A/N: There are three specific "looks" for El that inspired me for this story. In the "Day 353" scene with El in the void (youtube it if you can't remember it :)

1: The look on her face when she says kneels down and just before she says "Mike". The look of longing is heartbreaking. The lighting on her face is perfect.

2: Before she puts up her hand to touch his cheek, and just after Mike says Eleven? Again perfect lighting and the look on her face. The lighting guy for that shot is a genius.

3. Mike collapses the antenna, and gets up to leave, El turns around and the expression of sadness on her face is devastating. I read on the internet that "Eleven crying is the saddest thing on earth". I believe it.

Anyway, if you can picture the way El looks and dressed in that scene, you have what I was envisioning for her her in the first few chapters.

The story pic is for the "makeover" scene later on.

The second day of school and she still didn't feel like wearing the pretty dress that her dad bought for yesterday. He just looked at the jeans and the dark plaid shirt she was wearing and rolled his eyes. He saw the look in her eyes and knew better than to question it.

The truth was she didn't feel pretty, so wearing that dress wasn't going to help anyway. If she wore she knew she was going to have to wear her training bra. Being cinched up like she was in traction was beginning to feel like a trap. Mrs. Byers said she had to get used to it. She could develop large boobs quickly and besides every girl had to go through it.

El had almost laughed in her face, but she had more respect for Dad's girlfriend so she just said, "I'll be happy if I develop anything ."

"You will sweetie, just wait."

So she decided to wear the jeans and shirt untucked today, but wear the training bra anyway. She thought she looked a little like some backwoods farm kid but at least she was as comfortable as she could be.

"What else am I in for when I become a young woman." Mrs. Byers grimaced a little and then said, "Ok I guess we need to talk."

El had suspected it was something nightmarish like what she was listening to.. "Oh great. That's juuuuust great. No boy is going to put up with that. I guess I can say goodbye to any boyfriend."

"Maybe it won't be so bad, sweetie. Every girl is different, but let me tell you, when a boy really likes you, loves you even. He won't think twice. He knows it's part of growing up for a girl. You are a pretty girl El, you are going to have to wave a burning torch back and forth to keep them away from you."

"Just like that movie?" El said remembering the late night horror movie she'd seen.

Mrs. Byers had looked at her, "Just like that."

XXXXX

She was sitting at the Party table with Max. She'd already met, Dustin, Suzie and Lucas. Max said the Party leader was a guy named Mike Wheeler. Max said she didn't particularly like him, and the feeling was mutual, but they were civil because Lucas was Mike's best friend and Max's boyfriend. Dustin and Suzie were going out, she didn't know if Mike had a girlfriend. She was sure it was never going to be the El The Boobless Wonder.

Max didn't seem to like anybody. El was a bit surprised when she said she and Lucas were going out.

Max was making fun of girls and their big hair. El didn't participate because she wished she had that much hair. Her curls were growing out nicely. No style to it but she was enjoying the bounciness, the way they just fell freely around her ears.

Max went on and on about their big ugly hair. "Oh, there he is, our illustrious leader."

She looked up at the lunchroom entrance and saw… and saw the cutest boy she was ever going to see in her life. She could see his dark eyes from where she sat. It looked like he was looking right at her. Her breath caught in her throat, her heart started to hammer in her chest. That's ok she thought, my training bra will keep it from bursting out.

She could see Dustin and Lucas kind of avoid Mike and then suddenly some shorter mean looking kid punched Mike in the stomach.

It must have been hard because he threw up on the guy's shoes. But that made him meaner, and he grabbed Mike's arm and twisted it around viciously . Mike dropped his lunch and the mean kid just kicked it all over the place. Mike collapsed to the floor.

Max got up actually looking concerned and ran towards him. Lucas and Dustin were down trying to help.

XXXXX

Mike was joking with Dustin and Lucas on the way to the lunchroom. He didn't notice that they had fallen a little bit behind him as he made his way through the door.

He looked over at the Party table, and almost dropped his lunch. There was a girl sitting beside Max. Not just any girl. A pretty girl.

Not just pretty.

Really pretty.

Mike stopped in his tracks. Max looked at him and he could tell she said something to the girl.

And then the girl looked at him with large round eyes, that made… that convinced him that his soul belonged to her, long before now. Probably forever before now.

Her total distraction to his heart meant that he missed Troy coming up to him. In the instant that Troy said "Hey frogfrace!" Mike knew the reason why Dustin and Lucas were no longer standing with him.

The next thing he knew, he was throwing up on Troy's shoe and thinking Oh shit.

XXXXX

"I was looking away, did you see anything?" Max asked El.

"I saw everything." El said, shaken at the violence she'd witnessed.

"Ok, I know the police will want to talk to you. Hopefully it will be your dad and not that moron Callahan."

There goes Max, El thought. Judging people again.

El felt bad. Poor Mike. She didn't even know him and she felt sorry for him. Max said that he was constantly bullied by Troy.

Bullies!

El's extreme dislike for bullies bordered on hate. But she didn't want to lower herself to their level. When her hair had been buzzed off she'd been bullied by a lot of girls. It was Max who'd come to her rescue most of the time. Once her hair and grown out and gotten curly the bullying had stopped… at least for her hair. The way she dressed was closer to the way Max dressed, and they still got snickers behind their backs. At least she wasn't alone in that, Max was the object of their derision also.

