Mike was with Lucas, Dustin and Will, sitting around the basement table. El was sitting in her fort, but had the top lifted up so she could watch the D&D match, while she ate the Eggos Mike had given her. Max was busy because she apparently had to go to a party her parent's friend was having. Mike felt like this was perfect; having his best friends, playing D&D and having the girl of his dreams. Life couldn't get any better for the boy and he knew it. Today was a Saturday afternoon, and was October 11th, coming ever so closely to Halloween. As El grew up in a lab, she only celebrated Halloween once before, as Hopper wasn't much of a Halloween-loving type of guy. She reminisced about her first Halloween, almost a year ago.
Hopper stood in the kitchen on the morning of October 31st with Eleven and his new wife Amber, as his old wife divorced him after the death of his daughter. Amber had a son who died before, so they both understood the struggle. "So, El, do you know what special day it is?" El shook her head. "It's Halloween!" Amber exclaimed. It was her favourite time of the year. "What's Halloween?" She made a mistake saying it, as she only heard the word once. They then explained the whole she-bang, like that people go out and wear costumes and get free candy by knocking on people's doors. She thought this was interesting and so the three of them decorated the house. Outside, they had Jack-o'-lanterns (A/N They don't live in the forest house anymore, they live on a street by Mike's house in this story) and fake graves with zombies sticking out of the ground, as well as a bunch of other elaborate decorations El didn't know about, but she still had fun decorating. Then they had costumes. El's was a pumpkin, with an orange dress, a green hair bow, green tights, orange boots and face paint. She liked how she looked when she saw herself in the mirror. Then, they had a bit of a dance party and a Halloween themed dinner (they had to convince El the food wasn't actually what they said they were which took ages!) before El went out trick or treating with Amber, who was dressed as a witch, because Hopper had to go to work.
The four boys and El were eating lunch at Mike's with his family. Mike thought this was a good time to tell them that El was his girlfriend. The word girlfriend made him happy because it always reminded him that the beautiful girl was his, so he was happy when he stood up and told everyone (well, his family. Everyone else except them knew) and they were happy for him, so he smiled. And that wasn't just because El kissed his cheek after he told them and held his hand under the table.
Max was in her Halloween costume (it's not the one she wears in season 2) and pulled at the skirt. Her mother forced her to wear this silly costume because she never dressed like a girl and, to her mom, it seemed like she was a boy instead. Her brother was over in the other room, getting drunk and trying to chat up some 'hot girls' that were there and her parents talked to their friend. She felt, lonely for once in her life because she didn't have her friends. Then, a boy came over and talked to her, before he kissed her unexpectedly. She didn't realise that he was the brother of one of the girls Billy was talking to and, because he knew she had a boyfriend, he asked him to kiss her so he could take a picture and send it to her friends. That'll teach her to never mess with him, he thought ominously.
Dustin looked down at a note he had gotten now he was at home and so did the others because someone had sent them all a note with the picture attached. It was Billy who sent them the picture of the boy and Max, but Dustin cursed before ripping up the note and walking off. He felt like she lied to him, like she didn't really mean what he told her on the lopsided bench. El, luckily, caught the pieces of the note. She felt like it was suspicious, so she entered the deeper mind and saw that Max was pushing the boy off her. "Leave me alone, I have a boyfriend." So immediately came back and told the three boys of what she saw, and she then chased Dustin to try and tell him the truth. Because, in reality, she'd never hurt him on purpose.
