corridor.

`Mom, for the last time, we don't need you to chaperone-'

`I just don't want you two going up to your room-'

`I never suggested we would!'

`That's good. But I would prefer it if I could check in every now and then.'

Believe me when I say, you don't need to.'

`Oh, my little boy getting his first girlfriend!'

El isn't my girlfri-' Mike entered the room. `Hi, El.' His hair was damp, plastered to his forehead and neck in licks and curls.

`Sorry, were you having a shower?' El's resolve was quickly disintegrating. `I can come back later.'

`No, it's fine. Don't worry.' Mike flicked a warning look at his mom, who sighed, then left. `What did you need?'

`I just wanted to give you a book.' El got up off the sofa, walked over to him. `Here.' She held it out.

Confused, Mike looked down at the book then up at her.
That was when Hopper's car pulled up. Both kids whipped round to the open window. With a face of thunder Hopper stormed out of the car and up the drive. El swore quietly.

`Quick, take it,' she said, and pushed it into Mike's hands just as the doorbell went.

Twenty seconds later El was craning her neck for a last look at Mike as she was frogmarched away, Hopper firmly steering her towards the car. He watched from the doorway, holding the book to his chest.

And then Hopper was pushing her into the back seat, slamming the door, and revving the engine.

He sped away down the road.

El lost sight of Mike in seconds.

Hopper told her exactly why it was unacceptable for her to sneak out, and why it was a total breach of trust. The words washed over El as she leaned back in her seat with her eyes closed, a smile dancing on her lips.


Mike lay on his bed, staring up at the luminous stars on his ceiling until his eyes ached.

Why had El given him the book?

Mike knew her well enough to take a guess.

El was shy. She wouldn't have wanted to do anything face-to-face. So that meant something she was too shy to say to Mike personally was in the book.

Mike sat up and caught the book as it slid off his torso. He held it in his hands, and immediately, without him touching it, the book fell open to the middle page.

A smile broke out across Mike's face.

In El's messy, wild handwriting was a single word, a single question.

Dance?

Mike could have jumped around the room like a maniac, but forced himself to stay still. He walked over to his desk, where there was one remaining sheet of El's origami paper. Mike pulled out the chair, sat down, and attempted to crack his knuckles. It didn't work, but that was unimportant.

The final sheet was a beautiful, vibrant orange-red. Mike wrote his answer on the inside of the paper and quickly folded it into his last box tulip.


On Friday, the school re-opened.

So many students were missing. Every class had an empty seat.

But there was still a sense of peace. The graffiti had been cleaned off the lockers. The factions no longer existed at recess. A memorial was set up in the school playing field, for Josh, for Georgie, for Jennifer and all the others.

Mike craned his neck, looking for El.

Max caught his eye. `She's not here.' Max herself was sat very close to Lucas, who was looking both thrilled and scared.

`Then where is she?' The box tulip was clutched in Mike's hand, which was becoming clammier with every passing second.

`Have you checked the cupboard?' Will suggested.

`No. But I don't think she'll be there.' Mike knew that El not being here was some sort of invitation for him to speak to her privately. But where was she?

And then Mike suddenly clicked.

`I know where she is,' he said, standing up. `Don't come after me.'

Mike entered the still, silent library. Dust motes swirled in the light from the high windows, disturbed as he walked past.

The bookcase was there.
Mike looked through the empty gap El's book left.

A warm, hazel eye blinked back at him.

No words needed to be spoken. They could see each other through the gap. Mike knew what El was thinking, just from the subtle changes in her expression.

Never had Mike wanted to kiss someone more than he wanted to kiss El.

Instead, he passed the box tulip through the thin space in the bookcase. His mouth was dry as she took it, unfolded it, and read his answer.

`I was hoping you'd say that,' she whispered. She rested her hand on the bookcase. Mike reached out and touched her hand through the gap. They only had enough space to brush fingertips.

But it was enough.