51. Popular Party (The Party)

A/N: Hey, I'm back from hell. So, I know I've been gone for months and many of you reached out to ask about my whereabouts and if I was okay (thank you, btw. Love you). I am fine, nothing major happened but I thought I could handle both writing and school, and that, sadly, is not the case. I'm not leaving my stories or quitting writing, but I do have little time for it, so I'm thanking you all in advance for waiting patiently and re-reading my works while I'm inactive lol. I also struggled (and I'm still struggling, I think) with writer's block, so please just hang on with me. I wanted to update this Prompts story first because this one is the longest I've taken to update and I think it's the one that has a wider audience too, so I searched my Prompt list for something easy and whipped this chapter out real quick. I'm not completely happy with it and I know I could've done better, but this is what I can offer you while I get my game back on. Happy reading!

PROMPT: Steve and Nancy scene in the hall but Mileven, by Mihaela / The Party is part of the popular kids crowd, by HakunaMatataXD.

Wednesday morning had El blinking blearily into her locker, her finger running over her timetable while a giant yawn escaped her mouth.

"Hey, El." Cody Parrish greeted her, giving her a smile as he walked past her.

"Hi." She smiled back, discreetly patting her hair.

She hadn't had time to shower that morning, curtesy of one Jim Hopper nearly yanking her out of bed so he could drive her to school, so she had gathered a few handfuls of water, ran her fingers through her bed-hair and tried to soften the waves out of her sleep-braid. It didn't do much, but she rocked the messy look, so it didn't really matter.

"Hey," Max approached her, bubble of gum already popping in her mouth and high ponytail swinging over her shoulders. "What ya doing here so early?"

"Dad drove us," El explained, switching books out of her backpack and into her locker. "Remember Mr. Wheeler's tiny bump on the car? Well, it wasn't as tiny as he thought."

"Oh, yeah. Lucas mentioned something like that." The redhead nodded as she leaned against the locker next to El's, backpack thrown over her Chucks while she played with the car keys dangling from her fingers.

"Mike has to drive his father to the office while the car is in the shop, which, hopefully, will be for today only. Otherwise I'll be getting up at ass-crack of dawn to catch a ride with Hop."

"Wait, is that why Will is so cranky? I just saw him by his locker and he nearly punched me when I poked his side." Max snickered, pointing her thumb over her shoulder where, just as described, a cranky Will was rubbing his eyes with both hands while resting his elbows inside his locker.

"It looks like he's trying to disappear." She snorted, watching her brother.

"Or trying to take a nap. I wouldn't blame him."

"We already took a nap," El sighed, turning to the mirror glued to her locker door. She had mascara smudged all over her under eyes. "We got here like an hour ago. We went to the library to sleep. That's why he's so cranky, I had to wake him up."

"Well, if Mr. Wheeler's car is not ready for today, let me know and I'll pick you up tomorrow." Max shrugged, watching the people walking by through her sunglasses.

"Really?" El asked eagerly, trying to rub the smudged mascara away with her fingers.

"Yeah, it's no problem. Just remember I live a bit further, so I'd be there a good fifteen minutes earlier than Mike usually is."

"Fifteen minutes is better than an hour. My father is barbaric."

"Honestly, it's seven in the morning. It's too early for your big vocabulary." The redhead grouched, slouching further into the lockers as she pushed her signature aviators to the top of her head.

"Shut up. Where is Lucas, anyway?"

"He went to talk to Mr. Saltzman about that thing."

"Oh, that thing." She nodded, understanding Max's pointed look.

"Hi, Max." Jack Donovan waved, skateboard under his arm as he and Tyler Green strolled past them.

The redhead returned the wave, a small smile tilting the corners of her lips before she turned back to the shorter girl. "He'll tell us more about it at lunch. And by the way, you're making things worse with your fingers."

"Ugh," El groaned loudly, lowering her hands from her face. "Help me!"

"Take out a tissue! Don't you have some in there?" Max gestured to her open locker while she eyed El's raccoon eyes.

"I don't know. Mike usually carries those for me. And I haven't had nosebleeds for a while now." She muttered while she lifted books and paper sheets to see if she had any tissues, which she did find. "Here."

"Turn around," the redhead said as she took the Kleenex and grabbed her friend's chin. "You got any concealer?"

