No Friends Allowed

This would be the third year in a row that Mike Wheeler would have no friends at school. It's not that he didn't want friends. He desperately wanted friends. It's that it wasn't safe for him to have friends. More important to Mike though, was that it wasn't safe for anybody to be his friend.

He couldn't have friends was because of the secret he carried. Any friend that found that out, would feel uneasy, maybe even feel betrayed once they knew and would no longer want to be his friend after that anyway.

No. It was just easier if he didn't have any friends.

Dustin, Lucas, Max, and El. They were known as The Party at school. Mike was not a member. They wanted him to be and had once invited him during the summer to a game of D&D at Lucas's house, but Mike told them his mom was making him babysit his little sister Holly. He knew they had invited him because he was a nerd and probably wouldn't turn down an invitation to do anything.

And then there was El. She was so pretty it felt like his heart was being squeezed whenever looked at her...made it ache to know that she could never be his friend.

"There's MIke Wheeler over there sitting by himself in the corner." Dustin said when they'd settled at the Party table in the cafeteria.

The rest of the Party swung their head to look and then look back. Only El's gaze lingered. She sighed and turned back to the rest of the group.

"You like him don't you?" Max nudged her with her elbow.

"Yes," El said in a quiet voice. "But he's not interested..in any of us." She tried to cover quickly, but the rest of the Party just smirked.

El thought if she could use her ability to get Mike to like her, she would have done it in a second. Even in front of the Party. And she'd explain to them and deal with her dad if he ever found out. She wanted to talk to Mike find out everything about him. She wanted to hold his hand….she wanted to...kiss him. She flushed thinking about it. Mike always looked away if she caught him looking at her, but he wouldn't come over and talk to the group. El didn't think she had the nerve to go up to him and talk to him.

Max said, "it's pretty clear he's not going to talk to us. He looks at you a lot, so you have the best chance of talking to him."

"But what if he doesn't like me?"

"So he doesn't like you. Do you want to know now? Or do you want to pretend that maybe he does, but two or three years from now find out he really doesn't?" Max said, "and be miserable everyday between now and then. I don't get why guys or girls hang on to that and never do anything about it. Nobody wants to feel sad all the time."

"When I first saw Lucas, I liked him, I wanted to get to know him. But I didn't want to waste my time if he wasn't interested. So I went over one day at the bike rack and kissed him."

Lucas looked at El, "Max isn't saying you need to go over and kiss him...unless you really want to...but if she hadn't kissed me…"

"Point is," Max said, "Lucas knew right away that I liked him and he was ok with that. I admit it was bold, but it got the job done. I regret nothing...Lucas doesn't either…." She looked at Lucas for confirmation.

Lucas nodded. "Guys are too chicken to admit their feelings and do anything about it. Remember Mike is a nerd like us. He's probably terrified to tell a girl he likes her."

"It's more than that," El said. "He's actively avoiding me...us."

Scott Clarke, was going do something different with the the lab partners this year. Usually he let the students choose who would be their lab partner, but this time he was going to pick the pairs. He knew he'd get a lot of groaning from the students who wouldn't be happy with whoever he picked for them, but Scott was more worried about some students than others. He would keep he group known as the Party together, it would simply be cruel to separate them. His focus was getting one of his better students, Mike Wheeler to have friends. He didn't know if Mike was super shy, or having a self-confidence problem.

He'd see him and one of the Party members, El Hopper looking at each other and trying to disguise it. He thought that if they became friends, she would naturally introduce them to the Party, and Mike would possibly be invited.

As the class got settled he launched into his plan.

"This year class, I'll be picking your lab partners." As expected a loud groan of protests filled the room.

He made sure to make the call outs random so it didn't look like he was singling out any particular group or person. He made sure not to look at his class as he read out the names.

When he was done and let the groans subside, he had paired Max and Lucas, Dustin and Will, Mike and El.

When El had heard that she was paired with Mike Wheeler as a lab partner, her heart came thudded like a jackhammer. She could barely maintain a straight face and would not look over at Mike. She didn't think she could bear to see any disappointment in his face.

Mike heard Mr. Clarke go down his list and was floored when caught his name and El's in the same breath. And then he was scared. There was no way he was going to be able to ignore her if she was his lab partner. They would have to work together, and work together efficiently if they were to get a good mark. She was an A student, as Mike was, so she would definitely blame him if they didn't get an A.

"Ok class, shuffle around till you are all sitting with your lab partner." Mr. Clarke said.

Mike didn't move, and as expected, El came over and sit beside him. Neither of them looked at each other for a few minutes until Mike said, "this doesn't mean were going to be friends." He tried not to make it sound cruel, but he was sure it didn't come out that way.

"Of course not," El sight, "because that would be stupid. And we're not stupid are we?

She gave him a blank look.

"I didn't mean it like that...El"

When Mike used her name she thought she was going to faint. She managed to keep a cool air of indifference. "Of course you didn't, we are lab partners and only need to speak to each other to get our work done. We go our separate ways after this class. I'm not stupid Mike."

El thought she would throw up.

Mike was stunned into silence. Nice going mouthbreather he thought to himself, you got the prettiest girl in the school mad at you, What was he going to do? He absolutely could not let her be friends with him. If he did he would end up breaking her heart when she found out his secret. El deserved a lot better than that.