I am so sorry for not updating in so long! Please enjoy this extra long chapter as an apology!

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After the Mind Flayer's defeat at the hands of Eleven, things seemed to go back to normal. Well, as normal as it can get for this specific group of kids. As he promised, Hopper allowed El to go into town with her friends once and while. This also played in his favor since her doing so also got the town acquainted with "Jane Hopper," an orphan Jim had found in the system and who would be joining Hawkins High School next school year.

Almost every one of the townspeople seemed to adore El. Hopper had been teaching her manners for a while and she made sure to use them in public. To them, she was simply a sweet, innocent little girl.

(Little did they know, she could break all of their necks in half a second if she wanted to.)

As for the boys and Max, they were more or less obsessive when it came to her. They kept her away from anyone they deemed was trouble. Still, this didn't stop other kids from noticing her. With her newly grown hair, she was unrecognizable to Troy and James and was simply deemed as "just another geek." Everyone else took an interest in her for a few days before moving on to something else.

Kali had decided to stay for a while, convinced Brenner would make a move soon (much to Hopper's dismay). She would visit her gang for about two weeks every other month.

Almost eight months after the Mind Flayer had been locked away in the Upside Down, she and her friends were at the arcade. El, who had never touched a video game in her life, somehow managed to crush Dustin's high score and was close to topping Max's on Dig Dug.

Both young teens in question were gaping at her while Mike and Will smiled encouragingly. Lucas smirked as El exceeded Max's score by a thousand points. "Looks like Madmax's rein of tyranny is over," he quipped smugly. "Nice going, E- Jane." While everyone was getting better at it, it was hard to refer to her as Jane when they weren't alone. Though Hopper was adamant, there could be one of Brenner's men lurking behind any corner. If they slipped up, even once, there could be hell to pay.

El smiled slightly, but kept her eyes trained on the screen. "Thank you," she replied softly.

Max, on the other hand, jabbed Lucas in the stomach. "Asshole," she muttered disdainfully. Their relationship was... undefined for the moment. One minute, they seemed to be really close, the next they were at each other's throats.

Dustin groaned. "Great, now I'm in third place," he complained, to which everyone laughed.

El finally ended up dying in the game after around three thousand more points. She shrugged before entering her name as JH and turning back to the group. "I win."

Mike beamed at her. "Good job, Jane."

El smiled back and gently took his hand, making both of them blush slightly. They're relationship had grown in some ways, but had also stayed the same in others. They would kiss on occasion (always out of Hopper's view), but not much more than that. Not that it bothered either of them, for now they were content with being, well, kids.

"Guys, I think we should start heading home," suggested Will, gesturing to the window where the sun could be seen going down.

"He's right," agreed Lucas. "Hop'll flip his shit if Jane isn't home soon."

Max nodded, glancing at the door. "Steve's here anyway," she noticed. She waved, walking off. "See you guys later."

"Bye, Max," the group chorused starting to make their way outside to their bikes. Everyone had pitched in and gotten El her own bike for her birthday (which she had decided was March 11th for reasons unknown to everyone else). Joyce had eventually let Will go places by himself again as well, so

"Jane, you sure you don't want me to come with you?" asked Mike as the five of them rode through the streets.

El nodded. "It's late," she pointed out, rolling her eyes slightly (something she picked up from Kali, adding to Hopper's annoyance with the teen); they had this conversation nearly everyday they went out. "Your parents will be mad. I'm fine."

"If you're sure..."

"I'll be with her most of the way," Will assured him. "We'll be fine, right Jane?"

El smiled at him. "Right."

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After waving goodbye to Dustin who had turned onto his own street, Will turned to El. "Are you excited for school next week?" he asked her. She had made really good progress in her studies, her mind absorbing everything at an exceptionally fast rate. She was doing well in math especially, the equations and rules easy for her to comprehend. Her reading was at a tenth grade level as well.

El shrugged. "Nervous," she admitted.

Will gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't be. You'll do great."

"High school," uttered El. "Different."