"Yes." Taking the tube out of her bag, she held it in her grasp and smiled at a few girls who walked past them. "This is doing wonders to my reputation, by the way." El mumbled in amusement as she felt Max's dabs under her eyes.

"As if you care."

"What are we doing?" A new voice said behind them.

"Cleaning up El's lack of Michael Wheeler." Max snorted, uncapping the concealer and squeezing a tiny dollop on her fingertip. "You should go do the same to your boyfriend," she added as she tapped the makeup on El's skin. "He's barely alive."

"Careful, he bites." El added.

"I already knew that, ladies." Chris Perez smirked, winking at Max as she stuck her tongue out at him. "See you in Chem, carrot."

"Stop calling me that." Max said immediately as he walked away, more out of habit than anything. The nickname was kind of endearing, and it had long since grown on her. But she wasn't going to let those asses know.

"Am I pretty again?" El murmured as she felt the redhead's hands leave her face. With Max's hum of approval, she turned to the mirror again. A bit of dark grey still lingered under her lower lashes, but that couldn't be avoided.

"I don't know when I became the she-mergency girl." Max muttered to herself, shaking her head a little while she wiped her fingers with the tissue and handed the tube of concealer to the brunette.

"Hey," Lucas materialized next to them, backpack slung over his shoulder and two cups of coffee in his hands. "Morning sunshine."

"Sun isn't shining for her yet." Max informed him as she took one of the coffees. Behind them, a few locker rows down, she could hear two girls giggling with each other as they gushed over her boyfriend. With a tiny roll of her eyes and a snort, she turned back to the conversation.

"Yeah, he's not coming until later. Where did you get those?" El questioned, pointing at the styrofoam cups with a pout.

"Teacher's lounge," Lucas supplied. "That's where I found Mr. Saltzman. I finally spoke with him, which I'll tell you about later, when everyone gets here. He let me grab some coffee, and because I only got two limbs, cutie here was the obvious winner." He nodded at Max with a grin on his face.

"Cheeseball." She muttered, trying to hide her smile into her coffee cup.

"How dare you not extend that free coffee to the whole Party, Sinclair?" Dustin exclaimed as he caught the end of their conversation. His curls bounced with every step that he took, and he paused momentarily to shake Brock Wright's meaty fist, before he was standing next to Lucas and El. He was just about to follow their conversation when he was interrupted again.

"Good morning, guys," Corbin Richards, captain of Hawkins High Baseball Team, stopped next to them, patting the boys' shoulders while nodding goodbye at Brock. He was a tall boy, green eyes and tanned skin that glowed golden under every practice and game. "El, Max." Corbin smiled at them, receiving a nod and a wave from the girls. "Just stopping by to let you two know the new jackets arrived."

"Oh, sweet!" Dustin cheered, clapping Corbin in the back. "Are we getting them now?"

"Nope. Stay a few minutes after school to check them out. You know, to see if your last name is right and to let the coach know about any mistakes. Run the voice if you see the boys first. And tell Mike."

"Will do, Cap." Lucas grinned, bumping his fist against his teammate's as Corbin turned to leave. "Man, those jackets are gonna be sick!" He gushed as he swung an arm around Max's shoulders. "If the sketches alone were good—"

"I know, dude!" Dustin smiled, his baby blues sparkling under his trusty cap. "Good thing we don't have practice today. We can go hang out with our jackets on after school!"

"If you start wearing that everywhere I will literally stop talking to you." Max rolled her eyes, shaking her ponytail out from under Lucas' arm before it sagged.

"Why's that a bad thing?" El frowned curiously.

"Because then they'll be the typical jocks."

"It's a jacket, Mayfield," Dustin raised his eyebrows teasingly. "What if I get cold?"

"We're proud of ourselves. You know how many people didn't make it into the team." Lucas reminded his girlfriend.

"Well, that's because you're cool and they aren't."

"Now, who's being a typical mean girl?" Dustin teased again.

"Henderson, I´ll—"

Whatever threat Max was about to make was cut off by El's startled shriek, the sound carrying out into the hallway.

The girl nearly jumped out of her skin as she was lifted up in the air, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist from behind, and she relaxed as soon as she heard the familiar laughter rumbling against her back.

"Mike!" El whined, covering her face with both hands as Lucas, Dustin and Max joined Mike's laughter. A few people had turned to look, chuckling in amusement as they watched the group's antics.

"Morning sunshine!" Lucas snickered.

