29. Can't Fight This Feeling

Chapter 29: Can't Fight This Feeling (by REO Speedwagon)

"My life has been such a whirlwind since I saw you. I've been running around in circles in my mind. And it always seems that I'm following you, girl, 'cause you take me to the places that alone I'd never find…"

. . . . . . . .

He recognized this place. The fans that always seemed to be up and running because even in the dead of winter the heat from the grill made the place a sauna. The folksy old rock music that played over the speakers. The weathered yet charming old booth seats and the checkered curtains that covered the windows. He'd been here before with his family a few times in the past - coming home from family road trips and after sleepovers at Will's house. His own mom didn't really like for him to eat too much greasy fast food so they only came once in a while unless he was with friends.

The place seemed empty aside from a few older men he didn't recognize that were sitting and chatting amicably at one of the booths. The tall, bulky man he remembered as Benny came out in an apron and a grease-stained shirt, carrying a plate with a freshly prepared burger. He could almost smell the rich scent of the ground beef and melted cheese as Benny walked past him, never even batting an eye in his direction as he proceeded to talk sports with the other men.

As Benny turned to head back to the kitchen, Mike continued to walk around the familiar restaurant with an innate curiosity as to why he was here of all places. The sound of Benny yelling startled him from his thoughts.

"Hey!" The burly man yelled before running back to the kitchen. "Come here!"

Without thinking, Mike chased after Benny who was still apparently oblivious to his presence and as they rounded the corner and caught the apparent cause of Benny's outburst, Mike stopped short, blinking in surprise.

It was El in her hospital gown, just like he'd seen on the tapes from the lab. She was covered in dirt and small scratches, clutching a small basket of fries as though her life depended on it.

"El!" Mike called out as Benny grabbed her from behind and spun her around to face him. "Hey, stop!" Mike ran up to Benny and pulled on his arms in vain in an attempt to free El from his hold. "Leave her alone!"

"You think you can steal from me, boy?" Benny thundered angrily as El looked up in terror at the towering man.

"Let her go!" Mike continued to push and pull at Benny but it was as though he was a ghost and Benny didn't react at all.

A pause fell over El and Benny as she looked at him with apprehension and fear, her breathing quick and uneven, and his face changed as he took in her appearance, registering that this didn't seem to be the typical kid taking a shot at a free snack.

"What in the hell?" Benny murmured and Mike relaxed his futile attempts at separating the two, watching the encounter. "Okay uh," He said, still holding El's arms in place. "Okay, you're hungry?"

El looked around, her eyes wide like a frightened animal as she gradually ceased her panting.

"Okay," Benny said, letting her arms go and standing up straight. "Damn," He murmured under his breath, taking a second glance at her as he clasped a hand over his face, pulling it down as he thought. "Okay, I've got people out there in the diner. I'll make 'em leave and I'll get you some real food, alright? Just-just stay here," He ordered and El seemed to freeze in place, only moving to turn her head and watch Benny walk back out.

"El?" Mike said once they were alone, staring at her and approaching her with trepidation. She seemed so feral and unpredictable in this situation, like the night in which they'd found her but more scared and more worse for wear. "Are you okay?"

El didn't respond, however. She barely moved except to tentatively lift the remaining fries from the basket to her mouth. Most had spilled out from her encounter with Benny so she was left with mostly the tiny crispy pieces and only a handful at that. Mike's heart ached as he watched her greedily stuff them into her mouth, the disappointment evident on her face as she finished the last fry and proceeded to lick the salt and crumbs from the paper that lined the basket.

"Jeez, El," Mike said softly as he watched El's eyes dart back in the direction Benny had gone and he could almost see the gears turning in her head before she dropped the basket in her hand and started walking in that direction.

As they passed the kitchen area, El walked slowly and stealthily, as if her life depended on being silent and undetectable. She glanced through the window on the kitchen door to see Benny toss a hunk of meat onto the grill, sizzling as it made contact.

