As the gang plan a surprise birthday party for El, she is left confused about why her friends don't want to see her and soon bumps into Ethan. The two go off and do their own fun thing, resulting in a shocking outcome.
Main character outfits
1. Mike-(a white and brown and grey and black and dark green striped t-shirt, dark green pants.)
2. Eleven-(a psychedelic shape dress, short blue socks, white and black trainer shoes, blue bracelet.)
3. Lucas-(a blue and black T-shirt, blue jeans.)
4. Max-(a red and pink and yellow and orange and blue striped shirt tucked into blue jeans, a brown belt, yellow watch, red pixel short socks, red and blue sneakers.)
5. Erica-(a white and blue floral top, pink pants, pink heart earrings.)
6. Steve- (a khaki shirt, blue and white shorts, blue and white sneakers, white socks, sunglasses.)
7. Joyce-(a green and black flannel shirt, blue jeans.)
8. Will- (a blue and purple striped shirt, cream pants.)
9. Dustin-(a white retro radio graphic shirt over blue vest jacket, cream pants, iconic hat.)
10. Nancy-(a blue dress with pink hearts.)
11. Jim- (a dark blue shirt, brown pants.)
12. Karen- (a orange and yellow top, pink pants.)
13. Jonathan- (a maroon shirt, dark brown pants, white sneakers.)
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Hawkins, Indiana. 11th September, 1985;
It is Sunday and over at Hopper's Cabin in her room; El is trying to contact the boys through her walkie-talkie to hang out, but none of them are answering. Will-*Static*, Mike- *Static*, Lucas-*Static*and Dustin-*Static*. El doesn't know if Max has got her own walkie-talkie or not? She is soon interrupted when a male voice comes through on the rectangle machine, it is Mike, "I-I um, can't see you right now, maybe today at all." El is confused, "What. Why not?" Mike takes a breath, he tells her that he can't hang out with her right now, hurriedly lying that his Nanna has passed away(taken a turn for the worse as he calls it to her), "She's uh, taken a turn for the worse," and needs to be alone for the day with his feelings. El's heart sinks a little, "Oh." Mike agrees, "Yeah...What Mom? My Mom's calling me, better go, bye!"
El just looks over at her clock, it read 9:00, What just happened? Unknown to El, Mike along with the others are actually planning a surprise birthday party just for her.
El is still confused and hurt by his response before turning off her gadget. Hopper is finishing washing up some dishes and then places them on the counter. He soon notices that El has reappeared out of her room as he dries his hands, "Hey, is everything okay?" Assuming she had been talking to her friends. El slumps her shoulders and sighs, "Nobody there." Heading to the front door telling him, "I'm going out for a walk." He nods his head, drinking his cold bottle of Schlitz beer before going over to sit and watch the telly reminding her, "Ok, just remember to try not to use your powers." El nods her head before closing the door shut with her hand and takes a step outside.
[🎶Based on characters by the Duffer Brothers and an Netflix original series/ Winona Ryder/David Harbour/ Finn Wolfhard/ Millie Bobby Brown/ Gaten Matarazzo/ Caleb McLaughlin/ Noah Schnapp/ Sadie Sink/ Natalia Dyer/ Charlie Heaton/Joe Keery/ Dacre Montgomery/ Cara Buono/ Priah Ferguson with Jack Dylan Grazer and Maya Hawke...🎶]
Ethan wakes up at Castle Byers, still in the same clothes, [sighing], feeling bored and notices after some time that Will is not going to come by. So, he decides to get up and walk around the town by himself exploring it. On his walk, he sees and smiles at a big colourful- red, blue and yellow boat truck selling ice cream. His favourite food.
