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the social system: chapter five


Mike had a lot of fun tutoring El. If that's what he could even call it, considering they spent 80% of their time joking around instead of actually tutoring.

Which on one hand, isn't a problem. Anytime Mike got to hang out with El was a good time. But on the other hand, if Mike actually wanted to help her learn something, then they're going to have to actually settle down and do work for an hour or two straight, every time they meet up.

Speaking of which, Mike needed a way to contact her. If he had to wait until they saw each other in Mrs. Sanders' calculus class then they'd never get anything done.

Which probably meant he had to ask for her phone number.

Which wasn't a big deal or anything, of course. Why would it be?

People who tutor other people have their phone numbers. Friends have each other's phone numbers. It shouldn't be that hard to ask for El's phone number, after all, he was both of those things.

He can do this. Why couldn't he do this? It's not even a big deal.

Although…

Max liked to tease him for stuff like this. His friends would probably tease him for something like this.

Maybe it'd be best to ask her for her number alone

But like, that could make it seem like he was going to ask her... on a date, or something.

And Mike didn't want to make things uncomfortable for her. If Mike asked her on a date, and she said no, that would make every time they hung out in the future weird.

No. He had to ask her casually. Like he was just a friend trying to get in contact.

Which was what he was, right?

Maybe it'd be best to just wait until they met up in Mrs. Sanders' class.

Hey El, uh, c-could I have your phone number?

Mike blushed. Gosh, that sounded pathetic, even in his head. How did he manage to stutter? He didn't even say anything out loud, yet.

I need your phone number.

No, that sounded too desperate. Or maybe it sounded too assertive. Mike didn't know. He couldn't even ask her for her phone number, what was he going to do when she answered him. If, she answered him. That's assuming Mike would be able to find the courage to ask her at all.

No, Mike. I'm not giving you my number, nerd, he could imagine her saying.

Okay, maybe she wouldn't insult him, but rejection was still a very possible option.

And it's not like Mike was even asking her on a date! He just needed to set up more times to tutor her. Which is, like, a totally different thing.

Gosh, if Mike ever did ask her out on a date, his brain would probably shut down, or he'd go crazy, or something.

Not like he ever would ask her on a date, or anything. The idea hadn't drifted into his mind over the past couple of days. Not even once. This was the first time he's ever even thought about dating her. Yep.

It's not like he's looked into her eyes and found himself smitten. Imagining possible futures where he's asked her out and she hasn't said no.

It's not like just the sight of her made him smile. And whenever she laughed at one of his stupid jokes made his heart do summersaults.

So maybe he did want to ask her out.

But, just like with the phone number, rejection was a possibility Mike didn't want to face.

He could imagine El laughing at him if he asked her. Because really, why would she want someone like him?

He was a nerd, and as much as he hated it, it was true.

And El was some super awesome person, who was funny, kind. Just all-around cool to be with.

Not to say that Mike was obsessed with El, but he wasn't obsessed with her in the way Dustin was.

Dustin thought she was cool and would make the rest of them cool by hanging out with her. But in reality, El was her own kind of cool. Where she didn't care what other people thought. Being around people like that can't make you cool. You needed to realize that being cool isn't even that cool.

Wow. Mike really was a hipster. He has also never said the word cool so many times before.

But either way, El was more than some superficial status quo, developed by teenagers that went to the same school as her, but didn't actually know her.

Mike sighed. Realization and self-discovery were cool and all, but it didn't change the fact that rejection was still a very real possibility.


O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O


"Hey, El." Mike said, catching up to her in the hallway at school.

"Hello, Michael." She replied, slowing down to let him walk in pace with her.

Mike scrunched his face up at the word Michael, making El laugh.

"What's up?"

Mike didn't answer her question, instead looking El over. Her hair was curled. That was new. Mike's only ever seen her with straight hair.

She bumped her shoulder against his upper arm when he hadn't said anything.

"I like your hair." He blurted.

"Thank you." El smiled, looking forward, before looking back to Mike. "You look like you need something from me."

It's just a number, Mike thought.

"Unless you came all the way over here to compliment my hair?" She teased.

"Um. I, uh, I need-" El raised her eyebrows at him when he couldn't form a coherent sentence.