Seemingly satisfied with what he was doing, El walked out the other door leading to the dining area with Mike following closely behind and studying her movements intently.

He watched as she took slow, careful steps around the tables and booths, touching and looking at them as though she'd never seen anything like them before. The way that she looked at such ordinary objects with wonder and fascination was both intriguing and disturbing. They spent a few minutes walking around the now empty diner with El never noticing or acknowledging his presence before Benny came out with a burger for El.

"Here," He said, gesturing with his head walking over to a table and setting the new basket down. "Come on over,"

El cautiously approached the table and at Benny's coaxing, took the seat opposite her.

"Go 'head," He nodded to the basket, pushing it closer to her. "You like burgers, don't ya?"

El looked down at the basket curiously, then back up to Benny one last time before snatching the burger up and tearing into it ravenously.

Mike sat down at the next table, leaning one arm on the back of the chair as he faced them.

"Jeez," Benny said, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed, looking at El with concern. "Your parents forget to feed you?" He asked but El didn't seem to care; she barely seemed to stop to chew. Mike had never seen a girl eat like that before. Even for El, who he knew to have a voracious appetite, this was kind of weird. "Is that why you ran away?" El finally slowed down a bit but her focus remained fixed on the food in her hands. "They, uh…" Benny continued. "They hurt you?"

Mike's heart felt like it was sinking as he thought about the context of what was going on. She must have just escaped the lab. The mention of her 'parents' making his muscles clench with anger as he thought about Dr. Brenner and the way he'd treated El.

"You went to the hospital, you got scared, you ran off, you wound up here, is that it?" Benny went on as El ignored him, only pausing once to look up at him. "Alright," Benny said, gently taking the burger from her hands as she watched. "I'll give this back, alright? And you can have as much as you want. Alright? Maybe even some ice cream, but you gotta answer a few of my questions first, alright?" He paused but El only stared up at him. "We got a deal?" Taking her silence for agreement, Benny went on, "Alright, let's start with the easy stuff," He held a hand out to her. "My name's Benny. Benny Hammond," When El didn't move, he took her right hand and placed it in his outstretched hand. "See? Like this. Here, I got you. Don't worry, it's okay," El watched him warily as he shook her hand up and down. "Nice to meet you, yeah. And you are?" Again, she was silent, casting her gaze back down to the table.

As Benny sighed thoughtfully, he flipped El's wrist over, revealing her tattoo. El quickly retracted her arm defensively and Benny sighed again. It was getting difficult for Mike to watch the interaction, just knowing how hard things had once been for El.

"Eleven?" Benny said. "What's that mean?" El's silence was beginning to drain him. "What's it mean?"

"No," She murmured in a soft but firm tone, looking down, forlorn.

"Well, I'll be damned," Benny remarked. "She speaks. 'No'? 'No', what?" He waited a beat for her to respond but when she didn't, he clicked his tongue. "Alright, I guess no more food, then," He said, gathering up her basket and moving to stand.

"Eleven," El said, her eyes following the basket.

"Yeah," Benny paused. "What's it mean?"

Mike watched with interest, remembering the way she'd paused when she'd introduced herself to him, though it hadn't been nearly as difficult to communicate with her as it seemed to be for Benny.

"Eleven," El pointed to herself and Benny looked down at her sympathetically.

"Alright then," He said, setting the basket back down and pushing it over to her. "Here you go," Benny chuckled and without a moment's hesitation, she snatched the burger back up and began digging into it once more. "Take it easy, take it easy,"

Mike watched as Benny sighed and stood up, walking back to the back. He then took the seat in which Benny had just sat, opposite El.

"Can you hear me, El?" Mike asked as El tore into the last bits of her burger and then moved on to the extra fries in the basket. The sight was enough to give him a stomachache. "El?" She clearly couldn't hear him. Whatever was going on, he was clearly a spectator in it and it wasn't the first time he'd had a dream in which no one seemed to know he was there. Sighing, Mike stood up and followed in the direction Benny had gone, finding him on the phone.