"Did I scare you?" Mike asked, shoulders still shaking with laughter as El turned to face him.

"Shut up." The brunette mumbled, burying her face against his chest as she wrapped her arms around his waist. Mike pressed a kiss to her head, snuggling her tighter for a few minutes.

"Did you get here okay?"

"Yes. Dad drove us. We had to wake up really early though."

"I'm sorry," he smoothed her hair back as she leaned away from his torso to look up at him properly. "But I have good news! My Dad's car is ready, so my mother is picking him up from work to drive him to the shop. Which means, I'm released from driving duties, which means I'm all yours this afternoon. Where do you want to go, gorgeous?"

Leaning up on her tiptoes, she reached for his face and brought him down for a kiss, the first one of the day. "Hi." El giggled as they broke apart.

"Hi." Mike chuckled along, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"You guys are gross." Will said as he and Chris walked over.

"Yeah, like, hate to break it to you, but we're all standing here and it's more than a little awkward." Dustin pretended to gag, dodging Mike's hand with a laugh when the freckled boy tried to hit him.

"Thanks to you I had to talk Will out of slamming his face on his locker door." Chris told Mike with a smirk, flinching and rubbing his stomach with a pained giggle as Will pinched him.

"Hopper drove us here at six." Will groaned, rolling his head against Chris' arm and nestling further into his grey-eyed boyfriend. Sleep wasn't totally out of his system yet and Chris was warm.

"Six fifty-seven, you drama king." El rolled her eyes in amusement. "And we napped until seven thirty afterwards."

"Still," her brother pouted. "Don't ever leave us again, Mike, please. Our father loves to pretend he really likes the Station."

"Don't worry, I was just telling El—"

"We were all here."

"Fine. I was just telling everyone my Dad's car is fixed. I'm picking you up tomorrow again. But what are we doing today?"

"Oh! Team jackets arrived already. Corbin said to swing by after school to get ours." Lucas said, finishing his coffee.

"Damn, you three in Go Tigers! jackets." Chris nodded with a snort. "What a fashion statement."

"Damnit, Will, you could've had yours." Max lifted a jean-clad leg to point one of her shoes at said boy.

"I'm not into sports." Will rolled his eyes.

"So we said too," Mike shrugged a shoulder, still standing behind El with both arms around her waist. She was wearing a soft sweater and a flowy skirt, and his hands had found the gap between the two garments. "And now look at us."

"I still don't get how you got into the team. Like, no offence, but my guy here was always jacked," Max reached up to squeeze one of Lucas' biceps to prove her point. Or to just touch him, it didn't matter. "Mike was still a noodle and Dustin still had baby fat when you decided to do the try-outs."

"Steve." The boys chorused together, giving each other grins for it.

"That guy didn't let us out skip practice for even a day." Mike shook his head, remembering the weeks of long games with Steve barking orders until they got it right.

"Even after try-outs." Dustin snickered.

"But it sure showed results." Lucas said pointedly, gesturing at Mike's no-longer-noodle figure. He was still on the thinner side, but his thighs didn't disappear beneath his jeans anymore and his red hoodie rested comfortably over his broad shoulders.

"It's how I got these guns." Dustin grinned as he flexed, showing some muscle underneath his sweatshirt.

"You're still nerds at heart." El reminded them with a smile.

"Oh, no doubt about that. When are we having the next campaign, by the way?"

"Let me finish Sostini's project and I'll get to it." Mike sighed, stress already nagging at him.

"Hey, Will." Lauren Spoon waved as she walked past them.

"Hey." Will waved back with a smile. They all watched the girl go in silence until they turned back to face each other.

"I don't get how girls still flirt with you when you're with Chris."

"Was that flirting to you?"

"No, but I know for a fact Lauren asked you out a few months ago."

"So? We're friends."

"You're friends with a lot of people and they don't all ask you out."

"So are you and you still don't have a girlfriend."

"Hey!"

The bell rang just in time, signaling the start of classes and the end of their chat.

"We discussed this already," Mike stated with a finger in Will's direction, as if he were chastising a dog. "Dustin being the only single person in this group is a sore subject and you don't have a right to throw it in his face."

"Uhm, red flag, stop talking about it!" Dustin scowled, shoving Mike's shoulder.

"I'm defending you, mouth-breather!"

"Ugh, you guys are too much." Max groaned, tightening her high ponytail and pressing a kiss to Lucas' lips. "Walk me to class?" She said to Chris, curling her arm though his as she shouldered her backpack.