"Can I have…" Mike slowly said, enunciating each word. He tilted his head. "...Your number?"

El eyes lit up. Probably glad he managed to spit out an understandable sentence.

She raised an eyebrow. "We've only been talking for three days, Mike. Already asking me out on a date?"

Mike blushed. "Uhh…"

"Because, I'll have you know, I prefer going out to eat, but I've really wanted to see this one new movie, so I wouldn't mind doing that, either."

Mike looked at El after his blush settled down. A twinkle in her eye told Mike she was teasing him.

"Haha. Funny and original." Mike said, sticking his tongue out at her.

"Wow," She replied. "Sticking your tongue out. Cute and mature."

Mike laughed, ignoring the cute comment. She was just being sarcastic anyway.

"I still need your number."

"And I need to go watch that movie."

"Noted." Mike said, storing the information for later. Did she want to see it with him? Or was she just saying it, in general. "But I need your number to make it easier for us to set up times to study. After all, we're probably going to need to meet up, like, twice as much."

"So you aren't asking me on a date?" She said coyly.

Mike looked at her. El was staring ahead. Her tone of voice hadn't changed and Mike didn't notice any disappointment.

"No." Mike said.

"Truly a disappointment." She nodded, smiling when Mike looked at her to let him know she was joking.

Something inside of him hoped she wasn't.


O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O


Now, Mike hadn't officially admitted anything. As far as Mike was concerned, he was perfectly happy spending an unhealthy amount of time in denial.

But Will cornered him before English class, demanding he spill the beans about what's happening between him and El.

"What?" Mike asked, incredulous. "Nothing's happening between us."

"Everyone knows that something is happening."

"Did the other guys put you up to this? Did they make you ask me?" Mike asked because Will never asked questions like this. Usually, he was the most sensitive to other people's feelings.

"No."

"Then why are you being so invasive?"

"Because you're my... friend?" Will suggested. "And I want my friend to be happy."

Mike shook his head. "Nothing is happening between me and El."

"Well, do you want something to happen?" Will asked, throwing Mike completely off guard.

"What? Uh, well... I mean- I guess I wouldn't mind-" He started to admit.

"Hey, guys!" El interrupted, making Mike smack his mouth closed to avoid blurting out anything else on the subject.

"What are you guys talking about?" She asked.

"Uhh…"

"The new D&D campaign we're doing this weekend." Mike supplied.

Will looked towards Mike, eyes wide. "You said we wouldn't be doing one this weekend."

"Ah, shit. Right. Uh, we won't be. That is correct." Mike nodded.

"Alright then, weirdos." El glared suspiciously at them before bounding off to her and Mike's seat.

"Are we actually gonna do a campaign this weekend?" Will asked.

"Can you keep a secret?" Mike asked although he's not sure why he did. Obviously, Will can keep a secret. He was probably the most trustworthy member of the Party.

Will nodded.

"We're doing a campaign alright. We're doing our largest campaign yet."

"Even larger than the one we did during the summer?" Will asked, astonished.

Mike nodded and a giant smile erupted on Will's face. "I want it to be a secret, to surprise the guys."

"Yeah, sure thing, man."

Mike watched Will head to his desk, ready to start the class. He wanted to surprise Will with the campaign, too, but at least he wasn't asking about his small crush on El anymore.


O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O


"You guys are weird." El said when Mike sat down beside her in English.

"Please. Because you're so normal." Mike crossed his arms, laughing.

El shook her head and Mike found himself following her bouncing curls. "I'm better than normal. I'm amazing."

"And humble, too." Mike commented, still looking at the curls in her hair.

It's like he was captivated by them. He wanted to touch them, which admittedly sounded weird, but Mike learned a long time ago (during the past few days, repressing his feelings for El) that you can't help the way you feel. You can only repress your feelings for so long.

"I like your hair, by the way."

"I'm pretty sure you said that already?" El grinned.

"Well, I wanted to say it again…" Mike bashfully said.

"Well, thank you." El said, looking forward and tucking a curl behind her ear.

Their English teacher called out to the class, prepared to start his lesson.

Mike turned to El, reaching out without thinking and tugging one of her curls lightly. He watched as it bounced up and down.

El didn't react or turn to look at him, instead staring at their teacher. He noticed the hints of a blush on her face. "Did you just pull one of my curls?"

