[A/N] (Panting) Alright, school has been a piece of work these last two months and I barely had time to write, but here it is, everyone: Chapter six! :D
I'd like to thank every one of my readers for sticking to this story. I would've stopped writing it a long time ago if it wasn't for you guys.
"Did you keep secrets from El?" – Maxine Mayfield
Jane's eyes widened and her hearth started racing at the sight of the entrance gate that proudly displayed the words 'Food', 'Rides', and 'Fun' in bright colorful lights. The place itself irradiated colors and light in a way that Jane had never seen before.
At every step they took, she discovered something new and interesting right around the corner. Cotton-shaped sweets being sold like ice cream, tents in which kids played games she had never seen before, a round, metallic structure with many animal-shaped seats attached to it. According to Mike, this last one was called a carousel, a ride on which kids would sit on horses – El had never heard of that animal – and just slowly spin around for a couple minutes. The Party wasn't too excited about trying it and neither was Jane. It seemed rather boring for her when compared to the other wonders of the park.
Joyce, Hopper and Steve walked among them like guard dogs, watching the kids as they wandered through the fairly crowded sidewalk. Occasionally, Steve would drag his attention away to glance at a group of girls when he thought they weren't looking, but he would quickly snap back to the present and carried on with his guarding mission.
And so the hours cheerfully went on as the kids roamed through the fair, boarding in thrilling rides and playing games at the tents. Soon Jane found out that each tent had a different game that would reward them with different prizes. She'd be excited about her discovery, if Max wasn't so good at all of them, unlike El. The clouds of an upcoming rain in the horizon covered the last red light beams of the day and the electric lights of the fair were turned on by the time she had beaten almost all of the games.
"Boo ya!", Max yelled as she watched the pile of cans collapsing with the impact of the tennis ball she had just thrown.
"That was sick!", Will complimented.
"How the hell do you do this?!", Lucas asked.
Max smiled.
"It's called skill, Stalker", she said, then turned to at the clerk, an arguably old man who eyed the kids indifferently "What can I get from that?".
"It's up to you", he said, gesturing to the lined up shelves on the back of the tent.
The shelves contained several kinds of rewards and treats, from stuffed animals to rubber and plastic toys. Most of them didn't interest the girl since they were meant for kids who were way younger than them, so a blue cap that said 'Hawkins' Country Fair' hanging in the corner of one of the shelves seemed to be the only reasonable choice.
"The cap. That blue one", she picked.
"You sure?", the clerk asked "You could take way better stuff with your score".
"Yeah, I'm sure".
The old man shrugged, grabbed the hat and handed it to the girl, who put it on like a mighty trophy.
"How do I look?", she asked.
"You look dumb", Mike laughed.
"She looks nice…", Lucas absently said "I-I mean, with the cap!"
Max raised an eyebrow.
"Why? Do I not look nice without it?", she asked.
"No! I, I mean, yeah, you do, but…", he stuttered.
The girl chuckled.
"You're so funny when you don't know what to say", she spoke.
"Mike…?", Jane asked, holding Mike's arm.
"Yeah?", he said, immediately pulling his attention away from Max and Lucas.
"I want that", she said, pointing at a tiger plush on the shelf in a nothing discrete way.
"Uh…", the boy tried to come up with an elaborate excuse to avoid trying to earn the toy, since he would probably fail on his attempt "I would, but…".
"Ooh, I'd like to see you try!", Max said, glancing at Mike and pretending that El wasn't staring at her again "Come on, Wheeler, we haven't tested your skills the whole night".
"Look, guys, I just can't, I…", Mike said.
"She's right, you should try it", Lucas spoke.
"Shut up, Lucas! You know I suck at this game!", the other boy said "Besides, I'm almost out of money".
He saw the hope fading from Jane's eyes when he glanced at her and felt her grip on his arm getting a little tighter.
"Please?", she asked.
That little soft voice got him every time. El sounded so pure, so delicate whenever she spoke to him. He could imagine that familiar comforting warmth coming from her eyes when he heard that single word coming from her. God, did she even knew what she was doing to him? He gulped.
"Fine", he said to Lucas and Max.
When he turned to the tent, the stacked cans seemed to be ridiculously far away, almost too far for a ball to reach. He grabbed a couple coins from his pocket and put them in the table in front of the clerk.
"I want three tries", he said, trying to transmit the confidence he didn't feel.
