It had been a good couple of days for El, she had a new love interest who she was inseparable from and she hadn't thought about Max since the party. Her mood was elevated and this was the first time in a while she was excited to go to school. As she walked through the busy halls of Hawkins, something felt a little off. Everyone seemed to be giving her looks today, as if they knew something she didn't. The last time everyone looked at her this way was when the picture was going around, and El was sure that Mike and Lucas handled that. Did something new happen?
The thoughts lingered in her mind, until she thought of the only logical explanation: she must've done something dumb at the party. Wait, no, that doesn't make sense. El never blacked out and she definitely didn't forget that night, so what else could it be? When El spotted Lucas at his locker, she immediately noticed who was missing from the locker beside him.
"Hey Luc, where's Mike?" She asked.
Lucas shut his locker and sighed. "I don't think he's coming to school today...or tomorrow...or ever again."
"Why, what happened?"
"He came out. He said, and I quote I am a fag."
El's eyes widened and her heart dropped to her stomach. It made such much more sense why everyone was staring at her, her boyfriend told everyone he was gay! El felt bad for Mike, but worse for herself, she was mortified. Even if it was time, even if it was brave of him to do so, she so desperately wish he hadn't. Couldn't he have kept lying for a while? He was so good at it.
El walked away with her head bowed, trying her best not not to look up at her classmates' judgmental stares and remarks. She slowly started to loose her composure every time she heard Did you hear her boyfriends a queer? or The pictures probably real! or Is Jane gonna break up with him? because all of those statements were true. The last one was just a matter of a time.
***
Today, the cheerleaders practiced on the field and were watched by the football players, who enjoyed the view. El was still the lightest person there, so she was once again at the top. This time she was less stressed to get everything perfect, seeing as she was dating the captain and all. Once the girls lifted her down and went to go sit on the bleachers to watch the football players practice, El grabbed her water bottle and took big gulps. Although she wasn't stressed to get everything perfect, she was still stressed about the possibility of the girls dropping her on purpose because of everything going on with Mike.
She knew she needed to end things soon, seeing as her reputation would plummet down with his if she didn't. Of course she cared for Mike and didn't want to hurt his feelings, but she didn't sign up to be apart of all of his drama. Ever since they started dating, nothing but bad things have happened and she regretted asking him out. It's not like she even needed Mike for people to assume she was straight, and she couldn't stop thinking about why she did this to herself.
After a couple minutes of sitting on the bleachers and watching boys slam into each other, her eyes landed on the coach, who was taking to a guy with familiar black hair. He gave the coach some football gear and then walked away towards the front of the building. There was no doubt in her mind that that wasn't Mike doing exactly what she knew be would probably do sooner or later, and that was quit the team. The football players were known to be ruthless and had even put some of the opposing teams players in the hospital, so quitting was more of a safety measure of anything.
El's view was disrupted by Heather, who sat next to her with a water bottle in her hand as well. "How're you feeling?" She asked.
"Mike's Hella brave. I couldn't have done what he did." El replied, not answering her question at all. El felt guilty for being ashamed of him, so she didn't want to tell Heather how she really felt about the situation. She was self aware to know that she was being a hypocrite, being so consumed in popularity that she's turned homophobic.
***
After school, El decided to stop by the wheelers to check on Mike. She had never actually been to the house except for the night of the dance, and even then she didn't get a good look at it. The Wheelers residence was two stories and had 2 paths that were connected. One was the driveway and the other led to the small front porch. El walked up the brick stairs and rang the doorbell, immediately hearing loud footsteps coming from inside.
"Who are you?" The blonde girl asked while looking up at El. Mike hadn't mentioned that he had a little sister, so El was genuinely as surprised as Holly was.
"I'm Jane, your brothers girlfriend. Is he home?"
Holly's jaw dropped. "You're real!?" She exclaimed.
El laughed and said, "Yeah, I am."
Before Holly could say something else, Karen walked up to the door and pushed her little child back into the house. "Who keeps letting you answer the door? Last time you scared off the mailman!" Karen fused before directing her attention to El.
"Hi Honey, how can I help you?"
"I was just wondering if Mike was here. I kinda need to talk to him."
"You actually just missed him, sorry."
"It's ok. Do you know when he'll be back?"
"Nope, I hope you find him though."
And with that, Karen closed the door and left El confused and a bit worried. She knew Mike would never do anything insanely stupid, but what if he was really depressed about this? What if he wanted to hurt himself, or even hurt someone else? El took a couple deep breaths and walked away from the house, desperately trying not to panic.
He was probably fine...right?
To be continued...
So last chapter I asked y'all if y'all wanted to see Isaiah and all of y'all said yes so here he is:
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