[A/N] Thanks for the follows and favorites, everyone! I'm glad to see that my readers are enjoying the fanfiction. Anyways, here's today's chapter. Sorry It doesn't have as much action or suspense as most, but it's okay to have some fluff every now and then, right? :P
"You go to school dances with someone that… You know, someone that you like".
"A friend?".
"No, not a friend" – Michael Wheeler and Jane Hopper.
The gentle light blue of the sky had smoothly turned into light yellow, then amber, then crimson and finally black. It was a particularly beautiful night, with billions of stars glowing white upon the town like countless lighthouses shining to each other. Away from the sharp eyes of the birds, crickets now happily hissed on the grass to bring life to the nocturnal silence.
A welcoming yellow light radiated from inside the Wheelers' residence, where the TV had been on for a while now to entertain the group of kids who sat around and ate the snacks Mrs. Wheeler had made them.
Dustin claimed the La-Z Boy for himself after winning a dispute of rock-paper-scissors against Will, who was currently curled up in a blanked on a chair next to the couch. A very sleepy Mike sat on the couch with Jane lying down on it with her head on his lap. Lucas sat on an armchair next to Will's and Max, with nowhere left to sit, simply sat on the armrest of Lucas' chair.
They were watching Star Wars: A New Hope, a classic they all – Except for Jane – had watched several times before. Jane was amazed by it, especially by the concept of The Force, which was something incredibly similar to her powers. The movie was at its very end and the kids were losing interest on it already. Not too long went by before the credits were rolling in and the Party was getting up from their seats, stretching out to ward off sleep.
"So, did you like the movie, El?", Mike asked.
The girl nodded as she sat up on the couch and rubbed her eye with her fist.
"Of course she does", Dustin yawned and put his hat back on "Everyone loves Star Wars!".
"She should watch the other two. It's gonna blow her mind away!", Lucas realized, judging by the look on Jane's face, that she understood the sentence literally "I mean… I meant you'll be like, totally surprised. It's something good".
"Mike, can we watch it? Please?", she immediately asked, pulling the boy's sleeve.
Mike looked at his watch and blinked twice after realizing what time it was.
"Well, maybe some other day. It's pretty late now", he said.
Dustin quickly got up from his seat, looking a bit worried.
"Wait a minute. How late?", he asked.
Mike looked at his watch again to confirm the time.
"Eight ten", he said.
The other boy sprung from his seat and left the living room.
"Oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!", he said as he looked at the floor clock on the corridor.
"Can you stop freaking out and just tell us what's wrong?", Max asked and drew another quiet death stare from Jane.
Dustin came back to the living room with both hands on his head and the most worried of looks on his face.
"I should be home by six; that's what's wrong!", he said "Oh, my mom is gonna kill me!".
"Just… Call her and ask if you can stay over", Will advised.
"No, you know my mom better than that, Will", Dustin said, walking across the living room to grab his backpack that hung on the backrest of a chair "Oh, it's going to be a massacre when I get back home!".
"Stop being such a baby! Your mom will probably just yell at you for a couple minutes", Lucas said.
Dustin stopped running to look at his friend.
"You clearly don't understand the seriousness of this situation", he spoke in a wheezy voice "I. Am. Two. Hours. Late!".
Lucas raised an eyebrow.
"So…?".
Dustin snorted and kept walking towards the front door.
"Just come up with an excuse", Max said "Tell your mom that… I don't know, that Mike needed your help with some project for the AV club".
Dustin stopped at the front door and looked back at the girl.
"I can't! She'll eventually find out that I'm lying!", he spoke "Listen, I'll just go home and if you don't hear from me ever again, just know that it was an honor to be friends with you guys".
Dustin turned around and opened the front door to behold the sight of the police chief outstretching his fist to knock on the door. They both seemed a bit shocked for an awkward split second until Hopper finally decided to speak.
"Hey, buddy. I'm here to take Jane home. Is she still awake?"
"Y-yes, sir", Dustin replied.
He kept staring at the chief for a while, unsure of what to do or say.
"You can go now, son", Hopper spoke without looking directly at Dustin.
"Thank you, sir", the boy said and ran past the chief, hastily whispering 'Oh my God, oh my God', under his breath on his way to the garage.
Soon, he'd be paddling home while repeating those exact same words during most of the way.
Jim climbed up the doorsteps and felt the warmth from inside shaking off the cold of late winter. Once the chief was in the house, five curious heads turned towards him from the living room. Hopper involuntarily clenched behind his lips when he saw Jane sitting next to Michael on the couch, holding hands with the boy.
"Time to go, kid. Say goodbye to your friends", he announced.
"Can't she stay over today? I mean, tomorrow is Sunday. She can use the tent on the basement…", Mike started, getting up from the couch.
Yeah, she can stay over at some pre-teen boy's house out of my watch anytime over my dead body.
"Nah, I'm afraid not, buddy. Maybe some other time", Hopper said, gently gripping Jane's shoulder, which she knew that meant it was time for them to leave.
"Alright, hold on. I need to get something before you go" Mike said to Jane and rushed upstairs.
He came back after a minute or so stumbling through the last steps of the stairs and clumsily stopped in front of Jane, handing her a tiny orange piece of paper that the girl did not recognize. Hopper frowned at the instant he looked at it.
You've got to be kidding me.
"It's a ticket to the fair", the boy explained "I… I figured you'd like to go, so I bought it with my allowance".
"Fair?", El asked.
"It's this big amusement park that came to town this week. There's these cool rides there and people selling toys and food…!", Mike said, then noticed the comprehensive look on her face "…Oh, you already know what a fair is"
"Hold on", Hopper interrupted, taking the ticket from Jane's hand "You know the rules, kid. She can't leave without supervision".
