Summer School
Mike wasn't going to take "we'll see" for an answer.
He called the Party over every morning, and they brought books, and homework from the previous year to Mike's basement.
He'd told them that he wanted everyone to have fun during the summer so they wouldn't go really heavy on the lessons, and they would take regular breaks.
El was very enthusiastic and put a lot of hard work into her lessons. Mike knew they weren't teachers so had no way of actually assessing her progress, they'd just assumed that when El got her answers right she was learning and getting an education. So they gave her more and more work to do.
One day Mike noticed that El had stopped writing in her notebook. She was crying but trying to hide it.
"Uh, guys, can you give us a minute?"
Dustin took the hint and indicated to the rest of the party that they should head outside.
"Mike…" El was having a hard time talking through the tears. "This isn't g-g-going to w-work, I'm not sm-smart enough, I feel like you are deliberately making the lessons tougher so that I will fail an assessment exam."
"El." Mike came over and once again kissed her tears away. "If you had heard yourself speak just now you'd know that your language skills are very good. Probably better than the rest of us right now."
"Do you think so?" El sniffed and looked at him with those eyes. Mike would do anything for those eyes. Anything at all.
"I do El. You worked harder than any of us ever have in school. Maybe we did push you too hard." He looked down. "I'm really sorry El, we… I only wanted to help."
"You did Mike, I was feeling a little overwhelmed. It didn't feel like I was making any progress... give me a minute ok?"
El got up and headed for the bathroom. Mike was feeling guilty. Not only had they given her more work to do, but they had been using books from the next school year… and the one beyond that. Dustin and Lucas admitted that they were reaching a point where they couldn't tutor anymore because they didn't know the material themselves. "At least we think she can do alright with the assessment exam. That's coming up soon." Mike had said. He knew now that it was all they could do for now.
When El came back out she looked fresh, her eyes were clear and… prettier? Was that possible? Mike thought. It must have been, because he could barely talk.
"Um, wow, El. Um… you're really pretty."
She blushed and looked down, "thank you Mike. I'm ready to go on..."
"Uh, yeah about that. We pushed you really hard, so not only are we done for today… um, we are done El. We um, we cheated a little bit and did stuff way behind where we were. We couldn't teach you anything more because we don't know it ourselves...it's a bit sneaky… but we..I didn't lie to you."
El looked him in the eyes, "because Friends Don't Lie… right?"
"Right El. I think you can take the assessment exam now, and at least get to the point where you can go to school with us."
The party sat in the chairs. Mike's knee was bouncing up and down so much Hopper finally had to speak up, "Relax kid, she'll do fine. I saw the work you were tutoring her with. You pushed her pretty hard, but I think it paid off."
"Do you think so?" Mike asked, "she'd been in there a long time."
"The way these exams work, is you keep going until you can no longer answer any of the questions. Then they evaluate the level you reached. If El had come out an hour ago, I might have been worried, but not not now. You did good kid."
The library door opened. Mike stood up. El came out, her head hung low. She looked pale. Paler than usual. Oh shit, Mike thought. She took a deep breath and looked up, smiled at Mike. Not just a smile, a red giant star going supernova smile. She rushed Mike and toppled him over, landing on top of him, smothering his face with kisses.
Hopper went into library to talk to the teachers.
"Not in front of the kids." It was Dustin.
"Let me guess, you did ok?" Max said.
"I knew you could, you were learning stuff the rest of us don't even know yet." Lucas said.
El got up and pulled Mike to his feet. She continued to kiss him. Mike's face was flushed, but El didn't stop.
He gave her a weak smile, "I guess it went ok."
El nodded and kissed him one last time, then gave the rest of the party a hug, each in turn.
"I think I'm going to get to go to a real school with my friends. And I have my friends to thank for it." She was looking at Mike.
El's confidence level had been given a major boost. In the fall she'd started hanging around other girls with Max. She had a few classes with Mike, but not all of them. They seemed to be spending less time together. Mike was ok with that, she seemed to be coming out of her shell, more so than Mike himself. She hadn't had any more episodes, but Mike knew she always carried a Three Musketeers with her all the time.
He was also aware that other guys seemed to be taking an interest in her. He wasn't really surprised, El was a pretty girl. Any guy should consider himself lucky as hell to be her boyfriend.
And that's me, Mike thought to himself smiling. El is my girlfriend. Life could not be any better.
But it could be worse. Much worse. And Mike's world came crashing down around him when he opened his locker and saw an envelope with his name on it. It was El's perfect handwriting.
Uh oh. Mike picked it up and ripped it open. There was one page. He didn't read it. He didn't need to.
Because that last five words at the bottom of the page said it all.
"We can still be friends"