Author Note:

Hey guys,

Thanks so much for following and liking this story. And thank you AliKatt and robyshel for your lovely comments. I am very new to this and not very good at editing so I'll try my best to review everything before I post it again.

I'm glad you are liking the direction the story is going. I will try and update as regularly as I can. I am currently trying to map out how I want the story to go as I don't want it to go stale and run out of ideas. So bear with me through this!

I'll just say now. This story won't have any supernatural elements like it does in the show. But I will keep the essence of the characters and try and integrate some of the dialogue.

PM me or review for any tips or anything. I love Mike and Eleven stories and would love to read what others have written! Also if someone could tell me how to add a page break in the phone app that would be awesome!

Enjoy chapter two! :)

CHAPTER TWO:

The first few weeks of junior year breezed by for Mike Wheeler. His friends were putting in motion their "this is our year" changes, some with more luck than the others. Lucas had successfully joined the football team, becoming their kicker. Mike wasn't sure what exactly the kicker did though. Lucas wore the jersey for a week straight before his mother forced him to take it off to wash it. He hadn't been spending as much time with Mike, Dustin and Will as he usually did. Spending most afternoons and occasionally mornings at practice. But he remained a permanent member at the boy's regular lunch table, which Mike noticed now had a lot more girls surrounding them.

Dustin wasn't having as much luck as his friend. He had tried to ask out a few girls in the cheerleading team without success before Will pointed out he might be aiming a little too high.

"Maybe try some of the girls that don't spend 80 per cent of their time attached to football player's legs." He had said to Dustin after he returned from the field back to their seats in the stand, dejected after Trina Dyson rejected his invitation to dinner and a movie with a scoff and a resounding 'no'.

"Of course..." Dustin pondered out loud. "The ones that don't get as much attention. Will, you are a genius!" Dustin began scanning the stands for his next target as Will rolled his eyes at his girl-crazy friend.

The boys were at their first football game of the season; missing the first few games because, well because they didn't really want to go. They promised Lucas they would go to at least 3, but they got to choose which games they would attend. The Hawkins Hawks (how original, Mike thought to himself) were currently in front by two touchdowns. Lucas successfully converting all points so far. Dustin and Will cheered loudly when the team returned to the field to begin the last quarter. Mike hadn't really been paying attention to the game. Elle being less than 10 metres away in her green and White cheerleading uniform. He couldn't keep his eyes off her. Her hair was pulled into a slick pony tail on the top of her head, revealing her delicate collarbones. She looked up towards the crowd and smiled as they began their warm up cheer for the team. Her eyes landed on Mike and he returned her smile with a wave.

God she is beautiful. He thought to himself. She also has a boyfriend and would never be interested in a geek like you. Another internal voice piped in.

He was looking forward to the next few weeks, with Mr Gaunt (their biology teacher) assigning a two month long experiment to each of the lab groups. Biology was not only his favorite subject; it was also becoming his favorite class. The 45 minutes he got to spend sitting next to her was the best part of the day. Most of the time they worked in silence, the majority of the lessons requiring rigorous note taking, but when they did talk, Elle actually seems interested in what he has to say.

He continued to sneak glances at her during the last quarter of the game, all attention lost on the actual reason he has come tonight in the first place. His friends nudged him when he missed a queue to cheer when Hawkins scored one last time during the final minutes of the game.

Get it together Wheeler. She's taken…

"You are so good at this stuff!" Elle said to him as he leaned over to help her with her cellular structure model. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"That's okay. What are lab partners for?" She chuckled lightly at his lame attempt of humour and his cheeks reddened.

You are so lame Mike…

"So I assume you want to do something biology related during college then?" She didn't want the conversation to end. She liked hearing him talk, the way he would get nervous and start to ramble. He hasn't initiated much conversation with her since they were assigned to be lab partners. The majority of their comments to each other remaining biology subject related.

"Uhh maybe. I'm not sure yet. I love biology, but I really want to get into MIT. They have this awesome robotics engineering course that gives you a whole semester dedicated to building a fighting robot for their annual robot war competition. Last year my sister and her boyfriend took me -" Mike's face light up in a toothy smile, his dark hair flicking wildly as he animatedly rambled on about robots and MIT.

"-and the robot's arm lifted to reveal this massive chainsaw that drilled right through the smaller one. It was awesome!" He brought his arm up and smashed it into the table, demonstrating the robots movements. He paused looking up at Elle to see her chuckling slightly at his enthusiasm. "I'm sorry. I tend to ramble when I'm nervous or excited about something. Enough about me though, what made you want to do AP bio? I didn't notice you were in any bio classes last year?" He asked her, noticing her face was a little pink and flushed.

She only just heard him ask her. Still thinking about whether his rambling when talking to her meant he was nervous around her like she felt around him.

