As always I wanna start by giving a big thank you to everyone that is reviewing this story and keeping up with it. You guys are awesome and your kind words only make me want to write more and more!
So a special thank you to my 'regulars', who review as soon as the chapter is out and don't even miss one! Your love is really appreciated and everything you suggest is being kept in mind.
Phieillydinyia: yes, there will be more action as the story unfolds, I think you'll like this chapter in particular.

Roselynnejones: thank you and yes, I know that some stories with really good plots are written horribly; I didn't continue some of them because I found it disturbing to continue with that kind of writing. So a really big thank you for recognizing the hard work I put into writing this (plus my mother language isn't English, so I'm feeling kinda flattered.

As for the story, I'm loving being able to follow El's growing character with each chapter: as she learns more about the world, she develops more intricate and deep thoughts; her relationship with Mike is going to get deeper as the story unfolds, and I intend on deepening her relationship with Hopper too.
That being said, have a fun read! And follow my instagram account for updates: percyandnico (with the Mileven b&w pic).

Eleven closed her eyes as she felt the sun kiss her skin.
It was a nice day, probably the nicest day of the whole summer. Maybe it was because of Mike's hand holding hers, or maybe it was because she had never really went to something remotely similar to a date – except the Snow Ball, but even then, they weren't really alone.
Hopper hadn't been really crazy of the idea of them going to a date together, obviously sensing that something was moving between the two of them; of course he had imagined way before that that they'd get together eventually, he just had hoped it would come later than sooner.
'Dad, it's just Mike' she had argued at his expression, laughing as it became even worse than before.
'Great job, Chief' she heard him grumble as she left to go to her room 'way to let her know who rules in this house'.

Mike and Eleven sat their things down in a relatively quiet place: the lake was usually crowded during summer, but they had chosen the spot with less people possible.
Mike was particularly thrilled by the idea of a date with the girl of his dreams, but at the same time he felt kinda nervous about the whole 'ask her to be your girlfriend or you're a pussy' thing. Lucas had been clear: mark your territory. It sounded stupid to him: why should he want to mark Eleven? And how? It wasn't as if the girl was his property, he knew that. But then again he wasn't the brightest of them when it came to girls, so he decided to follow Will's tip; 'ask her, Mike. Girls wanna feel wanted, too. So you might just grow a pair and ask her out'.
It wasn't like he hadn't prepared himself: before El's sudden kiss, he had planned out to kiss her when the sun was setting and talk about everything, but he still felt nervous about the whole thing.

"Mike? Everything okay?" Eleven's voice made him jump a little, but he smiled and nodded at her.
He found himself staring at her from the third time in ten minutes: she was just so perfect, with her round lips begging him to kiss them, those shiny eyes scanning everything around them and her wavy curls framing her face perfectly.
"You look beautiful" he said, squeezing her hand "you really do".
"Thanks" she smiled and blushed, lowering her gaze for a moment "you too".
She bit her lip for a moment, and he knew she was going to ask him something by the way she did so: twisting it between her teeth, trying to find the right words.
"Can you – I mean do you swim? I can't...but I really want to go in the water" she said, a little bit ashamed as usual; he had told her she didn't have to feel that way, but he also understood that sometimes it may feel too much, to always have to ask.
"Yes, I can swim," Mike smiled his best smile "besides, we can stay near the shore for the first times, so your feet can touch the ground".
She nodded and gave him a grateful smile before lifting her shirt above her head. Mike had a flashback: Eleven, just a few years back, trying to get changed in front of all of them; her eyes then panicking when he tried to close the bathroom door. Little did he know...
She was wearing this cute white swimsuit that hugged her body just right.
Plus, now that she was playing outside under the sun and getting fresh hair and eating more her scrawny figure had turned into a full, healthy one and her skin had gained color.