"Yeah, that's why Steve's coming with us", Mike said.
Jim chuckled.
"Steve? Isn't he that one kid who graffitied the movies that one time?".
"Well, yeah, but that was two years ago! He's old enough to supervise us now", the boy insisted "He kept us safe from the demodogs last year. He can take care of El".
"Yeah, I don't think Steve will have to worry about monsters in the fair", Hopper said, putting the ticket on his pocket.
"So, can she come?", Mike asked.
"For the last time, kid: NO!", Hopper said, trying to focus on the road ahead.
"But you said 'maybe'", Jane replied.
"Yeah, 'maybe' doesn't mean yes", Jim spoke "I'm not letting you by yourself with some kids out there. You know the rules".
"But…".
"No 'buts'", Hopper continued "Those people from the lab; they're still out there and they got an eye on Hawkins. If you go out there and they find out you're here, they're gonna take you away from me".
"They won't find out!", El said.
"You're being stupid, kid".
"You're stupid!", she snapped.
"Hey!", Hopper shouted "I'm not stupid. I'm trying to keep you safe and you're not making it easy!".
Jane went quiet and helplessly dropped back on her seat, staring at the road through the window. Hopper patted his fingers on the steering wheel, noticing the mistake he was making by yelling at her. The memory of her psychic tantrum last November was still fresh on his mind and he didn't want that to happen again at all. Especially not in a moving vehicle.
"Listen kid. I'm not trying to keep you from having fun. I just want to make sure you're safe, that you'll have a normal life without those jerks from the lab getting in the way. It's not going to be like this forever, you know?".
She didn't answer.
"Look, how about we go watch a movie tomorrow, like I promised? I'll let you pick the movie, we can even watch one of those scary ones you love so much", Hopper suggested.
Jane was still static on her seat, watching the landscape slide past the car. Still, Hopper waited for a considerable amount of time for her answer.
"Alright, then. Guess it'll be really boring tomorrow. No movie, no fair, just me reading newspaper all day…", he spoke.
The girl remained silent.
"You're not gonna say anything?", he asked.
She shook her head.
"Alright, then".
They didn't talk for the rest of the trip and Jane didn't look at Hopper's face when she got out of the car and walked into the house. He watched her as she stepped into his room and closed the door a little too roughly behind her.
"Hey, kid, you forgot to feed Eggo!", he raised his voice to make himself heard without even looking at the fish.
No response.
"Alright, he's gonna starve, then!", the chief said, sitting on the couch, exhausted "I guess I'll have to be nice to you and feed him this time!".
Still, no response.
Hopper sighed sharply and pulled the ticket out of his pocket. How did Mike afford that? Those things weren't cheap. Well, it certainly was more than most thirteen-year-olds could afford by themselves. Did Mrs. Wheeler even know he had it? Knowing the Wheelers as Hopper did, she probably didn't.
The thought that some boy had taken his time and money to purchase such thing for his daughter without his consent brought a mix of feelings to Hopper. He was mostly angry and frustrated at the boy who clearly intended on dating his little girl, but he also recognized how much he cared about Jane by purchasing by himself a gift he thought she would love. Come to think of it, Mike didn't try to hide it from him. Instead, he asked the psychic girl out right in front of her new father, the police chief. That boy had balls.
Jim couldn't let but grin when this last thought popped in his mind, but the smile did not last long before he looked back at the closed door of his room, on which now El probably lay sideways on the bed with eyes still open, facing the wall and absorbing their conversation.
That got Hopper worried. Jane wasn't the kind of kid who asks something to their parents and does not take a 'no' as an answer. She was quite the opposite, actually. She understood the financial and physical limits of her dad and didn't even bother to ask for something that she knew Jim wouldn't be able to provide. She never overreacted, either and Hopper couldn't be any more thankful for that, because if she had as many tantrums as most kids of her age, all the nearby cities would feel the ground shaking.
But now she was quiet in her room, convinced that a perfect night with her friend was completely ruined. Knowing Jane as he did, Hopper knew that the fair was a big deal for her. She needs friends, the cop caught himself thinking.
Hesitating, Jim got up and stood in front of the room, facing the door knob as he tried to pick the right words.
"Hey, kid. I… I might have an idea for compromise", he said, playing with the ticket between his fingers.
The girl didn't reply. He leaned against the smooth surface of the wooden door.
"How 'bout I let you go to the fair–", he started and the door flew open, making him lose balance and stumble inside.
Jane now sat on the bed with her legs crossed and a very attentive look on her face as she waited for him to finish speaking.
"Now, here's the deal" he resumed very calmly "I'll let you go to the fair, but I'm going with you so you don't do anything stupid. That means no powers, no interacting with strangers and no wandering away from me, understand?"
She nodded a million times as a cheered up grin blossomed on her face. She jumped off the bed and ran towards her dad, wrapping him in a tight hug.
"Thank you", she said.
"Yeah, don't mention it, kid", Hopper said, messing her hair up "Just don't make me regret it, alright?"
She nodded again, shaking her wild curly hair up and down.
"Now go feed your fish before it starves", he ordered "And change your clothes before going to bed!".
As Jane hopped past him, Jim caught himself wondering about his words and the horrifying truth hit him.
"Holy shit, I'm sounding just like my mom", he muttered.
Next Chapter Preview: Hopper isn't the only paranoid parent at the fair; with Jonathan going out with Nancy, Joyce decides to look after her son at the carnival. Nancy is still silent about her recent episode.