"I did." Mike confirmed. "They are bouncy. Kinda like a spring, actually. You could probably determine the spring constant if we had the right tools to measure it." He spoke animatedly, his eyes lighting up when he spoke about a subject he was interested in. In this case, physics.

El stopped paying attention to the lesson. She looked at him. "The spring constant?"

"Yeah, it's a number that..." Mike started, before stopping. "Actually, that sounds nerdy. That probably just sounded really nerdy."

"What? No. It wasn't that nerdy." El shook her head. "Actually, yes. It was really nerdy. But that's okay."

Mike raised his eyebrows at her, not believing her.

"I'm serious!" She defended. "You were passionately talking about something you enjoy. That's not a bad thing. If anything it was cute."

"Cute?" Mike asked, scrunching his face together.

El blushed slightly, but nodded her head.

"Alright, then." Mike nodded, grabbing another curl and pulling it down, before turning to the front of the class to pay attention to their lesson.

She kicked his leg under the desk in response and Mike tried not to smile too hard.


O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O


Their teacher had finished teaching the lesson and told the class to pull out their books and start reading.

El pulled out their copy of King Lear and opened it up to the last page they were on. Ever since Mike started reading with El he had actually started to like the book.

Shakespeare. He had started to like Shakespeare.

And maybe it was because El would playfully tease him, or they would make jokes as they read along together. She made the whole reading experience a lot more enjoyable.

Mike thought it was pretty funny. He was the one who did great in school, but only did okay in classes like English. While El was the one who needed tutoring, but seemed to be the one helping Mike, in English.

It's like payback, for tutoring her. Mike helped her in her math classes. She helped him in English.

During their reading time, Mr. Jacobs walked up to them.

"I have some good news, guys." He directed towards El and Mike, they both looked up to him. "We received the extra books needed for you two! I still need to put labels on them saying that they're the property of the school and stuff like that, but you guys won't need to be partners anymore."

Mike blanched and looked at El. She wasn't smiling, which hopefully counted for something, but her expression was unreadable.

Mike on the other hand, wasn't that happy. He really liked reading with El. She made it way more fun than just reading on his own. He also suspected that she had only started reading because he had gone and made her that original copy of the homework. So, she felt like she had to make it up to him by actually trying in class.

But now they were both so far into the book that they didn't want to stop.

At least, that's what Mike hoped.

"You know…" Mike started to say, unsure of how to voice his thoughts.

But oh, Mr. Jacobs. I love reading with El, she makes it so much fun!

Yeah. Because that wasn't weird.

"It's not that big of a deal…" He heard El say beside him.

"Oh, please. You guys get the new books." Mr. Jacobs said with a smile before walking off.

El placed their book face down. They didn't say anything for a moment.

Mike looked at her and a small frown was on her face.

"You know…" Mike started. "My bag's already so heavy. I don't know if I'd even be able to fit another book in there…"

El smiled and nodded. "Exactly. I wouldn't want you to get more back pains or anything."

"Yeah." Mike agreed. "Maybe it'd just be best if we kept everything the same? You keep our book in your ridiculously light backpack."

"Yeah." El nodded enthusiastically, her eyes lighting up. "It just seems like the best and safest option for everyone involved. I keep the book and we can continue to read together."

Mike smiled and looked towards his hands. He was glad him and El were on the same page. For Mike's safety of course.

He watched El smile. She picked up their book and opened it to the bookmarked page.

Mike felt her press her foot against his leg under the desk. It felt different than when she playfully kicked him earlier. It was soft and lingered.

He knew what it meant. And although they technically hadn't said it out loud… Mike was glad he could read the book with El, too.

He pressed his foot against her leg in return, lingering for a moment or two longer than necessary.

And if their feet found each other a couple more times during the rest of the class, then so be it.


O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O


"I'm sorry," Will said, walking up to Mike when he was alone after class.

Mike looked at him, confused. "For what?"

"For pressuring you about your feelings with El. You said I was being invasive and you're right." Will apologized.

"Dude. You were right." Mike looked around. "I totally have a crush on El. I've just been denying it the past few days because, well…"

"She's super cool and you aren't?" Will supplied helpfully.

Mike glared at him. "...Yes."