Max had no problem giving them the finger. El asked what it meant, the words "Fuck off" didn't mean anything to her.

"What does fuck mean?" Max looked at her exasperated but explained anyway, including the fine nuances of the word.

After a few more questions, El felt mixed emotions. At first it sounded unpleasant, but Max's voice softened when she said. "When you do it with a guy who loves you, it's not unpleasant all, at least not after few first few minutes."

So not for me then, El thought. You need a boyfriend first.

They all traveled in Mrs. Wheeler's car following the ambulance.

XXXXX

"Thanks for staying with him sweetie."

Mike woke up. He was propped up on a very white bed. Through the screaming pain in his shoulder Mike heard a steady beeping sound.

I'm in a hospital bed, Mike thought. Shit, Troy must have really done a number on me. Did he break my shoulder? It hurts like hell.

Mike looked over to his right, he winced with the sharp stab of pain he felt in his shoulder. His mom had been talking to a girl, her hand on her shoulder. The girl looked at Mike when she heard the sound of his pain.

Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. The sad look on her face made it even more beautiful than he thought originally. I'll bet she's a beautiful cryer. Mike's heart twinged.

Who is she? The pinging noise he heard started to sound faster, louder in its urgency. Mike barely heard it. He wanted to reach out to the girl and hug her in the hopes it might make her less sad than she was now.

The beeping seemed to be screaming now. Suddenly a nurse burst into the room, with Chief Hopper right behind her. She must have been doctor, not a nurse, she immediately took her stethoscope and plugged it into her ears.

"Are you ok honey?" His mom asked. The girl sitting beside her… she looked even sadder. The beeping almost sounded like screaming.

"His heart rate is accelerated! Are you ok? Do you feel any nausea or are you about to pass out?" The doctor asked.

"I'm fine."

"But…"

"I'm fine, it's her."

The girl's eyes went wide, and she suddenly looked embarrassed.

"What's her?"

Mike gave an exaggerated sigh. His face was already burning red.

"Ok, you're gonna make me say it. She's so pretty she makes my heart beat faster. Everyone happy now?"

XXXXX

Didi he? Did he just say I was pretty? That his heart was beating faster because… I'm pretty?

El was going to cry, she stood up right away and walked out of the room so nobody would notice.

Her dad followed her out.

"You ok honey?"

She pressed her lips together, started shaking her head and crumpled into his side. Her voice was hitching badly. She knew she was blubbering.

Her dad gave her a few minutes. "I'm not as stupid as you think I am," he joked, "I know you like this boy. It's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Talk to me?" She was down to sniffing

"Yeah, Wheeler was seriously injured there. Neither his mother or I can do anything about it, last time we did…" her dad nodded towards the room, "that degenerate Walsh did that to him. Who knows what he'll do next."

"What can I do?" Her dad saw the pleading in her eyes.

"I can't believe I'm going to suggest this, but if you kind of hang around him, use your ability to protect him if you need to. But be careful ok?"

"I will dad."

"You run into a problem, you call me. You. Call. Me."

She nodded.

They ran into Mrs. Wheeler on the way back into the room. "That shitfucking fuck." Her face was a mass of rage.

Her dad grabbed Mrs. Wheeler by the elbow and steered her to a quieter part of the hallway. El went back to sit with Mike.

"Mom knows everything now. I'm so screwed. I lost my lunch, no biggie, but I don't know where my backpack is, I have all my new books in it. That asshole Troy probably destroyed it and my bike."

"I grabbed your backpack, and gave it to Dustin to put in his locker. And I have your bike. My dad put it in the back of his truck."

"You're El Hopper." Mike stated the fact. "Max was going to be introducing us today. I didn't know he was your dad. Thanks, now if I can only ask my mom not to talk to the principal, I may live through the school year."

"I think my dad is talking to her about that."

"I'm sorry you had to get involved with that. I don't know why he doesn't bother Dustin or Lucas anymore. Wherever the hell they are right now."

"They are getting measured for suits. You don't need to be sorry Mike."

"Suits? What the hell for… oh. Yeah. Snowball." Mike laughed.

"You're not going?"

"That would be a no."

"I think I know why Troy doesn't pick on them. Suzie and Max are usually always around. I think he's scared of Max. But it's not that, I don't think he picks on boys with girlfriends."

"That's a back asswards way to impress a girl. Doesn't do me any good though."

"You don't have a girlfriend?"

Mike winced. El couldn't tell if it was from the pain in his shoulder, or the realization his heart just had.

"No."

Mike didn't say anything more. El decided to make decision and just offer.

"Mike? I could be like, your pretend girlfriend? That way Troy might leave you alone?"

Mike looked like he was thinking about it. He nodded slowly, "That could actually work. I mean, you wouldn't have to kiss me or anything, I wouldn't ask you to do that, but if we are seen together, and maybe hold hands so the right people see us… yeah. Yeah, that could work."

Oh Mike. I would kiss you in a second if you asked. El couldn't think about that. This was going to be a good idea for Mike but a really bad idea for her. What was she thinking?

"I mean, um, if that's ok with you? I wouldn't want your boyfriend to punch me, or anything. That's Troy's job."

"I don't have a boyfriend Mike." El looked down. The sadness had settled in her again.

"Oh, ok then. Um. Ok!"