"It's kind of stupid and I'll probably never get in for it," she looked down at her notebook, her hair flicking out from behind her ear to cover her face, before continuing "but I've always wanted to be a psychologist. Help people who can't help themselves, you know. People like my mom." She smiled at him slightly before returning back to her notebook to finish the structure Mr Gaunt asked them to draw.

Mike had heard about what happened with her mum of course, that she had taken her life when Elle was young. But he wasn't expecting her to say anything about it to him; I mean they barely knew each other.

"Will told me what happened to your mom. I'm really sorry that happened. I don't know what I'd do without my mom around. Granted my dad is kind of useless." He rested his hand on hers lightly. She thanked him softly and lifted her lips up in a small smile. He wanted to say more but before he could Mr. Gaunt addressed the class from the front of the room.

"Okay class for the remaining 8 minutes for today I will allow you to begin work on your assessment material. Discuss and plan at your will" Mr. Gaunt smiled to himself and returned to his desk as the class erupted into loud discussions.

"So, any ideas robot boy?" Elle asked Mike, staring up at him expectantly. His face reddened at her nickname for him. She was clueless when it came to biology, so she hoped he had something in mind.

"How about an experiment that tests the affect of light on plant growth? I'm sure I can convince Mr. Gaunt to let us complete the assignment outside instead of being in here"

"Sounds amazing!" She said, watching as Mike's mouth curved up into his signature crooked grin. Her heart fluttered a little at it. It wouldn't be the last time...

"So we should probably meet sometime after school this week to do some research for this experiment." Mike quickly mentioned as they were walking out of the classroom.

They were the last ones to leave, Jennifer Hayes knocking his open pencil case off the bench and sending its content everywhere. Elle stayed to help, once again apologizing for her friends' clumsiness, even though they both knew it was on purpose. They both lingered just outside the door as Mike spoke.

"Sure, sounds great. I can't do Monday or Wednesday because of cheerleading practice. Maybe just let-", she was cut off as Billy came and threw her body over his shoulder, making her squeal and laugh at the same time. Mike stood there awkwardly as Billy started to whisk her down the hall as she shouted out to Mike "Let me know when you're free Mike!"

"Ow. Billy put me down!" Mike heard her scream before her laughter filled the hall.

Mike looked down the hall as they continued round the corner, sighing loudly enough for the girl next to him at her locker to look over at him with a curious expression before quickly hurrying down the opposite hall.

It was another few days until they were finally able to meet again, deciding to spend Thursday afternoon in the school library researching for their plant experiment. They were sitting at the back of the library with a bunch of open books Mike had grabbed off the shelves surrounding them.

"I honestly don't think I can read any longer. My brain feels like it's going to explode." She pushed the book she had in front of her slightly forward and leaned back slightly in her chair. She looked over to Mike who was head down in a book about different light variations, eyebrows furrowed as he looked intently at the spectrum of light chart in front of him.

Man he is cute. The unexpected thought popped into her head before she had a chance to stop it. But it wasn't wrong. His dark curly hair, that reached almost down to and usually curtaining his dark brown eyes, contrasted well over his pale skin, making the freckles that adorned his nose and cheeks stand out. Of course, this isn't the first time she had noticed him. Remembering her first week at school when she spotted him in the front row of their shared English class. He flashed that crooked smile of his right at her as she stood at the front of the class while the teacher introduced her, and she felt that same heart flutter as she did earlier this week in their biology class. It was the Friday of her first week of school when she finally worked up the courage to make conversation with him, making her way to his lunch table he was sitting alone at. It was at that moment when Jennifer Hayes grabbed her arm and invited her over to the football cheerleading table explaining to her how perfect she would be for the squad. She glanced back at Mike's table one last time. He didn't look up until his friends joined him. So Elle went with Jennifer. And the rest, they say, is history. But the next month Elle was on the cheerleading squad, sitting at the 'popular' table and flirting with Billy. Yet she couldn't stop sneaking glances at Mike's table. Hoping he would be looking to. He never was.

"Yeah, I guess we have been at it for a quite a while now. I'll just check these books out and we can come back another time." She almost forgot what she had previously said until Mike started to collect the books on the table. He paused when he felt her hand on his arm.

"Are you sure Mike? I know you wanted to get this done..." She felt bad for making him stop. He looked down at his watch to check the time, but also to move his arm from under her hand before she felt the goosebumps she had given him there from her touch.

He nodded at her. "Yeah it's fine. It's getting kind of late anyway. Did you need a ride home? I've got my mums van today."

She pretended not to notice the quick movement he made to move her arm. A little surprised by his reaction. "Thanks but Billy said he was spending the afternoon at the school gym. He can give me a ride." She smiled sweetly at his chivalry.

"Oh. Ok cool." He tried to hide his disappointment by focusing on stacking the books into a neat pile.