"Well, still. I should've been more respectful of your feelings."

"Dude, it's fine." Mike confirmed. "I don't wanna have to keep stuff like that from my best friends. I should've told you guys about it sooner. Maybe you would've been able to help me."

"Oh, wow. This is very unexpected." Will said. "I didn't think you'd actually admit anything."

"I guess I'm in a good mood."

The two started to walk towards the AV Club. The halls were empty so they could talk without fear of being overheard.

"I wasn't lying, either." Will said. "When I said that I wanted you to be happy. I think you should make a move on her."

"Let's slow down for a moment." Mike said, holding his hands up. "There is a big difference between wanting to ask her out, and actually doing it.

"She totally likes you back. If you asked her out, I'm sure she'd say yes."

"Okay, but what if she doesn't?"

"That's not gonna happen!"

"It totally could happen." Mike argued, refusing to believe Will, because let's face it El could literally choose anyone at this school to date.

"Dude." Will said, stopping in the middle of the hallway. "You need to stand up for yourself more. You need to have more self-confidence."

"Self-confidence?" They heard coming from an opening door.

Troy, Mike scowled.

"What do you want, Troy?" Mike said, crossing his arms.

"C'mon, Mike, we should just leave." Will suggested in a low tone.

Mike didn't move fast enough though, because Troy closed the distance between them quickly.

Did he hear what we were talking about? Mike thought. If he did, they were in trouble. Troy would have no problem spreading to the entire school that Mike Wheeler had a hopeless crush on El Hopper.

It didn't seem like he heard what they were talking about, though. Or else he would've made fun of them for it by now. He seemed to only catch the tail end of Mike and Will's conversation.

Still not good though, Mike thought. Since now Troy was going to make fun of his lack of confidence or some other stupid thing like that.

Mike looked at Will, who was slowly backing away. He seemed nervous, which was understandable, since Mike was pretty nervous, too.

"Lighten up, nerds." Troy spat. "You two were just having a conversation about how Frogface, here doesn't have any self-confidence. Don't let me interrupt you."

"What are you even doing here?" Mike asked although it was a stupid question. Mike knew there was football practise after school today. He should've just walked away like Will suggested.

"I'm on the football team. Which is way cooler than that nerdy video club you have with all your other friends."

"Cool." Will said dismissively, tugging Mike in any direction away from here.

"Hey, where are you guys off to in a hurry? Off to go make out or something?"

Will frowned and looked down. Mike scowled. "Don't say shit like that, dude. What is wrong with you?"

"Hey!" Troy said, sneering at Mike. "I heard about you and El. She's pretty hot, not gonna lie. You don't mind if I go for her, right? After all, you've got fairy, over there."

Mike stepped closer to Troy. No one said stuff like that to his friends. Not to Will, or El, or anyone. Sure, Troy had been a dick to them before, but he's never gone this far.

The predatory gleam in Troy's eyes when he mentioned El made him sick. And the amusement he got degrading Mike and his friends were borderline sociopathic.

"Man, the things I would do to her…" Troy maliciously smiled.

And Mike snapped. He took another step closer to Troy, clenching his fist, prepared to finally stand up for his friends, like Will said he needed to.

"Mike, stop." He heard behind him, but it didn't matter. Mike was seeing red and he needed to do something.

Troy reacted first though, shoving Mike hard when he got too close. Mike stumbled backwards, crashing into a row of lockers behind him before crumpling to the floor, landing on his arm.

Will rushed to him and Troy laughed.

"Losers…" He muttered, shaking his head before walking away.

Mike watched as Troy turned the corner before letting Will pull him up.

"Are you okay?"

Mike shook his head and rubbed his wrist. The adrenaline was wearing off and landing on his wrist didn't feel too great.

"God, I hate that jerk."

Will nodded. They started walking to the AV room again, this time in silence.

"My wrist is probably gonna bruise." Mike said, watching his skin turn red.

"We can put ice on it now?" Will suggested although Mike didn't know where they would get any ice.

"We can do that when we all go to my house tonight." Mike waved it off, the movement causing a flare-up of pain.

Mike winced, he didn't think it was broken since he could move his fingers, but he wouldn't be surprised if it was either really badly bruised or sprained.