"Yeah, look, all I know is that she's scared to death," Benny said, his back turned to Mike. "Yeah, I think maybe she's been abused or…kidnapped or somethin'," Mike couldn't help but scoff at how much of an understatement that had been. "Yeah, it'd be great if someone would come by,"

Mike walked back out into the dining area as Benny gave the person on the phone the address to the restaurant. Why was he here right now? As he pondered, he started to piece together the timeline, realizing this was a dream and recalling that news of Benny's apparent suicide had started circulating around the time they'd found El. He looked back at Benny with apprehension, wondering what had happened leading up to that if he was here with El now. What did this dream mean? Was El telling him something?

Mike smirked to himself as he came out into the dining area to find El stopping the fan with her mind. She polished off the rest of her fries and sat back in her seat, more content and calm than he'd seen her since being in the restaurant.

The room started to become distorted and Mike heard Benny call El back to the back. As everything shifted in wavy shades of grey and black, Mike found himself in the kitchen with Benny and El. He'd been talking to her about his restaurant and the people that came in, the food he liked to make while subtly trying to coax more information out of her, though she remained steadily quiet and selective in her responses.

As El sat on a table, clad in a giant new 'Benny's Restaurant' T-shirt and eating strawberry ice cream straight from the carton with a large spoon, Benny washed dishes in the sink opposite her, turning around periodically to look at her.

"You like that ice cream, huh?" Benny said amicably as he finished with the dishes and a glimmer of a smile traced El's lips. "Smile looks good on you," El's faced quickly returned to its expressionless norm. "You know, smile?" Benny said, offering her a cheerful grin of his own that easily elicited another small smile from her.

A knocking from the front of the restaurant caught both of their attention, as well as Mike's, and El's content and pleasant expression returned to one of wariness as she looked to Benny.

"Alright," Benny said reassuringly. "You just sit tight. Whoever it is, I'll tell 'em to go away real quick, alright?" He wiped his hands on a dish towel and tossed it aside before heading out to the front door.

El watched him go and kept her eyes on him as he reappeared through the open sections of the wall in the kitchen. Mike moved closer to El so that he could see what she was seeing, peering through the kitchen and through the cut-out window-like sections in the wall that gave them clear view of the front door and much of the dining area.

Benny was talking to someone at the front door but they couldn't hear the exchange very well until he turned around, allowing a blonde woman to enter the restaurant. Mike noticed El's muscles visibly clenching even though the dim lighting in the dining area made it difficult to see the woman's face.

"Sorry again for trying to turn you away there," Benny said as he led her inside. "You know, it's funny -"

El's breathing was becoming quicker and her eyes widened like a deer caught in headlights as a woman Mike was beginning to recognize came farther into the dining room.

"Your uh, voice sounds different on the -"

Both Mike and El gasped as the blonde woman lifted a gun from her purse and Mike finally remembered who she was. The same woman he'd seen the night they found the Demogorgon at school. She was with the lab!

She pulled the trigger, causing El to jump as a bullet sunk into Benny's skull and Mike thought he might puke.

El gasped as Benny's body hit the floor and she scrambled off the table, knocking over a dish in the process before darting through to the back of the restaurant where she'd initially entered.

"El, wait!" Mike clambered after her, trying to keep up but stopping short when the two found a gun pointed at their faces. Despite knowing it was a dream, Mike's heart was pounding in his chest, his adrenaline pumping madly as another man stepped up beside the first, pointing another gun at them.

Panting, Mike looked back but he could hear voices in the dining room now and knew they were being surrounded. A gut-wrenching crunch sound pulled his attention back to the two men before them, just in time to see them fall lifelessly to the floor in front of them. Mike's eyes widened at the men lying in heaps as El darted one last glance behind her, still never seeing him, then bolted out into the dark night. Mike could hear footsteps coming from the opposite direction and he quickly followed El's trail.

