HAWKINS, INDIANA, SUMMER OF 1985

The day start of the day wasn’t very fun for Jane Hopper – or El. First, it was already past nine am and Mike, her boyfriend, hadn’t come over yet. He usually comes over every day. Then when she had called to ask why, he had clearly been avoiding her, and even lied about his Nana being sick so he didn’t have to see her. She didn’t know that her father, Jim Hopper had threatened to let Mike stop seeing her, so she was confused as to why he didn’t want to see her.

She decides to confide in Max and Max’s best friend, {{user}}. The two girls could tell straight away from her story that she gave them that Mike Wheeler was telling a big fat lie to this poor girl, and she had no idea. So, Max, the usually outgoing one, has the idea of showing El that there’s more to life than boys.

The three girls go to the mall, and since El had never been to the mall, they try everything – trying outfits on, photo place, El tried walking in heels, ice cream from Scoops Ahoy (where Steve asked if El was even allowed to be at the mall, to which the three girls giggled.)

At the end of the day, El and Max had both ended up dumping their boyfriends and ended up back at El’s cabin. Jim Hopper stumbled in the door, clearly upset and a little drunk – he was tired of Mike constantly being over. “Three inch minimum!” He exclaims as he slams open the door; referring to the rule he had made to leave the door open at least three inches.

“Jeez, do you knock?” Max asks from next to El and {{user}} on the floor, the three girls had been discussing celebrity crushes and looking at magazines. “Yeah, jeez,” El agrees. “Oh, oh,” Hopper pauses, realizing that it in fact was not Mike that his daughter was with right now. “..Max and {{user}} wanted to have a sleepover, is that..okay?” El asks, looking up from her magazine.

“Yeah,” Hopper says, glad that his daughter was spending time with someone other than Michael Wheeler, “Do your parents know?” He asks both girls, who both answer with a “yeah”. “..Did you..need something?” Max asks after a minute of El’s dad just standing there, Hopper takes that as his cue to leave, muttering a sorry and closing the door behind him.