All the kids (Max, Lucas, Mike, Dustin and Will ) rock up to Hopper's place unexpected, they knock on the front door and Hopper is surprised when he opens it, with them all overcrowding his place with a lot of balloons? "Hey, Hey what is going on in here!" Dustin cheerfully states, "Oh hi Chief, [whispers] she's not still here is she?" The man is confused, "Why would she not be here kid?" Mike then tells him, "It's fine, obviously the guys forget to tell you about it." Lucas argues, "Us? We thought you were telling him?" Mike says, "No, I said I'll distract El while you guys do it! Never mind, we just need to get the surprise all ready before she comes back." Hopper then tells them, "well, she's gone out for a walk, I don't know if that will cut your time Wheeler, so I suggest you make it quick." Max then realises that they don't even have a cake or party streamers. Dustin objects he must've forgotten since he was too busy thinking of an idea for their Science Project. Mike instructs Dustin and Max to go into town and get a cake, while Will and Lucas go to get the party streamers all in at least an hour. He also warns them to not bump into El since it's supposed to be a surprise and she would only want to know what is going on? Mike stays behind to put up the balloons. Out of the corner of his eye, he notices a beer bottle on the table and is concerned... Hopper madly objects to the boy's assumption of getting himself drunk... especially around El!
El is walking around the main town feeling left out with Mike and her friends, she considers going into the void to see what they are up to... but then bumps into Ethan again who is also hanging out by himself in the middle of town and he notices that she is upset. She wipes her tears away and he asks her what's wrong? "Hey, are you ok?" El starts to explain that Mike doesn't want to see her, Ethan then explains that he is alone too and suggests for the two of them to hang out for the day. El asks, "Like.. a... date?" Ethan happy by the sound of that says, "yeah, sure a date, and I know just the place, it's really cool," they then walk off together.
While the other kids are collecting the last of the preparations for El's surprise party, Max talks to Dustin about Stacey and how she thinks the cheerleader has a crush on him. Dustin is relieved and happy to hear some good news. Meanwhile, Lucas and Will walk out of a Party supply shop with bags of streamers and party hats when they bump into Erica and her friends, eating ice-creams outside. Erica once again teases her older brother, this time as a 'butthead and fart face'. Will then glances at his watch noticing the time, he tells his friend, "Um, Lucas we should be heading back now."
A blue and white ice-cream truck labelled- SCOOPS AHOY in massive yellow letters with a blue-washed background and a red border, is parked downtown and Tommy H and Carol both appear to work there dressed in embarrassing sailor uniforms.
[🎶Carol is that type of girl who prefers to worry about her vanity more than anything, she is putting a deep red maraschino lipstick on because she is bored as she soon complains to Tommy H while chewing some bubblegum. Tommy tells her, "Chill babe, we've got customers." She snaps her make-up mirror shut.
Tommy says in a cheery voice with a big smile, "Ahoy there, Welcome to Scoops Ahoy! What can I get you?" El confused says, "A-ahoy?" Ethan just smiles at her thinking she thinks it's lame, not aware she doesn't actually know what the word means? He pays for their ice-creams with Troy's 'borrowed' money. Tommy is being super friendly to the two kids and this angers Carol, "Can you stop being friends with these children and do your job!" The freckled boy then stops smiling.
'We are undercover passion on the run, chasing love up against the sun, we are strangers by day, lovers by night, knowing it's so wrong but feeling so right.' El notices the certain appearance of the cone and says "Eggos." Ethan is confused and laughs saying, "Eggos? They're called waffles." Carol is very impatient with El who is taking forever to choose a flavour and rudely says to the young teen in a mocking kind of way, "It's called strawberry sweetheart...God, can you just choose a flavour already!" El finally picks Strawberry because it is 'pink and pretty'. Ethan orders one vanilla ice cream scoop topped with a cherry. El doesn't know exactly what a cherry is but wants one, so Ethan orders one on top of her ice cream too.
The two 'Part-time- lovers' then go sit on a bench in the Park and eat their ice-creams. Ethan says, "Ice cream for life!" El gets some ice cream on her nose, Ethan just laughs and tells her, El shyly wipes it off her nose. El replies in a soft voice, "I like cherries." He tells her that she is a lovely and sweet girl, he thinks that Mike is acting like a jerk, "I just think you should be with somebody who wants to be with you and can't stop thinking about you and when they see you it's like time stands still." El just smiles at him and then he randomly suggests to her that they should run away, just the two of them together, "I wish we could just run away together." El is confused?....