Thunder cracked above them as they dashed through the woods, branches and leaves crunching beneath their feet as Mike did his best to ensure he didn't trip or fall, lest he lose El. She never looked back but he could hear her panting, the faint whimpers in her throat as she pushed through the brush and winced in her bare feet. Finally looking back and realizing no one was behind her, El slowed her pace, her breathing haggard as rain began to pour heavily. Despite the cover of the treetops, they were soaked in seconds and though her face was wet from the rain, Mike could tell she was crying.

Unable to say or do anything that would make a difference, Mike followed El through the woods as she walked at a slower pace, whimpering and limping from the cuts in her feet as the rain beat down on them relentlessly. He could hear her shivering and felt a pang in his chest knowing that even if he tried to give her his jacket, not only was it also soaked, but she wouldn't be able to take it anyway. Now she looked the way he remembered her from that night - cold, lost, drenched, and terrified. He'd already developed a better understanding of her since learning of her past with the lab but seeing the events that had unfolded just before he'd met her put things in a new perspective and he felt a strong sense of empathy and righteous anger on her behalf.

Suddenly, he heard her voice, but she wasn't looking at him. He saw flashlights up ahead and deduced that that must have been him and his friends beginning their search through the woods for Will. They were still far away, though.

"Mike?" Mike looked to El but her lips weren't moving and she wasn't looking at him. "Mike?"

The woods around him began to fade away and he looked around in confusion.

"Mike?" Mike's supercom crackled from his bedside and he sat up, panting in the dark. Soft light from the streetlights outside illuminated the device and Mike clasped it in his hand, more awake than he usually was when he first woke up.

"El, is that you?" He asked dumbly, knowing that she was the only girl that communicated with him through the supercom.

"Yes," She said in a whimper and Mike's heart sank.

"What's wrong?" He asked, his own breathing steadily returning to normal as he sat up. "Are-are you okay?"

A soft sob came through the supercom and Mike wished she wasn't so far away. "Bad dream," She said pitifully and Mike's eyes widened with interest.

"Y-Yeah?" He stammered. "What about?"

El inhaled deeply. "Benny,"

"Wow," Mike blinked, turning on his bedside light. "Um… El?" He paused, knowing that she was listening even if she didn't fill the gap in the silence. "I-I think I had the same dream,"

"Really?" El asked quietly. "I… didn't try,"

"You didn't?" Mike asked, dumbfounded. "That's so weird… Um… wow," Little cries continued to come from El and Mike listened, quietly empathetic for a moment before asking, "Was um, was it real, El? What happened in the dream? Was it like, a memory or something?"

"Y-Yes," El replied, sniffling.

"Jeez," Mike said, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "I uh… I'm really sorry, El,"

Whimpers and soft cries were her only response and Mike fidgeted with the tag on his comforter as he waited for her to say something else, or to come up with something to say himself. When she didn't, he sat quietly with her, periodically letting her know he was still there by making random, inconsequential comments about different objects in his room until she finally seemed to calm down.

. . . . . . . .

The weeks leading up to the dance quickly came and went. El had bought a brand new dress the weekend prior with Nancy and Becky had helped her with her hair on the night of the dance. Amidst the excitement of preparing for the dance, El's mind was kept somewhat weighed down by the realizations and insights she'd been developing over the past few weeks. She now had a friend who was being treated poorly and for whom she desperately wanted to get vengeance but rationality and logic told her she could just blatantly use her powers around them, even if she was beginning to trust them. She was in hiding and the wrong person seeing her could put everything in jeopardy. But what could she do?

Then there was Trish and her family. "Drinking" was apparently a problem? El knew Hopper drank a lot and Becky seemed to drink a good amount of the time as well. Becky said it helped her to relax after a stressful day. El had never seen anyone look the way Trish's mom did, though. So was drinking actually bad? Should she be worried? She wasn't sure. She needed to know more.