Three tennis balls were put in the table in change for the boy's money and the cans that Max had knocked down were rearranged for him. The boy wiped the sweat from his hands on his pants and grabbed the first ball.
It was a lame throw.
Mike put all of his strength in the throw, but it wasn't precise at all. The ball flew past the cans and hit one of the pillars that kept the tent up, almost comically bouncing away from it. He heard a pitiful unison of comprehensive groans coming from his friends and felt his ears flushing red. He couldn't fail; not in front of El. He threw the second ball.
The thing barely made it to the table that supported the cans. The ball bounced off of it and pathetically fell to the floor.
Will and Lucas were now saying words of encouragement, but Mike didn't pay attention to it. He was too focused on getting the third throw right. What would El think if he couldn't even do that for her? How would she feel if he failed her?
I can't let El down, I can't let her down. She'll think I'm a loser.
He threw the third ball.
It slipped out of his fingers before he meant to release it, spinning backwards and hitting the floor right in front of the small table that supported the cans. Mike stood still, staring at the static object on the floor and then turned back at his friends. El looked deeply disappointed and Will seemed to share his defeat, but Lucas and Max didn't seem so pitiful.
"Oh, that was sad, Mike!", Max said.
"Dude, you did that on purpose, right?", Lucas asked.
"Shut up!", Mike demanded "I did my best, alright?".
"Then you're just awful", Max joked.
"Mouth-breather".
The silence dropped like a rock upon them. Will, Lucas and Mike shrugged uncomfortably as Max and El pierced each other with their eyes. Will glanced at Steve, Hopper and his mom. They were fairly close to them, but he couldn't tell if they were able to stop El in time if she lost her patience.
"What the hell did you just call me?", Max stepped closer.
"I hate you!", Jane yelled.
"El, what are you talking about?", Mike asked.
"Excuse me?!", Max inquired, completely ignoring Mike "What have I done wrong? Last time I checked, you were the asshole ignoring me all the time and pretending like I didn't exist or something!".
"Alright, that's enough!", Lucas tried to stop them before they got into a fight, which basically meant broken bones and people being thrown in the air, when the opponent was Eleven.
Max held his wrist before he touched her.
"No, it's not enough! I'm trying to get along with you guys, I'm really trying. I tried to stick with you even when Dustin and Mike treated me like trash, but now this girl, who you always say is so awesome, keeps just acting like she wants me to jump off a cliff", she said, sounding like she was about to cry.
"That's not true!", Mike said.
"Yes, it is! What, are we gonna pretend that we don't notice that she always sits away from me whenever we're hanging out, or that she wasn't giving me those creepy looks during the entire D&D game, or that she simply walked past me when we first met? You know what, El? You can be a freak all you want, because I'm out!", Max yelled, losing the battle against the tears.
Freak?
El lowered her head, focusing on Max's legs. She had done it before with countless necks and an arm. She could already imagine the bone snapping…
"Hey!", Hopper grabbed Jane by her arm "What the hell do you thing you're doing? What were the rules?".
Jane glanced at Max, who had now turned around and was walking away, followed by an apologizing Lucas, with Steve sprinting towards them.
El looked back at her dad. How could he tell that she was going to use her powers? Did he know her that well?
"She called me a freak", she said.
"Yeah, that's no reason to lose control. Kids say mean stuff all the time and you'll have to learn how to deal with that", Hopper said "Now, you behave here or I can take us both home right away".
She had thrown countless objects at Jim before. A dictionary, a waffle plate, a couch, glass shards… He didn't seem worthy of her respect back when they lived in the dirty old cabin, but now he was frightening and imposing to the point that all that Jane could do in response was to nod in fear. He simply nodded back and left back to where Joyce was.
"El, why did you say that?", Mike asked when Hopper was already far away.
"That was messed up", Will agreed.
"She said you' are awful", Jane said "She was mean".
Mike shrugged.
"Well, yeah, but… That wasn't a big deal. She was just joking", the boy said.
El looked back to where Max had left, but there was no sign of her or Lucas anywhere.
"Did you mean that? That you hate her?", Mike asked.
El didn't say anything. Her anger was now fading out and she was starting to feel the weight of her actions.
"She does act weird around Max…", Will said.
"But why? What's wrong about her?", Mike asked.
Jane looked up, but didn't say anything. Truth to be said, she never truly understood the reason why she despised Max so much.
