We're Not In Hawkins Anymore

001

El woke up in a panic. Her heart was racing and a cold sweat was dripping from her skin. It wasn't unusual of her to have nightmares about people that she'd hurt before but this was different. It wasn't a dream of someone she had hurt.

In the dream she saw Hopper. But he was different than before He looked tougher and his head was shaved. He had been thinned out and he was holding a tool of some sort.

El ignored it, she let herself think it was merely a dream before getting out of bed and walking into the kitchen.

Will was sitting at the table eating eggs while Joyce was running around the house looking for her keys while Jonathan helped her.

El opened the fridge and grabbed an orange before walking back to her room getting dressed for school. She put on a grey t-shirt with a flannel over top and a pair of jeans.

She brushed her hair into a ponytail and tied it off with a red scrunchie. She grabbed her backpack which was just plain black and was one of Jonathan's old ones that he no longer used.

She left her room once again, still eating her orange. At this time Joyce had found her keys and Jonathan was making himself breakfast.

"Morning El"
Joyce said as she was sorting through the mail.

"Good morning"
El said as she put down her backpack next to the door.

"Have all your homework done?"
Joyce asked and El nodded as she sat down at the table.

Jonathan finished making his breakfast and put it on a plate before coming to sit at the table.

"Oh El, what did you get for number two on our geometry homework?"
Will asked and El thought for a second.

"I got c"
El said and Will nodded as he finished his homework.

"Okay you guys should get headed out, it's almost 7"
Joyce said. And with that Will, El, and Jonathan grabbed their backpacks and were headed out

"Bye"
Jonathan said.

"See you later"
El said.

"Bye"
Will said.

~

El walked down the hallway of Kennedy high school. She hated school. It wasn't about learning, she loved learning. But the thing was she didn't have friends.

She only had Will but Will has other friends. He made friends with a few kids. Leo, Connor, Ruby, and Annie.

Leo was short for his age, he had blonde hair and fair skin. Connor was tall, his hair was brown and longer than most boys. Ruby was average height, she wore thin round glasses and her straight brown hair reached her mid chest. Annie was quite the opposite of Ruby her hair was short, curly and red and she had piercing blue eyes.

They were good friends to Will and they liked El too and tried to welcome her into their group. But El only felt like she was betraying her friends at home.

As El walked she could hear whispers behind her. She tensed up knowing exactly who was behind her.

Angela, Liz, and Allison.

They were popular, and mean, and bitchy. They tormented El daily and this day would be no exception. El tried to hurry down the hallway but her ponytail was tugged back.

"Hey there plain Jane"
Said Angela, leader of the pack of power hungry girls.

"Don't touch me"
El mumbled but she had no power, she couldn't do anything about it.

"Speak up weirdo"
Liz said but El didn't repeat herself.

"She can't, Shes a little scaredy cat"
Allison said with a laugh.

"Leave her alone"
shouted a voice from farther down the hall, and there came Will.

"What're you gonna so about it nerd. You can't hit a girl"
Liz said and Allison and Angela laughed.

"I can"
Ruby said before slapping Liz across the face.

"Bitch"
Liz said with a gasp causing her and her friends to walk briskly away.

"El are you okay?"
Will asked and El just looked up at him quickly.

"I'm fine, I'll see you at home"
She said before rushing away.

~
El wasn't bothered the rest of the day at school. But she couldn't talk to Will after he found out about her being bullied.
So she found Jonathan in the hallway and told him she was going to walk home.

Which is what she was doing right now. She was walking down the road on her way home. She really didn't want to go home. So she side tracked. She walked down to the beach.

They lived right outside of Chicago. Right by the water. El loved the beach, it was so peaceful especially now in February. The water was too cold to swim in and it was windy and cold on the beach. But El enjoyed listening to the waves and the sound of the wind.

Nobody knew about the fact that El would hide on the beach. She usually would just call home on a pay phone and tell Joyce she was grabbing dinner with some friends. Because she had lied and pretended she had friends.

But really she skipped dinner and laid on the sand and listened to the water crashing against itself. She'd close her eyes and forget everything, she'd let her thoughts just melt away.

On this specific day she had fallen asleep in the sand. Which she'd never done before. And when she woke up she checked her watch to realize it was almost 10 o'clock.

She jumped up and raced home as fast as she could. Hoping Joyce wouldn't be mad about her being out so late... especially on a school night.

She burst through the door and Joyce was waiting there at the table for her.

"Where have you been?"
She questioned, Joyce never got angry at anyone for the most part. But Joyce did get overwhelmingly worried.

"I was with friends, I lost track of time"
El said.

"I was worried sick, I was about to call the police."
Joyce said

"I'm sorry, I should have called"
El said.

"Yes you should have. Now go to bed it's getting late"
Joyce said before looking back down at her book.