hi there. doing a quick poll. what's the ideal chapter length. For reference, each chapter as of right now is around 4500, this chapter is almost exactly 4500. Would you like shorter chapters? Longer chapters? Or for the chapter length to stay the same? also i know i'm a bit late with this chapter, but I fell asleep, my bad
Words w/out AN: 4505
Pairing(s): Mileven, Lumax
I own nothing.
the social system: chapter four
The early morning sun was bright, but the cool autumn breeze was chilly. So El left her home with a combination of sunglasses and a sweater. Walking in the school parking lot felt pretty cool, since the sunglasses were new and she felt pretty bitchin' in them. There weren't many people in the parking lot in the morning, although the first bell had just rung.
Instead of entering the front door like she usually would, El headed over to a side door that led to the library.
El opened the door and walked into the library for the first time in three years. In her entire high school career, not once has she visited the library before.
It was fairly large. The floor was carpeted, unlike the rest of the school which was some shiny linoleum tile. On her left, a set of bookcases were packed with books of varying sizes, and on her right was a group of tables and chairs.
There were a few people spread amongst the tables, but she noticed Mike sitting in the furthest corner.
El smiled and walked over to him. He looked up when she got closer and smiled back.
"You're wearing sunglasses inside?" He asked, incredulous. "That's pretty badass. Also kind of redundant."
"What can I say, I am really cool." She shrugged, laughing at her sarcastic comment and removing her sunglasses.
Mike nodded, as if he was agreeing with her cool comment.
"Oh god, don't tell me you think I'm some super-cool popular chick." She groaned.
"Uhh, but you are pretty cool?" He said confused.
El sighed. "For some reason, everyone thinks I'm a super-cool badass-"
"That's what Dustin said, yeah." Mike nodded.
"Well, Dustin is feeding you lies." El said. "Everyone thinks I'm super-cool, just because my dad is the chief of police. It's so lame."
It was weird. El felt like the entire school had some sort of obsession with her. They called her popular but the only person she hung out with was Max. They called her cool, but El doesn't really do much of anything to deserve that title.
"Well I think you're super-cool because you're pretty funny and kind and stuff."
El tilted her head and smiled. "Aww. That's sweet."
She watched as Mike blushed. "You're pretty cool, too, Mike."
He laughed and shook his head. "Now, I know you have to be joking."
"I'm serious!" El argued. "You and your friends seem really nice. They care about you and that's cool."
"As much as I hate it, me and my friends are nerds. We watch geeky movies and play board games. And we actually try in school."
"Well, what's wrong with being a nerd, then?"
"People like Troy…" Mike muttered.
El nodded, understanding what he meant. Troy was always harassing someone, whether it was Mike or his friends.
A few moments of silence passed by.
"Well, that was pretty deep and meaningful. I feel like we learned something deeper about each other." El deadpanned in a joking way, trying to relieve some tension. She checked her watch. "And it's only half-past eight."
Mike laughed. "Yeah. I didn't think it'd get so serious. I just came here to study."
El sat up and snapped her fingers at him, a memory tingling in the back of her head. "Wait! It's like we learned each other's, uh, we learned the s-superhero thing…"
El thought for a moment. "It's like we learned our… tragic backstories! Yeah. It's like we just learned each other's origin stories, or something like that. From like, comic books and stuff!"
Mike's jaw dropped. He gaped at her for what seemed like a minute straight, without even blinking or talking or anything. El started to feel self-conscious under his scrutiny.
"Is it, uh, is it not origin story?" El asked. "Is it something different?"
Mike wildly shook his head. "No no. You got it right. It's an origin story or backstory or whatever."
"What's wrong then?" El asked, slightly blushing because of the way Mike was looking at her.
"Nothing. Nothing's wrong." Mike exhaled. "I'm just impressed that you knew something about comic books."
El's face tinged red at his compliments. She averted her eyes, instead noticing the few people that were in the library were giving them a death glare. El cringed. Maybe they were being too loud...
She refocused on Mike instead. "Well, thank you, but I do know how to use words." She pointedly said.
"I didn't mean it like that. I'm just saying...Someone like you shouldn't know about origin stories." He leaned closer to her, whispering. "Are you a secret nerd?"
El laughed, before quickly stifling herself. She wanted to avoid the negative attention they were getting in the once silent library. "No. I am not a secret nerd. But I've heard the phrase before and it seems pretty self-explanatory."