"El, she… She wanted to be your friend as well. She helped us save your life last year", he boy continued.
Jane gave him an interrogative look.
"She liked you, El. We told her about that time you saved Will and when you flipped the van. She got really excited when she got to meet you", Mike continued speaking.
He wasn't confronting Jane. Mike would never dream of doing such thing. He was simply pointing out that Max wasn't a monster, which made El feel even worse, but not necessarily sorry.
"El, can you promise me something?", Mike asked.
El looked at him, fearing the worst with tears starting to blossom from her big eyes of hazel.
"Can you please promise me that you'll apologize to Max and try to get along with her?", he asked "I promise that if you do that, she won't be mean ever again".
El blinked twice. Maybe Max wasn't that important for Mike, after all. When Jane hurt Lucas over one year earlier, Mike started yelling, asking what was wrong with her. That memory still tightened her chest whenever she thought of it. But now, she and Max had a fight and Mike seemed to be on her side. But, as she concluded when she first met her, Max was still somewhat important for them.
"Promise", she said.
"I swear to God, Joyce. It gets harder every minute", he said, taking a sip of coffee as he sat back on his spot on the bench next to Joyce.
The beverage was too sweet and almost cold, but what could he ask for in a small town's local fair? He continued to speak when he saw the interrogative glare she gave him.
"Being a dad", he said, eyeing Jane, Will and Michael as they spoke to each other about the recent incident "I don't remember it being this damn hard".
Joyce laughed a bit.
"Well, nobody told us it was going to be easy…", she said, picking up a cigarette from her pocket and failing at all of her attempts to light it up "Damn it… Hop, can I borrow your lighter?".
He moved uncomfortably on the bench.
"Uh, I… I don't have it with me. Jane made me promise I'd quit smoking", he said.
Joyce rolled her eyes.
"Oh... Jonathan tried to make me quit a couple times, too, but…", she rolled her eyes and left the sentence die in mid-air.
Once again, she slipped her finger down, expecting to see nothing but pallid sparks, but this time a steady little flame blossomed from the tip of the lighter. She dipped her cigarette in it and took a long drag. She got another one and handed it to Hopper.
"Just in case… Do you want one?", she asked.
"Hell yeah!", he laughed "I haven't had one all day".
Joyce quickly lit up another cigarette and gave it to Hopper. He didn't like 'Camels' very much, but it would have to do for now.
"Why do you think they were fighting?", Joyce asked after exhaling smoke.
Hopper sighed.
"I don't know, it looks like that girl Max called Jane a freak or something", he said "I don't really think that these two can get along".
Joyce stood in a thoughtful silence.
"So, how are things going with Jane, anyway?", she tried to change the subject.
"Well, it's not perfect, but... She is a nice kid, always wanting to learn new stuff. I think she might just make it to college", he replied.
Joyce felt a motherly cheer by hearing that. El had always been like a daughter to her and it seemed that she reciprocated the feeling. Knowing that the girl would have a bright future was comforting to her.
"Bob would have loved her, you know. He always had that thing for kids, he…".
She went suddenly quiet, staring into the distance. She looked at Hopper in surprise when she felt his hand firmly holding hers.
"Hey", he said "I know that feeling. It's alright to feel that way. It only shows that you're human".
Joyce took another drag of her cigarette, stressfully shaking her leg up and down.
"I miss him so much, Hop…", she said.
"Yeah, I know", his voice was comprehensively low "I know".
Both went quiet. Hopper's heart seemed to weight a ton. He couldn't ever fix that wound in her heart even if he tried. Seeing grief consuming Joyce was painful to him, almost physically painful.
He envied Bob so much in the past year. The kind former nerd had earned Joyce's heart, something that Jim himself had always been afraid of doing himself. But as much as he wished it could be different, he still respected Bob. In the end of the day, he made Joyce happy and Jim had other things to worry about, back then.
Now neither Bob nor Hopper could make her happy again.
"Dad".
Joyce and Hopper let go of each other's hand like teenagers who got caught making out. The cop hastily threw his cigarette away.
Jane, Will and Mike walked towards them.
"Fer-ris wheel", she struggled to properly pronounce the word.
Hopper looked at the silvery ride rising in the distance.
"You wanna go to the Ferris wheel, kid?", he asked.
She nodded.
"Mike wants to tell me something", Jane explained.
Mike's blood ran cold when the chief's eyes heavily landed on him. He would rather if Hopper started yelling instead of looking at him that way.