They finished packing up their things and headed out the front doors of the library. They stood awkwardly at the entrance, staring at each other for a few moments before Mike rushed out a goodbye and turned and walked towards the parking lot. Elle laughed at his sudden departure before heading around the back of the library towards the gym parking lot.

Out of earshot Mike mumbled to himself "stupid, stupid, stupid" before settling into the drivers seat. He watched from his car she rounded the corner of the building. He rubbed his face with his hands before looking at himself in the rear view mirror, "dude what is wrong with you?"

It's just a girl. He silently thought to himself. Not just a girl. It's Elle.

"Seriously Wheeler, get it together!" He put the keys into the ignition, started the car and drove out of the car park. Checking once in his mirror to see if she was still there.

Elle continued walking round the school until she reached the car park adjacent to the gym. She could see Billy's car sitting in the lot. As she got closer, she could see the lights were on.

Huh, I thought he wasn't going to be finished until 6. She thought to her self. It was the time she had told him earlier that day that she would be finished with Mike. She looked at her watch on her wrist. 5:30pm.

She continued to walker closer to his truck and she did she could see in to the cabin. She stopped suddenly, her stomach dropped. She could see Billy. But he wasn't alone. Jennifer Hayes was also there. And they were kissing. He was touching her. The same way he touches Elle when they are alone together in his truck on edge of Lake Hodge.

Elle felt sick. She hurried around the side of the building so they couldn't see her, leaned over and emptied her stomach.

This can't be happening. She thought to herself.

She snuck another glance around the side of building. They were still in there... Doing that. She wanted to scream. She wanted to go over and rip both of them out of the car. But instead she ran. She kept running until she reached the front step of her and her father's cabin. It was only when she stopped running did she start to cry. Her face, hot from the run, felt the tears stream down her face.

Her dad would notice. What would she tell him? He liked Billy. I mean everyone did. He was the star quarterback. The perfect boyfriend. Hawkins perfect boy.

She popped her key into the lock and walked inside.

"Hey kiddo, how was the studying?" Her dad shouted from the kitchen. Presumably cooking up her favourite dinner. Eggos and cream. He wasn't the best at cooking. Usually gone for most of the night for work.

When she didn't reply, Jim turn around the corner and watched as she walked straight to her room and slammed the door. He sighed and headed back to the kitchen. That's the thing about Jim and Elle. They left each other alone when they needed it. They understood that sometimes they need their space. It was how they survived after her mom died.

Elle slammed the door behind her. She was hurting. Her heart hurt. Her stomach hurt. Her brain hurt.

How could he? She thought angrily.

She looked over at her vanity mirror. Pictures of her with Billy and Jennifer lined the sides. She grabbed it one off the mirror one by one, ripping them into tiny pieces and throwing them on the floor.

She threw off her shoes and crawled into the safety of her duvet. She stayed there for the rest of the night. Crying and screaming into the pillow until she fell asleep. She awoke only once to her dad knocking on her bedroom door.

"Hey Elle Belle, you want some eggos? Made especially for you." She smiled into her pillow. She wished she could enjoy them, they were her favourite and she hardly gets to spend time with her dad. But she couldn't move. She didn't want to move.

"No thanks dad, I'm not hungry right now" she replied softly. Trying her best to sound normal. She didn't want him to worry.

"Okay. I'll put them in the fridge for tomorrow's breakfast. Goodnight kiddo." Jim replied, a whisper though the door.

"Good night dad."

"Oh before I forget, Billy called for you. Wanted to know why you didn't wait for him to drive you home. I told him you weren't feeling well. Sleep tight."

At the mention of his name she started crying again, this time into her pillow so her dad wouldn't hear.

As Mike laid in bed, trying to get some sleep, he kept thinking about how soft Elle's hand on his felt on his arm earlier that afternoon. He looked over to his alarm clock.

01:30 AM

He grabbed his supecomm. Remembering something Will had said atlunch a few weeks before. Hopefully he's still up. But not caring either way. He wanted to know before he forgets again.

"Will come in, do you copy? Over." He whispered into the walkie. Careful not to wake the rest of his family.

He waited five minutes before trying again. This time a voice came through on the other end.

"Ugh, yes I copy. It's 1:30 Mike. What's wrong? Over." Will replied in a groggy tone.

"The other day at lunch. You said Elle asks about me. What does she ask about? Over." He asked eagerly.

"Seriously... You seriously woke me up for that.." Mike waited for Will to say over before replying. Not hearing it he clicked on his supercomm.

"Will you have to say over. Over."

"Mike, it's late. Can we talk about this tomorrow? Over."

"Please Will. I just need to know. Over."

"Okay, fine. She asked about what you are like, what you are all like really. What we do when we are together. Once she asked if you had a girlfriend. Stuff like that. Over."

"Asked? You mean she doesn't anymore? Over"

"Goodnight Mike. Over and out."

Mike threw his supercomm by the bed. Feeling only halfway satisfied he rolled to the side and drifted off to sleep.