(1) California to Hawkins (Max Mayfield/(Fem)You)

-Chapter 17: 011-

"Eleven" Mike says.

"Mike" Eleven replies.

The two of them hug, crying and everything. "Is that..." Max asks me. I nod in response. I could feel my eyes tearing up at the sight of her. I really thought she was gone. All that time, all those things we did last year, didn't matter. I was wrong. She's alive and she's here. "I never gave up on you." Mike tells her, stepping forward. "I called you every night. Every night for-" "353 days." El finishes for him. We all look in shock. "I heard." She says, tilting her head. "Why didn't you tell me you were there?" Mike asks, hurt in his voice.

"Because I wouldn't let her." Hopper speaks now, stepping forward towards the girl. "The hell is this? Where've you been?" He asks her. "Where have you been?" She replies before they hug. It dawned on me. Hopper had Eleven. He was hiding her. "You've been hiding her..." I say, looking at the chief. Mike, realising what I said and putting the pieces together, lashes out. "You've been hiding her this whole time!" He says, pushing Hopper. "Hey!" He says, turning around. "Let's talk....alone." He says, dragging Mike away.

After they leave, the brunette girl turns to us. Her eyes going from each of us, a smile forming on her face. I smile back, putting away my knife and stepping towards her for a hug. "El." I say, grinning from ear to ear and wrapping the smaller girl in a hug. She buries her face into my shoulder, arms wrapping around me as I mutter into her hair. "We've missed you so much. I've missed you so much." I say, feeling tears in my eyes."I missed you too." She replies.  "Where've you been?" I ask, pulling her back slightly and looking at her. I chuckle between my tears. "You've grown your hair." I say, reaching up to ruffle her hair. We had that best friend-sister relationship. I was older by a few months, so I made it my job to act like an older sister to her.

She scrunches her nose as I ruffle her hair, swatting my arm away. "Nooo." She says, pouting. Dustin and Lucas walk next to me and they hug her together. "We talked about you pretty much everyday." Dustin says. They pull away from the hug, smiling at each other. El notices something and furrows her eyebrows at Dustin before reaching out and using her thumb to poke at his mouth. "Teeth" She says. "What?" Dustin asks. "You have teeth." She adds. Dustin grins at us, realising what she meant. "Oh, you like these pearls?" He asks before purring weirdly which makes Eleven confused. I elbow Dustin lightly, telling him to stop.

"Eleven?" Max's voice rings from behind me. I turn around and step back, allowing Max to walk forward. She stops in front of the brunette, smiling. "Hey, um, I'm Max." She says, holding out her hand. "I've heard a lot about you." She adds. I look at Eleven expectantly, expecting her to be as kind and open as she was when she first met me. Instead, she looks at something behind us and completely ignores Max's outstretched hand, walking past us.

I turn to see her hug Mrs Byers, speaking to her in hushed tones. Probably about Will. I look over at the redhead beside me to see her looking at El before her gaze drops to the floor. "Hey." I say, nudging her. "You okay?" I ask. She shrugs, looking back up. "Yeah." She says, plastering a smile on her face. She turns away, moving to walk but I place my hand on her arm, stopping her. "No you're not. What's wrong?" I ask. "Nothing." She says, glancing over her shoulder at me. "Go. Enjoy having Eleven back." She says before walking away.

I turn back to see El leaving the room Will was in. I follow her and Mrs Byers to the table where our paper with 'Close Gate' is. "You opened this gate before, right?" Mrs Byers asks El. "Yes." She replies. "Do you think if we got you back there, that you could close it? " Mrs Byers asks. El looks at us, giving us her answer.

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After a while, I was standing with El, catching her up on what's happened outside of Demogorgons and Mind Flayers. "We got so much candy during Halloween. I really wished you were there." I say, laughing. She smiles at me before Hopper calls us over to meet up. "Come." She says, pulling my arm. "Wait, I need to find Max." I say. El frowns, tilting her head. "What? You don't like Max?" I ask. I knew the answer based on her response to meeting Max, but I was curious. El shakes her head slightly. "Why?" I ask. The girl shrugs, thinking hard. "She....was having fun.....with Mike....and you." She says. "What?" I ask, confused. "At school, the gym. You were having fun. He was laughing...because of her." She says.