𝐇𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐌𝐞 ; 𝘉𝘺𝘭𝘦𝘳 ✓

𝟑𝟓.

Hawkins High | Thur 5:57 PM
El Hopper

It was once again the end of practice, and El thought things seemed strange today. For starters, Heather barely looked at her the entire time they were cheering, and that meant she was doing it purposely since she always looked to the top to make sure El was stable. But how could she be angry about something already? They just started dating.

Once the locker room was cleared out and it was just her and Heather, El took this as the opportunity to figure out what was wrong.

"Hey." She first said, trying to break some of the tension in the air.

"Hey." Heather replied with annoyance in her tone. She was at the closet doing inventory.

"Are you ok?" El asked while walking closer.

"Fine." She lied. It was an obvious lie, she seemed everything but Fine.

"Are you sure, you kinda sound like Mike right now—"

"Stop talking about fucking Mike! All you do is come to me complaining or-or whining about some stupid shit he did! Like worry about your relationship for once, damn!" Heather said while slamming down her clipboard and walking away from El.

El followed her, about to say something in response but being cut off once again. "And, what even is this! We haven't kissed, gone on a date, nothing! You've done those things with Mike, right!?"

"Heather, I'm sorry..."

"And how come you haven't broken up with him yet? The dude likes men El! Men. And you like women so hurry the fu—"

Since Heather wouldn't calm down and listen to El, she silenced her with her lips. El's arms were bent as she held Heather in place by the shoulders. Heather was shocked at first, but quickly adjusted and placed her hands on her waist. It was the first kiss they shared, and to Heather's liking, it was very passionate.

Once El pulled away, she stared into Heathers eyes lovingly and said, "I have to get home now. Talk to you more tomorrow."

"Ok but your not off the hook." She responded seriously, earning a small smirk from her girlfriend.

El let go of her and grabbed her cheer bag off the floor. Then, she headed out of the locker room and down the long empty hallway, her steps echoing throughout the school. On her way to the office, she passed by art club, who had their door wide open. She peaked into the classroom and saw two people she recognized, the First was Will who seemed a bit happier these days and the second was Max, who she forgot existed. Her standing silently outside the room caught the attention of Max, and when they made eye contact, El turned away and continued walking down the hallway, picking up her pace a little.

"Hey El, wait!" Max called while catching up to her. El internally groaned and turned around. She had just gotten over Max and wasn't too excited to be talking to her right now.

"I just wanted to let you know that I broke up with Lucas yesterday."

A couple weeks ago, this would've been exciting news, but now it was too late. She couldn't have waited on Max any longer, it was about time she moved on and found somebody else. Now that she had done that, part of her was excited to shove it in her face, and part of her wondered what it would be like if she stayed pinning for Max. Would she be lead on still or would Max eventually commit to her?

"Ok." El answered with a blank expression on her face. She had no idea how she was supposed to answer that statement.

"So...we can be together now." Max said straightforwardly.

The situation was unfortunate and not humorous in any way, but somehow, El struggled to contain the laughter in her throat. She tried her best to keep her composure and not hurt Max's feelings, but as they began to peak out, she couldn't help but release them. The only funny thing was the fact that laughing was an alternative to crying, which is what El actually wanted to do. The lump in her throat got bigger with silence, and turned into a laughing fit.

"Why're you laughing?" Max asked, confusion written on her face.

"Be-cause, you-you—" Tears began to form at the corner of her eyes, and her stomach grew tighter with each laugh. "You w-waited too long and now I have a new girlfriend."

"What! Who!?"

"Heather...Holloway." El said while regaining her breath. She was now bent down a bit with her hands on her knees, and when she looked up and saw Max's hurt expression, she quickly turned around and left before her face looked the same.

***

The closer El got to her house, the worse she felt, and not just about Max. She was starting to get tired of hiding things from Hopper and felt like she should be real with him for once. It'll give her a chance to get things off her chest and it'll make them closer simultaneously. Even if she didn't say anything today, he would find out eventually. He's a sheriff for Christ sake.

"You ok El?" Hopper asked when he saw the expression on her face and her distraught steps. He was sitting on the recliner enjoying and ice cold beer. His motto was A drink a day keeps the suicidal thoughts away! and thinking about it made her wonder if he was serious.

El sighed and said "No. I feel guilty." while taking a seat on the couch next to him. "There's something I need to tell you that I should've said a long time ago."

"What is it?" He asked while placing the can on the ground and leaning in to listen better.

"So you know how Mike and I are dating? Well I'm pretty much cheating on him and because of some things he's done I really want to break up with him and I keep saying I'm going to do it but I never do. The problem is that not breaking up with him is hurting the person I really want to be with, and I don't know what to do. It's like, I don't wanna hurt his feeling but I also don't want to hurt her—"

El quickly covered her mouth to try and stop herself from saying anything else, but it was already too late. She had just accidentally come out to her dad.

"Continue. Her-?"

Now she was a bit confused, did he not understand what she just said? Well he repeated so he must've. Why was he acting like this wasn't a big deal?

Unbeknownst to El, Hopper was just glad she was finally talking to him, and already had time to process the fact that neither she...or Mike...or Max were straight. They continued to talk the rest of that night and ended their conversation with a hug and official acceptance from Hopper. El felt so much better now.

If only everyone's parents were this open-minded.

• • •

Ok so there's a deleted chapter, originally it was going to be Will's POV but what happened in that chapter conflicted with the finale so I had to cut it but I'll sum up what happened:

At school, El was looking for Mike still and she asked Will where he was. Will was in disbelief that she was even talking to him because she's ✨Popular✨ and he's...Not❤️

Will burns all of his suicide notes + **HUGE SPOILERS AND CONFLICTIONS**

Mike and Will talk about what they did in the Confession (part 2) because Will's afraid Mike didn't like it as much as he did. (😏)

To be continued...
[8/15/20 | 1301 words]