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"That's it El you're doing it!" Dustin yelled with his hands cupped around his mouth.
El gripped the handles as she peddled a little faster down maple street just beside Mike's house. She had always wanted to be independent enough to ride her own bike, and she was loving every second. She sighed as the summer breeze hit her sun kissed skin, her ash brown waves blowing behind her.
Before she went speeding down the hill, she braked quickly and put her feet down before turning her bike back towards the others and cycling back. Dustin and Max cheered for her while Lucas and Will spoke encouraging words. As for Mike, he stood with his arms crossed and a frown on his face.
"Well done El, I'm so proud of you." Max squealed, crushing her best friend into a hug.
El giggled and grinned at the red headed girl. She turned to see what her boyfriend thought and her smile dropped quickly. She slowly wandered over to him, the others chatting amongst themselves.
"Mike?" She asked softly and he suddenly snapped out of his daydream and cleared his throat.
"Uh yeah?" He responded quickly, scratching the back of his neck.
"Did I do good?" She smiled, tilting her head and looking up at her boyfriend.
He hesitated for a moment, as if he was trying to find the right thing to say. He didn't look proud as he usually would when El accomplished something new, and the time it was taking for him to respond proved there was something wrong.
"Mike, are you okay?" She muttered quickly, dropping her gaze and playing with her fingers, something she did to distract herself.
"No, I mean yes. You did great today El." He rambled so fast, it came out as almost one big word.
He walked away from her then, picking up his own bike and mounting it, avoiding El's stare, a frown upon her face.
"Come on guys are we going to the arcade or what." He snapped, causing the others to stop talking abruptly.
"Uh yeah." Lucas raised an eyebrow, grabbing his bike, the others doing the same.
They exchanged confused glances at the sudden mood change of the raven haired boy, but said nothing about it. Will noticed how hurt El looked, and peddled over to her.
"Hey you okay to cycle that far?" He asked softly and she nodded, swinging her leg over the saddle and getting ready to peddle.
She smiled at Will and the six teenagers made their way down the hill. Normally Mike would stay as close as possible to El in situations like this but he sped ahead, a good few meters away from the rest. Dustin and Will stayed either side of El while Lucas and Max were in front of them.
"Hey what's up with emo boy today?" Dustin questioned El, Will chuckling at the nickname.
"I don't know, he seems upset about something." El answered back, gripping her handles firmly, "I just hope he's okay."
"Hm, we'll figure it out later, but for now let's just enjoy ourselves." Dustin grinned before letting out a loud 'woohoo' causing El and Will to giggle and Lucas and Max to turn around with matching grins.
