Authors Note: Hey, I'm back with a new chapter! This time things are getting real intense and you can hopefully begin to see the problems arising. I'm really trying to focus on El in this chapter. Also just to let you know I will mainly reference to her as El except when she is interacting with Will because I feel like Will doesn't know her as well so thats something he would call her. Thats also something I'm trying to do in this story, increase the connection between El and Will. Anyway, I hope you like It. I just finished planning out the plot for the whole thing and cant wait to write more. Thanks for your support! Please comment!

The wrinkled paper read "Ground Rules" in the chiefs sloppy handwriting.

"G-r-ound R-r-ules" El stuttered as she read, then looked to Hopper for clarification.

"Yes. These are the rules for school." He said, not meeting her gaze completely. "First: Under not circumstances are you allowed to use your powers at school. Second: Listen to your new teachers. Third: After school go strait to Mikes house and nowhere else. Fourth: Make new friends! (not just with the usual boys). Fifth: Don't be stupid." He smiled, finally meeting here gaze. "Also, at school the teachers will call you Jane Hopper, don't ask questions, this keeps your identity safe." He frowned again.

"Okay." She said, rolling her eyes and grabbing her new pink backpack and an ego before she began to walk out to Hopper's car.

"Okay?" He clarified with a tone of power.

"Yes!" She laughed, opening the bolted door without using her hands.

He still hadn't told her about the adoption. He didn't want to have held it off for so long, in fact he wanted to tell her the night after he knew. But something about Dr. Owens telling him to wait a year made him decide hold it off for awhile. Besides, he was actually nervous about how she would react, especially knowing that her mom was still alive.

The ride to school was short and silent, only the soft sound of the radio was seemingly heard in a far off place. The two were too immersed in their own thoughts to share loving words of encouragement and advice to one another. El leaned her head against the frosty window with a sigh as they pulled into the school parking lot.

"Like the lab, huh?" she said, barely above a whisper.

"No, not at all, they try to teach you cool things here and stuff like that." He said, as seriously as possible. His one experience countered his words.

"Cool?" she asked, turning her head to face him.

"I don't know...It means something's interesting, awesome, and fun."

"Cool." She said with a smile, leaning back into the seat of the car.

They sat in a moments more silence.

"Hey kid, have a nice day. Okay?"

"Okay." She said, opening the door just to close it again.

She looked back to the car, gave a look of question, then smiled and waved. This was her first day of real school. Not just catch up learning.

That had been a week ago. So far she hadn't broken the rules yet. Now, she sat in her english class, struggling through every word she read on the pages of some short story. She hated english class, even though her teacher, Mrs. Calder, was quite nice to her. She was tall, thin, young, her eyes had bags under them like she was tired but she managed to smile constantly. Despite this, El hated School, not just english class. The days seemed never ending and just when she thought she was finished she had to go home and do homework. The only thing that kept her sane during her first week was visiting Mike everyday after school.

The teacher began talking and soon her words became nonsense to El, just fragments of unimportant details. Then she heard it, someone else talking. She looked behind her just to see a girl working diligently on her paper. Anyways, that wasn't her voice, the voice El heard seemed to echo. El closed her eyes, braking rule one. Soon, the room was seemingly silent and El opened her eyes to darkness. There, only a few paces away sat her sister. She was sitting on the floor, her obscure hair a mess.

"Sister?" El asked, her voice echoing. She looked up, tears stained her sister's eyes.

"Jail." she mouthed, "Help."

"I'm sorry, I'm-s" El, sobbed, before her lost sister vanished into dust.

El opened her eyes to see everyone around her staring. She quickly wiped her tears, hopefully no one had heard, but it was clear that they had.

"Jane, are you okay? You can talk to me out in the hall." Her teacher slowly approached El, putting a well meant hand on her shoulder.

"No, leave me alone." El responded, her voice plagued with pent up anger. Rule Two.

"Jane.."

"That's not my name, call me El." She responded, lifting her gaze to her teacher.

"Okay, now were off to a better start." The teacher gave a soft smile, as the bell rang.

In the hall, the girl who had sat behind El in her english class, approached her. El continued to walk, not wishing to talk to anyone else but Mike right now.

"Hey, Jane? I mean El. Your dads the chief right."

"Yes." El responded, still sulking.

"Cool, I'm Carey. With a C." She smiled.

"With a C?"

"Yeah, like spelled with a C not a K."

"Cool." El responded, this time with a smile and a laugh. She wiped the tears from her eyes with her pink sleeve.

"Hey, what lunch period do you have?"

"006." El replied awkwardly, thinking about every number she said.

"Yeah, sixth. I have it too. How about we sit together?" Carey asked, raising her eyebrows in question.

"Sure." El genuinely smiled. For the first time today, she hadn't broken a rule.

...

In the lunch room El scanned the tables for any sign of Carey or her usual friends. No one else was there yet. At least no one who she knew. El circled the room awkwardly with her tray, feeling alone and afraid. Soon she became dizzy and the floor seemed to spin around her. A moment of darkness, then she was met with the sight of an other dimensional cafeteria. She turned to face the large window before her, only to see the shadow monster reaching one arm towards her, as if in slow motion. El gasped, frozen still, there seemed to be nothing she could do without her powers. Then she promptly turned and ran as fast as she could in the other direction. "THWAck" Darkness again, then the sight of a normal cafeteria and Max an inch away from El's face.

"Ouch. What the hell man?" Max yelled, gesturing with her arms.

"S-s-sorry." El stammered.

"Yeah ok!" She rhetorically laughed, "Last time I tried to tell you that, you didn't accept, so I guess I won't accept your sorry this time either."

"It's just that I saw the m.." She was cut off.

"I don't get why you hate me? Guess what? I'm not trying to steal Mike from you. In case you haven't noticed I kinda have a thing going with Lucas."

Just then El saw Carey who was approaching just in time, "Hey El, common lets go."

"Yes." El said quietly.

"Oh, now your too good for our table."she said under her breath before walking in the other direction. She didn't want to be this way towards El or anyone else. But she couldn't help it, after she tried to actually be friends with El, the night they were fighting the monster, El had turned her down.

Back at Carey's table, Carey's friends were engaged in a long boring conversation, which at the moment seemed very unimportant to El, as she looked off into the distance where she saw them sitting. Her real friends. Mike looked at her in question but didn't seem upset, he always wanted what was best for her. Then she saw Will, his eyes met hers and he mouthed, "Meet me in the hall in five." She nodded, knowing what he wanted to talk about.