CHAPTER FOUR;
BLOOD BATH.

eleanor was a bundle of nerves this early midweek morning.

today would be her first official day as mike wheeler's fake girlfriend, and to say she was looking forward to it is anything but the truth.

her vigorous thoughts had kept her up into the late hours of the night, contemplating whether it was all worth it. of course, her heart was still in shambles from the betrayal of shelly and troy, but was fake dating mike taking things a bit too far?

she squeezed her eyes shut, clearing her mind of all insecurities before rolling over in her warm and welcoming bed. she hoped if she could hide from her obnoxious alarm clock, time would stop and she could catch a few more minutes of sleep.

however, it wasn't long before the bearded face of her father peeked his head into her bedroom. "el, you need to get up," his voice was soft, yet still had that parenting tone. she knew her parents were well aware of what transpired over the weekend (how exactly they found out, she was unsure since will swore he didn't say anything). luckily, they hadn't dared to utter a word about the whole situation for her sake. "you're going to be late," he warns before shutting the door behind himself.

she groaned, already loathing the day. but unfortunately school wasn't optional, especially not in her household so she mustered the will to toss her covers off her legs and face her cruel reality.

okay, it wasn't that cruel. after all, she is technically dating mike wheeler.

she opted for a pale plaid skirt and a soft sweater, not paying her hair much attention as she had grown to accept her natural curls.

her former best friend had always encouraged her to put more effort into her appearance, to fluff her hair and to wear bright eyeshadow. despite shelly's nagging, she always stuck with her simple mascara and lip balm, and when she was feeling a little wild she'd lightly dust on some blush.

she descended the stairs and followed the smell of waffles wafting through the home, knowing she was already limited on time.

"morning, joyce," she greets her step-mom, swiping an eggo.

though she always considered joyce to be her mom, it never felt quite right to address her as mom. she always thought it would make her dad feel guilty, letting her call someone else mom when she never really knew her real mom.

her mother, terry, died in a car crash when el was only two years old. she was actually on her way to the the store because they'd ran out of diapers late one tuesday night, and the roads were iced over. due to how young el was, all she really had of her mother were vague flashes of memory that faded more and more with time.

"good morning, sweetie," joyce returns with a warm smile. "will just left, do you need a ride?"

the news made her frown. while will claimed he wasn't angry with her, it didn't change the fact that he didn't even glance at her during dinner last night.

she shook her head. "no, i'll just ride my bike today," she declined, taking a large bite of her breakfast. her orbs flickered to the clock on the wall which read 7:41am. she took an even bigger bite of her waffle, chewing too fast to even savor it. "okay, if i don't go now, i'll be late to algebra."

the woman handed el her lunch (yes, joyce makes her lunch for her on mornings like this when she's running late) before waving her daughter out of the kitchen and to the door. "have a nice day!"

/ / /

lunch time rolled around, and she had no idea what to expect. was she supposed to go eat with mike? would he come eat with her? how did this work?

when she was with troy, he insisted that she sat with him and all his airhead friends even though he hardly ever acknowledged her presence when she was there. she scoffed at the thought, realizing that he really was an ass sometimes.

"stupid school food!" max whines as she approaches the table el was already seated at, dropping her tray onto the surface. el scrunches her nose at the questionable meatloaf the cafeteria had served. max quickly looks to el, poking out her bottom lip, "how much do you love me?"

el rolled her eyes, knowing the angle she was working. without thought, she gave her friend the other half of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "you're welcome."

the redhead smiles. "thank you, my love!" she happily chirps, biting into the sandwich.

el was thankful to have a friend like max. when she sat with troy and his goons, max normally sat with her other friends on the track team. but after everything, she was grateful that max began to sit with her instead or she'd probably be eating in the library by herself for the rest of the year.

the two friends chat amongst themselves at their lonely table when max's eyes suddenly focus in on something behind her brunette friend. taking noticing of her slightly furrowed brows, el turns around.

she's met with the sight of ebony curls sauntering into the lunchroom, drawing the attention of a fair percent of their peers. probably because everyone knew he ate with his friends, uninterested in the talks of hawkins cafeteria. he was accompanied with the redhead's boyfriend, who was grinning at a set of fiery locks.