Mike shook his head. "I still can't believe-"
El shushed him, holding a finger up to his lips, but unable to fully close the gap with the table in the way. "We need to be quiet. The people in the library are getting mad at us."
He leaned in and whispered. "I still can't believe you spoke in nerd." Mike extended an arm and attempted to poke her face. "Are you even real?"
"Yes, I'm real." She swatted his poking arm away. "Now c'mon. Don't we have a schedule to work out for my tutoring?"
"I mean...We do. But I want-"
"Shhh!" El interrupted.
"I wanna know if you know anything else about comic books." Mike said in a hushed tone.
"There's like, Superman…and Batman?" She offered.
"I'm slightly disappointed. But it's okay, I'll just teach you it all."
El leaned in, whispering. "I'm pretty sure that you need to be teaching me something else."
She watched as Mike's face turned white. "Um, what, uh, I mean…I-I."
El just tilted her head, confused, until she realized and her face flushed. "Tutoring! I meant tutoring. That's it. Just tutoring."
Mike shakily laughed. "Haha. Good. That's what I thought you meant...I wasn't thinking about you meaning anything else."
Well, that was an obvious lie, even El could figure that out. She felt awkward because no, she didn't mean some lesson on making out, but the idea placed itself in her thoughts and for some reason wouldn't leave.
"...kissing…" She heard him mutter under his breath.
"What did you just say?" She chose to say.
"Uh, nothing? I said nothing?"
Mike released a long exhale, before calmly setting his face on the table.
El watched as his floofy hair settled in a mess around his head.
A moment passed before he lifted his head. "So we were going to figure out a schedule, right?"
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
They agreed on after school on Mondays, Wednesdays and maybe they might meet up on the weekend, or something, if they have time. Mike said he couldn't do Tuesdays and Thursdays because of AV Club. And El couldn't do Fridays or Saturday mornings because she hangs out with Max. It's been a tradition of sorts that started one day some time long ago, and hasn't stopped since.
Getting their study schedule worked out, El even mentioned dropping by every now and then during his first period spare.
"For fun." She had said.
Mike had only blushed as a response.
She and Mike walked to Calculus together and only received a few looks from random classmates. They were probably wondering what they were doing, walking the halls together, but El dutifully ignored them.
When they entered the class, Max also gave her a look. El glared back at her friend, mouthing back the name Lucas.
Over the past couple of days, Max had been teasing her nonstop about whatever it was that was happening between her and Mike.
So, El started teasing Max about her obvious crush on Lucas. Whenever El mentioned his name, her face would become redder than her hair. It was funny to watch, but El knew her friend and figured Max would somehow find a way to bring it up a notch.
Mike sat down and El took her seat behind him, smiling when he watched her walk past.
Max leaned into El, "Why'd you skip first?" She asked.
"I was with Mike." El whispered.
"Oh my god. You seriously ditched first period to hang out with a boy?"
"No!"
"Well, technically, yes."
"We were figuring out a schedule for when he would tutor me."
"Just tutoring, right?"
"Yes! Just tutoring. Gosh you really won't shut up about this, huh?"
"Considering you left me all alone in Biology…"
"I think I told you that I was skipping…"
"I might've said I was skipping. I can't really remember."
"Attention, please." Their teacher called out, as she got ready to start the class.
And that's where El stopped paying attention.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
Before she knew it, class was over. El gathered her things and waited as Max did the same.
She noticed Mike stand up, hastily shoving his binders into his bulging backpack.
"You know…" El started. "If you put any more books in there, I think your backpack will explode."
"I've had this for three years and it's been fine so far."
She watched as he struggled to lift his bag and rest it on her desk.
"How heavy is that thing?" Max commented.
"The usual." Mike shrugged.
Max attempted to lift his bag. She successfully was able to haul it. "You've been carrying this much weight for three years?"
Mike nodded.
"You must be secretly jacked then. Like this thing is seriously heavy."
"Uhh, thanks?"
"Let me try." El said, reaching out for the bag.
Max slid it her way.
She grabbed the soft handle and pulled up as hard as she could. She'd like to say that she lifted it with no problem.
But it was seriously heavy. Her arm shook with the effort and she could barely lift it a couple of centimetres above the desk.
Max smirked as Mike slung the backpack on.
"Alright then." El said. "Walking around school with that must be its own workout."
They started walking out of the classroom and Mike laughed. "More like a personal torture device. I think it's giving me early onset back problems, like scoliosis, or something. Three binders, three textbooks, a couple of books from the library and my lunch seem to add up to a lot of weight."