"See you in Algebra, baby." Chris pecked Will's cheek, waving goodbye at everyone as he and Max walked away. "Move! Red queen coming through!"

"Chris, shut the hell up!" The redhead laughed, apologizing when she bumped into people as Will's boyfriend pushed her by the shoulders, making train noises with his mouth. It didn't matter though, people laughed along and smiled in entertainment as they walked by. Everyone liked them.

It was weird sometimes, the transition from outcast to cool kids. None of them could pinpoint the moment it happened. Some might say Lucas, Dustin and Mike's entrance to the school's Baseball Team had something to do with the Party's popularity, but it wasn't true because people still liked them before they joined the Tigers.

Will breaking Troy's nose in freshman year and gaining some kind of bad-boy rep for a few months could also be a cause, but that would've ebbed away when he joined the Drama class and stole the show as Danny Zuko in the school's production of Grease. He still had fangirls, even after two years, even after his very public relationship with Christopher Perez, resident eye-candy and trend setter, so it wasn't his once-upon-a-time bad-boy reputation.

It could also be because of the girls. El's sweet personality made her get along with everyone who approached her, which was a lot of people these days (they would talk to her to ask her about homework, or about her friends, or just to chat). She was more than chatty now, thanks to her classmates and upperclassmen who she was kind-of friends with. El didn't think of them as friends. The Party was her group. Dustin, Max, Lucas, Will, Mike and now Chris were her friends. Even though she liked everyone in school, she still didn't count them as friends; they were more acquaintances.

Max was a tougher cookie, but her grunge style and sarcastic banter made her likeable and a hilarious girl to be around. It kind of baffled her when girls approached her to ask about her outfit or about the products she used with her hair (shampoo and conditioner? There wasn't a secret recipe or anything. Just good genes, she guessed). Guys engaged her in skate and video games conversations, and those were qualities that added a slight edgier vibe to her reputation.

The once loser group became the liked one.

"See you at lunch?" Mike murmured to El, dropping a kiss to her lips after she nodded.

"Will you kiss me goodbye too?" Dustin teased as El and Lucas took off.

"Stop trying to steal my sister's boyfriend," Will mock-elbowed him as the three remaining boys started walking to the other side of the hallway. "We seriously need to find you a girl."

"I can find a girl just fine by my own, thank you very much." The catcher sassed back.

"I'd love to see that."

"Mike, Will is being a bitch today. Make it stop."

"Max is right, you two are too much." Mike groaned, rolling his eyes as they entered their classroom.

"Oh, my next girlfriend is alone!" Dustin said suddenly, spotting Gisselle Scott dropping her school back on a desk by the window. "No, no, no, girl, we do not sit on this side of the classroom at this hour." He said as he walked to the dark-skinned girl and took her backpack.

"Why?" Gisselle asked, eying the taller boy with a chuckle.

"The light is too bright! It would come right through this window," he tapped the glass, "and go straight into these beautiful eyes." He finished with a tap to her nose. Mike and Will were trying not to choke with laughter as they watched their friend flirt.

"He's finding a girl on his own right away." Mike muttered as a pink-cheeked Gisselle trailed after Dustin, who continued to carry her backpack until they reached the last desk of their row.

"Guess we'll see you after class." Will smirked over his shoulder at the curly haired boy.

"Or not." Dustin winked, boldly taking Gisselle's hand in his as he sat down in front of her. The two began chatting quietly, transitioning to passing notes when the teacher entered. Once or twice Gisselle giggled too loud, but Dustin always saved her, and because their charisma didn't just affect the student body, the teacher let it pass.

Being part of the cool kids had its perks, and they were all aware now, and although they did not rely on their popularity at all, it wasn't too bad.

But, after school, the only ones who got together to eat ice cream and listen to Dustin's excited rant about his new crush were the seven of them.

Still, in the end, it would always be the Party forever.

A/N 2: I'm sorry if I couldn't make them cooler lol. I just wanted them to be more lowkey and not change their personalities. Kudos to those that recognize my OCs from other stories/chapters. I love you all and I'm super grateful that you're still reading my work after all this time. It's going to be nearly a year since I published this story already, can you believe? Ugh, crazy. Anyway, I hope you're not too mad at me for abandoning you. Please leave a comment because I love you and missed you a lot! Xoxo!