el breaks a party rule; thus inducing a proper trial.
"that means we have to hold a trial,"
~~~~
"you did what!?" will yelled.
"you can't do that!" max scolded.
"that's just.....wrong. c'mon," dustin whined.
with each word that came out of her friend's mouth, el felt herself shrink more and more.
"that breaks the party rule," lucas said, his eyes wide. everybody's heads snapped toward lucas, and they gasped, their mouths wide open. lucas looked at el sympathetically, "that means we have to hold a trial,"
"a trial!?" mike yelled, his arm wrapping around el's waist, "c'mon guys lighten up. it was a one-time thing. el probably didn't even know we had a law for that,"
lucas shook his head, "it's party law. if you break party law, a trial must be held to determine the punishment for the accused based on how severe the action was,"
mike rolled his eyes, "fine. this is so stupid,"
lucas turned and opened up to the whole group, "the trial will be at my house after school,"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"will the defendant please rise?" lucas asked, standing in front of all five, "the jury has reached a verdict,"
"mike, i'm confused," el whispered.
all six of the kids were in lucas' empty living room sitting on his couch, watching as lucas tested out his mini-court. mike was just.....tired. he really didn't care that el had done what she did- she really didn't know what she was doing, she's still just learning.
"the verdict is that el can't see mike for the rest of the day," lucas declared, "court adjourned,"
el gasped, clutching onto mike's arm.
suddenly, mike drew his eyes together, both confused and angry, "hold on, how is this related to the crime, like at all?"
"it's not, she just needs to learn her lesson," lucas said.
mike rolled his eyes as el grasped onto him tighter. mike turned to el and whispered in her ear, "lucas just wanted an excuse to separate us. don't worry, el, i won't let him- hey!"
suddenly, dustin and lucas grabbed mike and dragged him out of the room away from el, while will and max held onto el.
"hey! you guys! what the heck?!"
"party law," dustin said. then he pushed mike outside and shut the door behind him.
lucas said though the window, "we'll keep el here until tonight at eight. you can survive five hours without her, right?"
"lucas! this is so dumb!"
"right?" he said, much harsher this time.
mike sighed, "right,"
"okay," lucas said, beginning to shut the window, "if you come back before then, the punishment extends into tomorrow. see you at 9,"
mike grabbed his bike off the ground and mumbled to himself, "seriously? all this for mixing up star wars and star trek,"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
mike was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling. there were, like, a thousand better things he could be doing rather than lying down staring into oblivion.
but he just couldn't get his mind off her. when he left her, she seemed so scared and confused. she's still learning how to assimilate into the group. it wasn't fair that this had to happen.
mike had been her guide through reality. well, most of it. max did the "girl stuff."
and then he was thinking about her again. god, she must feel awful and confused and terrified. what could they possibly be doing with her?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"pillow fight!!!!!!!" el yelled as he grabbed a pillow and smacked lucas in the face with the soft pillow. lucas chuckled, grabbing a pillow, "oh, it's on!"
as max, will, dustin, el, and lucas hit each other with the white pillows, el felt a strange sense of euphoria. it wasn't the kind she got with mike- this feeling was rooted in her brain and made her heart pump faster. she felt like she was in an intoxicated state, as she said and did things that she couldn't control.
she wasn't even thinking of mike.
she was having so much fun with her friends.
el thought they were going to tie her to a chair and make her sit there for hours, but so far, they had played board games, watch movies, and solved puzzles, and now- pillow fights.
max's pillow was knocked out by lucas, so max tackled her boyfriend lucas, knocking him to the ground, straddling his lap, laughing all the way through.
eleven knocked out dustin and will and won the pillow fight.
"hey! let's go bike to grab some pizza for later," lucas said, the laughter in the room dying down.
a smile still etched on her face, eleven glanced at the clock, which read 8:46. she tilted her head, "isn't mike supposed to be here soon?"
"yeah, but he'll understand. we'll even get some pizza for him," lucas said, going towards the door, max's hand intertwined with lucas'.
el bit her lip and followed them out. being the only one without a bike (she usually rose with mike, but he took his bike home), she hopped on the back of dustin's.
it felt weird. it was a different bike and a different pilot. as el wrapped her arms around dustin, she noticed dustin's jacket gave the appearance that he was rounder than he actually was, but the jacket was a nice cushion for her body.
and they set off for the pizza.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
mike followed them after emerging from the bushes, watching as el's warm arms were wrapped around dustin's waist.
mike had come back a half hour earlier and checked in on the gang who were having a pillow fight. el actually looked like she was enjoying herself.
he followed them to the pizza place, where they parked their bikes and went inside. mike looked down at his watch. 8:59. one more minute left. mike watched through the glass as lucas ordered a pizza, with the other enthusiastic party members glancing at the menu. as lucas paid, the others found a place to sit while they waited for their pizza.
mike's eyes followed el as she took a seat across from max. mike suddenly noticed how different she was compared to how he first met her. she now how confidence, compassion, care, social awareness, and thanks to max, a good sense of fashion.
she was independent.
"mike, seriously?" somebody said. suddenly, mike turned around, his heart beating faster and faster, only to see lucas standing behind him.
mike held up his watch, which read 9:02 pm, saying, "time's up,"
lucas sighed and rolled his eyes, "yeah okay. you probably followed us here, or else you wouldn't have known,"
mike's face heated up, "what? pshh. no,"
lucas leaned against the wall, staring through the glass, into the pizza store, looking at their friends, "y' know. el's pretty bad ass now,"
"she's always been bad ass," mike replied, smiling at the thought of her killing that demadog.
"yeah. well, what i meant to say is....she's her own person now," lucas said.
"yeah i know," mike said.
lucas pursed his lips and looked at mike, "sometimes it feels like you don't. you can let her go sometimes. show her you trust her to be the independent person she is. you don't have to be watching her like she's a baby. she's tougher than you, me- than any of us. she can handle herself,"
mike bit his lip, "i know. i just want her to be safe,"
lucas chuckled, "i hate to break it to you, man, but stalking her is like the worst way to do that,"
mike blushed again, "i wasn't s-stalking her, i was-"
lucas held up his hands, and started to walk backwards towards the door leading into the store, "It's fine. we'll just pretend you were never here. see you back at the house,"
mike smiled as the little bell rung, signifying he had entered the building, leaving mike alone on the sidewalk, his bike in hand.
mike glanced at el, his love, before turning away and riding towards lucas' house.
okaaaaaay.
i know what you're thinking.
this is another one of those weird ones with an actual message with real-world applications. and the answer is: yes.
in a healthy relationship; give each other space. no one likes to be controlled/to be dependent on solely one person. just trust that the other person can make smart decisions for themselves.
hopefully, ya'll enjoyed this; it was supposed to be light and happy and a bit comical. let me know what you thought&voting would be much appreciated.
also, i didn't proofread this.
oops.