"What?" Max asked. "I have like three things in my bag."
"Oh, I also have an extra shirt in here."
"Why do you need an extra shirt?" El asked.
"Well, I took gym first year. And I needed to have a change of clothes for that."
"So you've had the same shirt in that bag for like, three years now?"
"What? No! Of course not. I change which shirt is in here every now and then. But some time during tenth grade, I spilt chocolate milk all over my shirt and had to sit through the rest of the day without a change of clothes. So from now on, I always have an extra shirt nearby."
El and Max laughed at his story. They all stopped at the intersection that led to the cafeteria.
"Well, this is me." Mike said.
"You could have lunch with us, again?" El offered, as Mike slowly backed toward the AV room.
"Your friends, too." Max added.
"Oh, thanks, but the guys and I are working on a project in the AV room."
El nodded, slightly disappointed.
"You guys could, uh, eat lunch with us? In the AV room." Mike offered. "I don't know if there's room, but we could probably clear some space on the table and bring in a couple of extra chairs."
El looked at Max, who just shrugged.
"Uh, yeah. We could do that. If it's not a problem. As long as your friends don't mind or anything."
"They won't mind." Mike said. "I'm sure Lucas will be thrilled."
"Oh, shut up." Max groaned, lightly punching Mike on the arm.
Mike fell in step with her and Max, leading them to the AV room. El felt slightly anxious. This would be the first time she hasn't had lunch in the cafeteria. Their lunch table would be empty. Although she doubted that many people would notice. Who would go out of their way to see if she and Max were eating lunch that day?
They walked up to the door and Mike opened it for them, although she thought it would probably open if she tried to open it.
"Hey Mike." The guys sitting at the table said, not bothering to lift their heads from what they were doing.
"Hey, guys." Mike said, walking to grab a couple extra chairs. He cleared a couple spots on the table, moving wires and electronics and stuff.
El took a tentative step forward and Max followed her.
"Here. You guys can sit here."
"We're already sitting do-" Lucas said, looking up. "Uhhhhhh." He said once he saw her and Max.
"Oh. Hello." Will greeted with a small wave.
El smiled and nodded her head.
"What's happening- Oh." Dustin said. "Hey guys. What's up?"
"Not much." Max replied. "Mike invited us for lunch."
"Did he?" Lucas squeaked.
"Cool." Will said. "We're working on a video project right now."
"That's cool." El said. "What for?"
"It's kinda like an introduction video." Dustin answered. "For all the staff and faculty members of the school."
El nodded and took a seat beside Mike, who had pulled out a sandwich.
Her and Max sat in silence, as they ate their lunch and Will, Lucas and Dustin worked on their video thing.
"Usually we talk more." MIke said, mouth stuffed with half a sandwich. "But they're in the zone right now. They're pretty focused so I'd doubt if they even notice me talking right now."
El didn't mind the silence. It was interesting to watch as the boys worked on whatever it is they were doing.
She noticed every now and then Dustin would casually look up at her and Max, as if he couldn't believe they were actually sitting there and he had to reassure himself.
And she didn't not notice how Lucas was also casually looking up at her and Max, but that was definitely for a different reason.
The boys' progress on their video thing dwindled down and Will called for a lunch break.
Mike waved his sandwich in the air. "Way ahead of you."
"Well, you're on top of things, huh?" Max commented, eliciting a laugh from Lucas while Mike glared.
El patted his arm. "Don't worry, you eating a sandwich before anyone else was super cool. You're like a hipster." She sarcastically reassured him.
He shifted his glare to her, now. For some reason, her words didn't seem like they made him feel better.
"So, tell me about your video thing." Max said.
"What do you wanna know?" Will asked.
"I don't know. Do you guys usually do this kind of stuff?"
"Yeah, sometimes." Lucas answered this time.
El stopped focusing on their conversation. Instead turning towards Mike. Her and Mike sat on the far side of the table. Kind of tucked away, while Max and the rest of the boys were closer to the other side.
"This was nice." El said to just Mike, knocking her knee against his and lowering her tone so only he could hear. "Inviting us here, I mean."
Mike leaned in. "It wasn't a problem or anything. I thought it might be fun or something."
"Well, it was nice. Usually we just eat lunch in the cafeteria."
"Eating lunch in the cafeteria? Like a regular person. How very not hipster of you." Mike teased.
"I guess you'll just have to teach us how to be ahead of the trends." El joked.
"I guess we can pencil it in some time. It won't be easy, though."