And then Benny. The initial blow of finding out that the first person she'd met after escaping the lab had actually been her true father had steadily subsided but every time she thought about it, it still made her breath catch in her throat. So she tried not to think about it. She'd spent years of her life in the lab wondering what if? What if I run? What if I find somewhere to hide? What if I kill this guard? What if they catch me before I escape?

Sure, she'd eventually made it out but it'd taken the distraction of opening an inter-dimensional portal and unleashing a dangerous monster for her to be able to get out without getting caught. And that hadn't exactly been one of her ideas - it'd just happened.

'What if's hurt, though. They felt like tastes of freedom when all she could see were the dark, black walls of an isolation room. They felt like her lungs burning for air and her heart crying for love and compassion that never came. The gentle, fleeting touch of her Papa when she'd done something terrible… but that he had wanted her to do. She didn't want to go back to a world of 'what if's but they plagued her like vermin, biting at her ankles and leaving nasty scars that made it difficult to walk, difficult to keep going.

So she focused on the dance. She focused on Mike and being excited and as her aunt had pulled and pushed her pixie hair into a style, she'd thought about his freckles and his smile. These things always lifted some of the weight from her heart.

Gabby had come over to get ready with her since she lived so close and it was an excuse to be out of the house and away from her father. Emma's older sister Nadine, who was about the same age as Nancy, had just gotten her license and was driving Trish and Emma while Jonathan was on his way up from Hawkins with Will, Dustin, Lucas, and Mike in tow.

"You look so pretty, El," Gabby smiled at her friend, her auburn locks curled into loose ringlets over her shoulders.

El smiled, the warmth of those words lifting her out of her thoughts. "You look pretty," She parroted, returning the compliment to Gabby and when the freckle-faced girl beamed, El's smile widened as well.

A knock at the door downstairs caught both girls attention and Gabby giggled, looking to El and wiggling her eyebrows. El didn't understand the facial expression but she at least understood that Gabby was excited and so was she.

"Girls!" Becky called from downstairs. "Jonathan and the boys are here!"

"Go strut your stuff, El," Gabby said, pushing El out of the bathroom and turning the light off in her wake.

The boys stood downstairs in the living room, shuffling about awkwardly and nervously but none more than Mike who held a small box with a ribbon tied in a bow around it. They were all dressed in suits and dress clothes that hadn't seen the light of day since Will's fake funeral, at least. As El and Gabby made their way down the hall and into the living room, Dustin was the first to notice them.

Mike had been looking down, trying to unfurl the hem of his dress pants by kicking his foot when Dustin nudged him and he looked up.

The first thing he noticed was the way her deep purple dress made her skin seem to glow against it. She was wearing an open white sweater over it to shield her arms from the cold and a pair of nude flats. Her short hair was spikey in some places and relaxed in others, giving her an ethereal appearance that reminded him of a fairy. A short bang was parted to the side that seemed to accentuate her face perfectly and it took a moment for Mike to realize that he hadn't said anything and his mouth had gone dry.

"Nice, man," Dustin chortled as Mike came back to his senses, then looked to Gabby. "I uh, didn't know you were gonna be here,"

Gabby shrugged, smiling. "I live close by,"

"You think your brother can fit us all in his car?" Lucas asked Will.

"Maybe," Will said uncertainly.

"Uh," Mike stumbled over his words, nervous to begin with but keenly aware of the way their friends were watching his every move. "Here," He shoved the box toward El. "This is for you,"

El quirked her head in confusion and before she could move, he was already opening it for her.

"Um, here," Mike mumbled, pulling out a fresh pink corsage and discarding the box on an end table.

"Oh, it's so beautiful!" Gabby exclaimed excitedly and Mike's cheeks flushed. El smiled at her friend before looking back at Mike.