"Does he?", he spoke the two monosyllabic words very slowly "What are you goin' to tell her, buddy?".
"I… I…", Mike stuttered.
"He says it's important", Jane spoke.
Mike glared at her with evident fear on his face.
"I'm sure it is", Hopper thoughtfully said.
"It's about the…", Mike gestured to the chief with his right hand, turning it upside-down.
Hopper frowned and leaned closer to him in the bench. He was now truly concerned.
"What about it?", he asked.
"It's… A question I have; a personal one. That's why I need to ask her and only her", Mike explained.
Hopper eyed the kid. Was he lying? He couldn't tell. What could be so important about that hell of a place? Could it be something that Mike and Jane had discussed before she went missing in 1983? He knew that they had spent some time together way before he properly got to know her. The cop inhaled deeply.
"Alright", he said, getting up from the bench "But I want to hear the whole story after".
Mike nodded.
"And what about that fight with that other kid? Are you all good now?", Hopper fatherly asked to Jane.
"I'm going to tell her that I'm sorry", she explained.
"Yeah, you probably should", Hopper confirmed and gestured for the group to follow him.
Mike tried his best to remain calm as they walked. He couldn't let Hopper find out that he was lying about the Upside-Down. The boy hated himself for picking that subject, but he had no other choice if he wanted to hide his true intentions from the chief.
Truth to be said, that wasn't a very appropriate moment to take El on a Ferris wheel ride, but he had planned it for a long time and he wouldn't let a stupid arguing with Max ruin it.
This is it, Mike thought with his heart racing, I'm going to tell El that I love her.
"Stop following me, Stalker!", Max said, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.
"Just slow down!", Lucas said "I just want to talk".
"Go talk to El, then", she said.
Lucas could swear that her voice sounded a bit clumsy, as if she was about to cry, if not already crying.
"Hey!", he said, finally reaching her and grabbing her shoulder.
"I'm done, alright?!", she snapped, turning around "Every time I feel like you guys are accepting me, one of you just treats me like shit!".
"Max, you have to understand that she doesn't know much about people. She spent twelve years…", Lucas started
"I don't have to understand shit!", she yelled "You are always defending her because you don't know how it feels when she can't stand you".
Lucas inhaled. If anyone else in the party knew what being wary of El and having issues bonding with El, it was him. The boy sighed.
"Have I told you about that time when she almost killed me?", he said.
He had purposely omitted that part from the story he told Max about Will's vanishing in 1983, mostly because it was irrelevant, but also because it was a bit humiliating for him.
Max raised an eyebrow.
"Wait, what? H-how?".
"Well, I pissed her off and…", Lucas stopped and looked around "Can we talk somewhere else?".
Max laughed.
"Why? Is it another top secret that we have to…", she sarcastically said.
"Yeah, it actually is", he interrupted.
Her sarcastic smile faded and she checked her surroundings, imitating his gesture.
"Are you actually serious?", she lowered her voice.
Lucas nodded.
"That's why we have to talk somewhere else", he said.
Max looked around in search of a safe spot.
"Where, then?", she eventually asked.
Lucas scanned the park for a few moments until his eyes caught a Ferris wheel monotonously spinning in the distance. It was about one hundred feet tall and each cabin could bear exactly two passengers. Perfect.
"There", he pointed at it.
Max eyed the ride and felt a chill crawling up her back.
"Are you kidding me?", she asked.
"What do you mean?"
"That is your idea of a perfectly safe place to discuss a serious matter", she accusingly said.
Lucas raised an eyebrow.
"Do you have any better ideas?", he asked.
Max opened her mouth to say something, but a gasping yell caught their attention.
"There you are, you little shits!", they heard a panting Steve rushing towards them with the most fatherly look on his face "Where the hell do you think you're going?!"
Lucas and Max eyed each other. The boy silently begged her for that chance, whispering 'please' so low that the girl barely heard it. Max closed her eyes and sighed.
That could be her last chance to stay in the only group of friends she ever had.
"We were just going to the Ferris Wheel", she said, forcing herself to smirk.
Next Chapter Preview: While Lucas takes for himself the seemingly impossible task to calm Max down, El and Mike share a romantic moments after they confess their feelings for each other. While Will reveals something shocking to Steve, Nancy has another episode that reveals her that something very dark is about to happen in Hawkins again.