"Oh I'm sure it won't be." El nodded, playing along. "It'll probably be harder than the dreaded calculus work we're gonna do tonight."
"Tonight?" Mike asked her confused.
El rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you forgot already. We agreed on Mondays and-"
"Wednesdays." Mike finished. "I didn't forget. It just slipped my mind."
El shook her head. "You totally would've forgot about me if I didn't bring it up."
Mike looked her in the eyes before his gaze fluttered to his fidgeting fingers. "I could never forget you." He whispered.
El blushed when he said that. She couldn't form any words. Anything she tried to say got caught in her throat. They way he had said that had left her speechless. His words were so raw.
A small smile crept onto her face and she looked down at his hands, which had become perfectly still. They were both looking down, but she could see the blush on his neck out of the corner of her eye.
"Well, aren't you charming?" She mumbled, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"Yeah…" Mike said scratching the back of his neck. He wouldn't look her in the eye.
El cleared her throat and straightened the wrinkles in her jeans. "So, what do you think we're gonna do tonight?" El offered to try to clear the tension.
"I don't know. I think I'm probably gonna rewatch one of the movies I have."
"I meant for tutoring."
"Oh." Mike realised. "Yeah, that makes sense. I think we should start with factoring. There's a couple different ways to factor so we could go over them."
"Okay." El nodded. "Cool."
They were so engrossed in each other that they didn't notice the other people around the table talking.
Max tapped her on the arm. "El."
El tore her eyes away from Mike. "What's up?"
"Lunch is almost over. We need to get ready for gym."
El glanced at the clock. Five to twelve. Lunch was almost over and El still needed to grab her clothes and change.
"I left my clothes in my car, I think."
"You think?"
"Well, they should be in there. But I might've...forgot?"
"Well, I don't have another change of clothes." Max said.
"Doesn't Mike always carry an extra shirt?" Will piped in, smiling.
"Uhh…" Was all Mike said, as he glanced between his bag and El. "Yes?"
"Well, I might still have my shirt in my car…" El weakly protested.
"You can go check. And if you don't, you can borrow Mike's." Max suggested. "If that's cool with you, Mike?"
Mike shook his head. "Yeah. I don't see any problem."
"Okay then." El said. "Cool, cool, cool. I'm just gonna go check if I have the shirt, then." She gestured in the direction of the parking lot, everyone else in the room was watching her.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
So, Mike's shirt was too big for her.
Yes, she had to wear his shirt.
It made sense since he was about a head taller than her. But she figured she didn't realize until she put his shirt on and watched as it went past her thighs.
El tied a spare hair elastic around the bottom of his shirt, so it wouldn't flop around everywhere, which left a small exposed strip of skin around her stomach. Technically their school had a dress code and she doubted her wearing the shirt like this allowed, but no one had told her to take out the elastic yet, so she kept it in.
The shirt was pretty plain. Grey with some spaceship on the front or something. El figured it would probably be more nerdy or embarrassing or something if she actually knew what the design on the shirt was supposed to be.
It smelled like Mike, which was whatever cologne he used. It wasn't a bad smell, slightly comforting, if anything. It felt like Mike was right beside her, encompassing her when she put the shirt on. El reckoned this is probably why girls liked to wear their boyfriend's sweaters all the time.
Not like Mike was her, uh, boyfriend, or anything. He just leant her his shirt since she had forgotten hers. That's it.
El still felt weird taking his clothes, though. She felt like sharing clothes was just something couples did. Although she had occasionally borrowed clothes from Max. From the look of Mike's wide eyes, it looked like he felt the same way, although he didn't have any objections about giving her the shirt.
And the grin. The shit-eating grin on Will's face as he suggested the idea. Like he knew what he was doing and what it could mean.
Whatever though. She didn't care.
Okay, she cared a bit. But the smell of Mike was hazing her vision and she really didn't know what that meant.
In gym, they were running laps. Which was lame, but El didn't protest. The most annoying part was her hair that whipped back and forth on every step.
Max slowed down from ahead of her, matching her pace so they ran side by side.
"How's the shirt?"
"It's just a shirt."
"Is it though? Is it really?"
"Yes!"
"I don't know… The way you looked when Will brought up the idea suggested otherwise."
"I'll have you know, Will is a shit-disturber."
"You guys weren't that subtle, you know."
"What do you mean?"
"During lunch! You two were staring at each other with lovey-dovey eyes, completely oblivious to anything else that was happening around you. You were blushing every five seconds and Mike wasn't any better."