"God. Did you hear the things he said about you and El?" Mike asked Will. "It was terrible."

Will tried for a joke. "Well, now you can tell El you defended her honour. I'm sure that'll help you two get together."

"Are you kidding?" Mike asked, his shoulders slumped. "I couldn't even defend myself, much less my friends or her honour. Why would she want someone like that?"


O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O


"What the hell, man?" Dustin exclaimed when he heard what happened to Mike.

Lucas nodded in agreement. "Dude, Troy sucks. He was in the gym when I tried out for the basketball team, yesterday."

"Did you make it, by the way?" Will asked.

"Course I did." Lucas smirked. "But what are we gonna do about Troy?"

"What can we do?" Mike said, rubbing his wrist. "He's always been a jerk, but just then... he was a creep, too."

"Well, yeah. He said some weird shit about El, which is bad." Dustin said. "But he also injured you and made fun of Will. We gotta do something."

"We could egg his house?" Will suggested.

"It doesn't matter that he injured me." Mike shook his head. "I just don't like what he did to El or Will."

"Okay, we get that you're trying to stand up for your girlfriend or whatever." Dustin said. "But-"

"She's not my girlfriend." Mike interrupted automatically. He had gotten used to saying that whenever one of his friends had mentioned El.

"Dude. We're trying to help."

"No, you're trying to get revenge." Mike spat, apparently madder than he thought he was. He took a moment to calm down.

"We've never egged a house before. We haven't slashed tires or keyed cars, and we never will. Let's just work on the video project so I can get home and rest." Mike continued on.

Dustin sat back down in his chair and Lucas nodded. The room was quiet.

"Did anyone bring any snacks?" Lucas asked, breaking the silence.


O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O


The boys were making serious progress on their video project. It should be almost halfway done by the end of the next AV Club meeting.

Sure, they bickered a lot, but they worked well as a team. It's one of the things that made their D&D campaigns so much fun.

The almost finished campaign Mike was secretly working on was the only thing on his mind. All thoughts of Troy had faded away and Mike was genuinely excited.

"Alright, so, Mike and El." Dustin said, holding up his hand to get everyone's attention. "Can we officially talk about this?"

Mike groaned. He placed his head facedown on the table and used his arms to cover his blush.

"Are you calling a Party meeting?" Will asked, as if the event was some sacred ritual.

The Party met all the time, whether it was to play video games at the arcade or like now, working in the AV room. But when a Party meeting was called for, it suddenly became serious. It was like a non-emergency Code Red.

"I think I am." Dustin confirmed.

"Alright then." Lucas nodded. "Meeting adjourned."

"Are you using that word right?"

"Adjourned? I think so, yeah."

"Guys. Focus." Dustin snapped his fingers at them, pointing at Mike.

"Are we seriously calling a Party meeting for this?" Mike asked.

"Yes, Michael. This is serious."

Mike held his hands up in surrender. He figured if he wanted to tell his friends about his small, tiny really, crush on El, now may as well be the best time.

"What would you like to know?" Mike asked the other Party members.

"Are you and El dating?" Dustin asked, narrowing his eyes.

"And is Max single?" Lucas added on.

Dustin shook his head, shooting a glare at Lucas.

"Me and El are not dating." Mike answered. "And how am I supposed to know?"

"I don't know!" Lucas cried. "You've talked with her, like, twelve more times than me."

Dustin looked at Will, throwing his hands up in an are you seeing this gesture.

"So, you aren't dating her." Dustin said.

"Yes."

"Well, why not?" Dustin demanded. "She's pretty cool."

"What's with you and how cool she is?" Mike asked. "You've hung out with her for a bit. You've seen how cool she is. It's been like three days. Are you expecting to become instantly cool after talking to her?"

"No! Obviously not. That's a thing that happens over time. Maybe we need to hang out with her more…" Dustin said, stroking his non-existent beard. Mike didn't like the look on his face.

"Alright…"

There was a moment of silence as Mike watched Dustin scheme.

"Do you plan on asking her out?" Will asked.

"No!" Mike exclaimed.

"Why not? She would totally say yes if you did." Lucas said.

Will nodded.

"God, she's almost as bad as you are." Dustin said. "Every time you two talk, she always makes super-obvious heart eyes at you."

