Mama Steve (A Stranger Things AU story type of thing)

~Picture, Picture, Smile for the Picture~

It was a sunny Saturday, and the party was spending it at Hawkins Pool. El had brought a Polaroid, and they had a cooler filled with snacks and sodas.

Mike, Lucas, Dustin and Will went to buy popsicles while Max played a beach ball game with a group of strangers.

While El was slathering sunscreen, one of the strangers Max was playing with ran over and opened the cooler.

When he looked up and saw El's fierce eyes he chuckled softly and said, "Woah, Max just sent me to get her a Coke."

He held up the Coke and said, "Not like I would steal from such a fat cow like you anyways. Peace."

He trotted off and El looked down, sadly. Was she really a fat cow like the guy had said?

"Smile!" She heard a voice call out. She looked up to see the boys standing over her with the Polaroid. She quickly flashed a smile as the camera took her picture.

Mike gave her an odd look, but she decided to ignore it. She set the sunscreen in the beach bag they had brought, plastered a fake smile on her face, and said, "Come on! Let's go swimming or something!"

They nodded and she followed them over to the water. They all got in and did a contest to see who could hold their breath the longest underwater. Mike won with thirty five seconds underwater.

Just then, Max jumped in the water, splashing the party, causing all of them and Max to shriek at the top of their lungs.

"Hey guys," Max said with a bright smile, "You want to play Catch Circle with me and some people I met?"

"Catch Circle?" El questioned.

"I know it's a lame name, but it's actually really fun! One person throws the ball to you, and if you catch it, you take a step back. The goal of the game is to win by catching the ball the farthest apart, at the top speed of the thrower," Max exclaimed, a huge grin on her face.

El really didn't want to, but if her made her best friend happy, she would do it anyways.

So she and the party climbed out of the pool, and followed her over to a group of suntanned kids, including the guy who called her a fat cow.

He eyed El and said, "You sure these guys can play, Max? They don't have the.... athletic look to them."

Max frowned and said, "You're not so fit either, big shot."

He frowned and ripped his shirt off to reveal a six pack. "So cool," she said sarcastically. He frowned and asked, "Do you wanna play or not?"

Max looked over at the party. "I'm gonna go get a soda really quick. You guys can start without me if you want," El said.

Max smiled and said, "Okay."

She and the party joined in on the game, Catch Circle. El sighed as she walked over to their chairs.

Just then, she watched Steve, Robin and Nancy claim the chairs next to them.

"Hey El," Steve said, ruffling her hair. "Why aren't you with the other dinguses?" Robin asked.

"Oh, um, no reason," El replied. "Stop lying," Steve said, hands on hips.

"Really, it's nothing," El assured him.
Nancy raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are you feeling insecure, El? Because you really shouldn't care about what other people think of you."

"It's, just, some guy said...something that kind of hurt me. But that's it! No big problem," she said.

"Who said this?" Robin demanded. "What did they say?" Nancy asked softly. El just shook her head and said, "It doesn't even matter. It's not like it was bad or anything."