neighbors ~ mileven

buttons

~*~

Mike woke up with sweaty palms and smile on his face.

It's the first day of the internship.
It was gonna take a lot for him to get through the school day without him thinking about his first day of it after school.
He had a plan:
1. Make nice with the Ms. Hutton the art teacher.
2. Have her put a glowing recommendation for him at Wabash University.
3. Get accepted into his dream school
4. Tolerate El Hopper as minimal as possible

Little did he know, that number 4 would be impossible

El woke up across his window with the exact same expression.

Only with a plan that wasn't all that different.
1. Be sure to be best friends with the music teacher, Mr. Templeman.
2. Have him write a glowing recommendation.
3. Get accepted into her dream school
4. Kick Mike Wheeler in the nuts
5. Stay away from him as much as possible.

The halls of Hawkins High were the same as usual: filled with perfume and testosterone.
It didn't take long for Max to notice the big smile on her best friends face.

"I bet I can guess what that smile's about." Max said while approaching the brunette in Pre-Calculus

"Internship is today and I plan to make that music teacher my best friend."

"A. that spot is already taken. And B: I would've guess your smile was about shutting Mike's party down this past weekend."

El's smile faltered.

"How did you know about that?"

"Lucas got an interesting call from a tipsy Mike Wheeler saying his 'songbird' made him drink and shut down his party. Now Lucas might've been oblivious as to who he was talking about but he doesn't know of the necklace you've worn since the day I met you." Max informed with a concerned expression.

"Ok well first off, he was sober when he literally broke into my home. Second the party was way too fucking loud so I shut it down. And last, I won't be wearing that necklace anymore."

"HE BROKE INTO YOUR WHAT?!" Max exclaimed rather loudly.

"SHH. But yea. It didn't take long for him to figure out that it was me who shut off the power. So he was like staring into my room like Joe Goldberg and then it turns out he still has the key to my house back when we were friends so he used that and we had a rather heated conversation where he commented on how I still wear his necklace so I ripped it off and gave it back to him." El answered.

After a beat, Max spoke up.

"And you're sure he was sober throughout this conversation?" Max asked disbelievingly

"100%. Why?"

"Because the call that Lucas got, Mike was pretty gone. So I'm assuming that your raven-headed ex best friend went on a mini bender after your convo."

"Do you know what he said?" El couldn't help but ask.

"Just that his 'songbird' broke his heart." Max said.

El went quiet.

For 30 minutes.

"El cmon you've gotta say something."

"I'm furious." El finally said, eyes frozen to her desk.

"Why?"

"Because he doesn't get to do that. He doesn't get to make me feel bad after all the shit I had to endure alone because he broke my heart first, and with no reason. He doesn't get to throw a drunk pity party for himself all because I broke his stupid necklace and told him I would never trust him again. I'm not gonna feel bad. I'm not." El said, refusing to let the tears at the corners of her hazel orbs peek out.