They then run up and down the streets and Ethan uses the rest of his cash to buy equipment for their science project which is just a Coke and mentos explosion. He even shows an example of it to her, setting it up on some concrete and then stands next to her with his hands behind his back waiting for the action to happen! El is scared at first by the loud *Pop* but then the boy comforts her and she is amazed 'oohing' at the experiment.🎶]
Nancy and Jonathan meet up at The Moonlight Diner since it is the weekend, they both have hamburgers. She tells him how she cares about her parents but she always suspected that they wouldn't last being together, "I just.. feel so angry and like I'm going to cry all the time, I mean I always knew my parents wouldn't last, but it's still bullshit!" Nancy then apologises, "Sorry, I don't mean to be such a negative Nancy." Jonathan laughs and tells her, "it's fine" and even explains to her that he is still struggling with his own problem regarding his job. He then comes up with a solution that his girlfriend could come help out at The Hawkins Post as a writer. Nancy likes the sound of that, working with Jonathan, she is on top of all her studies anyway and agrees to go with him.
Steve having nothing else to do, decides to show the new girl Robin, who is now wearing; a causal white T-shirt, blue jeans, silver necklace and white sneakers, around Hawkins. Steve says, "Follow me, Robin." She tells Steve, "I'm not like most girls."
[ 🎶While Steve shows her around Hawkins at the many different locations such as; the Hawkins Hospital, the Palace Arcade, Melvad's General Store, the Public Library and small boutique shops, Robin reminisces her British ex-boyfriend Christopher;
A tall and curly brown-haired boy with few tattoos and the time they shared back in New York City, she has a memory flashback of the two wearing cute winter garments. Robin wearing a baby pink coat and blue beanie while Chris was wearing tight black leather and a dark navy coat and a black scarf over the top. Her eyes followed the string of fairy lights that hung above them. She gave him a soft kiss on the cheek and then grabbed Chris by the arm and they ran up and down the long and busy streets in the cold but beautiful winter snow. They held hands and laughed, Robin even twirled around on a lamp post. He gave her a small smile, "You know-" He began, "You have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen." ' You know I will adore you, till eternity.' She blushed turning her cheeks rosy pink. The two then kissed as the snow fell down on top of them, she looked into his light blue eyes and then soon enough held on tight to him, riding on the back of his black motorcycle, wild as the wind.
Back in the present, she jokes to Steve about the cute relationship name they use to have-Christopher Robin, "I always thought it was cute our couple name, Christopher-Robin, you know like from Winnie the Pooh." They both laugh, she then fiddles with the silver necklace around her neck which Steve notices and asks if her ex got her that? She only laughs and tells Steve in a sassy response that she was actually the one who bought the necklace for herself, "Girls can buy their own jewellery you know."] 🎶
Joyce walks past Bob's old place, The RadioShack, and reminisces a memory of him from when they were watching Mr. Mom on the TV together on her couch before he died heroically in the past year. His laughter and hers echo out of her memory- Bob had his arm wrapped around Joyce on the couch, "Ahh, they're funny don't you think?" Joyce only tells him laughing back herself, "Yes". Bob continued saying regarding what they were watching, "I just wish they got back together already." Joyce looks up at him, "me too." He and her then both kissed passionately before continuing to laugh at the TV. Back in the present, she takes one more look through the store window, before continuing to walk down the street.
Together, they drive in Jonathan's car over to The Hawkins Post, the place reeks of cigarettes. Nancy feels overwhelmed because there are a lot of males there and hardly any women. Bruce, who is wearing his usual smart uniform; a striped shirt and dark tie, beige pants and brown loafer shoes, is at first surprised to see Nancy wanting to work there as a journalist. As he sits in a chair with his shoes up on a desk, he merely laughs and belittles her for her being a woman, she is slightly offended but doesn't take it too seriously.
One of the editors there, Barney, gets a promotion and Bruce congratulates the tall man with piercing blue eyes on the Sport column. After everyone celebrates, Bruce then brings Nancy and Jonathan into an office and asks them while he's pouring a cup of coffee, "So, do you know what you want to write about?" Nancy answers, "Uh, yes I'm sure I could pull something together..." Bruce laughs, "Oh no dear, I was talking to Jonathan, he is the writer, I assume?"