Will shrugged. "I guess it will be different from middle school," he agreed. "but it's no big deal. There's only one middle school, so it'll be the same kids we were with last year. Like I said, you'll do great. Besides, we've been through much worse. Right?"

El seemed to be calmed by his reasoning. "Right."

They soon arrived at Will's house. "I'll see you later, El," he said, stopping on his lawn.

"Bye, Will," El called over her shoulder, continuing to ride through the woods. She finally came upon the cabin where she saw her sister waiting on the front porch.

"Hello, Jane," greeted Kali, standing up. "How was your arcade trip?"

"Good," answered El as she approached the cabin. "I beat Max's score."

"Did you?" responded Kali in a way a parent might respond to their child rambling on and on. They entered the cabin and El made her way to the kitchen. "Hey, you know the rules. No Eggos until after dinner. Your policeman would have a fit." She grinned widely. "Lucky for you, I'm not him."

El grinned back and proceeded to pop her Eggos into the toaster. "What did you do today?" she asked. Her speech had improved greatly as well, though she still struggled with remembering certain words.

Kali shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh, you know. Robbed a convenience store, things like that."

El frowned. "Kali..."

Kali laughed. "Just kidding." She took out a bottle of soda and poured herself a glass. "So... school." She shook her head. "I never went. Too many people."

"Adults," chimed El knowingly.

The older girl couldn't help the smirk on her face. "Yes, adults. But you aren't me, Jane. You'll be fine."

"Will said that too."

Kali nodded. "Smart boy."

"Smart boy," El agreed.

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It was finally here. El's first day of attending school. She thought she would be nervous, but Will's words from the previous week echoed in her mind, Besides, we've faced much worse, right? Indeed they had, her especially. If she could escape a high security lab, go head to head with a faceless monster, close a gate to a parallel world, and trap an even more powerful monster inside said universe, she could handle other kids her age.

The stirring in her stomach she had a week ago was gone, replaced with a determination to beat this like she had the Demogorgon, Mind Flayer, and Brenner. Compared to all that, what was high school? With renewed vigor, El began to pull on the outfit she and Kali had chosen the previous day; a pair of jeans along with a black T-shirt (they were going to include the black leather jacket Kali had gotten her for Christmas, but Hopper had been adamant about cutting out some of the black, to which Kali had scoffed).

Her hair, which was now past her chin, was in its usual curls. However, they were a lot more tame than they had been the previous year. Now they were in soft ringlets as compared to the messy mop they used to be. She smiled slightly at her reflection before going over to Kali's bed and tapping her softly. "Kali."

"What?" came the groggy response. Her sister was not a morning person.

"Going to school," said El. "Bye."

"Bye," replied Kali, turning to the other side. El giggled, making her way downstairs.

Hopper, who was making breakfast, smiled at her. "Hey, kid," he greeted. "You hungry?"

El nodded, sitting down at the small table. "Eggos?" she asked hopefully. "Special day."

Hopper shook his head and laughed, setting her plate off eggs, bacon, and toast down in front of her. "Nice try, kid, but you know the rule. Eggos are for dessert." El pouted, but began to eat nonetheless. When she was done, he handed her a backpack. "Here you go, kid. Now, get going to Will's or you're gonna be late."

El nodded, standing up and setting her place in the sink. "Bye, Hop," she said, giving him a hug.

Hop hugged her back, cursing himself for the pang in his heart he felt at the thought of her going away to her first day of school. She was growing up, yes, but he was thoroughly reminded of Sarah's first day of school. It was as hard now as it was then. "Take care of yourself, kid," he managed to get out gruffly.

She pulled away, smiling at him one last time before walking out of the cabin and riding away on her bike.

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"Hey, Jane."

El turned and smiled. "Hi, Max." Over the course of those nine months, she and the redhead had grown close. Both being relatively new to the Party, they often bonded when the boys were campaigning. Their friendship, Dustin joked, could rival the relationships they had with Mike and Lucas respectively. Both boys had scowled at their friend when they heard that.