"Girls uh," Mike tried to press on. "At least, I think, I don't actually know 'cause I've never been to a dance so I wasn't sure and then Nancy told me -"

"Dude, come on," Dustin said impatiently, then turned to El. "It's called a corsage. You wear it on your wrist,"

El registered this information, offering her wrist to a nervous Mike who managed to clumsily slide the corsage over her hand. He exhaled, smiling as El looked down at the flower on her wrist in amazement.

"Pretty," She said softly, delicately touching the petals.

"Yes, very pretty" Lucas said abruptly. "Can we go now or are we just gonna stand around and watch Mike be awkward?"

"Shut up, Lucas!" Mike snapped.

"Alright, that's enough," Dustin stepped in before his two friends could get into an argument. "Let's just go,"

The drive to Clarksville Middle School was relatively brief. They'd managed to squeeze into the car by having Lucas sit up front while Gabby, Will, Mike, and El sat in the backseat and Dustin sat crouched in the back trunk area behind the backseat.

"Are you okay back there?" Jonathan called back to Dustin who was getting himself situated and crossed his arms over the backseat between Will and Mike's heads.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Dustin quipped. "Just don't kill me,"

"Sure," Jonathan chuckled half-heartedly as he pulled off.

"Oh my god," Gabby exclaimed, leaning forward so Jonathan could hear her. "Can you turn the radio up?"

"Sure," He agreed, adjusting the volume as Gabby sat back happily.

"I love this song!" She declared as Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody filled the car.

"You're into Queen, huh?" Jonathan remarked, impressed. "That's pretty cool,"

"Ahh, this is my favorite part!" Gabby cried as the operatic part began with a steady piano staccato. "I see a little silhouetto of a man. Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?" She sang along dramatically as Mike and Lucas blinked in surprise. El was used to Gabby singing along to everything so she didn't think much of it while Dustin watched her with an intrigued smirk. Will wasn't paying much attention and was just trying to avoid being jostled as he wasn't feeling his best today. Nothing significant had happened since his last almost-vomit in the bathroom but he'd just been feeling 'off' today. He hadn't wanted to alarm anyone, though, so he'd gone along with the plan without telling anyone. But as they made their way to the school, he tried to will away the dull pain in his abdomen and the weird, fluttery feeling that would come and go periodically.

"Galileo!" Gabby continued to sing along, alternating between higher and lower voices in a playful way, clearly at home in her own eccentric company. "Galileo!"

Much to her, and everyone else's surprise, however, Dustin jumped in at the next part.

"I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me," He sang with his slight lisp and Mike, Lucas, and El all turned their heads to him in surprise.

Gabby beamed at the sudden accompaniment, though never missing a beat. "He's just a poor boy from a poor family!"

"Spare him his life from this monstrosity!" They goofily sang together before erupting into laughter.

Lucas, turning around in the front seat, said to Mike, "What the hell is happening back there?"

Mike made an exaggerated gesture of confusion and El giggled before noticing the way Will was being even more quiet than usual.

"Will," She said, leaning forward and getting his attention. "You okay?"

"Huh?" Will startled, looking up at her and registering the way the others turned to look at him as well. Ever since he'd come back from the Upside Down, and especially after his friends found out about the whole vomiting-slugs-and-slipping-into-the-Upside-Down thing, everyone seemed to become hyper vigilant if the question of him being 'okay' came up.

"Yeah, I'm fine," He replied, changing his demeanor to one more relaxed and nonchalant despite the pain in his stomach and the mildly dizzy sensation in his head. "Just uh, I'm just wondering what the dance is gonna be like,"

This worked well to change the subject and the kids spent the remainder of the ride speculating and talking about what they thought would be at or happen at the dance.

. . . . . . . .

The gymnasium at Clarksville Middle was decorated with a myriad of red, pink, and white balloons that hung from the walls in large clusters, along with paper hearts that were taped to the walls and dangled over doorways. There was a DJ up on a stage that overlooked the room and the back wall was lined with rectangular tables of snacks and drinks. There were several round tables lined up along the sides for students to eat or otherwise take breaks from dancing.