"what are you two doing here?" the ginger quizzes, surprised by their presence. lucas hastily takes the seat beside her, kissing her cheek as a greeting.

el looks to mike with wide eyes, praying to the heavens that he knew what he was doing because she sure as hell did not. he nonchalantly plops down in the seat beside her, resting his arm on the back of her chair.

"hi," el says in her naturally gentle tone with a soft smile.

he nods. "hi," his tone mocking hers, earning a light yet awkward laugh from her.

she looks back to her food before noticing the sudden silence across their table. it seemed that they had stolen max and lucas' attention because the couple was now gawking at her and her fake boyfriend.

"what?"

max shakes her head. "nothing, it's just that this is so weird. like, you two? together? i just - it's so weird!" she exclaims, her eyes slightly bulged.

she was right. it was extremely weird. if people were surprised by the sheriff's daughter dating the quarterback, they were practically losing their shit over her supposedly dating the 'bad' boy. ah, how the cliché of it all made her cringe.

el brushed her friend's concerns off with a shrug. "life is unpredictable, maxine." she redirects her gaze to mike, only to follow his eyes to another table.

brooke's table.

she wasn't surprised to find her green eyes narrowed, unhappy to see mike in here when she'd begged him countless times to join her for lunch but he was set in the ways he had adapted before he met her.

el turned back around, feeling brooke's sharp glare casted on herself. she took a sip of her water when she felt mike scoot closer to her, moving his arm from her chair to around her. it was unsettling, knowing she was a pawn between exes, and it made her wonder how he was so at ease with it. how did it not bother him that she was using him, too?

"shelly and troy at two o'clock," max murmurs with spite, looking over el's shoulder.

unable to fight the urge to look, she saw that max was correct. beside brooke's table of cheerleaders was the table of football players, and there sat shelly in el's former's seat beside troy.

her blood boiled at how easy it was for shelly to steal what was hers. it's not that el treasured the seat at the table of jocks, but it's that her best friend was able to sit there with a clean conscience and smile against her lips - as if she never gave a shit about el. it was infuriating.

"mike?" she quipped. he kinked a brow at her, no longer looking at his own ex lover. "aren't you hungry?" she clutched a piece of popcorn from her cracker jack box, raising it up to him. he smirked, knowing what she was doing. she placed the popcorn between his lips with a giggle, cautious not to overdo it.

he pressed a kiss to her cheek after swallowing the caramelized treat, knowing that would drive the blonde across the cafeteria crazy.

el felt a sense of pride. this was easier than she had anticipated. in fact, it was almost fun. for the first time, she knew shelly braswell was envious of her, and, while it might seem twisted, this made her happy.

max and lucas must've gotten over their disbelief seeing as they were no longer paying any mind to the 'couple,' too enthralled in their flirty conversation that involved the deep-skinned boy to twist an auburn tress of her hair between his fingers.

mike leaned into el and whispered, "brooke's fuming. good job, sweetheart." he chuckled when she rolled her eyes at the nickname.

she was almost uncomfortable with his proximity, and how confidently his mahogany eyes casted down on her. she purses her lips, "are shelly and troy looking?"

he had the superior view of the lunchroom. it would've been obvious if she turned around; however, he only had to glance over the top of her head, which he did. "yeah, a lot of people are looking."

and for the second time within the past two days, el hopper connected her lips to those of her brother's childhood best friend.

of course, this kiss wasn't nearly as intense as yesterday's. it was merely a peck, sending a message to the students of hawkins. a message that said el was no longer broken over her first love's infidelity or her ex best friend's backstabbing. she had moved on, untainted by the drama of it all.

except, like her relationship, that was a lie. it was all one extravagant lie.

el inhaled deeply, shoving the thoughts aside and finishing her lunch, feeding mike a piece of popcorn every so often.