As they neared the shore, she just froze, eyes scanning the water.
Water wasn't something she was very fond of: too many bad memories. But she knew, she knew it was just her head playing stupid tricks, she had to move on with her life and look at her fears straight in the eye. She was looking at water now, but that didn't seem to help.
And Mike – he was so caring, squeezing her hand, but he didn't know.
There were still lots of things she hadn't told him, afraid of losing control and crying. She didn't like crying, nor fighting; when she felt those strong emotions, she couldn't control her power.
"El, it's nothing, I promise" he whispered in her ear, a feeling of calmness washing over her "I promise you'll be okay. I'll be there with you".
"Promise?"
"Promise".
She gripped his hand and tensed visibly when they were waist-deep into the water. It was not like in the lab: she was free to move, no needles on her head, the water was clear and cool and it caressed her skin smoothly; but she still felt nervous, jumping when her feet touched anything underwater. Mike guided them a little forward until she stopped him "Can we stop here?"
"Of course, El" he smiled at her, trying to keep up with the conversation so she could focus on that and not on her fear.
He told her about the sea: it was enormous, not like the lake, much more. She wasn't sure she liked the idea, but Mike had assured her it was beautiful and promised her she'd take her to his next vacation, so she could see more of the world.
"Maybe when we're bigger, we can travel together" he said smiling, "I can take you to lots of cool places. If you join school, you can even come with us to those fantastic school trips! You'd love it, they teach you so many things!".
Eleven smiled at him "Do I get to see you at school?"
"Y-yeah of course, we can get your schedule combined with mine and the others' if you'd like it, but we have to talk to Hopper".
"Already did" she said, "he said I have to work extra hard if I wanna go. Max offered to help".
"I can help too. And the others too, I'm sure you'd be a great student El! We can sit together at lunch, do group projects together..."
He went on a rant about school activities and science in particular, and she didn't find it boring at all. She was sure she'd love school, she just knew, but she didn't know if she was gonna make it...
"It would be a little bit harder for you" he admitted, honestly "but nothing impossible. You saved the planet, El, school won't hurt you or anything".
"At school there's...mouthbreathers" she remembered.
"I don't think they'd be a problem either, El" he smiled, then frowned "I wouldn't let them do anything bad to you".
Eleven smiled brightly at him: he made everything look so...so...sunny. She couldn't think of a better word, even though she knew it wasn't the most appropriate one.
They splashed around for a while, Mike still close to El.

As they lay down on their towels, linking their fingers, El admired the sun setting down with wide eyes.
"El..." Mike whispered, catching her attention "I wanted to talk to you. About yesterday".
She turned her head to the side, facing him; he was so handsome with all the colors of the setting sky playing on his face.
"I...I have waited for so long to say this," he breathed out, his anxiety leaving him "El, I-"
"Mike!" a voice broke the spell of that moment, a girl with long brown hair coming into their view.
He mentally face palmed: seriously? Everytime he was about to confess his feelings to Eleven, someone had to interrupt him; but of everyone on earth, must Daisy do it?
She was the most irritating girl he knew; ever since he had started playing occasionally in the school band, she had started to stalk him. She went to almost all his extra courses, she ate at a table near him at lunch, she even left him a note in his locker once!
Back when Eleven hadn't come back yet, he had had a fight with the boys about her: they always teased him about them being in love someday, but the thought of Eleven always occupied his mind so thinking that they could replace her like that made him insanely mad.
"Hi, Daisy" he sighed, shaking his head lightly "what's up?"
"Nothing, it's just surprising seeing you here" she said, too cheerful for El's liking: her words seemed fake, sugar-coated on a sickening level. At the sight of the brown-haired Daisy, Eleven's eyes went darker and darker, almost black; Mike eyed her from the corner of his eyes, thinking of a way to get rid of the newly acquired company.
"Uhm, it's Hawkins" he said awkwardly "the city's small".
She laughed as she sat down next to him, touching his arm "You're right, you're right. So...do you have any plans tonight? We're throwing a party, if you want to come".
"I don't know," he said "I don't think I can. I'll let you know".
"Now, if you'll excuse us..." Eleven interceded, brows knit together as the other girl looked at her from head to toe before standing up and giving Mike a final wave.
While she was walking away, she was tempted of making her fall on her ass, but Mike squeezed her hand "Eleven, don't".
"Why do you care?" she said accusingly, turning to him.
"I don't" he raised an eyebrow "are you jealous?"
"No, I'm not" she declared, crossing her arms "why would I be? It's not like you're my boyfriend".
He stared at her mouth agape, then smiled wickedly "Is that so? Then why should I do this?"
He grabbed her chin and kissed her in the most tender way possible, caressing her cheek.
It wasn't like the other kisses: this was expected, and Mike had put such sweetness in it Eleven felt her heart could get out of her chest any moment. She watched him with half-lidded eyes as they parted, smiling and watching him with her big eyes.
"Do you want to be my girlfriend?"
She flung her arms around his neck, hugging him closely "Yes!"