Max groaned. "Well, we're here," she muttered. "High school. But I don't see what's so great about it."

El shrugged. "It's big," she spoke and she was right. Compared to the middle school, the high school was a lot bigger.

Max rolled her eyes. "Whatever, let's just find those three morons." She paused before adding, "And Will." El giggled and followed the redhead into the school.

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The two girls met up with their guy friends soon after, comparing their schedules. To El's relief, she had at least one of her friends in all her classes. She had math for first period with Max, science for second period with Mike and Dustin, study hall for third period with Lucas, and art with Will for fourth period. She shared homeroom with Max as well and all six of them had lunch together.

Max, who was glancing over the brunette's shoulder at her schedule, sighed in relief. "Oh thank god. I thought I was gonna be totally alone." She frowned. "Just great, I only have math with you and ELA with Lucas."

El pat her shoulder sympathetically. "Sorry," she said genuinely. "We share homeroom though."

Dustin grimaced. "At least you have more than one class with each other," he said to the group. "I only have science with you and Mike, E- Jane."

Will looked at his schedule. "But you have homeroom with me too," he pointed out.

Dustin perked up. "Oh, yeah. Didn't see that."

The bell suddenly rang and Max grabbed El's shoulder. "Come on, we have Mr. Daniel for homeroom." El nodded and waved goodbye to the guys before trailing after her friend.

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When they arrived to their homeroom, El and Max immediately chose seats next to each other. "What do you think he'll be like?" whispered the redhead to the other girl.

El shrugged. "Nice, I hope." She hoped all her teachers would be nice, but was warned by her friends that not every teacher would be as nice and friendly as Mr. Clarke was.

It was then that who they assumed to be Mr. Daniel entered the class. He was tall and looked to be in his mid-thirties with brown hair and eyes to match. "Good morning, class," he greeted the students. "My name is Mr. Daniel and I'll be your homeroom teacher for the entirety of this year. Let's all start with you introducing yourselves." His eyes rested on El. "Who might you be, young lady?"

El didn't know why, but there was something off about this teacher. She just couldn't place it. "Jane," she answered. "Jane Hopper."

Mr. Daniel kept his eyes on her for a moment before moving to Max. "And you?"

Max, who had caught on to El's off behavior, regarded the teacher cautiously. "Max Mayfield." As the Mr. Daniel moved on, the two girls shared a glance; there was definitely something off about that teacher.

OoOoOo

The rest of the day went by smoothly for El. She did well in the rest of her classes, even math where the teacher she had wasn't so pleasant. Said teacher thought she would take El by surprise and humiliate her in front of the class, but El actually managed to point out the teacher's mistake in the equation, resulting in the students all laughing at her instead of El. Max, who had been there and hated math with a passion, was probably the loudest out of everyone.

Finally, it was time for art with Will. While she didn't really like to draw as much as the boy next to her, she was halfway decent. But art, she found, was a lot more than just drawing. There were elements and principles to it, something she found made the subject a lot more interesting.

The art teacher was very nice as well. Her name was Miss Honey and she explained things to El and her classmates in a calm, understanding way. "Now, sweetie, don't be afraid to ask questions," she told her after helping her with one of the Elements of Design.

El smiled and nodded. "I won't, ma'am." Soon enough, school was over and it was time for everyone to go home. She couldn't wait to tell Hopper how well her day had gone.

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Later that night, a cloaked figure looked around warily before activating their earpiece. Did you make contact? asked a voice on the other end impatiently, yet softly at the same time.

The figure nodded. "I did," they answered, their tone agitated. "You had better be right about this, Brenner. If we mess this up..."

We won't, assured Brenner. Keep a low profile and make sure she doesn't suspect you. She's very good at sensing if she's in danger.

"I will."

Good, responded Brenner, satisfied. Go now, someone might see you. The figure did as told, shutting off their earpiece. They looked around once more before walking away into the night.

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Uh-oh, looks like Brenner's got an agent on the inside. Who could it be? Though, I'll tell you right now, that's not the mystery here. Please review!