/ / /

el was one of the fortunate students who got a seventh period study hall. this meant she had the option of leaving early.

but, being a nerd at heart, she had decided to go to the library to finish her algebra homework.

as the unbothered girl was breezing through her math equations, an ex best friend approached. at the sound of a faint sniffle, el's gaze refocused from her paper to a pair of puffy blue eyes. her brows furrowed, "shelly?"

"how could you?" she whispered, looking down at the brunette as she was raised up by her heels while el was sat on the uncomfortable library couch that had swallowed many coins and pencils over the years.

for the second time today, el was angry. "excuse me?"

"you and mike," she squeaked with a quivering lower lip. "if you're doing this to hurt me, p-please just -"

"are you shitting me right now?" the crying girl looked taken back by her words. "you have the audacity to steal my boyfriend, and come crying to me because i'm dating your middle school crush?" el shut her folder, forgetting about her schoolwork for the time being.

the cheerleader's nose scrunches up, beginning to match el's anger. "you and i both know you never even loved troy, you were just tired of being a nobody in this school," she fights back, starting to catch the librarian's attention.

el laughs. "yeah, that's me. hungry for attention-eleanor hopper." she raised to her feet, clutching her folder and backpack. "shelly, i can assure you that if i wanted attention i would've just stood at the top of carrie hannigan's stairs and flashed the entire school. i mean, that's what you did to earn your spot at the top of the pyramid, right?" shelly was surprised by the remark, especially because it had come from the ever so sweet and compliant el.

"miss hopper and miss braswell! i suggest for you to handle your differences outside of my library unless you'd rather settle them in here on saturday morning," mrs. wayberry, the librarian, scolds with stern eyes from behind her desk.

el nods. "sorry, mrs. wayberry." she looks to shelly, "i was just leaving." and with that, she walked past the girl she'd heavily relied on for the past five years, barely brushing her shoulder.

exiting the library into the main hall, she felt a tear fall from her eye. el usually avoided confrontation at all costs, petrified of causing anyone any trouble. normally, that meant having to eat a burger with mayonnaise (her one true enemy) when the waiter gets her order wrong, but it also meant avoiding her ex-boyfriend and former best friend after finding them between his sheets together.

something that's nearly impossible in a town as small as hawkins.

it's even harder when they seek you out in the library, a spot el considered sacred to her - mainly because they couldn't care less about furthering their education.

she decided it'd be in her best interest to go ahead home, suddenly very thankful she'd ridden her bike this morning. had she not, she would be waiting another thirty minutes for her brother to drive her.

as el trudged through the fairly empty halls at a temperate rate, she turned the corner to find an unexpected sight.

mike had his back pressed against the hall with brooke staring up at him with wide eyes, almost as if she was coaxing him. he was annoyed - well, at least he appeared to be. her palm was rested on his bicep as she tried to come closer, only for him to roll his eyes with the slightest smirk.

but once his eyes ceased, they landed on the petite figure of el. brooke stopped whispering and followed his gaze, jumping away when she found who he was looking at.

"el?" he squinted at her, "are you okay?"

brooke backed away from the tall and lanky boy with an innocent smile. "i should get back to english, but i'm glad we bumped into one another, mikey."

mike paid her attempt to stir up drama no mind, curious as to why el had a teardrop running down the surface of her cheek. "did something happen?" he question, genuine concern laced in his words.

she readjusted the strap of her bag and shook her head. "i'm fine, it's nothing."

he lightly chuckled. "are you sure because you have a little," he lazily points to his own cheek, "tear."

she wipes her cheek. "it's just shelly being shelly, but you should really get back to class." he rolls his eyes at her attempt to get him to leave her alone. "i'm serious, i don't date guys who skip class."

he huffs. "fine, whatever you say," he gives in. he gives her a soft nudge of assurance, "i'll see you later, sweetheart."

she returns with a playful glare before he disappeared from her viewing, allowing her let a delicate smile tug at the corners of her lips.

perhaps this wouldn't be as impossible as she originally anticipated.

...

a/n: this is a filler bc i need to let shit develop and all that. thanks for reading x

word count: 2609