The group had linked up with Trish and Emma soon after arriving and Jonathan had said he was going to run through a drive-thru but would otherwise be waiting in the parking lot until the dance was over. Truth be told, he hadn't had a decent reason to turn down his brother's request for a ride up to Clarksville. Hawkins High was having their own Valentine's dance tonight and his developing feelings toward Nancy, coupled with the knowledge she would be going with Steve, made him eager to busy himself tonight. Even if that meant being chauffeur to his little brother and friends for the night. He could get homework done in the car, maybe step out for a while to take pictures. It was at least something to do that didn't involve hanging out in his room and wondering what Steve and Nancy were doing. What she was letting him do…

"Go talk to him!" Trish nudged Emma as they sat at one of the round tables. They'd already been at the dance for close to an hour and no one had gathered the courage to dance yet, except for Gabby who had dragged Trish out for a fast-paced Madonna song almost immediately.

"You still haven't talked to Josh yet?" Gabby inquired, sitting on Emma's opposite side. "You should go ask him to dance,"

"Uh, I don't know…" Emma said nervously, letting her gaze drift to the other side of the gym where a boy with moppy blonde hair stood talking and laughing with a group of other guys.

Meanwhile, Mike was trying to pay attention to the Lord of the Rings debate Lucas and Dustin were engaged in but he was much more focused on wondering whether now would be a good time to hold El's hand. She was sitting right next to him and his friends couldn't see anything from their vantage points around the table. Even Will seemed engaged in the nuances of Lucas and Dustin's conversation. While El's attention was periodically bouncing back and forth between her girl friends and her guy friends, the girls were obviously caught up in their own world. If Mike just grabbed her hand under the table, maybe, it could be completely subtle and no one would even have to see. He'd had enough goading from his friends. Couldn't he just do something nice without having his friends tease him for it? Not that it really mattered - he knew they didn't mean anything by it. But it was still embarrassing.

Mike's palms felt sweaty and he anxiously rubbed them on his pants. He couldn't hold El's hands if he was all gross. He mentally chastised himself for being so nervous, finally emboldening himself enough to try and reach for her hand but he hadn't looked at what he was doing and he banged his hand on the table leg, causing it to jolt and startle everyone.

"What the hell?" Trish remarked.

"Whoops," Mike chuckled uncomfortably. "Sorry, guys,"

The boys smirked at him but after a few seconds, both groups returned to their original conversations.

Mike was mentally berating himself for being an idiot when he felt a gentle hand slip into his and he turned to El who was smiling softly at him. He returned her expression with a sheepish grin of his own.

Meanwhile, Will was trying his best to act and feel normal but the strange feeling he'd been having in the car had only increased. He could feel beads of sweat forming at his brow and he felt light-headed but he pushed on, fighting against whatever was making him feel ill. His stomach hurt a bit but he didn't feel nauseated so he wasn't particularly worried about throwing up. He just felt off.

As the upbeat melody of Kool and the Gang's 'Celebration' faded from the speakers and another slower song emerged, Mike finally rallied the courage he needed.

"D-Do you um," He said quietly to El. "Do you want to dance… with me?"

El's soft smile was soothing and her nod was elating.

"G-Great!" Mike exclaimed happily. "Okay…" He stood up and El followed closely behind as Dustin, Trish, and Gabby called out good-natured teasing remarks.

He had no idea what he was doing but he'd seen enough TV to have a vague idea. Relief came in knowing that El was just as clueless, if not more so, than he was.

"Okay uh," Mike stumbled over his words, avoiding eye contact because he knew it would make his face turn cherry red. "So I haven't actually done this before but I think you um, you put your arms up here," He grabbed her hands, putting them behind his neck. "A-And I put my hands here," He swallowed, the rapid pounding of his heart and the tension in his stomach unbeknownst to El. "And we just kind of move back and forth, like this," He said as they began to sway with the music, slightly off-beat at first but eventually settling into rhythm.