They spent the rest of their afternoon strolling around happily, hand in hand, sharing quick kisses and laughing at each other's embarrassment. They reached the park and went to sit on one of the benches, El's head leaning on his shoulder.
"You can't try to kill every girl that tries to talk to me, you know?" he sighed, stroking her hair softly "And you can't go crazy on me either, El".
"She was touching you. She can't" she retorted, eyes narrowed.
"I-"
"Mike! We're heading to the party! You coming?" Daisy's hair was in a ponytail now, a cute blue dress with a bow behind it framing her figure.
El glared at her. Still too close.
Hopper's honk made them jump, but El refused to go until that girl was there with Mike. He sheepishly looked between the two girls, who were now exchanging glares. He turned to Hopper and mouthed 'help me' but the Chief just laughed at him.
"Shouldn't you go?" Daisy asked Eleven, placing a hand on Mike's arm "Let's go, Mikey".
"Oh yeah, Mikey" Eleven grunted, jumping on her feet and facing Daisy "you let go of his arm and leave him alone".
"And who is telling me to, exactly?"
"His girlfriend" she shot her a glare that could've made anyone's skin crawl "now go".
Daisy walked away grumbling "Freak" under he breath. Eleven glared at her back until she disappeared behind a building.
"Woah" Mike was smiling like crazy "you really are jealous".
"I'm not" she denied, looking over at Hopper's car "I really should go".
"Yeah" Mike whispered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear "you're beautiful, you know that right?"
"Thank you" she smiled and blushed as she always did when he told her such things, then she stood on her tiptoes as he saw him leaning in; he kissed the corner of her mouth, not wanting to be killed by Hopper on the spot.
"See you tomorrow" she whispered, hugging him briefly.

As she got on the car, Hopper didn't say anything: he just looked at Mike for a few seconds, his stare burning him on the spot. The boy waved at him sheepishly and started walking back home, hands in his pockets.
"So" Hopper said, starting the engine "what are you now, dating?"
"Yup" Eleven said casually, trying to hide her growing smile; Hopper rolled his eyes but couldn't even pretend to be mad, he just loved to see her so happy.
"Still, no funny business" he reminded her, trying to sound stern.
They exchanged a look and El nodded before smiling over at him "I love you, dad".
"I love you too, kiddo" he sighed "even if you're a moody teenager".

Eleven found herself in the familiar dark void, only blackness surrounding her.
She felt as though she was back in the lab, her father sending her to track people down for his own interest. Only this time she hadn't been the one who initiated the contact; she was sure, she had went to sleep just as her head hit the pillow, too tired to even eat.
She heard faint crying in the distance, and she turned around expecting someone to be there, but nothing.
She moved a few steps, unsure of what to do, then she just followed her instincts: someone was crying and probably needed help, she couldn't just ignore it; she wished she had been saved when she was in the lab, she wasn't gonna let people who were suffering alone.
As she got near the source of the crying, she could distinguish loud sobs and ragged breath; what the...?
A figure clad in dark clothing and with dark hair was kneeling in the distance, and Eleven froze when she recognized her: Kali.
"Kali?" she shouted, going from walking to running in a matter of seconds "Kali, are you okay?"
When she got near, her sister lifted her gaze, blood smeared on her face and some cuts on her bottom lip and eyebrow "Eleven...help me".
Her eyes snapped open and she tried to catch her breath, panting heavily.
Without thinking twice, she stood up and clad herself in a t-shirt, a sweatshirt and some jeans. She slipped her shoes on and opened her backpack, throwing in her walkie talkie, some junk food she kept stocked in for late-night cravings, and a flashlight.
As she entered the living room, she checked the hour: two-three-two.
She glanced at Hopper snoring loudly on the couch, and sighed.
She hated to do this to him, but she had to; she had to save her.
"I'm sorry" Eleven whispered as she exited the cabin, running wildly towards the city.
She wasn't going to go alone, she thought as she reached Mike's house, she wasn't going to get separated from him again. She had promised, and she had to keep her promise.
When she was outside, she got on her and Mike's channel, the one they used for emergencies.
"Mike? Mike! Wake up!"
"El?" his groggy voice came just a few seconds later "what's up?"
"We have to go. Dress up, get your backpack and walkie. It's an emergency".
He didn't even question her, not even one second, that's how loyal he was; just a few minutes later, he was outside the chilly summer night air "El? You're scaring me"
"Let's go" she said, "I explain on the way. Chicago".
"It's...it's far from here, El" he said, cautiously.
"I know" she whispered, holding on tight to him "you have to help me, Mike. Please".
"Okay" he slowly nodded "but we'll have to find a way".
"I know a way" she said, showing him the amount of money she had in her pockets "we'll take the big car. Don't worry, I've done this before".
"You have?" he asked wide eyed, following her through the dark streets of Hawkins.
"Yes...did I tell you about my sister?"
"You have a sister?!"
"Shh!" she sushed him, elbowing him "well, let me explain from the start..."

I told you interesting things were coming...:)