"He's a...cool...guy." El lamely offered.
"Oh, I'm sure he is. How's the shirt, again?"
"Shut uuupppp." El drew out the last word.
"I'm serious, though. You and Mike were off in your own world, having your own conversation. I literally said your name out loud, like, three times and you didn't notice until I tapped you on the arm."
"We were just...talking?"
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you have a crush on him." Max said. "Actually wait, I think I've been suggesting that for the past three days."
"I could say the same about you and Lucas."
"Well, maybe I do." Max shot back defiantly. "At least I could admit it."
El groaned. Did she have a crush on Mike?
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
Okay, so El had a crush on Mike.
She had only been talking to Mike for three days but she's already realized that he's perfect. He's sweet, funny, kind, generous and more. By far one of the most genuine people she's met at this school. Everyone else in school that she has ever talked to, except for Max, of course, had treated her as some kind of idol. While it seemed like Mike actually wanted to talk to her, and get to know her.
She came to this revelation during their first study session. He was trying to balance a pencil on his lip, like it was a mustache, and El couldn't contain her laughter. They had already been shushed three times by the librarian, and they had moved closer to the far end of the library in an attempt to avoid her.
As he focused on balancing the pencil, El focused on him. She stared at his face. Curls of his hair came down over his forehead. His freckles radiated across his defined cheekbones and his brown eyes were focused on watching the pencil.
El didn't know if she had a type, but she didn't see anything wrong with the guy in front of her.
She was still wearing his shirt during their tutoring session, something Mike had commented on as she walked into English.
She couldn't find the willpower to take it off after gym, instead deciding to wear it for the rest of the day.
Not to mention, she noticed how his eyes had flitted down to the revealed strip of skin when she walked into class. She had watched as his face flushed and he pulled at the collar of his shirt.
"I like your shirt." He commented.
"I like it too." She agreed and boldly said. "I might need to keep it."
She laughed at the face he made when he heard that.
But then their teacher requested the class' attention and Mike and El busied themselves reading.
After class El and Mike walked to the library together. She noticed the look that Will was giving them but she easily disregarded him and pulled Mike in the direction of the library.
And in Mike's defence, he had successfully taught her some factoring. Just not very much. But after like, twenty minutes El's brain couldn't take anymore and anything Mike had previously said was slowly leaking out. She figured it'd be better to put a plug on what she had successfully learned and quit while they were ahead.
They instead spent the rest of their time in the library laughing and joking around. Trying to use pencils as fake mustaches and other fun things that would make the librarian glare at them.
El peered over at the clock in the corner of the room. Her dad would be home from work at the station soon, so she figured she should probably get ready to leave.
"I think I need to leave. My dad will get home soon." She told Mike.
Mike glanced at the clock. "Oh, wow. It's later than I thought it was."
"Hopefully this tutoring session was successful, and that you learned something." He continued on.
She learned something alright.
"Yeah, it was fun. Although my brain shuts off at like, the twenty-minute mark. So we might need to meet up more often than we first thought if we want to get through it all."
"Yeah." Mike jumped at the idea. "We could do that. We can figure it out tomorrow or something."
El was feeling fairly brave. So she stepped forward and extended her arms to hug Mike. He was stiff in her arms, but after a small gasp left his lips, he raised his arms and returned the hug.
El pulled away before she allowed herself to fully appreciate the hug, leaving it short enough to not send too many messages. "I'll see you tomorrow, Mike."
"What? Yeah, I-I'll uh see you tomorrow?"
El gathered her things, stuffing them in her bag and waved goodbye to Mike as she exited the library. She contained her giddiness until she was sure she was out of sight from Mike.
El wondered when she would tell Max about her personal discovery. Her friend would probably say something along the lines of "I knew it!" or "About time."
She reasoned that maybe she should just keep it to herself, for now.
El entered her car and drove home.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
"Hey kid." Her father called out to her, once he had gotten a proper look at her after coming in from work.
"What's up?" El asked.
"Who's shirt is that?"
hello! here is another chapter. i'm not gonna lie. i have no idea where i'm going with this fic lol. i have some semblance of a story in my head and transferring it into words and actually making it interesting is becoming kind of difficult. also theres a few key points/scenarios that i think i need to write about before the story is over that way it feels more complete but spacing them out is getting kinda weird.
either way i guess i'll just write until i can't anymore lol. as always, all mistakes are mine and I hope you all enjoyed.
also review pls, i truly appreciate them.