Neighbors - Strangerthingsau

Chapter 7

First Tutor Session

The week went by quickly. It seemed like it was Monday and the next day it was Friday, but El didn't mind. She was looking forward to her first study session with Mike today.

Over the past week El had grown close to Mike. She was always really happy whenever he was around, even if he got a little flustered every now and then.

El was at her desk in her bedroom when she heard a knock on her door. She opened it and found Mike standing there with a smile on his face and his backpack resting on one shoulder.

"Hey!" Mike said as he walked in and took a seat at her bay window.

"Hi." El said, closing the door.

They quickly got to their homework. It consisted of Mike explaining the math problem and El looking at him like she understood what he was saying, but really not knowing the gibberish coming out of his mouth.

"So then... x would be 2?" El said, looking at Mike hoping she got the right answer.

"No. The answer is 7." Mike said.

"Ugh. Let's take a break, I'm not getting this." El complained, dropping her pen and walking towards her bed.

"Yeah, we can take a break. You'll get it soon. I can tell. You are getting a lot closer to the right answer than you were before." Mike said, setting his book aside.

"I'm telling you! The answer was 65! I don't know how you even got 11!" El chuckled.

"I explained it to you 4 times!" Mike smiled.

A comfortable silence came across the room. El was lying on bed staring up at the ceiling. And Mike. Well, Mike was in his head.

Come on! Just ask her if she doing anything this weekend!

"So, umm..." Mike started, getting El's attention. "You doing anything fun this weekend?"

"Yeah, I am. Well... kind of." El replied.

"Oh?" Mike questioned, wanting her to explain more.

"I'm going out of town to visit some family that lives nearby." El said playing with her hands.

"Fun! Are you visiting Hopper's family or Joyce's?"

"Neither."

"What?" Mike asked beyond confused.

"I'm going to visit my family."

"But if you have a family, that you are visiting, why are you adopted in the first place?"

"My dad was a bad man." El started slowly, looking down at her hands. "He was a scientist for a lab back in Chicago. I lived with him because... my mom... couldn't really take care of me. And with my dad being a scientist, means he was busy with his work a lot. So, he would either not pay attention to me or have me help him in some of his experiments. It made my life a living hell. But I was lucky, because one day Hopper showed up and helped me get out of there."

As El finished, Mike sat their silently for a few minutes, processing what he just been told.

"So, who are you visiting this weekend?" Mike asked.

"My mom and aunt."

"How come you don't live with them?"

"My mom has a mental illness and my aunt takes care of her. She doesn't really need to take care of me too."

"I'm sorry." Mike said, sitting by El on her bed.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. In fact, I like living with Hopper and them. They are more like a family to me then my actual family."

"Yeah, but still, I know what it's like not having the family you want. My dad doesn't really care about anything other than what we are having dinner. And my mom is always too busy socializing, where she is always forgetting about her family."

"We have some pretty messed up families, don't we?" El asked, still looking up at the ceiling, smiling.

"Yeah." Mike chuckled. "Yeah we do."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Mike thought of the conversation they just had over and over again.

She trusts me enough to tell me about her past.

Mike was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't notice that he was lightly blushing at his thought. That was the moment he knew. The moment he knew why he had been feeling the way he has been since he meet her. The moment he knew, he liked her. He liked her as more than a friend. He wanted to in her life, in her story, but he didn't to be just her friend. He wanted to be her world.

Oh god. I'm in trouble.