Jonathan then speaks up, "Actually I prefer to take the photos, but Nance, she's a really good writer." Nancy continues, "Yes, I have a really good eye for detail." Bruce then scoffs mocking her, "A woman wanting to be a newspaper columnist, now that is something you don't see every day."
Bruce takes another sip of his coffee, Nancy feeling more and more offended tries to smile the best she can and keeps quiet waiting for his response. "Well, ok since you two are here now, I suppose we have to start somewhere, fine you're hired. Jonathan how about you take Lois Lane with you and find a dark room and see what develops? Then you can write me an article on the town's trees, yes.. trees." Nancy scoffs this time, "Trees? Are you serious? No there's got to be something better than that! Anything, politicians, Iran, pollution or what about what you wanted Jonathan to do, the whole 'what's going on in Hawkins story?'!"
Jonathan tries to tell Nancy to stop talking, by gesturing to her. Bruce only chuckles, "Oh, I'm sorry, but since you're new here, as well a newbie, I'm afraid you have to start at the bottom of the chain. Now write me an article on the environment in Hawkins or... is that too much for a young dainty woman like yourself?" Nancy then tells him, "That's offensive. I care about making the world a better place." She leaves with Jonathan into the next room before she can fight back again.
Joyce is back at her home and comes across an old picture of Bob as a superhero that Will drew in the past year, she stops to look at the picture again before sticking it on her fridge with a yellow magnet.
Later on, Robin drags Steve over to the Police Station after noticing the flyers all around town looking for new cop recruits- 'COPS NEEDED!' She tries her best to convince Florence that she really wants to work there. She walks into the Police station and asks for an application confidently, "Hi, I'm Robin. I was actually wondering if I could have an application?" Flo asks her, "Sure hon, who is it for?" Robin then laughs hilariously in a joking kind of way and admits it's for herself, "Wait what?!, are you serious [laughs] it's for me since I really really want to work here!" Flo rejects her for her age, but the young woman keeps trying to get the Job, even placing her hands down on the bench, "Oh come on please, I'll do anything." Flo says, "no can do, dear, maybe wait for a few years first and then come back." Steve and Robin walk out the doors and she says feeling defeated, "Aww damn." Steve confused asks her, "Wait, You didn't think we would actually get to work there, did you? Oh man,[laughs]."
Nancy who is feeling frustrated writing a ridiculous article on the town's 'trees' is getting nowhere! She shakes her head and rolls her eyes annoyed. She then hears the phone ring in the next room and dashes into the empty office to answer it even though she isn't suppose to, "Hi, yes, um, this is the Hawkins Post."
Karen is folding clothes in her loungeroom, when the house phone leaves a message by Billy, "Hey Mrs. Wheeler,[chuckles] sorry Karen, I'm out of the Hospital and I was just wondering if you are free to meet up again 'somewhere very quiet and private tomorrow night', shall we say eight o'clock?'" Karen smiles before continuing to finish the clothes.
Steve then asks her, "Are you ok?" Robin sighs and tells him, "Listen, I've had a passion for the Police industry ever since I can remember... It's a job that I've always wanted, working in the Police Force, it would be so exciting and different! I know it sounds dumb." Steve finds her a bit of weirdo, "Not at all, you are a strange woman, I'll give you that..", she gives him a serious look and remarks, "Ever since I was a little girl, I had always dreamed of being a Policewoman, surely when you were younger you knew what you wanted to be when you got older."
Steve shakes his head, "Actually no, I never did really think about that, I guess I've never known or had the support to help me realise what I can do with my life." Robin tells Steve what she truly believes in while walking beside him, "You know what I believe in, it's my philosophy if you like, I've lived by it my whole life, I think it shouldn't matter what your age, race or gender is, if you really want to do something in life then you should do it, regardless of anything if it makes you feel genuinely happy." Her new fun-loving and peculiar but cute attitude has certainly started to make Steve feel happy being around a girl again. Steve says, "I like hanging out with you." Robin replies, "I like hanging out with you too." Steve flirts with her, "Girls who skip school are so hot!" She blushes and smiles, "Are you telling me you think I'm hot Harrington?" Steve responds, "I'm not denying it."
