A life less ordinary ||~~Elax/Elmax~~||

Goofing around

A/N  update 3 of the day, there will be one more (don't want any seizures...). Might not be another until Friday, I have to be social tomorrow and go out, ugh!

El woke up with a start, breathing hard and a sheen of sweat on her face. She clutched the blanket, most of which she had kicked off, while she calmed down. Closing her eyes, she searched her mind, trying to remember what it was she'd been dreaming about but she couldn't remember any of it, all she knew was that it had been another nightmare.

Knock knock

"El? Are you ok? I'm coming in" she heard from outside her door and couldn't do anything but nod pointlessly.

Karen entered El's room to find her still clutching the bed covers close to her body, as if they would protect her. She looked up with glassy eyes, trying to suppress the tears that betrayed her fear of the unknown dream. "El, what's wrong?"

El shook her head, she didn't want to admit to Karen that her nightmares had returned, she'd spent many months, longer in fact, coming to terms with her past, and as she did so the nightmares that plagued her every sleep began to diminish. She couldn't understand why they were coming back, what had changed recently to cause their resurgence.

"El, please tell me, don't hide things" Karen said softly, taking El's hands in her own and feeling them tremble. "Was is the earthquake, did it scare you?"

El looked at her, "what earthquake? What are you talking about?"

"A few minutes ago...didn't you feel it?" asked Karen, surprised as it had been stronger than the one the previous night. El just shook her head in bewilderment. "I guess it stopped before you woke up, it's nothing to worry about, no damage just a few things out of place." El nodded and gave a small smile of understanding. "El...what's wrong?"

"I...I had a bad dream, a nightmare...I think. I can't remember it though" she confessed, looking down at her hands being held by Karen's.

"Oh El" she said, bringing her into a comforting hug, "is this the only one?" she probed gently.

"I had one last night too, before that, not for a long time" she said, sniffing and wiping her eyes.

"If they carry on, please let me know, ok? Promise me" Karen insisted, trying not to show the concern she felt at both the nightmares returning and the coincidental timing of the tremors. El nodded 'yes'. Karen smiled at her, wanting to bring her out of her low mood, "come on, the rest of the 'gang' will be here soon, I'll go make some Eggos for you" she said with a wink, El's demeanor changing instantly, "I'll leave you to get Mike out of bed if that's ok?"

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*

"Mike?" El said, knocking on his door. When she got no response, she rolled her eyes and let herself in, finding Mike sprawled on his bed and still fully clothed from last night, surrounded by his D&D papers. She shook her head affectionately and carefully picked up all the pieces of paper, trying to keep them in some kind of order from what she could make out. Reading a few excerpts, she could see that Will the Wise seemed to feature prominently. Putting them on his desk, she turned back to the sleeping Mike, "Mike? ...Mike! ...MIKE!"

"HUH!"

"ARGH!"

He sat up with a start and headbutted her, she had made the mistake of leaning over him a shouting his name. "Shit, El, are you ok?"

"Ow" she said, sitting up and rubbing her forehead.

"Crap, sorry" he said sheepishly.

"No, it's my fault, next time I'll just throw water over you instead" she said grinning. "Come on, everyone will be here soon, and Eggos await us downstairs so I'm off" she stated, jumping up and running downstairs. Mike rolled his eyes and was about to follow suit when his gaze fell on the box of supplies he purchased yesterday, grabbing it he wandering downstairs, more slowly than El as Eggos didn't quite hold the same allure for him.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*

"So, what are we doing today Mike? You called us all over, there must be a plan" said Lucas expectantly.

Mike didn't say a word, instead he just placed his box of supplies on the table with a smirk. "Yeeeesssss" exclaimed Dustin.

"Really? Aren't we a bit old for that?" asked Max sounding unimpressed, secretly excited.

"What are 'water balloons'?" asked El.

"El, dude, you'll love them" said Dustin, "they're basically small balloons you fill with water and then we have a fight with them, I'm literally the best at it" he stated proudly.

Max looked as if she didn't believe his bold statement, "seriously, he is" admitted Will.

"Yeah, I dunno how he does it, but he barely gets hit" said Lucas, looking slightly annoyed by the fact.

"So, are we doing this?" asked Mike.

The rest of the gang looked at each other, "hell yeah" they all said.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*

"Dustin, dude, how come we're soaked and you've not got a drop of water on you?!" complained Lucas. He was right, looking at the group, in their various hiding places, Lucas, Will, Mike, and Max were soaked to the skin, only El was looking nearly as dry as Dustin and they all secretly thought that she was using her abilities to help her.

Max sidled up to El, maintaining their cover behind two large trees, "the least you could do is help your best friend stay dry too" whisper-yelled Max, mock annoyance on her face.

El looked at her and smirked, shrugging her shoulders, "it's every girl for herself" she stated, "them's the rules."

Max rolled her eyes, apparently acceding to El's statement. El grinned in triumph, turning her attention back to Lucas and Dustin whose discussion was making them a prime target. She held the water balloon delicately in her hand, slightly moving it up and down to test its weight and calculate her throw. Just as she raised her hand, she felt the unmistakable sudden drenching from having a water balloon burst directly on top of her head. "Arrgh" she yelled in a high-pitched voice, turning to Max with an accusing look on her face, "what the fu...uck?" she yelled.

Max opened her mouth in shock at El's language, she still swore very little, and never once at her. Regaining her composure, she shrugged, "every girl for themselves, them's the rules." She almost kept a straight face whilst El looked down at herself, her now soaking wet self, but when their eyes met they both burst out laughing. "Come on," Max said, grabbing her arm and pulling her gently away from the cover of the trees, "I'm out of ammo and I think everyone else is too."

El nodded and followed her to the group of boys, waiting near the pond. Looking at Dustin, El remembered that she was holding a balloon in her hand and had an idea. Pulling on Max's shoulder she leaned in and whispered something into her ear, Max's closed her eyes and stifled the laugh she couldn't help. Max walked ahead and approached the group while El crouched and pretended to do her laces up. When she was sure that Max had passed on the message, El stood and walked towards them, hand hidden behind her back. They all looked at her, Dustin followed their gazes and saw that El had her hand behind her back, "no way, you can't get me like that!" he smirked, backing away with a smug feeling that he had seen through her plan. El brought the balloon around to throw at him making him turn and attempt to run, but what he hadn't seen, while concentrating on El, was that Lucas had crouched down behind him. As he turned blindly to run he immediately fell over Lucas, right into the pond, soaking him from head to toe. "Noooooooo" he yelled, when he finally scrambled to his feet, trying to shake the pond weed from his fingers. The icing on cake was El throwing the balloon at him, it landing perfectly square in the chest.

"That was amazing" Will said to El, laughing hard, "I can't believe we got him."

El smiled, walking home with her friends and family she had a feeling of utter contentment and acceptance. She finally felt as if she fitted in. Unbeknownst to the group, up until now she had always felt anxious about her ability to join in with their jokes and games, feeling as if they made many allowances for her, put up with her many faults and failings.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*