Family Tree ~ An El Hopper and Peter Parker Story

Chapter 10

Peter Parker and El Hopper walked home from school along with Mike. They arrived back at the cabin as El unlocked the door with her mind and they stepped inside. Hopper wasn't home until later, so the three kids were able to discuss the van without his presence bothering them. El grabbed a full box of Eggos and brought them inside her bedroom as well, normally not being allowed to eat in her room.

"So, wait, tell me about this van thing. What exactly happened again?" Peter asked El.

El sighed and looked down. "I was walking to school the other day. My bike had a flat tire, so I decided to walk instead. I was halfway to school when I saw a van near me. It was a Hawkins Lab van, which scared me because of what happened there. I used my powers to make it go a different direction than the school, but it's still scary," she explained.

Mike wrapped an arm around her as she smiled at him. "The thing is, we don't know for sure if it is someone from the lab," he added. "It could be anyone in that van who knows El, but we still want to be careful. That's why El doesn't want to involve Hopper or any adults in this. But I still think we should tell the rest of the party, especially if we're telling Peter."

"Fine," El said in response. "We can tell Max, Lucas, and Dustin, but not Will."

Peter raised an eyebrow at what she had said. "What's wrong with Will? He seems nice to me," he asked.

El scoffed at the mention of his name. "I thought the same thing. He kissed my boyfriend in front of me," she explained, angry when she mentioned what happened.

"What?!" Peter exclaimed. "That's not right. He really seemed like a nice kid."

"He is," Mike defended his friend. "The kiss wasn't right by any means and it did make me uncomfortable, but he's still nice. And I think he should know what's going on."

"No!" El yelled. "I don't care if he's actually nice. What he did is what friends should never do, from what I saw on TV. I don't care if he is gay, but he still shouldn't kiss my boyfriend when he knows how much you mean to me, Mike! It wasn't right at all and I'm not going to forgive him or let him help me in any way!"

Mike sighed at his girlfriend and took her hands. "I agree with you that he should've never kissed me, but it's the rule of law, El. Friends don't lie. We can't keep Will in the dark if we're telling everyone else. It just isn't right," he told her.

El groaned and looked away, taking away her hands from Mike. Peter and Mike exchanged glances before looking back at her. Suddenly, there was the sound of a phone ringing and Mike had to pick it up. He left the room to talk privately on the phone, then came back after a few minutes, saying that he had to go home. El and Peter said goodbye to him as he left the cabin to go back home.

Peter then left El's room for a few moments and came back in, holding up his new suit he made last night. El's eyes widened when she saw the suit, tilting her head as she admired it. "It's all black," she pointed out. "Why is it all black?"

"It's called a stealth suit," Peter explained. "I can use this to sneak around and find that van in order to remain unseen. That way whoever is in the van has no idea that I'm there. It'll be easy peasy."

El raised an eyebrow at him. "Easy peasy? Have you even done a sneaky thing before?" She asked him.

Peter looked up to the ceiling as he was thinking back. "Yes, and I succeeded greatly at not letting the bad guys find me," he declared.

El gave him a look. "Did your phone ring, letting the bad guys know you were there?" She asked him in a sassy tone.

"...Maybe."