The party is all set, an ocean of vibrant colours fills the Cabin, balloons everywhere, on the dining table a double-layer, very dense and moist chocolate cake covered in vanilla- flavour buttercream frosting and a large 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY' banner hangs above them. Max feeling excited says, "El is so going to love this, I can't wait to see the look on her face!" El doesn't seem to return at the right time and everyone starts to get worried! Dustin tries to lighten the mood, "She's a kid, she'll turn up when she's hungry."
El and Ethan return to the front of Hopper's Cabin. Ethan tells her, "Jane, I really, really like you... there's something about you, you're different than other girls...special, I know we've just met but being with you makes me happy." El blushes and looks down at the ground. He then asks her, "I was... wondering, do you... want to go to the School dance together as dates? [chuckles] It's my first school dance and I was hoping we could wear red, you know for the cherries?" El struggles for an answer but says a small, "Yes." She agrees to go with him. She then tells him that her dad has 'rules' when it comes to boys, he understands and leaves with their science project equipment. El then starts to walk up the stairs.
While Hopper leaves the room, Dustin then notices looking out the window that El has returned, "Shit, the target is here, I repeat the target is here!" Lucas laughs, "Alright man, we heard you, now hide before she sees you." After Dustin turns off the light and races over to hide with Lucas behind the couch, the rest are already starting to hide; Mike is in the kitchen, Will is in the hallway, quickly leaning his head back against a wall feeling excited and Max is handing out noisemakers to each of them, before choosing to hide behind the armchair. El opens the door, walking in slowly and is confused why it is so dark? She calls out, "Hello!" turning on the light switch. Max then counts down the others to be quiet until ...3...2...1. El is startled as everyone comes out and yells, "SURPRISE!!!" They then celebrate her birthday party, which El has no idea what it is exactly, but knows it must be a good thing because of all the bright colours and attention on her?! Max puts a little orange and red birthday hat on her head, Dustin hugs her and says, "Happy birthday!" while Mike gives her a box of Eggo waffles and Will hands her a drawing of her as their D&D Mage for her birthday present. Lucas and Max both give her headwear, Max hands her a yellow scrunchie and Lucas gives El a red and white bandana telling her, "badasses wear bandannas." El holds her gifts and questions Mike, "But what about your Nanna?" He explains, "Oh, she's fine, we just used her as an excuse to get you out of the place so we could set everything up as a surprise for when you came back." El continues to look around. Mike then asks her, "So what do you think? Do you like it?" She nods her head. Max begins to dance and she then grabs El's hands, jumping up and down having fun with her new friend, "Come with me, birthday girl." El is excited, her heart flutters with absolute happiness! All the kids and funny enough Hopper soon sing 'Happy Birthday' to her, he sighs and says, "Birthdays are for cake and celebration."
[Mike Wheeler, Will Byers, Lucas Sinclair, Max Mayfield, Dustin Henderson and Jim Hopper]
🎈🎶Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday, Dear El.
Happy Birthday to You. 🎶🎈]
While everyone is having fun and eating some cake, Mike tells El in her room, when she is placing the gifts on her bed, that he and her will be the best couple at the school dance. She then tells him that she's going with Ethan as her date instead. Mike then realises she has been hanging out with that weird boy again. Even though El denies her time with him was nothing, she still admits she hung out with him all day... on a date. "Unbelievable!" Mike and El begin to fight which makes the rest of the kids leave.
Mike is furious and it's obvious that his jealously for Ethan has got to the better of him. El doesn't know why he is acting like this? She begins to cry saying she didn't know?!, "But....Mike?" Mike then tells her it's too late and he finally decides to break up with her. The hurt in his eyes, he thinks it's better if she moves on with someone better than a loser like him anyway, "What you did sucks! I knew this was going to happen, I don't think...we should be together anymore, goodbye Eleven."
