the year of el | mileven

ch. 8 | burgers and fries

Out of nowhere Max zipped by on her skateboard

"So I heard my name, what's up?" She asked inquisitively, coming to a stop

"Oh uh El this is Max and Max this is El" Mike gestured to each girl

El was intrigued. She had never seen anyone with hair like that. It was the color of strawberries. She desperately wanted to reach out and touch it but she had learned from experience that it wasn't acceptable.

"Your hair" El remarked, pointing at Max's long locks

"What about it?"

"Looks like strawberries"

Max hadn't made it up in her mind on whether or not she should take that as a compliment "Uh, thanks I guess... So what's El short for, like Eliza or something?"

"Elev-uh-Eleanor. Eleanor" El repeated covering up her mistake

"Well nice to meet you, new kid" Max said holding out her hand

She grabbed her hand and shook it, mimicking what she had seen Hopper do with his fellow officers "Nice to meet you too.."

Max was different from most girls Eleven had seen. She kinda dressed more like a boy than a girl and she rode around on a board with wheels. She was curious to learn more about her.

"And Max's name is short for-" Lucas chimed in

"Don't you dare say it, Sinclair.." Max muttered

El looked at Mike for answers. "She doesn't really like her actual name" he explained

"Cough. Maxine. Cough" Dustin said under his breath

"Oh my god, I'm gonna kill you guys!" She shouted

"Don't be so dramatic, I like your.. I mean your name is pretty cool" Lucas replied

Max rolled her eyes smiling, giving him a light punch in the arm "So you guys still up to see beetlejuice or have you chickened out already?

"Of course we're still up for it!" Lucas and Dustin chorused

"What about you Mike?" She asked

"well.. so.. about that.." He trailed

"We're getting burgers!" Eleven said excitedly finishing his sentence

Max looked at them both suspiciously "Oh, I see" she grinned

"What? Man, You're bailing on us?" Lucas asked incredulously

Dustin turned to Lucas "Dude, he hasn't seen El in awhile, he probably wants to catch up"

Max raised her eyebrow "What do you mean he hasn't seen El in awhile? she's new, isn't she?"

The boys glared at Dustin who shrunk down in embarrassment

Lucas took a deep breath "Well the truth is.."

"Truth is um.. El and I were friends back in grade school but uh.. She left to be well um homeschooled. Yeah, She left to be homeschooled! And she recently just came back" Mike lied

El knew friends shouldn't lie but she appreciated the fact that Mike was covering for her. Hopper told her countless times not to let anyone at school know about her real past and El didn't want people to know either because she just wanted to fit in as much as possible.

She nodded "Yeah. He's my old friend"

"How come you never mentioned her before?" Max asked, trying to piece the story together