Chapter Text
“Hey, Eleven!”
Mike waved Eleven over to their lunch table as Eleven glanced nervously around the cafeteria, obviously overwhelmed by her first time in a middle school lunch rush. She hurried over, squeezing in between Mike and Will as she took her seat.
She had been looking forward to her first day of seventh grade. Sure, it was already halfway into the school year, but after taking a year of homeschooling and numerous placement tests, she had been discovered to be a bit(correction: a lot) of a genius, possessing an impressive IQ of 170. The only struggle she really had was with speaking English, but she was already catching up to her grade level; slang and metaphors were her only obstacles. Other than that, however, she had floored Joyce and Hopper as she consumed book after book of information, each a more advanced kind than the last. Now, she really did fit in with the rest of the boys as she took an interest in science. Lucas was the astronomer, Dustin the chemist, Mike the technician, Will the biologist, and Eleven, the budding psychologist. She was absolutely fascinated by how the human mind worked, and wanted to know more about her power and about the people around her. So, she took her place among her friends, nervous and stressed as she faced hundreds of preteens in all direction.
“Hey El, you want my burrito? It'll make me too gassy,” Dustin said, waving his burrito in front of her. She shook her head.
“My dress will get dirty,” she said absentmindedly. She tapped her foot rapidly, the sole of her white slippers slapping out the linoleum evident as she looked at her food with distaste. She meticulously chose her outfit, settling for a white blouse and blue skirt paired with an old blue varsity jacket Hopper saved from when he used to attend the Hawkins Middle School. Her hair, brushed into a neat, growing pixie cut that showed off her dirty blonde hair, had a white headband in it. Will nodded.
“Understandable.”
Luas rolled his eyes.
“Whatever. I'll take it, Dustin. Even though you don't need a burrito to be the group's very own fart factory.”
Dustin shoved him as he snorted, biting into the burrito. Mike put a hand on Eleven’s shoulder comfortingly.
“Hey, it's okay to be nervous,” He said reassuringly. “Anyways, we have biology after this, so we get to introduce you to Mr. Clarke! That'll be fun, right guys?”
“Oh, definitely. And we can show you our setup for the AV club after school!” Will piped in. Lucas and Dustin agreed, and Eleven relaxed, relieved and grateful to have her friends by her side.