El is shocked and confused, but Mike storms out and immediately leaves, El tries to run after him, "Mike!" She breaks down in tears, bawling her eyes out and can't stop crying! Mike hasn't called her 'Eleven' in such a long time, and she never uses that name anymore since her 'papa' Dr. Brenner use to give her that name, but Mike always called her El. Her eyes, a stream of tears! Hopper comes back out and hugs his daughter, El sobs, "he left me!" Hopper then says, "Right, I'm going to kill him! No boy upsets my daughter!" Before he can leave, El wants him to not go making the situation worse. She explains to him about what happened when her and Mike just fought. Hopper then tells her she can visit her aunt Becky as her birthday present if she wants?
Sitting in his room, Dustin is still trying to figure out an idea for their 'school science project,' A diorama? Nah, that's too basic, rubbing his face tiredly with one hand, before looking at something in his room and gets an idea, chuckling. He finally comes up with creating a small module of the Delorean car from the Back to the Future film. He draws out a plan on paper and then begins to build the contraption using toys, mainly Hotwheels cars and equipment found around his room. He is looking around his house for different equipment like a car battery and jumper cables, he picks up his RDD2 toy and takes out the batteries.
Mike returns home in tears and tells Nancy, regarding his and El's relationship, "it's over, it's over!" Nancy tells him if he cares about her, he stupidly replies "yes." Nancy comforts him that he and El can have a better relationship than their parents. Nancy gives Mike some advice. "Mike you listen to me, El's a smart kid, I know she could never hate someone as amazing as you!"
Nancy and Mike both share an emotional moment outside of their house, "El cheated on me!"
"Oh my God Mike, don't you dare think that, do you hear me? You are not the problem, if anything you are the one who makes it harder to leave. You are an amazing guy, you have nothing in your heart but kindness." Mike negatively replies, "You're only saying that because I'm your brother." Nancy shakes her head, "No, I'm saying that because it's true, this has nothing to do with who you are. I promise you, that one day you'll find someone you'll love, maybe it's El, maybe it's someone else, all I hope is that it is someone who'll never leave you." Mike then cries again, "I miss her, Nance". Nancy hugs her little brother, "I know."
[ 🎶Mike and El reminisce their break up. At Hopper's; El is sitting on her bed criss-cross in her room, a small yellow lamp is on and tears are dripping down her face like rain droplets. Over at his place; Mike is in his bedroom, wishing that their break up had never happened feeling so stupid over it. El soon stops looking at her recent birthday presents (fiddling with Max's yellow hair scrunchie) to get up off her bed and looks around her room at all of Mike's gifts he had given her throughout the past year, such as a brown stuffed teddy bear toy for Valentine's day and the recent happy photographs him and her took last summer at the Fourth of July Fair. 'That's how I started the show, one of use had to go, now I've changed and I want you to know,' She tries to stop the tears but they keep falling. Mike just stares over at his walkie-talkie on his bedside table, contemplating if he should contact her or not, and then he looks up at the ceiling, sighing heavily, resting his arm behind his head on a pillow. 'One of us is lonely, one of us is only waiting for a call'. Over at Castle Byers, Ethan smiles before hopping in his bed, touching his lips, with a once again cheeky expression on his face...] 🎶
Final Thoughts: Thanks guys for reading chapter five! I wanted Tommy H, to return as a reformed person and be more loveable like his actor. On their date, Ethan got a vanilla ice cream to reference Jack's other character Eddie in IT. Honestly, the way Mike got upset with El going on a date with Ethan in this chapter is similar to how he reacted back in Season 1 when he was angry with her for lying to him about Will. I envision Robin's ex-boyfriend 'Christopher' to be portrayed by Harry Styles, lol. Maya Hawke idolises Harry Styles and so do I, so win-win! Robin's whole moment of going to the Police Station and proving she wants to work there is very similar to one of my real-life experiences where I had to really impress a company I wanted to work with them but just like Robin, I was rejected. My favourite fictional and Stranger Things girl character ever is my OC Robin Gordon, I feel like she was made purely to be in this story- she deserves to be recognised and a part of our world.
P.S: Is Mike and Eleven's relationship really over?/ What are Ethan's true intentions? If you have any questions or wish to theorise your thoughts based on these last few questions please feel free to comment. Thank you!🙏