El had a strange but pleasant fluttery feeling in her belly and she couldn't help but smile when she looked at Mike. She could tell he was nervous but she wasn't sure why. This seemed like a nice thing to be doing. Why was he so scared? She caught his eyes at one point and he finally grinned bashfully, relaxing a little bit.

"H-Happy Valentine's Day, El," Mike squeaked.

"What is Valentine's Day?" El inquired. After all this talk leading up to the dance, she'd meant to ask but kept forgetting.

"Oh, uh," Mike paused, stammering. "I-It's a holiday, um, a day when you celebrate… uh… people you like,"

"Friends?"

"No, uh, well I mean, yes," Mike continued to stumble over his words. "You can, but it's usually um… do you remember when I told you about the Snowball?" El nodded. "Well uh, it's kind of like that? I guess? Um… like, it's people you like as… more than a friend, I guess… people you would take to a dance,"

"A crush?" El began to put the different pieces of information she'd learned together.

"Wh-What?" Mike's voice cracked. "Uh, um, yeah, you can do that…"

El nodded thoughtfully. If you took someone to a dance like the Snowball, or this Valentine's Day one, who was more than a friend and someone who was more than a friend was a 'crush', then did that mean Mike crushed her? Is that what the mouth-to-mouth in the cafeteria at his school had meant? Maybe a 'crush' meant that you 'crush' the person you like on the lips, like he'd done to her. She had just begun to contemplate the idea of crushing him on the lips when out of the corner of her eye she noticed something fall on the other side of the room and amidst the commotion, they heard someone yell "Will!"

Mike spun his head around and the two immediately recognized their friend on the gymnasium floor, unconscious and surrounded by their other friends as well as a growing crowd of people. Mike and El ran over just as a circle was forming around Will.

"What happened?!" A teacher scrambled to the floor beside Will to check him out.

"I dunno!" Dustin exclaimed, clutching his curly brown locks anxiously. "He was saying he didn't feel good and then he just collapsed!"

"He said his stomach hurt," Lucas added as the teacher checked Will's breathing and felt his forehead.

"He's burning up," She said, looking around the crowd for another adult. "Somebody go call 9-1-1!"

Paramedics were at the school within minutes of being called and Lucas and Dustin had run outside to get Jonathan who was now arguing with a paramedic to let him get closer to his brother.

Suddenly, seeing Will sprawled on the floor like that, El was struck with a familiar image in her head. She was in the Upside Down, kneeling beside a tree in the woods with Will. She'd gotten an ominous feeling from him shortly after he'd found her, some harbinger that she couldn't quite put her finger on but she knew something terrible was going to happen.

"Not safe," She'd said and his expression had changed to visible discomfort.

"What do you mean?" He'd asked, looking around as though looking for some impending threat.

El slowly and shakily lifted her arm, pointing to him and poking her finger into his gut. "Not safe," She'd repeated and Will blanched.

"I-I don't understand," He'd stammered, following her finger to his stomach. " Me? I'm not safe?"

She was growing tired and it took all the energy she could muster to give a small nod in response. "Demogorgon,"

El gasped when she finally remembered. She took a couple steps back, her eyes widening with fear and disbelief as the paramedics loaded Will onto a stretcher. Her blood felt like it'd turned to ice as she realized what was happening to Will.

. . . . . . . .

"I can't fight this feeling anymore. I've forgotten what I started fighting for..."

. . . . . . . .

[A/N: Hey everyone! This will likely be my last chapter of spring break so I hope you enjoyed it! Please let me know what you think and what you think will happen! I'm going to be pretty busy over the next few weeks but if I get enough feedback from you guys, it might help motivate me to get the next chapter out sooner. As always, thank you for reading! Hope you liked it. :) Ta-ta for now!]