Strange as IT Seems

Chapter 26: New Friend

"El that's right! You were with that girl from school... Max at JC Penny!"

Eleven nods. "Max is my best friend."

"That's nice. I've seen you at the school before too, you scared my friend Richie from behind the fence."

The shy girl bites her lip and nods. She knows she needs an explanation as to why she doesn't go to normal school. Hopper had told her if anyone asked her, she'd say:

"Homeschooled."

"Wow, that's cool. Nice to see you again. I like the name El. It's a cool nickname... is it short for anything? My full name is Beverly, but my friends call me Bev."

Eleven freezes in place and she bites her lip. Her mind races to find an answer. Of course, those who knew her secrets and her past knew that El was short for Eleven, her number from the lab, but there's no way that this girl from Derry would understand that. Her legal name was Jane, but how could you get "El" from that? She began thinking of names that start with e-l.

"Ella... My... my first name is Jane, but my middle name is Ella..."

"That's pretty cool," Bev nods. The redhead then takes out another cigarette and lights it up. She leans back in the grass and relieves the anxiety and anger she had through exhaling the smoke. Eleven is staring at her with wide eyes. Hopper smoked like that, Max's sister Billy smoked like that, but she'd never seen a kid her age smoke. Papa warned her against the habit, he called it disgusting and addictive.

"Want one?" Beverly offers.

Jane shakes her head and steps back. "It's bad..." is all she can utter.

"Yeah, I know they're bad for me, but sometimes I can't help but smoke one. They're good for relieving stress or when you're sad." She does not mention that her father got her addicted to them in the first place and she needed something to help take her mind off the abuse.

"Why are you sad?"

"My friends had a big fight and I was caught in the middle."

"The boys from Derry?"

"Yeah, they're all idiots and they ended up ditching me."

"Boys are jerks," El smiles. She remembers the drama she went through with Mike and how Max "counselled" her through the ups and downs of relationships. According to the boys, girls were another species and while she didn't entirely understand what that meant, she had to agree on some level.

"Tell me about it," Bev smirks. "But you seem to hang around with them a lot too."

"They're my friends... and friends don't lie."

"No, they don't, but they sure as hell can be stupid."

"Very stupid," Eleven smiles.

With some hesitation, the shy girl sits on the curb, not close to Beverly, but close enough so that they could still talk.

"They say that girls are a different species," she continues.

"Oh we are, and we mature ten times faster than they do. Something about their brains doesn't age as quickly as ours do."

"Mature?" Eleven asks, a little confused by the word.

"Grow older and wiser."

"What happened to make your friends so mad?"

"You've met Richie before right?"

El nods.

"Well basically he didn't shut up when he should have and..."