Ch. 22
Mike POV, 1 year after the previous chapter.
Mike Wheeler was excited. The first day of kindergarten was upon him. He arrived at the school and saw a kid sitting alone on the swings. Realizing that he was probably lonely, Mike went over and asked if the boy wanted to become his friend. The boy said yes, and his face lit up. Mike felt warm and happy inside when he saw the sheer happiness on his face. The next day, the boy, whose name was Will, was sick, and there was a girl Mike had never seen before sitting on the swings, crying (Eleven, who was told her mom was 'gone' by Hopper last chapter). Mike went over and asked her why she was crying and was promptly told it was none of his business.
Mike asked if she wanted to play and was told no. When asked what she did want to do, she replied, "To not have to stare at your ugly face." Mile was baffled at why she was crying and being mean. He decided he would sit here with her for a little, since he had nothing else to do.
She repeated the desire to be left alone, to which Mike responded, thinking she wanted to be talked to in the same manner she spoke to him, "What are you going to do about it? Make me!" "Ok. You asked for it." The girl stood up and kicked him in the shins, causing Mike to fall over. He stood up and shoved her, to which she then tripped him. They started rolling around on the ground, both of them getting covered in dirt. All too soon, they were called inside for the beginning of school.
At lunch, a big kid named Troy tried to take a kid's lunch. Mike decided that it wasn't very far to take someone's food and decided to intervene. Troy decided he didn't like the idea that he couldn't do whatever he wanted and hit Mike in the face. El decided that Troy was a worthy opponent (and one deserving a beat down). Especially more so than Mike, and hit him in the arm with her solid steel lunch box twice. This caused his arm to bend weirdly and make him cry, while telling him to fight her instead and to also leave Mike alone.
The teacher ran over and noticed the broken arm. When she ascertained that Eleven was responsible, she phoned Hopper. As she was waiting for Hopper, Mike introduced himself and asked her name. Eleven decided to tell him, replying her name was Eleven. Mike then gave her the nickname 'El', and from then on, she and Mike got into small scuffles almost daily and reconciled about 10 seconds after the dust settled.
End Ch. 22
A/N: So I kinda hate 2 characters the most throughout the entirety of stranger things. Mainly because they are just abusive jerks.
1. Billy's Dad
2. Troy
Billy's dad caused a LOT of bad juju in S3. He is the one Billy so unstable and hurt that he sought self-worth from screwing girls. Without his abuse, it seems unlikely Billy would have been driving to meet Karen Wheeler at Motel 6. Therefore, he would probably not have become the Mind Flayer's host. Meanwhile, Troy is just a spoiled, butthurt psychopath. I believe that had Mike not jumped off the ledge into the quarry and Eleven not been there, he would have carved out all of Dustin's teeth. Therefore, I hope he gets eaten. (Not really). I also think that had Mike died from jumping into the quarry, Troy would have only cared about the trouble it would have gotten him into. To me, that's why he has an "Oh shit!" look on his face when he looks over the edge to see the final fate of Mike.