"She does?" Mike asked, feeling hopeful.

"Yes! And you're always making them back. You two need a room or something…"

Mike blushed but didn't bother hiding it. A smile broke out on his face. "Do you guys really think I have a chance?"

"Dude, you don't see her hanging out with any other guys at school, do you?"

Mike nodded. No, he didn't. El may have been able to choose any guy she wanted at school to date, but he didn't see her even talking to anyone else.

He somehow smiled even wider. "Alright, then. I'll do it."

"There you go!" Will cheered.

"Round of applause." Dustin called out, mock clapping. "For the man who finally came to his senses."

Mike shook his head, his face turning red. He decided to embellish his friends. He stood up and waved his hand. "Thank you, thank you. I'll take any and all questions now."

Lucas made a fist, pretending to speak into a microphone. "How do you plan on asking her?"

Mike frowned. How was he gonna ask her? Did it matter? Did he need to wait for some moment? "Uhh…"

"Oh, god. He doesn't know." Dustin muttered.

"He's screwed…"

"What? He's not screwed…" Will weakly defended. "He just needs to figure out how he's gonna ask her."

Will looked at Mike expectantly, as if Mike was supposed to reveal his master plan.

"Uhh, I guess I could ask her while we study? She mentioned she wanted to go see a movie, maybe we could do that..."

"Wow, a natural romantic." Dustin sarcastically said.

"Wait, she told you she wanted to see a movie?"

"Uhh, yeah?" Mike asked, confused.

"That was an obvious hint that she wants to see the movie, with you!"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"That could be good…" Will said. "They'll be alone."

"Yeah." Lucas said. "And apparently she thinks he's charming or something… So as long as he doesn't make a complete fool of himself-"

"Like usual." Dustin chirped.

"Then he should be fine."

"So, this plan revolves around Mike not making a fool of himself?" Dustin asked. "You could've just said we're screwed."

"We're?" Mike asked because how are his friends suddenly a part of his potential relationship with El.

"We are heavily invested in you and El." Will said as if reading his mind.

"Yeah, we're basically a part of your relationship, too."

Mike sighed, looking around. All progress on their video project has halted. They probably weren't going to get any more done, either. At least until next Tuesday.

"You guys are definitely not a part of me and El's relationship." Mike said, crossing his arms.

"Technically, you guys don't have a relationship." Dustin said, making Mike scowl.

"Not yet." Mike said.

"That's the spirit!" Will encouraged.

"Now, all we need to do is hope she doesn't painfully reject you." Lucas said, trying for a joke.

"You didn't need to add painfully."


O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O


Mike rifled through his freezer, looking for the tray of ice cubes. His wrist had swollen a little bit, but he could still mostly use it.

Just bruised, he thought, lucky it wasn't sprained or even worse, broken.

To be honest, Mike thought that his wrist should've broken. His entire body weight, plus the weight of his backpack had landed directly on his wrist. The whole thing sounded a lot worse than it was.

Either way, it still hurt trying to move his wrist in certain ways, so he resigned to looking for some ice to maybe help it settle down.

The area around his wrist had turned a deep shade of red. It was pretty noticeable against his pale complexion.

His mom was going to kill him when she noticed.


hey so this isn't my best work, not gonna lie. the quality of this chapter probably isn't as up to par as i'd like it to be but there are some fun moments. this chapter also contains some major turning points, like Mike being determined to ask El out. so we'll definitely see some fun in future chapters. speaking of future chapters, i went and made a story outline. and it seems like this story is going to be ten chapters long. which is coincidentally the personal mark that i wanted to hit for my first multi-chap. but these next couple chapters is when stuff starts to become interesting. so definitely look out for those. either way, all mistakes are mine (although i try and do a pretty decent job editing these for grammar and spelling mistakes) and i hope you all enjoyed.

ps. quick message.

i read every review, i try and reply to every review (i've been slacking lately, not gonna lie but i'll try and catch up.) i see and notice everyone who follows and favourites. And i truly appreciate each and every one of you who does that. You readers mean the world to me and if that isn't made clear enough, i'd like to make it clearer. Thank you for sticking with this story (through the ups and downs) and thank you for sticking with me. It means the world.

wow that was cheesy, but i'm in a good mood so it's okay